Characters

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The Hero Wars are between... Tradition and Novelty Upstarts and opportunists have appeared to disrupt the ancient proven ways of life and peace. Elders and traditionalists are outraged and see this as social breakdown. Youngsters and the creative see themselves as innovators and saviors.

Heroes

"Hero" is a broad definition of a special type of person and includes a huge span of possible powers. At one end are ambitious beginners, like a beginning character, and at the other are megabeings with superhuman perfection, such as Harrek the Berserk and JarEel the Razoress, wielding the power of demigods.

All heroes are extraordinary individuals, capable of being the great movers and shakers in the world, and destined at least for moderate and temporary fame in the world of heroes. Your character is a hero and will do great deeds.

Heroes are not static creatures like photos or statues; they grow and change. This growth is recorded as improved abilities, more followers, or better equipment.

Hero Wars uses Hero Points as a measure of the advancement of the character. Hero Points are the currency of the game; mostly they are used to make permanent changes to the character. Hero Points can be used to "buy" skills, magic, followers, equipment, or other abilities noted on the character sheet. If you want to make a change to the character sheet, Hero Points are used. Character advancement is explained at the end of this chapter.

Hero Points may also be used during play to change the quality of a die roll. This is called a "bump up" and is explained more fully in Chapter 3.

Opening Questions Before you create your hero, you need to know the following specifics about your series. You will have to ask these questions of your narrator. What Magnitude Is This? Is this series intended to be low-, medium-, or high-powered? Remember that Glorantha is an old and magical world, and everyone knows that there are some really powerful beings. They exist at all levels of magnitude, like a magical part of the terrain. Your narrator will tell you or discuss what level the series will operate at. Low Power means your characters will start relatively inexperienced. They probably won't be the movers and shakers of your clan or tribe, let alone be known in the kingdom. They are unproven heroes, and will have a struggle ahead of them to gain the skills needed to fight in the Hero Wars. Only a few really great and powerful characters will be encountered. Medium Power means that your characters are known locally as experienced problem solvers. Heroes are widespread. These rules are written for Medium-powered series. High Power means that your starting characters will be among the elite of Glorantha, already prepared to confront battalions. Such characters exist and can be met even by low-power characters. Rules are given for playing one yourself. What Range of Openness Is This? Is this series intended to be closed, moderate, or open? Closed Range means that the narrator will tell you what keywords you can use in your origins, usually being a single cultural reference. A closed range makes the series much easier since the shared worldview of the heroes doesn't require the narrator to know everything, or be able to explain from multiple perspectives. Stories imbedded in a closed perspective easily take on meaning and significance for the player heroes. A series based upon a single clan or tribe would be a typical closed range. Moderate Range means that the characters can come from different cultures, even different races, most of them presumably having left their homes for personal reasons. A moderate range will probably still require either a pro-rebel or pro-empire stance. Hero bands are the natural meeting points for these individuals. The hero bands' adventures are among the great actions of the Hero Wars, so that the player heroes can be among the movers and shakers of the world. Open Range means that anything goes, and that players can be from races or cultures that are natural enemies, hereditary foes, or sworn antagonists. Furthermore, the normal cultural limitations are lifted, so that your narrator will welcome your Amazon Halftroll Yinkin worshipper.

Getting Started

Before you start creating a character, you must decide which method of character creation to use: Narrative, List, or Quick Start. If you choose the narrative method you will write a short description of your character which tells the narrator what he can do. If you choose the list method you will simply list your skills instead. The quick start allows you to discover your character's abilities during play.

We've provided character sheets at the back of the book. You may photocopy these for your own use.

Using the Narrative Method

Write a 100-word description of your character which includes the following elements:

• Your character's name.
• His culture (unless a common culture is assumed or specified by the narrator).
• The exact names of any character keywords you want to use (described below).
• Your character's main goal in life.
• Things your character can do.

When creating characters, a single strong idea is always more powerful than a dozen unconnected ones. The 100-word limit encourages you to keep your character simple and provides you with a challenge: The 100 words you choose will determine the capabilities of your character. The types of abilities you weave into your character description are the same as those available to players using the list method, as described below.

Backstory Some players like to write much more than one hundred words about their characters. This helps them to find the essence of their characters. Backstories are not essential to the game, and a narrator should never force her players to write one. You can use the backstory to explain where the character got certain abilities, or to justify the purchase of abilities between sessions. The character description gives the current condition of the character; the backstory tells how he got that way. At the end of each episode, check to see how much of your material has actually been heard by the other participants. Turn this to your advantage by choosing a part of the backstory to focus on before each episode and try to work it into the story, taking one element of your backstory and making it part of the present story, the one everyone is telling together. As a narrator, you can take part of a backstory and use it as a jumping-off point for a session. If several characters have the same or similar backstories, that can be used to tie the group closer together--if they all hate the same clan, or served together in the same unit in the army, you can bring in characters from their past, even if they are not currently listed under "Relationships."

Your description must be composed in complete, grammatical sentences. No lists; no sentence fragments. Your narrator may choose to allow sentences like the preceding one, which break the rules of formal grammar for emphasis or rhythmic effect. She shouldn't permit sentences bent simply to squeeze in more information about the cool things your character can do.

Don't bother describing how good the character is at his abilities; his degree of competence is decided for you, so any words you use to quantify your character's abilities are wasted.

Not everything in your description needs to pertain to an ability. You may want to describe a flaw or flaws that disadvantage your character. You might want to write about his past history or current situation. While none of these choices make your character more effective, they do give you additional control over the course of the narrative. Your narrator will draw upon these elements of your character description to inspire plot developments during her series. These elements of your description provide you with the opportunity to tell the narrator what kind of stories you want your character to take part in.

Kathy is running a game wherein all the characters will be Heortlings. Rick decides to play Kallai, a mercenary who has come back to his home village. He writes the following: "Kallai is a mercenary warrior, a devotee of Humakt. He has traveled widely and knows the languages and customs of many lands. Kallai went to the East and learned the secrets of Six Cuts Silk. There he joined the Shadow's Breath Alliance, swearing a blood oath of mutual protection to its members. Kallai owns the Sack of Black Winds, in which the Four Collapsing Words have been trapped since the War of the Straw Giants. Now he supports his aging parents and just wants to raise a family. Kallai's chain byrnie and equipment are in excellent shape." Sure, it can be tightened up, but Rick doesn't want to worry about it right now, he wants to get on with the game. He has included some items which he has only vague ideas about--the Sack of Black Winds, the Four Collapsing Words, the secret of Six Cuts Silk and the Shadow's Breath Alliance are all things he has added to his description without specifying what they do. Together, Rick and Kathy will find out.

Using the List method

Write the following on your character sheet:

• Your character's name.
• His culture (unless a common culture is assumed or specified by the narrator).
• The exact names of any character keywords you want to use.
• Your character's main goal in life.

Then choose ten further traits from the Additional Traits sections in this chapter. Do not be afraid to make up totally new abilities that are appropriate for your hero.

Peter chooses to be Rollo, a traveling merchant who is not above stealing to make ends meet. He wants to use the list method, so he starts listing his assets: He already has the Heortling keyword, and chooses Merchant for his trade. Rollo wants to become rich--as rich as King Cyrellos, a cursed king who lost all the things he loved in the pursuit of wealth. Rollo doesn't want to lose his friends, just be rich... He wants to be able to do a little breaking and entering, so chooses Climb Walls and Sneak. For personal protection he chooses Knife Fighting For yet more protection, he takes Charming and two Followers as "muscle." He decides that a little magic couldn't hurt, so Rollo has a magical rope that can stick to any surface until the command word releases it, and a knife that can open any latch. Finally, he chooses Quick Hands and Pickpocket to round out his skills. Rollo is certainly the kind of character that gives "traveling merchants" a bad name!

Using the Quick Start Method

Finally, if you would like to start your game right away and make up your character as you go along, you can use the quick-start game option. Ask your narrator for permission before doing so.

You can apply the quick-start rules to either the narrative or list method. As the name implies, quick start is best used to allow you to start playing right away, without having to spend an entire game session thinking up your new character.

In quick start, you pick only your best ability and name. We recommend that you take a keyword as your core ability.

During the course of play, you proceed to add abilities until you reach your limit--either ten additional abilities (for list method) or 100 words of character description (for the descriptive method).

John arrives late (as usual, but at least he brought drinks for everyone!). He jumps right in, taking the Heortling keyword as his only characteristic. He's not sure if his character--he quickly chooses the name Rurik--will be a warrior or a god-talker, so he'll just wait until something comes along that requires him to make a choice. Later, the group needs to send a message quickly to the village. John volunteers, and decides that Ride is Rurik's best ability, so he writes it in on his sheet. He continues in this way, adding abilities and other traits as he goes along. Once he figures out his profession, he'll write that in, too.

Assigning Ability Ratings

Each ability is given a numerical rating. Higher ratings are better than lower, and mastered ratings (those marked with the Mastery Rune "") are better than those without. The narrator should take into account the magnitude of the game being played when setting up the target numbers for the beginning character. For a Medium-Powered series, we suggest these starting target Numbers:

• Give all the abilities listed in your Culture keyword a value of 13.
• Give all the abilities listed in your Occupation keyword a value of 17.
• Give all the abilities listed in your Magic keyword a value of 17.
• Any starting ability outside of those in your keywords gets a rating of 13.
• Choose one ability as your best ability and raise it to 5.
• Choose two second-best abilities and raise them both to 1.
• All other abilities have a default rating of 6.

For high- or low-powered series, the narrator should adjust the numbers upward or downward to match the magnitude of the likely opposition. The minimum target numbers should be in the 12/10/8/6 range. For an extremely high-powered series it is not beyond reason to start all or most skills with two or even three masteries. The narrator may also adjust the keyword values, perhaps making the Cultural and Magic keyword less than the Occupation keyword, or all three the same rating.

Format for Abilities

When listing an ability, the target number (also called the ability rating) follows the name, like so:

Strong 14

Masteries follow the target number:

Fast Talk 5

Multiple masteries are indicated by a number following the rune:

Devoted to Humakt 42

Edges or handicaps are put on the end (edges and handicaps are explained in Chapter 4):

Greatsword Combat 1325

Common Characteristics

Name

Give your character a name. It should be based on his culture. Your Player's Guide will have a list of sample names from the culture in question, giving you a rough idea of what is appropriate.

Culture

Keywords

A keyword is a quick description of the character's role in society. Your keywords represent those things that your hero excels at. Most characters in a medium-powered series will have three keywords: culture (Heortling, Lunar), an occupation (Merchant, Warrior, Healer), and a magic keyword (a god, saint, shamanic tradition, or mystic philosophy that he follows). Your Player's Guide may explicitly bar you from choosing certain keywords. Narrators running high-powered series may allow multiple Occupation or Magic keywords at the start of play.

A few character keywords appear in this book. Many more appear in each Player's Guide. The keywords in this book are only brief overviews. The keywords in the Player's Guides will have more information, as well as alternatives and options to customize your character even further.

Goals

Describe your hero's main goal in life. If this changes during the course of play, be sure to change the description. Think of your own personal goals: graduate school, get rich, get married, have kids, retire early, become famous. Then think of what greater goals your hero can have: bring civilization to the barbarians, find the original Book of Zzabur, or defend your people from the forces of the chaos-influenced Red Moon. Think of the heroes of old, and emulate or surpass them. Walk the hero-paths of Arkat or Sheng Seleris, travel to Hell like Orlanth, Harmast, and Sir Ethilrist, or wrestle with gods and demons. Is there a villain in your life that needs defeating? A town that needs defending? Are you a champion of the weak and oppressed, or a mighty conqueror? Will you become the greatest swordsman in the world, or a sorcerer to rival Zzabur himself?

Additional Traits

Once you have defined your hero's common characteristics, you may list additional traits. If you are using narrative generation, simply be sure to list appropriate abilities, relationships contacts, and such in your description. If you are using the list method, you may choose ten traits. These may be additional mundane or magical abilities, special items, wealth, or supporting characters.

Mundane Abilities

Mundane abilities can be just about anything that your character can do that does not require magic of any kind. Abilities are divided into two categories: Physical and Mental. Most skills are easily classified into one of these two categories, though some might overlap. How you see your character determines where an ability falls: If you can Cheat at Cards, does this mean you can deal from the bottom of the deck and palm cards (Physical), or that you can count cards and determine probabilities (Mental)? Good Eyesight can be better than 20/20 vision, or mental acuity that lets you see details others miss. Usually the difference won't matter, but on occasion the narrator can impose modifiers based on the category of the skill.

When choosing abilities, you can use any words or phrases you want to describe them. It doesn't matter whether the ability is described with an adjective, noun, or verb; use whatever sounds good to you. It's no big deal if you give your character the ability Fast, another player picks Runner, and a third picks Sprint.

An ability may be as broad as you like, but the narrator is within her rights to ask you to narrow your definition, or she may apply improvisational modifiers during play. An ability like "Smart" might help you remember or figure things out, but you will suffer penalties if it is used to in place of an ability that requires training or expertise. You may know the theory, but not have the practice.

Combat Abilities

Combat abilities are a subset of Physical abilities. The base combat abilities are Close Combat (the use of melee weapons, grappling, and use of natural weapons such as hands or feet) and Ranged Combat (the use of missile weapons such as bows, slings, and crockery). Combat skills are always used with an improvisational modifier unless you specify what sorts of weapon (sword, axe, javelin, etc.) or style of fighting (Hoplite Fighting, Skirmishing, etc.) you use. If you specify a weapon or style, your target number for the ability when using that weapon or style is as normal, but you still suffer the improvisational modifier if not using it. You may add another preferred style by spending a Hero Point and changing the character description.

You will probably suffer an improvisational penalty for fighting while mounted if you don't have an ability like "Riding" or "Horsemanship" noted on your character sheet. Some cultures, such as the nomadic Pentans, are assumed to know many physical abilities mounted, and may suffer a penalty if dismounted. Combat definitely fits under this category, and the narrator may assign the penalty to other abilities as well.

Magical Abilities

All cultures have magic in one form or another. Your keyword will usually offer a chance to gain magical abilities. In a theistic culture, this will normally be a chance to become as initiate or devotee of a god. In the West you can be a sorcerer or a member of a saint's cult; in animistic societies you may become a shaman or have a spirit fetish or talent; and in the East you may join a school that teaches mystic powers.

Glorantha is a magical world, and its heroes will have access to many magical abilities. Like more mundane abilities, magical abilities are divided into categories. There is no set number of magical categories; each hero, god, goddess, shamanic tradition, sorcerous, order and mystic school has its own spheres of influence.

Magical abilities are typically called feats, spells, powers, or spirits. Each type of magical ability works in a different way, both in the reality of Glorantha and in the mechanics of Hero Wars. Starting magical abilities will be listed in the keywords. Mark down all magical abilities listed in your keywords. Chapters 5-8 detail the abilities, obligations, and benefits of various aspects of particular magical systems.

You may select additional feats, spells, or spirits that fit into one of the affinities, grimoires, or traditions that you received when you chose your keyword. The narrator must approve a new affinity, grimoire, or tradition.

Personality

Personality primarily covers behavior and emotions. These are normally used to enhance other abilities, but there will be occasions when the narrator will ask you to roll a personality trait directly. Examples include Angry, Calm, Crazy, Determined, Emotionless, Enduring, Fanatical, Fearless, Focused, Frenzied, Gentle, Implacable, Ingratiating, Inquisitive, Rebellious, Sensitive, Spiritual, Uncouth, and Wanderlust

Relationships

The relationships that your character forms with other people are an important part of the game. Without friends and companions, the hero will have no chance of rescue when defeated. Without the support of a community, the dangers inherent in gaining the powers of magic will be greatly increased. The abilities listed under relationships represent people or other beings who help or oppose the hero.

Communities

Heroes will have ties to many different groups of people. These groups are called communities, and they represent the people of the world surrounding the hero. A hero's family is one community, his village another, and his temple yet another. Not all these communities need be specified when creating a character. As the character grows and become important, he may gain different support from different communities--a warrior may become less attached to his family and more attached to his fellow soldiers, for instance. Unless otherwise specified, a new character has a Community rating of 13 with his family, village, or clan, and with his temple or church.

Supporting Characters

Supporting characters are individuals with whom the character has a relationship. First, indicate the nature of the relationship. The relationship can be with an adversary, ally, contact, dependent, follower, or patron. Two types of supporting characters, adversaries and dependents, are really flaws. The types of supporting character are explained more fully in Chapter 3 of the Hero Wars Narrator's Book.

The Relationship ability rating marks how close the supporting character is to the hero. This could be a rating of loyalty (for a follower), hatred (for an adversary), or tolerance (for a patron).

Supporting characters need not be intelligent; if you decide that your horse is important enough, you can treat him as a follower; you can describe your dog as a dependent, or your alynx as an ally.

Supporting Character Abilities

When a player chooses dependents or followers for his hero, he should consult the following chart to determine the ability ratings in the supporting character's primary and secondary skills or keywords. As the hero gains in ability, his follower characters rise at the same rate (they are always –8 and –12 from the hero's best ability). This does not require any Hero Point cost; it happens automatically. Dependents never raise their abilities; they are always meant to be frail. Dependents may have better ability ratings in a craft, but should never be fully independent (otherwise, they wouldn't need the hero). To determine the starting abilities for your supporting characters, see the Supporting Character Ability table.

Narrators may choose the ability ratings for all other supporting characters. Sometimes they lag behind the hero, sometimes they surpass him. The narrator should assign an ability rating to the adversary or ally at the beginning of an episode based on narrative factors (will the adversary be particularly tough this time? will the ally be the focus of a rescue attempt?).

Describing Your Supporting Character

Name the character and write down two things he can do, putting the most important thing first. You may substitute a keyword for either of the two abilities.

The format for indicating a supporting character is Name: Relationship [ability rating] (first ability or keyword [target number], second ability or keyword [target number]).

Rollo's followers are brothers, Orlaf and Arnal. Rollo's best skill is 5. His followers are listed as: Orlaf: Follower 12 (Warrior 17, Look Impressive 13) Arnal: Follower 12 (Warrior 17, Strong 13)

Gods, Spirits, or Saints

A hero may have a relationship to a supernatural being (or beings), usually as a worshipper of one form or another. Your keywords will indicate if your character may make such a relationship.

Special Items

Your character may have a special piece of equipment that helps him to solve problems. The most obvious examples in a fantasy world are the proverbial magic weapon or suit of armor, but any ability can be placed in an item. Invent a cool name for your item. If its use is not obvious, you can add a phrase that explains what it can do. These abilities may be physical or magical.

Flaws

You have the option of listing any disadvantages the hero faces, whether these arise from his personality or his circumstances. A flaw can be anything: a relationship (adversary or dependent), a personality (berserk), wealth (poverty or target of thieves), etc. The target number represents how strong an influence the flaw is on your life. You can use Hero Points to "buy down" the flaw between adventures, or settle the problems during play and use a Hero Point to "cement" the change.

There is no numerical reward for giving your character a flaw. Some players may wonder why they should bother. Your hero, like any protagonist of an adventure story, is going to face more than his share of obstacles and adversities. The narrator is going to make sure that your character gets into trouble. By listing a flaw, you get to select the type of trouble he'll be facing, at least part of the time.

Wealth

You can describe your character as wealthy (or prosperous, or well-heeled, or whatever synonym you prefer) or poor during character creation. The effects of this are described below. This counts as one of your ten traits if using the list method. If you don't specify wealth in your description or list, then your character uses the default wealth given in the keywords.

Finishing Your Character

Whether you've used the narrative system or the list method, you should now have all the basics for your character. If you wrote a narrative, you'll first need to convert your description to a listing of skills. Then you must give each ability a rating as noted below.

Reading Your Narrative

If you have been using the narrative method of character creation, mark any keywords that you have written with a double underline. Mark any other word or phrase which reflects something the character can do with a single underline. Then repeat these key phrases on your character sheet.

There is no limit to the number of abilities you can gain from a single sentence of description, as long as the sentence is more than a bald list of capabilities. If your narrator decides a sentence is just a simple list, all but the first two listed abilities are discounted.

If you describe a supporting character, specify the type of relationship in the Relationships section of your character sheet. You must specify one or two abilities of each supporting character as part of your description.

Some players may fail to underline certain things which can be used as abilities in Hero Wars, like personality traits. Narrators should check over all character descriptions to ensure that any possible abilities are wrung out of any given description.

Rick checks through his narrative: Kallai is an experienced Heortling warrior, a devotee of Humakt and veteran of numerous battles. He has traveled widely and knows the languages and customs of many lands. Kallai went to the East and learned the secrets of Six Cuts Silk. There he joined the Shadow's Breath Alliance, swearing a blood oath of mutual protection to its members. Kallai owns the Sack of Black Winds, in which the Four Collapsing Words have been trapped since the War of the Straw Giants. Now that he is home, he supports his aging parents. Kallai's chain byrnie and equipment are in excellent shape. Rick assigns his ability ratings. Looking in Chapter 3, he finds his three keywords: Orlanthi, Warrior and Humakt. He writes the abilities on his character sheet and assigns his target numbers. He chooses Close Combat as his best ability. His keywords provide two specific combat abilities (Sword and Shield, and Spear and Shield) and these are noted. He chooses Bravery and Traveled Widely as his second-best abilities. [Note: We have used boldface to indicate the abilities below which are specified in Kallai's description; the rest are found in his keywords.] Note how several similar abilities are derived from the phrase "He has traveled widely and knows the languages and customs of many lands. Kallai went to the East."

Kallai's filled-out character sheet is given below. Note how the abilities are listed, especially the specific weapons in the Combat area.

Hero Wars Glorantha RPG Name: Kallai      Culture: Heortling Homeland: Thunder Oak clan      Age: 25      Sex: Male Key Words: Heortling, Warrior, Devotee of Humakt Goals: Preserve the independence of Sartar and the Orlanthi; protect the village and his family. Physical Skills Acute Hearing 17 Craft weapon 17 Hide in Cover 17 Riding 17 Running 17 Relationships Dependent 13: Mother (Cook 10, Nag 8) Dependent 13: Father (Farmer 10, Complain 8) Loyal to Leader 17 Shadow's Breath Alliance 13BR> Veterans 13   Magic Type: Theist Runes: Pantheon: Storm Great Deity: Orlanth 13 Initiate of: Humakt Devotee of: Humakt 17 Mental Skills Detect Lie 17 Eastern Customs 13 Eastern Languages 13 Foreign Customs 13 Foreign Languages 13 Heortling Customs 17 Heortling Geography 17 Heortling Religion 17 Mythology of Humakt 17 Recognize Foe 17 Six Cuts Silk 13 Stay Awake 17 Traveled Widely 1 Traveled Widely in the East 1 Sense Assassin 12 Personality Brave 1 Boastful 17   Affinities Combat 17 (Enchant Iron, Great Blow, Shield Destroyer, Truesword Stroke, Weapon Destroyer) Death 17 (Bless Corpse, Death Song Berserk, Kill Undead, Lay Ghost, Visage of Fear) Honor 17 (Empower Oath, Know Truth, Rally Warriors, Sever Relationship, Shame Coward) Wealth Rating: Prosperous Items: Sack of Black Winds 13, chain byrnie and helmet, sword, spear, dagger, shield Flaws Mother & father are dependents Never participate in an ambush   Combat Weapon Rating / Rank Close Combat 5 Dagger Combat / 1 Greatsword Combat / 5 Sword and Shield / 3 Spear and Shield / 3 Missile Combat 17 Bow / 3 Armor / Rank Chain and Shield / 5 Other Bonuses

Continue to part 2 of chapter 2

Latest revision: 1 Mar 2000, new