Malin

4 minutes ago, Erol of Backford said:

Did you converse with Jane Williams or MOB, I don't know them but they did a lot on Sun County. Who was the player for Melo Yelo back in the day?

Well, I have not conversed directly, but parts are based on some MOB stuff under official oversight, and I have read everything I've managed to find published on Sun County, both from way back to current Jonstown Compendium stuff. My goal was to be as compliant with already (and some to be) published material as I could. That's what made me fall in love with the place after all. @Nick Brooke's been by go-to guide for that.

6 minutes ago, Erol of Backford said:

With all your thought on these fine upstanding men (and they will over time be more accepting of women), I thought you might have some opinions as to the use of horses and numbers of them or other beasts of burden in Sun County.

So far, Rogar's Riders are the only "official" horse riders in Sun County, most riding beasts would be either Sable Antelopes or Bison for people more open-minded to the Praxian way of life, while Oxen or occasionally mules pulls the wagons. Most people are used to walking places, Sun County is not that large, and the river and other waterways are useful for transporting heavy burdens.

12 minutes ago, Erol of Backford said:

Curious as to your thoughts on any influence of Sartar Emali mounted infantry or cavalry and how many mounted troops (if any) would actually be in Sun County. I assumed someone like Belvani would ride but the skill isn't listed but Invictus rides at 75%... and none of the other named characters in Sun County have the ride skill.

The only mounted troops are the above mentioned Rogar's Riders. Sun County's strength always lay in its infantry. I suspect that any light cavalry would be hired mercenaries, just like they occasionally hire Basmoli mercenaries as skirmishers. I suspect that any Ride skill gained would be more from personal interest and family background than regular training. Take Belvani for example, at the time of the original Sun County book I doubt he would have had much use for long trips on horse/animal back.

But let's move to 1625 and the time of two counts, then I suspect all the campaigning and hanging around with Argrath's nomads have left him with a pretty solid ride skill.

18 minutes ago, Erol of Backford said:

Working on how to integrate 8 mounted Heortlander PC's into all the great Sun County scenarios. Sun County (following Troubled Waters) does have Kuschile Horse Archery but how much is it used? In Sartar it would be but I'd imagine a lot of the Emali's in Sartar would already have a good riding skill?

At this point in time I think Kushile Horse Archery is a lost art in Sun County. So much of their self-image is tied to the marching phalanx. I don't touch on the Sartar Elmali vs Sun County Yelmalio in the book, how that is handled will be up to the individual. But I imagine there might be many who would be happy to see a return to the glorious horse-days of old, and just as many that would be nervous about making the nomads upset... I think any visiting horseman would be subject to both curiosity, envy and nervousness.

22 minutes ago, Erol of Backford said:

What is the thought as to time frame, when will it be available!?

Depends on how long the layout takes and when the cover is finished. My cover artist promised the end of the month, but there's a lot more in the production process after finishing the text. I can't give you a clear date here!

 

Starting to look sweet...

 

Yep, this is in Prax alright 

So, August 4th 2023 I did a little asking around about courtesy in publications, which made me finally register on this fair forum.

And now, I sent off our 214 000  words manuscript for layout... About twice the size originally planned. Hope y'all will enjoy our deep dive into everything that makes Sun County the most special place on Glorantha.

Or, as some would put it:

Come foreigner, visit Sun County, the only nation in Glorantha that passed The Solitude of Testing. See the living light of Sun Dome, travel the easily accessible road network, enjoy our surplus of food, our stoic unity, and our fully adequate culture. Come for the holy days, witness our drill parades, leave when we tell you to! Sun County - the safest, hardest working and most envied nation in Glorantha. You wish you were us!

- Sun County Travel Bureau

I'm not sure why I made this post, except that it's a milestone for me, and felt the need to thank everyone here for making me and my friend feel enthusiastic enough about this to finish the project this fast despite other work! Here is a general overview of the main headlines, if anybody has any questions, feel free to ask them. I am just going to lay down and stare at the ceiling and then go back to writing interactive fiction until next project.

 

 

Yeah, I'm going in similar directions myself, and everything gets especially interesting when different schools of thoughts combines! Magic, Myths and the Mundane all mingled together. I also go the opposite way, working on extending mundane phenomena as spirits...

10 hours ago, Tatterdemalion Fox said:

(And what is under the Block? Metal, like the corpse of any god, only this is metal that makes the world sick. Catch the more literate Storm Bulls putting up signs around the Marsh that say THIS IS NOT A PLACE OF HONOR! WHAT IS HERE IS DANGEROUS AND REPULSIVE TO US!)

I love this and I am stealing the hell out of it!

Divert a river goddess to try to dilute the taint, but wouldn't it be better to speed things up and use all the gods and goddesses? Put them in a filter (net) and dump the devil in it and hope it all evens out. Whatever survives can be something new, reset the cycle and perform this mortal utuma where we have balanced both sides of our selves. That we first had to live through decades of horrors as we confronted our own best and worst inner decision doesn't matter. What does is the Right Action at the end.

(I genuinely love Argrath as a character and myth, maybe I should change my name to Argrath Apologist)

I have always been of the opinion that if Wakboth is the moral evil of the mundane world within time and trapped there, then the Wakboth you meet on a heroquest is formed from your own inner evil, that little shade of darkness at the heart of every mortal. Or, he can be formed by the evils of opposing forces on the quest. In either case, it is the mortal heroquester that brings the fuel that becomes the devil with them.

This is why some can call the Red Goddess, once mortal, the devil, while others call Argrath the same thing. Every mortal can be the devil, if given the opportunity.

Now I am just thinking of a "Damage Control" campaign like the old Marvel comic about the company that cleans up after superhero fights... The Hero Wars is pretty much that after all...

 

 

We have a chapter on music in our upcoming Sun County themed book, and I think it's my favorite one in the book.

4 hours ago, svensson said:

What I find funny about all this is how hard players work in some genres and milieux to get their own freehold or base. They'll bust their ass if you offer them land in Dorastor [or local equivalent], but give them a steading at the beginning of the game? Nah, they'll avoid that like a trip to the dentist. 😆

Many find it a lot more interesting in working towards getting something (exciting social climber) than working to keep it (boring middle class).

I mean this is a world where horses are related to birds so....

2 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

You raise a really interesting point, though - since you can perfectly re-attach a severed head in fraction of a second, why is decapitation instantly fatal?

Maybe because the abdomen/torso/neck/head (spine/chakras) is the anchor of the spirit and once that is cut/destroyed, the spirit has started to detach? A bit like a balloon whose string has been cut?

Wow that is absolutely AMAZING.

I did write a handout for my Babeester Gor PC which was based on the Six Paths Ernalda initiation, and how things were adjusted compared to the normal one in there. There are no stats, but it might give you some ideas on how this first initiation into the tribe (not becoming an actual initiate of the cult) might happen.

 

BabeesterGorInitiation.docx

1 hour ago, g33k said:

If you don't mind this element occurring in another publication as well as yours, I do not believe there are any rules prohibiting it (I presume the "Collected Initiations" book would give clear credit, and an explicit pointer to your Sun County book), though I could certainly understand if you didn't want it to appear anywhere else first!

I for one wouldn't object if I had bought this small bit in two different places, and would appreciate the collegiality on display.

True that, we'll see what happens in the future!

Just the volume I need!

What are gods but greater spirits trapped by time?

And once again, this thread is why I love this forum. Stories are told, but how they are told and what they actually say, tell as much of the teller as the subject.

I would also point out that Ranaglar is probably the first victim of the cycle of abuse after having been tossed into the sex-pit by his uncles...

3 hours ago, Duff said:

@ everyone We're starting to get enough of these to post an updateable free release on the JC. If you are happy to have your initiation in it, please reply here. I'm happy to format the book if no-one else wants to do it.

Sadly mine are going to be published in my Sun County book which is undergoing proofreading as we speak.

One of the underlying themes of my main RQ campaign is who tells the stories and what they tell of the ones who tell them. Right now, it is very much concerned with Yelmalio and Sun County, as one of the players is digging deep into heresies and forgotten/suppressed knowledge. But once the campaign moves beyond that, I do feel more strongly than ever that I want to pull Thed into the mix. This thread has given me too many ideas, and we have already sniffed around the Greater Darkness with the White Bull Heroquest.

I do love the way that players can interact with Glorantha in a more tangible way, where there is no single Truth and every story has an origin. My players are already learning how to shape narratives with their choices around growing the White Bull cult, and I can't wait for the penny to drop when they realize that if they are doing this now, what happened back at Dawn with all the other stories they have learned as the Truth?

This forum is so good at giving me ideas, I really love seeing everybody's take on things.

47 minutes ago, Darius West said:

It doesn't matter because Thed foresook her loyalty to the Earth and sinned against it monstrously.  Thed is a traitor to the earth, and deserves a traitor's fate, says BBG.

Very true that! I just look forward to seeing her wrestling with these facts, an illuminated Babeester Gor can get very interesting at times. She might come to the conclusion that she needs to hear Thed's side of the story first and not rely on the word of the violators... which will be an interesting heroquest, to say the least.

This discussion really made me wonder what the Babeester Gor cultist in my campaign would ever make of Thed, and whether it could ever be technically proven that she had been "of the earth."

Progress is made. Fluff on the right, rules on the left. 

On paper proofreading makes everything feel real.

Such a cool idea!!