About the God learner's secret...
- Thread starter The King
- Start date
Guys, please believe me - the God Learner Secret was never "Glorantha is just a roleplaying game".
That being said, were "rules lawyers" and "power gamers" - who look to the game mechanics to understand the game background a source of inspiration for the God Learners? Sure. But then again, so were mythographers like Sir James Frazer, Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Georges Dumezil, and Claude Levi-Strauss. So were the scholastic theologians of the 12th, 13th and 14 th centuries. So were the intrepid band of writers writing the Plan in "Foucault's Pendulum" or the short stories of Jorge Borges (both of which were a much bigger source of inspiration for MSE than "rules lawyers" or "power gamers"). And so on.
The God Learners don't view Glorantha as a game. They view it as something subject to understandable rules (or laws) and can be exploited or changed pursuant to those rules (or laws).
Jeff
That being said, were "rules lawyers" and "power gamers" - who look to the game mechanics to understand the game background a source of inspiration for the God Learners? Sure. But then again, so were mythographers like Sir James Frazer, Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Georges Dumezil, and Claude Levi-Strauss. So were the scholastic theologians of the 12th, 13th and 14 th centuries. So were the intrepid band of writers writing the Plan in "Foucault's Pendulum" or the short stories of Jorge Borges (both of which were a much bigger source of inspiration for MSE than "rules lawyers" or "power gamers"). And so on.
The God Learners don't view Glorantha as a game. They view it as something subject to understandable rules (or laws) and can be exploited or changed pursuant to those rules (or laws).
Jeff
frogspawner said:
Life's a lot easier when you require no facts to back up your assertions :wink:
All those references mean is that the God Learners understood, and manipulated the 'rules' of Glorantha, much as a scientist or engineer uses an understanding of the physical laws of the universe to practical effect.
Perhaps it was sloppily explained, but that's all. Myself, if someone explains something poorly, and later corrects themselves or provides a better explanation, I'd rather concentrate on that than keep harping on about it.
Simon Hibbs
The King
Cosmic Mongoose
I believe you but why should it stay a secret for the gamers, those who are playing in Glorantha.richaje said:
I mean many articles were written to help us discover Glorantha but there still are many shadows.
Wouldn't it be easier to give the whole info on a thing instead of giving partial info on everything?
The thing is that Glorantha or the way it is presented appears like the name of a sect which would require several degrees before approaching the inner circles of knowledge. It reminds me a bit of the first campaign for Cthulhu (Shadows of Yog-Sothoth).
But why would I consider playing in Glorantha if I know already that there is thing from a game setting that I'll never know. Hell! there are things from the CIA that are less well guarded.
The King said:
Just as a suggestion, I advice buying a copy of Middle Sea Empire. We've got 11+ pages of material on the God Learners, their approach to Heroquesting, their theological justifications for their activities, and the underlying objective of the Zistorites. It contains most of the background material that Robin and Aaron relied on to write their books.
As for what the actual "Secret" is - remember that most of the discussion of the "God Learner Secret" is from the perspective of the Third Age. I personally doubt the God Learner's themselves ever referred to a "God Learner Secret".
frogspawner
Mongoose
The King said:
For heaven's sake please don't let the would-be illuminati of MRQ put you off Glorantha! It's probably the greatest fantasy world ever devised. But go to the 3rd Age - the real Glorantha! - where that silly 'secret' is irrelevant...
The King said:
Embarrassingly I only have my word document version (the version I worked on) and a crappy bound version that Greg dropped off to me last summer. The Moon Design published version is much nicer than my copy (and I really should pester Rick for an author's copy some day). My copy is 56 pages.
Unlike a lot of recent Unfinished Works, The Middle Sea Empire is not a collection of old material - it is an up-to-date set of articles and was written initially as an author's resource for folks writing for Mongoose Second Age. Greg and I ended up doing a lot more than we thought and turned it into an Unfinished Work. It is much smaller than the Book of Heortling History that we will be releasing soon (which also contains the core documents on the EWF). However, there is some excellent stuff in there - especially about the God Learner schools and the Zistorite movement.
Jeff
The King said:
As the publisher, I can confirm that the page count is 56, which is shorter than all the other Unfinished Works in the series. It ended up that way because that was all that was written. Over time it may get expanded and the page count will go up accordingly. After all, it is "Unfinished".
Hope that helps,
Rick Meints
Moon Design Publications
Pentallion
Mongoose
richaje said:
I've toyed around with RQ for over 20 years. I don't know who or how I would get someone who knows the secret to ever tell me what it is, but as a loyal gamer who's money has supported this product for so long, I think I've earned the right to know. So wth is the God Learner's Secret?
You tell Greg Stafford I've never met him, but I own Borderlands, I own Big Rubble, I own Plunder and Snakepipe Hollow and Pavis. You tell him they are still in pretty damned good shape. You tell him I'm nearing 50 and by god I don't want to wait till I'm 70 to find out what the secret is.
You tell him it's time he spilled it.
Trifletraxor
Mongoose
RuneQuest Sight is the secret then.
SGL.
SGL.
Trifletraxor
Mongoose
Though my favorite is:
"The God Learner secret is that there is no God Learner secret."
:wink:
SGL.
"The God Learner secret is that there is no God Learner secret."
:wink:
SGL.
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