Re: The Glorantha Digest V6 #56

From: Arf <A.R.Wilson_at_herts.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 10:26:23 +0100


Hi all

I too had a bloody excellent time at Convulsion. I'm posting what I did on my website to avoid repeating other people's experiences. If you want to read it it's here:

http://www.geocities.com/~pavis/gaming/convulsion.html

If you don't want to read it, then don't!

On with the show...

It seems practically everyone disagrees with me about high/low fantasy definitions, so I'll change my perspective and shut up.

Tom Zunder:  

> Is it time to have a list very specifically tailored ...[snip]

I agree with K. Paul McDonald, and don't see any reason to have specific lists, when the one we have is doing fine. If you have several lists, there is the possibility that useful stuff is going to be missed by those who are not members of them; whereas if you stick with a general list, individuals can just bypass what they don't want to read.

> Simon Hibbs:
>
> >Shock-horror. People from different parts of glorantha, who follow
> >completely different religions and philosophies have incompatible
> >conceptions of god.

Sergio
> I, Sergio need to know what is a god in Glorantha. And there are two
> different conceceptions of god, inspired by similar conceptions fo godhood
> in the RW: the 'ancient' conception that we find in the Greek and Roman
> pantheons; the jewish conception that gave origin to cristianity and
> islamism.

I think this is a question you must answer for yourself, and anyway, your players may have different interpretations of the idea of a god. Taking RW examples: I am Jewish, my girlfriend is Baptist. From my point of view, our idea of G-d is different, from hers it is the same. I believe that Christianity and Islam are the same, and she doesn't.

> In game terms, this means two completely different sets of rules, and two
> completely different understandings of what is a god in Glorantha.
> If I'm going to play in Glorantha, I need to know which are those
> differences and how they translate to different sets of game rules.

I Gloranthan terms, AFAIK a god is simply a powerful spirit or hero that has many worshippers, and the more the god is worshipped, the less free will it has. I'd suggest you have a search throught the digest archives, because I'm sure this subject has been done to death at great length in the past.

> But I'm not looking at this question in-character. It's me, Sergio, that's
> raising the question, not one of my PCs.
> And what I want to know is wheter I should look at gods as unpersonal and
> natural or as personalities.

IMO they have less personality the greater they are. Local spirits definately have personality. Local gods may have some. Great gods have none.

> I (meaning Sergio, not my PC) want to know if Orlanth exists, or if it is
> only a social representation of a natural phenomenum. Whichever is the
> case, I want to know what are the manifestations of Orlanth and how they
> operate in game terms. The same aplies to the Invisible God.

The gods exist and (for the most part) are alive. You can talk to them, and in some cases even see them and visit their houses for tea. :-)

Andrew Barton

> Simon Hibbs mentioned his new campaign in London. My long-running campaign
> has mostly London playerss although I'm now in Watford. What other groups
> are there in this area?

I've just moved to Hemel, and at Convulsion I spoke to a couple of guys from Watford and Tring. I think there was also someone from Aylesbury who I didn't get to meet. I want to get a game going starting the end of August - how about mailing me privately (and anyone else interested)?

I will also be picking up the e-mail campaign about the same time, for those who are in it or would like to be.

Arf
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End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #59


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