As for confused gods and things, it strikes me that the new set up should free up magic and religion to be the more flexible and blurry mixed magic I was under the impression Glorantha is supposed to be instead of the much narrower specialization the games seemed to force.
Which is good in that I like all those persnickity small gods, just not as cults you would initiate to.
On 6/2/09, Paolo Guccione <p.guccione_at_oVGwK55-xWusT-hI82bGMSlWILb1iEmyznHwui7OzUEjVU6jKBSlr1pclvtLd6DWrRRJKoASCnAftvKTwp9y.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> Been there, got it. First thing I did at Tentacles after checking in and
> securing the first print run of BRP Rome was grappling Rick Meints and
> securing a copy of HQ2 and Sartar, and it was worth it. Let me explain why.
>
> HeroQuest 2: core system
>
> Well, definitely the best incarnation of the system. The wrong, unplayable
> or simply stupid parts of the system were cut off, leaving only the Good
> Ideas that had always been there. I will probably miss the concept of
> Starting Advantage Points, but this part was almost unplayable and it is
> still there as a non-recommended option. Admittedly, saying that the contest
> is now at a 4-2 stage is easier than keeping track of APs, at least if you
> are into soccer.
>
> However, I am not sold to the whole HeroQuest concept yet. The book is good,
> but for me it is rather a collection of systematic Good Advice for GMs than
> a game system. I do not think it will appeal to 90% of the players, who are
> less experienced than the average Gloranthaphile, and certainly the
> necessity to "figure all the details by yourself" could scare people away
> from it. Good grief, it doesn't even have a pre-made character sheet! I know
> that most of us make up our own sheets, but at least put in an example!
>
> I know that the official answer to this is "Jeff's group is made entirely of
> newbies and they are oh-so-fond of it", but this is due to Jeff's ability to
> narrate rather than to the system. I suppose he could attract people to
> Glorantha even if he ran a D&D 1.0 campaign.
>
> Would you recommend it to an experienced GM: yes!
> Would you recommend to play it with an experienced GM: yes!
> Would you recommend it to an unexperienced GM: no!
> Would you recommend to play it with an unexperienced GM: too horrible to
> even think of it!
>
> HeroQuest 2: magic for Glorantha
>
> An entirely different story. The system "feels" Gloranthan, is very
> consistent in its mechanics, and it is very flexible and playable. In
> addition to this it easily splits into three different approaches to magic
> (Spirit, Theist, Wizardly) while retaining the same basic assumptions. And
> the idea of allowing characters to pick their own runes is simple, yet
> great! Unfortunately, we have too few examples of Malkioni cults to be sure
> it works well with sorcery, but we all hope this will be fixed in the
> future.
>
> Last but not least, all this can be easily adapted to D100 mechanics: call
> it RuneCasting or Allegiance instead of Affinity and there you are. The
> cults are now compatible with old versions, so you can move your favourite
> deity back and forth between systems with limited effort and distortions.
> It's the mechanics-independent, simple magic system that we had been all
> waiting for.
>
> Sartar
>
> Okay, I'll just skip any comment about the artwork (or lack of it) and the
> price-to-completeness ratio. The book is labelled as unfinished (but still
> fully usable) and Rick did what he could with the layout in the time he had.
> But now that we gave you lots of money for a "preview" you no longer have
> any excuse: the final edition must have the great artwork that it deserves!
>
> As for the contents, well…..
>
> Wahooooooooo!!! Glorantha is back on track, at last! It's HeroQuest, but it
> is the Old Glory again. Gone are the cults like "Pingpongo the Nose Picker,
> aspect of Orlanth that oversees the elimination of excess body hair" with a
> fixed set of silly affinities, that no sane gamer would ever have his
> character worship. Gone are the Hero Bands like "The Society of Dara Happan
> Admirers of Britney Pilums". Gone are the scenarios that claim to be written
> in a narrativist style where the rules "get in the way" every second line.
> Here you find only relevant background information, a campaign with a well
> written plot and almost no rule stuff in it, and cults. Cults that are
> usable and enjoyable. Here, in the chapter labelled "Orlanth", you find a
> cult that is fully and remarkably a HeroQuest cult, but it is Good Ol'
> Friggin' Orlanth with no fluff added! And with the new Do-it-yourself runic
> approach, you can even work out your hero's peculiar way to worship Orlanth.
> And there are cool new ideas in the book. I must say it: I love the new
> sorcerous Grey Sages. Applause for Greg and Jeff and all other contributors!
> Great job!
>
> Bottom line: you might not like everything in the books, and I certainly
> have my perplexities about some of the contents, but if you enjoy gaming in
> Glorantha you MUST have both books.
>
>
>
--
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