Allow me to go off on a tangent, and perhaps start a worthwhile thread of discussion . . .
There's so much material in _WBRM/Dragon Pass_ and _Nomad Gods_ that has not been built upon in later RPG supplements. This is good stuff that can improve the quality of our campaigns/stories/whatever.
Allow me to make a challenge to you all: take a tidbit of Dragon Pass lore and expand upon it in a form useful for day-to-day gaming. Set aside this pseudo-scholarly rambling for awhile.
I'll go first, to show you what I mean, mainly because I don't think the explanation I just gave is much good:
THE DWARF of DWARF RUN
Here's an entity that lives right between Sartar and the edge of the
Lunar Empire (pre/post-subjugation Sartar, that is). You send someone
with a good Oratory skill and maybe he gives you something neat, like
a magic device which blows up whole towns with one shot. Even better is
the fact that you can use it once a day...
Those of us with access to the collected works know that this Dwarf is labeled an "Openhandist" heretic by most other Mostali. This is probably why he's located himself down in this little wedge of land where more reasonable Dwarfs wouldn't be caught dead. It also explains why he even deigns to give away things like he does; most Dwarfs would never engage in the dissemination of their Secret Technologies like he does.
How can one paragraph and a few chits in Dragon Pass be worked into our scenarios?
EMISSARIES
* The Dwarf entertains emissaries from all over Dragon Pass, and way
beyond. (It's not often you find a Dwarf as Openhandist as this
guy). These foreigners can be encountered/traded with/questioned/
fought as they travel to Dwarf Run.
THE CANNON CULT
* The Cannon Cult 'parade' can be encountered as it travels.
THE ALCHEMICAL TRANSFORMER
* Encounter the AT as it rolls along the countryside (it moves by
internal combustion engine, you know...).
* AT Dwarfs/slaves scour the countryside for rare minerals & plants,
to be used as raw materials.
* A huge patch of ground is polluted by waste products of the AT's
operations - "Toxic waste."
* There's a bad crop this Fire Season, and Ernalda isn't answering
sacrifices to Her. The quest to entice Heler failed as well.
Is the tribe desperate enough to ask the Dwarf for help? What kind
of strange stuff is the AT spreading on the ground? How offended
will Ernalda be later?
* Many other ways that the AT could be 'hired'. Don't forget the
consequences, economic and political!
THE STONE MEN
* Encounter one of these giant Jolanti as it lumbers along. A small
boy can run faster than it walks, but nothing can stop it. It's
bigger than the tallest tree, and made of stone to boot.
* A stone man has been by here recently - see how the terrain is all
ripped up?
To bring the tangent back to the original thought: you can do the same with lots of other DP/NG tidbits. Does Androgeus travel with a group? What if Androgeus is feeling masculine today, and decides to come on to your daughter? Dinosaurs. The Puppeteers. The Beastmen. The Spirit of Movement. All these can provide good scenario hooks. Take one and run with it.
Well, that was longer than I thought it would be... - -DC
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #266
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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