Melanie of the Sugared Pear Clan
<snip>
>The problem with rpgs is that if they center too much on the day
>to day, they are boring (papers and paychecks). Even if that day
>to day is in an ancient tribe weaving and shepherding, it lacks
>spice. Healing is great and important, but let's face it, it's not
>terribly flashy. We all want to be heroes (duh, the name of the
>game). I think it's also important to feel like you can play
>something strong and kick-ass if you want to, particularly for
>women. (Think about an RPG set in amish pennsylvania-- it might
>be fun playing a butterchurning wife for a couple weeks, but
>forever?) It's like you said-- most "minorities" *don't* have full
>rights in real life so it's nice to have a little more equality in
>fantasy worlds.
<snip>
I don't think the point of Hero Wars is to play the day to day butter
churning. This is the background of the character, which give
him\her skills (and _influence_ scenario design) which maybe used
in interesting ways to overcome problems. Most rpgs have skills,
which are used in one narrow way. I think the fun in HW is figuring
out how to twist your 10W2 Weaving skill into some useful in any
traditional rpg scenario situation.
The background of the character is what they do in downtime, but
once something is threatening the Clan its all hands to the pump
and a character always has something useful.