> I am hoping to get this to work, but I am a little daunted with trying
> to maintain the high-quality Glorantha setting.
That's understandable, I think. For too long, Sartar has seemed like Unapproachable Mythic Terrain. One of the best things HW will do is put a few numbers and descriptions on it, so we can all say "Oh! Is that all there is to it?" ;-)
But basically, my advice to you is just to dive on in. The essence of clan politics is basically just: a) characters do something stupid, clan gives them a hard time about it, as they have to face the consequences too; b) clan is having some sort of trouble with a neighbour (or the tribal king, or some other outsider), and asks the characters, their favoured Troubel Shooters to go sort it out; and c) different clan factions jockey and jostle for position, whenever a Big Clan Decision has to be taken.
I realize that's tremendously vague, but one can really just elaborate variations on these themes, according to what you know about the character's clan, their tribe, etc. And the best way of finding out about this is to jot down a few basic assumptions (clan's attitude about [X]; who inside the clan disagrees with [X], if anyone; which of our neighbours take violent exception to [X]; etc), and play through some of the above. You'll get a progressively better and more detailed idea of what's going on, and ideas for such scenarios will start to auto-generate.
> Then they were surprised later when the
> Lunar Provincial government began a massive manhunt. They were more
> surprised when their clan-leader yelled at them for it!
Sounds like you've got the idea already! Putting the characters "in context" is the best way to give them some appreciation of the actual significance of what they do; not just for themselves, but for their ~1000 clansmen, the 5-10,000 members of their tribe...
Sorry if the above merely seems to belabour the obvious, but as a former sufferer from Sartar Anxiety myself, I felt compelled to say it.
Slainte,
Alex.
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #293
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