TerryTee

Thanks for lots of good input.

Seems like stuff that can be healed with battle magic (spirit Heal as we play RQ3) often will not lead to wergild.

As for compensation for an injury from a honour perspective, I'm uncertain. My first thought is at demanding payment for a (low cost) healable injury may seem whiny and cause the injured party to loose face even more. But of course,  circumstances will vary widely.  

Reading Kingdom of Heros at the moment, but these questions arises from time to time.
Orlanthi seems to be big on wergild (wergelt?) and some sources even supply reates for cottars, carls and thanes. But how does that work when people are 'just' injured? Most communities have easy access to healing magic, so an injury is normally gone quite quickly. Is it really assumed that an injury that be healed is so offensive (or something similar) that half the wergild is expected?

Same thing goes for duels (like in Kingdom of Heros). Will death or injury that results from a duel really result in wergild?

Thanks,

-Terry

I’ve been GMing a bit hand to mouth the last few sessions, since my latest scenario ended (where the party uncovered a Lunar scheme to freeze Heortland with an eternal winter before marching in). So I have actually not had time to read the scenarios in Kingdom of Heroes, and thus I didn’t even know they are going to the Upland marsh 😉 They’ve already had some experience with the footprint, so I may consider setting it in the Bottomland marsh or maybe at the southern end of Heortland.

I’ve made the Clan a very traditional Orlanthi/Satar type of clan, positioned as I said at the eastern corner of the footprint. I’m afraid I don’t quite catch the significance of the split with king Aventus… Geographically out Clan belongs to Gardufar, but I’m not sure of how they are different to Jondalar, or how a split between Hendriki tradions and Aventus traditions affects this. I’m looking at both the Guide and the History of the Heortling people, and may become wiser…

15 hours ago, Joerg said:

Speaking as someone whose campaign was set just west of Backford, in Heortland you are left on your own.

Thanks for your reply, Joerg.

My players belong to Garduraf and Hurlant. The tula is located just south of the most eastern boundary of the Footprint. So far, my campaign has been 'typical fantasy adventuring', doing stuff 'somewhere else'. I've been glossing over details related to Tribe, Clan, who's on the Ring, who the neighbors are etc, but now I'm bringing the party members a bit closer to the homeland, and these things will matter more.

My plan is basically to state that Sartar is already conquered, and I will use published Sartar material as a base for when the Lunars start their push into Heortland. The next session will be the Feast of Beasts, and Ernalsulva will be from Sartar (so a bit further away) but Killer Branduan will be from a neighboring Heortland clan.

-Terry

14 hours ago, jeffjerwin said:

You may find my old thread useful: 

Yes, I've had a look at this, and did find it helpful. Thanks.

Hi.

Are there any good sources for tribes and clans in Heortland in the third age? And what about good, detailed maps for same? I've seen the Volsaxiland map, but it only goes as far south as the Foot print.

I've set my campaign in Heortland, and I've started using material from Coming Storm, Eleven lights and the Colymayer campaign. There is so much good stuff in there, but I sort of need to 'port it' to Heortland since that's where my characters are. (Yes, I can use the material directly 'as is', but I'd rather leave the Sartar tribes, clans and lands where they are in case we end up going there later).

Thanks,
-Terry

The principle of adaptive stories: As a GM you will often have the player characters searching for something – the Key to the Plot. If they end up chasing the Key in the completely wrong direction, consider changing the story to match the party's actions and let the Key be where they are looking. Their theory of what and where the Key is may be a better story then what you planned out to begin with.

3 hours ago, soltakss said:

It's more like Researcher or Studier, maybe Knower

I'm trying to get a feel for the status maybe… A Researcher will by many be seen as person with a high-ish status, and Knower seems to convey the same. Studier points more or less directly to student and sound more like a humble status.

Are there ranks in the God Learner Collective? Apprentice, Journeyman, Master? If so, then I guess God Learner is not a tile or a station of a person, and does need to convey as much concrete meaning. Then it is more of an organizational name, but also used collectively about all members of the organization regardless of station within the organization. "He is a God Learner" might be comparable to "He is a Templar". You know that he belongs to that order but not if he is high or low in that order.

46 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

It's probably debatable whether people in Glorantha would be able to give a good answer on that, even.

Agreed, but if the name was coined by the organization itself, then that meaning is relevant in order to understand and translate the name.

I may have missed something in the thread here, but to get good translations it may a good idea to see if we can agree (more or less) upon what God Learner means in English. Should 'Learner' be read as meaning both 'Teacher/Master' and 'Student' at the same time, or is it just the 'Student' part that applies?

What other English terms could have been appropriate? Pupil, beginner and apprentice capture the student aspect, while scholar can be both a student and a teacher. 

-Terry

Thanks for lots of good input. I'm not quite decided yet which way I want to have this in my campaign yet.

I do like creative use of magic, and we have house rules to encourage more use of magic. But I also like the idea of a person's aura etc protecting equipment... Maybe I need house rules for connecting important equipment to a person's aura?  

I'll have to think a bit more on this until our next session, an in the mean time please feel free to provide more thoughts and comments.

-Terry 

I know everyone is on the RQG roll right now, but not my group…

For RQ3, are there rules regarding targeting weapons, armour, equipment and clothing of and an enemy? Will the spell automatically take effect, or will the person holding/wearing the item use their MP to resist the spell?

Some examples:

1. Cast form/set on an enemy’s weapon to bent it
2. Cast Flight on an enemy’s weapon to make it fly away or make it difficult to use
3. Cast Dispel on an enemy’s weapon to remove combat spells
4. Cast Flight in a person’s pants to lift the person
5. Cast Glow on a person’s jacket to make it impossible to hide in the dark

My ruling as a GM has been that the target holding/wearing the item can resist, but I cannot find any rules describing this. Am I missing something, or is it simply not described?

What I have found:

1. Ignite will give the target a resistance roll if hair/fur is targetd, but that is PART of the target, not an Item.
2. Touch spells does not require skin to skin contact and toughing the targets armour/clothing is enough since it is close enough to affect the aura of the target

Any thoughts?

-Terry

What happens when a shaman is defeated in spirit combat on the spirit plane?

Depends on the type of spirit I guess. I would also assume the shaman may be trapped or stranded. 

-Terry 

44 minutes ago, styopa said:

Every player shaman we have aspires to that, as a GM it makes me shudder in fear.

For this campaign I'm trying to give the party more power than usual, including some Hero abilities. I'm working under the slogan "Magic is fun, so lets use more of it", so a powerful shaman fits right in. Besides, it not exactly super quick to develop a high POW for fetch...  (We've also made it easier to regain divine spells, in order to get more magic in play.)

-Terry

46 minutes ago, simonh said:

The consequences of that would be that for new Shamans the fetch would have very low POW and be very vulnerable on the spirit plane, but for experienced Shamans the fetch's POW could be huge. It would make the Shaman/Fetch's effectiveness on the Spirit plane highly variable and potentially a bit over powered.

Agreed. 
But I just loved the idea of doing it this way. If the fetch is the spirit self of the shaman, the shamans presence on the spirit plane, then why does the mundane spirit part of the shaman go to the spirit plane for the serious spirit plane action? It makes so much more sense to me that the fetch goes off into the spirit plane (which is it's domain) while the shaman says in the mundane plane (which is his domain).

51 minutes ago, simonh said:

I don't remember posting that, maybe it's from Sandy Petersen's house rules?

Well, my memory almost served me well... It was a write up by Simon Phipp. 
http://www.soltakss.com/spirit4.html

-Terry

Thanks for a lot of input! I'm glad to see that others have struggled with the same... It's just not us;-)

1 hour ago, Psullie said:

have you read the optional Adventurer for RQG Quickstart, it covers shaman and fetches: https://www.chaosium.com/content/FreePDFs/RuneQuest/CHA4027 - RuneQuest Quickstart Optional Adventurer.pdf

I have not read that before. Thanks.
The way I read this it describes the fetch as being able to act on its own (while still being an extent of and part of the shaman): 

• Through their relationship with the fetch, a shaman is aware of both the Middle World and the Spirit World at the same time
• ... both the fetch and the shaman are fully aware of everything the other is doing.
• The fetch shares the shaman’s INT, and can act and react just as can the shaman.

------

Seems like Styopa and David have similar interpretations, saying the fetch is not an entity that can act on its own. I quite like this interpretation and believe it could lead to some good adventures, since the fetch by itself is not as powerful/useful, but the shaman would need more captured spirits. However, our current Glorantha is closer to Simon's interpretation, and has been so for a long time, so I don't think we'll change this now ...
-------

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

Spirits held by the fetch can cast their magic as they are separate. So no, a fetch cannot cast spells when the shaman is not discorporate as it is the shaman.

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

the fetch and the shaman are the same thing, the shaman extends into the spirit world and vice versa. The kept spirit is both in the fetch and shaman, but for rules purposes it's in the fetch (which is part of the shaman).

Combining these statements with my questions on passing between planes: If the fetch is holding a spirit that can cast spells, will that spirit be able to cast a spell into either plane? Will it be able to see both planes in order to find targets?

-----

Just as a side note. One house rule we use is that the shaman never discorporates, but instead he stays put in the mundane plane during a spirit walk. Instead performing a discorporation ritual he performs a ritual that sort of detaches the fetch and enables it to move into the spirit plane and away from the shaman. I have stolen this idea from some writeup online, and if I'm not mistaken that was written by you, Simon. Is that correct?

Thanks,

-Terry

Hi.

I've got some questions related to shamans and fetches that I've been trying to figure out. I'm playing RQ3, but will appreciate answers from other systems.

My group have played RQ for a long time, so we have plenty of house rules and rule specifications, but we always try to find answers in the rules and supplements before changing/extending rules.

Sorry that this is a bit long, but here goes:

1) Can a fetch cast spells when the shaman is not discorporate?

The RQ3 magic book states that the fetch appears on the mundane plane and guards the body while the shaman is discorporate. It also states that the fetch can cast spells, and has access to the shamans' spells, in this situation. The RQ3 Magic Book however never states that a fetch can cast spells 'on it's own' in regular situations (when the fetch is on the spirit plane and the shaman is in his body).

1. Can a fetch cast spells when the shaman is not discorporate?
2. If it can, can it do so 'independent og the shaman, effectively enabling the shaman-fetch-pair to cast two spells at once?

In my current Glorantha the answer to 1a) and 1b) is yes, but is this consistent with general Gloranthan thinking, RQ3 or other RQ versions?

2) Can a shaman and fetch send sprits back and forth between planes?

RQ3 Magic books describes that a fetch can hold spirits that the shaman has beaten, and that the shaman can use these spirits later for healing, exorcism etc. This implies that a shaman can beat a sprit on the mundane plane, and then transfer that sprit back to the spirit plane via the shaman-fetch-link. Later, the spirit can be pulled into the mundane plane though that same link (no Summon needed to transport a spirit between planes).

1. Is this correct?
2. If so, when a spirit is pulled from the spirit plane into the mundane plane, will it become visible? (would it not have to in order to initiate spirit combat?)
3. Can a shaman use a control spell and send a spirit into the spirit plane and the fetch instead of beating it in spirit combat?

3) If a fetch can cast spells, can it cast spells on the mundane plane?

The answer to question 1)  above will obviously impact this question. I also imagine that the answer to question 2) should impact this question.

1. Can a fetch cast spells on the shaman? Protection etc to prepare for combat, Healing during combat and even when the shaman is unconscious?
2. Can a fetch cast spells on targets on the mundane plane that the shaman is touching?
3. Can a fetch cast spells on targets on the mundane plane that the shaman is not touching? The fetch will need to perceive the target somehow.

Thanks and regards,

-Terry