Okay, I decided to have a stab at this after all...
The core mechanic of Hero Wars is to select an ability to what you're trying to do and simply roll under it. For example, Oranda (who is hungry) is trying to persuade Ferena (a steadwife) to give her some free food. The narrator can decide to handle this in several ways:
1. No need to roll.
If the narrator feels that "no self-respecting hero should fail" at cadging a meal from Ferena - perhaps Ferena is known for her generosity to the poor and hungry - then she can allow Oranda to succeed automatically.
2. A Simple Contest.
If the narrator thinks that this might not work, she can make the attempt to cadge food a simple contest (see HW p126-127). In this case:
* Oranda rolls her ability: Cadge A Meal 18
* Ferena rolls her ability: Prudent 17
To determine who succeeds, compare the level of success that each character gets on their roll on the Simple Contest Chart (p127). For example, if Oranda rolls a success and Ferena rolls a failure, then Oranda has gained a Minor Victory. You might decide that Oranda gets the following results from her attempt, depending on the level of victory or defeat:
* Complete Victory - Ferena gives her a freshly baked apple pie, a mug of fresh mead and some bread and meat to take away with her.
* Major Victory - Oranda gets some meat and fresh bread.
* Minor Victory - Oranda gets a bowl of porridge and some water.
* Marginal Victory - Oranda gets some dry crusts of bread.
* Marginal Defeat - Ferena will not give Oranda anything.
* Minor Defeat - Ferena shoos Oranda away from her house.
* Major Defeat - Ferena throws a bucket of water over Oranda and chases her away.
* Complete Defeat - Ferena beats Oranda with a broom and chases her away.
3. An Extended Contest
If the narrator thinks that Oranda's attempt to cadge food from Ferena is dramatic and should be played out in more detail, she might treat it as an Extended Contest (see HW p128-132; note that the "Simple Contest Chart" on p130 should be labelled as an "EXTENDED Contest Chart").
Rather than write out a whole example of an extended contest, I'll refer you to
Tim's example .
In this case, rather than a contest of combat skills, it would be a contest between Oranda's abilities in wheedling food from suckers and Ferena's ability to resist. The level of victory/defeat the contest are determined by how far the losing participant is driven below 0 AP (see HW p132: "Ordinary Consequences Chart"). The narrator would judge the results just as if it were a Simple Contest, as above.
And, really, that's the entire rules mechanic in a nutshell. Anything else is added fiddly bits and complications. The most important of these, which bears explaining, is the concept of "Masteries". Each Mastery (represented by a Mastery Rune or "W") gives you a free "bump up" when you roll your skill. What this does, is to increase the degree of success (see HW p115-116) that you roll by one level per Mastery. For example -
Oranda has the ability Cadge A Meal 18. If she rolls:
* 1 - she has a Critical Success.
* 2-18 - she has a Success.
* 19 - she has a Failure.
* 20 - she has a Fumble.
If she improved this ability to 4W, she would roll as if her skill was 4, then increase her degree of success by one level for her Mastery. So if she rolled:
* 1 - she rolls a Critical Success, which cannot "bump up" any more.
* 2-4 - she rolls a Success, which "bumps up" to a Critical Success.
* 5-19 - she rolls a Failure, which "bumps up" to a Success.
* 20 - she rolls a Fumble, which "bumps up" to a Failure.
If two characters who both have Masteries oppose each other, the Masteries "cancel out". Some examples:
1. Oranda uses her Cadge A Meal 4W, opposed by Ferena's Resist Fast Talk 3W. The Masteries cancel out, giving Oranda an effective skill of 4, and Ferena an effective skill of 3.
2. Oranda tries her Cadge A Meal 4W on Farnan the Stingy, who has Miserly 10W2 (he has 2 Masteries). Oranda's Mastery cancels one of Farnan's two Masteries. Oranda's skill is effectively 4, while Farnan's is effectively 10W.
I hope this helps to make things a little clearer, and that it made some sense. If there's more confusion to be cleared up, do feel free to keep asking questions.
What is it that's got you particularly stumped at the moment?
Linear Mode
