GMKen

Foes for RQ2 has one inside the front cover. Mmmm...Foes. All those sweet, sweet stat blocks I didn’t have to roll up back in the day...

I’m lining up a RQ campaign at my local FLGS, Geek World in Tyler, TX. They use, I believe, Alliance, which wasn’t showing the title as available the last time I had them check. Of course they have CoC, and they have added a couple of RG titles since I started doing special orders with them. I’m actually kind of excited to get a new campaign started, and I know they’re anxious to get the gaming started again (Warhammer seems to be pretty big here).

Any ETA on when these might be arriving at our friendly neighborhood game stores?

On windows machines do a search for the program CharMap. It has been in every edition of windows since 3.0. It will show you all of the extended character sets for all of the fonts. Also a lot easier than trying to remember if Alt-0232 is an e with an accent aigue or grave.

Is 1616 the canon year for Griffin Mountain? I haven’t really found anything definitive in that regard, and yeah, a lot of ages and events in the supplement are XX years before whatever the year of the campaign is. Makes it a bit frustrating when trying to put together a consistent timeline. I was thinking along the same lines of a character backgrounder for the Balazar book I’m trying to put together for JC. I do want to put together an heirloom table, to reflect the fact that countless generations of Balazarings have served as mercenaries across Genertela, so there just has to be more bronze weaponry around than they are generally given credit for. My read is that they use stone tools for daily life, keeping the bronze swords as precious and secret family heirlooms to be used only in times of emergency. Hero wars would probably be a good time to break them out...

Maybe not ducks, but I get from the book that Gonn Orta is still looking for something, we just don’t know what. My read is that he is looking for someone unusual, but he’s not sure what that cloak of unusualness might be. Ducks are unusual, but apparently not what he was looking for (yet?). As for trade, well, better bring the good stuff. I doubt he has any interest in something mundane like furs or bronze weapons. Potent magical items? Okay, now we’re talking... Thing is, mercantilism is a funny thing. Very subjective. Something that you might think is worthless could be something the merchant can turn around for a quick and relatively riskless profit. Good merchants know their business and what their customers want. That otherwise banal extra-long wool cloak you found in a monster cave? Well, the merchant is going to know someone just the right height for it. That non-magical garnet ring? Turns out there’s a jeweler in the big city looking for garnets for a piece he’s working on. Don’t forget also that merchants have overhead as well. That saddle you paid 100 guilders for? You might get 20-40 guilders for it when you sell it back, if he can still get 100 silver for it. Your “worth” is his cost, and they ain’t going to pay you 100 guilders for something they’re going to sell for 100 guilders. Don’t make dollars; don’t make sense. Unless the adventurers want to set up their own trade caravans and market stalls and sell the stuff themselves. Of course, then they get to deal with hagglers, who are a royal PITA. Gotta keep ‘em poor and questing for more...

Still waiting to hear from my FLGS. I checked in before the holiday, but their distributor wasn’t showing it yet. Since I don’t do PDFs, I’ll just have to continue anticipating the epic glory of it. Made sure to put the upcoming Starter Set on the wishlist as well.

I managed to pick up copies of Hearts in Glorantha Vol. 1 and Gloranthan Adventures: New Beginnings and have mined both extensively. I was never big on the HeroQuest stuff (must...have...stat...blocks), but really like the art, especially the stuff by Xavier Llobet (though that one Broo is quite disturbing and unsettling, as is, I guess, appropriate for Broos), and a lot of the adventures are fun. Just wish I could have picked up a copy of Issue 7 before everything disappeared.

Speaking of Storm Bull, I was just working on a Balazar myth of Why There Are Tornados in Balazar, or, How the Three Little Giant Mountains Helped Save the World: When Storm Bull was battling Wakboth the devil, a massive chunk of truestone came flying towards the battleground. Seeing that this could help Storm Bull, the Three Little Giant Mountains all helped catch it when it landed and then yeeted it up over the Rockwood Mountains into Prax. Where this happened is now the Bald Hill in High Wood. All the energy from the deepest mountain roots was put into lobbing the chunk of truestone up over the Rockwoods, and now nothing will grow there. That’s also why there are shards of Truestone to be found around the enchanted rock, though the Aldryami have collected most already. Some hunters spend years searching fruitlessly for a piece. To show his appreciation, Storm Bull will still sometimes come play with his friends the Three Little Giant Mountains, dodging amongst the peaks, playing tag, and wrestling with them. Sometimes Storm Bull gets thrown into Balazar, and that’s why you see tornados. It’s just Storm Bull having fun with his friends, which means he’s not thinking about you, and if you don’t want to get stomped, make sure you get to cover quick when you see him.

Yeah, but the players tended to need that money to pay for all of the skill training from the various guilds. Associating with the Alchemist’s Guild to learn Blade Venom 20 is going to run you 25,000 guilders. That’s a lot of Treasure Factor right there, but I hear there’s an old grave everyone’s afraid of that has a boatload of money in it, or so I’ve been told by those in the know...

Oh, he’s a goner. Storm Bulls gonna be hunting him down. He might want to try the Chaos Underground Railroad (CUR) to the Lunar Empire, where for some mind-boggling reason they are more tolerant of that sort of devilry. It doesn’t run on time, and you may or may not get there, but that’s chaos for you. Or perhaps a dash for Dorastor, where they could probably make a name for themselves in that foul den of depravity. Don’t forget a pilgrimage to the Snakepipe Hollow. They might be able to pick up a few NPCs for their posse. Strength in numbers, you know...

I’m not sure that Balazarings are especially known for their secret caches of Moon Stones. Or raid-worthy hoards of them, for that matter. Nor that Twinstars are particularly associated with the Elder Wilds. I did dig up a copy of the “Lair of the White Wyrm” scenario, though, and that does give me a nice plausible explanation - the Morokanths were also looking for their sacred scroll that the White Wyrm had stolen before it got captured and imprisoned by Dragonewts. ”Oh, you want your cousin back? We want our scroll back. What sort of arrangement do you think we can come to?”

The more I look into it, the more the idea of a Morokanth raid into Balazar for potential herd-men seems to fit the facts at hand. Morokanth have a natural affinity with the Darkness rune, making them a bit more palatable (in the non-cuisine sense) to the trolls of Dagori Inkarth. Raiding Balazar for slaves seems to be a well-established practice for just about everyone, why shouldn’t the Praxians get in on the fun? Human bodies are basically the only thing of value in Balazar. What are the Sable Riders going to go raiding for? Furs? Hoards of stone tools? Clay pots? Fancy breechcloths? The issue, though, is getting the captured slaves back to Prax. I envision Wyrm’s High Pass as more akin to the scenes in the movie Pathfinder (the original is better, but hard to get) than to a steep saddle pass between two mountains. Cliffs with narrow ledges. Precarious switchbacks and buffeting winds. Giants rough-housing as in the movie The Hobbit, part I of too many. Coupled with the tolls you’re paying to the trolls for passage to and from the Pass and you’re going to need to capture a whole ton of bodies for the trip to be worthwhile. Then again, a recent rewatching of the early parts of Roots reminded me of the cold calculus that is the slave trade: expected losses are built into the equations. It’s not too terribly difficult an exercise to imagine Kunta Kinte as a Balazaring hunter just living his life, enjoying his passage into manhood, and then some jackass comes along and decides “Hey, you belong to me!” and boom, you’re off to Prax or Glamour or the Holy Country for a life of misery. Another issue, though, is that the Wyrm’s High Pass dumps into the depths of High Wood, which is Aldryami territory, specifically Brown Elf. So deciduous woods, mostly conifers, probably want to do your raid when they’re sleeping. Other than hunters, you’re unlikely to see much human activity until you get to the other side of the bald hill, up near the Oldtree clan hearth and the Bilini River. However, a crippling raid on Dykene’s clans would be good incentive for Skilfil to train a cadre of Giant Hawks to use for reconnaissance and communications. Yeah, I think I’m going to go with that.

I’m one of those print-only bad guys. So far from DriveThruRPG I’ve picked up: -Duel at Dangerford -Legion -Sandheart: Tales of the Sun County Militia -Sandheart: The Corn Dolls -Sandheart: Traditions -Six Seasons in Sartar -Treasures of Glorantha Vol. 1: Dragon Pass -Valley of Plenty and The Last Barrow. Waiting for Book of Doom next. I’ve also picked up a number of titles from lulu and Chaosium’s own PoD. It’s what got me ambitious to put together my own title to add to the collection. My initial assumption is to publish through Jonstown Compendium at DriveThruRPG, however my end goal is a PoD version, and I’m putting it together with that in mind. Reading through posts on this forum, though, it kind of sounds like the whole process is walking on eggshells, and the PoD could go away at any time. Given that my intent is PoD that is a less than ideal risk. Maybe then I should just go straight to lulu? Also less than ideal, but I could probably start with the PoD option without having to wait for permission. I get that some folks think PDFs are the future, but I really don’t value them as I’ve been working with computers long enough to not trust electrons. I can take my PoDs down to the local bookstore and get a few bucks for them, but there is no aftermarket for PDFs, so I have to consider them as disposable. Which, given the number of inaccessible hard drives from old computers in the drawer, they effectively are. Sorry Aldryamiphiles, but I need my dead elf editions.

Interestingly, a RAW reading of the original Griffin Mountain Foundchild cult reveals that it is only at the Initiate level that it is specifically indicated that they must hunt alone. Lay members may participate in the hunt, and it could be inferred that they might work together to make sure everyone got some prey. They’re still in the learning stage, and it’s a chance to see how their teamwork skills are developing. Master Hunter (Rune Lord) applicants “must also be a permanent initiate, and in the most recent great hunt have captured the beast with the highest treasure factor (T.F.) of any initiate.” If one decides that part of being a Rune Lord is being a leader and being a leader means leading teams, then it might be that Rune Lord applicants might work with a small team of non-applicant initiates to outdo everyone else in the hunt, and leading successful teams is perhaps part of what the process is supposed to unveil. I can especially see this as being the case when going after, say, water wyrms (T.F. 28 or so) or allosauri (T.F. 40-ish) But to get to initiate status - that you have to do on your own. Leonidas vs. the wolf a la 300. Limiting the Great Hunt to just Master Hunters seems a bit elitist to me. Almost...Lunar... I guess they had to do something when they dropped (sadly) the treasure factors. And of course a pedant will chime in with “well what if a non-permanent initiate brings in a bigger treasure factor kill than a Rune Lord applicant?” Read RAW the Applicant would be SOL. So better go for that allosaurus.

Okay, getting a bit into the weeds here... I’m collating a comprehensive historical timeline for Balazar and the Elder Wilds, and note that in Wyrm’s Footnotes #15, p. 53 there is a table showing Army Activity by Homeland. It shows four raids into Balazar over the period 1602 to 1625 ST. Three are from the Stinkwood Forest, obviously Tusker Raiders looking for the 3 S: Slaves, Sacrifices and Succulents. My default assumption is that they travel to the Tarsh gap before turning north at Travelling Stone to go looking for goodies. This leads to my scenario write-up where a warband heads over the Wyrm’s High Pass into High Wood, raiding from the Dykene king’s home clan and setting events in motion to stop this nefarious trade in Balazaring slaves! The one from Prax has me a bit confused. It’s not real easy to get from Prax to Balazar. There are three routes that come to mind: 1) Gonn Orta’s castle is a route into the Elder Wilds not too far from Balazar. Can’t imagine Gonn Orta being real pleased about a Praxian warband trooping through his castle with their mounts pooping everywhere. Seems like a long trip for not much reward. 2) The aforementioned Wyrm’s High Pass, but I’m pretty sure from Prax you have to go through Troll territory, meaning any Praxian warband would likely end up as Troll victuals... (Bison meat is pretty tasty) 3) Through Sartar to the Tarsh gap. Again, seems like a long trek for not much reward. So does anyone out there in Gloranthaland know anything about this particular raid in 1607 ST? Just a bunch of morokanths looking to replenish their herdmen? Was there a big project needing the sacrifice of Balazaring blood and lives? Did they just need a bunch of sacrifices for some big magic event? I’ll probably just make something up, but wanted to check with the cognoscenti first.

Looking at the big fold-out map from the ScreenPak, and the map on the inside cover, it appears that Snakepipe Hollow has grown to 50 km in length, putting the scale in the GM book at just under 20 km per cm, and the big fold-out map at just under 10 km per cm. Since my brain won’t let me assume that the map on page 105 is to the same scale as on the inside cover, I double checked with a ruler. On page 105 I get a measure of about 17.5 km per cm, so the map is slightly enlarged from the one on the inside cover. On page 136 of the GM Book, which I assume to be the Core Rulebook that Monsieur Brooke mentions, I see a picture of a rampaging hoard of woaded-up guys looking to inflict some hurt on a bunch of guys in red, who probably deserve what’s coming to them. Pp. 134-135 has the big map, though, and it looks to be right about the same size as the one on the inside cover. So I want to revise my guess to 17.5 km/cm.

Well, you know, kids these days... They reject your patriarchal need to impose limits and measurements on everything, because the world is more than that, man... It’s about peace, and love, and redefining boundaries for a fuller expression of the self. Man this is good hazia. So you see, wait, where was I? Oh yeah, It’s the Lunars’ fault. They don’t want you to know how far it is to freedom from their rule.

My guess is about 12.25 km per cm. Derived from the 35km distance from Highwater Falls to Dwarf Ford as shown in the 1979 Snakepipe Hollow. Since you showed that portion of the map in your post. I’m guessing that someone will use the Argan Argar Atlas to refine that.

This kind of drama is generally why I’ve avoided things Lunar. Messing with them leads to nothing but trouble. Sure they make a good boogeyman for Orlanthi, but I’m perfectly okay with Chaos being the baddie everyone gets to gang up on and kill at will. Sort of like wild hogs here in Texas. You’re basically free to hunt as many as you can bag. Please. They’re tearing things up down here, and at least for the moment there are no moral qualms about killing them. Like chaos beasts. Lunars? Buncha drama queens...

I still have my fingers crossed for the three adventures noted in Sea Cave. Otherwise I’ve pretty much filled out my collection with the PoD stuff, Jonstown Compendium and lulu, at least everything that I’m currently interested in. Just waiting for my FLGS to give me a call about the Red Book of Magic pre-order, when I’ll put in my pre-order for the Starter Set. I’m okay with the generally slow pace of releases, as I’m focused on the Neolithic potential of Balazar right now, and the newer stuff is only giving me bits and pieces to work with in that regard, so this is fine. I do wish there were some of the old-style gaming magazines around, as they really did help fill in the gaps between major releases with adventures and background material to help sate the desire for content.

I guess I’m one of the bad guys, as I don’t do pdf. Accuse me of Aldryamicide if you like, but my OCD says printed books, so like with the Book of Doom I’m just going to have to wait. Besides, just ordered a PoD of Six Seasons in Sartar, so I do kind of want to see what that looks like before deciding further. I do have to say I’ve generally enjoyed everything I’ve ordered off of DriveThruRPG and lulu. Question: is there a second-hand market for used PDFs?

My understanding is that mounted (Kuschile) archery is the ability to hit a target while the horse (or unicorn for Yelornans) is moving and the rider is bouncing around on the moving horse. It’s a particular set of muscle memory that wouldn’t work not-mounted. There I would apply the base archery skill plus bonus, unless of course they’ve been practicing and training. Think of Calamity Jane - she was a sharpshooter on horseback, but also a sharpshooter on the ground. Both skills had to be trained. I’m decent with a handgun or rifle. I’m decent at horseback riding. I have zero expectation of being decent at shooting a handgun (or bow) while on horseback since I have no training or experience in that regard. I would use the Kuschile archery skill for ranged weapons on a hippogriff, regular archery for when they are dismounted.

Luckily you don’t tend to find broos alone, but rather marauding in small groups. Plus, any player worth his pedantry would argue that appearance is strictly visual thing and wouldn’t be relevant to smell. Besides, Phideaux isn’t out looking for Broos. He’s an enforcer making sure that the locals are respecting the Brother Dog/Foundchild covenants. Balazarings can of course speak with dogs due to their close bonds, but Phideaux has managed to eke out what is basically a Scooby-Do level of ability in Firespeech. (Ruh-Roh...Groo!)

I have a sentient dog NPC who is a shaman of Brother Dog and who speaks Firespeech at 15%, probably about the best a doggy voice box can handle. I am giving him a “Smell Hidden” skill, which just seems appropriate given how dogs are generally terrible at “Spot Hidden” (or even spot obvious for that matter), but their noses are amazing. Great for avoiding ambushes. Broos are apparently especially fetid.