Author: Mike (---.194.23)
Date: 09-27-2001 11:31
I enjoyed the article, as usual. A prophet can be an excellent plot element, whether (as was mentioned) false or true, loved, hated, hunted, or thrown in for comic relief.
The danger is the divine intervention that may be attached with the prophet. It is one thing for a doomsayer to receive visions, or for some cryptic clues to spring from the mouth of a character. It is something else for a miracle to save the party every time there is serious danger. It turns adventuring into a farce, since the characters gain a divine protector.
The easiest place to see this is books. David Edding's four series each had the intervention of one of the gods at crucial moments. The Dragonlance Chronicles from Weis and Hickman whipped out some lucky last minute save from the wacky Fizban. Any Robert Jordan reader knows that Rand Al Thor cannot die just yet, because the prophecy states that he will face the Dark One. Raymond Feist's characters Pug and Tomas seem to achieve greatness in his Magician Series... only later does the reader learn that Macros the Black fixed everything for them behind the scenes. There are literally hundreds more stories with the same weakness. Don't get me wrong, these were all a blast to read. But never once did I fear that the heroes would fail.
My point is, if you're going to GM a campaign or write a book with prophetic or divine elements, be careful. For god's sake (bad pun intended) don't have your prophecy or deity babysit the heroes to victory. I'll shut up now.
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