Speculation abounds about how to write up Hero Wars characters...
As Nick Brooke said a few posts back, GM's are given some pretty clear guidelines as to how to deal with players who want to write up a character with skills that cover everything, kill anything, etc. Unless you have a GM who loves to give away the store (aka Monty Haul), I think you'll find that characters like Brian Tickler's only have entertainment value here on the digest and would never see play. Technically speaking, it would still take a half-competent GM about 2 seconds to kill him. Let's leave it at that.
Do you have to understand Glorantha to play HW...
In the playtests I've been in, the results have been very positive. We've had a pretty good range of newbies and grognards alike, ranging from Jeff Richard and Nick Brooke, to people who had never played/read anything related to Glorantha. The newbies enjoyed the game and didn't feel swamped or intimidated with trying to understand Glorantha. Granted, knowing a lot about Glorantha can be a plus, but it's not a prerequisite. HW does a far better job at getting you started with learning about and playing in Glorantha than RQ ever did, at least on average.
Status points...
While self proclaimed "geniuses" may disagree, status points have never bothered any of the playtesters I've encountered, at least once the revised rules came out. They are fantastic for non-combat contests like arguments, etc. and work just fine in combat. It took a little effort to get people out of the habit of just saying "I bet 10" and getting them to say the action they were attempting along with the stake, but the concept works well once it takes root.
I wonder if a big part of the negative response to SPs by Cule's players comes from the way he presented it to his playtesters as a GM. If you feel something is flawed and sucks big time and taint your intial presentation of the material with that opinion, it's easy to have that opinion become infectious. Would you be likely to buy something from a salesman who heavily badmouths the product during a sales demo?
The number of skills a Hero Wars PC starts with...
We take a more minimal approach than Michael Schwartz's group, but that should never be misconstrued to mean that what my group does is right and/or what Michael's group does is wrong. They sound like they're having loads of fun, so more power to them.
Most of our characters have about a dozen skills, but we also make sure to include flaws and/or enemies. My character is very gullible. Other players deal with flaws like "falls in love very easily", "pouts when doesn't get his way", or "never let's a woman tell him what to do". These flaws actually make the game all the enjoyable. The GM has used them to keep us on our toes. Our chief falls in love with the wrong woman and gets his clan in trouble. People lie to my character all the time and I believe them, even when it foils my plans sometimes. Enemies are easy and enjoyable to run. If someone hates trolls or Lunars, put lots of them into the encounters, but make them someone the PC's should work WITH. How would the clan react to Caleb "trollhater" insulting and driving off an Argan Argar merchant before he could sell them some badly needed items? Of course, if you like to play "commando in the hills" and not depend on anyone or have anyone depend on you, such roleplaying oppotunities are a little harder to orchestrate. When my clan rebelled against the Lunars, the people who came after us were led by our tribal king. Things got pretty tense. We were faced with fellow Orlanthi, not just nameless "baby-killing, chaos-loving" Lunars.
My character's write-up, if anyone still needs a reason to pick on me...
Harmast of the Danstarl clan has followed Hantrafal since he raided a Lunar ceremony shortly after being initiated. His allied spirit Jangle helps him emulate Harmast his hero and namesake. His thirst for the myths and beer of Minlister have often led him down foolish paths. On Kero Fin he harvested a Wind staff from a windberry tree, which is his preffered weapon. He enjoys reading about the history of Dragon Pass and its myths. He first successful quest was to obtain the shield of Arran. He provides wise counsel to his patron the Sambari King.
Mythic knowledge 6/14, Cancel any magic 6/14, detect magic 6/14, draw on associated deity 5/15, history 8/12, drink beer 8/12, trust everyone 8/12, evaluate treasure 6/14, read/write 8/12, wind staff 8/12, wise counsel 8/12, shield of Arran 8/12 *4.
My character had the Sambari King added as his patron after the battle encounter I mentioned a few paragraphs earlier. Some of the skills have also changed as a result of experience. My allied spirit is still undefined; I haven't had the need to use it yet. The wind staff also has undefined abilities. I used it to levitate once, but that's about it. The shield of Arran is also still only vaguely defined. While powerful, my PC only succeeds in most skill rolls about 70% of the time. Lunar's don't like him, he's gullible, and his drinking usually leads to trouble.
Take Care,
Rick Meints, Education, Training & Development, 8-737-2126
Mobile: 0976-686-454 Internet: RMeints_at_ford.com
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