Jump to content

Agentorange

Member
  • Posts

    1,246
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    4

Posts posted by Agentorange

  1. 8 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

    What we have is realistic art evocative of the practices of ancient cultures.

    I disagree that any of it is gratuitous, that's what makes modern RuneQuest art stand out from the tropey fantasies for me. There's no Boris Vallejo here.

    Well, we will have to agree to  disagree on that 😁  but as Nick said we've wandered a bit far afield,   that said it is my field ( as it were ) because i started the thread and am happy for thread creep to occur

    All I'm going to say on the subject of gratuitous is look at the description of the elementals in the bestiary ....and look at how they're illustrated.

    But I've come to a decision. next months geek money is allocated for Vol 4 of pavis + Nochet players guide

    And the month after that is........Furthest poster map from Redbubble, and probably the Mythology volume from Chaosium which I haven't bought yet. I must say it really does feel as though we're living in a golden age of Gloranthan/Runequest material at the moment

    • Like 2
  2. 10 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

    @Crel is correct: the poster maps of Furthest and Tarsh came first, and the book followed after because -- as @blackyinkin is well aware -- maps don't sell. So, unsurprisingly, we would recommend GMs invest in the Poster Maps from Simon Bray's Redbubble store before running a campaign set in Furthest or Lunar Tarsh.

    If that's not an option (because you play on a VTT?), the digital edition comes bundled with a 300 DPI high-resolution PDF map pack that you can download and zoom in on to your heart's content, or print out at home (perhaps tiled?) at absurd sizes. If you're after a poster print, do note that versions available from RedBubble will be better quality: the original map they're created from is crazy big, over half a gigabyte and 7,156 x 10,120 pixels! The Furthest Map Pack contains the maps of Furthest and its Sewers, Tarsh and its Districts & Clans, the New Market, and the sample city block, and weighs in at 54 MB (the book itself is 83 MB).

    Tech specs: the digital edition is produced at the standard digital resolution, 144 DPI; the print edition is 300 DPI throughout, inc. back cover map (one page, always premium quality) and the two-page spreads inside the book (which could be printed in standard or premium colour, depending which version you bought). Premium colour print is, unsurprisingly, crisper than (cheap) standard colour, but standard colour is perfectly serviceable.

    There isn't likely to be a future edition (or large format / easy reading reprint), so I suggest you keep your magnifying glass handy, buy a poster map, or pick up the digital edition as a companion. The POD editions of some Chaosium RuneQuest Classics have the same "issue" in spades (the poster maps from the boxed sets have been reduced to fit onto US Letter pages; you can buy separate poster prints from RedBubble if you want more legible, attractive versions). So I think we're in good company.

    Luckily I bought the PDF/POD combo so everything should be fine. I do keep looking at the Redbubble map. it's only a matter of time until I give in and buy it........👍

    I'm also rather taken with the:  Inora the Ice Queen fights Chaos T shirt as well.

    • Like 2
  3. Seriously it's great - the maps are lovely,  there's years worth of gameplaying info ,a wealth of background and who isn't going to love a sewer dwelling Elasmosaur called Cessie ?

    But......If I'd have known I was going to have to buy an electron microscope to read some of the site names I might have thought twice 😁

    I'm not joking. the Hyalors fields section ( p30 ) i am literally using a magnifying glass to make out some of the names. So maybe for a future edition these names could be increased in size just a tad ?

  4. 6 hours ago, svensson said:

    Here is an ad to sell the first model of Thompson Submachine Gun [the drum magazine pistol-foregrip 'Capone' version] to homesteaders to drive off 'bandits' ca. 1928 😁

    And yeah, there were 'Tombstone' style shootouts in small towns in the Southwest up until the 50s.

    Thompson SMG ad from 20s.jpg

    Interesting you should post that - saw it many years ago in a book. But one of the things i felt bought the old west to an end was technology. Ok the Telegraph had existed since the 1840's. But starting with the turn of the 20th century you get: radio communication, motor vehicles, aircraft etc etc. That kind of shrinks ( for want of a better word ) the world - it makes it harder and harder to hide and escape or just plain move on, the world has filled up as it were.

    Anyway we're a long way from Shogun now so I'll shut up 😁

    • Like 1
  5. 35 minutes ago, svensson said:

    Interesting question. Most US historians consider the Old West to have ended by about 1890 and certainly by 1900. Most consider the Ghost Dance Massacre at Wounded Knee SD to be the historical incident signalling the end of the frontier.

    As to the American cultural aspects about the Old West, those lingered until WWII.

    The reason i asked was that i watched the Bridges version of True Grit  a few days ago. Even though I'm from the UK I've always enjoyed a good western and I've especially enjoyed westerns set at the end of the era. For Example the Wild Bunch. Ok it's set in the Mexican revolution and you could make the argument it's a kind of war film as well. But I reckon it's a western. Same could be argued for A Fistful of Dynamite. The recent Old Henry is meant to be set about 1910. Butch and Sundances final shootout is historically about 1911 ( I think ) Tom Horn was, what, 1903 ?

    Which got me wondering when the wild west actually came to an end ?. I actually spent some some on the net looking at stuff ( wikepedia was actually quite useful ). There were what might be considered old west style gunfights after the turn of the century. And  a few minor Indian fights and skirmishes  after the turn of the century. The closer to the border with mexico the longer it seemed to linger. I've sort of decided on WW1 as being a good cut off point chronologically.

     

    • Like 1
  6. 1 hour ago, svensson said:

    And I thought the analogy of comparing Wayne/Bridges and Mifune/Sanada was applicable here.

    It's been a long long time since i saw the original shogun. I can remember enjoying both it and the book a great deal. I don't have Disney Plus ( UK )so I'm going to be unable to see the revamp. The trailers look good - let us know what you think.

    As a total and complete aside - and probably another thread, when would you consider the  'old west'  to have stopped existing ?

    • Like 1
  7. 17 hours ago, svensson said:

    So the reboot of the 80's classic TV mini-series SHOGUN is on tonight.

    a. That's like Jeff Bridges filling in for John Wayne in True Grit... Those are might big boots you're trying to fill, Sparky, so don't eff it up!

    d.... 😁

    I have to say, I really liked Jeff Bridges as Rooster. In fact I'm going to stick my neck out and say I like the Coen brothers version better.

    • Like 2
  8. 50 minutes ago, Joerg said:

    Myth has always had an entertainment component. By giving the forces of nature a face, they become an entity you can deal with - even if it is the baby-faced smiling sun of the Teletubbies.

    Speaking as a reader, looking at a book on diplay behind glass is not even close to reading. It isn't even a potential read like you get when you visit a library.

    Seeng an rpg on display behind glass is like seeing the shrink-wrapped collection of a hard-core collector. Personally, I prefer shelfies of rpg books that have seen some use, that wait to be pulled out and put to work. If only to give ideas for a different rpg's session.

    It used the books to illustrate the themes and as how things we might not consider to be obviously  fantasy may well be so. It is after all a library - books are going to be central to what they do. i liked the idea of being able to see C S Lewis original map of Narnia . For those who read books but have never considered an RPG the D & D exhibit may have lead people to consider fantasy in a different light, maybe the Study in Emerald  might have done the same.

    Some people may have seen LOTR or the Narnia movies been lead to the books but never considered the roots of what they've read. Most of us here have been RQ/Glorantha folk for many years even the frivolous ones ( eg me )may well have read more myth and history than the average  person. But I still found much to enjoy about the exhibition.

  9. 8 hours ago, Joerg said:

    An interesting collection of way too short glimpses into the wider genre, but visiting it as a museum exposition would feel a bit weird to me. On the levels of the experience of myths that are presented in Cults of RuneQuest: Mythology, this is (barely) the first level, reading about there being myths. Little context is given about the people who are the target group of these myths - we might recognize ourselves in quite a few of the exhibits, but we may also feel ourselves being misrepresented. Not dissimilar from Imperialism Age anthropology exhibitions if visited by people from the cultures exhibited, I guess.

    Except it's not about mythology it's about fantasy literature as a reading genre. Obviously there is some overlap:  Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Arthur etc are myth cycles, but they are also stories to be told as entertainment and for enjoyment. Looking at some of the themes often seen in such literature: portals, gods and deities, hero journeys etc etc. it's not aimed at the hardcore mythological buff it's aimed at book lovers and readers..

  10. Went to see this at the British Library on Friday. A history and exhibition about fantasy in literature down the ages from Gilgamesh through to modern authors such as N J Jemisin. takes in RPG's, anime and other side quests as it goes along. last day tomorrow sadly but is due to go on tour....so maybe if it's near you  you can treat yourself. the british library advert is a bit rubbish, so I'lll post a little clip i found on Youtube to give you a flavour. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.
     

     

  11. 8 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

    The last book went on sake promptly.

    I think as Chaosium shifted printers, and the COVID19 shocks wore off, and the Suez Canal shutdown is history, the logistics have gotten stable again.  Now if the Huthis would just stop attacking ships in the Red Sea..... but no, we can't live all the time in a fantasy world.

     

    Suez canal shutdown ? wasn't that 1956 ?
    oh, you mean the other  more recent one......😁

  12. This isn't really a Runequest question  per se, though it does involve writing stuff for Runequest.....

    I'm writing up some Runespells and rather than have to re create the whole
    SPELL NAME
    Xpoints
    temporal, stackable  etc etc

    thing for each spell is there a way of creating a template in word so I can get the mechanics ( as it were ) out of the way quickly and focus on the actual spell description ?

    Any advice gratefully received

  13. 2 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

    Over-Powered. "You're giving ALL OF THAT for only those few points???"

    ah ! I should have guessed 👍 Over powered is a difficult thing to gauge sometimes. Imagine two spirit spells each costs 1 MP to cast the first one does 1d3 damage ( it's disruption 😁 ) but the second one does 1d6 damage. is the second one overpowered compared to the first one ? Clearly yes - double the damage for the same cost.

    But......suppose the 1st one a common one and can be obtained pretty much anywhere as indeed Disruption can be, but the second one involves a long and hazardous trek into Vulture country and the wastelands to seek out an obscure spirit in a cave  and that's the only place you can get it ? is it still overpowered. restrict further -the  mega disruption  only works on trolls, and only in the daylight I ( or should that be yelmlight ) still overpowered ?

    I've never had a problem with powerful magic....i just roll with the notion of there being a powerful price to pay for it.

     

  14. 8 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

    There'd be even more variety of magic (even spirit magic) if I wasn't proofing it, and saying "OMGs, that's OP!!!" (because if you compare it to X and Y...) and "Nooo... don't try to create yet another magic system! It'll overload everyone's brains trying to remember the details" (like, POW in mins duration).

    (however, in saying that, I am eagerly awaiting the new Lunar Sorcery rules! I like the idea of being able to manipulate spirit magic, the way RQ3 had it! Although, realistically, that's just a variation on normal sorcery)

    He also said the abilities to have a spirit inhabit a body and give an effect was something he and Greg discussed - and decided was a good idea!

    OP ?

     

  15. 52 minutes ago, Gamesmeister said:

    Also take a look at some of Ian Thomson's City of Pavis books, he talks a lot in those, particularly Vol 1 I think, about spirit cults and has many examples of spirit magic in the way you suggest

    This was one of the things that started  me mulling the whole thing over. I've got all the volumes in POD and i really like the notion of the cults - even the minor ones having a whole raft of spirit magic spells. Or to be more precise given what Ian has said allied spirits which give spirit magic like spell effects.

  16. 7 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

    Black Fang effectively does, but you have to pay the price of worshiping him to get it - he doesn't give away what amounts to a Disruption 4 for subsequently "free" use.

    mmmm...ah.... mmmmm... er it's listed and written up as a Rune spell so I'm going to count it as one 😁

  17. 42 minutes ago, soltakss said:

    I think you are confusing Spirit Cults and Shamanic Spirit Travel.

    Spirit Cults grant Spirit Magic based on the powers and God Time deeds of the Spirit being worshipped. Most Spirit Cults are minor and grant one, or maybe two, Runespells and a few Spirit Magic spells.

     

     

     

    It was really this that I was driving  at. in the RG core rules all the theistic cults have  a selection of Spirit magic spells. Numbers vary of course but generally there's a few.

    The 2 spirit cults mentioned: Black Fang and Oakfed don't have any listed at all. Which seemed odd to me. and that got me to wondering if they were meant to have any or not.

    My own feeling is they would do, perhaps spells unique to them or appropriate spells from the common spell list. So Oakfed might well have Ignite and so on.

  18. 56 minutes ago, Richard S. said:

     

    I love small spell variations like this. We know that each spirit magic spell is really hundreds of unique charms that all just have similar effects, so it makes sense for there to occasionally be small differences.

    Something that's always surprised me is how few spirit magic spells there actually are. When you consider that the spirit world is considered to be pretty much a place of infinite variety it seems unusual that we only have  the 60 odd that we do. Now from a game play point of view they all make perfect sense. Consider Fireblade - from a RQ perspective it's great, who wouldn't want 3d6 worth of fiery damage dealing goodness - especially damage that can harm creatures that may be unharmed by non magical means.....

    From a Gloranthan perspective though ? Well fire deities are very much minor players compared to say the blueskinned storm geezers - yet Fireblade is one of the most potent spirit magic spells there is. I suspect the original battle magic spell list for RQ1/2 was dreamed up as a cool set of spells for RQ gameplay without thinking about the miffical underpinning of it all. Which is is fair enough RQ is a game first and foremost. But from a gloranthan viewpoint some of them do just seem to have been shoe horned in 😁

    There should be hundreds of little spirit magic variations like dark disruptor, for example this spell from a local spirit just south of Leaping Place falls on the Zola Fel river....

    Water Grace
    1 point
    ranged, Temporal, passive

    This spell acts in all ways like a Mobility spell doubling the recipients movement except when the recipient is moving through water: swimming, wading, climbing up a cliff through a waterfall etc. in which circumstances it triples their movement.

    there should be loads of these things everywhere. 👍



     

    • Like 2
  19. 1 hour ago, David Scott said:

    See RQG, Benefits of Being a Shaman, Learning Spirit Magic, page 357.

    They likely know some spirit magic already, now they can get most spirit magic at the rate of one per day. They are likely able to fill their CHA within a week.

    Sorry, that's me not being very clear. Certainly that's the game mechanic for acquiring spells. But the spirit world is a big  wishy washy timey wimey sort of a place. What guarantee is there that a shaman is ever going to meet a specific spell spirit ? They could spend months wandering around on the spirit plane and never meet a specific spirit.

    Imagine i and a friend go to the local shopping mall on a busy day before christmas, we start at opposite ends of the mall and just wander around at random looking for each other. we might never find each other. And we want to be found ! Imagine if one of us didn't want to be found.........

    And that's just one small shopping mall, in a much larger town, in a much larger county, in a much larger country.........

    I don't see why shaman automatically get all the spells. i could go wandering on the spirit plane...find the Disruption spirit spell ( handy  ! it's a keeper ) next day i wander off again...and find ......the Disruption spell.

    The day after that i go go wandering and find Dark Disruptor  which despite it's name is not something from an Ann Summers catalogue but a disruption spell variant that only does 1d2 damage to most people but 1d3+1 to those tied to the darkness Rune...

    or maybe that's the other way round - maybe it's cast by people tied to the darkness rune and does 1d2 damage to them but 1d3+1 to those tied to light/fire - who can tell  😄

    Anyway we're now in real danger of thread creep into a discussion about the nature of shaman - which would be an interesting  thing to talk about but deserves it's own thread. So back to the original topic - is it possible or likely that the spirits involved in spirit cults might be able to offer some of the common spirit magic spells albeit in a limited or restricted way ?

    Thanks for mentioning Hearth Mother  - I need to go and have a look at that. where's the reference if you don't mind me asking ?

  20. Hear me out.....

    I was reading in the core rules about spirit cults ( which interest me more than the big established cults - Orlanth etc ) and it got me thinking . All the big theistic cults have the full panoply of common Rune spells, their own specific Rune spells and a selection of spirit magic spells. Orlanth for example  gives 9.

    Now Spirit cults are if you like minor or lesser deities, they have  a selection of some of the common Rune spells, their own specialist Rune spells ( Black Fang gives 3 )but.....according to core rules there is no mention of Spirit magic spells. Which seems odd to me.

    I understand that Spirit cults are accessed differently, via shamanic practices rather than theistic ones and shamans of course are deemed to have access to all spirit magic spells. But where do shaman get their spirit magic spells ?

    it's not like they engage in shamanic initiation , defeat the bad man and PTOOF !!   the next second they know all the spirit magic spells in the world. they've got to get those spells from somewhere. And it seems to be me that spirit cults might well be one of those places. Even if we leave that to one side. it is still the case that spirit cults are minor deities ( as it were ) so it seems weird they don't provide any spirit magic spells at all.

×
×
  • Create New...