WWTGMD for a Harrowing during this Halloween's Wraith crossover?

[Robyn]

It's Halloween, and the GM for your group (whether this be you or another) has decided to show those smug, effete WoD players that you and your group can roleplay their socks off. So, tonight is a special one-shot crossover of Wraith, their favorite setting, but using your HERO rules. The GM of your group has a surprise card to play, though, and when the game is only halfway through, reveals it - in Wraith, there is a sort of psychic attack called the Harrowing, a mini-Vision-quest which presents the character with an impossible choice to prevent further damage or even Oblivion (death). But in the WoD system, this is mercifully abstracted to a mere roll of the dice - and your group is about to prove that the WoD players roll dice when HERO players can roleplay through it.

 

What impossible choice does the GM present? If you are the GM, answer for each of your players; and if you are not, give your best guess as to what your GM could do to your PC that would meet the criteria

[Curufea]

Re: WWTGMD for a Harrowing during this Halloween's Wraith crossover?

 

Interesting concept. It's ethical quandaries personalised for the players...

 

Hmm -

1) For the player of Red, I would have either destroy a library, or a unique manuscript of exceptional quality in order to save the life of a close relative.

2) For the player of Alden, I would trade memories for power. The more power he seeks, the more he forgets. Until possibly he becomes all powerful but doesn't know he is. Or possibly not for power, but for more years of life - maybe to stave off cancer or other slow death.

3) For the player of Cadmus/Aeskil, it would be power for duty - the more duties and responsibilities he takes on, the less power he loses.

4) For the player of Riso/Mi Shang, it would be the past, losing connections to family, history and lost memories permanently - in order to save lives or complete the mission.

5) For the player of Thodric, it would be losing skills - possibly a degenerative nerve disease or Parkinsons, or lose the chance to get revenge/regain his Mark.

 

For my characters in other GM's campaigns...

For Sir Miles of Furmenglaive (a freshly knighted squire after several years of the campaign), it would be the loss of his brother for one of his other friends, or the girl he hopes to marry (he has already lost her once already). Or possibly the loss of innocence or reputation, as he strives to be the epitome of chivalry, becuse as a squire, his knight, Sir Mordoc, proved to be more fallible than he wished.

For Logos Fenwirren, Paladin of The State (ie a fantasy version of Jack Bristow, but without the daughter) - it would be measures of disenchantment with his ruler/government/state. The compromising of laws, or the corruption of power. He would do anything to fulfil his mission for The State - except attack The State, which would bet the ideal choice as a harrowing.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: WWTGMD for a Harrowing during this Halloween's Wraith crossover?

 

Wow. That's a nasty one. I'd rep you, but I can't (as you well know). That's an awesome question. Thinking. It's not unlike the Klingon Thingy the name of which I've forgotten. If i were to design a plotline which put people in an impossible choice, I would likely try to shy away from the more obvious 'life or death' bits that dominate the marketplace. I'd want something more esoteric. Problem being, most of them will still retain that 'all or nothing' feel that life or death carries.

 

On Samhain, when the veil is thinnest, is the best time for another plane to intersect with this one - whether Earth or Purgatory/the Near Umbra. Another plane of existence crosses through; that plane carries with it a separate taint, a truly desparate enemy which has been trapped for millenium and in that time has grown more powerful than anyone could hope against.

 

The only way to defeat it is to sacrifice something (a fetter) or someONE you truly love... AGAINST THEIR WILL. In other words, you either become more evil (sacrifice) or the world ends (no sacrifice). On top of this, the creature is contemptous, and despite you fulfilling your win condition, there's no guarantee it will be enough.

 

Ultimately, there is no creature. It's a manifestation of the fight one has with one's Shadow every day, but the Harrowing - and the time of year - mean that the outcome MAY BE entirely real, but you can't know, won't know, until it's over. Who do you sacrifice? How far are you willing to go to save a broken world you can no longer be a part of? Do you give into the Shadow? Do you struggle to maintain control?

[Curufea]

Re: WWTGMD for a Harrowing during this Halloween's Wraith crossover?

 

Yes - sacrificing one for many is a classic ethical dilemma.

You can add different levels to it too, for example-

If the sacrifice was of a murderer whom you hate, it woudl be easier to do.

If a friend, very hard.

Lover - much harder.

Yourself - less hard than a friend or lover (odd isn't it?)

 

How many is the many you are saving? One other who is a friend? Stranger? Two? An entire nation? An entire nation whom you've always hated?