Hello all,
> My general reason for raising this in this forum, is I am getting the
> increasing impression that canon is pushing 3rd Age Glorantha towards a
> technological/cultural (as much as one can within a world of Magic) level
> equivalent to 1000 to 500 BC RW. Why?
>
> My 3rd Age Sartar is like Asterix & Obelix. My West is Dark Ages. My Pent
> is Mongol, My Ralios is Italian City States. My Lunars are Byzantine Rome
> falling to chaos. NFI what Esrolia or Dara Happans are like? Any _simple_
> ideas?
>
> Why do you think Moon Design is pushing it this way? Glorantha seems to be
> drawn along by anthropologists that like esoterica. Do I have to read the
> 12 volumes of The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (-d4 San) +
> numerous eastern orientated anthro texts to work out what is going on.
> Confused.
>
There's a lot to cover here, so I have no doubt I will miss covering some of it.
Moon Design is not being deliberately obscure. That is, quite frankly, the last thing we want to be, for the simple reason that it doesn't make the game more accessible to new players in particular. Before we published the Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes book we tried to clearly state what our main goals for Gloranthan Publishing are: Make it fun, make it playable, make it easy to get into the setting (getting started).
Analogues can help explain a Gloranthan culture in an "elevator pitch" manner, but they also have their limits. If we say "Esrolia is like Egypt during the time of the Pharaoh" that immediately helps people conjure up a useful image in their mind, but it can easily be taken too far. Is Esrolia tied to a Nile like river system? Which god of theirs is like Horus? Rulers get embalmed, right? Most of the countryside must be desert too? You could apply the same for saying the Lunars are "sort of like the Soviets". In a few respects you could say they are. In most respects they are not. Having personally played in a large number of Gloranthan freeforms, I found such basic analogues very helpful for chewing scenery while playing, but for using them in an rpg, not so much so. If describing your Sartar campaign as being "like Asterix" helps your players (or you), more power to you. Asterix and his people struggle against a foreign invader, just like the Sartarites struggle against the Lunars. Carrying the analogy further, I don't think the players brew strength potions so they can lift 20 horses while cleaning out the barn with their other hand, nor do the Lunars have Roman names like Biggus Jerkus or Robbus Blindus.
One of the main purposes of the Moon Design blogs, Jeff's in particular, is to let people read about our development process and perhaps comment or ask questions. As our line editor and principle writer, Jeff's blog often includes his "inspirations" and "interests". I think that's a great thing for him to do (and makes me feel guilty for not blogging more myself). His blog post about "Jewish Kabbalism and Neo-Platonic Gnosticism" is far different from what you will find in the printed books though. We have no requirements that players/readers/gm's have a phd/masters/ged or whatever. I certainly don't study anthropology or know anything in particular about neo-platonic city states influenced by Icelandic sagas with a few bits of Gilgamesh thrown in. I have read our two published Sartar books extensively and never once felt the need to go to the University of Michigan Graduate Library a few miles from where I live.
Hope that helps.
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