Rick "MiG" Meints writes:
> Several opinions have been expressed about how we should refer to Greg'=
s =
> unpublished stuff... I'm all for just saying it's unpublished and leav=
e =
> it at that. Why bother tagging it with a value judgement? =
The simple answer is that "unpublished" sounds suspiciously like "not yet= =
published", or "publishable but inexplicably overlooked". It implies that= =
there is some finished, worthwhile and auctorially-approved motherlode of= =
material out there, which the Military/Industrial Complex (or Evils of =
Capitalism, or Declining Gaming Market, or favourite other boogeyman) =
won't allow to see print. This is not the case, and is a belief I'm happy= =
to squash. =
I cannot help but feel that, even had he been a publisher, some core of =
common sense and self-respect would have prevented J.R.R.T. from letting =
Trotter the Clog-Wearing Hobbit and Tinfang Warble the Dancing Elf from =
seeing the light of day. As Greg *is* a publisher, and has not seen fit =
to publish some of the "apocrypha" (i.e. jottings, rough drafts, juvenali= a, =
and other contents of his filing system at Chaosium), the term 'unpublish= ed' =
doesn't quite seem to fit the bill. =
To take a close-to-home example: is the first ever draft of Rick's "Index= to =
Glorantha" unpublished? Literally, yes. In any meaningful sense, no: what= =
Rick chose to publish was a revised and expanded and extended and improve= d =
version of a good idea he first had many moons ago. Rick's original idea =
was
good, but that doesn't mean the napkin it was first scribbled down on has=
=
any special priority or precedence compared to the vulgar mass-release. =
Anecdotally, one of the most creative Gloranthan authors I know was at on= e =
time deterred from sending in any of his submissions, because he (wrongly= ) =
believed that complete draft versions of every "coming soon" Chaosium RQ =
product must be on file somewhere, and that he'd be wasting his time if h= e =
sent in any of his own "stop-gap" creations. =
_______ =
Stephen tells part of the story of the first "Broken Council" Dara Happan= =
coup. What he omits is that, originally, the man chosen to become the big= gest =
prick in Gloranthan myth and history was myself, playing the young son of= the =
martyred Emperor Khorzanelm. Under the sound tutelage of my evil stepfath= er, =
Mathiman the Usurper, I let myself be taught that immortal glory could be= =
mine if I played my part by saving the Perfect One from unwanted femalene= ss. =
We all felt this was a mythically sound and eminently Dara Happan solutio= n =
to the problems posed by the Council's (frankly rather daft) mythmanageme= nt. =
(I freely admit that familiarity with the street celebrations orchestrate= d =
by Ptolemy Philadelphus bore heavily on my willingness to be convinced: t= his =
Macedonian king of ancient Egypt had a sixty-yard long golden todger para= ded =
publicly to celebrate his own life-enhancing properties. Eat your heart o= ut, =
Martin Laurie!) =
> I might also recommend Nick Brooke as being very good at applying swirl=
y =
> blue colors to ones' face.
Ta muchly for the reference. I'll only add that a face shaped like Dan's = is =
crying out to have swirly blue patterns painted all over it...
> To Nick: If I had twenty Lunars in my valley I'd share them with you.
We'd hardly have to break a sweat, Dan.
(You know the old "One Orlanthi can beat two Lunars" joke, I'm sure...)
> I thought the Woad spell required the stuff to be applied to the whole =
body.
Probably does, but not in a "scientific" manner. And I'm *sure* it's pain=
ted
on in swirls and spirals and clouds and runes, not just splashed on all o=
ver.
And also sure that a partly-painted body gains partial protection. Achill=
es =
would have been OK, if I'd been allowed to paint his swirly bits blue...
Let's not forget our woad and tartans for the "Fall of the House of Malan= "! =
:::: =
Nick =
:::: =
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