> I'll admit right up front that I haven't tried
> searching the archives on this, so if someone can
> point me in the right direction, I'd be happy.
>
> Our bunch are trying out some of the beginner
> scenarios in HQ. Our pre-rolled PC's have various
> magical possessions, e.g. thunderstones and in
> Aileena's case, a sword. We have found no
> descriptions of the powers of these objects in the HQ
> book. We are feeling very uncomfortable about this,
> as it leads to much confusion when trying to use them.
> I know that thunderstones certainly existed in RQ3,
> but their power would presumably differ somewhat in
> HQ. The sword's features are a complete unknown.
Something like a magical sword could be given whatever "powers" the narrator thinks appropriate. It could just have a better than average augment (a regular sword gives a +3, maybe a magic one gives a +6), it could also have abilities like Hurt Foe 17, or whatever (and could be taken as a sidekick, so the player could use hp to improve it over time.)
Thunderstones as described in Thunder Rebels are a bit vague. The way I deal with them is to allow a follower of Hedkoranth to use the Enchant Thunder Stones feat between adventures to creates "pre-enchanted" stones. However, the player has to cement the stones with a hero point if they want them ready to hand at all times. I treat these as a sling stone that has been augmented by the appropriate score. I was open to making some "special" stones with other abilities, but my one-time Thunder Slinger is no longer active in the game.
>
>
> Is the narrator expected to look at these and define
> them ahead of time with the players? In that case,
> including that info for the beginner narrator would
> really help!
I would say yes. In fact, this is really how all hero magical items seem to work. The narrator and the player reach some agreement on what the thing is and what it does, with the proviso that it is possible that other abilities might be "discovered" in the future. I tend to agree that this part of HQ is a touch vague.
>
>
> In fact, there seems a general tendency in the
> character generation phase to give new PC's magical
> items and powers, which was certainly not the case in
> RQ. There you usually started out pretty raw, and had
> to acquire them as you went. Is this difference
> because it is now universally assumed that all PC's
> are experienced?
Again, I'd say yes. Also there has been much more emphasis since HW came out on the idea that magic is everywhere in Glorantha. I think a major challenge for the new narrator is to see this as an opportunity to enrich the game, rather than indulging the reflex to "control" the magic for fear of "game balance." HQ is a game where players start with Whiz-Bang abilities and stuff and can expect to rise to have even more Whizzes and Bangs with time.
(I recently explained the difference between HQ and our earlier games to a member of my group by telling her that this was a game where even a new hero could copy the shot from "Two Towers" where Legolas slides down stairs on a shield while firing his bow - then I loaned her Njal's Saga so she could read the original version of that.)
>
>
> If so, OK, but I'll miss the stage of guiding one's
> tender new PC. If most scenarios people are now
> writing (and I haven't seen many, so I don't know)
> assume 10-15 years prior experience, I think that it
> may cut off a range of minor experiences that could
> still be fun for players, but are now too trivial for
> their characters
You don't have to, though. You could simply start the players off with whatever you consider the appropriate levels for an inexperienced character. In my group, I had them generate their fnal characters, but then gave them earlier versions of themselves and played through a set of "growing-up" scenarios that I also used for teaching the rules (In essence a prologue or set of flashbacks.) They defended the sheep from wolves as adolescents, fought in a brawl during the clan moot, went through the adulthood rites, went on their first cattle raid, and took part in their first major battle (against the evil Rival Clan... Grrr!) I've also had them describe figures in the clan to me- family members, their best friend, their greatest rival - and events -the most humiliating event of childhood, the greatest triumph of childhood, their first love. This allows them a more active role in shaping the character and also givem me many plot hooks and useable narrator characters.
I hope this helps a bit.
Gerald
Powered by hypermail