Various

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_sierratel.com>
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 10:08:34 -0700


David:
> > That we are finally seeing an "official" Gloranthan product that
> > isn't deep background material is a testament to both Greg (for
> > persevereing) and the fans (for writing).
>
> What do you mean "finally?" Hero Wars follows on the heels of King of
> Dragon Pass, after all... (Granted, KoDP is not intended as an
> official history, but its portrayal of proto-Sartarites should be
> considered pretty accurate, given its clan level scope.)

Well, if you count "appeared in the last year", then KoDP fits the "finally" wording too. I didn't mean to knock KoDP, I was just focued on HW for some silly reason.

Neil:
> And the question is, _is_ it Greg's Glorantha? Should it be?

> One of the best definitions of 'ownership' revolves around the potential
> for destruction. The owner of a thing is the person who can destroy or
> stop that thing. By that definition, Greg does not own 'Glorantha'.
> Game worlds will only survive if things are published about them, if
> people use and discuss the material, and keep it current. Until last
> Monday, Greg has published very little Gloranthan material over the last
> decade. The reasons why this was so are not relevant here; I'm trying
> to understand the consequences. If Greg was the only owner of
> Glorantha, Glorantha would have died in that period and we wouldn't be
> having this discussion. But Glorantha didn't die: a great many other
> people stepped into the breach and supported it.

Greg allowed, supported and encouraged people to play in Glorantha via fanzines, but he didn't have to. He *never* released his legal ownership of Glorantha. If Greg wants to descend into the black bowels of the legal system and sue people to block them from publishing articles about his world, he could (finances aside...). In that sense he *could* destroy Glorantha. Would that stop Glorantha fans from writing & sharing their own material? No, but the world would die from attrition as newcomers would not meet the other G-philes as they do now (remember: no Glorantha Cons, no fanzines that you can pick up in a store, he could ask Chaosium to remove this discussion list from their server; he could even go the route of Rifts and forbid magazines to publish "trademarked" material). (No, I won't discuss the probability of winning such a case - Civil Law is not my forte, but he *could* sue).

Greg has the right, as much as anyone and more than most, to publish his views about Glorantha. He is more than just a fan, he is the legal owner. If he wants *his* company to publish *his* world, who are *you* to say he must abide by someone else's work, with which he disagrees?

Roderick


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