It would still be interesting to see other inspiration stolen from, say, Sweden, and when people do that I get kinda impressed. I don't know that much about, say, obscure US history, so when Americans know _my_ history (or folklore, or whatever) I'm impressed. If they use if for cool RPG stuff, I get in a lets buy them a beer mode. But if it doesn't turn up I'm not disappointed; it is what I've come to expect.
Mind you, I say _inspiration_, not whole-sale lifting. Sort-of transported earthly cultures in Glorantha I find as boring as anyone else. Inspiration is like wild-fire, though; it can set the mood of the players if things are vaguely recognizable.
> > [...] the tyrannical, bureaucratic Swedish empire [...]
> > Both alternate versions of late 20th-century countries are refreshingly
> > free from stereotypes
>
> Hrm, I thought that was just the P. J. O'Rourke stereotype, instead...
> (OK, hardly an empire, I admit, though what with Eriksson and Microsoft
> in bed together...)
The advantage of the Evil Swedish Empire is of course that since Swedish accent is indistinguishable
from German or Russian accents to most Anglos, voicing the villains will be easy for the GM :-).
Yes, and about that Illiteracy Curse... Remember the Minarian Memory Removal? I've recently bought that collection of all issues of the Dragon up to no 250, and in the early years of that product, there was a series of sort-of camapign stories - history, legends, magic etc - named ´Minarian Legends'. Minaria was the world of a fantasy wargame/boardgame called 'Divine Right', and the Minarian Legends were mostly written by the game's designer, Glenn Rahman.
So, did Greg play Divine Right (it sounds vaguely Dragon Pass-esque from its review) once or twice, and the name stuck? Or did he read the Dragon (legends n' myths seems like the portion of a gaming magazine that Greg wouldn't just browse)?
Erik Sieurin,
really too busy
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