Re: Ho Much Rule fiddling Is Tolerable?

From: John Machin <orichalka_at_dky3Ygfl5aQlWJ-sj7RAi-zDTMCri0v6ChRyI3ZWdDeEBv8n5mwT5ADO6tE9u_m_dm>
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:48:51 +1000

On 19/07/07, Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_gXJmLI1H7v5owcVKn7bABMF79-zLagSgKuLDpJIle27KZoW6a4-xxZHrfCvGQZhDM2LR4MraurZn05g9.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> I didn't say they did enjoy it - I said: "give us all options up front".
> Robin says that "hero level" is the bestest, coolest, etc., and he derided
> "lowlevel" games. I'm saying "Sure, give us Hero-level, but give us lower
> levels too *with the same empahasis as the hero level*. I'm not saying bin
> the hero stuff, I'm saying add it on to the lower level. Show us how to be a
> rank beginner, a best-in-the-neighborhood and a best-in-the-world kind of
> guy.

Personally, I like a variety of "power-levels" in gaming - however I will say that a name like "HeroQuest" and some shiny art of gods going the biff on the cover does conjure certain expectations on the part of newbies, that being said...

> Considering that it would take probably one page to show the differences
> between Beginning, Middling and Hero level character creation, and maybe
> another couple pages to show the different adventures and concerns a
> character could have at each level, I don't see why Non-hero has to be
> relegated to the back of the book.

I think that the "new" player (and this can be someone like myself who is "new" to Glorantha, but not new to RPGs in general) tends to look for options and customisability. It'd be a mistake, in my opinion, to assume that all new-comers to HQ/Glorantha want super-powers straight out of the box.

Interestingly, one of my other favourite games is "The Dying Earth" which has precisely this sort of division. The core rule book deals mostly with the lowest level of play, while expansions cover the second and third tiers of powerfulness. This might be a model that works for HQ2 - with the middle tier being the default and the other's being distinguished from it very early on.

> If my 15-year old niece wants to play Jar-eel, that's great. I just want the
> *same* support for me playing a Heortling (or Tatooine, or Middle Ages
> fairy-tale) farmboy. I don't want to be told to go to the back of the book
> to see what crumbs may have left for me (because, intended or not, that's
> what being told to look at "advanced" or "optional" rules will feel like).

Personally I think a variety of options also helps emphasise the difference between the normal people, the heroes, and the Heroes - this'd be quite useful, given the way certain threads in this list have been going lately.

Also, FWIW, I don't particularly like the idea that only the young want super-powers - I rather enjoy super-powered characters from time to time and I do not think this is because I am childish or megalomanical in my outlook (although I could be wrong about the megalomania?).

-- 
John Machin
"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."
- Athanasius Kircher, 'The Great Art of Knowledge'.