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Ok, here is my take on Balazar Deities, from our old RQ3 Campaign, which had one of the PCs becoming King of Greater Balazar, adopted son of the Red Emperor and Lord of the Stool. Yelmalio - As normal Yelmalio, but with pretty crappy Sun Dome temples. Balazar - Hero Ruler cult and Yelmalio Subcult, grants little magic due to him having been eaten by a Dragon in the Dragonkill. Found Child - Hunter Deity Votank - also a Hunter deity, also found as a child and raised by Hearthwoman. Personally, I think of Votank as being Foundchild, but also the Founder of the Votanki clans. He could have an ancestor-worshipping part to his cult, but I reserve that for Firshala. Hearth Mother/Hearth Woman - An analogue of Mahome, but more a case of the Old Woman or Mother of the Clans. She found Votank after he was Exposed and raised him as her own son. Her cult is quite weak, as she can only teach her worshippers a single cult spell every Sacred Time, in their special rituals. Rigtaina - The Wild Woman is a Nymph of Nature. I remember reading an old description of Genert where it said that Genert had many daughters, including Rigtaina and the Lady of the Wild. Now, we know that the Lady of the Wild is a nature goddess in Dragon Pass and Rigtaina is her equivalent in Balazar and the Elder Wilds. She is the Girl who Runs Away, symbolising fleeing prey animals, also the Girl Who is Caught, symbolising hunted prey, she is also Mother of Animals and the hunted animals go back to her when they are killed with the Peaceful cut ritual said over them. Mralota - The Pig Idol brought to the land by Balazar. The citadel Dwellers raise her pigs in farms, the Votanki Clans hunt wild boar, descended by those pigs that Balazar set free for the hunters to hunt. Her cult is about the raising of pigs, with pig health magic. Brother Dog - Foundchild's Helper, his Brother, and gives magic to help with raising, training, understand dogs and hunting with them. Firshala - A trapped Fire Nymph with Ancestor worshipping spells. She is a mystery and I had her as being the other side of ancestry, with Votank only having power over the Male Line and Firshala having power over the Female Line. She was trapped by Arkat or Gbaji or both and is hostile to Aldryami. I had her as a analogue to Oakfed, who burned the trees of the Elder Wilds down, in the same way that Oakfed burned the trees of Prax. Granny Keeneye - A chaos Spirit who inhabits the bodies of people until they become so corrupted they die, allowing her to pass onto a new body. I have her as being the manifestation of the Primal Chaos of one of the Chaos Nests of Balazar/Elder Wilds. Cacodemon - This was listed as one of the cults of the Balazar/Elder Wilds region, which is odd. I had a tribe of Ogres living in the mountains to the east of Balazar.

They killed him so that he couldn't teach anyone else his special knowledge. Basically, they wanted the power to use and not fear Chaos for themselves.

Of course. If a HeroQuestor brings back a magical weapon or magical power, then they have done this themselves. Hon-Eel brought back Maize from the God Plane, by seducing an Elf Godling. Hon-Eel also did a HeroQuest against a Pentian HeroQuestor, where the Pentian contacted a Pentian sun God and gave birth to a Demigod, but Hon Eel travelled to the Dawning, as one of the Watchers on the Cliff, and was touched by the first rays of sunshine from the Dawning and gave birth to Demigod twins. My recollection of the exact details is hazy, but she might have been the Reverend Mother of Mares, or something like that. The Conquering Daughter made magical crystalline roads, which nobody had ever done before. These were all new paths. The Entekosiad can be quite difficult in places, mainly due to the fact that the entire premise is actually incorrect. Anyone can HeroQuest to try and prove something. In an old RQ campaign of mine, one of the PCs HeroQuested to prove that (a) He was descended from Balazar, from father to son and (b) Balazar was actually a Yelm cultist, so (c) He could claim membership of Yelm, as he was descended from a Yelm Cultist, from father to son. If the GM had said that he was not descended from Balazar in that way, then no manner of HeroQuesting would allow him to claim that truthfully. He could have claimed it on his return from a HeroQuest and could have tried to trick the Yelm Priests, in fact claiming an incorrect descent has been a good way of gaining favour in cults or as a ruler. What might happen is that someone could HeroQuest against him and uncover the secret or the lie, using that against the ruler. Quite often, a HeroQuestor can prove something and gain magic from it, but cannot teach that magic to a subcult or Hero Cult, as the central premise is not true.

As far as I can remember, this was in Cults of Terror, for RQ2, way back in the day. I.e. It has always been that way.

Any tool in the fight against Chaos, even Chaos.

The short answer is yes, but it would be extremely difficult. The long answer is yes, but you might not get the result you wanted. What would probably happen is that you found a subcult of Yelmalio, called the Ruler, that is also a subcult of Yelm Imperator. It would be a subcult of those members of Yelm who want to worship Yelmalio, for example. Similarly, you could get a Sky Bear subcult of Odayla and an Odayla subcult of the Sky Bear; a subcult called Ernalda the Mountain or Kero Fin the Earth Mother, each sharing aspects of the other. Cult reactions to the subcults may well vary depending on politics and past history. Sometimes, the myths refer to the same deities seen in a different way, sometimes they refer to different deities. For example, Pamaltela and Genertela were very far away and were separated by the Spike and the Foothills/Mountains around the Spike. some deities in Pamaltela would never have interacted with those of Genertela and vice versa. A lot of the deities of Genertela never ventured further. Some did, for example Lodril was active in Pamaltela.

I like to use a lot of sources for RPG fun. You would be surprised. I might come across as a fresh-faced teenager with boundless enthusiasm, but in real life I am older than the Old Men Who Play RuneQuest. The thing about Solomon is that he was a monotheist, all well and good, he even converts the Queen of Sheba to monotheism, but he also accepts the worship of idols and has several wives who, I believe, are pagans. Some people blame the Queen of Sheba for his relapse into allowing paganism to be worshipped.

Yes, they were separate deities who the God Learners either joined or rediscovered the myths of them joining. Personally, I never thought of the deities' genders being changed, I just accepted them as male earth and female fire. I thought that was a reaction to the God Learners, breaking the link between Twin Priest Dynasties, making them acceptable to normal folk, rather than being tainted with God Learnerism. Don't worry, I take notice. The harmony aspect of the cult is probably its most important part, although I never noticed the tension between their Harmony and Lodril's disorder before. Also, Twins are sacred to the cult, no matter their gender. Twins can be both male, both female, male and female or whatever, it doesn't really matter. Whilst, they could be worshipped separately, with each twin granting its own magic, they are usually worshipped together, with worshippers getting both kinds of magic.

Absolutely, yes. you could randomise it with dice, or the GM could set up N tokens, 1 to N, allocating a different number to each. the Players would choose a token and that gives the order. You could do it by having different colours on one side of coins, by having different lengths of matches/strings and so on. For gamers, using dice is easier, but the other ways work just as well.

Well, she seduces Solomon and tries to persuade him not to follow correct worship (Well, to be fair, he didn't need much persuading), the Kabbalah seems to have her as a demon, she is said to have been half-Djinn, Nebuchadnezzar is said to be their son, who conquers Israel, but the dates don't really match, so there are aspects that could be villainous.

Facts that I know about Caladralanders (At least I hope they are facts from published sources): The Vent is their Sacred Mountain, or at least a temple on the volcano They worship an aspect of Lodril, Veskarthan, who was chained by Argan Argar to create the Castle of Black Glass They used to practice Human Sacrifice, by throwing people into the lava at the crater at the Vent, but when they sacrificed Belintar, he reappeared and declared that nobody else needed to be sacrificed One of their cults is Caladra & Aurelion, the Volcano Twins, which is unusual in several ways: It is a cult of twins It has a male, fertile Earth and a female warrior Fire Aspect It has Twin priests, who share a special telepathic bond One of the subcults is of a God Learner founder of the cult They are friendly to Mostali, by and large, with Caladra & Aurelion being hostile to Aldrya They use Obsidian as a runemetal They practice slash and burn agriculture, mainly because the volcanic soil is so fertile, also because Aurelion has spells that make the earth more fertile They trade in gems, mined from their volcanoes Greymane has invaded Caladraland several times Caladra and Aurelion are the closest thing to Founders that I have heard of Assumptions: There are very few towns or cities in Caladraland, so I assume they have small villages scattered around They are not overly keen on the Trolls of the Shadow Plateau, due to Argan Argar's chaining of Lodril They have an Aztec-vibe, perhaps They war with the Aldryami of the Jungles/Forests of Caladraland, as Caladra & Aurelion use Firebone and Earthblood (Coal and Oil) that are made from the crushed bodies of Aldryami Being friendly to Mostali and hostile to Aldryami and Trolls, they probably take sides in any Elder race conflicts

I'm not an expert, by any means, but the Iron Age in the Levant began at c1200BCE and Jezebel seems to have died around 842 BCE, so seems to be Iron Age. Even Saul, the first king of Israel, was around 1000 BCE, so still Iron Age. For me, the Judges start at the very start of the Iron Age, just because it is nice to have a cultural break alongside a break in leadership. Some sites date the first Judge at around 1300 BCE, but what's a hundred years between friends? So, Bronze Age is anyone before the Judges, for me. However, having said that, given that Gloranthan culture is as similar to our Iron Age as our Bronze Age, Jezebel is a perfect Villainous Queen, far worse than the Queen of Sheba, for example.

In our RQ2 campaign, we did this: Gems/Jewellery were converted to money Money was shared out equally among the Adventurers Special Items were allocated on a random-pick basis, everyone rolled 1D100 and treasure picks went from Lowest to Highest, then back down again, until all Special Items were taken. So, if Tom, Dick and Harry split treasure, they roll D100, with Tom getting 80, Dick 23 and Harry 45, so the pick would go Dick, Tom, Harry, Harry, Tom, Dick, Dick, Tom Harry and so on. Ransoms count as money, so would be shared out. Cattle and so on didn't play a big part in our game, but we shared horses out, if they were any good, or sold them, generally keeping cavalry horses and riding horses, but selling warhorses as they were normally loyal to their owners. In our campaign, the PCs were travelling Adventurers, although they had several bases, so did not owe loyalty to a Clan. I suppose that 10% of the money is a useful tithe to pay as a gift to the Clan Chief. Regarding loot taken from bandits who took them from someone else, we generally played "Finders Keepers". If the loot is distinctive, magical or special in some way, we might have returned it, depending on who the original owners were. In the case of the Etyries Caravan, trade goods could be sold to a local fence, or Issaries merchant, but distinctive goods could be returned to the Etyries merchant as a gesture of goodwill, I suppose. Alternatively, they could return the goods and then burn them in front of the Etyries merchant, to prove a point.

Try telling Storm Bulls that. Lunars would probably preach exactly that message, that Cave Trolls, and Sea Trolls for that matter, were cursed by Chaos and have a slight taint as a result. As they are not Chaotic in behaviour, that clearly means that just being tainted by Chaos does not make you Chaotic. Yes, it makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

For me, the Gods War broke many things, including Myths and our recollection of those Myths. Many Cults have fragments of those myths and have built themselves up to worship Deities based on those recollections. Historically, some Temples remembered some myths and some remembered other myths. Over time, a lot of these myth fragments were gathered together to create a consistent story. The Lightbringer Missionaries of the First Age did this, when they met with people who half-remembered the same stories and myths as they told. Harmast did something similar, when he gathered myths about the Lightbringer Quest from various locations, put them together, added some things of his own and created a single story. Different Cultures view the myths from different viewpoints and angles. So, Umath breaking his chains and rising up against the Evil Emperor is an Orlanthi viewpoint, but the Rebel forcing Earth and Sky apart, destroying the Harmony of the Golden Empire is from a Dara Happan point of view. Both describe the same myth, but their recollections are different. What the God Learners did was to take the different myths they encountered and analyse them, discarding the bits that didn't make sense and reconstructing the original myths. This is a good framework for Gloranthan Mythology as it is what happened. However, the bits they threw away and the bits they didn't understand add flavour to the general framework. They lost a lot of the subtleties of the mythology. HeroQuestors can discover the lost fragments of myth, rediscovering old paths and writing them anew as brand new HeroQuests, Myths or Sub-Cults. Or, they can make new Paths that never existed before, changing the mythical framework.

My Orathorn is the finger of a god of the Underworld, who burst out but was stopped in the process. Orathorn Castle is his finger and has a pathway to the Underworld. It is literally Hell on Earth, where Hell and the Mundane World overlap. In my Glorantha, it has sorcerers who animate corpses and create undead as easily as making light. They are a mixture of mad scientists and people from Hellraiser. Their Hanging Gallery is exactly that, a room full of corpses that hang from the ceiling, which the sorcerers can animate and inhabit. My Orathorn varies ...

“Have you heard of old woman Bellweather? I wouldn’t go messing with her if I were you! A couple of years back my boy threw some rocks at her house. You know how boys are. Well, that spring, one of my calves was born with two heads and they miaowed like cats. I had to put the evil thing down so we could sleep at night. I heard that woman can sour milk and wilt crops with a glance. Most devilish and all. The way I heard it, she was married to a man who didn’t care a lot about his vows, if you understand me. She caught him with another woman and took his manhood away with her magic. Ha, ha, ha, ha, smooth as a baby's bottom he was. Word is, he made it to Brattleboro, before he couldn’t take it any more and killed himself.” “I hear the Braithwaite girl went missing again, but she is prone to wander off... Not right in the head you know? But still her mother and father should take better care of the poor touched thing. Eighteen years old but with the mind of a babe, who knows what might happen to her, wandering the roads and the woods in the middle of the night?” I hope that helps. Or, Ah 'ope tha'ssa guddun.

According to lyricfind, the lyrics are: I'm as mild and as meek as a mouse When I hear a command I obey But I know of a spot in my house Where no one can stand in my way In my own little corner In my own little chair I can be whatever I want to be On the wing of my fancy I can fly anywhere And the world will open its arms to me I'm a young Norwegian princess or a milkmaid I'm the greatest prima donna in Milan I'm an heiress who has always had her silk made By her own flock of silkworms in Japan! I'm a girl men go mad for, love's a game I can play With a cool and confident kind of air Just as long as I stay In my own little corner All alone In my own Little chair I can be whatever I want to be I'm a thief in Calcutta I'm a queen in Peru I'm a mermaid dancing upon the sea I'm a huntress on an African safari (It's a dangerous kind type sport and yet it's fun) In the night I sally forth to seek my quarry And I find I forgot to bring my gun! I am lost in the jungle All alone and unarmed When I meet a lioness in her lair! Then I'm glad to be back In my own little corner All alone In my own Little chair

It is really good and reminds me of Orlanthi poetry.

What I do is to let the PC use one skill, or another skill at a penalty. If they have both skills, then one skill can augment the other skill. For me, it doesn't matter what the skill name is, as much as how it is used. My method is to use Revolution D100's skills and traits. So, you would have a Communication skill with a Courtesy trait, if you wanted it, or a Noble trait, or a Chivalry trait. i play that you can stack applicable traits, but each trait gives you +10, which isn't how Paolo plays it. But is suits us. That way, you don't have to invest in a lot of skills that you only ever use once or twice. Instead, you have a core skill and a number of Traits that you occasionally use. I think it works better. It does come with its own problems, though, For example, the Skilled Generalist might have a high skill and can apply it to many different areas, so someone with Knowledge 90% knows about anything knowledge-based. I treat that as having a broad base, but any particular speciality needs a Trait or is at -30. So, someone with Craft 90% (Cobbler, Weaponsmith, Mason) would only have 60% with embroidery, for example.

Blimey, are you 60? You look very well for that age.

I don't think the Orathorn Sorcerers are Chaotic, or play with Chaos Powers. What happened at the Night of Horrors was that the Orathorn Sorcerers were being hard-pressed and summoned their powers of Death/Undeath, which caused the opponents to crank up and summon more and more arcane magics until everyone was trying to outdo everyone else. Lunars invoked Chaos magics, rather than Oranthorn Sorcerers, but I can never remember whether Orathors was on the Lunar or Pentian side, my gut feeling is that they were helping the Pentians, but I am by no means sure.

And that could be a scenario in itself. A woman runs faster than The Fastest Woman Alive, or comes pretty close and might beat her. What is she going to do about it? What happens if she is beaten and is no longer the Fastest Woman Alive?

Many Systems, One Family. That's how I approach the multitudes of D100 games. I use bits and bobs from all the games in my game and it is all the better for that. I am not sure what a new version of BRP will accomplish. Would it be brought closer to RQG or closer to CoC? Would it go its own way, but more so? I can use CoC, RQG, Mythras, Revolution, OpenQuest, Renaissance or any other D100 game to handle certain genres or feels to a setting, BRP is just another flavour of that.

Yes, very interesting and atmospheric, thanks. However, I have found that using things like these in game sessions actually goes something like this: [First Time] "O, hear me Orlanth, King of Storms, Master of the Middle Airs!Your most worshipful follower calls upon your divine grace for a boon!In this, my hour of need, I seek your Mighty Breath to aid me against my foes!Always have I kept your laws, and given unto you the worship that is yours,always have I remained virtuous in your eyes!Now, I call upon you to Clear the Skies of Clouds, as once you did clear the skies for your sons, the Vingkotlings to protect them against hostile Cloud Raiders!Protect your faithful, and I will bring you honor, always! Wow, that was cool!" [Second Time] "O, hear me Orlanth, King of Storms, Master of the Middle Airs!Your most worshipful follower calls upon your divine grace for a boon!In this, my hour of need, I seek your Mighty Breath to aid me against my foes!Always have I kept your laws, and given unto you the worship that is yours,always have I remained virtuous in your eyes!Now, I call upon you to Clear the Skies of Clouds, as once you did clear the skies for your sons, the Vingkotlings to protect them against hostile Cloud Raiders!Protect your faithful, and I will bring you honor, always!" [Third Time] "O, hear me Orlanth, King of Storms, Master of the Middle Airs! etc" [Fourth Time] "O, hear me Orlanth, yadda, yadda yadda" [Fifth Time] "I say the prayer to Orlanth and cast my spell" [Sixth Time] "Look, I just cast the spell, we know my PC says the prayer, but I don't have to repeat it every time I cast a spell, do I?"