Introduction
So I want to talk about why Heroquest Glorantha has no stat blocks, and why that makes any Heroquest Glorantha book effectively system-less and equally valuable to 13th Age and Runequest Gloranthan gamers. (Or whatever your preferred medium for playing Glorantha).No Stats
In supplements such as The Coming Storm (https://www.chaosium.com/the-coming-storm/) or The Eleven Lights (https://www.chaosium.com/the-eleven-lights-pdf/), the 'stat block' is little more than: name, occupation and cult. In Heroquest, the importance of that block is how it helps the GM personify the NPC at the table. What does this person do? What cult so they belong to? What archetype might we have for this NPC in the setting?Here is an example of an NPC stat block from The Coming Storm:
Orkarl Iron-Beard gst
Bloodline: None
Faction: The Conquering Storm
Age: 52
Keywords: Thane
Magic: Initiate of Humakt t
Look: Iron gray beard and hair, scarred face and arms, wiry muscled frame
(The runes don't come out without a Gloranthan font. gst are Air, Movement, and Death respectively).
In Heroquest there are no game mechanics associated with the elements of this NPC stat block. No, not even the elements like occupation or cult that correspond with game rules on a PC's character sheet. The GM may use the information here to guide how they describe the NPC or their actions, but we don't provide the information to constrain the GM, rather to inspire them. Indeed, the GM does not require this block, it's simply a convenience provided by us to help GMs by summarizing information in the biography; it's quick look up for play and we could omit it and not affect the correctness of the text.
The important part of the NPC is just, as for any game, their biography.
THANE: ORKARL IRON-BEARD
Orkarl was once called Bull-Rider because he led the charge against the Dinacoli, astride a great black bull, and before that Belly-Laugh and was chieftain of the Red Cow. At the Battle of Caroman, during the Lunar invasion of Sartar in 1602, he fought and died. Kesta’s Splendorbread brought him back to life, but he came back changed. He had the re-life sickness after that and turned from Orlanth to Humakt, renouncing the chieftaincy.
For many years, Orkarl lived in isolation, cut-off from the rest of the clan. Many said he could not bear the company of people he felt he had failed. Orkarl’s isolation only served to increase his legend among the clan, and many ambitious young men made a pilgrimage to his cabin to learn sword, spear, and shield from the master.
In his later years, Orkarl’s pain has softened and he now lives amidst people once again. Many would see him chieftain again, but he always makes it clear he does not aspire to lead.
Despite his iron-gray hair, his muscles are still firm, his skills still sharp. Clad in bronze scale and closed helm he still strikes an imposing figure even Kernalda Other-Ways would fear to challenge.
Orkarl’s biggest fear is dying in his bed.
This 'statlessness' means that most HQG have very little system text in them, because little of that text is devoted to stat blocks for NPCs, just to the biography you require for any game.
How is this possible?
In Heroquest we use one resolution mechanic to determine the outcome of a PC's actions, where there is uncertainty. (There are single-roll and sequence of rolls options for this resolution mechanism but they don't matter here.)We agree what is at stake for the contest and the player looks for a suitable keyword or ability in their character sheet. Keywords are broad (thief, priest), and abilities are narrow (pick locks, pray feverntly). Both can be used equally to solve problems.
If the PC has an appropriate ability, and failure is not interesting we might just use an auto-success. If it's not credible that the ability could solve the problem we ask the player to change their statement about their action.
If we still have an uncertain conflict, then the GM determines the resistance. Resistance is described as a difficulty: Moderate, High etc. that gives the GM the target number they are rolling against.
The player and the GM roll a D20, the player under their ability rating, and the GM under the resistance; levels of success are determined and compared to give an outcome.
So for example the PC is trying to steal a magical wand from Duke Raus's house in New Pavis. The PC has Burglar at 17 and the GM has determined that the resistance is Moderate for a resistance of 13. The PC rolls a 15 and gets a success and the GM rolls a 14, which is a failure. The GM compares the outcomes and declares the outcome is a minor victory. The PC steals the Duke's wand.
The outcome describes what happens to the PC, not the NPC or abstract force (such as a mountain or storm at sea). In the above example the opposition comes from the Duke's faithful manservant, the Duke's sleeping daughter in whose room the wand is a held, and locks and traps. All of these provide the resistance, not one.
The GM narrates the fiction of what happens and in doing so determines the fate of any NPCs based on the 'stakes set for the contest'.
For example, a PCs declares that they are breaking into the merchant's house to steal his strongbox. At stake is escaping with the treasure. If the PC uses his sword fighting and the outcome is a victory the GM may describe the PC cutting down the Duke's manservant and intimidating the Duke's daughter into surrendering the wand. If the PC was using his Burglar keyword and the outcome is a victory the GM may describe him climbing through an open first-story window into the Duke's daughter's bedroom to steal the wand, whilst the Duke's daughter sleeps soundly in her room.
However, if the PC using Sword Fighting lost they didn't get the wand, as those were the stakes. But they are a 'hero not a zero' so we might narrate them as killing the Duke faithful manservant but not before he cried out, giving the Dukes' daughter time to barricade herself in the room, forcing the PC to flee before the watch arrived to investigate her cries. If the PC was using his Burglar then the GM might describe him climbing through the window, but being surprised by the Duke's daughter coming at him with a knife, being stabbed and falling out of the window before fleeing. In the latter case, interpreting the result as physical injury might be appropriate.
But in neither case did we need stats for the NPC, only the PC.
We don't want to use the result to 'figure out the damage' to the Duke's manservant or the Duke's daughter, we want to figure out if the PC grabbed the wand. So 'damage' or other consequences for the NPC is open to the GM to narrate, in keeping with the level of victory the PC achieved.
(By the way, it's worth framing contests to make failure interesting and generate more stories, so having the stakes being 'steal the wand' if the wand is vital to the next parts of the adventure is not useful and 'escaping with the wand' would be better stakes because failure would indicate hot pursuit.)
In addition, the nature of the HQG mechanics means we need little game text to describe conflict, just a fictional positioning such as 'Farandar will challenge anyone who doubts his honour to a duel'. As all abilities are mechanically similar what matters is any color used to describe the PC's opponents, their magic etc.
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