Malin

After reading Valley of plenty, I decided to switch the location to another place they mentioned in that book, Moonpride Fort. That will work nicely for the start of the adventure. I sadly do not speak much french, just to the point where I can order beer and apologize for not being able to speak french...

Oh THANK YOU! That seems to be based on the same material, just what I wanted!

Well, I have been roped into running another RQ mini-campaign, and I was wondering if anybody had any information on Jaldonkill Fort? It is in the Dundealos lands, and I know that it was featured in the old Hearts of Glorantha nr 2 fanzine from 2009 (which I am trying to hunt down). Has it been mentioned or detailed in any other official sources? I found nothing in the Guide to Glorantha. I've got a lot of ideas, but I always like to see what kind of information there is from semi-official sources before I go wild.

Another thing I do at my table when it comes to "softer skills" like perception-based ones is to have success not be black or white, but a sliding scale of gray. A failed scan roll will still give some information, a success more, and a special a lot. I often use the phrase "Make a scan roll, I just want to see how much you see here" to soften the player's perception of failure as a 'oh no, I don't see anything' and not make it seem like I give consolation prices for failure.

But yeah, the first time building characters in RQ:G it is easy to be spread too wide, especially if you make a character that is not focused on combat. Our GM had to go in and advise one player to shift some of the personal skill numbers around to make them good at a few things they should be good at. It's easy to be stuck in so many "must have" skills that they all end up in the 30's range or so.

Yet another thing I have done with small groups (2 players) is to give more points for them to place. In a larger, more classic 4-player party, you have space for a greater width of characters, but in a smaller group, there's less room for personal fun stuff in my experience. Giving out some extra starting percentage values means that there's room for more flexible and multi-faceted characters. It's your table, after all, do what is most fun for your group.

And finally, like people have already say, make sure you have added ALL the extra percentages you get, it's a bit muddled in the book, and it's easy to overlook things the first time. I know I did.

Thank you SO MUCH! My search skills failed me here... of course it would be under something Arkat related 💚

On 10/12/2023 at 10:32 PM, Jens said:

Turns out I guessed wrong- only a single mention of Nysalor as the Illuminator, no other details on Illumination.

Yeah, I have been looking everywhere for an eight-point list. Maybe @David Scott misspoke and meant six? Or maybe he has access to unpublished stuff?

With illumination now on the table in my campaign I would love to see if that list was published somewhere...

The heroquest is also featured in Chaosium's White Bull campaign, season one, episodes twentyseven to twenty nine.

Episode 27

Episode 28

Episode 29

Absolutely deserved! I can look at those illustrations for hours and still find new details. Amazing work!

Might also be good to know that the 1625 and onward timeline is in the new edition; earlier editions of the game were set in earlier years. That's why much content is set around 1615 and onwards; that used to be the main timeline before things moved forward.

Some people stick to the old timeline because they want certain things, for example, playing in Dragon Pass or Pavis during Lunar Occupation, or because they want to experience some of the iconic events between 1615 and 1625 for themselves.

9 hours ago, David Scott said:

Note that these are not now automatic illumination abilities. of the 8 abilities, everyone gets the first most get 2 & 3, then they start getting rarer.

It's late and I'm tired, where can this list mot easily be found please?

1 hour ago, Ian A. Thomson said:

Is this surname from an official source?

It is from King of Sartar, with the "author" reasoning and trying to reconcile the different Argraths in the "Reconciling Differences" chapter.  Specifically, the father's name comes from the Argrath's saga in King of Sartar, where they say he was the son of Maniski Two-Sight. If you only go on the Argrath of Pavis part, no father or last name is ever given. So, if you go with that, I would remove the Maniskisson, though there is nothing that disclaims it.

3 hours ago, David Scott said:

so this is only going to be available in Caladraland or close by.

That's actually an interesting point. Is Fertilize (and similar spells) available to Ernalda worshippers everywhere? Or do the associated cults vary depending on where they are? I have always seen the associated cults as a bear "universal" thing, but maybe I am wrong? Maybe Ernalda in Sun County has a different availability of rune spells than Ernalda in Esrolia or Ernalda in Tarsh? How does other people treat this?

31 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

Why have both?

Well, Fertilize doesn't tie up any rune points for the season, so it might be more worth it for farmers on alright land with good skills.

And we're not sure of the exact details of what Bless Crops does (apart from providing a bonus). Or what Fertilize does, other than restoring fertility to the land. Maybe Fertilize is mostly used when you don't have ready access to fertilizers from animals, or when yields are starting to drop.

1 hour ago, Shiningbrow said:

that Bless Crops would basically replace all the nutrients.

Nah they actually have a special spell for that, Fertilize. Cheap and useful, so no need for fallow fields!

I wonder if historically the price of horses might have been lower when the Lunars still occupied Sartar and there was easier access to horses from the north. Or if Bison has fallen in price after Argrath. Or if the price difference is mainly a point of status and how common they are, maybe they are just out to gouge all the sky pantheon fans out there who prefers horses rather than bison...

I learned something new today and I love the Beefalo 💚🐄

I was thinking at the running speed in the Bestiary, though to be fair that running speed was unloaded and depends on the breed. A basic warhorse (Daron) is the same speed as a Bison with a rider unless heavily armored (faster with no rider which is less important), while a Goldeneye is very fast. However, I wonder if there's a difference over longer distances out of combat.

The horse is an endurance runner, just like humans or dogs. I wonder how a bison performs there, it feels like they would be too heavy to sustain fast runs for long. Dunno exactly though. It would be really interesting to know, we've been doing long-distance travel in the wastes for a while with a party on mixed mounts, and I've been trying to figure out what mounts would have the most trouble keeping up...

EDIT: I'm using the same house rule with riding as with languages. Depending on how close the animals are in style, a percentage of the ride skill is carried over.

Bison are also not that fast I suppose, but in plentiful supply since Argrath.

And some of us (me) are a lot more interested in agricultural policies than a small segment basically meant to provide random income to an adventurer and make them invest in their community was ever intended to provide.... 🤡

We probably can't take these rules and have them apply to the average farmer/household, a player character will always be a special case.

But yeah, I have taken to rolling harvest results during earth season, I need to know then whether there was a famine or not so I can plan the winter accordingly. The sacred time approximation is handy, but not really workable for characters really invested in the day to day life of their community.

I think at this point the only clear conclusion we can come to is that our SimGlorantha will vary 🙂

25 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

my main concern (but that my understanding of the cult, I may be wrong, It would not be the first time :p) is the yelmalio aspect of your family:

As I said in the follow up post above, this family constellation actually includes:

Quote

Her brother and his wife and child, Her cousin and her husband and baby, her other cousin and his wife and five children, an aging grandfather and a young widow. Plus the odd farmhand, usually hired on during peak agricultural work. So 4 hides for about 4 families.

So a lot of adults. I just stopped specifying rune points, because I had no idea people would engage in family constellations or sizes rather than the point of the post which was you could afford to tie up rune points in Bless Crops...

As for the average Yelmalio, there are actually almost no war rune spells for Yelmalio. They do get some light related spells (which i did not specify because the post was about farming), but most of Yelmalio's warrior cred comes from training as a group, and gifts that increases weapon skills. Orlanth is the one with fancy war spells, Yelmalio ain't got that. Just the basic ones, which you don't sacrifice POW for.

Also, the hides in Sun County are not owned by a family, they are parceled out by the Sun Dome. A lot of time, political connections are more important there than an illustrious past. They are also shared by lot, so it's not like every family gets the same land each year. We're about 106 000 words into our tentatively named "Life and Traditions Under the Sun Dome" (one reason for my rules questions) so I might be digging deep into stuff here, but yeah, your Glorantha will always vary, but War Rune Magic for Yelmalio to sacrifice for is sorely lacking.

EDIT: I would guess the average Yelmalio warrior might pick Heal Body, since most are farmers, Bless Crops will be useful if they don't want to be a burden to their wife, and then pick either Catseye, Cloud Clear, Command Hawk or Sunbright. None of them are exactly war spells. Catseye and Sunbright are the most useful for that. So a true warrior mercenary with no thoughts about farming might have Heal Body, Catseye and Sunbright.

The amount of acres varies though? I imagine that a hide of really good farmland is a lot smaller than a hide of mainly grazing land. And, I might misremember, but wasn't there a lot of complaining at the time that the plots given out to legionnaries were too small? Though I can't tell you were I read that so... The tax burden varies depending on where you live (not too familiar with Sartar in that respect, not sure where you got 60%). Desperately looking to see if the exact tax rate of Sun County was ever mentioned in the old book, considering it's the Yelmalio cult that collects it there... but I am only seeing the standard 20% in the rule book for Ernalda and her Husband (which also counts as cult tithes for the initiates) so I suppose it's fair to assume that goes there as well.

4 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

One hide for an extended family or a substantial amount of other people under one roof seems to be the idea.

Yeah, I keep forgetting that you need to do manage household for the others... good spot!

50 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Also, note that spending four Rune Points for four hides is typically inefficient - a fifth would double the effect and a sixth triple it. Even if you only spend the four, it’s typically preferable to Bless two or three hides instead (for 2*+3 or 3*+2) unless the +20% is just what you need to get rid of the risk of failure.

I literally wrote it in two minutes to see how many tied-up rune points could still be feasible for a family and keep functioning, I did not do any maths, so I only did the basic 1 rp %+20, and neither did I do any calculations for cost-effectiveness.

EDIT: This actually makes it feasible to run a very content and big family on a single hide of farmland actually, if you stack the runepoints you can have great harvests (getting your Farming skill close to 100). (If you are a shitty farmer you can always pray hard enough to the gods to make it work I suppose). And in bad years, or post-famine, one can assume more people would have rune points tied up in bless crops, which incidentally means less free for better health. So famine strikes hard in two ways.

Just stole the family of one of my players for the experiment, though, to be fair, that also included unmarried farmhands, older but initiated children, and some siblings and their children. Just focused on the core for the rune points, didn't feel like detailing the aunts and uncles. If we move it down to two hides, it's even more feasible.

Edit: Specifically, Her brother and his wife and child, Her cousin and her husband and baby, her other cousin and his wife and five children, an aging grandfather and a young widow. Plus the odd farmhand, usually hired on during peak agricultural work. So 4 hides for about 4 families.