Hrm. That seems to me to be an unfortunate characterisation. What it provides is a resolution mechanism on which the Harrek, the Red Emperor, a 'minor Heortling Hero', the captain of a Lunar phalanx, a good clan weaponthane, a run of the mill auxiliary, can all be represented on the same scale. Yes, this has the consequence that if by some mischance, you gamed out a combat between His Berserkness and a mediocre Lunar peltast, he would as you put it, "just step on" him. But that doesn't mean that the game is designed for that purpose; the point is that all those characters exist, sensibly in Glorantha; it's possible that any of them might have at least a 'walk-on' on some games; it's possible that one of the above list might have to interact with someone one up, or one down is the implied pecking order. It would be nice if the entire game system didn't implode at that point, wouldn't it? That is, for me at least, the attraction of having a 'scaleable' system of Abilties and resolution.
I do not think this is to be taken as any indication that contests are in any way typically gross mis-matches. The distinction between a weaponthane with a skill of 12W and one with a skill of 7W is just as meaningful as a RQ fight between 90% and 110% guys (say), and probably a lot more typical of the more likely sort of contest in any 'reasonable' situation. (Game-mechanicly that's somewhat like a contest between Sword 32 and Sword 27 guys, only with a different die rolling convention, and without the brain-dead KAP crit rule.) A mastery is a big difference, yes, but it's not the typical medium of exchange of abilities, any more than a Gold Wheel is the normal medium of exchange in a cheap Boldhome Grog-Shop.
It's possible that some people will take the above, and go 'W-crazy', either through misunderstanding of what the numbers are supposed to denote, in 'world terms' (ignoring the 'narrative' considerations for the moment), or because of, as you later say, munchkinism. But then again, a Real Programmer can write FORTRAN is any language...
> Given Runequest, I understood why people had a
> problem with Onslaught. Given Hero Wars, I don't understand the problem.
Given Glorantha, I have 'issues' with the characterisation of Onslaught as a Hero, which have nothing to do with game systems.
> Onslaught will probably be the typical Hero Wars character.
I hope not, either in terms of stats, or of how he's characterised. (OK, now _there_ I was bordering on lit-crit, I confess, but only bordering...)
Cheers,
Alex.
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