23 November 2012

Guide to Glorantha

As most of you probably know, King of Dragon Pass is set in the world of Glorantha. Specifically, in Dragon Pass.

Greg Stafford had been detailing the myth-based setting for about 30 years when we came out with the original version of the game, and he has continued to add detail since then.

The rich detail of Glorantha allowed us to create a richly detailed game, but we tried to keep players from getting too overwhelmed by the setting. When strange foreigners show up from Tarsh, Ralios or Prax, they can be treated simply as strange foreigners.

But what if you as a player want to know more about Tarsh, Ralios or Prax? There really hasn’t been a great way to do so. There soon will be.

Moon Design has labored over The Guide to Glorantha, a very comprehensive work on the entire world, not just Dragon Pass (where most published works as well as the computer game were set). They are currently in the process of soliciting help making the book even better. The economics of book publishing are quite different from software publishing, so they need early orders so they can get better rates at the printer. Better rates mean they can do things like use more interior color, or commission additional artwork. They are even adding additional detail should funding reach certain levels (although wisely separating this into a companion product).

Since Dragon Pass is pivotal in Gloranthan history, you will learn more about it than presented in King of Dragon Pass. But Dragon Pass is only about one pixel on the map above (roughly in the center of the northern continent), and there’s a whole magical world that’s just as compelling.

Kickstarter supporters get immediate access to a text-only version. I’ve only had the chance to get a few pages in, but the quality is so high that I can recommend this to anyone interested in Glorantha. Help out Moon Design now, and you will help make The Guide to Glorantha even better!

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great read! Consider me sold

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  2. Add a Stretch Goal to open Source Code the game engine of King of Dragon Pass, content would still not be free/redistributable, so you can still sell it normally.
    If you do this the game will be ported to lots of devices/OS and mods cam make a even better UI.

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  3. Still waiting for Android port :), I have the ios version tho haha

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  4. After finishing multiple playthroughs of KoDP I've tried to find more info on Glorantha and have been completely overwhelmed. I realized how small Dragon Pass really is compared to the rest of the world.

    It also made me realize that my little tribe of Orlanthis were basically just barbarians compared to the other places in the world, and that the myths in Glorantha can vary greatly.

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    1. I’m glad we were able to keep you from being completely overwhelmed in KoDP!

      You can learn a lot about the Orlanthi in particular with the Sartar book. It takes an individual look at the culture (where KoDP looked at the Orlanthi as a group of individuals).

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