triviae

From: Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 16:29:15 +1300


Tal Meta:

>Strange request perhaps, but does anyone out there have an image of a
>glorantha-style duck, preferably in armor or carrying weapons?

The cover of Apple Lane 3rd edition?

V S Greene:


> I figure that there would be an Objective Truth that is what
>actually happened as opposed to the localised/cult-specific slanted
>veiwpoints.

We do have an objective PoV but it is not the whole story. It's the History at the front of Cults of Terror, Dorastor, Sun County, River of Cradles and all the other supplements. It tells us stuff like the Sun rose at the Dawn and in 1602 ST, Sartar was conquered by the Lunar Empire. What this history does not tell us is _why_ such-and-such happened or why so-and-so have such customs.

For that we have to rely on what the people themselves thought and in certain cases what others thought of them. People do what they want because they _think_ is best for them, not because of objective facts. If it can be said that the Lunar occupation of Sartar will only improve the lot of its inhabitants, but that will not diminish the anger of the Sartarites nor their prospensity for revolts.

>I figure that something along the
>lines of the Monomyth is a necessary thing for game and campaign purposes.
>Any future Gloranthan RPG is going to need something like that as trying to
>represent the universe from the standpoint of a dozen different culture; and
>assuming each equally valid, is the way to madness.

I don't see the need for the monomyth in the type of supplements that people have been wanting ie regional in scope. When doing a description of Ralios frex, I do not want to see the Sun God of the Galininae being referred to as Yelm objectively. When setting a campaign in Pent, I do not want to see the West King Wind being called Orlanth and given the same spells. It has as much appeal as running a fantasy earth campaign where Satan is the God of the Aztecs (which is the God Learner equivalent of how they altered gloranthan myhtology). I would see the need for descriptions of how the cult in such a region treats outsiders who worship a similar god and to some extent we do have this - Orlanth is recognized in Prax as the Little Brother of the Storm Bull.

I do feel some objective history is needed, like in 1602 ST Sartar was conquered by the Lunar Empire. But the further back, one goes one is entering the realms of mythology and thus is less sure of what has actually happened. Nobody alive today IMO actually knows what actually occurred between Nysalor and Arkat and even in a campaign set in the Stygian Alliance, I would make it a Big Secret.

MOB:


[on braveheart]

>Nevertheless it did have rollickingly
>awesome battle scenes (directed by the second unit director, by the way),

I would have felt the battles would be better if they had actually stuck to the original descriptions of the battles which would have been even more rollicking IMHO and also quite informative as to how most battles are won (by the least stupid commander).

>Another great "Gloranthan" flick is the Ancient Greece bit of Terry
>Gilliam's 'Time Bandits', with Sean Connery as King Agamemnon. His fight with
>the Minotaur is classic RQ2-stuff, right down the armour!

Methought Agamemnon's shield should have had wood backing so it couldn't be bent into a greave?

Powered by hypermail