LordNigel

5 hours ago, Mameluco said:

I'm glad there are more peole trying to port Glorantha into Fate. I want to see what you create and your design goals and preferencies, @LordNigel.

Sadly, my own game is on hold due to schedule issues. And now, I want to port Gloranthat to Cortex Prime. In fact, I want to port everything to Cortex. 😄

Going back to the game discussion, I hope the OP has had success running his FATE game. I'm really eager to hear more experiences. 

Since I really like Generic systems, I checked Cortex Prime out some time ago and really liked the idea. However, I mostly play online through Foundry and so far the other systems I use have better support there. There is a recent package for Cortex on Foundry, but it's unofficial and not as complete as others that I've used. When it comes to systems that we need to customize to our needs, the more tools and resources available the better. Nevertheless I do consider trying it in the future. Feel free to share your experiences using it at the table.

5 hours ago, Mameluco said:

Ps. I found funny you realised my mother language was in the Latin family. I knew it was clear I wasn't an English speaker, but I didn't think it was that clear. I'm Spanish, BTW.

No, no, no! By no means! hahah
It's because you mentioned that English was not your mother language and through your user name the highest possibility was either Spanish or Portuguese! I'm Brazilian, so it wouldn't hurt to check, haha! I also speak Spanish btw.
But nevertheless, your English is great, there was nothing in there specifically that made me think otherwise, don't worry! (and I can say that being a professional English teacher and translator! 😉 )
 

Any news on this?
I usually GM GURPS, CoC, but also like Savage Worlds and FATE. For a bunch of reasons I've been preparing to migrate into FATE for a while (mostly for its practicality, the fact that I wanted to test it out more, and also because I'm really into Mythic GME as a GMing tool and think FATE will blend in magically with that). I've been thinking a lot about how to port my RPG plans into FATE, and one of them is finally getting some Glorantha to the table. I've had all RQG and HQG books (in a mix of print and digital forms) for some years now but never manage to make it happen. RQG attracts me a lot because of the grittiness and simulation side, which appeals to my GURPS side, but I really don't have time to deal with the fiddliness right now. HQG attracts me a lot because it scratches my narrative itch, but it's a specific game to learn and since I'm already going to use FATE for other games/campaigns I might as well stick to FATE for that (and steal a lot of ideas from HQG). 

I really liked this discussion here and think that mostly I'd follow what @ZedAlpha ended up deciding on, but I also made a copy of @Mameluco's document for extra inspiration. Lots of cool ideas in there (You're not a Portuguese speaker by any chance? If you are let's talk more about this).

Anyway, this is a very recent and fresh discussion (which is great honestly), but I'd like to know if @ZedAlpha has put any of this into practice already. I'd really appreciate following your experience and learn from it. I probably won't GM a Glorantha game until sometime next year, so I'd like to plan carefully.

34 minutes ago, soltakss said:

The forums are very helpful, both here at BRP Central and on Facebook. 

Sometimes you get pages and pages of discussions that are minutely detailed and go into things very deeply, but even they tend to be friendly and useful.

Which Facebook pages do you recommend?

12 hours ago, Darius West said:

Overall, don't get too hung up about differences.  Your Glorantha WILL vary.  You literally can't avoid it, so don't fret about it.  It is great that you want to provide your players with the most lore-authentic experience you can, and kudos to you for wanting to do that, but even Greg Stafford used to contradict himself in the lore occasionally, sometimes intentionally  to trickster-troll the overly lore devoted GMs I think, so avoid getting too anxious about it.  If you are even asking this question, you are likely already a bit over-prepared, and your players are in safe hands.  At the end of the day, what is important is that your players have fun, not that they get lore-dumped out of existence.

Thanks for the kind words!
Yeah, I tend to be a bit paranoid with the preparation process. I'm already experienced enough as a GM to know when to "wing it" and to not worry about creating and improvising details when needed. Being able to get a masterpiece such as Glorantha and making it my own is actually part of the fun, but I think that I owe it to Greg Stafford and everyone else involved to respect all the hard work and thought behind what we already have.

I think this is because I'm a worldbuilder myself and every time I read anything on the Glorantha Sourcebook, for example, I get dumbfounded at how deep it goes and how real it feels. Even the inconsistencies are realistic, because they represent different scholars and points of view. So even though that gives me a lot of leeway to intervene, I do want to help my players actually feel this creation firsthand. They already play through my creations when I invent other worlds and campaigns, so for Glorantha I want them to feel how unique it is.

Sure that when I start to run the adventures everything will be quite new to me and I will miss many opportunities to insert some amazing lore fragments, but hey, such is life. All the elements that I have to improvise will have to be written down and end up becoming part of "my" Glorantha, haha.

I just think it's very heartwarming to know that I can always count on this community if I ever have specific trouble dealing with all of this. I think that the seriousness and hospitality that I feel here are one of the best parts of learning about Glorantha in the end. There are serious hardcore fans for many games and worlds, but not all of them are patient and welcoming like this, haha.

On 12/6/2021 at 11:53 PM, eknarfer said:

Bit late in my comment here. Thanks so much for the kind words. There are lots of knowledgeable fellows around here, and as you see they are all very helpful and responsive! Glad you are diving in on your own exploration of Glorantha. It is wonderful, and I am sure you will find all sorts of great things to make Glorantha your own. While sadly Dorastor is a rarity and an expensive one at this time (the great offerings from Third Edition remain on deck as far as what happens next with them) the initial book with the description of Dorastor and the evil cults, Cults of Terror, will give you a lot. Sounds like you grabbed the Cult Compendium, or were thinking about it, and the whole of Cults of Terror is in there. The reprints of Cults of Prax and Cults of Terror a great as well, but there are a few more cults in the Compendium. Of course, all those will become overtaken by events once the Gods of Glorantha comes out hopefully in 2022. But the other materials in Cults of Terror will continue to be classics and very informative, even as the corpus of the cults gets updated.

I should also plug J-M here. He is also very knowledgeable, but he just lets me talk a lot so it sounds like I know more!

Wishing you great Gloranthan adventures!

Wow! I can't believe I actually got a direct answer from you and didn't see it! Please forgive me!

I absolutely loved all the videos that I watched and it should be me thanking you guys for taking such a time to introduce people to Glorantha. The passion you both show during the video is very contagious and makes me want to devour all the books I can get my hands on!

And yes, I've grabbed Cult Compendium, but I still need to learn more about the ropes before that makes any sense to me. Let's see if I can enjoy it before it is overtaken by the next book, hahaha. Cults of Terror indeed is one of the materials I'm more curious about reading.

Thank you once again for your great contribution and for taking your time to answer my post! I'm looking forward to more material from both of you and also for the release of the book that is mentioned in your signature here!

19 hours ago, IronDuck said:

"Building HeroQuests" Was my version of the document outdated? Was the table of contents wrong? Was the index wrong? Let me search for "building"... Six hits and none of them have to deal with building HeroQuests. Or do I have to do a HeroQuest to see those parts of the book? 😉 There is a part involving the Crimson Bat, but I think that example is pretty bad and really wouldn't even be a HeroQuest in itself.

It's 3/10 book. Most of its good ideas are merely regurgitated from other books, but the work is sadly marred by its incomplete and bad ideas. A person is going to read it once and stick it on a shelf where it will sit as there is really no reason to ever consult it again.  

Honestly, as much as I do like constructive criticism, to me this is just straightforward mean and passive-aggressive sound (if not downright aggressive).

I haven't read the book yet, but that's beside the point. Heroquesting is obviously a touchy subject, after all the RPG has all these decades of history and people are still debating about the best way to actually make it happen in a campaign. It's clear that it's something that is much easier to realize through more narrative ways, like just telling about them, or using a system like Heroquest (Questworlds now, right?), than a crunchy and more detailed system like RQG. Nevertheless, precisely because it's such a hard topic, we should be encouraging people who have the courage of trying to help write more material about it not bashing them, IMHO.

The argument that many things derive from other books completely misses the point, in my view. Many people, like myself, haven't been reading all Glorantha related books from the last 30+ years, and it's very hard to do so. If someone took the time to actually compile those ideas, that's very helpful. Even if they're not revolutionary or even if they don't guarantee that creating a heroquest will become a breeze after reading it.

The whole problem of how heroquests seem to work, with simple people being able to survive them and legendary people failing them, shows that the idea never was to “crunch it”. Even though the percentile system of BRP allows for lucky crits in both direction (allowing those things to happen), that could still be problematic for coming-of-age rituals where, indeed, people should be not dying like flies. Notwithstanding, although I'm a Glorantha noob, I'm an experienced GM, and solving that seems simple enough. Either dying in a heroquest shouldn't kill the characters (or maybe they can't be directly killed by story related resources, only from intruders like the Lunars trying to ruin things), or maybe the quest should be made in a more narrative way, without rolling the dice too much (or at all). I like how King of Dragon Pass made them happen and it sounds like a plausible solution.

Anyway, @soltakss was one of the first to come and help me with this question. Everybody has been kind to me and to each other since I arrived, and that's how I'd like this discussion to remain. Good criticism is welcome, but should be done respectfully.

On 12/17/2021 at 5:13 AM, soltakss said:

If you want a system to run HeroQuests then use the system you normally use to game with.

That is the whole point - You do not need a separate system for HeroQuesting, if you use RQG for gaming then use RQG for HeroQuesting, if you use QuestWorlds for gaming then use it for HeroQuesting, same for 13th Age Glorantha.

This is what I feel, even though I'm a complete beginner, so my opinion doesn't carry much weight.

IMO, from what I've been seeing, heroquests are just another type of quest, a very fascinating type that is particular to Glorantha. Thinking of it that way, it's more about choosing a myth and reenacting it as an adventure for the PCs who are going through this ritual, just like writing any other adventure. The system really doesn't change anything, since, IMHO, it doesn't need any sort of "minigame" mechanic for when the Runequest is ongoing. It's just another adventure which will make the characters relive famous mythical moments in the history of their world. It's a great way to help them get into the whole mythology of Glorantha.

My very amateurish 2 cents anyway.

On 12/9/2021 at 12:47 AM, Ian_W said:

Note that 'Our Heroes on defense' also works for them being security/rapid response in a cyberpunk context.

Good idea!

On 12/9/2021 at 12:47 AM, Ian_W said:

Also, if you are all familiar with the Gurps systems, there are absolutely no reasons you can't use that rules set for Glorantha.

Yeah, I thought about that. I even have an unofficial supplement for GURPS Glorantha. However, I bought every Runequest book for the new edition, and the main Heroquest book, so I'd really like to taste the system, you know? I'm aware that in the end it's all about the world and the lore, but it sounds nice to use a system designed to take that to it's fullest.

That being said, I do consider GMing Gloranthan adventures in GURPS when I'm comfortable enough with the world, even if it's just to see how it feels. The character creation mechanics indeed have more than enough detail to include the family history details and whatnot that are so common in Gloranthan RPGs. GURPS Thaumathology also has everything I need to delve into Rune Magic.

But I don't know, the Runequest character sheet is so amazing and beautiful. The books are so complete and the Bestiary is awesome. I think I would only fully migrate if Runequest didn't feel as good to play as it is to read. Not needing to convert all those monsters is also a plus, hahah.

22 hours ago, Ian_W said:

Regarding Heroquesting in general, you might want to have a look at this - the idea being each magic spell being learnt a lesser heroquest.

http://www.soltakss.com/rune1.html

 

Regarding Our Heroes being the enemies in a quest, I'd suggest something like this for Orlanthi.

[...]

Does that help ?

 

Wow, thanks for taking the time to answer my already forgotten post!
Yeah, it sure helps! Every idea and every material is welcome. I really like your suggestions for the "players as enemies" story!

I am currently still GM'ing my GURPS cyberpunk campaign to my group, but before I bring a new GURPS campaign to the table (which will require some preparation, I want to take my players to Glorantha for a ride. Initially I think it will be wiser to use the current stories I have from the books I bought, like the GM's pack adventures and the two adventure books that have been released. That should be quite enough for all of us to get used to the system and the setting. After that, I plan on starting to get bolder with my ideas.

On 6/20/2021 at 9:03 AM, davecake said:

I recently ran the Cradle using RQG, and I found it necessary to adapt them a bit here and there, mostly because they would have been a bit underpowered in RQG. But I also beefed up encounters by adding a few NPCs from elsewhere, and the RQ3 stats for tough opponents were still very much tough opponents (eg Coders, Sun County rune masters). A few rules changes *drastically* changed encounters, and I may have house ruled a few as a result (in particular, I dislike the RQG RAW that any Orlanthi who relies on woad will almost certainly die to a Sunspear). 

Thanks for sharing this!
People mentioned that tweaking here or there would be necessary, but for me as a newcomer it would be harder to handwave things since I don't know what level of challenge to expect. It's always great to have more details about what other people did or didn't do when adapting!

3 hours ago, jajagappa said:

"High level" really has to do with the stories told, not the game systems used.  Both HQG and RQG can be fully heroic and engage characters in heroquesting, or can be very gritty, low-level games.  Particular actions are more abstracted in HQG, more cinematic in a sense, but you shouldn't think that you have to use HeroQuest in order to go heroquesting or RuneQuest if you want to hang around lowly dives in Pavis.

I run games with each and find they can both tell the stories I wish to run including heroquests.

Heroquests do not occur everyday, but any seasonal holy day is an opportunity for adventure, including heroquests.  And they are not the sole province of advanced characters.  Initiation into adulthood or into a cult is a heroquest - not necessarily one that is played out, but they could be.  A Rite of Spring festival or a Harvest festival in a community are annual events that touch upon the world of the gods.  They can simply be the annual event, or they can become heroquests when enemies or ill luck strikes and disrupts the event.

Some heroquests may look very mundane and be entirely in "this world", but still have broader ramifications.  Some can touch on or pass into the Spirit World or the Gods World or the Underworld (I've led my players into all three using both HQG and RQG, and in the latter these are characters pretty much post-character creation, nothing "advanced" needed). 

Certainly is in my games!  I definitely follow the path delineated in Six Seasons in Sartar, as well as Greg's own descriptions of initiation rites.

No disagreement here.  Heroquests are neither trivial nor easy, quite likely terrifying, possibly deadly...or worse.  But they are also fun to run and game. 🙂

Really either can be played pulpy or gritty.  Personally I like to see hero-building by my players, but in neither game is it an easy path.

Thanks! Yeah, I feel that I lean toward this philosophy. The group and the story dictate what is possible, not the gaming system. Sure, some systems lend themselves better for certain things and this might facilitate certain styles of play, but that would be like saying that D&D is only made for min-maxing murder hobos with no interest in roleplaying.

It seems to me (in my utter ignorance) that HeroQuesting is one of the things that make Glorantha so special, and even if it is a rare thing, rare things do frequently happen in the stories we play at the table, because we're after memorable moments after all.

However, it's very nice to find a balance between everything that's being said here. This avoids making HeroQuesting too commonplace, which would water down the "epic" factor a little.
It serves to show, though, that indeed HeroQuesting seems to be something for a more experienced GM, especially before the official rules come by.

In the series of videos I'm watching on youtube, J-M mentions that he created an adventures he calls "Ernalda's Horn of Plenty" (IIRC), where he introduces the players to the concept of HeroQuesting through what he calls "reverse HeroQuesting". The idea is that the Broo are conducting a HeroQuest for their own needs and when the Quest requires an "enemy" to appear, the PCs are summoned to act as the menace agains the Broo. This sounded fascinating to me, but I'd never know how to even begin GM'ing this without proper guidelines.

3 hours ago, Baron Wulfraed said:

Until the canon rules appear, there is https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/326489/Secrets-of-HeroQuesting

 

Yes! It's on my wishlist! I'm just waiting for the credit on my credit card to "refresh", haha

3 hours ago, Baron Wulfraed said:

The conversion guide recommends a 50% cut in the wealth of converted characters... Regarding treasure in published adventures it states (page 437 RQ:RiG)

Decimation, not simple halving!.

 

Decimation is a lot indeed!

I thought the conversion guide dealt  only with character conversion. It's nice to see it also includes this sort of tip!

4 hours ago, Darius West said:

For a long time Cults of Terror from RQ2 was the go-to source for Glorantha lore.  It has a summary of the history of everything Genertela in the first few pages that will take only minutes to read.  While it has been superseded these days, it is still a good short intro to the lore imo, and may save you wading through extensive treatises.

The compatibility of the volumes or the compatibility of the adventures?  As a disclaimer, pretty much all the material is lore friendly and consistent with both the history and mythology of Glorantha and the area where it is set.  In terms of the lore itself, well, it is important to remember that much of the lore is written from a particular bias, and it is open to the GM's interpretation about what "really" happened, much like history IRL.  There is a new Apple Lane scenario pack that comes with the GM's Screen btw, and it is entirely compatible with RQG, but is set in Apple Lane after the Lunar Occupation AND the liberation of Sartar; much has changed in the lane.  The original Apple Lane seems to have been set in the years before the fall of Sartar.

Seriously, things have changed a bit between editions, but not that much.  RQG is very much like RQ2, but better imo, as it provides more background info for new GMs and players to get a feel for things with.  The main thing that varies are the monetary rewards.  RQ2 splashed a lot more money around, and cash rewards should be halved (at least) for RQG or the players will be awash with cash after successful adventures.  You may also want to curtail the magical rewards a bit if you are uncomfortable with the players having too many magical treasures, as some new GMs can go a bit Monty Haul with the loot.

The thing to keep in mind is that most Gloranthans don't Hero Quest, and live in awe and terror of those who do.  Perhaps we might consider one's initiation into adulthood a hero quest of sorts, but is it really?  While the forthcoming RQG Game Master's Guide will have hero questing rules, and experienced GMs will have their own ideas about what to do in the interim, and HQ itself has extensive rules for performing Hero Quests, RQG is more about life after time, and in the socio-political milieu of Glorantha in 1625 at the start of the Hero Wars. 

Remember that for the bulk of Gloranthans, they regard hero questing as a sort of death sentence.  You should read about Biturian Varosh in Cults of Prax, and how he is prepared to trade away truestone (which is super valuable magical treasure) in order to avoid hero questing.  This is the normal response people will display unless they are phenomenal warriors prepared to take phenomenal risks.  If hero quests are easy, you are GMing them wrong imo.  They should be terrifying.  Your characters are literally meeting gods or embodying the role of gods, and facing mythical problems and legendary enemies.  If a child from your village goes missing 411, there is always a secret terror among the parents that they have somehow wandered onto the Hero Plane, and unless they are frantically fortunate kids, they are worse than dead, i.e. may be spiritually destroyed or return cursed or chaotic etc.  The HQ rules are a lot more power-gamey than RQ, allowing you to choose what your character will improve at, rather than the osmotic learning process of RQ skill improvement rolls.  RQ thus has slower and more realistic progress than HQ imo.  HQ is a game that was made for the quick building of heroes, whereas RQ, RQ2, RQ3 and RQG are geared to a slower trajectory more in keeping with the expectations of ordinary Gloranthans.  HQ is sort of Glorantha Pulp Fiction, whereas RQ's various editions are more about the gritty realism of daily life.  That is not to say that you can't build a hero in RQG, just that it will take longer, and is not the character's "birthright" the way it is in HQ.

Great insight here!

I always thought of HeroQuesting as something "not so common", but this is the first time that I heard it described this way. It makes sense that it would be rare and terrifying though. Nevertheless, it sounds absolutely amazing, especially for more advanced characters (which makes sense; it would be weird for newbies to go on HeroQuesting and save the day).
However, the "real GM book" release sounds too far away and I hope some adventures include HeroQuests here and there just to whet my table's appetite.

I'm also aware that the Heroquest system is much more "high level" and heroic. But it sounds also very good for that. That's why I have previously considered playing some HQ sessions with my players as well, just to change the feel a little bit. However, until I get to play all that I have for RQ it's likely that the new RQ rules for HeroQuesting get published.

This is the first time that I have the chance to use two robust systems to play in the same game world, so it must be fun to play with that. (or perhaps not, pehaps playing HQ will spoil my players and then they'll hate to go back to the "normalcy" of RQ...)

10 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

Nah, that book’s got everything from the two Cults books, plus all of the other cults that were published. Rick Meints is a bit of a completist, so you’re in good hands.

Good to know!

2 hours ago, Oracle said:

By the way: 'The Cradle' is also in the Gloranthan Classic Pavis & Big Rubble, but as this is a compilation (with some minor additions) of the original books Pavis:Threshold to Danger and Big Rubble:The Deadly City, now again available in the Runequest Classic line, it should be identical.

Yes, this is the one I have! I was about to ask if it was complete of it there was something useful that I'd need the original books for.

Also, since Cult Compendium doesn't cover the other things covered by the books such as Trollpak, just the cults, are there things that I'd miss from the original Cults of Prax or Cults of Terror, among others? Some of you have already mentioned the things included in Trollpak, but I wonder about the other titles.

14 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

Assuming that you picked up the RQ Classic pdf, you'll find it listed in the table of contents.  If you've got the original box set, it's in the 3rd book of the 3.

Found it! Thanks!

56 minutes ago, Baron Wulfraed said:

I would consider RQ:RiG starting characters to be rather over-powered -- Some of the ones I've generated have weapon stats in the 90-100% range (I've been generating a lot of characters including some not normally considered "adventurer", but don't currently have a gaming group; did get a niece interested and have bought her some of the books [the bundle RiG pack, and the reprint Classic/Apple Lane/Cults of ...]).

The weakest character I generated is an Esrolian SCRIBE (STR 9, DEX 10). And she's about on par with the old Apple Lane opponents -- Dagger @ 45%, Self-Bow @ 45% (Her strength is too low for cultural battle axe, and dexterity too low for cultural rapier). No armor might be a factor. My next weakest (well, not in STR 14, DEX 18, though POW 8 ) is an ENTERTAINER! He's got dagger @ 65%, broadsword @ 55%, sling @ 55%. Minimal armor (part of "costume" Leather Pants <G>) and neither have much in the way of offensive spells (mostly detection spells; the entertainer has a heirloom with Bladesharp 2 matrix). Even my FARMER is in the 60+% attack range. The sorcery-based PHILOSOPHER has 60% with a dagger, but no armor or effective combat spells.

The rest are rather high... My "walking tank" (STR 18, CON 16, SIZ 18 -- lowest stat is DEX 12; he's actually light cavalry, probably needs a large horse) a 115% broadsword [yes, he managed to get enough "adds" [occupation, manipulation adjustments, cult - Humakt] to break 100% before getting to the "pick 4 skills add 25%, pick 5 add 10% -- but do not go over 100% total" section of the rules]. Even the varied Ducks have weapons in the 90+% range.

{Enough about me <G>}

One thing you might do is use the RQ:RiG rules for starting characters at different ages -- cf Page 25

Also consider the sidebar on page 31 -- but rather than going for older characters, adjust dates for younger ones... You could perhaps have them around 18yo and run old Apple Lane in 1615 or whatever (which means they are involved in events normally part of parent's history)... THEN perhaps age them up 1625 to visit new Apple Lane.

Besides skipping step 7, I might suggest also skipping, or reducing [based on age difference below 21] the distribution of 50pts to Rune affinities (page 51). Possibly reduce occupation and cult skill bonuses (and spells) in proportion to age difference (keep note of them so you can add them back in when aging the characters up to 1625, same with step 7 and affinities. Also see the sidebar on page 81.

 

Treasure (and random encounter tables) are things currently missing in RiG. The back of RQ2 has such items.

Determining treasure in RQ2 came down to calculating "treasure factors" (factors based on opponents best weapon, spells, etc.), then roll on suitable table(s). The "treasure dropping" is in the conversion guide: RQ2 tended to give out a rather high treasure amount vs what Chaosium considers viable in RQ-RiG. The treasure factors computation may also be the means by which to equalize the two sides: calculate party treasure factor, adjust opponents so the total treasure factor is similar.

Those are great guidelines! Thanks! It might be really fun to use the younger characters as a "tutorial" of sorts, with less fuss during character building, then "upgrade " them and return to a familiar place! I might actually start with that!

21 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

RQ Classic Pavis: Threshold to Danger

Thanks! Where exactly? The books is more of a city guide.

6 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

In my opinion, the single best RuneQuest scenario from the good old days was Gaumata’s Vision, by Mike Dawson, published in the RQ3 book Shadows on the Borderlands. It’s a wonderfully, insidiously creepy investigation of a backwater village where Bad Stuff may be happening. I had a whale of a time running it for a party of Sun County militia, back in the day, which is one of the reasons I was so happy to be able to help Jon Webb with his Sandheart books (they’re all about Sun County police procedurals).

Other “epic” scenarios tend to have the adventurers out of their depth and bailed out by powerful heroes who know the story (the Cradle is no exception). In Gaumata’s Vision, that’s not an option: the scenario really puts your party on the spot. Dead good.

Thanks! I had never heard of that one.

The one called "Cradle" which you and @jajagappa mentioned is from what book?

14 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

No, just the cults. Trollpak has a LOT of background material (nice supplement to the Gloranthan Sourcebook in that regard), plus stats for trolls and giant insects useful for encounters, plus scenarios and settings (including the famed Haunted Ruins of the Sazdorf clan, another classic location).

Nice! I hear that the Troll (Uz) culture is fascinating in Glorantha!
I've been watching a series of videos on youtube by a guy called JM and a very knowledgeable fellow called Evan Franke. It's great! And besides Trollpak they recommended to read Dorastor as well.

1 minute ago, Bill the barbarian said:

No, I am not sure but I think the CC has only cults (make sense, neh?) while TP has everything. I mean everything. 

Oh, I see! Yeah, it does make sense, hahaha.

When I read that Cult Compendium gathered the material from Trollpak, Cults of Terror, etc, I assumed that it included ALL the material, including adventures and such.

3 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Griffin Mountain is the gold standard for an easy to start sandbox. There is none better. 

Yeah, I've been hearing more and more about Griffin Mountain. I knew it was a classic, but I didn't know it was such an epic! I will surely check it out!

19 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

The other alternative in RQ in general is to add more NPC's, not necessarily any more powerful.  Having to fight off several foes at a time, any of whom might land in a lucky critical blow to your left leg and incapacitate you, is one of the "lethal" aspects of RQ. 

That's true! It's a great and easy alternative!

19 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

Also the RQ Classic Trollpak is a must have.  Journey to Skyfall Lake is a wonderful scenario in that work.

Great! I Have the Trollpak PDF, but I assume that all of that is covered in the Cult Compendium as well, right?

Thanks for all the suggestions!