>With regard to the more general issue of HQ scenarios....
>
>- I thought that the adventures in HQ were actually pretty good for
>beginners, it is too bad to hear that not everyone liked them. I
>guess that is a matter of tastes differ.
They just didn't have a Gloranthan feel to them. Probably because they were written for the typical ad-hoc party of adventurers so couldn't reflect the differing cultures.
>- A lot of what was put out for HW and HQ v1 strikes me as things
>you'd run as your second, or third, or seventy-ninth,
>campaign/characters. Take Barbarian Adventures, for example. There
>was a number of adventures highlighting the Heortling culture, but the
>biggest arc was the one where the characters accompany a group of
>healers. That was a great way to show another side of the
>Heortlings....but is that really where many people would want to
>_start_ their exploration of being a Heortling?
These women need help is the smallest of the three full scenarios (5 pages compared with 6 and 7). Yes, it's a bit unusual as a subject but I see providing such an escort to be a typical duty for the fulltime members of a clan warband. When you are supporting full time warriors you've got to keep them busy or they'll cause you no end of trouble. If you don't like the healers make the escortees grain priestesses although then you've got to write the story about why they are travelling.
My biggest criticism of BA is that there is too much background information for what's meant to be a scenario book.
>- The follow-on books after BA were focussed on the arc where you get
>to be a part of the big events....as was pointed out at the time,
>people's first choice is usually to be the _centre_ of events. Maybe
>after you've done a lot of that, then you get interested in playing in
>the big events in a supporting role, but it is probably not the first
>thing you want to play in a new world.
This subject has been the source of many big arguments. The story arc is useful and important. I'm not convinced scenario books are the correct way to publish it though.
>- In other words, to me it seemed that a lot of what was put out was
>aimed at people who were already experienced in Glorantha, and not so
>much at new players. Which isn't all bad.
>
>With regards to the comments of "don't know how to make a
>scenario"....wow, I think HQ has to be one of the easiest systems
>ever in which to do something like that. Maybe that could be
>emphasized in the new edition?
It depends what you are trying to do. There are many pitfalls which aren't apparent because the system is so different from most. One example is combat. Most games have a sufficently complex combat system that it takes a significant part of a session. In HQ it becomes a couple of minutes and a dice roll unless you go for an extended contest. So suddenly your four hour scenario has become two.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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