svensson

The players begin the scenario approaching the ruin amidst a driving rainstorm in the middle of the night in two groups; one being the Commonwealth soldiers and their German POW, the second being the French Legionnaire and civilians. They then meet in the first batch of cover they can find, the cloister walk. Next comes a search for a reasonably dry place to ride out the storm. After this gets established, the strange stuff starts happening. After I get the paranoia up to a reasonable level, they meet the half-mad deserters in the basement. THEN the player with the most investment in Powers will meet the shade of Seigneur Gui de Mont Massif. Now at this point I could have gotten complicated with it, but for an introduction simpler is usually better. All Sir Gui wants is to be shriven and laid to rest with a sword. A bayonet will not do. The players can search the abbey for one or head out into battlefields looking for the remains of a dead officer who carried one. IF the players can put Sir Gui to rest, it will restore enough SAN points with the deserters that they're willing to be brought in peacefully. The end rewards are promotions for the troops, perhaps decorations, promotions and REP bonuses for the civilians and jobs away from the front lines for them and their families...

My apologies, Jeorge. I misunderstood. I know the hassle of trying to get along in another language. My 'StraBedeutsche' is pretty awful nowadays and my Spanish is worse.

Wait a minute, Joerg, 'I disagree and here's why' is not 'outrage'. Sure some of us are going to disagree with each other, that's normal. But I am in no way angry or frustrated with you.

So the discussion of weregild and other topis over this last weekend suggested an idea for a product. In RQ3 the Dorastor Land of Doom scenario book had several things going for it [including the Scorpion-woman Sword of Humakt, but nevermind...], but one of the best things about it was depth of detail of the Renakoti clan. The clan leaders and personalities were all sketched out and it went into really impressive detail on the nuts and bolts of being a Heortling Orlanthi clan. Things like what it takes to run a successful steading, how to get heard by the lawspeaker, what the various levels of guest privileges are, and so forth. Previous to this, our exposure to Heortling clans was from the top downwards... always from the Clan Ring's perspective and the Renekoti showed life is like behind the plow, so to speak. Seems to me that with the drastically changed political situation in Sartar a book describing one clan in RQG terms would be helpful, not as an adventure scenario book but as a 'this is where you're from' standpoint. What do you guys think?

Storm worshipers are not bullies. They are violent, yes. They are boastful, yes. They certainly prize physical strength. But their culture has specific protections for those who are not warriors [that is to say, 'weapon-thanes'] and one major commitment of all who take up arms is the protection of the clan. Praxian nomads are more bullies than Heortlings are [and Praxians are not bullies, either]. Heortlings value all kinds of wisdom and every adult is free to speak their mind. Every household contributes to the defense of the clan, not through coercion [as with Lunar conscripts] but for the common good. Now, Zorak Zorani, those guys are bullies. It would also be useful to remember that there are several cultures that worship the Storm Pantheon, just as there are several who worship the Earth. An Ernalda initiate from Esrolia looks and acts very differently than one from Sartar [Heortling culture] or the Paps [Praxian culture]. So too are Heortlings different than Vingkotlings or Solanthi.

'No one can make you do anything' is certainly true. But you'd better be ready to accept the consequences, and among Heortlings those who refuse to take the consequences are held in disrepute. Kill a man and refuse to pay weregild? You better be ready for outlawry then. And very few clans are willing to protect an outlaw, and even if they do protect him that outlaw is essentially imprisoned within his clan's lands. If he leaves them, he can be killed out of hand.

Historically, there were two scales when considering weregild: the level of injury and the loss of ability to make a living and the level of insult and loss of reputation. Now, the injury gets whole lot more nebulous in a world where magical healing is available, but the Orlanthi are a simpler people than the Esrolians or Dara Happans. If you injure a person [and the gender makes no difference; among Orlanthi keeping a house and tilling a field are held in equal esteem], you are bound to attempt to make right your error as Orlanth did during the Lightbringer's Quest. If you unjustly injure a man but immediately heal him, you still are held liable for the injury because you shouldn't have hurt him in the first place! Certainly you won't pay as much as if you cut him and left him to die, but you will be held to account for your actions before the clan ring. This is done to keep the hotheads [of which Heortlings have more than their fair share] under some kind of control. No man wants to be hauled up before the clan ring time and again because he pulls his sword too casually... he might find himself indentured to the family he injured all through Earth Season harvest time [and thereby not be able to help his kin harvest his own crops] if he makes too big a habit of it. My point here is that just because there is magical healing doesn't mean than offense was not committed. Now, a lot of this will depend on reputation, popularity, and clan ring's attempts to put the matter to bed without hard feelings, but the essential justice and social controls are still present.

Well, this is just the thing we've been needing. I got HeroLab for my Pathfinder Characters and it's been a huge help given Paizo's release schedule. But I won't lie, that crap ain't cheap. So I can really see the need for this utility. Like I said, THANKS for all the hard work.

Wow. Good stuff and clearly a lot of work. Nice job @Cgeist7

1. Nope. My wife used to work for WotC and DnD. If you own any 3.0 /3.5 stuff, her name has a good chance of being in it. As we used to joke, 'Dirzzt Do'Urden was our sugar-daddy' 2. Yeah, I'm also one of those 'all aboard' type people. I shy away from the word 'inclusive' because of the political correctness overtones, but I still hate bimbo armor and excessive perviness out of peeps at my table. 3. If you've got the personality to do video, do you thing! I'm a Civil War reenactor who does a lot of school demos and I used to do stand up comedy, but for all that I don't video worth a damn. The camera just hates me. 4. You'll find that this board is very helpful. Actually, we're kind of like Civil War reenactors in that if you ask us a simple question, you'll end up finding out WAY more than thought you were going to

Wereguild [Blood Gold] is the custom of compensation for those who were killed or injured in the various fights that happen in Orlanthi society. The rates quoted in the books for ransoms are often a good indicator as to what their wereguild will be. As to when someone is only injured, the compensation is adjusted depending on the extent of the injury. A permanent wound can result in full compensation if that wound bars a citizen from making a living. However, it is not unusual for the wereguild to be the price of healing a major wound... Did you accidentally cut someone's leg off? Then you might be held liable for the price of a Regrow Limb spell. Dueling is another matter. If duel happens because of somebody's hot temper, then both parties might be liable for wereguild depending on the results of the duel. If a duel is the result of a clan feud, or to settle an argument between clans, then no wereguild is awarded. Actions in declared wars or cattle raids never result in wereguild, and it is considered crass to demand it.

As to 'where the Hell has RQ been', well, it's been languishing for the most part. Just like with sci-fi games that have to compete with sexier IPs and franchises with movies and TV behind them, RQ has been the victim of the elephant in the room, DnD. Now, God bless DnD. Without it we wouldn't be where we are. Without WotC pulling us kicking and screaming out of our mom's basement and actually popularizing the hobby, tabletop RPGs might very well have died under the weight of computer games. They had the money to spend, the vision to make gaming popular, and the will to see that effort through. But with that success comes the problems. Everyone sees FRPGs in a DnD /World of Warcraft light. Other engines and methods of gaming get drowned out amid that noise. But be glad you found BRP, CoC, and RQ. Encourage others to find them. There is more than one way to skin a dire lion and the more we show other players what those ways are, the more converts we'll make. [PS, Sorry about the line-through crap. I have no idea where it comes from. It pops up on my posts now and again and I can't seem to get it to stop. Yes, I've tried the button at the top of the tool bar]

A player can pick ANY Runes they wish. However, their cult will require Rune affinity at certain levels, usually a minimum 50% in one of the Runes a deity embodies. Had your character chosen Moon, Darkness, and Earth in that order and didn't put any extra points in those choices, they wouldn't be able to be an Initiate of Orlanth. And given the political situation in Sartar at this moment, that could have some real social consequences for them. 'Lunar lover' is not a nickname you want in a country that's recently been liberated. But there are not hard and fast rules about that. If the character were a member of a cult that was at least non-hostile to the Storm pantheon, then they could avoid all that.

Partner, you ain't the first person to let DnD tropes and expectations send your character generation sideways You ain't the first person that's happened to today. Just remember one very important thing about RQ character generation and parties... there are NO '4 food groups' in an RQ party. You don't divide the party into 'tank, blaster, healer, skill monkey'. In RQ, EVERYBODY tanks at some point, everybody is a skill monkey, everybody has some healing. Sure, a Chalanna Arroy is gonna be way better at healing, but don't sell that Heal 2 Spirit Magic spell short. It can and will save your life.

Oh and about those pre-gen characters... My first reaction to them was 'Damn! Why aren't half of these 'toons Rune Priests already?' In previous editions you'd be lucky if your main weapon attack was 60% at age 21, but in RQG you can easily generate a Rune Lord in character generation if you knew what to focus on. In RQ2 and RQ3, there was a certain pacing to an adventurer's life. You generated as an Initiate, usually with low-ish skill levels. You then adventured until you made it to Rune Lord. At that time the cult's time and monetary demands would seriously erode your time. When you adventured at that point it was usually for cult goals, not your own. By the time you hit Rune Priest or Rune Lord-Priest, the cult requirements were such that it was just about retirement time. RQG has flipped that pacing on its head and I'd need to play a character to the point of reaching the upper tiers to see the effects of that on a given career.

Moon provided you with a bump to your POW when you generated your stats. Furthermore, you can use Moon to inspire almost any magical action you care to undertake. Is your Orlanth Adventurous attacking a Seven Mothers Initiate? Use Moon to put some *oomph* behind the spells you use on him! Nothing quite like using someone's own basic rune against them! Air is pretty much required for a first or second rune for a Storm worshiper [Storm is the pantheon Orlanth rules over], so no harm done there. The same would be true if you were worshiping a Dark deity like Argan Argar for example... you 'd need to take Darkness as the first or second rune.

Relax, my friend. Sometimes 'glaring errors' are what makes a given character fun! I once put together a 'thief' character that couldn't open locks! Turned out that he was a smuggler [and a devout member of both Issaries and Eurmal, thank you], not a second story man. He could talk you out of your boots in a snowstorm, but couldn't sneak for beans.

Thanks! I appreciate it. I have a bad habit of over-thinking things so the encouragement is helpful.

POW is easy to increase with the right spells. POW is increased in two ways, the slow way and the fast, risky way. The slow way is to wait for your seasonal or annual holy day ceremonies and attempt a POW gain then. However, in order to do that you must be in a consecrated place with a full priest of the deity. Not every adventurer can schedule their travels for that, especially in a party full of mixed cults. The fast but risky way is to learn and use spells that attack another being's POW stat. If you succeed in that attack, you gain a skill check on your POW stat just as with a skill. The stereotypical Spirit Magic spells for that are Dispuption, Ignite [if you light a target's hair on fire -- see spell definition], and Sleep. Of those spells, only Disruption is offered in Orlanth Adventurous. Ignite is easiest-found among Yelm [NOT Yelmalio] worshipers, and Sleep is a cult secret spell for Chalanna Arroy, and they will not teach it to those who they believe will do harm to someone with the spell [which is pretty much describes almost every other cult]. Another way to learn these spells is to find a shaman and do him enough favors that he'll teach you the spells. I know from experience that that can be a long painful process. Insofar as sacrificing POW to your deity, that is part of the compact of being a bonded worshiper. Lay worshipers get limited social benefits, Initiates get most of the social benefits and limited magical benefits, Priests and Lords get the full menu. In exchange the worshiper must abide by certain restrictions. But it's a pretty piss-poor initiate who doesn't have 5 or more Rune Points [in RQG terminology] by the time they're 30. The Gods offer you wonderful Rune Spells that are much more effective than Spirit Spells via that POW sacrifice, and most cults think you'd be fool to pass up the opportunity.

[Inserts long litany of old SCA sheep, uh, 'farmer' jokes here]

But the great thing about Traveller was that Miller, Ford, Chadwick, the Keith Bros. and co. specifically constructed the humans with distinctly different cultural imperatives. And, by the by, the stereotypical Evil Humans were from Terra! Miller commented that as the aliens were introduced, they got weirder and weirder... the uplifted canines of the Vargr, then the Aslan 'lion-samurai', then the militant vegetarian K'Kree, then the stagnant, caste-driven Droyne 'bug-bats', and lastly, my personal favorite, the Hivers. And I don't know of one major sci-fi IP with a major race as absolutely weird as the Hivers [aka, 'the Squigglers']

No matter how clever they are at log rolling, I just can't take a teddy bear with the linguistics of Jar-Jar Binks seriously. At least H. Beam Piper's Fuzzy Sapiens had a culture. True words, man. If you want a definition for 'phoning it in' just look at OS' race and culture stuff. Which is sad because political and naval stuff wasn't bad. Whoops. My bad. Got Poul Anderson and Larry Niven mixed up.

It's OOP now, but if you can find it the Guardians of Order FUDGE system Tekumel book is a very good start. Remember, MAR Barker was writing as a technical writer back in the 50's and 60's... that's why much of the Tekumel stuff looks rather like old Morrow Project material. Granted that the presentation is the absolute definition of Wall Of Text [tm], but if you can dig into it it's worth your while.

@Sir_Godspeed And if you really want to take a left on all the tropes, give Tekumel a try! The problem with that is that players can't go any farther than 'Aztec with tech'.... Tekumel has a steep learning curve, more so than Glorantha, but even that can be surmounted.

"I was once acquainted with an officer of Royal Artillery. The man owned a tom-cat that he'd named 'Imperial Cavalry' because, he said, all the damned thing ever did was eat, drink, fornicate, and groom itself..." --Rudyard Kipling