Giants at War

From: Joerg Baumgartner <joe_at_toppoint.de>
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 97 19:34 MET


I about Nick's dismissal of the giant/dragon war myth:
>> Not entirely, since IMO this myth is about explaining the absence of
>> plate tectonics yet providing reasons for mountain ranges...

Nick in his usual magmatic self:
>And the actual effect of plate tectonics on the RW Bronze Age was...?

Primarily the receding coastline along the North Sea, reducing the inhabitable area there leading to some migrations. Secondarily, the presence of the mountains where they are, with distribution of ore deposites etc.

>My character in a Caesar's Gallic War campaign should *need* to know just
>as much about plate tectonics, as my character in a Dragon Pass campaign
>knows about the primaeval War of the Dragons and Giants. IMHO.

Your character in the Gallic War campaign surely. Your Nochet LM librarian with access to the God Learners' X-Files....

>Now, the
>ref can always introduce a special reason for this to become *important*
>(e.g. the campaign centres around places holy to the Giants, Dragons,
>Dragonewts, etc., where manifestations from the primordial War are still
>messing up everyday life)

Ormsgone Valley, or the Dundealos tribal lands east of Old Wind Temple...

>but this is surely an exceptional case. You
>don't *need* the Order of Battle for the third great campaign of Giants
>against Dragons, back when Glorantha wore diapers and drank primordial
>soup, to play in the world today

Nah. Neither do I need to know about primordial soup, or Lunar philosophy, when playing a Pol Joni character.

>-- any more than you need character
>stats for Australopithecus vs. Smilodon to run a Crusaders-era campaign.

Hey, I didn't ask for the stats of either army. This is rather like: I want to know about King Saul's battle of Michmash to be able to follow WW1 in Palestine...


End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #209


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