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64-450: Glorantha is a fantasy world created by Greg Stafford . It was first introduced in the board game White Bear and Red Moon (1975) by Chaosium and then in a number of other board, roleplaying and computer games, including RuneQuest and HeroQuest , as well as several works of fiction and the computer strategy game King of Dragon Pass . The Gloranthan world is characterised by its complex use of mythology, heavily influenced by

128-465: A vampire cult, and Lunar and Chaos cults. In 1993, Stafford published his first major expansion of Gloranthan mythology, the novel King of Sartar . This was a departure from previous Gloranthan material, which had all been targeted at a tabletop role-playing game audience. In an attempt to leverage the power of a much bigger gaming company, a third edition of RuneQuest , was published with Avalon Hill in 1984. The default setting for this edition

192-554: A basis for gaming in Glorantha; this soon became a game system in its own right. David Dunham proposed his PenDragon Pass system, a nearly freeform game system, and several ambitious freeform games were played at conventions. One such game, Home of the Bold , hosted up to eighty participants. The video game King of Dragon Pass was released by A Sharp in 1999. The player assumes the role of an Orlanthi hero who seeks to unite

256-490: A cycle of self-improving reincarnation . They are alien, with an incomprehensible mindset. They must have oral surgery in order to speak human languages. Glorantha has been the background for a number of different media, and numerous pieces of myth and fiction created by the Glorantha community, featured in magazines such as Tales of the Reaching Moon . Several hundred gaming miniatures by various licensees and about

320-616: A day's travel away, distant continents were necessary from the Renaissance onwards for such fantastic speculation to be plausible, until finally, further exploration rendered all such terrestrial fantasy lands implausible. Even within the span of mere decades, Oz, which had been situated in a desert in the United States when first written about in 1900, was relocated to a spot in the Pacific Ocean. An early example of

384-410: A dozen plush toys have also been produced at various times. Fantasy world Many fantasy worlds draw heavily on real world history, geography, sociology, mythology, and folklore. The setting of a fantasy work is often of great importance to the plot and characters of the story. The setting itself can be imperiled by the evil of the story, suffer a calamity, and be restored by the transformation

448-465: A fantasy land with definite connections to the actual world is Austin Tappan Wright's Islandia . Islandia's remoteness and aura of mystery, as well as its preservation of an arcadian society, are explained by means of a law that allows only limited contact with foreigners. Dream frames were also once common for encasing the fantasy world with an explanation of its marvels. Such a dream frame

512-631: A lack of land to contain it; but such Ruritanian romances may be pushed toward the category of fantasy worlds by the introduction of figures such as witches and wise women, where it is not clear if their magic is effectual. According to Lin Carter in Imaginary Worlds: the Art of Fantasy , fantasy worlds, by their nature, contain some element of magic (paranormal) . This element may be the creatures in it ( dragons , unicorns , genies and so on) or

576-435: A new Gloranthan role-playing game unrelated to RuneQuest. Its next iteration in 2003 was named HeroQuest and later in 2008, Moon Design Publications published an updated second edition. 2016 saw Moon Design publish HeroQuest Glorantha , completely integrating Glorantha into the rules. 2006 saw RuneQuest licensed from Issaries by Mongoose Publishing with a second edition in 2010. In 2012, The Design Mechanism published

640-451: A number of religions, grounding those characters in the political, cultural, and metaphysical conflicts of the setting. Each religion offered a distinct worldview and cultural outlook, none of which considered objectively correct out-of-character. This approach of offering competing mythical histories and value systems continues in current Glorantha material. Cults of Terror focused on the worship of evil gods and adversaries, such as Vivamort,

704-719: A profusely illustrated 72-page rulebook. In 1994 the game was revised and released as Les Dieux Nomades in French release by Oriflam. This adapted the original game to an updated version of the Dragon Pass rules. The rules have been written to be useable in playing any one of the series. Though specific units appear in one game and not another, similar units work in similar fashion the games link mechanically, conceptually, and geographically. The original designers Stafford and Robert Corbett, are credited along with Stephen Martin who led its development. Along with new units, all parts of

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768-512: A real pleaser." In the 1980 book The Complete Book of Wargames , game designer Jon Freeman commented, "The design and development of this game shows an understanding of fantasy and science fiction beyond the range of most other games." However Freeman noted, "The world hangs together nicely, but it's consistent, not self-explanatory. This makes it quite difficult for new players." Freeman gave this game an Overall Evaluation of "Good but highly specialized", concluding, "If you are willing to spend

832-516: A wide archipelago . The northern continent of Genertela has a caste society of roughly Vedic type to the west, an autocratic Oriental society to the east and a classical-style Bronze Age culture in the center. The southern continent of Pamaltela is analogous to Africa / Broos are creatures of chaos. As they can fruitfully mate with anything, they have the body of a man and features of their animal parent, often deer , goats , antelope , cattle , and sheep . The animal parent normally dies when

896-401: Is immense. If explored, it has different worlds and dimensions, whole realms where Gods, spirits and sorcerous powers come from. Unlike many fantasy settings, Glorantha emphasises religion, myth and belief to a level rarely seen in role-playing or fantasy fiction elsewhere. Glorantha shares some fantasy tropes such as dwarves , elves , trolls , giants , but has developed them differently to

960-451: Is in a more or less fallen state, having recovered only partially from a universal battle against Chaos in the mythic Godtime. Humans are the dominant race, but other sentient beings abound. Some, such as the mystic dragonewts, are unique to Glorantha. Familiar nonhuman races, such as elves and dwarves, are distinct from their common, Tolkienesque portrayals. Glorantha's origins lie in experiments with mythology, storytelling, recreation, and

1024-491: Is perhaps the most extensively developed of these worlds. Nomad Gods Nomad Gods is a fantasy wargame designed by Greg Stafford , and published by Chaosium in 1977. A French-language edition was published by Oriflam under license from Chaosium under the name Les Dieux Nomades in 1994. A free version for online play without the rulebook was released for the Vassal Engine in 2012. Chaosium republished

1088-424: Is placed. The White Bear and Red Moon does not disclose the name of the world. Nomad Gods , a second board game, published by Chaosium in 1978, and based on the raids and wars between the beast-riding, spirit-worshiping tribes of Prax, a cursed land located east of Dragon Pass. It also did not mention the world by name. In 1978, after the publication of Nomad Gods , and prior to the publication of RuneQuest ,

1152-485: Is set in the same background as Nomad Gods , but is a family card game. Playable by 2-5 people, each controls a nomadic tribe that roams a post-apocalyptic landscape called the Plains of Prax. Each tribe uses a unique set of combat skills as well as magic and the summoning of tribal deities to steal herd animals from other tribes. A counter called The Eternal Battle, representing gods frozen in time, moves randomly across

1216-413: Is used as a starting adventure setting, but updated to the year 1625. Two further supplements concentrate on specific areas within Dragon Pass. The Glorantha website introduces Glorantha as follows: Glorantha is an action-packed world of adventure. Gods and Goddesses struggle here, with nations of people nothing but their pawns. The stormy barbarians with their brutal but honest Storm God struggle against

1280-549: The Gloranthan setting in the fantasy novel King of Sartar and a number of unfinished works published under the collective name of "the Stafford Library". In Glorantha, magic operates from the everyday level of prayers and charms to the creation and maintenance of the world. Heroes make their way in the world, and may also venture into metaphysical realms to gain knowledge and power, at the risk of body and soul. In

1344-537: The Looking-Glass . Due to the fuzzy boundary between fantasy and science fiction , it is sometimes difficult to make a hard-and-fast distinction between "fantasy worlds" and planets in science fiction . For example, the worlds of Barsoom , Darkover , Gor , and the Witch World combine elements of both genres and fantasy worlds may have nonexistent, powerful technology. Fairytale fantasy may ignore

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1408-547: The Lunar Empire, led by the imperial Sun God and devious Moon Goddess. Glorantha is an exciting world of heroes. Legends are being made by great individuals, many who are not even human beings. Some work with the deities, other heroes and heroines fight against them. Glorantha is colorful and full of magic. Supernatural animals are found, ranging from unicorns to seven types of merfolk and the Goddess of Lions. Glorantha

1472-459: The RuneQuest rules, RuneQuest: Sixth Edition , did not have a Gloranthan setting. In 2018 Chaosium published RuneQuest - Roleplaying in Glorantha . Wholly set in Glorantha, it advanced the in-game date to 1625, and focuses once again on Dragon Pass. Along with its two slipcase companions, it provides a complete overview of this region. Again the village of Apple Lane in the homeland of Sartar

1536-504: The World's End . and particularly since the 1954 publication of J.R.R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings . Such a world is often called "pseudo-medieval"—particularly when the writer has snatched up random elements from the era, which covered a thousand years and a continent, and thrown them together without consideration for their compatibility, or even introduced ideas not so much based on

1600-619: The absence of miraculous elements, authors may introduce "a retreat of magic" (sometimes called "thinning") that explains why the magic and other fantastic elements no longer appear: For example, in The Lord of the Rings , the destruction of the One Ring defeated Sauron , but also destroyed the power of the Three Rings of the elves , resulting in them sailing to the West at the end of

1664-624: The actual Middle Ages. Fantasy worlds also tend to be economically medieval, and disproportionately pastoral . Careful world-building plus meticulous attention to detail is often cited as the reason why certain fantasy works are deeply convincing and contain a magical sense of place. Heavy and faithful use of real-world setting for inspiration, as in Barry Hughart 's Bridge of Birds , clearly derived from China, or Lloyd Alexander 's use of real-world cultures such as Welsh for The Chronicles of Prydain or Indian for The Iron Ring , make

1728-509: The blending of ancient societies. It is unlike its contemporary, Dungeons & Dragons which has its roots in wargaming . Stafford's first imaginings of Glorantha date back to 1966, when he began his studies at Beloit College , as a vehicle for him to deepen his own understanding of mythology by creating his own mythology. Stafford was greatly influenced by the ideas on the mythology of Joseph Campbell , and echoes of Campbell's work are to be found in many aspects of Glorantha; for instance,

1792-483: The board, often destroying tribesmen that it encounters. The game presents six different scenarios that often require, in part, capturing herds of livestock from another tribe. In the December–January 1977 edition of White Dwarf (Issue #4), Lew Pulsipher liked the unique setting, and the well organized rules that "use a step by step format, so even a novice fantasy gamer shouldn't have much trouble absorbing

1856-861: The child eats its way out of the host at full gestation. They worship Malia, the Mother of Disease, and Thed, the goddess of rape and mother of Chaos. Scorpionmen are belligerent and resemble scorpion -human centaur . They are stupid, vicious and live in violent matriarchies with a religious emphasis on devouring. They are chaotic in nature. Ducks or Durulz are flightless humanoid duck -like creatures who have arms rather than wings (or men cursed with feathers and webbed feet). They have unknown ancestry and may descend from cursed humans or cursed ducks. They reside around rivers, mainly in Sartar, and have an unexplained mystical affinity with Death. Aldryami or Gloranthan elves , are plant people. They worship nature and

1920-504: The clans and tribes of Dragon Pass into a single kingdom. The game features exceptional depth of coverage of the area of Dragon Pass, and featured the first compelling public view of Stafford's ideas about the hero's quest. Stafford was also self publishing additional material at this time about the history and mythology of Glorantha in non-game form in The Glorious (Re)Ascent of Yelm . In 2000, Issaries, Inc. published Hero Wars ,

1984-496: The company Chaosium to publish the board wargame White Bear and Red Moon in 1975, which was set in Glorantha. Chaosium later published other games in the setting, including the critically acclaimed RuneQuest . Various later editions of RuneQuest , the narrative role-playing game HeroQuest (the first edition of which was published as Hero Wars ), and the video game King of Dragon Pass were also set in Glorantha, as were several prominent fan efforts. Stafford has also explored

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2048-521: The fantastic elements should ideally operate according to self-consistent rules of their own; for example, if wizards' spells sap their strength, a wizard who does not appear to suffer this must either be putting up a facade or have an alternative explanation. This distinguishes fantasy worlds from Surrealism and even from such dream worlds as are found in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through

2112-465: The fantasy land/world concept can be seen in the One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ), where places of which little was known, but where the occurrence of marvels was thus more credible, had to be set "long ago" or "far away". This is a process that continues and finally culminates in the fantasy world having little connection, if any, to actual times and places. A more recent example of

2176-426: The game slowly but surely." Due to the complexity of the game, Pulsipher recommended that gamers start by playing the prequel, White Bear and Red Moon first, "because it resembles conventional two-player games more than Nomad Gods does, and because the second edition [of White Bear and Red Moon ] has corrected typos and ambiguous rules, a treatment, Nomad Gods would profit from." Pulsipher concluded by recommending

2240-492: The game were thoroughly revised including the game system. Production quality increased with full colour components. Expansions and corrections were included in The Book of Drastic Resolutions: Drastic Prax . The 2012 Vassal release was a digitized copy of the original 1977 board and counters. The rulebook was republished without the counters and map in 2017 by Chaosium as part of their Khan of Khans Kickstarter. Khan of Khans

2304-524: The game: "You won't find more stimulating fantasy boardgames anywhere." He gave the game an overall rating of 9 out of 10. In the July–August 1977 edition of The Space Gamer (Issue No. 12), Robert C. Kirk liked Nomad Gods , commenting that "The game is easy to learn. The rules are eminently readable." In the May 1978 edition of Dragon (Issue 14), J. Ward thought the detailing of the separate tribes and

2368-434: The line between fantasy worlds and alternate histories fuzzy. The use of cultural elements, and still more history and geography, from actual settings, pushes a work toward alternative history. Conversely, the creation by an author of an imaginary country—such as Ruritania or Graustark —does not automatically transform that imaginary country into a fantasy world, even if the location would be impossible in reality owing to

2432-433: The magical abilities of the people inhabiting the world. These are often drawn from mythology and folklore , frequently that of the historical country also used for inspiration. Fantasy worlds created through a process called world building are known as a constructed world . Constructed worlds elaborate and make self-consistent the setting of fantasy work. World building often relies on materials and concepts taken from

2496-428: The medieval era as on romanticized views of it. When these worlds are copied not so much from history as from other fantasy works, there is a heavy tendency to uniformity and lack of realism. The full width and breadth of the medieval era is seldom drawn upon. Governments, for instance, tend to be uncompromisingly feudal-based, or evil empires or oligarchies , usually corrupt, while there was far more variety of rule in

2560-508: The more conventional versions based on the work of Tolkien . Dwarves are literally made of stone and exist as manifest rigid inflexible laws of creation, while elves are intelligent, mobile plants. Glorantha is full of surprises. Glorantha is as deep as you want it to be, or not. Hackers and choppers have what they want, while scholars and mythologists have a vast playground of new stories, legends and myths to enjoy. It has various cultures analogous to Earth spread over two major landmasses and

2624-477: The more naturalistic focus taken by RuneQuest . Owing to this approach, in approach some RuneQuest fans found it difficult to adjust to HeroQuest . A rewritten second edition was published in Spring 2009 by Moon Design Publications . It was supported with comprehensive Gloranthan sourcebooks Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes (2009), Sartar Companion (2010) and Pavis: Gateway to Adventure (2012). In 2006, RuneQuest

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2688-408: The more recent material, competing magical outlooks (such as theism, shamanism and mysticism) exist to explain the world. Within each metaphysical system, adherents may also compete, such as when theistic worshipers of rival gods battle each other. The world is flat, with a dome-like sky, and it has been shaped in large and small ways by the mythic actions of the gods. The 'historical' world of Glorantha

2752-649: The name Glorantha appeared in print for the first time. Wyrm's Footnotes #4 contained three articles on Glorantha and a map of the world itself. The first edition of the role-playing game RuneQuest was released in 1978. Here, the world was referred to as " Glorontha ". Several later editions were made; the second edition ("RuneQuest 2") in 1979 introduced many sophisticated game aids, such as Cults of Prax and Cults of Terror , and polished campaign packs such as Griffin Mountain . Using materials such as Cults of Prax , players aligned their characters with any of

2816-505: The nature of the plots; earlier works often feature a solitary individual whose adventures in the fantasy world are of personal significance, and where the world clearly exists to give scope to these adventures, and later works more often feature characters in a social web, where their actions are to save the world and those in it from peril. The most common fantasy world is one based on medieval Europe, and has been since William Morris used it in his early fantasy works, such as The Well at

2880-470: The normal world-building in order to present a world operating by the same logic as the fairytales from which they are derived, though other works in this subgenre develop their worlds fully. Comic fantasy may ignore all possible logic in search of humor, particularly if it is parodying other fantasies' faulty world-building, as in Diana Wynne Jones 's Dark Lord of Derkholm , or the illogic of

2944-508: The primary metal used bronze . Uz , the trolls , are the race of darkness, large, intelligent, astoundingly omnivorous , with a very developed sonar -like sense ( darksense ). Their societies are matriarchal, and they worship, among others, a goddess of darkness called Kyger Litor, mother of the Trolls, and the more violent and sinister Zorak Zoran. Dragonewts are a magical race made up of forms of neotenic dragons . They are engaged in

3008-401: The project and it was canceled. RuneQuest did not prosper with its association with Avalon Hill, and the relationship between Chaosium, who held the rights to Glorantha, and Avalon Hill, who held the rights to RuneQuest , broke down completely in 1995. Following the break with Chaosium, Avalon Hill began to assert their trademark to the RuneQuest name, began work on RuneQuest: Slayers . This

3072-449: The real world. Despite the use of magic or other fantastic elements such as dragons, the world is normally presented as one that would function normally, one in which people could actually live, making economic, historical, and ecological sense. It is considered a flaw to have, for example, pirates living in lands far from trade routes, or to assign prices for a night's stay in an inn that would equate to several years’ income. Furthermore,

3136-559: The rulebook in PDF format in 2017. It is the second part of the Dragon Pass trilogy that began with White Bear and Red Moon . Although some counters for the planned third game were included with Nomad Gods , the third game of the trilogy was never published. Rules updates and additions were published in Wyrm's Footnotes . The 1977 game comes with a 22" x 26" hex map , 252 counters, and

3200-536: The setting is integral to the comedy, as in L. Sprague de Camp 's Solomon's Stone , where the fantasy world is populated by the heroic and glamorous figures that people daydream about being, resulting in a severe shortage of workers in the more mundane, day-to-day industries. Most other subgenres of fantasy suffer if the world-building is neglected. Rather than creating their own fantasy world, many authors choose to set their novels in Earth's past. In order to explain

3264-524: The sixth edition of RuneQuest, with no Gloranthan content. Glorantha returned in 2018 with Chaosium publishing RuneQuest - Roleplaying in Glorantha . The HeroQuest game system, written by Robin Laws in collaboration with Greg Stafford , is a complete departure from RuneQuest . The former leverages quick contests and open, almost free-form style of skills and abilities to emulate a mythic structure of play, with rising and falling tensions that contrast with

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3328-444: The story brings about. Stories that use the setting as merely a backdrop for the story have been criticized for their failure to use it fully. Even when the land itself is not in danger, it is often used symbolically, for thematic purposes, and to underscore moods. For readers, fantasy worlds offer a "place...[where] assumptions and desires [about the genre] are confirmed" and emotional satisfaction that comes from various elements of

3392-430: The story of the "God Learners" can be seen as an exercise on the implications of Campbell's idea of a unifying monomyth , and the story of Prince Argrath an exploration of Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949). More abstractly, Campbell's idea that myths are how we shape our lives deeply informs the picture of life in Glorantha throughout the game world's publication history. The first game set in Glorantha

3456-611: The story. A contemporary fantasy necessarily takes place in what purports to be the real world, and not a fantasy world. It may, however, include references to such a retreat. J. K. Rowling 's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them explains that wizards eventually decided to conceal all magical creatures and artifacts from non-magic users. Dungeons & Dragons , the first major role-playing game , has created several detailed and commercially successful fantasy worlds (called " campaign settings "), with established characters, locations, histories, and sociologies. The Forgotten Realms

3520-430: The sun and Aldrya, deity of plants, specifically. In contrast to Tolkienesque elves , they are alien, physically plant-like and unfriendly to "meat men" (humans). Like many other fantasy fictional elf races, they are excellent archers. Mostali are machine-like dwarves . They are xenophobic , orthodox and insular. They have invented iron , which has many extraordinary magical properties in Glorantha, contrasting to

3584-447: The universalist approaches of Joseph Campbell and Mircea Eliade , its sword and sorcery ethos, its long and distinctive history as a setting for role-playing games, its community development and expansion, and its relative lack of Tolkienesque influence, which is uncommon among early American fantasy role-playing games. Stafford first wrote about in Glorantha in 1966 as a way to deepen his own understanding of mythology. He founded

3648-439: The well-written rules were reason enough for buying the game. He also liked the addition of magical combat. He did think a quirk in the rules gave tribes with fast bowmen an unfair advantage, and questioned why counters that could only be used in the planned third game of the Dragon Pass trilogy were included with this game. Ward concluded though, that "All in all, the game Nomad Gods works on so many levels that it can’t fail to be

3712-433: The world fulfill readers' expectations for quality. Early fantasy worlds appeared as fantasy lands , part of the same planet but separated by geographical barriers. For example, Oz , though a fantasy world in every way, is described as part of this world. Although medieval peasants who seldom if ever traveled far from their villages could not conclusively say that it was impossible that, for example, an ogre could live

3776-482: Was added to the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for the movie version; in the book, Oz is clearly defined as an actual place. H.P. Lovecraft made active use of the dream frame, creating elaborate geographies accessible to humans only when they were asleep and dreaming. These dream settings have been criticized, and are far less frequent today. This change is part of a general trend toward more self-consistent and substantive fantasy worlds. This has also altered

3840-480: Was given as the "Dark Ages of fantasy Europe", but it also included a booklet allowing use in Glorantha. Later supplements such as Gods of Glorantha expanded religious aspects, while Glorantha: Genertela, Crucible of the Hero Wars did the same for culture and geography. In the mid-1990s, Avalon Hill began work on a fourth edition of RuneQuest , subtitled Adventures in Glorantha . Stafford did not approve of

3904-625: Was licensed to Mongoose Publishing by Issaries . Their new edition of the rules, were not set in Glorantha, and required a further supplemement, Glorantha – The Second Age to play. Written by Robin Laws , it was set in the Second Age of Gloratha's history against the backdrop of The God Learner empire and the Empire of Wyrm's Friend. In this edition, Mongoose produced 17 supplements and adventures based in Glorantha, alongside their generic fantasy background. A second edition Mongoose RuneQuest II

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3968-657: Was published in January 2010, but Mongoose Publishing's licence for Gloranthan material lapsed in May 2011. The RuneQuest II game system has been retitled "Legend", and contains no Gloranthan material. A new company, The Design Mechanism, was formed by the authors of RuneQuest II , and ownership of the Gloranthan supplements produced for the "RuneQuest II" line was transferred to them (PDF versions continued to be sold). There are close links between The Design Mechanism and Moon Design Publications, with The Design Mechanism founders writing material for both companies. Their new edition of

4032-503: Was the board game White Bear and Red Moon . The game details a time of constant war between the land of Sartar and the Lunar Empire during the reign of Argrath Dragontooth. Its board details an area called Dragon Pass, while the rulebook provides details of the warring factions, their lands, and leaders. In addition, it provides a large-scale map titled the Greater Lunar Empire, showing a larger world in which Dragon Pass

4096-487: Was unrelated to Glorantha and the third edition rules. The project was canceled just before printing in 1998. During this period of breakdown, Glorantha continued to evolve. The advent of the Internet caused a boom in fan creations for Glorantha. This was supported by several unofficial business ventures, such as Reaching Moon Megacorp, and a lively convention scene. Loren Miller proposed his Maximum Game Fun principle as

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