Humm... Were you ever told the history of Martim Moniz and the conquest of
Lisbon? Here it goes:
Afonso Henriques (Portugal's first king) sieged Lisbon with the help of
cruzaders but the moorish garrison resisted all his atempts to take the
city.
One day his men were finally able to open one of the castle's doors (one of
those big heavy wood doors) but a counter-attack by the moors was driving
them out. That's when Martim Moniz became an hero: seing the moors were
going to close the door, he jumps and... blocks th door with his body (and
he wasn't even drunk and happy :-))! Seing that, the Portuguese came back
with a new impetous and finally entered the castle and conquered Lisbon.
Sadly the Portuguese didn't have Ressurection or other strong enough spells
and Martim Moniz ended as a dead hero.
Just think about it: after several unsuccessful game sessions of siege, the GM describes to the players how they finally were able to open a door to the castle but "the garrison uses all its remaining forces to drive you out. You see the door slowly closing [and he describes the huge door made of a single piece of the strongest wood and how it is crushing the bodies of the dead and maimed] You are going to loose the opportunity to finaly take the castle. [Now for the player better positionned] Suddenly, an idea crosses you mind: there is only a way to insure they will not close the door. You must jump and block the door with your body! [After a small pause] What do you do???"
I could also tell you about...
- - Pedro and Ines (a RW dark version of Romeo and Juliette)
- - The death of Dom Francisco de Almeida (how sad can be the ending of the
proud and powerful)
- - How the Saint Queen Isabel turned bread to roses - - How Maria da Fonte humbled the government of the kingdoom - - What the Aljubarrota Bread-maker did to the fleing Castillan soldiersand many, many more.
Which leads me to a question I've been thinking about asking to you all folks: RW history is filled with narrations of marvelous and heroic actions that are an excelent source of inspiration to Glorantha and RPG in general. Now, my question is: what do you think about people starting to send to GD those histories and suggestions on how they could be used in G?
Best,
Sergio
P.S. Tanks Jean for the information on the Oasis people. I have to get Tales #15.
P.S.S. I forgot to tell what happened to the killers of Viriato. After their treacherous assassination, they went to the Romans to collect their gold. The Roman commander ordered his men to throw at them the gold coins he had promised to pay. They died lapidated by the prize of their treason!
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