As moaner-in-cheif, I feel an obligation to speak up : Hero wars is a perfectly playable game as written.
If you realy need me to say more, all I'd say is that there are a few problems here and there, but no show stoppers. I've been playing and running rpgs for over 20 years now and believe me, HW is far more comprehensive and playable than anything that existed when I stared out as a 15 year old gamer. If I could run games using RQ2 after struggling heroicaly to understand the rules for months back then, I'm sure an equivalent 15 year old today could do at least as well with HW and probably a _lot_ better.
I dipped into this list briefly a few years ago, but only rejoined recently since I started my new campaign. What I've been talking about are a few fixes and homegrown rules that suit my game. Every GM I've ever met comes up with some house rules or fixes for something at some stage. It may even be important psychologicaly so that you realy feel the game belongs to you.
If you compare HW with some other rpgs, it compared very favourably. The Storyteller system in vampire was apallingly broken when it first came out and is still a bit of a bodge IMHO, yet it's one of the most successful RPGs. It's big advantage is that it's simple to understand. I think HW tried to be too sophisticated for it's own good, but the core mechanic of abilities, masteries and augmenting one ability with another is outstanding. Everything else is gloss - APs, Edges, etc.
Do what works for you, and the devil take the rest.
Simon Hibbs
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