David Scott

Only if the Elves win. I'm sure that's why Troll Arkat has returned. This is Hero Wars, it's not guaranteed that everyone's scheme will work. I've always imagined the reforestation as a moving front, not a sudden appearance of trees everywhere. I would assume that one of the aims of the Brown Elves would be Hrelar Amali due to its significance to Flamal. The Green Elves - Sog City (as it's mentioned as the target in Greg's notes) with the Green Elves of Kanthor’s Forest sending ships. Once the target was held they would fill in with an expanding circle. Solid lines - Primary fronts. Dashed lines - Secondary fronts.

Remember that Arkat / Argrath both mean liberator. Argrath is mythically identified with the role of The Destroyer. In Gloranthan mythology I don't think there's any differentiation between them. Jar-eel is the Red Goddess and understands what Nysalor went through at the hands of Arkat. In her mind Arkat = Argrath. In the end she will be Nysalor to Argath's Arkat. And so it repeats.

Let us not forget that of those that return (GtG 385): Troll Arkat would likely be appear at Zorakarkat, Kimiv's alliance with Halikiv (secretly supported by the matriarchs of Urz Kalamok) and his membership of Argan Argar Chain would seem to cement that. Kimiv looks like a troll puppet. Arkat the Deceiver is a good candidate for Chaos Arkat, one of the sects that claim to have mastered chaos (GtG 376). This is clearly Argin Terror's work. I would hope that one of them appears in support of Alangellia. As such Daran would make an obvious power centre for this Arkat. She would obviously marry Arkat. It would also be cool to have an Arkat to appear as the head of the Chariot of Lighting sect. I'd also have Foyalfine surprised at Arkat stepping from the Eye of Worlds.

Using the standard Theism is something you are, spirit magic is something you have and sorcery is something you know. You can't use divine magic unless you are connected to the God (point of POW to become an initiate). I suspect GLs could identify a magic type as one of the three, but could only use the divine by proxy (another being connected to the god, likely enslaved for the purpose) or by sorcerous means (an enchantment created sorcerously that includes the divine link) and is manipulated by sorcery. They could likely do the same with spirit magic and spirits. Heroquesting with these arrangements would allow the GL to accompany their divine slave as a follower with more sorcery. They become the receptacle for the divine powers and on return, the magic can be moved from the divine slave to an enchantment. A sorcerous version of spell trading. The main outcome of all this makes up a few of the GL secrets - we can take your magic, we can manipulate your magic and ultimately we can make your magic. We can see echoes of this in all the enchantment spells - nearly all rituals produce a particular effect (sorcery is something you know). These are the remains of some GL experiments, I think spell trading is one too. I realise that this means that only sorcerous enchantments existed before the GLs, but who is to say otherwise?

Just start a new topic, I'm sure people would be interested.

One of the problems with Glorantha is that different peoples have different names for the same being. While this is great in a storytelling / fiction way, to players and GMs, in an RPG it just adds another level of complexity which makes for potential confusion. The god learners did the Hero with 1000 faces thing and grouped the same being with its plethora of names together and said "we call it x, and it's the same as y and z. RQG goes back to basics and sticks in most cases to a single name. In the upcoming gods book, you get the extra layer of names: or put another way with a different cult

From Pavis GtA page 371

Tonight for reference is Wednesday 27th May 20.00 BST

It's all a matter of perspective. It also depends on what you were following at the time product-wise HeroQuest or RuneQuest. The main thing to be aware of is the Guide to Glorantha. It is the definitive view of Glorantha from 30000 feet, then the Gloranthan Sourcebook, then the new RuneQuest Glorantha. All of the old scenarios you likely have are playable still. The sky ship for example may not follow the exact details of the published adventure, but I wouldn't worry about it, the sky ship still rises. The only change I would point out is an added chapter in King of Sartar that clarifies the dates. There are many minor changes which don't really affect game play - cults, a few places, but mostly it's expansion of the setting. You'll find people on this forum arguing about the minutiae, but most of it is just that minutiae. RuneQuest Glorantha has brought back detailed rules, that HeroQuest Glorantha never had (don't look at the Truesword, Sword trance threads). The authors support rulings not rules to stop the nitpicking. Have a look at the Glorantha Canon page for clarification. Nothing you likely own is outdated, I would still recommend many older adventures. Gloranthan history has moved on, fantastic new art and writing supports the new era.

This is an interesting question and has been mentioned previously, Stone is now a dead god and so can't be worshipped. If you want assistance in mining stone, I think you'd get no support from the dead god, so it's down to the tools you use. If you want direct help, Mostal, apostate dwarfs and sorcery are the obvious things to me. For treasures within the Earth, that's Asrelia or her equivalents. Sartar has dwarf magic for the Dragon Pass region, there's Flintnail for Pavis (along with Pavis sorcery). Tool-wise, as has been mentioned, Gusbran for the craft fires' many guises (tools, lime, etc). Outside of cities, there's likely little actual masonry work. Chimneys which would need masonry don't seem to appear until Roman times, so are outside of the scope of Bronze age Glorantha. Underground the dwarfs likely use chimney systems but wouldn't look like anything we would understand as such (sorcerously controlled bound air elementals, for example). How recent is the newest masonry work in Glorantha. How active are masons in building new stuff? Are they more involved in maintenance and patching than building?

We really should have done character sheets like that.

Usually I just assume that it works - what ever it is. However if outside the hunting norm and depending on the situation: Normal words - Fast talk, speak Own Language, charm Hand signals, non-verbal - Fast talk, speak Own Language, charm. Language contains gestures as well as commands at about 3/4 skill Whistling / Clicking Yodelling (I also include joiking as it contains animal calls) - singing I always try to avoid NPCs - animals in this case, making rolls. Almost all hunting companions are reared by the hunter from birth / hatching, so training them is a bit different. Go and watch some hawking or sheepdog trials.

The example illustrates its working. It's not actually matching a specific POW vs POW, just generally indicating who is affected beneath the required success. So a Chalana Arroy priestess casts Harmony with let's say a POW of 18. For example, if a caster with a 18 POW rolled 05, all potential targets with an 28 or lower POW are affected (within 3m) Realistically you'd need stack 27 rune points with it to avoid the max range eye spit and hope it has less than 28 POW that day. Assuming all of that, now the Bat is calm and won't attack you. Realising it's another smart arsed high powered healer, the High Priest banks the bat away out of range and drops a few ticks to keep the healer occupied.

Rune Fixes only deals with very specific rules issues, Rune Lord requirements are answered here - Rune Lord (page 278) section. Rune Lords page 278: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/chaosium/runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-players-book-print/cha4028-runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-qa-by-chapter/cha4028-runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-chapter-13-rune-cults/

Still available https://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/uploads/1/4/0/6/14062642/dragonmeet_brochure_2019_web_1.pdf

I would recommend listening to the BBC's In Our Time episode - Delphic Oracle https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00txj8d. It's one of my many favourites. It gives an excellent background and examples for Bronze Age divination. Then have a look at this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oracular_statements_from_Delphi These are almost ready made. For other divination examples, Viking for example, the Poetic Edda has the Völuspá https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Völuspá or Thorbjorg in Eric the Red's saga. With these in hand, it's pretty easy to get the hang of GMing divination. Never give the actual answer, alway allude to one that has multiple outcomes. There's an excellent example in the In Our Time podcast. It was the time of a UK election. The example question was "who will win the election". The answer given was Milliband. In real life there were two Millibands, brothers on different sides of the election...

In this particular case I'm only saying that they wouldn't as I''m very familiar with David Hall's Lismelder campaign setting (I played Branduin at one point). I've run the campaign myself and there's normal Darkness links. I would say that they run the full spectrum, but weighted towards the supporting society end. In most societies they are community centred, while at the other extreme there are the rare hermit types. Bofrost is actually the chief of the Hillhaven clan. Shaman will most likely be familiar with what's around them, as that's the easiest to find and work with. Having some kind of darkness spirit, may not actually be useful. This spell enchants a leather bag or rope to be capable of holding a wind. For each Rune point used, a wind or air elemental can be captured in the bag. Let one out, use command air element to do your bidding then back in the bag.

I've run a lot of games in the Vanilla Prax period - 1572-1610 and a few in 1652 🙂

This is the fundamental part. Once you have given them a point of POW, it gives them a presence though tiny. Not even a toehold. They also don't have to decide, they can't refuse it. However they don't give anything in return unless there are enough initiates.

The goal of attempting to corrupt Chalana Arroy. I was asking what are the stories of these rune spells that each god gives. What's the myth of how Orlanth got his magical shield, or how Ernalda became Inviolate?

Firstly, I'm talking about POW as the conduit for the worship link. I said magic points aren't part of it. A being cannot resist having POW sacrificed to to it. It's about sacrificing POW. A worship ritual is opened using magic points. That's the cause and effect, do it a certain way and this happens. The worship ceremony is the resonance between the being and the worshipper. That's unlikely as all of worshippers will want to act in accordance with the being. These things can likely happen, but don't make the ritual work. Different rituals for different beings. For example, Orlanth, we stand on top of a hill and sacrifice bulls, Chalana Arroy, we sit in quiet contemplation and sing soft healing songs. If you don't follow the ritual it doesn't work. Ultimately that's what the god learners did and it didn't turn out well. So while possible, the numinous can't be treated totally as computer code. What is the goal here,

Yes, with the correct cosmic connection, worshippers and stories. Sure. But the those who sacrifice to the apple have to believe it to be true. Most people would laugh and say that looks like a piece of fruit. So those who are warriors sacrifice to the apple and feel no resonance with death or their warrior selves. Some who have the plant rune start to resonate with the apple. The apple has no connection to fighting and/or death, the worshippers get no resonance and so don't identify their warrior selves with the apple. Those resonating with the apple apple may realise it's a new kind of fruit and sacrifice it to get at the pips to grow them. The apple spirit begins to manifest on the island like a spirit cult as worshippers feed it mps and occasional POW. As the apple tress grow well every one looks after them. The apple gods starts to appear as more and more people sacrifice POW to it. Enough for a shrine... The trees grow strong and a particularly strong in the apple worshipper one day while worshipping the Apple god finds himself the apple god and says to his loyal followers. "You have all looked after me so well that my children will always feed you in times of trouble" and worshippers receive Bear Fruit from the shrine. Later worshippers discover that the Apple God returned as he was the long lost son of the island god. The apple god tried to hide himself by pretending he was a great warrior so that he wouldn't be revealed as the son. Now we need the story of why that happened. Yes. Never trust a trickster. No. But it could be a retelling of another similar story. Rain (Orlanth Kills Aroka), could be retold as Snow, Hail, etc. This is a common part of mythology. I think those worshipped can always become diminished and may be disappear. Few become gods, but many heroes and spirits come and go. Hence you need to establish yourself well before you transcend. Yes. The stories aren't believed, they are true. The worshippers know this, they have been in them. Have you read Hero with a 1000 faces by Joseph Campbell, Greg always recommended it as an introduction to this kind of thing.

In conversation with @Jeff sometime back we talked about how you become a god and one of the basic tenants of Glorantha is that you can't refuse worship. This arose out of how Pavis who is clearly a sorcerer gets to give out Rune magic. So, if you worship something - it eventually starts returning powers. I'm going to define worship here as worshippers (initiates) giving a point of POW to make a connection, magic points are just small change the keeps the cosmos oiled smoothly, I'm going to ignore those. So how is the magic defined? The Gods don't have a book of rules that just gives out appropriate magic, it needs defining by the worshippers. The makeup needed is pretty clear to me - you understand from your cosmic connection to what ever you are worshipping what rune(s) it resonates with. You likely resonate with this as that Rune is major part of your makeup too, or if you don''t, the cosmic connection starts to make you resonate with it (it increases). If it has more than one rune, perhaps you don't resonate as much with the other rune or maybe you do. The more resonance you have, the more you define it and it defines you - Theism is what you are. The second thing you may have is the story(s) associated with what you are worshipping. From that you can interact with them in worship ceremonies. A worship ceremony is a simple form of sorcery - sorcery is something you know. All worshippers know that if they do a particular set of things they can establish a numinous connection directly with what they are worshipping and interact with it. The stronger the runic resonance with them the easier it is. The stories can come from the resonances. You actually become the being and start to fall into their mythic roles. From these experiences the magic returned is shaped. This is the core of heroquesting / heroforming your god. Each rune spell comes is known myth. The more worshippers who experience it, the more likely it is to manifest as a gift from the God. Many of these magics have a similar effect and appear to be the same thing, but have different origins. Leading on from this, this means there can be regional differences in the magics. Some may fall out of favour and new ones come in. In the Third Age there are many more rune magics than there were at the Dawn, more worshippers, more time to develop and explore the stories. If you are born mortal, end up worshipped, there maybe a point where you can transcend beyond time. The risk is that when you do so you move past the normal cycle of death and are outside of it. You also risk being forgotten, so there are clearly a number of tricks to doing this, like becoming a hero of your cult, not a new god. Are there rules for any of this - no, it's a risk you need to put enough of yourself on to the otherside, so when it happens, you have already set the ball in motion. You need enough of yourself there so you don't loose yourself. So what are the stories of these rune spells that each god gives. What's the myth of how Orlanth got his magical shield, or how Ernalda became Inviolate? In the final great gathering around his temple, the whole city came to hear him. Pavis raised his hands and asked that they all be seated. "I will always look after my city and its people. Look at each other and remember that here you are all my people. Here inside the walls, you are all citizens of my city and will treat each other as such. Be careful that no one leads you the wrong way. Many people will come and use my name to do what they want. remember that I am still here among you". This was story was part of the worship of Pavis and eventually City Harmony was a Rune spell available to his cult.

Thanks, failed to spot that completely!