: Will you be writing a charter for the HeroWars list? I think
: we need to rigidly define the areas of doubt and uncertainty
: beyond which its discussions should not go. For instance:
:
: 1) Questions to the HeroWars list should arise from reading HW
: published material or from gaming sessions based on HW published
: material. The appropriate forum for more general Gloranthan
: questions is the Glorantha Digest.
:
: 2) Answers to questions about background material should prefer-
: entially be answered by reference only to published Hero Wars
: material. If the HW published material conflicts with previous
: interpretations, for purposes of the HW list it overrides them.
: We will not resurrect old controversies -- the place for that is
: the Glorantha Digest.
:
: 3) Answers to questions on the HW list may assume familiarity with
: the published HW core rules and public material on the Issaries
: website, but should generally reference these (book and page number)
: for convenience. Let's assume we are helping people master a new
: game -- the first few months' posts will have plenty of Frequently
: Asked Questions, which we can then cobble into a FAQ and stick on
: the Links or Downloads page.
:
: 4) Answers to questions on the HW list should not assume any
: familiarity with previously published Gloranthan material. Page
: references to long out-of-print RQ or Gloranthan sources, are
: inappropriate, for instance. Quote material if it's relevant, point
: to the Issaries pages (or other web resources) if appropriate,
: mention recent and still-available publications if directly relevant,
: but otherwise back off from this area. The aim should be to extra-
: polate Glorantha based on Hero Wars, not to require newbies to
: acquire a library of OOP material.
In subsequent discussion, we fleshed out a few of these further: Jeff was keen to ensure that I wasn't throwing out the Gloranthan baby with the Glorantha-Digest bathwater... :-)
Further to point 2), my opinion was --
: If someone asks "what's Vinga like?" the correct answer for the
: HW list (in order of priority) would be (1) page references and
: precis for Vinga material in Hero Wars publications; (2) direct
: URLs for Vinga material on www.glorantha.com (if any); (3) URLs
: for major sources of Vinga material on other websites (e.g. Jane's
: site); (4) references to still-available publications including
: Vinga material, both official (e.g. KoS) and fan-produced (e.g.
: TT#5's kitchen-sink cult writeup); (5) references to out-of-print
: publications including Vinga material.
:
: And I would be happiest if discussion centred on (1) and (2), with
: the others as mere pointers.
:
: Priority given to URLs over non-HW publications is deliberate.
: I would prefer HW list readers to learn about information that's
: available, rather than continually have their noses rubbed in the
: glorious 20-year publication history they've missed out on.
Further to point 4), I said --
: It's not so much "throwing everything away" (I hope!) as assuming
: that list members are not necessarily familiar with these publica-
: tions, nor do they have access to them. On the Glorantha Digest,
: frex, it is sensible to reference "Cults of Prax" or "Glorantha
: Book" (or whatever) from time to time. On the HW list, I would prefer
: to assume readers do not have these books, and will not have them,
: and do not necessarily know what they are. Rather than page referen-
: ces, answers should post summaries of relevant material.
:
: I think it would be inappropriate, frex, if a poster asked "How do
: Gloranthan vampires work?", to say "See the Vivamort cult writeup
: for RuneQuest which appeared in 'Cults of Terror' (1981)."
:
: It would be appropriate to say, "Gloranthan vampires are believed to
: get their powers from worshipping the god Vivamort, the First Vampire.
: While many people think they are sorcerous in nature, all agree that
: they are Chaotic. Vampires are vulnerable to the elements... (etc.)"
:
: Precis the Vivamort material that you like: don't refer to it as if
: the posters could all pull down their CoT off the shelves and read it
: for themselves.
:
: And, *if* HW ever prints material on Vivamort (or Vampires, etc.)
: which contradict or change the nature and powers of vampires from those
: expressed in prior publications, the HW version takes precedence (per
: suggestion #2).
NB: when this was written, I was unaware that the HW Glorantha Book would include bizarre editorial speculations about Vivamort: p.250
VIVAMORT willfully sacrificed his own soul to gain immortality. Because of this empty and hollow entity, vampiric corpses rise from their graves to feed upon humans. [or any living creature? And I assume it's the worshippers of Vivamort that reanimate. Where do zombies come from?]
Which is all rather strange -- it looks like Izzy Vasquez (Greg's beautiful cat, FYI) was asleep on the job... :-)
Cheers, Nick
PS: can anyone with access to more HW rune fonts than me interpret the secret runic messages on pp.144, 145, 200 & 254? Thanks!
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