[hw-rules] Went the Day Well?

Michael W. Ryan:

> We were speculating about this yesterday when I ran a game from just the
> synopsis and the first 3 chapters.

Yes, yes, never mind all that. :) How did the game go? Is running a game with just the three chapters and the synopsis (assuming you have RQ material to draw upon) doable?

I think it is, Michael. I actually ran 2 separate games - one on Saturday, one on Sunday. Very do-able as long as you're not going to get all uptight about knowing all the rules. There's an awful lot of improvisation to cope with. But I'd advise you to give it a go.

Keep a copy of the tables about Contests (and your wits <grin>) handy at all times, and you should do fine. Any players who are rules lawyers will have a fit, though I suspect the entire HW rulebook would still do that to them.

I like the AP system, works very well for me. Glad I caugh the explanation of how this actually worked in the mailing list, though, as it's a major failing of the synopsis. Much more interesting than the old RQ combat system, and a gift for players and GMs who like to get descriptive. Particularly as it works for other kinds of contests, too, like Bargaining. Coming up with a High Risk/High AP Bid action for this sort of talk-y action is fun... :) That said, I'll still tend to run a lot of this sort of thing without resorting to dice.

One thing that makes me uncertain is that it seems most likely to me in combat that the loser will often only end up on Dazed or Hurt, thus starting another extended contest with little difference from the first one. It could go on for ages, unless I'm missing something obvious. I do know about the Parting Shot, but if you don't succeed, the victim doesn't lose any more APs.

Character generation is *excellent*, but I knew that already as characters were created in advance. The one thing the players have all found is that there are plenty of Abilities they would have included in the 100-word description if only they'd thought more carefully... :) I think I might permit them a re-write after a session or two.
I imagine this being much less of a problem once you've gone through character gen once or twice and played a few sessions.

The toughest thing to me seems to be keeping to 100 words, but I'm prone to writing reams about my characters (and NPCs).

The main problem that my players had was trying to get their head round the Affinities and Feats. None of them had RP'ed in Glorantha before, though I'd given them all a go at King of Dragon Pass. They weren't too sure about what sort of thing would "fit in" for the things they'd be able to do. I hope there'll be *something* in HW, even if it's not a specific ruling for each Feat. Some examples would be handy... It helped that I've been into Glorantha since '83, but I can see this being a huge hurdle for players who are new to the world to get over.

I'm already under pressure to carry on with another episode of one of the two games. I'll probably be playing again in a couple of weeks' time. Time to go and write more about the Stormsinger Clan, I think... :)

Regards,

Bruce             Received on Mon 27 Mar 2000 - 11:06:29 EEST