> I have to take issue with this -- how many of the people on the Digest
> sent any material to Avalon Hill over the last six years?
I did, for one. I'll bet a number of others did, too.
I queried AH to see if they were interested in "The Grey Company". They weren't. To tell the truth, I can't remember why. The manuscript was in about the same state as the version on my web site; it would have needed development, but I was willing to do that. I was told not to bother. I *think* I was told that there was no further desire for material set in Pavis, but I'm not sure.
It was fairly obvious that I'd never sell the scenario, so I published it in Interregnum. Later I started up my RQ page on the theory that I might as well give my stuff away and at least get some occasional thanks for my work, if nothing else.
Ken Rolston was more open than his predecessor, I think, but it should be noted that Avalon Hill in general was *extremely* closed. Twelve years ago I wrote to a number of game companies about a board game I'd developed (based on vampires, and including spell cards!). Avalon Hill was the only company to refuse even to consider it -- they did not accept outside submissions at all, but condescendingly offered to act as a vanity press for $10,000 or so.
An amusing side note: The game was also rejected sight unseen by a well-known Armenian game designer, who was working for West End Games at the time. His reason: Vampire games don't do well, and cards are too expensive to be practical! As I said, this was twelve years ago... :-)
> I'm a little confused about the gods and time. The gods are outside of
> time, and do not understand time.
This whole subject is so metaphysical as to verge on incomprehensibility (or advanced physics), but as far as I know the gods *are* in Time, since Time limits their ability to act. That being the case, they must have some understanding of time.
Sequence in Glorantha can exist without Time -- which makes me suspect that Time in Glorantha is fundamentally different from our own understanding of it (though the connection between the beginning of RW time and the Big Bang contains similar-seeming points of confusion for me).
Perhaps a good metaphor for Gloranthan time would be a yo-yo on a one-way trip. The end of the string wrapped around the yo-yo moves, representing Glorantha's progression along the Time axis; the other end (God Time) stays still, or mostly so, but can influence the moving end. The gods are the hand which holds the string, and the Invisible God/Cosmic Dragon/Greg Stafford (your choice) are the yo-yo-er. Okay, now I'm being silly. :-)
It's nice to see that I'm not the only one who is concerned about the division between Gloranthaphiles and gamers. A revival of the RQ-rules Digest would alleviate the situation somewhat, but not cure it, I think.
To those who view Glorantha as a game setting only, I'd guess that eighty percent of this Digest or more is completely useless. Telling them to become more active and bring up their own issues is disingenuous; the problem is that there are two fundamentally different outlooks involved. Who would read or write for a magazine that only produced 1 interesting page for every 5 published? If gamers who are experienced with Glorantha nonetheless feel their brains glazing over when presented with the 50th discussion about Shargash or Yelm, how is a newcomer going to feel?
The fact is that there *aren't* any newcomers. Ignore that, and the game *and* the setting will die.
It should be noted that both halves of the Gloranthan community need each other. People are introduced to Glorantha through roleplaying; that's the only source of new Glorantha scholars. Top-quality material is produced by Glorantha scholars; without a continuing source of new material and a detailed knowledge of the world, the Gloranthan game (whatever it is) will die.
The RQ-Rules Digest doesn't really deal with this problem because its focus is the rules system, rather than the gaming approach to Glorantha.
I've faced this problem in my own magazine: the ratio of "solid" new material to esoteric discussion. Throw the balance too far off towards esoterica, and the result is increasing irrelevance and inbreeding. Wish I could say how we've avoided that, but as far as I can see the net has become the medium for heavy esoterica, leaving the in-print proportions stable.
Gloranthan gamers need a copious source of good game-relevant information and new material. It's obvious that no company is going to be providing that for years, if ever. The fanzines come out too rarely to satisfy the demand. Perhaps the Glorantha/RQ APA that someone suggested a while ago could do better. APAs seem to be able to come out more frequently than regular fanzines, with a considerably higher volume. But barring that, an online source or forum with a high ratio of useful material is vital.
All IMHO, of course. End of ramble.
-->Pete
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------Editor, Interregnum RPG/Science Fiction APA/magazine -- email for info. Interregnum WWW home page: http://www.tiac.net/users/maranci/index.html FRP adventures, art and more: http://www.tiac.net/users/maranci/rq.htm
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