Nick noted his and others' labors in putting together a "workable model of KoW operations" for a freeform. He concluded:
>>The overwhelming impression we developed was that treating the KoW as a
'reasonable' society would go utterly against the aims of its creators.
Jonas says that I "oppose the development on-list of the non-martial
details of the KoW". Yeah, that's true enough, when I can't see how these
details will improve our use of the Kingdom of War as an Enemy Threat in
gaming.<<
This is the root of my disagreement with Nick. I have no use for the Enemy Threat (capital E, capital T) in my Glorantha. Other RPGs are full of enemies who are nothing but cardboard cutouts or represent 'Ultimate Evil' (Nick's phrase). Glorantha takes some of these (like Trolls) and fleshes them out. Makes them interesting and believable. I think it's a Bad Idea (capital B, capital I) to have a Gloranthan realm that has the depth of a Republic Movie Serial. I don't care if Greg Stafford and the 12 Apostles of TotRM say that the KoW *Must Be* a parody; I still think the approach is bad.
That was my point about the Ottoman Turks--a point Nick derides. The Ottomans were a lot more than effective conquerors--they had art, literature, law, bureaucracy, and so on. I'd guess that no-one on the list wants to deny that. Because I want *all* Gloranthan realms to be more than cardboard cutouts, I was suggesting that other elements of Ottoman culture than their military system be grafted to the KoW. Maybe mentioning the Ottoman survey system was a bad example. Nick certainly flamed me for it. OTOH, I once ran an adventure which turned around a lord's attempt to survey his holdings. My players enjoyed it anyway. Story hooks are where you find them.
Nick chided me for writing so much when I don't personally use the KoW in my campaign:
>>Then why the (peculiarly wide) bandwidth? If the argument's irrelevant to
your campaign, and you dislike the subject of it, what are you hoping to
contribute? (Or is all this high-falutin' obscurantism meant to confuse and
derail those who *are* interested in using this part of Glorantha for their
gaming?)<<
Why, to win you over to the One True Way, of course. Seriously, though, I'm interested in Glorantha. And opinionated. I thought the point of the list was to discuss the world. Am I only allowed to post on Jonatela and the Orlanthi here--two things my campaign has emphasized? I'm warning you, you won't like my Jonatela either. It's not remotely Slavic, and has no 'boyars' (neither does G:GCotHW, for that matter).
Nick continued to bash my style, even when arguing with Jean. He signed himself:
>>Yours, fighting for a legible mailing list,<<
If Nick wants a more easily understood mailing list, he might try using less British slang. In an earlier reply to me he used the phrase 'to take the piss out of' someone. Stupid Americans like me don't know what this phrase means. From context, I'd guess it means deflate or discourage, but I could well be wrong.
OTOH, if he wants a more legible mailing list, I suggest that he invest in a better monitor for his computer.
Jonas Pope
P.S. I try to limit myself to 4 postings at most in 1 thread; this is my 4th in the KoW discussion. So Nick and the rest of you will be spared my bad prose in the future. On this issue, at least.
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