Re: Lore Auctions from Nick Brooke on 1998-03-25 (Glorantha Digest Vol 05)

From: Nick Brooke <Nick_Brooke_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 03:50:20 -0500

Allen writes:

> My problem with the Glorantha lore auctions is not anything that
> is said but that they happened at all.

I think many of us have some qualms about the format of the auction, but let's face it: if people weren't willing to pay a dollar to get the most "official" answer they're ever likely to hear, delivered in a very public forum, they wouldn't happen.

The best things that come out of Lore Auctions are threefold:

You can ask Greg a question phrased to lead him down an attractive garden path and thereby confirm or legitimise your own theories.
You can ask Greg a question to get him to publicise something you know he's thought all along, but which few other people know.
You can ask Greg a question in order to illuminate or bemuse (the two effects are very similar!) the rest of the audience, perhaps in response to a previous question that's easily misunderstood.

The worst things are...

"On page 94 of 'King of Sartar' you refer to Jarani as 'Bladesong' but on page 23 of 'Son of Sartar' #3 in 1977 his name was given as 'Bladsnog'. Which is correct?" (i.e. asking the bleeding obvious).
"On page 23 of 'King of Sartar' you refer to the City of Karse as being on the left bank of the River, but in the sketch map in the RQ Compendium it appears to be on the right bank. It is of vital importance to my campaign to clear up which bank it is on. If you give me the wrong answer, you will have wasted many years of my work and will cause all my players to laugh at me. Which bank is it on?" (i.e. asking the trivial and obscure, without any attempt to "lead" the answer).
"Was Arkat good? Is the Invisible God a fake? What was the Secret of the God Learners?" (i.e. asking the unanswerable).

> I remember (fondly) talking about ideas about myth, monsters and what
> it means to play heroic fantasy while eating a very expensive burger
> with really bad fries, with Greg and several others at a very early
> Dundracon I think. There was some degree of respect and equality of
> ideas. A lore auction where Greg will answer your questions seems a
> touch out of step for me. =

There is still a great degree of respect and equality of ideas at the Lore Auction and at Gloranthan conventions in general. Greg honours inspiring questions -- answers akin to "there is, now you've told me about it!" do crop up from time to time. And fans are always free to chat with guests and visitors and anyone they can catch, so long as they don't derail the Con's scheduled events (and are welcome). In fact, this is one of the reasons the Lore Auction is usually scheduled early on in the Con: if you leave it too late, everyone's got their answers for free in private conversations, and nobody learns anything. (And if you leave it right to the end, Greg's lost his voice from all that talking!)

If Allen has never attended a Convulsion, RQ-Con or Glorantha-Con and has qualms about the Lore Auction from reading transcripts, please rest assured: the Cons are not like that. (The first time I nattered with Greg was over an excruciatingly bad burger at a Gaelcon in Dublin). The Lore Auction is an official setting for getting official answers, in public, and/or for holding the author(s) of Glorantha to account. The fact that it's a public panel makes it difficult for a question to be "dodged" -- the format forces Greg (or whoever) to face them head on and provide some kind of answer. Even if it's just "I can't answer that", or "I don't know".

(I am hugely amused by the "King of Argrath" questions at the start of Questlines #2's Lore Auction transcript -- from memory, Greg's answers are "dunno", "don't remember", "did I write that?" and "I'm not sure".)

::::
Nick
::::