From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer)
To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily)
Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Tue, 12 Apr 1994, part 2
Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM
Content-Return: Prohibited
Precedence: junk
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From: staats@MIT.EDU
Subject: Earth vs Glorantha
Message-ID: <9404112059.AA22228@milanese.MIT.EDU>
Date: 11 Apr 94 20:59:37 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3599
Greetings!
I just wanted to add a couple of bolgs worth of thoughts to this
discussion.
From a gaming standpoint, the more Earth-like the RQ version of Glorantha
is, the easier it is to suspend disbelief, the name of the game in roleplaying.
It is a very neat thing that Greg could stand in the mountains of Australia and
``see'' Sartar. It is much easier for gamers to ``see'' waving fields of grass
under a blue sky than totally alien flora and fauna under a puce sky. I always
imagine that Glorantha would be very much like Earth except for noted
differences, e.g. magic works, there is a giant whirlpool in the center of the
sea, etc. I also assume that, at the very least, human motivations and behavior
are similar to those found on Earth. Along those lines, it seems completely
reasonable that Glorantha would sport games similar to those played by peoples
on Earth. There are many excellent books on the history of gaming, and it is
amazing just how similar games are the whole world over. Games were and are
played on Earth for a variety of reasons, and not all of these apply directly to
liesure time activities. Various religions have associated with games
throughout the ages. Games have been used to settle disputes in lieu of
bloodshed. Games are used as a means of honing survival skills. The list goes
on. If Gloranthans are anything at all like their Terrestial counterparts,
games should be widespread, and many of them would be similar to games played on
Earth.
The similarities between cultures in Glorantha and real, historical
cultures on Earth, give the GM a great chance to introduce bits of atmosphere to
a Campaign session.
The default interpretation of things in Glorantha should be Earth-like
unless directly stated otherwise.
Tschuess!
Rich Staats
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From: codexzine@aol.com
Subject: Blatant Codex Broadsheet
Message-ID: <9404111933.tn646710@aol.com>
Date: 11 Apr 94 23:33:08 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3600
"Codex #1 was brilliant"---Ken Rolston, RQ developer of
multiple Avalon Hill projects
======
"...I like it a lot. It really makes me miss my Pavis days (and I
wish I'd had this mag when I was running RQ). The material on
Prax and Pavis makes these locales come to life. Good job."----
Jonathan Tweet, game writer and designer
========
I'm quite impressed. You made beautiful use of the Babylonian
pictures to illustrate historical Pavisites....I thoroughly enjoyed
reading Codex 1....and the print is prime quality .... "
---Jeorg Baumgartner, publisher of the German RQ
magazine Free INT
===============
"I just got issue one in the mail. It's really superb and I thank
you for for your efforts in improving and disseminating
Glorantha."--Brent Krupp
======================
============================
Codex dedicates its entire contents to discovering the nature
and secrets of Glorantha through scenarios, articles, fiction
and essays.
Issue 1 was a Pavis special, with about half of the issue
examining facets of Pavic history, Lunar strategy in the city,
details of life and infamous residents. Very well received at RQ
Con, the US edition of #1 is currently sold out and becoming a
collector's item.
Issue are 32 pages typeset, plus front & back covers inside &
out. See details of UK subscription for possibilities of getting a
copy of the first issue as printed in England.
Issue 2 is a western/Fronelan feature due out in April. It
focuses on the city of Galastar and its rebirth after the lifting of
the Ban. Also to be included is Greg Stafford's map of the God
Plane, Paul Reilly's Tribes of Mortasor, and more.
Subscription & Submission Information============
Codex costs $4.00 US per issue direct from my hand, or $5.00
first class US Mail. Foreign customers, see below for delivery
options and prices.
Checks or money orders only, please for all mail orders.
Make checks payable to M. Dawson
Foreign Codex Subscription Rates to the UK and Europe as of
2/14/94:
Airmail, generally a week or two delivery: $6.75 US funds per
issue.
Surface mail, an unknown, mostly random delivery time
varying between 4 weeks and 3 months to the UK or Europe.
$ 5.25 US funds per issue.
I hate to be stern about this, but I cannot
guarantee that your subscription will EVER arrive via the
surface mail method.
Sorry, only US funds acceptable.
(A Postal Money order is available from
most country's posts, and can be issued in
US dollars. This works for me.)
Codex now has a UK distributor. Contact Colin Phillips at
cphillips@blue.demon.co.uk
for UK rates and information.
By mail:
Colin Phillips
98 Constable Court
4 Stubbs Drive
London SE 3EG
Residents of the UK: If you already have a subscription
through the american address and want the UK rate,
the balance of your subscription can (and will be unless
you say otherwise)be transferred to Colin for future issues.
(You may choose NOT to do this, if
you are a total completist collector. There will be minor
*cosmetic* differences between the US and UK editions.)
Codex has an Australian distributor, curren
tly selling #1.
Contact Andrew Bean at ABEAN@GEEL.DWT.CSIRO.AU for details.
Americans, Canadians, please do NOT subscribe via Colin
unless you must have every copy of every RQ thing that comes
out. Send to Colin for only those things I am sold out of in the
US.
The publication schedule is intended to
be quarterly, but depends in large part on submissions. The
next issue is scheduled for release in April 1994.
Outside the United Kingdom, and for any submission matters,
send all paper correspond
ence to:
M. Dawson/Codex
PO. Box 9286
Richmond, VA 23227-0286
USA
Send E-mail correspondence to
codexzine@aol.com
When subscribing, please include the following:
Explicit list of what issues you want (in any cover letter, and
on any check or Money Order)
US customers: ZIP + 4 if you know it (check your junk mail)
email address if any
evening phone # if you don't mind (in case of confusion)
your address, properly formatted for a delivery label
(important for foreign subscribers)
DO NOT send submissions to Colin or Andrew. All production work takes
place in the US.
Thanks for putting up with my clogging up the Digest.
Mike Dawson
codexzine@aol.com
>|<
"I am impressed not only with the content, but also with the
production. Your magazine is clean, well edited, and of course, a
necessity for all Glorantha lovers. I initially signed up for just
two issues. After once glimpse, I want more. I'll be sending
another check to you on payday. I intend to track down every RQ
fan that I can find and force them to subscribe."---- Matt Thale
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From: argrath@aol.com
Subject: Cults & Non-cults
Message-ID: <9404112001.tn647964@aol.com>
Date: 12 Apr 94 00:01:10 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3601
Joerg says in X-RQ-ID: 3578:
> Cutting a flaming first reaction, a question, Martin: How do you define
> a cult, when you say there weren't any in Prax?
Greg Stafford had something to say about this at the Con, and it will
appear in the booklet from David Cheng. To paraphrase: there is a continuum
from spirit cults all the way through regular divine cults (as presented in
CoP and GoG) to mystical entities that can't be worshiped. So it's a bit
like defining "red"--I know it when I see it, but giving you the exact
wavelengths of the boundaries is a bit problematic. I wanted to write a
first order
approximation here, but I found it to be too obvious and fuzzy to be helpful.
> Prax lay in one of the three directions the Theyalan missionaries went
> in the First Age. Apparently, by around 35 ST, they came with Humakti
>bodyguards (according to Cults of Prax, p.32). Surely they brought the
>concept of cultic worship with them, and they seem to have reached the
>Paps, where remnants of the Golden Age priesthood held out.
Well, the reference you cite speaks of an army, not missionaries. I'd
just have to think that the missionaries had little success, given the
statement that Praxians didn't have cult structures until after contact with
the PHP. As for the Paps, yes, these oasis people are useful to the
Praxians, but that doesn't mean there's any osmosis of religious
ideas/practices.
> The Uz from Dagori Inkarth knew cultic worship at least from the Dawn
>on. Another possible 1st Age influx of these practises.
Hum. You gonna try to be like a troll?
Seriously, I don't think the Praxians had any reason to think their
religious structures needed changing until the PHP kicked their butts. And
if it ain't broke, don't cast Repair.
--Martin
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From: MOBTOTRM@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Subject: Strangers in Prax
Message-ID: <01HB38R4C56Q934XMQ@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au>
Date: 12 Apr 94 23:49:23 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3602
Yesterday I was lamenting that I hadn't yet received my copy of Strangers
in Prax. Today I get a welcome surprise in my letter box: it's arrived!
And yes! Anderida DOES have purple hair! Cool!
Cheers
MOB
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From: devinc@aol.com
Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Sat, 09 Apr 1994, part 1
Message-ID: <9404120257.tn665173@aol.com>
Date: 12 Apr 94 06:57:59 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3603
Devin Cutler here:
MOB writes:
"What do other people think about making direct comparisons between
terrestrial and lozengial locations?"
On the one hand, I see nothing wrong with presenting information as in
Dorastor Land of Doom which helps people who are lucky enough to know of the
Earthly places described to visualize Glorantha. The space taken up is small
and, for those who don't know what the author is talking about, no harm is
done.
On the other hand, I am extremely worried that Glorantha is becoming
anthropologized. By this I mean that given regions in Glorantha become
essentially transplanted Terran equivalents, to the detriment of the fantasy
feel of the game.
This has two undesired effects.
1) It makes playing in Glorantha a lot like playing in Alternate Earth, only
with weird names
2) It makes those of us without degrees in anthropology very reticent to try
and publish anything for RQ.
Example, Pamaltela is quite obviously an amalgem of African and Australian
cultures. While using Terran equivalencies is fine for a starting point, I
would hate to see something submitted for inclusion in Pamaltela and rejected
simply because such things might not have occured in Terran Africa or
Australia. I am not saying that this has already happened, but I think it is
something to guard against.
I am also NOT saying that I thinkg Glorantha should be a single homogeneous
entity. I appreciate the various cultures and such. I just want us to avoid
going overboard.
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From: devinc@aol.com
Subject: Strangers in Prax
Message-ID: <9404120258.tn665181@aol.com>
Date: 12 Apr 94 06:58:13 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3604
Devin Cutler here:
Continuing on with Strangers in Prax.
While I like the supplement a lot, is there any chance that the writers of
these supplements can:
1) Stop letting RQ2 anachronisms slip into the supplements
2) Ever get the spell casting percentages of NPC's right?
Frex, take the writeup of Count Julan on page 27:
POW 18, INT 17, DEX 20
This would seem to give a spirit magic spell casting percentage of Pow x5% =
90% plus magic bonus of 25% for a total of 115% - ENC.
However, the supplement lists Julan's casting % as 75% - ENC. This could make
an extremely big deal in combat.
RQ3 has never been able to get spell casting % correct. Every supplement that
I have read (and I have them all) botches these. Why? It's really not that
difficult of a mechanic to understand?
Perhaps the above was a fluke? Nay. On page 29. Princess Anderida has POW 20,
INT 16, DEX 15 for a total casting % of 129% - ENC. The supplement lists her
% as 94%. Hey, only 35% off.
Her allied spirit Vectis has POW x5% as his casting chance, with no mids for
Magic Bonus.
Maculus on page 30 has a POW of 16, INT of 18, DEX of 13 for a casting % of
96%. Supplement lists it as 75%.
#1 - Be consistent. Sometimes , even when figured correctly, Casting %
includes magic bonusses, sometimes not. Which is it?
#2 - It can't be that hard to edit the NPC stuff to weed out RQ2isms and
botches like the above. Hell, I'll volunteer to do it at no charge!
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From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham)
Subject: Chariots; nomads
Message-ID: <199404120712.AA10910@radiomail.net>
Date: 12 Apr 94 07:12:52 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3605
Sandy answered me
>>Has anyone run across references to actual people (not gods) riding
>>chariots?
>Sounds like a Solar thing to me. I suspect that actual combat in
>chariots has vanished in most parts of Glorantha, but might have been
>common in the First Age, say. (Except where supported by magic or
>mytholigical importance.) Travel and racing in chariots may still be
>popular in places. I note that the old Nomad Gods game had a spare
>counter depicting charioteers.
There will of course be Orlanthi chariots somewhere in Ralios because I as
GM will decree so, but I was hoping to find a reason why Orlanth's
Charioteer is still quite well known. And even has a cult (a small one, but
worth describing in Gods of Glorantha) that does teach Drive Chariot.
I vaguely recall that chariots were outmoded in warfare by mounted cavalry.
But there are still parts of Ralios with few horsemen...
Joerg answered my question about the 40000 Grazelanders
>I always understood this figure to include all humans of the country.
Greg said [private correspondence] that the 40K _didn't_ count the vendref.
I haven't really done the full numbers game, but I have the Grazelands at
7316 km^2 (132 hexes in the Dragon Pass boardgame; we calculated the hex at
55.43 km^2). If the population is 40K, that's 5.5 people/km^2. Which is a
quite large amount, if a note I have is correct [alas, I didn't bother to
write down the source]:
Hunter-gatherer lifestyle has a carrying capacity of 0.1 person/km^2
dry farming is 1-2 people/km^2
irrigation 6-12 people/km^2
(I do have a text [Anthropology, by Ember & Ember] which says the Basseri,
who raise sheep, goats, donkeys, camels, and horses in Iran, support 16000
people on 38850 km^2, or 0.4 person/km^2. The Grazelands is much better
land than their arid homeland. Another figure: the Lapps, who herd
reindeer, need 200 reindeer to provide for a family of 4-5 adults.)
So it does look like the 40K figure has to include the vendref, and that
either the Glorantha pack made a mistake, I calculated area wrong, or my
assumption that terrestrial productivity = Genertelan productivity (magic
balancing out Genert's death and the negative magics of evil spirts etc.)
is wrong.
Making a quick estimate from the map on p. 59, the real area of the
Grazelands is more like 18000 km^2, which gives a more reasonable 2.2
people/km^2. This still implies that there aren't farmers on top of 40K
horsefolk.
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