gamartin_at_... wrote:
>
> Uurgh, I hate that. the real world has that problem in spades; in
> RPG I;d much rather just get the straight dirt and know that I am
> making informed decisions, instead of trying to piece together which
> bits are/may or are not/may not be "true". I have no interest in
> excavating another writers arcane easter egg hunt. I don;t mind the
> game world having mul;tiple and contradictopry information, but it
> annoyes me when a bunch opf contradictory stories become your ONLY
> information.
>
You're probaly not going to be terribly happy with the Hero Wars in Sartar then. There's a LOT of Argraths and they are all valid rulers. Of course, its a multiple choice quiz. Just pick the Argrath that SUITS your campaign style. And if one gets killed off as a part of plot, there are other Warlords in the wings.
Do you want political machinations and Realpolitik? Go with Argrath
Manikison
Do you want funky draconic magics? Go with Argrath Dragontooth
Do you want some high-end Orlanth magic? Go with (name blank drawn)
Do you want adventure and questing? Go with Garreth Swordsharp.
Do you want a barbarian sitting on the bloodstained throne a-la Conan?
Go with Argrath Whitebull
Your Argraths may vary! Mine do.
And if Greg handed you the One Truth About Argrath, would you even look at the other options? Seriously now. I suspect many would discard them like a live grenade. I prefer to keep options open as it can be used to suit a myriad of game-styles.
In six hundred years, Argrath will be viewed with the same sort of 'okay, who WAS he' that Arkat is view with in the 1600's. Read "King of Sartar" for some ideas on the nature of the various Argraths. And Arkat is similarly veiled. One of the recurring themes of Glorantha is that History Repeats Itself. Are we entering the Post-Time version of the Age of Darkness? I fear this is so. Or does each Age recapitulate all the eras of the God-time in itself? (Okay, that's probably a digest topic)
There is an unfortunate tendency that's been arising of wishing things to be carved in stone or handed down from on high once and for all that I sort of find disturbing. (Thus Spake Greg, thus Shall It Ever Be So). Ambiguity has always been a part of the game world. I find that when you define everything, it loses much of its life. I don't want to play in a sterile museum where everything is laid out as facts. Its boring. It also limits a gamemaster's room to maneuver, which is always a bad thing. I want _tools_ not _strictures_ or _scriptures_...
Jeff
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