Sandy Petersen on Runes:
Sandy talking about the limited scope of runic knowledge in
earlier ages:
> Thus, if you were an Orlanth person, you knew of only three
> Runes in all the world, and probably had no idea that other
> cults had Runes, too.
But (in RQ2 anyway) spirits can sense runic ties. While the
runes of your cultures religions would predominate the occasional
person or spirit would be encountered with other ties and allied
or bound spirits would report it. I cant see the cat taking
several Ages to get out the bag.
Sandy on Illumination:
> And an illuminated dwarf is ludicrous. "I just realized that
> existence is pointless!"
Why do you find this of no game interest? How different is it
from a stormbull saying "I just realized that all this fighting
is pointless!"
What Is It To Be Uz:
One of the things that we were griping about in a recent game
was the huge amount that had been said on trolls without actually
telling us anything about them. Dont get me wrong: I love
Gloranthan trolls. I think a lot of really good trollish material
has been published (some of it many times :-) ) and we are well
beyond the horrible monster stereotype. But where has it got us?
I was recently asked to explain my characters main ambitions:
well she wants to strengthen her people; have strong children;
reflect KL as perfectly as possible; perhaps find a heropath to
weaken the trollkin curse on her clan if she ever rises to such
ability.
This is some of what I said, but what does it boil down to. Its
not so very different from what a human might say. It made me
unhappy about my understanding of her real character. Yes I can
throw a blanket over peoples heads as I extend my darkness to
them; I can grumble a prayer at dusk; When I camp I can get all
my followers to hide seperately instead of in a group (which
stinks as a tactic and which evolutionary pressure should have
wiped out pretty dam quickly); I can distrust elves, dwarves,
etc. I enjoy doing all this - but it isnt enough. I want her to
be truely Trollish. I want to find the deeper difference, the
difference in the psyche.
With different human groups the differences are cultural and
easier to explain and play out. The descriptions of the Inhuman
races seem to have focused on cultural differences too, which
is OK but there should to be something more fundamental to be
said.
Hmm... The most obvious example of an other-race description that
focuses on a difference in nature rather than culture is the
(not very Gloranthan) Vulcans from Star Trek.
Can anyone point me to something that expressed Uz 'otherness'.
Nick H :---------------------------------------------------:
: Nick Hollingsworth, UK: B90 2RA :
: Birmingham - Land of the Free, Home of the Balti. :
:---------------------------------------------------:
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