> > This whole "rivers flow uphill" stuff is,
> > IMO utter crap. Either there is gravity, or there isn't.
Think of it this way (simplifying some concepts to get at the fun bits) :
Rivers can move uphill for the same reason a man can move up hill - it's a living being that makes that choice. A river flowing uphill is highly magical, and will have a powerful animating spirit/god/whatever. It becomes part of your stories. The players can meet this river, maybe communicate with it, maybe have it as an opponent. Maybe it can be persuaded to flow down hill (either permenantly or temporarily) for some reason they need. Use it in your stories, or ignore it if it isn't part of your stories. The exceptions are there to hang stories around, to create a sense of wonder, to allow the characters to be heroic.
Most rivers flow down hill. Why? Because that's normal, and if everything is weird, there's no wonder, just confusion. Sure, there's a myth or six *explaining* why they run down hill, but in truth, they do so because its normal. That's what rivers *do*.
Pasting stuff from Morgan :
>If all water moves towards Magasta's Pool, how does rain fall down -
>shouldn't it fall at about an 88 degree angle? Seems like all the
>Heortling huts would be very strangely shaped - no roofs, one really
>watertight wall. :-)
>
>And, if a boat, which presumably is subject to gravity and wants to
>go down, is on a river flowing up, which way does the boat move?
But the myth is why *rivers* flow down hill, not *rain*. Sure there's a connection. Sure there are myths to explain how rain fall causes rivers to get bigger. Is it relevant to your game? Probably not. Why does rain fall down? Because that's what rain does.If it falls sideways, there should be a plot reason, or it should evoke wonder, or it should allow characters to be heroic...
What about a boat on a river flowing the wrong way? Does it follow the flow, or follow gravity? Which seems more *normal* to you. Is the essence of boat to flow with the current, or to travel down hill. I'd go with the former - if you can't detect the slope, the boat still follows the current, and it allows for the *wonderful* scene of a boat suddenly leaping *up* a waterfall (if you see what I mean) because that's what the river does. Your story may be different. Go with it.
The danger is in assuming that because one river flows the wrong way, all water is weird. It isn't. Most of it is just water...
Cheers,
Graham
-- Graham Robinson graham_at_... Albion Software Engineering Ltd.
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