> The dominating factor as far as I can see is of course the Learning temple
> with the factions being the Lunar priests of Irripi Ontor, who probably
> have more in common with the urbanised worshipers of Lhankor Mhy than they
> would care to admit.
This got me thinking. Never mind the specifics of this example - my thought was that people in the real world are more stoutly opposed to those who are most like themselves. In Northern Ireland, there are two sets of people, republicans and loyalists, who are so similar to each other that the rest of us can't tell them apart at all. When groups of kids in Belfast were asked how they could tell whether another kid was one of their group, or the enemy, the only thing they could think of was the way the letter "H" was pronounced.
Glorantha is a land where the various cultures, religions, magics, species, make intelligent groups of people VERY different from each other, and very obviously different. Might these differences be so great and so obvious that the vast majority of people pay no heed to them at all? We often think about how trolls might fight/hate elves, but in the mind of the elves, the trolls might be a near irrelevance. If the trolls attack, then a defence must be mounted, but the vast majority of the time they are not attacking, and nearly all the hatred, will be aimed not at trolls, but against those elves who paint the tops of their harps blue instead of green. THE BASTARDS! _Those_ elves clearly have no inkling of basic decency.
Richard Meints wrote
> When the digest first began, people who were bursting with ideas...
> [snip]
> Many years and 1000's of issues later, there doesn't seem to be that
> much "new" material being put forward. [snip]
> The digest, with several shining exceptions, has fallen into a state of
> people asking questions (a great thing to do) and getting vague/esoteric
> snotty/condescending answers, and the posting of lengthy dissertations
> on topics like the use of Amerind languages as a good template for
> Darktongue. [snip]
> What can be done? [snip] Write scenarios.
This is my first posting to this list. I have been lurking since April. I joined, hoping to get access to scenarios - YES: SCENARIOS, or at least scenario ideas which would help me springboard my mind and my players into realms of ADVENTURE! Instead, I skip through most of these digests, and marvel that people have the time to argue some of the points they do. It's a game. Or is it? Is the study of Glorantha more fun than the playing in it? The same few names appear on this list time and time again. Do these people play RQ as well as talk about it? What proportion of the time do they spend playing, and what preparing for play?
New folks like me, while interested in some of what is said (eg. the stuff I accidentally deleted on how dwarves sense things underground), are I'm sure put off by the debates which make up most of this list. I daren't enter most of them, because I cannot compete with the staggering obscure knowledge these people have of a world which doesn't even exist. I have read a bookshelf three feet wide of Gloranthan publications, and still couldn't hope to keep up with what these people "know".
If you want new blood, make joining fun. I feel that I have been dropped into the fourth year of an advanced history and geography course, and am supposed to keep pace with the people who joined in the first year.
Where are the scenarios, the cameos?
I read all the stories people post. This is probably because stories are fun.
Lloyd
Dept. Psychology
Newcastle University
Nikolas.Lloyd_at_NCL.AC.UK
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