squirrelpollock wrote:
>There are constant referrals to the Orlanth temples being closed,
but when this actually occurred is never actually stated.<
After the invasion, I assume, and in a rolling timeframe. While the
proclamation was probably issued after the fall of Boldhome I imagine
the process occured over time and within living memory. I doubt it is
possible to give one date.
>The information on Tribal Rings does not mention what effects the
Lunar occupation has had on the activities or functions of Ring
members.<
Though it does classify tribes as slave or free and comment that the
slave tribes are ruled by Lunar puppets. True, it does not give a
ring structure for an enslaved tribe, but the composition or
existence of the ring varies from enslaved tribe to enslaved tribe
depending on its rulers.
>It is also interesting to note that this was first slated to be
included in the second Sartar Rising book.<
Not sure what your point is here.
>The sheer number of examples leads one to believe that they have
been put in as space fillers.<
I suspect that leaders are provided so that narrators can use them as
characters in their game. Many setting supplements follow this idea
of providing useful narrator characters. I do not seem them as
fillers. Do you not want narrator characters in your settings
supplements?
>There is some contradictory information, like the three types of
rebels, two of which are earlier said not to exist any more.<
No, the comment is that activity by two types has ceased, not that
they do not exist.
>Rugs are thrown, as well as punches. Yes I did say rugs. Supposedly
Heortling women throw rugs over the weapons of armed combatants to
break up fights. Neither the reasons nor the practicality of this
are discussed; it is just another throwaway line.<
Ernaldan women have a role as peacemakers. Here they act in that role. The idea that a woman can break up a fight by throwing clothing or rugs over weapons, is a nod to the conventions of the Icelandic sagas (see as an example the end of http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/society/text/women.htm ). The emphasis on rugs was chosen because of the associations of Orventili the Peacemaker. I hoped that the involvement of Ernaldan women as peacemakers would be obvious (it is explicilty referred to later), even if you were unfamiliar with saga conventions. I apologise if this was unclear to you.
>Good grief, no wonder the Lunar occupation is going so well.<
The point that the Orlanthi are there own worst enemy because they
are disunited and feuding among themselves is not new and has been
raised many times. This is an example of that. The lack of a King of
Sartar acting as an arbitrator adds to this breakdown.
> Index The length of this index however, given the page count of the
supplement<
I, too, am not sure about the necessity for an index in a supplement
of this size. YMMV.
>The reason for the lack of detail in the product would appear to lie
in a desire not to upset hardened Gloranthanphiles, who have already
mapped out their version of Sartar and jealously and often violently
defend it.<
I think the 'how much' detail question exists in many RPGs. One common criticism of Glorantha has been that narrators are afraid to develop a corner of the world for fear that a later supplement will detail it contradict everything. I do not think it is just Gloranthaphiles that want 'areas of uncertianty and doubt'. The alternative is the WW splatbook route.
I was hoping for a better map with the new full-size format. However as the BA material is set at clan level, and most activity will take place on your or your hostile clan's tula it is not the obstacle it might seem at first. Our game has survived for the last 18 months without any more detailed official maps that are avialable on the website.
>Issaries continues to present us with a view of a Heortling society
that ignores vital external elements. Vital aspects of the Lunar
occupation continue to be ignored in the main text
Care to expand on this with specific points?
> If you want a product that gives the detail contained in Griffin
Mountain and Borderlands, along with the mechanics to run a clan then
forget Barbarian Adventures.
Hmmm, the length of stats in RQ meant that both of these products spent considerable amounts of their space on NPC and encounter descriptions. I am not sure that you got much more background per buck. Remember both these products had far higher page counts. You may need to compare with the completed SR line.
There was certainly nowhere near the cultural information made available by Storm Tribe or Thunder Rebels for these supplements.
Ian Cooper
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