Glorantha/RQ material from "Different Worlds" magazine

[Beoferret]

How much of the Glorantha and RuneQuest material from articles in Different Worlds made it into current Glorantha cannon and RuneQuest publications? Most of the material on the Mostali, at least, am I right? Is any of the other material ever going to see updating and republication?

[Bill the barbarian]

Seems to me to be a very erudite and interesting source of many things RPG related and also very Gloranthan as well. It was a very well rounded periodical that could have Lew Pulsipher writing a very good article on DnD and John Sapienza jr. talking about his take on character sheets and Greg hating on Dwarfs. 

What did not make it as canonical today drove the whole industry forward and made it easier to intuit pre-net. It’s greatest feature was being open and supportive to other games despite being damn close to a in-house Chaosium Organ. So, did a lot of it make to canon. As an old timer, it seems to have. Did it influence what would became canon, OH YEAH. 

Could we use the same support today, certainly.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Bill the barbarian

[Rick Meints]

3 hours ago, Beoferret said:

How much of the Glorantha and RuneQuest material from articles in Different Worlds made it into current Glorantha cannon and RuneQuest publications? Most of the material on the Mostali, at least, am I right? Is any of the other material ever going to see updating and republication?

A number of the RuneQuest articles were non-Gloranthan. Some of them, were meant to be humorous. It's pretty much up to the original authors to decide what they want to do with those. Anything Greg Stafford wrote has almost certainly either been used/repurposed in fairly recent or current publications. Other Gloranthan material covers a fairly wide spectrum. but unless Greg wrote it we probably don't own the rights to do anything with it in terms of reprints and such.There were roughly 40 RQ based or Gloranthan based articles written in total. I think we pretty much can set aside 30 or so of those as covered through updates or straight inclusion, leaving only maybe a dozen of variable worth.

Don't get me wrong, there's a trove of great material in those DW issues, and they still make a great read if you can get old of them. I just don't expect there will ever be a "Best of DW" book (we don't have anything like that in the works) or reprints of whole issues. The rights are too scattered to do that. 

[davecake]

10 hours ago, Beoferret said:

Most of the material on the Mostali, at least, am I right? Is any of the other material ever going to see updating and republication?

Specifically, the material on the Mostali has already been updated and made it into other publications. Specifically, Elder Secrets for RQ3, and for RQG spread between the Guide/Glorantha Sourcebook, Glorantha Bestiary, and there should be a Mostal cult write up in the forthcoming Cults book. 
I’m hard put to think of another area where the Different Worlds material was the only source for such important info for so long, though. Most of the material that was only in DW and never reprinted was non-Gloranthan - there is a fair bit of that, though. 

[Nick Brooke]

4 hours ago, davecake said:

Specifically, the material on the Mostali has already been updated and made it into other publications. Specifically, Elder Secrets for RQ3, and for RQG spread between the Guide/Glorantha Sourcebook, Glorantha Bestiary, and there should be a Mostal cult write up in the forthcoming Cults book. 
I’m hard put to think of another area where the Different Worlds material was the only source for such important info for so long, though. Most of the material that was only in DW and never reprinted was non-Gloranthan - there is a fair bit of that, though. 

That's not all of it, though. The bit showing how Greg as a player uses Tostig's trove of Gloranthan lore to entertain his players while not derailing anything is <chef's kiss> perfect, and I'd urge @Jason D to find space for it in any RQG Gamemaster Guide. Below is a short excerpt from the Dwarf Lore article by Greg Stafford, published in issue #24 of Different Worlds magazine (September 1982). I have said elsewhere that the Glorantha Sourcebook reprints almost all of my favourite articles about Glorantha. I say “Almost all,” because this one is missing. What I love about it is that it shows how to use (and abuse) trivial Gloranthan knowledge in play. 

Quote

Dwarf Lore

When I play RuneQuest, one of the enjoyable parts of the experience is to role-play these inquisitive (or simply stupid) adventurers through a world which is quite new to them. I, the player, usually know much more than that wary PC stalking down that nicely swept cement road in the wilderness. He, poor old Tostig, has seen wide clean roads before and is busy spouting off his great knowledge of how this is just like the great Seshnegi roads which he saw in the far west. "There is no need for extra caution," he says confidently, “These are all long since abandoned." Fortunately for the party, no one believes Tostig (as usual) and they detect the party of dwarfs hiding beside the road, up ahead.

"Impossible," proclaims Tostig. "There have been no dwarfs in this land for centuries. Their reign was too terrible, and humans, elves, and trolls united to destroy every vestige of their evil civilization." Despite his confidence, Tostig finds it useful to dismount and join his companions in a defensive position. There is no need for me to relate the abuse which the other player-characters heap upon Tostig's hard-earned knowledge. But Tostig is one to quickly reaffirm his current certainty through immediate experience.

Declaims Tostig, "Well, when they were here last they were all terrible. Every one of them was in iron and never missed his target. They can sling tiny thunderstones over a half-mile in distance. Half of them are only engines, full of tiny pieces which mimic a man’s innards and can take no injury or wound. They all have extra spirits. Magic potions are always being used by Mostali, and they can mix up to six in one drinking. Even though wearing iron, they make no noise, can sometimes sense your thoughts, and are known to eat flesh of any type."

All this is fact. Tostig assures everyone, for he is well-read and widely traveled. This is all quite important for our defense, after all. "We should probably attack first. They never tell the truth. Don’t trust a Mostali peace signal. Sometimes their sign language is completely opposite ours. It happened that way to King Amaling in Seshnela."

So what about this babble? Some of it is true, some is not. Most of it is half-true. Which is which? I know, for at the moment l am probably the world’s authority on Mostali. Should I tell my fellow players about it now?

"They probably have metal gargoyles flying overhead. They often use stone gnomes to burrow tunnels under their foes, so search underground with your spirits. Giant moles and shrews are their slaves, big enough to take a horse. Dwarfs never take prisoners and scorn ransom. Dwarfs hate all humans because people kidnapped Quicksilver, their god, long ago."

To role-play Tostig, I must not reveal what is truth and what is falsehood. Tostig’s knowledge is what is being played, and to do otherwise would betray the spirit of the game. Whatever the outcome of the current encounter, the other characters will have gained a certain amount of knowledge as well. When it is time for them to meet dwarfs again, later, they can draw upon their previous game experience and act accordingly.

"That is one of their Great Exploders! I am aiming for his head." However, Jorgard the leader has already cast Glue on Tostig's crossbow and he stands and makes the Issaries signal for peaceful greeting. The dwarf responds, and a peaceful encounter continues.

With his share of the treasure traded for, Tostig, ever the bookworm, secures an ancient manuscript on Mostali and begins educating himself once more. Next time, he says, he won't be fooled.

So, when the dwarf lifts his hand with some machinery in it, you should describe the tool in Gloranthan terms, if is unlikely that many have ever seen any intact Mostali equipment, and many manuscripts and stories have distorted and twisted drawings, descriptions, or facts. Don’t tell the players what it is, even if they ask. Say something like, "It is about as big as a watermelon, made out of metal, and has three moving parts. If you make a Spot Hidden roll, you see a small glowing light on one side and a silver chain hanging from it. What is your statement of intent?"

Thus will dwarf magic show itself: a thing of mystery and uncertainty.

Different Worlds 24 (September 1982) - cover art by Brad W. Foster

 

[soltakss]

10 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

A number of the RuneQuest articles were non-Gloranthan. Some of them, were meant to be humorous. It's pretty much up to the original authors to decide what they want to do with those.

Buying a copy and shipping it over to the UK, then finding out that the Gestetner cult was a parody still burns. It has some useful Runespells, though.

 

[Beoferret]

Wasn't there an article in one issue outlining the Cult of Geo? (Maybe Jeff's written that into the forthcoming Sartar material though.) I've got a soft spot for DW, even though I only have two issues. The issue with the "Cult of the Tiger" article by Steve Perrin was my introduction to TTRPG. The cover illustration totally caught my eye and fired the imagination. Thankfully my parents were willing to buy it for me, even though I was maybe 8-9 years old. 

[ffilz]

2 hours ago, Beoferret said:

Wasn't there an article in one issue outlining the Cult of Geo? (Maybe Jeff's written that into the forthcoming Sartar material though.) I've got a soft spot for DW, even though I only have two issues. The issue with the "Cult of the Tiger" article by Steve Perrin was my introduction to TTRPG. The cover illustration totally caught my eye and fired the imagination. Thankfully my parents were willing to buy it for me, even though I was maybe 8-9 years old. 

I know the map of Geo's locations has been re-published.

I love my collection of Different Worlds, and I have some willingness to use some of the non-Gloranthan material in my campaign, but yea, there is very little that hasn't been included in some way.

[AlHazred]

I argee with the others, I love my collection of Different Worlds but as far as I can recall all of the Gloranthan material has been reprinted elsewhere. If you're collecting the back issues, I recommend you avoid the "Cult of Gestetner" one unless you want to be grumpy like @soltakss!

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, AlHazred said:

I recommend you avoid the "Cult of Gestetner" one unless you want to be grumpy like @soltakss!

But there's always Indlas Somer! 😉

[ffilz]

41 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

But there's always Indlas Somer! 😉

Yea that one is only a little better…

There is a nice harper cult. And if Cult of the Tiger  hasn’t been published elsewhere that’s  a good one. 

[AlHazred]

2 hours ago, ffilz said:

There is a nice harper cult. And if Cult of the Tiger  hasn’t been published elsewhere that’s  a good one. 

I've actually gotten a lot of use out of Indlas Somar, and use him as a replacement for Orlanth in my very-strictly-orthodox Glorantha game. I believe Cult of the Tiger was Gateway material?

[metcalph]

5 hours ago, jajagappa said:

But there's always Indlas Somer! 😉

I actually suggest that Indlas Somer should be in the HQ 1.0 rulebook but sadly it was not to be.

[soltakss]

8 hours ago, jajagappa said:

10 hours ago, AlHazred said:

I recommend you avoid the "Cult of Gestetner" one unless you want to be grumpy like @soltakss!

But there's always Indlas Somer! 😉

Indlas Somer fits into Glorantha really well, with a few little tweaks.

 

[AlHazred]

12 hours ago, metcalph said:

I actually suggest that Indlas Somer should be in the HQ 1.0 rulebook but sadly it was not to be.

You know what? I would have been happier with that. I didn't like that the examples in the book were all over the place -- a "traditional" Praxian character, some paper-folding woman, a guy worshipping marijuana. I would have liked them better if they included a little more information about the made-up colleges/cults/societies/whatever, instead of just teasing in the examples. What was I supposed to do when somebody wanted to play somebody who uses that spirit society? Meanwhile, they had a Bison Rider among the example characters but they don't use him? I guess what I'm saying is, I needed more lore about the stuff made up exclusively for that book. It would have been a good example for GMs on how to translate stuff that is developed during chargen or play into meatier plot elements.

[JustAnotherVingan]

Also had the best gaming gossip columnist (possibly the only one), Gigi D'Arn.