Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

HQ2 – Pyrrhic Victory (2012)


Submitted by Herve on Thu, 03/05/2012 – 14:46

Not a question but an illustration about how to use the Pyhrric Victory rule, pp 82-83. A possessed character was pulling back a monster from the bottom of a cliff : if he made it, the whole Quest would be derailed. He was very powerful and shrugged off all attacks made by other PCs on him.

The last PC decided to throw himself down the cliff and on the monster, to make the whole thing heavier and make the possessed PC let go of the rope. It was a suicidal act which had great chances to succeed, but which would HURT a lot once reaching the cliff’s bottom. It was a perfect example of a pyhrric contest, done by a player who didn’t even know the rule existed !


Another memorable pyhrric victory

Submitted by Herve on Sun, 06/05/2012 – 12:23.

My own character, Silkinister the humakti, went along the Quest to give Hofstaring his hands back, in solar hells. Before the quest, Silkinister had announced he would issuee a heroquest challenge to ikadz, god of pain, once there. Getting to the plateau of suffering was hard, but we made it and Silk attacked ikadz to kill it. Once he realized it’d be tougher than he thought, he began singing Humakt’s Death Song (and I invoked the Pyhrric Victory rule). It brought my character to 3M4 vs ikadz’ 5M3, a very good chance of success. And it worked – ikadz got chopped up and Silkinster got +13 to his Death Rune score. Of course, he was also wounded and at -6 (total victory). And his relife sickness score jumped up as well…


Related Pages

  • D101 Games – Empires Ending (2013)
  • D101 Games – Empires Rising available in PDF (2012)
  • D101 Games – HeroQuest supplements included in GMs Day sale (2013)
  • HQ2 – 1 mastery equals 10 men (2012)
  • HQ2 – Area effect spells/weapons (2013)
  • HQ2 – Berserk Magic (2013)
  • HQ2 – Community abilities (2013)
  • HQ2 – Compelling Conflicts (2012)
  • HQ2 – Conversion Rules for RQIII to HQ – is there such a thing? (2013)
  • HQ2 – Daka Fal Help (2012)
  • HQ2 – Default resistance (2012)
  • HQ2 – Doing things without skills (2013)
  • HQ2 – Edges from Hero Wars? (2012)
  • HQ2 – Enhance skills (2012)
  • HQ2 – Fantasy Grounds II Ruleset (2012)
  • HQ2 – Grimoires for the Lhankor Mhy? (2013)
  • HQ2 – HeroQuest II FAQ (2012)
  • HQ2 – Keyword and break-out abilities maximum rating (2012)
  • HQ2 – Leverageable Items from RuneQuest 6 to HeroQuest 2 (2012)
  • HQ2 – Lingering Benefits / States of Adversities (2013)
  • HQ2 – Lots of Lingering Penalties (2012
  • HQ2 – Multiple Abilities in Extended Contests (2012)
  • HQ2 – Multiple opponent penalty in group simple contests (2012)
  • HQ2 – Need some help on framing contests (2012)
  • HQ2 – New characters in an existing game? (2012)
  • HQ2 – Notes from running an Orlanthi Initiation scenario (2013)
  • P:GTA – Doubt about the naming contest in Red Moon Rising (Pavis gateway to adventure)(2012)
  • P:GTA – Formal Scene Structure to Facilitate and Intrigue in Pavis Game: Feedback sought. (2012)
  • Perception in HQ2
  • Resistance for players
  • RQ/HQ Confusion (2012)
  • RQ6 – Book of Quests Now Available for Pre-Order (2013)
  • RQ6 –  Previews (2012)
  • S:KoH – Added Mechanics (2012)
  • S:KoH – Sartar character examples (2013)
  • S:KoH – Wyter Abilities from the Clan Questionnaire in The Colymar Campaign (2012)
  • Sidekick rules
  • Single-Source Superheroes–how best to leverage Heroquest for this genre
  • Something Wicked; other Gateways? (2012)
  • Spell Casting “Cost”
  • Tap? (2012)
  • Tips for Solitary GMing (2012)
  • Too few players in a group
  • Using Heroquest for Horror
  • What HeroQuest Gateway supplements would you like to see? (2012)

HQ2, Old Heroquest Rules Discussions

Page Last updated: 2024-02-08 12:51:24

Sections

  • Search Tips
  • Current RuneQuest Glorantha Publications
  • RuneQuest Glorantha Corrections and Q&A
  • Catalogue
  • References for Glorantha
    • Gloranthan Canon
  • Gloranthan Documents
  • RPG Systems & Versions
  • Gallery
  • About This Site
  • Get involved!

Latest Posts

  • Your Sartarite Adventurer and the Hero Wars

    From the Sartarite perspective, the Hero Wars last some 30 …
  • Argrath and The Sartarite Elite

    In 1627-1628, Argrath relied strongly on the Sartarite Orlanth Adventurous, …
  • Thog the Giant

    In 870, Thog the giant appeared with an army of …
  • The Nine Good Giant Mountains

    The Nine Good Giant Mountains are about 60 km or …
  • Why Most Sartarites Hate the Lunar Empire

    From time to time it is worth reminding people why …
  • Suntown and the Eiskolli

    Suntown has always been in the hands of the Sun …
  • A Few Notes on the Grantlands

    To the south of Sun County are the former Grantlands, …
  • Sartar Cities

    Sartar can be thought of a confederation of small cities …
  • Catalogue of the Gods revisited

    This piece from the Mythology book is among my absolute …

Links

  • Chaosium
  • Chaosium’s RuneQuest RPG Wiki
  • Glorantha on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on Discord
  • Prince of Sartar Webcomic
  • Glorantha G+ Archives on Tapatalk
  • Search mailing list archive

Latest from BRP Central

  • Question about cult Initiation for characters in the Six Seasons in Sartar Campaign
  • RQG corebook reprints?
  • Dragon pass and Cults of Light and Fire........UK restock dates ?
  • Help dealing with high-Darkness and high-Fire/Sky Sartarite in Six Seasons campaign
  • RQ Tekumel
  • Waking the River
  • Toras Joran
  • Verithurusa and the Figures in her Artwork
  • Yelorna question
  • Rune Affinities of the Tribes of Prax

Popular Tags

Boldhome (large city) Chaosium Colymar (Sartar tribe) Contents Cult demographics Cults of Runequest (preview) Ernalda Esrolia (homeland) FRA Furthest (large city) G+ post Genealogies Gods Wall Greg Stafford Guide to Glorantha (preview) Humakt Jar-eel Lunar Empire Lunar Pantheon Magazine Malkioni pantheon Map Michael O’Brien Mongoose MRQ1 New Pavis (small city) Old Glorantha Q&A Orlanth Orlanthi pantheon Photo reference Population demographics Prax (homeland) RQ3 RQG Sandy Petersen Sartar (homeland) Spirit Cult Star Subcult Tarsh (homeland & Lunar province) Troll Pantheon Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon Youtube

Recently added or updated

  • Current Tarsh Politics

  • Personalities of Glorantha – Fazzur Wideread (1998)

  • Lunar generals circa 1610

  • The Lunar Dynasty in Tarsh

  • ISS1404 Sartar Rising: Dragonrise

  • 1631-1658 The Reign of Argrath, King of Sartar

  • 1659-1881 A Less Reliable Series of Future Dates

  • Notes on the Feathered Horse Queen Dynasty

  • Notes on the Grazelands I

  • Feathered Horse Queen

  • Dragon Pass Viewed from Glamour

  • The View From Boldhome, circa 1627

  • Kallyr Starbrow and the Dragonrise

  • Red Goddess

  • Etyries

  • Ty Kora Tek Temples and Shrines

  • Seven Mothers Temples and Shrines

  • Etyries Temples and Shrine

  • CHA4007 Snake Pipe Hollow (1979, 2016)

  • Your Sartarite Adventurer and the Hero Wars

©2025 The Well of Daliath | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme