> From: CJ <chris.romer_at_...>
> Subject: Gamers percieved issues with HQ/HW - a sample
> To: HeroQuest-RPG_at_yahoogroups.com
> Date: Sunday, June 22, 2008, 12:37 AM
> Tried a little experiment over the last few weeks in asking
> 12 gamers I know who have owned HQ/HW but no longer play it
> what they felt were the reasons why... Interesting none own
> MRQ, and 3 had only seen Hero Wars. Two intend to
> definitely buy the new HeroQuest edition on principle, and
> indeed buy everything for HQ though will never run it.
> Four still play RQ2 or RQ3 "quite often", which
> I gather is once a year or more.
>
> I made simple notes...
Good work!
>
> 1. Augments lead to arguments -- 5 votes I think this has
> been discussed many times - should there be a cap, etc, etc
>
*nods* This is a problem; scanning the sheet for potential augments is a common HQ gamist tactic. My immediate thought - and something that I try to introduce in play - that augments should be limited to one physical, one social, one psychological and one magical ability at any one time. So (to use a trivial example) when a Yelmalio is fighting some trolls to rescue his wife he can either use a Hate Trolls disposition for an augment OR Loves Wife but not both.
> 2. The Scenarios in the main HQ rule book did not appeal
> much, and we could not find anyready to run. This one
> surprised me, especially considering White Wolf products
> are very successful without scenarios, but maybe people
> need more ideas on what can be done with the system? 3
> people said this, and that was the biggest surprise to me.
>
That suprises me as well as the scenarios are very good. I also liked those in the Hero Wars rulebook. Meeting the local mouse god for a starting scenario was awesome!
> 3. We find the Gloranthan community and background too
> esorteric and ancient lore reliant, and
> "elitist", and have been made to feel like idiots
> for rmaking mistakes by players who knew it better than us,
> or just could not learn enough to feel confident - 2
> people, slightly different but I put them together in this
> category. One of them felt alienated from the lists, and
> seemed to feel themselves a victim of "Gloranthan
> politics" - they were quite aggressive in tone, and I
> narrowly escaped having to hear the whole story.
I wonder with this an inevitable result of its age and development. If one compares the notes in RuneQuest 1st ed on what constitutes Glorantha and what we have now...
> 4. I could not work out how the magic system works, and
> it's all way too rules heavy for me. Too much maths.
The magic system is badly written and badly designed, although the core concepts are good. Simple ability tests (c.f., Pendragon4e) would have worked just as well.
> 5. I could not work out how to write adventures for it.
>
> So I think help in writing adventures may be a major aid.
> I doubt the results are that representative as most of the
> people I asked have gamed with each other at some point,
> and most own MANY rpg systems but play relatively few, so
> may not be representative in nay way. About half were RQ
> grognards who never made the transition, and yet none have
> picked up Mongoose RQ.
Ummm.. That's got me perplexed as well.
> I wonder if a larger survey might be interesting, and if
> the new HQ will address much of this?
We can hope.
Thanks for your comments!
Lev
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