The monomyth silliness

From: Klyfix_at_aol.com
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 05:45:23 -0500 (EST)

Jeff Richard noted...

> (a qutoe of my stuff)

> >This is important if they're going to be interacting with peoples from
> outside that area; heck, isn't that >pretty much the whole basis behind
> Arkat and HeroQuesting? I don't buy any notion that every
> >people's world concept can be totally different and unrelated and yet
> everyone is still the Truth. That's >the logic of "The Monomyth is
> Science"; it's the truth of the world to the extent that an objective
> observer >can determine them as opposed to the what each group's myths
say.
>
> Unfortunately myth is simply an interpretation - reconciling all
> interpretations doesn't determine the Truth, but just a new
> macro-interpretation.
>

         Hmm, I probably cut too much here. Well, at this point I will grant that everybody (I have no defenders) disagrees with my contention. Doesn't mean I'm wrong in the least, just that I've not made my point.

         *sigh* What I was attempting to assert, at least originally, was that the Monomyth as persented in RQII and RQIII stuff was a useful skeleton to work with, that it allowed for a common basis for many of the world's myths that is esthetically (sp) pleasing for game purposes, that makes sense. It's something I'd like in future Gloranthan games, at least in the basic world book.

          Nope, I'm not a engineer or scientist or any of that; just a gamer who likes the background of RQII (even the notion of the runes as the building blocks of the world) and RQIII. I really don't have anything against different areas having different cults and all that, but it strikes me that if there was a point when the sun went from being always in the sky to being always out of the sky to then having a day and night cycle, well there's going to be legends about it in every culture and there will be some commonality. Heck, I wasn't claiming any authority as a sage here, just saying I like the monomyth, but one would think I was advocating some awful crime. I will note that Mr. Metcalf did discuss this all pretty reasonably and I rather like the "postmodernism" suggestion from Mr. Adamson (think I got the name right).

       Was I being rude in some way? I do tend to ramble...

V.S. Greene : klyfix_at_aol.com : Boston, near Arkham...

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