For example Torg/Masterbook from West End Games used a conceptually similar mechanism called values to avoid the huge extremes in numbers you would get from trying to run both normal persons and superheroes using the same system. Each value represented something called a measure. Values went up in a strictly linear scale from 0-100 but each 5 point increase in value was a 10 times increase in measure.
Value Measure
0 1 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 4 4 6 5 10 6 15 7 25 8 40 9 60 10 100 11 150
RW things like weight, distance, time, etc. could be converted to measures using formulas and you could then use the smaller value instead of the big measure to reflect the difficulty of a character doing something. Just as an example a value of 32 could be a month in time, the weight of a six block apartment, or the distance from Paris to Moscow.
Now both Torg and Masterbook are story-telling sorts of games, depending heavily on the idea that a RPG session should feel like a movie or a book (sound familiar?). They also have life or action points (like hero points) and scenarios are broken into scenes and acts. They also use difficulty numbers and dramatic episodes are weighted somewhat against the players. They are much more simulationist though as they keep characteristics. MasterBook was published in 1994 and Torg around 1990-1991.
My point? At best Hero Wars is a progression of things that were already happening in role-playing games. The mastery mechanic is about the only unique feature I can distinguish in Hero Wars.
Sorry about the long non-HeroWars rules post.
Oliver
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