tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54800543301145999612024-03-18T22:17:05.120-07:00Andrew Logan MontgomeryExploring the Otherworlds of Fiction, Magic, and GamingAndrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.comBlogger294125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-16850637395552601832024-03-11T01:49:00.000-07:002024-03-11T17:34:50.998-07:00RITUAL AND PLAY IN RUNEQUEST<div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">"Play and ritual have many aspects in common, and ritual is a key component of the early cult practices that underlie the religious systems of societies in all parts of the world."</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: right;"><i>Ritual, Play, and Belief, In Evolution and Early Human Societies</i></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>..(C)ivilization is rooted in noble play and that, if it is to unfold in full dignity and style, it cannot afford to neglect the play-element. The observance of play-rules is nowhere more imperative than in the relations between countries and States. Once they are broken, society falls into barbarism and chaos.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Johan Huizinga, <i>Homo Ludens</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">ONE OF THE MOST OVERLOOKED RULES in <i>RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha </i>falls on pages 245 and 246. "Ritual Practices" is only about 280 words long, but they are arguably some of the most important words in the book. </span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>An adventurer can increase their chance to successfully cast any spell (including ritual spells), use a Rune, or perform a Magic skill (such as Worship) through a ritual practice. These take many forms in Glorantha, including ascetic meditation, chanting of mantras, creating mandalas or other geometric patterns, carving of Runes, etc.</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>RQG,</i> p. 245</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The mechanics are straightforward. By performing some sort of ritual practice, you receive a bonus to the skill roll. The longer you spend performing the ritual, the greater the bonus. Simple. The <i>implications</i> of the rule, however, are complex, and run right to the heart of the setting. Arguably, we are looking at a fourth "magic system" here. Consider: the bonus gained for a half-hour long ritual is +30%. That is the equivalent of "Bladesharp" or "Bludgeon" 6, and without the expenditure of magic points. The "energy" of the ritual isn't coming from the magician, it's coming from the ritual itself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>What is Ritual?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the modern world, we tend to associate "ritual" with "religion," and use it interchangeably with "ceremony." The two words have very different origins, however. "Ceremony," which probably came into Latin from Etruscan, means something "sacred, holy, reverent." Ritual, on the other hand, is from proto-Indo-European and is related to the words <i>rhythm, arithmetic, </i>and <i>right. </i>We think the original meaning was "to observe, to count, to reflect." The idea of ritual was observing the way the world works, and aligning yourself with natural law by imitating it. The Hindu concept of <i>dharma</i> "behaviours that are in accordance with <i>Ṛta</i>—the "cosmic order" is an extension of this. In fact that word, <i>Ṛta, </i>again derives from the same root as ritual. The implication seems to be that the order and harmony of the universe was itself understood to be a ritual. Human rituals were re-enactments of cosmic rituals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is exactly the case in Glorantha. For shamans and theists, the actions of gods and spirits created the world, and the Great Compromise turned these actions into a ritual performed again and again endlessly throughout Time. Magic comes from imitating the rituals of the spirits and gods. For sorcerers, who lean more towards the <i>arithmetic </i>side of ritual, they observe the repeated patterns of nature, the <i>rhythms, </i>and ritually align themselves with that. But in all cases, magic spells are rituals, or at least <i>obtained </i>through rituals. Ritual, then, <i>is </i>magic.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Play</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just as the modern world has segregated ritual into a religious context, it has <i>desacralized </i>the concept of "play" and "game." Ritual is play, and play is ritual. In any ritual, you the designate space the rite is to be performed in, you gather the tools and instruments you need, and you gather co-practitioners. Then, for the duration of that ritual, <i>the ritual becomes your world. </i>This is exactly what you do when you play <i>RuneQuest, </i>or football<i>, </i>or chess. The reality of the game becomes the only reality for its duration, the microcosm.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In his <i>Homo Ludens, </i>which explores the concept of human civilization as a complex game, Johan Huizinga writes at length how ancient cultures saw games as ritual, as "magic." He uses dicing in ancient India as an example:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>For us the chief point of interest is the place where the game is played. Generally it is a simple circle, </i>dyutamandalam<i>, drawn on the ground. The circle as such, however, has a magic significance. It is drawn with great care, all sorts of precautions being taken against cheating. The players are not allowed to leave the ring until they have discharged their obligations. But, sometimes a special hall is provisionally erected for the game, and this hall is holy ground. The </i>Mahabharata<i> devotes a whole chapter to the erection of the dicing hall - sabha - where the Pandavas are to meet their partners. Games, of chance, therefore, have their serious side. They are included in ritual</i>.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">One way to think of magic in Glorantha, and of the ritual practices rule, is that your adventurer is gam(bl)ing with the universe. There are rules to magic, like any game, and the adventurer wagers their magic points and tests their skill. In casting a spell they are figuratively rolling the dice just as you, the player, literally are. The reward is getting the outcome you wanted. By extension, this is also what they are doing in combat, what the <i>Mahabharata </i>called "the ritual of battle." Here the battlefield is the ritual space, weapons are the instruments, and the contestants are (ideally) bound by certain rules. Play is not necessarily synonymous with "fun."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Ritual in <i>RuneQuest</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">To your ancient world thinking Gloranthan adventurer, ritual is how they live and act in the world. It governs every aspect of their existence. It is the way things are to be done. <i>Dharma. </i>In their minds, there is no real distinction between the laws of society, the laws of nature, and the rules of a game. Ritual is the opposite of Chaos. Ritual is what keeps Chaos at bay.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">One way to promote character building and to engage with Glorantha as a setting is to encourage players to think about rituals for everything, not just magical practices. What rituals does the adventurer perform upon first waking, or before going to sleep? What rituals are performed before taking a meal, drawing water from a well, making love to your partner? Giving a little thought to this helps players get into the minds of their characters, and allows them to "flesh out" the cultures of Glorantha as they understand them. Some examples:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Jandetin Twice-Tamed is an Archer of Yu-Kargzant. He eats three times a day, at dawn when he wakes, at noon, and at sunset. Each time he turns and faces the Sun, bows his head and covers his eyes. He thanks Yu-Kargzant for lighting the world so that food may grow. Before eating he then breaks off a small piece of food as an offering to the Sun to show his thanks.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Vargast Son of Varan is a Sartarite initiate of Humakt. Each night before sleeping, he first cleans and oils his swords. Then he holds the blade aloft. "Now I descend into darkness, the nightly death that is the promise of what is to come." He lays the blade beside his bedding, and always sleeps with his head facing west...the gates of the underworld all must one day pass.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Ferenasa Daughter of Bernarva is an initiate of Ernalda. Her husband Jarmast is an initiate of Orlanth and Barntar. On mornings when the mood is upon her, she touches her husband's arm with a knowing look and gives him a list of tasks she wishes him to perform that day. Often these are things he does every day anyway, but by setting him these tasks, as Ernalda set out tasks for Orlanth in his wooing of her, she is signaling a romantic evening. At the end of the day he returns, and announces his trials are complete. They retire to their bedding for an intimate evening. </i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>In the streets of Jonstown, it is the practice of Eurmali clowns on the 13th day of the Sacred Time to dress in black rags and don hideous, goat masks. They go door-to-door, banging loudly on them, threatening to carry off children to eat them. The children must face them, and drive them off by throwing charcoal or balls of ash. This is the annual rite of "chasing away the Devil," to ensure good health and fortune for the child the coming year.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Andrin Son of Andru is an initiate of Lhankor Mhy. Before starting to write upon a new scroll, he first spits into the ink. "I join this ink as my thoughts join the page, writer and written, one."</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A gamemaster should offer a bonus for these minor rituals, plus 5 or 10 percentages. For example, maybe Andrin's ink ritual grants him a +5% on his writing skill. A child who completes the "chasing away the Devil" gets +5% on the "Child Survival" roll that year. These rituals <i>are </i>acts of magic. They have real power in them.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And why not allow ritual practices to augment important skill rolls?</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Imagine a Gustbran initiate charged with repairing the sword of this chieftain. The blade has been in the chieftain's bloodline for centuries and was recently damaged. The smith withdraws the entire day into his forge. He does not eat, speak, or sleep. Instead he sings songs to the broken sword, getting to know the metal, the shape, the spirit of the blade. He promises the blade he will restore it, an oath he seals by nicking his thumb on the blade. This is a full day of ritual practice, and earns him a +50% on his Craft roll to repair the blade</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In fact, why not turn this ritual practice into a form of worship? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>On the eve of a great battle, an Orlanth chieftain leads a ceremony to gain Orlanth's favor on the field the next day. They climb to a hill top and call upon the god with drums and dance and hymns to please him. At the climax, they sacrifice a bull. This is an hour long ritual (+35%) with a sacrifice (+20%), giving those who participate in the ritual a +55% on their Battle rolls the next day. </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These are <i>big </i>bonuses, but bear in mind they apply to only a single roll, so will be used in something like a Craft roll or Battle. And there is no reason a gamemaster can't call for rolls to see if the ritual practice works. Also, you can be certain that in the second case the <i>opposite </i>side is performing rituals as well to get the edge in battle.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ultimately, increased ritual practice in your game reflects the things that inspired <i>RuneQuest. </i>Rituals like these are throughout texts like the <i>Iliad </i>or <i>Mahabharata. </i>It encourages players to enter the ritualistic mindset of their adventurers. <i> </i></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-26401716902397485682024-02-21T16:35:00.000-08:002024-02-21T16:35:55.113-08:00Easy is the Descent: A Look at the MÖRK BORG and ShadowDark RPGs<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Easy is the descent to hell; all night long, all day, the doors of dark Hades stand open; but to retrace the path; to come out again to the sweet air of Heaven – there is the task, there is the burden.</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- Virgil</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"The Old School Renaissance," or "Old School Revival," kicked off in online forums like Dragonsfoot in the early 2000s. Essentially, the movement was a reaction to the third edition of <i>Dungeons & Dragons, </i>a game that was both mechanically and thematically a departure from all the versions of the game before it. The original OSR games were mainly "retro-clones," rulesets that made use of the Open Game License and System Reference Document to emulate those early editions of <i>D&D. </i>Games like <i>OSRIC</i> (<i>AD&D</i>), <i>Labyrinth Lord</i> (<i>B/X D&D</i>), and <i>Swords & Wizardry</i> (OD&D) all sought to preserve earlier editions of the game no longer supported by the publisher at that time. There were, however, even then games that wanted to capture the "feel" of early editions of <i>D&D </i>without actually reviving those early mechanics. <i>Castles & Crusades </i>was amongst the earliest of these. As the years have passed, this non-retro-clone "new wave" of OSR game has gained in popularity. Using modern mechanics, they return to the themes of the earliest editions. Ben Milton's <i>Knave, </i>Dan Masters' <i>Deathbringer, </i>Keven Crawford's <i>Worlds Without Number, </i>James Raggi's <i>Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying, </i>and even to an extent Howitt and Taylor's <i>Heart </i>fit this description to various degrees. In this article, however, I would like to focus on two recent games that I think exemplify this trend, Nilsson and Nohr's doom metal dungeoncrawl </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>MÖRK BORG </i>and Kelsey Dionne's recent <i>ShadowDark.</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Before I get into why these two games, let's talk about the tone and themes</span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">modern OSR games are trying to recapture.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Worth a Thousand Words</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">The 1978 <i>AD&D's Player's Handbook</i> featured wrap-around cover art by David A, Trampier. It depicts a party of dungeon explorers, all their hirelings in tow, in a dim subterranean temple prying the jeweled eyes out of a statue. A battle has clearly already occurred, since we can see some of them clearing away inhuman corpses. But the cover tells you exactly what the game is about. Going into dungeons and looting them for treasure.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXsS23qD0BirbvyLgSUhk4dOxgM3NujLD2Viz2ZT9QDxp6gBHXlhcuz05KoUCf87PU1K5GOXISeurjpHmNbqgnUyvVgGLWKpNkE7DqU0s_JxGLGoSv3QDjOACHt7ENKmNUQDODNtmFovOBrkWj3bFDC9DMurjXOhLYlw2sDOZ4WLZWFU-j3HAEFU5lh59E" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="612" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXsS23qD0BirbvyLgSUhk4dOxgM3NujLD2Viz2ZT9QDxp6gBHXlhcuz05KoUCf87PU1K5GOXISeurjpHmNbqgnUyvVgGLWKpNkE7DqU0s_JxGLGoSv3QDjOACHt7ENKmNUQDODNtmFovOBrkWj3bFDC9DMurjXOhLYlw2sDOZ4WLZWFU-j3HAEFU5lh59E=w400-h261" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"> 1978</span></i></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Flash forward to 2014 and the cover of the 5th edition <i>Player's Handbook. </i>A pair of glamorous heroes--no henchmen or hirelings in sight--are single-handedly taking on a giant. There is no treasure, because these are not treasure-looting adventurers, there are bold heroes. The focus of the game has moved from loot to combat. If the tone of the 1st edition of the game was 1982's <i>Conan the Barbarian, </i>the tone of the 5th edition is 2019's <i>Avengers: Endgame. </i></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLLJC30HvASQg232NFVcbjXoOXPlIh-_097MM_XUJs1vgDpNPmiqUwzb5evJY6pTWtWwrG4XsLJ8Huc-OeD4Lt_NEA1nkAgk2S1UC2QJIw6DCaZ9ZjFck9cKlc2brWIhpZbOy89ZH8uE6Le5QHzz8quzpYR9OTMLtWSsVM3gkRGNWMvRPCoBD2eTemVhNU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="1600" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLLJC30HvASQg232NFVcbjXoOXPlIh-_097MM_XUJs1vgDpNPmiqUwzb5evJY6pTWtWwrG4XsLJ8Huc-OeD4Lt_NEA1nkAgk2S1UC2QJIw6DCaZ9ZjFck9cKlc2brWIhpZbOy89ZH8uE6Le5QHzz8quzpYR9OTMLtWSsVM3gkRGNWMvRPCoBD2eTemVhNU=w400-h280" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large; font-style: italic;"><br /></span><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">2014</span></span></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>D&D </i>began as a kind of "survival horror" game. Your characters were mostly ordinary people, initially quite frail, crawling into pitch-black ridiculously hostile places in search of gold. It was a game where the players themselves had to be crafty, descending into Hell, avoiding combat whenever possible, and crawling back out again with some riches under their belts. Experience (and thus character improvement) came from gold pieces, not killing opponents. Characters did not have superhuman feats at their disposal, they relied on finding magical items instead. It was a game focused on exploration, not action. Decades of video games (where you could simply go back to your last save if your character died) and blockbusters like <i>Star Wars </i>and the <i>MCU </i>changed all that.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">While there is nothing wrong with playing high-powered superhero games, the OSR seems to be suggesting there was something worthwhile in those early editions too. So let's talk about </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">ShadowDark </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">and </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">MÖRK BORG.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Covers...Again</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In terms of graphic design, lay-out, and sheer attitude these two games could not be more different from each other. <i>ShadowDark </i>focuses on clarity. Its text is straightforward, concise, and extremely readable. </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">MÖRK BORG </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">by contrast, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">is a direct assult on your senses. An extremely sparse text, it explains itself instead visually, with short, suggestive bursts of text that read more like song lyrics than prose. <i>ShadowDark </i>is a text.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">MÖRK BORG </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">is performance.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the other hand, mechanically the two games are very similar to each other. But use the modern d20 system: roll a d20, add your characteristic modifiers, compare to a difficulty number. Rolling high is good, rolling low is bad. In both games the math is extremely flat, so that characters do not become superhuman over time. Hit points are low. Both even share a similar spell mechanic. In both these games, magic-using characters need to make a roll to activate their spells. Indeed, both have the potential of spectacular failure if you roll a "1," a magical mishap that could be lethal to your character and the party around them. A key difference is that <i>ShadowDark </i>stays closer to <i>D&D, </i>using the standard array of STR, INT, WIS, DEX. CON, and CHR while </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">MÖRK BORG </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">opts for just Agility, Strength, Toughness, and Presence. <i>ShadowDark </i>also keeps the concepts of Advantage and Disadvantage from modern <i>D&D. </i>In situations where your character has some sort of advantage, you roll two dice and take the higher result. If you suffer disadvantage, roll two dice and take the lower.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Aside from these differences, <i>ShadowDark </i>is the more recognizable of the two to <i>D&D </i>players. The monsters, the spells, and the classes (Fighter, Priest, Thief, and Wizard) are all familiar. Compare this to</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">MÖRK BORG's </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fanged Deserter, Gutterborn Scum, Esoteric Hermit, Wretched Royalty, Heretical Priest, and Occult Herbmaster.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But let's talk about the covers again.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>MÖRK BORG's </i>wasp yellow-and-black and <i>ShadowDark</i>'s eerie, silvery horror are coming from different directions but arriving at the same place. Both depict the <i>threat </i>of the setting, not the bold heroes. In </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>MÖRK BORG </i>the world is literally ending. In the very first mechanic of the game (an example of how despite its riot of color and layout the game is extremely <i>intentional</i>) there is a calendar the GM rolls on every day of game time to see if another apocalyptic doom is unleashed on the world. The characters are doomed and wretched, fighting to survive as long as they can. The world of <i>ShadowDark </i>is far less miserable, but the game is very evocative when describing the "ShadowDark," any dark, dangerous, forlorn place as almost a living presence. Only mad people would willing descend into such places. But the characters in these games are OSR characters, they are risking life and limb to buy as much time for themselves as they can.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh76gDVXpmffMzyUh_S7iK41yQkrqVC6EuOXDYghT9k5VXINs4BRi50fi-y2iBvaVjry8pqbuwbZxvnOrVyiKAlbfdGSpW7GyTnh-hKjHZWCn4pyK6578rviO11SLi1O0P1wX3m0H3R5AMaCJiYozpMTXiZfsMztN_7k5M7EA7qx-UQJK7661og6RraAgDJ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1810" data-original-width="2630" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh76gDVXpmffMzyUh_S7iK41yQkrqVC6EuOXDYghT9k5VXINs4BRi50fi-y2iBvaVjry8pqbuwbZxvnOrVyiKAlbfdGSpW7GyTnh-hKjHZWCn4pyK6578rviO11SLi1O0P1wX3m0H3R5AMaCJiYozpMTXiZfsMztN_7k5M7EA7qx-UQJK7661og6RraAgDJ=w400-h275" width="400" /></a></div><br />Two final very OSR-features of these games is the widespread use of random tables and the reliance on treasure for character improvement. </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>MÖRK BORG's </i>random tables start right on the inside covers, and do more to describe the atmosphere of the setting than the text itself. The weather table gives results like lifeless grey, piercing wind, deafening storm, and gravelike cold. The next table generates items found corpse-plundering. <i>ShadowDark's </i>are more comprehensive than suggestive, allowing you to whip up dungeons (to be fair, both games do this), hex crawls, settlements, neighborhoods, NPCs, monsters...basically everything. You could run entire <i>ShadowDark </i>campaigns with these random tables. The randomness speaks to the "emergent play" feature of OSR games, that the "stories" emerge from the dice and what happens at the table, not extensive backstories or elaborate scripted plots.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">The reliance on treasure is another critical feature. As mentioned, neither game is giving you an abundance of class feats that magically appear as you gain levels. If you want magical abilities, you need to comb dungeons for them. This keeps the focus on exploration and danger.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Look for </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.morkborg.com"><i>MÖRK BORG</i> here</a> and <a href="https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/pages/shadowdark"><i>ShadowDark </i>here</a>.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-51526566108309128052024-01-15T06:23:00.000-08:002024-01-15T06:23:51.621-08:00"The Adumbrations of the Prophet," A Received Malkioni Text <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The text known variously as <i>The Adumbrations of the Prophet</i> or <i>Adumbrations: Being the Discourse of Malkion the Prophet unto Hrestol the Perfected One</i>, is a brief 45-verse tractate. It is part of a very ancient tradition among the various schools of the Malkioni, a discourse between a master and a student intended to reveal technical or religio-philosophical instruction. Widely circulated in Loskalm, and occasionally turning up In Lunar scriptoriums, the text is outlawed throughout much of the Malkioni world. It is, clearly, a Hrestoli text, but it also purports to have been copied from a chapter of the lost <i>Abiding Book</i>, a claim few serious Third Age scholars take seriously. More likely a product of New Hrestolism, it attempts to show how Hrestol was led to his First Age reformations by the "clear teachings" of the prophet Malkion. It is a curious document, but one that is useful in elucidating the more unique aspects of Hrestolism.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Aaaaaaand it is also nonsense.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Recently I was re-reading <i>Poimandres, </i>one of the better known bits of the Hermetica. Just a few weeks earlier I had been reading about one of the Vedanta schools, Achintya-Bheda-Abheda. Without going too deeply down the rabbit-hole of Indian philosophy, the Achintya took up the middle ground between the monist Advaita schools (the individual soul and the Supreme Person are the same) and the dualist Dvaita schools (the Supreme Person is separate and distinct from the individual soul). The Achintya, whose name was popularized in the 1996 Kula Shaker hit "Tattva," held that the answer is beyond human comprehension (achintya means "difference," bheda means "knowable," abheda means "unknowable," so essentially "difference is neither knowable or unknowable"). What struck me though was their basic argument was that the difference between the soul and the Supreme Person was a difference of quantity, not nature. And <i>that </i>got me thinking about Hrestolism.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">So enjoy this bit of fluff. I tricked to stick as closely to <i>Poimandres</i> as I could, but a few Indianisms snuck in there as well. Let me know what you think. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><u>ADUMBRATIONS: BEING THE DISCOURSE OF MALKION THE PROPHET UNTO HRESTOL THE PERFECTED ONE</u></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">1. Once I lay in a state of such perfect contemplation that I was neither awake nor sleeping. My senses were tamed, my mind turned inward, alert yet inactive, receptive without producing thought. I waited as the dawn awaits the light.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">2. And it seemed to me that a presence, unbounded by dimension, unencumbered by definition, filled the empty space of my being. I could neither see nor hear it. It was invisible to my senses and beyond the capacity of my understanding. Yet my heart knew it was there, and leapt in my breast. This organ was like a mirror reflecting this invisible, infinite light.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">3. Then, in this incomprehensible vastness there formed a focus, a center, a presence. A voice. "What do you want to hear and see; what do you wish to learn from your understanding?"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">4. "Who are you?" I asked.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">5. "I am the First to receive the Word. I am the Son of Aerlit and the Father of the Law. I speak for that which is beyond speech. Through me the infinite passes and all must pass to attain infinity. I am Malkion."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">6. "Oh Prophet, master, teach me. I wish to learn the workings of things, and in knowing to know the mind of the Invisible God!"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">7. "Then be attentive. Keep in mind all that I reveal to you. For my words are subtle, and easy to mistake. Already have then been misunderstood. You must behold them in a clear light."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">8. "I hear, master, and I listen."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">9. And it seemed that he did not speak and yet showed me. I did not see, but I understood. For from the infinite and the undefined came thoughts, hanging like bright jewels upon a perfect thread. Black and empty was the first, like a hole that eats the light. Then silver-blue and clear came the next, deep and yet reflective. Green and verdant was the following one, with a solidity those before it had lacked. Then the darkness was lit by a great blaze, as the next form radiated warmth and heat in all directions. Then the last, dark gray and flashing, howling, raging, restless. It shook the forms that had preceded it, and I thought the thread they hung upon might break.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">10. "Have you understood this I have shown you?"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">11. "In your patience I shall come to know it."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">12. "They are the First Thoughts of the First, formless, shapeless substances yet each with a nature unique to themselves. None is like the other, yet they, like the Mind from whence they sprang, have no definition."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">13. "I see the truth of it, master. I beg you go on."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">14. Then, from the Mind of the First there came thoughts that were like sounds, because as each rang out there was an immediate echo. Yet the echo was the opposite of the sound it mirrored, inverse and averse. Each clashed with its echo, and in this exchange the earlier thoughts--the ones I first beheld like jewels--could now be defined. They each reacted to these vibrating notes and their echoes, they came alive and were capable of change.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">15. "Has your understanding yet opened to you?"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">16. "It becomes more clear. Pray continue your instruction."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">17. Then came the final thoughts, and these were like shapes. And they took the first and the second thoughts and gave them form. And together these thoughts were like letters graven in stone or written on paper, for they combined in patterns that gave purpose and meaning. The darkness was lifted from my eyes and my understanding was clear. "I see now, master."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">18. "The first thoughts are Essence, the second thoughts Energy, the third Shape. They are the foundation of creation. From them all nature proceeds."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">19. And I saw this was so. All that lived and breathed, all that existed, all beasts and spirits and gods were but the products of these thoughts. And they were the product of the First Mind. "All things are known by these Runes, for they are of the Runes. But the Invisible God cannot be known, for he is the Mind that thought the Runes. A mind can know the thoughts it contains, but the thoughts cannot know the mind."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">20. "Your comprehension is insufficient. Your logic fails. The veil has been lifted from your eyes but you screw them shut against the light."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">21. "Have patience with my stupidity, master. I attend."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">22. "When water is taken from a well does it cease to be water?"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">23. "No, master, it does not."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">24. "When one fire is kindled from another is it no longer fire?"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">25. "It is still fire master."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">26. "Then the son of a father. Is the child the same as the parent?"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">27. I considered. "They have the same blood but they are different, master."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">28. "How can this be so? if water taken from water remains water, if fire kindled from fire is fire, how can a son drawn from a father's body not also be the father?"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">29. I thought upon this deeply, and at present replied. "Because the father and the son each have their own minds."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">30. "Is the nature of the child's mind fundamentally different? When the child grows to manhood will it not also think, and speak, and do, and see?"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">31. "Of course, master." </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">32. "Then I ask you again wherein the difference lies."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">33. "Master, I have no answer. I kiss your feet. I beg of you to enlighten me on this point."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">34. There was a sound like a sigh. "The answer is that there is no difference. Water in a well and water in a bucket are both water, but the vessel containing them is different. Fire in a hearth and fire in a lantern are both flame, but the vessel containing them is different. Mind in the father and mind in the son, but the vessels containing them are different."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">35. "My ignorance has been penetrated master. I see the truth of it.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">36. "Just so, Son of Froalar. The mind that informs you is the same as the mind informing your father, and his father, and his. The vessels containing this mind differ, and each accumulates different memories and experiences, but they are of the same nature. Your mind if like a torch flame lit by the torch before it. The flame is the same but it is passed from torch to torch. So then I ask you, noble talar, if all things in this world have their origins in the Runes, what pray tell me is the Rune of Mind?"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">37. In an instant my delight at understanding was extinguished, as the sun is hidden by sudden cloud. Every tree, grass, flower, and shrub had its origin in the Plant Rune. Every star, every spark, every candle flame and wildfire had its origination in the Fire Rune. From whence then came the mind? "Master I..." I stammered, confounded, but reminded myself to think deeply upon my master's clear teachings. The flame of my mind was lit by my father's, and his by his father's, and so on back and back. Yet what was the origin? What was the first flame?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">38. At this there was to my senses a great flash of light, yet I could not see it. There was the roar of a thousand thunders, but I could not hear it. The earth itself trembled and heaved beneath my feet, and yet never really moved at all. Revelation washed over me and transformed every fiber of my being. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">39. "Mind comes from no Rune, master. It comes from that which conceived the Runes. Because of this mind is above the Runes. It masters the Runes. The Creator exists in his creation. In the omnipresence of his mind are we bound. We are of the same nature as the Invisible God, the same character, but the difference between us is of quantity, not of kind."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">40. "And?" The Prophet asked me.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">41. "All mind is the same mind, as all the waters of the world are the same water, be they contained in well or river, puddle or ocean. Thus there can be no real difference between men. Talari. Hrolari. Dronari. Zzaburi. These are different vessels carrying the same essence. The castes could be changed as easily as pouring water from one container to the next."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">42. "You have seen the truth of it. See you to the heart?"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">43. Before this teaching of Malkion's to my thought men had been bound by their castes, separated from one another. Now I perceived the universality of brotherhood. Yet as I followed the perfect logic of his clear teaching, I saw my way to its end. The misunderstanding of the Law of Malkion not only separated men from their brothers, but also from their Creator. "If the mind that informs me is of the same nature as the Maker of All, then to know my Maker I have but to know my mind. And to return to my Maker, all I need do is let go of those things that keep me separate from him."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">44. "Just so."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">45. "Prophet I fall before you. I touch my lips to the hem of your robe. I am no longer who I was before I heard this teaching. I will go forth armed with the New Law, and bring it to my brothers. I swear to seek only my Maker, to rend each veil that separates us until my mind, like a mirror, reflects The Mind. Oh a thousand thousand praises, First among Prophets! </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-44593781039101227042023-10-24T01:11:00.005-07:002023-10-24T01:11:48.980-07:00Cults of Runequest: Mythology and Eliade's Eternal Return <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>This is part two in a series of posts about the new <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/cults-of-runequest-mythology-hardcover/">Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology</a> title. See <a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2023/10/cults-of-runequest-mythology-part-one.html">part one here</a>.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Glorantha, Tradition, and the Fantasy RPG Dilemma</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Gods World. HeroQuesting. Time. In its first twenty pages, <i>Mythology </i>tackles many of Glorantha's core concepts, but these three in particular are the trickiest for new players, and the most important to getting the most out of the setting. "Cults" are familiar to most newcomers, bearing rough similarity to character classes or the clans/tribes/traditions of settings like the World of Darkness (<i>RuneQuest </i>is referenced as an inspiration in both the first and second editions of <i>Vampire: The Masquerade</i>). "Magic" is familiar as well, though in Glorantha it has deeper meaning attached to it. Even "Runes" are somewhat relatable if one is at all familiar with the concept of elements (classical or chemical). "The Gods World," "Time," and "HeroQuesting" are different, however. They are firmly part of a world that the Enlightenment put a sword to, a world alien to modern minds. A world most fantasy RPGs have declined trying to engage with.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In writing <i>The Hobbit </i>and <i>The Lord of the Rings, </i>Tolkien used the highly anachronistic Hobbits to ease the modern reader into pre-modern, or Traditional, reality. </span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Bilbo lived in a world of clocks, schedules, and pocket watches. He wore waistcoats, was deeply concerned with middle class notions of respectability, and lived in a house called Bag End (quite literally the English for "cul-de-sac"). Seeing Middle-earth through his eyes softened the alienness of it. Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin later served the same function. One of the reasons </span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>The Silmarillion </i>is more challenging for many readers is they do not have the Hobbits to serve as this bridge. It displays Middle-earth as the Traditional world, a world of living nature animated by spirits and inherent divinity. The sacred permeates Middle-earth, and where the setting's inhabitants work to acknowledge this and live <i>with</i> nature, they thrive. Where they reject the sacred, the inner, and turn to what Tolkien called "the Machine," setting themselves over <i>nature</i>, the world becomes a poisoned hellscape. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">By (the Machine) I intend all use of external plans or devices (apparatus) instead of the development of inherent inner powers or talents..the corrupted motive of dominating: bulldozing the real world... </span></i></p><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Tolkien, 1951<span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>Fantasy RPGs, which owe so much to Tolkien, to Homer, to Virgil, did not have the luxury of point of view characters to ease modern players into Traditional settings. So instead, fantasy RPGs chose to simply toss the Traditional out of the setting. This in effect turned them into the dice and paper equivalent of a Renaissance Faire. Sure, they <i>looked </i>medieval or ancient, but this was a facade. </span>Most were set on worlds that orbited suns, where the laws of physics, biology, and chemistry were mostly intact and magic conveniently operated like a science. It was a "force," an "energy," that like electricity or magnetism could be directed by repeatable procedures to produce reliable effects. The societies in these fantasy games were surprisingly egalitarian and firmly capitalistic. You adventured for coin so you could buy better and better things. "Danger? How much are we getting paid?" Nothing in these RPGs challenged players to try and look at the world the way that their actual characters would have. They could play Bilbo rather than Aragorn or Boromir. It wasn't roleplaying. It was a mirror.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">If you are coming off of experiences like this, then, Glorantha can be a head-spinning one hundred and eighty degree turn.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Make no mistake, Glorantha has its own anachronisms. It is a fantasy game, not a slavish recreation of the Bronze Age. But is a setting and game that refuses to jettison the Traditional aspects of mythology and legend from the dragons and swordplay. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">That brings us back to the Gods World, Time, and HeroQuesting.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Mircea Eliade and Traditional Cosmology</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">We--like dear old Bilbo--live in a world of clocks, calendars, schedules, Time. Minute follows minute, day follows day, year follows year. It is a linear forced march. Our watches and alarm clocks provide the drum beat.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Yet imagine the point of view, for a moment, of a farmer or a shepherd 5000 years ago. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Time is not a line, it's a circle, a wheel. The sun rises and sets. The moon waxes and wanes. Days grow shorter then longer again. Without clocks and calendars it isn't about numbers, it's about events. It isn't next winter, it is winter <i>come again</i>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is not to say the ancients were ignorant of the passage of time. There is a line in the <i>Mahabharata </i>that likens it to a chariot wheel. The wheel turns, and from our fixed vantage point the same spokes come and go and return again, but at the same time the chariot is moving down the road. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But chariot wheels sometimes break. This was a constant danger in the minds of ancient peoples. The moon goes dark...but what guarantee is there she will wax full again? Winter comes and nature dies. Will it be reborn? Will the sun climb back out from the land of the dead? What is it that turns the wheel?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And a deeper question looms...<i>why? </i>Why does the sun set and rise? Why do the nights get longer? Why does the moon go black? </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The answer to both questions was clear. Something <i>set</i> the wheel in motion, something started it, and that something must be what <i>keeps </i>it in motion. That thing is outside the wheel, not turning with the wheel but instead turning it.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Romanian religious historian Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) was among the first to formulate these observations. Eliade was--and remains--a titan in the field because he essentially helped to create it. It was an 18th and 19th century academic conceit to dismiss religious experience, to pass it off as something else. For anthropologist Sir James Frazer (1854-1941) magic and religion were developmental phases, like childhood and adolescence. Magic was practiced by "primitive" humanity, followed by more mature religion, until both were replaced by mature science. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) predictably explained religion as the product of psychological complexes. Karl Marx (1818-1883) had economic and political explanations. Perhaps the closest we get to Eliade was Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), one of the founders of sociology, who at least saw religious experience as a natural aspect of human life. Cult, to his mind, was like culture, forming bonds between individuals and creating commonality. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Eliade had a more radical notion. Perhaps religious experience was just that...religious experience. Perhaps it was an encounter with the transcendent. With the sacred. Durkheim wrote of the sacred, but he viewed it as a feeling of awe, devotion, respect. He was careful to skirt the supernatural. Eliade instead saw the sacred as a universal experience of something outside. <i>He</i> was careful not to assign it to any one religion or tradition. This all led him to one of his most famous concepts, <i>eternal return.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">To simplify, Eliade theorized Traditional humanity being conscious of two types of time, <i>Profane </i>and <i>Sacred </i>(Eliade used the term "sacred time" extensively, a phrase Greg Stafford would later adopt for Glorantha). Profane time was the wheel, the circle, we discussed above. This was the world inside of Time, the world that turned endlessly through days and seasons. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Sacred time was what existed outside the wheel, the world outside of Time. It was what set the wheel in motion and what kept it turning. Outside of the wheel, it was a single, omnipresent now. This is where all the things that set the wheel in motion existed. Gods, heroes, sacred ancestors.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Critical to all of this was Eliade's observation that in the Traditional mind, the essence of a thing resides in its origin. Its origin established the nature of a thing, formed the pattern of its existence, its identity. Thus creation stories, myths, contained tremendous power. If you knew the origin of thing, you could exert influence over it. And the way in which human beings learned these origin stories was <i>hierophany, </i>the "breakthrough" of the sacred into profane time. These revelations--like the sages who first heard the <i>Vedas </i>or Muhammad hearing Jibreel recite the <i>Qur'an, </i>gave humanity the origin stories of things so that they might use these stories to participate in the sacred.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The <i>eternal return </i>was made possible by these hierophanies. By having the origin story, one had the beginning of a thing, one could touch its source, which lay outside of profane time in the sacred:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In imitating the exemplary acts of a god or of a mythic hero, or simply by recounting their adventures, the man of an archaic society detaches himself from profane time and magically re-enters the Great Time, the sacred time.</span></i></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>In Glorantha</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It is easier to see now how Greg seized on these ideas and digested them, re-interpreting and reweaving them. Hierophany is Myth, the revelation of sacred time to mortals. Sacred time is the Gods World;</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 17"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The realm of eternity. Every deity who performed great immortal deeds is found here. Within this world of extremes lie the heavens and hells of the cults, where initiates and devotees go after death. Here, too, lie the great pools of creative material from which were made the primal oceans, ancient mountains, and first skies of the Mundane World.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: right;"><i>Mythology</i>, p. 14</div></span><p></p></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">New players often struggle to understand how the Gods World could have ages, sequences of events, cause and effect, if there was no Time. While a standard answer would be that "we" as beings inside of Time are imposing our perceptions on these stories, I would refer the reader back to the wheel. <i>We</i> think of time as a chain of events, but the Traditional viewpoint is to see it as the cycle. Before Arachne Solara birthed Time, there were no sunrises and sunsets, no seasons, therefore no wheel, no cycle, no Time. Events were fluid then, not fixed.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">On the other hand, it is important to recognize that all of the Myths still exist, and can be accessed <i>now. </i>They can be experienced and visited. Through Myth you can enter the Golden Age and see the Spike, the cosmic mountain at the center of exist. Through a different story, you could enter the Greater Darkness and witness the Void, the hole in creation left when the Devil shattered that mountain. Then you could go back and visit the Spike again. This is not possible within Time. If your comrade dies you may attempt to bring them back, but you cannot go back to yesterday or last week to save them. We are trapped on the wheel, and the wheel turns in one direction only. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZCQkGc4hfOc2SirUnV3GGCX1BWN-ulmLsY8s3GCJ1_YwqrJRHbhR8u1_rKF-4ziLs_TKmWJCevCXbspjL5LN7ysbEi0gkR50atdQlO4R_OWN-IOgEdHEMmhUkzsZoxsSaRr_3qXVXPtARo-tk5ytvVwWVG6RctmJNklz4rX9G81BTKoy-e-J-K0jduWwA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1858" data-original-width="1754" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZCQkGc4hfOc2SirUnV3GGCX1BWN-ulmLsY8s3GCJ1_YwqrJRHbhR8u1_rKF-4ziLs_TKmWJCevCXbspjL5LN7ysbEi0gkR50atdQlO4R_OWN-IOgEdHEMmhUkzsZoxsSaRr_3qXVXPtARo-tk5ytvVwWVG6RctmJNklz4rX9G81BTKoy-e-J-K0jduWwA=w378-h400" width="378" /></span></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><i>Time as a Wheel</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Myth, by contrast, can lead us anywhere in the ages of the Gods World, and these visits to the sacred, to the Gods World, are HeroQuests:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Heroquesting is a direct interaction by mortals with the divine realm of myth and archetypes. When heroquesting, participants enter the realm of legend and myth to interact with heroes and gods, gambling precious life force to gain miraculous powers and bring back magic, whether that be Rune spells, guardian spirits, a good harvest, something long forgotten and hidden, or other magical boons or curses.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mythology, p. 14</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In Tolkein's legendarium, which I would argue derives as much from the Traditional worldview as does Glorantha, the world was initially flat but <i>bent </i>into a circle to prevent humankind from ever sailing against the lands of the immortals again. Time, in Glorantha, is similar. The gods made the world, there was a golden age, then they began to war upon each other, the world collapsed and died. To save it, Arachne Solara and the gods <i>bent </i>the world again. That sequence of events was turned into a circle of constant creation and recreation. The Green Age became Sea Season. The Golden Age became Fire Season. Earth Season, harvest, is the first intrusion of Death into the world, the Lesser Darkness. Then Dark Season, the Greater Darkness, befalls the world. The Grey or Silver Age, when Orlanth quested to save creation, is Storm Season. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Then comes the crucial moment.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In his theory of cyclic time, Eliade cites numerous examples of rites and rituals who's intent was to help the gods "recreate" the world. As mentioned above, there was always a fear that maybe the wheel would stop turning or break. Through myth, and ritual, humans could revisit the origins of things, the source, and help the gods recreate the world. Greg put this at the end of his Gloranthan year and called it--and I think Eliade might have been pleased--"Sacred Time."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Closing Notes</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">If you have never read Eliade, and are curious about some of Greg's influences, I strongly recommend <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Profane-Nature-Religion/dp/015679201X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BAB0J6GEYSB6&keywords=mircea+eliade&qid=1698134500&sprefix=mircea%2Caps%2C319&sr=8-1"><i>The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion</i></a> and <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Eternal-Return-Princeton-Bollingen/dp/0691182973/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3BAB0J6GEYSB6&keywords=mircea+eliade&qid=1698134500&sprefix=mircea%2Caps%2C319&sr=8-3">The Myth of the Eternal Return</a></i>. Both are very accessible. Eliade was a prolific writer and researcher, who also wrote on alchemy, yoga, and shamanism. I would heartily recommend these as well but they stray a bit from the main topic here.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I admit to being a bit of an Eliade fan boy. I blame Greg for this and all that <i>RuneQuest </i>in my adolescent years. While I never had the chance to study under him, I was able to study under two of his University of Chicago proteges, Alf Hiltebeitel and Wendy Doniger. While both focus primarily in the mythology of the Indian subcontinent (Alf taught me the <i>Mahabharata</i>), any of their works are also terrific and show a deep Eliade influence. </span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-23992818726695849342023-10-14T06:26:00.005-07:002023-10-23T17:00:07.566-07:00CULTS OF RUNEQUEST: MYTHOLOGY, The Forward and Introduction<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>This is the fourth in an ongoing series of posts on the Cults of RuneQuest series. The posts will continue as each book appears. Go back and read the first <a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-cults-of-runequest-part-one-some.html">here</a>.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Further, there is </i>far <i>too much to discuss here for just one post, and I would like you to regard this as more of a discussion than a review. Here we will just set the stage by discussing the Foreword and the Introduction, two very important chapters that set up the rest of the book and entire series. Look for further posts on </i>Mythology <i>in the days ahead.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>The Indispensable Guide</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://www.chaosium.com/cults-of-runequest-mythology-hardcover/">Mythology</a></i> should have been the first release in the <i>Cults of RuneQuest </i>series. That is not me speaking <i>ex cathedra</i>: it says so right on page 5. It is a sentiment that I happen to agree with, however. I also agree with the statement that immediately follows: <i>It is an indispensable guide for anyone seeking to play or gamemaster RuneQuest. </i>I have a quibble with the article in front of "indispensable" however. The "an" should be a "the."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The truly great fantasy settings--and there can be no doubt that Glorantha qualifies--come with worldviews. Howard's was that in the contest of barbarism and civilization, barbarism would always win. Tolkien's was rooted in his faith. There is a divine plan and it is wrong to surrender to despair, hope and faith must triumph. Moorcock saw that opposite extremes are ultimately just reflections of one another and equally toxic. The only sane position is balance. Greg Stafford's worldview--at least the one that informs Glorantha--can be summed up in just a single sentence from his "Foreword" to <i>Mythology. </i>There he tells us:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Truth is found where we find a way to be at One with ourselves and the cosmos.</span></i></span></p><p style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Let that steep for a moment until it brews in your head. He goes on to say:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">If we are touched by a thing, whether it is a story, a person’s action, or even some distant event, then it holds meaning, and therefore, Truth, for us. It is our responsibility, then, to pursue this, that we may do our part to preserve the cosmos and live once again among the gods.</span></i></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The worldview of Glorantha is that Truth is cultural, Truth is local, Truth is individual. The sin of the God Learners--and it is a sin that we see perpetrated every single day in our own world--was to believe that their Truth was Universal and applied to everyone.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Facts and Truth</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Now...I can hear some of you in the back there saying "<i>feelings</i> are not <i>facts</i>." And you are quite right. Your mistake is that you think <i>facts </i>and <i>Truth </i>have anything to do with one another.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The modern English "truth" comes from Old English <i>triewð</i> (West Saxon) or <i>treowð</i> (Mercian) meaning "faith, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty." These ultimately trace back to PIE <i>*drew-o-</i>, meaning "to hold, to be steadfast." This is why we talk about remaining "true" to something. "Fact," by contrast, comes from the Latin <i>factum</i>, "something that happened, something real." The two have nothing to do with one another except in the post-Enlightenment mutilation of language so that only what can be seen under a microscope is of value. But what it comes down to is "fact" is something we can see, and "Truth" is something we feel.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">We start here, because too often in discussions of Glorantha there is confusion between the two. People want the facts, not the Truth. After the last several centuries of God Learnerism in our own modern world, we can hardly blame them. The indoctrination runs deep. So they ask "How many arms does Orlanth have?" "Is Vinga Orlanth's daughter or his female form?" "In the core rulebook Issaries has two Runes and in <i>The Lightbringers </i>he has three. Which is correct?" For decades the term for contradictions and deviations like these was <i>Gregging. </i>"Oh Yelmalio is Elmal now. It's been G<i>regged." </i>Post Greg, there is often the assumption that the current team (lead by Jeff Richard) is "getting it wrong." These assumptions spectacularly miss the point.<i> </i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is why I feel <i>Mythology </i>is "the" indispensable book for playing or running <i>RuneQuest. </i>Had it existed before it might have put an end to two decades of Internet arguments and round-the-table arguments before that.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Truth </i>is not <i>fact, </i>and mythology is about Truth, not fact. If the Orlanthi know it is true that Orlanth slew Yelm and caused the Darkness, and the Dara Happans know that it is true that the Darkness was caused by the Rebel Gods killing the Son of the Sun Murharzarm, there is no contradiction. The <i>facts </i>seem to differ, but that underlying certainty, the feeling of faith and fidelity that both Orlanthi and Dara Happans feel in the experience of their respective myths is the same <i>Truth.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Facts divide us. The experience of Truth can only unite.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEga4TNjAcCFexq3Ixr-lnwSY3QN8xFCXhWzTf4Vgvt_-qN_M6yqHyjSueBrXuh3ipuM41pGgyGtTNtGsthL5kBjjKiI3ahs1bPwoV5sdGyKZqOlsE_5Svcut_KX5QhLpM9-YZYPjRQTrAUGTXV1Tm6CqKpp2j7C0Zj2I98OfcYEu8YaOLZLkXLXIdyt7NH6" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2330" data-original-width="1794" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEga4TNjAcCFexq3Ixr-lnwSY3QN8xFCXhWzTf4Vgvt_-qN_M6yqHyjSueBrXuh3ipuM41pGgyGtTNtGsthL5kBjjKiI3ahs1bPwoV5sdGyKZqOlsE_5Svcut_KX5QhLpM9-YZYPjRQTrAUGTXV1Tm6CqKpp2j7C0Zj2I98OfcYEu8YaOLZLkXLXIdyt7NH6=w308-h400" width="308" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>What is <i>Mythology </i>(the Book, not the Subject)</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Despite being the fourth title released, <i>Mythology </i>is and should be the first book in the <i>Cults of RuneQuest </i>series. At around 165 gloriously illustrated pages (more on that later) it is an overview of the setting's worldview, a deep exploration of what makes Glorantha tick. It opens as mentioned with a Foreword by the late Greg Stafford, creator of the setting, then an "Introduction" which explains what every subsequent book in the series is actually about.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The "Introduction" explains what we mean when we talk about "mythology" in relation to Glorantha. This matters, because academics have squabbled over what "myth" is for decades. <i>Mythology </i>tells us how Greg defined it, and how Jeff and subsequent authors have then applied this definition to their own work. Though I do not intend to quote the entire book to you, there are two sections here that have to be quoted because they exemplify the message of the book:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><i><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mythology reveals the nature of the soul. Despite our enlightenment conceits to the contrary, humanity is not so far removed from our Pleistocene roots, and we have never been much interested in objective explanations of the obvious. Instead, we have an imperative need to assimilate all outer sense experiences to inner, psychic events. It is not enough to see the Sun rise and set; this external observation must at the same time be a psychic happening: the Sun in its course must represent the fate of a god or hero.</span></i></div></i><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">That is a stand-out passage because the entire structure of Gloranthan mythology is built upon it. It is followed a paragraph after by this reminder: </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>These sacred narratives do not explain the world—they are the source of the world</i>.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Again, I can see some of you in the back rolling your eyes. We have been taught that myths are how "primitive" peoples explained natural phenomena. That is nonsense. Myths are the source of the world, because "world" is yet another word butchered to fit modern assumptions. We learned in school that "world" meant the planet we live on. It doesn't.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In old English <i>woruld </i>meant "human existence, the affairs of life." It was cognate with Germanic <i>wer, </i>"man" (we get the English <i>werewolf </i>from there) and the Latin <i>vir. </i>So myths, then, are the source of the world by relating the cosmos around us to inner human existence. <i>Science </i>explains the planet we live on. <i>Myth </i>explains us.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The "Introduction" goes on to define the core concepts of the game and setting. It discusses what a "cult" is, what "magic" is, what "God Time" and "Heroquesting" and the "Runes" are. And it also introduces something new, and one of <i>Mythology</i>'s finest features.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Throughout the book we find red blocks of text, not "boxed text" exactly but set aside by borders at the top and bottom. These are actual Gloranthan myths, the stories your characters might hear in world. With each myth comes its "source," who wrote it or is telling it (this matters, remember that Truth is local, like a microclimate). These myths are ready to go, to be dropped into your ongoing campaign or to be used to build heroquests on. They make up large sections of the book (particularly in the initial half) and are a very welcome addition.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Before we close our discussion for now, in the "Runes" section (pp. 17-20) there is another extremely important line that could be easily overlooked:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Some philosophers hold that the deities themselves are merely approachable personifications of the Runes. </i>(p. 17)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A great deal of confusion arises in Gloranthan discussions when new players and GMs view the gods as "people," as if they had bodies as we do and biologies. Throughout the <i>Cults </i>series there are genealogies, and it is easy to mistake these for "bloodlines." It is probably more accurate to regard them as "lines of descent." It is not DNA being passed down, it is the power of the Runes. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When we talk about Barntar then as the "son" of Orlanth and Ernalda, we don't necessarily mean he has his father's eyes and his mother's nose. We mean, of course, that his Earth Rune power flows from Ernalda, that his Air and Motion powers flow through Orlanth. Barntar is, really, the combined powers of Earth and Air in a specific context, in this case, farming. But because myth is about relating natural forces to human experience, they personify him as a "son" with a "mother" and "father." Again, this does not mean he isn't...the Truth for many Orlanthi is that he is...but he probably doesn't need to trim his nose hairs or cut himself shaving (unless it was necessary for him to do so to explain some Truth in a myth!).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span><i style="font-family: georgia;"> </i></div>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-51535279799147862052023-10-11T05:23:00.000-07:002023-10-11T05:23:54.111-07:00HYDRA! A Look at the Jonstown Compendium Release<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> When we last looked in on <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/cc/29/jonstown-compendium">Jonstown Compendium</a> author Peter Hart, he was serving up what I felt was a very "classic" feeling <i>RuneQuest </i>adventure,<a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2021/10/bad-day-at-duck-rock-jonstown.html"> </a><i><a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2021/10/bad-day-at-duck-rock-jonstown.html">Bad Day at Duck Rock</a>. Duck Rock </i>reminded me, in a good way, of scenarios like <i>Apple Lane </i>or <i>Snakepipe Hollow, </i>but updated to <i><a href="https://www.chaosium.com/runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-hardcover/">RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha</a> </i>and with much better lay-out and art. This time, however, Peter is giving us full on, full throttle, post-Dragonrise Glorantha in his<a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/454832/Hydra?src=newest_community"> </a><i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/454832/Hydra?src=newest_community">Hydra!</a> </i>(yup, the exclamation mark is part of the title), available now at the Jonstown Compendium. <i>Hydra! </i>has all the hallmarks <i>Bad Day </i>did. To quote one of the customer reviews (all five-star thus far), those hallmarks would be "high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution." But <i>Hydra! </i>is bigger, bolder, and leans more towards releases like <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/372888/Black-Spear-RuneQuest">Black Spear</a> </i>or (ahem) <i>The Company of the Dragon </i>in tackling some of the heavy hitters of the setting (one of which I shall mention, the other I shall not spoil).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Like <i>Black Spear </i>or <i>Company, </i>Peter goes all the way back to <i>White Bear & Red Moon/Dragon Pass </i>with his titular (and rightly exclaimed) Hydra. Because we are talking about <i>the </i>Hydra here;</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Hydra was born out of Chaos during the Great Night. Hydra thrived in that dark hour, and its skills and wiles enabled it to retain a place of power beyond the Dawning. Hydra normally resides atop Hydra's Hill.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>-WB&RM/Dragon Pass</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This monstrous creature, the only true Hydra on the Gloranthan continent of Genertela, resides in the Hydra Mountains, periodically spawning lesser hydras to terrorize the local populace. This is where the adventure and the player characters come in. Post-Dragonrise, things have not been going well for the Lunar Empire. The Lunar College of Magicians, looking to curry favor with the Red Emperor, have had the bright idea of domesticating lesser hydras to send into battle alongside the troops. They are looking for expendables (that would be you, potential player character, that would be you) to march into the Hydra Mountains and procure a few eggs for them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhNlgHl_vRFoqQFif-bvr_qFpj3w7EBEJ4hr1NfX8jMuquMEiSt134CnGVDv6Sn0S-WkR7O6Tefq23yPjfUQTghi-gPXDVy81ptNbgnvaCfW3Jxhyq0Uk7XlMIedu7j55-zy1LC6YUJWEBdF94m3et04LOmYnOILwpH-1QHv5J3n5BsDbc5jAwuwra8OBlm" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2374" data-original-width="1850" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhNlgHl_vRFoqQFif-bvr_qFpj3w7EBEJ4hr1NfX8jMuquMEiSt134CnGVDv6Sn0S-WkR7O6Tefq23yPjfUQTghi-gPXDVy81ptNbgnvaCfW3Jxhyq0Uk7XlMIedu7j55-zy1LC6YUJWEBdF94m3et04LOmYnOILwpH-1QHv5J3n5BsDbc5jAwuwra8OBlm=w312-h400" width="312" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That is the <i>main </i>plot, at least, because this four act adventure adds several complications. Aside from the Lunar College of Magicians, another character who may or may not date back to <i>White Bear & Red Moon </i>is also interested in the eggs, and a third faction is interested in neither of these sides getting them. Add to this a potential murder plot and, well, there is a lot going on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is where the "skillful execution" comes in. <i>Hydra! </i>is clearly written, intelligently orchestrated, and filled to the brim with tips for GMs running it. The text is crammed with yellow-boxed "Advice for the Gamemaster" and (to my delight) green-boxed quotes and references to previous Gloranthan publications. There are maps aplenty, player hand outs with images of the major NPCs, random encounters, a "rumor" generating table, and <i style="font-weight: bold;">an entire second booklet of NPC images and stat blocks. </i>This brings the grand total of pages to 170+ pages. With all this support, even relatively novice GMs should be able to run <i>Hydra! </i>with little difficulty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjKv7VGzFhlimQ9-w3tSRBf3_q115SfWPnANgaX2N6V-1NyMtNo5FoseW6aOTLA8wLUkuaC7a47iji2w6YIaikX09UxA6T1QnBo6-3WwgodOj45xd0w2xwR-N3IRrWawTdlFe4CmdTGBbYrDkVaUDmDNSgi_QJ0qjjzK3h_9eApvy1SMvx1nPSXYiIGUyn" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2330" data-original-width="1850" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjKv7VGzFhlimQ9-w3tSRBf3_q115SfWPnANgaX2N6V-1NyMtNo5FoseW6aOTLA8wLUkuaC7a47iji2w6YIaikX09UxA6T1QnBo6-3WwgodOj45xd0w2xwR-N3IRrWawTdlFe4CmdTGBbYrDkVaUDmDNSgi_QJ0qjjzK3h_9eApvy1SMvx1nPSXYiIGUyn=w318-h400" width="318" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And this is where I run out of things to actually say about <i>Hydra!, </i>always a difficulty when reviewing scenarios. Anything further goes into spoiler territory. <i>Hydra! </i>is loaded with classic <i>RQ </i>monsters and foes (including two "signature" <i>RQ </i>baddies), delivering what I can only call the "full monty <i>RQ </i>experience." Yet in bringing these classics back, it is a very <i>epic </i>feeling adventure, and one that feels perfect for the "dawn of the Hero Wars" timeline of the current <i>RQ </i>line. The fact that it is a Lunar-leaning adventure set in western Tarsh is the cherry on top, taking us out of the familiar Sartar and Prax sandboxes for a bit of something new.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Hydra! </i>is expertly written and executed, an adventure with multiple intertwining plots guaranteed to keep players coming back for further sessions. Beautifully illustrated (mainly) by Dario Corallo, it is another one of those Jonstown releases that really puts the sword to any notion that community content cannot be top notch and thoroughly professional. It's an adventure you are going to want to have, to run, and to eventually get in print on demand. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And yes, damnit, the "!" in the title is earned. </div></span>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-8897799349444859062023-10-03T01:35:00.002-07:002023-10-03T01:35:45.085-07:00THE WINE-DARK SEA: A MUCH BELATED LOOK AT AGON<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>And what if one of the gods does wreck me out on the wine-dark sea? I have a heart that is inured to suffering and I shall steel it to endure that too. For in my day I have had many bitter and painful experiences in war and on the stormy seas. So let this new disaster come. It only makes one more. </i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- The Odyssey</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>A Truly "Epic" Game</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The word "epic" comes from the Greek <i>epikos,</i> and referred to a specific poetic meter (dactylic hexameter, to be exact). Hesiod used this meter, as did the Delphic oracles and many others. Yet because Homer used it for both the <i>Iliad </i>and the <i>Odyssey, </i>by the time it entered Latin (<i>epicus</i>) meant "a lengthy heroic poem."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Modern scholarship applies the word to a wide range of poems spanning thousands of years and multiple cultures. The oldest is <i>Gilgamesh </i>(circa 2200 - 1500 BCE). One of the most recent is the Finnish <i>Kalevala </i>(19th century CE). Other notable examples include the Sanskrit <i>Ramayana </i>(circa 6th century BCE) and <i>Mahabharata </i>(5th century BCE - 4th century CE), the <i>Aeneid</i> (29-19 BCE), the Persian <i>Shahnameh </i>(1000 CE), the French <i>Song of Roland</i> (11th century CE), German <i>Nibelungenlied</i> (1200 CE), and Old English <i>Beowulf </i>(975-1025 CE). What they have in common, and thus the criteria for what makes an "epic" a bona fide "epic," is a matter of debate. Most scholars, however, would agree on the following:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- An epic tells the story of <i>heroes, </i>human beings who embody the values of the civilization telling their story and who perform extraordinary deeds in service of those values.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- An epic involves intervention by gods and/or supernatural powers, either aiding or opposing the heroes.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- Descended from oral traditions, an epic uses epithets to make it easy for listening audiences to identify characters.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- An epic follows a strongly ritualized structure, often beginning with an invocation, a clear statement of theme, and following the Hero's Journey (what Joseph Campbell called the "monomyth"). </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">- An epic's protagonists (and antagonists) make bold declarations and vows telegraphing their actions, often but not always including long, formal speeches.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">We need to define the epic, because it is impossible to discuss One Seven and Evil Hat's 2020 edition of <i>Agon </i>without first doing so. The game does not have a subtitle, but if it did, it would have to be something like "Epic Roleplaying," specifically in the sense of the literary epic. The structure of the game, its design choices and idiosyncrasies, all flow from epic poetry, and in bringing this form to the table, <i>Agon </i>doesn't put a single foot wrong. It is an absolute bull's eye.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Agon 2006 versus Agon 2020</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Agon </i>was first published in 2006 by author John Harper. It was a "good" game, and it was clear that the author was passionate about the source material, but in <i>Agon </i>terms the first edition "prevailed" but was not "best." While it introduced some excellent concepts--concepts that made it into the 2020 edition and are implemented much better--it was held back by two things. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">First of all, the 2006 <i>Agon</i> was a bit too much of a traditional RPG. It had skills, NPCs had statistics, combat was fairly crunchy with combat rounds, wound tracks, and armor and weapons that absorbed or dealt certain amounts of damage. You and your party roamed around fantasy Greece getting into adventures. None of this was bad, but just adding elements of Greek mythology to traditional table top systems has been tried before and never really comes close to emulating the feel of mythology or the epics. Second, <i>Agon </i>lacked clear focus. The Olympian gods were at war with each other. The player characters got caught up in their struggles and went on quests. Again, this sounds like your typical RPG setting. <i>Note: Harper was always up front about this. In the designer's notes of the 2006 edition he specifically describes </i>Agon <i>as his "take" on </i>Dungeons & Dragons. <i>It shows.</i> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The problem I think is that you can't just do a "Greek mythology" game any more than you can do an "Arthurian" one. Both genres are too vast, too contradictory, too diverse. Greg Stafford grasped this when he wrote <i>King Arthur Pendragon. </i>Instead of a vague and general "King Arthur" approach, he chose Malory's <i>Le Morte d'Arthur </i>as the skeletal structure of the game, designing mechanics specifically to emulate that. Then, with this solid foundation, he was able to layer other Arthurian sources on it.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCN8odfLIqA4k3tNUxvZ_MXc_mPl4BWtaCrf3ZgQQT0BfqULjyWhrcBk9EMPjcvA4V6Q9Yme65ma8-DL9GM1zo0GmzyezWNADCQzA-dTis6LBDfe0U8dyeQdXp-PqtVxi4VB9ulUqxcOF-dBaQwmzHeBPSiVSMk_F2dvxGKkApgA9RMfoIhgkZnTyD0LZt" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2438" data-original-width="1608" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCN8odfLIqA4k3tNUxvZ_MXc_mPl4BWtaCrf3ZgQQT0BfqULjyWhrcBk9EMPjcvA4V6Q9Yme65ma8-DL9GM1zo0GmzyezWNADCQzA-dTis6LBDfe0U8dyeQdXp-PqtVxi4VB9ulUqxcOF-dBaQwmzHeBPSiVSMk_F2dvxGKkApgA9RMfoIhgkZnTyD0LZt=w263-h400" width="263" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I think this is what John Harper--who in the interim had produced several other games including the widely-acclaimed <i>Blades in the Dark</i>--and Sean Nittner figured out in sitting down to do the new edition of <i>Agon. </i>While <i>Agon </i>2006 was unfocused, <i>Agon </i>2020<i> </i>is incredibly specific. The player characters are heroes returning home from the War, sailing for home. Along the way, they encounter a number of islands under the influence of Strife, each one a separate challenge or adventure. They try to make things right on each island with the ultimate goal of getting home. This isn't just a "Greek mythology" game, it is the <i>Odyssey. </i>And just as Stafford did with <i>Pendragon, </i>once they had this firm foundation, they were able to add other elements to it.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The other key difference, and the one that makes the new edition of <i>Agon </i>sing, is that in lieu of traditional RPG approaches to play, <i>Agon </i>looks to the epics themselves, following their highly ritualized and formulaic structures to produce a table top experience that could never possible be confused with something like <i>Dungeons & Dragons.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Let's explore how.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Character Creation</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Agon </i>(and from here on in we are referring exclusively to the 2020 edition) begins with a chapter called 'Thesis," in which the basic premise and assumptions of the game are explained. One of the most important sections here falls on page 8, where the authors make a statement that explains not just the game but the epic hero as well:</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Heroes in </i>Agon<i> are defined by an essential duality: the human and the transcendent. They are powerful figures capable of epic feats, but they’re also people—they can be hurt, exhausted, and heartbroken.</i></div></i></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">To reflect this <i>Agon </i>uses two resources, Divine Favor and Pathos. Divine Favor comes from pleasing the gods, whether through serving them or sacrificing to them. Pathos is a measure of the character's endurance and perseverance. We'll be coming back to these in the Contest & Battle section, but they are key concepts that needed mentioning up front. They provide not only bonuses in the game, but are sometimes employed as measures of "injury," and ultimately govern whether your character falls during the journey or makes it safely home.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Agon </i>uses a simple dice pool mechanic. The character's aspects and traits are measured by a polyhedral die. The larger the die the more potent the trait. The game uses d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12 dice. When a trait applies, you add its corresponding die to the pool.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In character creation, the first thing you chose is your Epithet. Are you Far-Sighted? Iron-Minded? Lion-Hearted? Strong-Limbed? A generous list is provided but a player could just as easily create their own. The Epithet starts as a d6. Epithets can be improved (to d8, d10, d12) by spending Boons on them (more on these later).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Next is the character's Name. Once you choose a name you assign a d6 to it as well. Your name is your core trait. In other words, if no other die applies to the task, you will still have this one in your die pool. This might seem a bit odd to some readers, "your name is an ability?" Yet this makes perfect sense in the context of the epic. Heroes do not adventure for gold, they adventure to be remembered, for their name to live on. A name strikes fear into the hearts of enemies, a name inspires courage in allies. Your name is the sum of all your great deeds. For this reason, while other traits in <i>Agon </i>are improved by expending Boons on them, your Name is increased by accumulating Glory (see below).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Now you will chose the character's Lineage. Do you descend from a great king or queen? A hero? A god? Regardless you will select one of the four Domains in the game (skill sets, with Arts & Oration, Blood & Valor, Craft & Reason, and Resolve & Spirit) that you ancestor excelled in and assign a d8 to it. The other three Domains are all d6.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>So at this stage you might have <i>Silver-Tongued </i>(d6) </span><i>Nikanor </i>(d6), <i>Son of Kythia </i>(Arts & Oration d8, Blood & Valor d6, Craft & Reason d6, Resolve & Spirit d6). Or perhaps <i>Loud-Roaring </i>d6 <i>Nemaios</i> d6, <i>Son of Pelon Son of Ares</i> (Arts & Oration d6, Blood & Valor d8, Craft & Reason d6, Resolve & Spirit d6). Your character is nearly finished.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">12 Olympians are listed on the character sheet, each with a quality they embody. You will chose which god you favor most and tick two of the boxes next to their name. You make tick of three other boxes for other gods as you please. This is to establish your starting Divine Favor. More on this below.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Now decided on your character's Style. These are features that characterize them or stand out. Do they resemble animals somehow? Perhaps they are <i>Bear-like, Hawk-eyed,</i> or<i> Panther-like</i>. Maybe their eyes stand out somehow, such as <i>Bright-eyed</i> or <i>Pale-eyed</i>. Maybe you want to describe their physical form or hair. Then you described their armor and favored weapons. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Finally, if your character is fully human, you start with two Bonds with each of the other player characters. If you chose a demigod Lineage, you start with 1 Bond with each player character and 1 Bond with your divine ancestor. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">All together, a character might look like this;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgamUnZukgqzX4-kZB8hXLgk5GHD10hlRPCq_UOshLyPt48DhZRG-AsLT1f1xMMsXFm1aE9XBy3ccTxEmQxxQLzI5QdlUwzyQ21TzVaZotXvbaqAKcun1ITt852k2h6fU3kVI7X61xQUYB3QZhEGeLMQ9hwJKQDVZkxkD8CxiJ0XTSR8Llp8S7efFSTxbPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1102" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgamUnZukgqzX4-kZB8hXLgk5GHD10hlRPCq_UOshLyPt48DhZRG-AsLT1f1xMMsXFm1aE9XBy3ccTxEmQxxQLzI5QdlUwzyQ21TzVaZotXvbaqAKcun1ITt852k2h6fU3kVI7X61xQUYB3QZhEGeLMQ9hwJKQDVZkxkD8CxiJ0XTSR8Llp8S7efFSTxbPG=w345-h400" width="345" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><b>Islands of Adventure: Contests & Battles</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Like the epic poetry that inspires it, <i>Agon </i>follows a formulaic, almost ritualistic style of play. This is mitigated however by the amount of narrative control it grants its player characters.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Before landing on an island, a leader must be chosen for the session. The Strife Player (GM) will engineer some sort of ship-board challenge or crisis. This will be resolved in a single Contest, and the Best player is the leader for that session. To explain, let's detail Contests now.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A Contest is a single dice throw, usually made by all participants including the Strife Player. For the Hero Players (the PCs) it follows four steps:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">1. Face your opponent</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">2. Speak your name</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">3. Test your fortune</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">4. Recite your deeds</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">For the Strife Player, the Contest is set up in three steps: Reveal, Ask, and Judge. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">For example, the Strife Player reveals the situation. <i>The ship begins to groan and shake as massive, serpentine tentacles emerge from the deep. A mighty kraken surfaces, wrapping its limbs around the ship and chewing at the hull with its beak! </i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Usually it is up to the Strife Player to then determine what Domain this Contest is, though sometimes the Hero Players will. This is the ask stage. <i>It is a Contest of Blood & Valor against the beast. Who will face this challenge?</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Hero Players confer and each decides how they will be responding to the challenge. in the meantime, the Strife Player assembles the opponent's dice pool. <i>This is the Monstrous Kraken of the Black Abyss! </i>It might roll a d10 for "Monstrous" and d8 for its Name die. To this pool the Strife Player might also ad advantage dice for any special powers the creature has or situational bonuses working in its favor. They might add Wrath dice if any of the gods are currently angered with this players. Finally, on an island they will add the Strife rating. By default this is +5, but if the players have reduced the strife on the island it might go down to +4, or if the strife had increased, it might go up to +6. The Strife Player will roll their dice pool, take the highest result, and add the Strife rating. This becomes the difficultly the Hero Players must beat.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Strife Player rolls in the case above and gets an 8. They add +5 to this, the current Strife rating, for a difficulty of 13.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Hero Players now speak their names and whatever bonus dice they are bringing to the contest. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>I Keen-Eyed Pythia will lean over the rail and shoot for its eyes with my bow. I call upon the Precision of Artemis to guide my aim!</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>I Nikanor with call upon the Daring of Hermes and slash at its tentacles with my paired swords.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>I Mighty-Limbed Telos take up my spear and stab it in its side.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In the first case Pythia gets her name die (d6), her Keen-Eyed (d6), and her Domain die Blood & Valor (d6). She is also calling up Divine Favor by invoking the Precision of Artemis. She will erase one of the checks she has in Artemis' boxes and add +1d4 to her final total. This is how Divine Favor works in the game. She rolls a 4, a 5, another 5, and gets +2 on her Divine Favor Die. Player characters <i>total </i>their two highest dice (in this case 5 and 5 for 10) and then add the Divine favor. Her total is 12. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Nikanor rolls his name die (d6) and Blood & Valor (d6) and also spend Divine Favor with Hermes with a +1d4 bonus. His is lucky. Get gets a 5, a 5, and a +4 for a total of 14.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The final player rolls his Mighty-Limbed (d8...he has increased it in play with a Boon), his name die (d6) and his Blood & Valor (d8). He also decides to spend a point of Pathos. This is, as we mentioned, tenacity, determination, and inner strength of will. When spent, you roll an extra Domain die, so he rolls 2d8 for Blood & Valor. He gets a 3, a 6, a 6, and a 7. His total is 13.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The kraken rolled a 13, so this is the difficult. Pythia's result is less than the difficulty, so she "Suffers." She gets only 1 point of Glory for the contest and may suffer some further consequence of failure. Telos scored a 13, this is equal to or higher than the difficulty so he "Prevails." His roll is a success and he will get 7 points of Glory (1/2 the difficulty rounded up). Nikanor has the highest roll of 14, so he is "Best." He gets the full 13 points of Glory for the contest, equal to the difficulty. If this was the initial contest to determine the leader this session, Nikanor would be it.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Hero Players will now recite their deeds, narrating how their characters performed in order of "Suffers" to "Prevails" to "Best." Pythia describes leaning over the rail but losing her footing on the slippery deck and missing the shot. Telos describes during his spear deep in the monster's blubbery hide. Nikanor, the Best, narrates slashing at the tentacles, but also seeing Pythia lose her footing he dashes forward and saves her from falling over as well.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">If all Hero Players suffer, the opponent wins the contest. This was not the case, so the kraken sinks back into the deep. The ship is spared.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Most challenges in <i>Agon </i>will be face with Contests, but the final climatic struggle on an island should be a Battle instead. A battle is essential a Contest but it is resolved in three rolls, not one.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">1. The Clash. The Hero Players and Opponent declare their opening moves. Heroes here are allowed to declare what individual Domains their are using to resolve the situation. The winner (Best player) will add a d10 Advantage die which they may use once in the battle during the second or third stage.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">2. The Threat. The Strife Player now describes what the Opponent is doing. This should include two or three "disasters." The Hero Players must decide which of them, if any, will Defend against the disasters and which of them will attempt to Seize control of the battle.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>For example, the Hero Players are facing a flock of Harpies in the final Battle. The Strife Player decides to narrate two disasters. "One of the shrieking monsters seizes the daughter of Prince Delos, living the screaming girl into the air. Another attacks the temple of Apollo, threatening to tear down the statue of the god." The three player characters could all elect to ignore these disasters and concentrate on Seizing control of the Battle from the Harpies...but in this case both disasters would occur even if they win the day against the Opponent. or they could try to prevent them, Pythia saving the little girl and Nikanor rushing to save the statue with Telos tries to Seize the battle and drive the Harpies off.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">3. Finale. The final rolls are all made. Whichever side Seized control of the battle determines the Domain for the final exchange. If the Hero Player lose this round, they lose the Battle, and the Opponent wins. If they win this round but failed to Seize, the Opponent is defeated by the island still suffers. If they won the Seize and the Finale, the Opponent is gloriously vanquished and the island liberated from Strife. of course this ending also depends on which Disasters the Heroes succeeded in Defending against. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Glory, Pathos, Divine Favor, and Bonds</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As we have seen, winning Contests (and Battles) results in Glory, the lion's share going to the Best player. As mentioned earlier, Glory "steps up" your Name die. At 80 Glory it becomes d8. At 120 it becomes d10. At 240 it becomes d12. This reflects your reputation, your fame, and how long your name will live on.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Pathos and Divine Favor are different. They are in many ways the heart of the game.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Are your character sheet there is a Pathos meter and a Fate meter. Pathos can be spent for an extra Domain die, but it can also be lost in specific Contests either to enter the Contest or if you Suffer. Once you lose your sixth point of Pathos you are in Agony. You either suffer a grievous injury, succumb to despair or madness, or suffer some intense humiliation. You are removed from play the rest of that session and you tick off one box on your Fate meter.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Fate meter has 12 boxes. Each time you suffer Agony you tick a box off and move closer to your Fate. At 12, your character is removed from play permanently. Perhaps they die before reaching home, go and and never recover, are turned to stone by the Gorgon's glare. On the other hand, at the 1st, 4th, and 8th boxes of Fate you also receive a Boon, increasing your Epithet, Domain, or gaining some other bonus. In other words every Hero should march towards their Fate...it is what makes them Heroes...but they do not want to meet that ultimate Fate too quickly.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Divine Favor, on the other hand, is won during the game when you please the gods, serving them on the island or performing a sacrifice to them aboard your ship. Divine favor can be spent to add +1d4 to your dice pools, but it also brings you closer to home.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCE09p-Mg-3dxIYGT7AgumqkiB43EAK8fCRV7ZWx8Ysd8Hk64hoBVA1wv4ZrnKwX_I7OMdBZSI_UnRjygcZiQ3QTEwPgy5Tk1eAEbO1UuXo-buxj_-jlPdVqiwoml5Xao2Aox5587OKmgTBvKAWIGECQejhtEbhxN0j2W3NNEoswPlcONTcfW6wFtZeYm0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="1338" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCE09p-Mg-3dxIYGT7AgumqkiB43EAK8fCRV7ZWx8Ysd8Hk64hoBVA1wv4ZrnKwX_I7OMdBZSI_UnRjygcZiQ3QTEwPgy5Tk1eAEbO1UuXo-buxj_-jlPdVqiwoml5Xao2Aox5587OKmgTBvKAWIGECQejhtEbhxN0j2W3NNEoswPlcONTcfW6wFtZeYm0=w400-h371" width="400" /></a></div><br /> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The group uses the Vault of Heaven character sheet to chart this. Every time to gain Divine Favor with a god or goddess, you tick one of the three boxes in their constellation. Three boxes--completing a constellation--gains the group a Boon. It also brings them closer to home. The group decides how long they want their campaign to be. For a shorter campaign, after three constellations are filled, the ship arrives home safely. For longer campaigns it is five constellations. Pleasing the gods guides you home.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At the bottom of the sheet however are ticks for the wrath of the gods. these are earned by thwarting a deity or displeasing them. One tick is a d8, two is d10, and three is d12. Gods may add these to the dice pools of your opponents, aiding them against you. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Final mention should be giving to Bonds. These are ties between the player characters.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">On departing each island, <i>Agon </i>enters a kind of book-keeping phase in which Pathos is healed, sacrifices can be performed, and player characters award virtue points to each other (Acumen, Courage, Grace, and Passion) for qualities they exhibited on the island. They also can renew Bonds by asking each other character questions and further developing their backstories. Bonds work like Divine Favor. You form them with each of your ship mates and can use them to add a comrade's Name die to your pool, defend a comrade and shield them from harm, etc.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Legend</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The ultimate goal of <i>Agon </i>is to reach the shores of home having built a legend for yourself. This is a combination of Glory and your Name, your Virtues, and your great deeds. It will determine how your character is remembered and how long their Name lives on.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Conclusions</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">There was a lot I glossed over. Advantage dice, for example, By coming up with clever strategies, using your environment wisely, or using treasures and trophies won on previous islands you can also add to your dice pool. This is another way to keep the game fluid and dynamic.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Agon </i>is an RPG with an endgame. You will either meet your Fate or make it home. It is also a competitive game. "Agon" means "contest" or "competition," and we get the English <i>protagonist </i>and <i>antagonist </i>from the word. The group is a team, but in the true spirit of epic poetry everyone wants to be the best. It is built into the mechanics of the game.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As I said this is a very Homeric game, but the spirit of epic poetry is alive in many cultures. This could easily be a game of Norse explorers. It would be brilliant for <i>Beowulf. </i>I can easily see it adapted to the Sanskrit <i>Mahabharata </i>or even the stories of Arthurian knights. Divine Favor can be narrated as luck or as magic to your tastes. One of its subtleties is that the GM is called the "Strife Player," in other words, just another player, and <i>Agon </i>could easily be played with players trading the role of Strife Player from session to session. the episodic "island" structure is very Homeric, but could be replaced withe chapters. This is a game that would be very easy to adapt.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Ultimately, <i>Agon </i>offers a unique style of play, hearkening back to one of the oldest forms of storytelling. It may not be for everyone, but if you have a taste for the epics it doesn't get any better than this. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-85701132787126504292023-09-24T22:39:00.004-07:002023-09-24T22:39:54.315-07:00Ships & Shores of Southern Genertela: A Look<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>verisimilitude /ˌvɛrɪsɪˈmɪlɪtjuːd/ (noun)<br /><i>the appearance of being true or real.</i></b></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">If there is a single word I associate with Martin Helsdon's Glorantha work it is <i>verisimilitude</i>. It's a Latin word, come to English via French, from the roots <i>versum </i>(truth) and <i>similis </i>(alike, similar) that means pretty much the same thing in modern English that it did in the days of the Roman Republic. Martin, frankly, has turned verisimilitude into a cottage industry, and his work adds a different sort of texture and depth to a setting with already established socio-cultural and mythological verisimilitude. Martin brings unparalleled detail of the setting's material culture. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/296535/The-Armies-and-Enemies-of-Dragon-Pass?src=by_author_of_product">The Armies & Enemies of Dragon Pass</a></i>, his first,<i> </i>spear-headed the brand new Jonstown Compendium, Chaosium's community content program for Gloranthan and <i>RuneQuest</i> material. It was the book that got me to write <i>Six Seasons in Sartar. </i>Weighing in at nearly 400 pages, meticulously illustrated, it was the closest thing to Osprey Publishing for Glorantha, a comprehensive and encyclopedic look at war and warfare in the Dragon Pass region (see my review <a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-armies-and-enemies-of-dragon-pass.html">here</a>). What I tend to hand-wave Martin digs into and details. <i>Armies & Enemies </i>became one of the best loved and most used reference books at my table. If the players wanted to know what their armor actually looked like, or how to care for their weapons, or who the troops they were fighting were, well, there was Martin.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">He did it again with <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/325525/Men-of-the-West?src=by_author_of_product">Men of the West</a>, </i>turning the same care and attention to the Malkioni cultures of western Genertela. Once the <i>Invisible God </i>comes out for the <i>Cults of RuneQuest</i> series, combined with <i>Men of the West </i>running a campaign in that region will be a snap.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Martin was also a contributor to the Chaosium publication <i><a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2021/12/excavating-glorantha-look-at-runequest.html">RuneQuest: Weapons & Equipment</a>.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">So when he announced <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/452062/Ships--Shores-of-Southern-Genertela?src=hottest">Ships & Shores of Southern Genertela</a>, </i>I was--pardon the pun--on board for it. With the Hero Wars and Sartar and Prax, <i>RuneQuest </i>campaigns tend to focus on the <i>Iliad </i>aspects of the setting and not the <i>Odyssey. </i>Greg didn't, of course. Argrath sails round the shores of Glorantha with the Wolf Pirates before ready to come back and conquer. Martin hasn't forgotten either. <i>Ships & Shores</i>--which honestly I think is his best work to date--opens the seas of Glorantha in a way not seen since...well, in a way not before seen.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1QrzBBJqoar-2jJ3y4uAwU4Lweh74GPfWrVlk4vbt45ptazxGguKOztWv6i0cD1uMgVz6Bls4WWUrFzST4V9xHm0DBWpPVQ4m23jVjXKvjSD27x5VVmcT4SqdBcKr7TnwWQXqfCdSbXiDnvhSHRJPSp-WJRbieUJGO4zqUcoXDrKHt1SsaNo3A8CfwoDq" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2618" data-original-width="2020" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1QrzBBJqoar-2jJ3y4uAwU4Lweh74GPfWrVlk4vbt45ptazxGguKOztWv6i0cD1uMgVz6Bls4WWUrFzST4V9xHm0DBWpPVQ4m23jVjXKvjSD27x5VVmcT4SqdBcKr7TnwWQXqfCdSbXiDnvhSHRJPSp-WJRbieUJGO4zqUcoXDrKHt1SsaNo3A8CfwoDq=w308-h400" width="308" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Available now as PDF and soon (we hope) in print (Martin, as a Platinum medal winning Jonstown author and 2019 winner of the Greg Stafford Award for Gloranthan Fandom is a safe bet for print), <i>Seas & Ships </i>is a 390+ page exploration of all things nautical in the Bronze Age world of Glorantha. The book offers detailed examinations of the kinds of ships used, how they are built and maintained, sailing and navigation, life at sea, harbors and ports of the southern Genertelan coast, naval warfare...you name it. If you are a GM like me who is all--ahem--at sea for all things nautical, Martin once again has your back. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzzqGZGV-Bwhykm3cwu8Db0fSoQQkXz8MwjBQ8XgjZSsNiB1d-vcaCOgIWSNbobv4cMuv0-RrZHxgr5J_oNUUyrVZRTKoMTw59AOVBxqhV8YC__0FjkwSR-bQ4jI5W4i1no4iXp-SQP_X_V4l8HK805Tm2rPWRilwDH2WaYiszz6yOfz17BM4xYAvkAVch" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2374" data-original-width="1798" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzzqGZGV-Bwhykm3cwu8Db0fSoQQkXz8MwjBQ8XgjZSsNiB1d-vcaCOgIWSNbobv4cMuv0-RrZHxgr5J_oNUUyrVZRTKoMTw59AOVBxqhV8YC__0FjkwSR-bQ4jI5W4i1no4iXp-SQP_X_V4l8HK805Tm2rPWRilwDH2WaYiszz6yOfz17BM4xYAvkAVch=w303-h400" width="303" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">What is it exactly that Dormal did to open the seas, and how do sailors now use his magic to sail the seas? Martin knows. What are the major imports and exports for the harbor cities of Southern Genertela? The answers are here. What are ships made of in this ancient world? What construction methods and maintenance are used? Martin walks you through every step in exquisite detail. And while he is drawing on historical terrestrial detail, Martin never forgets this is Glorantha. Eyes are painted on ever ship, and when the time comes, the ship is "awakened;"</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>As the final stage in construction, a Dormal priest will formally awaken the tutelary spirit of the ship.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">‘Awaken oh ship! Smell the brine of the sea, hear the restless waves! Oh, brave ship, fearless voyager, Water will bear you, Air will fill your sails, Sun will warm your deck. Openings to the water we have stopped; we have searched diligently for cracks; your hull has been anointed with pitch; oxen have been sacrificed. Awaken, oh ship!’</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>The officers and crew are inducted into the ship’s cult. </i>‘Oh ship, here are your companions, brave men and women, sailors who will worship you, and care for you, as a husband does their bride, as a wife does their groom, oh Daughter of Dormal. All praise your sleek lines, your sturdy timbers, your brightly painted hull. Grant them safe voyages.’</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Ships & Shores, </i>p. 92</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Again, gentle reader, the word of the day is <i>verisimilitude</i>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Two things elevate <i>Ships & Shores </i>above previous entries of his. First is the "Periplus of Southern Genertela." Inasmuch as my spellcheck insists the word "periplus" does not exist, it does. It means a sea voyage around something. In this case it allows Martin to tip his hat to "Rurik's Saga" from RQ2, "The Travels of Biturian Varosh" from <i>Cults of Prax, </i>and "Vasana's Saga" from <i>RQG, </i>providing snippets of short fiction through a text to bring the harbors and topics alive. Martin gives us interesting and colorful characters, and we journey with them, seeing Glorantha through their eyes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsJ2Nh7q2o1I5bcDg5DSi3cHnH4RJXylv-iAzGd0uayP2wegQdqybURGCraOEQO8BUwAxKzc9fCDi-8H4GcKisAbPEpC-hD9SXo4ehltmSnwDTrwcnUwt8fzMGkdambafziIkkCfkW-q3DIWf6Wjgw6OV4cKZcCeWyI6YcgYkhyjaZu-YB8sJ_wi8RAJ5E" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2034" data-original-width="1570" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsJ2Nh7q2o1I5bcDg5DSi3cHnH4RJXylv-iAzGd0uayP2wegQdqybURGCraOEQO8BUwAxKzc9fCDi-8H4GcKisAbPEpC-hD9SXo4ehltmSnwDTrwcnUwt8fzMGkdambafziIkkCfkW-q3DIWf6Wjgw6OV4cKZcCeWyI6YcgYkhyjaZu-YB8sJ_wi8RAJ5E=w308-h400" width="308" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The other element is the art.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Art is the hardest part of community content work. It is what has delayed--just "delayed"--my release of <i>The Final Riddle </i>(finished back in March). The issue, really, is that artists are contracted and paid up front, while authors need actual sales to make money. Hiring artists is therefore a gamble. The book needs to do well--far better, frankly, than most community content titles on DriveThruRPG--just to get the author out of the hole. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Having said this, <i>Ships & Shores </i>is lavishly illustrated, and by many of the artists working for Chaosium directly (not least of which is his fellow Greg Stafford Memorial Award winner Katrin Dirim). It makes this a gorgeous book but I also think for Martin one hell of a gamble. I tip my hat to him. Visually, you can pit this against anything you have seen from Chaosium. It is a terrific looking book.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Glorantha is about mythologies, but it is also a living, breathing world. You want to know what people eat, what they wear, how they fight, and how they sail. Martin's work fills in these gaps, and with his books at your side, bringing the setting to life is easy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <i> </i> </div></span></div></div>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-40258883429785664652023-09-13T04:46:00.001-07:002023-09-13T04:46:04.790-07:00Old Gods of Appalachia, An RPG Review<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>There are places in this world that humanity was never supposed to see- walled in by mountains of burning black rock, isolated by a choking canopy of poison flora, woods where tooth, claw, and hunger still sit atop the food chain. Long before our kind ever set foot in these mountains, when the peaks of the Blue Ridge towered above the stars, and the heart of the plateau still rolled with ridges tough as pine knobs, darkness was brought here in cages made of fear. Our tongues do not have the shape to speak the true names of what they are . . . and that's are, not were. They are hunger, consumption, lust- all the things that settle under the heart and below the ribcage. They are the cancer that will one day eat the edges of this universe, and leave nothing in its place. They are not evil. They are not of Hell or the Christian devil. They simply are...</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Old Gods of Appalachia, </i>Season 1, Episode 0: "Prologue"</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>A Surprisingly Personal Connection</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I don't often get to review a game that leads me to discover something about myself.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I was interested in <i>Old Gods of Appalachia</i> (the RPG) since I first caught wind of it. I love the Cypher System and <a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2015/09/monte-cooks-cypher-system-review.html">have reviewed it extensively</a>, as well as <a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2014/11/numenera-review.html">Numenera</a> and <a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2017/11/vurt-tabletop-roleplaying-game-review.html">VURT</a>. In addition, I am a lifelong horror buff, though I had not originally listened to the podcast the RPG is based on, the premise of the game (so perfectly summed up in the quote above) sent shivers down my spine. When <i>Old Gods </i>finally arrived I started reading it, and simultaneously listened to the podcast...and that is when the sense of deja vu started to hit me.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When I was a boy of eleven, circumstance drove my family from suburban Arizona back east, to family. We moved to rural upstate New York, to a fairly isolated community in the Catskill Mountains. My great-grandmother had about 200 acres of land there, seven miles deep in one of the "<span style="text-align: start;">small, sheltered valleys" </span><i>Old Gods of Appalachia </i>calls as a "holler:"</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>A holler has a head, a mouth, and often a creek, even if it’s only seasonal. The mouth is the least remote and typically broadest part of the holler, being its start; it’s also typically where the holler’s creek—if it has one—joins a larger creek or stream. The head is the most remote part of the holler, nestled near where the ridges meet. Houses are situated along the slopes of occupied hollers, with a road in the middle, running roughly parallel to the water source.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This was <i>exactly</i> where she lived, along a dirt road impassable in the winters. And it was--like all the narrow little valleys hidden in those mountains--called a "hollow." Bouck's Hollow, to be exact. <i>Author's Note: before publishing this I ran it by a friend who grew up there. He reminded me that I was an outsider...I might have called Bouck's Hollow, Polly Hollow, Preston Hollow etc "hollows" but everyone else did indeed call them "hollers."</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As I kept reading, and listening, it was like my childhood flashing before my eyes. The section on weather related disasters in Appalachia (p. 184) talked about flooding. In 1987, when I was sixteen, the Schoharie Creek flooded nearly the entire town, and has flooded several times before and since. In discussing the geology of the mountains, these were the mountains I remembered, shale and limestone, and impossibly ancient. You could climb those mountains and at their summits find the fossils of prehistoric sea life frozen in the shale, and not so far from where I lived was the Gilboa Fossil Forest, petrified trees 385 million years old and believed to perhaps be one of the first forests on the face of the Earth. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As I read about the people, and listed to the stories, that was when I really began to relate. I <i>knew </i>these people...the townfolk, the farmers in the valleys...and the folk up in the hollows (hollers). In a July 18th article from 1991, the New York Times published a piece about them:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Along the sinuous West Middleburgh Road that makes its way through the rolling green hills lie crumbling old shacks surrounded by chickens, decaying barns, rusting farm machinery and tiny overgrown family plots. Here, families with names that have been known in these parts for more than 200 years live lives that often seem untouched by modernity… The insular life in the hollow has preserved old folk beliefs, arcane slang and diversions, like cockfighting, that are illegal in New York State. Nearly every dirt yard has at least one majestic rooster with a foot tethered on a string to a stake, waiting for the next cockfight. Foxes are kept in cages out in back of properties, which are often more than a hundred acres. Some houses lack indoor plumbing, but few lack American flags...</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, if you hear a bit of Big City Contempt in some of that, you are not alone, and one thing <i>Old Gods of Appalachia </i>(the RPG) gets very, very right is avoiding ugly stereotypes about the people of the region. But the article is mostly right, and trust me when I say the people in the hollows had <i>just </i>as much contempt for the city folk. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The point I am arriving at is the more I read <i>Old Gods </i>the more it echoed my own experience. But I grew up in New York, not Appalachia...didn't I? Didn't I?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Turns out, officially, I did grow up in Appalachia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">People don't associate New York State with Appalachia. In a 1981 governmental study, only 20% of those surveyed identified the region as extending north into that state. Yet the Catskill Mountains are just as much a part of the Appalachian Mountain chain as the Blue Ridge Mountains are, and 14 New York counties are also official members of the Appalachian Regional Commission. When Congress created the Commission back in 1965, part of its mandate was to define what Appalachia actually "was" according to cultural, historical, and socio-economic factors. Their conclusion was that these 14 counties did indeed belong. I grew up in the one that forms the northeastern most tip of the region. The culture in the hollows/hollers of that mountain chain runs deep, and the more I looked the more I found. Linguistic connections. Common traditions. Shared beliefs. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And...well, the weirdness.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There is something in those mountains. You feel it. Something impossibly old. Something deep. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the slopes of the hills where I grew up were all cleared for hops farms. In the 1910s, a hops blight came, and then Prohibition finished the job. The farms were just abandoned, and by the time I was there, the forests had swallowed them back up. You could walk through the woods and come across a wall of neatly stacked shale which had once marked the boundaries of a field, or come across the ruins of a farmhouse, the trees grown right up through the foundations. Then everything would go quiet, and you could almost feel something looking into you. The Green, if you were lucky...the Things if you were not.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But I get ahead of myself, Family. Let's talk about <i>Old Gods.</i> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiu3ulKsIvOPihKnwfFYrWIJDpPH5KXeAZKRL7OgfC6dU8G2FgR6tRX3BQSaZs-ANXb725KVrDvCo66FlTxkANDv8ZS6KRJbfcJs9ZKGJRlSBpefZyyocQ0DrxLaUChJ42vY_Mp209GF7njXk3vselJvzs2tKuEp28maZXHC3RD_LXe8xBMwBNYYjKayZtY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2350" data-original-width="1808" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiu3ulKsIvOPihKnwfFYrWIJDpPH5KXeAZKRL7OgfC6dU8G2FgR6tRX3BQSaZs-ANXb725KVrDvCo66FlTxkANDv8ZS6KRJbfcJs9ZKGJRlSBpefZyyocQ0DrxLaUChJ42vY_Mp209GF7njXk3vselJvzs2tKuEp28maZXHC3RD_LXe8xBMwBNYYjKayZtY=w308-h400" width="308" /></a></div><br /> </div></span><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Part 1 "Where the Shadows Stir" and Part 4 "The Darkest Mountains in the World"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A 418-page PDF and book, <i>Old Gods of Appalachia </i>is full-color, profusely illustrated, and for the print version on thick, glossy paper. If you own <i>Numenera </i>or the <i>Cypher System </i>core books you know the general quality and style you will be getting. Kyle A. Scarborough's cover depicts "The Thing Whose Name Sounds Like Horned Head But Is Not," aka "The Beast," "The Maker of the Poisoned Promise," "The Liar Saint," "The Uncast Shadow," and my favorite--for personal reasons--"The Black Stag." </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The book begins with a full page introduction by the authors and creators of the <a href="https://www.oldgodsofappalachia.com">original podcast</a>, Steve Shell and Cam Collins. Click that link sometime and give it a listen. This Introduction, along with Part 1 and later Part 4, give you a general overview of the setting, so lets talk about that all first.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Set in a slightly alternate Appalachia in the early decades of the 20th century (with some episodes set later and some before), <i>Old Gods of Appalachia </i>(game and podcast) speaks of the powers in these mountains, and the effects of their interaction with the human communities living in them. Most dread of these powers is the Inner Dark. Hundreds of millions of years ago, when these mountains soared far higher and steeper than they do today, Those Who Sleep Beneath were imprisoned beneath them. Not gods, their power is godlike, and should they escape their prison it would be the end of humanity if not all life on Earth. As entire geological ages passed and these mountains were slowly weathered down into the rolling hills and hollers we know today, Those Who Slept Beneath were able to exert some of their power, calling humans to settle in this region, to seek them out, and <i>to dig. </i>The greatest servants of these eldritch horrors are the Deep Things, like the Blag Stag on the cover, the generals of the Inner Dark's armies. Next come the Middle Things, powerful horrors and servants, followed by the Low Things, mostly mindless animal-lever terrors used as hunting dogs and shock troops.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">What locked the Inner Dark below the mountains? Possibly the other great power in these mountains...the Green. less malignant that the Inner Dark certainly, the Green is nevertheless the raw and untamed power of life and nature. Creation, destruction, recycling. The Green is the food chain and the breeding cycle, overwhelming instinct, but also health and healing. Folk in these mountains can sometimes use its magic to their own benefit, as well as against the Inner Dark.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">There are other powers, independent ones. The Boy. Jack. The Railroad Man. The Dead Queen. But the ones above are the primary forces player characters will be dealing with.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-76Z3nJVEOTt-Xow4xBlGL1KS3W9vfqu41zLNXjvSybBiE4wAC0dDretqyXl2VtYqxjgtXGkfSX273tKRsnu4phWa1AYJIkz1njYzs1AqSFtcoeTo5w4Wh61WlB5dJepxHAG2hN4-8ImhpgOXBahtbkJM6FgCRj2xNaUpm1v8oKNdRClVBU4eRIZ-12B6" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="1318" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-76Z3nJVEOTt-Xow4xBlGL1KS3W9vfqu41zLNXjvSybBiE4wAC0dDretqyXl2VtYqxjgtXGkfSX273tKRsnu4phWa1AYJIkz1njYzs1AqSFtcoeTo5w4Wh61WlB5dJepxHAG2hN4-8ImhpgOXBahtbkJM6FgCRj2xNaUpm1v8oKNdRClVBU4eRIZ-12B6=w400-h122" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The horror in the podcast and game leans heavily on <i>folk horror, </i>but I would argue it is more of a thing in itself. Folk horror is rooted in old superstitions, paganism, the isolation of a rural setting, cryptids, and folk magic/religion. All of those elements are indeed present here, but the inclusion of forces like the Green and the Inner Dark make <i>Old Gods of Appalachia </i>something different. Folk horror tends to be "us vs. them," with "us" being urban outsiders and "them" being the locals. <i>Midsommer, The Ritual,</i> <i>Children of the Corn, </i>and <i>The Wicker Man</i> are all excellent examples. The outsider comes to the region, gets caught up in the dark local magic, and horror ensues. Had <i>Dracula </i>just been the initial 40 pages of Jonathan Harker's journal, it would have fit the bill. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But that is not really <i>Old Gods of Appalachia </i>at all. Instead, it is often a case of the rural local people drawing on folk magic, lore, and traditions (see below) against the eldritch power of the Inner Dark, or other horrific enemies. In this way I think <i>Old Gods</i> reinvigorates the genre by jettisoning some of its more tired tropes and at the same time seeing the folk of the hills and hollers as protagonists rather than antagonists. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">To that end, Part 4 digs deeper into the setting, with an overview of central Appalachia (the game does not extend south into Mississippi, Alabama, or Georgia, or north into New York). The geology, geography, weather, flora and fauna of the region are summarized, as well as the history and origins of its people. there is a broad look at the people and how they lived, both in the hollers and in the towns and cities. Communication, transportation, entertainment, commerce, and because of the time period Prohibition, are all discussed Specific locations and characters from the podcasts are detailed here as well. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">One of the more critical sections (as touched on above) is the discussion of Appalachian magic, ranging from the folk magic known as "witchcraft" and "granny magic" to the magic of the Green and the Inner Dark. Magic plays a bigger role than it might in a <i>Call of Cthulhu </i>adventure, because this is not the alien magic of Lovecraft's "cosmicism." Sanity, and madness, is not at much a part of the game. Yes, the magic of the Inner Dark is ultimately corrupting, but the folk magic of the hills and the power of the Green can often be called as a weapon against it. These are ultimately isolated, self-reliant communities that must look out for themselves when the monsters come crawling. They cannot wait on the learned men from Miskatonic to always show up on time.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Part 2 "Welcome to the Family"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This section then, a full 100+ pages, is character creation. This sounds like a lot, but if you know games powered by the Cypher System at all you will see it is really about offering you a selection of detailed choices rather than complexity.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But here is where I come to the first mention of what I am not going to be doing here. As mentioned earlier, <a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2015/09/monte-cooks-cypher-system-review.html">I have a very detailed and in-depth review of the Cypher System here</a>, so if you are not at all familiar with the game and you want to understand <i>Old Gods of Appalachia's </i>rules, I urge you to go there. Here I would prefer to focus on this incarnation of the system. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At your core the characters in <i>Old Gods</i> are still defined by Might, Speed, and Intellect, with Pool, Edge, and Effort being important factors of those traits. There are still six tiers to rise through.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Characters are also still defined by Descriptor, Type, and Focus. Namely "I am an (adjective) (noun) that (verbs). The character Types are now Protectors (<i>Cypher System</i> Warriors), Sages (Adepts), Explorers (Explorers), and Speakers (Speakers). All have been give rewrites to make them fit better into the specific setting.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Some of the Descriptors are familiar, but a surprising number are new here, again, tying specifically into the Appalachian setting. For example, "Superstitious" comes with a boxed text of Appalachian superstitions your character likely subscribes to. The same is true of the Foci, with setting-specific ones like "Serves the Green" and "Fears no Haints" to others that resemble ones we have seen before, but are repurposed here for the period ("Cures What Ails Ya" or "Makes a High Lonesome Sound").</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Through these descriptions, <i>Old Gods </i>frequently offers quotes from the podcast, tying these game features back to characters and situations in the anthology. The section finishes out with "Goods and Currency," which almost feels like it really belongs in the section on Appalachia for the amount of detail it gives on the setting.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Part 3 "Playing the Game"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is really just the <i>Cypher System</i> rules...determining the task stat and difficulty, modifying the difficulty, and rolling a d20. Skills, assets, and effort all work the same way. It is still player-facing, meaning the GM doesn't usually roll any dice. Experience is still handing through intrusions, and the game includes a number of setting-specific character arcs to play through.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Part 5 "Running the Game" and Part 6 "Adventures"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">After thorough and comprehensive advice on running the system, <i>Old Gods of Appalachia </i>comes back to the setting again with a really terrific assortment of just under 100 setting-specific Cyphers and about half as many Artifacts. Cyphers are one-use items, Artifacts can be used multiple times but often with a chance of "coming due," losing their powers permanently or needed somehow to be re-awoken. For me, these two sections really make the game unique. For example, the "Circle of Safety" cypher is a mason jar filled with churchyard dirt, ant eggs, seven nails, lye, gunpowder, and saltpeter. Pouring the contents in a circle around you and setting it alight will protect you with a nearly impenetrable barrier. A 'Fear Knot" is a hemp rope woven with animal hair soaked in spring water of seven days. Whisper your deepest fear to it, and the next 24 hours you are given protection against fear. The cyphers, and the artifacts, are all drawn from folklore and folk magic, giving tremendous flavor to the game.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">"Haints, Spirits, and Revenants" come next, the chilling antagonists of the podcast and Appalachian folklore. The Powers mentioned earlier are all here (the Boy, Jack, the Dead Queen, etc) as well as a wide assortment of Things of the Inner Dark and a few "must-include" NPCs like the Witch Queen. I will not describe them because I want to spoil neither the podcast not the game for you, but for a game being called "eldritch horror" this is another area it distinguishes itself in.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos, as magnificent as they are, arise from Lovecraft's "cosmicism," that humanity is insignificant and without meaning in a vast, uncaring cosmos. The entities encountered are horrific because they are alien. <i>Old Gods of Appalachia </i>is different. The Inner Dark is about the horrors buried deep in the human heart. There is more a sense of Stephen King than Lovecraft to the podcast and it carries over beautifully to the game. These horrors will tempt you and corrupt you, because they seem to have an understanding of humanity that the Great Old Ones do not. It creates a very different sort of horror experience at the table.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Finally, the book closes with not one but two sample advantures, both exemplifying the kinds of stories <i>Old Gods of Appalachia </i>can tell.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Closing Thoughts</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Neither Lovecraftian cosmic horror nor folk horror, <i>Old Gods of Appalachia </i>seems to be an alloy of both, making it neither. Lovecraft, I think, is "city horror," and more than that, "modern city horror." It is about a world that has lost meaning, or perhaps never had it...a world in which each new discovery takes us closer to madness.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Old Gods of Appalachia </i>is different. "There are ancient powers...but listen to the wisdom of your ancestors so that you can deal with them. The game includes cities but is is deeply <i>rural, </i>and it expresses darknesses and secrets I think one can only understand if you embrace the setting, where modernity had been kept at bay and old truths remembered. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I am particularly pleased that Shanna Germain and her team remained so committed to using the <i>Cypher System </i>here. I liked <i>Invisible Sun </i>but never fully grasped why a modified <i>Cypher System </i>was designed for it. Maybe because I grew up on Chaosium, I like house systems. <i>Cypher </i>was perfect for this. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Buy this game if you are looking for a unique form of horror. Listen to the podcast and I can almost guarantee you will but it.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-3961834179676837202023-09-12T17:42:00.000-07:002023-09-12T17:42:50.514-07:00PLAY AS RECREATION, A Follow Up<div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“We live among ruins in a World in which ‘god is dead’ as Nietzsche stated. The ideals of today are comfort, expediency, surface knowledge, disregard for one’s ancestral heritage and traditions, catering to the lowest standards of taste and intelligence, apotheosis of the pathetic, hoarding of material objects and possessions, disrespect for all that is inherently higher and better — in other words a complete inversion of true values and ideals, the raising of the victory flag of ignorance and the banner of degeneracy..."</span></i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Seyyed Hossein Nasr</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Apocalypse Now</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In my previous posts on the <i>Cults of RuneQuest </i>series, and particularly my last post on <a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-ritual-of-play-rpgs-art-and-ritual.html">games, ritual, and play</a>, I have mentioned several times the contention that the 21st century has become completely stripped of meaning. That our language itself has been hollowed out and inverted so that words like <i>cult, psychology, esoteric, art,</i> and even <i>spirit</i> now stand for the opposite of what they originally did. My old mentor and teacher summed it up fairly explicitly in the quote above. As a species, the last few centuries we sacrificed meaning on the altar of scientific and technological advancement, a sacrifice that was never necessary, but happened because as our increasingly polarized societies demonstrate, we find it hard to keep two conflicting ideas in our heads. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I am not a Luddite, nor am I a conspiracy theorist. I embrace the power of reason and the scientific method, and I do not think there is some sinister Deep State or Technocracy that manipulated us into the wasteland our world is becoming. No, I suspect that the change was gradual, and started small. I suspect it was not organized at all, but one idea simply came tumbling after the other in a display of small-c chaos. And to paraphrase our favorite Vorlon, once the avalanche has started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote. I think science came along and it was a Good Thing...but I also contend we have been programmed to accept that if there is a Good Thing then its alternate must be a Bad Thing. If science was leading strides forward, tradition and meaning had to be regressive.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In discussing <i><a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-cults-of-runequest-part-one-some.html">Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia </a></i>I spoke a bit about Chaosium's primary games and how they explore the issue. Games like <i>RuneQuest, King Arthur Pendragon, </i>and <i>Nephilim </i>are about worlds still pregnant with meaning. They are not the only ones, of course--<i>The One Ring</i> jumps out as another immediate example--but all of them are about traditional worlds in which the characters' actions resonate not just on physical planes, but moral, spiritual, and archetypical as well. They are all settings in which being something <i>means </i>something. The characters have the possibility to take actions that not only move the plot or change the world, but also feed the soul.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Compare this to <i>Call of Cthulhu</i>. Now, <i>Call of Cthulhu</i> is a terrific (in the original sense of the word and the modern) game, but the point is that it's a <i>horror </i>game, and what makes Lovecraftian horror work is "cosmicism," the author's contention that there is no recognizable divine presence, such as a god in the universe, and that humans are particularly insignificant in the larger scheme of existence. <i>Cthulhu </i>embraces the post-Enlightenment viewpoint, in which existing really just means "staying alive." There is no significance beyond that. There is no soul to feed, no deeper meaning to our actions. And from this comes a sense of bleak dread.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Compare this with what makes capital-C Chaos so horrible in <i>RuneQuest. "</i>Endless debates define and redefine Chaos, but the overriding factor is that Chaos destroys and subtracts from Glorantha and is capable of killing even the gods. (from the <i>Prospopaedia, </i>p. 22)." In other words, the dread of Chaos is that it has the potential to reduce Glorantha to <i>our </i>world, devoid of gods, and as we know from our own history, once you kill the gods the planet comes next.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Play as Recreation</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Let me quote another sufi: my mentor Nasr is one, but one of my favorite musicians--former Bauhaus lead singer Peter Murphy--is as well.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>The power of poetry comes from the ability to defy logic<br />Defy logic often<br />Use a metaphor and tell us that your lover is the sky.<br />Tell us that your lover is the sky.<br /><br />When you do that<br />We won't believe you,<br />We won't believe you<br />Because saying so makes no sense<br />But we'll see a meaning.<br /><br />We'll see a meaning<br />The other thing is the ability to be remembered.<br /><br />Understand where you came from. Understand.</i></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Peter Murphy, Things to Remember</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">"Mean" is a very interesting verb. There is some contention on this but the <i>men </i>root may be the same as <i>mem </i>(like the English <i>con</i> and <i>com</i>)<i>, </i>connecting words like <i>mental, mind, </i>and <i>mean </i>with <i>memory </i>and <i>remember. </i>They all signify, naturally, to have in mind.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now, "mean" as a noun and an adjective, "average" and "common" respectively, come to us from different roots but when you get back to the PIE we find <i>mei, </i>potentially the root of <i>men </i>and <i>mem </i>above. It means "to share, to exchange." There is a broader idea here of meaning as something shared, something held in common. This of course makes perfect sense, because we cannot possibly know what anyone else has in mind unless it is exchanged and shared.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But the connection between "meaning" and "remembering" in the song above is a very Traditional (capital T) idea. When someone tells you "their lover is the sky," something is triggered deep inside us. Something stirs. Reason rejects the statement, because it makes no sense. Yet memory kicks in. Feeling the sun upon our faces. Gazing up at the beauty of the stars or the moon. The sheer sense of wonder and awe of looking up into the heavens. We <i>remember, </i>and because we remember, we see the <i>meaning.</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"The power of poetry" lies in this, but the power of mythology as well. None of us here truly believes there was a historical figure named Icarus who made wax wings and flew too close to the sun. But we hear the story and we remember...all those times in our lives when we overreached and failed. We are reminded and we see the meaning.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yet the connection between meaning and remembering also connects us to Tradition, to our ancestors, to the past, because the process works equally in reverse. Because you learned the story of Icarus, because it was passed down to you over thousands of years, before you overreach you might remember it, sense the meaning, and exercise restraint. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is precisely what was lost on the altar of progress. The myth of Icarus does not need to be demonstratively proven true to have meaning or value. Things can exist outside of the physical phenomena science allows us to understand and still be true. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As a side note, this is what makes Glorantha's myths so powerful. They have been constructed so masterfully that when we hear the stories, like Icarus, they trigger remembrance and meaning. The Lightbringer's Quest is a completely original unique story, but whether it is Inana's descent into the underworld or Christ's, when we hear about it, we <i>remember. </i> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is also a blog about magic, but I mostly try to keep that subject and roleplaying games separate because for the most part I am speaking to different audiences. I will say this, however, to set up my next point. I have had experiences in the ritual chamber that cannot be proven by science, conversations with gods, spirits, the dead. I've had extraordinary visions. None of which I can measure, weigh, or place under a microscope. But I know, in the same way I know the story of Icarus to be true, that they were real because they contained both memory and meaning.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The question is, as I touched on earlier, the ability to hold two opposing ideas in your head.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">People who lack that ability (and I contend everyone can possesses it if they chose to exercise it) will play a game and dismiss their trusty mount, their faithful squire, the NPC their character is in love with, their mortal foe as fictions. None of these are biological entities existing in physical space and possessing nervous systems or DNA. They are just "playing" a game.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>The power of poetry comes from the ability to defy logic. </i>On the other hand, if you cultivate the ability to recognize the truth of your own experience, that it can be real without being scientifically true, those NPCs all become part of your reality. They are spirits that you interact with, connect to, and learn from. Your visits to Glorantha, Arthurian Britain, Middle-earth, or wherever become genuine explorations and journeys. You are still just "playing" a game, but it has become something much bolder. "Play" is now "recreation."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is yet another perfect example of a word hollowed out in the modern age. Today the dictionary defines it as "enjoying yourself when you are not working." Everything must now be defined in the context of our 9 to 5 existences, after all. They are the only things that give us value.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But the Latin is so clear I hardly need to state it. <i>Re </i>means "again" and <i>creatio </i>is to "create." Recreatio meant "to be restored, to recover from illness." Now, as much as I find it amusing that the modern rebranding of the word immediately implies our 9 to 5 jobs are illnesses we need recovery from, "recreation," "play," is so much deeper. It is healing. When you play games like <i>RuneQuest, </i>which also help you explore worlds that have not yet been stripped of meaning and made senseless, you are being healed--slowly--of the damage done to you living in the 21st century. In the myths you explore and the legends you create at the table, you are slowly restoring meaning to your life. You are "remembering" the world your ancestors once lived in. If enough of us can remember, maybe the world can be recreated. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i> Understand where you came from. Understand. </i> </span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span><i style="font-family: georgia;"> </i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="font-family: georgia;"> </i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span><i style="font-family: georgia;"> </i></div></div></div>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-84523965166747396862023-09-09T02:23:00.011-07:002023-09-09T16:13:15.723-07:00THE RITUAL OF PLAY: RPGS, ART, AND RITUAL<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Introduction</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In a <a href="https://youtu.be/ZMdHFwewtG0?si=sdbL3Cmphkq4a7TE">recent interview</a>, Chaosium's Jeff Richard discussed TTRPG criticism and whether these games can be viewed as "art." If you watch it before reading this, you'll have a bit more context where I am coming from in this piece. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As I read through the comments the interview received, I was struck by--but not particularly surprised--how many people have been trained to belittle the hobby they presumably love and themselves by extension for participating in it. Many seemed ready and eager to make themselves, and their experiences, small. How odd for a hobby which is entirely about Walt Whitman's line, "I am large, I contain multitudes."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I read things like "it is just game." "It is just play." "It's all about luck." I found myself thinking yet again how indicative this all was of the quiet hollowing out of words that has occurred the last two centuries. Words have meaning, and when they don't, when they become meaningless, we end up where we are today where even truth is now a meaningless concept. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Because I agree. RPGs <i>are </i>"games," and they are "play," and they are about "luck." But these words mean something to me that I don't think they mean to some of the critics, and because they do, I am ready to argue that roleplaying is not just an "art," it is also a "rite."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Rituals of Battle and Play</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As a graduate student, my thesis advisor was the late Alf Hiltebeitel, who passed away just this year, on my birthday. Alf had been one of the top specialists in the great Sanskrit epics, the <i>Ramayana </i>and <i>Mahabharata. </i>The latter was his primary focus. He wrote a series of brilliant books on the character of Draupadi and her cult, as well as studies of the concept of <i>dharma </i>in the epic. Yet one of his earliest works is the one I want to reference here as our gateway into a discussion of RPGs, art, games, and ritual. Alf's <i>The Ritual of Battle: Krishna in the Mahabharata </i>was a stunning piece of research, full of new insights. It also shaped how I think about rituals and games.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A poem sixteen-times the length of the Bible, the <i>Mahabharata </i>is a descendent of the Indo-European epic, cousin to the <i>Iliad </i>and <i>Odyssey, </i>the <i>Aeneid, </i>the Norse sagas, etc. Scholars suspect these stories all descend from a single ancient source because of similar themes (cataclysmic wars) and the repetition of very specific phrases. For example: </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ved. śrávaḥ ákṣitam = Gk. kléos áphthiton “imperishable fame”; Ved. máhi śrávaḥ = Gk. méga kléos “great fame”; Ved. dātā́ vásūnām = Av. dāta vaŋhuuąm = Gk. dôtor heáōn “giver of goods”; Ved. sū́ryasya cakráḥ = Gk. hēlíou kýklos = Old Norse sunnu hvél“wheel of the sun”; Ved. áśvāḥ āśávaḥ = Av. aspåŋhō āsauuō = Gk. ōkées híppoi “swift horses”; Av. pasu vīra “cattle (and) men” (a merism for the totality of a character's possessions). These are just the most common examples. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>Before we go on, for any of this discussion to make sense a </span><i>very </i><span>short summary of the </span><i>Mahabharata</i><span> is in order.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The story is about the end of the third age and the beginning of the fourth. The Earth (the Earth goddesses specifically), cries out to the gods for aid. Men have grown corrupt. They lie, they cheat, they steal. The despoil the land and do not treat her with respect. The gods must perform a ritual to make this right.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Several of the gods incarnate as mortal men, the Pandava brothers, the heroes and protagonists of the story. Dharma (cosmic order, rightness, truth) incarnates as the eldest brother Yudhishthira. Indra, king of the gods and thunderbolt-wielding warrior, incarnates as Arjuna. Vayu, the tempestuous berserker wind god incarnates as hot-tempered and bull-like Bhima. Finally the twins, Nakula and Sahadeva are the incarnations of the Ashvins, who are dawn and dusk but also psychopomps and healers. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yet above all of these is Vishnu...who incarnates as Krishna. See, the <i>Mahabharata </i>exists at a transition point between the old Vedic gods and the emerging Hindu ones we are familiar with today, such as Vishnu and Shiva. Thus Vishnu is portrayed as a god above the gods, and Krishna--while not the main character--is the chief string-puller, trickster, and puppet master of the epic.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Finally, the Earth goddess herself incarnates as Draupadi, who becomes the wife of all five Pandava brothers. There is a special linguistic connection between Draupadi and Krishna, because Draupadi is also called by the feminine form of his name, Krishnaa. The name means "the dark one," but the fact that they share this name is a subtle reminder to the reader. The Earth called out to Heaven to set things right. So Draupadi and Krishna are the two instigators of these events. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Pandava brothers are pitted against their cousins, the Kauravas (who naturally are the earthly incarnations of demons). They are fighting for who will rule the kingdom. While the conflict is settled in the cataclysmic Kurukshetra War, it is all actually triggered by a dice match. The dice match sets the story (and the end of the world) in motion. And <i>this </i>brings us back to gaming.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Rolling the Dice</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Growing distrust between the two sets of cousins leads to the suggestion of a game to "relieve the tension," a dice match. The Kaurava bring in a ringer however at the last minute, "swift-fingered" professional gambler Shakuni who will be playing on their behalf. Yudhishthira is suspicious, of course, but because he vowed never to refuse a challenge plays anyway. Shakuni wins every round, over and over, as Yudhishthira wagers and loses the Pandava's armies, chariots, riches, possessions, and lands. Desperate, Yudhishthira wagers and loses himself and his own brothers. Then he loses their wife, Draupadi.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When Draupadi is dragged into the room and told her freedom has been lost, the Kaurava attempt to shame her and disrobe her. But again...remember the two Krishnas are the prime movers of the epic. Miraculously they are unable to remove her sari, which keeps growing and growing yard after yard. As they are all terrified by this miracle, she then challenges what right Yudhishthira had to gamble her if he had already lost himself first. Cowed by Draupadi's rage, they agree to grant her a boon. The Pandava and she get their freedom back, but must go into exile. It is during that exile that they will plan their revenge.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In the 21st century, we tend to think of rolling dice as "just" a game. But I invite you to think about it as the ancients did. Yudhishthira abides by the results of the dice game because that is what <i>destiny </i>ordained. Forget probabilities or randomness. The dice match was a sacred thing because Fate determined its results. Yudhishthira was <i>meant </i>to lose.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">There is some suggestion that dice--or similar instruments--might have been used before ancient Vedic sacrifices as a way to read the future, to get a sense of the auspiciousness or inauspiciousness of performing that particular sacrifice. Priests might roll dice or draw lots and from the results determine whether or not to proceed. And this brings us back to Alf and the argument he makes in <i>The Ritual of Battle.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As mentioned above, the <i>Mahabharata </i>as we know it is a conscious pivot away from the old Vedic gods (who were worshipped through sacrifice) towards deities like Vishnu who can be reached through <i>bhakti, </i>"love" or "devotion," instead. This is similar to the same shift between Old Testament worship practices, such as the extensive types of animal offerings listed in Leviticus, and the latter New Testament refocusing on faith and love. But what is really intriguing about the <i>Mahabharata, </i>is the idea that <i>reading, hearing, or otherwise experiencing the story is the equivalent of performing a sacrifice</i>. In fact, the epic seems structured that way.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The traditional Vedic sacrifice is being played with on two levels. First, in terms of the story, the entire Kurukshetra War <i>is </i>a Vedic sacrifice, or as Alf phrased it, <i>The Ritual of Battle. </i>It begins as a divination (the dice match), and ends up a sacrifice of life by a priest (Krishna) upon an altar (Draupadi). Draupadi was, in fact, literally born from an altar in the narrative. Her father is conjuring a son and she appears from the altar as well. Further, as Vedic altars were hourglass shaped, Draupadi is constantly called "altar-waisted" to remind us of her significance. Krishna invokes the gods, the Pandava, delivers the sacrifice, the armies, and in doing so restores the rightness of the world (more on that below).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But on another level, sitting in the audience and simply listening to the <i>Mahabharata </i>was like performing a Vedic sacrifice. Just sharing in the narrative was said to have all the same benefits. Hold this thought in mind as we get back to roleplaying games. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>The Words We Use</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Roleplaying game. Let's start right there.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Think about the ritual of this, the <i>magic </i>being invoked. You sit down at the table, and like Yudhishthira surrender your fate to the dice. The dice are divination, revealing the path of your character before you.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Now think about the power of playing a role.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Earliest Greek drama emerged as ritual. The actors, masked, were believed to be invoking and incarnating the gods. The fact that is was oral mattered; the Greeks believed in the living power of the spoken word, and even Socrates wrote that when something was written it lost the power to grow and change. When you play, you sit at a table and you <i>become someone else. </i>You are invoking a presence that is not you and experiencing existence through its eyes. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">What on Earth could be more powerful than that?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is another call back to the <i>Mahabharata</i>. After losing the dice match, the Pandava go into exile and to disguise themselves <i>they play roles. </i>Yudhishthira, having lost everything gambling, assumes the role of a master gambler. Arjuna, the ultimate warrior, becomes a transgender dancer. Bhima--always eating--becomes a master cook. The twins become farmers. What is crucial here is they are roleplaying...and by roleplaying they grow stronger and are prepared for the war ahead. <i>They pretend to be what they are not and it helps them expand as people.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">"It is only a game, Drew, get a grip." Game. Game. Sure. Just a "game." But that word, which for you might mean "meaningless play" (because everything in the 21st century is apparently meaningless) meant nothing of the kind in the initial use of the word. The Old Gothic <i>gaman </i>meant "to commune with, to participate in." It was used for serious business like hunting (we still talk about fish and "game") and martial practice. "Ga" simply means "with" and "man" means, well, people. So a game was initially to participate in an experience with other people.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">By the way, as an educator, one of the first things you learn is that through games and roleplay people <i>learn. </i>Yes, it is pretend, but it is how we become bigger than we are right now.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">"It's just 'play.'" Yes it is. But what does "play" mean?"</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The earliest definition we have is the one that nails it. It meant "cultivate." When you are playing, you are practicing. You are learning. Again. You are <i>growing</i>. Just a game and just playing make absolutely no sense to me given the origins of the words. Unless you subscribe to the Orwellian Newspeak of the 21st century, these words as dismissal should mean nothing to you too.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Now let's get to my favorite. Luck. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When you sit down to play an RPG like <i>RuneQuest </i>or <i>King Arthur Pendragon, </i>and you fumble a roll, you might blame "bad luck." "Luck" to us is a fluke, a meaningless thing. It is a random outcome. But consider the origins of the word, and consider Yudhishthira's response to the dice match. Luck comes to us from a PIE word that meant "omen, mark, fortune" and was connected to fortune-telling, using dice, runes, stones, or whatever to determine what Fate had in store for you. This is in fact where the "lot" in "drawing lots" comes from as well. Indeed, the names of the god <i>Loki </i>and the goddess <i>Lakshmi </i>both derive from the same root as luck (he was a bad omen, she an auspicious one). So in the original sense of the work there was nothing random about it. Luck was what the universe had in store for you.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">So let's sum up before the finale, shall we?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Every time you sit down to the table, create a character, and let the dice guide you...you are performing rituals that people have been doing for thousands of years. You are engaging in the ceremonial experience of becoming someone else, and experiencing situations you might never otherwise encounter. The dice, and their outcomes, reveal the destiny of your creations. You are performing a ritual, and therefore, art.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Let me throw the last few words at you.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ritual, rite, right, rhythm, and art all come from the same PIE root, the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">PIE *ar(ə)-ti-. They are related also to the Sanskrit </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ṛta, which was the precursor of </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">dharma and meant the order of the universe.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Understand what is happening here. What is being said.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When you create art you contribute to the order of the universe, to the "rightness" of it. You become part of its cycles and "rhythms." You align yourself with the harmony of the universe and that is also part of a rite. That is the purpose of why rituals are performed.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Because we are, all of us, so small and so trapped in out own skulls. The experience of being "other," the ritual of play, is art. It allows us to get out of the narcissistic little prisons which are all the rage in the modern era, and to be bigger. To be other. To see the world through different eyes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">So the next time someone asks you why you are into roleplaying games, ask them, "why aren't you?" It is art. It is magic. It is sacred.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Do not feel the need to apologize.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-64022972215521933042023-08-30T03:56:00.001-07:002023-08-30T03:56:34.356-07:00The Cults of RuneQuest Part Three: The Earth Goddesses <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Note: This is part three of a look at the new</i> Cults of RuneQuest<i> line. Look for a discussion of </i>The Prosopaedia<i> <a href="https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-cults-of-runequest-part-one-some.html">here</a> and </i>The Lightbringers <i><a href="https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-cults-of-runequest-part-two.html">here</a>. In this post, we will dive deep into </i>The Earth Goddesses <i>(on sale from Chaosium <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/cults-of-runequest-the-earth-goddesses-hardcover/">here</a>).</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Introduction: Indian Connections</b><i> </i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>I am the Queen, the gatherer-up of treasures, most thoughtful, first of those who merit worship. Thus Gods have established me in many places with many homes to enter and abide in. Through me alone all eat the food that feeds them, – each man who sees, breathes, hears the word outspoken. They know it not, yet I reside in the essence of the Universe. ..I pervade all existing creatures, as their Inner Supreme Self, and manifest them with my body. I created all worlds at my will, without any higher being, and permeate and dwell within them.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">"The Devi Sukta", <i>Rig Veda,</i> circa 1500 BCE</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I have been looking forward to this one.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As an undergraduate I had the privilege of studying under Thomas B. Coburn, an Indologist who specializes in the Hindu "Great Goddess" and is best known for his work on the <i>Devi Mahatmya</i>, one of the most important texts in the Indian Goddess tradition. I ended up writing my Master's thesis on this tradition, particularly the goddesses Durga and Lakshmi. My continued interest in Goddess traditions led to an <a href="https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2021/11/rediscovering-ernalda-interview-with.html">interview with Claudia Loroff in November 2021 on the topic of the goddess Ernalda</a>. So while I was excited to see <i>The Lightbringers, </i>I was particularly interested in <i>The Earth Goddesses.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpi94NBdSQyPI2yJ_QMqP3vPGEvtTjJTWgZ8XujzGiPuVEOzc3PY__URv9CY5lrcl_bNFziO4gd9cw3MT6KvEadkChGI__Mjwwho3HndCb2fbDZYMPEy-FC55jvxzTnbBnQBKj0t2mimk4X-K7SATmtFRFvNLeSwXEX7GIOmA4XPfvhVqdMX8WqLVXcbEk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2312" data-original-width="1774" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpi94NBdSQyPI2yJ_QMqP3vPGEvtTjJTWgZ8XujzGiPuVEOzc3PY__URv9CY5lrcl_bNFziO4gd9cw3MT6KvEadkChGI__Mjwwho3HndCb2fbDZYMPEy-FC55jvxzTnbBnQBKj0t2mimk4X-K7SATmtFRFvNLeSwXEX7GIOmA4XPfvhVqdMX8WqLVXcbEk=w307-h400" width="307" /></a></i></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /><br /></i></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In Glorantha, the Earth goddesses form the main religious tradition of Esrolia. If there is an "Esrolia" anywhere on Earth it would have to be the Indian subcontinent. Goddess worship--particularly in the form of Shaktism--has existed there throughout its history. In Madhya Pradesh, for example, archaeologists have unearthed a Palaeolithic Shakti temple dating back to to between 9000 and 8000 BCE. Indologists like Arthur Basham and John Marshall argued that the Indus Valley civilization was both matriarchal and had a powerful Mother Goddess cult. Whether or not this was the case, what is clear is that the Indo-Europeans who migrated into the subcontinent circa 2500 BCE developed a powerful goddess tradition that distinguished them from their Indo-Iranian neighbors, perhaps because of influence from the earlier civilizations there. Shakti continued to appear throughout the Vedas and Puranas (the former composed between 1500 and 400 BCE, the later between 300 and 1000 CE), as well as the <i>Mahabharata</i> (300 BCE to 300 CE). Today, an estimated 30 million people continue to revere Shakti as the supreme being.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">So why am I talking about Shaktism in a blog post about Glorantha? Well first, let me define it. Then you will get a clearer picture. Shakti--or as the goddess Shakta--is the divine feminine power that creates, underlies, and sustains reality. Other goddesses--such as Durga, Kali, or Parvati--are merely manifestations of her. In Shaktism, Shakti is the Mahadevi, the Supreme Goddess, and more to the point, the supreme being. Now, let's compare this to what <i>Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses </i>has to say about Imarja:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Imarja is the divine feminine creative power and primordial cosmic energy. She is revered by the Esrolians as the Universal Creatrix...she is worshipped through her many manifestations. Her most important manifestation is Ernalda, and she is invoked through the Ernalda cult... </span></i></p><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>The Earth Goddesses</i>, p, 10.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And:</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>...where the Earth goddesses are dominant...(t)he supreme godhood is a goddess, and the many goddesses are sometimes viewed as aspects of the same supreme Goddess. ...the ideal of a Supreme Goddess, called Glorantha or sometimes Imarja, is influential in many cultures.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>The Earth Goddesses, </i>p. 3</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Thus, while Greg Stafford drew on mythologies and religious traditions from all over the world, the influence of Indian Shaktism is unmistakable, particularly in the concept of Imarja.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another potential Indian influence is the goddess Ernalda and her Husband-Protectors. In Sartar, Ernalda is the wife of Orlanth, but in Esrolia, Orlanth is just one of Ernalda's many husbands, including others like Argan Argar, Lodril, Flamal, and Storm Bull. I cannot help but think Greg had in mind Draupadi, the heroine of the <i>Mahabharata</i>, when conceiving of this. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The five male heroes of the <i>Mahabharata</i>, the Pandava, are each the incarnation of a god. The oldest, Yudhishthira, is the incarnation of Dharma (law and truth). Arjuna is the incarnation of the thunder god and warrior chieftain Indra. Bull-like hot-tempered Bhima is the incarnation of the wind god Vayu. Twins Nakula and Sahadeva incarnate the Ashvins...the Dawn and Dusk, Health and Medicine. All five of these heroes share a single wife...Draupadi, and Draupadi is (you guessed it) the incarnation of Shakti, the Supreme Goddess. They are her Husband-Protectors, and she in many ways binds them and empowers them. In the infamous dice match sequence of the saga, the Pandava lose everything, including their freedom. When one of the antagonists drags Draupadi into the room, claiming that as the Pandava are their slaves they now own her too, one makes the terrible mistake of trying to disrobe her. Miraculously, he can't unwrap her sari, pulling yards and yards of endless silk as he tries. As dogs start howling throughout the city, the antagonists are so terrified of Draupadi and her power, they free her and her husbands. She, for her part, lets her hair down and vows not to wear it up again until she has washed it in the blood of the man who tried to defile her.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The moral of the story? Don't mess with those Earth goddesses.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Alright. Enough about India. Let's get to the text.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The Contents</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>The Earth Goddesses </i>follows pretty much the same format as <i>The Lightbringers, </i>and I think we can expect the rest of the pantheons to be covered in the same way. We begin with "Wisdom of the Earth Priestess" and a poem about the six main Earth goddesses...the three "kindly ones" (Asrelia, Ernalda, and Voria, the Crone, Mother, and Maiden) and the three "grasping" goddesses (Ty Kora Tek, Maran Gor, and Babeester Gor). Then a number of questions are answer by and Earth priestess for us (Where did the world come from? Where did I come from? Why do we die? Why am I here? How do I do magic? Who are the other gods?), giving us the perspective on each of these from the point of view of the Earth pantheon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking of which, the next section gives a mini-Prosopaedia summary of the gods associated with the Earth pantheon, either as members, husband protectors, or allies. A genealogy of the Earth deities follows. As with the genealogy in <i>The Lightbringers, </i>the art here is stunning, combining elements of Aztec and Mayan art, Egyptian, Indian, and even sub-Saharan African.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then come the cults proper. The list is as follows:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Ernalda</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Aldrya</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Asrelia</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Babeester Gor</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Calandra and Aurelion</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Cult of the Bloody Tusk</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Donandar</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Eiritha</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Flamal</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- The Grain Goddesses</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Maran Gor</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Mostal</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Pamalt</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Ty Kora Tek</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Uleria</div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Voria</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This with the Index brings us up to about 140 pages.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The cult descriptions follow the same structure as the ones in <i>The Lightbringers.</i> Mythos & History, Otherworldly Home, Life After Death, Runic Associations, Iconography, Nature of the Cult, The Cult in the World, Lay Membership, Initiate Membership, God-Talkers, Priestesses, Rune Lords Subservient Cults, Associated Cults, and Notes. As with <i>The Lightbringers, </i>the Notes are often my favorite section, with fascinating details that bring the cults to life. What are the funerary rites of Ty Kora Tek like? How are Genertelan deities worshipped in Pamaltela? Dinosaurs are sacred to Maran Gor. The (in)famous Puppeteer Troupe is discussed. The treasuries of Earth temples are managed the cult of Asrelia. Marriage contests to test suitors. Kero Fin and the Feathered Horse Queen. It goes on and on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Note that regions far beyond Esrolia receive service here, notably Prax and Pamaltela. Non-humans are also included, with Aldrya for the Elves, Mostal for the Dwarves, and the Cult of the Bloody Tusk for the Tusk Riders. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Closing Thoughts</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As with <i>The Lightbringers, </i>the art in <i>The Earth Goddesses </i>is stunning, and frequently is used to give us more information about the world than simple text could provide. Loïc Muzy, Agathe Pitié, Katrin Dirim, Ahn Le and Simon Roy make the book a joy to just page through. Much of it, like the following piece...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMlp1nEMfzSxwDD7MfeeynvQBd6ZimZbDayTGs1hN8a5vFfcodtS_PxU4OvKaeMcWt7pRmnLZ9nnhBMJq6kQU9Jdi-2qdq10QvBRBXq2Ny3dKBHtQmFEvmRYPSKp9KtGfPsp28X13Lg6XYMgRv5XXN6taBtJXnwM94XYpGsEoUzm13jC1Dvq6tJ6TBfbKk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1344" data-original-width="902" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMlp1nEMfzSxwDD7MfeeynvQBd6ZimZbDayTGs1hN8a5vFfcodtS_PxU4OvKaeMcWt7pRmnLZ9nnhBMJq6kQU9Jdi-2qdq10QvBRBXq2Ny3dKBHtQmFEvmRYPSKp9KtGfPsp28X13Lg6XYMgRv5XXN6taBtJXnwM94XYpGsEoUzm13jC1Dvq6tJ6TBfbKk=w268-h400" width="268" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>...in "in world," and tells us how the Gloranthans visualize their gods. Other pieces, like the Studio Ghibli-esque Aldrya are just plain fun.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEZcw0J4LrqryqdOBffaRboWIZA6Rn20I1RbzTZ4zXyFuGyx034xIwrb2rKpoIzJgsuzZ6zdMv3WFvSAJh7TjyMYfJpIYZoegs4qD4mtI0KT9-4JuyvHtzARGzY8aE0cXXk7xhTYQQ5Doz3iYKqyxlRKRR7pGUucpnBAfzcGUP5dmwdf2PZKuz-tHYckV8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1754" data-original-width="2446" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEZcw0J4LrqryqdOBffaRboWIZA6Rn20I1RbzTZ4zXyFuGyx034xIwrb2rKpoIzJgsuzZ6zdMv3WFvSAJh7TjyMYfJpIYZoegs4qD4mtI0KT9-4JuyvHtzARGzY8aE0cXXk7xhTYQQ5Doz3iYKqyxlRKRR7pGUucpnBAfzcGUP5dmwdf2PZKuz-tHYckV8=w400-h286" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yet what I think <i>The Earth Goddesses </i>truly exemplifies about the <i>Cults of RuneQuest </i>series is that these are not simply splat books meant to give player characters kewl new powers and endless buffs (the trap so many other games fall into). There <i>are </i>skills and spells in here, but this is a series primarily about <i>world building. </i>It is hard to imagine, for example, player characters who follow Asrelia, the Grain Goddesses, or Ty Kora Tek (possible, of course, but unlikely), but these goddesses <i>need </i>to be there to flesh out the world and give it verisimilitude. The inclusion of such elements makes Glorantha a living, breathing reality, rather than a support system for dungeon crawling. This is a key feature of <i>RuneQuest, </i>and always has been.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And it would be criminal to leave a review about <i>The Earth Goddesses </i>with addressing the cow in the room ("cow" as in the term for "adult female elephant"). This hobby (table top roleplaying) began as a very <i>masculine </i>endeavor. Early games were largely power fantasies for young boys, and the scantily clad babes in bikini armor were intended as eye candy. When I was in junior high and high school, the groups I were in were only boys. This started to change rapidly however. By the time I was in college, 1989-1993, my gaming group was split evenly according by gender.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a <a href="https://www.dndresearch.com/blog/2020-survey-result-update-1-demographic-of-ttrpg-players#/">2020 survey on the demographics of TTRPG players</a>, 53% of gamers identified as male, 38% as female, and about 6% as non-binary or other. So while the hobby still leans male, it is a lot more even than perhaps any other time in the past. <i>RuneQuest </i>has always been ahead of the curve in representation. <i>Cults of Prax</i> had Chalana Arroy, Aldrya, and Eiritha back in 1979. Ernalda was the sample cult in 1983's <i>RQ3. </i>Greg introduced transgender deities with Vinga and Nandan. With <i>Cults of RuneQuest</i>, the representation is even better. Vinga and non-binary Heler were both in <i>The Lightbringers</i>, Nandan is discussed here in <i>The Earth Goddesses, </i>but the book itself is largely about female spaces and female experiences. Female sexuality, pregnancy, and even indirectly menopause (in the case of the cult of Ty Kora Tek) are all touched on. Again, I don't think this has anything to do with politics as much as, once again, <i>world building. </i>Glorantha is not inhabited by a single sex. Mythology is about the <i>human </i>experience, and for the game to reflect that it has to take in the entirety of human experience. <i>The Lightbringers</i>, and especially <i>The Earth Goddesses, </i>do not shy away from this. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-3817769693042941332023-08-28T08:38:00.002-07:002023-08-28T08:38:57.247-07:00THE CULTS OF RUNEQUEST PART TWO, The Lightbringers<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>This is the second part of a discussion of the recent Chaosium releases for </i>RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha<i>, three titles for </i>The Cults of RuneQuest<i> series: </i><a href="https://www.chaosium.com/cults-of-runequest-the-prosopaedia-hardcover/">The Prosopaedia</a><i>, </i><a href="https://www.chaosium.com/cults-of-runequest-the-lightbringers-hardcover/">The Lightbringers</a><i>, and </i><a href="https://www.chaosium.com/cults-of-runequest-the-earth-goddesses-hardcover/">The Earth Goddesses</a><i>. </i>The Prosopaedia<i> was covered in <a href="https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-cults-of-runequest-part-one-some.html">Part One</a>, the second one is here, and the final book will appear in part three.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>The Chain of Being and Glorantha</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In Part One I frequently used the phrase "chain of being" to describe the worldview of pre-Enlightenment (and Gloranthan) societies. Before I go on with the review, I'd like to clarify what I meant by that.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>Capitalized, the "Great Chain of Being" was a specific Western tradition that is said to have started with Plotinus (205-270 CE), but is based on much earlier ideas from Plato and Aristotle. Plotinus is credited with founding the Neoplatonist school, and the Great Chain of Being, or </span><i>scala naturæ, </i><span>was one of the school's core principles. The idea would be incorporated into both the Hermetic tradition and by St. Augustine (under the name Scholasticism) into Christianity. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At its simplest, the Great Chain of Being perceived a hierarchical or "tiered" cosmos. At the highest level is absolute unity, what Plotinus in his <i>Enneads </i>referred to as the One but Augustine and the scholastics would call God. The One exists on a plane all by itself. It cannot be described because there is nothing else to compare it to. It cannot change because there is nothing else to become. It is thus eternal, ineffable, and timeless. Plato called this the Good.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The cosmos is created then by the One slowly becoming the Many. From the One emerges the "ideal forms." These inhabit the second level of existence. They are borrowed directly from Plato, who taught that ideals were perfect, eternal, and transcendent. For example, individual cups might come in all shapes and sizes, they can be chipped and broken. But the <i>idea </i>of a cup, of "cupness," transcends any individual cup and will always be there. All cups contain the idea of cupness, but no single cup can ever define the whole of what cupness is.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">These ideas begin to interact, to combine, to affect each other. This happens on the next plane down. From these interactions, the physical world that we live in is formed.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">You probably see where I am going with this. Glorantha also begins with the One. The dragons call it Ouroboros, the Malkioni call it the Invisible God, many other societies call it Chaos (original Chaos, i.e. the Chaosium, not the Rune Chaos). From this unity emerges the ideas...the Runes. These are the perfect forms, eternal and transcendent. The Runes then interact with each other creating the gods and goddesses and their interactions create the world our player characters and NPCs live in.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Wait...was Greg Stafford a neoplatonist? Not necessarily, because much of what I just described above can be found in ancient cultures all over the world. In ancient Egypt <i>ma'at </i>emerges from Chaos, causing the gods to form, and the gods create the world. In Mesopotamia, Apsu emerges from Tiamat and they give birth to the gods, who in turn destroy Tiamat and from her fashion the world. The idea is in the ancient cosmologies of India and China. It's in most Indo-European traditions. Similar patterns exist in the myths of numerous indigenous peoples. Thus it made sense that if you were going to create a world to explore mythology, the chain of being was a natural fit.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But here is the really important thing. In a system where a chain of being exists, there is <i>connection. </i>"As above, so below." Through magic, or worship, or raised consciousness, an individual can interact with the levels of being above them. The universe is interconnected, highest to lowest. Your character's Air Rune affinity connects you to Orlanth and above him the Air Rune itself. The Runes run through everything, holding the universe together. And perhaps it is even possible to transcend these Runes and glimpse the unity behind them...but let's leave the discussion of Illumination for another time!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">For now, let's dive into the primary vehicle characters have to explore the chain of being in Glorantha, the cults.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>The Lightbringers</b></span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>It seems to be almost a law of physics, that the winds of change awaken fear and fundamentalism...Things do fall apart. It is in their nature to do so. When we try to protect ourselves from the inevitability of change, we are not listening to the soul. We are listening to our fear of life and death, our lack of faith, our smaller ego's will to prevail.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;">Elizabeth Lesser </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>What's In a Name</i></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The pantheons of Glorantha are named after one of the great Elemental Runes that the gods of that pantheon descend from. From Nakala came the deities of Darkness. From Nakala's daughter Styx--the Waters of Darkness--came Zaramaka, the Elemental Waters, who spawned the deities of Water himself. Next arose Gata, the Primal Earth and mother of the deities of Earth. Then Aether appeared, and sired the deities of Fire and Sky.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moon came much later, inside of Time, reborn from dead goddesses by the actions of mortals. While some of this pantheon descend from the Red Moon Goddess, many others are mortals who became divine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Inbetween the Lunar deities and those of Darkness and Water, Earth and Sky, there is one other. The story starts with Umath, god of Elemental Air...but it doesn't end with him. If it had, we might call the pantheon he originated the "deities of Air" or perhaps the "storm tribe." But they stopped being just that when Orlanth came along. They became something more.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Umath's first act was violence, tearing his mother Gata and his father Aether apart to create a kingdom for himself between Earth and Sky. Indeed, violence would come to characterize the tempestuous pantheon he fathered. Yet there is a myth in <i>The Book of Heortling Mythology, </i>and it will be re-appearing in the upcoming <i>Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology </i>book, that plants the seeds of what this pantheon was destined to become. I want to summarize it only quickly here.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Umath made a lot of enemies, and it came to pass that a number of them decided to conspire against him. Myth calls them "giants," but really they were old gods...Genert, Magasta, Lodril, and others.They struck at Umath by seizing his sons and tossing them into pits, each with its own danger. Vadrus--the most violent of the brothers--they tossed into water to drown him. Urox, the Storm Bull, they tossed into the Animal Corral for the beasts to eat him. Humakt was chucked into the Fighting Pit. Ragnaglar into the Sex Pit, where they hoped he would be driven mad. But here comes the important part: Orlanth they threw into the Pit of Strange Gods, where they expected to young god to come to blows with these strange and foreign deities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the way of myths, each of these tests revealed who the gods really were. This was the basis of my adulthood initiation, "Rites of Passage," in <i>Six Seasons in Sartar. </i>Orlanth, who matters to us here, ended up winning over the Strange Gods, making peace with them, and leading them in an escape from the pit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, I tell this story now because this test of character revealed the truth of what Orlanth is. He does exhibit his father's violence, but he also can make peace. He builds alliances. he embraces outsiders. He leads.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When Umath is killed, Orlanth comes to lead the pantheon. The cosmos is falling part. The gods are at war. Orlanth started it, and he becomes determined to finish it. Having killed the sun god Yelm, Orlanth decided to descend into the Underworld and liberate him from Hell. As he undertook his quest, he met, and recruited, more strange gods. Lhankor Mhy and Issaries, both sons of two members of the Celestial Court. Chalana Arroy, daughter of Glorantha herself. Eurmal, the Trickster. Flesh Man, a mortal driven mad by what he had seen, and most enigmatic of all, Ginna Jar, who was perhaps the ghost of Glorantha herself. Together they would face impossible challenges, and by the end the cosmos would be bound together by Time, forever changed yet preserved. They led the sun back to the world and the deities of Air were never really that again. They were the Lightbringers now.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6ZsKhPoWkA3TcsfNBqhZOlbUswGQoHBl6I7QbjBgc6Oi5Q4wF1LQeX3J2xnWU_Cuvtej-gXxnLh7o28kXq4m6jo56vKDXBdKZCBK7CEkHt7_UzEMsTIfpx7JccFeUUMkXD9oLwWvFmHL-g2BTbKs29W1Y626xxPy34_lXRFL0TDRDcgpFN60kw7rG8F-C" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1332" data-original-width="2166" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6ZsKhPoWkA3TcsfNBqhZOlbUswGQoHBl6I7QbjBgc6Oi5Q4wF1LQeX3J2xnWU_Cuvtej-gXxnLh7o28kXq4m6jo56vKDXBdKZCBK7CEkHt7_UzEMsTIfpx7JccFeUUMkXD9oLwWvFmHL-g2BTbKs29W1Y626xxPy34_lXRFL0TDRDcgpFN60kw7rG8F-C=w400-h246" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just as the pantheon had changed, the people who followed the old storm gods changed too. Once called Vingkotlings and later Heortlings, they had a new name now and a new mission. Called the Theyalans--the people of the Dawn--they spread out far and wide helping people understand the change of the world and the new order under Time. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So now. Let's discuss <i>The Lightbringers</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuXE-EzMX_ju1jvABDigrnXo5A0keFQlb5diyiyW9Y_Ia8GJMGbm3mcMFp7HZScrSyxjls-JrYRyAlpauqXX1FA0rtoKuNamPnl9Y7AiejdnB9K0Y4gdg5rUQNe6hfLxeQZ7rGNkn-UFW3q8o1Ssmg2zVlf4XjOFOiueQ0O7v5wkfUWPTSBO66xOZfnHb5" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2284" data-original-width="1794" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuXE-EzMX_ju1jvABDigrnXo5A0keFQlb5diyiyW9Y_Ia8GJMGbm3mcMFp7HZScrSyxjls-JrYRyAlpauqXX1FA0rtoKuNamPnl9Y7AiejdnB9K0Y4gdg5rUQNe6hfLxeQZ7rGNkn-UFW3q8o1Ssmg2zVlf4XjOFOiueQ0O7v5wkfUWPTSBO66xOZfnHb5=w315-h400" width="315" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>The Book</i></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Weighing in at about 164 pages--including a very meaty index--<i>The Lightbringers </i>is our first proper look at the <i>Cults </i>series. Not strictly limited to the deities of Dragon Pass, it includes the kin of Umath, the Lighbringers recruited by Orlanth, and some of the neighboring gods of Prax who the Theyalans--or their descendants the Sartarites--have had long relations with. The full assemblage is here:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEyKaLawLkoplntLKaPTRjuhDP9SnFmubcECCe6S56ex0OjBOPgThSGrV3KdO4DIsjod_FJ6-CfVRe20j2yhNV8UMDihCk6GHAClnEv33oMJ9fyDFrelkFGfiUP4IBwgYgptWGWcbXnbwuqfoyhzNry4VpCGWMHEPaICOvhMUMTjjbx1nyuwe43q_-vK-I" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2332" data-original-width="1774" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEyKaLawLkoplntLKaPTRjuhDP9SnFmubcECCe6S56ex0OjBOPgThSGrV3KdO4DIsjod_FJ6-CfVRe20j2yhNV8UMDihCk6GHAClnEv33oMJ9fyDFrelkFGfiUP4IBwgYgptWGWcbXnbwuqfoyhzNry4VpCGWMHEPaICOvhMUMTjjbx1nyuwe43q_-vK-I=w305-h400" width="305" /></a></div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With the deities included in <i>The Earth Goddesses, </i>GMs and players will pretty much have Sartar, Esrolia, and Prax covered...the traditional stomping grounds of the game.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There is a lot here that will be familiar to longtime RuneQuesters. The book kicks off with the poetical Songs of the Storm Voice, and then a section of what a young Orlanthi asking questions about the world might be told. "Where did the world come from?" "Where did I come from?" "What happens after we die?" "How do I do magic?" Etc. This is a tradition that started way back in <i>RQ3, </i>and it is terrific to see its continuation here. Then there is a summary--a sort of mini-<i>Prosopaedia</i>--listing the gods and goddesses a person living in the region of Dragon Pass might know of, most of which are <i>not </i>covered in this book. A long section follows on the Lighbringers, as they are really the heart of this pantheon. Then we get into the cults proper.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The cult format is familiar too, following the pattern established way back in <i>RQ</i>'s first and second editions. We start with mythos and history, the story of the god's actions before Time and the actions of their followers after the dawn of Time. The otherworldly home of the deity is detailed, followed by the promises of life after death offered to followers, its Runic associations, and in a nice new touch the deity's iconography. And this is where we pause a minute to talk about what is <i>not </i>familiar, and unique to this edition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>RQ </i>started as an American<i> </i>game, but rapidly became a hit (particularly with <i>RQ3</i>) in Europe and throughout the English-speaking world. In 2023, it's spread <i>way </i>beyond that. There are passionate fans here in Japan, and I have been contacted by groups in India and South America (the first group to actually livestream <i>Six Seasons in Sartar </i>was in Brazil). Mythology is universal, but also very local. Everyone exposed to it sees reflections of themselves. What I think this edition of <i>RQ </i>has managed is to tap into that universality, particularly with the art. Loïc Muzy, Agathe Pitié, Katrin Dirim Antonia Doncheva, Andrey Fetisov, Ossi Hiekkala & Roman Kisyov make <i>The Lighbringers </i>a feast for the eyes but also deliver the most far-reaching and universal imagery <i>RQ </i>has ever seen. By way of example, let's walk through this depiction of Orlanth.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3JVd99dM2RhRFII_Yi9NQHrHdSJVX3BZ-UsfSvNxaLp4aUumToojN4gtyJjv-dq6u8w8T3ET75rtqltni72heAGTh4G8jU8etsR3WR2p604vgLaxg6r_xXkSy_H66vEP9YOhM4Xs3TYGYj9mrJ7GQbVNVFU9x0rXNifC_rRz61B3mxElvX3yxT0OGWRuM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2326" data-original-width="1786" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3JVd99dM2RhRFII_Yi9NQHrHdSJVX3BZ-UsfSvNxaLp4aUumToojN4gtyJjv-dq6u8w8T3ET75rtqltni72heAGTh4G8jU8etsR3WR2p604vgLaxg6r_xXkSy_H66vEP9YOhM4Xs3TYGYj9mrJ7GQbVNVFU9x0rXNifC_rRz61B3mxElvX3yxT0OGWRuM=w307-h400" width="307" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> <i> <b>Click to enlarge</b></i></div></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Orlanth here is armed with very Greek or Near Eastern weaponry, a nod perhaps to Zeus (or even Yahweh, who started as a storm god). His horned helm and red beard remind us of Thor. His "thunderbolt" is a <i>vajra, </i>a clear nod to whom I think is Orlanth's closest mythological cousin, the Vedic thunder god Indra. And the dragon head could either be Chinese or Persian, and <i>that, </i>my friends, opens up a huge can of...wyrms.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thunder gods fighting dragons is unbelievably widespread. Thor and Jormungandr. Zeus and Typhon. Indra and Vritra (a dragon who swallows up all the waters of the world and causes a drought until Indra slits his belly open...vaguely familiar?). Yet we could go much, much farther afield. Hé-no is the thunder spirit of the Iroquois and Seneca peoples of North America. When his friend Gunnodoyak is swallowed whole by the Great Water Snake of the Great Lakes, Hé-no fights the serpent and--you guessed it--cuts open the serpent to liberate his friend. Thus dragons feel like a necessary part of Orlanth's iconography.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Detour over now. In summary my point is <i>RQG </i>seems to be making a concerted effort to remind us that Glorantha is myth and myth is bigger than any single culture. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cult descriptions continue with why the cult exists, what its likes and dislikes are, how it is organized. How are temples organized? Where are its centers of power? What are its holy days?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then we get into the meat and bones for player characters, how to join the cult, progress through its ranks, what powers and skills it offers. I summarized all this on Part One. There is a discussion of subservient cults and allied ones, and in some cases what the cult looks like in lands outside of Dragon Pass.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of my favorites parts are the "other notes" at the end of these cult write-ups, little snippets of lore than add color and texture. What celestial bodies are the gods associated with (I love discussions of the Gloranthan night sky), what "in-cult traditions" does it have (Chalana Arroy initiates carefully sweeping the grounds of her temples to avoid stepping on and harming any insects, the Eurmali's role as the clowns of Orlanthi society and the function they serve, a long discussion under Issaries of trade in Dragon Pass, and the hysterically poor cataloguing systems of Lhankor Mhy temples!). There is so much here that helps make Glorantha live and breathe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Closing Thoughts</i></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is a big book.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Not necessarily in page count, but in the territory it covers and the ideas it presents. <i>RuneQuest </i>was arguably the first game out there that ever seriously gave attention to religion, mythology, and magic and <i>The Lightbringers </i>keeps that legacy going. Better still, it is not just a reprint of what we've seen in the past. <i>Lightbringers </i>is pushing the game forward in some really striking ways. Some detractors will wish for less art and more text, perhaps, but as an educator one of the first things you learn is that not every student learns by text. There are visual learners too, and these pictures are all worth thousands of words. Others might wish for presentations of Glorantha more "days of yore," a <i>Cults of Prax </i>carefully preserved in amber. But <i>Cults of Prax </i>was a weird, radical, and daring book, and for <i>RuneQuest </i>to stop pushing forward it would fail continuing what Stafford and Co. put in motion. In an age when Certain Other Fantasy Games are increasingly playing it safe, <i>The Lightbringers </i>takes risks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And just wait until I talk about <i>The Earth Goddesses. </i>We saved the best for last. </div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span><b style="font-family: georgia;"> </b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-86471642545304599812023-08-20T04:01:00.000-07:002023-08-20T04:01:35.579-07:00THE CULTS OF RUNEQUEST: Part One, Some Thoughts on Chaosium Cults and the Prosopaedia<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>The Dreaded "C" Word</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the topsy-turvy lexicon of the modern era, "cult" has become a bad word, the result of a schism between modern materialist thinking and the thousands of years of tradition that came before it. Words with a formerly spiritual meaning have all been gutted and repurposed. "Psychology," which in 1650 meant "the study of the soul" (its nature, purpose, and destiny) is now "the study of the mind," especially in the sense of scientifically explaining human behavior. "Esoteric" which originally meant "inner" or "essential" (as opposed to "exoteric," which meant just the surface or outer appearance of a thing) today is the synonym of words like "abstruse," "obscure," and "incomprehensible" ("arcane" falls into the same category). </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Cult" has perhaps suffered even worse than these, becoming a full-on pejorative. The Latin </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">cultus, </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">which also gave us "culture" and "cultivate," </span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> originally meant to be a part of something, to devote oneself to something greater than oneself. In modern parlance, and increasingly over the last four or five decades, "cult" now suggests fringe religions, groupthink, and brainwashing. As Hugh Rawson, in his delicious 1989 book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Words-Hugh-Rawson/dp/0517573342">Wicked Words</a> </i>defined it, cult now means "a group of people, religious or not, with whom you disagree."</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The schism I mentioned above occurred during the 17th and 18th centuries, a period many of us in the Western world have been taught to refer to as the "Enlightenment" or "Age of Reason." A perfect storm of new ideas was brewing in western Europe at this time, and colonialism was forcing it on the rest of the world. Namely "human happiness is the greatest good," "knowledge is obtained only by reason and the evidence of the senses," and my particular favorite, "progress," the concept that each generation knows better than all the ones before it. The end result of these ideas manifested most fully in the early 20th century. Materialism (the idea that only matter and energy were real), rationalism (the idea that reason, and not personal experience, was the only foundation of certainty), and humanism (the idea that human concerns, as opposed to supernatural or divine ones, are the basic of ethics), all teamed up to put the traditional viewpoint to the sword. Humanity was no longer part of a divine order, a chain of being which extended beyond the material universe into the worlds of spirit or divinity. Now humanity was just an animal, existing with no purpose other than passing on its genes, clinging to an insignificant ball of rock in a universe that was oblivious to its existence.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In the late 1970s and early 80s, a small game company in California took to exploring the "before and after" of this schism in two of their signature games. The company was <a href="https://www.chaosium.com">Chaosium</a>, and <i><a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2018/05/runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha.html">RuneQuest</a> </i>was the game exploring the traditional world, the world in which humanity could climb the chain of being to interact with divinity. <i><a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2021/09/call-of-cthulhu-at-40.html">Call of Cthulhu</a> </i>explored the modernist viewpoint, where humanity was tiny and powerless and pitted against a cold and uncaring universe in an endless struggle to delay the inevitable.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And the instrument both games used to explore these opposite worldviews was the cult.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Cults In RuneQuest</b> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>RuneQuest</i> and <i>Call of Cthulhu</i> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">are matter and anti-matter, or more accurately, mythology and anti-mythology. Mirror images of each other, both posit universes in which titanic, conscious, inhuman forces are at work behind the curtain of nature, forces before which mere mortals are insignificant. Both suggest that magic, rather than science, is the path to true knowledge. Both feature cults in which human beings surrender their individuality to these primordial entities in exchange for knowledge and power. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), <i>Call of Cthulhu </i>shares the horror of the author who inspired it. Lovecraft lived and wrote in that period where tradition finally surrendered to modernism. Some of the greatest discoveries in physics and astronomy were made during his lifetime. The immensity of the universe, and the apparent meaninglessness of human existence, fueled his tales of horror. His "gods" were not spiritual entities, but incomprehensible aliens. His "magic" was not about interacting with the divine, but geometry and mathematics. And in his atheistic and humanistic worldview, cults could only be degenerate things. If the human ego and identity is the greatest good, binding yourself to other forces could only lead to madness and self-destruction. There was no chain of being in his cosmology, so the highest levels of reality are Not For Man To Know. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">By contrast, <i>RuneQuest</i> presents a very deep exploration of the traditional viewpoint. Yes, humanity is small and blind, but there is a chain of being for mortals to climb. There <i>are</i> divine realms and humans <i>can</i> access them through magic and Myth.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">"Myth" is another prime example of words stripped of their initial meanings in the modern world. Originally it signified sacred stories, tales that explained the origins of things and the correct way humans were supposed to interact with each other and the world. Today, it is usually used to indicate a false belief. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In <i>RuneQuest, </i>Myth is a sort of road map to the divine or spirit realms. While in <i>Call of Cthulhu </i>humanity can never know the deeper truths of the universe, with Joseph Campbell <i>RuneQuest </i>asserts</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> that the power of Myth is to "reconcile waking consciousness to the </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">mysterium tremendum et fascinans</i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> (the fearful and fascinating mystery) of the universe" (Campbell, </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">The Masks of God</i><span style="font-family: georgia;">, vol 4). Myths are not literal truths, and in </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">RuneQuest </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">many Myths contradict each other, but they can </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">lead </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">you to truth. As the old adage goes, Myths are maps, and maps are not the actual landscape.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>RuneQuest </i>depicts a world in which everything </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">has its god, because if a thing </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">exists </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">it does so because some god did it (or created it) first. There are smiths because the god Gustbran figured out how to work metal. People die because Humakt killed Grandfather Mortal. There are flowing bodies of water called "rivers" that head to the sea because the Devil put a hole in the center of the world and Magasta called his children to help him come fill it. If it is there, a god put it there, and each god in the world of Glorantha subsequently has their cult. For a player character to gain power, they had to join one, and then slowly come to embody more and more of the god my accepting the gods magic and interacting with its Myths.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In most <i>RQ </i>cults you start as a "lay member," attending the rituals and showing interest but not yet really a member of the cult. Here you might begin to learn the Myths of that deity. By meeting certain qualifications, you then become an "initiate," a full member of the cult. You now have to obey the cult's rules, act in accordance with the cult's standards, and tithe some of your income. In exchange you gain access to cult magic, and have broader access to skill training apropos of the cult. In time, if you qualify, you might become a "Rune Priest." This puts you in charge of leading the rites, teaching the Myths, and opens the doors wide to deeper magical power. But it also demands more of your time and nearly all of your income. This is equally true of becoming a "Rune Lord," a sort of physical embodiment of the god in the world. The gods of Glorantha are banished from the world of Time, and need to act through human vessels. This is where the Rune Lord steps in. Rune Lords also have access to the most powerful magics, and have the entire cult behind them...yet at the same time their commitments of time and tithe (90% of both to the cult) and the expectation that they will speak and act as the god itself made them less individuals and more avatars. Jorgunath is no longer merely the son of Jordangar, he <i>is </i>Humakt embodied. The bond between character and god in <i>RuneQuest </i>is an intimate one. There is no need for "belief." You feel the god there beneath your skin.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">(There is an interesting parallel here to another Chaosium game, <i><a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2020/09/nephilim-part-one.html">Nephilim</a>, </i>in which a human merges with a divine being and thus gains access to magic and higher planes of being).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Given the vital importance of cults to the game, on conceptual and aesthetic as well as mechanical levels, it comes as no surprise that the <i>RQ </i>community has been waiting--with various levels of patience--for the newly released <i>Cults of RuneQuest </i>line to begin. While we have had cursory descriptions of the cults in the core rulebook, <i>Cults of RuneQuest </i>allows authors Jeff Richard and Greg Stafford to do what <i>RuneQuest </i>is famous for, adding texture and depth far exceeding what we usually find in fantasy settings. These cults are not mere character classes, they are <i>cultures.</i> They live and breathe and jump off the page.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">From here on in we will discuss the three available books separately. These are <i>The Prospaedia, The Lighbringers,</i> and <i>The Earth Goddesses</i>. Also, in the spirit of full disclosure, while I did not write for these books and bought my copies myself, my name <i>does </i>appear in the additional credits of the latter two titles mentioned above. So I am calling this a discussion rather than a review. Onward!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.chaosium.com/cults-of-runequest-the-prosopaedia-hardcover/">The Prosopaedia</a></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I cannot prove it--maybe Jeff Richard can confirm--but I am convinced "Prosopaedia" was Greg Stafford tipping his hat to Joseph Campbell. The first Prosopaedia was a booklet in Avalon Hill's </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">Gods of Glorantha </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">boxed set. It was a sort of encyclopedia of the deities inhabiting Glorantha. "Prosopaedia," however, is not actually a word. "Prosopon" is. In ancient Greek it meant "face" or "mask," and this is where I think the Joseph Campbell nod comes in. Campbell's multi-volume survey of world mythology was <i>The Masks of God, </i>a title very much in line with his idea that mythology both conceals and reveals divinity. Greg had very similar ideas. "Prosopon" has made it into modern theological circles where it means "persona," or the way mortal beings experience the ineffable face of God. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Prosopaedia," then, is a play on 'prosopon" and "encyclopedia" (from the Greek <i>enkyklios paideia</i> taken as "general education," but literally "training in a circle," i.e. the "circle" of arts and sciences). This then is a "general education" on all the "masks of divinity" encountered in Glorantha.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgnxdTP-J01EKMAzZb5sGtfTRhA5EFKH5lFokRPoCFFOqqWH92SK_hMj1Ho28fC6sBL7sO63Uc2GmoOrQRFii1pqCWq1Ej80Ku8ClOFvhaMb951A00KQPeShje0YWVyPh-M3InAca_n065gM6kKSXSMKYPhgBaUsDzyFoV8wH36QNlUNwtbu49gb7X5lv1T" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2329" data-original-width="1787" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgnxdTP-J01EKMAzZb5sGtfTRhA5EFKH5lFokRPoCFFOqqWH92SK_hMj1Ho28fC6sBL7sO63Uc2GmoOrQRFii1pqCWq1Ej80Ku8ClOFvhaMb951A00KQPeShje0YWVyPh-M3InAca_n065gM6kKSXSMKYPhgBaUsDzyFoV8wH36QNlUNwtbu49gb7X5lv1T=w307-h400" width="307" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Available in </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">hardcover or PDF (buy from Chaosium and you get both), <i>Cults of RuneQuest The Prosopaedia</i> is 144 pages of Gloranthan deities, religious movements, monsters, mythic relics, and heroes from across the entire setting. I have not counted all the entries, but on an average of 5 a page we are talking about 700+. Entries range from one paragraph to multiple columns (there are three columns on most pages). A typical entry gives the name, how to pronounce it, what pantheons or religions it is included in, its Runes if it is a deity, and then related "see also" entries. Then follows the text description. A typical page looks like this:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgdsNdLqIf-5cnlGZhaLqDhc-TcQK4vWDnV6kz6IzhGB8WFV31-rWZ0m0HHtkS-lEt1e0PSxKdaLd1vv4QBepVmUCJQmfSrva6t174Hy214bSiSbDNmSaB80FLG4krqUa0dfdgOtCbPrTm9NYo2uJNUpvGV2gJQ9GESh_XN2VyTeg65zweFz-rpmn230Wt" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2309" data-original-width="1778" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgdsNdLqIf-5cnlGZhaLqDhc-TcQK4vWDnV6kz6IzhGB8WFV31-rWZ0m0HHtkS-lEt1e0PSxKdaLd1vv4QBepVmUCJQmfSrva6t174Hy214bSiSbDNmSaB80FLG4krqUa0dfdgOtCbPrTm9NYo2uJNUpvGV2gJQ9GESh_XN2VyTeg65zweFz-rpmn230Wt=w308-h400" width="308" /></a></span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The result is the single most comprehensive survey of Glorantha's rich mythology that we have ever seen. Note we are not getting any spells here. The separate <i>Cults </i>books will handle that.</span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">How comprehensive is it? I have been cramming Gloranthan lore into my cranium since 1982 and there are still entries I come across and have not heard of before. I should note, however, that this is the first volume in the <i>Cults of <b><u>Runequest</u></b></i> series, so if you are looking for all the endless sub cults introduced in a product like <i>Hero Wars' Storm Tribe </i>you will probably not find them (for example, for Chalana Arroy we no longer find Ferace, Natyrsa, or Pranjala...but Arroin and the Sisters of Mercy made the cut). In this way <i>The Prosopaedia</i> is also hinting what you can expect going forward into the <i>Cults</i> series). As the game's initial releases have focused on Dragon Pass and environs, this is the first glimpse players and GMs will have had at the rest of Glorantha's myths and religions, making it a superb companion to the <i><a href="https://www.chaosium.com/the-guide-to-glorantha-slipcase-set/">Guide to Glorantha</a></i> (<i>The Prosopaedia</i> will not, however, inflict as much blunt force trauma as the <i>Guide</i> when used as a weapon).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Something that must be mentioned is the art. In a very bold choice, <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/blogartist-katrin-dirim-is-the-2021-recipient-of-the-greg-stafford-memorial-award-for-gloranthan-fandom/?fbclid=IwAR2idMsXCQ8IrL6za8GzO4oqcddgtLqBifcr3uba0OB6z1ELND77kDVaMC0">2021's Greg Stafford Memorial Award winner Katrin Dirim</a> is <i>The Prosopaedia</i>'s sole artist, including the covers. I say "bold" because it had to have been a monumental task for a single person, but the artist's unique style gives the book exactly the "illuminated manuscript" feel it needed. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL-2uWbRpB6AXkadl2dORYMjRnXiRKTl59vqKQEar1GlLJe8CHEOvSbVBcc3ydj2_AoXKmTV96jsfD7uVtgPLfnL-QlJq_dtM7P6pBUPRoF8OQJgPADVTrdGVG-oTqP_SHKp9hfCC3ovEDKzwJgX8HscFe73v6xsoInnWa6C8HK-9hb_B3lLDeaEufSkYC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2269" data-original-width="1692" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL-2uWbRpB6AXkadl2dORYMjRnXiRKTl59vqKQEar1GlLJe8CHEOvSbVBcc3ydj2_AoXKmTV96jsfD7uVtgPLfnL-QlJq_dtM7P6pBUPRoF8OQJgPADVTrdGVG-oTqP_SHKp9hfCC3ovEDKzwJgX8HscFe73v6xsoInnWa6C8HK-9hb_B3lLDeaEufSkYC=w298-h400" width="298" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">While to me <i>The Prosopaedia </i>is a "must have," players in campaigns which have a narrow cultural focus do not absolutely need it (having said that, one or two copies per table would be ideal). They can simply purchase whatever <i>Cult </i>book is appropriate. To my mind, the main value of <i>The Prosopaedia </i>(beyond it being an invaluable reference...I have had a rough copy for over a year now and I constantly refer to it when writing) is that it is a mission statement. It pulls back the curtain on what you can expect to see it in releases ahead and solidifies the mythology for this latest edition of the game. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>In Part Two we will examine both </i>The Lightbringers <i>and </i>The Earth Goddesses, <i>with a deep dive into both pantheons and their mythologies.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-14752517882253744702023-04-22T02:48:00.004-07:002023-04-22T02:48:52.097-07:00BASIC ROLEPLAYING UNIVERSAL GAME ENGINE, A REVIEW OF THE 2023 RERELEASE<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>A Few Brief Notes Before We Begin</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I reviewed <i>Basic Roleplaying</i> (hereafter BRP) pretty extensively <a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2020/02/basic-roleplaying.html">back in 2020</a>. If you are new to the game, and want an in-depth look at it, please look there first. Here, I am going to talk mainly about the 2023 rerelease available from <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying/">Chaosium here</a> and <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/431991/Basic-Roleplaying-Universal-Game-Engine">DriveThruRPG here</a>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Second, in the interest of full disclosure, I have written several <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/313871/Six-Seasons-in-Sartar?term=six+seasons+in+sartar">books for <i>RuneQuest</i></a> and contributed to others. <i>RuneQuest</i> is the game that BRP was invented for, but I had nothing at all to do with the 2023 rerelease. Having used the game system for forty-one years--I have literally played every Chaosium game that used BRP and a few games produced by other companies that have--I have a bias. To be clear, I <i>love </i>this engine.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhM_5qYMcsEYfOli9WFRLVvD-mhPBrkdSo3jo9SaJ-7bA0zI40ZcG-9RajWT1ytuvgVeyyF1bAmlTi-_v9znAgxzxdcRRluohxnLSQjAa4tO6dko198AHawt3IuTY0W2n3m5r2jYv-O5RK3y-biH-ajRGIXHLoMOOHXX3rKSg8_aRRNyM3zS-vNan0HoA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2194" data-original-width="1702" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhM_5qYMcsEYfOli9WFRLVvD-mhPBrkdSo3jo9SaJ-7bA0zI40ZcG-9RajWT1ytuvgVeyyF1bAmlTi-_v9znAgxzxdcRRluohxnLSQjAa4tO6dko198AHawt3IuTY0W2n3m5r2jYv-O5RK3y-biH-ajRGIXHLoMOOHXX3rKSg8_aRRNyM3zS-vNan0HoA=w310-h400" width="310" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Not a New Edition</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">Credited to original author Steve Perrin and the author of the 2008 omnibus "big gold book" edition, Jason Durall, the 2023 <i>Basic Roleplaying</i> is a revision and a rerelease of a classic. I picked those three words carefully. This is a <i>revision </i>and <i>rerelease </i>of the 2008 big gold book. Nowhere does it present itself as a new <i>edition. </i>If you are expecting a complete rewrite and overhaul of the game system--as with 3e, 4e, or 5e of <i>Dungeons & Dragons--</i>you are not going to get it. That is because of the third word I used, <i>classic. </i>You don't rewrite the rules of chess every time a new chess set is released. You don't need to. BRP has been played, tested, and loved all over the world for more than four decades. It remains immensely popular in Chaosium games like <i>RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha</i> and <i>Call of Cthulhu, </i>not to mention games produced by other companies, such as <i>Delta Green </i>or <i>Aqularre. </i>If it isn't broken, don't fix it.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Okay Then Drew, Why A New Revision?</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">Because there are smart people at Chaosium.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Look, let's get the elephant out of the room first. Earlier this year the gaming industry was rocked by Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro attempting to yank the </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2023/01/19/dungeons-and-dragons-open-game-license-wizards-of-the-coast-explained/" style="font-family: georgia;">Open Game License</a><span style="font-family: georgia;">, effectively trying to remonopolize something that had been open for 23 years. The response of other companies, led by Paizo and companies like Chaosium, was to create a true, irrevocable, open game license, the Open RPG Creative (ORC) License. This would not be held by any specific company--who might be tempted as Hasbro was to yank it later--but like similar licenses would be held in trust to ensure systems participating in the license remained open to fair use. Chaosium, which already had an open game license for <i>Basic Roleplaying</i>, knew this was a smart move and committed to it nearly right away. The new rerelease of BRP was to get it out under the ORC license...but instead of just re-issuing the 2008 BRP, they moved rapidly to put together the art and lay-out teams responsible for the terrific look of recent Chaosium products to make 2023 BRP worthy of being on the shelves alongside any modern RPG product.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">2023 BRP is not just "sexier" than the previous release, however. This is where Jason Durall comes in. The release is cleaner, leaner, and up-to-date in terms of language. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>What's In It?</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The core mechanic of BRP is roll percentile dice under a skill or characteristic percentage. That's it. If you have "First Aid" at 55% on your character sheet, and you roll a 55 or less on two ten-sided dice, you succeed. Everything your character can do is right there on the character sheet, with a percentage beside it. If you don't have a skill that applies, take one of your characteristics--Strength, Constitution, Size, Intelligence, Power, Dexterity, Charisma, (and in modern settings Education)--multiply it by five and roll under the result as a percentage.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">That's it. That's the entire system.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The rest is optional. <i>Basic Roleplaying </i>draws on previous games that have used its mechanics (<i>RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, Superworld, Ringworld, ElfQuest, Pendragon, Nephilim, </i>etc) to pull together a ton of optional rules. You are not required to use any of them, but they are there in case <i>your </i>campaign needs them. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">For example, "hit points." The default method to determine how many hit points your character has--effectively the amount of damage they can take before being incapacitated or killed--is to average your Constitution (health, endurance) and Size. But what if you want something grittier and more realistic? There is an optional rule for "hit locations," where limbs, torso, head, etc have their own hit points. What if you want a more heroic option? Use "total hit points" and <i>add </i>your Constitution and Size rather than averaging them.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHxmR9pg4RKYufjZfK_rS63eUcY_uo9wl2YVgFDWHyp6ykrO24BklNDBANE9PyzYk6GeooJWg9WKBzyvZ1sppWp0QayHtOzYBMRK9TsM-8WGM8SooObJpMGL6ZeGsWb4QvjND7TM4wurngPlNlOfpiIMQTVronV-wsWVzfWMECc8r_5HGRQBvryQfhIA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1848" data-original-width="1392" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHxmR9pg4RKYufjZfK_rS63eUcY_uo9wl2YVgFDWHyp6ykrO24BklNDBANE9PyzYk6GeooJWg9WKBzyvZ1sppWp0QayHtOzYBMRK9TsM-8WGM8SooObJpMGL6ZeGsWb4QvjND7TM4wurngPlNlOfpiIMQTVronV-wsWVzfWMECc8r_5HGRQBvryQfhIA=w302-h400" width="302" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Again, BRP is a rules buffet. Take what you like, ignore the rest.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Playing a horror game? Use the optional Sanity rules adapted from <i>Call of Cthulhu. </i>Running a superhero game? The "Powers" chapter is for you. "Spot Rules" has rules for almost anything you can conceive of--aimed attacks, acid, asphyxiation, aerial combat (and that is just a few of the "A's")--but again, they are options if you need them. You can very easily turn BRP into whatever sort of genre you need it to be. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>What's New?</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">We have some goodies from the latest edition of <i>RuneQuest. </i>Passions are here, more (again, OPTIONAL) ways to define the psychology of your character and use them in the game. Reputation is here too, showing how recognizable your character is and what people think about them. Augments are here, using Passions or skills to provide a bonus to specific rolls. For example, you want to use your Bargain skill to negotiate a deal. You might augment it with Insight...getting a "read" on the people you are bargaining with and using that for your negotiations. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>What Is Not Here?</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The percentile characteristics of <i>Call of Cthulhu </i>are absent (easy enough to do yourself...just multiply by 5). Pushing is missing, as are bonus and penalty dice. I think the message here is "if you were thinking of using the ORC to produce <i>Call of Cthulhu </i>supplements outside of the <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/cc/16/Miskatonic">Miskatonic Repository</a>," think again. As a Jonstown Compendium author, to my mind that is fair.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Also missing is some of the simplification used in <i>Rivers of London. </i>But to be fair, none of that was ever BRP, it was specific to RoL.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Final Thoughts</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">Look, if you have the 2008 edition, you do not <i>need </i>the 2023. That has never been the way Chaosium played the game. Early on, <i>D&D </i>learned that to sell copies you have to reinvent the wheel every five years. But <i>Call of Cthulhu </i>barely changed through six editions, and even the 7th edition is essentially the same game. <i>RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha </i>is basically 1978's <i>RQ2 </i>with additional features. Sharks have not evolved since prehistoric times because they haven't needed to. Sometimes a design is just classic.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">Having said this, you should <i>want </i>the 2023 revision. It reads better, it is cleaner, and it has the amazing production values of modern Chaosium products. I am not throwing my copies of the big gold book out, but I am looking forward to the print version of the 2023 and it will be the one I use going forward.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is one of the simplest, most flexible, most customizable engines in the tabletop gaming business. That is why it has lasted this long. You can talk about antiquated game systems, about out-of-date mechanics, but you are saying nothing other than personally preferring your Pokemon cards to chess. There is nothing wrong with that, but there is nothing wrong with a classic either. This is a definitive update of a definitive game system. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-78575248453458421012023-02-13T16:57:00.001-08:002023-02-13T16:57:18.695-08:00The Ship of Theseus: When Does a New Edition Become a New Game?<div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The ship wherein </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Theseus</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> and the youth of Athens returned from Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Demetrius Phalereus</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their places, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same.</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: right;">— Plutarch, <i>Life of Theseus</i> 23.1</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">SO WE ALL KNOW THE PARADOX. You have a ship. Over the years, as the planks rot, you replace them with new wood. At some point the entire ship has been replaced. Is it the same ship, or a new one?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The thought problem becomes somewhat more complex when applied to RPGs. Novels get reprinted. They often get new covers, possibly a new foreword, but remain the same text. If we bring them into another language, we call it a "translation." If we take a novel and turn it into a movie, we all agree the film is not the novel. It is an "adaptation." If a song is performed by a different artist, we call it a "cover." If a painting is copied, it's a "reproduction." </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With roleplaying games, we generally use the term "edition." Unlike new editions of other books, roleplaying games are often changed when this happens. Errata is included. Corrections made. Material is added or subtracted. Often, however, the rules themselves change, and sometimes substantially. I am always reminded of Bones McCoy in <i>Star Trek: The Motion Picture</i> lamenting, "I know engineers, they LOVE to change things." Game designers do too.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But this is where it all gets messy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chaosium's <i>Call of Cthulhu </i>remained largely the same throughout sixth editions. There were clarifications, some things were removed, some added, but all were completely compatible with each other. They shared the same ethos. The same setting. The current seventh edition is probably the most changed, but it is still, clearly, <i>Call of Cthulhu. </i>Anyone who plays seventh edition will recognize it as <i>Call of Cthulhu.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>RuneQuest </i>is mildly more complicated. Chaosium's first and second editions were nearly identical, separated mainly by a few clarifications. Avalon Hill's third edition, however, was more of a departure. While still <i>compatible </i>with the original setting of Glorantha, sweeping changes were made to make it a more generic game. Currency was renamed, all the in-text play examples changed, Rune magic became "Divine" magic (the same, but very arguably different), etc. I think this raised some very interesting questions. If, say, <i>Legend of the Five Rings </i>was relocated to fantasy Europe, would it still be the same game? If <i>The One Ring </i>was relocated from Middle-earth, would it? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With the latest edition of <i>RuneQuest, </i>there is a new subtitle and some additional mechanics, but in a move quite unusual in the hobby it returned to both its original setting and core system. It is even <i>more </i>recognisable as the original <i>RuneQuest </i>than were its immediate predecessors.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But what about the elephant in the room?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over the last two months, the question I am posing to you here as an entertaining philosophical conundrum has become deeply relevant to much of the hobby. We need to talk about <i>D&D.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Around the time Wizards of the Coast acquired<i> Dungeons & Dragons, </i>the question of "what is a roleplaying game" became incredibly complicated. The original 1974 game had gone through several editions, but the differences between them were minor, much as they were in our examples of <i>Call of Cthulhu </i>or <i>RuneQuest </i>above. Holmes clarified and simplified. B/X made a few more revisions. BECMI added a great deal of additional options, but at the core it was the same game. And it was in several ways a very different game from Gygax's <i>Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, </i>which--while renamed for reasons of shutting out the original game's co-author from royalties--was presented as<i> </i>a different <i>game</i>, not a different <i>edition</i>. <i>AD&D</i>'s 2nd edition included many rules changes, the renaming of "problematic" elements like demons and thieves, and a shift in focus from its original setting (Greyhawk) to the Forgotten Realms and others. Still, I think if you compare <i>AD&D </i>and <i>AD&D </i>second edition, they are as recognizably the same game as <i>RQ2 </i>and <i>RQ3.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then we hit "third" edition, and it all goes off the rails somehow. Presented as a "third" edition--clearly a reference to the two previous editions of <i>AD&D</i>--and sold in the <i>AD&D </i>format of three hardcover books, it nevertheless called itself <i>Dungeons & Dragons, </i>the "other" game traditionally in boxed sets. It had <i>AD&D</i>'s alignment system. It had <i>AD&D</i>'s iconic monsters. It preserved <i>AD&D</i>'s spells and cosmology...all VERY different from the actual <i>Dungeons & Dragons. </i>Well, fair enough...they were simply calling <i>AD&D </i>by the other game's name.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But then on top of this, the new game had a completely different engine. While the d20 system carried over a lot of the <i>terminology </i>of previous editions, it was a completely new game. After all, no one confuses <i>RuneQuest </i>with <i>D&D </i>despite shared use of concepts like STR and DEX and hit points. The d20 version of the game was neither<i> D&D </i>nor <i>AD&D </i>mechanically, just in name.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the same time, adding even more confusion, the creation of the OGL license allowed for the emergence of dozens of games that actually <i>were </i>the same as <i>D&D </i>or <i>AD&D, </i>they just couldn't use the name. <i>OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, Old School Essentials</i>...these are all recognizably earlier editions of <i>D&D </i>in new forms, while the game calling itself <i>D&D </i>became even less so (looking at you 4e, looking at you).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In recent leaks from Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro we have heard <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>referred to repeatedly as an IP and as a "lifestyle brand," but not so much as a <i>game. </i>I think the argument can be made that this is what it has been since the early 2000s. I am not saying that 3e, 3.5, 4e, or 5e were not themselves "games," only that they were entirely new systems to which the name <i>D&D </i>was attached. They were no longer the original line of games, but a brand. An "idea." It was the Athenians selling tickets to the ship of Theseus when none of the planks remained.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But, let's push the question even further. If any of the leaks are true, and the next iteration of <i>D&D </i>will be played on a VTT and apps, with AI Dungeon Masters, we are not even bothering with the concept of the ship. Forget whether or not it is still <i>D&D, </i>as an automated online game is it still even a traditional roleplaying game as we understand the term? It is akin to the Athenians deciding to replace the ship of Theseus with a museum dedicated to it instead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>D&D </i>is hardly the only game go through such changes. For example, the third (Fantasy Flight Games) edition of the <i>Warhammer Fantasy </i>RPG line was also a completely different entity from the previous editions. Yet the new (Cubicle 7) fourth edition of <i>Warhammer</i>, like <i>RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha, </i>returned to the first and second editions for game design inspiration. The fifth edition of <i>Vampire the Masquerade </i>is mechanically different from the original game, but it returns to the original setting (unlike the sequel game <i>Vampire the Requiem)</i> and in many ways the "spirit" of the first edition (excluding Sabbat characters, returning more to a game of personal horror, etc). There seems to be an awareness among game designers that you editions can change...but there is a danger of changing "too much." Something of the original DNA has to remain. Wizards approach with "One D&D," shrugging off the concept of editions at all, is a very different response. <i> </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div></span>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-21601559172456742332023-02-07T16:48:00.001-08:002023-02-07T16:48:13.890-08:00The "Special Reference Works" of Courtney C. Campbell<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">IN HIS OWN 1978 "SPECIAL REFERENCE WORK," <i>The Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook</i>, Gary Gygax wrote;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Considerable enjoyment and excitement in early play stems from not knowing exactly what is going on...(e)xploration, travel, and adventure in the "world" will eventually reveal the secrets heretofore hidden, and the joy of actually earning them will be well worth the wait</i>. (p. 7)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is an early articulation of the "three pillars" of classic Old School gaming: combat (the "adventure" part, the joy of getting your character into and out of scrapes), social interaction (the "travel" part, encountering all the odd NPCs with their quirks and motivations), and exploration. Really, all of this can be summed up as "discovery," and it was the thrill of discovery that kept players coming back to the table. Combat was part of it, but not as much as it would become in the decades ahead.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Old School Revival or Renaissance (with a nod to George Lucas we might even call it "Return") is about the rediscovery of discovery. Instead of well-lit dungeons where half the party has infravision anyway, these are darker delves where your torch is your best friend (one of my favorite treatments of the "light is your best friend trope" is in <i><a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2017/07/veins-of-earth-review.html">Veins of the Earth</a></i>). Instead of building a character, players roll them, and their "feats" and "bumps" will largely derive from what magic items they uncover. And instead of GMs planing narrative arcs and engaging in hours of world-building, the entire gaming group gets the thrill of discovering the world as they go along.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Now there is a lot of creativity in the OSR, but every now and again a product comes along that knocks you back on your heels and plants a grin on your face. Recently for me, a series of three books--<i>On Downtime and Demesnes </i>(2019), <i>Artifices, Deceptions, and Dilemmas</i> (2021), and <i>Bestial Ecosystems Created by Monster Inhabitation</i> (2022)--did just that. I will let you, dear reader, work our the acronyms of those titles for yourselves. These are the brainchildren of one Courtney C. Campbell, who author's bio in the first work captures the flavor of the writing in general. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">System agnostic, these books would make wonderful additions to a brand-new <i>OSE</i> campaign just as easily as they would a 1st edition <i>AD&D</i> game that has been going on for decades. I have even used bits of them in my <i>RuneQuest</i> campaign. It doesn't matter what "Old School" game you are playing. You want these.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAuh5jtbFXSwdoUlSOb8ugQAWqEDV88qnbr_ozcV7xfHsjY_mn83RDb3w2dC7RKJy1CAMZaqf7uHbBWIaOJBj2T7aBeZaEpE7TTeNgVed0HvFrTAgsnaL2iEx63IXNhnpe0pnu_z6PJlbg3-4RSPqq2rGyH3RSHDgVYHFrXbUsc4SsmOV3OZMz8qOs7Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1792" data-original-width="1270" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAuh5jtbFXSwdoUlSOb8ugQAWqEDV88qnbr_ozcV7xfHsjY_mn83RDb3w2dC7RKJy1CAMZaqf7uHbBWIaOJBj2T7aBeZaEpE7TTeNgVed0HvFrTAgsnaL2iEx63IXNhnpe0pnu_z6PJlbg3-4RSPqq2rGyH3RSHDgVYHFrXbUsc4SsmOV3OZMz8qOs7Q=w283-h400" width="283" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br />The first volume, ahem, <i>OD&D, </i>is completely dedicated to what characters do when not in the dungeon. It focuses on creating villages, towns, and cities, on making them logical and believable, but chiefly on making them fun. With ideas ranging from "Influence" (characters building up power bases as they settle in a community) to what to do with all that gold (philanthropy? research? orgies?), it is simply brimming with brilliant ideas. One of the earliest, "Navigation," was a sort of lightbulb moment for me that I was embarrassed to confess to never once having thought of in running and writing RPGs for decades. Basically, it takes time to get around a city, and characters get lost. The bigger the community the more time it takes. Trust me. I have lived in Tokyo for a decade and I still get lost on a weekly basis.</span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">There are rules on gaining optional skills and talents, but making them location and character-based, not generic class features. There are rules on henchmen and hirelings, there are hundred of quirky random NPCs. All of them clean, simple, and self-contained. The book is a buffet to add spice to your game.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBGBpMFfTZVDNC7QyaZneG7LJZ7LI43DyqGMoXINUMQ9749DgLJ6jKDRGAEkC2qA5oXDROzeRGHBDoEXzOH9ayho6bWdDLqLJ3-BWy5sUFqbvst6avRklJpX6t1Bk3I7WwaaofUAcduJJBDpBQiL0WCX_imFtPnt3vPCKXiWZ9RSNf7pJzI_YsagdvFw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1796" data-original-width="1286" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBGBpMFfTZVDNC7QyaZneG7LJZ7LI43DyqGMoXINUMQ9749DgLJ6jKDRGAEkC2qA5oXDROzeRGHBDoEXzOH9ayho6bWdDLqLJ3-BWy5sUFqbvst6avRklJpX6t1Bk3I7WwaaofUAcduJJBDpBQiL0WCX_imFtPnt3vPCKXiWZ9RSNf7pJzI_YsagdvFw=w287-h400" width="287" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>AD&D </i>(Courtney's book, not Gary's) has a subtitle that had me doing a spit take with my coffee, "Killing Characters Fairly." Like <i>OD&D, </i>this is a compilation of ideas, rules, and suggestions, this time on how to make hazards, traps, and encounters...fair. I don't mean "balanced!" Again, this is Old School philosophy. But as the author says on the back "No longer will your players complain about traps or unfair encounters. Now when they meet their doom, they will blame themselves for their own foolishness!" It is filled with images and examples of rooms one might encounter in a dungeon, truly devious traps that if players are cautious and logical they should be able to get around, and the kind of hazards (natural and not) that can get you killed while adventuring.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8JM3EYpYDv6u0f5bilKXqfaN4p8dQcx4WzNhGu6w7bnuo4UThKGR2i8Wf8RNLyAy65BuLSOQCtbapyUu2TZS_2smEPm9dbEUtBF0RdCKK44hK_5YY2i38F6Ei4ZEP2UMHMpErh3tSsoDkIVd_Zn0mW85qTG_r2GqvWK9Y_4z2nm3y7Kxp0-KjQnTYqw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1792" data-original-width="1278" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8JM3EYpYDv6u0f5bilKXqfaN4p8dQcx4WzNhGu6w7bnuo4UThKGR2i8Wf8RNLyAy65BuLSOQCtbapyUu2TZS_2smEPm9dbEUtBF0RdCKK44hK_5YY2i38F6Ei4ZEP2UMHMpErh3tSsoDkIVd_Zn0mW85qTG_r2GqvWK9Y_4z2nm3y7Kxp0-KjQnTYqw=w285-h400" width="285" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Finally, <i>BECMI. </i>This book is dedicated to the monsters, but this is not a collection of stats. Instead, Campbell goes monster by monster alphabetically, covering all of the truly classic beasties, and offering suggestions of how to make them different for each campaign. In some cases there are four, five, or six pages of clever ideas. Essentially, these prompts get you thinking, ensuring that players will forever be on their toes. Do unicorns, for example, "gain their power from the chaste and pure of heart" or are they "warlike fae sustained by bloodshed, righteous fury, and fanatical zeal?" There are scores of ideas, some dark, some comical, but mainly clever.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">We are told not to judge books by their covers, but these are really evocative and quirky, throwbacks to the eerie and awesome game art popular in the pre-<i>Dragonlance</i> days. The art wraps around, so on the shelf they really stand out.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0rxyC2EAdG0Bm7zHhn82w58CWTtNJbo6IvxWs1poHLVINljnT19WCuL9u_9FxiqRRZ0N9WaKSXtpOlYqW9rw6buc8EZZWb39VimQYBoqf-IUcOeAAxfKW6xKKRdzOlXsnc7n8FwVty5KFDJt_8JGFhn4Ax4yWPdYzcKjgKwB0alfaRdi_LExXwUR-kQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0rxyC2EAdG0Bm7zHhn82w58CWTtNJbo6IvxWs1poHLVINljnT19WCuL9u_9FxiqRRZ0N9WaKSXtpOlYqW9rw6buc8EZZWb39VimQYBoqf-IUcOeAAxfKW6xKKRdzOlXsnc7n8FwVty5KFDJt_8JGFhn4Ax4yWPdYzcKjgKwB0alfaRdi_LExXwUR-kQ=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">These books are currently available on DriveThruRPG in PDF and print-on demand. <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/399633/Classic-Gaming-Negative-Space-BUNDLE?src=also_purchased">I link the bundle here</a>, but scroll to the bottom of the page for other buying options. There are terrific examples of the energy and creativity coming out of independent and community content creators, at a time when we need to remind ourselves how valuable those folks are. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-26406989600034080602023-01-24T04:45:00.001-08:002023-01-24T04:47:16.039-08:00WHY I (ACTUALLY) LIKE SORCERY IN RUNEQUEST ROLEPLAYING IN GLORANTHA, PART THREE<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>This is the third in a series of articles. Read the<a href="https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2023/01/why-i-actually-like-sorcery-in.html"> first here</a> and the <a href="https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2023/01/why-i-actually-like-sorcery-in_23.html">second here</a>.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>The average modern man's relationship with nature is not the one that prevailed in the premodern "cycle," to which, along with many other traditions, the hermetico-alchemical tradition belongs. The study of nature today devotes itself exhaustively to a conglomeration of strictly reasoned laws concerning various "phenomena"--light, electricity, heat, etc--which spread out kaleidoscopically before us utterly devoid of any spiritual meaning, derived solely from mathematical processes. In the traditional world, on the contrary, nature was not thought about but </i>lived, <i>as though it were a great, sacred, animated body, "the visible expression of the invisible". Knowledge about nature derived from inspiration, intuition, and visions, and was transmitted "by initiation"...</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Julius Evola, The Hermetic Tradition</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Towards Tradition</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The paragraph I just quoted above characterizes the fundamental shift between Sorcery in the third edition of <i>RuneQuest</i>, and Sorcery as portrayed in the latest edition, <i>RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha</i>. It parallels a corresponding shift in the way the Malkioni peoples of the Gloranthan West are portrayed, and is the direct result I think of Greg Stafford's deepening understanding of--and appreciation for--the Western Mystery Tradition.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The first two editions of <i>RuneQuest </i>had very little to say on the Westerners. While Glorantha resists one-for-one substitutions (the Orlanthi are Indo-Europeanish...but whether they are Aryans, Norse, or Greeks is left to interpretation; the Lunars are an Empire but they might be Persians, Romans, Victorians, or the Imperium from <i>Star Wars</i>), it is clear that the Malkioni are meant to reflect "Western" mythology. But their thin presentation in <i>RQ</i> and <i>RQ2</i>, and even in <i>RQ3</i>, shows a largely <i>exoteric </i>view of the West. They are monotheists and materialists, they are colonizers, they have a decidedly 19th century approach to comparative religion. Their Sorcery is effectively given to us as "science," effects caused by the rational manipulation of immutable natural laws. Their main function and contribution seems to be the Monomyth, which while being immensely useful to Gloranthan GMs and players is nevertheless the sort of reductionist nonsense colonial European powers layered over religions around the world. In short, the Malkioni are presented to us largely as the "modern man" Evola speaks of in the quote above. It would take a couple more decades, and Stafford's involvement with the Chaosium RPG <i>Nephilim, </i>for the Malkioni to finally make the leap from "modern" Westerners to the authentic hermetico-alchemical traditionalists I expect they were always meant to be.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">To outline this shift, let's take a closer look at Sorcery in <i>RQG</i>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>The Nature of Sorcery</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Sorcery begins, in <i>RQG</i>, with a restatement of its introduction in <i>RQ3. "</i>Sorcerers perceive an impersonal universe of immutable laws," says <i>RQG, </i>while <i>RQ3 </i>had "Sorcerers perceive an impersonal universe. But they also believe that among its immutable laws there are exploitable qualities." While <i>RQ3 </i>then makes no mention of Spirit or Divine (Rune) magic, <i>RQG </i>almost immediately does: "<span style="text-align: left;">it does not require the assent of the gods or spirits the way spirit or Rune magic does."</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">What distinguishes <i>RQG </i>from its predecessor though is that it <i>explains </i>what these immutable forces are and <i>incorporates </i>them into the system. <i>RQ3 </i>told us about such laws but then never shows them. It instead presents a magic system that basically functions like Spirit magic. This is in part a direct result of it being generic, but I would also argue it stems from Greg not fully appreciated the esoteric principles of hermetic magic. <i>RQ3 </i>could have linked sorcery to the manipulation of occult energies (the four elements, the planets, the stars, etc) but it didn't seem to feel any real need to. It was content to leave sorcery without any rationale at all.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>RQG </i>wants is to understand how <i>exactly</i> how sorcery functions, however. We are told almost immediately is the manipulation of Runes through defined Techniques. It tells us that the <i>relationships </i>between these Runes matter, and that the God Learners used the Monomyth to map them out.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Obviously this makes sorcery a more complex affair than it was in <i>RQ3, </i>but in a game that has always been famous for its immersive features this is an odd complaint. True, combat would also be easier without hit locations, strike ranks, armor, or weapons...but those elements bring <i>RuneQuest </i>battles to life. I find that player character sorcerers in <i>RQG </i>likewise appreciate the added detail. It makes the magic system a knowable thing, something that the player can come to understand and explore.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Runes</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It starts here with the Runes. Obviously, on some level it has always been clear that the "immutable laws" the sorcerers of Glorantha are manipulating are the Runes, but this is the first time we have a visible framework. As mentioned there was no such framework in previous versions of the sorcery system. I think we owe this, at least in part, to <i>Nephilim, </i>which likewise explained sorcery as the manipulation of fundamental esoteric forces and included them in the magic system itself. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Runes, and as we will soon see Techniques, are <i>not </i>skills, nor are they affinities. They are not <i>learned. </i>Instead, in the clearest and truest nod to the Western Mystery Tradition yet: </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>to master a new Rune or technique, the sorcerer must achieve intellectual union with the source of their magic (be it the Invisible God, the One, the Great Mind, Logic, or whatever the sorcerer’s philosophy holds to be the case)</i>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is in complete agreement with the passage I quoted at the start of the article; "Knowledge about nature derived from inspiration, intuition, and visions, and was transmitted "by initiation." Though the word is not actually being used here, we are talking about <i>gnosis, </i>the fundamental distinction between alchemy and chemistry. One is learned, the other <i>known </i>in the sense of being united with it. It adds the missing religious element--and despite its "atheism" Malkionism is still a religion--in that to better command the universe, the sorcerer has to align himself with the Mind of the Creator.<i> </i>This is, frankly, <i>RuneQuest </i>doing what it has always done best...being <i>authentic.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Furthermore, the Runes do not exist in a vacuum, but rather in relationship to each other, another piece of much needed verisimilitude. We had a preview of this with the publication of <i>The Guide to Glorantha, </i>which I will not deny (and long-time readers of this blog will not be surprised to hear) that I "squeed" the moment I saw these;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRfheEq-tnMbVu5gEDyyBW_bF4gCNTDrepfvNRo843RXi5afmxM-CX6FBI-VrPSjSMEyppp1pq125hlNttL5PfkTL4e5eLqLu7dUffojVRZx_cXLo8LZ9uNznYrFtvEUXw2Xt0dtRBd4SczFAfjx4mTKO3CbRah40MagOnc1J0ro2cMCC745Me5WhSeQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1462" data-original-width="3472" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRfheEq-tnMbVu5gEDyyBW_bF4gCNTDrepfvNRo843RXi5afmxM-CX6FBI-VrPSjSMEyppp1pq125hlNttL5PfkTL4e5eLqLu7dUffojVRZx_cXLo8LZ9uNznYrFtvEUXw2Xt0dtRBd4SczFAfjx4mTKO3CbRah40MagOnc1J0ro2cMCC745Me5WhSeQ=w400-h169" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Zzabur's Sigil, side-by-side with the Ka Elements from Nephilim</i></div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In the interest of full disclosure, between the preparation for the art in the<i> Guide</i> and when <i>RQG </i>went to print there was a further refinement. The Elemental Rune relationships in the sorcery system in<i> RQG</i> are best described by the wheel on that character sheet, and not the one above;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTtbzGhisK362EFuAe86aO-GqRRsXr8QzpB53-HVmw9JgSTbmhWkcITlKQUwFs68xQB-XTntVSbW7im-QJ1k4txgOu9qispVDIgUfm6RTngM9Jx5HSFC2_NvbvOCGLuRxgBECHDrQv8JXDY9dn3dwEmB8ST73XyEskmnIee1UG6vbdajNDnQcKbxqwwg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="984" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTtbzGhisK362EFuAe86aO-GqRRsXr8QzpB53-HVmw9JgSTbmhWkcITlKQUwFs68xQB-XTntVSbW7im-QJ1k4txgOu9qispVDIgUfm6RTngM9Jx5HSFC2_NvbvOCGLuRxgBECHDrQv8JXDY9dn3dwEmB8ST73XyEskmnIee1UG6vbdajNDnQcKbxqwwg=w400-h378" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br />Regardless,<i> RQG </i>makes the relationships a quantifiable part of the game. When a sorcerer attunes to one Rune, the Rune they have "mastered," the two opposite Runes are gained as minor Runes. It's a nod to both <i>Nephilim </i>and the hermetic principle that each thing contains within it its opposites. To a lesser extent this continues with the Power Runes (if you master Movement, you gain minor knowledge of Stasis).</span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">What emerges here is a way to interact with the Runes that is methodical, structured, and totally different from the way Rune cults handle it. It integrates sorcery into the world as an actual part of the setting rather than hand-waving details away for the sake of expediency.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOvipH-cVBhXCSl2V-jBzmVGq2xxy9gCJabXuOjnK9CRwEXMYKtRL6jPDFNJ3LB9J41DeRX6-_7h66bIwf7lUe9mgyWxo6RCGjOUMvYEjT-PicRPghwr049ozr-FAGOdVCZyDCClkJWJWuVKB-7YzCzkcC64p_gFGQe3lPScdD7117xK7kGEX2Gb31Lg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2498" data-original-width="3958" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOvipH-cVBhXCSl2V-jBzmVGq2xxy9gCJabXuOjnK9CRwEXMYKtRL6jPDFNJ3LB9J41DeRX6-_7h66bIwf7lUe9mgyWxo6RCGjOUMvYEjT-PicRPghwr049ozr-FAGOdVCZyDCClkJWJWuVKB-7YzCzkcC64p_gFGQe3lPScdD7117xK7kGEX2Gb31Lg=w400-h252" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>More Western Mystery Tradition Influences on RuneQuest Sorcery, the Runes and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life</i></div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Techniques</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Like Runes, Techniques are gained intuitively rather than learned. Again this is consistent with the idea of apprehending something "immutable." Skills are extraordinarily mutable, developing entirely within the context of Time. Techniques exist outside of Time, part of the fabric of Arachne Solara's Web (and spoiler alert, they make a return in the upcoming heroquesting rules).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Spells</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>RQ3 </i>presented spells as skills, and in lieu of Techniques had sorcery skills to manipulate them. This reduces everything to skill rolls, and misses sorcery's self described point. If sorcery is the manipulation of immutable laws...then the spell, the "skill," is clearly the manipulation. Where then is the the law?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>RQG </i>answers this elegantly. The Runes and the Techniques are the "letters" of the alphabet, the spells are their spoken combinations. This is very in keeping with the hermetic tradition that sorcery derives from. The letters of the Greek alphabet, or the Hebrew, were perceived as immutable constants manipulated by placing them into combinations of words. That is literally the origin of the word, "spell" (and why it is related to "spelling"). Again, <i>RQG</i> is modeling what <i>RQ3 </i>could not, or would not, bother to. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Spells still require magic points and skill rolls to cast, but because Runes and Techniques have been separated out it is clear what immutable forces are being manipulated. The cost of the spell depends on whether or not it is a quality you have Mastered or just have a Minor affinity with (in the latter case the cost is doubled).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Final Thoughts</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In a way that <i>RQ3 </i>failed to, I would say that sorcery in <i>RQG </i>hits all the criteria it needed to. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It is a very different magic system from spirit magic or Rune magic. Players who want "flashy" super-hero spells will want Rune magic, but the player who is methodical, who likes to plan, and to whom you give ample time and resources can do things with sorcery no one else can. It just takes a patient, meticulous mind. If you have a sorcerer in your group, give them a season to plan and the results can be staggering. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Conceptually, <i>RQG</i> sorcery does everything it needs to. Stafford's setting carefully and considerately models shamanism, and it has a sense of ancient theistic religions second-to-none. This edition is the first time it has ever gotten sorcery--hermeticism--right. One of Glorantha's most most attractive features has always been its exploration of religion, and this is the first time the Malkioni do not get cheated. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But of course we have only seen the basics. I am very curious what sorcery practiced in the West might look like, and have put some ideas of my own into my campaigns. In the next article I will share some of those, and look at alternative directions you might want to take sorcery in.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><br /><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-13896683950026055972023-01-23T18:55:00.002-08:002023-01-23T18:55:29.754-08:00WHY I (ACTUALLY) LIKE SORCERY IN RUNEQUEST ROLEPLAYING IN GLORANTHA, PART TWO<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>This is part two of a series. See <a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2023/01/why-i-actually-like-sorcery-in.html">Part One here.</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Not A Bad System, Really</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">SO FAR AS MAGIC SYSTEMS GO, the Sorcery rules presented in the third edition of <i>RuneQuest</i> are pretty good<i>. </i>I would go so far as to say they accomplished two-thirds of what they were designed to do. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">First, the Sorcery rules introduce to <i>RuneQuest</i> the magician-type character familiar to players of other fantasy role-playing games. This was critical if you were trying to market <i>RuneQuest </i>as a generic system. Potential players have expectations of who and what sorcerers are, shaped not just by "magic-users" in other games, but the sorcerers we see in Howard, Moorcock, and Leiber. Neither Rune magic nor Battle magic conformed to such expectations, being intended to model magic specifically in Greg Stafford's Glorantha.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Second, the Sorcery rules provided an alternative magic system that operated unlike either Battle or Rune magic (both renamed in the third edition to "Spirit" and "Divine" magic respectively). Those two approaches were largely static, in that once a spell is acquired it does basically what it says in the spell description. Sorcery spells were flexible, with the sorcerer able to combine effects as well as manipulate the range, duration and strength of the spell. This approach made certain that Sorcery had its own unique feel. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>But in the third presumed objective, the Sorcery rules fell short. </span>We are told several times in the rules that Sorcery is an "impersonal" system, that sorcerers perform magic by exploiting immutable laws of the universe. Nothing in the actual mechanics of Sorcery confirms this, however. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Consider. If I sprinkle salt in a bowl of water, then with alligator clips and wire link one clip to the positive end of a battery and the other to the negative, when I place the other ends of the wires into the water, we start to see bubbles form. Why? The electricity is breaking the covalent bonds between the hydrogen and oxygen in the water. <i>This is impersonal. </i>It does not depend on my conscious will or how many magic points I spend. I make the bubbles happen because I am genuinely exploiting an immutable universal law. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Sorcery as presented in RQ3, does not operate anything like this. In a game system famous for having clear rationales in how it modeled things, RQ3 really had no clear clue what it was modeling in Sorcery at all. Instead, it comes off as some form of advanced and flexible Battle magic. Sorcery spells were skills, and there were further skills to manipulate those spells. Like Battle magic, the "fuel" for these spells was the expenditure of magic points, the personal energy of the sorcerer, or energy he stole from a victim. Conceptually this is identical to Battle magic ("the forceful alteration of the fabric of reality by use of one's own POW" and "affect(ing) the Universe by force of will"). We are told it operates by manipulating natural laws, but shown the opposite.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">For <i>truly </i>"impersonal" magic systems, we need look no further than <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>or <i>Harry Potter. </i>In these, the magician learns specific gestures and incantations and "hey presto!" magic occurs. <i>These </i>operate mechanically, by laws baked into the setting. If Stafford and company had genuinely wanted impersonal magic, it would have looked something like this. But the problem was that Stafford was a mythologist, and he knew that there is no such thing as "impersonal" magic. Impersonal "magic" is called "science." </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Magic in Transition</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span>When a new religion takes over, the gods of the old religion become devils. Once upon a time, older beliefs were outlawed as heresies. Today we simply dismiss them as fantasies. In the Enlightenment, as materialism, humanism, and "progress" became the core tenets of the New Faith, words were divorced from their meanings and very often reversed so as to weaponize them. </span>"Myth," for example, went from meaning "stories that tell us the origins and rightness of things" to "something that isn't true." "Esoteric" went from meaning "inward" to meaning "extraneous." "Psychological" went from "of the soul" to "of the mind."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">"Magic" likewise suffered. In Old French, <i>magique, </i>meant "the art of controlling spirits and superhuman powers." By the Enlightenment, however, the English <i>magic </i>meant "the art of predicting or influencing events using hidden natural forces." This is a radical shift. No longer is the magician dealing with beings, they are dealing with "forces." By the late 18th century, the word was further degraded to mean "illusion." </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At the epicenter of this shift, in the West, was the practice of alchemy. Nearly any current dictionary will tell you alchemy is "medieval chemistry," or (and I get a kick out of this one) a "protoscientific tradition." This is of course another example of redefinition from above. Further, in a breath-taking display of what Stafford would have called God Learnerism, we are also told that Taoist <i>waidan </i>and <i>neidan, </i>Sanskrit <i>rasayana, </i>and the theories of Zosimos of Panopolis are all "alchemy," as if these things bore any relation to each other at all. What <i>does </i>connect them--and all that matters to modern detractors--is that scientific medicinal and chemical practices emerged as by-products of these traditions. That they were essentially spiritual practices is irrelevant because they are "protoscientific."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">By the time Sir Issac Newton and later Thomas Jefferson were practicing it, alchemy was indeed essentially desacralized, leading to this notion that hermeticism was just a kind of science. This would have fit comfortably into Jefferson's own Deism, the belief that the Universe was the work of a Creator who has nothing further to do with it, God as the Master Clock Maker. This is very much the view of Stafford's God Learners. But dial back a few centuries and alchemy looked quite different. "Universe, hear my plea," begins the invocation the <i>Corpus Hermeticum </i>(13:18) instructs alchemists to begin their operations with. "Earth, open. Let the Waters open for me. Trees, do not tremble. Let the Heavens open and the Winds be silent. Let all my faculties celebrate in me the All and One!" The alchemists participated in a <i>living </i>Universe, a very <i>personal </i>Universe. "The true elements are the <i>soul </i>of the essences, physical elements are but their shells or bodies" (Pemety, <i>Stories of the Egyptian and Greek Devotees, </i>1786). </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As I mentioned in Part One, Stafford clearly struggled a bit with the Malkioni--and as a consequence Sorcery--because he had a natural antipathy to the Western mythology it was based upon. Stafford <i>knew </i>that myths were not "just stories," that <i>psyche </i>was spirit and not simply mind, and with the God Learners is clearly condemning materialistic Deism, colonialism, and 19th century self-superiority. I think Sorcery comes off as muddled in RQ3 because he did not yet have a <i>feel </i>for it the way he did for shamanism or ancient religious traditions at the time RQ3 went to press. He himself mentions "the bulk of the data" he had compiled on the Jrusteli and their Empire came in the period after licensing <i>RuneQuest </i>to Avalon Hill (see his "Designer's Notes" in the 1988 <i>Genertela Crucible of the Hero Wars</i>). But another critical factor in "getting a feel" for Sorcery came in the early 1990s, when Chaosium produced the English edition of the French RPG <i>Nephilim. </i>Chaosium's Jeff Richard was kind enough to share with me in the past the notes Greg had during this period, a deep dive into the Western Mystery Tradition that <i>Nephilim </i>was exploring. While <i>Nephilim </i>has left many fingerprints on <i>RQG--</i>the "wheel" of the Elemental Runes being the most evident--it is clear that Greg's sense of Sorcery, of the Malkioni, was likewise influenced by the game. It seemed to crack the code for him on how to make Sorcery "impersonal" but still an actual, living religious tradition rather than surface level materialism.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The solution was, of course, the Runes. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><br /><p><i><br /></i></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-34558685505673937672023-01-19T07:35:00.005-08:002023-01-19T07:42:46.606-08:00WHY I (ACTUALLY) LIKE SORCERY IN RUNEQUEST ROLEPLAYING IN GLORANTHA, PART ONE<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">THE YEAR IS 1984, and Sorcery--fashionably late--arrives at the party.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The first edition of <i>RuneQuest</i> (1978) had introduced us to two types of magic already. Both made perfect sense for a Bronze Age, mythological setting. Battle Magic was the "forceful alteration of the fabric of reality by use of one's POW." While some Battle Magic spells were recognizably supernatural, the vast majority of them were about <i>excellence. </i>Bladesharp and Bludgeon made your weapons deadlier. Glamour made you more charismatic. Strength, Coordination, and Mobility made you better, faster. These all fit quite comfortably in epic literature. We see things like them all the time in the <i>Iliad </i>or the <i>Mahabharata. </i>In the latter, Arjuna frequently uses a trick that looks suspiciously like Multimissile. Many of the others are right there in Homer. In fact, the Greeks probably would have just called Battle Magic <i>arete.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Rune Magic was bigger, flashier, more powerful. But Rune Magic was also a sort of divine intervention. It is the power of the gods channeled through mortals. Again, this is the kind of magic we see all the time in the epics. Arjuna, for example, went to the Himalayas to perform austerities and sacrifice for <i>pashupatastra:</i> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Arjuna soon regained consciousness and began to mentally worship Lord Shiva... Lord Shiva was satisfied with Arjuna and said, "O Phalguna, I am pleased with you, for no one can rival your prowess. There is no kshatriya who is equal to you in courage and patience. O sinless one, your strength and prowess almost equal mine. Behold me, O bull of the Bharata race. I will grant you eyes to see my true form. Without doubt you will defeat your enemies, including those in heaven. I have been pleased with you and will grant you an irresistible weapon...</span></i></p><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Chapter 3</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Pashupatastra is a kind of spiritual missile, a blast that will destroy whatever it strikes. Like a lot of Rune Magic, you sacrifice for it and once you use it, it's gone.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">All of this is the kind of magic the ancients would have recognized.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And then there is Sorcery.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Sorcery is closer to what we--20th and now 21st century people--think of when we hear the word "magic." It's closer to the magic that saturates modern fantasy. "Sorcerers perceive an impersonal universe," we were told in the third edition of <i>RuneQuest</i>, "among its immutable laws there are exploitable qualities." This is, essential, the magic in <i>D&D </i>or <i>Harry Potter. </i>Like electricity or magnetism, it is a natural feature of the cosmos that clever people can tap. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of evidence that Bronze Age peoples would have warmed to the idea of an impersonal universe. It's a fairly Iron Age idea, really, and a late one at that. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And yet, <i>RuneQuest </i>needed Sorcery. The third edition was designed to be generic, and generic fantasy has to include modern fantasy fiction with all its very post-modern concepts. Everybody knows <i>wizards </i>do magic, not Bronze Age hoplites! So room was made for the kind of slow, ritual, manipulating cosmic forces sort of magic we see in Howard or Moorcock. <i>RuneQuest </i>at last had a "magic-user."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I am not saying that Sorcery was a bad addition to the game (or even to Glorantha), only that it was part of a very different mythology than the one we had seen in Dragon Pass and Prax. Sorcery is an artifact of <i>Western </i>mythology...and I don't mean the Malkioni, I mean us. Like colonialism, monotheism, and atheism, the impersonal universe is a feature of European mythos. Battle Magic and Rune Magic derive from older, and far more widespread, mythologies. My sense is that Greg Stafford knew Glorantha <i>had </i>to integrate Western mythology, but struggled with exactly how to do that. For me, the High Medieval Malkioni West of RQ3 Glorantha was never a comfortable fit. If I wanted <i>Pendragon, </i>well...Greg had written that game too. I spent decades politely pretending the West of Genertela simply did not exist, or at least that it had vanished with the Jrusteli.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Major Digression Alert. </i>One of the reasons I think Greg struggled with how to include Western mythology into the setting is that he simultaneously spent a lot of time disproving it. The God Learners, after all, are the perfect distillation of the Western Mythos. Secure in the knowledge of their superiority, and by Divine Right, they knew that their One God was the only true one, and had no qualms colonizing the rest of Glorantha reducing local religions to little more than formulae. The God Learners were Greg's sharp criticism of Freud, who reduced religions to psycho-babble; of Marx, who reduced them to economics; even of Frazer who reduced magic and religion to train stops on the grand journey to science. In Jrustela, Greg lumps together the entire 19th century field of comparative religion, which wanted to reduce mythology to something else other than a thing in itself. And then Greg sinks it.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">So in the tapestry of mythologies that composes Glorantha, Western was the piece he seemed to have the most trouble making fit. In the <i>Hero Wars</i> and early <i>HeroQuest</i> period, he still seems to be struggling. And yet, somewhere in this period between <i>RuneQuests</i>, the problem gets solved. By the time the two-volume <i>Guide to Glorantha </i>is published, we get a West that makes sense, that <i>fits</i>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Now it was time to make Sorcery, the magic of the West, fit too. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-90516521657600853112023-01-12T18:44:00.005-08:002023-01-12T18:45:18.288-08:00A Few Thoughts on Open Game Licenses<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">IF YOU ARE READING THIS, I assume you know the situation.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In a nutshell: Wizards of the Coast, owner of the <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> "brand" and subsidiary of toymaker Hasbro, is amending the terms of an agreement made over twenty years ago. Essentially, to sell their new version of <i>D&D, </i>Wizards opened the game system to free third-party use. It succeeded. I might even argue it saved <i>D&D </i>from oblivion.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">With <i>D&D</i> back on top, Hasbro would now like to amend the agreement in ways that are--pun intended--draconian. I won't go into all the details. Most of you know them, and that isn't what I want to talk about here.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">What is clear to me is that neither Hasbro, nor the people they have put in charge of Wizards of the Coast and <i>D&D </i>(many of whom come from the video game industry), have any concept of what a roleplaying game is or how it actually works.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Here is the way they seem to<i> think</i> it should work: the consumers buy our core product, then they buy additional materials we create in-house. They play the scenarios we write, in the settings we publish, using <i>D&D</i> brand<i> </i>materials licensed by us, preferably on a virtual tabletop we own.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I get it. I mean this works for video games. You buy, say, <i>Dragon Age Inquisition, </i>then additional downloadable content for it. You read licensed novel tie-ins, wear licensed t-shirts, whatever. But the core idea is that YOU (the company) are the creator. YOU create all the content. They (the consumers) PLAY what YOU give them.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">That Hasbro thinks they can apply this model to table top RPGs is breathtakingly ignorant.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Since 1974, when the art form first appeared, the RPG has been a tool-kit. It is the <i>frame, </i>not the <i>picture. </i>An RPG is a kit which enables a player to create their own unique character and the GM to create their own unique scenarios, campaigns, and in some cases even their own settings.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In short, the people buying your product are not passive <i>consumers, </i>they are active <i>hobbyists.</i> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">By the very nature of the art form, once a company releases a new game, the people who bought it become the competition. Sure, you can offer scenarios and settings, but if they suck, people will just create their own. You can offer additional rules and clarifications, but if someone has better ideas, they will use their own. So you either up your game and offer the best products you can, or you can go the route Hasbro is going and try to make it impossible to not use your products.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">RPG companies that understand the hobby and are confident in their product embrace open game licenses and community content programs. They know that the more people who use their system, the better regarded that system is. They know that RPGers are hobbyists exercising their creative powers, and that inviting them to publish community content only strengthens their brand. It shows they are still confident enough in their own releases that people will buy them in addition to community content.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">On the other hand, companies with the track record of releases Wizards has had the last couple of years scramble to monopolize instead. To my mind, the most telling statement to come out of Wizards in all of this is that the old Open Gaming License was never intended to "subsidize major competitors." People move to OSR (Old School Revival or Renaissance) games like <i>Old School Essentials</i> because they don't like the current version of <i>D&D. </i>They play games like <i>13th Age</i> or <i>Pathfinder</i> for the same reason. Instead of trying to win such players back, it is easier to shut the competition down.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And that is stage one. Stage two is the virtual tabletop, where GMs and players will have to play your scenarios in your settings.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It's the easy way out.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Obviously, I have bias here. I publish through Chaosium's <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/cc/29/jonstown-compendium">Jonstown Compendium</a> and (full disclosure) have written for both their <i>RuneQuest </i>and <i>Call of Cthulhu </i>lines. Naturally I applaud their robust community content programs (the <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/2/Chaosium/subcategory/74_29274/Miskatonic-Repository">Miskatonic Repository</a> as well) as smart business moves. They get that their community is going to create, why not also give them a chance to share? I honestly do not feel my <i>Six Seasons in Sartar</i> in any way hurt their sales of, say, <i><a href="https://www.chaosium.com/the-pegasus-plateau-other-stories-hardcover/">The Pegasus Plateau</a></i>. Possibly even the reverse. Likewise I applaud their own <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/blogannouncing-the-basic-roleplaying-system-reference-document-and-open-game-license/">BRP Open Game License</a> because I feel the more people using the system, the better. A rising tide raises all ships. And I am VERY pleased<a href="https://gizmodo.com/paizo-wizards-of-the-coast-dnd-open-rpg-ogl-1-1-1849982443"> to see today they joining forces with other major industry players on a multi-system OGL platform</a>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">OGLs and community content programs demonstrate knowing, and respecting, who your audience is. Most of the industry gets this. I suspect <i>Wizards</i> gets this. Hasbro, clearly, has no idea who their audience is. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-84115363979211724112023-01-11T17:26:00.000-08:002023-01-11T17:26:15.605-08:00CRIMSON KING, ANOTHER RUNEQUEST REVIEW<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Moonstruck</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Blame it on Aristotle.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It was his theory, that because it was the "moistest" organ in the body, the brain was the organ most affected by the Moon. Our closest heavenly neighbor clearly pulled on the tides, so it followed it also pulled on the wet lump in our heads. Later, the Roman philosopher Pliny concurred. The Moon, you see, caused dew to form, and therefore also caused water on the brain.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This notion, that the Moon is connected to madness is a peculiarly Western one, and a relatively modern one at that. The connection is not really there in the language. The English "Moon," from the Old English <i>mona, </i>is related to words like the Latin <i>menis </i>and the Sanskrit <i>masah, </i>all of which derive from a PIE word meaning "month." They are related to words like "meter" and "measure." This of course is because the phases of the Moon were a nearly universal way to measure time. Meanwhile, <i>Luna, </i>which gives us "lunatic," simply means "brightness" (related to the Latin <i>lux </i>and English words like "lucent" and ironically the opposite of madness, "lucid").</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mythology doesn't seem to associate them either. The Egyptian Moon god Khonsu was associated with time and fertility. The Hindu Chandra was associated with night and vegetation. The Mesopotamian Sin was associated with cattle, likely because the crescent Moon looked like bull horns, and thus Sin looked after cowherds and shepherds. The same association with horns probably made the Japanese Moon god Tsukuyomi the patron of hunters. The Greek Selene was also described as having horns, and her late association with Artemis confirmed hunting aspects. The Roman Luna has horns too, and was associated with brightness and fertility...but not insanity.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Yet when it comes to Greg Stafford's Glorantha, and the mythology thereof, the connection between the Moon and madness is definite. The Red Moon hovers there in the sky, and when it is "full" (at least from the perspective of Dragon Pass, the region where much of the action of the setting takes place), werewolves run wild and Chaos is strong. The Red Moon's Seven Mothers cult teaches the Rune spell "Madness." The elemental spirits of the Red Moon, "Lunes," inflict madness on their victims as well. So it would seem that Stafford, whose Glorantha was created to explore mythology, got it wrong here. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Except of course that for Stafford mythology was a living thing, an on-going process. It doesn't stop with Homer and Ovid, pinned down like dead butterflies under glass. The association between the Moon and madness has been a common one in European folklore and mythology the last two thousand years, so naturally he included it in the mythology of the Red Moon, the Lunar Empire, and the Red Goddess. In the same way that Orlanth cannot be said to be Thor--or Jupiter, or Perun, or Hadad, or Indra, etc.--the Red Moon is not any single cultural or mythological notion but an amalgamation of many such notions. Indeed, in the case of the Red Goddess is it obvious, as she is an amalgamation of goddesses. She has the associations with lunacy, sure. But she is also connected to cycles and time, to Life and Death, and light as well. The "lumi" in "Illumination" is related to "luna" too.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">C'mon Drew, Can We Get to the Freakin' Review Now?</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I mention all this because Nick Brooke's <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/422451/Crimson-King-RuneQuest?src=newest_community">Crimson King</a> </i>is simultaneously an exploration of ALL of the multiple facets of Glorantha's Moon goddess and completely, utterly, insane. Nuts. Bonkers. Deranged. Mad. Literally, <i>quite </i>literally, out of its mind.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRAq6QCgcwHs64mo4wYBy8Db88fZaDQVAT-KsJhWGXHNCj7CG4xJkzQ2PFYbFGNgl-5MqZdoM9eqZMghlOXL5B7QY9iB6OVjuwo4IKLHl0ZaRaZySwFKCpww0wEyRW-QGIInszX64lCvidBe8lr1FRHIt76UiO2gv6IzZcM3Rjo-MwgdCoq8IrOwWNIA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2368" data-original-width="1770" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRAq6QCgcwHs64mo4wYBy8Db88fZaDQVAT-KsJhWGXHNCj7CG4xJkzQ2PFYbFGNgl-5MqZdoM9eqZMghlOXL5B7QY9iB6OVjuwo4IKLHl0ZaRaZySwFKCpww0wEyRW-QGIInszX64lCvidBe8lr1FRHIt76UiO2gv6IzZcM3Rjo-MwgdCoq8IrOwWNIA=w298-h400" width="298" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Yet even more than with his previous Jonstown Compendium entry, <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/372888/Black-Spear-RuneQuest?src=by_author_of_product">Black Spear</a>,</i> I find myself completely unable to explain why I say this without ruining the entire scenario for you. In fact in writing this review, I had to go to the Jonstown Compendium page to see what Nick had to say about it so that I knew how much <i>I </i>could say about it...and the answer is, "not much." </div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">So I am not going to tell you where it is set, or who the protagonists are, or any of the plot. In fact, as I looked over what I had initially jotted down for this review, I had Buffy Summers in my ear asking "Huh? Can you vague that up for me?" As a demonstration of exactly <i>how</i> much of a nerd I am I also had River Song in the other ear warning "spoilers." So you and I are going to have to tread lightly here.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Set in the year 1627 S.T.,<i> Crimson King </i>is a roleplay-heavy scenario in three acts (it could, with little effort, be set in a different year). There is a fight scene, sure, but <i>Crimson King</i> is more improvisational theater than tabletop wargaming. It is superbly illustrated, but that is a hallmark of Nick Brooke's projects. Brooke brings interior illustrations by Linnea Mast, Mike O'Connor (from <i>Black Spear</i>), Dario Corallo, and Brooke's fellow Greg Stafford Memorial Award winner Katrin Dirim (2020 and 2021 respectively) to the project, with striking cover art by John Sumrow. It sees the players taking on the roles of powerful dignitaries of the Lunar Empire, the movers and shakers you might say, and places them together at a dinner party somewhere in Lunar territory. Along with the usual palace intrigues there is a conspiracy afoot and then things take a sharp turn. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A really sharp turn. In fact, (REDACTED: SPOILERS).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Where was I? Oh yes. <i>Crimson King </i>is full of details and ideas that flesh out various facets of the Lunar Empire and its religion, with detailed descriptions of famous Lunar luminaries and aspects of the Moon (each beautifully illustrated by Dirim). There is a lot here that could be dropped into any Lunar campaign. It is nominally a sequel to the author's <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/307504/The-Duel-at-Dangerford?src=by_author_of_product">The Duel at Dangerford</a> </i>and the aforementioned <i>Black Spear, </i>but there is no reason it has to be. It could easily be dropped into any campaign. It also...um..."reinterprets" elements from <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/309765/A-Rough-Guide-to-Glamour?src=also_purchased">A Rough Guide to Glamour</a> </i>and <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/334598/Life-of-Moonson-Book-One-The-Characters?src=by_author_of_product">Life of Moonson</a> </i>but you really don't need those either.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">On the other hand, if you know any of these products you will have a much better idea of what you are getting here. <i>Crimson King </i>is distinctively a Nick Brooke Production. It is playful rather than stuffy, juicy rather than dry, and tongue-in-cheek rather than solemn. It references pop music and Terry Gilliam (not to mention <i>Star Wars, Casablanca, Mission Impossible,</i> the Eurythmics and John Carpenter). If you are looking for academic, and by this I mean "self-important" rather than "informative," this is not that. It takes the MGF concept ("maximum game fun") and runs with it.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And yet, damnit, the thing I most want to tell you about <i>Crimson King </i>is the one thing I can't. The scenario has one of the best "pulling the rug out from under you" scenes I have seen in recent RPG memory...in a good way. There is a twist in this that makes it terrific, but that is about all I can say.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">You will come to<i> Crimson King </i>for the phenomenal production values, gorgeous art, and trademark Brooke wit. You will <i>remember </i>it for the setting and the ingenious plot twist. <i>Crimson King </i>is lunacy of the highest order, absolutely insane. Yet for a hobby in which people sit around have a consensual hallucination...is that really a bad thing?<i> </i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> <i> </i> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-30498056049289144162023-01-10T18:02:00.001-08:002023-01-10T18:02:27.842-08:00HYDRA - ADVENTURERS FROM THE LUNAR PROVINCES, a RuneQuest Review<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>The Joy of Jonstown</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">One of the greatest assets of a program like the <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/cc/29/jonstown-compendium">Jonstown Compendium</a> is content. Glorantha--the setting of the world-famous RPG<i> <a href="http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2018/05/runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha.html">RuneQuest</a></i>--is a big world, but publisher Chaosium has never been a big game studio. The result of this is that no matter what products they are currently focused on producing, fans are going to want something from outside that focus that Chaosium is <i>not</i> working on. The best example of this is the oft-repeated lament that everything is focused on Dragon Pass and Prax. "What about Ralios?" "Fronela?" "Kralorela?" "Pamaltela?" Et cetera ad infinitum. One of the best features of the latest edition of <i>RuneQuest </i>is that it ties characters deeply into the setting (previous editions, like RQ2 or 3, were somewhat more vague with cultural backgrounds like "Barbarian" or "Townsman"). This makes it tricky, however, to play characters and campaigns outside of the detailed cultures in the core rulebook.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Jonstown Compendium to the rescue. Now instead of waiting for Chaosium to get around to the East Isles, <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/399681/Pirates-of-the-East-Isles-Vol-I?term=scott+crowder&manufacturers_id=2">we have Scott Crowder do it</a>...and if that was not enough East Isles for you, Hannu Rytövuori, David Cake, and Nils Weinander <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/411738/Korolan-Islands-Hero-Wars-in-the-East-Isles--Volume-1">delivered more</a>. Simon Phipp has brought us to <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/318512/Secrets-of-Dorastor?src=also_purchased">Dorastor </a>several times, Paul Baker turned his eyes on <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/324278/Kraloreli-Primer?affiliate_id=392988">Kralorela</a> and <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/353872/Houses-of-Teshnos?affiliate_id=392988">Teshnos</a>, and dozens of other authors have served up much, much more. Really, just do yourself a favor and get the <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/421667/Jonstown-Compendium-Catalogue-2022">catalogue</a> for all the amazing content out there. The point is the Jonstown Compendium helps to make <i>RuneQuest</i> a tremendously well supported game. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And on that note, I have a review to get to.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Adventurers From The Lunar Provinces</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Since the world of Glorantha was first revealed to mortals in 1975's <i>White Bear and Red Moon</i>, the core struggle in the setting has been between the Lunar Empire and the new, upstart kingdom of Dragon Pass. The Empire invaded the mountain nation of Sartar, the desert region of Prax, and had designs on the sophisticated southern matriarchy of Esrolia, until an upstart hero named Argrath came along. A sort of Alexander figure, Argrath liberates Prax, becomes Prince of the newly liberated Sartar, and is invited to become hegemon and defender of Esrolia all in the space of four years. He then turns his eyes north to the Empire that once held his new domain and exiled him.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Now, it's been traditional--but by no means mandatory--for <i>RuneQuest</i> adventurers to come from the regions Argrath claimed and to nurse anti-Lunar attitudes. This gets oversimplified somewhat in chat rooms and discussions casting Argrath as the "good guy" and the Lunars as the baddies. I think a lot of this was the zeitgeist of the period <i>RuneQuest</i> originally appeared. The first edition came out when a little-known film called <i>Star Wars </i>was in theaters, and it was easy to cast the Sartarites and Praxians as plucky rebels against a mighty Empire equipped with its very own titanic orb of doom hanging in the sky ("That's no moon," but it was, the Red Moon that hovers in the sky over the Lunar capital of Glamour). As a result, many people played the rebels and the Lunars always had British accents.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This was not universal, however. Full disclosure, my second RQ2 character (and the one I played most of my adolescence) was a Lunar. And since one of the core features of Glorantha is that is rejects the whole "black/white, good/evil, light/dark" ethos of many other settings, a lot of other people were interested in playing the Lunars too. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Peter Hart's <b><i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/418577/Hydra--Adventurers-from-the-Lunar-Provinces?src=hottest_filtered">Adventurers From The Lunar Provinces</a></i> </b>focuses on the southern reaches of the Lunar Empire...not the Lunar heartland, but the tribes and nations it brought into the fold prior to all the headaches down south with Argrath. As such it might be better to think of these peoples as "Lunarized" rather than "Lunar," a distinction without a difference really as the Lunar Empire is as much a proselytizing religious movement as it is a military and political entity. This 58-page PDF is a companion to Hart's upcoming adventure <i>Hydra!, </i>set in the Lunarized kingdom of Tarsh. Tarsh is described in the core <i>RuneQuest </i>rulebook, but <i>Adventurers </i>covers the neighboring nations north of it; Aggar, Imther, Vanch, and Holay. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLFNc0XmHyopeVwUnl2zKTskdcVs1owLvFwIBN2iDSkreO0jLRBQJ8UVL_tX4o3DcHQpJIDCqkwsKNoaI0L87RxdoLL9oE7tA0D7msN3yqH-nSfHEhmQCsjcNkHM7xdfzTFUwQb1PdQb1X2R0McrQ8WCfy2K-XTlWyCn7yZGDO-sOebiAGRVeYiC7BWQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2496" data-original-width="1770" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLFNc0XmHyopeVwUnl2zKTskdcVs1owLvFwIBN2iDSkreO0jLRBQJ8UVL_tX4o3DcHQpJIDCqkwsKNoaI0L87RxdoLL9oE7tA0D7msN3yqH-nSfHEhmQCsjcNkHM7xdfzTFUwQb1PdQb1X2R0McrQ8WCfy2K-XTlWyCn7yZGDO-sOebiAGRVeYiC7BWQ=w283-h400" width="283" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And "cover" them it does indeed. The first section of the book details character creation, following the style and presentation of character generation in the "Adventurers" chapter of the core rulebook. You will, of course, still need possession of the <i>RuneQuest </i>rulebook to make use of it. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This means that <i>Adventurers </i>details the base Passions, cultural Rune and skill modifiers, and family histories of the homelands mentioned above. The layout is nearly identical to the core rules, clean, well-edited, and easy to use. Art comes from public domain works, alongside <i>RuneQuest</i>-specific art from Jonstown alumni Dario Corallo and Martin Helsdon (from their superb art packs). Altogether it is a great looking book.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But two things really jumped out at me. The first is <i>Adventurers' </i>focus, and subsequent detail, on characters with military backgrounds. This is because <i>Hydra! </i>will apparently feature characters who are career soldiers or conscripted. You can, of course, use <i>Adventurers </i>to create other sorts of characters, but to prepare you for <i>Hydra! </i>Hart focuses on soldiers here. This means tables to determine what regiment you are from, what type of unit, patron deities, home base, and a corresponding page reference to the unit descriptions in Helsdon's terrific <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/296535/The-Armies-and-Enemies-of-Dragon-Pass?src=hottest_filtered">Armies & Enemies of Dragon Pass</a>.</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The second--and honestly this is reason enough to pick up the book in itself--is that Hart provides you with <i>twenty </i>pregenerated characters from these Lunar Provinces. These are full descriptions, complete with an illustration. I include one below. Each is unique, different from the others, and ready-to-play. On the other hand, they could also inspire players with ideas for their own characters, and would be of tremendous use to any <i>RQ</i> GM who needs a Lunar soldier to drop into an on-going campaign. Note too that they represent the diversity of the Empire. While some belong to Lunar cults, for example, there are plenty of followers of Yelmalio and Humakt as well. <i> </i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUzgBsGDAc7kNUSqC-KgT7HuIVjPjl_hcMDybeSfRpjSXaQOshYSGiBI_WYtHAn-2_5OO9f2f07xD0oxuD3hncd93kf08t6tsMvme6jpOXzhl90VkDjQjkcEKvrf3_B9fa_CofxebEAiwfrUNxI-cYlHnA3H1RZv6VrfbOfl5ewYYbZbjuOCHIuDwUkg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2496" data-original-width="1770" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUzgBsGDAc7kNUSqC-KgT7HuIVjPjl_hcMDybeSfRpjSXaQOshYSGiBI_WYtHAn-2_5OO9f2f07xD0oxuD3hncd93kf08t6tsMvme6jpOXzhl90VkDjQjkcEKvrf3_B9fa_CofxebEAiwfrUNxI-cYlHnA3H1RZv6VrfbOfl5ewYYbZbjuOCHIuDwUkg=w283-h400" width="283" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>Along with all of this are handy timelines, lists of key battles, and even a terrific list of important temples in these regions. Maps come courtesy of the <i>Argan Argar Atlas. </i>Finally, in a tradition dating all the way back to Rurik Runespear and the travels in both <i>Cults of Prax </i>and <i>Cults of Terror, </i>we have "Jonstown to Eneal--From the Journal of Salvatrix the Sober." This gives an insightful look into the region, the cultures, and the kinds of adventures that happen there.</span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Closing Thoughts</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>Adventurers From The Lunar Provinces</i> is a sterling example of what the Jonstown Compendium has to offer, a product that is useful to GMs and players alike. Shifting the focus from Dragon Pass north, it nevertheless could be used to drop Lunar soldiers anywhere into a Dragon Pass or Prax campaign. Highly recommended, and has out appetites whet for <i>Hydra!</i>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In the next review, we will take a look at Nick Brooke's new <i><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/422451/Crimson-King-RuneQuest?src=by_author_of_product">Crimson King</a></i>, a product that features the other side of what makes the Compendium great...doing stories that Chaosium is unlikely to tell. <br /> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-43521005619566631372022-12-29T03:38:00.004-08:002022-12-29T04:01:56.649-08:00DIRTY BRP TRICKS<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Since I first started playing their games back in the early 80s, Chaosium’s <b><a href="https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2020/02/basic-roleplaying.html">Basic RolePlaying</a></b>—the engine that powers most of their RPGs—has been my “baseline” system, the rules set that I return to again and again. Be it <b><a href="https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2018/05/runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha.html">RuneQuest</a></b> or <b><a href="https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2021/09/call-of-cthulhu-at-40.html">Call of Cthulhu</a></b>,<b> Superworld</b> or <b><a href="https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2020/09/nephilim-part-one.html">Nephilim</a></b>, <b>Stormbringer</b> or <b><a href="https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2019/05/king-arthur-pendragon-52.html">Pendragon</a></b>, or more recently the “generic” presentation of the rules in the Big Gold Book, I must have run thousands of BRP sessions by now. Like any GM who spends a lot of time with a system, I occasionally tinker with it, tweaking it for different genres or styles of play. Part of the charm of BRP is how flexible it is, and how modular. You can add, subtract, or modify the rules without “breaking” the game.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I have published some of these tweaks in <b>Six Seasons in Sartar, The Company of the Dragon,</b> and <b>The Seven Tailed Wolf</b>, as well as the <b>Six Seasons in Sartar HQ/13G Conversion Guide</b>. But I thought here at the end of 2022, I might share some of the tweaks I use for more “cinematic” styles of play. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Make Opposed Rolls A Fight</span></i></b></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">One of the reasons combat is such an RPG mainstay is that it contains multiple variables. Skill rolls tend to be pretty binary…you pass or you fail in a single throw. But in combat, you roll to hit, and the opponent rolls to dodge or parry. Then if you <i>do</i> hit, you still roll your damage…which could end up being a negligible amount blocked by your opponent’s toughness or armor. Combat is thrilling because of the back-and-forth, the tension of extended uncertainty.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But this can work for opposed rolls as well. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Whenever I want to make opposed rolls particularly tense, I do the following. Take the two skills being pitted against each other and divide them by 5. This gives you “contest points.” For example, you are interrogating a prisoner. Your Intimidate skill is 72%. The prisoner resists with their own Intimidate of 58%. This gives you 14 contest points, and your prisoner has 12.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">You begin the first exchange. You put them under hot lights, threaten them, rough them up a bit, and they resist. You roll Intimidate and fail with an 83. The prisoner succeeds with a 37. The prisoner spits in your face, tells you to do something anatomically impossible to yourself, questions your mother’s virtue, and so on. For “damage” I like to use a D6, but your mileage will vary. For longer contests use a D4, for shorter, a D8 or D10. Because the prisoner won the round, they roll a D6 and get a 5. You get red faced and flustered, and your contest points are not down to 9. The prisoner still has 12.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">If one side fumbles a roll, I like to make them roll a D4 and remove that from their own contest points. This is in addition to any “damage” inflicted by the opponent. For example, if the roll above had been a fumble instead of a failure, in addition to the 5 points you from your contest points, you would lose an additional D4 as well. In the case of a critical, roll double damage. If both sides score the same relative result—both fail, both succeed, both get specials or criticals—it’s a stalemate. No points are lost on either side.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The exchanges continue until one side or the other reaches zero contest points or less. In the example above, if the prisoner reaches zero they “break” and tell the players want they want to know. If the player reaches zero, there is no way to get the prisoner to talk. They need to try something else.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Obviously, you aren’t going to want to do this with <i>every </i>opposed roll. Just use it when you want to increase the drama and tension. I find it works well with:</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><ul>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Chases (more on this shortly)</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Debates</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Bargaining</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Seductions (like the lady says, “love is a battlefield”)</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Interrogations</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Drinking contests (use CON as contest points and CON x 5 for rolls…”damage” depends on the strength of the alcohol)</span></li>
<li style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Dance offs (in case you are running a campaign based on <i>Footloose</i> or<i> West Side Story</i>) </span></li>
</ul><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Chase Sequences</span></i></b></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I used BRP several years ago for a <i>Mission Impossible/James Bond</i> kind of cinematic spy campaign, and used a modified version of the opposed rolls contest rules above. It works like this:</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Each side uses the appropriate chase skill. Drive, Ride, Pilot, Swim, Fly, etc. For a chase on foot, go with DEX (or if you want to get really serious about it, average DEX and CON). This gives you your “chase points” (basically the contest points from above). For skills divide by 5. For DEX, multiply by 5.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">First, determine the range. I basically use the range track in Basic Roleplaying, p. 216 but omit range 5, “out of sight.” Range 1 is “side-by-side,” range 2 is “near,” range 3 is “far,” and range 4 is “very far.” If circumstances don’t dictate the starting range, just roll a D4. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">MOV determines initiative. If both MOVs are equal, the side with the higher DEX goes. They declare what they are trying to accomplish. “I run the red light.” “I lock lasers and fire.” “I run faster to escape.” “I try to pull a 180.” “I turn down the alley.” The opponent declares what they are doing to stop them. “I raise shields.” “I accelerate to catch them.” “I evade their fire.” Keep range in mind. You can’t ram their vehicle or tackle them unless you are “near” or “side-by-side.”</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Now both sides make appropriate rolls. This does <i>not </i>necessarily have to be the skill that determined the initial chase points! If your Aston Martin has built-in machine-guns, you can roll your Machine-Gun skill rather that Drive. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Compare rolls as per the opposed skill roll rules above. If you like your chases faster-paced, use a D8 or D10 for damage. Fumbles still add an extra D4 (feel free to use a D6 instead).</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When one side or the other reaches zero they are “out” of the chase. The side that wins gets to declare what happens to the loser.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Example 1: Two characters are in a roof-top chase, leaping from building to building. The GM rolls a 3, so the range is “far.” While they are running, the GM decides that the critical skill here is actually “Jump.” One character has Jump 45%, the other has Jump 30% (for 9 chase points and 6 respectively). Both characters have MOV 8, but their DEXs are 14 and 12. The 14 goes first. He is the pursuer, so he says “I am going to try to close the distance between us.” The other character says “I am going to leap on to the next building and slide down to the gutter.” They both roll Jump. The pursuer rolls a 29, a success! The other character gets a 17, also a success. He leaps to the next roof top and slides down, but his pursuer does as well. Neither loses chase points. Next round the pursuer says “I will leap and make a grab at him,” but the GM reminds him the range is still “far.” “I try to catch up then.” The other character keeps running. Since both are running now, the GM decides each should roll DEX x 5. The pursuer has a 70% chance and rolls a 35. Success again. The evader has a 60% chance and rolls 43. No points lost. the chase continues. The third round they have to Jump again. The pursuer fails this time with 33. His target rolls a 24, a success! The GM had declared “damage” for this chase is D10, so he rolls. A 10! He only had 6 chase points. The GM declares the evading character makes the jump to the next roof but the pursuer doesn’t. The evader gets away and the pursuer is not dangling precariously from the edge of the roof. he now has to make a STR roll to pull himself up or fall…</span></i></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i></i><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Example 2: Special Agent Dina Might is in her cherry red Ferrari racing through the streets of Paris. Two police vehicles are chasing her. Her Drive is 86%, the police only have 45%. This makes the chase points 17 for Dina, and 9 for each police car. Dina has a sports car with a MOV 200. The police cars are MOV 150. She goes first. The range is 2 for the first police car and 3 for the second.</span></i></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i></i><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“I will slam on the brakes and spin in a 180 degree turn so the first police car blows past me,” Dina declares. She rolls a 34. A success. The first police car rolls a 07, a special success! The damage this time is a D8. The police roll a 3. Dina’s chase points are reduced to 14. The GM says, “the police car slams on its brakes and turns sideways, bumping into the front of your car but stopping you from going forward.” The second police car rolls a 71. A failure. The GM rules they close to range 2 however.</span></i></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i></i><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Dina curses and slams into reverse, racing backwards down the street. The first police car will right itself and resume the chase. The other police car will try to close. Dina gets a 64, a success. The police get 64 (a failure) and 09 (a special!). Dina is having a bad day. Dina beats the first police car, so they loss a D8. She rolls a 7, so the first police car is down to 2 chase points. The second car beats Dina, so she also suffers a D8. She loses 5 more points and is now down to 9 chase points. The GM decides the second police car closes the gap to range 2, near.</span></i></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i></i><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Dina declares she will turn down a side street and try to get away. The other two cars pursue. She gets a 16, a special! The first police car gets a 98 (a failure) and the second gets a failure too (64). Dina rolls a 3 against the first police car and a 1 against the second. The first car is out of the chase, and Dina decides that they miss the turn and crash through the window of a doughnut shop (this is Roger Moore era light comedy). The chase continues…</span></i></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i></i><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">You will notice we are not taking into account vehicle speeds, hit points, armor, etc. That all works for more realistic genres, but this is cinematic…it is the character’s skill, not the equipment, that matters. On the other hand, there are times when it might. Imagine your spy mobile comes complete with caltrops, smoke screens, a slippery oil slick, etc. The GM might inflict a penalty on the opponents’ rolls in this case (-30 to -50% maybe). If your vehicle has heavy firepower, add a +1 or +2 to the D8 or D10 roll when you damage their chase points by shooting at them. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Crashes will do damage when appropriate. GMs should feel free to approximate (“You ski right into the tree, taking 2D6 damage,” “you slam into the wall but the airbag goes off, take 1D8 damage”). </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Stunts: </b>As a final word on chases, sometimes the player characters will want to pull a “stunt.” This amounts to taking a penalty intentionally, but the opponent needs to take it as well. Usually I let the players declare stunts, not my NPCs…but you do you. “I leave the ski slope and ski down the bobsled run trying to escape! I will take a -30%.” “I push the nose of the fighter jet straight down and pull up seconds before I hit the ground. I take -40%.” They take a penalty to their roll but so too must the opponents. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><i>Paper Tigers</i></b><i> </i></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Games like <b>Feng Shui</b> and <b>13th Age</b> call them “mooks.” They exist to make player characters look tough. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Basically, in a game like <b>RuneQuest</b>, Paper Tigers only have 1 hit point in each location. Any damage that gets through armor reduces that location to zero or less. In other games, just give them 3 hit points total. They might still have armor, or even dangerous fighting skills, but they have glass jaws and go down easily. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Give It Hit Points</span></i></b></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Like the opposed rolls rules above, this applies a bit of combat magic to other skill rolls. Basically, it amounts to giving a task “hit points.”<br />
<br />
Imagine the player character has to crack a safe. Security guards are on the premises and time is of the essence. The GM has decided the safe has 18 “hit points.” Your character has Safecracking 68%, and the GM rules you can make one roll each minute (he simultaneously rolls each round to see if guards show up). As above, you do a D6 on a success, and double that with a critical. Each successful roll lowers the “hit points” to zero. At zero, the safe opens. A fumble might inflict penalties to further rolls (-25% or -30% is a good number).</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><i>Instant NPCs</i></b></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I published a form of these in <b>Six Seasons </b>and <b>Company of the Dragon </b>as "CRs" ("character ratings"). When you need quick stats for an NPC, rate them on the same scale you would rate STR, CON, INT, etc. Basically, Computer Programmer 14, or Security Guard 12. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Assume this rating is their highest characteristic, their number of hit points, their magic points, etc. Their other characteristics are 2 or 3 lower, and they have a low characteristics at 4 or 5 lower. Their best skills will be that number times 5. Other skills can be based off their other characteristics or lower.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">For example, we have an Innkeeper 13. We assume his CHA and INT are 13 each, other characteristics are 11, and his STR is just 8. He has 13 hit points, but just 11 magic points to reflect his assumed POW. He has the skills he needs to run an inn at 65% (13 x 5), other skills around 55% or lower. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg9Vl0oIRGSDZ_wmJmqxIxHKH7vWv-LwyyjyZIRmG3a2d_Z8r9H4v3HzB4pTPdcVsiDoZkE3dXHqvQONV-o_g2wEA-1X680HR3aYV2khW4JcyZA-1CtrgGRep8vIWFOhbBre7fMreebxa7EtqWkRqGHny0LHbxpnZmR2vdrjnoOZzol3OzspQoSxFYgOw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="779" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg9Vl0oIRGSDZ_wmJmqxIxHKH7vWv-LwyyjyZIRmG3a2d_Z8r9H4v3HzB4pTPdcVsiDoZkE3dXHqvQONV-o_g2wEA-1X680HR3aYV2khW4JcyZA-1CtrgGRep8vIWFOhbBre7fMreebxa7EtqWkRqGHny0LHbxpnZmR2vdrjnoOZzol3OzspQoSxFYgOw=w305-h400" width="305" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /> </span><p></p><p style="font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i> </i><b><i> </i></b></span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480054330114599961.post-83916599833450203842022-12-19T00:40:00.004-08:002022-12-19T00:53:02.769-08:00Drives & Epic Passions, a Sneak Peak at THE FINAL RIDDLE<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="vertical-align: 2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>The following is a snippet from the upcoming "Characters" chapter of THE FINAL RIDDLE.</i></span></span></p><p style="color: #b00004; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="vertical-align: 2px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="color: #b00004; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="vertical-align: 2px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Drives (A Character Option)</b></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Characters in film and fiction often behave differently than their RPG counterparts. In many horror films, someone comes up with the bright idea to split up and explore the haunted house. Your average group of Call of Cthulhu Investigators are far less likely to do so. In literature, the private investigator will accept the offer of a drink from a suspect only to get drugged. In an RPG, the character that NEVER passes up a drink will suddenly do so in the same situation, suspicious of the offer. Players know they are in a game, and many play to win, even those who are roleplay inclined. They exercise a degree of caution that characters completely under authorial control seldom do.</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lady Amarj’s characters have misgivings about their mysterious Esrolian employer from the start, but they consistently set them aside, or make excuses to themselves to justify her actions. Why? Each of them has a strong motivation to go with her into the desert. They are not gamers. They are desperate people driven to follow her.</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">While your players may very much be into deep roleplaying, The Final Riddle is a potentially lethal one-way journey filled with horror and Chaos, especially if you are trying to run it close to the original pillow book. To “sweeten the deal” for them slightly, we suggest the following option rule system. Drives.</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">A Drive is a Passion, but it starts at 90% and never changes. It can be used to augment any roll that is made in service of that Drive. With a critical, special, or regular success, the roll receives the usual 50%, 30%, or 20% bonus, BUT if the roll fails—even with a fumble—there is no penalty. There is none of the usual despondency or despair. The character doesn’t get a bonus, but the Drive remains.</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 9px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">On the other hand, the Drive <i>dominates </i>the character’s psychology. A character whose Drive is “Revelation” should always prioritize that over any other Passion. If choosing between seeking forbidden knowledge and putting their family in danger—assuming they have Love (Family) at less than 90%—they will always seek the knowledge. A character whose drive is “Opportunity” will set aside any Loyalty, Love, or even Hate in pursuit of riches…again, so long as they are under 90%. If the other Passions are equal to or greater, they player should roll both against each other.</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Adventure</span></b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The thrill-seeker. The adrenaline junkie. The one with a death wish. The character with the Adventure Drive does not feel truly <i>alive</i> unless they are risking that life. They do not run from danger, but towards it. Depending on their other Runes and Passions, this Drive might take many forms. A character with high martial skills and Honor might always be seeking to test their prowess, to demonstrate they are the best in the land. A character with a high Death Rune might secretly wish for death, while one with a high Darkness Rune might feel cold and empty inside and only peril makes their heart race. A character with a high Disorder Rune might just be out to watch the world burn, and if they burn with it, so be it.</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Bound To Another</span></b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The servant. The shield-bearer. The lover. The follower. The custodian. The character feels they are in some way obligated to someone else, bound to them even in life and death. It doesn’t matter if this is technically true—and indeed there are many slaves who have no love for their owners—this character <i>feels</i> it. With high Love or Loyalty the motivation is obvious: the character feels they must do anything for the object of that Passion. With high Devotion, the character might be an initiate assigned to a higher ranking cultist and feel Bound to them. The character might be a junior officer, a batman (in the World War I sense) dedicated to a superior, or an “Alfred” (in the Batman sense). They might be a parent risking everything for a child. The crucial thing is that the character with the Bound passion will go to Hell and back for the person or persons they feel Bound to.<br />
</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Opportunity</span></b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The treasure hunter. The beginner seeking to make a name. The social climber. The one looking for the big score. The character lacks something—wealth, fame, reputation, recognition—and they are desperate to achieve it. A character with a high Man or Harmony Rune is probably looking for status, while one with a high Fire/Sky Rune wants recognition. A character with high Earth might want wealth. While all characters with an Opportunity Drive will risk anything to get what they seek, one with high Honor or Truth will probably not be willing to throw others under the bus for it. One with high Disorder or Illusion will gladly lie, cheat, and steal to get that they believe they deserve. </span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Redemption</span></b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The penitent. The disgraced. The dishonored. The character has had a fall from grace, and will do anything to clear their name. There is “red in their ledger” that they will risk their lives to wipe out. A character with a high Honor is motivated by that…perhaps their Honor was once even higher until they lost it. A character with high Love or Loyalty might have betrayed the focus of that Passion, and are desperate to prove themselves once more. With a high Death Rune they were once perhaps a cold-blooded killer until something turned them from that path. Perhaps the character is tainted with Chaos somehow and seeks to wipe away the stain.</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Revelation</span></b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The truth-seeker. The zealot obsessed with Things-We-Were-Not-Meant-To-Know. The mystic. The spy. There is a secret out there, tantalizing, out of reach, and this character <i>needs to know. </i>Combined with a high Moon Rune, the character is likely on the Sevening path. With a high Truth Rune, like a certain television special agent they know the Truth is Out There and will risk anything to find it. With inclinations towards Chaos, the character might be a full-on Lovecraft-style cultist. Those with a high Death Rune might, like Dr. Frankenstein, be obsessed with the secrets of Life and Death. With a high Man Rune, they might be an information broker, a spider in a web of information for sale. Regardless, they are after secrets, and will risk anything to obtain them.</span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhw0Q5taM5nwi8DonYEDzkTeb9_uDG7b_bnM8TyuiKN00eMs1DdhSII1wpwRUsq2D_dfEtuIdvjI1QLpSsZ9kC9fOa8N6kqAb5uKDa8JKJNs4ZTArMH9123eYe5yX-RyyoiRuP_W-8I3OfdtCx49cBYs5pbWlFeXrS-Yr4fY6MZRgGwbQZw0177EL6RWg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1550" data-original-width="1008" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhw0Q5taM5nwi8DonYEDzkTeb9_uDG7b_bnM8TyuiKN00eMs1DdhSII1wpwRUsq2D_dfEtuIdvjI1QLpSsZ9kC9fOa8N6kqAb5uKDa8JKJNs4ZTArMH9123eYe5yX-RyyoiRuP_W-8I3OfdtCx49cBYs5pbWlFeXrS-Yr4fY6MZRgGwbQZw0177EL6RWg=w260-h400" width="260" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Amarj’s Suggested Character Drives</span></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you are playing the pre-generated characters from Lady Amarj’s pillow book, we recommend the following Drives for each. </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Darana</b> is desperate. She is caring for her siblings in a hovel in Oldtown, and there has been no work in nearly twelve weeks. She needs this job to feed them (<i>Bound to Another</i>)<i>. </i>Possibly she sees this as a way to never worry about money again <i>(Opportunity).</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sarokar and Jolar </b>might both be driven by <i>Opportunity. </i>They are swords for hire and the money is running low. However, one or both might be <i>Bound to Another, </i>each doing this because the other needs it. Sarokar might also be doing it for <i>Adventure…</i>in the pillow book he does nothing but drink when not fighting and there are hints before Jolar he longed for death. Finally, Jolar owes money to his Black Fang superiors, so <i>Redemption </i>might be a motive to get back into good graces with them. </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Shi’an </b>was in Pavis looking into their father’s connections to something called the “White Bull Society” when the Windstop fell, and <i>Revelation </i>might be driving Shi’an as they continue looking for him. Tun-Bak was sent to watch over them by Shi’an's father (Tun-Bak is also a member of the White Bull), and is <i>Bound to Another </i>through through either obligation to Shi’an's father or Love for Shi’an themself. </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Simios</b> was disgraced in Jonstown for falsifying records, and came to Pavis for a second chance. In his mind, this expedition might be it…a lost city from before Time? A forgotten goddess? This could make his name amongst the Lhankor Mhy. We think this is <i>Redemption, </i>but it could be played as <i>Opportunity</i>.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Zarxis</b> is also a Danfive Xaron cultist working to lift the stain upon his soul (<i>Redemption</i>). On the other hand, he is also pursuing the Lunar path of Sevening (<i>Revelation</i>). </span></span></p>Andrew Logan Montgomeryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862829026060203177noreply@blogger.com0