svensson

My suggestion is to get The Glorantha Sourcebook first and then look at the Proserpaedia and pantheon books. At that point then I'd decide whether or not to get Mythology. And remember, you don't HAVE to use any of this stuff. You really do have 90% of everything you need in the Core Rules. Your Glorantha WILL vary... from mine, from Greg's or anybody else's.

Well, I've just gotten through reading the Mythology book. Um, wow. Frankly, I've had to read several sections a couple two-or-three times to make sure I understood the implications and how it all knits together. Now, I'm a reasonably smart fellow and usually have little to no time for all the purveyors of 'madjickal' theory. I live in an area with a strong Wicca/pagan/New Age presence and with the exception of perhaps 8 people [who I respect immensely] I find most practitioners of 'madjick' of my acquaintance are categorically full of crap. I understand and accept that there are things that exist that we don't understand, but I've seen way too many magic rock cults come and go to buy into the Crowley-ist nonsense. HOWEVER... the Mythology book presents a fictional mythos and magical world written by a practicing [and from every single source I hear] well trained shamanist. I never had the chance to meet Greg Stafford, much to my regret, but I sense that he would be among the magic practitioners that I could respect as a mystical scholar and that comes shining through in this book. There are several things that I *really* like about the Mythology book... the statements 'the God Learner Monomyth is both true and false' and 'the Monomyth isn't the only way to visualize Glorantha' leave lots of room for at-the-table ruling while still maintaining a cohesive narrative. But make no mistake... this is NOT the Glorantha neophyte's reference. This book is for those of us who've been dancing around HeroQuesting for while now and are now, finally, getting enough answers about Glorantha's metaphysical world[s] that planning in-game epic HQs are now possible. Unless someone is really invested in Glorantha, they probably won't get a whole lot out of this book. If the Glorantha Sourcebook is Bachelor's in Glorantha Studies text, then Mythology is the Master's Degree document. Last thing: My corner of the world has been afflicted with a whole slew of cults. Antelope OR, where the Rajneeshis tried to take over a town, is less than 200 miles from my house. The Ramtha cult compound isn't 30 miles from where I sit right now. The Unification Moonies and LRons of Scientology have a significant presence here. 'Skeptical' doesn't even begin to cover my feelings about such organizations. That being said, I also know Ashatrur [Odinist], Wiccan, and shamanist practitioners who I deeply respect as people [their character, sense of right and wrong, etc.] and for the theological choices they have made. They're not the ones I would have made, but that's fine. When I say 'Happy Holidays' to them, I mean it sincerely. NONE of my comments about alt-religions is aimed at any particular person. Just like with any other life-choice how you choose to address the divine in your life is none of my affair. I have friends who range from hard-core atheist to practicing Bahai'is. My personal beliefs are more mainstream than that [I'm an Episcopalian] and if you think I'm judgemental about Scientologists [and I most certainly am], you should hear me go off about the shenanigans of the evangelical fundamentalist wing of my Protestant beliefs...

An unknown artist's rendition of the Sumerian city of Uruk at it's height. Second is a photo of the palace ruins.

The Ruins of Persepolis, by Tachar

A model by B. Werner of the North Palace of the citadel of Masada.

Like you guys, I'm having a lot of fun reading the Lightbringers and Earth Goddesses volumes, but I can't seem to remember when the next two volumes are due out. Like a knucklehead, I wrote it down somewhere and lost the note. I believe there's two due out before Christmas and two more due by March 2024, but does anyone have anything more specific?

Eurmal.

With the introduction of the Starter Set, is is reasonable to expect the release of a Pendragon main rules book sometime in the next year?

In later editions, the bard is not the badass Fighter + Thief + Magic guy in 1st edition. They are NOT Gellor from the Gord the Rogue books. From 3.0 onwards, bards are the dilettante talky guy. This is fine if the player is a social, clever, 'talky' person AND if the referee is social and witty enough to work with it.. But it sucks if the player doesn't have that personality. They can do a lot of things, but they don't do anything well enough to take up that necessary spot in a 4-player party. Their magic is mostly of the support variety, with a mix of charm and sonic damage spells. Their magic is mostly arcane with a small number of clerical spells as leavening. And at no point are they as good at their spells as the wizards or clerics they're supposed replace. And a even multiclass Fighter Thief is a better combatant and thief than a single classed bard of twice the level. Their songs can be helpful, but really it's support magic. Bards and monks are great for the fifth guy in the party, but they simply cannot hold down the workload of they guy they replace any of the four classes you need in a basic 4-person party [tank, cleric, damager, trap-monkey].

Well, even if they are 5 or more hands taller with the increased musculature that implies, a War Zebra is slower than a Impala or High Llama and far, far less massive than a bison or rhino.

Looking VERY forward to it, @Ian A. Thomson! I also want to say that I like the cover illustration. The zebras look like... well, zebras and not Percheron destriers with stripes on them. I've tried to explain to players that zebras are 'about 1/3 again the size of pony' and they keep insisting that they can go 'quatro a' quatro' with Bison Tribe lancer and win. Hopefully a picture showing characters actually mounted on zebras will disabuse them of that notion.

It was always my impression that initiation into an approved cult was a requirement for adulthood in Orlanthi tribes. This is supported by the RQG character generation rules. So, are we reverting to the RQ2 situation where initiation is earned in play?

In support for my vision of the Storm oriented Elmal Cult [see the Documents section], meet Elmenest, Sun Thane of the Enhyli

Thanks Scotty!

@Rick Meints Do we have a hypothetically theoretical, almost proposed, definitely maybe date when we can preorder the Proserpedia?

Well, don't forget the part where there are limited resources of everything for everyone... And the more I have, the less you get. This is also a major source of trouble for humanity. Remember, the corporate masters at Nestle don't belief that clean fresh water is a human right.... HOWEVER, in the spirit of full disclosure, they ARE correct that the world wastes most of its water and water is become more scarce by the year.

And all this is why Rune Spells are LOUD. Unless it's specifically designed to be stealthy or deceptive [Dark Walk, Illusionary [Whatever]], a Rune Spell caster is going to stand out like scream in a movie theater... For a moment they get bigger, their expressions are more primal, their voices full of more authority and so on.. they are physically manifesting their god's spiritual power on the Mundane plane.

It all 'went wrong' in the Godtime with the advent of competing gods of different Runic associations and pantheons. This led to competition and competition led to worshipers taking sides. The came in the incursion of Chaos and everything went even more 'wrong'. Greek mythology developed in a relatively small region with smaller cultural groups, where a 'culture' was 5000 people at most. Remember, Greece is a country very poor in natural resources, with poor, rocky soil. It takes a lot of area to feed one city /cultural grouping. AND the area was known for its regionalism... In the Bronze Age a Delphian was completely different from a Theban, even if they shared the same language. What's more, what most of us know as 'Greek mythology' is the distilled and abridged version given to us by Edith Hamilton and her Athenian sensibilities ['Athenian' meaning city not necessarily goddess]. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Sparta, Delphi, Thebes and the rest of Hellenic world had highly localized myths and legends that trivialized Hercules in favor of a local hero and marginalized the myths of Zeus in favor of those of Poseidon.

Wish I'd played in that one. That would have been fun, even if RQ3 was ticky/tack as Hell. Did the players meet the Coders or Baran? Either one would have been fun, if for VERY different reasons.

@Joerg I'm not talking about a specific White Bull/Buffalo heroquest. I'm talking about the rejuvenation of ONE TRIBE'S spirit tradition when their deceased Grandmother [beast] Spirit is reborn on the Mundane Plane and the PCs have to protect it for the good of the tribe.

I was thinking of something rather less 'epic' than resurrecting Genert, animating Eiritha, and so on. My idea is more of a 'balance of power' shift on the Plains as some minor tribes were rejuvenated by the reappearance of their deceased Grandmother spirits [the Rhinos come to mind]. The idea is something of a 'temporal HeroQuest' or campaign where PCs have to find, protect, and nurture an infant [calf/kid/cub] as it becomes a new Grandmother for the tribe. I'm not 100% up on my Plains cultures myths, but in the very broad brush it might be thought of as a 'white buffalo' quest.

Well, I wasn't thinking in terms of resurrecting Genert... That might be a little bit above my pay grade, mythologically speaking 😂 But I really could see a band of Beast Rider nomads entering the Spirit Plane or Hell the source of their spirit traditions to some of the tribes. @soltakss, you lookin' for a collaborator?

I suppose this is a question for @Jeff or @Rick Meints , but I'll propose it to the Collective Shrunken Head. We know that the Hero Wars are a time of great mystical upheaval for Glorantha, almost a Second GodTime, where the rules of Time are being stretched and flexed. Possibilities that no one believes could exist become realities. We know that Argrath apotheosizes into a God to directly confront the Red Goddess. But do other Gods come into existence too? As a 'for instance' that would set one of the favored 'sandboxes' [pun intended] on fire, what would happen if some of the lost Minor Tribe ancestors of Prax were reborn? What if Basmol the Lion and Grandfather Rhino [among others] were mystically regenerated by the energies of the Hero Wars? I would **certainly** lead to a lot of conflict among the Tribes as the scales rebalanced themselves. And in conflict we find adventure. What do you guys think?

That is the best of Terrestrial horse culture myth... -- Cu Chulainn loved two horses he stole to pull his chariot. -- The Turkish, Bedouin, and Mongols each had proverbs and aphorisms that announced that the best horse of a warrior is one stolen from his enemies. -- The Plains Indians cultures, especially the Sioux and Comanche, lauded the qualities of stolen horses and one couldn't be considered a serious warrior among many tribes without stealing a horse from another tribe. It's for reasons like this that I included the Movement/Change Rune in my highly unoffical, very IMGU writeup of Elmal's cult.

After all, to hear them tell it EVERY Irishman is a direct descendant of Cu Chulain AND Brian Boru! And every Scot is blood-kin to William Wallace. 😁 Which does NOT mean that we Americans don't have our version of, um, let's just call it 'mythological misunderstandings' too... I mean, I love my country, but I know my people... 🤣😅😂