The Prettiest Parrot

I don't mean to be a pain, but I think there's a disconnect about what all is unclear. It's pretty clear that you guys want playable content, and you don't want people to re-implement older rule systems. What isn't clear is if we can publish a Gloranthan scenario that uses the QuestWorlds rules instead of the ones in HeroQuest Glorantha, where those rulesets differ. I think the big difference comes with Extended Contests. HeroQuest: Glorantha has a single set of rules for them, but QuestWorlds has a few different options for Sequences. I've run both systems and found those all play pretty differently. There's some other mechanical differences here and there, but I don't think any of them matter so much. That's a difference that'll come up even if you're only publishing a scenario, with absolutely no new rules in it at all. And I don't think it's a time-wasting niggle, because that's pretty fundamental to writing a scenario. You have to know which rules you're using! If I'm publishing a scenario, can I use either Extended Contests or Sequences? Or for a really concrete example: Right now, I am running a QuestWorlds game set in Umathela. I'm big on planning (and forcing my players to read essays about historical agriculture; they're very tolerant) so I have a lot of stuff I could theoretically publish. (Layout is hard.) Publishing the setting stuff is clearly fine, and so are the scenarios. But, unlike HeroQuest: Glorantha, QuestWorlds doesn't have any baked-in support for making magic and whatnot distinct from other keywords. And that stuff isn't necessary, you can treat it all like normal abilities, but I did add some things: -An "Initiation" character creation method, which is basically Prose for an immature character, then playing an initiation scenario and swapping a few abilities as we go. -Magical abilities as a distinct category, but using myths as the keywords instead of cults. That is to say, I have a player with a score in How Orlanth Conquered Yelm, not a score in Storm Rune (Orlanth). Those rules aren't replicating any older editions. If you're working from QuestWorlds, they're not replacing anything. They're additive, to support the the specific setting and scenarios in it, which seems OK according to the FAQ. If we're working HeroQuest: Glorantha, that amounts to rewriting the magic rules, so it's probably not kosher. If I wanted to publish my Umathela scenarios and setting handouts, could I include those? I know that's a lot of text and I really appreciate your time on this. I'm clearly a partisan for QuestWorlds on this; I think it's a much better system than HeroQuest. I'm just not clear if you knew how much the rules differences between the two systems matter if you're writing a playable scenario. You're welcome to restrict the Jonstown Compendium to HeroQuest: Glorantha's rules, but you should probably purge references to the QuestWorlds SRD from the content guidelines in in that case. It's profoundly misleading in ways that are very important. As I type this, I realize this is all probably temporary if you intend to republish a version of QuestWorlds: Glorantha that does have the same rules as the SRD in it. Which may be the entire disconnect? I obviously don't know your plans there, but it seemed like a plausible cause of confusion.

Sorry, this has me a bit confused. The content guidelines (This page) lists the Game Formerly Known as HeroQuest: Glorantha and the QuestWorlds SRD separately when it lists the rules you can use. It looks like pretty explicit permission to use the SRD for the Jonstown Compendium. Should we assume that's outdated/incorrect at this point?

I agree with the crowd here. Not Chaotic, but people think it is. I think that's mostly an Orlanthi thing; I've always presented them as thinking things they dislike are Chaos, whereas Solar people have more categories.

So, I just allowed my players to pick from a list of cultures for our next game, and they chose the one that takes the most effort for me. They want to play as Orlanthi in Pamaltela, which I take to mean Umathela. I have all the stuff in the Guide to work from for this, but it's pretty sparse overall. If any of you know of other good sources or have fun ideas, I'd love to steal them. Mostly I've been thinking about how the whole Earth complex might change with Pamalt being alive. Feels like masculine Earth gods should be more prominent, maybe with a direct Pamalt cult, but maybe Orlanthi would parse it more in terms of a prominent Nandan instead? Or both? I think there's something workable there, but not enough for a cool setting, hence me coming here.

I'd definitely also lean towards economics. Another angle is to look at who moves to cities. I've gotten the impression that the Colymar are less urbanized than the Jonstown confederation. That's a rough understanding that could be wrong, but I think it's a thing worth considering. It's generally not the guy who inherits the family farm! You're likely to see a constant stream of people who don't have many resources or urban-applicable skills. They're going to struggle to equip themselves, unless some local authority starts handing out weapons.

I think you can definitely take it that way! If grain is Ernalda's gift to the farmers, then the mice aren't really hurting the goddess, are they? On the other hand, sometimes you get imagery about crop and seeds (or the goddesses thereof) being Ernalda's daughters. If you take it from that direction, then they're protecting her. Very Orlanth. If you take the angle that grain is the body of the goddess, like the Sartar Companion does for Reaping Day, then the mice are kind of cannibals. I have not taken that route but now that I'm thinking about it I kind of want to run a game about Chaos Mice. Either way, multiple interpretations feel pretty mythic to me!

A few years back, I did a scenario with a sort of Earthy Summons of Evil component. Mice showed up. Because they get into storehouses and eat grain, mostly. I don't know if that's the vibe you want but it worked great for taking my players by surprise.

You all have put a thought in my head. Gagarth presumably isn't the only outlaw god in the world. Non-Orlanthi presumably have some sort of god of/for awful people, even if they don't have the same social structure for outlawry. Maybe as actual cults, maybe as cautionary tales that you could worship, if you got desperate. I'd expect to see some local heroes or spirits or what have you that take a similar role, too. Everyone knows you shouldn't go anywhere near that mountain, because the spirit hides anyone who makes the right sacrifices, or whatever. They probably don't like each other; Gagarth has no associated cults, and it's not like outlaws are the friendliest fellows. So how do they interact? There's probably a nucleus of a good adventure or Heroquest or something in 'the story of how the outlaw gods shared out the turf' or something. Or maybe something exploring how outlaws come into conflict with Chaos without being heroes. This is really a half-baked notion but I think it's interesting to think about.

I'm guessing Pavis: Gateway to Adventure, 148-151? One illustration per page.