On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 1:24 PM, Steven Leary <sdleary_at_d1Jdy1KYotzvniuv_lsScRHme7Kop2fP9pjMEDu_iwU45QjYuS1tqd-EKY1egMqMG88F0H-QkIg.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> Despite your assertion that Genertelan dress is not analogous to
> comparable earthly cultures, you have a hell of a lot to do to
> disprove this.
What a burden I have left him.
What freedom he now has!
> I refer you to RQ supplement box 8, Glorantha: GCotHW,
> booklet 2, Genertela Book. Greg and Sandy are listed as authors, and
> because its Glorantha, I have to assume that Greg had oversight on
> approving the art work.
>
Sort of.
I will use this letter as an example of how I viewed Gloranthan art
direction.
At Chaosium my philosophy was (eventually) to give the employees the maximum
control over their departments. This was successful, as when Lynn skillfully
shaped the CoC line to his vision; or those outrageous booths and rallies
that Charlie did for GenCon; and sometimes not, like when EQ came out to be
much too complex for its potential audience.
My philosophy was also to delegate anything that someone else could do and
I'd do the things that no one else could do as well as me (Glorantha, team
leadership, vision) or wanted to do (many administrative functions).
Art direction was always something very difficult for me. I agonized over
telling artists to redo art or make major corrections (word were a different
matter, as most contributors of that time would tell you. I was happy to rip
them to shreds to make them more correct.)
So I almost always had an art director. I would say, "this guy is kinda like
a knight," or "these are like Asian martial artists," and the director would
make up the details for the artist who would do his visionary thing and if t
wast entirely wrong, then it was OK by me.
Also, I didn't have a detailed visual representation of most areas myself.
When I wrote my ten novels about Dawn Age Seshnela I was largely steeped in
European history and mythology, and my mental images took on that tone. At
the same time, I was absolutely aware from the start that these were not
European knights--the first book about Hrestol establishes that fact.
SO, those pieces of art are thrice removed (artist-director-me) from my own
visualization of Glorantha.
Finally, I considered it all to be an ongoing artistic revelation, open to
new big ideas, an infiinte number of new details, and revisions as needed.
Now I know that this may have not been Greg's intention, it has
> certainly tuned into the result.
>
And, in its broadest sweep, these images are still more or less correct. The west is, at first glance, a medieval-like society; Krlorela is China-like; Ralios is made up of city states, etc.
As years passed things did loosen up a bit, and some artists pushed past the stereotype--especially Dan Barker inserting his own creative insights and interpretations. Too bad the computer company with the RQ license
Perhaps things could have been different with different artists, stronger resolve by me to intrude upon the artistic visions of people who live by making visual representations, or how about this--a decent art budget so we'd have felt justified in demanding revisions.
Bu instead we have a vague, semi accurate representation* that is up for another set of interpretations. I am glad for it, look forward to it, and invite everyone else to join in the artistic unfolding that we are witnessing.
*heck, it is a record of unfoldng, of learning reveleation
Greg Stafford
Game Designer
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