This has been discussed a length on the list already. I think Greg has thought it through and I agree with him. You can argue the toss about any of the points you raised - it depends purely how you define normal circumstances.
This is a pretty pointless debate, in the sense that while the rules imply masteries are common they do not mandate it.
>>> Looking at the Rules, p120 tells me that making a Jourenyman quality
>>> item starts at 1W: a Masterwork starts at 1W2.
>>
>>I'd definitely say that one makes ones masterpiece at 1W.
This may be a translation problem. Masterpiece has (at least) two senses in English 1) the piece of work that an apprentice completes to prove his competence and end his apprenticeship 2) a great piece of work marking the high point of an artists or craftman's career. Greg believes that comptence can be graded roughly like this for Hero Wars:
For Greg most mature adults will have competence 1) in at least one ability. This fits in perfectly in my view with heroic games (and real life) but YGMV.
>>> It sounds to me as if a skill that a PC has got well enough to be of value
>>> to the clan should be at least at 1W. Not the "everyone can do that"
>>> skills, but, say Brew Cider. Fishing. Cooking. Something that isn't that
>>> unusual, but not everyone is that good. Obviously I'm not going to list
>>> Walk 1W2 (or even Chew Gum 1W2), but there are people who can't
>>> cook, or fish, so it's worth mentioning it when someone can.
>>
>>This is a well known RPG phenomenon called "inflation". We saw this with
>>bad RQ character writeups at some published works, with NPC:s having
>>200+ skills and almost everybody having a DEX of 18+.
>>
>>I recommend that you don't set your foot on that path.
I think that is a mistaken view. Very few other rpgs have scalable rules which permit high power level characters. Hero Wars does, but you don't have to use it. There is a big difference that inflation and Arnulf the steadowner having Farming at 1W (which is Greg's proposition).
Thom
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