>Actually, I specifically avoided use of "GaG", because
>that's a much wider area than I wanted to convey, and
>WAY too fuzzy round the edges. It's hard to pin this
>down without going on for pages, but let's have
>another go.
>
>We need some common standard of communication. A few
>bits of fact that we all agree on, or this all becomes
>pointless and incomprehensible. Let's call it "Core
>Glorantha". "Core Glorantha" might include, for
>instance, facts such as "Orlanth rules the Storm
>Tribe", "Boldhome fell to the Lunars in 1602". Now, we
>can't define it by listing every fact within it, we'd
>be there all century. But we can pin down a few basics
>about this central core of commonality.
>
>To be part of Core Glorantha, something must be
>available to everyone participating in the discussion.
>That doesn't mean than *anything* available to all is
>part of CG, but anything that *isn't*, is not. Printed
>material that can be bought, right now, with a
>reasonable degree of ease, qualify, even if that means
>second-hand on Ebay. Anything on the Web qualifies.
>Stuff that's limited edition, out of print and rare,
>or still lurking on someone's hard disc, does not.
>
>But, that still leaves us with huge amounts of stuff,
>and we need to cut down more. For each area of
>Glorantha, there's usually one defining work or group
>of works. Some of these change with time: once upon a
>time a couple of board games were the definitive
>guide, once RQ2 was. Now, those don't even qualify as
>"readily available".
Well I saw a second hand copy of the French edition of the Dragon Pass boardgame a few months ago. I'd have bought it except for some missing pieces and already having WBRM. I don't keep track of what's available on EBay but I would have thought copies of the board games appeared often enough for anyone who wanted one to get it. Not that there's a lot of content which isn't available elsewhere.
RQII is pretty irrelevant, just about all the offical publications were redone for RQIII and most of those have been reprinted by Rick.
>Should we add that "core Glorantha" should also be
>readily accessible in terms of being readable? The
>Unfinished Works, wonderful though they are, are hard
>going. And they are Unfinished in any case.
How readable is "readable"? KoS isn't exactly light reading.
>As a minimalistic "definitive works" list, might I
>suggest:
>
>Sartarite Orlanthi society: Thunder Rebels, Storm
>Tribe, Barbarian Adventures. I might add to that the
>various web bits that were by the same authors and
>only got cut from those works due to space limitations
>(such as John Hughes' work on Vinga, and no doubt
>others I'm not aware of).
Men of the Sea, Dragon Pass Gazetteer, Orlanth is Dead and Gathering Thunder.
>Dragon Pass history: KoS - with the very large proviso
>that anyone reading it needs to realise that it is an
>in-Glorantha source and needs interpreting as such.
>
>Pavis - the Moon Designs reprint. I'd like to add Ian
>Thompson's work to that, but sadly too much of it is
>out of print and not web-available.
>
>Lunar Empire - IHL1 and 2.
>
>After that, things become more difficult to find
>definitive works for, at least for me. Far Place -
>Questlines website. The Tarsh books - are they
>sufficiently "available", still?
There's also the other Unspoken World books - Uz, Sons of Kargzant and Thieves Arm.
>Anyone want to add other areas, quibble with the Core
>List....? But do you at least see what I'm driving at?
>A central, common ground for communication. Ducks
>having cigars is part of GaG, but a Glorantha where
>they didn't smoke wouldn't be a problem in discussion.
>One where Orlanth is a pacifist, would. That's "core".
The biggest problem is when does a web site qualify for the Core List. Nick Brook's is a mixture to my mind - there's stuff there that's authoritive while other bits are just silly.
I like the idea I'm just not sure it can be implemented.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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