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Why 13G? (review)


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"13G gets an enthusiastic thumbs up... It is clear the authors love Glorantha, and their giddy enthusiasm is on every page", says long-time Glorantha devotee Andrew Logan Montgomery in his comprehensive review of 13th Age Glorantha. 

https://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com.au/2018/03/13th-age-glorantha-review.html

He poses the question, why bother with 13G?:

"For 13th Age fans the answer is simple. If you love that game, there is every chance that you will love Glorantha, given the fact that both Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet do. Glorantha's influence on the Dragon Empire, for example, is evident in the mythic extravagance of that world. Places like Starport, beings like the Koru Behemoths, even the Icons themselves show Gloranthan inspiration. How could you not be curious after reading Heinsoo's dedication? But seriously, this is one of the most storied and significant settings in fantasy gaming, and 13G serves it up for a game you already love. Now is your chance to see what 40 years of fuss has been about."

(He goes on to answer why RuneQuest and HeroQuest fans might like 13G too...)

 

Edited by MOB
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That was a really excellent review and it made me go out and buy 13th Age and 13G.  I don't buy into GNS Theory, though.  I think WOTC's study hit the mark far better.  You need a group of players from all spectrums to get the most out of the game.  I've found that to be true with my group.  There's the hack and slasher who just wants to maximise his damage.  There's the Character Actor who wants to have long conversations with every NPC.  The strategist and the tactical player.  And the creative ones.  And that one who just likes to win.  And everybody wants all of it in some doses.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Andrew Logan Montgomery's Otherworlds of Fiction, Magic, and Gaming blog recently reviewed two new Chaosium releases with considerable depth, insight and perspicacity (in his own words, Andrew's reviews "run deep"). The books he covered are 13th Age Glorantha and The Glorantha Sourcebook, both currently available from Chaosium in PDF (hardbacks coming later in the year).

So, as Andrew invites you, "Grab a cup of coffee, pour a glass of wine, and settle in for the latest dive into one of gaming's most extraordinary and influential worlds."

https://www.chaosium.com/blogunnatural-selections-recent-chaosium-reviews-of-note-2/

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On 3/9/2018 at 11:47 PM, Pentallion said:

That was a really excellent review and it made me go out and buy 13th Age and 13G.  I don't buy into GNS Theory, though.  I think WOTC's study hit the mark far better.  You need a group of players from all spectrums to get the most out of the game.  I've found that to be true with my group.  There's the hack and slasher who just wants to maximise his damage.  There's the Character Actor who wants to have long conversations with every NPC.  The strategist and the tactical player.  And the creative ones.  And that one who just likes to win.  And everybody wants all of it in some doses.

"GNS Theory" is apparently deprecated these days amongst the gaming-theory wonks.  I find /ALL/ the theories to be a bit.... theoretical.  Too abstract, too academic, too "pure".  As you say, " ...  everybody wants all of it in some doses.,"

Where I find this stuff absolutely invaluable is really twofold -- first and foremost, it unpacks a lot of different agendas & motivations that can sometimes be opaque and/or unconsidered;.  Especially as a GM, with different wants from different players, this is a Big Deal for me.  Second & related -- there are a LOT of bright people with different perspectives on this who have put in a LOT of time and attention; and I get to leverage all that for my own use.  Some of them have expressed opinions/perspectives I might never have considered on my own, and some of those POV's may be sitting at my gaming-table.

 

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Yeah, it is important to remember in regards to any theory that the "map is not the territory", but that said, I tend to think good theories are great things to have and often the reason a given theory is deemed poor is actually a problem in the application.

I like GNS theory as tool to evaluate possible issues at the table. It can give you tools to get at things which you'd otherwise fail to see or misinterpret as something else. I think there is also a somewhat misplaced tendency to think GNS is saying that all players can be divided into one of these categories and that this will be true all the time. So, when people don't turn out to be quite so one-dimensional, the whole theory is placed into question. I'd say that instead of doing this kind of demographic analysis of people, GNS is better used to look at specific moments of play and player preferences plus system features about those moments. 

But yeah, I don't think anyone should consider GNS the be-all-end-all explanation of gaming for all time, but it is one part of the toolbox/manual. Also, not everyone will want to be quite so analytically oriented in regards to their hobbies, perhaps saying they prefer to do the thing instead of talk about doing the thing, so to each their own.

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