>Sadly RuneQuest has got lost, problems with gurus unable to decide on what the
>rules of RQ4 will be and then Glorantha the Game taking RuneQuest's fire, only
to >be put on hold itself has hammered the last nail on RuneQuest's coffin.
Don't get >me wrong, I LOVE RuneQuest (and Glorantha) but it is my certain
belief that >RuneQuest is dead. If RQ4 in Glorantha or even Pendragon-Glorantha
the Game >ever come out, I will be highly surprised.
I agree with your sentiments completely David, it sucks. The bottom line is that Greg grew sick of RQ and wanted the Glorantha component dead so he could do his own thing - I like what he is writing but I also like rules.
Bear this in mind for - the 97 Con book - "Enclosure" will have David Dunhams Pendragon Pass Rules and several PDP articles including cult write ups and rituals/myths. If we can't use RQ we can at least use rules that are fine on their own or are convertable to RQ with little effort.
>GLORANTHA
>Greg's Glorious ResAscent of Yelm and Fortunate Succession on the first read
>looked impressive. However now I think they are a waste of paper. My problem is
>that they add a whole load of new gods and myths (and problems), without adding
>much to Glorantha in a gaming (RuneQuest) sense. Note that I'm not anti-Yelm or
>anything - I respect Yelm greatly.
I agree that it doesn't add anything to Runquest gaming except that it gives an excellent source for running a RQ based campaing in DH as Pam Carlson is doing. However, GRoY was not written as a gamers source, it was written as Gregs notes - - he even says that in the book - its written for those who like his myth and mostly for himself. So it never was designed a a game source - if you want to use it or FS or the Entekosiad as such, prepare youself for a lot of work. As a source of information it is without compare from other game worlds.
>On the digest there are long talks about multiple gods. Having different names
for >the same god for each region seemed silly, confusion for the sake of it, as
did >having muliple version of the same god, especially all those fucking suns.
While >the growth of gods was interesting to the those taking part, it shows
just have far >the gap between those who want to play RuneQuest in Glorantha and
those who >want to experiment with Glorantha has widened. I can't imagine how
the >Godmakers would fit all their gods!
This isn't a problem - you could write up based on culture and area rather than all of Glorantha - after all I've never been in campaigns in which more that 20% of the Gods in GoG are really used. Most cultures have a pantheon that could easily fit into one book with good design so its quite feasible that Chaosium could produce the "Orlanthi Gods Book" and the "Dara Happan Gods Book" and the "Book of Western Saints" etc and you buy one based on where you want to campaign. This diversity is a good thing IMO as it allows a greater understanding of cultures than the rather thin understanding we have now.
>into a RQ cults book. Generally the Godmakers seem very anti-rules. Does
>anyone remember when that chap published the Onslaught stats, they got very
>aggressive and bitchy.
I wrote the Onslaught stats and got some serious negative feedback, tis true but bollocks to them (whoever) is what I say. Rules are necessary and vital for gaming and some people associate stats with powergaming because they have a fear of it, such is the stigma attatched. I reckon that stats are neat and like to see them. It gives me an idea of how tough something is or how they do things. I for one don't find Sandys stats in Dorastor at all gross. Unbeatable - but that was the point.
RQ is the best game system around for all-round speed, detail and realism - its not perfect but its as close as I've seen. Its a damn shame Chaosium no longer want to use it but we have to face reality - that wonderful system has been killed and if we want to play Glorantha we have to get something else.
>What upsets me, is that much of new work contradicts or invalidates what could
>be called the old testament (Cults of Prax, the Monomyth in general). I know
that >the way forward is not quoting some out of print RQ2 supplement or
fanzine, but >why does all the new stuff have to be so radical and alien. I
admit that I'm old >fashioned - favouring the authoritarian and enjoyable old
myths over the subjective >and exciting new myths.
The trouble is that Glorantha has evolved with Greg. Its his baby and his new writings reflect his greater and deeper knowledge of myth and how it works. He's getting on and his views change - he's no longer running games for a bunch of 20 year olds, hes writing this for himself mostly and us partly. Anyway, I like complexity and the new stuff is good because it gives us more information - the older stuff is very minimal and lacking in detail - I want more detail and if that means rewriting old stuff, then why not? Glorantha cannot remain static - - this digest is superb for idea swapping and detail examining and often there are great game ideas as well and brilliant concepts.
>With the death of RuneQuest my interest and thus how much I care about
>Glorantha has dropped. My interest was RuneQuest and Glorantha, not just
>Glorantha as a stand alone product.
Well RQ hasn't died! You have the rules, you have a brain - write RQ scenarios! Thats all I do - I've never used a scenario from a book without completely rewriting it anyway! As long as you keep running and keep writing games, then you keep it going - you also can use the info on Glorantha - whatever its setting - as information for your own campaigns. Extrapolate and explore - thats the beauty of it - you can quite easily settle your players down anywhere and create an area with many similarities to other areas but with differences all of your own like Imther or Sandys stuff in Pamaltela.
Even more fun is to see what myths exist now and look back in the past and try to work out how people functioned in 1300s Quiviniland or Tarsh or 600 Esrolia and run campaigns there. There is so much opportunity in Glorantha to do this, its incredible and little or no chance of you being contradicted or getting some player shoving rules in your face because its yours and Glorantha is so big there will be no-one to contradict you.
Frank Rafaelstan said:
>I think the belief that "gods are real, but created" that is so popular is
>the ultimate GL monomyth.
Well said Frank, that is the answer. We _are_ God Learners and I think this is the big joke and the view that gods are created but real is a monomyth all of its own because if that's a universal truth then its also a monomyth!
Martin Laurie
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #244
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
Powered by hypermail