Glorantha

[cjfodel]

Ok forgeting about the RULES for amoment, I have never been a big fan of Gloranta, BUT can be persuaded. What cab you tell me abot the wold that will do that but not using game rules, for I want flavor text here.

For the folks at Mongoose, Do you think you will be releasing a 3rd and 1st age book also?

I have moticed someting here, and that is that Mongoose is going to suport the core setting along with others (Unlike some other OGL games Coughgrawhawkcough we could mention).

Charles 8)

 

[Lieutenant Rasczak]

Glorantha is (at least for me) THE MOST fantastical world.

Glorantha is an amazing World of Heroes and the legends they inspire, many of the Heroes aren't even Human. But still their deeds of heroism and derring do precede them, as they shape the very substance of the Gloranthan world.

Gods and Goddesses reside there, and entire nations of people are nothing more than playthings to them. Fierce Barbarians serve their brutal but Noble Storm God in a seemingly never ending fight against the Imperial Sun God and the devious Moon Goddess of the Lunar Empire.

Glorantha is so vivid and colourful, supernatural creatures abound. But they are not always quite as we imagine them. Even the simplest beings (such as Elves) have a 'twist' to them, making them unique and refreshingly original.

Glorantha is a big, BIG place - you might think its a long way down to the corner store, but thats just peanuts to Glorantha. Like our own Earth, it has a variety of environments. From the Steppes of Gerertela, to the Jungles of Palmaltela its environments are just as varied as your imagination, and way wilder.

If looked at from a mystical perspective it has many different spheres and dimensions - whole realms where Gods, Spirits and Sorcerous energies derive their power. Totally unlike almost all other fantasy worlds, Glorantha puts a big emphasis upon Religion, Myth and Faith to a level that has a very convincing 'reality' to it.

If I could I would Holiday there, but chances are I (for one) would never want to leave . . . . . .

 

[Briquelet]

Holiday there! LOL! Might as well stop in Beirut for a little sun on the way. I can see it now...

Tour Guide: "And this, my most beneficent friends, is the mighty River of Cradles, lifeblood to both man and beast in this wondrous valley. Here, all the bounty of Mother Ernalda is..."

"THUMP!"

Tour Guide: "Ordo, you fool, what did you hit? Be careful!"

Ordo: "I am sorry merciful one, but it must have been a submerged log. All is well, master; I am taking us out to deeper water."

"Thump, Thump, THUMP!!!"

The explosive slap of a mighty tail sends up a huge plume of water; deafening screams and the shattering of thick timbers follow. As the hapless tourists--those who can--swim for their lives, Ordo screams, "BIG FISH!!!" A heartbeat later he is swallowed whole. Others follow, their cries to their gods quickly drowned by the murky water or cut short by razor-sharp teeth.

You are one of the lucky ones; you scramble ashore amidst the date palms and ferns. As you stand up, you are met with a spear pointed in your face. Ten men on zebras glare at you menacingly. The one with the blue face paint and the bone in his nose grunts something to the others who immediately dismount and close in...

Heheh. Yeah, I'd like to vacation in Glorantha too--with a suit of modern body armor and an aresenal of high-powered weaponry. "This is my boooomstick!" :twisted:

 

[cjfodel]

What are some of your faveerate storeies (frome yout chrecters prespectivet) that you have been through,m to help me learn of the setting?

Charles

 

[TRose]

Does that mean my tours that let you see the Crismon bat feeding up close will not sell well?

 

[cjfodel]

If your killing them, it dose.

Charles

 

[simonh]

Ok forgeting about the RULES for amoment, I have never been a big fan of Gloranta, BUT can be persuaded. What cab you tell me abot the wold that will do that but not using game rules, for I want flavor text here.

Mythology

Glorantha was developed by a practising shaman. He's extremely well informed on real world mythology, religious philosophy and anthropology. This realy shows. He believes in the power of myth, and uses it in his daily life so the myths read like real world myths. The religions are credible - you could believe that there realy are some people in the real world somewhere who practice these religions or something very like them and to realy understand Glroanthan religions you need to research real world theology. The gods aren't just powerful characters that order everybody else around - they are primal elementary forces that make the world what it is.


Cultures

Eevery culture in Glorantha has very good reasons for being the way they are. They also have good reasons for believeing that their way is the best way - the only sensible way - to live. Aside from Chaos, ther are few cut-n-dried good guys and bad guys. Noble and selfless people in different cultures can end up being bitter enemies because they see the world differently.


Magic

Every system of magic has a reason for working the way it does. It comes from a particular metaphysical view of the world. Spirit Magic in RQ2 an 3 was learned from ancestral and nature spirits that gave magic dependent on their nature. Divine Magic lets mortals use the powers of their gods directly to do magical feats that the gods performed in their myths. Sorcerous magic is based on the moral and physical laws of the cosmos as laid down by the one creator god.


Story

In Glorantha there's a story behind everything, be it mythic, historical or just humorous. This mountain range is a sleeping dragon. That group of islands used to be part of a continent, but it was shattered when it's denizens experimented with dagerous magic and weakened the universe. The trolls in those hills live there because it's one of the places they emerged from the Underworld when they fled to the surface world in the Age of Darkness. All these stories fit together and you can read the history of one area, then of another and see the same events described, but from a completely different point of view.

Too many fantasy worlds look as though the authors started with a map and then made up who lives there because it'd be cool. Now maybe that's true of Glroantha too, but it doesn't feel that way. Everything fits together because it has a reason for being the way it is. The deeper you dig, the richer it gets.


Simon Hibbs

 

[zanshin]

Favourite stories/scenarios...

Firstly the overall story of an expanding roman style empire absorbing or crushing all in its path, and the resistance to that. An Empire that risks the whole world because of its compromises with Chaos....

Secondly the ongoing battle against Chaos. Chaos is the ultimate enemy for the players, and it is chaos in the Moorcock sense - mutable, selfish, evil. The villains are the best ever created in fantasy RPG's. What can beat the Thanatari, cultists that sever the heads of the victims - but keep the head alive so they can plunder knowledge and power from it, then swagger around with the head tied to their belt.

I have run a RQ campaign on and off since 1988, and my players always ask me to go back to that campaign. For me it is the richest Roleplaying environment I have ever played in.

If you were going to get 1 pack to start play with , I would say try and get hold of River of Cradles. Its a great story that will draw the players in , and make them part of the mythic events of the world.

 

[homerjsinnott]

One word, Dragonnewts.


Not a dragon nor a newt, one day they maybe standing completely still on a hill like a weathered tree (holding bits of branch and with leaves stuffed all over their spikey armour). Days or even seasons later they may be buring villages and eating the inhabitants... then a few hours later they could be hundreds of miles away playing a bizarre game of tag in which a crested 'newt is placed on the head of the person who is 'it' and if you have your eyes closed you can't be caught (this game lasts for years on and off).


There are a thousand other reasons but that one will do for the mo.

 

[ShawnG]

While I've never played anything glorantha yet, and certainly don't totally understand the entire mythos, but I've always thought the setting as presented in the books Ive read was fantastic.

What I'm not sure about, though, is this 2nd age business. I REALLY like the bronze age mojo of 3rd age glorantha, and I'm not sure what the setting is supposed to be in the second age. The pictures released for the magic supplement have me a little uneasy, as it looks... kinda... like... eberron.

Is this Old School Gloranthan goodness or something more "modern"?

 

[GbajiTheDeceiver]

If the Ralios supplement is a valid yardstick, and bearing in mind I've only quickly had an overview scan through the main parts, it's old school but with a fresh perspective.

It feels really really weird to be finally getting usable information about these places, rather than the broad brush strokes of yore.

 

[cjfodel]

What do you mean about that? Broan brushes?

Charles the sleepy

 

[GbajiTheDeceiver]

What do you mean about that? Broan brushes?

Charles the sleepy

Vague detail, tantalising hints, and lots of work required on the GMs part to be able to run a game there. In the official currently available Issaries material ("Glorantha - Introduction to the Hero Wars"), Ralios is a mere 8 pages (of fairly large text), including several box-outs and a map. There's mention of something called "The Proven Appearance of Arkat movement" which positively drips with possibility, but nowhere does it say what it actually is. That's just one example - the thing is practically riddled with others. I dunno - other people may find it different, but I've always been terminally frustrated by this particular aspect of Greg's writeups.

 

[Yelmalio Sunlord]

a friend of ours never gamed in her life but began reading the RQ books and supplements for the fluff, specifically the mythology. she once summed up the seductive power of the gloranthan mythology, "it interacts with itself really well."

in 25 yrs of gaming, i've never seen a mythological system so well fleshed out and so thoroughly integrated w/itself. gloranthan mythology, including stories of the heroes, their exploits, and how they can factor into a game, is more richly detailed and harmonized with itself than most actual mythological systems are after being translated into game stats by designers.

pick up any of the old supplements and you find little blurbs and tidbits of the mythology in the margins of many pages throughout every book. the old cults of prax book was sometimes more helpful for the stories in the margins than for the cult info that was the point of the book.

not everyone appreciates the kind of craftsmanship it takes to write and integrate a system of philosophy and mythology like glorantha. i do, and if you do, this is IMO the single most compelling reason to play the game.

yelmalio sunlord