Glorantha
History of the Gloranthan game world
History of the Gloranthan game world
------------------------------------

### Early development (1960s–1970s)

Glorantha's origins lie in experiments with mythology, storytelling, recreation, and the blending of ancient societies. It is unlike its contemporary, *[Dungeons \& Dragons](/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons "Dungeons & Dragons")* which has its roots in [wargaming](/wiki/Wargaming "Wargaming").

Stafford's first imaginings of Glorantha date back to 1966, when he began his studies at [Beloit College](/wiki/Beloit_College "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](/wiki/Joseph_Campbell "Joseph Campbell"), and echoes of Campbell's work are to be found in many aspects of Glorantha; for instance, the story of the "God Learners" can be seen as an exercise on the implications of Campbell's idea of a unifying [monomyth](/wiki/Monomyth "Monomyth"), and the story of Prince Argrath an exploration of Campbell's *[The Hero with a Thousand Faces](/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces "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 was the [board game](/wiki/Board_game "Board game") *[White Bear and Red Moon](/wiki/White_Bear_and_Red_Moon "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 is placed. The *White Bear and Red Moon* does not disclose the name of the world.

*[Nomad Gods](/wiki/Nomad_Gods "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](/wiki/RuneQuest "RuneQuest"), the name Glorantha appeared in print for the first time. *[Wyrm's Footnotes](/wiki/Wyrm%27s_Footnotes "Wyrm's Footnotes")* \#4 contained three articles on Glorantha and a map of the world itself.

### In role\-playing games (late 1970s – 1990s)

The first edition of the role\-playing game *[RuneQuest](/wiki/RuneQuest "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](/wiki/Cults_of_Prax "Cults of Prax")* and *[Cults of Terror](/wiki/Cults_of_Terror "Cults of Terror")*, and polished campaign packs such as *[Griffin Mountain](/wiki/Griffin_Mountain "Griffin Mountain")*. Using materials such as *Cults of Prax*, players aligned their characters with any of 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, a [vampire](/wiki/Vampire "Vampire") cult, and Lunar and Chaos cults.

In 1993, Stafford published his first major expansion of Gloranthan mythology, the novel *[King of Sartar](/wiki/King_of_Sartar "King of Sartar")*. This was a departure from previous Gloranthan material, which had all been targeted at a [tabletop role\-playing game](/wiki/Tabletop_role-playing_game "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](/wiki/Avalon_Hill "Avalon Hill") in 1984\. The default setting for this edition 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](/wiki/Gods_of_Glorantha "Gods of Glorantha")* expanded religious aspects, while *[Glorantha: Genertela, Crucible of the Hero Wars](/wiki/Glorantha:Genertela%2C_Crucible_of_the_Hero_Wars "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 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](/wiki/RuneQuest:Slayers "Slayers")*. This 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](/wiki/Maximum_Game_Fun "Maximum Game Fun") principle as a basis for gaming in Glorantha; this soon became a game system in its own right. David Dunham proposed his *[PenDragon Pass](/wiki/PenDragon_Pass "PenDragon Pass")* system, a nearly freeform game system, and several ambitious [freeform](/wiki/Freeform_role-playing_game "Freeform role-playing game") games were played at conventions. One such game, *Home of the Bold*, hosted up to eighty participants.

The [video game](/wiki/Video_game "Video game") *[King of Dragon Pass](/wiki/King_of_Dragon_Pass "King of Dragon Pass")* was released by [A Sharp](/wiki/A_Sharp_%28company%29 "A Sharp (company)") in 1999\. The player assumes the role of an Orlanthi hero who seeks to unite 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*.

### 21st century

In 2000, [Issaries, Inc.](/wiki/Issaries%2C_Inc. "Issaries, Inc.") published *[Hero Wars](/wiki/HeroQuest_%28role-playing_game%29 "HeroQuest (role-playing game)")*, a new Gloranthan role\-playing game unrelated to RuneQuest. Its next iteration in 2003 was named *[HeroQuest](/wiki/HeroQuest_%28role-playing_game%29 "HeroQuest (role-playing game)")* and later in 2008, [Moon Design Publications](/wiki/Moon_Design_Publications "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](/wiki/Mongoose_Publishing "Mongoose Publishing") with a second edition in 2010\. In 2012, [The Design Mechanism](/wiki/The_Design_Mechanism "The Design Mechanism") published the sixth edition of RuneQuest, with no Gloranthan content. Glorantha returned in 2018 with Chaosium publishing *[RuneQuest \- Roleplaying in Glorantha](/wiki/RuneQuest_-_Roleplaying_in_Glorantha "RuneQuest - Roleplaying in Glorantha")*.

#### *Hero Wars* and *HeroQuest*

The *HeroQuest* game system, written by [Robin Laws](/wiki/Robin_Laws "Robin Laws") in collaboration with [Greg Stafford](/wiki/Greg_Stafford_%28game_designer%29 "Greg Stafford (game designer)"), 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 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](/wiki/Moon_Design_Publications "Moon Design Publications"). It was supported with comprehensive Gloranthan sourcebooks *Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes* (2009\), *Sartar Companion* (2010\) and *Pavis: Gateway to Adventure* (2012\).

#### RuneQuest

In 2006, *RuneQuest* was licensed to [Mongoose Publishing](/wiki/Mongoose_Publishing "Mongoose Publishing") by [Issaries](/wiki/Issaries%2C_Inc. "Issaries, Inc."). 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](/wiki/Robin_Laws "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* 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 the RuneQuest rules, *RuneQuest: Sixth Edition*, did not have a Gloranthan setting.

In 2018 Chaosium published [RuneQuest \- Roleplaying in Glorantha](/wiki/RuneQuest_-_Roleplaying_in_Glorantha "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](/wiki/Apple_Lane "Apple Lane") in the homeland of Sartar is used as a starting adventure setting, but updated to the year 1625\. Two further supplements concentrate on specific areas within Dragon Pass.


What is the name of the supplement written by Robin Laws for the new edition of RuneQuest?