From: David Dunham , via RadioMail (ddunham@radiomail.net)
Date: Fri 12 Nov 1993 - 23:54:04 EET
>From: clay@cool.khis.com (Clay Luther)
>On armor: the Minoan-Myceneaen culture started producing heavy bronze "tubes"
>that the soldier wore as armor. However, during the archaic Greek period,
>body armor gave way to the large circular shield and linen shirts. It seems
>the shield actually offered more protection than the body armor (presumably
>because it was more mobile). ...
>[I've never been able to convince my players that a shield
>offers more protection than body armor...a weakness of game systems, I guess,
It's probably because we don't really have a good game mechanic for dealing with the heat of wearing armor. (My simple proposal for ENC is that the only time it matters is right before a fight -- most melees simply don't last long enough. Simply make a roll for all ENC carried -- doubling the ENC of armor worn. At the very least, you can improve your odds by not wearing a helmet full time, which seems realistic. Coincidentally, this may also favor shields. The idea being, if you've been tromping around Prax wearing heavy armor, you're not in good condition to fight.)
I too have always been bothered about the Greek shift from what looks like bronze to linen: "In the middle of the 6th century [BC], the bell cuirass [this is far less crude looking than the Mycenean "tube"] was abandoned in favor of the linen cuirass." [Peter Connolly, _The Greek Armies_]
>From: watson@computing-science.aberdeen.ac.uk (Colin Watson)
>Ok, but I think one or two context-free scenarios would be nice amongst the
>heavy Gloranthan stuff. These scenarios could still have a Gloranthan flavour,
Context-free doesn't have to mean non-Gloranthan. Any group of people could wander in on a dispute between two Orlanthi clans, and be asked to help one side or the other. You could show a lot about the Sartar clan structures, but not require Orlanthi or even Lightbringer PCs.
>>A scenario written to fit a specific part of the world is at least going to
>>be instantly usable in that location.
Actually not so Nick, since the River of Cradles scenario requires a Zola Fel initiate. None of our PCs worship said cult.
BTW, Sandy Petersen once ran a nice travelogue-sort of game at a convention. I remember my Babeester Gor initiate being boggled at Teshnos.
>From: graeme.lindsell@anu.edu.au (Graeme A Lindsell)
> One of the Theyalan's major complaints about the Dara Happans is
>the practice of slavery.
Oh? From Cults of Prax, p. 109:
"The Sartarite tribes of Dragon Pass had a system whereby captives were
slaves, and specialists occasionally were purchased as well. Captives
commonly were put to work as field or herd workers and allowed to worship
most of their own deities except for Orlanth or any sky deities.
"The Holy Country included Sartar-like customs among most of their populace. A cult of freedom was there which opposed the practice, but did not try to force freedom upon unfeeling owners. The cult was popular among many of the Holy Country elite*, and several large landholders did not practice ownership of humans."
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