> But BA does NOT require KoS to be useful. Its an introductory
I was talking about HW in general. The response "buy KoS to understand HW" does not cut much ice.
> (Itself an un-necessarily abusive term.)
>
> > > am justing pointing out that it does not stop play.
> >
> >It stopped my play. I was initially very excited with HW, but
> >decided in the end there was not enough info for me to be happy
and I
> >would wait for more to be published. But what I got was a spell
> >list - oh sorry, a book of myths. OK, so now I'm being sarcastic,
> >but I thought ST was pretty much a waste of money; or more
> >accurately, it would have been perfect if a later supplement after
> >more setting material had been established. Now I'm in the
position
> >of waiting to see IF the setting material will be established.
>
> Okay, remember the box for the initial rules release? The
description of
> 'in Mythic Glorantha'? 'Mythic'? (OK, So I'm being sarcastic too.)
Books of
> myths, gods to interact with, choices for players outside the norm,
are
> VERY important. Thunder Rebels gives a ton of background/setting
detail,
> but it would have been useless (to me, anyway) without Storm Tribe.
Many
> people want to play Vinga/Humakt/Yinkin/whatever worshippers.
Hardly a
> waste of money.
>
> Aren't you also the person who's refusing to buy BA? So you won't
> spend money on the setting book you claim to be waiting for? What's
I said that based on the review given, it may be wrong. I'll almost certainly get it anyway; partly to see for myself, partly completeness.
> Whereas TR and especially ST discusses the culture directly, with
> the role and significance of objects being secondary. Read both
No; it discusses the psychology of the culture directly, it does not discuss the culture directly, IMO. We know a lot about the myths of Ernalda, but very little about the actual cult of Ernalda. We know about its values, and the things it celebrates, but little about what it does, or seeks to do. We have the description of the doctrine of a "church", but little about the "church" itself.
> within their cultural context. L5R, along with most western takes
> on Japan, suffers from focusing on the objects, because it DOESN'T
> (seem to) understand the culture that lies underneath. TR tries to
> deal with the culture and beliefs first.
IIRC L5R makes no claims to being a Japanese sim, merely themed that way. The effect is produced almost accidentally; I'm presently reading a book on "everyday things in premodern japan", and its intriguiing to see how much domestic architecture, frex, was defined by the bakufu government and become entrenched as social convention. A culture can be (partially) understood through it objects precisely because a culture constructs objects in line with its cultural values.
> Obviously this is a completely different Ars Magica's Mythic Europe
> than the 'produced by a guy who failed first year medieval history'
> piece of tat that I've seen... Seriously, pick up any reasonable
> text book on the era, and see the difference. I've known a few
> people run the game, but no one who didn't throw the setting guide
> out in favour of the text book...
Well sure, it was historical rubbish, but then it WAS "mythic Europe". I strongly disagree that it was "tat" though; IMO it contained exactly the klind of knowledge that people would have about places, erroneous and all. I am NOT suggesting that anything like a textbook should be produced, merely that a sense of time and place should be produced.
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