RQ/Glorantha problems
I'm probably in the second 100 (century?) of knowledge/experience with
RQ/Glorantha. I own just about everything in the MIG (dog-eared, I'm afraid, we
USED it) including even all the issues of Heroes, and most every issue of DW and
WF and so on. I've played in Glor
antha for 17 years, attended the three
American Cons, played major roles in the LARPs and even ran a mini-LARP myself.
I've written stories for the digest and read every issue for many years. Even
for this group, I rank high in education, experience, income, publishing
experience (not in gaming, of course) and (sadly) age!
And even so I have no idea what half the discussions are on about. So for those of you who think that you don't understand what a lot of the stuff on this line is about -- you are not alone. This line is like Glorantha itself -- NO ONE understands anything more than an "Orlanthi all" of it! Just write about what you want, read what you want, and don't be afraid of pitching in whenever you feel like it! If someone insults you, insult them back (cheerfully of course)! If they ignore you, ask again!
That doesn't mean that there aren't problems. I don't mind long discussions about things of minor interest, nor do I mind the occasional flame wars. Actually, to me the most distressing thing about the recent Brooke-Martin exchange was not the heat, but the lack of light (more Yelmalio, less Lodril is needed!). I now know that they don't like each other much, but still don't know WHY. Unlike Shannon, a quintessential Californian, I am a New Yorker -- I can stand confrontation but I can't stand confusion.
Right now I am confused. There seems to me a suspicious pattern of EVERYTHING that is submitted to Chaosium from outside being rejected -- whether RQ:AIG, David Hall's stuff, or the Imther material.
Some of this, clearly, is a result of Stafford's own ambivalence about the world he has created. He wants others to participate in this world, but he wants it to stay HIS world. And he is a prophet. The problem with prophets is that they keep prophesying. A community of gameplayers grew up around his early prophecies, but Greg doesn't want to take this community into account as he continues his own explorations. There's a reason that it took Paul to organize Christianity AFTER Jesus kicked off, or that the Tolkien world became gameable fully only after JRR was dead, or that Barker has always kept Tekumel gaming in such turmoil. (Actually, there is an old book about a psychiatrist's practice called The Fifty-Minute Hour -- at least 30 years old and I don't remember the author -- in which the psychiatrist gets one of his patients out of a dream world by getting into it with him!)
The result of this continuing ambivalence "at the top" is that, in
organizational terms, we are now a cadre rather than a mass organization. That
is to say, we have a small number of Glorantha addicts who are highly
"mobilized" while there are relatively few supporters at lower levels of
involvement. This tends to have two effects. First, the level of
"sophistication" of the cadre tends to increase in a way that makes its beliefs
less accessible to outsiders. Second, the increasing lack of connection to
outsiders tends to make internal debates more esoteric and less useful.
Indeed, esoteria is one way that members of cadre organizations display their
"status." That's why one gets cryptic references to things that very few
understand, passing "insider" asides designed to show that the writer is really
"in the loop," and many other things that are irritating and off-putting.
While it's useful to keep these facts in mind, it is also worth remembering that cadre organizations tend to engage in too much criticism/self-criticism along the lines of "IF only" we did this or that then things would be better. Usually nothing will in fact make things "better."
Personally, I think that the people on this line have done a remarkable job in maintaining a game system and game world with little help (or sometimes even obstruction) from its creators. One encouraging thing about RQ Con IV, despite its relatively low turnout, was that there were new people there.
I hope that everyone will try to contribute to this discussion line (and elsewhere) things at a lower level of "sophistication" than much of what is appearing now. I certainly intend to -- by resuming some of my stories and sending various other random pieces, starting with a high school essay written by my son 9 years ago, "Down in the Dungeons."
Jim Chapin
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #165
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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