Rules versus Glorantha

From: Simon Hibbs <simonh_at_msi-uk.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 14:26:13 +0000


>Come on now. No matter what is written in this Digest the rule system
>people are playing in has as much to do with game reality as anything
>else.

The Runequest game rules are very fine indeed, but they are only a crude and approximate simulation of reality. Do you realy think that the Strike Rank system is a complete and accurate representation of time and motion in Glorantha? What about the Fatigue rules? They allow characters to do things that are demonstrably false in the real world. Which would you assume to be true in Glorantha, the implications of the game rules or common sense?

The game rules for things that people can do in the real world are a guide, they aren't meant to represent the universal truths of life in Glorantha. I believe that the same is true for the magic rules. Just as the strike rank, fatigue and other such rules allow things that are impossible in the real world and so require moderation by common sense, so do the magic rules.

>Saying that something is so but not being able to support it in the
>rules system people have to play in is pretty useless. The rules are
what
>most people have to base their decisions on. MOst of us don't have
access
>to all the data you have.

For me, the written rules are the starting point for my creative involvement in Gloranthan gaming, not the end point.

>On a side note, it seems to me a lot of new Glorantha wisdom is a touch

>too cynical for my tastes. My problem, not anyone elses.

Many of us are of advancing years, and have grown old, bitter and twisted. It's just as well you weren't at last week's megacorp meeting.

Simon Hibbs


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