Sources

[Steve Hammatt]

I’m coming back to Glorantha after a very long absence, immersing myself in the mythology and history. I’ve got the Guide to Glorantha, the two Sartar books and King of Sartar (along with HQ:G). I’m aware of the Stafford Library set, of course, and that I’m missing those.

I’ve also got almost all of the old books in The Vault section of the website, plus the old Hero Wars and Hero Quest rulebooks, missing just three of the most recent ones (Blood Over Gold, Champions of the Reaching Moon and Lunar Vol 2).

How many of these old (non-canon) sources is it worth me reading? I imagine a lot of this stuff has been superseded by the GTG, and the Orlanthi stuff by the two current Sartar supplements?

Any advice appreciated, to stop me getting confused.

[Peter Metcalfe]

People have had fun with Blood Over Gold campaign and some elements have survived into the Guide. Most of the background material has not.

Champions of the Reaching Moon and Under the Red Moon are simply disappointing. I hesitate to describe in detail why they are so disappointing less people think I’m blasting the authors (whereas it was the editorial policy at fault)

The Imperial Lunar Handbook and Masters of Luck and Death started to show some of the problems with the then editorial direction at Issaries. A large amount of detail was put into describing leagues and herobands but little or no effort was put into describing the people they would normally be opposing. Kind of like mentioning NATO without acknowledging the existence of the Soviet Union. The Imperial Lunar Handbook also suffers from slapdash character creation backgrounds.

The Sartar Rising trilogy (Barbarian Adventures/Orlanth is Dead!/Gathering Thunder) started of promisingly but hit some major issues in the third book such that a fourth book never came out.

Anaxial’s Roster and Men of the Sea have largely been superseded by the Guide. Their problem is that a large amount of new detail in neither was one line statements with very little depth.

The Dragon Pass Gazetteer and the Introduction to the Hero Wars are simply outdated despite the best intentions of the authors.

For the rulesets, there are no Puma People and the Black Horse County writeup is defunct. Not the horses but rather the society of riders.

[Steve Hammatt]

Thanks Peter, that’s very helpful.

Since you didn’t mention them, am I right to think that Storm Tribe and Thunder Rebels are still useful, combined with the two current Sartar books? Otherwise it sounds like I can forget about the rest of them apart from them perhaps inspiring some other thoughts for scenarios etc.

I also have Gloranthan Visions (was part of the Deluxe Hero Wars box set) and The Complete Griselda, I presume they’re still good background?

Out of interest, what were the major issues in the third Sartar Rising book?

[Peter Metcalfe]

Storm Tribe and Thunder Rebels are still useful, it’s just that the useful bits have been updated and republished in Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes and the Sartar Companion whereas the bits that are wrong were left out.

The Complete Griselda’s fine as background but the Gloranthan Visions less so (apart from Morden defends the Camp).

As for the problems with Gathering Thunder, the problem was an editor who has since left.

[Jonathan]

I’ll add that The Compete Griselda is a great read!

[Steve Hammatt]

Thanks guys, that settles it. The Complete Griselda is joining my pile of books to be read!

[Harald Smith]

Thunder Rebels and Storm Tribe both had a tendency to get into very detailed subcults and obscure runes. Personally, I still find bits and pieces useful for added color (but they are certainly not necessary to play).
My take on Gathering Thunder is that it suffers from a hodge-podge approach to the scenarios. Most could just be dropped in at any point in a campaign setting and don’t give you any feel for the aftermath of Orlanth is Dead/the Great Winter. As for the core scenario (raising the Boat Planet), it’s a bit of a mix. Some pieces suggest promise, some of the premise pieces feel forced, some bits just seem a poor shadow of the classic Cradle scenario.

[Author]

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