I was just in the middle of answering another mail from Mike, when it all seemed, well, a bit pointless. The discussion has got bogged down in "yes it is, no it isn't" and answers that aren't illuminating anyone. So I'm going to make a general statement, then ignore the thread unless Mike can come up with some more concrete questions he needs answered.
Basically, one of the greatest innovations I found in Hero Wars was the complete lack of skill descriptions. I've never read them anyway, and the idea that you could run a game perfectly happily without any descriptions, or even fixed skill names was a revelation. It's why I find the idea that someone can claim "I can't run the game because it isn't well enough defined" so strange.
Looking at feats in the books alone, I think there are a number of pit falls people can make. The ones that seem to be coming up recently include :
"How do I decide what a feat does?"
You don't. Feats aren't spells. They aren't rigid. They aren't even myths.
Feats are gaming constructs. There is tie between feats (plural) and myths
(plural). It isn't a one to one mapping. One feat may cover parts of dozens
of myths, and one myth might power parts of dozens of feats. A feat is a
game construct that says "the character has insight into this bit of the
god's power". That's it. You don't need to decide what it "does" because it
isn't a spell.
"How do I decide if a feat can achieve something?"
Bette question. I always start with the action, then go to the feat. In
nearly all cases, this makes everything straight forward. Does the action
match the feat name? If I'm unsure, I can always look at other feats, the
affinity name, the god. A few feat names are poetic - they need a little
imagination on both sides to use. So far I've seen two mentioned - Sunset
Leap and Mile Javelin Throw. Some people rule that the latter is a literal
feat, I treat the "Mile" as poetic. YMMV. In every other case I've ever
come across, the ruling has been really easy!
"There's a myth that mentions this feat, so that defines how it works."
No, wrong, uhuh. There's a myth that mentions this feat so it suggests one
way it could work. Other myths are encompassed by the same feat. Myths are
a great source of ideas, inspiration. They do not give a definitive answer.
That isn't how feats work. Note that Mike's example that he is happy with -
Wind Below is the wind that blows from the underworld - is no more helpful
at working out what the feat (actually a spirit) can do. In game, this
still becomes "yeah, great. But can I use it to lift that rock?"
"I don't like making things up."
Then don't. There is no need AT ALL to provide mythic justifications,
detailed prayers to gods, or colourful flavour text. Just because you get
the impression that Benedict's group does that all the time doesn't mean
you HAVE to. Feats can be used quite mechanically. Decide what you want to
do, find an ability that might let you do so, let the GM decide is you're
right. Sure you CAN get into situations where you might have the GM say no,
but that's true of any game. "Okay, I'm locked in the cell. I'll spread my
blanket out on the floor outside the bars, knock the key off the hook with
magic missile, and pull the blanket and key back through the bars." Do you
allow it? If D&D has these problems, every game does.
"I can't see how to tie feats into the mechanics."
Hero Wars can be a pain for this. There are lots of options, especially
during an extended contest. Is the action I want to take best handled as an
AP bid, an unrelated action, an augment, or an AP loan? This isn't a feat
problem - it's a general issue. Generally, I'd go with :
Does the action directly affect the outcome? Yes - it's an AP bid. An action that could be decisive or risky should be a big AP bid. Can the action help my next action succeed? Yes - it's an augment. Can the action change the physical situation (I get healed, my opponent loses his shield, the stairs are on fire)? Yes - it's an unrelated action. Does the action directly affect the outcome of someone else's contest? Yes - it's an AP loan.
In some cases more than one will be possible - go with your instincts!
"Hero Wars is about storytelling not roleplaying"
Not according to any definition of roleplaying I've ever seen. It is
roleplaying in a rich, detailed world, but all adventures are possible.
Hell, the most praised adventure Issaries has yet published (Battle of
Iceland) is a single big fight scene. How retro.
I hope this is of some help to someone. If you have SPECIFIC questions, or SPECIFIC examples where you have trouble with the system, I'll try to help.
Cheers,
Graham
-- Graham Robinson graham_at_... Albion Software Engineering Ltd.
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