David Scott

You left out the last line... "Against whom?" There's only one other reference I have of Serandarn (none in Greg's notes) in Shannon Appel's unpublished elf book. Which basically says he's a great elf hero. Given that the Great Elf plot of the Hero Wars doesn't really kick off until the 1640s, he may not even be born yet or cuts his teeth on heroquesting collecting seed. The Teshnos forest expansion happens around 1643. I suspect he's heading for the Battle of Dantolfol with super elf magics or to aid Sheng in eating the Red Emperor or both (and to plant some seeds surreptitiously).

No, I’m just suggesting that as we now have runes in characters and magic that it might need to be re-evaluated as it currently (RQ2 & RQ3) doesn’t really add up.

Im not sure that's how Law works in Glorantha. RQG says Truestone is part of the structure of the universe - a piece of the shattered spike. If a Lhankor Mhy member studied it magically, what would they see. Is it like a fractal that reveals the structure of the universe repeated within? I would suggest that Truestone is the ultimate sorcerers research tool.Within it contains all the rules and therefore all sorcery. You need to understand it, it doesn't give you the magic. Side effects of this could be an understanding of other magic systems - like the God Learners using sorcery to mimic rune and spirit magic. As an aside, the Block is a giant piece of Truestone, there's never been any references to it having this magical effect.

Now that runes have been integrated into RQ, Truestone as a piece of pure Law rune presents the opportunity for a new exploration of what it is (and it’s refined form of Adamant). Why would a pure piece of Law rune store rune spells?

In the basic magic crystal sections of RQ2 & RQG (GM Screen Pack) there's no differentiation between which gods provide which powers, dead or not and powered and unpowered crystals. However see later. RQ2 Plunder has crystals linked to specific gods: Arroin's Blood - actual blood, not a crystal, but says his blood formed healing crystals. Fire Crystals (or Sky Crystals) from Yelm and Yelmalio that have extra powers. Sandy Petersen wrote of some Pamaltela crystals in the Glorantha Digest https://glorantha.steff.in/digests/GloranthaDigest/vol05/4709.html Here he implies that gods that survived produce powered crystals. Elder Secrets of Glorantha for RQ3 expanded Powered crystals much more with chaos crystals and associated the powered crystal with a range of gods, some known some not: It also contained a report from Nochet Knowledge Temple that said this: As RQG has currently not expanded Crystals, I'd likely associate the powered ones with a relevant rune, allowing an augment to tune it from the adventurers relevant runes. Some might give rune points from a relevant god or allow specific rune magic to be cast, or even a bonus to the adventurers rune.

It would depend if they worship anyone. If they are godless sorcerers, then no. If they are Lhankor Mhy, as in the core book yes. The Godless sorcerer in my game learned befuddle as he realised he wouldn't get POW gain rolls otherwise. As an aside RQG sorcery isn't based on RQ3, see the design notes.

I think you need to move your assumption that RQG is based on RQ3. All along it's been said that it's mostly based on RQ2, in Designing the new RuneQuest - Part 15, its says "We [the design team] widely agreed that RQ2 was mostly "not broken". Part 6 says "This is built directly off the RuneQuest 2 chassis, and is simply not a new layer atop RQ3, the MRQ variants, or TDM's edition. Think instead of it as RQ 2.5". I had to look up the 5 min rule in RQ3, it's news to me. We were still playing 2 mins... I'd ask @Jeff or @Jason Durall to comment, but I think reading the Design notes would help. Part 1: https://www.chaosium.com/blog/designing-the-new-runequest-part-1/ As for keeping track of time outside combat - yes. Never been a problem. Closing for combat, not a problem. Most cast then engage, especially when adding extra mps. If you are that far away, you're not ready, What spells are your group having problems with the time limit?

The White Bull spirit definitely existed before Argrath, they were likely tiny and secretive. The members were likely considered mad for their ideas of tribal harmony, that were verging on heresy against the raiding Way of Waha. Likely they were led by a charismatic Waha shaman. Due to its radical nature, the spirit was likely trapped away somewhere safe. I have the idea it was trapped somewhere like Asrelia's Dancing Jar: Then you have to find your way, meet Maran Gor and her pig dogs, catch the jar, then wager something of your self as usual to dip in the jar. Argrath knows the stories from the Bison tribe, so heroquests to free it.He returns with it on Orlanth's High Holy day in 1616 (aged 17). You can find the White Bull prophecies on page 48 of Pavis GTA. The White Bull Brotherhood is on page 55 of Pavis GTA, the runes are for HQG (Storm & Movement).

RuneQuest Glorantha page 122 has the Prax Temperature and Precipitation table. Storm-Late, Sacred Time and Sea-Early would probably constitute a rainy season. Depends on the herd beast type, not all birth at the same time.

It's actually both and another reason - Mythomagical. The actual movement works like most nomadic cultures - A camp is setup and over time the herd move further and further away from it until it's too far to return. Then the camp breaks up, overtakes the herd and sets up again (likely has the mid herd with it). The main movement group is clan sized with septs meeting up during the years journey and rarely in the third age tribes. The main seasonal camps are those with related holy days to Waha and Eiritha. Built into this yearly cycle is a cycle of visiting the Paps and perhaps other Holy places. This can be be a 5-10 year cycle depending on the clan's history. There is also the option of moving these seasonal camps slowly over the years. When the lines pass close to oases, this is when conflicts arise for resources. The 80 or so ephemeral oases in the Wastes are normal discovered in situ and are too fragile to support a herd watering, they aren't reliable as the last at most a year, usually less. I model this in my games by pulling out a hex outline map of Prax and the Wastes and getting the players to mark on it the five seasonal runes and the god rune for sacred time. These are the movement lines for the year. This is based on the 5 mile / 8km hex map in the Guide and AAA. It has the ancestral grazing of most tribes marked. Most groups like to mark a route to these every few years, it's not needed every year. Purple is the Pol joni march. High places that are accessible are in black. Brown is nothing to eat. The yellow is most luscious grazing the Wastes (middle of the Krjalki Bog). Orange circle is the Sacred Ground of the Paps. There are very few wild herds, most are sent directly by Eirtha and as such as considered sacred. They may last a few years before succumbing to predators.

Just to be clear here, Argrath is the White Bull. The White Bull society worships Argrath. Read through RQG, every reference is to Argrath White Bull, not Argrath's White Bull. Members have a special rune that marks them as members (you can see it here http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/72-both/). The White Bull spirit is Argrath's Fetch/HeroQuest Soul/Other. You join as you believe in him. The White Bull brokes no inter-tribal rivalry, get along or you'll likely die. The major benefit of membership is that you are part of a madman's adventure to the end of the world. I don't think you get any magic other than spirit magic of the shamans who are members, and the chance of seeing the world differently than you thought (illumination, but this is not an overt action. I'm sure Argrath understands the problems of forcing it).

The giveaway for me is that there is a rune spell in the RQG Bestiary Gata: Provides Gnome to Gargoyle So they are a form of transformed Earth Elemental (stone) or just Stone Elementals. There's likely a myth as to why they can fly (not so well though).

The extra sheets are rather boring and just contain magic info, nothing else. However laying it out large give players a superficial understanding of their magic powers. In this case many who play Sorala cast Solace of the Logical Mind for 20-40 mins, but then loose out on Passion augments. This turns out to be a good trade off...

This for one of our con scenarios, Stealing the Eye.

This is not my experience of running con scenarios with new players. I actually use the pregens in place of the provided adventurers in one of our con scenarios. Out of the choice of characters, Vishi Dun is popular, new players often go for "assistant shaman (spirit magician) on giant llama with baboon sidekick". I show them the pictures and have large standees of them. Yanioth and Vostor are essential for the scenario, so aren't included, but the others in order of popularity: Harmast - "Trader and farmer. When talk fails he can fight. Rides a zebra" Vishi Dun - "Spirit magician on giant llama with baboon sidekick" Vasana - "Armoured warrior woman who rides a bison" Sorala - "Sorcerous scholarly woman in search of new lore" Nathem - "Stealthy hunter who can turn into a bear. Has a hunting cat. Most just want to play and have fun, so providing more than a character sheet is too much info. I provide an extra page with the magic and its %s clearly visible. @Jason Durall the joy of Cousin Monkey is: He mostly refuses to fight, Vishi must often force him to help and he's not that good at it. This is one of my favourite roleplaying parts.

There doesn't appear to be any actual description of moon rock, only it's glow: Gods of Glorantha (AH 1985) says Personally I'd have it as variable as terrestrial rock and base it on its surface source as mapped in the in the Guide (Appendix I). These are just descriptive, however I've added some special effects if the rock has been collected by adventurers during a heroquest or you want cool Lunar artefacts. All add 1D6% to Moon rune in addition to other effects Os Mountain flakes (if from the Cave of the Unfailing Oracle +10% Fate rune, Jakaleel likely had one of these when she killed Belintar) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mica#/media/File:Mica_(6911818878).jpg Ruby Sea pebbles (Speak to Red Fish rune spell 1pt) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnelian_(color)#/media/File:Carnelian_sard_(mineral_specimen).jpg Petrified wood from the Tendarshan Forest (+1d6% Devotion (Orogeria) or Draw Beast 1D6 points) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Broken_part_of_a_petrified_tree_at_tiruvakkarai_village.jpg Moon stone from the Fields of conflict (+1d6% Devotion (Yanafal Tarnils) or +1d6% Death rune) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Quarz_-_Heliotrop_(Blutjaspis).JPG

Basically they are pure animists and so their magical leaders are shaman. However their leader is the demigod Ironhoof, so he is a role model and worshipped as such - a culture hero. Look at the Glorantha Sourcebook, page 11: He will likely provide some rune magic (a couple) and maybe some associated from his mother and father (one each). Some may follow Orlanth. The Book of Heortling Mythology page 44 (https://www.chaosium.com/the-book-of-heortling-mythology-pdf/) also tell us of Ironhoof stalking the Lady of the Wild (their child is Harrjeen who is chief of the Centaurs). She is likely worshipped at the Wild Temple too. The centaur Adventurer is my game joined Daka Fal as one of the "mostly nonexistent" members.

There are three at least three official licences infinity-engine.com rapier miniatures Mad Knight

I’ve always used 15mm for RQ and now RQG. But I’ve never painted them. I’ve also started using standees. Mainly as I can cut and paste them from the pdfs and print them out. I’ve got a load of tusk riders printed and ready to go. For demos I’ve been using 50mm standees! Monster coliseum for RQ3 had a handy range stick in 15 & 28mm scales. pros: good for positioning Adventurers relatively in situations, good scene setters for new players. cons: can lead to slavish rules lawyering.

The Core Rules on page 137 actually say: It’s a suggestion not a rule. There’s no error in the GM Screen Pack. The only consequence is that experience ticks won’t be resolved until downtime. My players don’t have a problem with this as it simulates lack of downtime, too busy to process what’s occurred. Income is dealt with in sacred time. Continuous adventuring will eventually lead to a dissonance between the Adventurers and their community. This is likely to have a long term negative effect.

What's the reference for this. Personally I believe that such small numbers are involved, that if it happens no one knows other than the person involved. Members of SB & ZZ are unlikely to even consider the practice as those doing this are by definition mad. It's not like they are going to meet up in a bar and discuss this. This is like one of those undercover police film plots where the infiltrator has to become one of the baddies to ultimately destroy them, but is morally tainted by doing it. So illumination helps? only in that the infiltrator doesn't suffer any consequences from their actions. They still know what they did, so they are not going to talk. With Thantatar they are unlikely to make it past lay member due to the acts needed to become an initiate (I don't believe Thanatar is wide spread). Given Chaos is part of the Great compromise, I don't think so. Where chaos is reduced more appears, where chaos increases, more of its enemies appear. This swinging back and forth waxes and wanes with the cycles of Glorantha. I think the biggest is the return of the Devil every 600 years. The hero wars is the waxing of chaos.

With hindsight "prize" is the wrong word, it's boon as described in Hero with a 1000 Faces. If you haven't read it, it's the ultimate guide to Gloranthan HeroQuesting, along with The Masks of God (Glorantha.com): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936/ref=la_B000AQ33DK_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550656713&sr=1-1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Primitive-Mythology-Masks-God-Book-ebook/dp/B07CPBL4XR/ref=la_B000AQ33DK_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550656986&sr=1-7

But you will, they will in the Gamesmaster book. There will be other stuff in the book, otherwise they'd call it the HeroQuest book. You might not want to buy it, but you can't speak for everyone's preference. I was replying to @Sumath's question to the direction of the rules, not the content's of the final book: The rules in Mongoose aren't that specific either and you could equate the heroic abilities section with the shamanic Abilities, however I suspect the "prizes" will be much more scenario specific as per HQG and RQ2 adventures like the rainbow mounds.

There are plenty of Heroquests available, they aren't for RQG but they certainly give a feel on how they work and they are "recent" in Gloranthan development terms. Most of these are written by Jeff, so it's unlikely that future developments will veer far from this kind of format. As for specific rules, it's unlikely that RQG will see a "super runequest" favoured by many in the past. If you are fortunate you might have one of the key documents in Fragment 1645, published in Tales of the Reaching Moon #7. Descent into the Underworld - The culmination of the Colymar campaign, the heroes are to find an Orlanthi hero and free him from his sorcerous imprisonment in a Hell of the Red Goddess.Sartar - Kingdom of Heroes (2012) Red Moon Rising - The heroes are selected to be involuntary participants in a Lunar heroquest. The heroes are to take the role of the Rebel Gods (as seen by the Lunars) during a ceremony. Pavis - Gateway to Adventure (2012) The Hero and the Grove - The heroes hero quest to a sacred grove to reestablish the magic between its occupant and their clan. Sartar Companion (2012). The Law Staff Quest - Orlanthi heroquest whereby the Justice of Orlanth may be clearly discerned. (2012). Return of the Goddess - The heroes enter the Underworld, enter the House of the Dead and return to their community with a goddess. HeroQuest Glorantha (2015) The Stealing Of The Giant’s Cows - a well-known Orlanthi ‘cattle raiding’ heroquest. Performing this quest successfully leads to the clan’s cattle calving the red cows. The Eleven Lights by @Ian Cooper (2017) The Three New Stars - epic Heroquest to return Orlanth from the underworld. The Eleven Lights by @Ian Cooper (2017) Looking at these, heroquests either return a power or relationship to a community or an individual (as usual). The nearest to individual powers look to be the Shamanic Abilities of RQG, community powers go to a wyter (or similar). Relationships would be to powerful beings or sponsorship. There's likely to be other stuff allowing Adventurers function on the otherside and return easier, but for now the above are easily useable.

Heat Metal is still part of Lodril's cult spirit magic in RQG and will appear in GoG. It's got a better scale, so you don't need ridiculous levels to melt bronze. Still variable with 1point being too hot to hold and 1D6 damage per round. At level 5 Bronze, copper, gold, and silver become workable at 6 they melt. Takes a minute to become red hot. So level 4 would have bronze red hot, but not soft and 4D6 damage per round of contact. Remember it's the shaman who controls the spell extension and it's one spell per level (I'm sure the shaman has better spells to keep up permanently, like countermagic, protection glamour or vigour ). If they aren't around, you would have to use dispel magic on it or be really careful putting it down or inside any normal building. At night it would glow.