Produktbeschreibung
"Once upon a time, east of the sun and west of the moon, there was a different place, but not too different..."
Roleplaying with the HeroQuest game system in the ancient Russia of legend and folktale, a land of glittering onion-domed churches and dark, dangerous forests, home to heroes, fiends -- and the flame-feathered firebird.
Mythic Russia will use a modified form of the HeroQuestTM game system to allow epic play in the lands and myths of Old Russia. It will, however, be a comple - tely self-contained book: you will not need to own a copy of HeroQuest to play.
What's HeroQuest?
Put very briefly, it's a roleplaying system designed by Robin Laws - already an industry legend for such games as Feng Shui and Dying Earth - for play in Greg Stafford's fantasy world of Glorantha.
It is a tremendously flexible and scaleable system, which
How will Mythic Russia build on the core game engine?
Mythic Russia will be completely compatible with HeroQuest: if you want to take elements from the game and setting to use in Glorantha, you can, and likewise it will be no problem for players and narrators used to playing HeroQuest to pick up Mythic Russia.
That said, the world of Mythic Russia is not Glorantha, and the game will reflect the particularities of this setting. In some cases, there will be elements which, while using the same game engine, are presented in a very different way. For example, while there are shamans who summon the spirits, those who still worship the old gods, and the spreading faith of Christianity, Mythic Russia does not use the several separate magic systems to be found in HeroQuest. Instead, all are based upon a single, common magic approach, although with details on how their powers are used and acquired giving different magical cultures their own distinctive feel.
In other cases, a distinctive feel will be ensured by tweaking the details, even while the rules remain the same. For example, a hero of the Rus is a passionate man or women, driven by larger-than-life loves and devotions, enmities and commitments. Thus, an even greater use will be made of the game engine's excellent and innovative treatment of relationships and personality traits as abilities, with several masteries being by no means unusual. Of course, this also risks upsetting the balance of the game, and so this will be presented alongside notes for the narrator to ensure that, for example, Vasilsa the Driven cannot simply use his Desperate Never to Fail to augment himself in every challenge, or that if he does try to abuse it, the narrator can turn it into a weakness.
Then there will also be optional rules which add to the core game engine, generally to reflect the needs of the setting. For example, trade is important to the Rus and especially the dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Novgorod, one of the core cultures of Mythic Russia. To this end, additional rules for gaining and using wealth will be provided, over and above the abstract guidelines in the HeroQuest book, for players and narrators who want to engage in commercial (or piratical!) activity.
How can I Learn More?
Over time, samples and further information will be posted on this site -- subscribe to the free Mythic Russia news service for regular updates. The first full sample (draft) chapter is now available here.
In the mean time, using the buttons along the side of this page will take you to further information on the kind of heroes you might play, how magic will be handled in Mythic Russia, and the otherworlds beyond the mundane realms of humanity.
The HeroQuestTM game engine is owned by and licensed from Issaries, Inc. and HeroQuest is a registered trademark of Issaries, Inc. |