We are back with another Glorantha Initiation interview, where we talk to recent converts to Glorantha and discuss their experience approaching the setting. This time our guest is Jim Deeley, who also happens to play Arim the Orlanth/Issaries dual initiate in Ludo’s weekly RuneQuest game.
You can find everything about Jim on his Link Tree, including:
- Jim’s profile on Start Playing Games. If you scroll to the bottom, you can find Jim’s games, including the number of seats available in each. Join one!
- Jim’s Writing Portfolio, including one of the articles in Treasures of Glorantha, Volume 2.
- All of Jim’s available writings from DriveThruRPG.
- Werewolf: The Podcast (not active anymore)
Show Notes
Things we discuss in this episode include:
- Started with CRPGs (computer RPG video games)
- “Sword of the Samurai”
- Jim’s hot take: samurai are superior, ninjas are cowards who skulk around in black pyjamas
- Encountered RPGs by mistake, in a bookstore in Vermont
- Was reading the Darksword series, and picked up a “Darksword Adventures” book, expecting stories, but it was a game!
- Later in college, found Last Unicorn’s Star Trek game, but never found a group to play with
- Then found a group to play VtM (around 2000)
- “The Storyteller system ruined me for every other system out there”
- Fistful of dice are better than single dice!
- Found Werewolf pretty quickly afterwards
- There’s a little hope in there, instead of VtM and other WoD games
- Likes to run in Dark Ages, and would like to run a Viking-age Werewolf game
- The WoD canon was interesting to read but mostly ignored at the table
- “Take the canon, and fire it out of a canon”
- The metaplot is there for giving ready-to-use material
- The Gloranthan metaplot will be derailed by the players
- Jim plays in Ludo’s game!
- They killed Harvar Ironfist in 1619, way ahead of the metaplot
- Their PCs also showed up in the game Jim GMs!
- “The metaplot is there to give you ideas, not to give you shackles”
- In Ludo’s game, the PCs saved the Dundealos tribe from being expelled, and Jim’s character negotiated a hefty wergild being payed to them by the Lunars
- Jim played, run, and wrote for Star Trek and Transformers, among others. He played a LOT of other RPG systems.
- What it is like to be a paid-gamemaster:
- Jim uses “Start Playing Games” a lot for advertising his games.
- Dealing with motivation and burnout.
- Jim finds paying players are more involved!
- Running published scenarios vs custom material
- What “good” looks like, how to not prep to death.
- Unrealistic player expectations.
- How to ensure players are entertains.
- Have more guest players in your campaigns!
- As many people, Jim discovered Glorantha with King of Dragon Pass
- Then Jim played in Ludovic’s Telmori one-shot, and joined his ongoing campaign.
- Dealing with house rules.
- “All myths are true, even the contradictory ones”
- Glorantha does mythology better than most other TTRPG settings.
- Please don’t heroform as your clan wyter, that’s generally bad!
- “The Seven Wonders”: NPC heroes of the Seven Mothers, on a crusade!
- Heroquesting foreign myths.
- Good settings leave a lot of room for you in the margins.
- Ludo takes credit for the RQ cult splatbooks… again.
- RQ’s “U shaped” difficulty curve.
- Duck-loving Helerings!
- Making horse rosters for the clan.
- Letting players participate in the world-building.
- Creating Gloranthan monsters on the fly.
- Becoming pregnant in heroquests.
- Bringing back extinct species.
- What’s dangerous about heroquests?
- Understanding the God Time.
- Gloranthan lore is a mountain, and you can only climb it.
- Killing the Red Moon… or turning it White.
- Draconic enlightenment vs Illumination… and using them in your game.
- The end of the EWF, and the Dragonkill.
- Reve de Dragon TTRPG!
- Maran Gor’s ankle bells ring!
Credits
The intro music is “Dancing Tiger” by Damscray. The outro music is “Islam Dream” by Serge Quadrado. Other audio is from the FreeSound library.
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