Re: Vithela and Lokarnos

From: Nick Brooke <nick_at_etyries.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 13:25:06 +0100



Nils writes:

> There is also some information about the Waking Magicians
> in Revealed Mythologies. This is essential as our understanding
> of Vithelan mythology has changed substantially since GCIV.

Mine hasn't, as I can't read the relevant bits of Revealed Mythologies without falling into a soporific trance. This is why I find the old material by yourself, Sandy & Greg Fried so excellent: it was written with game-usability in mind.



T.I. writes:

> I want to ask you or someone to add it to Lokarnos.com if you=20
> think it is appropriate to be.

Well, I *could*, but Lokarnos is designed to accept user contributions (you know this, as you've already submitted some index entries). I don't want people to get into the habit of *not* sticking their own material onto Lokarnos "because I'm sure Nick will get around to adding it himself, sooner or later".

So when someone posts a website update to one of the mailing lists, I may or may not suggest they add it to Lokarnos, but I don't (as a rule) intend to do it myself.

>> 2. Sandy said a *lot* more in the Glorontha Con IV=20 >> transcripts...

> As I wrote there,
> http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~BLUEMAGI/LandofVithela.htm
> <<(2) Vormaino Imperial Houses setting are mostly unofficial of
> Sandy Petersen (Information Source: Tadaaki Kakegawa and Nils=20
> Weinander) and Greg might freely alter and change it in future...

I'm not sure what that means. Sandy Petersen (one of the most prolific explorers of Glorantha, a demigod of the GTA, first in Greg's "book of people who know Glorantha," and a regional authority on the East Isles and Pamaltela) has written and shared a whole *load* of material about that part of the world. "Greg might freely alter and change it," yes... but until he does it's still there. (Greg freely alters and changes his own stuff too, in case you hadn't noticed!)

The "Vithela" chapter of the Glorantha paperback is *packed* with Nils/Sandy/GregF stuff, so why not include relevant bits in your timeline, then try to fit the rest in with any recent Greg-inspired oddities that have sprung up since... unless these novelties have already been junked as part of the Mysticism fiasco, that is :-)

> I have much more Sandy's (and Alex's and Nils') writing about
> Vormai and Dream Magic, but most of them are now went to old
> for Greg induced much about Vithelan Cosmology and World Myth
> (and his concept "Dream Magic is from Antigods.") after that.

Again, why not include and use as much as you can, rather than excluding all of this material because (like everything else) it "might" be changed at a future date?

> I think both of Mything Links and Lokarnos.com has a common=20
> lack of sense to the famous Glorantha phenomenon, "Gregged"

Like everybody sensible, we don't see the point in constantly revising our (and other people's) *existing* work to stay up to date with a moving target. When Issaries publish something *properly*, I can see why you might want to e.g. update an old article you're particularly fond of, or revise a house rule to fit a new mechanic, or refine your previous understanding. But as both "Hero Wars" and the "Glorantha" book were notoriously botched, why on earth should we junk over a decade of online Gloranthan exploration in favour of some "Year Zero" approach?

I prefer to keep the good old stuff accessible, and let gamers vote with their feet.=20

What would you do? Delete the archives? Forget the fun we had?

Cheers, Nick

PS: the 'Gregged' rune: www.etyries.com/rants/gregged.htm

--__--__--

Powered by hypermail