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Submitted by BlindGuyNW on Tue, 04/12/2012 – 15:07
Glorantha Discussions

Hi All,I was wondering if anyone might have some advice for running Gloranthan, specifically Sartarite, campaigns without access to the detailed maps provided in the various books. I have been doing so with mixed success for a while, but have been growing dissatisfied lately.The largest problem I have is arbitrariness. I feel as though I am simply plucking random clan names out of a hat from time to time, without any sense of scale or geographical location, and very little attention to canonicity. In particular, when generating the player’s clan they simply picked a tribe name which sounded good, rather than doing as the book suggested and picking a tribe which had territory similar to that which they settled. It is very difficult for me, without the visual reinforcement, to get any real sense of the large-scale geography of Dragon Pass. I feel as though I have many named locations, but very little idea of travel times between them, for instance, or tribal boundaries, and so fourth. I realize much of my frustration is due to visual impairment, and thus situation specific, but I was wondering if anyone might have any suggestions or tools I could use to avoid feeling quite so overwhelmed?Thanks much for any advice,Zack.
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maps to text

Submitted by Scott Martin on Tue, 04/12/2012 – 22:15.

Hi Zack –First, I wouldn’t worry about arbitrariness. You have almost infinitely more information on Sartar than what was publicly available in the 1970s, and I’m sure your games will be at least as rich and authentic as anybody’s were back then.That said, I’d be happy to take the maps and other graphic elements and describe them so you can get a sense of the spatial relationships, who borders on whose territory and so on. For all I know, people have already volunteered this privately, but I’m just getting it out there.

It would be much appreciated

Submitted by BlindGuyNW on Tue, 04/12/2012 – 23:46.

Dear Scott,Any help you could provide in describing such elements would be greatly appreciated. I’m sure I am my players will both have much more fun for knowing that sort of information. Shall I provide you with an email address, to make this process a little easier?As far as worrying goes, I have a tendency to do that too much as it is, but will try to tone it down some. ;-)Yours,Zack.

I’ll get on it

Submitted by Scott Martin on Wed, 05/12/2012 – 01:02.

I’ll start with the Sartar books and we’ll see where we end up. Thinking of a couple of approaches but we can take the discussion to email. (I’m a deep lurker on the Yahoo list and think I can pull your email address out of there.)This is going to be educational for me because I rarely pull as much information out of the maps as I should. Thanks for working with me!And on your game, the more play reports, the merrier. Your Glorantha Should Vary! Cheers,

Looking forward to it

Submitted by BlindGuyNW on Wed, 05/12/2012 – 16:50.

Hi Scott,I’m very much looking forward to getting started with this whenever you’re able to find the time. As far as actual play reports go, I’ll see what I can do, especially since I won’t be GMing my game for the next little while due to the holiday season. All the better timing to try and brush up on my Gloranthan knowledge. 🙂

Eagerly awaiting your email,

Zack.

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