>Sorry I thought it was in the spirit of this list to turn
incompetence on the part of others into paranoid suggestions of conspiracy.
>Isn't that the way of our community now. I just wanted to fit in
with everyone else.
I'm glad its not completely serious. You had me worried. Yahoo sucks. Frequently. Everybody loses posts.
A little history, for those who came in late. Four hundred years ago in the Bay of Bengalla, a lone shipwreck survivor swore an oath on the skull of his father...
Sorry, wrong tape. OpenHeroquest, or whatever its called this week, was created by one of the then-community's more malignant nutters, with the explicit purpose of airing cancerous conspiracy and general hatred. it was quickly subverted by members, including myself, to contain said nutter and if fact turn the list back against him. However, I for one can see the allure of an open forum, where honest views can be exchanged frankly, and in fact the need seems to have increased since the attempts over the last few years to centralise authority and control of Glorantha as a gaming environment and the resurgence of One-True-Glorantha fundamentalism, with the subsequent loss of communal creativity and energy (lets call it 'The Night of the Munchkins'). The self-depreciatory tone and air of mocking insult are legacy artefacts, and perhaps have outlived their utility. These days, there is enough to be really angry about without concocting erudite jibes, entertaining as that once was. Since the only rule here is to break the rules, write as you see fit.
>It's no longer acceptable to discuss theory on the Forge outside of
the context of real-play any more. The Forge got bored with use of
its theory >in other contexts. The Forge is all about real gaming.
And its theory - now called the Big Model - is supposed to help solve
at table or game >design issues.
Glad to hear it, the change was long overdue. You've encouraged me to look at the Forge once again. Since you made no response to my main point, can we agree that System is but one small part of the gaming experience, and that a working understanding of Genre and Participation/Play are equally important? I'll let other people rant on all they like about system, because I'm a genre gamer and primarily a systemless gamer, and system isn't important to my play except when I'm writing for publication. (Also, a game manifests in at least three parts: designer, narrator and players, and the strengths of any two can and often do mask or correct the incompetence or inexperience of the third). Good games can have crap systems. And a terrible game can have a good system.
But I'd make the claim that Gloranthan gaming is Genre gaming with a capital G, and one of the keys for successful play is understanding and making explicit the strengths and the blind spots of Gloranthan genre. We need to grapple with Glorantha.
>Sales bear no relation to influence on other designers. Many >modern games wouldn't exist without these two.
Forgive my ignorance, but what was so mind-altering about these two games? The effects of Pendragon I can see, but Ghostbusters, Prince Valiant? Rather that simply asserting that these are key texts, tell us why. And what did they pick up that hadn't been done before?
>Cool, something we can agree on.
There is much we can agree on. There is much we can *all* agree on. Like who shot JR. :)
Cheers
John
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