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From: Sandy Petersen (sandyp@idcube.idsoftware.com)
Date: Fri 08 Apr 1994 - 06:18:29 EEST


Alex F. comments:
>But note that if you're a 15 year old, trying to join a religion
>other than that of your parents', your chances aren't great.

        I don't think many 15 year olds try to join religions other than their parents'. This would be as abnormal as seeking a career other than your parents'. Note that even in the 20th century, in which the norm is that children do not follow in their footsteps, career-wise, the VAST majority of children follow their parents' religion, at least until they've moved out (and usually even then). At a minimum, instead of following their folks' faith, they adhere to no faith at all.

        I say this knowing full well that my own church is largely composed of converts -- but not many of them were converted at the age of 15!

re: female broo
Lewis mentions that he believes all broo are born male, and the few female broo are the result of: broos changing sex via dark elf magic or females turning into broos via chaos features or various spells. This argument is very convincing to me, but I would add a couple more ways to become a female broo: 1) a regular male broo might get a chaos feature making him hermaphroditic, 2) I think that a broo spawned from an entirely female species (such as harpies or dryads, frex) has a fighting chance of being female itself.

        Lewis also seems to believe that a female broo gives birth in the same violent manner as a non-broo. I think a female gives "birth" in the broo manner only when serviced by a male broo.

>Female broo are quite a fun concept as they are very sought after by
>male broo as any offspring will be TRUE BROO!

        What is a "true broo"? In any case, remember that broos can inseminate even MALE victims, so a female broo is not needed for this special use -- male/male broo sex would presumably also produce pure broo offspring.

        However, it is my opinion that broos rarely, if ever, engage in sex among one another, whether hetero- or homo-. In fact, I doubt very much whether broos appeal sexually to each other.

        But I agree with Lewis' concept that female broos are highly oversexed critters. Greg and I once had a discussion along these lines (unsuitable for publication). The conclusion was that neither of us could imagine a worse fate for a Gloranthan male than being captured by female broos.

James asks (with reference to games):
>Where are the "large cities" of the Wastes?
First off, James -- my name is spelled PetersEn. For future reference. The only large cities in the Wastes would be Pavis, the Paps, and any contact the nomads had with Teshnos and the Iron Forts. However, the nomads travel in LARGE groups -- bison riders in packs of thousands, so the nomads have no trouble at all getting enough players for a rousing large-scale game of Polo, Bison Rush, or Calf Tossing. It's the hapless boondock peasants in Lunar Peloria that can't get 18 folks together for a game of rounders.

In a long and fascinating discussion defending the Malkioni against being somehow morally inferior to the theistic cults, Joerg sez:
>Don't get me wrong, I don't say that all theistic priests are
>bastards.

        Ah, and let's not forget about theistic priests who worship GODS who are bastards -- like Eurmal, Gagarth, Storm Bull, etc. Clearly, the fact that someone is a theist gives him no moral superiority over a Malkioni.

        It feels a little funny to be arguing on the same side as Joerg, but this has been an interesting discussion to me. Esp. since I'm sure the great majority of theists believe just as Gary Robinson and Guy Hoyle have written.

        One more point in defense of the ol' Invisible God -- all his wizards are SUPPOSED to be good, and this holds true for all his sects except the Brithini (the Vadeli, of course, are not Malkioni). Of course, there's plenty of bad wizards anyway. But a theistic priest of a bad god, such as Zorak Zoran, gives you no such assurance.

>I don't see Sartarite Hill barbarians as organized pike formations,
>else the Sun Dome Templars wouldn't be special units in Dragon Pass.

        Some tribes might fight in ranks with spears, like the Greeks before the advent of the Macedonians and the development of the true sarissa-armed phalanx. The Sun Dome Templars might just be the only guys with the discipline to have taken the already-familiar spearfighting techniques to their logical extreme. This is sensible, because it doesn't force the Sun Domers to have invented pikefighting out of nowhere.

Joerg asks:
>Does aquiring Thanatar heads make you a broo?

        According to the RQ II Thanatar writeup, yes, eventually.

>How frequently will any member of another race (female or male) be
>transformed into a broo by accepting one too many chaotic feature?

>Which chaotic entities spread chaos to unwilling recipients, except

>one denizen of Snake Pipe Hollow, and the dreadful Curse of Thed
>spell?

        The Curse of Thed doesn't actually taint the recipient with chaos, it just harms him for 15 minutes. However, Pocharngo's Corruption spell does the trick, as does Primal Chaos's Chaos Feature (10% chance per feature).

        In addition, I rather expect that whenever a person has delved deeply into chaos and been changed significantly as a result, he is termed a "broo", regardless of whether he possesses the normal capabilities or features of a broo. I imagine any Thanatar worshiper who receives the "gift" of horns is considered a broo by most folks, yet he probably lacks the broo immunity to disease, etc.

>Most promising candidates seem to be Dara Happa for chessish games
>and Vormain for goish games

        I suggest Kralorela rather than Vormain for Go. After all, our version evolved in our version of China, so why not theirs?

Paul Anderson asks:
>where did Modern chess, with its characteristic pieces, arise?
Then Joerg replies
>I think in the crusades, but I cannot say for sure.

        I have a book on Chess history locked away somewhere. I believe modern chess appeared sometime in the early Renaissance. I know that a late medieval version of German Chess, called Courier Chess (which I've played with friends and found quite good), still has the puny one-space-diagonal queens, and the even worse jump-two-spaces-diagonally bishops. One of the amazing new pieces in Courier Chess is the Courier, which moves just like a modern bishop. Not to mention the Man, which moves just like a king (but can be captured like any other piece). I recommend the fine book CHESS VARIATIONS: ANCIENT, REGIONAL, AND MODERN for anyone interested in poaching weird chess variants for any RPG.

        The problem with trying to invent one's own games for Glorantha is that most of the board- and sports-games that ever achieved any success on earth are actually pretty fun. It's doubtful that one GM trying to make up new rules for, say, chess, will come up with anything actually worth playing. Hence I advise theft from Earthly sources (with obvious Gloranthan variations) rather than making up one's own games. The players won't know the difference, and you'll have keen games to mess with.

>The Queen is called something like vezire by Persians
The Queen is called the wazir or vizier by Persians and Moguls. He represents the king's advisor. Note also that the "bishops" are titled "ships" by Moslem players. In addition, in Arab chess sets, all pieces are completely radially symmetrical, to obey the Koran's proscription against representative sculpture. Thus, the knights and bishops look quite different from the Western Staunton version.

        Chess was evidently originally invented in India, and was called chaturanga. The original chess game was remarkably similar to the modern game. There were plenty of differences, of course -- but the knights, rooks, and kings all moved the same and were in the same starting positions. There was a four-handed version of chaturanga, too, which was primarily a gambling game. You rolled dice to determine which piece you could move. You got the most money if you captured an enemy shah on his home square with your own shah.

        Anyone interested in the rules to Courier Chess or chaturanga e-mail me for a set.

Nigel Johnston sez:
>Also Gwalynkus is also supposed to have married one of the last of
>the gold wheel dancers. You would have to be pretty weird to marry a
>spinning hoop I think. So either Gwalynkus was deranged, or GW
>Dancers had more than one form, or the author of the history had a
>fetish for strange unions.

        I don't think sex is so important to dwarfs ;) But seriously, Gold Wheel Dancers, when not doing their magic, take on a more humanoid form. Pinchining appeared to Urggh the Ugly as a radiant golden woman then (as I recall) rolled away as a hoop.

re: Pamaltela

        The dinosaur population of the Pamaltelan plains is densest to the west, and thins out to the east. In essence, animal life becomes more advanced the further east you go. Hence, Jolar life is mostly stuff like brontops, chalicotheres, rodents, rhinos of various sizes, mastodons, shovel-tuskers, etc. with a few dinosaurs thrown in. The Kresh lands, even further east, are largely unknown to the outside world, but when my PCs traveled through I don't recall them encountering a single dinosaur. On the other hand, in Tarien, they actually had to hunt stegosaurs for food or starve to death. As I recall, the worst threat they encountered in Kothar was a pack of communally-hunting spiders, each of which was about the size of a turkey. The spiders killed a couple of Jelmres that were accompanying the party, and nearly killed some of the PCs.

Nigel Johnston sez vis-a-vis the Kresh:
>I agree that humans pulling them is a bit harder to cope with.

>I decided in the end that the Wagon Master must also be a Kresh
>priest of some sort,

        On the other hand, the ground is fairly flat, the wagons extremely well-kept, and there are more humans per wagon than you might expect (far more than could ever ride on one).

        I'm not sure the Kresh have any priests. But I wouldn't be surprised if spirits were bound into the wagon or its wheels.

Guy Robinson sez:
>With the Wizard caste possessing the magical power within a
>sorcerous society then in a society that is not too deeply
>entrenched in its ways I believe that they would tend to rise

>to the top.

        I don't agree that this is necessarily the case, any more than in modern societies, the "caste" possessing advanced weaponry and firepower rises to the top. While there are certainly military dictatorships around, there are plenty of other forms of government. Though there are no doubt sorcerous governments in the West, this doesn't mean that Tanisor, Nolos, Pasos, Loskalm, or any othe major nation adhere to this particular form of tyranny.

>My complaints about the sorcerer-priests is that they do not
>appear to be offering the people they officiate over a far
>crack of the whip. At least the Rune Cults do offer magic
>to the common man at a reasonable cost.

        First off, please call them wizards. "Sorcerer-priest" is galling to the ear, and is an oxymoron, Gloranthically speaking. A "wizard" wears white in his robes and performs some priestlike duties. A "sorcerer" does nothing of the sort and is a loner, a parasite on society. Probably uses Tap.

        Second, the Invisible God cult arguably offers its followers a better magic deal than the Rune cults. We'll use the caste-ridden Rokari sect for our example. The ordinary Rokari farmer learns both Intensity and a number of sorcery spells applicable to his lot. In what way is he worse off than learning Spirit Magic? In addition, to get a Rune Priest to cast one of his precious spells is a fairly big deal. But a wizard can cast his spells again and again, with comparatively little delay between castings. I submit the wizard is more accessible to his flock on a daily basis than is a priest, who must spend much of his time praying in the temple trying to get his dang spells regained.

        Obviously it can be argued whether the Rune spells are better for a commoner than the wizard's enchantments, or whether Intensity + sorcery is better or worse than spirit magic. My only point is that they are comparable, if not exactly equal.

>Joerg mentions the size of the Invisible God's cult but this does
>not guarantee that this cult is authentic.
Huh? Surely you don't intend to say that there is no Invisible God sect? It's pretty well documented. Plus has existed since the Dawn, and despite the disasters of the Gbaji Wars and Second Age, it is still the largest single faith.

>Prehaps the salvation of the Orlanthi will be the mobilization of
>the lands of the Invisible God once the insubstanciality and as well
>as the invisibility of the Invisible God is exposed.

Apparently you're unaware that the Malkioni are hostile to the Lunar Empire, and see it as a rebirth of the evil Gbaji Empire (which flourished in the same area and also supported chaos). I submit that apostate Malkioni who no longer believed in their god would be LESS hostile towards the Lunars and also less effective.

Sandy

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