The GoG Mythology Book

[metcalph]

Looking at previous works, I don't think the content of the mythology book should be particularly surprising.  There's: 

• The Introduction.  Mainly an essay defining the terms.
• The World.  A brief description of the world.
• The Monomyth.  A condensed version of the mythology and history of glorantha.  First appeared in Cults of Terror.
• The Mythic Maps.  Another version of what was in the Guide.
• The Catalogue of the Gods.
• The Universal Cult Format.  A revised and updated version of the same from Cults of Terror.
• Cult Distribution.  An expanded version of a table in Cults of Prax.

Much of this has appeared before *but* more importantly, they do not appear in a Runequest: Glorantha source.  If somebody were to ask Glorantha was like in the Golden Age, do I refer them to the Guide?  Or the Glorantha Sourcebook?  Are these Runequest works?, they might ask.  Umm, no.  Telling newcomers to look at Cults of Terror for a description of the Universal Cult Format and they might wonder why they are being pointed to a forty year old source.  So the Mythology Book is really the supporting material in Cults of Prax, Cults of Terror and Gods of Glorantha republished for the Runequest: Glorantha line.  

[soltakss]

20 hours ago, Jeff said:

Personally, I view it as the opposite. It is an essential book to understanding the setting. It is the decoder ring to get the interplay between mortals and gods in Glorantha (which to me is THE defining feature of the setting). But to each their own.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I think that it is a marvellous book and should be one of the fundamental books for a Gloranthan Campaign, alongside the Rulebook, Bestiary and Red Book of Magic. However, it is possible to run a campaign with just the RQG Rulebook.

If people want richer campaigns then the Rulebook, Bestiary, Red Book of Magic, Arms & Equipment and Mythology would be very useful to have. The Cults books, in general, are very useful, especially if the Players want to explore different cultures, or if GMs want to include more detailed NPCs.

[Austin]

On 10/15/2023 at 12:29 AM, g33k said:

When you come right down to it, this strikes me as kind of an amazing review & endorsement of the book.

Personally, jury's still out. I know Chaosium's been cooking Mythology for a long time, and I'm trying to put genuine brainpower into dissecting and fiddling with it. Trying to see if it's as revolutionary an approach to Glorantha and/or the RPG medium as the book & marketing implies. At some point I'll emerge from the confusion haze, just not entirely sure when.

That said, as a turbonerd who enjoys academic-style research and analysis, I've already got my money's worth from the book, for sure. I'm still trying to muddle through how to use it to play RuneQuest.

[Austin]

On 10/15/2023 at 12:54 AM, metcalph said:

The Introduction.  Mainly an essay defining the terms.

As someone without much fluency with the deep/old sources, I found the Introduction very interesting - particularly the brief section on heroquesting.

How much of the "Understanding Mythology" chapter originates in prior material? I recognized the "Four Ways to Experience these Stories" section, I think from a Stafford Library book, but much of the rest was new to me.

Thanks!

[g33k]

On 10/16/2023 at 8:38 AM, Crel said:

Personally, jury's still out. I know Chaosium's been cooking Mythology for a long time, and I'm trying to put genuine brainpower into dissecting and fiddling with it. Trying to see if it's as revolutionary an approach to Glorantha and/or the RPG medium as the book & marketing implies. At some point I'll emerge from the confusion haze, just not entirely sure when.

That said, as a turbonerd who enjoys academic-style research and analysis, I've already got my money's worth from the book, for sure. I'm still trying to muddle through how to use it to play RuneQuest.

I think there's at least 2 levels to consider it from.

At the surface, it's about making a bunch of the old lore, out-of-print sources and/or hard-to-grasp ones, more accessible.

If that's ALL it did, I think it's worthwhile.

At the deeper levels, I'm not sure it's actually doing anything new, exactly... Glorantha has always been a myth-heavy world with all sorts of symbology, echoes & resonances with our own real-world myth-cycles, folklores, religions, &c.  Hopefully, it is doing some of this -- again -- in more accessible ways.