To judge Hero Wars solely on the basis of an early draft (and a fragmentary one at that, it would seem) strikes me as surprisingly narrow-minded for someone with such a long history of contribution to the Gloranthan milieu. I'm certain you dislike portions of the RuneQuest and PenDragon Pass systems as well, yet you've managed to live with (or modify) those. Why the double standard?
Your comments are often laced with criticisms of the design philosophy rather than the rules themselves. Coupled with your decision to resign from playtesting, your swipes begin to seem more aimed at Robin than at providing an objective analysis to those outside the circle of playtesters. To your credit, you have commented on what you *like* about Hero Wars to almost the same extent as what you do *not* like. I fail to understand why you put so much effort into criticizing a work in progress, however; the rules are continually evolving toward the final, published work.
That work is still over a year away from its completion. Let's give Hero Wars a chance to grow. The current draft of the rules, like the revised drafts of Entekosiad, The Glorious ReAscent of Yelm, and Fortunate Succession, is the *only* version that genuinely matters. That draft likely changes on a weekly basis. Commentary on older drafts of Hero Wars only serves to misinform people about the game, and foster doubts about Glorantha's future. Should Hero Wars fail, there will be *no* new material available whatsoever, save for that in the fan publications. My philosophy regarding Glorantha is this: if you prize, evangelize.
BTW, why is it that, opposed as you seem to be to a rules-lite approach to Glorantha, I find your name listed in the credits for the "Baron Munchausen" storytelling game? Pot? Kettle? Black? ;)
What *you* want is neither interesting or remotely pertinent to Glorantha. If, in your minds, the milieu is so totally and inextricably bound up in the RuneQuest game mechanics as to be inseparable, you are entitled to that opinion. Just don't assume that the majority of this list's membership shares or even gives the slightest *damn* about that opinion, especially when you choose to couch your commentary in the worst kind of futilitarian negativity.
The part of Glorantha you seem to love best, the RuneQuest rules, are a failure by business standards. Anyone who is even remotely up-to-date on the state of Glorantha and the hobby in general knows this. Lamenting that 'things would have been different if only <insert name of current scapegoat> had done <insert uninformed and unrealistic expectation>' marks you both as either vainglorious sentimentalists or utter morons. Glorantha's future is in growing its marketplace *beyond* the current august body of dedicated fans.
Typically, feckless whining to such an extent as you have done is something I think of as a phenomenon restricted to Usenet. Please move it there, if you deign to continue; regardless, take it and yourselves bloody well off this list... *please*! Feel free to rejoin when you have some useful comment on *Glorantha*, rather than harping on how everyone has failed to live up to *your* expectations on how RuneQuest should have been done.
Michael Schwartz mschwartz_at_mindspring.com Ann Arbor, MI USA
Powered by hypermail