Re: What's a Keyword?

From: Mike Holmes <mike_c_holmes_at_...>
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 10:24:40 -0600

I'm going to start over again, since the line-by-line response seems not to be working well.

To recap so far, I was recounting to a new poster the current methods that I have adopted as criteria for determining what abilities can be found in a keyword. Greg, in post 32035, came on and questioned my methodology, saying that I was "wasting the potential of keywords" with my method, and pointing out that my method was not in conjuction with the rules since the response to them was that My Glorantha Will Vary (yes, I know that since I'm allowed to vary that this means that all interpretations are somehow technically within the rules, but I'm trying to see if, in fact, my Glorantha really is varying here). So now I'm looking for a clarification of Greg's methodology, so I can see if, in fact, I'm wasting the potential of keywords, or if, in fact, my method really varies much from Greg's at all.

I don't think my method does vary much, if at all. It seems to me that any seeming differences come from miscommunication between Greg and I. The discussion is also hampered with some red herrings. The question of whether or not Heortlings have the farmer ability, or, if they do, whether it's suitable for use in combat in barns has nothing to do with the subject at hand. Nor, really, does the question of how many abilities from a keyword can be used to augment (that tangent is my fault). Nor is the question of whether or not culture and occupation or other sorts of keyword are separate entities. They are, and that's non-controversial to anyone involved in the discussion at this point.

So let's go with Greg's suggested rout of advance. As requested, here are some concrete true/false questions.

1. If we have a Heortling from a Lismelder village on the Upland Marsh, and another from Boldhome, should they both take the Heortling homeland keyword in your game?
2. Assuming 1 is true, and they both have the Heortling homeland keyword, are there any situations in which one could use their homeland, and the other could not in your game?
3. If, in fact, these two locales provide precisely the same entertainer homeland keyword, are there no locales in Sartar or elswhere where peoples have the Heortling homeland that their version of it would vary from the Boldhome version?
4. If we have both of these Heortling characters with the entertainer occupation keyword, will that keyword be identical, or, again, will there be some situations in which the entertainer from Boldhome will be able to use some ability from their keyword that the Lismelder Heortling with the Entertainer occupation keyword will not?
5. If, in fact, Heortlings entertainers from Boldhome have the same keyword as those from Lismelder, are there no locales where the people have the Heortling homeland keyword, where the entertainers from one vary from the entertainers from another locale?
6. If, in fact, all Heortling entertainers everywhere are identical in terms of the abilities in their keywords, is this true of all occupations for all Heortlings? Is this true for all occupations in all homelands?

My point to date is that, naming conventions aside, it seems that the locality one is from can have some effect on what actual abilities are in the keywords (all sorts of keywords) - or at least when the keyword can be used outside of the commonly listed abilities under the keyword. I'm not talking about variations with the characters in terms of "other" abilities, I'm talking about just what's in the keyword. And, as such local differences may come from small localities, the groups from which the abilities derive may be arbitrarily small. Perhaps the character is the only one of his "kind" left. Just so long as the keyword is not defined solely by the character's personal experience in life as a member of the occupation (because then it isn't about similarities any more, and there's effectively no limit on what could be put in the keyword).

If I use this method, am I still wasting the potential of keywords? Is it, in fact, different from what you do, Greg, on some fundamental level?

Seems to me that the only difference is that I actually name the keyword for the locality (while still indicating the greater association). I think in play that it functions exactly the same.

But I'm often wrong, so...

It could, for instance, be that Greg is saying that all keywords are, in fact, identical (personality traits a possible exception), and that any variance between characters of a same keyword are free abilities gained *outside* of the keyword. The question, then would be whether these were obtained at keyword level or not.

Or it could be something else entirely that I'm still not getting.

Mike

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