Re: Blank Lands

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_cs.ucc.ie>
Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 03:26:46 +0100 (BST)


Nikk Effingham:
> Blank Lands were, and I quote"Blank Lands are regions of Glorantha which
> will remain undeveloped by Chaosium Inc. They will be left open for
> gamesmasters who would like to set up in Glorantha, but who may be fearful
> of creating a region only to have it later contradicted by something which
> we publish." [Genertela Book, p. 9]
>
> Someone seemingly forgot to tell Gerg, however, and Blank Lands will now be
> happily covered in Hero Wars products - at least from what I can gather from
> the Digest (I'd be more than pleased to be contradicted)

I believe you're right. The most famous example of this is Balazar, which was pretty obviously only blank because of oddities in the RQ3 release schedule, so no major shock about this one.

> which isn't a
> problem for most, but for those who hoped to develop a blank land and still
> be able to confidently use official information with little or no hassle it
> may be a bugger. But we'll see...

I imagine you'll be able to confidently use official information with little or no hassle -- as long as you're not using the information about the place you decided was to be treated as Blank, it will do you no more harm than the non-existent info about a Blank Land, proper...

Granted this is something of a caricature, but I don't think Blank Lands were a great solution either. The great think about Glorantha is that everything is interconnected, not just sitting uneasily next to each other where they were plonked, as with certain other game worlds. If a place is _strictly_ blank, then it ends up being a mysterious hole in the ground, which all its neighbours mysteriously fail to interact with, and such like. I'm hoping the HW will have a more flexible attitude to such things, and will give broad indications as to where it's planning on having Major Developments, where is likely to be, let's not say 'blank', but rather somewhat 'seen and not heard'.

Nosiness forces me to enquire: what blank land is that has you vexed, in particular?

Cheers,
Alex.


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