> Jonas writes a thoughtful piece, including the disclaimer:
>> As you may have gathered, I don't much like the bellator's style of play. >> From this stems most of my objection to the 'pure military' version of the >> Kingdom of War.
> Ah. Well, look at it this way: just as the God Learners are taking the
> piss out of DnD 'powergaming' grab-the-magic-item types, so the Kingdom
> of War can be used to take the piss out of 'pure wargaming' types. (And
> my writeup of Loskalm's Hrestoli Idealism takes the piss out of the
> "Lawful Good Kingdoms" we're all familiar with, from Gondor to Helden).
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Where or what is Helden?
I somewhat agree with your horror version of the Lawful Good Kingdom in Loskalm, although it isn't in any way different from the Lunar Heartlands, really. Life is perfect as long as you agree with your superiors. Both cultures promote merit and want as many as possible of their citizens become Saints (Loskalm) or deities (Lunars). Both have an enemy who promotes disorder and destruction (KoW/Argrath's Orlanth), and in both cases they have created their main enemy (LDoaH/Argrath) as a side-effect of their actions. (Harrek was trained by the Lunars, too...)
> Given that these people (God Learners, Warmongers) are said by many
> *within Glorantha* to approximate world-destroying ultimate evil, they
> may have a salutary effect on unenlightened players...
> As you'll have seen from my Stalinist/Trotskyite/Ingsoc Lunars (with
> their "safe, cheap and clean" Chaos Power, and dreams of perpetual
> cyclical revolution), and my Nazi/McCarthyite Hrestoli (cf. Tales #13
> and Digests passim), I think a dash of twentieth-century analogy can
> pay dividends in designing Gloranthan settings.
Hmm. I just found out that from a Lunar perspective Argrath's Sartar is very similar to the KoW viewed from Loskalm. I think without anyone knowing much about Glorantha, it wouldn't be hard to make Argrath the ultimate evil enemy figure you make of Lord Death on a Horse:
> As for the culture of the KoW, I'm not sure we should detail one (beyond
> what can be gathered from observation of their forces on the march).
> They are intended to be a Big, Bad Evil, not a realistic and
> sympathetically-detailed culture.
You mean, not a likeable and friendly culture like Harrek's Wolf Pirates of the Threestep Isles?
> You don't send ambassadors to the Kingdom of War;
What? No repercussions of Attila's treatment of embassies?
> you don't trade with it;
You send tribute, and you get "protection". I'd bet the KoWlers think of this as trading.
> you don't travel there on
> relief missions, or wander through it on your way somewhere else.
Not even the Lunars? Not Harrek?
> We should probably see as much of its culture as we do of Sauron's
> Mordor.
Actually, Gondor had sent emissaries into Mordor, and so had Harad, the Eastlands, etc...
> So by all means we should learn about their military etiquette,
You mean like Sartarite units uniform styles? <g>
> chain of command, and uniform styles (I think they are likely to be
> uniformed, anachronism be hanged!),
Likely each unit has one kind of beast head as hoods over their helmets...
> and practices on occupying new
> territory (so we can give refugee PCs and eye-witnesses information
> on what happens) -- we may even want to know more about the
> background, costume, manner etc. of the Warlords who run the show,
> and how they get their act together. But puh-lease, no KoW coffee
> ceremonies or "What My Father Told Me" pieces. This is NOT player
> character country.
Didn't you like the Ogre "Eat your enemies..." piece from SotB? Was that player character country?
> This is the Land of War, Death on a Horse, the
> Black Forest at the corrupted heart of Fronela. Nobody here gets
> out alive.
Why should one? "Heavenly opportunities to plunder fortunes, tap your women (men for the amazon regiments) into silence and submission, become one of the world's best generals!" From the non-existant recruitment flyer of the KoW (although I feel they should have a unit of gentleman warriors not unlike the Three Musketeers, always good for a joke when they skewer their enemies or victims in a flashy and stylish way, probably while listening to their favourite captive musician (blinded and possibly castrated and hamstrung) and drinking wine (mixed with blood) from an exquisite glass in the off-hand - these guys might actually have a recruiter with flyers and all).
> (Now, where in Glorantha do we take the piss out of those 'Storyteller'
> and 'Roleplayer' gamer types?)
Threestep Isles? I recommend Huge Cook's "The Walrus and the Warwolf" as inspiration for life on the isles, the main characters perform any abomination in a most amusing way.
> _________________
> Nicholas Marcelja asks about the Block.
> Yes, RuneQuest Adventures Fanzine did a whole issue centred on the
> Block, including exactly the kind of maps and information you're
> looking for, as well as scenarios and encounter charts and how to
> get there and the like. All written for playability. Someone who
> has the details to hand should tell you what issue and how to order
> a copy.
I fear Ingo Tschinke (continental European distributor) might be out of copies, but English game stores might still have copies. I'll check.
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #216
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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