The latest in a long line of games set in the mythic world of Glorantha, \"HeroQuest\" is a vast improvement over the muddled and sloppy \"Hero Wars,\" the game it now replaces, and perhaps the best introduction newcomers to Glorantha have ever had.
Post originally by Wulf Corbett at 2003-12-29 17:41:58
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One minor point, you get THREE keywords on character creation, Homeland, Occupation and Magic. You get the Homeland worship basics with that keyword, but choice of God, Spirit or Saint is seperate.
Post originally by Drew at 2003-12-29 21:25:14
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I think I addressed that;
"A "keyword" can be a homeland, such as "Heortling" or "Dara Happa," a profession like "Warrior" or "Merchant," or the name of a god, pantheon, or religious philosophy."
Post originally by MountainGoblin at 2003-12-30 05:18:19
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You haven't actually addressed in your review just how HeroQuest represents "the best introduction newcomers to Glorantha have ever had". In fact, I own the book and, as a newbie to Glorantha (despite having played RPG for some fifteen years or more, I only played RuneQuest once) I find the book is a disaster from the point of view of giving a coherent world view or even allowing you to start playing without acquiring some other books to detail the world.
In your review, you mention a number of details that are not (at least if I recall correctly) in the rulebook: the explanation for rivers running the way they do, and the journey of the sun. This is precisely what's lacking from the rulebook: that kind of oh-so-important little detail that makes the world work... In fact, I had quite a surprise when I picked up the HeroQuest "Glorantha" book (in the french translation) and discovered quite a lot of details about the Gloranthan sky that would be very important in some conditions and difficult to introduce during gameplay without players saying something like "oh, and how come this wasn't obvious all along?". I mean, the actual description of the world is only about 8 pages long, at the end of the book, with a map that lacks a scale and the names of features don't correspond to the text describing it...
Another problem with the basic book is the amazing lack of detail regarding cultures... Take the Esrolians: the drawing featured on the two page description of their culture depicts two women with (apparently) very dark skin. At first, I thought they were some kind of "black" culture, but they had more or less the same gods as the Heortlings... What is going on? Well, the "Glorantha" rules reveal that they are, in fact, a seperate branch of Heortlings!
Anyway, I was actually planning to write a review addressing this, so I won't go on any further. I'd just like you to explain why you think it's "the best introduction newcomers to Glorantha have ever had".
Post originally by Wulf Corbett at 2003-12-30 06:44:45
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Drew wrote:
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I think I addressed that;
"A "keyword" can be a homeland, such as "Heortling" or "Dara Happa," a profession like "Warrior" or "Merchant," or the name of a god, pantheon, or religious philosophy."
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Ah, right, I now see your meaning. I got confused by the number of "or"s :-)
Post originally by Captain Spaulding at 2003-12-31 06:35:27
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MountainGoblin wrote:
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You haven't actually addressed in your
review just how HeroQuest represents "the best introduction newcomers to Glorantha have ever had".
As a core rulebook, it is the best introduction so far. It has far more source material on Glorantha than any of the versions of Runequest or the Hero Wars rulebook(s) contained.
That's not to say that it's a perfect introduction, but that's another issue...
Post originally by Drew at 2004-01-02 00:40:38
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Well...
When I bought RuneQuest Second edition back in 1983, it had A LOT less detail about Glorantha than HeroQuest does. When I bought the third edition in 1984, they had largely deleted Gloranthan material to make the system more generic. "Hero Wars," had some nice details, but scattered around the rules so much it did little but confuse newbies. So, maybe what I should have stressed was "Of all the CORE GLORANTHAN RULE BOOKS SO FAR, this is the best introduction." That was my intent, anyway.
I don't think Stafford & Co. felt the need to put everything in. There's a wonderful little book, "Glorantha, Introduction to the Hero Wars" that just describes the setting, without any game details. This world has been developing for nearly 40 years, and that's a lot of info for one little core rulebook. I think "HeroQuest" outlines the basics, the pattern of myth and heroquesting, and leaves the field open for individual development.
For introductory material and in-depth articles on Glorantha. I wish I'd had this when I started playing Third Edition, bereft of anything but generic fantasy fare.
Post originally by Stephen Martin at 2004-01-04 21:55:40
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Hello all,
Thanks for bringing up the subject. We thought quite a bit about how much detail on Glorantha itself to put into HeroQuest. Ultimately, our decision was based in part on the availability of other information, the information on our web site, and the fact that we are emphasizing playing in Glorantha rather than Glorantha itself.
Having said that, we are making plans for a new Introduction to Glorantha Book that will be much more focused on newcomers to the world. It will provide basic information on all of the major lands, the non-human races, Chaos, the Sky, and other subjects, without overwhelming the reader with the huge amounts of detail in *Glorantha*. We hope to have detailed information available on this book in a few weeks.
Cheers,
Stephen Martin
<administrator@glorantha.com>
Issaries, Inc., publisher of HeroQuest, Roleplaying in Glorantha
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