> But personally, I've come to think of TR, ST and BA more > like a single work in three volumes than three distinct books. >
> I must confess > to thinking this could have been far more effectively acheived by > starting the Hero Wars in medias res, as the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, > and most Arthurian sagas ** do.
Having been involved in a good deal of experimental roleplaying in my time, I must say (and I say it with some pride) that fantasy roleplaying generally seems to be among the most conservative forms of the hobby in terms of structure and experimentation. We're concerned with other things.
Beyond that, essentially literary techniques such as media res beginnings are difficult in roleplaying for several reasons. There are practical difficulties in starting a beginner with a high level character (I was daunted recently even having to *design* one). You usually have to deal heavily in flashbacks, with their high levels of narrator control, and corresponding lack of genuine spontaneity. I'd perhaps use such a sudden immersion storyline for a convention module (where by general consensus there is usually less player freedom and more telescoping and even railroading), but would hesitate about introducing it into a campaign.
More generally, I don't think roleplaying forms ever map one to one onto literary forms, and at times are at extreme loggerheads. Spontaneity and freedom mean less control and less crafting. Genre is constant, but campaign story structures tend to be simpler, more in keeping with mythology than literature. Theme and repetition seem more important than a neat three act structure. Things tend to repeat, with escalations in power and outcome. Novelisations are never campaign writeups, and campaign writeups seldom if ever make successful novels. Helden, frr instance, used elements of campaign background, but i could never have told that particular story in a campaign.
Mythic rather than literary forms are what Glorantha is all about. While we can never discard the direct inspiration of film and television, I've always looked to myth and epic poetry as the prime fonts of Gloranthan story.
And what are the great themes of, say, Sartarite myth, the sort of themes we can access and recreate in a rp campaign? Some of them might be...
Additions anyone?
John
nysalor_at_... John HughesQuestlines: http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/
Now the New Year neared, the night passed, Daylight fought darkness as the Deity ordained. But wild was the weather the world awoke to; Bitterly the clouds cast down cold on the earth, Inflicting on the flesh flails from the north.
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