Nick Underwood

Is it coming back? It was the best show on TV. 

I currently have nothing to set a 2 am alarm for... 

I went for the black leather-bound version.

(confession: this is the first hard copy of RPG material I have bought since... BUSHIDO, I think... )

8 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

It's interesting, but a fixed target is quite different to a battlefield. He's braced for the impact of hitting the target, but if he misses, or his weapon gets snagged, how does that affect him in terms of balance and signals to the mount? Being able to use it is different to it being useful.

I'm sure there are limiting factors which explain why pole arms don't seem to have been widely adopted en masse as cavalry weapons... Especially, I can imagine how unwieldy it would be in a cavalry formation. 

But for free ranging High Llama skirmishers... Agreed. It's conclusively badass!

12 hours ago, Ryan Kent said:

Looks like two handed is the way to go.

We'll that looks pretty conclusive! 

3 minutes ago, Nick Underwood said:

I'd be curious to know if there were any ancient cultures that actually used dagger axes as two-handed Infantry weapons...

Pre-Han dynasty China apparently did. 

On 10/17/2021 at 4:53 PM, Ryan Kent said:

My understanding is that RAW you can’t use 2H swinging weapons from the back of a mount. However the write up for the High Llama Riders implies they use the Dagger Axe from the back of their mount.  What is going on with that?

I believe there is evidence that the scythians used dagger axes from horseback, presumably one handed. This may be the inspiration.

I'd be curious to know if there were any ancient cultures that actually used dagger axes as two-handed Infantry weapons... Sounds a bit pole-axey to me. 

4 hours ago, Joerg said:

You don't need to have blue skin to become gender-fluid or join the cult of Heler.

Yes thanks for the correction.

However, without the cool gender-bending and blue-skin... I'm not sure why anyone would join a silly water cult? 😊

21 hours ago, Tindalos said:

Most people aren't, even in the Red Cow, the helering related bloodline simply had a bluish tint.

It's likely blue skin would mark you out as someone powerful and holy, or that you're very closely descended from a water or storm god. It was usually only ring members in the Red Cow who had slate-blue skin, after all.

 

Yes! I was mistaking all Helering for Kerenelling... And then all Kerenelling for blue-skins. Thanks for the clarification. 

So... With only 60 people in the Kellering bloodline, say 25% by marriage, and 50% inheritance of the bluish tint that's... 22 and a half blue-skins total. (+ 8 that have married outside the clan.) Very cool and very rare. 

On 6/29/2021 at 10:08 AM, MOB said:

It shows a young Helering “backboy” helping a Vingan thane get her armor on.

Helering aren't blue-skinned anymore? 

Shame. I loved the Red Cow stuff. 

I wondered too. Nothing in the last episode suggested it was the end of the season... Hoping to see Nisk all runelordy sometime soon. 

Holy crap Mr Brooke. Just finished reading and my earlier comments were glib and out of place for a such a special work.

Hat's off to you sir. I'm unlikely to read anything as thought provoking, any time soon. Thank you for the journey.

On 9/10/2021 at 2:38 AM, Bill the barbarian said:

I must be the last person on the planet that figures to be heroes you have to be heroic, not stack the dice.

You got me thinking and trying to unpack that (perfectly packaged!) summation.

From a storytelling perspective the GM can reward heroic intention with heroic outcomes, and the GM can make failure every bit as rewarding as success (or more so).

But from a rules perspective, heroic intentions mean nothing and failure has no reward. Failed rolls only hinder or prevent your progresion along the path to rule-defined herodom - becoming a shaman or rune lord, getting huge stats and a CHA-full of RPs.

Of course, GMs and gaming groups blend to their liking the process of storytelling with the framework for deciding outcomes that the rules provide. But the more a group relies on the rules to decide outcomes, the more dice stacking (in one form or another) is the only path to avoiding failure and ensuring the emergence of heroic characters. (Isn't this exactly what we see in the beefed-up starting characters of RQG?) And isn't the GM storytelling technique of interpreting heroic intentions by the players as having heroic consequences just dice stacking under another guise?

[Hmm... Did I really spend the last 30 minutes to come to the conclusion that if there weren't any rules, no-one would cheat?]

56 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

I know a guy at poly (mid '80s) who used a home computer to randomly roll characteristics sets and print them out all day on a dot matrix printer and manually looked through them for the best ones, and claimed that it was legitimate.

As long as he was convinced, maybe it was legitimate... 

16 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

According to Scotty citing MGF any spell can have more then one person contributing RPs if the GM allows it.

I think it was in the reply to your question that I saw the "official ruling" I cited, Bill. 

I did see the MGF interpretation too. But seeing as the discussion is munchkining up super babies, the stricter interpretation seemed appropriate.

Not that super babies are not fun. But are they maximum fun? 

13 minutes ago, icebrand said:

I wouldn't be posting if i spammed a dice roller, that's not legit!!!!

I know. I was hinting at my cheatass tactics, not yours. 😉

13 minutes ago, Baron Wulfraed said:

From the Red Book (emphasis mine):

Quote

This ritual blesses a woman; it must be cast during the first season of her pregnancy

I stand utterly corrected. 

Even RQG mentions the constraint. 

(Whatever was I thinking contradicting you lot! 😊) 

20 minutes ago, icebrand said:

I just rolled a bona-fide 102 points character

Congrats!!!

I bet you didn't even spam the automatic dice roll in Phil Hibs Excel character generator!

Psychologically interesting - and I share this double bind - that we desire cheaty outcomes without cheating ourselves by actually cheating... That's some self-inflicted torment. 

8 minutes ago, icebrand said:

Especially since such effect seems aimed at 0,000001% of legit players!

What's an illegit player?  

8 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

As a ritual, couldn't more than 1 priestess supply the rune points?

I think the official ruling is that multiple people can supply Rune Points only in cases where it is explicitly mentioned. But it is explicitly mentioned that multiple people can sacrifice POW during a spell enchantment creation ritual. 

Which opens up the question of why any self-respecting clan hasn't created a +60 Bless Pregnancy enchantment... The (minor) sacrifice of a single generation would create a clan of perfect people. 

(and probably ruin the game for everyone...) 

23 hours ago, Joerg said:

In the case of Bless Pregnancy, I would charge 20 L per rune point per season, as the caster doesn't get to regain the rune points until birth.

I think you can cast at any moment during pregnancy. Including during  blessedly painless labour. 

23 hours ago, Joerg said:

No idea how common CHA 20 priestesses with 20 rune points would be. At a guess - only player characters.

And I'd have to say that given the lowly market value of their work it's perhaps to be expected that they don't make more effort to advance their careers. 😊

23 hours ago, Baron Wulfraed said:

And with a +1 per excess point applied to characteristics, the kid is going to be an unmanageable terror 😈

That's mum talking.

Dad is screaming, "Think of the Manipulation bonus!“

22 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

In RQ3, Lunar Magic was only available to members of the cult of the Red Goddess (meaning: practitioners are all Illuminates and Rune Level members of Lunar cults). It teaches skills that allow practitioners to manipulate Spirit Magic spells similar to the way sorcerers manipulate Sorcery spells. So a Lunar magician could know Heal 1 and then Amplify it on casting to be a Heal 6. Or could cast a Bladesharp that lasts longer, or a long-range Disruption that does more damage. 

Thanks Nick. I found the write up, along with lots of other cool stuff that I hope gets into the Cults book.

Lunar Magic seems to fill a nice niche that gives spirit magic some of the oompf of rune magic. Alas that it seems almost unattainable for most characters. It would be a nice mechanic for mid-level characters or Assistant Shaman that don't yet have access to the Shamanic super powers. 

13 minutes ago, jean said:

The lunar arts (amplify, combine, prolong and distance) were described in the RQ3 supplement gods of glorantha.

 

I think that for RQG, for the time being, we can adapt what is decribed for sorcery in the rulebook

amplify <> intensity

prolong <> duration

distance <> range

 

combine was used to cast a number of spells simultaneously

Thanks. That gives a good idea of what to expect. I'll see if I can find the RQ3 material as additional teaser for CoG. 

Edited: CoG not GoG. 

1 minute ago, jajagappa said:

45 minutes ago, Nick Underwood said:

Where be this Lunar Magic of which they speak?

It will be coming in the Cults of Glorantha books - relevant to the Red Goddess cult only.  (If you have RQ3 supplement Gods of Glorantha it is described there too.)

Great stuff. Thanks jaja

On 9/6/2021 at 9:34 PM, Richard S. said:

RQG gives 20L per point,

So... a +20 Bless Pregnancy spell would cost a measly 4000 L? Shocking that parents just don't invest in their children anymore...