IAN says:
>"Hero Wars has no set list of abilities for heroes: one might have
>Resilient, another Tough. Anaxial's Roster uses a few conventions
>for describing creatures, so that like can be compared with like.
>These rules in no way restrict the meanings or uses of abilities for
>heroes" Anaxial's Roster (p.10-11)
There is no comparison then with hero abilities AR is at best seltconsistent. In addition AR tells us that all horses can run, and have no ability listed for that innate skill, Run Fast is for comparison with other horses or humans with the magical ability `Run As Fast As a Horse.'
To which I respond:
I agree that Anaxial's Rooster is at least internally consistent,
but nowhere in the above quote does it state that
"there is no comparison between abilities". "not restricting
meanings" is not the same as being incomparable, nor
does "not restricting uses" mean abilities are incomparable. All
it is saying is that just because AR uses an ability called RUN FAST,
doesn't mean you can't use skills with different names.
Ian then goes on with:
>Think about what you are asking. Can a human being outrun a horse?
>No, not without magical help. …Don't compare his Running 17
against
>the horses Run Fast 2W, the result will create a strange world. The
>rules don't determine the outcome here, common sense does.
To which I respond:
OK, then what about a god like Mercury? If I make the mistake
of having his ability for "running fast" labeled as just SPEEDY, then
I take it that he can't outrun the horse, since he doesn't have
the skill OUTRUN A HORSE or RUN FAST? While anyone
who understands mythology and what Mercury is all about
would know he can outrun a horse, it presumes, as does Ian's
system that everyone has detailed knowledge of what they are
talking about. This means a much higher learning curve.
Glorantha already suffers too much from learning curve
Syndrome to add more in for "incomparable abilities".
Ian then wraps up with:
>Incidentally players with more experience of narrative games like
>Orkworld or Sorcerer, say on the Hero Wars forum at the Forge, and a
>less simulationist background find this far easier, because they
>have so much less to unlearn. Understanding of the game is
>paradoxically lower on this list than many other places, because of
>the RQ baggage being carried here. Try to remember RQ was a great
>game, but had a different philosophy to HW (which is attested to be
>a far greater and more revolutionary game, even in its poorly
>presented 1st edition, on sites like the Forge)
So much for appealing to new gamers then. The idea that Hero Wars will only appeal to and/or work for sophisticated and experienced roleplayers pretty much puts it into a ghetto guaranteeing low sales.
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