David Scott

Fortunately you aren't Harmast or his fellow Lightbringers present at the time: GtG page 130

Not a resurrection Quest. As previously mentioned it's about restoring the cosmic order. May be Palangio did do something. Traditionally dismemberment is used to scatter the parts, there's a lot of that in the stories, that would stop self resurrection of all but the most powerful. The LBQ that brought Arkat back was a failure as he turned into a troll and Harmast did a second quest that returned with Talor. With enough worship, Arkat does return 5 times in the third age. If these are to be considered resurrection quests, then the two year time line and multiple dangerous steps do seem to be extreme. The plate and commentary in the Guide on page 122 would seem to confirm that.

That all sounds good to me. I based my Ernalsulva on Bargaeta in These Women need help, and her mother on Serarernalda. I also redid the picture of Ernalsulva as I wasn't happy that the image provided portrayed her as well as it could. So using the cover picture as the basis, I changed her (I actually redid the cover of the book with this image, replacing her original image with this one flipped and made it a dust cover. Fan policy doesn't allow me to put the edited cover up here - 8. no modified covers.) The result was that nearly all the adventurers wanted to woo her.

There are three known ways of coming back from the dead: 1. Resurrection / Seal Soul (I think there is one other) - this takes the person's could from the Path of the Dead, before it reaches the Courts of Judgement. Seven days to do it. Over seven days, gone. Relife sickness can be a resulting adventure hook (Sartar:KoH page 148) A shaman can go and fetch the soul from the Path of the Dead, before it reaches the Courts of Judgement. (as above). 2. Self Resurrection - Leaving the path of the Dead using a back door: A. Shamanic Self resurrection (RQG page 361). The shaman being a master of spirits can learn how to do this and break the seven day barrier. They know a hiding place on the path of the dead and can conceal their spirit for a season while they muster their energies to return or the back door off the Path is long and arduous (a season). As they get better at this, they get quicker. B. Non-shaman can learn this from a heroquest, some details in The Courts of Silence (Arcane Lore page 85) and So, You Want to Raise the Dead? (page 105). You learn the back door from your pantheon's psychopomp (the risk in doing this is that you remain dead). You still need to address Daka Fal, but you either learn the correct answers when being judged or bring him an offering (bribe). The route back may lead you somewhere unexpected on the surface world and may not be simple. As you get better, you refine your technique. C. Sorcerers can do B. or make a resurrection enchantment that kicks in when they die that can pull them off the Path. 3. Other. If your soul is not in your cult afterlife, it can be rescued. See the Sartar campaign. We don't have the RQG mechanics for 2 B or C, but we do know the Gloranthan context for them, so mechanics are not that important, but are easy to model. We know from Jeff's Design notes that heroes will have a "Hero Soul" that is a presence in the Otherworld. A shaman's otherworld presence is his fetch - a load of self-sacrificed POW. So your Hero's presence is just going to be your POW in the otherworld in some form - let's call it your Hero Soul. The more POW you put into your Hero Soul, the better you'll do in the otherworld (like a fetch). Jeff mentions a link between being worshipped and doing this, so the you need worshippers to start a hero Soul (I'd say that every point of POW they sacrifice lets you put one of yours into the hero soul. You don't get their POW, that's the link, or a fraction of temple worship if officially recognised). Now treat Hero abilities like gaining shamanic abilities. Replace meeting a Greater Entity with psychopomp on a heroquest. Spend the POW points on Self-Resurrection, write a cool adventure on doing this for your party and you're done. The Design note is here: https://www.chaosium.com/blog/designing-the-new-runequest-part-10/

Orlanth has always been a major cult in my games since RQ2 (it being one of the few cults in the book). Ernalda cultists didn't really appear in my games until in the big writeup in the RQ3 boxed set. Orlanth cultists and humakti tended to dominate unless there were women players and they liked to play ernalda, vinga and babeester gor. Fringe cults were always chalana arroy, storm bull, and a few others. Fortunately things changed when heroquest came out and it made Humakt boring compared to many other cults and I saw a drop in violence orientated gaming and a real shift to story led games. Thieving was never really a thing in any games I played in, never any Lanbril, etc. I ran a long campaign where everyone was a Yelmalion, from different temples, so sartar (RQ2 version) Sun County (RQ3) and ostrich clan (Heroes). So no other cults. I've also run a lot of praxian games and had a fair few Praxian Orlanth adventurous initiates in my games I ran another long campaign out of the Sartar triology, by the end of these Women Need Help (in book 1) all of female players wanted to be Ernaldans as the major NPCs were excellent role models. The men were mainly Orlanth worshippers by then as well, as marrying a Ernalda priestess was now a life goal. By the time we reached the Colymar campaign, I think out of 20 players who played in it over time, only a few weren't Orlanth or Ernaldans. I had Ernaldans vying for Ernalsulva's suitors (who were Orlanth initiates), threatening to derail the plot (in a good way). In Cattle Raid in the Gamesmaster Screen Pack, the fun in the game was the political wheeler-dealing of the aftermath in which Orlanth and Ernalda cultists are well suited to deal with clan and tribal politics. Were this a DramaSystem game, my players would have jumped straight to "after we have recovered the cows", ignoring the procedural bit completely. At cons Yanioth and Vasana are very popular choices for demo games. Fortunately my games don't suffer from mini-maxers optimising their characters for combat. In my case the pure fighting cults are rare and the cultural cults are much more powerful in the game. So in Sartar games, Orlanth and Ernalda are common, Praxian games, Waha and Eiritha, Yelmalion games, Yelmalio. I'm not saying that this is true for all games I run. But most of my players have figured out that the culture cults get you the most power in the end.

Don't forget the ship illustrations in the Guide pages 466-467 plus 461 & 464

I'd really recommend reading Pavis GtA, it has 14 pages that covers all of the complex politics and factions of the New City, then there's more on the individual temples. For a start there are two Orlanth High Priests. The pre-lunar former High Priest in hiding with all the High Priest regalia (great grandson of Dorosar) and the one that came with the Lunars without the regalia. There are also two Wind Lords, and another temple in the rubble setup by another wind lord around 1618 - so who does your clan recognise, who do they support, who do they really support?

Just use as written, ignore fatigue and Parr, they will work with no problems. Sandy also talks about the Vadeli here: https://www.chaosium.com/forgotten-secrets-of-glorantha/ or live here in this series:

We could do with more scenarios like this, good fillers for an evening. I like the pictures. Great to show to players. I like the idea that Annilla assassins can have up to double their CHA in spirit magic, makes them more mysterious and deadly, not just normal NPCs. Dire Peril is an interesting idea as well, although most of my players are already scared of combat . As for errors, negligible IMO. 15 pages of entertainment for $0.99, what's to complain about.

Since Pavis:GtA, we've developed the background. Pavis is a good example of a worshipped entity returning Rune magic. In RQG he'll give city god Rune magic. The cult of Pavis isn't the same as Pavis's magical ability. (Think of it the same way as christianity - christianity wasn't the religion of jesus).

As has been previously mentioned, it's complicated and full of legal hurdles. Even if the magazines themselves don't exist anymore, a company or estate may still own the rights to the text and illustrations. Likewise the rights may have reverted to the author or artist. You will need to pay the author or license the text to translate it. In the long run, it's easier and cheaper to buy the magazine and learn French. Personally, my French 5 normally receives a +10 augment by using a Google translate cameraphone. Never distributing the results is also saves Honour.

Good nutshell answer. Yes. No. The key word is Nomad. I say that at any snapshot of the Wastes and Prax, the numbers of nomads in each ranges from 1% Prax / 99% Wastelands to 99% Prax / 1% Wastelands, depending on what's going on where. For example : 1621 20% Prax / 80% Wastelands. (Bison & Impala's are outlawed, Prax is occupied by lunars, a Morokanth is the most respected elder, High llama ancestral grazing occupied by Pol-joni) 1622 Windstop. 5% Prax /95% Wastelands (Wastelands unaffected by windstop, Lunar sables remain, some morokanth remain, Pol-joni remain, die off happens) 1623 Year of Kids 1 10% Prax /90% Wastelands. The return, clans flock to the Paps to take part in fertility rituals & blessings 1624 Year of Kids 2 15% Prax /90% Wastelands. The return continues, 1621 setup continues 1625 Armistice of Prax ends. Jaldon returns. 30% Prax /70% Wastelands 1626 40% Prax /60% Wastelands ---- and here's more from Facebook: David Scott Here's a link to my map of the ancestral grazings. Most Praxians are out in the wastes. Note that the Bison & High Llamas grazings are now within the Pol-Joni lands. @Nick Brooke I'm intrigued by the 5-10 year cycle you propose for clans visiting the Paps and other holy places (in Prax). Our two Praxian "What My Father Told Me" examples are of a Sable clan that visits Prax once every ten-hands-less-one years (Chaosium, Orange Box) / a Bison clan that visits once every ten-hands-plus-one years (Issaries, HeroQuest Voices). Your cycle looks much more frequent. At any time, we know the great majority of Praxians are living in the Wastelands, beyond Prax (Guide vol.2 p.440). Does this add up? David Scott It's not meant to. Written for HQG It was to allow players to be in a dynamic setting where every so often they'd have to risk crossing the river into Prax under the Armistice. For normal cycles I'd probably make it 50 years as written or something like every other generation. Avoiding tedious book keeping was also part of the goal. Another key event was the 1572 expulsion from the Pavis council. Many clans would have left Prax at that point, the 50 year cycle complete in 1622 postponed to 1625 by the Windstop, but coincides with Jaldon's return. Many Morokanth didn't leave at this point as a Morokanth became most respected Elder as a result of the debakle. The Bison were the cause of the 1572 events and the majority left for the wastes after their I think pre-1572 there were more clans migrating through Prax. But that's the nature of the nomads, it varies over time in response to events. Nick Brooke That sounds sensible to me. Thanks for reverting! David Scott - Just dug this out - the 50 year cycle is at the top of a bell curve with an SD of 15, the players clan are in the tiny percentage at one end. That also means that a few clans don't return for nearly 100 years.

Define we. In the Third Age there are a number of groups doing things that will bring up a great upheaval. There are at least three groups doing meta-magical work: Westerners with Arkat returns. Lunars with their synergistic religion. Orlanthi synthesising new magics. Some may be using archeologically recovered information, some may have their own unique practices, some of the new practices may mimic lost GL practices, theories and ideas. Some of the mimicked ideas may do just that but use a different method to achieve this. We just don't know. Within the third age only those who were alive then may know what happened, just not how it was done. Given this is a cyclic occurrence, it's likely that these same magical concepts keep arising in different cultural guises. A lot of the hero wars plots are known in outline and where they lead. What we don't know are all of the plot lines for the end of the 1st and 2nd ages. I think the God Learner secret is a red herring designed to distract those who are looking for power. Those that see beyond it realise that these kind of powers can be resythesised to achieve the same effects in a different form. See it as the search for the philosophers stone or the holy grail, those that are looking for it will never find it. While those who understand what they represent can move beyond the search into new discoveries.

I think this is an artefact of RQ rules, paranoid players and not Glorantha in general. Those who know healing magic would be respected and want to show others that they knew it. Like having a first aid badge. Having it on your hands or in a ring or even bangles seems the most obvious place to me and fits in with the idea of healing being a comforting action, the laying on of hands etc. I've never imagined healing being an hands-off process.

The secrets are a list IMO, different schools had different lists, some overlapping, things like We can make your magic (using sorcery). The compromise is a Thelayan construct. The Gods being devolved anthropomorphosised runes are just that. The four ways of magic are really just one (sorcery). All realities are facets of devolved Law. Illumination is a construct of those who believe themselves unilluminated. What theists call god is within us all, you don't need gods to unlock it. Magic can be made in to matter and is reversible. There is no spoon. Look at John Dee and Edward Kelly for ideas of how they may have worked, Helena Blavatsky and theosophy as well. Try to imagine how this would have been if they were god learners. Some of the greatest Godlearners have been Mircea Eliade and Joseph Campbell who mapped out most of the hero paths of our world.

There's likely a Wyter for New Pavis, Dorosar was a Sartarite after all. I'm pretty sure it's not Pavis himself. Given how the city was built with cooperation from all groups (see above), it's likely the Wyter is made up of lots of different parts brought together. See Pavis GtA page 44 for the building of New Pavis. Old Pavis clearly has no Wyter due to its ravaged history, however the refuges likely do. The New City likely has Pavis himself as protector.

This is all covered in Pavis GtA (along with all the politics), the actual ruling council is not a tribal ring, but the Pavis city council, made up of These 13 in 1621 are the High Priest of Pavis, the Mayor of New Pavis (Cloth and Leatherworkers Guild) High Priestess of Ernalda a humakti loyal to the Lunar governor Ginkizzie, leader of Dwarftown (appointed to the city council by Duke Dorasar.) High Priest of the Knowledge Temple An Ingilli family head (riverfolk) Priestess of Irrippi Ontor Chief of the Indagos clan. Chief of the Redsmith guild a Priest of Yelmalio. an Issaries Priest High Priestess of Chalana Arroy Previously (up to 1472 it had Praxian members too). In 1625 I imagine little will have changed, except lunar factions would have been replaced, the humakti and irrippi ontor priest replace by others. I imagine that Argrath as King of Pavis maintains the council do keep everything working smoothly. I'm sure one o the replacements would be an Orlanth/white bull priest and I suspect that he will have restored a Praxian to the council again. I think Loyalty (clan) is much more important, Loyalty (New Pavis) is a bit different (There are two different kinds of Pavisite - old and new.) That's something a council member would have. In 1625, it would also have Loyalty (King of Pavis).

The ones we can see are all truth or death runes.

As it's only available to Vinga or Adventurous subcult Rune Lords, it's not going to be widespread amongst adventurers. As an example if we imagine Vasana becomes a Rune Lord and used the spell, she'd be using her sword and Shield. It's likely that the gem in her necklace is the POW storage crystal, Demoralize and Mobility would likely have their foci on the back of her shield, her heal focus on one of her earrings. As a GM, that's all reasonable to me. I don't think this is complicated. As it seems to work like shield, I'd allow sprit magic protection to stack. As it costs rune points to use, it will be a rare person with 15pt woad.

“Yes I have [said what the GLS is]. I told Robin,and he wrote it down, and it was published.” -Greg “_Glorantha, The Second Age_ by Robin Laws states the God Learner secret on page 13.” -Greg The sidebar from Glorantha, the Second Age (Mongoose 2006). It’s short, 118 words. At many many conventions Greg would do a Q&A, one of the seven (?) questions he would never answer was "What is the secret of the God Learners". I always thought this was a wind-up aimed at obsessive gamers. One of the other questions was what are the other questions you won't answer? I've no idea what the other five were. you might also like look at this thread:

Have look in the Dragon Pass Gazetteer, it has its own entry and a bit more under the White river. https://www.chaosium.com/dragon-pass-a-gazetteer-of-kerofinela-pdf/

There are defined clans in Pavis GTA (and earlier) products: Dorosar Clan, destroyed by the Lunars, but hopefully an heir will reappear to form it. Left, there there is the Garhound, Bullford and Althimandi clans and a few other minor clans. As @metcalph said treat the riverfolk and old Pavis families as non-sartarite clans.

Given the people who wrote original RQ, i've always assumed that the woad rune magic is a skyclad (digambara) ritual magic. So naked is naked - just your weapon and shield. No belts, backpacks, hats, etc. Skyclad symbolising the unclothed truth. There are a few similar practices in Glorantha - Waha Khan making - naked ritual fight against chaos in the Marsh and the Great hunt.

There's also a glimpse of HeroQuesting with RQG at the end of this article: https://www.chaosium.com/blog/designing-the-new-runequest-part-10/

Have a look at this recent thread: