On 18 Mar 2005 at 6:20, Rob wrote:
> I had a similar problem with my best friends who I used to game
> with. I took the 'have what you want' approach. To be frank they
> created AD&D characters, and the whole thing sucked. They didn't
> really want to play and I couldn't imagine how I would weave their
> story into that of the Hero Wars.
How completely devoid from anything were these people? I think you can even weave wandering adventurer types into the Hero Wars, since those wars are happening all around them.
What I did was tell them that they were all in one place, with a specific situation happening, and then they could be from any background as long as they explained why they ended up in this place now. The other rule I put in was that I wanted each player to have some story arc in mind. For instance, the wizard I mentioned wanted a character doing the "how low am I willing to go to free my people?" arc. He has access to Chaos magics, although is loath to use them. He wants to return to his island and free his people from the Mage King. He is in a place where the Pharoah had once amassed massive strange magics, and the Lunars know Chaos magic. He is an outsider in a war zone he has no side on. What is he willing to do, who does he help, while searching for a way to get power enough to defeat his enemy?
The Lhankor Mhy scholar picked a redemption arc. She wanted to have gotten something horribly wrong, which caused great evil, and now (having been given a second chance) wants to redeem it. She is traditional Orlanthi and anti-lunar. The player knew the details of the motivation first. We then talked about it, and given that the "you fix what you did" is a core of Orlanthi mythical belief, she went with them.
etc. What I'm trying to point out is that this method let us find what they wanted to play without being overly swamped by Gloranthan detail. Glorantha is rich enough that once they picked a story/character type they wanted to play, we could find something that worked for them.
> I started a game in London at a gaming club. Quite daunting at
> first, narrating strangers in a system I was unfamiliar with. I
> changed tack and insisted people created Heortlings, but of any
> occupation, and got a scholar, an entertainer and a hunter. I ran
> the scenario's from the HQ rules which I thought introduced the
> rules in a nice structured way. And they are all easy to make
> Heortling specific.
I certainly think that the next time I start a game I am very likely to just make a clan and make everyone in it. Just because so far 95% of everything we have to use is that. It makes life easier. Also, I'd like to explore that epic journey (the people from the clan who grow to fight for the fate of the world) in a game that supports all the relationship side of it.
> Also as grounded Heortlings, with relationships to their clans and
> clan mates the disasters of the Hero Wars will have far more impact
> IMO. Thats why I insist people don't create outsiders. YGWV and
> MGF and all that. I also wish I had insisted that people took cults
> from Orlanth and Ernalda, unless they had a very strong character
> concept otherwise.
I think that would be interesting.
LC
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