svensson

If you want to see otherwise reasonably intelligent people completely lose their Goddamned minds, just come to the Puget Sound when it snows. Like it's doing right now. People around here just plain freak the Hell out when Santa's dandruff starts falling from the sky. There's a run on everything from bottled water to generators at the stores and people acting like it's the Apocalypse. God as my witness, I wouldn't take a million dollars to go to a Walmart right now. What's more, most people in Western Washington are constitutionally unable to drive in snow. They drive too fast, too close together, or they crawl along at 10 miles an hour in horrified fear. I love my home state, I really do. It's beautiful and not as full of hipsters as many think [PROTIP: Don't live in Seattle]. But I know my people, and right now my people are completely losing their shit.

I would say that if the Tusk Riders worship any other deities, it would be along the same level of the Agrimori and Foundchild.... The Cult of the Bloody Tusk holds so much power over them that any other influence is almost trivial. That doesn't mean there aren't any other cults, of course. It might be germane to note that Tusk Riders are reasonably friendly with Darkness cults, so just imagine how much 'fun' a Tusk warband would be with a bunch Zorak Zorans in it....

And what's a holiday without Weird Al....

Christmas. Because we have to. But since the make us have to Christmas, we might as well Christmas our way. I'll be posting Christmas with 'tood vids a couple of times a week until Christmas Eve. Please add your favorites! Enjoy.

Nope. Not even. If you have a tentacle growing out of your head, no amount of Illumination is going to hide that fact. That take Illusion Rune magic, and lots of it. I've never heard of Illumination concealing overt signs of Chaos taint. As to Illumination helping Chaotics, it absolutely does. Couldn't agree more. For one thing, Illumination helps the Chaotic be patient enough to learn tradecraft in the first place.

I didn't say that an Illuminate was 'clean'. I was implying that Chaotic can mitigate his Chaotic condition with Illumination, but can't remove or ignore it, no more than an Illuminate Elf can 'ignore' his Plant Rune or a human can ignore his Man Rune. An Illuminate has greater choice over how he manifests his Chaotic nature, the way he chooses to destroy, but not the impulse for destruction itself. The ONLY way [or at least the only way I know of] to purge someone of the taint of Chaos is through the Cleansed One HeroQuest.

My Space:1889 character, Capt. Wesley Jacob Devereaux, late of the 10th US Cavalry. [That's pronounced Wehs-leh Jay-cob Deh-veh-rooh for those of you unfamiliar with a South Carolinian accent] Looks like he'll fit in reasonably well 😁

There are LOTS of power groups in Pavis that would love to do away with Brigga Scissorhands. From Governor Sor-Eel, Lunar interests outside the bureaucracy [the Temples, the Army, etc.], the Ingilli clan and Zola Fel river interests, the Sun Towners... Hell, even her fellow Sartarites of the Indagos clan would like to see her deposed if not actually dead. [Note: Brigga is one of the leaders of the Garhound clan, a Sartarite clan that came to Prax with Duke Dorasor. She's the sister of clan head, Sir Daved Garhound and are about equal in political pull, though in different venues. They own the best farmlands and have the better relations with the nomads than Indagos, who came much later. They're both Orlanthi rival clans, but Indagos tends to focus more on freeing Sartar, where Garhound has made its bed in Prax and is content with that]

The problem with the Lunar's logic is that in Glorantha the Rune influences conduct. This is part of the mythical structure of the world... The nature of Chaos is not 'change for change's sake', as it's Lunar apologists would have it, but nihilism... destruction for destruction's sake. Chaos is the antithesis of organization... any kind of organization. Societal rules, the Great Compromise, even physics [such as exist on Glorantha] are anathema to Chaos, which demands that nothing is consistent, nothing is stable, save only the cycle of creation, destruction, and creation again. There are only three ways to prevent a being inflicted by the Chaos rune for destroying everything around them... Illuminate them, kill them, or redeem them by removing their Chaos rune. As of this moment, we know of ONE HeroQuest that'll do that for you. That is the Cleansed One subcult of Zola Fel river cult. [Note: IMG, that subcult exists in ONE river cult not all of them. AFAIC, river cults are not 'interchangeable'. The myths that effect the Creek-Stream watershed have no bearing on those the effect the Zola Fel or the Oslir. Ergo, while the cults are VERY similar, they are still different from each other. -- but that is another discussion]

I'd seen looking all over for this, turns out I'd bought it already 😁 This is a d100 conversion for space adventures. It's very raw and has a certain 'written on a word processor in college' feel to it. But what do you want? It was written in Golden Age of Game Fan Press... the 80's. Anyway, enjoy. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/355945/Worlds-Beyond-Classic-Reprint

That's an error I think Mongoose made with a new game. They did this huge K/S and relaunched their 2300AD title, but the forums for it remain in the main Traveller bracket. That can make it hard to find the discussions and info you're looking for.

So, the Americans on the board, Happy Thanksgiving. May you travel safe, enjoy your family, and appreciate what you have. And may the NY Giants beat the balls off the Dallas Cowturds. Because Jerry Jones doesn't deserve nice things. And now a brief holiday message from WKRP:

I disagree... but only slightly. HeroQuests grant PC's the opportunity to become more powerful, but at very great risk. I've never had a party try a HeroQuest at my table yet. However if one was in offing, I would make the warnings absolutely clear: You are taking your character's lives in your hands. This is not your 'Sacred Time' visit with the Gods. You'll be directly interacting with myths and the consequences, both good and bad, are significant. Think of it this way.... Say you're a Bronze Age Greek who is about to undertake a HeroQuest. This isn't simply the retelling of Zeus founding your city. You do that every year, it's a comfortable well-known myth. Your participation is almost like watching a sports event on TV. But YOUR HeroQuest is entirely different. You'll be magically transported back to the Heroic Age and have to reenact some of the deeds of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece. For the purposes of the Quest you will actually be one of the men at the benches of the Argo, undertaking all the risks of the quest. The reward for success is very high, perhaps the permanent favor of Athena in all your endeavors for life, but you are risking your very soul and Hades is a greedy god indeed.

And Argrath never does actually catch him, though he does do Gim-Gim in, metaphorically speaking.

Talk about terrifying.... Yeah, that'd do it. OTOH, here is something EQUALLY frightening... SHAVED BEAR! Seriously, if I was the veterinarian who had to shave a bear, I'd sedate it, do the job, and be on the next plane to another time zone by the time 'Gentle Ben' woke up! Ok, jokes aside, this is Dolores a European Black Bear at the Tiergarten Leipzig. The poor girl has mange so bad her hair falls out.

Fair enough. So flip the script and make the threat's origin the Tunnelled Hills or Kralorela rather than the Lunar Empire. Simple. There's nothing saying that the threat isn't coming from anywhere... Pamaltela, Jrustela, Esrolia... it would be funny as Hell to make the threat origin be the vendref caste of the Grazelanders! THAT'D show those uppity sun-pony SOBs! 😅 And again, the penetration of Chaos cults in the Empire, if any, is only as deep as YOU choose to portray it. How many of the handouts for River of Cradles, Sun County, and Shadows on the Borderlands are true information and how many are false flags?

I think is might be a valid rules question to @Scotty: What is the extent of the transformation when a spell caster uses Transform Self? - Does the caster lose their intelligence? - Do the caster's senses change into the 'semi-divine animal's'? - Can they cast spells while in animal form? - Do they count as 'were-animals' for damage? - How is skill use [Dodge and Parry primarily] effected?

Well, let's not forget the one unmentioned spell in Red Book of Magic that serves to make many of these spells VERY useful... Transform Self: 2 Rune Points, Beast Rune Touch, Duration [Special], Nonstackable Definition: This spell must be stacked with the three specialty shapechanging spells. For example, an Odayla cultist used Bear's Skin, Bear's Strength, and Claws. When these spells are combined with Transform Self, the user bodily transforms into a magical, semi-divine version of the god's animal. All the spells combine for full effect for one full hour. All the normal abilities of the animal become usable by the target for the spell's duration. Now, that's a whopping 9 Rune Points[!], so this is out of range of most casual cultists. But it could be devastating to an opponent who is unfortunate enough to find themselves in melee with the Odayla priest.

These modules are long out of print, from an earlier rules edition that doesn't always mesh well with the current one, and are not likely to be played as-is by current RQG refs. Secondly, nothing ever written in gaming has ever survived contact with a referee, much less player characters. Thirdly, all you have to do is 'flip the script' and make the origin of the antagonists Kralorela or the Vulture Country. Lastly, IF Gim-Gim has been compromised [and nothing says outright that he is, it's just rumors], just exactly what are PC's gonna do about it? Trying to out him would bring down the wrath of the entire Lunar power structure in Prax on them, both overt and covert. They'd spend the rest of their lives dodging Spoken Word and Lanbril agents. And it's entirely up to the referee whether it's true or not anyway.

So, I'm looking at some of my real-world experiences along with some apocryphal evidence in previous editions for my opinions here. Your Mileage and Glorantha May Vary. 1. In several sources and multiple editions, Gim-Gim the Grim is obliquely referred to as a secret Krarshti. It wasn't out-and-out said, but what is definite is that he has reliable connections with the cult. 2. In Sun County, the 'Rabbit Hat Farm' scenario talks about the Krarshti Polybius as being 'a Lunar from the Heartland'. 3. In Shadows on the Borderlands, Thanatari High Priest Drueke's biography has him originating in Carmania and going to another temple in Peloria before landing in Dyskund Caverns. 4. In my real-world experiences, I'm aware of several instances in Central and South America where police, military officers, elected officials and bureaucrats were members in good standing of terrorist groups, narco cartels, and revolutionary movements... and did their duties to BOTH their masters diligently and well. All this leads me to believe that the Lunar Empire is infiltrated to a fare-thee-well by both Krarsht and Thanatar. Krarsht seems to have a very comfortable arrangement with the Lunar intelligence services, especially the Spoken Word, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that there is some Illuminated Thanatari in the Lunar College of Magic that has access to more heads than even Drueke does.

Well hunters start with very poor armor, so anything that adds to their survivability is a Good Thing. What's more, in most parties the hunter is the 'sneaky guy' [cuz, duh] so adding physical armors that decrease his Move Silently isn't optimal. Most players try and balance the two... enough armor to prevent an instant-kill by an unaugmented weapon but not enough to severely impede his work. By removing his armor and casting Bear's Skin, it usually results in a net gain in AP and the penalty for SIZ vs armor tends to remain the same. So I can see the utility of Bear's Skin. It's Claws that I have an iffy time with. All the spells does is raise a caster's Fist attack to 1d6+db and grant +50% Climb. Since the Claws attack uses the caster's Fist attack score, I submit that it's just not that big a deal as a combat option. My reasons are these: 1. Most hunters carry a weapon that does at least 1d8+1+db, if not more. 2. The potential for two attacks in a round is limited... unless the caster has extraordinary SIZ and DEX, he probably won't get that second attack in. A fist attack happens, on average, at SR 7 or 8. If it's at SR 8, then the second attack doesn't have time to happen in the round. 3. As to the climb bonus, you can get similar [though not as great] results if you just cast the spirit magic spell Coordination. This saves you from having to 'burn' a Rune Point you might need for later.

I perceive Odaylans as being the 'mountain-men' of Orlanthi society. They belong to the clan and are just as loyal to it as any other carl, but don't like large groups of people. They especially dislike human politics and petty feuds they think are trivial. They are a more 'primal' Oranthi type, solitary in nature, closer to nature, and they know every square inch of the tula... every hilltop and gully, every water source, every road, track, game trail, and rabbit run. I think that it wouldn't break the system to give Odayla worshipers Surshot and Draw Beast as Rune spells, in addition to their Transform spells. It seems to me that these fit their role in society.

I agree with @Squaredeal Sten in that one man's elemental or helpful spirit is another man's demon. Dehori and Lunes look very different to people not in their respective pantheons, especially when they're order to attack. I don't have any problem with any 'demon' being manifested by almost any Rune association. I think that a Harmony demon would be rather pointless as an adversary, but several other Runes could generate some VERY interesting demon types. A Fertility Demon could be a nasty piece of work as it tries to turn your party of adventurers into nutritious mulch, for example. I would imagine that a Beast 'demon' would be a significantly up-rated minotaur or minotaur-centaur chimera [body of a bull, with minotaur torso, head, and arms]. As to your specific question regarding demon statistics: Checking the RQG Bestiary on pg. 168, the table says that CON 'Depends on POW', ergo POW = CON. The text further states that HP and AP are equal to the demon's Magic Points... the most spirit magic it casts, the easier it is to physically defeat.

@Darius West I think you're misunderstanding the point of HQs. At their very core, HQs make the impossible possible... though at great risk and cost. Consider the case of Hofstaring Treeleaper from the HQ game's Sartar Kingdom of Heroes book. It took very powerful magic to defeat him and imprison the soul of an Orlanthi Hero in a Hell not his own, knowing that you were going to have to contest with Orlanth's deep interest in a Hero of his cult. That deed alone might possibly have been an HQ on the part of the Lunars. OTOH, Hofstaring may well have been a 'Queen Leika level' personality... a successful HeroQuester, but one that isn't in the Argrath /Harrek /Jar-Eel tier. What we are sure of is that it took a successful HeroQuest to release his soul for durance vile. And while that quest happened under a different set of game mechanics, the event only happened a few years ago in the game timeline. Then there is Sarostip Prince-Killer, who killed the Lunar puppet Prince of Sartar by moving an entire raiding band through the HeroPlane safely and arrive inside all the defenses that the Temertain [who may have been foolish, but was not stupid] and the Lunars could devise. He was then able to kill the Prince, his entire retinue and most of the Sartar Royal Guard [who are all werewolves]. I submit to you that these deeds would have been utterly impossible using the 'rules' and physics of the Mundane Plane. HeroQuesting, with its great risks, was the only way either deed could have been accomplished. And all that is a whole lot more important than 'Grandfather Racoon's skin'.

For some reason there are people on this thread that seem to think that 'hunter god/ess' seems to mean 'no technology this side of Clan of the Cave Bear', and that simply isn't so. Hunting and hunting gods use ALL technologies and applicable magics to bring the protein to the people. Sure, it's snares for small game and pit traps for migrating herds but ALL missile weapons... everything from javelins to crossbows [OK, so darts are under-kill and arbalests... well, that just depends on what you're hunting]... are happily used as another tool to get the job done. Certainly, some societies are more primitive in their technologies than others. These societies will portray the hunter god as throwing spears and driving herds off cliffs. Other societies are far more sophisticated and will show the hunt as using beaters to drive prey into the kill zone for missile users.