Convulsion 4 was a very confusing time for me - I went in with mixed feelings (I like RQ), but was reassured by Greg and Robin's talk. Then I played it. Oh dear. Every die roll required a table look-up. This was one of two 4x4 tables, with 17 results (one cell (success v success) has two possible outcomes based on who rolled the highest). I think most of those who were in the game thought "this sucks". I spoke to Robin after about it, and he says "Yeah, that table sucks, it's out of date, it's better now, it's easier to remember". PHEW! Other than that, it's a fine system.
The system is very loose. I don't know what the character generation system is like, but I think it could be quite difficult for a referee to enforce a desired power level on the players. However, the Clan Generation system is a great idea. The players answer a series of multiple choice questions about their clan's history, and this determines the attributes of their clan.
"Did your clan start in the Green age or the Storm age?" plus a bit of
explanation about the two ages.
"When did your clan join Orlanth?" plus a list of five or so major events in
the Storm Age
"When Lokaymadon tried to suppress the worship of Orlanth, what was your
clan's reaction?" plus a list of options (some of which I'm sure NO-ONE will
choose)
etcetera. This ends up with scores for Magic, Crops, Valour, Tradition, Piety, Enemies, Shrines, etc - over a dozen traits.
This will give players a great sense of myth, history, and clan identity. Everything locks into place right from the start. I learned stuff about the Orlanthi doing this, and things definitely made more sense to *me* afterwards, and I've been playing RQ in Glorantha for more than half my life!
There's a lot of great stuff in the game, and it WILL be well supported.
Here's my suggestions, if anyone from Issaries Inc. is listening.
<I use my "Magic Affinity: Flame-resistance 6/14 ability"> 4. License SJG to produce GURPS: Glorantha.
http://members.tripod.com/~PhilHibbs/
Any view of things that is not strange is false
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