My House Rules

This page is where I'll post ideas I have for ironing out some rules issues in Hero Wars. My suggestions are seldom final – many of them are likely to change as I test them some more, so be sure to check back now and again for updates.

Enhancements

It is my firm opinion that the Augmentation Results Chart on page 134 of HW:RiG is seriously broken. I mean, a penalty for a mere marginal defeat? I'm not going to spend a lot of effort explaining why that is a bad idea. Search the hw-rules list archives if you want to follow the debate. Instead I'll just present my revised table:

Penalties last for the duration of the scene. The "ability used" is whatever is providing the augment or edge.

Just to be consistent, the AP Loan Chart on page 136 should also be amended slightly:

Extended Contests

A lot of people don't seem happy about having to consult the chart all the time. Some might be helped by the trick I've used to memorize it. I visualize it not as a table but as a straight line with a series of results in simple arithmetic order: 1, 2, 3. Or rather, two possible lines depending on which main principle comes into play:

1. If the winner of the exchange rolled a Critical, there is a Transfer. The bid is multiplied by the difference in degree of success (Critical vs. Success = 1 and so on).
2. If the winner of the exchange rolled a Success or a Failure, the loser must Forfeit. The bid is multiplied by the Victory Level, seen as a number (Marginal = 1, Minor =2 and so forth).

Unfortunately, that's not the whole story. There are also four special cases that must be remembered:

1. A Failure always means the roller gets at least a Forfeit 1x, even if he is the winner. (But remember that a Failure is sometimes regarded as a Success, if the mastery cancelling special case on page 121 applies.)
2. If both contestants Fumble, they both Forfeit 2x.
3. On a Tie there is no result.
4. If both contestants Critical, the Narrator must use her best judgement to determine what happens.

Starting Abilities

Sometimes the occupational and magical keywords mention the same ability, or close enough to make no difference. In these cases I'm considering giving the character +2 to the ability for each occurrence after the first, including if words are spent on it in the narrative, but excluding the cultural keyword. The exception would be Combat abilities, where each extra mention just gives another weapon type or fighting style.

Awarding Hero Points

I've found the guidelines on pages 31-32 to be somewhat stingy. Being more generous doesn't mean that the heroes will progress faster in their best abilities; the geometrically increasing cost of improvement is a disincentive for most players. Instead it promotes diversity, letting heroes become proficient in more than one area. It also lets them develop magical abilities, something many are loathe to do if it means not increasing anything else after a session. And if someone pours all of his HP into one ability anyway, it's easy to show the error of his ways by running episodes where that ability isn't useful. This is only a general recommendation, I find it difficult to give exact numbers because there are just too many variables. You'll have to use your fingerspitzgefühl.

There is one rule of thumb suggested by others that I've found useful: after a HeroQuest, participants get directed HP equal to the final carryover. These must be spent to increase abilities used at the stations of the quest, or relationships to communities or groups that have given support to the quest. Magical abilities can be increased several levels, at a linear cost (e.g. +1 to an affinity costs 3 HP, +2 costs 6 and so on).

Another idea which is the reverse of the above
Don't increase HP awards, just reduce the cost of affinities and other magical abilities down to the same as all other abilities. Or if that's too extreme for you, at least make the cost twice normal instead of triple. What about sorcerers you ask? They get such a raw deal in the current table that I feel their costs should be reduced down to those of theists in any case.

With this modification, you might be worried about huge abilities being built up quickly. If so, simply remove a Hero Point or two from the batch you would normally hand out at a session's end, and give them as directed improvements instead. That way, you maintain some control over character development without seeming ungenerous. HeroQuests should still bring greater rewards than a normal session, of course.

Abilities 'Related to Session'

I got the basic idea for this from one of the mailing lists. An initiate (not to mention a devotee) spends so much time emulating the deity that anything in the Magic Keyword could always be considered "related to session". Similarly, most characters should constantly be practicing their Occupation between sessions, so the same thing goes for that Keyword. Normally, I'd allow the same for the Cultural Keyword. I can see some obvious exceptions to this: for example, a full-time Heortling Warrior shouldn't get to buy up his Farming at the lower cost without actually doing some farming in-session. Adventurers wandering far abroad wouldn't be able to increase relationships to their home communities without some fancy explaining. Just use common sense.

Secrets of the Gods

Considering that few specific descriptions are given for any other kind of magic, I find it slightly odd that the secrets taught by theist cults are given so much space. But that wouldn't be a problem if those decriptions were useful. In many cases, however, I find the rules to be unworkable or just plain incomprehensible. Thunder Rebels and Storm Tribe have not helped much, they've provided more words but not more explanation. I'm going to take a stab at providing alternate interpretations for the ones I find problematic.

The first case to catch my eye was secrets of the type "automatically succeed at a single final action". Now what is this supposed to mean? Is the ability rating meaningless? Or do you have to roll to get the "automatic" success? Anyway, on a final action you're generally trying for better than just a plain success. So here's my suggestion for these abilities: if the hero fulfills the criteria for using the secret, he is automatically allowed to take the final action with no penalties (as if a critical had been rolled on the Final Action Results Chart). Furthermore, the secret's rating is added as a bonus to whatever ability is used for the action itself.

Another recurring form of secret is "instantly use an affinity if certain conditions are met". I think it should be added that the ability rating used is that of the secret – just so it's useful for something.

The "acts as a mystic strike" ones are unusable because the mystic strike mechanism sucks. Hopefully this will be fixed in the second edition. For now, my best suggestion is to just do away with the reduction in ability you're supposed to get whenever you fail. This at least takes mystic strikes out of the "suicidal" category.

I think that "acts as an affinity with some feats and can also be used to augment the normal affinities" secrets are a bit weak. Unfortunately I'm not quite sure what to do about this yet. At least for Vanganth, there's one fix I can suggest right away: allow its use to augment any affinity, not just Flight. Just to maintain consistency with the other secrets of this type.

Some problems are specific to Thunder Rebels and Storm Tribe:
Drogarsi, Finovan and Yuhurol have secrets of the "ignore Multiple Target penalties" type, but in all other such cases the secret can also be used to augment the affinity used. I think devotees of these cults should get this opportunity, too.
Orvanshagor gives much too puny a benefit. If a dragonslayer goes to the Otherworld and retrieves unique information about his foe, the result should be something more substantial than just an augment worth a few bonus points. I say that this secret can always be used to augment any ability used in fighting a draconic foe, and if the quest for the secret weakness is performed the full rating of the secret is given as a bonus against that particular dragon. Someone who fights dragons regularly needs all the help he can get.
Elmal Hearthguard's secret should be amended to involve the ability rating somehow. No specific ideas yet.
It's implied, but could be more explicit, that the rating of Urox' secret is used for interactions with the Spirit World.

The "nobody can make you do anything" rule

When describing the loss or transfer of AP, just about anything goes in narrative terms. The restriction in rules terms is that the description can not lead to any additional game mechanical effects; a normal action in an extended contest affects only AP and nothing else. In other words, it is not possible to limit another contestant's options simply through description. You can describe an opponent forfeiting AP as "I knock him over so he rolls down the slope of the hill", but you can't add "so he has to use some movement ability to get back in the fight". The need to regain position is already figured into the loss of AP. Causing other effects during a contest is possible, but requires an unrelated action. In the example, if the actor had taken an unrelated action to use his Shove ability against the opponent's Keep Balance, then it could have the desired effect. In fact, most statements of intent during an extended contest can be resolved in either of two ways: as a normal action or an unrelated one. The description remains the same, only the rule mechanics change. But you can't have it both ways at once.

Latest update: 2002-05-10