ILH-1 is (practically) out (I only didn't pick one up in Canada
because I feel equally obliged to support my FLGS - especially since I
got the Sartar Riding books as my GTA volumes) and further volumes are
planned (IIRC ILH-2 "The Lunars" is pretty much already written, ILH-3
"The Solars (Dara Happa and Rinliddi)" is at least started and ILH-4
"The Carmanians" was also mentioned) so I don't see there is any plan
to completely withdraw from the "Backgrounf material" market. What I
think the aim is, is to provide material that the majority of gamers
can use fairly easily in their games, rather than the deep
anthropological or social investigations that appeared in parts of ST/TR.
Now obviously, some people will argue that the deep anthroplogical and social details are what provides material that they can use (or complete army lists, or accurate trade prices in various cities, etc etc) - but lets be honest, most of the people who feel they need those details are probably also the people who are best placed to write it/make it up for themselves - many of the rest of us go "Hey, I've got a cool idea for a scenario involving a wedding" and sod trying to work out the bloodline implications of the two NPC's we use actually marrying.
In other words, not providing the information at this depth doesn't stop anyone who feels they need it from making it up (and discussing it on the Gloranthan Digest, writing it up on their web page, or submiting it to Tradetalk, Unspoken Word, or other potential publishers (BoDR, Any future project of Ricks, Convention Fundraisers etc etc). However not providing it prevents people from feeling their creativity is being stiffled by an overwhelming layer of detail. (Yes, we all know you can choose to ignore anything that you don't like, but it can become awkward if players never know what information they can rely on because they don't know what you are keeping and what you are discarding...
The other thing to consider is that just because Issaries is only
interested in publishing things that fit into the "Grand Story Arc"
(which I guess is the other thing - Greg is not interested in the
"B1-Keep on the Borderlands" - or the "Apple Lane" or "Snakepipe
Hollow" adventures - more the "G1-3/D1-3/Q1 Against the
Giants/Drow/Demonweb Pits" or "The Cradle Adventure" or (as in the
Sartar Rising series "Orlanth is Dead/Dragonrise/Crowning of Argrath")
type saga) doesn't mean that we need be bereft of either background
information (One of UW's planned next products is Harald Smiths
"Imther" book) or "lower level" (In the sense of not impinging
directly on the Hero Wars) adventures (the next YBOT is full of
scenarios). In fact in some ways this clear statement of intent from
Issaries is better for the "independent" Gloranthan producers and
writers since it gives them areas where they can provide information
without fear of Issaries immediatley coming along and "gregging" it...
(Incidentally, I also think ILH-1 should provide a template for people looking at other areas of Glorantha - be it a more in depth look at the cultures in and around Dragon Pass, or the far West/East/South - Can you distill the information a Player will need to know into a 2 Page spread "Homeland" piece so that a GM wishing to play in that area can get Characters started with a minimal amount of reading and explanation?)
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