> My advice to everyone frustrated with the state of Gloranthan affairs > is to take a deep breath, exhale, and then go back to gaming > and exploring Glorantha.
I am frustrated with the state of Gloranthan affairs. The main reason as nothing to do with the end of the Monomyth. My frustration as oneother root:
GLORANTHA IS NOT GLORANTHA ANYMORE. IT REALY IS ALTERNATE EARTH. When I discovered Glorantha in the 80's I was presented to a small region in a bigger continent in an even more wider world. The region was Dragon Pass. It was very rich and unlike anything I knew. Of course, I could find RW similarities, but those were not imediately apparent: I could compare DP to Greeks vs. Persians; to Greeks vs. Romans; to Celts vs. romans; to Visigonths and Franks vs. Moors (1). But I could not say that DP was a precise RW situation translated to G. In fact it seems that the RW inspiration was one I didn't acknowledge: British peoples vs. Romans.
I expected to find, when new material on other parts of Glorantha would came to my hand, the same uniqueness I had in DP in a much wider scale.
Helas, I was wrong. Just look at how G evolved clockwise:
I suspect the western islands will become the Aztecs and Maias of G.
The second point that make me love G was the presence of rich and colourful
non-human races. Here also the Alternate Earth Syndrom made extensive
damage:
- - Almost all the intelligent and socialy developed populations of G are
humans (where I would expect to find from 40% to 50% of non-humans).
- - Most non-humans races never found the depth of treatment of Trolls (2)
and human cultures.
- - In some cases, it was better not to try at all. I'm thinking about the
developments made to dwarfs (with their Word machine culture): IMHO it
realy sucks and is completely useless and ridiculous rubish. It could find
some space in Paranoia, not in G (3).
- - Quantities of stupid and ADD-like creatures were thrown in below-average
packs like Elder Wilds.
Well, I realy loved G and still do. But the more G looks like a clone of RW, the less I like it (4).
(1) BTW Roland of the famous La Chanson de Roland is called in Portuguese
Orlando...
(2) BTW the french RPG magazine Casus Belli choosed the - accodring to them
- - 10 best RPG supplements of all times. Trollpack was the only RQ product
selected. Chaosium saw several Cthulu products in that list also.
(3) Don't take it personally, I'm just expressing what I feel.
(4) To be fair, I must recognise that from a commercial POV developing a
game world as a kind of alternate earth is the most sensible thing to do
since most people that is going to buy your products does not have enough
knowledge about RW cultures and history.
Best,
Sergio
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