Wheel Shield

I did get this sorted! Thank you very much to those who responded

I am beginning to wonder if the easiest and most straightforward thing would be to remove Phase 2 altogether. If a character is only moving and nothing else, they should have a fairly low SR and act early in the round anyway. A move being only +1 for 3m. If the player and the GM want to allow some more flexibility, for example drawing/preparing a weapon while moving, then default to the highest SR OR just combine the SRs but have them execute simultaneously. (Also make sure those "combo actions" are reasonable.) I can see that and think similarly. EDIT: Or I did until @PhilHibbs reminded me of this.

That's not what I took away from my reading, but what you have written makes more sense to me (so thank you). Again, not trying to be passive aggressive against the Q&A, which Chaosium was considerate enough to provide. Having a d20 familiarity, engagement feels like a different sort of "attack-of-opportunity" or "threatened area." That makes sense with the example the Q&A uses about a ranged combatant being engaged. There may not be a way for the shooter and the target to interact, but they're engaged because they're focused on each other (to you use your words). That sort of parallels the d20's concept of being a missile combatant being threatened by an adjacent enemy, even if their distant target can only dodge (or whatever). Yeah, I'm starting to take away that Phase 2 is specialized for people who aren't going to be the focus of an enemy. But! If that's the case, what would their starting SR be if they only intend to move a specific distance. Is it their Dex SR + 1/per 3 M? So it's based on the movement you intend to travel? To all who responded, thank you, this is helping.

Thank you for this. I'm not sure I follow the rest of your post, but it's probably my confusion. I would assume all the combat participants would make a statement of intent..?

Partially I did it because of the definition of engagement which keys in on attacking and defending. But you're right, those are just words and it's the meaning behind them that is important. I didn't mean to be that literal. The other reason being partially because the Q&A examples sort of emphasize it. But I'm going to stop there, because I don't want to blame the Q&A. I think I understand SR well enough, it's that differentiation between Phase 2 and Phase 3 actions. The posts that followed yours helped as well.

I've been running my first game for a little while now. My GameMastery has been kind of weak and before last session I leaned into the combat rules to understand them better. My session went just 'okay' by my standards but the players said they had fun, so there's that. But everything seemed really laborious and complex. Now I played 20+ years ago and I know the game is not that different from the first couple editions (barring Passions and other tweaks), so I figure the problem must be how I'm approaching it. I went through the Core Book combat chapter paragraph by paragraph and outlined it, while going through the Q&A on Well of Daliath. This to pare it down into concrete steps and statements. Jason and David offer the advice (paraphrased), 'don't think of SR as a step-by-step choreography of the melee round, just think of it as who goes first (or in what order).' That makes sense to me, but when I pair it with the rules I'm studying, I end doing exactly that. That is interpreting the choreography of the round, which slows the fight/gameplay right down and actually ends up confusing the players (and me truth to be told). Thinking about it, I think it's the definition of engagement and how it interacts with Phase 2 of the Melee Round. As I understand it, engagement can be defined right in statement of intent, and it hinges on the magic words "attack" and "defend." If you avoid describing those actions, your actions happen before Strike Ranks are considered. Such that you can prepare your weapon, cast bladesharp, and close with your enemy- as long as you don't state you're attacking or defending (assuming you have the ranks available to you, for the sake of argument lets assume the player does). I ran that past the players (who are really rusty too) and they were fairly speechless. There's another wrinkle in there, in that you can deviate from from your state of intent in response to what happens on the battlefield. Like healing an ally before the end of the round when that ally might otherwise die. Which sounds fine, but it opens up the question, "Can I just avoid saying I'm attacking and then alter my plans in response to the evolving situation?" I don't think my players would do that, but I'm seeing the loophole clearly. Anyway, I ended up doing what we are advised not to do, which is treat it like a breakdown of the sequence of every action. In conclusion, I know I can run the game however I like. I'm not trying to make an editorial statement about the core book. Is there a common practice or perspective that I'm missing? Am I making it harder than it needs to be?

Check out this thread, specifically about the last 7 posts. There is some useful information. Short answer: Any day now. The books are printed and are in several warehouses, but they are waiting until all of them have it. Shouldn't be long.

I forgot to reply at the time, but this is a really cool idea. Thank you. @Duff Hehe, that’s pretty clever too.

I thought this might inform, channel, and even ameliorate the anticipation. He posted this less than an hour from my writing this. (Unless FB lies to me) Not long now.

It’s been stated that non-cult books will eventually be mixed in with the Cults of Glorantha. I don’t know what that means for the GM’s Guide specifically, because we have a Dragon Pass book and/or Campaign book floating out there too. To clarify, I have not seen any announcement on what is next, only that other types of RQ books won’t have to wait for all of the Cult books to be released. I have asked this question myself and I specifically watch for responses when other people invariably ask the same thing. I think I have seen it asked on Facebook, and I suspect it’s been pruned out of the upcoming publications thread. Now if they come behind me and say I’m wrong, I’ll be unhappy and disagree with that decision, but there won’t be anything I can do about it. As for what the GM’s book can provide, there's heroquesting information. That’s way too big of a topic to fit in any ‘corner or cranny.’ It’s like The Block, if only from the delayed anticipation. Of course, it’s common for Old Heads to post “I don’t see why you even need that but whatever.” Nevertheless, it’s something I’ve wanted to see from Chaosium for multiple decades. Forum post count is not an accurate indicator how how long one was been a RQ/Glorantha fan. I’ve been assuming that after the Lunar book is released we’ll be given an idea of what is next.

I'm keeping my eyes peeled in case someone has a Yinkin initiation rite they'd care to share...?

Likewise, very good work. I have been using Foundry and have had some ideas. This encourages me to follow through them.

I agree with @Runeword. Jason's "not reply" is a comfort though.

That is my plan!

Hi Folks, I actually want some advice on this one. When I ran the prologue (The Riddle and Rites of Passage), I didn't give the PCs access to Step 6: Cult, because they were all Lay Members of Orlanth and Ernalda (respectively). They passed their initiations just fine. Now they are adult initiates to the community wyter / spirit clan / The Black Stag. Now they're entitled to a little bit of Common Rune Magic and access to Spirit Magic. The Step 6 in the Adventure (pg 21) gives some guidelines as to what is available and refers to the Core Book Step 6, which assumes starting characters have some Spirit Magic. I don't have a problem with that, but my brain is stuck, probably on trying to be authentic. My instinct is... yes let them have all the Step 6 Spirit Magic and Special Skills but they have to spend the time learning them. Cause they don't know them. Because they started as teenagers. But I'm also playing along to the calendar. The seasonal chapter is a month away, but if they're spending all their time training to get what an initiate is supposed to have at the start of the game, it doesn't leave me much time in the Calendar to run a scenario. Like Cattle Raid as a prelude to In A Sheep's Clothing. Should I just let them have the starting initiate stuff immediately (so they become true starting character in the context of game mechanics) as a one time concession and require training times going forward? Or should I make them spend the time learning? (Because learning 1 point of spirit magic is a week of doing nothing else). I can make up my own mind, but it would be helpful to hear some opinions.