Now the big Hero Wars stuff operates at an orthogonal (Neil’s favorite word that I now insist on using) with adventuring around in Sartar and Pavis / Big Rubble. We explore ruins, steal cattle, fight monsters, and we can keep our game at that level. But we can also slide our way into the Big Hero Wars Campaign. We might get follow Argrath to war, and go to the Holy Country and then Tarsh, where we get new adventures beyond just war.
So for example, let’s say our characters have been doing Sartar and Big Rubble style adventures for two years and then Argrath becomes Prince! Cool – we not only witness it, but perhaps some of us are members of the Orlanth, Humakt, Storm Bull, or Eurmal cults. Well then our cults are likely to be supportive of him and we get asked to talk to dragonewts or be emissaries to the Grazelands or go to Nochet. We get to have adventurers in those lands AND we are now part of that bigger story. We meet folk like Harrek the Berserk, Gunda the Guilty, and Jaldon Goldentooth.
In 1628 we follow Argrath and fight broo in Snakepipe Hollow. Then we go over Dragon Pass and fight in one HECK OF A BATTLE! If we live, we get gifts and plunder, and then plunder Bagnot. Maybe we follow Argrath, Harrek, and Gunda and get to attack Muse Roost and plunder it. Maybe we adventure in Old Tarsh or the Grazelands. There are plenty of cool places to explore, monsters to kill, and places to rob.
And it can just keep rolling. Maybe we are so good at what we are doing that Argrath puts in charge of a place like Boat Vill, Stop Here, or Boar Ford. Maybe we are asked to explore the Dinosaur Graveyard or rob the Moundgraves. Maybe we go all the way to the Wheel Ruins to find something for Argrath’s courtship of the Feathered Horse Queen. Perhaps we need to race against Grazelanders or dally with a dryad? Maybe we go on a diplomatic visit to Furthest and see the Temple of the Reaching Moon? Or maybe we anger the Prince and get sent away and decide to go to Handra Liv or even further.
And again it keeps rolling. In 1631 a bigger army is assembled by Argrath and it invades Tarsh in force, with Grazer, Shakers, and dragonewt aid. Maybe we fight demons and priestesses at the Temple of the Reaching Moon, talk to ghosts at Karnge Farm or inside the Shakers Temple? We get to be part of the assault on Furthest and perhaps are rewarded with lands and villages. Or perhaps we get nothing and are betrayed by old clan and tribal rivals.
The point is that the Hero Wars stuff gives us a reason to adventure further and deeper, while also tying us to a community, to our cults, and giving us a chance for the occasional battle, skirmish, and siege. Maybe it becomes more political. Or maybe we resolute stay adventurers, like Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus in Rome. But regardless, it gives a feel that our adventures are now part of a much bigger story, which we get to play a role in. We aren’t just Rosencranz and Guildenstern, pacing around the stage waiting to get killed, but we also don’t have the responsibility of carrying the setting as well as the story.