soltakss

Ok, even better. We cast Bless crops 10 on 1 Hide of land. This gives a +200 to our Income skill of 50%. On a Really Bad Year without Bless Crops, you are likely to have a -60/-30/0 Income, equating to 5%/20%/50%, with an income of 41L/48L/63L, but with Bless Crops it becomes 190%/220%/250% and an income of approximately 95L/98L/101L. On a Really Good Year without Bless Crops, you are likely to have a 0/+30/+75 Income, equating to 50%/80%/125% and an income of 64L/80L/90L, but with Bless Crops it becomes 250%/280%/325% and an income of approximately 101L/104L/108L. So, the difference between a Really Bad Year with no Bless Crops and a Really Bad Year with Bless Crops is just over 50L. The difference between a Really Bad Year without Bless Crops and a Really Good Year with Bless Crops is between 45L and 60L. So, really, just having 1 Hide means that using Bless Crops gives you a bit more, but not much. I have attached the spreadsheet that I used to work out the average values. SacredTimeIncome.xlsx

So, looking at a couple of scenarios and apologies for a long and detailed post. Please correct me if my figures are way out. Really Bad Year: Previous Years Omens: Cursed -25 to Harvest Roll. Invasion: -40 Harvest. Previous Harvest: Famine -10 Harvest. This gives a -75 Harvest, so the possible results are: 01-85 Famine, 86-95 Bad, 96-100 Good. There is a bug in the table, where it has 95 twice. So, in all likelihood, we are going to get Famine (-60 Income), but have a chance of Bad (-30 Income) or good (No change to Income). As we have a +100 Income, that really equates to Famine +40, Bad +70 or Good +100. The Bless Crops gives +100 to Income. So, let's assume the Adventurer has the Farm skill, they get Farm + 40 for Famine, Farm +60 for Bad and Farm +100 for Good. For the other Hides, they get Manage Household + 40 for Famine, Manage Household +60 for Bad and Manage Household +100 for Good. Assuming a middling skill, this equates to a chance of 90/110/150, which gives a good chance of succeeding. Really Good Year: Previous Years Omens: Blessed +20 to Harvest Roll. No Raids no effect on Harvest. Previous Harvest: Superlative +15 Harvest. This gives a +35 Harvest, so the possible results are: 01-25 Good, 26-60 Excellent (+30), 61-100 Superlative (+75). So, for a Good Harvest we are on +100 Income, for Excellent +130 and for Superlative + 175, which for our 50% skill gives us Good 150%, Excellent 180% and Superlative 225%. Again, this gives a good chance of succeeding and an improved chance of getting a special or critical. In practice, what it means is that an Adventurer is likely to get a full income for hides, rather than a half income. Bear in mind that every extra hide has income shared between Adventurer and Tenant. Assuming a farmer with Farm (80L for the first Hide and 40L for other Hides). On a Really Bad Year without Bless Crops, you are likely to have a -60/-30/0 Income, equating to 5%/20%/50%, with an income of perhaps 80L/100L/160L, but with Bless Crops it becomes 90%/120%/150% and an income of approximately 240+L/240+L/240+L. On a Really Good Year with Bless Crops, you are likely to have a 0/+30/+75 Income, equating to 50%/80%/125% and an income of 160L/220L/240+L, but with Bless Crops it becomes 150%/180%/225% and an income of approximately 240+L/240+L/240+L. So, on a Really Bad Year, the difference is between an income of 80L-160L or over 240L, representing an increase of 80L-160L. On a Really Good Year, the difference is an income of 160L-240+L or 240+L. Specials and Criticals make a bit of difference, obviously, but they particularly affect the higher skills, so further increase the benefits of Bless Crops. So, what does this mean? Casting Bless Crops 10 on a 5 hide estate effective triples income on a Really Bad Year but just moves it up slightly on a Really Good Year. It effectively makes a Really Bad Year the equivalent of a Really Good Year. Assuming a Free farmer for the original hide and a Poor farmer for the others, the Cost of Living deductions are 60L + 4x15L or 120L in total. so, with Tithes taken into account, an unsupported Really Bad Year means you cannot pay your people enough to maintain their standard of Living, so they presumably drop one level. Using Bless Crops means that even a Really Bad Year means that their is a surplus.

Some people say that is routine, but I would say it is extra. That way, those areas with a higher number of cultists with Bless Crops get more benefits. So, the first point adds +20 to the occupation skill rating for Sacred Time calculations, then any extra points used in addition to expanding the number of hides give +20 to the Income roll. Interestingly, this applies to the Income Roll, not the Harvest Roll. To me, it would make sense for this to affect the Harvest Roll (Actually, working through the example, it doesn't). As a GM, I would say this needs to be cast on the High Holy Day of the cult, or on a Holy Day, with the land only benefiting from one casting. So, if your stead has 5 hides of land, casting Bless Crops 5 gives a +20 to your skill at sacred Time. Casting Bless Crops 10 gives you +20 to your skill and +100 to the income. For a single Initiate, having 10 Rune Points is quite an investment.

You are quite welcome to cast harmony and then go and meet the Crimson Bat. Tell us what happens afterwards, if you can. The spell description says: So, rolling 01-05 means that it affects everyone in range of the spell, assuming it has blasted through their Countermagic. As to the Crimson bat, as Peter says, it absorbs all magic cast at it. You could argue that it is an area effect spell, so isn't cast at the target, but, as far as I am concerned, if it has to overcome POW to have an effect then it is effectively cast at the target. Not according to the description. In our old RQ2 days, Allied Spirits with high POW cast Harmony, to force people to stop fighting. Anyone still fighting was then hit by Sleep spells.

We used to have a 6 word answer, but in RQG I'd allow a number of words up to the Adventurer's CHA. We also had GMs who would count on their fingers and say"Well, that's a tough question, I ...". Or you could describe a vision the adventurer has. We did this in a scenario, where I had used Divination to see if Orlanth favoured us attacking an enemy stronghold, the vision came back with angry stormclouds, everyone else said that meant Orlanth was against it but I argued that he was for it as he is God of Storms. Try to phrase the question so that it has a Yes/No answer, or ask a specific question as to who did something. That way, the GM has less wiggle room and, believe me, GMs use all the wiggle room they have. Divination can be a useful tool, but it should not break a scenario. Sometimes, the Deity does not know the answer, or does not want to reveal it. Deities use clues and hints as often as straight answers, so if a Deity responds to a Divination with a straight answer be worried.

I just made that up, but it sounds reasonable.

It depends on what you have available. If you have Sun County, River of Cradles, Strangers in Prax and shadows on the Borderlands, then a Praxian campaign makes sense. If you have Troll Gods, Into Troll Realms and Trollpak then a Troll campaign makes sense. RQ3 didn't really have a Sartar setting, except for Apple Lane/rainbow Mounds/Snakepipe Hollow. You don't mention having RQ2 material, but if you had the RQ Classics or Gloranthan Classics, then Pavis & Big Rubble, Borderlands and Griffin Mountain are excellent, as is the Cult Compendium. If you have the HW/HQ material, a Sartar Campaign makes sense. There is a handy map of all the RQ2/RQ3 Scenario Locations, which might come in useful. However, my preference would be a Pavis/Prax Campaign, as that always gets me going and there is so much material available.

I wouldn't use a spell, just perform the act and get a bonus. You don't need a spell for that. So, if I drop some food on the ground "For the ancestors" or pour some beer on the ground "For the fallen", I should get some kind of bonus for that. It doesn't need a spell, otherwise you end up with hundreds of spells. Some acts might be specific to certain skills. So, I might go into a Tarshite's house and leave my shield outside, indicating that I come in peace (+10% customs) or go into a Heortlander's house and bring my shield inside, indicating that I am willing to defend them against enemies (+10% customs). Wearing a red cloak when visiting a Yelmalian is rude (-10% customs) but taking it off before you go into their house is polite (+10% customs).

This is the kind of thing that I have seen Players raise as something that would add flavour to a game. i have usually said that they should come up with some example and they happily go away and think of a dozen or so things. Then they start using them in play and use all 12, then after a few weeks they only use 10, then 8, then 6 and then eventually they forget about doing these things. It is like the various Lightbringer Challenges for a Wind Lord. I used to love them and would trot out the verses every time we met a Lightbringer, an Earth Priestess or a thing of Chaos, many a Broo heard "Foul Slime, Curse of Existence, Begone!" before they passed away. However, some Players find them tedious beyond belief and just dismiss them with "Yeah, yeah, I know we say that". If you want to give something, then allow each thing you do give a Bonus of +10, but cap them off at a maximum of, say, +20, so it doesn't mater how many you do, the benefits don't get better. Some things don't work with a bonus, for example the "Dying with a weapon in your hand" means you either go to Valhalla or you don't.

In Glorantha, that would be Delecti. He also inhabits fresh corpses until they go off, then he gets into a new one.

The writ is in the post.

Don't forget that Argan Argar gained the spear from his defeat of Lodril. He uses shadow to protect Trollkin armies from the sun.

Once a hick backwater, always a hick backwater. From memory, Greymane was active but then pretty much disappeared, that's about it.

As has been mentioned, most Lunar Tarshites are sort-of Orlanthi under the skin, so conform to that kind of hospitality. In my Glorantha, there are some Lunars who very strongly express that they are different, that they have changed and that the Red Goddess broke the rules. So, they deliberately use the Yelmic Hospitality Rules, or their own Lunar Hospitality Rules, instead of the Tarshite ones. To a certain extent, it doesn't matter. "Don't cause harm to your guests" is a common thing for all Hospitality Rules, for example. However, there might be some differences, so a Lunar might feel free to hand guests over to other Lunars, whereas a more traditionalist Tarshite might refuse.

Right, I am mapping these out, so they fit the style of the other maps in Dorastor. i have the mountain ranges and the sacred Peaks of Orlanth, but when I look at the areas of effect on p 297 of the Guide to Glorantha, I noticed that they differ from my measured radius. On close inspection, it looks as though they are diameters not radii. So, on a Windsday, you get the benefit in a circle of diameter 100 miles, not a radius of 100 miles.

It is partly ritual and partly butchery. If you lose track of an animal you don't need to use Peaceful Cut, as you haven't killed it. If you catch a creature in a snare then you use Peaceful Cut to send its spirit back to where it came from, so that it can be reborn and feed you again.

That's fantastic, thanks. And for your next trick, all the Hero Wars/HeroQuest scenarios, especially those in the Sartar rising series. 😀 Excellent!

Not all Yelmalian temples were founded at the same time or by the same process. I am not familiar with the temple at Goldedge, but the name of the place signifies some kind of Solar outpost, a perfect place for a Sun Dome Temple. It could have absorbed some Elmali when they were converted or shown the light by Monrogh.

Yes, but the cult does not necessarily teach all the myths. There are some myths that only Elmali will remember as they are just not taught by the Yelmalio cult. Similarly, there are Yelmalio myths not taught by the Elmal cult. don't forget that each temple has its own memory of myths and that some temples have access to different myths than others. A cult is not a monolithic set of beliefs, although the Theyalan Missionaries tended to spread their version of the myths and absorbed some myths in their travels. It is like the various cults of Arkat. they all sort of know that Arkat was a Brithini, then a Hrestoli, then a Heortlander, then a Troll, but each of the cults concentrates on one Aspect. You wouldn't get members of Arkat Humaktsson talking about how Arkat became a Troll, or members of Zorak Arkat talking about Arkat teaching sorcery to Heortlanders. they have conveniently forgotten those myths. Right, I might just have to write up the Elmal Cult of Dorastor. It won't be pretty and you won't like it. Elmal, the Krjalki Thane of Orlanth, as worshipped by Hellwood Elves. Good, I never much liked that idea.

They wear their armour and carry a shield to remember what Yelmalio lost. Probably. I have used Yelmalio the Rider as a cult in Prax for a long time, as templars make no sense in the wilds of Prax and the Wastes. Probably not much, certainly in Peloria. They always worshipped Yelmalio and knew he was a son of Yelm. There wasn't a strong Elmal presence there, so it wouldn't have made much of a difference. In the Far Place or Tarsh, the Elmali might have gone south to join the newly founded sun Dome Temple, or they might have joined the Sun Domers of Alda Chur. I think that the fact that Alda Chur has such a strong sun Dome presence is due to the local Elmali, from Tarsh and the Far Place, joining them.

Shargash, for berserkers, Pole Star for soldiers, maybe Lodril for spearmen. Even Yelorna is a better martial deity than Yelmalio, as she grants Shooting Star. Hopefully, she gets Shield as well, as that would be funny.

That is also my understanding. I think that Yelmalio is loyal to Yelm and a rival to Orlanth. That, for me, is the difference between Yelmalio and Elmal. It may be that the Yelmalio cult just does not acknowledge the part of Yelmalio's history where he was Orlanth's Thane, or that Elmal concentrates almost solely on that to the exclusion of being a good son to Yelm. I prefer to think of it that Yelmalio sheds Elmal, so they actually start off as two deities but Yelmalio effectively devolves into Yelmalio and Elmal, with Elmal going off and helping Orlanth but Yelmalio going off to help the Aldryami.

Yelmalio is a god of Light, that is what he is good at. He teaches Light and Lantern, grants Sunbright and Catseye. Despite the protestations of Sun Domers, he is not that good as a martial deity.

So, the ones that rejected Yelmalio are bitter clingers and the ones who accepted Yelmalio are bitter cry-babies, bleating on about Shield? That makes sense, thanks.

1613 is a bit early, isn't it? Most of the RQ2 stuff was set a bit later than that, I think, but stopped around 1620.