Non-Gloranthan Media That Reminds You Of Glorantha

[ZedAlpha]

Pretty straightforward: what's some non-Gloranthan media (games, TV shows, comics, novels, paintings, graffiti, advertisements, whatever) that evokes Glorantha to you? 

For me, the webcomic Kill Six Billion Demons and the various works of Terry Pratchett (particularly the Witches books and Small Gods), and The Chronicles of Riddick all really, really remind me of Glorantha in some respects. How 'bout y'all?

Edited February 5, 2021 by ZedAlpha

[Whizbang]

"Blood of Zeus" on Netflix

[Sir_Godspeed]

54 minutes ago, ZedAlpha said:

For me, the webcomic Kill Six Billion Demons

YEEEEES!

[Sir_Godspeed]

I'd argue it's worth checking out the video game Hades as well. 

And, hell, the most recent God of War has a certain Heroquest-y quality to it. And Kratos is pretty Harrek-like (albeit reluctantly in this one).

[Leingod]

14 minutes ago, Whizbang said:

"Blood of Zeus" on Netflix

I hadn't thought of that one, but yeah, that tracks. Maybe more of a First Age thing, though.

[EricW]

Conan books, especially The Hour of the Dragon, which starts when a wizard has just completed a decades long heroquest to raise a wizard who died 3000 years ago, and to sabotage the magical protection which kept Conan’s kingdom safe from such evil. 
 

Conan’s one direct confrontation does not go well for Conan.

Don’t be put off by the cheesy Arnie movies, the book version of Conan is eloquent and literate.

 

[ZedAlpha]

51 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

I'd argue it's worth checking out the video game Hades as well. 

Hell yes. On a side note, that is the most relentlessly bisexual game I’ve ever played. Love it.

 

13 minutes ago, EricW said:

Conan books, especially The Hour of the Dragon, which starts when a wizard has just completed a decades long heroquest to raise a wizard who died 3000 years ago, and to sabotage the magical protection which kept Conan’s kingdom safe from such evil. 

Y’know, come to think of it, I haven’t actually read many Conan stories. I’ve read plenty of the comics, though, and a lot of them really do evoke the Bronze Age mysterious danger feel of Glorantha really well.

Edited February 6, 2021 by ZedAlpha

[Bill the barbarian]

18 minutes ago, EricW said:

Don’t be put off by the cheesy Arnie movies, the book version of Conan is eloquent and literate.

 

uhh, listen not to this heathen!

[Leingod]

21 minutes ago, EricW said:

Don’t be put off by the cheesy Arnie movies, the book version of Conan is eloquent and literate.

The Conan of his native literature is basically that very long-running PC whose player has managed to put him through basically every kind of adventure you care to name and who has miraculously survived them all through the blessings of the dice gods to become a virtual Renaissance Man and combat beast.

[Ladygolem]

This album cover.

EDIT: Come to think of it, there are a lot of stoner/doom metal albums (both songs and covers) that  work. I don't want to swamp the thread with them, though.

Edited February 6, 2021 by Ladygolem

[FungusColombicus]

Bahubali (available in Netflix if someone is curios)

[EricW]

2 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

uhh, listen not to this heathen!

...

But Amalric exclaimed, "It is absurd to dream that Conan lives!"

For answer Xaltotun cast a roll of parchment on the table.

Amalric caught it up, glared at it. From his lips burst a furious, incoherent cry. He read:

To Xaltotun, grand fakir of Nemedia: Dog of Acheron, I am returning to my kingdom, and I mean to hang your hide on a bramble.

Conan.

"A forgery!" exclaimed Amalric.

Xaltotun shook his head.

"It is genuine. I have compared it with the signature on the royal documents in the libraries of the court. None could imitate that bold scrawl."

"Then if Conan lives," muttered Amalric, "this uprising will not be like the others, for he is the only man living who can unite the Aquilonians. But," he protested, "this is not like Conan. Why should he put us on guard with his boasting? One would think that he would strike without warning, after the fashion of the barbarians."

"We are already warned," pointed out Xaltotun. "Our spies have told us of preparations for war in Poitain. He could not cross the mountains without our knowledge; so he sends his defiance in characteristic manner."

"Why to you?" demanded Valerius. "Why not to me, or to Tarascus?"

Xaltotun turned his inscrutable gaze upon the king. "Conan is wiser than you," he said at last. "He already knows what you kings have yet to learn—that it is not Tarascus, nor Valerius, no, nor Amalric, but Xaltotun who is the real master of the western nations."

...

[dumuzid]

The First King, a recent-ish Italian film about the lives of Romulus and Remus.  The way it treats gods and spirits, blood sacrifices straight out of the Shaker Temple--it's the closest thing I've seen in film to how I imagine Dawn Age Tarsh.

[Eff]

Most of these are thematic or metaphysical resonances rather than directly aesthetic ones.

Sholay (1975): My Gloranthas tend towards this kind of loose attitude towards seriousness and silliness. 

Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine (2012): This is a series about a couple Heroes or maybe demigods running around and having fun in a world that's become detached from the Otherside. 

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Monday Begins on Saturday: This novel's biting satire and light parodies give it something of the energy I seek to give to Gloranthan play. 

Indrapramit Das, The Devourers: This is an extraordinary grim but lyrical novel about magic, transformations, and shapeshifting considered as a metaphor and then as actuality, and then rammed together at high speed to see what emerges. 

Benjanun Sriduangkaew, "The City Still Dreams Of Her Name": A novelette about people who exist outside of conventional time and their efforts to interact with normal linear time in a functional way. Or, to put it another way, a short story about what it's like to be a god in Glorantha.

The Four Classic Chinese Novels (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin/Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber): These are to an extent clichés, but each of them has a distinct energy and manner which offers something vital to Gloranthan play. 

These are fiction. The nonfiction would be a heftier list.

[Bill the barbarian]

Almost forgot. Might I suggest the Bhagavad Gita?  If this is not inappropriate these days.

[Hijabg]

Among the many films you can use as inspiration for heroquests there are two from Monty Python members that are particularly inspiring (in addition to being quite funny) : The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, from Terry Gilliam, and Erik the Viking, directed by Terry Jones.

Edited February 6, 2021 by Hijabg

[Ladygolem]

An actual answer: the videogame Caves of Qud is really good at evoking the sort of mystical mythological world we associate with Glorantha, but in a post-post-post-post apocalyptic retrofuturistic quasi-biblical Levant.

To quote the Steam store page:

Quote

Play the role of a mutant indigenous to the salt-spangled dunes and jungles of Qud, or play a pure-strain descendant from one of the few remaining eco-domes—the toxic arboreta of Ekuemekiyye, the Holy City; the ice-sheathed arcology of Ibul; or the crustal mortars of Yawningmoon.

You arrive at the oasis-hamlet of Joppa, along the far rim of Moghra'yi, the Great Salt Desert. All around you, moisture farmers tend to groves of viridian watervine. There are huts wrought from rock salt and brinestalk. On the horizon, Qud's jungles strangle chrome steeples and rusted archways to the earth. Further and beyond, the fabled Spindle rises above the fray and pierces the cloud-ribboned sky.

You clutch your rifle, or your vibroblade, or your tattered scroll, or your poisonous stinger, or your hypnotized goat. You approach a watervine farmer—he lifts the brim of his straw hat and says, "Live and drink, friend."

The writing is excellent , the story weird and compelling. Everything has a faction allegiance and can be allied with, from apes, crabs and robots to the Consortium of Phyta, the Cult of the Coiled Lamb and the Seekers of the Sightless Way. Even if you don't like roguelikes I heartily recommend giving it a try!

[Akhôrahil]

Moana is so Gloranthan that it even has its own Closing of the Seas.

[7Tigers]

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice:

Quote

A warrior’s brutal journey into myth and madness. Set in the Viking age, a broken Celtic warrior embarks on a haunting vision quest into Viking Hell to fight for the soul of her dead lover. Created in collaboration with neuroscientists and people who experience psychosis, Hell blade: Senua’s Sacrifice will pull you deep into Senua’s mind.

the game (multiple walkthroughs are available on Youtube)
as well as the soundtrack

 

[Ali the Helering]

13 hours ago, EricW said:

 

Don’t be put off by the cheesy Arnie movies, the book version of Conan is eloquent and literate.

 

and, of course, racist and misogynist, but who's counting? 

[AndreJarosch]

"Britannia" TV series

"Rome" TV series

"Bahubaali" two movies

"Princess Mononoke" movie

"Moana" movie

The Sinbad movies of the 1960s and 1970s

 

[Dr_Zarnak]

The Bran Mak Morn books by Howard, Wagner, Smith & Tierney

 

 

[Sir_Godspeed]

14 hours ago, Ladygolem said:

An actual answer: the videogame Caves of Qud is really good at evoking the sort of mystical mythological world we associate with Glorantha, but in a post-post-post-post apocalyptic retrofuturistic quasi-biblical Levant.

 

For much the same reason, although it's quite a different game, I'll mention Kenshi. 

EDIT: And of course my perennial favorite, Morrowind, which is in part inspired by Glorantha (although you have to squint a little to see it.)

I'll also throw in the graphic novel for the movie Noah. Which is a lot more visually and conceptually interesting than the movie turned out to be, imho. It really does feel like a desperate survival story from the Greater Darkness (which makes sense given the similar source material, but still). The sense of a tired, overused, dying world is very palpable, and could be greatly inspiring for a Heroquest, as is the manic nature of the divinely-driven Noah, who is, as most holy men, not entirely sympathetic.

Edited February 7, 2021 by Sir_Godspeed

[Ladygolem]

Ooh, I'll have to check the Noah comic out. I loved what I saw of the first like, third? half? of the movie, but it gets pretty grisly in the typical Darren Aronofsky fashion and I have a weak stomach for things like "animal dismemberment". I can deal with it in comic form, however. The tone of the movie is really, really compelling - I have high hopes for the comic!

Speaking of comics, Prophet by, uh, Brandon Graham. I feel weird recommending something by such a nasty dude so I'll just focus on praising the incredible art by many talented artists, especially that by Simon Roy (who's done a ton of illustration for RQ:G and Six Ages, in fact!)

 

[Sir_Godspeed]

Yes! Prophet is amazing! Particularly the first trade volume.