Re: Status of Mongoose RQ publications' Glorantha content

From: Kevin McDonald <kpmcdona_at_tT7ZZJS94K5KYPpSkknO4aObPTs-UWPxGVnBSz2m50xQM9AVvMd5fJwaFcMdm5kge_1>
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2010 09:42:14 -0500

On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 11:47 PM, L C <lightcastle_at_MB1hvixdwJTRl5oSn8tx0UU1UqPPAdDfMtZ4fGZYmy5YSSwkLEzSPv9BQmRygKDzp-vgPZ2zxF6GqmHw.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> > <Warning: Pompus exposition ahead>
> >
> *dons pomposity helmet* <--- this looks awesome, by the way. Very majestic.

:)

> Indeed. Absolutely. Look, there have been numerous "reboots" of
> Glorantha already. I have no problem with that.
> But MRQ and Issaries have the weight of publishing to act as weights
> that people can center around for the reasons given above.
> That's cool. The question is how that happens.

Well, what actually seems to happen is that each publisher/author tries to be internally consistent with their own body of work. They also try - to a variable extent - to be faithful to publications from previous outside authors, and even current ones in the case of Mongoose and Moon Design. (which I think that is absolutely amazing, BTW) The degree to which publishers remain faithful to outside sources depends on a number of factors including the strength of the brand (and the desire to profit from it), fear of a negative customer reaction if they change too much, and the conditions of their license.

Part of the discussion, I suppose, should be what we mean by "canon" in the first place. Is it something that the community decides, or licensed publishers, or Issaries, or what?

Personally, I think everything published - officially licensed or otherwise - should be respected to some degree. Defining exactly what extent that should be is, IMHO, a lost cause. Clearly an article that says the Godlearners actually worshiped the god of cute puppies instead of the Invisible God would not be received with open arms. On the other hand, if someone decided that the Pelandans worship Turos and Oria instead of Lodril and Ernalda, and backed it up with cool mythlets and stories, then that might be received somewhat more warmly. :) I suppose the difference is that one change undermines lots of existing material for no good reason and the other enhances and extends what has been written. It is up to the community to decide which is which, though. What is definitely true, though, is that Glorantha would be much less interesting if, say, authors felt constrained to continue saying that Pelandans really do worship Lodril and Ernalda because Avalon Hill (IIRC) said they did.

-Kevin McD