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Title: Hero Wars: Roleplaying in Glorantha (Hero Wars Roleplaying Game, 1101) by Robin Laws, Greg Stafford, Roderick Robertson, Shannon Appel ISBN: 1-929052-01-4 Publisher: Issaries, Inc. Pub. Date: April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 2
Summary: Sadly, it misses
Comment: I first was introduced to Glorantha back around 1980 through RuneQuest. I read through all three editions, but always found the game lacking. The stories of the gods and heroes of Glorantha were always so much larger than a game where you are tramping around like a mercenary-scavenger struggling to get enough clacks to buy a brew. So when Hero Wars was first being touted I was quite excited. Finally a chance for the rpg to catch up with White Bear, Red Moon and Plains of Prax!

That was how I felt until I read through the game.

What I expected was a game that ignored the petty details of day-to-day life and went for the Grand Hero's Journey a la Joseph Campbell. Instead our hero-to-be is just another member of his tribe. Yes, finally you get to play someone actually out of Dragon Pass, and supposedly you are halfway to being a hero already, but the tone of the game is to fit into your culture, to deal with petty cattle raids, and to worry whether or not the crops will come in next year.

The system isn't too difficult to figure out ... after about a dozen reads. As a veteran of reading many types of rpgs in my 25 years of playing, I found the layout and explanations very confusing. The editing is attrocious. There are tables that are split from bottom of one page to top of another. As we are living in a day and age of on-screen editing and WYSIWYG word processing this is unforgivable. Skills are often ill-defined, sometimes not defined at all (I am still waiting for the definition of the talent "Snarl Darkness"). Yes, you can create skills off the top of your head, but you better have a group that is willing to put up with ill-defined talents. Then again, since that seems to be the editorial style of this game, go for it.

The game sets up as many problems as it solves. If your character is already a "local hero" why is it that Joe Nobody warriors (and most ordinary carnivores) will beat you up seven times out of ten? If you are supposed to be a hero (again thinking of Campbell), why is he worried about getting his cattle in? Where are the gods? Where are the wonderous items?

I look upon myself as the person this game was aimed for, someone with a strong interest in folklore/mythology, well-read in Glorantha, and disappointed with the limitations of RuneQuest. Instead I am utterly turned off to this game and its few supplements. Yes, the later supplements have improved in editing (I looked through them at a local game store, but refused to buy them on principle), but the basic game is poorly laid out, less "user friendly" for people not yet introduced to Glorantha, and far from clear in its focus.

Maybe someday a better version will be written.

Maybe this better version will appear in less than 20 years.

Rating: 5
Summary: The finest fantasy role-playing game around
Comment: Glorantha has for years been the richest, most vibrant fantasy world in the gaming scene but, in my opinion, it has been let down by the Runequest system which was good - but not good enough. It could not cater for the mythic depth of the world, characters who could ride lightning bolts and become the avatars of ancient heroes, dragons the size of mountain ranges and adventures which would revolve not on who was the finest swordsman, but who best embodied his god's virtues and abilities. At last, that game is here, with a flexible and innovative system from Robin Laws, and already a stream of first-class supplements. This is, I confess, a terribly gushing review. You don't want to read any more of my extravagant praise - just buy this game, and play it. The Hero Wars are now.