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svensson

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Everything posted by svensson

  1. svensson

    map source

    That's alright. For some ungodly reason my brain said 'Boldhome' instead of Whitewall.... DOH!
  2. svensson

    map source

    This map has been superseded by a newer map in the GMs Pack. Otherwise, no I don't know what the topo contour line scale is. This map was probably designed with an eye to the Celtic hillfort called Maiden Castle in Dorset, England. Wiki link below. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_Castle%2C_Dorset
  3. In regards to 'gallivanting'😆 Yes, there needs to be a discussion between the players and ref as to how they want the campaign to go, its focus and directions. The players need to be clear about the kind of adventure they're looking for. The referee needs to be clear about the theme, sandbox, etc. There's nothing wrong with wanting some sidebar jaunts to the odd places on the map, so long as it can be structured into the narrative. But the key to all this is communication with all parties.
  4. LOVE that Viking scenario.
  5. [airquote] 'instincts' [/airquote] 😁😆
  6. Let me also say that I fully acknowledge that RQG is VERY different from its earlier editions with its focus on community involvement. ALL our PCs in RQ2 and 3 would think of having steading full of groupies as something that would put a frikkin' halt to an adventuring life. In most milieux that would be true. It would be true in the Fantasy Europe of Cormac the Pict, it would be true in the Forgotten Realms, or the cities of Greyhawk, Lankhmar and Sanctuary. But this is no longer applicable for RQG as written. The difference is that the community is now very much a character in the game, something more than a collection of bars, libraries and gear shops. RQG seeks to make the community part of the character's identity, something more than just a few lines of 'Background and History' on a character sheet. And, of course, absolutely none of this discussion should get in the way of Maximum Game Fun and YGMV. The mechanics work even if you just handwave all the community stuff and stay with the 'good stuff' of stabbing the darkness with a stick to see what bites back.
  7. I made an RQ3 attempt at Harn that didn't work out all that well. Part of it is the Shek-Pvar convocation system and parsing which spells go where. Part of it was the needless complications of RQ3 Sorcery, something I never did really get the hang of. I tend to disagree about HarnMaster being a 'cousin' of BRP.... While there are some similarities [no character classes, etc.], the rules of the game are unnecessarily complicated and very ticky tack. NOTHING is 'simple' in HM, and I've had difficulty really learning the system.
  8. Phill, you're a fellow grog so I'll assume you're familiar with either edition of Cults of Terror. Isn't the tale of Hahlgrim Ironbreaker epic enough? Each Rune level has a trail of hangers-on... In the chapter on Bagog, Paulis cites 17 members in the band. And each one of those members contributed to the victory versus 'demons' and scorpionmen that night. A Rune level is expected to attract followers, it's part and parcel to the job. One of their principal roles is to lead worship, teach cultists skills and spells, officiate rituals, and otherwise contribute to the community as a whole. Now that doesn't mean that Vasana is going to allow her Vingan woman-at-arms to go ducking into Snakepipe Hollow with her any more than Hahlgrim let Paulis on the raid of the Vivamort den in CoT. Some things are above their pay grade, as Nathem found out on Vasana's first attempt into the Caves [described in the RQG Core Rules]. But at her level, given her fame, Vasana WILL attract followers. The whole point of RQG is making the heroes part of a community, with oaths and ties and relationships and responsibilities. Lone wolf murder hobos are for DnD, and RQG has consistently emphasized the differences between the two play styles. So if the players want to be traveling heroes instead of tied to a city, tula, regiment, or other community, having a small tribe of hangers-on allows them to do that.
  9. There is a very simple way to show the players the 'community asset' emphasis in RQG. Apprentices. Acolytes. Foster children. Squires. Hangers-on. All of which have to be fed, protected, trained, and elevated [given livelihoods, introductions, pensions, something for their future lives]. And while YOUR Player Character miserly arse is willing to sleep in the stable, drink water and the cheapest beer available and eat turnip mush with hard tack on a daily basis, your reputation will suffer mightily if you try and serve your followers that literal beggar's banquet. In addition, all these folks have be to armed out of your pocket, trained out of your time, taught the magical arts so absolutely necessary to survive in Glorantha out of your time... And the quality of all that directly effects how your character is seen by the world. If you show up in a silk tunic with rare dyes and dripping jewels but your trainee is in stinking untanned buckskins and burlap tunic, YOU are the one that's gonna suffer. I suggest to the board that caring for and protecting a train of followers will easily eat up that 90% of income and time we're discussing and will CERTAINLY reinforce the values of community involvement we're also discussing because a 'community' of the group's train is following them. Even Hahlgrim Ironbreaker got saddled with a Lunar stripling, something he needed like another hole in the head. Yet it was his duty via kinship ties to shelter Paulis Longvale 'for a summer's seasoning' [and oh what a summer it was!]. When King Boltor summoned Hahlgrim to fight Chaos, Hahlgrim was obliged to bring this kid [aka 'beginning adventurer'] along for a very tough but educational ride. And just imagine the damage to Hahlgrim's reputation if Paulis had gotten his fool arse killed in the process... But to Hahlgrim's everlasting credit, if not his fame, Paulis left the care of Hahlgrim and the Bilini with a deep respect for the Orlanthi, vastly more knowledge about the world, materially far better off, and an altogether better man than when he arrived last spring. Fame may be crowned by great deeds, but it is built by little ones.
  10. OK, as usual the discussion is wide-ranging, though oddly for us we haven't digressed completely off the track. 😁 I'll address some of the stuff I'm seeing as a point-by-point just to keep my own thoughts organized. 1. It's the GMs job to help the player visualize their character sheet and the Epic Story of their career. Reconciling the story and the numbers has always been the chief burden of the narrator and this is why we have to remember to give some leeway in how the players use their skills and not stifle their creativity. 2. I'm hoping that Jar-Eel and Aelwin's situation becomes more clear when the Lunars Gods book comes out this month. I don't perceive them having much of a shaman component at all, but I might be wrong. 3. Vasana's Band may not be a part of the Sartar Magical Union, though they could easily develop that way. Right now Vasana is on the path of Herodom and so I see her friends, apprentices, and hangers-on as a more temporal Hero Band and doers of things Argrath wants done on Glorantha rather than the Hero Plane. This is entirely fine. The Hero Wars will be fought on multiple battlefields [Mundane Plane, Hero Plane, Spirit Plane, the Hells, and so forth] and Argrath is gonna need assets in every one of them.
  11. It looks like I'm getting 'mooned' by Frank Zappa... 😁
  12. There is a difference between the acceptance of your own existence and the philosophical reasoning to understand your nature, especially the negative aspects of your character.
  13. And one would think that something like the Bat would ring the Sense Chaos bell like a cathedral at Christmas
  14. Well, there is one major detail in Vishi's story that is important in the 'wandering adventurer' statement. Vishi IS NOT a shaman of Grandmother High Llama or any other tribal spirit confined to Prax. He is a shaman of the White Bull, aka Argrath. His wanderings are in direct service to the cult and in support of Argrath's aims just as much as Vasana's are. While Vishi doesn't have an infrastructure to support, he does have to spend significant amounts of time in the Otherworld questing and growing in power completely separate from the party's adventuring goals. This leaves him little time for a 'day job', so to speak. That is one aspect of the sample party narrative I wish the writers of the authors had thought of... the transition of 'Bob the Farmer' into both an adventurer and to possibly a Rune level worshiper of his deity. All the magicians in Vasana's Band are society's outliers... a noble woman, a professional temple-raised priestess, a professional shaman... they're not 'Annie the Craftswoman' or 'Bob the Farmer'. It can be difficult to reconcile what's on your character sheet with Vasana's epic tale.
  15. Good question. I'd tell you to ask Oddi the Keen, but he'd probably answer with a riddle. A NYSALOR riddle 😁 Jokes aside, as I have read Glorantha over the years there are good 'Stafford-ism' arguments for yes and no. If it were my table, my logic would go like this: "In Glorantha, all knowledge and all power comes with a price. The price of Illumination is a sense of disillusionment and disconnectedness with your people and your deity, the two most important emotional connections a Gloranthan has. So with those two pieces of information, I would tend to think no, you can no longer 'Sense' Chaos mystically, but your other senses can identify it with greater clarity. Therefore, a Buller gets to keep the Sense Chaos skill, but it can never be increased and will be described by the GM differently. Instead of 'Yes, you Sense this person might be Chaotic', I might describe it as 'Your previous experiences lead you to think this might be Chaotic behavior. The guy may be Chaotic, but he might also just be crazy. Or perhaps he's afflicted with a spirit.'
  16. It absolutely does. See my review of the first episode above. My wife and I were equally impressed with the second episode.
  17. The file I mentioned is uploaded under the name 'Ransom Customs IMGU' Thanks for the encouragement
  18. Version 1.0.0

    11 downloads

    This is a distillation of my comments regarding Ransom in the forums. It covers the process of ransoming, the customs of prisoner treatment, the role of the herald, and the controversial subject of selling captives as slaves.
  19. I wouldn't even know how to begin to do that. Anyone I could talk to about setting up the how-to's?
  20. So, question for the Collective Thanatari Head... I've done a fair bit typing and brainstorming on this topic and I think I'm gonna I'm gather my ideas together for my own use. Would you guys like me to upload a file with all that?
  21. And while those who know about Waha's Covenant MAY know that, almost NO Heortling knows it.
  22. Absolutely! Heortling society is afflicted with every one of mankind's sins and it has nothing whatsoever to do with 'Chaos' per se. People murder, steal, commit assaults, break oaths, litter, and lie about the score of a shield push game and a host of other crimes simply because they're assholes and there's nothing religious or mystical in it at all.
  23. 1. The herald, whichever clan they might belong to, is acting as the agent of the clan holding the prisoners. For just a cattle-raid, there's no real need for a neutral party as herald. Everybody on each side knows everyone and a visit by someone bearing the herald's baton means an official message have come, either notifying next of kin of a death or notifying the clan chief or temple that their people are being ransomed. In certain circumstance, between parties where there is a history of hatred for example, a neutral herald is pretty much required. Asking someone from another clan to act as the neutral herald is a favor in KoDP terms. 2. The perception of the Morokanth as slave owners really does depend on whether one is of Waha's Covenant or not. Many, perhaps most, Praxians may not like Moros much, but they are accepted presence on the Plains and have a role under the Covenant. Heortlings are not nearly so blase' about it. Because they are not part of the Covenant, many Heortlings are not taught the details of the Moro's role on the Plains. They thereforebelieve that Moros will turn them into animals the minute they get a hold of a person. Because of that, many Heortlings would prefer death to being reduced to cattle.
  24. 1. Those held captive for ransom are under an honor system to not attempt escape while their ransom is being negotiated. Sometimes that honor system is reinforced by an Oath spell. Captives will be assigned a minder of appropriate rank to keep the captive from sensitive areas. Particularly unruly captives [Uroxi for example] might be restrained or kept in some kind of cell or root cellar. And there is always the option of the magical slave collar that bleeds magic points and does not allow the use of Rune Points. 2. Among Heortlings it is a particularly vile dishonor to sell humans to the Morokanth. Such a sale not only dishonors the captive, but also the seller. Doing such a thing promotes a particularly evil reputation and is the kind of thing that'll get your own clansmen killed out of hand. Sartarites say, "Better a Lunar slave than a herd-man!" It should be noted that Praxians don't have such sensibilities and if a tribal brave can't afford to keep a slave for his own use, he'll sell the slave to the highest bidder, morokanth or no. Only the Agimori Men-and-a-Half keep no slaves whatsoever on the Plains. 3. Some races don't take captives at all. The dragonewts, Dwarfs who are not Openhandist heretics, many Uz tribes and so forth don't take captives. Among Aldryami, it really depends on how well that forest group knows human customs and how much the ransomee despoiled the forest. 4. Yes, some clans occasionally make peace by releasing their captives in return for a favor or several. This is widely considered 'ransom without coin' and is part of negotiation process.
  25. 1. The herald/messenger [hereafter 'herald'] can be of any one of several acceptable cults, so long as that cult emphasizes Law, Communication, Truth or Honor. IMGU, the symbol for someone approaching for parlay is a white baton about 2 ft. in length. This came from stripping the bark from a handy branch [symbolizing taking one's armor off] and tying a strip from a bandage or a healer's robe to it. Naturally, heralds approach unarmed and are given all honors and safe passage. For some cults, being 'unarmed' is a matter of some discussion. A Humakti makes a fine herald, but he approaches with his sword bound into the scabbard by white cordage and the weapon carried over the arm so as to be difficult to draw. Orlanth worshipers will symbolically disarm by handing their weapon to an assistant or squire before approaching. Thus are religious oaths and honor equally maintained. 2. It is a VERY bad idea to capture or kill the herald. Doing so makes every single person of your clan or unit an outlaw to the opposing party and will see your people sold into slavery or simply killed on the spot for convenience's sake. What's more, such actions will severe repercussions long after the war is over. Heralds and merchants are most often members of the same cults, and what merchant of Issaries will bring goods to a clan that murdered a herald in the execution of his office? And how do you think YOUR merchants will get treated if you murder a herald, hmmm? 3. As for magic items, most magic items are of the hedge magic variety... spirit magic focii, power crystals, etc. Some magic items are considered heirlooms and can either be returned or bargained for. Allied Spirit vessels are always returned, but items with bound spirits, attuned crystals, etc. might be bargained for over and above the costs of freeing the captive's person. Some items of legendary provenance [tempered iron gear or Black Spear of the Colymar, for example] will fetch a ransom price FAR exceeding that of the person who lost it. And while few people like it, some of these legendary items are NOT ransomed and are kept as a trophy by the victors. This naturally engenders a lot of hard feelings and oaths of vengeance, but it's considered an accepted as a risk of war. 4. Some items like known clan treasures [a Bag of Winds or a Gustbran's Bellows, etc.] will only be taken by an enemy in a genocidal war, which HAS happened in Sartar's and the Lunar Empire's past. This includes capturing and possibly slaying or breaking the physical form of the clan wyter. But this is a rare case of 'erase your entire bloodline' type warfare.
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