HeroQuest 2 preview pt1: Overview
At last after months of procrastinating on my part, here’s the second part of my HeroQuest 2 preview. Was it really back in October when I wrote the Introduction? My how time flies 
I’ve now got the final laid out with art Pdf courtesy of Jeff Richard from Moon Design. This is the version that if you are going to Tentacles you’ll be able to pick up and will be available world wide July 1st. I’m still going to still with this being a preview. I find HeroQuest 2 is a complex beast and what I’m trying to do here is give you a quick run down of what’s in store. I’m going to try keep personal opinion to a minimum, but it may bleed out since I’m quite an opinionated guy 
The basics
A Colour cover (by Jon Hodgson), black and white interior, 130 pages long
Contents of the book (taken directly from Tentacles Pdf with page numbers left in)
Introduction 5
Creating your Character 9
Character Creation Methods 15
Overcoming Obstacles 21
Modifiers 51
Hero Points 57
Relationships 60
Playing Stories 67
Narrating 77
Running Contests 79
Community Resources and Support 87
Gaming in Glorantha 107
Quick Reference 123
Index 127
Layout and presentation: Clear throughout and an easy read as a result.
Art: A mix of Gloranthan and generic art, mainly fantasy.
The main thing about HeroQuest 2 and how you see it is your expectations of what it is. I struggled with this for a long time and it did colour my opinion of it initially, since depending on what I wanted out of the book on a particular day (us Newts are moody creatures you know) coloured how I viewed the book.
Is it a traditional RPG book? No. HQ2 doesn’t fall into the RPG Stereotype of a a nice cosy introduction, character generation chapter, list of skills, combat, Magic/Powers, Games Masters guidance and starting adventure . It has elements of what you’d expect from a RPG book, as you can see from the contents list above, but there’s no skill list (since you very much make skills or abilities on the fly to meet the needs of the game) and no honking great combat chapter. Instead you get a single d20 dice mechanic that is used for everything from magic, combat (both personal and mass) and social interaction. Nearly Half of the book is given over to guidelines and examples on how to use this single dice mechanic. So if you were expecting a traditional RPG book you might be disappointed. HeroQuest 2 expects and supports the sort of player/games master (or Narrator) who is quite happy to pick up the rules and craft a setting, characters and adventure. If you want your gaming experience to be laid on for you in a series of steps you will end up be sorely vexed by HQ2.
An update to HeroQuest 1 ?. Sort of. I’ll go into this in more detail later on, but while it addresses the problems people encountered playing HeroQuest 1st edition, it shifts the paradigm of the game from a mix of numbers and description to firmly into the description taking the front seat and the numbers fading into the back ground. HQ2 moves away from the simulationist/narrative mix of HQ1 to a firmly narrative approach. In short don’t expect to see the table of example resistances or monsters with numbered stats in HeroQuest 2. If this phases you HeroQuest 2 may not be the HeroQuest you are looking for, or you’ll be nicking the bits you like and running a hybrid (HQ1.5?)
A Gloranthan roleplaying book ? Sort of. Lots of examples throughout the text, which should help established Gloranthaphiles move over effortlessly and there’s the new approach to Gloranthan Magic which is as an Appendix (to put it away from all those people who are expecting a purely Generic Game). But there’s no introduction to Glorantha here, instead the reader is directed to Moon Designs’ and Mongoose’s exsiting works for 3rd and 2nd age respectively.
A Narrative roleplaying game. Yes. First and foremost the author Robin Laws has revisited HeroQuest and made it into a Narrative game, rounding off all the fiddly bits of numbers that got in the way of that approach in previous editions. Story is King, resistances are based upon story needs and there’s lots of examples which give solid advice of when and where to use the various types of contest.
A Generic game. Yes. Although there are Gloranthan examples, the game is firmly Generic. Perhaps this explains the lack of example settings and adventure?
Ultimately my view of the game is that I have to accept it as written, embrace the system for what it is and enjoy the wonders it can bring. I wouldn’t attempt to play Monopoly the same way I play Settlers of Catan. Like wise I wouldn’t play HQ 2 as I would play HQ1 or any other roleplaying game.
So with that in mind I’ll take you on a guided tour of the rulebook.
Next up: Character Generation.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
“I wouldn’t play HQ 2 as I would play HQ1 ….” Now, I would. But that’s because the way I play HQ1 is more or less described in the HQ2 book.
May 21st, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Whereas I, on the other hand, like the style of play that HQ1 encouraged, and really don’t enjoy the HQ2 approach at all. So I’ll be taking the good bits out of HQ2 (and there are some!) and using them with HQ1. Which is a huge disappointment, of course, but such is life. I accept that HQ2 is what it is, and is aimed at the people it’s aimed at. But I don’t have to like it, and I don’t have to embrace it. Once I’ve got hold of a final version, I’ll post about it myself on my own blog, and try and explain why, despite the fact that it will be fantastic for many people, it just doesn’t work for me.
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
So we’ve had the “it’s no big deal” and the “it’s not for me” so I guess it falls to me to be the “hey this is just what I’ve been looking for; I’m enthused to get back into role-playing because of these rules”. There, I’ve said it.
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:04 am
Can I be part Jane/part Richard C?
I suspect I played HQ1 much like HQ2 presents, but having it in a place where it is clear and where I can hand it to someone else and have them read and understand it is exciting.
Of course, I may find I am more likely to end up with a hybrid after all, who knows.
I’m very happy to see that it really is generic and not basically just stealth Glorantha. I hope to use the system for other things and to try and produce content for other system with it, so all the good.
Trotsky, I am not certain of your exact needs, but I suspect you would like Otherworlds when it comes out.
May 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
As a self described ‘toolkit game’ I find a number of useful enhancements from HQ1 that can be readily deployed in any HeroQuest game I may decide to run. The only decision I need to take is whether I buy into the ‘absolute Narrator controlled story logic is god’ paradigm. It’s a fairly big decision as that is the key difference between the versions.
In fact it is a chasm.
I am still not sure why, as a hard core narrativist game, it has bothered with numbers at all. It’s kept the simulationist numbers on the PC side, though befuddled masteries (IMO), and gleefully freed the Narrator from anything other than story driven resistance mechanics. Traits I can understand, but numbers? How quaint.
I don’t think I’ll be certain of the game until I run it. To me the new paradigm is the interesting part of the new edition and can only be truly experienced by narrating. Players will find some speed updates and streamlining, which is also nice, but not a great deal more. This may explain Jane’s view above.
I am glad it has brought Richard back to rpgs!
May 26th, 2009 at 9:31 am
I’ve been looking forward to a game system for Glorantha that I lets me describe what happened in our session to a non-gamer and not have to leave out huge chunks of what we’ve been enjoying. I’ve been looking for one that will help me tell stories like the ones Greg tells (since before other people started using that phrase!). I’ve been looking for a way to leave unnecessary complication behind! Glorantha just got it’s first proper story-telling system! All this and no troubling Griffins!
May 31st, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I still think the best aspect of HQ2 is that it’s clearly explained. The actual numbers side of it is almost irrelevant. “This is what we’re trying to do” is the first step: “here are some ways of doing it” is the second. What it’s trying to do is what I’ve been trying to do all along, though with much less “GM is God” than is implied here. How to do it, I’ll use some of the tools, and be far less rigid about others. But having it all laid out clearly, things put into words that I’d been doing by instinct and never openly expressed: that’s very useful, and helps my thinking enormously. I’d recommend it as reading for any GM of any system: even if their conclusion is that they hate everything it describes, at least they’ll have a clearer idea of what it is they hate and why.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:52 am
I’m going to not-so-shockingly agree with Jane here. Clarity is the big selling point for me. Like Graham, part of me wonders why the players have numbers at all. (Or, rather, the numbers as they are constructed) given the way the system is set up. Not having read it, I can’t tell if there’s a nice explanation of that.
Hell, I expect that most of the advice and toolkit would work with any number of resolution systems, but I’ll probably start with the old one and see how it plays out for me.