> He said to me that one of the most natural things
> that he's like to do as a Heortling Orlanthi player-character
> would be to fight against the Lunars as much as possible,
> but he claimed that the "official word" of the Hero Wars
> books prevented him from doing that realistically. He said,
> verbatim, "I'd like to fight Lunars, but if I do anything *major*
> against the Lunar military or something, the Lunars will
> come and burn down my stead and kill my family.
> So, how do I do this in the time of the oppression?
> The other alternative is becoming an outlaw right away,
> but I feel that my character is screwed if he spends the
> entire game as an outlaw. No friends, no community ..."
Well, you do have a community - of your fellow outlaws and rebels! 'In Wintertop's Shadow', available from Unspoken Word, describes such a setting, and provides plenty of gaming fun based on the premise of playing outlaws. So, rather more explicitly, does 'The Thieves Arm'. This seems to me the natural solution, and the one intended (to a greater or lesser extent) in the rules.
Now, if you don't want to join a rebel community of this type, and yet still want to attack the Lunars at every turn, then, yes, this will be a problem. Hero Wars makes it clear that actions have consequences, and such choices are not meant to be easy. If you want to play it differently, there's nothing to stop you, of course, but you're right that the published material is unlikely to directly support such an approach.
> How could I make sure that it _is_ possible and explicable
> that Heortling player-characters engage in actions against
> the Lunars without having an outright terrorist reputation?
Note that, to the Sartarites, such terrorists will instead have a 'freedom fighter' reputation, which is a good thing. Such is always the way of the world.
> Also, another question that's been on my mind recently.
> 85% of all Heortling men worship Orlanth in one of his
> many subcults. However, Thunder Rebels and other
> sources say explicitly that the worship of Orlanth is a
> no-no, the cult being officially banned in occupied Sartar.
>
> So, are 85% of the men in Sartar routinely participate in
> rites and ceremonies that are against the law?
> Or are only the _warrior_ subcults of Orlanth under the
> heavy Lunar scrutiny, but not Allfather or Lawspeaker?
Its only the warrior subcults that are banned AFAIK, and frankly, the Lunars don't put those under heavy scrutiny outside the cities. They just haven't got the time or resources!
> So how do you manage to achieve that balance between
> "This is your cult, this is your tradition and it always
> has been. You get your Affinities and Feats from that
> cult, and you must pump your earned Hero Points
> into those Affinities to get better." and "Actually, you
> are aware that all of this is really against the law."
'Ignore the law' would be the official line. This will be doubly easy if you happen to live in one of the free tribes (BA p.5). Now, if your players object on principle to playing characters who oppose the law (even where, as here, the law is manifestly unjust) then a Heortling rebel campaign is not likely to be for them. They may enjoy playing in a Lunar campaign much more, and they'll soon have the tools to do so. Alternatively, one could play a 'Lunar sympathiser' campaign in Sartar. Obviously that would take rather more work, but I've heard of a few gamers who've taken up that challenge in their own Hero Wars gaming.
-- Trotsky Gamer and Skeptic ------------------------------------------------------ Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
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