> Just signed up. Have played Runequest, COC, Pendragon (but GK has
> shelved it for a while) before, bought some RQ products but have
> never played HW.
A hearty welcome to you, Lee!
Wow, another newbie. Finally. It's a pity you don't live in my area.
> Where should I begin? How do you attract new players? Enlighten me.
Do you own a Hero Wars rulebook?
For starters, you only need the Hero Wars: Roleplaying in Glorantha book and Hero Wars Narrator's Book. But make sure that you download a list of the _Errata_ for those two books from the official Hero Wars website (that is, http://www.HeroWars.com/ ).
The printing run Issaries made for the first two books in 2000 is sold out, but some good game stores might have copies sitting on shelves. Or you might want to try eBay. Make sure you do not get ripped off. I also have an unused, still shrink-wrapped copy of the Deluxe Hero Wars boxed set. Contact me off-list if you need it bad.
The two Orlanthi paperbacks, "Thunder Rebels" and "Storm Tribe" are excellently done; my favorites in the line so far. You do not need them for your first game session, but they will enhance the game big time if you are planning on playing Orlanthi in Dragon Pass long-term. First and foremost, you should look at those two volumes for the expanded info on the Orlanthi cults. (Like "Gods of Glorantha" for RQ, but a lot more text and a lot more mythical things to explore for everybody.)
Other than that, you could wait until next spring when Greg Stafford is going to have "HeroQuest" released. That's the follow-up game to Hero Wars, with all of the little mistakes, typos and inconsistencies taken out. If you do not have your own copy of Hero Wars, yet, and are not planning on buying it, you might as well wait for HeroQuest.
Be sure to get the Rules Synopsis from the official free demo kit
from the Hero Wars website, too. Very good document, all the
essential mechanics in one place, 5 pages only.
It can be printed out or photocopied as often as you like, and it
can be used by your players instantly.
(Alas, some people will claim that you do need to look up various
rules in the big rulebook, anyway.)
How do you attract players?
Well, do not try to impress newbies with the words "Hero Wars",
"Glorantha", or "mythic roleplaying". Just tell them to check out
a new, narrative fantasy roleplaying game, a game that is
"characters over statistics", and "heroism over realism".
Definitely not a game where you scrounge items in dungeons
and kill monsters in the hope of seeing your Hit Points increase.
There's nothing like that in Hero Wars. In short, no Hit Points,
no Magic Points, no Fatigue Points, no Strike Ranks.
No more separate sourcebooks for magic, monsters, or
character classes. You don't have to have read sixty books
before you can start playing. Tell them that much. ;-)
Everything a character does is expressed by an "ability".
The game should run a lot more like an episode of "Xena" or
"The Lost World" than your typical D&D fantasy game.
And there's only one type of die involved (1d20).
Dou you like that? -- Good! That's the beginning.
CU
Norbert
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