Common Worlds

Check this out for examples of how to plan without actually going through the planning.

Three days cooling heels while Will heals the sickest. By the end, there's quite a crowd surrounding the temple most of the time, and it would be easy to grow concerned about your ability to leave. Before falling into an exhausted sleep late on the second night, Will sends word to all of you that he intends to conclude with a big ceremony first thing in the morning on Wildday the 35th. In the mean time, Rasa feels worse, the cold continues and the wind does not return. Definitive word comes from Boldhome that Whitewall, the last free city of the Orlanthi, has fallen to Lunar assault. Surprisingly, there is no word of the capture of the Heortling King, Broyan or his various heroic followers, rumored to include Kallyr Starbrow and other Sartarite expatriates. The crowds on the street say that Orlanth is dead, that Lunar magic has killed him.

Mo at Sin Aesthetics has some sharp observations about the writing of examples of play in a rules book. Here's an excerpt:

...you need to examine the examples you're presenting not only for their effectiveness in communicating the process of your game, but also for the social milieu they illustrate your game as encouraging. Because your play examples are the Example of Play you should be acutely aware of the fact that you are setting the expectations of beheaviour in your game. If, for example, you include player banter to give it a sense of realistic colour and that banter includes one player dismissing another player's ideas, you need to be aware that you as the creater of the game have said that it's not just allowable to do so in your game, but that it's par for the course. That milieu might be your intent, or it might not. My point is that you need to be aware of what your examples do to the subtext of your game.

Lastly, I think it needs to be said that just like there are people out there that wouldn't read a play example if you tied them down to a Bond villain device to make them capitulate, there are people who will only ever read your play examples. I know people who read the back cover of a book to get the jist of the game's theme or context and then open the book to go right to a play example to see if it's the kind of game they'd like to play. Many of these people make purchasing decisions about your game based on that experience alone, and if they are turned off by what they see, they may never give your game a second chance again.

The objective of the Dorkath game is to provide an alternate setting when we lack a quorum in the regular campaign. As such, it must be fast paced, episodic and easily picked up.   

Our Heroes

• Lord Eppah Duro-Ebro, an Ulkamoon-worshipping procurer for the Red Apple League
• Sikle-ke, a beautiful Kotori assassin masquerading as a courtesan
• Vilavandesh, a handsome Dara Happan inquisitor and true believer in the power of heaven
• Empracio Moonbred, a mob preacher, Preceptor of Arimtasus and Lunar Zealot

Current Events in Dorkath    

A noble landholder and Patriarch of Vilavandesh's Amber Mountain Hawk League tours the Satrapy, with court and attendants. Rumors fly about them being forward spies of an invasion from Alkoth.   

I've set up the Pavis Defeats Thog heroquest as a "book" on this site. Anyone with a membership to the site can log in and alter the text. The quest needs lots of fleshing out, so have at! If you aren't comfortable with adding formatting, then just add the straight text and I'll format it.

Any member is welcome to add their own quest outline here, for others to help flesh out.

This article by Danah Boyd, which I'm just starting to read, seems very appropriate for this web site.

Participants in social network sites want to be public where public means interacting with all people who might have similar tastes or be entertaining or provide useful information. They do not wish to exist in a public where they are harassed or where they have to deal with people who have power over them. This is not unlike everyday public spaces where people invite the opportunity to meet with like minds that recognize their fashion signals or otherwise find them intriguing.

The part about not dealing "with people who have power over them" is why social sites need to be careful not to exert copyright or onerous content limitation on the work that their users contribute.

This tool was designed for Heortlings, who are more Orlanth based, but I chose answers that always tended toward Esrolian style. It matches up pretty well.  I did this 'cause it was easy, feel free to ignore it if it doesn't match your needs:  Explanation at: http://www.glorantha.com/tools/clan_notes.html  Chris , who runs the game, says that the size of the clan given here is too big.  [b]Westhill Clan[/b][list]Economic Speciality: Grain Temple: Ernalda Other Popular Gods: Uralda Orlanth Tula Size: 240 hides Land Use Grain: 54% (130 hides) Livestock: 36% (87 hides) Hunting: 9% (21 hides) Population: 1430 Weaponthanes: 7 Fyrd: 429 Goals: Peace(8)  Learning(2)  Prosperity(2) Glory(1)  Justice(1)  Conquest(1)  Rebellion(1) Values: Acceptance(6)  Tradition(3)  Generosity(3) Wealth Rating: 17 Threat Rating: -1 Morale Rating: 12 Magic Rating: 19 Thralls: No Clan Type: Peace Lunar Relations: 13 Ancient Allies: Esrolians Dragons: Positive Enemies: Ancient: Beast Folk Recent: Aldryami Neighbors: Poachers[/list] [b]Summary of Clan History:[/b] We remember back to when Ernalda gathered the women to share in the abundance of the Earth. Our clanswomen helped Ernalda by doing the Flax Dance Ernalda consoled us by saying: "It is my way to have many husbands. The Bright Emperor will be neither the first or the last of  these." We joined Orlanth when he wooed Ernalda, and won her heart. We joined the Four Legs Clan, led by Uralda the Cow Mother We fought our most telling battle against the Beast Tribe, made up of people who were half man and half animal. When Vingkot said to shelter the people of a ruined clan, we agreed, and gave them the same rights we expected ourselves. The  farmers became carls, and the warriors were called weaponthanes. We followed Heort's teachings in the way of war and peace by taking this path: peace Our most importent allies were the grandmothers of Esrolia, who overthrew Orlanth, but still revered Ernalda. When Lokamayadon came, we pretended to go along with High Storm, and waited for a good time to rebel. When Arkat came, we helped the usual amount The Dragonkill war taught us that new things are usually bad. We helped our neighbors settle Dragon Pass because we loved the Pharaoh, and wished to make Dragon Pass part of his rule. Recently, our worst threat has been the Aldryami, who fought you when you tried to clear your lands. We chose to form a tribe with these other clans because they had the wisest peacemakers. We admired king Sartar because he married the Horse-Spawn Queen and became King of Dragon Pass. When the Lunar missionaries first came, we refused to let them enter our steads. Over the course of many years of fighting the Lunar Empire, we argued for peace. When the Lunars won the foreign war, we accepted their rule, but did not love them. While there was no Orlanthi to the north, many clans fought each other.  We tended to our crops. When Kallyr Starbrow sent emissaries for support of rebellion, we said it was not the time for rebellion.