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David Scott

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Everything posted by David Scott

  1. My players have always enjoyed naming clans. If we discovered that a clan was called something else, they'd say that's not what we call them. Also bear in mind that the clans aren't static, they come and go leaving a lot of room for making up your own stuff.
  2. Getting back from who said what where. We seem to have a spectrum of portable liquid holding containers: Amphorae - visible on the Gods wall. Barrels on the Gods Wall with a Barrel God - that is an interpretation by Pletonious. Barrels may also have been available in Dara Happa at the time the Wall was rolled, but the knowledge has been lost in the Great Darkness. Alfostios the Cooper isn't mentioned anywhere else and is that really a barrel? So: Barrels - bound with wood - more common than metal but less common than amphorae Barrels - bound with bronze - available in some places but not everywhere. Barrels - bound with iron - Clearly dwarven The availability of barrels is also going to be related to material construction. For example, the only barrels that exist in Pavis will have been imported as wood isn't common. Amphorae will be much more common as river clay is readily available. The Paps will store liquids in amphorae as not only is wood a rarity, but so is metal working. Large skin bladders are also much more likely as there is a thriving animal culture. Barrels are likely to be a sign of status where their constituent materials and craft skills are rare. Amphorae may be rare where clay is difficult to source or fire is difficult. Overall amphorae are going to be the most common bulk liquid transport - commonly available clay is the main component. Barrels are going to be less common due to materials (metal and wood) and skill availability (wood working and metal working). Skins are going to be very common, but limited in size if you need to transport them. Whole animal skin containers clearly exist, but as they are flexible and irregularly shaped transportation may be problematic. Example: http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/T50.1.html It would be interesting to look at other cultures - The Doraddi?, the dwarves likely use tins and barrels, Trolls?, What do the brithini use?
  3. Surely there’s only one eternal champion in each of his stories and a multitude of settings. Watch a few Morcock interviews and you’ll see that that is the way it can work. There’s no problem with another incarnation of Elric escaping his fate. He won’t remember it any anyway, Only John Daker has any real idea of the time-stream and how the multiverse works. is a good starting point.
  4. was https://www.trademarkia.com/stormbringer-73342904.html
  5. RQG, however the Rune spell Bless Animals for example appeared in RQ2 (Cults of Prax) and Bless Plants appeared in RQ3. RQG expands the range of Rune magic Blessings available to seven or so (dependant on cult, none are common) and it's entirely possible that there are more.
  6. Same thing as far I'm concerned. Some things in some cultures may not be usable after the ritual. Blood for example might not be collected. There is a huge body of information on this - just make sure you if you Google it you use -human as that will just skew everything eg. religious sacrifice through the ages -human these are just a few examples I found interesting: https://www.alimentarium.org/en/knowledge/sacrifice https://www.alimentarium.org/en/knowledge/ritual-sacrifice-and-urban-life https://www.nbcnews.com/science/animal-sacrifice-powered-ancient-jerusalems-economy-8c11073738 If you ever get the chance to visit Beijing and the Temple of Heaven, it has a two animal processing areas for animal sacrifices. Some animals were bunt whole in a giant ritual stove, but others were butchered afterwards: https://www.encirclephotos.com/image/north-animal-sacrifice-pavilion-at-temple-of-heaven-in-beijing-china/?gal=21950&pos=13&marker=13
  7. These (food) sacrifices are what feeds the temple community and are considered that which supports the priests and their dependants. No sacrifice = no food.
  8. The missing link... and the missing bit from RQG: The answer is one. But clearly if you want to be looked on favourably you'd throw in a few more or a special one worth more.
  9. I just spotted this in the latest version - page 154: obscured key
  10. I’m not saying that it doesn’t exist in texts, just in my opinion I don’t think they have it as it makes the language confusing. Yelm’s Other in GRoY are those things that didn’t obey him, that he subsequently names and then become not the Other. Up to Rebellious Teminous who then became the Other causing Yelm to break apart. Troll Gods does say that the black sun is Yelm spiritual shadow, his blindspot that he can never never see. I see is that as a light versus darkness thing. Not his actual shadow something that exists because he does. It might be his other but it doesn’t impact on Yelm at all. Nothing in the WW write up. We are back to the old problem that language is not enough to talk about mythology. For when we do so we reduce its meaning
  11. No, just the Red Emperor. There is no mention of Great Sister’s involvement. Being born at the same time on the same day doesn’t imply a trigger. Their births are not cause and effect. Coincidence is a better description, kismet is better, Jung’s synchronicity is the best. You might remember that Greg often called the Red Emperor, the Red Goddess’s Penis. It would be cool if the goddess’s penis already existed in the middle world after the seven mothers quest in a ritual form. Wilder speculation would suggest that it would be the synchronous object. In your opinion.
  12. Exactly where does it say that Sheng is the Red Goddess's shadow. I couldn't see it, but I may have missed it. It does say (p298, 307 & 729): I think that the language here is important. You use the word "shadow", but in hindsight the word the Guide uses is much better - "Other". Also I think that the distinction between the Middle World and the God World is important. Teelo Estara left the Middle World and ascended in to the Middle Air. This was her moment of transition between the world. Her physical parts later returned to the world in the form of The Red Emperor and Great Sister. Sheng never left the world except in death. He is the Red Emperor's "other". This is the same as Arkat and Nysalor, they are each other's "other". The "other" is physical, the nemesis, the rival, the opposite. That's why shadow doesn't work well as a comparative term. If it does exist, it's light and dark. I don't think gods have shadow or "Other". They are rooted into the concept of the runes. Once transcended, the mortal attachments are left behind. By rising into the Middle Air she enters into the land of Myth and Legend. Her opponents are other gods, she has to fight for her place in the Cosmos, her son and daughter deal with the Middle World. The relationship between the runes has already been defined. The only candidates for others are amongst the Power runes in their opposites. Rashoran(a) is a Lunar deity, I see no mention of Arkat. I don't see the Lunars acknowledging this. There is no Arkat on the otherside (p130, 131, 157): then nothing for 150 years when the God Learners break the cult for it's secrets (p157). Trolls seem to keep up his sorcerous magics (p721): Then in the Hero Wars he returns seven times!
  13. Sheng is the red Emperors shadow. Orlanth is her mythical opponent. Arkat was Nysalor's shadow. Rashorana is a shape of Nysalor on the otherside. There is no Arkat on the otherside. Rashorana is Orlanth's mythic foe as part of the red goddess.
  14. One of the major Heroquest patterns is going to the otherside and bringing someone back who has died. the most well known is of course the Lightbringers Quest to bring back Yelm. The quest has a variable number of participants with 7 being a common number bandied about, but there can be more or less (KoS).The simplest form of this would be the resurrection magics of Chalana Arroy, finding and returning a soul on the path of the dead. The Seven Mothers ritual was a solution to the bad situation in Rinliddi and its oppressive occupation by the Shah Bisodakar and the Karmangs (from Greg's unpublished manuscript "The Red Goddess" 1994): They clearly wanted to bring help back and free the region. It seem to me that in this version of bringing someone back, you need to take a sacrifice. That's certainly Redface's style. Somewhere in the quest the participants likely mirrored some of the actions of those goddesses, but likely didn't do it intentionally. I also think that this version of the quest of return reassembles the soul of the departed rather than being whole. It was these parts that became the red goddess. I think the questers didn't realise what they were doing until well into the quest. The whole realisation of her parts and the phases were only fully realised when she went on her goddess quest.
  15. The barrels in the picture are bound with some kind of brown stuff, likely Gloranthan bronze dulled with wear. Gloranthan bronze has different properties that terrestrial bronze and so for fantasy purposes it's ideal for some cultures to make barrels with. Bronze bound barrels aren't so common as Redsmiths spend much of their time making much more profitable weapons and armour for adventurers. Many foreigners not familiar with this often assume they are the much rarer dwarf type bound with enchanted iron so as not to affect magic in their vicinity. Many a fool has stolen them expecting to find black powder or rare alchemical substances only to be disappointed by salted anchovies or cheese. Barrels like these are maintained by repair spells unless you have a bored redsmith to hand or an even rarer cooper.
  16. I see this as a regional/cultural table with technology headings saying does have amphora doesn’t have barrels. Like a more graduated traveler tech table from digest groups grand census grand survey. Hand picked rather than automatically assumed. Headings like metallurgy, ceramics, construction, clothing, storage, watercraft, etc.
  17. It actually says Wow, I’ve never seen that before, calculating the aimed area as a fraction of size and applying the size modifier (-10 per size below 4). Does anyone else do this? There’s no implication in the rules that you should be doing this. We always used it for killing swarming beetles and rats. @Jason Durall is this how it would work in RQG? Have I and other GMs I know been doing it wrong ?
  18. Traditionally you would bless the new item which clears away any past linkages and makes new ones to the current situation. It’s done all the time. Baptism, ritual ablutions, purification ceremonies and cleansing rites are just a few of the ways of achieving the same thing. I don’t think it needs to be complex.
  19. I’d avoid the term shadow for various reasons and say everything has an existence to some degree on the spirit plane. That includes living things as well. The former use of everything has spirit is very vague and non-specific. In our world it’s used as a general term by many for the “other”. Everything has a spirit is exactly how it is and leave no room for what has and what hasn’t. Something tapped of it’s spirit would likely crumble into its base form. A living object would likely die as loosing your spirit whether it be separated or destroyed is how you die. Expert tappers would alway leave a minute piece to keep the thing alive. Humans and animals can have their spirit returned so items can as well, although it might be easier to make another one. Only if you believe that the intention of creation shapes the spirit of an object. If it’s a reborn spirit as is likely with most things, I’m not so sure. I believe that this is independent and the creators intent on the form does not shape its spirit (but it can shape the form). It has a much broader range yes. Big spirits can be collectives but no one cares as it’s the big spirit that’s important. No. Not unless you are able to break the object. A house has a house spirit, but when the roof blows off, you might need to help the broken roof spirit. Once back on, it’s whole again. BTW things inside of the house may be considered separate, but only if they need to be contacted.
  20. There’s no SIZ recalculation with an aimed shot, you wait until the strike rank 12, your roll is half your skill plus modifiers, if you succeed you hit the area selected (that’s RQG which I’m currently using but I’m sure RQ3 is virtually the same). Most of my players did it, as why would you waste an arrow on a random shot, but your game experience may vary.
  21. Given that animists believe that everything has a spirit, including man-made items, this is almost certainly true. However having a spirit doesn’t mean that you would want to contact it. For animists intent is everything. I use anima and spirit interchangeably here. Just as everything has a spirit, that doesn’t give it an individual sense of purpose or identity. The larger object will have a spirit, animists don’t tend to look at the small parts unless there is a need to. The spirit/anima of a temple is likely to be subsumed into guardians for example. As for the fire being a component of brick, it could just be the transmuter, not adding any of itself but just changing the clay from one form into another. Looking at this from a terrestrial point of view, clay and brick are allotropes of the Earth rune. For me this gets round the whole added complexity of mixing runes to make other substances. Without adding unneeded complexity, it’s a magical effect visible to only initiates and above. The sky doesn’t get nearer, it’s looking into the otherworld. However, so it looks cool, cloud clear is cast (I can’t remember if Yelmalio has this) outside first.
  22. Looks like you got your reply over at KS. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2034781994/red-moon-rising-rpg/comments
  23. Maybe. But first to paraphrase a well known phrase, the religion of Pavis is not the Religion of the Pavis Cult. We know he was born of a specialist breeding program and ultimately he was a sorcerer from the EWF. As such, Pavis is presented in Pavis GtA is a sorcerous cult. He's still there inside his crystal sphere. I think of it like a stasis chamber - immortality at the expense of inaction, like a fake piece of Godtime, an almost infinite spell of longevity. You can visit him in his timeless state if you're an initiate. He's clearly worshipped and so receives power from his followers. In return I think gives the City Harmony rune spell although he was a sorcerer. It's weird side effect of his temple. Does he act like a Wyter, No. Do the spirits of his dead worshippers act like one, sure why not. They've made him into something else. I don't think he teaches any other rune magic, but his grimoires live on. His protective magic was already in place on the city before he died. I think flintnail maintains it if needed.
  24. You need to activate the special signal for help on this - calling mr. Suitcase, calling mr. Suitcase ( @Rick Meints ).
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