Doo-dads in Hero Wars

[Blake Hutchins]

A comment by Ron in the Hero Wars 101 thread got me thinking about how one handles increased scores in "stuff" owned by a character.  Does an increased score with, say, a magic sword or your grandfather's troth ring reflect greater skill, a more insightful relationship with the item, better understanding of its mythic role, or unlocked powers?

Best,

Blake

[Mike Holmes]

Yes.

[Ron Edwards]

Blake,

Mike's right. One of the characters in my Hero Wars game had a magic spear as a starting ability at a mere 13. Many sessions later, he had a bad-ass fuckin scary magic spear at a much better score (can't remember what exactly).

Why? Because basically he waved it around a lot. It became a part of his character in literary terms. All it took was using it to augment other stuff in scenes and then dropping Hero Points into it. He rarely actually stuck anyone with it; it was used primarily as window dressing for shamanic rituals (and the possible +2).

Why, in-game? Because he refitted its tip with iron, he used it as a focus to bind and protect some children's ghosts, and he used it to draw shamanic circles and similar stuff.

The important thing to understand, I think, is that the first Why is more important than the second Why, in terms of Hero Wars mechanics.

Best,
Ron

[Blake Hutchins]

Thanks, guys.  Great examples.  As you could guess from my post, I had a decent grip on the story rationale, but wanted more concrete feedback regarding how it worked in play.

Best,

Blake

[simon_hibbs]

A comment by Ron in the Hero Wars 101 thread got me thinking about how one handles increased scores in "stuff" owned by a character.  Does an increased score with, say, a magic sword or your grandfather's troth ring reflect greater skill, a more insightful relationship with the item, better understanding of its mythic role, or unlocked powers?

I'll just drop in with an in-world (Simulationist?) perspective, not that I'd contradict the previously posted answers in any way. They are prefectly valid and true.

Gloranthan magic is very much about personal relationships with otherworldly forces. A magical abject is a link with the otherworld, and exists in the mundane and magical worlds simultaneously. A Ring of Power is more dangerous in the hands of a Wizard than in the hands of a Hobbit, for example.

I suppose we could say that the wielder 'learns' how to use the magic in the spear more effectively, but this isn't like learning how to use a gun better. Any interaction with magic is a two-way relationship. You use the magic but also, in a sense, the magic uses you.


Simon Hibbs

[Ron Edwards]

Simon's right too. It takes a little mental re-arranging to grasp that Glorantha is not "a fantasy world where magic works," so much as "that magical time, long past." Hence Simon's in-game explanation and my more thematic/out-of-game explanation are intertwined, and that itself is something that can be emphasized most specially during play.

'Course, one of the best things about that is that, as in the best mythic literature, the inhabitants of these Ancient Days think that they're the mundane, magic-lost times in comparison to the Very Ancient Days.

Best,
Ron