Storytelling

From: Nick Brooke <100270.337_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 04:16:00 -0500



James Frusetta writes:

> For the Mostali, Trickster might be a figure limited in myth to assembly
> instructions, troubleshooting manuals and the like. (<Bing!> Trickster
> Error Type 11. Restart?)

Or as the Fool or Idiot that things must be "proofed" against? (Maybe one of Trickster's dwarf aspects is "User" :-). I like your suggestion for "Gremlin" as the dwarf Trickster's name; so what if they already have helpful nilmergs, that only proves the point. (Maybe, in Glorantha, 'gremlin' is 'nilmerg' spelt backwards, rather than the other way round).

That Trickster Trollskinner myth is Good Stuff, too. When Tim mentioned the possibility, I confess I immediately thought that Eurmal was the clever bugger who convinced stoopid humans that they could be turned into trolls - ha ha ha! The only Trolls who offer you rebirth as an Uz are *hungry* trolls.

(Mind you, the only Trolls are Hungry Trolls, so that proves nothing).

While I'm praising original and inventive Gloranthan fiction, it seems only natural to remind you that the Gloranthan Storytelling Contest at RQ-Con Chicago is just a few weeks away. Please whip out your myth-writing, folk-telling, saga-scribing hats and bring us some new stories, ones so original and inventive that even the Bored Creator of God Forgot would sit up and pay attention.

For those who don't know, a story like Trickster Trollskinner would be just *fine* in the Contest. So would anything else -- any story, myth, legend, joke, song, poem, or whatever -- that takes ten minutes or less to read or perform. (I came across my own story in a dream on New Year's Eve, and will be writing it up and rehearsing a couple of times before the Con: practice *is* important, even if you only have a couple of run-throughs).

Entries can come from any place and time in Glorantha, and will be judged by Greg Stafford on the night (we hope) for creativity, mythic resonance, panache, "Gloranthanness" and sheer entertainment value. Prizes, Acclaim, Likely Publication and Much Beer await the lucky winner of the Contest!

I have *loads* of time for Peter Metcalfe's Leonardo ("God is Dead... Bored"), though I still think that much of God Forgot is just plain boring: Leo's wonderful inventiveness is a reaction against his own people's dullness as much as a theological position. (The shit-slinging trebuchets are all the more surprising if they open fire on you in Dullsville, GF).

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