Heroes, Superheroes, and Heroquests from Bryan J. Maloney on 1995-05-14 (Glorantha Digest Vol 01)

From: Bryan J. Maloney <bjm10_at_cornell.edu>
Date: Sun, 14 May 1995 07:50:21 -0400 (EDT)

I think the time has come to invoke a counterbalance to Sandy's constant mechanistic slant upon superheroes and heroes. Since I would hardly presume to claim as distinguished a Gloranthan scholar pedigree as has he, I'll resort to the time-honored scholastic technique of reference to an agreed-upon authority. I quote Greg Stafford on the subject of Heroquests, Heroes, and Superheroes:

"Who can go on a Heroquest?

Anyone, as long as they have obtained the consciousness to do it..."

"What is a Hero?

A person who has attained integration of himself with the three worlds, and idealizes some aspiration of his society, and is widely acknowledge to do so, is a Hero."

"What is a Superhero?

[A counter in the game of Dragon Pass...] In some of my old thinkining, this was a very powerful hero (THE INFINITY SIGN IN THAT GAME IS A GAME RULE MEASURE, AND NOT A COSMIC SECRET). In terms of my current Heroquest vision, THIS IS A SUPERFLUOUS DEFINITION." [emphasis mine]

Stafford, Greg. 1992. The HeroQuest Quiz: Tales talks to Greg Stafford. _Tales of the Reaching Moon_ 7:10-11.

Please note: Superhero as a separate category from hero is stated to be
"superfluous". Furthermore, the "Infinity Rune" is specifically
disqualified from representing any sort of great cosmic truth.

We already know that Runes, as such, have a far more degraded position in Glorantha than we once were erroneously lead to believe. This seems to cement that status loss in a BIG way for the "Infinity Rune". Furthermore, there doesn't actually seem to BE any "superheroes" in Glorantha, according to the guy who owns the copyright.

Reaching Moon Megacorp should reprint this issue, and keep reprints in stock. It is probably the one issue that I have used more than any other.