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Mythras Imperative is a free, introductory version of the full Mythras rules. It includes everything needed for play, including character creation, skills, combat, and, brand new to this release, Powers, covering simple magic and super powers. Taken together, Mythras Imperative offers a fully rounded game to suit many genres, and can be used easily with any of Design Mechanism's adventures and campaign settings. Available now from BRP Central's Downloads, and in POD from DrivethruRPG, Lulu and Barnes & Noble.

I got the players to create their own clan, moved the borders and wedged it into an existing tribe. They even added their own geography, effectively it was a blank. The Sangor / Stormblood clan then established their place in the world through the game.

I just enrolled to run it at a con in two weeks. Wish me enough preparation time and 7 players!

Just had a test printout made. Now checking for typos.

Much as I like Huth’s work, as I’ve said, this new cover is in the right art direction, so to speak, for a basic-level CoC scenario collection. It’s Indiana Jones-meets-Weird Tales, which is just fine, especially since “The Necropolis” is one of the three scenarios. This was the main aspect of Huth’s version I thought was a step in the right direction for drawing in new CoC players (and I didn’t want to derail the discussion with a history of African-American detective story heroes). I hope Chaosium will keep this in mind for the future, even as they incorporate customer feedback about other art design elements.

Ok first: that baby epic is fucking amazing. This, I think, is honestly two separate questions. First, it conflates the work men do as "fighting", which I think we all agree is not an accurate representation of the main way men spend their days but rather an idealised vision from heroic narratives blown up over the ages. Mostly men hunted, grew crops, cut woods, built things, and so forth, with conflict being a part of their role. Imagine if the roles in Glorantha were mostly like Barntar. But mostly it's an underlying conflict in the gaming world in the first place. Coming as it did from wargaming, many trad games - of which without a doubt RuneQuest is one of the most traddy - focused on actual fighting, not on conflict. As if conflict didn't involve all the things it could. (HeroQuest is not at all the same.) There are literally people churning out settings that use intensely popular systems focused on emotional struggle, like Powered by the Apocalypse - Monster of the Week is basically Buffy, where supernatural conflict is a stage for dealing with trauma, interpersonal conflict, love, sex, and breakups. Some games are about communities trying to survive a hostile world - the absolutely hair-raising Dream Askew/Dream Apart is a double game about life in the fantasy shtetl and life in the queer community after the apocalypse. These games, and a bjillion more, have fighting (because everyone loves punching evil in the boob), but it's got the same resolution rules as every other conflict: will the crops grow this season, will i befriend the white deer, will i pass my initiation, will i do the ceremony right, will i swim the river or drown? it's all the same. (The current incarnation of RQ is much better about this, to its credit.) A Quiet Year is a fascinating exercise in a limited-period community-building ttrpg. So the real question is: what conflicts are interesting to your players? And how do these reflect in player choice of character roles? If you have many interesting conflicts, maybe it's okay in your Orlanthi society that stabbing shit is for Men (including Vingans) and defending the stead proper is for the bloody-handed Gorites and their axes. Women all have knives, they're not helpless, but they fight different battles. Maybe "Man" is what Orlanthi call Wind rune people and "Woman" is for Earth-rune people. After all, that's why we have initiation: the gods see who you really are deep down. Who cares if you have a beard (or don't want to: we have pregnant mare's urine for that), you're a Woman if you have Earth, like Barntar. Men, sure, they stab the enemies we can see, but Women fight the invisible war. Crops. Safety. Both wars suck, but this isn't the Green Age. There's treaties to be made and alliances to be forged with spirits. The future requires wisdom and boldness: not just cattle-rustling, but also trading missions, wisdom to be learned from ancient legends and ruins. Fresh blood must be brought in for the animals. Men and Women are needed for these things. (What do they call other rune people? What about shamans, and wyters? What about Moon rune people who don't trust the Red Moon?)

Mirza this is exactly the level of unnecessary research that I adore. Did I need to know how bronze age branding worked? No Did I want to know how bronze age branding worked? Absolutely, and boy did you deliver. Pattern Branding!

Sure, that was her second price. Her first price would have been to become ruling Queen of Dragon Pass, with Sartar has the junior partner in the relationship. It is in King of Dragon Pass that you can lose to your partner (the FHQ or the Luminous Stallion King) in the last part of the contest, IIRC. You can of course come in only second in the race for her hand, too. Why didn't the Windstop favor the Grazers? Their bonded walkers (the Vendref) didn't produce any grain that year, and the pasture was frozen for half the year. How would they have profited from that? They may have had the chance to graze their herds in Sikithi Vale, where the Glowline protected from the Windstop, and harvests could be brought in fairly normally, but the Windstop still was a big blow against their wealth. The appearance of the Feathered Queen appears to be an old Pentan prophecy. It certainly features in the prophecies for the Hero Wars in Dragon Pass. But the other thing that happened was that after a century of being the only humans to graze the Pass region, there was a lot of change, pastures were lost to the migration pattern, and cheeky Orlanthi started farming in Grazer core regions, too. The old leadership had no good recipe for the problems, and it was time for doing things another way. makes me have to ask. What is the the official stance one the Great Compromise? Doeas it just mean the gods can't directly (i.e. personally) work upon things or stomp around inside Time as I belive. Or does it mean they're literally frozen, unable to move as much as a finger or even notice anything outside of motals calling upon them. Essentially trapped as an existence of the "past" where they're constantly always and simultaniously doing and being eveyrthing that was before Time and nothing else. Beacause in the later case they might as well not exist as consious or even sentient forces. The Gods cannot do anything within Time without their worshipers causing this. They don't even have much of an agency when it comes to accepting or refusing worshipers, other than through divinations and thus indirect orders to their priesthood. All the pasts up to the Dawn (or possibly up to the conception of Time in the Ritual of the Net) are still out there, and may be or have been altered by mortals (re-) emphasizing other outcomes. Contacting a deity via the rites may fail the Turing test. Confronting the deity in their myths or in their domain outside of Time is a different proposal, as is manifesting (or killing) the deity (often in a breach of the Compromise) in the Middle World. In the interval between Orlanth passing the Flames of Ehilm and the Ritual of the Net. All the rest of Godtime still exists, too. Even if the deities had made up for good, their worshipers can undo that by introducing a new movement towards that rivalry. The capture of Whitewall and the ritual killings of Orlanth and Ernalda were such a mortal intervention, grown from long-term plotting by Dara Happan houses like the Assiday. Whenever there is a major change in the world that involves the Orlanthi, some will be on the side of change, others will oppose it with all their might. The Bright Empire is a special case as even the allies of Arkat managed to vilify Arkat after the final battle in Dorastor, creating a mainstream that rejects both Nysalor and Arkat. Compare the EWF. The traditionalist Orlanthi were opposed to getting too friendly with the dragons in, but the ones who made the EWF a success (for a while) were Orlanthi, too. If you have The History of the Heortling Peoples, read Lokamayadon's account of the Battle of Night and Day. His faction of the Orlanthi in this battle are the Tarumathings, followers of the High Storm that he had discovered and embodied. They supported the Bright Empire, an organisation that managed to unite the known lands of Genertela under a leadership with Theyalan (Orlanthi) roots. As for Light Orlanthi - at the Dawn, they named themselves "People of the Dawning", Theyalans. Obviously they welcomed the return of the sun, and life mostly like it had been good. There were those who had special problems with other folk - e.g. with overbearing Serpent Beast folk like the Pralori. For people in that situation, the rivalry between Storm and Sky was a theoretical consideration far removed from their actual existential problems. Having the sun back was good. Orlanth didn't just slay the Emperor, he also conquered the sky, and unlike the Middle World he also successfully defended it against Chaos. The Star Captains of the Orlanthi tribes and their folowers were a form of Sky Orlanthi IMO.

We are releasing 'Casting the Runes', based on the stories by M. R. James early next year, using the Gumshoe engine.

1981, from the guy who brought you flesh-eating zombies in the first place.

I've played since 1977... and I have encountered such problems (thankfully, only a very few times). * I have been asked to intervene by a woman who felt unable to deal with a harasser, back in the 80's. Sounds like a very X-Card-y situation, in retrospect: she wasn't able to address the issue with the problem person. I don't know if there was anyone else she could/would have turned to if I wasn't there; I expect she would have just left. * I was REALLY unhappy & uncomfortable, many years ago, with a GM who forced every PC to roll on some rando-table they had, that imposed sundry personality quirks and flaws (with a strong emphasis on sexual topics); I only played in that group because I wanted to see some unfamiliar mechanics in play, and I left after a few sessions). I would have been VERY happy with an X-Card. * Somewhere in ... hmm... the late 90s? (hard to pin down the date) ... I was about to speak up when the GM went too far (with rape as simile for an invasive mind-scan spell), but several other people at the table beat me to it; later, at another game / another table, that person went too far and was kicked out of the group (and in fact several friendships ended that night). Would the X-Card have helped there...? I'm not sure; I don't think so... but I do think Lines/Veils could have helped, could have addressed some of the issues earlier, more smoothly & gracefully. * I've personally spoken to 3 different women whose FIRST experience of gaming & gamer culture was of crude sexual humor (that felt to them like harassment), and they either didn't join or left after the first session or two, despite being very interested. I have read similar accounts online, from several other women (and a couple of accounts by gay guys who left to avoid homophobia).I honestly doubt that the gamers at those tables ever even realized that they KEPT AWAY other would-be gamers, or chased away gamers who had joined them (and I wonder now, about those times when someone gamed only once at my games... did something happen I didn't recognize?) Would these "safety tools" have helped? Well, not if those folks had never sat down at the tables... except MAYBE: because just the idea that such tools may exist, may be used, may be needed at some tables? Just that awareness may help... Except if you're so busy denying that they could EVER be useful or appropriate, busy resenting that they even exist; and ridiculing them, or the people who like them.

Yes if you look at the map above. I used the Lismelder tribe with the details from old Tales of the Reaching Moon, then I used clan creation from older products. They drew their bloodline steads on the map. They wanted a stream, but there was no gap in the Malanni Hills, so it goes into a syphon under the hills into a mineral deposit that turns the stream red - the blood stream.

Have you considered the fine location of Balazar? Sure, the beer is shit, but there's not the looming war overhead. Not to mention, dogs instead of cats. So, automatic points! Our DragonPass game starts further back in history and we have changed a few minor things. As the one running the game gets to determine such. We saved Apple Lane's thane, until the lunar witch came back for revenge. None of us wanted to hide in the pawnshop and engaged in the street. Took the gm by surprise. We were the first group of his to take that approach. We gave advance notice of Crimson Bat priests to Whitewall so they will be better prepared when it shows up down the line. You can follow the main timeline as much or little as you want and shouldn't ever feel like there's no room for change or twists. Source material is that, even layers deep, amazing source material can be converted to your needs. It may seem daunting, but play around with it before letting anyone else see if that's what you need to do.

These miniatures are from WizKids unpainted line of figures for (mostly) D&D games, but I think they're perfectly usable for Glorantha. Especially for Rune spells such as Summon Cult Spirit (RQG p. 342). Air Cult Spirits. I used real leaves cut to size and glued them on the miniatures for added effect. Sealed with clear matte spray. Hopefully the matte spray will prevent the leaves from decomposing further. Also, I didn't use the small black bases that were included in the package and replaced the bases with clear ones. That way you can put an air spirit on a clear "flight" base to show that it's hovering above the ground (see second image below). Here are WizKids' medium earth elementals, which can be used for Gloranthan Earth Spirits. These WizKids' Oxen can be used for Sartar cattle. And here's a Reaper Miniatures pack mule that's always useful for adventurers.

Here are some of the figures I've finished painting. Broo pack from MadKnight... For some reason, I ended up with two of the rhino broo when I placed my order. So, I cut-off the axe head from one of them and glued a flail spiked ball and chain that I had removed from some other non-Gloranthan figure. I'm still slowly painting the remaining Broo pack figures.

Here's an unlikely but random thought: given that OOO/Kimantor was replacing the male ancestral line of the pre-Esrolians, could it have been their male ancestral temple? Kimantor was ritually replacing the role of Storm with that of Darkness.

First, I'd like to say that this is not the first time you've come at me for something I've allegedly done, always with the phrase "beating a dead horse", and always you end up apologising because you are flat wrong. Last time you were angry because you thought I was always making fun of the name of the Guide to the Gods of Glorantha when I joked I was gonna call it BaGoG, to refresh your memory. I don't know why you are always doing this but maybe next time you can think before you write. You seem to have a chip on your shoulder about me and I don't know why but honestly it's not my problem because every time you bring up a complaint it turns out not to be true. If you have a problem with me, speak the fuck up when you see it instead of festering until you yell at me for something that isn't actually something I'm doing. Yes, i appear differ from canon in arguing for longhouses. I do not differ from canon for saying people live in giant buildings specifically in Kerofinela (outside of Sartar's capital, anyway). This is canon. Also, the shapes of the giant Kerofinelan clan residences are described as "quadrilateral", not square. The hearth areas are square. We've discussed this ad nauseum on this board and Authorities have weighed in that Square is not authoritative; quadrilateral is, which includes but is not limited to "square". I have also listened to people's arguments and taken into account good thoughts on why square is better, because I listen! But that's irrelevant since I was talking about this building. The Kerofinela comment was an aside. People don't understand these aren't alehouses. These are mass residences. the past is a foreign country. this is a bronze age skyscraper. this is part of how clans work and why you belong to an extended family. all over the world, the bronze age is about innovative giant buildings where every person in your tribe/clan/whatever lives. In Sumer, this turned into city-states and the organisation of them into the first bureaucracies, which were the priests of the gods and all work and food was organised via the city's patron god's temple. The most powerful people in Sumer included the brewers, all women, who were symbolically the architects of civilisation - hence why one was sent to Enkidu to tame him. She is badly translated as a "bar maid" or sometimes even as a "sex worker"! In fact, she was the organiser of the main source of caloric intake and food storage for all of the city. I bang on about this because it's so interesting for Glorantha. Also, not just the past; people still live in longhouses around the world, I've been to places where this is the norm. Indonesia, for example, has areas where this is the norm.

This is actually something of a truism for most of not all RPGs. What happens is that the characters adventure and improve, but then get tougher missions and opponents, so the character improve even more, go on even tougher missions and face even more tougher opponents, and the process keeps repeating. So in the en d character improvement leads to higher difficulties to compensate, which can make you wonder what the advantage there was to improvement. It's more oblivious in HQ2, where the difficulty is set to the length of the campaign and character advancement, and in level based games, where everything is designed realtive to the level of the PCs, but it exists in some form in most, if not all, RPGs, and for a good reason. Namely to keep the game challenging. Now some skill based games, including most BRP derivatives can sidestep that somewhat thanks to the inherent risk with their game mechanics. In a game like RuneQuest of Call of Cthulhu, a good spear hit tot he chest almost always has the chance of killing a PC in one hit, so there is less need to escalate the opposition, and its' possible to use an absolute scale of competency instead of a relative one (like HQ1's scale of masteries as mentioned by soltakss). This is also why some RPGs, such as some of the FUDGE/FATE derivatives don't have character improvement as it is a net zero game, especially in a game system with opposed rolls and a bell curve. If both the PCs and their opponents get a +1 to their rolls, it cancels out, so why bother? I think the real point of abilities and advancement in HQG is that some sort of improvement system is expected by players., and not having one would not be received well. It might be better to replace character improvement with a way for players to change abilities around and maybe award more Hero Points.

"It's behind you!!!!"

Yes. If you look at real world shamanism there is exactly that. While you can contact a singular spirit, you can also contact the spirit of the group as a whole or a single spirit that represents all the others (like a queen bee). It depends on the granularity of your game. Locusts are normally solitary and local, except when exceptional circumstances cause them to group and change their behaviour. becoming social and nomadic. Given insect based spirit warfare amongst Amazon shaman, it makes sense that a Gloranthan shaman would contact a "king" locust, make a bargain and get it to swarm over an enemy's lands. However it also makes sense that shaman propitiate spirits like this to stop this kind of behaviour. Using Gorakiki as an example, it would be easy for a shaman to treat a particular aspect of Gorakiki as a spirit cult. The full version of cult gives all kinds of transformation rune magic, but I'd give the spirit cult version only Speak with Insects: (from Trollpak Classic).

I'd also recommend his Quora answers, they are a great insight: https://www.quora.com/profile/Greg-Stafford-7

If it wasn’t for my birthday at the end of the month, November would probably grab the top spot as the worst time of the year. To brighten up this dreary month, I’m having a book giveaway featuring Elevation, the M-SPACE campaign I released this summer, written by Michael Larrimore. Check out reviews here: EN World and Runeblogger. The giveaway starts today and runs until Friday. Three winners will be announced on Saturday. First Prize: Softcover of Elevation. 172 pages, black and white print. Shipped anywhere in the world. Second and Third Prizes: PDF of Elevation. 172 pages. Sign up for the giveaway below and make sure you spread the word: https://gleam.io/V2h3N/elevation-mspace-campaign Clarence Redd

I hate to keep mentioning this stuff but I feel that some folk might actually be running this game. Spoiler tags are the respectful way to discuss details that players might want to avold.To do a spoilers simply type [Spoileroo] spelled as spoiler and place it in the brackets

I already have the PDF of Elevation, but wouldn't mind a hard copy if I manage to win the 1st prize. I'll use this opportunity to ask how the M-Space Companion is shaping up? I, for one, am eagerly waiting that book. I really would like some examples of future weapons and armor, plus some sci-fi drugs (medical and combat ones, not recreational ones), like the ubiquitous medhypo. Sure, I can make something up (and have done so), but it would be nice to have pre-designed ones as well. I know those vary a lot according to the setting, but a few common examples from which to extrapolate wouldn't go amiss. Oh, and I agree, November really is the dreariest month of the year (at least where I live).

It has the same advantages and disadvantages as it does in Pendragon. The advantages are that gives the campaign a more of a sense of time passing and adds weight and significance to the major events by spreading them out over time. It also helps with the fell of hero maturing and taking time to reach hero status, as opposed to the r apid improvement possible in older RQ, with (approximately) weekly improvement rolls. The disadvantages are that it is not well suited towards longer adventures, or times when a lot is happening and characters have to jump from one adventure to another. It can also force a GM to have to choose between two good adventure ideas at times, because there is only enough time to fit one of the adventures into the year, or else have a really long year. Oh, and sometimes GM might have to rush through something to have more time for something more important.

A million souls, exposed to the madness of Call of Cthulhu! Critical Role's acclaimed one-shot "Shadow of the Crystal Palace" has just clicked over 1 million views on YouTube! Brilliant work by Keeper of Arcane Lore Taliesin Jaffe @executivegoth and doughty investigators @WillingBlam, @VoiceOfOBrien, @Marisha_Ray, @ashly_burch, @phillamarr, and @erikaishii! Pick up the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set for a cosmic horror adventure of your own and use the code CriticalRole at check out for 10% off your entire order: http://critrole.com/cthulhu

This too. It’s unbelievable that you can’t easily tell which PDF version you’re currently on. Hoping first for a proper ertata collection, and then seeing this incorporated into the PDFs, completely with a changelog.

Ah well I'm an old guy who prefers forums and mailing lists, but definitely a new RQ player. You might not be the only one preferring Facebook groups these days: after several years of avoiding Facebook (for technical & political reasons), I find myself needing to log in again because several communities (including RQ) seem to have a growing activity there (maybe as a result of an exodus from Google+, which once also had lots of RPG people?). I partially reconciled my problems with Facebook by simply creating a "Lordabdul" account there for RPG groups, but that's a completely other topic.

This, very much. The GM is saying, "If you say something is bad for you in a significant way, you can trust that I will stop it, no questions asked. I respect and trust your judgement regarding your own well being to the point that you don't even need to explain or justify it to me. In sharing this power over the game with you, I am also trusting you to use it responsibly, just as I strive to do." That's a powerful pact.

And that's part of the dilemma of the Hero Wars! Are the Lunars really so bad? And what about Argrath, who is busily destroying all traditions, allying with all sorts of strange folk including Tricksters, and using forbidden magics?

My version of Indlas Somer has the older surfboys becoming Zombies as they surfed, so rather than dying and staying dead they just transition into zombies, with tanned skin pulled slightly too tight on their faces and fixed grins. A pretty good supplement, that can be used as background for a RQG game very easily.

For larger hex bases, you are looking for Litko. https://litko.net/collections/miniature-bases-and-base-bottoms?_=pf&pf_t_shape=baseshape%3AHexagonal They have an impressive range of shapes and sizes.

Just had a chance to look over the myth. The missing god is uncapitalized which means it's not a title but refers to a god already mentioned. Earlier Kimantor calls upon the War Lord who surrounds him with his powers and defeats his enemies. Then one time the War Lord does not come and so Kimator goes to his temple in the Shadow Plateau.

Yep, the parallels weren't lost on us.

Given the timing, the Missing God could be one who was utterly un-made by Kajabor or the like, such that none remember its name or stories.

oof well I don't have my books, I moved it has to do with the way skills work in the game system first, force users choose a force tree in place of a third talent "tree", so you can be a Pilot or a Stormtrooper who awakens to the Force. it means that force powers are awesome but also that non-force users aren't like mooks facing Superman; there's structural balance. Second, there's this whole thing with the dark and light dice. you always have the option of tapping the dark dice for fast strong power... at a price. mechanically seductive! you, the player, are tempted - and everyone rolls these dice, although they are of much greater import for force users. After all, the force flows through all things... Similarly, you can be a Dathomiri Witch and tap that white die. It's a struggle to be good, to mend your ways. Oh lord to give up that power!. Also, there's a massive diversity in force users. First, some force users are gonna be really spectacular at murdering people, while others are gonna be better at manipulation and negotiation. Second, different force users have different fighting styles because they benefit their style: this is a long conceit of the series and it's a fantastic use of fiction as mechanic. There's also different powers taught by different cabals and movements; a Dathomiri Witch (I love themmmmm) is a heavily Dark-Sided cult with specific powers but you can learn new ones if, say, a Sith Lord takes you on as a follower. They also put a lot of emphasis on Right Time Right Force, so their first books were about a period when there were no Jedi, no teachers, just Vader and the Emperor. All the light-side force users are self-taught weirdos or turned dark-siders. The next force-focused book is after the Rebellion gets moving and Luke has returned. People are reopening Jedi temples. There's not formal Jedi training, but there's actual temples and books. Light-side users are stronger and have formed little training groups on their own.

I just plain don't like the way it's written up. It calls for yes/no answers and IMHO that is way too specific. When I've given a character a psychic skill, I've gone for clairvoyance or psychometry and narrated a vague and hopefully confusing feeling or vision or whatever. But avoided direct yes/no or details.

While I've not had the opportunity to run or play a game in person for many years, I've thoroughly enjoyed running my Glorantha games by post. In remembrance of Greg, and in thanks to all those who either currently participate in or have participated in my long-running HQG Orlmarth Campaign, I offer a little collage reflecting the collective journey (and apologies to any I missed). As it says in my RPGGeek banner: #WeAreAllUs ! Currently, our heroes are in the Underworld trying to find their way to the Caves of Silence in order to free Orane. But first, they must fulfill the duties that Bijiif the Ash King and Maggot Liege has placed upon them....

You have this all upside down. I swear I have met more Yelmalios who were secret chaos worshippers than ones who weren't. It is approaching the point of being a cliche. Why there isn't an outright Stormbull vs Yelmalio war idk.

Now out in general release! (Our backerkit pre-orders after the Kickstarter earlier this year so exceeded expectations we had to do a reprint). Available from all three of our warehouses - USA, UK, Australia. https://www.chaosium.com/miskatonic-university-the-restricted-collection Set in the treacherous and terrifying Restricted Collection of Miskatonic University's Orne Library, the game features grimoires, elder signs, academic politics and madness — and that endlessly renewable resource, graduate students...USD$24.99

If you missed it, there's been an update on Jonstown Compendium on the RQ forum: I don't know about you folks, but I'm really looking forward to this. I'm cranking away on a couple of HeroQuest/Questworlds projects for it right now.

As anticipated, I am paying for going on the march on Saturday (won't name it, but you may have heard of a million people marching in London on Saturday): mainly hips and knees, as the arthritis goes 'live'. Suspect I won't be doing any more sketches this week... With its annotation moved, the latest neatly finishes a chapter: only a line or so left blank.

Session 03 - "The Battle of Mearcred Creek" Summer of 485 Dawn broke of a beautiful summer morning, but all of our noble knights knew that there was a storm awaiting them. With the aid of his more eloquent friends, Aldwyn managed to buy and gift and make some beautiful words for the beautiful Isolde, declaring his undying love for her, as high as the love he had for the land where they dwelt on. And even better, he had the chance to actually tell her in person, as Graid and Aurelius distracted the matrons from discovering the pair’s little secret meeting. In the courtyard, Reccared met his gruncle Solis again, who vaxxed on about the nature of the deeds they were about to carry out. The old knight had a sorrowful tone to his voice, as these battles had claimed most of the people he had cared. Now, only he remained and he hoped that he would not outlive the younger generation of his family. With those words, Solis pulled forward a gleaming roman blade. Aljan, the sword wielded by both his father, his grandfather as well as Sir Solis on many an occasion, was now placed in the hands of the future. If the White Fox could not protect his grandnephew himself, the legacy of the family would be his ward, and if Solis fell, it would be a good day to part with life, as many Saxons still owed for the death of Reccared’s father. The two men parted, promising to see each other after the battle had been done. The ride to the battle itself took more than a week. First into Silchester, joining up with the rest of the Logrean armies, and seeing King Uther’s standard being raised above the host. Salisburians alongside Silchesterians was a rare sight, and with the men from Glevum, Gentian and Clarence, it seemed a large enough army, even though rumour had it in the ranks that the Cornishmen had not shown. Again. Just like at Bedegraine and at Eburacum. Then, the weather changed from pristine summer sunshine, to grey skies and light showers of rain, making the army's advance a bit slower. Finally, they arrived at the border to the lands of Suth Seaxe. Ælle, King of Sussex had little intention of meeting on unfavorable grounds, so several days were spent with skirmishes and maneuvers, constantly shifting the battlefield to what seemed advantageous. In the camps, everyone was tense, and just waited for the call to be made. But, finally, at a creek near Mearcred, it seemed like the odds were even and battle was about to be joined. Ælle might seem to have a bit higher ground, but Uther’s host was better armed than the vile Saxons. Ranks were formed up, and under Sir Elad’s keen eye, the Salisburians assembled in two Eschille, squadrons of ten knights each. Earl Roderick’s eschille would ride alongside Uther, as befitted a man of his standing. This left Elad with the eschille for the right flank. The vanguard. The squadron would be composed of himself, Sir Leo (the moral center of the household knights), Sir Caradoc (a drunkard with a talent for axes), Sir Bradoc (often called the sailor, and Aurelius’ mentor), Sir Mors (Aldwyn’s uncle) and Sir Jareth (an ambitious knight and the finest swordsman in Salisbury), along with Aldwyn, Graid, Reccared and Aurelius. The horns sounded. The eschilles lined up. Their sharp lances at the ready. A different horn sounded, and the Saxons advanced, step by step, until they were almost in the creek. That’s when the British horn blew again. Three sharp blows, and everything sat into motion, as the sound of thundering hooves from hundreds of horses swept forward towards the saxon shield wall. That’s when they laid eyes on their opposing foes. Saxons bearing the red eye of the wargod Wotan, painted across their own left eye, stood ready to meet them, and just as the clash was inevitable, a hail of Saxon spears were flung towards the charging knights. Then battle was joined as lances broke and everything became chaos in the din of war. Spears pierced mail and flesh, arcing swords carved away limbs and painted the ground red! The eschille had broken through the Saxon wall, and was in the middle of the heathen horde, and they were besat on almost every side by foemen. It was almost impossible to see anything, but the eschille remained together, felling foes left and right. Aurelius had to drive his blade straight into the gut of one who attempted to pull him off his horse. But, they prevailed, and their own footmen rushed in behind the knights to fill the wedge carved by the charge. Sir Elad cried out to his men for a push forward, and with a roar, they hammered into the second line of Saxons, where large shields attempted to halt their advance. Aldwyns spear reached over and stabbed many a Saxon warrior through his helmet, and Reccared stabbed Aljan through more than one shield, his presence leaving cries of death in his wake. That’s when Elad caught glimpse of an infamous, boar-adorned helmet through the din of war. Ælle’s brother-in-law, Thegn Laugier, was on the field, and the one-eyed warrior spurred his horse forward in a warcry! His eschille followed suit, the enemy commander within the reach, only shielded by a fierce retinue of Wotan’s Men. That mattered little, and with a cry out for Salisbury, the eschille almost trampled the foes faster than anyone could react. That’s when Graid and Aurelius rode forward sending their weapons towards the thegn. Aurelius carved into Laugier’s shield, biting into his arm as well, but Graid’s spear found home in the eye socket of the Saxon warleader. With a thud, the Thegn fell to the ground. There was no time to savour that small victory, as some of Ælle’s Heorthgeneat made their way towards the knights, eager to avenge their fallen thegn. With axes as tall as themselves, the Heorthgeneat, dressed in the finest Saxon armor and cloaks of the deepest red, advanced like oncoming thunder, and if it hadn’t been for the swift reactions of Sir Reccared, it would have been the end of their advance. However, there were casualties. Aurelius’ young squire Lucius was ripped from his horse by a Heorthgeneat, decapacitated and his head thrown at Sir Aurelius as they redeployed. Though, poor Sir Caradoc took a spear to his gut, as he fought two of them off. From behind them, they could hear the sounds of joyous roars, as Uther himself advanced into the middle of the fray. Despite muddy earth of the Creek, the hot headed charge of our heroes had allowed Uther’s forces to push the Saxons back up the hill, avoiding getting stuck in the mud-filled riverbed, which seemed to have been Ælle’s plan. With a raised sword, Elad commanded his eschille to advance further into the ranks of the enemy, even as the horns of retreat were blown across the Saxon lines. A rear guard, of old, well-trained Saxons veterans stood between the Salisburian and the Saxon encampment, but it meant little. With a charge, they broke the Rearguard, and were the first to get their share of looting while the cowardly Saxons fled for their lives. From behind the Eschille, down in the Creek, roars of victory resounded, and the dour Sir Elad smiled, for the first time in living memory. Truly, they had been blessed by God this day. With their newfound loot, their returned to their own encampment, and their lord Roderick, who was delighted to see them. He aimed to spread the words of their deeds to the lords of Logres. As the four were resting alongside the rest of their eschille, and enjoying the salutations from passing knights, it became clear that what they had done might have meant the difference between victory or an indecisive mess. Alongside the rest of the Salisburian knights, the four friends tended to their wounds and joked around, but when a familiar prince arrived, things changed. It became clear that Roderick’s words had reached high. Madoc's royal father, King Uther, was overjoyed with their efforts, and wished to reward them. As all of them were prospective landowners, Uther would waver the Seizins, his perq of demanding a steep inheritance tax. All they would have to do is to give up the loot they had earned that day. It was a hard decision, but at least they would not have to give all of their income for the next five years to the King. Madoc departed, overjoyed with his new acquaintances, and return the tents of the army commanders, to give the new to his father. Later, it became known that that the knights that broke the saxon flanks were here solely due to Madoc’s eye for talent and tactics. Come morning, the four said their farewells to their new comrades in arms. Reccared said his goodbye to Sir Solis and wished for his gruncle to come visit the family manor during christmas, after all, he was about to be handed said manor as inheritance. The old knight smiled with pride and clasped the young knight's shoulder. All of our heroes returned to Salisbury as the first days of August came around. In a small ceremony in Sarum, Reccared, Aurelius and Graid were sworn in as enfeoffed vassals of Earl Roderick of Salisbury, and were now known as Sir Reccared of Baverstock, Sir Aurelius Sertorius of Woodford and Sir Graid of Stapleford. As for Aldwyn? He returned to his beloved Isolde, and declared that it was his love for her that made him return. Aldwyn finally approached Roderick on the subject of marriage, and cited the old agreement between his father and her grandfather Sir Dafydd of Newton, Roderick’s former butler. The Earl just smiled and gave his blessings. And beneath the White Horse, the two of them swore their oath of marriage to each other, before Gods and Lands, embracing in a very non-chaste kiss when the Druid bound their hands with white cloth. What followed was a delightful summer feast, and some say that Epona herself paid notice of the happy couple. - End of 485 -

Hugs to @Jeff.... take your time and please stay on the forums (do you feel more positive about the Facebook groups? It seems you post more stuff over there)

I don't really have any advice to give which the other fine folks around here haven't said, but I'd just like to chime in and reassure that you're not alone in feeling this way . I often say "most detailed" fantasy setting over "best" fantasy setting to describe Glorantha for a reason. I've been playing an RQG campaign for about a year now (and about a year in-game, too!) and it's a devil of a thing to organize a house campaign such that, if and when cool new canon-fitting scenarios are published, I'll be able to slot them in and finally stop writing as much material on my own. Now, this is doable. I promise. But there's other gamemasters getting Gloranthan brain-cramps out there too.

And he is the son of the robber knight as well, which would make him the heir? Forget about the wife/widow/mother, it is the PK who is the heir and the beneficiary of the robbery, presumably. It is he who will deal with any blood feud that might result. So is this already out in the open, in public? Or the Mom has just confessed to the son that oh, by the way, that charger you are riding came from your Dad's highway robbery proceedings? In the former, I would expect the PK to do his damnest to settle the thing, pay the money that was robbed + blood price, and try to get this thing to go away ASAP. If the latter, find out what happened to the man's family, and then try to make amends. Up to and including offering to take the merchant's son (if one of them is young enough) as a squire and train and equip him as a knight. Why? Again, the woman did no crime here. Presumably the PK still has Love Family passion, and it would take hell of a lot to disown your own mother! Sure, if she were, let's just take an example at random, sleeping with the son of the man who killed your father and whose house you have a vendetta against... (Although I would claim that particular event would be more of a fumble in Love Family...)

I'm happy to have the boxset and the companion book; even got to play in one or two adventures back in the day. I've thought about running a short Ringworld campaign now and again, but given the insane size of Ringworld? You'd have to have something closer to a railroad set up for the Players. A focused campaign where you pretty much control where the PCs will go and what they'll see. You can't just let them roam free and drop in at random places on the Ring. Though if you had a list of mini-adventures, you could let them play explorers and decide what they find as they land here and there. A bit like exploring a Fringeworthy portal platform and the alternate rings found there. A one-shot with a party of Kzinti would be fun, right? Let us know if you move forward with a Ringworld campaign. I'd love to hear about it.

And these are the Lunars for this weekend's big battle. Not quite canon I guess but hey. The leader, who the PCs already met and hate passionately, is the left-handed one with the bun.

Malkion as the Bad Emperor is in the Guide. I have wondered though if a bunch of Vadeli didn't just say that's who their master was while oppressing the locals, just to be extra petty.