> >> Mark Galeotti wrote:
> >> On the whole, though, Greg was keen to say that Issaries
> >> would concentrate on *adventures* rather than background/
> >> location books, so that the world comes through the
> >> stories.
>
> As a long time Glorantha player and narrator I'm not sure i
> like this idea.
>
> The key thing thats kept my interest in Glorantha
> alive is its background. Overviews like the Genertela Book
> and regional supplements like trollpak, meant that you didnt
> have to play solely in Pavis and Prax, and could wander the world.
> Core books like Cults of Prax and Thunder Rebels gave enough
> information that you got a feeling for a whole society in one
book.
> You can return to these books time and again and find tidbits of
> information to seed new episodes.
Entirely true. First of all, let me reassure you - there will still be background books where necessary, especially to introduce new major regions such as the West or the East, just as the ILH series continues. Secondly, a commitment to 'show not tell' doesn't meant that there will be no background, rather that it will be pegged to stories and adventures. 'Thunder Rebels' is a lovely book, but if your players are anything like mine, it also scares away any but the most committed Gloranthaphiles.
The new philosophy is to avoid making playing Glorantha look like revision for an anthropology finals exam - even if for many of the hard-core that is exactrly what we love about it. Take the forthcoming uz, aldryami and mostali books - yes, they'll have the necessary background info and keywords allowing you to play these strange races, but there will also be adventures in the books written to allow human PCs to interact with them. The balance will vary, anything from 1/3 background to 2/3 adventure through to 2/3 to 1/3.
> So even when new publications
> were few and far between the campaign could go on; whilst a group
> running a campaign is only likely to play an adventure once and
> then that book is put on the shelf to collect dust.
Fair comment but (a) the not unrealistic plan is for publications to be much more common and (b) we aren't talking just about use-and- lose scenario books. Sure, some will be, but in other cases it is more the case that background and adventure will be more effectively integrated. Perhaps one of the best examples is 'Griffin Mountain', a product which is actually dominated by 'adventure' material but nonetheless conveys a great deal of background, too.
> I can't be the only one who wants background books. Last time i
> looked the poll asking what supplement should be printed next
> showed ILH and the Kerofinela book way out in the lead, both are
> background books.
Sure, and they are both appearing and are both great. The problem is that for its future surival, Issaries *needs* to bring HQ to a wider audience. *Needs*. These polls are essentially for the Gloranthaphiles, and their interests tend to be much more heavily oriented towards wanting in-depth background material, which doesn't have the same kind of woder market appeal. Now, that is certainly *not* to say that the Gloranthaphile audience should be taken for granted - hell, who is it who writes, edits and supports all this? It is to find some way of balancing hard-core and newbie interests, to retain the loyalists while also reaching out to new audiences. By keeping up the supply of new background - and believe me, we will be learning so much more about Glorantha in coming months and years - but also integrating it with stories and adventures to make it less intimidating, we hope we can do that.
All the best
Mark
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