True, some of the discussions on the digest are a bit heavy but this is a good thing, as is the discussion of the rules and ways of play. Diversity is strength and as the support for Glorantha is almost utterly non-existant apart from the efforts of enthusiasts like the RM - we need every single scrap of strength we can muster.
As for players who look bemused at the depth of Glorantha - tell me about it. My lot in Vancouver are improving all the time but when I dumped them into a myth-heavy, tribal and clan politics ridden game (still with plenty of fighting) they were lost. None of them knew how to manage a clan, none of them had read any history on the subject, none of them were even remotely versant in the warfare of that period/stlye and as a result they floundered - they did stupid things because "D&D" type roleplay doesn't prepare the players for that kind of "realism" in a game. Its too complex for them and all they wanted was some entertainment on a Sunday night.
This is where D&D wins over Glorantha every time because as several have said, Glorantha is daunting and its not at all supported.
Frex Gregs books, even KoS are great for nutters like me and all the other Gloranthaphiles but I lent KoS (which is a lot more Western culture centred than the Entekosiad or FS/GRoY) to my players (who are all adults, working and pretty smart, most with degrees) and they were baffled. They thought it was confusing and badly written, they complained that it made no sense and contradicted itself all over the place - naturally I told them that that was the point, that it was written from the perspective of Gloranthans, not us in the RW.
Their answer kind of shocked me - "what a stupid idea" says one. "I live in the real world, I haven't got time to be a Gloranthan too!"
This is what it boils down too and I actually found myself agreeing with him in many ways. For me Glorantha is simply the best game-world around but Greg is a Messiah who won't preach, who won't teach unless he feels like it and in some sense can't due to RW problems like time and money. Glorantha is superb but its a pain as well as there is no drive, no push from any central source to get anything done in a _hurry_ and speed is everything in the modern era. Everything.
I started playing Glorantha when I was 15 - I'm now 27 and Heroquest is still
not out and we haven't seen a new Gloranthan product for eons and frankly, Nick
was right - GRoY, FS and the Entekosiad are a rip off for the production costs
involved - hell I could photocopy one of them for 8$ and by a binding for $2
(this is Canadian money we're talking which is 1.28 to the US Dollar) and that
isn't in bulk and they are charging $20 for them (US). So I could photocopy it
for less than $8 dollars US and I do a lot of bulk printing an know I could do
it (with a little haggling) at the print shop down the road for less than $6 per
copy.
Thats at least a 50% mark up which is bloody good, I work in retail and I know of what I speak.
Basically we have a right to be pissed off and I challenge anyone out there
(from Chaosium too) to say we don't - sure I know that things are tough but
there's been a trillion times more Elric!, Nephilim and Pendragon procuced than
Glorantha and that is a production decision, first and foremost.
Now we here that the new Gloranthan game is not due out for another few years, that David Hall has been dropped and production is dependant on the minitures and it just leaves me feeling like - why do we bother? Whats the sodding point?
The _only_ people who seem to care are those who post to this digest, so lets not let that die too, lets be as cerebral as possible and as MGF as possible but at least we achieve something!
Martin "in a bad mood" Laurie
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