The more "Adult" aspects of RuneQuest/Glorantha...

[Natashi Kumiko]

Having played a follower of Babestor Gor, and also having played a character who had to use "second mouth" on a broo . ( please don't ask)

And thinking back to Dieties such as Uleria and Malia. Or just think Broo reproduction.......

Will the more "adult" aspects of Glorantha be covered, or will they be glossed over to the point that they are unrecognisable?

In my opinion, Details such as these added to the flavor of the world as much "walking tree elves" or troll personality and euphemisms. ( So uz ripped the sneezeguard offen da salad and....)

I've seen that Mongoose publishes items such as Temptress and Nymphology, which give me hope. Even if they were only included in a downloadable pdf, I would find the information useful in presenting a unique and vibrant world.

 

[Malorium]

erotacomatose lucidity - now that was a spell worth knowing someone who knew it - did I spell it right? Who cares, cast it on me again Baby! :lol:

 

[Urox]

Just say no to Gorgorma!

Actually, they make great villains :twisted:

 

[Adept]

Just say no to Gorgorma!

Actually, they make great villains :twisted:

Villains? They are scary, but they are the avengers of the wronged earth. Somebody else has already been the villain for there to be Gorgorma cultists afoot. And anybody who fall's foul of the "second mouth" propably deserves exactly what he is getting.

 

[Lord Twig]

There is no way to represent Thed, Goddess of Rape, and the broos without the adult content unless you fundamentally altering what they are. And I certainly hope they don't. That is one of the reasons that broos make such excellent opponents. They have absolutely no redeeming qualities.

Yeah, Yeah, I know about the Wild Healer Broo of Chalana Arroy, but he is merely the exception that proves the rule. They are Chaos after all.

Then you have the rampant slavery and prostituion and you have a realistic ancient society.

 

[SteveMND]

Heh, I always liked the more 'mature' elements of RQ -- i.e., they didn't gloss over the fact that things like reproduction are basic functions of any species -- but I always thought it was portrayed in a very acceptable manner -- there was some suggestions, but nothing out-and-out explicit or vulgar. That allowed for a wide range of potential players -- young and old, prude or liberal -- to play the game without having to worry too much about being offended.

 

[Utgardloki]

There is no way to represent Thed, Goddess of Rape, and the broos without the adult content

Glorantha has a goddess of Rape!!! Who's in charge of approving Gloranthan material? My old gaming buddy from the 1980s? :shock:

I'm not offended. I would hope that they also include some guidance for using these in a game, perhaps similar to the way the D20 _Book of Vile Darkness_ includes guidelines.

I myself have wondered how much material relating to human reproduction to put into my games, and how to present it. In my D&D homebrew, I've been able to use the _Book of Erotic Fantasy_ to help flesh out Frigga as a fertility goddess.

I certainly plan to include erotic components that I think fit.

 

[ned-kogar]

Because Glorantha emphasises the sentience, reason and culture of its inhabitants (even including adventurers..), there's less of a tendency for missions to be simply plundering and violating - so that 'adult' themes can be explored in ways other than just adding sex as an additional 'treasure' or threat..

But I think it's important that if you're going to explore this, don't just play it for cheap thrills and novelty. Just playing Ulerians as cod prossies seems a bit weak. And there's more to Gorgorma than just those teeth...

But then boys will be boys. Especially when they're rolling dice with lots of other boys.

 

[kintire]

Glorantha has a goddess of Rape!!! Who's in charge of approving Gloranthan material?

There's nothing wrong with having a goddess of rape, providing that she is not portrayed in a favourable light. Which Thed most certainly is not!

Glorantha has always been at the realistic end of the fantasy spectrum, and the sexual sections of the background are well integrated parts of the world. Its one of the very few backgrounds that has done this well. I certainly hope that remains, although I'm not sure how much will get into the basic rules. They may trim down the background specific sections in favour of the general rules.

 

[SteveMND]

True, one of the nice thing about RQ was that even the bad guys weren't one-dimensional.

 

[Utgardloki]

I'll have to see how this "goddess of rape" is portrayed, if they still have her in the current source material. I was close to making a "god of vile acts" which would include rape, but I can't imagine a goddess of rape.

Well, maybe if I spent enough time on the concept. It seems to me like the Second Age would be an age in which various cults vie for control over sexual expression. (e.g., the conflict between the judeo-christians and the worshippers of deities who had temple prostitutes). So perhaps rape as a way of controlling sexual expression could be a viable strategy.

 

[Wulf Corbett]

I'll have to see how this "goddess of rape" is portrayed, if they still have her in the current source material. I was close to making a "god of vile acts" which would include rape, but I can't imagine a goddess of rape.

http://www.chimera.info/daedalus/articles/fall2003/redeeming_thed.html

Wulf

 

[burdock]

Thed is the goddess of broos. Broos breed by raping members of other species. So the Thed cult is an expression of something fundamental about the broo lifecycle. In the same way that a more wholesome fertility goddess would be for humans. As long as such a cult is portrayed as something detestable (as it always has been) then I don't see a problem with this.

 

[SteveMND]

http://www.chimera.info/daedalus/articles/fall2003/redeeming_thed.html

Wow, Wulf, that was a very cool link.

I know some people would consider that sort of 'deconstruction' of a Gloranthan myth to be -- referencing an earlier thread --some kind of 'mental masturbation' (no pun intended), but to me, that just shows sort of depth available in the mythology and mythic history created by Stafford et al. if you wnt to play it that way.

Yes, if you want, you can play Thed (and other 'evil' gods) as merely these foul, single-minded monsters. But like any vllain, they are not necessarily going to be mere one-dimensional creatures; if you want to, you can create so much more out of the mythos.

It also nicely illustrates the concept of Heroquesting, in which particularly devout or powerful mortals can potentially enter the fabric of mythology itself and change things. Given that the God Learners were known to do this regularly -- albeit without a lot of concern for how their changes might affect others -- I suspect (or rather, hope) we'll see much more of this in the 2nd Age sourcebooks...

 

[Adept]

But I think it's important that if you're going to explore this, don't just play it for cheap thrills and novelty. Just playing Ulerians as cod prossies seems a bit weak. And there's more to Gorgorma than just those teeth...

Uleria is a rare survivor of the Celestial Court. She is a very powerful elder goddess, a primal power.

Uleria is the goddess of life itself, and her worshippers are not common prostitutes. Just think of the power and social status of people like the highest grade courtesans of ancient greece. Those women were the only ones concidered intelligent company and the ones important men treated as equal.

 

[Adept]

I'll have to see how this "goddess of rape" is portrayed, if they still have her in the current source material. I was close to making a "god of vile acts" which would include rape, but I can't imagine a goddess of rape.

Thed is a complex figure and has an important part in the mythology. Even so some people find the portrayal a bit nasty and "male perspective", I've heard. I don't know how widespread that sentiment is though.

 

[GbajiTheDeceiver]

I'll have to see how this "goddess of rape" is portrayed, if they still have her in the current source material. I was close to making a "god of vile acts" which would include rape, but I can't imagine a goddess of rape.

Thed is a complex figure and has an important part in the mythology. Even so some people find the portrayal a bit nasty and "male perspective", I've heard. I don't know how widespread that sentiment is though.

I've never seen the RQ2 writeup (was there one?) but in GoG it was mentioned in the first sentence that she was the "goddess of rape", and then the rest of it went on about Broos.

I suppose one approach would be to drop the "rape" bit and emphasise the "Broos" bit. Anyone who knows will know what the "chaos source of the Broos" is, and anyone who doesn't needn't be offended.

 

[Urox]

I've never seen the RQ2 writeup (was there one?) but in GoG it was mentioned in the first sentence that she was the "goddess of rape", and then the rest of it went on about Broos.

The original write-up in Cults of Terror does not mention rape. In fact, it pictures Thed as a corrupted fertility goddess. Not only is she mother of the broos, but is mother of the Devil.

It strongly hints that the rare human worshipers of her are follow a witch-like hidden coven structures, with secret rituals in the glades where they consort with broos (also feels very CoC-like, and was written by Sandy Petersen).

 

[Lord Twig]

A very good link. It gives some good insight in to why Thed is the way she is. In my group Thed was never portrayed as some sex crazed goddess of lust. She was always a tragic figure. A goddess who had suffered a terrible crime and was never healed. She embraced Rape as her portfolio as a means of trying to get some kind of control over the crime that was committed against her. She then inflicted it upon (in her mind) an uncaring world. Truly tragic. But still ultimately very evil.

It is also a good example of HeroQuest play. It was very interesting to read, but I probably would not enjoy playing that type of game. That is just a matter of personal preference. It sounds like a great game of it's type, but I prefer a more strait forward and physically focused game. Powerful heroes fighting terrible foes and defeating them in physical combat. To each their own!

 

[GbajiTheDeceiver]

I've never seen the RQ2 writeup (was there one?) but in GoG it was mentioned in the first sentence that she was the "goddess of rape", and then the rest of it went on about Broos.

The original write-up in Cults of Terror does not mention rape. In fact, it pictures Thed as a corrupted fertility goddess. Not only is she mother of the broos, but is mother of the Devil.

It strongly hints that the rare human worshipers of her are follow a witch-like hidden coven structures, with secret rituals in the glades where they consort with broos (also feels very CoC-like, and was written by Sandy Petersen).

Very very different to RQ3, then. There she's part of the original conspiracy that created chaos, the mother of all Broos, and non-Broo species actually have to become a Broo in order to be initiated.