> > If the Devil came from outside Glorantha, then it _isn't_ a
> > closed world, contrary to recent suggestions ... :-)
>
> A "closed world" means an internally-consistent setting.
<garrulous>
"internal consistence" and "Glorantha" being near-synonyms, as we all
know ...
(think : "Elmal/Yelmalio/Halamalao", "sultans/satraps", the Composite
History, ... )
</garrulous>
> IMO a "closed" Glorantha precludes inclusion of any entities from
worlds
> which aren't part of the Gloranthan scheme of things: individuals
from
> mortal lands which aren't part of the Inner World (Gondor, Hyboria,
> Poictesme, Melnibone, Britain...), or members of non-Gloranthan
species
> (Hobbits, Orcs, Quenya, Klingons...), would obviously breach the
> "closed-ness" of Glorantha, as there's no room for such places and
peoples
> in Gloranthan cosmology, geography or history.
hmmm, I happily accept this very sound opinion to great extent, but - -..
IMO, any rule can only be a properly Gloranthan one if it has (more or less uncommon) exceptions. Now, a Star Trek "away team" beaming down to Glorantha would be shoving the envelope... John Carter wouldn't disturb the consistency of Glorantha in the same way, because the character has less internal consistency of his own, or is already defined as a Stranger from Another World ...
Anyway, breaches of Gloranthan Closed-ness : *not* IMG !!
The problem with the Star Trek crossover is the incompatibility, AFAICS, of our encyclopaedic knowledge of the two universes. It is difficult to open Glorantha up to such concepts as Jedi Knights, Bugs Bunny, Odette de Cr=E9cy, the Leningrad Cowboys, or Redbird the Viking. That is, there is a non-availability of Reference to make such imports viable, or sensible.
Redbird is culturally meaningless.
He's defined as a "Viking" : no such key-word !!
If travellers, items, or places from beyond are to be imported with any success, the closer they resemble universal archetypes, the better. If the import can be fully described using HW keywords, then it might fit into Glorantha, without ruining it.
Of course, some would only be useful for an inconsequential cameo, short scenario, blasphemously irreverent MGF one-off ("White Wall & Red Shirts" > did you know that the explanation for the mysterious disappearance of the population is that it was *Beamed Out* to safety during the infamous attack, which failed because of superior Starfleet Deflector Shield technology, although the Orlanthi had originally mistaken the brave, and politically correct, officers for enemies (which just goes to prove that one should never take appearances for granted, or assume that all strangers are bad)?), etc...
> If you *want* to have Melnibonean sorcerors, Dunedain rangers and
24th-level
> half-elf warrior/wizard/rogues in your Glorantha, *of course* you
can have
> them. But one wonders what makes you think you're still playing in
Glorantha
> after you do these things.
You've picked obviously extreme examples here, but the real problem is that one should avoid being too slavish in one's use of Gloranthan material, but also avoid betraying it too. It's good that Greg's more recent material, and the Drastic:Prax stuff, and the more HW-ish stuff, is quite a bit looser and easier to use/adapt coherently than that old RQ straitjacket 1 True Way ruleslawyer approach ...
> (FWIW, another profoundly closed world, MAR Barker's "Tekumel", also
had
> early flirtations with "open-ness". IIRC, there's a solitary hobbit
> languishing in the freakshow corner of the Avanthar Zoological
Gardens,
> relic of a misjudged attempt at hybridising genres).
Yes, and Griffin Island (where orcs live) sometimes appears in the Sea of Fog ...
And wasn't there once (a long time ago ... ) some naff idea that it might not be impossible to sail between Glorantha and Questworld?
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