One thing you've got to remember about Glorantha is that Greg Stafford, and others, have been making up stuff about it since 1966. It first appeared in game form in 1975 (as the fantasy wargame White Bear and Red Moon), and in RPG form in 1978 (as RuneQuest). There have been millions of words written about it. Greg's own take on it has shifted over the years, while the fans each build their own level of understanding, often at a different pace from Greg.

It would be strange if there weren't clashing and irreconcilable views of what Glorantha is, but many people feel that's a strength. I think it may be part of the 'weird' vibe that people get – things are hazy and Gloranthans speak in a secret language of their own.

Yes, that could be part of the reason. It strikes me as a very schitzophrenic setting.

RPGPundit

Like the King of Dragon Pass computer game, whose only fault is no multi-player support. Like the mythical reality bit, later I'd like GURPS Traveller's view for similar reasons (most printed info being the Third Imperium official line which aren't the whole story & are outright wrong in some places). Prefer RQ and the RQ-era books (and low level bloody play) though I'm interested in seeing how the generic version of Heroquest turns out. Not into Glorantha 401.

Has the advantage of being in print/back in print now (mostly). Read the setting stuff, liked RQ rules as the Ur-BRP, but never played it. I developed my Tekumel pitch from Runequest and the half-Barbarian player is a RQ grog. He likes the lethal combat, different monsters, religion that actually plays out as a plausible pagan religion same as with RQ. Incidently Sandy Petersen wrote a great & fairly complete RQ Tekumel (pdf). If I'd known about it sooner and T:EPT didn't do such a nice job of BESM I'd likely have used this.

QVACK!

A bit of thread necromancy, but there you go.

For me, Glorantha was quite cool provided you didn't get too into it.

Keep near the surface and you have a bronze age world with gods much more central to people's existences and with a range of strange races that men share their planet with.  Magic is omnipresent and the world works on magical rather than scientific logic.

Get too far into it and we find that dwarves are immortal robots who eat from tin cans, that one of the countries has feudal knights in it, that it has more backstory than real world Europe practically and that actually the game isn't about what it started off being about at all (adventurers risking their lives in the rubble for glory and profit) but instead is about epic heroquesting for a carefully detailed community.

Runequest Glorantha without much by way of supplements and no web access is great.  Detailed Glorantha, WTF?

Quote from: BalbinusRunequest Glorantha without much by way of supplements and no web access is great.

Incisive. I like most of the famous alternative worlds, but most of them get a little too big to wrap your mind around. I like to find the smallest unit of adventure I can and let players discover details gradually. Can you have a bar fight in this world? Yes? Let's play. A couple things I never worry about are a) "canon"--nothing's canon till the players have dealt with it, and b) "why would I play this instead of something else?"--because different worlds can be fun to visit.

I have found both these concepts especially important playing MRQ.

Quote from: RPGPunditYea, see, I don't get on the one hand why a lot of the shitheads who rag on Forgotten Realms for being filled with uber NPCs are the same ones who praise Glorantha, when its got dudes running around like they were Firestorm or Superman in bronze-age drag.

I am only familiar with the original. While HEROES (the caps are deliberate) may have been part of the background if you look at the actual supplements and material for GMs to use, Glorantha comes off quite differently in actual play. Much more gritty and low key. It wasn't a thieves world in any form but when you started adventure you were definitely low man on the totem pole. Even when you became a rune lord or rune priest there were still powers that could kill you in nothing flat.

Plus the most of the original supplements were known for their detail and consistency things like TrollPak that really made trolls something other than you beat up and take their shit from.

Griffin Island is still one of the best campaigns in a book ever done. Ian Absentia description of a runequest adventurer is pretty spot from what I seen.

Never dealt with Heroquest but from what I understand that Glorantha's author always wanted a ruleset that could do the mythic heroism that was part of Gloratha's background. I don't know if he wants to do that in place of or in addition to the original style of play.

Hopes this helps.

Rob Conley

P.S. What killed interest in Glorantha for me, back in the day, was the whole bronze age thing. Never really liked that for some reason.


Rob Conley

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaWhat the hell is an otyugh, much less a neo-otyugh?

This is pure conjecture, but I'd bet five bucks on it:

"Otyugh" is the D&D version of the Ahoggya from Tekumel.  There were Tekumel fans at TSR, for sure.

"Neo-Otyugh" is an attempt to pad out the "N" section of the Monster Manual.

Again, this is conjecture, but it fits the established facts.

Quote from: estarP.S. What killed interest in Glorantha for me, back in the day, was the whole bronze age thing. Never really liked that for some reason.


Rob Conley

Me too.

Plus, I don't like skill-based game systems.

I like all these WTF settings so far. Don't get too bogged down in history, science* and all the 'ologies and you may too. You are not at Maths Club now.

I also like the settings for Tales of Gargenthir and Under the Moons of Zoon

Oh, and the Borderlands campaign is fuckin' sweet.


* maybe it's because I didn't pay attention in class (other than to the nape of the lass in fronts neck) that I slide into the settings with konsumate ease.



'consistency is the refuge of the unimaginative'

My first exposure to Glorantha was the Dragon Pass boardgame. I was blown away with the originality and sheer awesomeness. It's still about the most evocative boardgame I own.

I never did play Runequest, but a few years ago I picked up the reprinting of Pavis/Big Rubble because I heard it was a classic RPG setting. It is. Great setting detail, cool adventures, awesome maps, and it's not just a bunch of background wanking (see Earthdawn) - everything is there to be used in game. I've thought of converting it to D&D, but the setting just isn't compatible.

Shortly after that I fell in love with the King of Dragon Pass computer game. Quite simply, the game kicks ass. And it immersed me in the world of Glorantha so well that I feel that I could play an RPG in the setting now. However, I know it's just too out there for my players to get into - especially all the cults/religious stuff.

One of these days, I'll pick up the reprint of the Griffin Mountain campaign setting. Paul Jaquays is the god of RPG setting design, in my opinion, and Griffin Mountain is supposed to be his masterwork.

Quote from: SeanI also like the settings for Tales of Gargenthir...

Now we are two.

Seriously, 'Tales' got nowhere near the attention it deserved. I'm planning on writing a True20 conversion in the not too distant future.

As for Glorantha, I agree with those who say it works best when viewed at surface level. The metaphysical backstory for much of the setting left me cold.

Glorantha didn't grab me until after I got a copy of Dragon Pass, but I always liked ducks. I only play in Glorantha using RQ, though (and Avalon Hill RQ at that, heretical I know). I like Hero Wars, but it really doesn't fit IMHO.

And if the Pundit is open to suggestion for future "What the Fucks", I gotta say the first thing that comes to mind for me is Shadowrun...

Quote from: SgtSpaceWizardAnd if the Pundit is open to suggestion for future "What the Fucks", I gotta say the first thing that comes to mind for me is Shadowrun...

Exalted...

You know, I don't have to be the only guy to start WTF threads...

RPGPundit

Heroquest's Hero's Book and Mongoose's core Runequest book were free PDFs last week so I've been going over them, King of Dragon Pass game and RQ3. Hero's Book is interesting and MRQ core reads better than the SRD. :pundit:

I see Glorantha as more "earlier" Iron Age (Classical) than Bronze Age but it is different and not everyone's cuppa. :raise:

Quote from: Old GeezerThis is pure conjecture, but I'd bet five bucks on it:

"Otyugh" is the D&D version of the Ahoggya from Tekumel.  There were Tekumel fans at TSR, for sure.

I can see that. Sutherland's art for Empire of the Petal Throne era Tekumel was a major draw for me. :cool: Ahoggya links:
early TSR drawing on page 9 of this free PDF
cartoon version
good writeup with a terrible drawing