From: Stephen P Martin (ilium@juno.com)
Date: Sat 12 Apr 1997 - 08:40:13 EEST
Michael Cule <mikec@room3b.demon.co.uk>
>> 3. Rune Lords: I _think_ I know what these are, from what I remember
Big Questions.....
>
>Trent Di Renna wants a lot of answers to some Very Big Questions....
>
>> 1. HeroQuests: What exactly are they, and what are they supposed to
do?
>
Your discussion of HeroQuests and the God Plane was extremely insightful,
probably the best treatment I have ever seen. I dare say it might even
meet Greg's approval, even in his current "Lunarized" state. :)
>> from the RQ rulebook
>
>See Gods of Glorantha for this. There is a silly theory about that cults
who
>have both RL and Rune Priests must be amalgams of earlier cults.
>
Since I am, as far as I know, the person who proposed this theory, let me
take a moment to defend it. First, I was once told that the factthat
every RQ2 cult had Rune Lords was something Steve Perrin came up with,
and which was abandoned in RQ3 as not really truthful to Glorantha.
That said, look at the cults which have two Rune Levels (including
We have two types of cults here -- Cults of Ruling Gods (Waha, Orlanth,
shamans) which are in print: Orlanth, Seven Mothers, Thanatar, Yelmalio,
Aldrya (if it is even a cult), Waha, Pamalt, Bagog, Kyger Litor,
Issaries, Yelm. Did I miss any?
Pamalt, Kyger Litor, Aldrya, Bagog); and cults which we _know_ are the
result of two or more historical cults merging, Issaries being the only
_possible_ exception to this rule. And, I don't think there are many
people around who would deny that the god known as Issaries now is an
amalgam of Goldentongue, Garzeen, and Harst.
Can anyone really deny that Yelmalio is now made up of two parts, Elmal
and the "whatever else" part? We may not like that he is derived from
Elmal, but that is the case as it stands.
Thanatar is specifically stated as being a merger of the Than and Atyar
As for the ruling gods, I note that all but one (Orlanth) have shamans,
cults. Seven Mothers is a single cult which worships seven deities or
heroes. And Yelm has been discussed enough already.
and that none of the other cults have shamans. Personally, I believe that
the Orlanth cult should include a shaman level as well. Orlanth in RQ3
seems clearly a merger of two cults I feel are better left separate,
Thunderous and Adventurous, plus the Rex "subcult". Aldrya I do not think
is even a cult, though High King Elf certainly is. Waha is a special case
- -- in Nomad Gods, he was originally a spirit whose primary role was
anti-chaos. He was also the source of the Founders of the cult, and the
historical treatment of Waha in River of Cradles and its precursors
supports this latterinterpretation. So, we have shamans for the
spirit/anti-chaos aspect, and Khans for the Founder aspect. Not
necessarily two deities, I admit, but certainly two widely divergent
approaches to the god. The same is true of the other cults which include
shamans and priests/rune lords -- the shaman aspect seems an important
function of certain types of Gloranthan Ruler (?) Cults.
I don't currently have a theory as to why, though I'm sure I could come
up with one. :)
>> 4. The Mostali
>
>Greg Stafford once wrote a very depressing explanation of
>his vision for Glorantha's dwarves called "Why I Hate Mostali".
>
I don't know why everyone seems to find this article depressing or such
an offense, any more than they view Trollpak as disgusting or "inhuman".
Both described races who are not human, as Greg, their creator, sees
them. You may not like your dwarfs as cogs in a Machine. But, since that
is literally what they are, and what most of them view themselves to be,
I never had a problem with "Why I Hate Mostali". I would hate them too,
if I had to deal with them. Especially if I was their creator.
>> 6. Are _Gods of Glorantha_ and _Elder Secrets_ still published by AH?
>Given the recent split between RQ and Glorantha I'd doubt it myself but
this
>material may be reprinted in part in the new 'systemless' stuff Chaosium
is
>promising us.
>
Parts of them might be, though I would suspect that _Genertela_ will be
more used in this manner, and then much of what else comes out would be
more Orlanthi- and/or Lunar-specific, to support the upcoming miniatures
game. Prax would probably figure prominently in anything after that,
though a lot of this would, in theory, depend on what the Italian game
company Stratelibri wants to publish.
CNU!AUSTIN3!lemens@cnucorp.attmail.com (Lemens, Chris)
What I'd like to see
>
As far as I can tell, what you want to see is pretty much everything. Not
a bad wish, that; I'll let you know if I find a genie's lamp...
>In terms of style, I'd like to see:
>
No offense intended to you or your very complete wish list. However, I
liked this section much better -- more achievable, for one thing.
>1. No damn boxes that squash flat when my 15 month old puts her rump
on
>them. These books are usually thin enough to put them together into a
>bigger softbound book like River of Cradles (I think it was).
>
Hmm -- I liked the old boxed sets, with the separate books, though I
preferred the ones Chaosium produced, with their stock covers, to the
tissue-covered things AH produced. I had to buy an extra copy of the
Cults Book from Gods of Glorantha because mine saw so much use it fell
apart. I don't touch the second copy, just have it for looks, and I'm
still using my taped-up one for reference.
>2. Put a pocket in the back of the book to slip the map into. I
really hate losing maps.
>
A much better idea than Griffin Mountain, which had the map attached
through the spine. Once you pulled it out, you had no place to put it.
Except on your wall, of course, where I have seen it displayed very
nicely. Of course, you then need a total of three of them -- two for the
wall (since Elder Secrets and Balazer were back to back), and a third to
use.
>The cost of all of this advice is just $0.02 and you get what you pay
for.
>
>Awaiting my hopes to be dashed yet again,
And I'm hoping that you will be disappointed in this last wish. Only time
will tell, since you can be sure Greg won't.... :)
Personal complaint -- no comments on my version of Orlanth Rex? I got one
privately, but nothing else. Someone suggested awhile back that if no one
answers a question you should ask it again -- should I repost? :)
Finally, a question of interest. After working on Nomad Gods for the
French game company Oriflam, I began work on the long-abandoned Shadows
Dance. Mostly from scratch, since the original folder disappeared between
10 and 15 years ago. I have done a lot of work on it, more slowly than I
had originally planned, but now have a bit of a dilemna. The new
situation with Chaosium and Stratelibri probably means that I could not
sell such a game to Oriflam even if I wanted to. It turns out the game
would be half-size of Dragon Pass and Nomad Gods, and would connect to
both. Would anyone be interested in buying such a supplemental game if it
was available through Wizard's Attic, for example? I don't know if this
is even possible, as I have not asked Greg, but it is something I am
considering. However, I don't want to put the work into it if people
wouldn't buy it: Time is Money, as they say.
So, can we get a show of hands of people who would be interested in
further work on the Dragon Pass series of games. I even have notes on a
Dorastan version....
Stephen Martin
ilium@juno.com
- -----------------------------------------------
The Book of Drastic Resolutions
drastic@juno.com
------------------------------
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