Tales of Mythic Adventure Episode 01

Welcome to our inaugural podcast. Tales of Mythic Adventure is now live! We are happy to present Jeff and MOB as they talk about all things gaming and on Glorantha.

This will be a weekly podcast with many, many guests from the world of role-playing and beyond.

But without further adieu, let’s get to the notes on the first podcast….

INTROS (0:00-2:40)

Introduction to Tales of Mythic Adventure, with Jeff Richard (“Jeff”) and Michael O’Brien (“MOB”), and Rob the Producer (“Rob the Producer”). Discussion re the dispersed geographical nature of the Podcast, with Jeff in Berlin on a Chilly Spring morning, and MOB and Rob in Melbourne in autumn.

Discussion about the different ways in which autumn is name in the Northern and Southern hemispheres – fall not being so apposite in Australia as most of the native trees are not deciduous. Less informative discussion about if the water swirls in different direction in Southern Hemisphere toilets. Tone set for rest of series…

HOSTS QUALIFICATIONS TO HOST RPG GAMES PODCAST (2:42-14:50)

MOB explains that he is a long-term writer for the Glorantha world, with probably his most well-known work being Sun County, whose one line pitch would be ‘Spartans in the Wild West.’

MOB also came up the MGF (Maximum Game Fun) rules system, though “rules” might be taking things a bit far. They were devised on a day when lots of beer was drunk. Beer caps being in plentiful supply, they were tossed to randomise outcomes, with more complicated outcomes being developed as more beer was drunk.

The topic of beer leads to discussion about Jeff’s visit to Melbourne in 1998, where he was called upon to kill an injured Kangaroo in a small town in Victoria, on the basis that as an American he would know about guns. This happened on a day when Jeff was already confused by trying to understand the game of cricket. Also, beer…

Lucky escape by Jeff from kangaroo euthanasia due to self-euthanasia of kangaroo. Acknowledgement by Jeff that he has gone off topic.

Jeff Richard is Creative Director for Moon Design Publications, Glorantha, HeroQuest and RuneQuest, lead editor and writer for all things Glorantha, tasked with ensuring consistency and continuity across the lines.

Biggest work to date is the Guide to Glorantha, all 12 pounds of it. Plus another half dozen or so Glorantha Books.
Co-author HeroQuest Second Edition with Robin Laws.
Lead author HeroQuest Glorantha.
Minor bit part Robin Laws Drama system supplement ‘Blood Over Snow’.

MOB also raises his contribution to Tales of the Reaching Moon, produced by David Hall, who kept Gloranthan fandom going throughout the 1990’s. Proudest moment was an article identifying Sandy’s Peterson inspiration by Herschel Gordon Lewis, 60’s splatter director.

Long and dubiously relevant digression regarding precise number of maniacs in movie ‘10,000 Maniacs’, with conclusion that number of maniacs in product does not the number of maniacs promised on the box.

TALES OF THE REACHING MOON (14:51-18:50)

Tales of the Reaching Moon was a very important dead tree product in the early 1990’s, for those who did not have AOL dial up access to the Glorantha news group.
Tales started in 1989, when editorial decisions had to be made by letter between England and Australia (hopefully by airmail).

SUN COUNTY AND AFTER (18:51-21:58)

MOB then recounts the production of Sun County in 1992, when the production platform had advanced to the use of the Mac Plus. Ken Rolston was hired by Avalon Hill to work on Sun County, and MOB was then involved with the next five or so products that Ken produced as “Rune Czar”: River of Cradles, Shadows on the Borderlands, Strangers in Prax, Lords of Terror and Dorastor: Land of Doom.

This was, it is concluded, the short-lived Meringovian Renaissance for Glorantha, whereas Jeff is now the Iron Chancellor of Glorantha.

RENAISSANCE METAPHOR SETTLED (JEFF IS BISMARK 21:29-28:00)

Metaphor not settled as Jeff does not want to invade France, which he would have to do if he were Bismarck. What’s more, France is one of the centres of non-English Gloranthan game playing and is apart from that a very lovely place. Jeff then settles on the Medici.

MOB quotes Bismarck ‘Laws are like sausages. It is best not to see them made’, with reference to the creative process. They then describe the creative process in great detail, not taking their own advice.
Jeff feels that Glorantha is not even a game, but an exploration of fantasy, containing the pure gold of creative enterprise. Glorantha is therefore a set of myths that are not tied to any one game system, but is a literary work encompassing the sheer Joy of gigantic world creation.

King of Sartar, coming out in April [Editor: now available], is also not a game book, but a literary work.

Current Projects

Harmast’s Saga
Prince of Sartar Web comic

MOB feels that it is important that you should not write with a ‘handful of dice’. This doesn’t work as it constrains the fantasy by things a particular rule system does well. This discussion leads to…

GLORANTHAN RULE SYSTEMS AND PRODUCTS (28:01-34:00)

HeroQuest Second Edition
HeroQuest Glorantha Rules (April 2015)
13th Age in Glorantha
RuneQuest 6 – Adventures in Glorantha
White Bear Red Moon (Board game)
Nomad Gods (Board game)
Gods War (coming 2015). Gloranthan board game.
King of Dragon Pass (David Dunham, Robin Laws, Rob Heinsoo. Mobile version).
MGF Rules (Rune Metal Jacket, Diet of Worms). 2015

JEFF MGF QUESTIONS 34:01-

Q: What are you better at than the average gamer?

A: Interacting socially with other human beings.

Q: What are you worse at than the average gamer?

A: Rules minimaxing and manipulation. Question derailed by long disquisition on rule and rules engines. Introducing the concept of Myth crunch, using as examples the Mike Dawson scenarios “Gaumata’s Vision” and “Arlatan’s Tower”

Q: One thing that everyone knows about you?

A: Jeff really really really likes the look and feel of the ancient world for Glorantha rather than the medieval flavour found in other fantasy games.

Q: One thing that nobody knows about you?

A: Jeff is a retired and recovered US constitutional lawyer, who at one time filed a brief in the US Supreme Court relating to the limits of prosecutor immunity (he lost).

Guest for next week: Rob Heinsoo

Credits

Producer: Robert Love
Music by: audionautix.com
Introduction: Rick Meints

Note: We may need to wait for a few podcasts before we can see them in iTunes.

Page Last updated: 2019-11-02 17:47:19