Re: Glorantha Online & Glorantha Offline

From: John Machin <orichalka_at_PdQorBjuwtJRir4urBzClTLwh92AbnMOlJaTJuPFap0-IDxrsLQkFvZrOCeyjUGj7p>
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 09:07:50 +1100


2009/3/4 Keith Nellist <keithnellist_at_gn-RfeXvDa_6EIntgXzyLBf6anhr0p6dPNh28XRTD3AsUcF_BvSpslVyLz7nWJgLilLjzltrSHEVmHpjuhWGITC6.yahoo.invalid>:
> Interesting points David, and I think you're right about narrative play being difficult to do well. It's like trying to tell your own story in someone elses. I think this works in a strong genre - which is what I think Hero Quest is designed for. A strong genre where everyone understands how the stories work. For some people, Gloranthageeks like me, Glorantha is a stong genre setting. For others, less so, so it works for some of us but not others.

Strong genre is less important than the premise. Getting everyone on the same page is a pre-condition for any decent storytelling. If you want to tell a heart-rending tale about a clan where all the men are slain so Ernaldans must paintstakingly do all the work to keep the children alive before the chill comes (you wimp...) and I just want to stab people in the groin with my bronze sword + Bladesharp 4 ("motherfucker!") then we are never going to have fun - regardless of whether you call it Narrativist, Simulationist, or Tedious.

Glorantha isn't a genre or a premise, its a medium.

You can find different genres and different premises inside that medium, but just saying "Oh yeah Glorantha" isn't a sufficient prepartion for *any* game in my opinion. Glorantha is too big, too rich, and too many things to too many people to be a handy descriptor anymore.

-- 
John Machin
"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."
- Athanasius Kircher, 'The Great Art of Knowledge'.

           

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