Shakespeare wouldn't, of course, since it's a play. Hamlet will look like the actor who happens to be playing the part.
I can also somewhat understand not describing the protagonist. I'd expect even that author describes the people the protagonist meets. And there we see my point. When my players meet Prince Salinarg, I will need to describe what he looks like.
> Icelandic sagas often describe characters, but it's almost always in
> terms of capabilities (like big and strong, not blue-eyed). There
> are actually good reasons *not* to over-describe. Obviously the
> noble Sartar looked much like me (or like my favorite actor).
I'm afraid this is something I just don't see. Descriptions are helpful and often give more of a feel for the character than anything else. Adjectives like grim, cruel, friendly and so forth are very helpful also. At least we know what Jareel looks like, from descriptions (and there's my favorite illustration, from the Dragon Pass game).
> If the description of a historical character matters in your story,
> make it up! I can't imagine that if it ever ends up in print, your
> whole campaign will be overturned. If you're really concerned you
> might get it wrong, it's easy to say, "Morstalor has Sartar's nose,
> and people say his gaze is much the same as Sartar's."
This is obviously what I have to do. I've come to accept the lack of descriptions as one of the quirks of the Glorantha material.
-Adept
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