I would be cautious when suggesting that passing narration rights to the players is a good thing for HQ2.
There are no specific rules that help HQ2 players to operate with shared narration or shared scene framing and much of the GM advice in the book is incompatible with such an open approach to narration authority.
Games that work well with shared narration such as Zombie Cinema, have built in authority rules and clear cut role divisions. They have been designed with shared narration in mind. (Indeed ZC is designed to teach the concept of shared scene framing and as such isn't quite a full game so much as a fun skill honing exercise.)
See also the designer of this game's own thoughts on 'the pitfalls of narrative technique in rpg play' here: http://isabout.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/the-pitfalls-of-narrative-technique-in-rpg-play/
As soon as you transplant techniques into games with different design aims you are wandering off of the map (or as some games designers like to say "invalidating the warranty"). I like to do this, but it can be full of potential confusion and may result in unsatisfying play if the people at the table have differing understandings of the changes. For an obvious example, you can no longer look up the intent of a rule to solve problems if you have adjusted things.
This is not to say that a group shouldn't do this so much as to say that when first playing a game it is probably wise to learn how all of the parts are supposed to work together before you start tinkering with the clockwork, and given that rpgs have many emergent qualities this would mean playing the game for a few sessions.
RPG GMs have traditionally taken bits from all sorts of games and house-ruled like crazy, but most of the games that served as the raw material for such home-brews had compatible aims. With the more broad spectrum of RPGs since the indy scene this is no longer true. You cant just grab the concept of narrational authority and throw it into a Shadowrun game without a good bit of crowbarring and explanation.
In my view the core mechanics of HQ are a powerful tool that can be utilised by many styles of play, but the overall rule set including the copious advice, has a specific style in mind, and it is probably worth becoming familiar with this style before adapting it too radically.
Jamie
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