Table Agreement
Glorantha Perspectives relies heavily on shared judgment: what is true or credible, what matters in a Situation, what can become a Bet, and how far consequences can go.
A few simple agreements before play prevent misunderstandings.
What the game asks of players
Glorantha Perspectives only works if players say what matters when the fiction becomes uncertain.
Bets are not handed out by Time: they are proposed, discussed, and argued for by the people carrying the Protagonists. The Focus depends on what the table actually decides to resolve. And what players choose to look at, pursue, or abandon may move where uncertainty finally lies.
That participation does not require players to want to co-author the scenario's structure. One table may prefer to explore a largely emergent world; another may enjoy a Showrunner Time who strongly conducts pacing, revelations, and dramaturgy. Both work with Perspectives.
In either case, when a resolution arrives, players must be able to express their Protagonist's Intention, propose what matters as a Bet, and participate in framing the Focus. Time may prepare a great deal around that moment; Time does not decide alone what the table is actually resolving.
Before play, it is therefore useful to say simply how strongly the table wants Time to conduct the structure and pacing of the story.
See Running Time.
Time is not the adversary
The function of Time is to keep Glorantha alive around the Protagonists, not to make them lose.
Time presents the world's reactions, dangers, inhabitants, Forces, and Pressures. It can be harsh when the Situation demands it, but it does not need to invent a difficulty to "balance" every success by the Protagonists.
The coherence of the world matters
A proposed Bet must be clearly connected to the present fiction.
When a proposal seems doubtful, the useful question is simply: why does this matter here?
If the answer makes the proposal clear and coherent, it can enter the resolution. Otherwise, it remains outside the Focus.
If disagreement persists, the person or people responsible for the coherence of Time in that Situation decide so play can continue. This responsibility may be distributed differently depending on how the game is organized.
Talk about the level of risk
Glorantha can be violent, tragic, and deeply transformative. Not every table wants to give the same weight to death, mutilation, sacrifice, Chaos, or consequences that affect an entire community.
Before play, agree at least on what you are willing to genuinely put at stake.
When a resolution could produce an exceptionally severe consequence, state it before the roll. The Protagonist can then keep the same intention, change approach, or reduce the goal.
Rules do not replace conversation
Not everything needs a special procedure.
If everyone understands what is plausible and interesting, simply say what happens and continue. Dice are useful when there is genuine uncertainty that the table wants to play out.