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Brian Duguid

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Posts posted by Brian Duguid

  1. On 11/25/2022 at 8:26 AM, hipsterinspace said:

    There are also the Galanini of Ralios, supposedly horse hsunchen, who might fit with the agreement between man and beast rather than domination, but they’re much stranger and they lack much official material.

    But hey! Luckily there is unofficial material available, a three-page write-up within The Children of Hykim.

    On 11/25/2022 at 8:48 AM, JRE said:

    If you do not wish to "break" Hippoi to serve you, the model should not be Hyalor, but to go for a more hsunchen equality with your horse, worshipping directly a free Hippoi, or more functionally, Galanin the Sun Horse, a Hsunchen evolution.

    This is basically the model that I took: that the Galanini are the surviving remnants of a female-led horse culture that was never "broken" by Hyalor, and hence never subjected to the patriarchal solar worship of the many other horse peoples.

    • Like 3
  2. 17 hours ago, Agentorange said:

    You know I'd completely forgotten about the Mraloti. I wonder what they think of Tusk Riders ?

    EDIT The RQG bestiary states that while most Tusk Riders in or around the Stinking Forest some do live in maniria. Which is where the Mraloti live. Do they see each other as kindred spirits....or are they bitter enemies each seeing the other as a blasphemous distortion of the true porcine way ?

    Note that Aram ya-Udram himself was noted as a boar-rider, not as a boar-person. The "pure" Mraloti consider themselves to be boar in human form, as with most Hsunchen. Depending on the source you read, they have a god-ancestor called either Mralot or Mralota (the forthcoming Cults book(s) has been stated as featuring Mralota). One branch of the pre-Dawn Mraloti had become the Entruli, who seem to have been a more civilised lot compared to their "pure" Hsunchen kin. Aram ya-Udram aided the Vathmai to bring their Lightbringer culture to the Entruli, and to then unite them against common foes, such as the Pralori.

    Unless the Tusk Riders acknowledge themselves to have a boar soul descended from Mralota (and that seems very unlikely), then they are other. There are "degenerate" Mraloti living in Maniria who I believe have taken up some form of agriculture, as well as "pure" tribes. I'd expect them to recognise each other as kin, because they both presumably still recognise descent from Mralota.

    It's also worth noting that there are people in Ramalia who worship Zorak Zoran, and I do wonder whether that relates in any way to the Aram ya-Udram's involvement with a "darkness demon".

  3. 4 hours ago, Agentorange said:

    hsunchen in there. Are  Boar hsunchen a thing

    Yes, the boar Hsunchen are the Mraloti. Aram ya-Udram's relationship to them is unclear, but he'll surely have met them when he invaded their lands with Vathmai early in the Dawn Age.

    • Like 1
  4. Some more British fanzines that reportedly had RQ material, probably no space to list these but maybe to keep an eye out for:

    • Dead Elf #2, 1985: "a new RQ cult for Ankylosaurus riders" - source, review in Demon's Drawl #10.
    • Wolvesbane #2, 1985: "Chaos Chickens in Runequest" - source, review in Demon's Drawl #12.
    • Runestone #6, 1985: "a large RQ scenario for Bill's excellent Norsequest idea" - source, review in Demon's Drawl #12.
    • Obscurity Inc #5, 1985: "articles on RQ3 and Elfquest are strict rules discussion and alteration" - source, review in Demon's Drawl #12.
    • Protoplasm #4, 1985: "this issue includes a scenario for undersea Runquest" - source, review in Demon's Drawl #13.
    • Green Goblin #1, no date: "contains ... an RQ cult" - source, review in Imazine #11.
    • Grimlord, no issue number or date: "includes a long cult for Runequest (set, from the Conan books, proving that even in RQ it is possible to produce a sword'n'sorcery mish-mash if you put your mind to it" - source, review in Imazine #11.

    One that definitely had a short Runequest article:

    • Dear Whoever (no number, but #4 in a larger series), January 1988: Article "Let's Talk Primitive" (by me) on RQ magic, which drew a response from Greg Stafford himself in the letters page of the next issue, in June 1988.
    • Like 4
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  5. 2 hours ago, Ian A. Thomson said:

    The Aldryami link makes sense, due to the strong Pavis connection. I will look into that. Is there already an Aldryami healer?

    Chalana Arroy's son, Arroin, is known as Eron to the Aldryami. Arroin has previously been described as a non-magical healer - but Eron may not be.

    • Helpful 1
  6. I'm sure @eknarfer won't mind if I share here what he said on the 13th Age Discord group:

    Quote

     

    Happy to report that I have resolved all edits and comments, I have done all final review and revisions, and all chapters of Red Moon and Warring Kingdoms are with Escalation for processing. 

    Of course my work does not end. But it is a major milestone, and I am deeply grateful and humbly thankful for everyone who helped, encouraged, critiqued and gave feedback. You all helped make me get this far.

     

    • Like 2
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  7. Not quite answering your question just yet, but Guide to Glorantha page 283 hints that a small number of Damali deer-folk are found "amongst the Pralori", so they could exist here as well. The Children of Hykim offers character generation rules for the Mraloti, Pralori, Caroni and Damali, and also for the opossum folk, who exist canonically but whose homeland is not canonically known.

    For the broader question, I think what matters is Homelands in terms of their function under the rule system. They are only functionally relevant to character generation, and to certain aspects of that topic: cultural stereotype; suggested occupations; religion / cult; local modifiers to skills / Runes; base passions; family history.

    Your split looks pretty reasonable on that front, although it may obscure some differences within each culture area. In Ramalia, you have both the Malkioni set of the ruling class, and the "oppressed populace". The latter worship Mralot and Zorak Zoran (? from memory), but are not proper Mraloti, so far as I can see. But differences like that are an issue anywhere, any possibly better dealt with through the occupations. City dwellers in Sartar may have quite different characteristics from the rural populace - but largely seen in the rules through through occupation and cult choice (scribe vs farmer, etc).

    • Thanks 1
  8. Two quick updates on this book:

    First, @Lordabdul and @Joerg's God Learners Podcast has a new episode available today featuring, er, me, discussing all things Hsunchen:

    And second, I'm in the final stages of preparing the Print on Demand edition of the book. Hopefully I'll be ordering the proof copy in the next few days, and assuming that is glitch-free, it will then go straight on sale. There will be several new pages of content, a refresh of some of the internal art, and a brilliant wraparound cover by Kristi Jones that I'm sharing here as a preview ...

     

    POD cover low-res.png

    • Like 8
  9. 2 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

    I don't get why only "combat" cults give 1D10 Divine Intervention to their elite followers.

    I don't get why only cults with a strong martial (or hunting) element get Rune Lords full stop. It just seems odd to me that martial activities are privileged in this way, over, say Gustbran. I would appreciate hearing a clearer rationale for that.

  10. 52 minutes ago, mfbrandi said:

    Weren’t we back in pre-history — before Moon Design was a twinkle in anyone’s eye, so we couldn’t hold the present regime to it — (if my memory can be trusted over so many decades) promised ‘blank lands’ that would never be filled in?

    1988, RQ3, the Glorantha/Genertela "orange box" set. Weirdly, Balazar was one such blank land.

    • Like 1
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  11. 47 minutes ago, Ali the Helering said:

    Ahh, but the genius of the Arkati is that they meet in the unwindowed house directly across the street!

    I reckon there is one group of Arkati meeting across the street. And another group meeting upstairs in the Kafl Leaf Inn next door. And yet another in the house on the other side. Each keeping an eye out on Arkat's Rest for any visiting foes, and completely unaware of each other.

    • Like 2
    • Haha 1
  12. In The Children of Hykim, I define the Black Arkati / Arkati Shadow Warriors as:

    Quote

    Followers of the First Age hero Arkat, who guard the places in the Hero Plane where Heroquest paths cross, according to ARCANE LORE, page 78. (In my mind they are snooty, self-appointed Gloranthan lore-hounds who want to keep n00bs away from the world's most interesting secrets).

    • Thanks 1
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  13. There's some useful information on the Arkati in Safelster in the Guide to Glorantha, although it's not clear to me whether any of that is relevant to Dragon Pass.

    Spoiler below for a recently published scenario from Chaosium: 

    Spoiler

    The scenario Urvantan's Tower (in The Smoking Ruin & Other Stories) describes a group of Black Arkati cultists who hail from Arkat's Hold in Northern Esrolia. It gives some short but helpful details of The House of Black Arkat, as well as specific examples of members of that cult.

     

  14. It'll sell like hot cakes, but perhaps mostly to old grognards or to people who feel they missed out on being old grognards.

    I think it might sell like even hotter cakes if the page on DTRPG is "brightened up" a bit to say more about what the book contains; maybe get "Pavis" in the title; and be a bit clearer about what it is (massive refresh of out-of-print material); and how it relates to the core Pavis and Big Rubble books from RQ2.

    But after all this discussion it's great to finally see it on sale!

    • Like 1
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