Jose-san

On 1/6/2024 at 4:12 AM, g33k said:

I treat INT as if it were DEX for SR purposes, when you're changing your mind in combat.  Add your "INT Ranks" to do something different than you had intended.  This specifically allows you to pick a new target for your same-spell, same-missile, same in-hand melee weapon, etc -- not doing a different thing, just doing the same thing to a different target.  Quicker-witted characters are just quicker about this sort of thing!

I'm sure copying this into my ruleset 🙂

15 hours ago, Jeff said:

The biggest source of money in Sartar are tolls on caravans. Given that almost ALL the trade between Peloria and the rest of the world, and almost ALL trade between Prax and the rest of the world, goes through Sartar, this is a huge amount of revenue. As a result, the Prince of Sartar traditionally enjoys more wealth than a Lunar satrap. As this is largely imposed on outsiders, it is also popular with the tribes.

This is very interesting, thanks!

49 minutes ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Other taxes....

Tolls upon entering cities.  Amounts vary with your game.

Perhaps tolls on roads: a more polite variant of highway robbery.  This is usually  suppressed on Sartar royal roads when you have a strong Prince, but elsewhere and elsewhen??? 

Import duties at ports, amount depending on the port, IMG.

Market fees if you are selling.  That is canon, see Cults of Prax.  But amounts are not canon.

Ground rent if you have a house in a city.  Land is essentially leased, as I understand it. This is essentially equivalent to a property tax.

The 20% tithe on agriculture is the big " tax", and in a mostly agricultural society that raises almost 20% of Gross National Product, which is definitely not a post Bronze Age concept.

There is no income tax, because it is not practical in a mostly illiterate society. Again, not a Bronze Age idea. However for grins I made an Orlanthi Form 1040, and will attach it.  Mostly for players who quibble over tithes, though also to amuse myself.

Your cult tithes apply to non ag income, at least for initiates and above.  But this is not a "tax".  It is not enforced by a king who might be deceived, only by your gods who are aware of everything their initiates do (see Divination) (see Spirits of Retribution).

As I understand it (YGMV),  kings and Lunar governors may collect a tax as a percentage of property.    Probably with your clan as the collector, subject to royal displeasure.  However people and clans  may attempt to hide property from tax collectors.  But that is not a normal thing in time of peace for non subject peoples.  It is a historical background thing, not in the RQiG rulebook.  You can use it to oppress your players, as used in [spoiler] Six Seasons.   

 

 

Orlanthi form 1040 draft 1.pdf 30.06 kB · 1 download

I had a burst of laughter reading the form! Thanks 🙂

That's a lot of food for thought 🙂 Thank you very much!

I'm curious about how people manage taxes in their campaigns.

Initiates are supposed to pay 10% of their income to their temple. What's "income"? Their basic professional or household income and anything made on the side as well, like loot from adventures? How do you manage this?

Quote

RG p407

The basic “tax” in most Gloranthan societies is the temple tithe, most notably the 20% of the harvest that goes to the local temples of Ernalda and her husband

Do you take this into account? Does it affect PC in any way?

What other taxes exist in Orlanthi society, do clans, tribes and/or cities collect taxes in any way? If so how and how much?

18 hours ago, Cloud64 said:

We use the starter set map, over which I've put a 3 mile hex grid to make estimates even easier; crossing 1 hex takes approx. 1 hr on foot, 6 hexes travelled per day. 

This is a neat idea! 🙂

I did some comparisons with distances with other maps and I got an approximate scale of about 1.6 - 1.7 km/cm

But I don't think it's really at any scale, some things are different than in other maps. 

On 10/6/2023 at 5:58 PM, Oracle said:

Which, by the way, is available in the Well of Daliath also already together with its key.

The cover art is wonderful!

10 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

If you traded a Rune spell to somebody else, you don't have to wait until the recipient casts it to replenish your Rune points for that spell.

If you're the Issaries merchant who facilitated the trade, you don't have to wait until the recipient casts it to replenish the two Rune points you used for Spell Trading.

If you traded a one-use Rune spell to somebody else, you don't get to replenish those Rune points: they were spent when you made the trade. (The spell description talks confusingly about "one-use spells" but in RQG terms it means the Rune points used to cast them.)

So, if I understand it right, in game terms, Spell Trading is super powerful. And an Issaries priest can potentially amass a great deal of spells. Particularly because every Wildday is a minor holy day...

I'm sorry if it's obvious but I'm not getting this phrase in the Spell Trading description:

"The Rune points used to trade a Rune spell can be replenished in the regular fashion"

What does it mean exactly?

Thank you for bumping up this thread. I'm new to the forums and it's the first time I read it. This thread is pure gold and @Stew Stansfield a genius!

On 5/10/2019 at 3:43 PM, Brootse said:

Will the spell detect items that have spells cast on them? Say Boon of Kargan Tor or Bladesharp cast on a sword? Or are those spells visible to everyone in your Glorantha?

I don't know, my players asked me this very question yesterday.

On 5/10/2019 at 3:49 PM, PhilHibbs said:

"enchantments and similar magically potent objects", doesn't sound like spells to me.

I agree with this. As written, I think it doesn't detect active spells.

On the other hand. In The Red Book of Magic, page 105 "How Does Spirit Magic Appear, Sound and Feel?" says "It's is noticeable when spirit magic has been cast. For example a sword with Bladesharp cast upon it might have a supernatural sheen or a person with Protection cast might glow dully".

I don't know what to make out of it. Is there any other method to identify individual active spells on a target?

Sorry for the necrothread!

On 1/25/2021 at 7:51 PM, Rodney Dangerduck said:

including the amount devoted to currently in-effect spells (such as defensive spells).

Does Soul Sight allow to identify every single spell in effect or just the total amount of magic points active on any object or creature?

One of my favorite art pieces is the cover of the Book 2 of the Starter Set by Hazem Ameen. I guess it depicts the Dragonrise. I wonder who these people are and from where are they witnessing the Dragonrise. Any thoughts?

9 hours ago, Runeblogger said:

The character to the left of Vasana is Argrath

Ahhh, I tried to match him with the pregen characters, it didn't cross my mind to check Vasana's Saga. That totally makes sense.

10 hours ago, Runeblogger said:

I think it depitcs a chapter of Vasana's Saga (also in the rulebook), much later on, titled "1627, Sea Season"

Maybe that chapter (rulebook p.367) is what is depicted on p.376? It seems to be from the same artist as well.

8 hours ago, jajagappa said:

I think it links to the 1626, Storm Season saga event on p.245

I think that makes sense too.

Thank you both for the insights! I will sure ask about more of these fantastic art pieces!

One of the things that I love about the current RQ edition is its beautiful art. There are many amazing illustrations. But I don't fully understand many of them, I wish there were an art index in every book with a description of the art and the name of the artist. At least for the full-page illustrations.

Some examples that intrigue me...

In the Starter Set, Book 2, page 13. My guess is the blue-skinned woman is Vasana heroquesting impersonating Orlanth and that the green serpent comes from Yanioth/Ernalda. Who are the other characters? Who is the figure on the top left? What's the artifact in the hands of the other central character? What are they heroquesting for? And who's the artist?

In the Weapons & Equipment book, page 123. Is she an Eiritha priestess of the Bison Tribe? What kind of ritual is she performing? Is she enchanting the axe? What's that head on the left? And again, who's the artist?

By the way, is it ok to post such art here as a reference for the thread?

I use quite a few house rules, I like to tweak them. My combat system is mix of RQG and Mythras, but closer to the lastest. I left the magic system almost untouched tough.

In my house rules if a character combats defensively (i.e. not attacking in any way) I give +20% bonus to all defenses. So first defense +20%, second defense at basic skill, third at -20%, etc.

3 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

I think the problem with any solution is how it scales at high skill. Giving a bonus that is meaningful at "starting" skill levels (50-100%) but not utterly nuts at high skill levels (and lets be honest, 200% is not even that ridiculous at starting level with Sword Trance) is super hard.

This is right. In general, absolute modifiers (+- X%) break apart a very high skill levels. Then again, the whole game system doesn't work really well at those skill levels.