>While the Open or Moderate Range games would allow for highly mixed Hero
>Bands the Closed style does seem to be what the rules focus on.
D'you reckon? I think HW has its foot in both camps (Closed and Moderate), and my impression was more 'Moderate' than 'Closed'. 'Open' is probably just there for completeness.
>The advantages are many: the players have a place to come back to and
people
>to support them magically, financially and in other ways.
>I'm currently running a RQ/Glorantha game in which the players are
>starting out as Sartarite tribesmen: a Closed setting. I plan to drop
>them into the maelstrom of Starbrow's rebellion and then have them
>outlawed which will force them to go a-wandering towards Pavis and life
>as footloose adventurers. I will then open out the Range and allow
>characters from other backgrounds.
After a while, when your original characters are dead or retired, you'll have the traditional motley crew of heroes, don't you think?
From: Wulf Corbett [mailto:wulfc_at_...]
>There's a difference between a hero and a Hero... it's that vital
>capital 'H' that means 'best skill 10W2 or more' :) A Hero Band
>should have a leader of real importance; Harrek had his Hero Band,
>and they had him.
A starting Hero Band isn't going to have a leader necessarily. Even with something like, say, Michael's suggestion above, the leader probably wont be *that* special, maybe just the longest serving member of the band. I also think that leaders among PCs cause problems.
>They will start that way, but they should quickly find a purpose, or
>else why do the local populace stand for them? What good do they do
>that makes it worthwhile feeding and housing them?
If they are a travelling band then they're always going to have this problem anyway. Or, like in the old D&D style games, they will turn up where there is trouble and are typically answering a call from the local population for help. Magnificent 7 style stuff.
And that brings me onto a problem I see with Closed Openness. Your tribe ain't going to like it if 4 or 5 of their heroes (even little 'h' ones) plus their followers all quit to go off a-roamin', especially if they all come from the same clan.
I think if you go for Closed Openness your Hero Band are likely to stay put - in fact, they're not what I think of as a Hero Band, just notables of the tribe, clan, whatever. Occasionally one or two of them will go off with their followers on tribal business.
With Moderate Openness you get true wondering Hero Bands, individuals all searching out their own destinies.
From: COPPEAU, Jean-Christophe
>Still in a moderate openess if I remember it well, all heroes share a
>pro-rebel or pro-empire stance.
>Even if their race and cultures are different, they have that in common.
It ain't a lot, ATEOTD, and even that is only a suggestion.
>My point as a narrator is that Glorantha offers a lot more deepness in its
>history, social structure and mythology than most rpg. It's a great thing
to
>build a story on, and my feeling is that by creating a composite Hero Band
>from scratch with no attachment to tribe, clan or whatever, you lose the
>background part which helps you cement a group, and helps this group
create
>its own identity.
Well, I agree, but individuals still have their identity.
[snipped a Closed Openness campaign description with possible Moderate Openness developemnts]
The way I'm thinking of things at the moment is that The Hero Wars is about individuals coming to prominence through all sorts of strange untypical experiences. I suppose some heroes will be the 'work your way up through the ranks' types, the ones that interes me more will find their personal path to herodom which will almost certainly necessitate them to break ranks with family/clan/tradition/god(even) and do wild different things.
Richard
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