[Rq-rules] *** JUNK MAIL ***Re: [RQIII] Cultures - Nomad vs Barbarian

[Simon Phipp]

Tony:

> Not to start an arument about whether cultures are restrictive or not and
> what RQII did etc but here goes:

In most respects, RQ3 character generation was better than RQ2. It's by no means perfect, but is better. RQ2 had a character being a mercenary, a guildsman, a horseman and that's about it. RQ3 at least made an attempt at having backgrounds for different cultures.

> In my session I have some people who are IMO Barbarian. However, they do
> tend to migrate from summer to winter homes and then some. So does that
> make them nomads or barbarians? IMO they remain barbarians, kinda like the
> Helvetai whoe were doing a migration when Caesar gave them a seeing to.

The term "Barbarian" is possibly the worst thing that RQ3 did for RQ cultures. It covers such a broad array of peoples that it is basically meaningless. Classically, nomads were also barbarians, at least according to the Greeks and Romans.

They sound as though they are Nomadic Barbarians.

> Some of my group however say that if you don't stay put in one area, you
> are nomadic. I see their point in the purest form. Anyway, just wonderwed
> what other people would consider here? It also comes down to my game
> world, which many people play barbarians from that area and, je well no
> fine, Nomad and Primitive cultures are a bit more restrictive in terms of
> occupations available.

Yes, I'd say that anyone who moves around according to the seasons or available pasture is nomadic and hence is a nomad. That's basically the definition of being a nomad.

However, in RQ3 terms, Nomad is a specific culture and Barbarian is another culture, which is unfortunate.

What I would do in this situation is rewrite the Cultural Background in the same way that Homelands are written in HeroQuest. Have a Background for each Homeland rather than saying Vikings are Barbarians and Lapps are Nomads, so say that there is a Viking Homeland and a Lapp Homeland, using a Fantasy Europe example.

Decide what kind of lives they would lead, what kind of skills they should routinely have, which professions they are likely to have and what their magic is like. Build a Homeland out of the Barbarian and Nomad backgrounds, taking a bit from the Nomads and a bit from the Barbarians and perhaps some from Primitives as well. Then you'll have a very flexible Homeland that you can use regardless of the terminology of Barbarian and Nomad.

Anyway, that's what I would do.

See Ya

Simon
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