Design an Ordeal for Youths seeking Mystic Power

[ericthered]

I've got a story plot that requires an ordeal for youths to determine who is granted power mystic combat abilities and who is not. There are only so many slots per year, and more applicants than slots. Its difficult to tell who will be best able to use the power before hand, but grit and willpower are a key attribute, and candidates will be selected based on those virtues.

essentially, the key ability is to be able to exert effort while enduring pain and fatigue for as long as possible. The ability to do so is key to using the power effectively.

How do you measure this in 12 year old boys and girls? How do you ensure that the activity chosen doesn't favor a kid good at running, or holding their breath underwater, or some other specific test? And how do you let the rich train their children to dominate this ordeal anyways?

And how do you run such a test in gurps?

[The Colonel]

Sounds like a long footrace to me - sending the kids running cross country for a couple of days like those Amerindians from the SW USA... or some other endurance sporting event, possibly with the occasional gauntlet to run or interventions from stinging plants or animals.
If the initiation is human controlled, the successful candidates are then pulled straight in from the finish line - if it is divine or spirit mediated, perhaps the initiation occurs during the event as a patron or patron's servitor makes contact with them as the fatigue hallucinations set in...

[Refplace]

Establish a series of Quick Contests and roll to see which ones are used each year. That limits the benefits of preparing but can't get rid of it entirely as your testing Will so training and practice still possible to better prepare a candidate.

So lets see...
Walk on Glass
Walk barefoot across broken glass. Will-2, High/Low Pain Threshold apply. DR on feet negate the required roll but if detected are disqualifying.

Will to Breathe
Stick your head in a barrel of water and hold it underwater for sufficient time.
Roll at Will -FP loss each turn once you start to lose FP from holding your breath.

[JulianLW]

You might check out the Vision Quest rules in GURPS Old West 3E:

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/OldWest/

JLW

[Varyon]

While it was a labor death camp rather than a right of passage, something like the Pits of Hathsin from Mistborn could be an option. Those were pitch-black, narrow caves where captives had to crawl around with no light source, searching for special geodes. The geodes themselves grew within "pockets" lined with sharp growths of crystal that would tear into the captive's arm as he or she reached in. Many pockets were empty, so the captive would need to search several before finding one (they were required to get one a week; failure would mean being beat to death in front of the rest of the camp). Something like that would test the person's willpower and ability to fight through pain rather effectively, I should think (particularly with replacing the "beaten to death" punishment with just not being accepted). It also has the side benefit of giving those who have undertaken the test a distinct look, with thin scars tracing up and down their arms from reaching into pocket after pocket. Instead of naturally-forming deposits, of course, you'd have some sort of special item (a talisman, a coin, whatever) you'd place in only some of the pockets, and only place as many as you have openings for applicants.

For rich kids to cheat, you could have hired helpers that secretly accompany them, searching other pockets and giving their young master the item when they find one (or aggressively purchase them from other successful applicants). Expensive drugs/salves that numb pain can also help. If the scars aren't a mark of pride (say, if magic is often used to heal the wounds), they may be able to get away with wearing armor (or they could have their arms scarred in a more comfortable setting). Bribing those who place the items for a map of their locations (or even bribe them not to place one, and sell it to the rich applicant instead) can also be an option.

[AlexanderHowl]

Torture was occasionally used for mystic power. The crucifixion of Odin upon Yggdrassil is probably one of the best known examples. Let the ordeal be crucifixion from dawn to dusk during the longest day of the yeat. If the youth is alive and conscious at the end of the ordeal, they will receive mystical power.

It would be a ST roll and a HT roll every hour. If they fail the ST roll, they lose HP equal to their margin of failure. If they fail the HT roll, they lose FP equal to their margin of failure.

[whswhs]

It might be worth watching the opening credits for Kung Fu, where Caine proves himself worthy to be a Shaolin monk.

[Agemegos]

I ran a few fantasy campaigns set in a very quirky abbey of mystical hunter-warriors called "Thundering Vale". The customs there allowed members to wear symbolic tattoos if they had passed various trials that required a range of abilities starting with simple proficiency at hunting and athletic tasks and that went up to the reliable exercise of powerful mystic disciplines. To get the highest testamurs and attain the senior offices in the college characters had to, for instance, turn into a wolf, or survive being first stabbed in the stomach and then thrown off a waterfall (and have no wound 24 hours later).

Players became very interested in their characters' training for the various trials, accumulating tattoos, and striving for the honorary rank of "grand master". I found that the most effective trials, RP-wise, were the ones that consisted of re-enacting the legendary deeds of factional heroes. Players really went for the sequence Flag-Endurance–Fortitude–Roaring Falls partly because it re-enacted the martyrdom of a legendary hero.

I have a text describing the trials and a procedures document in terms of HindSight rules, but they are too long to go in a post and (I suppose) not of much interest. I will excerpt the trials of Endurance, Fortitude, and Roaring Falls.

The Trial of Endurance

The trial of endurance is intended to be what its name suggests, but it is so designed that strength is also an important factor. Indeed, in practice the feat is scarcely possible for a man of average strength. The Trial of Endurance is much in demand, and is conducted every month, with the Steward acting as examiner, at least one other huntmaster supervising at the river, and various adjuvants keeping an eye on events on the course.

The trial starts at dawn at a certain point on the river, at its nearest approach to the Pavilion of the Winds. Each candidate has two amphoras of forty litres capacity. By sunset, he must fill a 2500 litre tun with water from the stream. The tuns are in the Pavilion of the Winds, two stades (400 m) from the stream, and at the top of a path and stairway with an average grade of 20%. During the trial the candidate may not eat, though he may drink water, and he must remain on his feet.
Candidates may use a yoke and carry two amphoras at once, if they wish. They may also have friends at the river fill one amphora for them while they are carrying the other, but they must pick the amphoras up from the water while no-one is touching them. (Note: the amphoras weigh 3 kg empty).

Testamur: a conventionalised heart, over the heart.

The Trial of Fortitude

The trial of fortitude is a stringent test of the ability to resist fatigue and pain. It is conducted in a grove of giant stinging-trees in Thundering Vale, with the Seven Arrows housemaster as examiner, assisted by adepts of that lodge. The Trial of Fortitude is held annually, on the night after the Trial of Endurance has been held for the last time that year.

Candidates for the Trial of Fortitude must pass the Trial of Endurance, repeating it if they already have the testamur. After filling their tun, they must remain at the Pavilion of the Winds until the Trial of Fortitude begins. They may drink water during this time, but may not eat or take drugs, and must remain standing.
When the lower limb of the sun touches the horizon, the chief examiner gives a signal. The candidates must run from the pavilion to the grove of stinging-trees, and climb naked up one of the trees, before the sun has finished setting. Then the candidate must remain up the tree without eating or drinking all night. If he does not give up or fall out of the tree before the rising sun shines on him, he passes.

Testamur: a wreath of thorns around the (tattooed) heart.

The Trial of Roaring Falls

The trial of Roaring Falls is one of the rites of Seven Arrows, but they allow approved members of other lodges to attempt it. Candidates for the Trial of Roaring Falls must have passed the Trial of Fortitude, and only receive permission to take part if the Seven Arrows Housemaster is satisfied that they command the mystic discipline of Yoga. The Trial of Fortitude is held annually at Roaring Falls, as part of the festival of Trevethan.

The candidates gather, together with the housemaster and adepts of Seven Arrows, at the top of the cliff beside Roaring Falls. One by one, the candidates are seized by two adepts, stabbed in the abdomen with a dagger by a third, and then thrown off the cliff into the plunge pool 20 metres below. Candidates who get out of the pool by themselves, and recover from their injuries within twenty-four hours without the assistance of a healer pass.

This trial is dangerous. Although the housemaster stands by to countermand the throwing of the candidate off the cliff if he thinks fit, although swimmers stand by to pull the candidate out of the pool if he seems likely to drown, and although a healer is on hand during the trial, candidates sometimes die.

Testamur: a dagger through the heart.

[zoncxs]

First, keep secret what is used to determine if a child passes or fails. Have several tests, and only select a couple of them to use each year. So if you had a pool of 10 different tests, pick 4 at random each year.

What would be passing? Children who are able to push pass their normal limits, the ones who last the longest, the ones who are clearly not wanting to give up.

It doesn't matter if the fastest kid finished the marathon first, it matters that the slowest kid, who was out of breath within the first mile, finished.


In GURPS terms, this would be a series of regular contests. Allowing the players extra effort rolls to try and last longer. Characters with high Will and HT will be favored.

[dcarson]

Runequest at least early had a trial to become a full shaman where you drank poison, died and then healed yourself. Had to have enough command of spirits to stay around and be able to cast from a spirit form.