I'm ready to buy some time around the 5th. But I want to know that the book will actually be printed and shipped before the end of the month and not April. I just don't want to get ticked off.
I'm eagerly looking forward to see this iteration. I have a feeling that I have already fixed most everything that needed fixing on my own. It looks like most of your repairs mirror what I have already done, about which I of course take great satisfaction! lol But I am sure this book will come up with at least a handful of things that I will not have thought of and will like very much. I am just hoping that it doesn't have just as many that I don't like. Still, that matters very little as any competent RQ player or GM can easily make their own adjustments.
My chief hope is that you put in an index, a full table of contents and that the book is well written and organized and not as ambiguous as the last.
How soon till it is also available in pdf?
Far more important than a little suggestive art concerning women (this is par for the course in low fantasy- simply a part of the genre) far more important is that you take steps to make the role-playing materials for Glorantha more interesting for women players and for players of female characters.
In the game I run, the Ernaldi are not so stay at home. They have political and cult concerns out in the world that are both parallel and separate to those of their Orlanthi husbands, fathers and brothers. As a result they have skills and magic that they can use when meeting foes and challenges of all kinds. We have also revamped the Ernaldan cult to better take into account the struggles, concerns and interests of women, beyond seeing them as just mothers and keepers of hearth and home. As a result, to some extent, the ways women use magic has been modified slightly to make female characters more interesting and vital to play. The psyche and emotional center that a women might bring to this kind of game, a game about heroes and magic and mystery, has been appropriately addressed.
Female adventurers or warriors no longer need to be women that have fought their way into male cults or be red headed haughties, or threatening and thrilling Babeestar Gor cultists dressed in 'Freudian slips' to protect or avenge themselves. Sure they can beguile and be feisty but they can also just be themselves. Bringing out this aspect (the other half) of the Theyalans has made their cultures far more interesting.
Ultimately, such things depend on the type of game you run, they depend on the interests of the GM and his players, but a little canonical support and a few mechanics would go a long way toward attracting a broader spectrum of quality players to our corner of the rpg hobby. Better for sales too!
Finally, my MRQ pbem group is making a lot of use of the new Guilds, Factions and Cults book and even portions of the Empires book. We are all interested in running a side Metagame campaign in the near future. Keep up the good work linking together these different levels of play and also in making the mechanics a little more conducive to Gloranthan magic and mythos and taking into account the sister game HQ2 as well.
