I fail to see how playing a "lower-level" character is in any way more complicated than playing a capital-H Hero (somehow, to my limited way of thinking, it should be *simpler*, but maybe I'm not seeing something that makes it more complicated). And since when is Superman more "clear, straightforward fun" than Batman, or even Robin? People like having options, yes, but to put one option up front, and the rest "in the back" is to push a single viewpoint at them, and mention under your breath "Well, there's some other ways to do it *cough*, but we don't like to mention them". That's not "options", that's "telling me how to play".
One reason that starting as "just beginners" has been the standard for so long is that it's easier to explain the setting to someone that doesn't supposedly know it - If you've never been off the farm, the big wide world can be explained in small doses through play. If you are assumed to be a world-travelling superhero, then you are *also* assumed to have the background that your character's 20 years of adventuring would have given you. There are enough *veteren* players that have trouble keeping the world in their minds - throwing all of Glorantha and the Hero Wars at a newbie is a real good way to make them say "to hell with this" - and that already happens with the "low-level" play of HeroQuest v.1.and RQ1-MRQ.
Not to mention that most on-going campaigns that switch to HQ v.2 are going to have to go to the "more complicated" section, and decide whether to bin the new rules because "our of play isn't supported". People that want to play Superhero-level Glorantha have had the rules with which to do so for what, 7 years or so now? Yes, I'll admit that there are problems with the rules, but *your* basic mechanics are fexible enough to allow it. And yet, I hear of few basic-abilities-at 4-mastery campaigns. You might ask why *this* is so.
RR
He was born with the gift of laughter and the sense that the world was mad
R. Sabatini, Scaramouche
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