Mythic
Russia Development Interview
In August 2004, ‘Newt’ Newport, leading light of the
Ring of HeroQuest Narrators, conducted an interview with Mythic Russia author
Mark Galeotti about the game. Originally this was hosted on the RHQN’s
website, but with the future of that site in question, the Firebird is happy to
give it a new home here, in the hope that it will be of some use to prospective
buyers and players. The following text is taken direct from the RHQN’s site;
text in italics are Mark’s responses.
Mythic Russia is a new game in development based upon Russian Folklore
using the HeroQuest system. It is being written by Mark Galeotti. Long time fans
of HeroQuest will recognise this name as one of the developers of the system and
the Imperial Lunar Handbook. What perhaps they don't know is that Mark is a
doctor of Russian history, and has a long passion for the world of Russian
folklore.
Mark has recently revealed the existence of the game to the world,
principally through its web site at http://www.firebird-productions.com/ ,
and has started feeding out details. Recently I took the opportunity to ask some
questions about this game.
1.
Why is Mythic Russia going to be a standalone game?
The first and most basic reason is because that’s how I
wanted it! It’s aesthetically more satisfying to have everything together.
Secondly, much of the material in the core HQ rules is simply not relevant to Mythic
Russia, being Glorantha-centric, or else will be subject to such a degree of
tweaking to fit the setting that it is actually easier to present, for example,
the magic rules afresh rather than listing all the differences from the rules in
the core book. Finally, as is inevitable, now that HQ has gone through the
extensive post-production playtesting that is actual use, this has thrown up
sections which could do with being written differently, and so this is a chance
to incorporate some of the queries, suggestions and errata which have arisen
over the past year. Ah yes, and to write it in English English, too!
2.
Will the game still be based around over blown heroics,
like Glorantha, or will its tone be darker?
Well, Glorantha can be pretty dark, but Mythic Russia
will certainly see the same kind of dramatic stunts and over-the-top adventure
as you’d find in most HeroQuest games. That said, for those who rather play a
grittier kind of game, there will be guidance on how the existing rules can be
used for a less freewheeling style, even down to running historical adventures
in which there is no magic at all.
Heroes.
3.
How will Mythic Russian heroes differ from their Gloranthan
counterparts?
Again, that’s a difficult one to answer, as in my
experience there isn’t a ‘standard Gloranthan hero’ any more than a
‘standard Gloranthan game’ – the beauty of the system is that it can be
used just as well to create the earnest Orlanthi carl, whose ambitions extend to
marrying the girl in the next village and buying a bull, as the flying
were-ferret carrying the Sword of Direst Doom.
That said, heroes in Mythic Russia are much
more clearly distinct from the common mass of society than in Glorantha. Even
starting characters, without using advanced experience, are forces to be
recognised and quite possibly famous in their home region, perhaps even
throughout all the Russias.
4.
You mention economics and trade in the introductory flyer
given out at Continuum. Will the game’s rules support the hero who wants to
bid for political power?
Absolutely: the game is set in an era when political power
is up for grabs and the opportunities for advancement great, especially as the
Russians had a tradition of ‘head hunting’ princes with particular talents
when their cities faced particular challenges. One of the beauties of game
engine is that such a bid for power can be handled through the extended contest
mechanics. I don’t mean by this that the whole process becomes just a matter
of rolling dice, but that while a hero adventures and schemes and politics, then
at key junctures he can make another bid to ‘beat’ the city’s resistance,
using his renown, his wealth, his relationship to its people, etc. Of course,
this works especially well in saga-style games (in which years may pass between
episodes of play) or even generational ones (in which the gamers play bloodlines
rather than individual heroes), both of which will be supported in the core book
5.
Which homelands will be available to the players in the
core rules?
This isn’t set in stone yet. There will certainly be
homelands for playing heroes from the Rus’, Mongols, ‘Sibiryaki’ (members
of the various indigenous Siberian tribes), ‘Greeks’ (Byzantines) and
‘Germans’ (which would include Balts). A few specific subcultures, such as
the Teutonic Knights (crusading zealots assailing the Rus’ from the north-west
in the name of the Roman Church) will have ‘add-on’ homeland keywords.
What is not yet decided is firstly whether there will be
just one or two core Rus’ homelands with minor variations reflecting a
hero’s home city or region, or whether to have several, to stress the
differences between, say, a hero from Kiev (once dominant city, now in decline)
and one from Moscow (the ambitious would-be capital, with strong Mongol
influences).
The other uncertainty is whether to include further full
homelands for peoples living on the periphery of the lands of the Rus’, such
as Finns and Armenians. I would like to, but they may not make it for reasons of
space, because to do them justice, they need not only the two pages a homeland
keyword requires but also background information, magical keywords and the like.
I suspect that I will divide the Lithuanians and other Balts from the
‘Germans’ but beyond that, that these other cultures will end up not making
it into the book, and appear in a supplement or as support material on the
Firebird website.
Magic
6.
Why have you gone for a one sized fits all approach to
magic?
Two main reasons. First of all, the notion of separate
sources of magic and otherworlds is a Gloranthan concept that does not fit with
the magical ecology as Russians envisaged it. They knew that there were
differences between the miracles manifested by Christian saints, the magical
powers of gifted heroes, the spirits of the shamans and the like, but they saw
them inhabiting the same realm and indeed competing within it. Indeed, one of
the basic themes, which fits into the issues you raise in the next question, is
precisely that of the competition between different forms of magic and belief,
as each colonises a common world. Thus, as Christianity spreads, so too do the
otherworlds become Christianised. In the mean time, though, many practice magics
of various different kinds, and the whole business of specialising and
concentrating, never mind misapplied worship and alien world modifiers,
doesn’t fit this notion.
The second reason is that, to be honest, most narrators and
players – myself included – don’t enjoy using the animism and wizardry
rules as much as theism. They are more complex and also much more intrusive. My
ideal game is one in which the rules are as invisible as possible, allowing the
story and the interaction of characters to dominate, and so I would rather stick
with the most fun and intuitive system for all, with tweaks to give a sense of
difference between types of magic, rather than multiple magic systems.
7.
Do you see some nice role-playing moments coming out of the
personality conflicts, both personal and between characters, coming into play
from the combinations of magic beliefs that you say that the rules and setting
allows. For example with the Rus’ practising dvoeverie and venerating
both a pagan gods and Christian saints, I can see some pretty powerful internal
conflicts between the old pagan religion and the new Christian one. How will all
of this translate into Personality traits and the contests that arise from their
use?
Russia at this time (the end of the fourteenth century) is
going through a process of invention, as it throws off a century and a half of
Mongol domination. In part, this is a political issue: will (as in the real
world) Moscow become the dominant city, bringing with it its own dark and
pragmatic ideology, or will some other capital rise? Indeed, will the new Russia
be a single, centralised state or a collection of principalities?
However, there are many other areas for dispute, debate and
division, including religion. Many are happy to retain the old ways alongside
the (relatively) new Orthodox Christian faith, but there is a growing faction
within the Church which rejects this. In part, this is because of the pressure
of the Roman Church (given particular force by the incursions of the Teutonic
Knights) and the Greek Orthodox Church, still ensconced in glory in
Constantinople (or ‘Tsargrad’, ‘Emperor’s City’, as many Russians
still call it). Some within the less tolerant wing of the Russian Church are
motivated by nationalism – they fear that without driving out the last
vestiges of paganism, they will be weak in faith and lacking in God’s grace,
and thus vulnerable to their Christian brothers and rivals. However, others will
in time become so frustrated and alienated by the persistence of pagan ways that
they will be willing to find common cause with the Roman or Greek Churches,
prepared to sacrifice their nation to save its people’s souls…
Obviously this will be manifested in the personality traits
and relationships of those heroes who choose to become involved in these
controversies. Furthermore, even dvoeverie has its limits:
there are some saints, for example, who ban their worshippers from also
following pagan ways as initiates or devotees. Ultimately, though, these
dilemmas are going to be resolved and reflected in the stories rather than the
numbers in contests.
8.
Magic in Glorantha is obvious and everyone uses it. The
whole process is very showy and pyrotechnical. In Mythic Russia how obvious is
the use of magic?
It’s still very obvious – indeed, if anything more so,
because active magic is the preserve of an heroic minority. Saintly priests will
summon fires from the heavens, brawny warriors will kick holes in city walls,
magical horses will gallop through the air, their hooves trailing sparks…
9.
You mention that ordinary people do not have access to
magic powers. How does this affect the balance of power in the game?
Heroes are heroes, they are different. In Glorantha, every
Heortling clan has its own array of magically-gifted individuals, from
cloud-riding weaponthanes to farmers who can plough a field in an hour, so that
magic is just another tool. In Mythic Russia, to be able to use magic in
an active way is rare and thus the mark of the exceptional character. The
gradient between normal people and heroes is thus that much steeper. An
experienced hero ought to be able to cut down a dozen ordinary soldiers with
ease, while a priest able to call on miracles will be the talk of a district.
In this respect, Mythic Russia returns more closely
to the conventions of both fairy tale and also cinema. Worthy opposition comes
above all from other heroes (and also the unexpected, like a trap, seduction,
distracting riddle or the like). That said, quantity has a quality all its own.
If there are enough swordsmen, then even the hero will go down, but he will be
accompanied by the souls of many of his foes!
Myth
10.
What makes the mythological framework, beyond
“Thrice-Ninth Lands”, of the game so interesting?
Heavens; where do I begin? OK, here’s a list of thoughts,
in no particular order and by no means conclusive.
A pastiche of paganism and Christianity that is at once
overt and more often friendly than hostile: I, who worship Volos the cattle god,
can argue with my brother, who insists on calling him St Vlasii: we disagree
fundamentally as to who this guy is, but on many day-to-day issues relating to
our faiths, we see entirely eye-to-eye.
Some of the weirdest and most interesting villains and
heroes around, many of which – such as Baba Yaga the witch and Koschei the
Deathless – have made their way into other games, but rarely capturing their
true depth and complexity.
Beyond this, though, the setting offers a body of myths and
folklore that has yet to be plundered to death like so many others, and yet
which is also extremely inclusive, incorporating tales and deities of many other
peoples, from Balts to Serbs, Finns to Persians.
11.
One criticism about the Gloranthan model of interaction
with myth, Hero Questing, is that its rewards can seem a bit abstract. In a
gaming sense what rewards and benefits will the players’ characters get from
interacting with the Nine worlds?
It will be a lot more obvious: the otherworlds are not
representations of past myths or anything like that, they are places, parallel
to our own, mortal world. You might stumble unknowingly into the Otherworld on
some deep forest track, or else it may be a place to which you will travel
deliberately through ritual or sheer force of will.
The Otherworld broadly represents our world, with seas
where we have seas, mountains where we have mountains. Of course, the seas are
deeper, bluer and purer than ours, and the mountains might reach to the moon.
Likewise, the areas representing mortal realms dominated by Christianity will
largely reflect that, being inhabited by otherworldly beings from the Christian
mythos and mindset. Just as there are ways and places to travel from the mortal
realm into this Otherworld, so too are there ways to go further and deeper into
the lands of magic, until, ‘Beyond the Thrice-Ninth Land,’ you begin to
reach the furthest and most magical realms, such as the land of the dead or
even, for those rarest of individuals holy enough to travel so far, presumably
even Heaven.
On the most basic level, these are just different, more
magical places to go, inhabited by different, more magical people and beings.
These are often the places to go if you need major magical powers or allies or
wish to take on the mightiest challenges. You could travel into the sun-bright
steppes dominated by Mongol traditions, for example, to learn their magics or
force a spirit into a weapon which would then have some particular power. Or you
could travel deep into the otherworldly ‘Russia’ to seek the fabled bogatyrs,
greatest heroes of its folklore, to enlist their help or seek their advice.
However, just as the otherworlds reflect the mortal world,
so too do they affect it, creating scope for more subtle, long-term and also
potentially powerful schemes. If planning an offensive against the Mongols, for
example, you could first travel to the otherworldly location representing the
place where you plan to fight your battle, and drive off any Mongol spirits
there, build an Orthodox chapel, or otherwise seek to change its mythical
‘orientation’ in the hope that this might weaken your enemies’ magics and
morale. Of course, this is something for the most powerful heroes and again also
more geared to those playing generational or saga games.
All content throughout this site relating
to the Mythic Russia game and setting is
copyright © Mark Galeotti 2004-5.