svensson

The problem with 'empire' isn't the WINNING of the empire, it's KEEPING it. Especially when your empire is trying to impose a common set of laws, customs, and religion across its entirety. The Romans, British and French found this out to their very great discomfort. The Mongols were more successful because they DIDN'T change local cultures or religions. They had very simple laws with clear and absolute punishments for their violations, but Russians followed the laws and customs of Russia, Chinese followed the Chinese, etc. In Gloranthan terms, the Lunars are trying to be the British Empire with a large slice of the Umayyad /Fatamids thrown in. They are not only driven by access to resources, but by religion and the absolute conviction that their way is the only right way to organize a society [despite all the evidence to the contrary]. They are a 'crusading' culture that ran up against a collection of races and people just simply refuse to be conquered. And now they're paying the price.

One of the small joys of this hobby is finding interesting information in odd corners. On today's wikipedia front page, there is a VERY interesting article on a prehistoric village on Cyprus by name of 'Tenta'. It discusses the tools, food, and lifestyle of this very early attempt at settlement. I'm thinking that more than one referee will find something of interest here. [link below] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenta,_Cyprus

Well, even RQ doesn't 'control' weather all that much. You can Call or Clear cloud cover, and establish small areas of local weather conditions for short periods, but at the cost of major expenditures of Rune Points. It would be a serious expenditure of RP for, say, a Heler Rune level to cause rain in an area larger than 100 sq. meters, and even that's a gentle life-supporting rain, not an 'everybody-get-inside' downpour. The same goes for a Valind Rune level [who are **significantly** rarer on the ground Helerians in Sartar] causing snow, although they ought to be able to cause blizzard conditions more easily I should think. I'm pretty sure that much of this discussion will be significantly changed with the release of God of Glorantha in any event. That'll have detailed writeups on all the 'weather gods' including special rune spells that will probably go beyond just Cloud Call, Cloud Clear, Rain, Sunripen, etc.

Well, all this really depends on the PC's and the various tribes' experience with Kallyr. Because Sartarite leaders are more meritoriously selected than Lunar or Dara Happan ones, there are a great deal more personal relationships to go with the political opinions. More people have a hands-on workaday experience with 'Chief Bob' and know Bob's leadership style. If Bob is an inspiring lead-from-the-front kind of guy, that message will get around pretty quick. If Bob is more a Bolthor or Kangharl type, that message will get around too. Leika's rep is as mixed as Kallyr's was. She suffered much for the cause of Sartarite freedom, and made a lot of mistakes on the way. Like Kallyr, she made a lot of enemies. What's more, Leika's administration is pretty new as the campaign starts out of the RQG GM's Pack. She's only had the Chiefship for a couple seasons since Dragonrise. She had previous experience, of course, and the tribe is happy to have the Black Spear back home, but her administration is still weak and the people are looking to see if Orlanth and Ernalda favor Leika's return. That's gonna take a couple of Sacred Times to sort out.

Not having cultists who deal specifically with weather issues [Heler, etc], I assume that the weather is 'average' for the season until a plot requires otherwise. Something I learned in the Army that helps with the adventurer mindset is 'The job has to get done no matter what the sky is doing. Bring a coat and a tee-shirt and get back to work.' Of course, when the weather becomes a threat to life and limb, the job is postponed... but that means that something else that needed to get done won't be done. The trick to the whole thing is managing the jobs so that the ones that are inevitably delayed by weather are the jobs you can live without.... Thatching the roof rather than fixing the fence, that sort of thing. I say all this because adventurers [or at least players, who are not feeling the frostbite soak into their feet] often push harder than a senior NCO with a big inspection coming up... forced marches become routine, working their animals to death ['Well, he's gonna die in a couple of years anyway" said one PC in my game], pushing their tenant farmers as hard as they push themselves [but remember, Player Character Bob... all that extra work only enriches YOU, not them], etc. etc. etc. I've even had one PC look at me and ask, completely seriously, "How many toes does 'Regrow Limb' grow back?" when the stupid SOB didn't get the hint and marched three days in a blizzard wearing sandals thereby losing all the toes on one foot. Jesus, you'd think somebody could take a hint, but.... Fortunately, I have a far more sensible group of players now. They [usually] take the hint when the weather socks them in. I have also learned to tell them when the weather is part of the plot. And I am VERY careful to manage their movement and 'tasks completed list' for weather conditions as well. You just don't get as far towards your goals when it's too hot or too cold or raining or whatever else have you, and I've 'taught' my players to factor that into their planning.

OK, first off, that was a great way to involve the PCs in the main storyline. Nice work. However, Earth Prime history isn't very kind to those who are the Doers Of Very Bad Things For Those In Power. For every Francis Walsingham, who retired honored, rewarded and in favor with Elizabeth I, there are 10 G. Gordon Liddys... who died [just last year, in 2021] a broke nobody who had to resort to using his infamy to host Wrestlemania and schill gold on late night TV. The danger of doing the will of your prince [inferring your sworn leader here] without their specific order to do so is that you can easily be scapegoated if the politics demand it. With EXTREMELY fatal consequences.

Certainly Leika sees herself as the logical replacement, but she knows that there's powerful tribes in Sartar would resist her rule without the immediate threat of a Lunar counterattack. The Colymar are a powerful tribe, but Leika is simply too disliked in equally powerful quarters and she knows it. That said, she gave Kallyr's spirit every opportunity to re-inhabit its body. Three weeks is a long time to wait for a resurrection, and everybody in Boldhome knew it. They were hoping for some post-Death Heroquest miracle [which is certainly possible in Glorantha], but while they waited the Lunars were already moving reinforcements to the Provincial Army. The Sartarite political impasse HAD to be broken so somebody could become Prince and lead the country back to independence. Leika knew from fighting with Broyan that an unconsolidated victory is indistinguishable from defeat, so if not Leika herself, she knew that Argrath had the lineage, the following, and the power to lead. And none of that was going to happen while Kallyr lay on a bier like Baby Jesus on a Christmas manger display.

I suspect that some tribes were royally pissed off... especially the Boldhome-centered Quivini. Some would think that Leika was trying to become Prince, but if that was the case she and the Colymar would have stayed in Boldhome. Some tribes would think that Leika was just doing something, ANYTHING to get things moving again. More than anything else, I personally think she did it to get the thanes of all the tribes back to their own lands.... The Lunars had been driven back, but not defeated. And the Lunars could replace losses much faster than the Sartarites. I think she wanted the troops back where they could defend their lands instead of waiting on funeral for an entire season. But that's just my opinion.

The way I do such things is have the players make an INT or POW 'luck' roll. Usually it's Stat x 5, but it could be Stat x 3 if it's something they've been warned about repeatedly in the past. If anything, such a roll will get the players thinking 'what did I miss?' and sometimes that helps jog the memories. If you want RP the whole thing, have the players take part in a ceremony or festival and have them announced as 'Bearers of the King Beneventos' Panoply!' If that doesn't ring the bell for them, the players really do need to suffer the consequences. Glorantha is world where the gods and spirits lie very close to the Mundane Plane and such beings do not take well to false promises. I know it's harsh for your players, but part of the wonder of Glorantha over, say, the Forgotten Realms is that there are no Elminsters to fix it for you. Humanity has more agency in Glorantha, more ability to change the world. The great danger of the Lunar Empire is their ability to conduct 'HeroQuest Offensive Operations' a'la the God Learners. So if humans can reassemble a deity and HeroQuest new powers and force a place in the Sky Dome for her, it's perfectly appropriate for PC's to suffer the consequences for failing to making good on a promise to a powerful spirit /almost-wyter... especially since that spirit provided the tools, HIS tools, that gained the party fame to begin with. It's not 'harsh' as a GM to rule that Consequences Have Arrived. It's harsh if you are vicious or cruel with them, like you're some 13 year old power-gamer munchkin style GM in junior high school. But the scenario states that the party's clan suffers the -25%. Once that happens, divinations will be made and the cause will be identified. The sum total penalty is the clan has a rough year and the party takes a major REP hit [it IS possible for your reputation to increase for all the wrong reasons -- just because people have heard of you doesn't mean it was complimentary]. So it's not harsh to adjudicate that penalty, no more and no less.

As for awakened animals joining cults... We have RQ3 canon references of mounts joining cults, but it was so unusual as to be specifically referred to. In Strangers In Prax, one of the Lunar Coders wyvern mounts had enough mental ability [CHA, POW and INT] to be initiated into Seven Mothers. This was so unusual that a plaque stating this fact was permanently stitched to its scales. Now, I grant you that a wyvern isn't an alynx and RQ3 isn't RQG. But Glorantha is world where the wonderful happens on a fairly regular basis [with luck and hard work] and there are more possibilities than here on Earth. Having said that, I also think that most animals wouldn't be drawn to a human cult as much as they would to a cult specific to their species. An alynx would be drawn to Yinkin, for example, or Hykim and Miyakh. But since the Rune spells of said cults are designed for humans [The Head, Claws, Skin spells], obviously some adjustments will need to be made. I could honestly see a 2 pt Rune spell that gives a pawed animal human hands and the ability to manipulate items for the duration ['Behold, the power of THUMBS!'].

@Bill the barbarian are good. We approach life from very different angles, but that doesn't make either one of us 'wrong', per se. As usual, and just like with everything, the middle ground is where our, um, 'dissertations' [cough-cough] end up. The sad fact is that we're both infected with the deadly disease of 'Yeah, but'-ism. 😅😁😆

Good point. I'll correct that in my comment for clarity's sake.

For those interested, I checked with @Scotty on the RQ Q&A thread about the Ironhand spell [or as I have named it, 'Snabs', for Spirit Magic Natural Attack Buff Spell 😉] in reference to how many natural attacks the spell effects. His answer, referencing the RQG Core Rules and Red Book of Magic, is that the spell effects entire body of the effected creature for the duration of the spell. So, your human gets the buff on Fist, Kick, Bite, and Grapple attempts and your Alynx gets the buff on Bite, Claw, and Rake attempts, etc. Bladesharp [etc.] does not effect natural attack modes.

@Shiningbrow and @French Desperate WindChild I agree with both of you in the sense that the player ought to have agency and input in designing the animal companion. I just think that referees need to set firm limits on what that companion will and will not do. Will the animal companion take a turn as a sentry? Well, if the animal is, say, a dog or other protective-by-nature animal, sure they would. If the animal is a snake, probably not. Sartar is a cold place most of the year and Mr. Snake will probably want to be next to the warm bodies rather slithering on patrol [which is an image all by itself...]. If one of my PCs had this heirloom boon, here's how I'd adjudicate it: a] What species is it? This will determine the the instinctual 'go-to' behavior. b] Now roll the stats three important stats, CHA, INT, and POW. The smarter and more confident the animal is, the easier it will be for it to behave rationally over instinctively. c] Now let's make up the story. How did you meet? How did they become your friend? Why are they traveling with you? Once all this is done, then I'd work with the player to define the relationship and behaviors of their animal friend, setting limits on the more outlandish stuff and being flexible about the rest.

1. Hunter/Gatherer cultures were 'nomadic' only until they ran up on a natural barrier they couldn't cross or another people who wouldn't let them cross. And most H/G societies got VERY nervous traveling into an area where they didn't know the plants and game pattern. They DID have borders, just not national ones. 2. I take your point insofar as Glorantha is concerned. However, theism is a more powerful and effective magic than spiritualism is, especially since most theist worshipers have access to that powerful magic at a lower level than Spirit Magic users. H/G's are at a distinct disadvantage in this situation. Some H/G cultures have become sophisticated enough to hold the line against theists [Pralorela and Rathorela for example], but that just slows the conversion rate to theism. Every year more youngsters initiate into 'foreign gods' rather than local spirits. These youngsters go out into the wide world and return later with marvelous tales and useful items that convince the next generation to try it. It is only the provable and manifest presence of effective Shamanistic magic that keeps most of the curious at home. 3. Trade with Europeans was as much a detriment to the Native American tribes as smallpox was, just slower. It led to a degradation of their cultures as many tribesmen absolutely NEEDED goods from European sources to give away in potlaches. If you can get a steel knife, wool blankets and bright beads from Walks Tall at his feast, you're going to ignore Fire-In-His-Eye's feast that only has skins and flints. Introducing widespread greed killed as many Natives as firewater did, and nobody's found a cure for that yet.

Absolutely! But all too many PCs tend to use NPCs as tools not people. I try very hard to disabuse the PCs of that notion whenever I encounter it. I don't even buy the 'my character has done that [extremely risky action] before' excuse. NPCs are NOT player characters. NPCs have more sense than go poking sticks into dark caves to see how many broo come out. NPCs don't risk their lives on excessively-high-risk-but-only-medium-reward endeavors. They leave all that 'Hero shit' to player characters. So no, Player Character Bob, the kid you hired to look after your horses IS NOT gonna follow your voice into a mysterious cave complex to cast Heal 2 on you unless you give him a VERY [i.e. convincing and lucrative] reason to do so.

There is no way of living that is better or worse than any other, save of course for criminality. Hunter/gatherers are no more 'free' than agriculturalists inasmuch as they are both slaves to weather, disaster, deterioration of natural conditions because of an imbalance of the natural cycles that have nothing to do with the presence of Man. For that matter, let's not over glamorize indigenous peoples as living in some idyll like eff'ing Adam and Eve, shall we? Natives aren't born with an innate and 'natural' understanding of the balance of nature and their role in it. Indigenes over-predated areas, suffered sickness and diseases easily cured by modern medicine, warred for no other reason than the enemy was 'somebody else' and made every one of the mistakes that settled people do. They are and were no more virtuous than anyone else for all the mythological 'simplicity' of their lives. Mind you, this DOES NOT mean that I disrespect any indigenous culture or people. I just don't mythologize them as automatically having a 'better way' to live than anyone else. They're people... human beings... who make mistakes and suffer all the faults and foibles of the human condition. You can find wisdom in everybody's culture. You can also find mistakes. Real wisdom is sorting out the truth from the errors and applying those truths no matter where you find them. Last thing on this subject: there's a lot of 'off the grid' envy out there nowadays where people decide that they don't want to live in society and head out into the boonies to homestead. That's fine as far as it goes, but most are complete hypocrites about it. You see these TV shows where people want to 'go primitive' but they're still completely covered in the products of the society they claim to reject... from wool flannel shirts, to GoreTex coats, to blue jeans and work boots. And that's not even getting into the high carbon steel tools, plastic buckets, copper wiring, glass windows and the rest of it. Look, if you want to go find your inner Cro-Magnon feel free to do that but until you're wearing buckskins made from the skin of your last meal and fabrics made of raw flax and hunting with knapped-stone weapons you made yourself from absolutely nothing but local sources, you're just a poser who just doesn't like to be around other people. You remember that idiot, Christopher McCandless who starved himself to death in Alaska because he wanted to live outside of society but didn't have the slightest idea of how to survive living off the land in Alaska -- and refused help when it was offered? There's absolutely nothing sympathetic or idealistic in such a death. It's not even a tragedy. Yeah, that clown literally died because of a terminal case of The Stupids.

@Shiningbrow had commented 'munchkins gonna munchkin' in the post above mine.

The key point here is that the animal companion is an ALLY and a free thinking being not an embodied Allied Spirit with a cult duty to you. You can't use it's POW or MP any old way you want. You ASK your FRIEND for help, you don't give it orders. And just like any friend, if you treat it too badly your friend can tell you to piss off and head for Wild Temple where it'll get some respect. Munchkins may try and munchkin, but good referees have a whole repertoire of consequences for that bullshit.

Folks, PATIENCE! It will be done when it is done, not a minute before. You literally have EVERYTHING you need to run a campaign RIGHT NOW. You have the Core Rules, The GM's Pack with handouts and a setting, the Bestiary, Weapons and Equipment is shipping as we speak, and two books full of scenarios. In addition, there is the Starter Set with another setting, a Solo Adventure and 3 additional adventures. And that's just from Chaosium itself. The Jonstown Compendium on DriveThru is publishing as much material as you could possibly want, from one-offs to full campaign narratives to 'military histories' that discuss the armies and effects of magic on the battlefield. So Take. A. Freaking. Breath. Chaosium is working their asses off trying to get the product out the door. Fer crying out loud, we [the old grognard fans] waited 25 years between the last RQ3 supplement and the two book slipcase Guide to Glorantha. If it takes another year to put out Gods of Glorantha and the GMs Guide and both are of the same quality, then the wait is worth it. Or would you rather get hardback spammed like Paizo does with a new major addition to the core rules every freaking month? The new edition of RQ, RuneQuest In Glorantha, is a multiple orders of magnitude improvement over RQ3, whereas PF2's supplements have degraded... both the page count and the word count of each hardback is smaller AND they want $45 for the privilege over PF1's $35 for less content [to clarify, PF 1 had more content at a smaller price than PF2]. So with RQG you're getting a high quality product for your money, but that quality takes time to produce.

RQ is not 'generic medieval' like most DnD millieux. It's SOLIDLY Bronze Age. So, movies that provide some inspiration: - Troy [2004] Yes, the Brad Pitt version - The Odyssey [1997] The Armand Assante /Greta Scacchi mini-series OK, these next few are digging back into the archives... - Jason and the Argonauts [1963] Ray Harryhausen Claymation goodness! - 7th Voyage of Sinbad [1958] Ditto! - Demetrius and the Gladiators [1954] A lot of Christian allegory here about the reign of Emperor Caligula and Claudius - decadent empire political shennanigans - The Egyptian [1958] In my mind, this is the Most RuneQuest Movie EVER... -- Honorable Mention: The 13th Warrior [1999] Yes, it's Beowulf-ish, yes all the armor and weaponry are So. Very. Wrong., but it's an RQ adventure with the nameplate scraped off.

Well, the key word is 'awakened'... the critter has full INT and POW [which DOES NOT mean that your friend isn't stupid or weak-willed... you can have an 'awakened' animal with an INT and POW of 8....]. And when folks got to talking about 'Ironclaw' [Bladesharp for natural weapons] and rake attacks, I had the impression folks were talking about the animal not the human. If I was mistaken on that, my bad.

[sighs as people intentionally miss the point and parse missing it for an entire page] The point is to keep your pet weasel out of combat. It's intelligent and can reason. It can judge the odds and decide that getting into melee would be a Very Bad Idea. Clawsharp on something that can only do 1-2 pts of damage to start with is a complete waste of Magic Points and puts your furry at entirely too much risk. Let me put this another way: You're using a friend like a tool... something to be used and if necessary discarded for the sake of your adventure goals. This is a good attempt at meeting the definition of min/max power gaming nonsense. NOW am I making my point?

PROTIP: Alynxes are not stupid enough to get into melee just because you ask it to. It's well aware of the odds in a fight between its 25 lbs. self [that's where SIZ 2 tops out] and a SIZ 12+ Pissed Off Biped With Stabby Thing [tm]. It's an alynx, not a bison or other war beast. They're a companion and a hunting partner. My advice... since you get to pick which spells your awakened animal friend has, select Coordination, Strength, or another of the 'buff' spells [2 pts. each] and either Disruption or Speeddart. Another perfectly good alternative is to have your fuzzy friend memorize Heal 3. There are a lot of other combinations, but in my mind that's the best risk v. reward setup.

The awakened animal you get on heirloom table is specifically NOT an alynx because alynxes are too large. The Heirloom Table specifies a SIZ 1 or 2 animal, though it does say cat. Alynxes are SIZ 3-4 according the Bestiary, so they're too large. As for Hunter occupation Alynxes, they're trained hunting animals not an extension of your personal will. The SIZ Equivalencies Table put a SIZ 4 creature at about 40 lbs. This is significantly smaller than a German Shepherd or Belgian Malinois military/police working dog, so adjust your expectations accordingly. Alynxes are hunting companions, not combat animals. They herd prey into the kill zone, track, and otherwise assist a hunter. And even 'just that much' is a Hell of a lot of help! The intent with the Heirloom table item is provide a friend and a helpful caster -- preferably boosting spells for you rather than attack spells. After all, SIZ 2 doesn't leave a lot of room for hit points. Even having a pet that'll cast Heal 3 on you is a HUGE plus in a fight. The small size of the animal can actually work in its favor. In the flurry of a fight, a small size critter will usually be ignored and can therefore slip into and out of casting range and [hopefully] stay out of melee. What the Heirloom Table does NOT intend is for you to get an Allied Spirit on the cheap.