and later says
>As a GM
>it really narks me not to know what these races get up to.
Well, I guess part of what really narks me about Martins description of the Blue Vadeli, as both a GM and someone with a wider interest in Glorantha, is to be told in great detail exactly *what* they do, without being told the Gloranthan *why*. Essentially, the information was useless to me - the precise mechanics of their alleged necrophiliac practices are something unlikely to come up in play in my game - if they ever meet Blue Vadeli I doubt they'll find out exactly what happens to their corpse. Whereas far before I felt any need to work out the mechanical details, I'd like to know how a Blue Vadeli explains it morally and magically, how it fits into their culture, or Western thought in general. Some details of what meeting a blue is like (even if we accept necophilia, I doubt its something they get into on the first date, at least against a party of presumably resistant PCs).
To reuse Martins example of the trolls
>I think the prime example of this is the Trolls. They were HEAVILY demistified
>and became a people instead of a group of monsters.
For example, we have the vague idea that they remove organs for magical purposes. We haven't been told exactly which ones or why or many of the details. And we have a wealth of detail about their customs, myth, beliefs and so on.
For my conclusion on the whole debate, may I say that the alleged 'splatterpunk' nature of Martins Blue Vadeli was not, in itself, a reason why I disliked it. But it did make it a little harder for me to like it, because was likely to put people off, so it needed to have something I really liked, which it didn't.
>I thought
>this was a digest devoted to discussing all things Gloranthan and to discussing
>ideas in a pure and unfettered way, free of personal feelings, free of
>political
>dogma, free of anything other than logical and fast paced debate.
ah, that would be the Brithini digest, but it is lost to the world with the rest of the Kingdom of Logic. A tragedy. Its Joy of the Heart, and Liberation of the Soul, and all that modern rubbish here.
Hazia
As determined last night, IMG (or at least in In My Prax) hazia is not, strictly speaking, illegal. It is, however, strictly regulated and to grow or sell or possess it without the appropriate Lunar authorisation is illegal. In pracice, it is illegal in Lunar Prax to almost everybody though, as the Lunars tightly control the trade because they find the debilitating effects on their soldiers a major problem, and they also discourage it as a concession to Solanthos. Only Lunars with very tight connections to the Lunar High Command might get it.
But then again, it quietly grows in lots of places out in the wastes, and to many nomad tribes it is neither illegal nor particularly immoral, though overindulgence is weakness, and weakness is looked on harshly (but they say the same thing about food, water, fun, etc. out there in the wastes). Some tribes disapprove, others use it with enthusiasm, and for some reason are not as susceptible to the effects of withdrawal.
Boggles
> Boggles always appear singly, leading some rash scholars to the
>conclusion
>that only one exists in the whole world. We should be so lucky.
I think in Sandy's game they once met a never ending party of boggles (party as in celebration, rather than party as in group of adventurers). They were feasting in a castle along one of the paths to the top of the Plateau of Statues, I think.
And in conclusion to this rambling missive, let me ramble in the direction of Nicks home page. May I heartily recommend several bits it, I learnt a lot AND laughed out loud several times (especially the sentences beginning 'The Red/White/'original' Moon is associated with...').
Cheers
David
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