Wuxia, Xena, Grubby Ducks, Jellyfish

From: Gary R Switzer <gswitzer_at_loop.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 16:05:36 -0800

Since Kraloria is the Middle Kingdom (more or less) of Glorantha, perhaps there's a middle ground that Alex, David Cake and I can meet on wuxia-wise. All over Glorantha there are (or soon will be) lots of people with the stat "Close Combat-12w" whether it's a Western Knight on his horse, a naked Ralian on the pole of his chariot, a Shargashi, an Orlanthi huscarl, a duck bandit in the Zola Fel, a Shan-Shan Hunchen, a PoIM'er, a Vormain Samurai, etc, not to mention numerous Monsters Tougher than the Usual Sort. It's up to us, as gm's and players to add the Color Text that will keep the combats that will ensue from all being the same. The fun part, IMO, is in figuring out these descriptions in their Gloranthan context and sharing with our friendly (hopefully) fellow Digesters.

Alex sez:

> I'm tempted to conclude that 'more wuxia' is as objectively useful
>a standard as 'MGF'.

Well yeah. My point is there's plenty of room in Kraloria for every kind of bizarre martial arts forms anyone can think of. Whether a particular form or style is appropriate for a particular character is open to debate, probably in the bar at a Con. Looks like this is David's position as well, as the Digests continue to arrive hot on each other's heels. =)

On Xena: There's already a perfectly good Xena RPG from what's left of West End. Too bad they couldn't find the money to pay my friends who did the Worldbook, I was looking forward to stripmining it for stuff usable in Glorantha. Come on, you know you do it too!

Grubby Ducks, forsooth. I suppose the first question when seating people at a Con banquet should be "Ducks or No Ducks?" I am firmly in the "Tragic and Noble Durulz" camp, though with tongue firmly in cheek. Kung-fu Keets is only a matter of time as more of the Mysterious East comes to light. :)

Julian Lord asks:

>Well, I hope that Steve will have jellyfish in
>Drastic:Water, then ...

We ought to get on the ball and send him some stuff if we want to be sure he does. I didn't finish my bat story for Volume Darkness and I feel bad about that.

Gary R Switzer
Aero Hobbies

    "One day when not a cloud was in the sky and not a breeze was stirring, peals of thunder suddenly rumbled overhead. Kukai hurried to the Palace and chanted spells in a loud voice, while fingering his rosary. Something plummeted to earth: incredibly, it was some kind of strange, giant barbarian, riding in a chariot! The man was seized, locked in a large coffer, and thrown into the Suam Chow. Servants dug up the ground to a depth of three feet at the spot where the mysterious rider had landed, and exarchs loudly recited exorcisms and prayers of purification."

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