>>And I, selected bits of Beowulf, Maldon, and the Tain.
> John - not three posts into the threads and you are already ignoring the
>stipulated rules! One source, not three!:)
What are yerrr, a lawyer or something? " No one can make you do anything". And I always have had a weakness for pottery. :)
Seriously, that's what I did give out - a single document of various short passages quoted mainly from the above, interspersed with bits of campaign bardistry (synonmym for bastardry), and selections from Kenneth Jackson's 'A Celtic Miscellany'. Those of you you have endured my mutating .sigs over the years will have a fair idea. I also put together a booklet called 'Snakepipe's Edge' - (editor/fan publisher alert - layout tragic) mostly bits and pieces now found on the Questlines website, together with a bunch of campaign tables still in Pendragon Pass format that I've never had the heart (or the need) to change.
These days I'd give new players a copy of 'A Rope of Cedarbark'. (Tales #20, http://mythologic.info/questlines/cedarbark.html, which I really must make available as a decent PDF). Cedarbark was pretty much written for this purpose - its from the campaign, of the campaign, introduces the major NPCs, the locale, and I hope, something of the campaign ethos and genre.
And since *any* analogue distorts as much as it illuminates, I wonder why we don't focus more on Gloranthan docs? There's Heroquest Voices of course, which I'm sure players will have a copy of anyway. 'Gloranthan Visions' was an attempt to open this field, with rather mixed results. It wouldn't be difficult to put together a collection of short stories from Mything Links, Heroes of the King (in YBOT) and other sources that suit your own campaign.
>Seriously, the reason I go with Njal's Saga or Egil's Saga is their power
>as literature. ...The
>prose translations of Beowulf and the Tain are quite stilted, and although
>more readable, they are less interesting.
YLMV. YLWV. I'd want to know *which* translations you were bashing before commenting on any of these. But obviously, people's taste and campaign themes vary enormously. Personally, I find the second half of Burning Njal pretty tedious.
>The Icelandic sagas have the
>advantage in that their literary style is very approachable to a modern
>reader - and they focus on broader issues than heroic actions.
Agree completely. A good slice of daily life and society, a realistic feel (though they're neither realist or indeed history in the conventional sense), and lots of analogues - moots and ambushes and outlaws, skalds and kennings. But no clans, no magic, few feats, and a legal/vengeance system that was going completely whacko.
Beowulf and the few other A-S sources we have are strong on hero bands, heroism, loyalty, boasting, vengeance law, hall life, exile and the grim reality of shieldwall and champion combat. They're pretty hopeless for everyday life and religion.
The Irish sources, beginning with the Tain, are full of colour (Beowulf has only one colour - gold) and magic and weirdness: heroes and hero feats and geas and cattle raids and clan warfare and petty evil kings and vengeful queens, outlawed freedom fighters and gods less than perfect and an Otherworld that is always only a breath away. And did I mention cattle raids? The early Irish kingdoms didn't so much go to war as mount a really *big* cattle raid. The disadvantages are that the Otherworld is a little *too* intrusive to match Glorantha, and that the weirdness/obscurity/funny name factor can be way high.
There's also the Finnish Kalevala (unmatched! a Far Place staple, just watch your translation) and the inspired Celtic forgories of Ossian, best taken in small amounts.
Mythos for mythmakers. Shapes for shapers. All are invaluable, their relativity shaped only by your campaign genre. Strictly personally, I've always found the Celtic material most valuable, followed by the A-S/Germanic, then the Norse/Icelandic. Tastes vary. Read 'em all. And question their assumptions. :)
And don't forget to mine the Homeric, ancient and Indian sources as well. Just put aside some time to actually play. :)
Most of the works referred to in my ramblings above are referenced on
http://mythologic.info/questlines/bibliography.html
>I'd go
>with Age of Bronze (since I do borrow a lot from the Illiad and other Greek
>myths for my campaigns).
I also would recommend Age of Bronze.
Goin' shopping!
John
His spirit was strong in him; he felt fit for a festival, or for marching or mating, or for an ale-house or the mightiest assembly in Ireland.
End of Glorantha Digest, Vol 11, Issue 169
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