Hero Wars

A roleplaying game set in the fantasy world of Glorantha

All Contents are Copyright © 2000 by Issaries, Inc.
No reproduction of this document is allowed without explicit written permission, except for limited personal use.

Getting Started

Roleplaying Basics

Welcome to Hero Wars! Hero Wars is a roleplaying game, where you and several friends act out the parts of inhabitants of an amazing fantasy world. During the game, you will face foes, slay monsters, defend kingdoms, rescue princesses, and overcome any obstacles that are set before you. Although your goals might be different, your destiny is the same: to become one of the immortal heroes of legend!

Roleplaying is a form of entertainment in which the players tell a collective story. It has its formal roots in the fantasy and wargaming communities, but dates back much farther than that. Since the dawn of time children have told stories through playacting. Whether it is playing Romans and Greeks using old sticks as swords, or playing teatime with dolls, these are the true roots of roleplaying. As adults we often lose this side of ourselves, leading to the current fad of "releasing your inner child."

If you’re unfamiliar with roleplaying games, you may be expecting to have to get up and act out your part, wear a costume, or wave a fake sword around. Like most roleplaying games, Hero Wars doesn’t match that description. Everybody usually remains seated; the telling of the story is entirely oral. When you take part in a roleplaying game, you gather with a group of other players, either in person or through an Internet chat facility. By talking, and every now and then rolling some dice, you together create an unpredictable adventure story featuring characters you and your friends created, set in the fantastic world of Glorantha.

One player takes the part of the narrator; everyone else plays a fictional character. These characters are called heroes; their actions in the world of Glorantha give shape to the story. It’s the narrator’s job to place entertaining limits on the characters, confronting them with suspenseful challenges as they try to accomplish their goals in the world of Glorantha. Some game groups may have only one narrator who runs all the games; others may rotate the narrator position, allowing everyone a chance to play and to narrate.

Players portray one or more character each; the heroes together are the most important characters in the story. The narrator plays a wide range of minor characters called narrator characters. Heroes are not usually lone wolves. One of the most important features of a hero is his ability to recruit followers who aid him in fights, support him in debates, and guard his back while he explores the cosmos. Heroes may also have a community that they guard (whether this is a single village or an entire nation is up to the players) which can give the hero followers, support, or even worship.

Individual Hero Wars stories are referred to as episodes. All together, a number of episodes sharing characters and other plot elements is called a series.

Example of Play

If you were to eavesdrop on a group beginning a Hero Wars episode, they might sound like this:

Kathy (the narrator): "Sasara Strawbeard, the village chieftain, summons the greatest warriors and magicians of the village hall. That means all of you. I assume everyone shows up …?

[The players all nod their heads in agreement.]

Sasara announces that a catastrophe has befallen the community--the Emerald Sword, your most precious magical treasure, a relic from the days when gods and men walked the earth together, is missing! She needs you to find it and bring it back."

Rick (speaking in character as his hero, Kallai, a hotheaded warrior): "We should also punish whoever shamed us in this way!"

Kathy: "The assembled villagers grunt their agreement with Kallai: 'Whoever has done this must pay!'"

John (playing Rurik Horsefriend, even more hotheaded than Kallai): "They should do more than pay--they must die for what they have done!"

Peter (playing Rollo, a light-fingered merchant adventurer): "Rurik is always quick to call for blood, but we do not know what has happened. Perhaps we should investigate the case first. It may be that there is more here than meets the eye."

Nick (playing Koschei, a Kolating shaman): "Let’s find the truth first, then argue about what must be done."

Colin (playing Bundri, a fool): Bundri ignores the argument and takes three mouse skulls from his pouch. He sits in a corner and juggles them until the others have settled on a course of action.

Kathy: "Sasara says she trusts the group of you, who have saved the village so many times in the past, to do what is right when the time comes. She urges you to get started immediately!"

The narrator and players continue in this fashion until one of the heroes tries to do something difficult in the game world. They then must resort to the rules to find out whether the character succeeds or not. This introduces suspense--because you want your characters to succeed, and feel for them when the fail--and ensures that no one participant, not even the narrator, can entirely control the outcome of events.

What You Need

In order to play this game, you need the following:

• This book.
• A group of players. You can find them via the Internet if you can’t find a group near you.
• A twenty-sided die (also called a d20) for each participant. These are available at most specialty game stores.
• Paper, pens, and pencils.
• Sometimes the rules call on you to quickly add or subtract a couple of two-digit numbers. The author finds it handy to keep a calculator nearby for this purpose, but you may be way better at simple mental arithmetic than he is.
• Some players like to have miniature figures to represent their heroes. These may be used to show relative positions in combat, location on a map of the countryside, or support of opposing sides in a contest.
• At least one book from our Hero Wars Player’s Guide series is handy for story ideas, but is not absolutely necessary.

Icons

Throughout the book, you will see text marked with icons. These have different meanings and are meant to bring attention to the notes therein.

	Note to Narrators: A note on our design philosophy, or hints on making play easier.
	Note to Players: Hints on making the most of the game.
	Epic Adventure: Hero Wars uses the conventions of adventure movies, fantasy novels, and epic stories such as the Iliad and the saga of Gilgamesh. The clapper board gives you an idea of how to use the visual or descriptive elements of these sources in your games.
	Example: Examples of the rules in play.

Other Hero Wars Publications

The world of Glorantha is home to many different cultures besides the two portrayed in this book. Issaries, Inc. will publish a set of Hero Wars books for the most prominent of these cultures.

Each set includes a Player’s Guide and a Setting book. To expand directly from this rulebook see Thunder Rebels and She Guards Us.

The Player’s Guides help players to create characters from the culture at hand and provides special rules for playing those characters.

The Setting books are aimed at narrators; each describes a single area dominated by the culture in question. Each provides adventures, advice on running a series based in that area, information on other groups and cultures found in the area, profiles of prominent narrator characters, and more. Sartar Rising! is the first of these, and details the ignition of the Hero Wars.

Of special interest is Glorantha: Introduction to the Hero Wars, which serves as an excellent introduction to this rich setting.

Other Glorantha Publications

Issaries produces other books on Glorantha which do not refer directly to the Hero Wars game, but which contain lots of information of great use to any Hero Wars series.

Welcome to the Hero Wars.

The World Is Ending

The Hero Wars mark the end of Glorantha--or at least, the End of the World As We Know It. Monstrous dangers have risen, great causes have been born, and the gods have woken. Cataclysms like this have occurred before. Everyone knows it. The only real questions is, "What will you do about it?"

You will make your own part.

All heroes are extraordinary and destined for at least moderate and temporary fame in the world of Glorantha. This is guaranteed since they are individually guided by a higher power: you, the player.

We assume that your hero characters will be involved in the great events of the Hero Wars like raising the Jarn Dragon, the Bejeweled Invasion of the East Isles, and the War against War. Such events are not just for the super-powerful, but will require the participation of your hero character, whatever level or power he has achieved. Your hero is not expected to become a god, though he could.

It is up to you and your narrator.

The Hero Wars Begin in Dragon Pass

Dragon Pass is the fuse of Glorantha. From it have burst many of the cataclysms that have ripped the world apart before.

About 500 years ago dragons exterminated all human life in Dragon Pass.

About 250 years ago humans moved back in. They crowded out the Elder Races, who retreated to strongholds where they’ve grown angry after centuries of abuse.

About 20 years ago the Lunar Empire of the north invaded and conquered the natives of Dragon Pass.

Rebels and Empire

The explosion of the Hero Wars starts with the conflict between the barbarian rebels of Sartar and the invaders, the Lunar Empire.

The rebels, called Heortlings, worship the great god Orlanth and his wife, Ernalda. They are tribal and fiercely independent, resentful that the Empire has invaded their homelands to destroy their god. They have suffered war, taxes, and many savage suppressions since the Empire invaded, but are still undefeated in spirit and effort. A new generation of warriors is now of age, ready to throw their lives into the Hero Wars.

The Empire, meanwhile, strives to bring its peaceful rule to the wild and unreasonable barbarians. The Empire is an urban and sophisticated culture, worshipping Sedenya, the Red Moon goddess, and the celestial family of Yelm, Emperor and Sun god.

For centuries the empire of Dara Happa suffered invasion by barbarians. About four centuries ago the lunar goddess came to the world and reorganized the ancient empire. She tamed its ancient brutality, loosened its social rigidity, and freed women and the underclass to have opportunity and recognition in the world. The new Lunar Empire became inclusive and enclosing, willing to encompass anyone who would simply accept Sedenya. Orlanth refuses that simple thing, and so is a foe.

Other powers are watching. The Seshnegi, a western power whose people are slowly encroaching on Dragon Pass, have entrenched themselves here too. They are neither Empire nor barbarian. They worship a single god who gives them terribly effective powers of sorcery. Small in numbers in the area so far, they might be helpful to either barbarian or Empire, but only for a short time. Indeed, everyone fears them because they so despise all other gods but their own, and also have armies nearby. Everyone fears the powers of the East, where the draconic Kralori Empire sits, coiled in upon itself and watching events in the mythic land of Dragon Pass. Across the seas the peoples of Pamaltela face their own crises, but even they feel the pressures of Dragon Pass.

Latest revision: 29 Feb 2000, new