Thanks to my GM Tom, who suggested, ‘Making the “bizarre” part of everyday life,’ as the subject of a post. Here are some small details that create Glorantha in my mind. Some are his, some are mine, some are from other people.
- “There’s the Chief Librarian, resplendent in her… flowing white beard.”
- “The spear-head is small, of course, because it’s enchanted gold.”
- “It’s raining. Your hawk says it would prefer to be a sheep if this is all the thanks it gets.”
- “The werewolves at the road block charged the tax of a single sheep. That’s pretty low for a clan checkpoint – but it isn’t a clan checkpoint.”
- “The impala rider has given you all his belongings. Roll on Homeland Lore or Customs please.”
- “Horses are birds. I mean, everyone knows that, but it’s not every day you see it. This is a hippogriff.”
- “The duck looks at you wearily from where she’s rebuilding her fence.”
- “It’s a food pot in the shape of Xiola Umbar as a food pot.”
- “The opinion from the warriors is that it was wrong of the Humakti to use Death magic on animals during a hunt, but at least nobody died. Except the boar.”
- “She’s eight. She’s old enough to go out and look after the sheep for the season, with her cousins. They’re ten.”
- “The Dwarf puts a round frame to his eye, and he must be blessed by Yelm, because the eye is suddenly huge!”
It’s not just magical details that make the mundane and the bizarre come together – it’s also the differences between our world and Glorantha which aren’t accounted for by magic. Tiny details sketch out a world.
