Undue Secrecy from Pete Newallis on 1998-07-26 (Glorantha Digest Vol 06)

From: Pete Newallis <reaper_at_sound.net>
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 18:06:57 -0500

                               
 Peter Metcalfe talked about Undue Secrecy

>
>>I think you're right. A scenario about a search for knowledge about the
>>Clanking City would be far better. Glorantha is full of secrets, very few
>>of which you need to "know" to role-play or GM successfully.
>
>I don't see why this requires that people should not play in the
>Clanking City. Pavis and Sun Country are full of Big Secrets yet
>nobody has suggested that we not play in those areas but search
>about for knowledge about them in a completely different place.

Another tack on this is different Big Secrets. Ultimately we all have our personal Glorantha. It may mirror another's well or not. Whether as player or GM or just fan, we see the world a certain way. Our minds either fill in details others didn't list or we see the same sentence in our own personal way.

Ultimately, nobody need fear the "Greg" police (meant tongue in cheek). Nobody will raid your game to check to see if it is canon. You can write up your own stuff however you want, adding and subtracting as you wish. Of course, the further a field you take things the harder it is to share with other fans.

What I meant about other Big secrets. Is there a deeper secret about Pavis relating to giants? Were there First Giants that rival Dragons in power? Or little secrets - why does the bartender at the Broken Tankard have a Tarsh accent? Not every lunar is an agent of the Red Moon nor every Sartarite a freedom fighter. But they do have goals, ties, friends, history - lives.

Everyone enjoys learning more about Glorantha, some just for fun of it, others in order to perfect their characters, and others seeing knowledge as power, to better make their way in the world.

>Lastly only a couple of secrets in glorantha are Truly Unknown.
>To wit, they are the Forbidden Secret and what precisely happened
>between Arkat and Nysalor.

Truly Unknown? Or maybe buried in the heart of every person. Some don't care, some will wait for some never-coming pronouncement. Others will decide what the answers are for their personal Glorantha, whether or not they share with the rest of us.

>maddeningly vague (like Vadeli are Evil). And most secrets in
>glorantha are capable of being discovered without destroying
>glorantha.

But I do like the idea that many secrets have prices, some of which you only learn later.

>So don't be afraid. Explore the Secrets of Glorantha! You have
>nothing to lose but your Clouds of Unknowing.

And don't be afraid to share them. Post your thoughts here, or your adventures. If it ties too much into RQ then go to that list. Or put up a page, (if you are uncertain how, ask somebody with Gloranthan stuff on the Web, they are more than likely to help) Write ToTRM, or Choasium or any other fanzines, you might not get published or you might!

Pete