mfbrandi

Well, I wouldn’t worry about them. For the most part, they are either: just making it up digging up some obscure bit of lore you can safely ignore Sure, it is fun to dig up or make up stuff, but not if it is used to manacle other people. (I try to give references, but if someone gives a reference, that is not to say you have to do things their way.) No, what I was going to say was, don’t let the rules bog you down. All you really need is: No, that will never work — no dice required Yes, that will work — no dice required Maybe that will work — the resistance is x Slowly add in any bells and whistles as and when you and your players feel the need for them. People publishing games probably feel a push to include complexity — to make it seem like they are giving value for money — but as a user, do you want to be grappling with complex rules and a complex setting at the same time? Glorantha has a lot of setting, but treat it lightly: the myths are contradictory and your informants are untrustworthy Gloranthans, right? So you could make your own cut-down version of Stan Shinn’s onesheet to share with your players, then maybe add to it as/if needed: more bells and whistles from the rules as written typical resistances (i.e. suggestive but non-binding), as established in play precedents (e.g. Orlanth takes Windsday afternoon off, so don’t ask for divine intervention then), as established in play See, I told you: pretentious nonsense. Never trust a hippy, a cockney, or a Chaos cultist — so never, never, never pay any attention to me!

I think a lot of us feel it is the one that has been given the most “poetry” — whether that is because of what we bring to it or because of how well the setting authors have handled it, I am not sure. Anyway, it all seems to go quite nicely till we have Zaramaka lapping around Ga/ta, and have to decide how to introduce Aether: I want to have lights coming on in the distance to illuminate the scene for the first time — Unveiled by and scorching Uncle ZZ, perhaps The setting seems to want fire/sky lying on the earth waiting for the Freudian explosion of Umath — Was Aether a fire on the earth? Wouldn’t air just make it burn more brightly? — A plaster – or rubber! – ‘ceiling’ grounded and waiting to be moved into its ‘proper’ place?

We all feel that way, but you clearly do have a vision of how your Glorantha works, so it is OK to be more confident. (I was going to elaborate, but everything I tried just sounded ridiculously pompous — even more so than is normal for me! — so that will have to do.)

In fairness to everybody else, that may just be me. Who wants to build the Powers from Chaos stuff? Usually, it is the elements, isn’t it? Even then the idea that the earlier terms contain the later ones is likely open to various interpretations. If the tank contains water and the water contains fish, do we have to say that water is made from glass and fish from water? I am also taken by this alternative: … but to annotate it would be to take it too seriously. 😉

Doubtless there are Darkness-identifying entities that shout that, but does Darkness’ presence in the early universe give it any special connection to that rant? Perhaps. I don’t know. But consider also that when the last candle flame of ego is blown out, one is left in the Darkness. Or rather, there ‘is’ Darkness (if an absence is a presence), but no one left in it. We don’t expect to hear the cry of ME ME ME I don’t EXIST. (It is best not to ask those who have heard Zorak Zoran’s pain cries whether they can make out words in them — they have suffered enough. Some have shyly volunteered ‘Wien’ and ‘virus’ — but the sages cannot find these words in their lexicons: they mean nothing to them.)

I have never seen a copy, but The Unspoken Word 2 sounds like it might be useful. Also: … suggests to me (which may be the opposite of a recommendation from any sane point of view) that there might be some mileage in stealing myths from other gods: you think x did it, but really it was Lanbril … how well he covers his tracks! Maybe Lanbril even sells/loans out myths to other gods for a piece of the POW action. [Continues to gibber incoherently to self.]

But, @Ormi Phengaria tells us, not necessarily as they are read at Vassar. It is always good to hear a dissenting voice.

I like it! But in orthodox RQ speak, Miller’s names might map to different runes (if they mapped at all). Something like this, perhaps: M. Chaos —> RQ Death M. Eros —> RQ Harmony(?) M. Earth —> RQ Fire/Sky M. Tartarus —> RQ Darkness (& ‘Primal Chaos’?) Miller’s Chaos might also partake of Storm (the separator) and Disorder (opposite of Harmony). Storm/Death/Disorder/‘Chaos’ — it is quite an attractive package, I am sure all Orlanthi would agree. And I always like a scheme according to which Death is NOT separation. A return to the unthinkable, unlimited, undifferentiated Darkness? I also like weeding out excessive ‘runeage’: maybe we can weld Death, Chaos, and Darkness into one multi-purpose party rune — fun all the way. Or, you know … not.

But that is part of the joy of it, no? If Glorantha were guaranteed to behave the same under QW, 13th Age, and the various RQs, one would just pick the one that is easiest to run … or cheapest … or had most player buy-in … or whatever. Of course, tweaking rules to take control of how your Glorantha plays is fun, too. 😉

I was chatting with this charming fellow from Dorastor and he assured me — and he was really very persuasive — that was the sword used to separate Cosmos from , so Death was available and in use since the first act of creation. If Grandparent Mortal and Yelm took their time — “no-time”? “time-before-time”? — getting on the pointy end of it, that was mere contingency and very slack of them. Still, it is good to know that questing back to pre-creation Chaos isn’t going to get me killed.

This may be true, but if the gods could read the minds of sorcerer–philosophers, would they see it that way? For the humble researcher wrapped up in her art, entities as up themselves as the gods barely register (except perhaps as minor irritants). For the arrogant researcher wrapped up in her art, entities as shallow and stupid as the gods barely register (except perhaps as resources to be exploited). “Gods? I cannot think of any test that would show something to be a god. It is just not an operational concept. Stop bothering me. Can you not see that I am busy?” “God? Oh, you mean Cosmos. How could I be an enemy of that? Each of us is but a tiny fragment of Cosmos, and yet, I fancy the entirety of Cosmos is inscribed in each of us! Now, where was I? Oh, yes, my theory of collimated Light.”

Sounds more Death Wish or Dirty Weekend than The Big Sleep or The Body in the Library. More the Punisher than Dangerous Davies. For a detective in the Philip Marlowe mould — complete with antiquated notions of masculine behaviour; the name ‘Philip’ picked to indicate chivalry ()? — why not a solar cultist? “[D]own these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid”? Not that anyone would ever suggest such a thing.

Seems like a good time for Issaries to exercise their golden tongue: Look, if our guy, B, had let A kill her to save us $$$, you would have been on the hook for $$$. But B is a thoughtful chap, so purely in the interest of inter-clan relations — not wanting to wind you up by costing you $$$ — she generously killed A. You ask us for $$$. We point out we just saved you $$$. It all cancels out, no $$$ need to change hands, and we can all laugh about it over a drink, which we can now afford. But just a small one, as we don’t want to start any more fights. Still not convinced? Look, I didn’t like to mention it, but B clearly saved you far more than $$$. I mean, it is $$$ and $$$ and $$$. And your clan’s good name. A was clearly an Arkat — did I say “Arkat”? Sorry, I meant “arsehat”, of course — and would have pulled the stunt on loads more people, probably bankrupting you all. So you should give B a medal or something. Or at least buy her a drink. Hers is a dandelion & burdock. Cheers!

A frolic for those of a frivolous disposition … Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world … And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? — Yeats, The Second Coming ——————————————————————————— So if is the mark of the invisible god, then as opposition should be a familiar idea. And yet the phrase “the second coming” is as suggestive of the old three-in-one (god of household lubricants) as it is of any Devil or Antichrist, but that is as it should be — “So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing” — and the runes are slippery things. ——————————————————————————— Law Meaning: Universal principles, logic, sorcery … The philosophers of the West describe the Law Rune as one of the great Powers, in polarity with the Chaos Rune … it ties the universe together in a rational structure. — HeroQuest Glorantha, p. 16 ——————————————————————————— So we have that odd trio of , , and : Stasis is associated with alchemy, so presumably with scientific law (contentful), while Law gets logic. The thing about logic — and this is a feature, not a bug — is that it says nothing: p or ¬p places no demands on the world, and the whole point of a valid argument is that it does not take you beyond your premises. So is the sign of emptiness — the Void, if you will — the traditional realm of , its supposed polar opposite or complement, which brings us back to Eliot. It is notable that Powers come in opposed pairs but that the Chaos rune is never placed in the Powers. One could say that this is just more anti-Chaos bigotry, but perhaps it is because we do not take the Nysalorean insight seriously or literally enough: in the final analysis, there is no difference between Law and Chaos. They are the same, identical: = . No ifs, no buts, no fudging. No need to put it in twice, so the poor old rune is left lying around for abuse by all and sundry. And then one begins to have sympathy for the RQ2 scribes who omitted from the Power runes — how could it be a Power if it had no opposing Power? And how can logic be a Power when nothing can stand against it? And nothing can stand against logic because logic makes no demands on anything: fill the Void with something, anything, or nothing — it is all one to logic. Chaos is the power which is not a power. That is why it is not to be feared. The more Imperial of the Lunars do not grasp this, and so they become monster wranglers when they could have been philosophers shooting the breeze with old man Zhuang. Meanwhile, the rubes associate with corruption (which you may want to put down to a strange horror of detritivores). And this is odd, because Chaos is supposedly a form, and corruption is breaking down — the destruction of form. Note also the easy progression: corruption —> breaking down —> analysis. Analysis, which surely brings us back to our (un)holy trio of science, logic, and truth. So what of ? If Stasis is scientific law and Law is logic, where does that leave Truth? One’s first thought might be that is the realm of ordinary contingent truth, all those truths that fall outside of science, maths, and logic — but can that be right? Back in the prehistory of 1983, we were gifted this: ——————————————————————————— Eurmal … can make reality … It is not always permanent reality, of course, since it is so hard to keep it inside Time … Do not think that illusion is not real! Once an illusion has been created, it becomes a part of reality, however temporary. — Greg Stafford, RuneQuest Companion, p. 30 ——————————————————————————— “[P]ermanent reality … so hard to keep … inside Time” — so is this how we are to understand the – polarity, as not about truth and falsity (of propositions or sentences, say) but as about permanence and impermanence? If so, what are the permanent realities? Not the gods, they can be disposed of in memory-hole Kajabor. The runes? All that squabbling about which came first, suggests that they are items with histories and thus as disposable as any god. So we ask Trickster, and she tells us — as She has always told us — that all is māyā: take away illusion and you have nothing left, only , empty logic, the Void, . Nothing is true. Everything is permitted. So Truth itself proved to be just another Illusion? Or less than an illusion, for permanence was not even a temporary reality? Another of our treasured polarities proves to be no polarity at all? Trickster is looking very smug, even though that punch up with LM is looking more like a solitary fit. (E is known to have those.) After all this digging, is looking more mysterious than ever. “As a dragon scale should,” you say? The Truth (which doesn’t exist) caged in inverted/dead/rotated (who knows?) Law. Law which is logic. Logic which asks nothing of the Cosmos, and so is the only thing which is not Illusion? Are our ears able to hear the laughter of sleeping dragons? The only way to achieve permanent reality is to make a prison of inverted logic? I wouldn’t know where to begin.

Without changing mechanics, there is this from Stan Shinn’s QW cheat sheet: So right away, you can tie SP refresh to performing appropriate religious duties. If that is not hard resource management enough, you can check off rune magical abilities as used, and require an SP to be spent to reuse the ability before next SP refresh. If that still doesn’t feel right, and you don’t want to increase resistances (per Jajagappa) — because that is still a “soft” barrier to getting things done with the rune magical ability — you can still exploit resistances to put in “hard” barriers: make yourself a table of time since rune magic refresh (which can be SP refresh, but doesn’t have to be) — or number of skipped holy days/SP refreshes — and maximum resistance that can be tackled with rune magic; the longer the character stays away from shul, the smaller the miracles they can perform. Unlike increasing resistance, this will hit characters with high ability scores just as hard: they may normally scoff at resistance 10 because they have a stupid number of masteries, but if resistance 10 now falls outside the resistance range for their rune magic due to slackness in observance, tough. If nothing above appeals, or you don’t like the — fairly modest, but possibly inappropriate — extra book-keeping, you could try a table of SP in the bank against maximum resistance that can be tackled with rune magic. You don’t have to spend the SP, they just have to be there. SP reflect the favour of the character’s god (so hand them out accordingly). All these suggestions may be rubbish, or just not to your taste, but maybe they will help you think about how you want to tie spellcasting to religious observance. Have fun!

Getting Becker & Fagen to write a full set of koans simply proved prohibitively expensive. Perhaps the best thing would have been to lean into the absurdity: the question is always “What is the difference between a durulz?” and the player is required to answer “in the style of [skill name]” — like a round of Whose Line is it Anyway? — with DMs given for witty answers. Ah, yes, the character sheet — the agent of the wrong kind of Thinning, in life as in games: CVs/résumés; psychometric testing … the horror! the horror!

Moondrunk The wine we drink with our eyes Flows nightly from the Moon in torrents, And as the tide overflows The quiet distant land. In sweet and terrible words This potent liquor floods: The wine we drink with our eyes Flows from the moon in raw torrents. The poet, ecstatic, Reeling from this strange drink, Lifts up his entranced, Head to the sky, and drains,— The wine we drink with our eyes! — Albert Giraud (1860–1929), Pierrot Lunaire, trans. Brian Cohen ——————————————————————————————— Think of E and LM brawling as two drunks arguing over how best to fish the Moon out of a puddle.

Well, I figured: … set the bar pretty low.

Why should any points be removed? And anyway, why regard a point as infinitesimal (i.e. very small) rather than dimensionless? Consider fig. B: if touching but not overlapping circles have one point in common, then the two “cells” have a whole line/side in common, right? So the gods’ thought is that if the points in the (top 3/4 of the) dividing line are included in each cell (each rectangle in fig. B) when the line goes all the way down, then they are included in fig. C when it doesn’t reach all the way down. This seems good enough for an argument between intoxicated gods without the benefit of modern mathematics. (My inspiration — though the case is quite different — was the Joker’s routine about the torch beam in The Killing Joke.)

Well, you don’t need highlands to grow potatoes, and real-world origins are not always preserved in Glorantha. I mean, some crazy people even deny the existence of Gloranthan microbes. (Godlearners know better, of course.)

Because they are hiding aloo from the dreaded Retcon Police. So if anyone asks, tell them thay are just elephant foot yams.

This strikes me as an extremely dangerous thing to do: break the mask of , and all you are left with is the Void, or . It is certainly liberating, however. (Disorder is the mask of Chaos, or Chaos expressed as a power.) (Of course, Pamaltelan equivalences can be tricky (Cronisper is Sky ( = Aether) but also Breath ()) , and I think Jeff said somewhere — although I cannot remember where — that Eurmal is Illusion and Bolongo is Disorder. But if masks — “tonight, Matthew, I shall be …” — don’t suggest Illusion, I don’t know what does.) Trickster = Death = The Greatest of the Lords of Terror = The Devil ?= Kajabor But no Death rune, so … ? Ah, but “without Illusion, there would be none of us to think we ever were” — withdrawal of Illusion results in existence failure, or proper death, not the piddling phoney death of discorporation. So Trickster’s own worst trick was existence. And this is how Pamalt freed him from it: Capital punishment merely frees the Devil. Call it “justice” if you like.

Lhankor Mhy and Eurmal are ripped to the tits on Datura and they have imprisoned the Red Moon in Flatland (fig. A) — or it may just be a drop of LM’s blood from where he cut himself shaving. (E talked him into it, but there’s no time for that, now.) “I think her cell is too big,” says LM, “I am going to cut it in half. Then we’ll have two cells, each of exactly half the size. We can put Orlanth in the other one. That’ll be hilarious.” (fig. B) “No, no, no,” says E, “We’ll just slice it most of the way down — then they will be able to kick each other but won’t be able to switch sides.” (fig. C) “Ha! You won’t fool me again, so soon,” says LM, “We all know a plane figure is defined by the points it contains; clearly, A and C contain exactly the same points, so A = C; if she can move freely within A, she can certainly switch sides in C.” “You’re crazy,” says E and throws recently severed bits of beard at his partner in crime. They wrestle. Meanwhile, the drop of blood — or perhaps it was the Moon, after all — has made its escape unnoticed.

The writer has to have a rough idea where everything is … But I like to know as little as possible, whether I’m writing or reading. Too much knowledge gets in the way of my imagination. I don’t want The Day of the Triffids to be a pseudo-accurate horticultural guide to walking vegetables, I want it to be a novel about middle-class people pulling themselves together in the aftermath of the second world war – sorry, “the disaster”. I don’t want to read the operating instructions for the Starship Enterprise; it isn’t a vacuum cleaner … I think you can increase the illusion of depth by leaving plenty of space for the accidental — Mike ————————————————————————————————— I … leave some things unexplained or just referred to, as though the world is much bigger than just this one story and won’t all fit in the pages … It’s difficult … not to … wonder about those details, and try to build them out yourself. I can see why readers ask the questions they do about the worlds they read, and I can see why some writers would respond by trying to answer all those questions in advance. — Ann ————————————————————————————————— A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. — Ralph ————————————————————————————————— It’s full of holes. It’s full of holes. — Bill ————————————————————————————————— Consistency and completeness may be virtues in some fields, but in building imaginary playpens, you are just setting traps for yourself. Viriconium was never consistent — it was never meant to be. Comics used continuity as an excuse for crises of infinite tedium, but in truth these were unmotivated — it never mattered a jot that a Superman story from 1950 contradicted one from 1980, and if you “fixed” the continuity, the stories were still there. Glorantha is dense and that could be stifling. But if we treat every retcon and every newly discovered dissonance in the palimpsest as generating a new epistemic hole, we can let some air in. Embrace resolutions offered? Seek resolutions that should remain elusive? No, just breathe deeply the bracing wind of ignorance. How could Orlanth argue with that? So stipple, scribble, and crosshatch if you must, for the more of the paper you cover, the less we will know. That is what the Golden Void whispered in my ear. Or possibly it was Fred Dretske … or even old IK himself. (And this is why Lhankor Mhy is not the knowing god, at all.) “Establish a baseline of official dates”? “Make the IP more consistent and high quality”? — Feed these heresies into the memory hole of blessed Kajabor!

And this is why Argrath & the Devil gives us the perfect LBQ: dead gods break no promises, and we put the WMD of the Gods War permanently beyond use? The more “distance” we put between us and eternal cosmic warfare, the stronger the world (cosmos) of time (the compromise). Now we have only to overcome ourselves. There is always a catch.