Message text written by INTERNET:glorantha_at_chaosium.com
""I hope I'm wrong, but, so far, Hero Wars sounds like the perfect munchkin game.
Jim Chapin"
Please, not this thread again. At least not until the rules are issued.
As someone who was "not guilty" of participating in the several previous go-rounds on this topic, I got aroused by the Onslaught debate because of a basic revulsion against game systems that make some people invulnerable to other people. In real life, anyone with a weapon of any sort is dangerous to any other person. Pyrrhus of Epirus was slain by an an old woman with a stone. And believe me, professional soldiers or policemen, no matter how well trained, disregard NO ONE with a weapon or potential weapon or even the possibility of a weapon. In legend, Heroes and even Gods are often slain by mischance or by "people" far weaker than they are.
To argue that HW "scales" better than RQ may well be true. So does Tunnels and Trolls, or Rolemaster, for that matter. The difference between the two latter systems is that in the former, a weaker character can do nothing to a stronger character, while in the latter, Bilbo could, if he rolled enough open-ended rolls, hurt Sauron. AD & D makes it possible for an advanced character to kill an army with just about no risk. I haven't even looked at the Hero Wars rules, but judging by the comments of those of you who LIKE the rules, it reflects Glorantha "better" than Runequest did. And in Gloranthan reality, Heroes kill armies with no risk. If that's the case, what was the "moral basis" for the criticism often heard of the AD & D worlds of power gaming frenzies? Greg's "new" Glorantha seems to be a world where everything is decided by a few super-powerful characters striding about the landscape.
The rules may in theory make it possible to play Timmy the Trollkin of beloved memory, but obviously no one will. At the least one might as well play Timmy the God of Trollkin. I suspect that the 30th-level wizard/samurai/priest who killed Odin will be nothing to HW characters. Instead of levels, people will be striding about with "w"s on their chest.
Jim Chapin
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