radmonger

How to roll In Rivers of Sartar, all rolls are opposed rolls, between contestants, each of which is using an ability. Each contestant simultaneously rolls a single D100 (the success D100), and zero or more D20s (the bonus D20). The option of using different numbers of bonus D20 provides an additional dimension by which different situations may be handled in game: if a contestant has advantage, roll 2 bonus die; use the higher one. if a contestant has disadvantage, roll 2 bonus die; use the lower value. if a contestant has inspiration, roll 2 bonus die; use the higher value on a success, and the lower value on a failure if a contestant is inactive, they do not roll a bonus dice. How to read the D100 success dice The success D100 is rolled in the same way as RQ:G. So if both dice are 0, the result is 100. Ability values over 96 are treated as 96, 150 or more as 97, and so forth, up to a maximum of 99% at 250%. This modified value is the effective ability. Given that, a rolled value below or equal to the effective ability is counted as a succesful roll. How to read the D20 bonus dice On a successful roll: a roll of 20 or more is a critical, of value 3 a roll of 17, 18 or 19 is a special success, of value 2. any other value is a normal success, of value 1. On a failed roll: a roll of 1 is a fumble, of value -1 any other roll is a normal failure, of value 0. Every full 50 ability points over 100 lowers the value required to score a critical by 1 (so 19 at 150%, 18 at 200%, and so on). Every 10 ability points over 100 lowers the value required to score a special success by 1 (so 16 at 110%, 17 at 120%, and so on). Tie break mechanism Normally, the contestant with the highest number of successes wins. Ties can be broken by looking at the D100 value rolled; the contestant with the highest value scores an extra success.

In an ongoing contest, a sequence of rolls are used to resolve a single contest. As with freeform play, success or failure simply changes the situation which must be dealt with. Compared to freeform play, within that contest, additional rules and guidelines apply, and so the need for GM fiat is somewhat lessened. A contest normally ends with a decisive roll, which will indicate the degree of success or failure the contest resulted in. A PC may reject the result of a decisive roll, normally because they lost. If they do, the contest continues, but they must immediately apply mechanical consequences based on how badly they would have lost. An ongoing contest in which the first roll is decisive is effectively the same as an opposed roll in freeform play. So the type of contest does not need to be selected in advance, it can emerge organically based on what the players actually decide to do. Do they hang back to evaluate the situation, or charge in? Contest Resolution Within an ongoing contest, the type and sequence of rolls to be made should be based on the logic of the situation, the underlying reason why it is being rolled for, and the need to involve all participating players. For example, for a challenge that takes place at a time known in advance, there is likely time for as many status actions as can be thought of. A trial with three witnesses to be presented will be three opposed rolls, before a decisive concluding argument. On the other hand, if there is no time pressure or risk, a task might reasonably be attempted indefinitely until the desired result is achieved. In such cases, it is better to treat the task as automatically successful if there is a non-zero chance of success. A contest has two or more opposing sides, each of which has one or more contestants. A contestant is typically an individual, but may be a closely cooperating group, or environmental factor. PCs will commonly be contestants on the same side. But if they are not, then the same rules work. Only those contestants participating in a given roll are the involved contestants. This will commonly not be all the contestant in the contest, and may be only two. For example an archer and a target, or a lawspeaker and a witness. For either, while the results of that roll will contribute to the success of the battle or trial, only those involved get to roll In a tactical challenge, additional rules apply to who gets to make what type of roll, and when; see the next section for details. Types of Roll A decisive roll represents a test to definitively resolve a contest, determining a winner, using a tie-break mechanism if required. The result indicates what happens, allowing the result to be applied and the story to move on to whatever happens next. An task roll represents a test to see if specific attempt as an individual challenge or task is successful. It is normally part of a larger sequence of tasks, called a contest, which will eventually terminate by a decisive roll. The consequences of success and failure apply only to the state of that contest; a task roll that is not part of a contest has no mechanical effect. A status roll represents an attempt to inspire, prepare for, assist in, or supervise the performance of a task or challenge. Note that as a contest evolves over a sequence of rolls, it is not necessary to commit to any set of possible consequences until the time a decisive roll is called for. So a party may scout a group of unknown raiders in order to evaluate their strength, before committing to either a skirmish, a full combat, or running away. Status Roll A status roll represents an attempt to inspire, prepare for, assist in, or supervise the performance of a task or challenge. This is an opposed roll without tiebreak rule, against an opposition set by the GMs estimation of how plausible the action is. The initiating contestant rolls a D100 and zero or more D20, with the number depending on any status effects they have active. If successful, a status effect is applied to, or removed from one contestant for each level of success. Status rolls broadly correspond to the QW mechanism of augments. They are less consequential than an opposed roll, but may be possible in circumstances, or at a timing, where a full opposed roll is not. Task Roll This is an opposed roll with no tiebreak. All involved contestants roll a D100 and zero or more D20, with the number depending on any status effects they have active. The number of successes each contestant scores is added to the ongoing tally kept for the contest. Decisive roll This is an opposed roll with tiebreak rule applied. All involved contestants roll a D100 and zero or more D20, as for a task roll. Then the totals for each contestant on each side are added up and compared. If the final result is an equal number of successes, a tie break rule is applied to all contestants from tied sides to give one side an extra success. This means the contestant with the highest dice value rolled scores an extra success for their side. In the rare case that this doesn't produce a winner, the outcome is a dead heat. The contest either continues or ends without resolution. Rejecting a contest result By default, a contest ends immediately after a decisive roll. The side with the most successes wins. However, the losers of a contest may take as many consequences as required to match the successes scored by the winning side. If they are able to do so, and are still standing, the contest continues. Consequences are long-lasting mechanical effects that are not inherent in the contest result,. This includes being killed, wounded, losing social standing, or expending resources. Consequences and resources are described in detail in a future section.

This short cameo is designed to introduce players to the basics of the rules in a low-threat environment. Player characters are 11 or 12 year old children in Nochet (N:AG), the largest city in all Glorantha. At the start of play, nothing else is known about them; they will gain characteristics and skills during play. In Nochet, children of that age spend their morning doing chores, and evening with their families. But for much of the afternoon, they are free to play in the streets. The games they play vary wildly; TrueToss is described in N:AG. But this morning, the game being played is Dormal the Sailor. This is a version of the real-world playground game British Bulldog. Two areas of land, marked by whatever is available, are separated by a sea. One player is the wizard, and the others are sailors. The sailors must make it from land to land, and the wizard must stop them. Any sailors who fail to make it to land become sea monsters, and must assist the wizard in capturing the other sailors. Once only one sailor is left, they are declared to be Dormal the Sailor, and win the game. Picking the Wizard Being the wizard is generally unpopular, as it offers no chance to win the game. But the game can't be played without one. There is no standard method for doing this, and it often devolves into argument. Each player should be asked if they are willing to play the wizard. If there is exactly one volunteer, they get the role. Otherwise, there will be an opposed toll to either get to be the wizard, or (more likely) avoid having to be it. Reasons for being the wizard might include that they are smart, can read, or 'someone has to step up'. Reasons for not being the wizard might include that they are popular, intimidating, or 'their grandmother owns this street'. Each such reason should be rated by the player on a scale of 10 to 60, and then mapped by the GM to a RQ:G characteristic, skill, passion or relationship. All contestants then do an opposed roll, using the ability value picked above, and applying the tiebreak rule. Depending on what is being rolled for, either the winner or loser becomes the wizard. The wizard must kick off the game by declaring 'I am Zzabur the Mighty, and this sea is Closed'. Example: Capturing the Sailors This involves more opposed rolls, using the same rules. For each round, contestant may declare they are using a new ability, or repeat one used earlier. No ability taken can exceed 60, and the total of all abilities cannot exceed 200. Magical abilities, including rune affinities, may not be taken. Both capturing a sailor and avoiding capture might involve sheer size, strength, speed, grapple skill, tactics, quoting precedent or myth, cooperating with another player or anything else the player can think of. All contestants do an opposed roll based on their selected ability, using the tiebreak rule. Each contestant on the wizard's side may capture one sailor who rolled worse than them. They become a sea monster for future rounds. Declaring a Winner If a round ends with only one sailor remaining, they win. If all sailors are captured during a single round, the one who rolled best wins, representing the one who got furthest. In the rare case of a true tie (equal success level and same number rolled), an argument breaks out over who exacty won. This can be resolved by another roll. Either way all the sailors are freed, and cheer the winner and jeer the wizard. Sometimes a game is just a game, and grants no secret magical powers or rewards. But a character who wins this game and later joins the cult of Dormal the Sailor gets +10% to a cult favored passion. All contestants who succeeded at a roll should tick the corresponding checkbox for experience gains. As a special rule, given the characters are growing children characteristics as well as skills may be so checked. These checks will be rolled for after character creation. Further Games The GM may ask players to describe other games they played as children. These should be translated into a sequence of opposed rolls, and optionally given a mythical veneer.

The Lyksos mini-campaign is intended as a step-by-step tutorial for these rules. It is based on Harald Smith's Nochet, Queen of Cities, and in particular the adventurer's guide (N:AG). It is designed to be run interleaved with RQ:G character creation, so that characters emerge through play, start out knowing each other. By default, when going through the first two steps of family history, it is suggested to pick an answer by consensus. This means the players will have a common authority, their House Grandmother, who can 'ask' them to do any dangerous task. If GM and players desire a more complex dynamic, players can deviate from that consensus. Characters are 11-12 in the first scenario, 13-14 in the second,and 15-16 in the last. So to create characters who will be 21 years old in the default RQ:G starting date of 1625, they should be born in 1604, initiating at age 16 in 1620. Only minor changes would be required to set it elsewhere or at a different time. Step 1: Homeland - set to Nochet (as in N:AG). Nochet and Esrolia should be briefly described. Scenario 1: Childhood Games (uses only the Opposed Roll and Tiebreak mechanics) Step 2a: Family History. Use N:AG entry Evil Year (1616). Scenario 2: Voria's Race (uses the Structured Contest mechanics) Step 2b: Family History. Use N:AG entry Red Earth (1619), and select house correspondingly. Step 3: Rune affinities Scenario 3: Grace Temple (uses Heroquest mechanics) Step 2c: Family History. Use N:AG entries Great Winter (1621) Step 3a: Quick Character background table from N:AG. Step 4: Characteristics (allow assigning dice rolls to characteristics) Step 2d: Family History. Use N:AG entry Queen Samastina (1622) Step 5: Occupation Step 2e: Family History. Use N:AG entries Siege of Nochet (1623) Step 6: Cult Step 7: Personal Skill Bonuses Step 2f: Family History. Use N:AG entry Dragonrise (1625) Step 8: Other Information Cradle Of Heroes is recommended for doing the bookkeeping of character creation, ideally after the session. Within it, is only necessary to note down choices made. As all three scenarios take place interleaved with character creation, in the course of each scenario, players may state they wish to use abilities they will only actually gain at later step. When they do so, they pick the rating of that ability, subject to a scenario-specific cap. This represents a commitment to raise the skill to that level by the end of character creation. For example, when playing street game, a player decides that their character will be large for their age, and gain an ability at 60%. They play the game using that ability, barging their characters out of the way. When it is time to roll and assign characteristics, they must assign at least a 12 to their SIZ (as characteristic-based abilities multiply the value of the characteristic by 5). When they reach adulthood, they will be at least as large as they were at age 12, and likely larger. Experience checks earned during all scenarios should be rolled after character creation is complete, and only if all commitments were met.

Flintnail is presumably an incredibly powerful and ancient sorcerer, constantly engaged in decade long ritual quests of unknown purpose. If you had a complete rule system for what his sorcery could do, you still don't know what he can do. For that, you would need to know everything about what he is doing, and what allies he is currently supporting and being supported by. Only then would you know what time and resources he has to spend on a problem, and so could feed that into the system to see what happens. It is much simpler to model things from the point of view of a recipient of his magic. Such a person is much more likely to be a PC, or at lest interact with one directly. And the Rune Magic rules work perfectly well for that. You could create something just slightly different, using a thesaurus to find synonyms for the terms involved, and changing the defaults of numeric values. So apprentice rather than initiate and so on. But that seems useless added complexity. His cult may teach sorcery as well. But having such a skilled sorcerer relatively readily available, it is usually going to be more efficient to have him actually do the magic, while the initiate simply supplies the required magical resources.

Rivers of Sartar supports three modes: free-form game play, structured contests and tactical combat. A given game may use any or all of these, by simply switching between them as required for pacing and to maintain player interest. In free-form play, the rolls to be made should be based on the logic of the situation as it unfolds. Each roll is standalone, in that there are no built-in mechanical consequences for succeeding or failing. There is no defined time scale. Instead, success or failure of a roll simply changes the situation which must be dealt with. What to roll? Rivers of Sartar is based on a set of dice roll mechanics that can be applied in a uniform way to any value on a percentile scale. These include: skills runes passions characteristics reputation relationships For RQ:G characters, all of these values are on a scale compatible with the dice rolling mechanism, except characteristics, which should be multiplied by 5. For QuestWorlds characters, all values should be multiplied by 5. Typically these values are fixed over the scope of a single game session, and should be recorded on a character sheet as an ability. In circumstances where it make sense, contestants will also one or more bonus d20 to determine the success level (i.e. check for critical and special successes, or fumbles). Status affects such as inspiration will vary the number of bonus D20 rolled. Inspiration from Runes and Passions. Before attempting a roll, contestants may attempt to become inspired by a rune or passion. This involves rolling the corresponding ability against an opposition set by how appropriate the GM judges the usage to be. Inspiration lasts for a scene, as defined by the GM. Note that when inspired, but fails the opposed ability roll, the lowest value D20 is used. This means that acting passionately increase both the chance of great success and great failure. For guidelines on what the runes represent and can be used for, see RQ:G. Runic inspiration is a form of magic, and so requires cult initiation, or an equivalent form of access to a source of magical power. Inspiration by a passion does not. An ability may not be used to inspire itself. The roll to attempt inspiration does not have a variable level of success, and so does not itself use a bonus D20. Gaining Circumstantial Advantages and Avoiding Disadvantages In free-form play, granting advantages and disadvantages is at the discretion of the GM. These should reflect things that change dynamically during the course of play, not static features of the character or opposition. Examples would include: in combat, being able to see when your opponent can not is an advantage trying to argue a legal case in a language with which you are not fluent is a disadvantage firing a bow from a moving horse is a disadvantage Disadvantages can commonly be cancelled out by making an appropriate opposed skill roll. For example, a successful ride roll will allow a contestant to fire a bow from horseback without disadvantage for the rest of the scene. Advantages are somewhat harder to gain, usually requiring either clever play, making use of the environment, or magic. Any roll to gain an advantage, or clear a disadvantage, does not have a variable level of success, and so does not itself use a bonus D20. Effects of Magic in Free-form Play These rules uses the same spell list as RQ:G, as described the Red Book of Magic and other supplements. Before attempting a roll a contestant may cast any spells they know. Normally attempts to cast magic should considered automatically successful, as they may be retried without penalty. But in cases of time pressure, the GM may require a roll against a rune or POW characteristic, as per RQ:G. RQ:G spells that have a mechanical effect that carries over directly into these rules, such as raising a skill or characteristic, have the same effect here too. Other spells have effects that are described in real-world terms, such as being able to see in the dark, or effect mechanics not present in the free-form rules, such as weapon damage. These will effect whether circumstantial advantages or disadvantages are in play. For example, a farsee spell may grant advantage on long distance scan rolls. What to Roll Against The opposition to a roll is on the same scale as PC skills. It can be determined in any of a number of ways:. known value: one established previously, or printed in a published scenario estimated difficulty: one estimated based on similar examples narratively appropriate value: one necessary to support the reasons for making this roll in the first place. zero: having zero as a possible opposition simplifies the rules by dropping the need for unopposed rolls The value chosen is the opposition value: a number at least 0, and typically under a hundred. An opposition value of 300 or more is unlikely to be directly overcome by a normal group of PCs. Note that the case the opposition value is chosen for narrative reasons, the description of what is happening should be adjusted correspondingly. For example, if the GM expects the players to probably be captured, but not rule out the possibility of escape, then a high but not unbeatable opposition should be chosen. This should then be described as an appropriate number of well armed and competent opponents. In other words, ideally the in-world description of the opposition and their mechanical rating should generally match, by whatever method the two are selected. A lowly farmer who fights with godlike skill will be doing so because they are literally inspired by the gods, rather than because the plot demands it. This can still be so, even if it is the case that the plot required that they be so inspired. A contestant that represents purely environment factors, or disinterested characters not actively opposing the PCs (e.g. unalert guards) is inactive; it does not roll a bonus dice. Optionally, significant opponents who have a reason why what they are doing is deeply important to them may be treated as inspired. What happens next Success or failure of a roll so will simply determine what happens next, according to the judgement of the gm. This will normally involve changes to the circumstances of the situation, and so the opposition and bonus die used on future rolls. Greater levels of success, achieved from rolling well on the bonus dice, simply correspond to greater changes to the situation.. In free-form game-play a character who becomes wounded simply finds future opposition values to be higher than they would otherwise be, representing the GMs judgment of how much their wounds affect what they are trying to do. A player character will never normally die in free-form game-play. However, if the player describes their actions as a heroic sacrifice resulting in their death, the GM will likely select an appropriately lower opposition to roll against. If either of these choices is not appropriate for how you as a GM wants to handle a particular type of situation in-game, then you may find the other two game modes to be more appropriate. Those modes will be described in future blog posts.

Also, the actual RQ:G 'warrior' occupation is going to be almost entirely urban. A classic rural clan has ~20 nobles (thanes) and almost everyone else who fights as militia (farmers and other occupations which get weapon-skill training) Sometimes there might be one or two actual full-time warriors employed to drill the militia, or as someone's bodyguard. Plus of course there will be retired warriors turned to farming. So the militia can be pretty formidable, even though it is not professional in the modern sense. Note that the RQ:G noble profession gets a higher weapon skill than warrior, but less variety of weapons. They are specialists in small-scale fights, not battlefields. Some tribes, like the Malanni, do build a full-time centralised military force. This is based on the core of the thanes (who in that tribe mostly worship Humakt) but supplemented with warriors paid in coin. I suppose this is mostly because they are more or less permanently at war with the inhabitants of the Upland March.

Martin Helsdon's Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass lists the following professional/mercenary regiments from that area: Cinsina: Eleven Lights (Magical heavy cavalry) Culbrea: Headhunters (Heavy Cavalry) Malani: Tworidge Farms (Heavy Cavalry) The Colymar nobility can field the equivalent of such a regiment of heavy cavalry. But I think the implication is that they actually not permanently in that form, and generally fight alongside the militia of their clan, rather than as a single detached force with its own patron deity or wyter. The Colymar are at once the most traditional and most warlike of the clans. But they don't, even in the Argrath era, really have their own elite regiment. They just have the biggest and best militia.

Jeff's FB post on how the destruction of the Spike broke the ling between the moral and divine worlds prompted some thoughts on that probably belong in this thread. While the Spike existed, travel to meet the gods was only marginally more difficult than travelling to meet the neighbors. With it shattered, that stopped. As Magasta's Pool replaced the Void, the Otherworld was saved from annihilation, but now split in two. Using shamanism (and possibly also sorcery), there were now two ways of accessing magic. You could access the local spiriit world, below the divide, including the Underworld. Or you could use ancestor worship to establish a connection with someone who died before the Spike exploded. The latter is Daka Fall shamanism, and is the source of all Rune Cults. A shaman discorporates, and travels to a place in the God's world their ancestor visited. Once there, they know the way, and so can not only repeat the trip, but invite others. This is a spirit cult, which becomes a Rune Cult once shrines and other magical infrastructure are created. Rune cult initiation is an assisted and focused form of shamanic initiation. It allows travel to one spot in the Otherworld; hopefully one where there are a lot of useful magical secrets to be learnt. This is why Theists say the God's World is timeless; they are not actually visiting it, but merely a magical memory or echo of the way it was at a particular time. Each new initiate starts from the same point,like a fresh player loading a save game file. They experience ;Orlanth steals the Sandals of Darkness', and now they have that ability. If you wanted to reach the real God world, you need to physically plunge down Magasta's pool and survive But there is only one person in Glorantha who ever did that. And Jar-Eel killed him.

There's certainly room for a bunch of additional sorcerous techniques that manipulate heroquests, some even in ways that won't get your soul eaten by Gift Bringers. But think the idea that you would need a bunch of extra skills to even perform heroquests seems like a mistake. RQ:G already has Worship skill, Cult Lore, Rune affinities and passions. Plus some characters might even have certain skills at a higher rating than their deity; Sartar was probably a better stonemason than Orlanth... Why is that not enough?

Queen of Cities has adulthood start with a visit to the Other Side in the Grace Temple, followed by 2 to 3 years service in either the militia, a temple or apprenticeship.

I could see some Orlanthi-adjacent storm-worshipping societies actually having that form of Koryos tradition. But I think it is pretty clear that for actual Orlanthi, starting the adulthood initiation on the Other Side replaces having it in Other People's Territory. Note that the Starfire Ridges are in Colymar territory; Vasana was on a 'boy scout' style camping and training trip, with the occasional cattle raid. Not off doing proto-imperialism. There are a few hints that something more like the RW-Koryos existed in Orlanthi history. In the Dawn Age, the Lightbringer culture was spread by 'missionaries'. And at the earliest stage of that, the Other Side could literally mean the other side of the river. This matches the way historians now think real-world proto-Indo European culture spread. In the LightBringers book, an initiate of Yinkin must spend a year alone in 'the wilds'. My take that this, and other hunter cults, is mostly a route to adulthood for those who 'failed' the ritual of the pits. As a hunter they will have full clan membership as a functional and useful person, albeit low status,

The way I see it, there are three categories of HQ: the ones your community knows about, and are already doing regularly. the one your community knows about, but consider too difficult and dangerous to do regularly. the ones noone knows about, and has no idea how difficult they are. The first is just where Rune magic comes from. You can play these out, but it will be just a cameo or interlude. The second is the classic KoDP HQ, Kallyr's LBQ, etc. This means getting the power and support to be the ones selected to try what everyone in your community thinks probably can't be done. This is the kind of thing that can be the focus of a long term campaign. So in a lot of ways the most interesting and playable hind of HQ is the third. The ones that involves local or exotic gods, interactions between gods who are neither associates or major enemies, and so on. Stories you discover (i.e. make up). These can be as easy or difficult as the GM wants. PCs can be pulled into them, discover a scroll or rumor, or take the initiative to ransack a library to see what they find on a given topic. They travel to a dangerous location, fight or otherwise deal with guardians, gather clues to understand what is going on, and make choices. If what they do counts as some form of success, they get a magical reward. This will normally be on the same scale as other Rune magic; a single use of a 1 to 5 point Rune spell or enchantment. This can be one their cults won't normally get, or made using the spell creation guidelines in the RBoM. One use magic can be made reusable by founding a shrine, and be taught to others by sponsoring a priest or God Talker to tend that shrine. While there are epic magic rituals which have rewards on the scale of tens or hundreds of Rune points, this is the main way in which a personal HQ can change the world. A great magic can build a wall. A much lesser one can start the process of teaching people to build their own walls .

The heresy would be thinking this is a good idea, rather than a necessary but expedient workaround for a temporary malfunction. And that that 'malfunction' is not local to the current complex, but everyone else is experiencing the same thing. https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Cheery_Littlebottom

By modern, I take it you mean post-Enlightenment? The 7M is a specifically engineered cult designed to lead the member to illumination. Which means being an individual and forming your own moral and pragmatic judgements, in a very modern way. This is very different from starting from 'I want to seek employment as a butcher', and being obliged to accept a whole bunch of ritual obligations on how you can live your life, including who you can marry. It leads the initiate along that path by providing spells that are universally useful to a equal citizen.

Common sense says that if you learn a single spell from a 7M temple, you are an initiate of the god represented by that spell. Future spells from the same temple count as coming from the associated cult. Future spells learnt from a dedicated temple just count as the normal case. Either way you have a single Rune Pool. Basically, a 7M temple is just 7 shrines under a common roof. Priests of the Seven Mothers Cult are those employed at such a temple. They get some extra common magic and _maybe_ a few extra Rune Spells. No doubt the actual rules will be something more complex.

Once the were, and they would like you to think they still are. Every clay dwarves first memory is of coming out of a machine, and they could visit the personnel department any time they had a reason to. Only the Clay Dwarves know that the machine in that department is broken. And so, as a makeshift hack, initial conception takes place in utero. Some old Celestial Court magic (Transfer Pregnancy) is repurposed to perform the transfer to the development matrix appropriate to the required caste.

There is a natural spectrum from Orlanth LightBringer, King of the Gods to Barntar the Ploughman, to a farmer's guild that maintains a shrine to Barntar, to one that doesn't. In Glorantha, the latter will only exist in a society that has magical specialists who make the idea of a farmer learning a bit of magic a quaint relic. The Lunar College of Agriculture is only embryonic, and by no means as famous as the more military colleges. So far, there is only the much-feared and derided potato to show for all the heroic research it has done. But still, the liberatory promise of the Seven Mothers is that you can become a free citizen with an independent spiritual life. You are not forced to adopt a particular world view, become a particular type of person, simply because society needs you to be a warrior, a mother or a plumber.

Mindblast is excellent non-lethal self defense, like a Lightning that never leaves you with a wergeld bill. Madness is a deterrent, a threat that can sometimes scare those inured to mere death. Regrow Limb means you don't have to 'gift' a years income to the White Ladies, or hoard your rune magic jealously in case of a medical emergency that may never come. Reflection is a good counter to all the people you deal with who know Mindblast. It's not really a cult for farmers or warriors, but for citizens, city dwellers. Albeit citizens of the lowest ranking and most provincial sort.

There has always been a bit of wierdness about the term 'Clay Mostali', as it is on a list of occupational castes but is also a description that applies almost all existing mostali. The ancient 8 metals give you Octamonism, the two innovations of death-wielding and self-replication give you Decamonism, in the form of Iron and Clay dwarves, I would say a True Clay Mostali made the first clay Mostali, who were of the full range of castes. Which includes the clay Clay Mostali, who manage the replication and repair of further clay Mostali of all castes. Their occupational skills and caste magic are rather similar to that of an Earth priestess; Stabilise Pregnancy and Repair Flesh. This is presumably a secret the Mostali deem so shameful they have not permitted it to be disclosed in even the recent Earth Goddesses sourcebook. Which instead makes the unconvincing argument that Diamond, but somehow not True, is the 10th occupational caste.

Late bronze age capitalism. The earliest known coins date to the very end of the bronze age, just before the Sea Pirates show up. Though of course any mismatch between Glorantha and historical Earth can hardly be called an anachronism. Once you do have coinage, it is a small step to wage labour. You pay the Sun Dome Temple in wheels, and a file of guards show up. While they are working for you, their obligations to the temple are discharged by your payment. They still need food and board. Which you can provide directly, or just give them some guilders and have them sort themselves out. Which they can do, because Sartar is largely a cash economy, at least outside and between clans. Of course, most people are working locally, for their own clan or temple, so don't generally get cash wages. A lot of cults say they will cover room and board, which covers the case where they are working for the cult, but not locally. https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/sartars-transformation-of-the-economy/

The empire getting a cut of what a merchant sells is different from the empire owning everything in the wagon in the first place. If Asrelia is temple state communism, Etyries might be regarded as mercantilism.

In Glorantha, the temple state thing is mostly a Solar and Earth thing, via the cults of Lokarnos and Asrelia respectively. Lokarnos is the wagoneer who moves goods and wealth between kings and temples. They carry trade without themselves trading. Asrelia is the extrapolation of the collective clan granary to a scale where no-one can know everyone. The Issaries cult has a more individualist perspective, perhaps representing Storm's obsession with freedom, perhaps a concession to playability, or perhaps a relic or the Middle Sea Empire. Or, likely, all three. One of the Lunar innovations is bringing, in the form of Etyries, individualist trade to Dara Happan and Peloria. I think the Trader Princes are more going in the other direction. They are traders who became so wealthy they owned a city, and could afford to hire Pralori mercenaries to control it. The relationshio between the version of Malkionism they follow, and the Issaries cult in general, probably has a lot of interesting things to be said about it. Sartar was a Prince who traded. So why is he never described as a Trader Prince?

Throw away the strike rank tracker. Instead, create a pile of tokens, one for each foe faced. Put them in multiple groups if they are significantly differently positioned. Each player takes turns grabbing one or more tokens. Go around the table from left to right, starting with the biggest combat monster. Players are free to prearrange their seating order to help themselves out. They are considered to be engaged with each foe grabbed. This can be a melee or ranged engagement; for the latter, you will need to keep track of the distance, so arrange tokens appropriately If there are no foes left, a player may give their own token to an ally. if there are any enemy tokens left over, the gm then hands them out based on the logic of the situation and the tactics of the foes. if people have been too backwards in grabbing tokens, they may swarm the healer. Some foes may be unable to do that because of a strategic bottleneck. Noone can normally be engaged by more than 4 foes and basic tactics, like forming a shield wall, reduce that limit. You can optionally use a battlemat and miniatures to sanity check what makes sense here. Go around the table from left to right, as before. Each pc in the engagement fights their opponents. Take the fastest strike rank of an engaged pc who has not acted, and that of their fastest opponent. There are 3 cases: they are beating their opponent by the SR required to do an action (such as cast a spell); they may do so if they wish, then act they are faster, but not that fast. They may they may act first, or delay to acting second, but take the action first. they are slower. They must act second. They may take an action after acting, if they have enough SR left over afterwards. When a pc acts first, all foes roll and resolve after they do. The other way round if they are acting second. This is a simplification compared to completely tracking SR, but usually good enough. Unengaged PCs may do anything that makes sense, subject to overall SR limits. This is the only way for archers to make more than one attack in a round. Switching between engagements is an action with a situationally appropriate SR cost. it may sound slightly complex, but only because i was being precise about many versus many engagements. Normally everything is 1:1, or at least with identical opponents

i guess if you did a statistical survey of the Nochet polution, you might find adult ernaldans have 8% cultural spear skill instead of 10%, or some such. But there are approximately 4000 ways of improving the rules before they got to the point where adding extra accuracy there would be a reasonable priority. By not gendered, i mean that there aren't Esrolian toy stores with aisles of pink and blue toys. Everyone plays the same games and wears the same clothes. Some parents will no doubt say of a daughter hitting her brother with a stick 'stop being such a little vingan'. Others will smile indulgently. content warning for spoiler, on topic you can hopefully predict from context Harald Smith's Nochet: Queen of Cities has an interesting variation on the adulthood initiation ordeal, which may or not be local. Rather than two ordeals, two children go into the ordeal. two ypung adults come out[2]. The resulting transformation obeys some kind of gender symmetry rule; they are either a man and a woman, a vingan and a nandam, or some other similar combination. Here the role of the Grandmothers is to pick the two children paired for the ordeal, who are commonly cousins. If is especially politically vital that a particular child turn out to a woman, the other cousin will already have a beard and chest hair. But pushing this too far leads only to tragedy. Noone comes out; the children are lost to the Otherworld. 1. starting with the idea of cutting the number of different spear skills to single digits[3]. 2. the YA novel implicit here basically writes itself. 3 but you could add a rule to drop a skill you have above base by 10% to gain say 5% elsewhere .