Re: Re: What world-building lessons have you learned from Glorantha?

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_YHSkYXUy2EXJhqt42xR0Q8eA9Tm6Ao_6U5b3uetmgEc_b9v7oNFOXyu3Q5_SRnEN6og>
Date: Fri, 20 May 2011 20:29:58 +1200


My own impression?

Keep things simple. Too many strange names tend to make people's eyes glaze over.

Avoid creating new gods left right and centre. Use heroes instead if you want to make a difference.

Try and give each society a memorable practice, magic or quirk. Saying that they believe Storm Bull killed Kajabor instead of Wakboth is pointless by itself but giving them a special magic and say they have it because they believe Storm Bull killed Kajabor is good.

Remember your roots. We're in it for the Sex and Violence. Doing cult writeups about Nandan or Asyrex is a waste of time as they can easily be dealt with in a single paragraph.

Avoid making people goody-two shoes. A society does horrible things from time to time is a more interesting society to deal with or participate in than a society that doesn't.

A converse of the above is no society or individual is so good that its neighbors won't say anything bad about them. Think of what they might say and the more hurtful and cruel it is, the better.

Avoid falsehoods or deliberate wide-ranging conspiracies to conceal the truth. The truth is never big enough to be worth the effort of concealing it. Having intense debates about whether something strange but ultimately morally neutral is good or bad is better.

Think of the ways that a society's leadership would handle its political or legal disputes - assassinations, clan feuds or what? No matter how fanatical the leadership is, they will always find something to have internal disputes about.

--Peter Metcalfe            

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