RQ Roolz & other Sandy Comments on mestuation.

From: Lewis Jardine <jardine_at_rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 16:40:58 -0700


Hi All

        Some comments on comments by Sandy.
Basically, I agree with most of his view, but I have a different slant that says RQ has served well, but could now be replaced fairly easily.

>
> From: Sandy Petersen <sandyp_at_idgecko.idsoftware.com>
>
> Michael Schwartz
> >Whether we use RQ2, RQ3, Aria, or something of our own creation, it
> >is the Gloranthan milieu which we ultimately enjoy, not the game
> >system.
> Is this true for us all? At first was it? I bought RQ because
> I knew about Glorantha from Nomad Gods. But I kept playing RQ because
> I liked the system. After a couple of years, the world once more
> began to surpass the system in importance.
> I must agree here. Although I now play in Glorantha *without* RQ!

> But the RQ game system has had a major impact on the
> evolution of Glorantha. Here are just a few ways in which I believe
> this has occurred.
> 1) RQ has weak magic for everyone.
> Hence, even a Gloranthan peasant has appropriate magic.
>
> 2) No character classes.

Quite a few games are like this *now*, but not then... So I guess hats off to RQ.

> If a system using character classes had been used for Glorantha,
> who can doubt but what it would bear little or no resemblance
> to its current form.
> See Wyrm's footnotes for the AD&D Stats of Harrek et al.
Not my cup of tea.
> 3) RQ, unlike most games, makes it easy to create non-human
> PCs, even weird ones like griffins or giants. In addition, RQ
> non-humans are _significantly_ different from humans. The
> multiplicity and alien nature of Glorantha's nonhumans testifies to
> the usefulness of this particular RQ quality.

I don't believe this is a very unique feature of RQ!
> But it would have been a different Glorantha.
> Yup.
>
> Jane Williams
> >BTW, does anyone have a Gloranthan mythic reason for menstruation?
>
> Gotta be a different one for every culture, no? Hmm. One
> thing to consider is how often a Gloranthan woman menstruates. No
> "months" to time it by, after all. I suppose 4 weeks could be
> considered the standard period (nyuk).Ug!
> I suspect that that either the period is a half-wane in days or
Gloranthan women have an eight week (season) period.

> It's not timed to the moon, which cuts out a major cool
> mythic connection (unless someone proves that Pelorian women
> menstruate weekly.
>
> THE GLORANTHA MAGICAL EXPLANATION FOR MENSTRUATION
>
> Ernalda was injured in her womb in the Gods War.
> All women still bleed in sympathy with her, except when
> they are young, representing the time before the Darkness;

Representing when they are under Voria's care (Voria was not injured).

> when they are pregnant,

Ernalda was injured at the end of her pregnancy with BG. Women undergo this heroquest when they become pregnant. Thus they do not bleed during the pregnancy, but the birthing is full of blood, danger and suffering.

Before Ernalda's injury birth was easy and virtually painless. Only humans and trolls (because of Koratsting) suffer so much during birthing, animals suffer far less because Mykim? was not injured in this was.

> and when they are old and infertile, thus becoming
> representative of the Crones who were not so injured.

Yes

> How are those for starters?

A good start, but see my comments.
> Cheers

        Lewis


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