Re: Barbarian Adventures

From: contracycle <gamartin_at_...>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 14:32:01 -0000


> After the invasion, I assume, and in a rolling timeframe. While the
> proclamation was probably issued after the fall of Boldhome I

Sure, sure, but we've heard this sort of handwaving before. Perhaps it might be a reasonable idea to lay out this timeline in some accessible form so that its visible to everyone; the fact that much fan-originated and prior published material fluctuates in date quite wildly is a good thing, but confusing to anyone not in the know.

> I suspect that leaders are provided so that narrators can use them
> as characters in their game. Many setting supplements follow this

But hang on, this is from the same publisher that says they don't want to give us accurate maps because they don't want to threaten our artistic freedom! This is at best inconsistent.

> of providing useful narrator characters. I do not seem them as
> fillers. Do you not want narrator characters in your settings
> supplements?

NARRATOR characters, not necessarily pregenerated NPC's. I quite like some NPC's from the game authors, but frex L5R suffered from having far, far too many at the expense of actually useful information. The question is not whether I want pregenerated characters - the question is, is a pregen character an effective and valuable use of page count?

> 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.

Well their trepidation is hardly suprising given the volume of contradictory and spurious information available. I'm not sure the problem is wanting white space as fearing committing to a particular interpretation which is later discredited. I might be wrong there, but I do have to wonder why people who buy RPG's want the RPG not to contain any information. Surely such people purchased HW rules and no more, content to write their own Glorantha from scratch? Surely, the people who are interested in purchasing continuing products in which cultures are described are doing so because they WANT the experience of discovery of Glorantha - not creation, discovery.

> 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.

I'm happy for you. But this is what, the seventh product released, and we don't yet have a decent map of the purported play area? I'm sure that games CAN be played with the existing information, but what on earth weas the point of positing a major regional conflict when the contested region is not shown? If HW to date had concentrated totally on Heortlings and not made much of the Lunar presence, this might have been a legitimate excuse (although I would still be unhappy) but given the high profile of the Heortling-Lunar conflict - Lunar keywords given in HW - thats pretty much blown out of the water. Let me put it like this: I have not yet bought BA and on the basis of criticism so far I will not. The next product I purchase WILL have a decent map of dragon pass in it, and it WILL address Heortling material culture.

> There was certainly nowhere near the cultural information made
> available by Storm Tribe or Thunder Rebels for these supplements.

But how much cultural information IS there really? The avoidance of material culture - population distribution, proper mapping, mechanisms of production, common sets of tools - have been touched upon but probably less deeply than in almost any other RPG I possess (given that I no longer possess any D&D). We have all sorts of psycho spiritual stuff, which is great and even innovative in RPG, but very little on the physical lives of physical people. Different strokes, of course, but for me this is a huge failing and there does not even appear to be interest in addressing it; all we get is handwaving, platitudes about freedom of creativity and exhortations to buy the next product regardless. I have now purchased two products which purported to tell me about the Heortlings and was disappointed with both; I'm not convinced yet that I should buy a third.

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