svensson

[ You guys are a tough crowd. I really thought I'd get some shine for the 'how do magnets work' bit. 🤣😆 No worries. If it wasn't funny, it wasn't funny. *I* thought it was hysterical, but I'm kinda strange so... ]

Please let me know when you're done re-proofing. I'd like to order the POD version, but there's no sense in ordering if it needs to be corrected.

**ring** "Godtime customer service. This is team member Solana speaking. Please be aware that this call may be recorded for quality assurance and canon ret-con purposes. May I have your name and the name of Heroquest you're calling about, please?" "Uh, I'm Bob and I wanna know about 'Mostal and the World Machine'." "Thank you, Bob. May I have your question." "Sure. How do magnets work?" "DAMMIT BOB! You may think you're funny but I have a job and..." **click** 😆😁🤣 [For those of you who don't know about this, the Mormon church has a program for those youngsters who cannot physically perform their required mission when they turn 18. These are the 'Elders' (and yeah, I'm not gonna an 18 y/o an 'elder' anything) are the ones who man the Q&A phones and on the LDS website. Their job is to put a positive face on the faith and direct the curious to their local temple. Given the LDS' stance on certain issues, there was a period of time where people would troll the kids on the website with off the wall questions that would be difficult to look up. 'How do magnets work' was the classic meme question. That question became so popular among the trolls that the kids manning the website have a cut-and-paste ready to go now]

Insofar as my reading tells me. YGMV and all, but I should think that if someone had encountered Wakboth and lived to tell about it that person would be famous somewhere. I've got a pretty extensive RQ2 and 3 collection and nothing I have says anything about the Devil after the Spike, well, 'spiked' him. There are references to parts of Wakboth [the Eye of Wakboth mostly], but nothing about Wakboth taking any actions of his own will and accord since Time began. I should probably also say that the RQ apocrypha continually surprises me. My collection isn't complete and the occasional 'Stafford-ism' pops up get me every now and again.

@M Helsdon I just want to THANK YOU for your efforts in 'Ships and Shores'. I'm running a 'faux Atlantis' campaign for my nieces and the work you've put into ancient ships, the effect of magic, and the practicalities of shipboard life in the Bronze Age has been a great help as well as a wonderful read. I bought the book as a pdf upon release and it is one of my absolute favorite RQ products by anybody, ever. It ranks just below Trollpak [both versions equally] for the way that it shows seagoing culture and the homogenizing process that life at sea has on those who leave the shore.

Responding to the top post... Since heroquesting has a temporal and Godtime components, those should be addressed separately. No living mortal [at least none that I've heard of] has encountered a portion of Wakboth the Devil and returned to tell the tale. That covers the temporal aspect. Insofar as the Godtime component is concerned, unless you're questing specifically to confront Evil Itself encountering Wakboth means that your plan has gone horribly horribly wrong. Your survival is seriously in question at that point, and even if you survive you may have to make a literal deal with the Devil and may end up tainted by Chaos for your trouble. You have been warned.

In many cults, including the two you mention, there aren't any Priests. Rune Lords provide the spiritual and magical support, as well as teaching skills, leading ceremonies, and acting as the political head of the cult. Smaller but widespread cults, the 'tier 2 cults' if you will, are always looking for a new Rune Lord. After all, there are VERY few clan chiefs who are Swords of Humakt or Master Hunters of Odayla. Such personalities rarely pose any political challenge to the clan and tribal leadership. A Wind Lord of Orlanth is another matter entirely. Such people have to be noteworthy and accomplished in most aspects of clan life, and if they're too popular they might be seen as an alternative to less popular leaders. People tend to gravitate to alternate leaders when they're unhappy with the current office-holders and sometimes that happens without any overt act or intention by the new Wind Lord himself.

So we got to talking about Alynxes, their size, and their comparison to dogs. Here is a short [15 min] vid from the Extinct Earth series that discusses some of that. I thought some of you might be interested.

Secret handshakes, embroidered aprons, tools that never get the dirty, and it can be used as a path to Illuminati... er, Illumination. Whatever. 😆

@Darius West @Malin OK, one of the premises of RQG is to break the murder hobo trope. But a generation and half of gamers have been indoctrinated into expecting that trope. Add to that the pithy complaint phrases ['We're not playing 'Farmers and Famines', man!]. There is resistance even in the RQ fan base about the 'community adventurer' premise. My idea of having a troop of apprentices was demonstrate that 'community' can have more than one meaning and 'cult' doesn't have to be temple building or even one specific location. As for player real estate, all your points are true but I also wonder if there isn't a certain anarchist 'I don't have to follow your rules!' attitude that goes with it. For one thing, most modern people have no idea of the implications of the standard oath of fealty, 'of life and limb and Earthly worship' etc. They just think, 'Kewl! I gitz ta build a kastle!', forgetting all the while that their liege lord will tax them, call them to duty in his army in prime adventuring season, make him get married to a difficult mate for reasons of state, 'visit' him all winter [remember, you must provide hospitality to your lord and his retinue when they visit] to ensure he doesn't have too much grain or money saved up, etc. And yes, while I'm describing this in a medieval context, this crap also occurred in Anglo-Saxon England, Celtic Gaul, and Viking Age Scandinavia. Clan chieftains are just as rapacious and jealous as any king-by-divine-right ever made, as any proper Scot will tell you.

I intended the 'hero band with apprentices and hangers-on' model to be sort of a middle ground between the 'always adventuring all the time' of RQ 2 and the 'stuck at the steading /temple /clan-hall for 7 weeks a Season' model of RQG. The idea is to keep the service to community theme of RQG while still allowing some resemblance of the 'Dat Freebootin' Lyfe' that players love. After all, if they wanted to be farmers, they wouldn't be adventurers. What I find funny about all this is how hard players work in some genres and milieux to get their own freehold or base. They'll bust their ass if you offer them land in Dorastor [or local equivalent], but give them a steading at the beginning of the game? Nah, they'll avoid that like a trip to the dentist. 😆

For an office vacancy, most likely that's a campaign decision by the referee. After all, every deity want as many devoted and skilled people following it as possible [within reason]. However some campaigns may include internal clan and/or temple politics, and we all know those can be every bit as vicious as racial or external politics. If there is drama within the church, it may NOT have room of a PC Rune Lord if that PC is gonna upset balance of power and authority. This is especially true in clans where the office of chief is inextricably tied to a church hierarchy like Orlanth or Ernalda. Every Orlanth Rune Lord or Ernalda Priestess is a possible rival for the clan chief position and that has to be taken into consideration.

No sarcasm intended, thanks for the support.

Sure. There's plenty of room on page 3 of the character sheet for ancestral names and information, at least to the grandparent generation. After that, post-it notes 😆

That's a whole BUNCH of Rune Points, man. Don't get me wrong here. I'm presuming that a shaman would know their ancestors back 100-150 years ago if there wasn't a major catastrophe or magical event that breaks the lineage descent. For example, the clans that founded Sartar literally broke from their ancestral Heortling clans, 'a new history was made', to quote KoDP. A Kolating shaman [who has tenuous ties to his clan anyway, shamans being almost-outcasts in Sartarite society] would have a helluva time getting past that magical rite.

But initiates are not ordained in the priesthood... they're committed worshipers only. Yes, they can worship without a priest/ess, but there are functions they can't do... My point in my first comment on the thread is that Shamans with no connection to deity cannot access the deity's magic. Initiates have a connection with the deity granting the powers and a place in a cult's hierarchy that shamans simply don't have. There are exceptions, of course, Kolatings sometimes have access to Orlanth-given Rune magic for one example. Shamans can Summon a Specific Ancestor to gain access to a deity's Rune magic if the shaman knows of the Specific Ancestor by name. A shaman would have summon his ancestor 'Bob, son of Joe', not 'I summon one of my ancestors who was a Barntar initiate'. I suppose we'd need a mechanic to sort out whether or not a given Shaman knows of a specific ancestor that was an initiate of a specific deity. Off the top of my head that would probably be a Customs [Own], Cult Lore, or Insight [Own] roll, probably requiring a Special or Crit success.

Initiates are part of god's hierarchy, though not part of the church. Initiates have donated POW, made the commitment oaths, and have some dedication to the faith. They are not ordained but they can conduct worship if no Rune level is available. They can cast Divination [it is a Common Rune Spell] but only via their cult connections. For example, an Orlanth initiate cannot use Divination for information that would rightfully belong to Yelmalio, etc. Just because an opposing Yelmalion initiate breathes Air does not mean that Orlanth knows what he's up to - - this works vice-versa of course... Just because an Orlanth initiate is working under Yelm's light doesn't mean that a Sky pantheon initiate knows anything about him either. So, yes, Initiates can get Divination and/or prophetic dreams from their deity, but they may have to consult with the priesthood to understand the meanings [aka 'failed the Cult Lore skill roll to understand the allegories'].

Well, Glorantha has sabertoothed tigers [aka 'sakkar'] still extant. I'm fine with a hunting cat species that can hunt with humans. I mean, they're not as weird as morokanth, right? 😆

Did someone say 'wild alynx'?

In reply to a PM, there is a recent US federal statute forbidding public access to legally kept big cats ['legally' as defined by state laws]. That means, for example, that big cat keeper cannot allow the public to pet big cats or help feed big cats, as some irresponsible keepers have done. But big cat rescues, private zoos, and so on are calling for a US national law requiring federal standards of environment, enrichment and care and for a federal standard of certification for big cat keepers. I guess people are tired of wealthy idiots keeping big cats in their mansions and then abandoning their care to paid staff [as in 'my housekeeper feeds my tiger']. That was the law I was referring to in the top post.

A lovely but very short clip to give you an idea of the size of a captive lynx. I say 'captive' because lynx are wildcats. They cannot be reliably domesticated. In my home state, it's illegal to own one and we're not alone in this. There is active pressure for a federal Big Cat ownership law instead of the patchwork by state that we have now. Nevertheless, this vid gives you an idea of the size of a healthy, well-fed, and sheltered lynx and a sense of scale for all you Orlanthi and your shadowcats.

I kept them out of armor for two reasons: a] I thought of them as leading a worship ceremony and not under threat. While Orlanth has no objection to war or conflict, he is really more of a cultural god... he provides the virtues, laws, and codes of behavior; more of an Odin than a Thor figure. b] I was still learning the Heroforge system and I was trying to get the tattoo decals to look right. More skin means more tattoos.

So I have posted about the value of archeological midden pits -- the garbage dumps where a society discards it's unwanted and unneeded items. These are literal snapshots of a society, what they wore, what they ate, and so forth. This video is a woman dressing for cold Northern maritime temperatures in the 800-1000 AD timeframe. She includes recreated clothing that came from grave goods and midden pits and assembles them into an everyday wear outfit. I thought some of you might find this useful.

"He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say "To-morrow is Saint Crispian." Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say "These wounds I had on Crispin's day." ... [snip] "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whilest any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day!" -- Henry V, Act IV, Scene 3 I also tend to apply 'scars and disfiguring marks' in certain 'epic' circumstances. And I've been known to joke that the reason why Orlanth initiates can tell the weather a day in advance is because their old wounds and joints act up the day before it rains! 😁 As to whether these wounds might have in-game consequences is a matter of discussion with the player. For example, I had a player go down when a troll hit a crit on his arm and chest. He was saved [barely] by a helpful PC and we discussed the consequences of that 'near death experience'. I ended up giving him a 1d6% rep increase in exchange for having a -1 Strike Penalty and a really ugly scar.

Interesting stuff. Welcome to the board, and I hope the guys have been helpful.