Moragion

Thanks for the info! I bought the sourcebook last year, so... Will probably buy the pdf at some point in the future.

22 hours ago, Oldskolgmr said:

The web comic is BRILLIANT! I found the story and art beautiful! 

Agreed! I read it after it was suggested in this thread, from beginning to end. The art style is really good. Thanks Sir_Goodspeed for the suggestion!!

23 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

For all newcomers (or returners, I guess) I heartily suggest the Prince of Sartar webcomic. It is on an indefinite hiatus since 2018, but what's there really does an amazing job of setting the tone and feel of the setting.  
http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/introduction-chapter-1/ 

The second must-read, imho, is the Glorantha Sourcebook. It lays out pretty much all the basics and-then-some of the immediate surroundings of Dragon Pass and its people, which is the focal point of the setting. Lots of mythology in there as well. You might have already read this though, I don't know. 
https://www.chaosium.com/the-glorantha-sourcebook-pdf/

Yeha, I have the Glorantha Sourcebook, and was thinking on reading that first as it seems the best point of entry. But will check the webcomic for sure. Thanks!

18 hours ago, g33k said:

OK... a skeletal outline:

The Lunar Empire, founded by Sedenya the Red Moon Goddess, is a large and expanding polity, founded on prior empires (Carmania, Dara Happa, others).
This Goddess is *new*to*Creation* (most of the other Gods are very much older!).  The Red Moon itself -- the physical orb -- is still inside the world, still within the air; below it is a vast Crater, where Sedenya formed the Red Moon out of the ground.  It is ascending toward the Sky Dome (an actual dome); mythologically, the "sky" and the "air" are entirely-separate and different things!

The Kingdom of Sartar, where Chaosium is setting most of the adventures, largely worships Orlanth, the Storm-God.
Mythologically, Sedenya is fighting Orlanth because she's invading the Air (Orlanth's realm).  Mundanely, the Lunars are fighting Sartar because Sartar sits astride a key route (to the ocean, and ocean trade) that the Lunars very-much wish to access.

This is the mythical & practical conflict upon which the setting relies.

The world of Glorantha has broadly had 3 different "Ages" since the beginning of Time; roughly every 600ish years, there are major wars and catastrophes that screw up most of the the world, and a new Age is born from the ruins.  We are about due, and prophesies call this coming time "the Hero Wars."

===

In the "Classic" books, the official start-year is 1615ish, and the rising Lunar Empire has recently taken Sartar, and beyond it, the plains of Prax with the Zola Fel river giving the much-desired river access.  There's very much a "scrappy rebellion, fighting against occupying army" vibe... or a "civilized people bringing their openness & equality to poor barbarian tribes who oppress their neighbors, their women, and everyone else" vibe, if you prefer that one.

There is a *LOT* of really good, really-playable content in these older editions; many people will recommend these as very-viable approaches!

The newer books have advanced the timeline by a decade; the "Hero Wars" have begun.  A Dragon broke the Lunars in Sartar, and the kingdom is free again; an ex-Sartarite with a huge army of Praxian warriors defeated the Lunars in Prax, and he moved onward to declare himself King of Sartar.  He's now harrying the Lunar flanks as they are busy with other threats (that look to them like bigger problems).
 

===

On an entirely different front, the creator of Glorantha (Greg Stafford) had lost the legal rights to "RuneQuest" but not "Glorantha," and he launched a new game (called Hero Wars; then a new edition called HeroQuest, and then "HeroQuest:Glorantha").  The mechanics of this game were *very* different, and not terribly compatible with Runequest, but the setting was still Glorantha.  This game-system is about to be re-released as "QuestWorld" (and HeroQuest is getting its own new lease on life as an unrelated board-game from Milton-Bradley/Hasbro.

In-game, in-character, the terms "Hero Wars" and "Heroquest" have some specific Gloranthan meanings, which occasionally cause contextual confusion with the specific RPG titles.

It is Kallyr who became Prince of Sartar in 1625, not Argrath (yet).

Although I get that the older starting point is an interesting and rich setting, the new one kind of appeals more to me right now, with a new scenario opening, the Empire repelled (for now), and lots of adventure sites, old battlefields, abandoned fortresses, etc... Plus the events of just a few years in the future.

But again, not gonna play any time soon, so will settle for just reading the books and have a good time. Sounds like readying history and legend and I love that.

Well, as I said, I don't see myself doing any kind of game in a couple of years, so there is enough time for new books to come over to cover new events. And in any case I will stick to the 1625 as a starting point, as doing otherwise would mean even more research XD But I see your point. If in all these time I have time and opportunity, I will give those older books a look, and perhaps do something in those times when I got more used to the world itself.

55 minutes ago, Nick Brooke said:

RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, p.21:

”The year is 1625. Now begins the long-prophesized period known as the Hero Wars: the fighting around Dragon Pass draws the greatest collection of Heroes in one place the world has ever seen. In these pages, adventurers begin their first steps upon the path to becoming Heroes, to take their places amongst others in the Hero Wars.”

Noted 🙂 As I said, I have only been able to browse the books, have to find time to read them thoroughly.

29 minutes ago, Zac said:

The Hero Wars are the battle that @Nick Brooke referred to in his post. A Heroquest is a ritual re-enactment of a god's battle or journey that characters in the setting use to get power and relics to help empower themselves. It is a deep concept that is at the core of Gloranthan cosmology but has been largely missing from the RPG rules.

The Well of Daliath site has a few useful articles

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/websites/moondesign-com/archive-of-of-old-glorantha-discussions-on-moondesign-com/heroquesting-questions/

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/gloranthan-documents/greg-sez/types-of-heroquests/ 

Thanks for the information. Will give those a look to get and idea. Seems also that the new Mythology book will have some info too.

Thanks everyone for the answers! I didn't know there was something called the Hero Wars. Have seen that there is the concept of HeroQuest. Is it related?

Is not that I have any plans on making any campaign with the game, as right now I am pretty busy with other things, but wanted to read the books and get to know better the world and such, as it looks pretty much like history and ancient mythology, and I love that. In a couple of years perhaps begin something.

Also I just saw that the Mythology book is out. Going to have to get it, to add to the list of "to do".

Hi everyone. First post from a completely uneducated in Glorantha. My exposition to Runequest is based on having played once in high school, way back, where we played some ducks and the gamemaster essentially didn't explain anything to us. Runequest has been always some classic game that was there in the background, but nothing more. Then the new edition by Chaosium came and I got intrigued. After looking a little bit, I fell in love with it: History and Mythology in a Bronze Age setting? Yes please. So I bought every single book, more or less, which I have only been able to browse a little. 

Sorry for the introduction. The question is that I have seen that the rpg books set the date at 1625, but seems like there are older books that deal with years beyond that. So are those books a guide for what it is to come in the Chaosium line? Will the line go on a different direction? I saw there is a book called King of Sartar, which have information about years after 1625, and was thinking about getting it to have a good read and get glimpses of what is to come.