So what style HeroQuest Game do you play?

[MrWrong]

The whole thread on writing a Narratist scenario, really got me thinking what sort of Heroquest game people play.

Personally I presently only have time to run HQ at conventions. These games are designed specifically at Newcomers, be it either to the setting or the rules. The games themselves are a mix between straight up sword and sorcery action, and weaving a story out of the rich mythic background. I guess this is because for me the selling point of HQ is that it manages to elegantly blend the two, being imeadiatly accessable via the simple action mechanics while holding and keeping interest via the immersive background. So far I have run a game based in Pavis, using Lunar characters straingt out of the Herowars book, a Barbarian game based in Ralios, which highlighted how different the Orlanthi are in the Eastern Wilds to their Dragon Pass cousins, an all Troll Game, which was very up on the action (ok Homan slaying) yet very Mythic at the same time (despite intially being a hungover Sunday game---oh well players will run with the background if let), and an all Dwarf Game (because one of my regulars wanted to play a Dwarf in Glorantha).

I'm in the process of updating my long runing Gloranthan Campagn, from RQ to HQ (which is easy peasy lemon squeezy). In the past this was a investigative/conspiracy type game, with the occasional grim and gritty combat to give a real sense of danger about meddling in the affairs of other cults. Community and relationships with non-player characters where always an integral part of our game. The main theme of the Saga, as we called the Campaign, was the players trying to find a sense of community in land of exiles who were  trying to find some sense of national identity. The conversion to HeroQuest is more of focusing of these earlier story elements, rather than a complete rewrite. The major addition is a greater attendtion to the myths that make up the setting, since I see them as the currency of Heroquest acting as plot hook, player rewards, npc motivation and mega magic items all rolled into one, as well as game background.

This be said although I'm a big fan of designing a game environment that players can create wonderfull memorable story, I also like a good dose of action and investigation.

[Bankuei]

Hi Newt,

Well, as the primary contributer(so far) to the Nar scenario thread, its pretty obvious how I like my Hero Wars games to run.  But here's my Hero Wars tendencies in the brief-

-Lots of drama, moral questions, etc.
-Freaky monsters(because they're fun)
-Lot's of cool magic stuff going on, high on atmosphere
-Serious cultural conflicts

Although it may not seem so from the Nar thread pretty much place most of my play style at high drama + action movie, ala Hong Kong style.

I have a high suspicion that many folks have all kinds of ways to run with Glorantha, all along the G/N/S scale, and that RQ and HW have simply opened up for wider range of play than the various incarnations of D&D.

Chris

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Njal's Saga meets Gladiator meets Mountains of the Moon (the British film, early 90s) meets the cartoons of Vaughn Bode; about 50% - 25% - 15% - 10% respectively.

Best,
Ron

[Mike Holmes]

I've talked about it for a bit, but my current game is not set in Glorantha, but instead in Terry Amthor's Shadow World. Originally a product for Rolemaster, what I like about it is that it's very broadly drawn, but highly undetailed. That is, you have about a jillion cultures listed, and about two paragraphs on each.

So play largely has been about making up what everything means. Very much as Ron suggests doing in Sorcerer & Sword. This is a lot of fun for me. As opposed to workng out details that'll never get used in play, we develop them as needed. So the world exists as this gorgeous skeleton that we're filling out via play.

The most obvious example is Character Creation. Instead of finding some particular keyword, the player thinks of a character in general terms. Then we find a culture that fits (easy in SW), and build the culture by assumptions. Like the other day we started a character on a little cosmopolitanly european sort of island archipeligo nation (Sel-Kai for those in the know). We determined that the people of these islands all knew boating and fishing, and, well you get the idea.

Anyhow, by the time you get done defining the player's chosen keywords, you've mechanically defined part of the world. Which is too cool for words. So far I can only recommmend it.


Do you have some old campaign lying around that you either purchased, or wrote? Did it languish under other systems? Use it with HW, and you'll see it spring to life in a way that you've never seen before.

Mike

[Palashee]

As a Gm i'm a pragmatist I'll run the game the way the players want or expect it to be run. Experience has taught me not to inflict a certain style of play onto gamers who want to play a different style is prone to disaster.

Saying that my preferred campaign method of play is a narrativist style, where the heroes interact with their local environment, and their choices and relationships affect and change that world. But they are not isolated from the world at large. As the game time moves on certain historical events, outside of their sphere of influence, happen regardless of the heroes actions. I suppose to use the narrativist jargon these are bangs that occur at pre defined times. Although the outcome of these events is preordained by the background how these events unfold, what affect the heroes have on them and how the heroes are affected by these events is left to the players to decide in the story.

Cheers,
Mick

[simon_hibbs]

Although the outcome of these events is preordained by the background how these events unfold, what affect the heroes have on them and how the heroes are affected by these events is left to the players to decide in the story.

My current game (from which we're currently having another break) works the same way. There are a number of NPCs and factions that have their own agendas and are working towards them. I've got a 6 page document outlining the major plot elements and characaters, their relationships, resources, goals and immediate plans. This leads naturaly to a rough timeline of future events that would take place in the players' absence. However the players' actions invariably mean the timeline has to be constantly revised. Some event get canned completely, others are modified to varying extents depending on what happened in play.

The timeline doesn't have to be very detailed at all, it just provides a _very_ rough framework for campaign events that I embelish with detail during the game sessions, however the presence of a framework, however rough, is extremely useful to me.

One of my players hangs out here, so I can't go into a lot of detail, but here's one example from my game.

The PCs are Lunar emissaries, sent to pathfind for the invasion of a city. One of the major NPCs is a young woman (Celest), secretly actualy the daughter of the previous lord of the city who grew up in the empire (her mother was an imperial noblewoman).  The city borders on the kingdom of Heortland and there are many Heortlanders resident there including an influential Heortlander noble family (The Stonebrookes) with extensive holdings in the city.

Celest's plan is to infiltrate the Stonebrooke family by seducing their popular and competent heir who is commander of the city guard, and secretly assasinate him so that he is replaced by his plodding brother (whom she underestimated). She worked in league with the city administrator to revive the founding cult of the city by recovering it's lost holy relics and use the cult to cement her grip on power. This would have worked, but she underestimated the Stonebrookes and their allies, and they would mount a strong challenge to her taking controll and strip away a large section of the city guard which they still controll. As a result she would end up popular, in controll of the city, but with weakened military assets.

If fact the PCs discovered her murder of the Stonebrooke heir, but didn't interfere. Later they killed one of her key allies (a troll), preventing her from obtaining the city cult relics, and also severely disrupted a cult ceremony. This weakened her popularity and support from the populace. The PCs also attacked and weakened one of the Stonebrooke's chief supporters, crippling that faction so that they are effectively unable to challenge Celest's controll of the city guard. As a result she has weak support in the city but still controlls the city guard.

As an example of an alternate history, if the PCs had exposed her murder of the Stonebrooke heir she would either have fled or been executed, and the Stonebrookes would have quickly taken over the city, integrating it into the kingdom of Heortland and making it a lot harder for the Lunars to invade (all things being equal, which presumably they wouldn't have been).

That's a simplification of the situation, there are also many other factions involved that have a bearing on the situation.


Simon Hibbs

[Christopher Kubasik]

By the way, anyone interested in Ron's "50%" can find it here:

http://www.northvegr.org/lore/njal/

I know it's my kind of stuff, but I'd never heard of it before.

Christopher

[Ian Cooper]

Njal's Saga meets Gladiator meets Mountains of the Moon (the British film, early 90s) meets the cartoons of Vaughn Bode; about 50% - 25% - 15% - 10% respectively.

Our is similar though my breakdown would be something closer to:

40% The Tain (the Cattle Raid at Cooley)
20% Beowulf
20%: Njal's Saga (or Egil's Saga, Laxdeala Saga etc.)
10%: The Thirteenth Warrior
5%: Princess Mononoke
5% The Vikings

Of course that is an Orlanthi game. If I was in the Empire Gladiator would still be there but Ben Hur, Spartacus, Innana Queen of Heaven, the Epic of Gilgamesh and 300 Spartans would figure be in the list too

[MrWrong]

Looking at how Ron and Ian have catogorised their games, my Eastern Wilds Ralios campiagn breaks down in the following way;

50% Illuminatus Trilogy (well this is Arkat/Nysalor country)
20 % The Devil Rides in
20% Bonanza/High Chapparel
5% She (another cheesey Hammer Film)
5%  Apocalypse now

[MarkAdri]

I am currently starting to write a campaign set in the Rinliddi town of Edasus, so far I am thinking, The Warriors, The Godfather I & II, Romeo and Juliet with a dash of Dune.  The mix will probably be about

20% Warriors
40% Godfather
30% Romeo and Juliet
5% Dune
5% anything else that I think works.

[simon_hibbs]

I am currently starting to write a campaign set in the Rinliddi town of Edasus...quote]

Nice location. Here's a map of the region you might find usefull, though it's in french. It's very detailed, but doesn't have the town names from more recent maps. You could easily update it though.


Simon Hibbs

[MarkAdri]

I am currently starting to write a campaign set in the Rinliddi town of Edasus...quote]

Nice location. Here's a map of the region you might find usefull, though it's in french. It's very detailed, but doesn't have the town names from more recent maps. You could easily update it though.


Simon Hibbs

Thanks Simon

Very much appreciated

Mark

[Nick Brooke]

I am currently starting to write a campaign set in the Rinliddi town of Edasus, so far I am thinking, The Warriors, The Godfather I & II, Romeo and Juliet with a dash of Dune...

Sounds superb! And I like your inspirations.

As extra grist to the mill (beyond what's in ILH-1), I'd suggest checking out Customs, Gestures and Manners of the Nobles of Rinliddi (high-end noble poseurs) and the Bird Punks of Rinliddi (low-life thuggish poseurs).

Cheers, Nick

[MarkAdri]

Again very very useful and thanks a lot for them.

Mark

[joshua neff]

As I get ready for running my own HeroQuest game (waiting patiently for the game to be released) set in the Lunar Empire (beginning in Tarsh), I'd say my biggest influences are Star Wars, Babylon 5, Jorge Luis Borges, Michael Moorcock, Gladiator, Dictionary of the Khazars, & Invisible Cities. I'm aiming for intrigue, treachery, knives in the dark, mysterious cults & strange cabals, wonder, weirdness, & high adventure.