Over-Excitement & A GM Question

From: James Frusetta <gerakkag_at_mail.bol.bg>
Date: Mon, 08 May 2000 23:05:02 +0200


First, an odd question. What, in most GM (and player) minds is the *maximum* length of a suitable written (e.g., published) story-arc in terms of number of sessions?

This stems out of some off-list discussion I won't bother to detail, but it occurred to me that since said discussion was on GMing in Glorantha, who better to inquire among than Glorantha fans?

More specifically, is 10-20 nights (for a single "published source") Really Too Much? The stuff in question being sequential and geographicaly diverse (e.g., no "farming" outtakes between the adventuring bitz).

My thanks, in advance, and one-sentance responses (Like, "duh, you fool, whaddya think?") might be best sent straight to me and not to the list.



Simon Hibbs wrote:

>the Sovs used the Bulgarian KGB,

The "BDS," I believe, or "B'lgarski d'rverzhen sig'rnost," Bulgarian State Security. Oddly, I spent much of my time in their old HQ building. Great cafe, too.

>Troll with Bulgarian accents!

<Boggle> Ow! ;) This image kept coming to mind in the worst places!

A bizarre note: you can't say "uz" in Bulgarian! People mistake it for the word for "butt." Leading to many problems when you tell someone, "Uz are my favorite fanasty heros" or "I like to play uz." :O



Martin:
>As I said, it matters little because the HW timeline has it all and more
>when it comes to excitement.

MOB:
>Judging by your recent comments, your idea of what constitutes
>"excitement" might be different to mine, and many other people
interested
>in Glorantha:

                        <snip>
C'mon, this isn't exactly fair to Martin: if he *really* wanted nothing but Blood Soaked Horror, he'd be writing "Murder The Hell Out of Everything: The KoW Player's Book." (Though Shargash *does* seem to get a lot of attention in that thar SGU cult list...). AFAIK, his treatment of the Lunars in SGU *does* involve things that don't involve a scimitar, after all.

I'd certainly say that the points for the existing "GAG" Red Emperor seem more compelling to me personally after hearing both sides*. But as noted, one big point for Martin: he was willing to bring this up (on his initiative) on the GD *well-before* SGU comes out. A proposed RetCon now is less annoying than a RetCon from behind the scenes (ala Elmal) when the books comes out, and (if I understand Martin right) people are convincing him, by fleshing out and presenting the "Multi" position clearly, to possibly modify the Singular Emperor theory. Let's not roast Martin alive for those sins which may be Greg's.

RE: the HW timeline that I'm aware of (only a small portion, and focused in a rather predictable area) *does* have variation of excitement. It ain't (sadly) just Uz killing everything: there's sneakiness, weird surprises, That Which Was Turns Out Not To Have Been, intrigue and even an urgent craving for pickles. Whatever "spin" Greg puts on his final model of events, there should be room for everyone. I, for one, IMG plan to toss the "high powered Xena crap" I see in bitz of HW out a window and persuade my players play cannon-fodder (or play 'em myself), as I prefer. YGMV.

The only caveat I might add to it is a slight worry that it's too much Excitement. There seem to be an *awful* lot of horrible World-Spanning plots out there; the good thing about this is that it gives a lot of room for GMs to pick and choose what works in their campaigns (as I'd do IMG). The bad thing is that I worry that it might just numb the players after a while. <exaggeration> "Oh, the Blue Moon is going to fall on Sartar? Wow, the Red Moon just fell on it last week -- the part that wasn't destroyed by the Big Flood, eaten by the Gorp Mountain, trampled by the Indigo Dragon or destroyed by the Volcano Giants." </ex>

I'm not certain as to the full extent of what's going on, but it *does* seem to me like each region, elder race, religion, et. al. has some massive scheme/event coming (much previously suggested in the GB, of course). Hopefully this all works for the best, but if the *ducks* have a Big HW Plot, I draw the line.

James

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