Hi all!
I've had the chance to run a HW game at the most important Italian Con. There were five players, of who only two were complete newcomers to Glorantha. One of the others was even a RQ veteran (with much more Gloranthan experience than I have, so I was a bit in awe)! All in all it went quite well, and I think I converted at least one of the newcomer.
I played "The Hound Tower" scenario, but with some (rather bland, see below) cosmetic changes. One of the players didn't like the scenario, and would have liked more Gloranthan weirdness instead. The RQ veteran didn't like the augment mechanic. He said that everything should be subsumed in the AP bid.
I opened up the game with the description of a houndmen raid on an isolated stead. Actual play began at Jinstin's house. Since the heroes were Lunar, I turned Jinstin to a Lunar veteran who lost "both his leg and his two sons at Boldhome" but got a small piece of land in the just-conquered country as a reward. I played the first fight against the houndmen as a simple contest, since it was meant to be just an appetizer of the main fight.
After the houndmen raid, Jinstin appealed to (some of) the heroes'
"Imperial Citizen" relationship for help. The heroes agreed and set
immediately after the raiders, but soon got lost in the woods.
At dawn they arrived at Oakling Stead, where they were welcomed (somewhat grudgingly) as guests, but not before they performed the Ritual of Hospitality that proved their knowledge of the Greeting and a (no matter how far) relationship to the hosts. The Ritual is based on the myth of the First Hospitality.
Armed with the information they gained at Oakling Stead, they chose to stealthy approach the tower. I ran this as a concurrent contest between the heroes' movement ability and the houndmen's smell skill. The players described how their heroes ran from tree to tree and so on while I described how the houndmen began to settle for the night, one of them smelled something (success), another barked at him and he sat down etc. In short I cut back and forth between the heroes and the houndmen, thus creating an interesting suspense in the players-audience. A nice example of what an unclear opposition's bid is.
Anyway, the heroes are detected (some sooner, other later) and they have to move under a volley of spears to reach the tower's door. Finally inside, I played the main fight as a straightforward extended contest.
As always, any comment, suggestion or criticism (especially in view of another demo) is warmly welcomed and thanked in advance.
-- Regards, Alexandre.
"Cinq milliards de races d'hommes sur Terre,
Est-ce assez pour croiser le fer...?"
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