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Whilst it would be an interesting exercise in archeology, it would be hard to accomplish, because only those who have access to Greg's unpublished materials (Chaosium) could really track everything, and then I think dates etc. are unclear from those. Much of it is hand-written, partial note form etc. Before anyone asks about access to that material, it is chaotic, and Moon Design Publications put much of it into the Guide. Some notes influence products. For example some material made it into The Coming Storm based on Greg's campaign notes about the organization of Orlanthi households, steads etc. I am sure some other pieces will leak into future items. It might be useful to trace idea paths. For example, the Orlanthi in early RQ are 'barbarians' and seem to be mostly generic fantasy 'barbarians', think Conan, but with a nod to the Greek notion of the barbarian Celts of Europe. Cults of Prax has them at one remove, but the mythology of Orlanth and the Lightbringers gain seems European Iron Age influenced. Later in RQ3 the Orlanthi look a little more like the Germanic tribes of Dark Ages Europe, and notes from Greg's house campaign have clear Anglo-Saxon influences on the Orlanthi social structure. Beowulf seems to be the heroic myth. By the time of Hero Wars (Thunder Rebels) they roll back, and the presentation there includes a lot of Urnfield culture elements, which bleed into Halstatt and Le Tene and the Celts. The Tain becomes just as influential as a heroic myth for them. So we return to early Iron Age and Bronze Age. HeroQuest Glorantha continued that move of the Orlanthi influences away from the Atlantic coast towards Central Europe and Greece, and the Illiad rears its head as an influence. (Mainly due to a perception that distance in Glorantha placed them quite close to the Neo-Babylonian influenced Dara Happan and Persian influenced Carmanian cultures). Personally, I think a blend of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age cultures from across Europe works well, as relying too heavily on any single cultural influence tends to make them analogues. Some of the history here relates to who the creative leads were at any given time. Greg has long had an interest in the British Dark Ages, due to his interest in Arthur, so it was natural that he might reach for that early on. Later authors tried to model the principle that Glorantha was Bronze Age more explicitly. BTW, talking of Argrath/Arkat. I guess you pick up the hint that Argrath=Arkat=Arthur. Arthur himself is an Argrath I think, a different one to Glorantha's, but I think in the story of Argrath, Greg was playing with similar tropes and ideas.

The climactic battle at the end of our epic 10 player RQ scenario. Note the players running away. Below are some of my minis, including my conversions.

RuneQuest vs. Dungeons & Dragons??? Bah! I send my Classic Traveller mercenaries to bring civilization to your miserable TL 1 mud ball of a world. "What was that, Corporal? Squadron B was just eaten by a WHAT?" 😱

You guys may want to get all this petty hate speech out of the way now before the new RQ and even 13G drop in wide release... Nothing at all wrong with having preferences, stating them, sticking to them fanatically and so on, but it's a real turnoff when you keep coming back to that well. I've been a fan of both Runequest and D&D since I was in middle school. Now I'm firmly in middle age. I have always been a "RQ guy," but will play anything. The biggest turnoff for me, in any endeavor/group/hobby/occupation/whatever, is the elitist, smarmy jerk who knows better than everyone else. The two gaming communities who are the worst about this, IMO, (ironically) are Glorantha/Runequest fans and pre 3rd edition D&D fans. Both communities are full of pompous, self righteous pseudoscholars who take their interests far too seriously. We are on the precipice of what is likely Runequest/Glorantha's last chance at bringing in a large chunk of "new blood" into our favorite stomping ground to share ideas and good times with. I ask all here that we maybe tone down the elitism a few decibels and keep the shoegaze conversations civil when/if outsiders start poking their heads in. We want them all to become insiders. They won't want anything to do with this community if we're all a bunch of BADWRONGFUN jerks. This post wasn't aimed at anyone in particular. I have gotten a bad attitude here and elsewhere more than a few times both on the internet and in real life related to gaming topics, so I share the burden of trying to put my best self forward when my knee jerk usually isn't. TLDR version: You may see a bunch of people in the near future here who are fans of things the typical current user isn't. Try not to crap in their yard so they want to come visit yours.

*yes, although Glorantha is a flat lozenge, rather than a globe, it too has a horizon. Let Clement Longhair of the Nochet Lhankor Mhy Temple explain: ON THE PROPERTIES OF THE ELEMENTS: HOW FAR CAN SOMEONE SEE ON THE OCEAN? As is well known Light, like Fire, is a manifestation of Aether and thus properly belongs in the Sky World. The elements always seeks their own proper level in the bubble that is Glorantha, thus light tends to curve upward slightly as it flits along at a great pace. This is why you see the top of a mast as a ship approaches, then the sails, then the body. Some crude drawings may make this more clear: At this stage the light from the mast barely skims the waters, making the top visible, but the path that light from the sails would have to take intersects the ocean's surface and is absorbed by the hungry waters. A little thought reveals this to be the true explanation for the 'horizon' of seafarers and for why the tops of objects are seen first as a distant object approaches. Note also that an observer higher up may see farther, thus we have lookouts atop the masts of ships and observation towers (this phenomenon is seen on land as well but is less obvious.) As for the counter-arguments by the ignorant, these rest on the principle that light travels in straight lines. Obviously this must be false, as we know that Light is but the subtle form of Fire, which, seeking its proper level, tends to rise. Thus it is insupportable that light should not curve upward in it path. Objections of the Ignorant: 1. That Light descends from the Sun and Stars, invalidating my Claims. I answer this as follows: beyond the Sky Dome is a Shining World. Of the Shining World's great Light, but a small Fraction descends to us along the paths pioneered by mighty Yelm and his lesser descendants and followers. The Will of these divine Beings is to send light to the mortal world, hence the light descends, against its Nature. However, it always yearns to return unto its true Home. 2. That El-Metal (Gold) falls Down toward the Earth with great Force, against the Tenets of my Theory. I answer this as follows: Yelm's metal indeed falls down with great Force, but in the oldest records this is not so. In Godtime, before the Darkness, it was the Lightest of Metals and would even Leap and Dance about, from the Yearning of the Fire Within to return to the Sky World. See , and lastly "The Sun Wheel Dancers" by Hector the Wise of Sun County for a compilation of the works of the Ancient Authors I have cited. Only after the Sunslaying (familiar to all who love the Lightbringer Saga) did Gold become heavy and lifeless, seeking to join the Celestial Emperor in the Underworld. Thus through the actions of Great Orlanth did Gold become the heaviest of Metals. [from the Nochet Collectanea XXIX. 344.88]

Some afternoon Duck Lore. 'Cos who doesn't like afternoon Duck Lore? Duck Point & Stone Nest: A Tale of One Two Cities I've been scribbling and sketching some silliness about Duck Point, recently, and therefore came up against the amusingly weird farrago—or is that anti-farrago?—that is the relationship between the duck settlements of Duck Point and Stone Nest. I did some investigations into this half-a-dozen years ago, and thought I'd reprise that info on the two cities here. Because, of course, they're supposed to be the same place... Maps, Part Urrrghhhhn Many of us know the story about how Duck Point came to be in Glorantha. Greg, when making the maps for White Bear and Red Moon (1975), named several settlements after friends and contributors to his past and present endeavours, notably the fanzine Wyrd. One friend, Brian Crist, asked that Greg named 'his' settlement 'Duckburg'. Greg, conscious of Disney's litigiousness, demurred, and instead settled on the name of 'Duck Point'. Duck Point would be a feature of maps of Dragon Pass for decades to come – albeit not always, as we'll come to see, in the same place... 'Stone Nest' is first mentioned in the 'Sartar High Council' freeform write-up in Wyrms Footnotes #7 (1979), which is reprinted in Wyrms Footprints (1995), pp. 96–103. Specifically, it is mentioned in the private knowledge known only to Joseph Greenface, the duck shaman and spokesbeak. Joseph knows that the ducks keep "... a third of their warriors on alert and mustered at Stone Nest... unknown [he thinks] to the Empire, who do not occupy that little city." There is no mention of Duck Point in Joseph's information. There is no mention of Stone Nest—only Duck Point—elsewhere in the write-up. Stone Nest does not appear on any published maps of that period and receives no further mention until the 1990s. In Tales of the Reaching Moon #5 (1991), Jon Quaife's map (p. 3) showed the greatest detail on the area hitherto published. Jon's map is based on Greg's own master map of Dragon Pass, which Jeff kindly posted here. Similar details appear on Phil Anderson's map on pp. 34–35 of Tales of the Reaching Moon #19 (2000), which is reprinted in Wyrms Footnotes #15 (2012), pp. 16–17. On these maps, there are clearly two separate localities: one, marked 'Duck Point', sits at the confluence of The Stream and the combined Creek-Stream River; the other, marked 'Stone Nest Ruins', lies around ten miles inland. That's pretty clear, right? Not quite. All roads lead to... well, it depends On the Jon/Phil/Greg map—which, as the most detailed version, is the basis for subsequent maps such as Wesley Quadros' insert from Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder (2003)—'Stone Nest Ruins' sit at the terminus of the Wilmskirk road. There is no road, way or path marked between Stone Nest Ruins and Duck Point. (N.B. There is a trail on Wesley's map, for reasons we'll come to in a minute.) Yet on William Church's original Dragon Pass and RuneQuest (1978; 1980, p. 108) maps, it is Duck Point that clearly lies at the terminus of the Wilmskirk road. King of Sartar (1992), which doesn't mention Stone Nest, speaks of Tarkalor building a road between Wilmskirk and Duck Point (a 'river port'; also 'Duckton'; pp. 44, 139). Subsequent publications follow this line in word and cartography, notably Barbarian Adventures (2001; p. 5), Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes (2009; p. 248) and The Guide to Glorantha, vol. I (2014; p. 188). So why, on multiple maps, does the clearly attested Duck Point road—and the point of a 'Wilmskirk–Duck Point road' is that it generally goes from Wilmskirk to Duck Point...—not actually reach its destination? Maps, Part Deux The answer likely lies on another map of Greg's, which is printed in History of the Heortling Peoples (2007), p. 12. (You may need a magnifying glass.) On this map, there are two familiar settlements. The one at the confluence of The Stream and the Creek-Stream River is labelled 'Duck Point'. The settlement ten miles inland is labelled both 'Duck Point' and 'Stone Nest'. The Wilmskirk road goes to this latter settlement. (Actually, it doesn't. It stops a few miles short, for some reason, and a trail continues the way. This is copied by Wesley.) And therein lies the crux. Greg would sometimes place Duck Point in different places on different maps. William Church's RuneQuest map is itself indistinct, while the maps of Thunder Rebels (2000; p. 51), Barbarian Adventures (p. 5) and, most notably, Yurek Chodak's map from 'Dragons Past 1' in Different Worlds #28 (1983) [reprinted in Wyrms Footnotes #15, p. 51] all show Duck Point inland, in the same position taken by Stone Nest. Greg Sez... Looking at all this, I wondered if there'd been a mixup. The mention of Stone Nest in Wyrms Footnotes—from a duck's perspective—seemed a fitting choice for the duck endonym for a small duck settlement ringed in walls of stone, which the humans and other outsiders called Duck Point. The map in History of the Heortling Peoples seemed to support that, as did the multiple contradictions over the terminus of the Wilmskirk road; that confusion over the placement of a single settlement somehow resolved into a state where there were two settlements in two separate places. So I asked Greg. His answer (repeated twice, for emphasis)? They're supposed to be the same place. "One [Duck Point] is the human name, the other [Stone Nest] is the duck name." I'm not sure exactly how, or when, the idea of Duck Point and Stone Nest becoming separated became standardised. But in my Glorantha I like to put them back together again. (And, yes, it's supposed to be at the confluence of The Stream and the Creek-Stream River.)

No resource that lists all of that. You might find it interesting to read what Greg has said about the origins of Glorantha here: http://www.staffordcodex.com/overview/ For those of us who have gathered Glorantha material over the years, the initial concepts we were aware of were either provided in WB&RM or in RuneQuest. Dragon Pass, Sartar and the Lunar Empire, immense dragons, the Hero Wars with Harrek and Jar-eel, Argrath and the Red Emperor, Cragspider and Sir Ethilrist, … were all part of the initial 'concepts'. Orlanth and Kyger Litor appear in RQ. Prax and the beast riders, Pavis and the Big Rubble appear in Nomad Gods, then Cults of Prax. Chaos and the chaotic monsters such as the Crimson Bat, broo and Cwim appeared in WB&RM, Nomad Gods, a bit in RQ, but then in more detail in Snakepipe Hollow, and particularly Cults of Terror. Cults of Terror revealed the struggle between Arkat and Nysalor/Gbaji, and the Uz Lore book in Trollpack brought the first detailed history. The pantheons of the gods were detailed in the later Wyrms Footnotes, as was the History of the Lunar Empire. The deep nature of the dragons and the dragonewts was in Wyrms Footnotes 14. Dwarves and the World Machine were detailed in an article in Different Worlds magazine called "Why I Hate the Mostali". RQ had the first world map, but we didn't have many details on many areas until the Genertela book. King of Sartar was the first full writing on Argrath in the Hero Wars, the fall of the Lunar Empire/Red Moon, and more details on Orlanthi culture. From Greg's efforts at trying to define the background of the Lunar Empire sprang the books about the Dara Happans (Glorious ReAscent of Yelm and Fortunate Succession) and then the Pelandan myths (Entekosiad), and then some other unpublished Lunar material. Revealed Mythologies provides the deeper insights into Western, Eastern, and Pamaltelan myths.

Wow, this is Jody Lee's original cover painting for RuneQuest 3rd Edition. She posted on Facebook today that she recently unearthed it doing some spring cleaning! BTW, the cover models were Jody's friend, the novelist Kate Elliot ('Crown of Stars' series, etc) and her husband.

Regardless of personal opinions about D&D 5E, every RPG gamer and publisher should be thrilled with its success. It has brought lots of folks into, and back into, the hobby, which means growth for the player base and for the industry overall. Eventually many of those gamers will want to try something different.

Tangent to a tangent-thread: I get tired of this simplistic binary meme. "AH is teh DeV1l!!" https://www.maranci.net/rqpast.htm gives it a fairly objective retelling. AH were greedy as hell, and made lots of mistakes in their lack of understanding of RPGs generally and fans in particular, the "bad old days of AH" - while giving us plenty of rehashes of RQ2 products - also gave us some of the most fantastic supplements the game has ever seen, supplements that compare quite favorably with the best of Chaosium's days, products like Sun County, River of Cradles, and Dorastor. Vikings was as culture rich and interesting a creative setting as anything from 1979. Genertela was a bigger info-dump for Glorantha fans than anything Chaosium created, and GoG, while not being nearly as charmingly folksy as CoP or CoT was far more comprehensive and authoritative than both combined. The fact is that as much as AH is *constantly* maligned for abandoning Glorantha as a setting, licensewise they had NO CHOICE. Let's not forget either that Chaosium themselves were dabbling in non-Gloranthan settings with the uninspiringly-titled Questworld. As much as AH richly deserves brickbats for its failures, it's Chaosium that made that choice in the first place. As someone who continues to play both games, I don't know that comparing RQ(ancient) with AD&D(ancient) is even meaningful today? There's no question that a) RQ was a better game mechanically at the time, and b) D&D *crushed* Chaosium in terms of the follow-on products. Chaosium produced what, maybe 15? 18 products over the next 5 years, TSR had by the end of 1984 approximately 400 substantial products for sale (disregarding magazines, collections, boxed-sets, and non TSR products). And as for the Hearts and Minds of gamers? I think we know how that went. RQ was a more quality game, and Glorantha a more quality setting...but I believe it was Stalin who opined that "Quantity has a quality all its own." Guess which is better for making a sustainable business? This is why it's so essential that Chaosium today has recognized this and (AFAIK) already has a number of supplements in the pipeline. That's great. D&D5e is a GOOD GAME. The rules are tight, simple, and fast, and far more reminiscent of the good bits of AD&D than the accretions of 3.0, 3.5 or the benighted 4.0.. The mechanics are clear and predictable (if not very realistic). The product suffers from excessive balance-itis (a need to make sure everything is equivalent) and simultaneously from power-creep as their business model seems to (very WotC-like) demand programmatic releases of things intended to overpower previous publications. Obviously, this is a mountain you can only scale so long. Also, much of the game is based on what are now self-inflicted cliches. Their products that try to blaze new ground simply don't sell as well. For me, RQG...well, the jury's still out. I'm concerned about some things in there, I like some other things. I'll be honest, I fear an opportunity to really crystallize some of the mechanics and take advantage of some modern ideas/approaches has been missed by an over-slavish nostalgia for RQ2. For my part, I recognize that my stance would almost certainly have been an over-slavish nostalgia for RQ3. Neither is appropriate in 2018. 5e is too good a competitive product RQGs amazing attention to setting is a strong leg up, however. Mainly, I want a book in my hands that I can actually sit and read at length. I'm 50, doing it on a tablet or phone just doesn't float my boat. I believe fundamentally the RQ mechanics are still light-years better than d20 but they are inherently more complicated and crunchy, and I don't see the general culture going that direction. Meh, no big deal. FWIW rambly threads are to me the most interesting because that's how conversation HAPPENS.

I did once think of calling them Parakeets.

I'm running RQG in a couple of weekends for some friends, so I pulled some charts together of the charts and notes I think I'll need to keep the game running smoothly. I've uploaded the pages. https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/649-rqg-gm-cheat-sheets/ Every person has their own thoughts on what tables and notes are most important for running any game. Here's my take on that for RQG. If this is helpful to you, great! If you look it over and find any errors or anything you think I missed that might be helpful please feel free to make a comment! Thanks!

Some thoughts on running Eleven Lights in Runequest Glorantha. I hope you find this useful and/ or sparks off some thoughts on how you would run the game. Character creation- adapting the core book The Runequest core book character creation assumptions will need to be modified for a “Coming Storm” campaign: 1. All PCs will be from the same clan- the Red Cow clan, rather than the diverse backgrounds outlined in the core books. RQG page references- p24, p60 & p103-109. 2. Define early on which clans the PCs’ mother come from = p 11-12 of the “Coming Storm” gives you some advice- it will provide plot hooks for characters- the different Clans marry out. 3. Default starting date for the Coming Storm campaign is 1618, not RQG’s 1625 plus. Use the parents’ and grandparents’ family history in character creation- Runequest core book p27- 36. As you PCs will have not gone through the Hero Wars, they will start with a lower base values than the default assumptions in RQG, but higher than default RQ2. They will rapidly progress during the campaign, 4. The Red Cow clan is not an urban clan, so ignore the following occuptations (RQG corebook p28): Chariot Driver Entertainer Noble Philospher Scribe Thief (remember cattle rustling isn’t really considered theft if you’re the one doing it) 5. The cults of the clan are given on page 15 of the Coming Storm- the following page references are to the RQG core book: (cults in order of popularity) Ernalda (p75 & p 292-294) Orlanth (p76-77 & p 300-302) Barnatar (NPCs only- good for clan, not so good for adventurers) Seven Mothers (NPCs only- unless you want to subvert the adventures- in which case, go ahead) Heler (see Engizi the Sky Titan p75 & p292) Yinkin (p79 & p310) Odayla ( p76 & p300) Engizi the Skyriver Titan (p75 & p292) Vinga (as Orlanth Adventerous, only cooler p76-77 & p 300-302) Issaries (p76 & p298) Humakt- NPCs only 6. No PCs should be severed from society eg no Humakt or Babeestor Gor- PC actions and decisions should have consequences for their clan/ faction/ nation. 7. The Red Cow clan are “Axe Orlanthi” (p10 Coming Storm)- the values listed for cultutal weapons in RQG p60 should swap the axe/ spear and broadsword to reflect this. Passions Passions will need to be adapted and personalised to reflect the campaign setting. Loyality: Red Cow Clan Devotion: deity as per normal Love: family- this shouls include the maternal side of the family which means links and bonds with other clans. Hate: this should reflect traditional clan enemies such as Ogres, Telemori, the Lunar Empire. If you have “rattle born” PCs (Coming Storm p13) then this should be recorded as a “Flaw” starting at 60%. As GM or PCs use to establish the maturity or otherwise of decision making by a “rattle born” PC. As campaign progresses- there are references to “directed improvements” (a Heroquest game system term) to factions. Under Runequest Glorantha rules, this should be reflected as a loyalty passion starting at 60%. It is quite likely that PCs will gain conflicting passions- this is to be encouraged by the GM. The passions are one of the major changes to Runequest Glorantha compared to previous editions such as RQ2. GMs re-inforce player decisions at key moments with mechanical improvements. This will emphaise to players that they have made a key social decision, with consequences for future play. Heroquesting There are two heroquests in the Eleven Lights: 1. The Stealing of the Giant’s Cows (Eleven Lights p30-36). This is an annual “this world” heroquest and the PC’s partipation can be moved from year to year as the campaign flow dictates. 2. The Three New Stars- a Glorantha changing heroquest which takes places in 1621-22 (Eleven Lights p 115-143). Until the Gamemaster’s book is published with guidance on running heroquests in RQG, I can offer no advice. It us quite possible that if you start a campaign in autumn 2018, by the time you will need the heroquest rules, they will be available. Major NPC statistics The Coming Storm details 60 NPCs with portraits of each by Rachel Khan. The majority of NPCs do not require complete RQG statistics- many are your kith and kin and physical violence should be considered unthinkable. There are perhaps three ways to use statistics as and when necessary: 1. The “quick and dirty” method- each major NPC has runes against their name- for social combat assign a percentage against a suitable rune on the fly and use an opposed role against the PC’s ability (RQG p142-144). Example: a PC is using his orate ability to persuade Chief Broddi Strong Kin that he be allowed to take part on “the stealing of the giant’s cows” heroquest despite having brought the clan into trouble recent. Broddi will resist with his Mastery rune at 95%. 2. The reduced statistics method: Chief Broddi Strong Kin Runes: Mastery 95% Air: 80% Darkness or Earth 50% (not given in Coming Storm but refects clan’s friendly terms with trolls or go for earth) Orate: 80%; Charm 65%; Intimidate 50%; Intrigue 80% Speak Tradetalk 50%; Speak Stormspeach 35% Speak Darktongue 25% Insight human 60%; Insight Trolls 30% Clan lore 75% 3. Cut, paste and tailor the sample Chief/ clan warriors/ rune priests statistics from forthcoming GM pack. Beast statistics Sample statistics for Telemori, giants, the Crimson Bat are given in the forthcoming Glorantha Bestiary. One little quirk between Heroquest and Runequest, Heroquest uses the imperial measurement system, while Runequest uses the superior metricsystem, so Willandring the giant is 35 ft tall in Heroquest; roughly 10.5 metres tall in Runequest. The statisitics I rolled are not that much differenet from the Bestiary but are presented as an example for you: Willandring the Giant 35 foot tall- the clan blacksmith Hobbled, sad demour, large nose and bearded Rune:Disorder 90% STR: 66 CON: 16 SIZ: 64 INT: 8 POW: 16 DEX: 11 CHA: 6 Total hit points: 38 Hit location AP/ HP 1-4 Right leg 13/10 5-8 Left Leg 13/10 9-11 Abdomen 13/10 12 Chest 13/13 13-15 Right Arm 13/9 16-18 Left Arm 13/9 19-20 Head. 13/10 Maul 85% 2D8 + 7D6 SR4 No magic Note: Willandring is hobbled by an injury inflicted on leg by Karganar Blood- Eye, the clan founder. Healing Willandring is a major plot point and so I would recommend that only the Rune magic “Heal Body” is effective (RQG p330) .

We are working through the draft. We want to get a first version that everyone finds the clearest presentation of the system yet. Hopefully you will bear with us a little while longer while we do that. Work is continuing on Ron Edward's Cosmic Zap. He has playtest videos and notes over at his Actual Play site. You can check it out there. We have learned a lot from that and we are ready to start turning those ideas into something more concrete. We are negotiating about a couple more genre packs, and also starting to think about a new core book with some sample genre packs in it. Obviously we need to get the presentation of the rules cleared up first. Progress is ongoing. We want to get it right though.

King Chicken's Golden Egg. At the top of the sky was a house full of birds. The snootiest and loudest was King Chicken. In the centre of his coop was a Golden Egg which was so bright it made the sky and the whole world gleam. Vixen decided that the golden egg looked delicious. When the world was young no one had sharp teeth, so we had to chew things a lot. Also nothing went away when we ate them, because all of it grew on trees. Even meat and voles! The first time Vixen went into the palace she looked around a bit, but King Chicken attacked her, saying she was 'impure' and 'not wanted'. In the trouble she caught her tail in the brightness and fell back towards the ground, the fire burning like a falling star. She landed in the First Forest and ran to Tree Man, but the fire burned him up. Tree Man screamed in agony and started to fall apart, but Wild Man took the charcoal to make the first fire. After that the trees wouldn't give food to Vixen or anyone else who liked juicy flesh. So we had to bite it off. Vixen had to sharpen her teeth with a hard stone, so she could do that. After a while other creatures learned that trick, and Vixen was too small to fight them. She hid in the loving Deep Earth. But she was still hungry. So she came to the coop dressed as a pedlar with a basket of delicious grubs she had gotten from Deep Earth. They made her tummy rumble but she wanted the Golden Egg. When King Chicken saw the grubs writhing in the basket, his tummy rumbled too, so he dove into the basket, swallowing up the squirming things. Vixen snapped his neck with her sharpened jaws and seized the Golden Egg. It tasted like something we cannot describe, because nothing else has been so good since. The world was darkening and Vixen sprang back to the Deep Earth, laughing, because she loved the dimness and the wonderful cleverness she had done. She used to be a lot duller, but she became the color of red flame after. Every twilight we praise our mother now.

I am coming up with some Trickster stories for my game, told by my Elura. "How Vixen ate King Chicken's Egg" (how Trickster killed the Sun) "How Vixen met Big Fart" (How Eurmal gave Orlanth Death) "When Vixen burned her tail" (Trickster steals Fire) "How Vixen learned to Sing" "Why humans are stupid" "Raven and Vixen quarrel" "Vixen teaches Yinkin how to be Lazy" "When Vixen learned how to look like a Man" "Vixen looks small and cute" (Sit Down story)

It is very very findable! It is far TOO findable for most decent folks' comfort. More than one poor thane making his way home from the annual Brewers Judgement at Barntar's Hall has thought he was walking in his own front door, only to find he was in a Highlow Holy Place of Eurmal... So too have various Lightbringer Priests who were on Very Urgent Business to the main Temple of an allied cult. Sadly, those actually SEEKING to find Sit Here... Well, mostly they don't. And nobody EVER finds it twice... Eurmal only Sat There once, after all! Of course, Trickster being Trickster, there may be some "unexpected" exceptions to these rules. Because rules aren't much of a Trickster thing, except in the breaking of them. YGMV -- mine certainly does!

Only one way to find out. Anyone up for switching Elmal and Yelmalio?

Now that Agony and Ecstasy is out, I wanted to talk a little bit about how the superpower mechanics came to be. When I was working on them, I had two primary goals in mind. Supers should always be super: You never see the panel of a comic where Superman can't use his heat vision because he fails an activation check or runs out of power points. Superheroes with powers should always have access to those powers, barring unusual circumstances or glowing green rocks from the remains of their home world. So at the core, the system had to have base abilities the characters always had access to. Superheroes also find new and inventive ways to use those powers beyond what their core abilities can do. That lead to the development of boosts, which augment or enhance the base power at the cost of power points, the system's version of magic points. For example, the Flash's base power lets him run at fantastic speeds, and he has boosts that sometimes let him vibrate through walls or create small, localized whirlwinds by running in circles. It had to fit Mythras: The game already has great magic systems, psionic powers, and mystic abilities for supernatural creatures. When designing the superpower mechanics the goal was not to reinvent the wheel, so the primary inspirations came from the traits as presented in Luther Arkwright and mysticism from the core book. With a few tweaks and adjustments, they served as a basis for what is presented in the scenario. Since the goal was low-powered, street level heroes, the powers were also designed with balance in mind so they could scale along with other aspects of the game and not be too lethal or overwhelming. That being said, certain concessions were made to maintain “comic book logic,” so that is why Tortoise can lift a car but doesn't burst criminals like ripe melons when he punches them. I hope you enjoy what we came up with and it leads to some fantastic superpowered adventures beyond what is in the book. While it was designed with Mythras in mind, the basic superpowers system in Agony and Ecstasy could be easily adapted for most d100 games. As a little bonus, here are two additional powers along with some example boosts and possible limits to use in your games. These are based on abilities the villains of the adventure possess, but I'm sure in the hands of your players they will be put to good use. CLOSE COMBAT ATTACK You possess an enhanced melee attack such as claws, a mystic blade, or weapons made of pure energy. No matter what form it takes, the Ready Weapon action must be used to draw or manifest the weapon before it can be used This attack has a Reach of Medium and you may choose one combat effect at creation, such as Bleed, Impale, or Stun Location. The base damage and size of this attack is determined by your POW, and you may add your damage bonus to the amount inflicted. With the Gamesmaster's permission, you can determine your damage bonus for this attack using POW+SIZ instead of STR+SIZ to represent a mystical or psychic melee attack. POW: 8 or less: 1d4/S, 9-12: 1d6/M, 13-15: 1d8/M, 16-18: 1d10/L, 19+: 1d12/L Spend 1 power point to change the weapon to a different type for the encounter, gaining a different combat effect, or add a weapon trait, such as Entrapping or Ranged Parry. For an additional power point you can do both. Spend 1 power point as a free action to instantly ready the weapon. Spend 2 power points to increase the weapon's base damage by one die type and the size by one step for a single attack. Limited Power: The close combat attack is always out and is obvious to onlookers. While you never need to take a Ready action to prepare it, it often hampers certain physical or social actions by its presence and inflicts a one step difficulty penalty on those actions. EMOTION CONTROL As an action you have the ability to inflict a specific emotional state on a nearby target that fails an opposed Willpower check against you. This ability has a range equal to your POW in meters and the type of emotion you are able to inflict is chosen when you take this power. The exact effects depend on what emotion you create, but the feeling is so overpowering that it severely impairs the target. At the start of the next round as an action the target can attempt an unopposed Willpower check to break free. Some example effects follow: Euphoria: The only action the target can take is Dither, but if it takes any damage it can make an immediate unopposed Willpower check to break free. Fear: The target gains a temporary passion of “Fear (person or object of your choice)” equal to your Willpower. A passion check must be made on the target's turn to avoid fleeing from the source of fear. Hate: The target gains a temporary passion of “Hate (person or object of your choice)” equal to your Willpower. A passion check must be made on the target's turn to avoid attacking whatever it now hates. Love: The target gains a temporary passion of “Love (person or object of your choice)” equal to your Willpower. A passion check must be made to take any offensive action against the beloved thing or to prevent the target from protecting it. Spend 1 power point to change the emotion you inflict to a different one when using the power. Spend 2 power points to make the target's Willpower check to resist one difficulty grade harder. Spend 2 power points per additional target you want to affect within range. Limited Power: You must make physical contact with the target to affect them with the power.

Belgath's girls back for more awesome RQG cosplay at Gen Con this year:

For me personally, I really enjoy the author's work. Plus he seems like a really nice guy and I wanted to support him so he'll make more. Rod

Someone should do a 'Red Cow' style book for the Durulz. What are the Duck clans? Who are their ancestral wyters? What epic feuds over stolen livestock have played out? Who is their Romeo and who is their Juliet?

When I was developing the system, I was able to create pretty good versions of the Defenders (TV and comic versions), Batman, and Wolverine using the basic rules.

Coming in November. The box includes three books: Introduction and Alone Against The Flames, Call of Cthulhu Starter Rules, and Adventures; as well as five pregenerated Investigator sheets, blank investigator sheets, dice, a player handout and four classic adventures. MSRP is $24.99. The adventures are Alone Against The Flames (solo), plus Paper Chase, Edge of Darkness, and Dead Man Stomp. https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/41188/lure-new-players-call-cthulhu-starter-set

This whole thread accomplishes nothing but turning off folks who may actually like both RuneQuest and D&D. Everyone on these boards already likes RuneQuest or you wouldn't be here. Some of us also like D&D. I'd suggest the board administrators delete or lock this thread. As the official Chaosium boards, there will likely be an influx of D&D fans who become curious about RuneQuest after seeing it on shelves or available online in the next few weeks. This thread would only turn them off in my opinion, and hurt potential RuneQuest adoption.