Re: Glorantha and Earth (diatribe re: Greg)

From: Robert McArthur <mcarthur_at_fit.qut.edu.au>
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 17:17:17 +1000 (EST)


Loren comments:
> Glorantha as Shamanic Journey
>
> "Does the sun mean something important on glorantha that I could
> take back with me to earth and use there to my betterment?"
>
> Greg Stafford has hinted that this is how he sees Glorantha.
> Sometimes I think he was joking. Sometimes I think he was serious. If
> Glorantha can indeed work as a tool to send the consciousness into an
> otherworld where the mind/soul is reforged and strengthened then it
> has to have some correspondence to the world that the soul/mind
> returns to. If the hero goes to the other world to save his world and
> returns with an irrelevant elixir or secret, then his trip was
> wasted. If we are going to learn something valuable from traveling to

            ^^^^
> Glorantha, then it won't be exactly how to kill the Crimson Bat. It
> will be something about dealing with people and society and religion,
> things that REALLY exist on earth.

Making statements of absolutes like this really (sorry Loren) gets my goat. Speak for yourself Keemosabe!!! (sp?) Everyone is at different levels of themselves. Sure, Greg may want to be on the shamanistic path and want to learn a valuable thing from HIS Glorantha. The young women sick of D&D may want something totally different. Let this come out. Looking at an old digest Eric Rowe asked a question which was never really answered in that: where is the Gregification of Glorantha taking us? (hope I haven't misrepresented it Eric...)

Some people would answer "it doesn't matter" - you can do what you want, ignore other things, make up your own, ignore the published material etc.

Anecdote: I am writing a Dragon Pass map generator for myself and other GMs. Someone suggested that I really should get Greg to examine any maps of Glorantha before making them available. WHY!

IMHO, while Greg has an intellectual strangehold on Glorantha (as seen by at least a number of people who are heavily associated with Glorantha, as seen by the anecdote) there's going to be problems.

Yes, I know Greg has said Glorantha is open territory. Nice words. Words here don't have the power of words in Glorantha. While Greg's sentiment might be that, IMHO the actuality is different.

This is going to ruffle many feathers. I think that Glorantha *may* only fully open up when Greg agrees either to never publish any other item about Glorantha. (Wow, listen to the screams!) Or decides to take an extended break from publishing anything else about Glorantha (10 yrs?): and refuses to comment on any material published.

Tales, Codex, RQA are great. Fantastic. The way of the future. But I think there is still a feeling that Greg is IT - and that anything Gloranthan must pass him. Of course, he may still own the copyright on Glorantha. If he does (anyone know?) if he wants to make it open, let him divest himself of this and truly offer Glorantha to the world. If he doesn't own the rights, then I applaud his sacrifice in giving it to the world, and accept it.

Most religious people don't ask their God everytime they want to do something - - and then wait for an answer! Let's not be that way with Glorantha.

Phew - sorry for the length and depth! If I had words for the other dimensions this message went into I'd include them as well.

Robert McArthur


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