Review of Storm Tribe: The Cults of Sartar

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This book is a sourcebook for the Hero Wars incarnation of Glorantha (and in fact the only version of Glorantha I am familiar with). I wish to mention how difficult it is to review a book like this before I begin, not because it is bad, but because it is very well done.

Format

It appears to be a book around what looks 5” X 7” (it is about a millimetre taller than the Hero Wars Rulebook from the Deluxe set) and is 244 pages with a large (11 page) index. The book is standard glue-bound and about as resilient as most small format books.

Art
Most of the art in the book appears to be “simulated” wooden signs perhaps the type you’d find painted above temples or shrines. Only a few pieces don’t fit this mode completely and they aren’t bad, just less evocative of the mood of the book to me.

Rules
There isn’t much in the way of what one would call rules. This is a book, which describes the Deities, and heroes of the Sartar. It’s rules are pretty much limited to the basic concepts of “keywords” that we find in Hero Wars along with a variety of things about joining or belonging to a given Cult.

Setting
Oooh aaah. This is where the book excels, not just in general terms, but what is fundamentally a book about religions of a specific people in Glorantha. It’s huge, you get tons of detail about the various gods, heroes, and the like that make up their beliefs, how that acted, or the stories about them and so on. Add to this a calendar with various holy days marked and you’ve got an impressive book.

Example:

“Yinkin, God of Alynxes, Hunting and Sensuality.

Yinkin, is the alynx god. He is famous for his stalking, his unending sensuality, and his loyalty to his brother Orlanth. He helped Orlanth many times, and saved him in the Darkness so that he could finish his Lightbringer’s Quest. He is a favourite with all the goddesses, and his children have played their part in the Gods Age. Though loyal to Orlanth, however, he is still his own cat; he remains wilful and solitary, as befits a hunter” (181)

After this we get more about Yinkin, in general including: His mythology, manifestations, icons and images associated with him. We also get information on his cult, it’s basic nature, and it’s attitudes and relationships with Orlanthi and the beast spirits. Beyond this it goes into detail on his holy days, the methods of his worshipers including magic key words, what his specific devotees know and learn, as well as his various sub cults.
Needless to say this book is filled with information since virtually ever member of the pantheon, every major cult, is detailed the same way. I fear perhaps that this is simply too much information for general use, which is not really what the book is meant for, it’s simply a book of options one can make use of, most players won’t need even a tenth of the information in this book. A narrator running this game may need significantly more (presuming of course that they are focusing on the Storm Tribes).
In general this book is fantastic, well presented, well laid out, and well though out. Which only makes the fact that the original Hero Wars book was so poorly done all the more obvious. Stafford and crew can do the job; they just need to get it done with the core rulebook. Like I say above it’s a good book, but not useful for everyone playing Hero Wars, which is a same because it is so far the best of their books I’ve seen.