> When I began playing RQ, back in '82 or '83, one of the things that
> appealed to me was it's overall feeling of ancient Greece.
Me, too. The ancient-world, "Bronze Age" feel was a wonderful thing, giving Glorantha a completely different aspect to other RPGs at the time. Though IMHO the Games Workshop figures cocked up by doing almost *everyone* as an armoured hoplite: some "proper" Sartarites (e.g. men without full plate armour) would have been a welcome distraction. Still, that's what other manufacturers' ranges of Vikings, Gauls, etc. are for.
> When, then did it all change, and why?
I don't think it did. The parts of the world we learned about in RQ2 days (Prax, Sartar, the Empire) are still very much parts of an ancient paradigm: Lunars in Sartar, Romans in Britain. The "change" is that we now know about the "mediaeval" Western cultures off the left-hand side of the maps: but there is sufficient room between Us and Them for there to be a gentle transition.
There have *always* been knights and wizards in Greg Stafford's vision of Glorantha: when he started writing in the late 60's, this was the genre he was keenest on developing. You'll see Sir Ethilrist and his Black Horse Troop in the first edition of "White Bear and Red Moon".
Some of my recent work has been to "soften" the edges between the two cultural zones (mediaeval and ancient): more of this in another post ("Ancient and Modern", sent today).
> Was it because when AH took over they set their version in Mythic
> Europe?
AH set their version of *RuneQuest* in Mythic Europe, but this needn't have affected *Glorantha* at all. There were always "anachronisms" in the skill rules, weapon lists (Bronze Age crossbows), etc.
> I know that any future range [of figures] will support the new(er) =
> idea of more varied analogies.
Why wait for a new range of figures? There are zillions of suppliers of wargaming figures out there, suitable for all periods.
> Can someone please sum up for me the major analogies of Genertela.
> Are the Lunars a Greek or Roman anaolgy, or a mix of many....etc.
> Do they have a Persian influence, etc.
Major analogues, OK. This is brief and general, and an opinion, but I hope it helps. The best sources for more info would be the "Glorantha: Genertela" box from Avalon Hill, or the recent freeform "Tarsh War" from Reaching Moon (the latter includes dozens of illustrations of Lunar and Tarshite troop types, by the estimable Dan Barker).
Orlanthi use Gauls, Celts, Vikings or Anglo-Saxons. Go for
a "Braveheart" look, with loadsa woad. You can do
figures from different tribes with significantly
different styles (checks, tartans, tattoos, etc.).
Lunars use Romans (Republican or Imperial), Greeks (inc.
Hellenistic), not forgetting their allies (Char-Un
Cossack cavalry, primitive slingers, cataphracts
from Carmania). The Lunars are a mixture: Graeco-
Romano- Byzantine, with bits of Persian, "Arabian
Nights" and Soviet chic for good measure. Their
main troops are heavy hoplites, plus skirmishing
peltasts and militia/levy spear-carrying infantry.
Uniformity is present in some regular regiments,
but not across the whole heterogenous Lunar Army.
Westerners use mediaeval figures: Dark Age or Norman/Crusader
period for Seshnela, "high mediaeval" Gothic Plate
for Loskalm, "Renaissance" (or slightly earlier)
citizen armies and mercenaries for Safelster, and
"King Arthur's Knights" for the Castle Coast. The
backwater kingdoms of Fronela are hybrids of the
Germanic Loskalmi with a local Slavic or Balkan
look: this includes Junora, Jonatela, etc.
Primitives use primitive figures, plus don't forget Hsunchen
animal totems (in their human, part-transformed
and bestial forms).
Nomads use Native American Indians for Prax (but change
their mounts - use plastic zoo animal figures?),
Mongols or Huns etc. for Pent.
Easterners use Chinese for Kralorela, Indian or Indochina for
Teshnos, Polynesian/Hawaiian etc. for the East Isles.
I don't think there's anything there that would be seriously disagreed with, though obviously some campaigns will have made their own decisions on styles (e.g. "Colymar use such-and-such a period of Viking styles").
> P.S. Can someone please give me AH's web address.
It's <http://www.avalonhill.com>, would you believe? Don't expect to find anything useful there, though.
::::
Nick
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End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #98
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