A fractured ankle has given me some enforced time to sit down with my leg up and wade through the backlog of Glorantha Digests that I've missed while being away at Convulsion, and, shortly after my return from the UK, off at a school camp (where I broke the aforementioned ankle). So, in this and in a number of posts that follow, forgive me if I rake over some old ground and toss in my opinion's worth.
Brian said (v6 #28):
> The process you (and all of us) are witnessing is the long, slow, painful
> death of RuneQuest and Glorantha...
and gave a number of alarmist reasons why he thought so. I think enough people have already conclusively demonstrated that much of what Brian is claiming is wildly innaccurate (ie "fan-published materials fading fast") or barking non sequitors ("proliferating LARPS" will cause the death of Glorantha? huh?). But, as Brian also cited my apparent non-activity as one of his reasons why things are turning dead and gloomy, I'll just respond to that. Specifically, he gave as one of the reasons for the imminent Decline and Fall as:
>- - Prominent digest personalities posting less and less (MOB, for example) > or disappearing entirely (Sandy)
I won't speak for Sandy, but in my case, yes it is true that I have not been as active on the Digest lately. I can give you a whole pile of mundane and prosaic reasons why if you like. However, in the last twelve months I have also:
*attended four Glorantha conventions in four countries and did the
whole guest schtick at each of 'em, ie panels, seminars, games,
atrocious singing, excessive drinking, bookburnings, etc.;
*helped write and referee a new Gloranthan LARP, which featured at
several of these cons;
*wrote a new MGF-style tournament that people seemed to have had fun
playing (even if Nils Weinander's group only managed to get to the
end of the second paragraph by the close of the session!);
*compiled, edited and laid-out a con fundraiser book which David
Hall described as "96 pages of undiluted Gloranthan gold";
*wrote several new stories and articles for those various fan
publications which you say are fading fast; and
*created a Glorantha web page of my own which several thousand
people have deigned to visit (it ain't difficult if you want to
do one of your own, Brian); not to mention
*continued working on a number of projects that have not yet seen
the light of day, but hopefully will do so in the next year or so.
So please don't judge what I've been up to supporting our hobby merely by my presence or lack thereof on the Digest. I am in fact more optimistic about the future of gaming in Glorantha now than I have been for a very long time, and like to think I'm still doing my bit. I'll give my thoughts about Hero Wars in a following post.
Cheers,
MOB
9 Parker Street, Richmond 3121, Victoria, Australia Home Telephone: +61-3-9428-9048
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