Re: benchmarks

From: Richard Addy <rmaddy_at_...>
Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 12:43:09 -0400


On 24 May 00, at 11:35, KYER, JEFFREY wrote:

<snipping the points where I really don't have a comment - I don't think there are large areas where we don't agree>

> That is true. The problem I've experienced having to do it is that it
> is quite difficult. Or at least, not the 'easily converted' thing you
> seemed to imply/wanted. The game was written as a new thing, rather
> than an evolution of the old. And as such, compatiblity was not an
> issue.
>
> Conversion, on the other hand CAN be done. It just takes a lot of
> work.

Which is why I think some guidelines/discussion would have been invaluable.

>
> > > I don't mind the lack of compatibility, though I have had to
> > > struggle with it. Any narrator who feels a need to re-use
> > > material can probably work out something -- and my experiences in
> > > converting old material at the behest of Issaries Inc. is that a
> > > lot of the concepts do not map over well at all. The game focuses
> > > on much different aspects of life than RuneQuest (but then I've
> > > always hated the 'bean counter' aspects of RQ)
> >
> > Buuut - to me, the game isn't being set up for someone unfamiliar
> > with Glorantha - there's just not enough setting information in the
> > main books for a total newbie to get a campaign underway (I know, I
> > know - there are space issues. The setting books are coming out.
> > This isn't a criticism - it's a statement of how I perceive the
> > current status of game)
>
> Point taken. The problem is that a lot of the old stuff doesn't
> really reflect the new focus of the game. A bit much raiding and
> looting with not too much community/social material. That being said,
> I think that Sun County works very nicely in the new setting, though
> Yelmalio is probably going to be a bit annoying to convert

True. I'm thinking more of the sourcebooks rather than the adventures - I'd be more likely to update the contents of Pavis than Borderlands, myself. (So, personally, I'm more interested in converting old RQ NPC's to HW than converting monsters, threats, etc).

>
> > So, I think a lot of folks who are picking up the game do have
> > previous material they'd probably want to use, and given that, why
> > make each and every one of them come up with something on their own?
> > (In other words, at some point, as a narrator, I have to wonder, if
> > I'm going to have to do so much work by myself to come up with
> > adaptions, etc, why am I not using Fudge or Gurps?)
>
> True. I had hoped that there would be more scenarios on the website
> or that Sartar Rising would be along in short order. But many
> player's don't have access to the web. (not having the rules, is
> www.glorantha.com metnioned in them as a resorce?)
>
> > I'm not talking about hard and fast rules - a chapter of guidelines
> > would have been helpful. VERY helpful. It also serves as an
> > acknowledgement that there is a large body of work out there
>
> A lot of stuff was left out of the HW edition due to brutal page count
> (this is the bane of any publication, either you have not enough or
> WAY too much). The essentials of the game and keywords were the main
> line of effort, I think.

True. I'm hoping that lobbying efforts now will help get conversion guidelines in print soon. Where? sigh. dunno. I'd suggest Thunder Rebels, since so much previous material has been from the Orlanthi viewpoint, but I suspect that TR will be -really- cramped for space as it is. Web-published would be a good start, but not an endpoint, for the reason you mentioned above. Conversion guidelines are definitely appendix-type things, which are usually the first to end up on the editor's floor ...

>
> > >
> > > Best to work with whole cloth.
> >
> > It leaves a bad taste in my mouth - my initial impression is that
> > Issaries is ignoring, more or less, a valuable resource.
>
> No, they are not. As my previous post has mentioned, work *is*
> proceeding on converting the old material and (presumably) putting it
> on the website.
>
> I think that there have been SEVERAL calls for volunteers in the past
> to help out. I know that I responded to them.

I'm not looking for specific products to be updated, really - I think general guidelines on how to bring old material up to date would have been really helpful, both in terms of allowing folks to perhaps use material they alredy possess to jump-start a campaign, and as a further example of how the current system works.

>
> > Look at the discussion of material on Prax - it's not on the current
> > product schedule, I think in large part because there's been a lot
> > of previous material published on it. So why not make it a bit
> > easier to use what's already out there?
> >
> > Richard
>
> A lot of prax doesn't fit neatly and easily and prax material has been
> published several times or redone on several occasions. To be honest,
> I'd like to see something new. Or at least something on Sartar, for a
> change. We've never had anything official set in Sartar other than
> Apple Lane, which is inadequate from a social and cultural standpoint,
> to say the least.
>

I agree with you on this point. I'm overjoyed that there is so much new info on the Lunars, especially, in HW than there has been previously. I don't particularly want any new Prax material (it's been done and done and done, as far as I'm converned) - but I view that as an argument for conversion guidelines. They don't have to print a lot of revamped Prax stuff as quickly if the old stuff is more easily converted.

Richard

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