From: Eric Robert Jablow (erjablow@cais.com)
Date: Sat 02 Apr 1994 - 06:50:32 EEST
I've been looking at the recent discussion on Gloranthan sports
and games, and their similarities to Terran sports. For example,
I've tentatively placed baseball in an unusual place; in my vision
of Glorantha, it's called Trollkin Ball. After all, who else
parries thrown rocks with small clubs? I assume that it spread
across troll lands through the value trollkin of Argan Argar traders
and Gorakiki herders. Trolls ignore the sport; after all, it
couldn't have any effect upon them, right? However, the sport is
still half-primitive. You can retire a runner by hitting him with
a thrown ball, as in the 1850's "soak" rule. No DH's!
Dara Happans don't play lawn tennis. They play royal tennis; there's at least one court in every major city. That way, they don't have to play on dirt, clay, or grass, so they don't get their manicured hands dirty.
I was also thinking about chess. We know it's played in Glorantha; it's mentioned in Apple Lane, Orlanth and Yelm played in at least one legend, and Dendara plays Gorgorma every night. I asked Greg at RQ-Con whether each culture had its own favorite openings; for example, do they use the Queen's Gambit in Esrolia, or the Sicilian Defense in Ralios, or the Ruy Lopez in Dara Happa. He said something to the effect of "Good question. You probably know more than I do." Do you think Gloranthan chess is the same as modern Terran chess, or is it chess with the old 1-space diagonal move of the queen, or what?
Also, how do you simulate chess in RQ? How do you get the right probability of a draw? Perhaps you can run it like ordinary combat; each player has Attack and Parry skills equal to Chess skill, HP equal to average of INT and POW, and a 1D3 impaling weapon. No SRs; players attack simultaneously each round, and the player down below zero HP first loses. If both go under at the same time, or if the players agree, it's a draw.
What do you think, sirs?
Eric Robert Jablow "We'll send him cheezy programs, Reston, VA the worst we can find, la-la-la." ---------------------
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