RE: HW and Rune Levels from Loren Miller on 1999-04-29 (Glorantha Digest Vol 06)

From: Loren Miller <loren_at_wharton.upenn.edu>
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 14:35:06 -0400

In the second of two invisible issues (volume 6, number 560) Alex Ferguson <abf_at_yeats.ucc.ie> writes:
> Dom Twist remains unhappy about the Rune Level default in HW:
> > Again this may be fine for those (all of us here) who have
> assimilated alot
> > of Gloranthan material. HW (and any RPG) isnt aimed at us.
>
> I'm aware of that: that's why I keep trying to subtly point out that
> _we_ are the people complaining about this, and who are most likely
> to change this setup from the Default. I think that' Rune Levels'
> are in many ways a _good_ starting point for newcomers to the setup,
> since they will tend to be in reasonable accordance with their
> 'kayword stereotype', or at least be validly playable that way.

Chiming in here, we have a long-established tradition of games that introduce new players to Glorantha with those new players taking the parts of powerful characters in their culture(s). Live Action Role Play games are the place where you can find the best Gloranthan roleplaying being done anywhere. And nobody is complaining that their barbarian warrior who was rolled up as a sartarite farmboy throwing rocks at toothless gray wolves couldn't join the LARP, or that said farmboy warrior is somehow a more complex or better character than Garundyer or Temertain or any of the other Gloranthans of note who have been roleplayed at these LARPs. So why is it that when we change the playing field from a LARP to a tabletop rolegame suddenly the Rune Levels that are so rewarding to play in one type of game become unplayable?

Is it really because Rune Levels are totally unplayable? If so, then why are they so eminently playable in the LARPs? Is it because the Rune Levels should define their cultures, and no new player can possibly glean enough from a character sheet to understand how a Rune Level should be played? Then why are the Rune Levels played so well in the LARPs?

Is it possible that the reason that Rune Levels are thought of as unplayable in tabletop games is because the rules of the tabletop games have, until now, not been up to the task? If a LARP can turn the tables so totally by simplifying the combat rules to a rock-paper-scissors contest and playing up the social aspects of the game and situation, then why can't a tabletop game do something similar? In fact, it seems that this is exactly what HW is designed to do. The keywords seem designed to make it possible to describe with 50 words the characters that took two pages of 10 point type to describe in the big LARPs. The simplistic combat seems designed to change the rest of the world's vision of glorantha fans from runequest players who are only one step short of the simulationist mania of an Advanced Squad Leader fanatic, to players who like rules that are even simpler than Vampire the Masquerade's.

Neither one of these steps seems particularly outrageous. In fact, they seem pretty darn smart.

Cheers,
Loren

-- +++++++++++++++++++++++23 Loren Miller <loren_at_wharton.upenn.edu> "If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they will surely become worms." --Henry Miller, _The Colossus of Maroussi_

End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #567