soltakss

4 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

For now, I'd say the debate is fairly pointless, until there's much greater information about what it is and how it works.

Welcome to the Internet, where most debates are pointless.

4 hours ago, davecake said:

Or the city is destroyed in its current form, and later survivors form a new social structure, with a new wyter, from the ruins, probably one that no longer has a Queen at all. If you reduce the wyter of a metropolis to one less powerful than an average ghost, you risk that alternative outcome. And those that the Queen depends on for power and support know that, and may judge her accordingly. 

Eg if you have reduced the wyter to one that weak, a wicked magician could easily destroy or capture it. A hostile foreign forced could take the city, and without the power of the wyter, the inhabitants might just let them. 

RQ3 Doraster has Dokat as the ghost of the city of Dokat, which wanders about trying to take revenge on those that destroyed it, i.e. everyone. That is clearly a wyter in RQG terms, but one that has lost its cores support and grows by destroying enemies, i.e. everyone.

37 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

* soltakss, why does the spell checker hate your name so? four times it insisted on typing "slots" (see it did it again, i typed "dolts" and... I DID NOT TYPE THAT... damn spellchecker)...

dolts is fair enough, though ...

On 5/31/2019 at 3:07 PM, klecser said:

I'll clarify. Is the level of detail of mentioning the Dragonrise doing more to risk overwhelming at a starter table than just jumping right into an adventure?

It might do and, in my opinion, it should.

To quote Avatar, "And when we destroy it, we will blast a crater in their racial memory so deep, that they won't come within 1,000 klicks of this place ever again." The Dragonrise brings back a True Dragon, this also brings back racial memory of The Dragonkill, an event so awesome that it gives people of the area the Fear Dragons trait/Passion. Seeing a True Dragon rise again brings it all back, racial PTSD.

Now, PCs might be Heroes in the Making, so might not worry about a True Dragon appearing, which is all well and good. However, as other people have mentioned, the political landscape of Dragon Pass changes after the Dragonrise.

In our RQ2 game, when we were at a loss for things to do, we sometimes played "Rich Merchants". Basically we'd dress in fine clothes with big coin bags hanging from our belts and wander down into the rough areas of town, talking loudly about how quaint these places were. When we were attacked by thugs or local hoodlums, we would "reluctantly have to defend ourselves", normally with a mixture of extreme violence and magic. When the Guard or Watch turned up, we would explain very carefully what had happened. Normally, we'd only do this once per town, otherwise the authorities would catch on.

13 hours ago, styopa said:

SIZ: men 2d6+6, women 2d6+4 (both are normally distributed, but women avg 62kg, men 78kg ie about 2 SIZ points)

That's about the only one that makes sense to me, as there seems to still be a difference in sizes between men and women. However, I wouldn't really use it in a game, unless someone asked for it for their PC.

On 5/31/2019 at 6:28 PM, Tinkgineer said:

We are prepping to run through the Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes. But, I really want to know where to learn more about the Lunars. From what I've gathered, the Lunars would be a ton of fun to play.

They can be good fun to play.

Lunars have gone through several incarnations over the years. For me, some of the ways of doing Lunar Magic is completely unusable, so I ignore them.

What I do is to treat Lunar cults the same as other Cults. So, they general cult is the Seven Mothers, which is a catchall umbrella cult "Isn't the Lunar Way great? We can do anything". Many of the individual Seven Mothers are analogues of other Cults, so Yanafal Tarnils is like Humakt, Irrippi Ontor is like Lhankor Mhy and Queen Deezola is like Ernalda, so you can have them as fully-fledged cults performing similar deeds. Etyries is like Issaries, although not one of the Seven Mothers. Hero cults such as the Conquering Daughter, Hon Eel or Yara Aranis can be worshipped for special powers. The Young Elementals provide a lot of elemental magic to all the Lunar Cults, which is a big advantage. The Red Goddess cult is for Lunar Mystics and the Red Emperor cult is for Lunar Nobles. 

Above all, the Lunars accept Chaos as an integral part of Glorantha. This doesn't mean that all Lunars are Chaotic Monstrosities, but does mean that they can accept Chaotic Magic or use some magic and allies that would be seen as odd by other Cults. A lot of Lunars are Illuminated, because the Red Goddess met Nysalor and became Illuminated, then found her own way.

So, you could play Lunar soldiers, scholars, traders, Sable Riders, healers, mystics or whatever. 

On 5/31/2019 at 7:15 PM, Imryn said:

The biggest problem is the tithe - Humakti RL 90%, Orlanthi Initiate 10%. Basically I have to give everything I get to one temple or the other and this gives the GM a really easy way to strip me of anything he thinks is too powerful, or just to mess with me for fun.

Is this really the way its supposed to work or am I mistaken?

The way I play it is that you need to give a proportion of your income to your Cults. If you are an Initiate then you give 10% to your Cults, if you are a Rune Lord then you give 90% to your Cults. The Cults then divide that up accordingly. so, a Troll Death Lord is almost always going to be an Initiate of Kyger Litor, so gives 90% to the Cults, which is then divided into effectively 81% to Zorak Zoran and 9% to Kyger Litor. Similarly, an Elf Light Son gives 90% to his Cults, of which 81% goes to Yelmalio and 9% to Aldrya/High King Elf. All Citizens pof Pavis need to be members of the Cult and many are Initiates, of they also belong to other Cults then they tithe accordingly, so an Initiate of Pavis and Yelmalio would give 10% to Cults, with 5% going to Pavis and 5% to Yelmalio.

A lot of people play it differently. There is a reference to Bolthor Brighteyes, in Cults of Terror, tithing his money to several cults, for example.

3 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

I'm not referring to their lands, I'm wondering about the individuals who would have been spread far and wide across Glorantha. 

The commoners just remained and converted to other religions, or retained their normal Malkioni beliefs. However, a lot were killed when Slontos rolled over or Jrustela broke up.

The leaders, HeroQuestors and magical elite were mostly killed off in the wars and disasters that ended the Middle Sea Empire. Some, such as the Heroes of Tessele, just became so intertwined with the cults they founded that they became Heroes of those cults. Some were captured or enslaved, so Ralzakark has some God Learner slaves, who succeeded in awakening him from his sleep.

Unlike Arkati, who became Guardians of the Other Side, the God Learners generally don;t take up such a role, as they were the Destroyers of the Other Side.

We know that Praxians eat herd beasts, although perhaps not every day. I see their food as being similar to steppe nomads and their descendants, so lots of thin soups with some vegetables, roast or barbecued meat, with dairy products, cheese, butter and curds. Drinks might include koumiss variants, but made from fermented herd beast milk rather than mares' milk. They get a lot of their spices and flavouring from the plants of Prax and the Wastes, especially from those growing in Ronance Trackways or around Oases.

Oasis Folk, in my Glorantha, live almost entirely off the produce of their Oasis. Each Oasis has its own special, sacred, crop that grows especially well at the Oasis. Peoplegather the crop, dry it and eat it all year round, perhaps mixing it with other things grown at the Oasis. Some Oasis Folk also raise livestock at the Oasis, but this is surplus to what is needed and not essential. They also trade with Praxians for meat. Spices and grasses used for flavouring also grow at the Oases and some can be quite specific, only growing at one Oasis, so flavourings vary from Oasis to Oasis. Drinks are usually made from the Oasis crop, fermented and stored to age.

Citizens of Old Pavis eat pretty much anything, due to their Pavic Survivor heritage, While this means that they can eat Rubble Runner, Insects and so on, few do, for it reminds them of the Bad Old Days. However, most Old Pavic families have a ritual meal every year where they eat the stuff that they survived on in remembrance of their history. Many Old Pavisites still grow mushrooms underground and grow things like bean sprouts. They catch fish from the Zola Fel and some know how to farm mussels and other seafood on the banks of the Zola Fel, or in specially-designed farms built into the banks of the Zola Fel. Some trade with the elves of the Garden for herbs for flavouring.

Sartarites farm sheep and cattle, Esrolians farm pigs, with some sheep and cattle. They also grow the crops of their Land Goddess, so Esrolians grow barley. I think that people from Dragon pass generally also grow other crops, such as oats and wheat. They certainly have orchards, Apple Lane being the most famous. I see them as eating meat in stews, thick soups, roast meat, oatcakes, biscuits, flatbread and so on. Dragon Pass is very fertile and has a lot of places for growing herbs for flavouring. They drink beer, ale, mead and import wine. Lunars used to bring in gin, but I think that has been depreciated.

Dara Happans grow wheat and rice, Lunars grow maize. They raise goats, pigs, sheep and cattle. I see their food as being similar to North African cuisine, for no other reason than it sounds right to me. 

Grazelanders have herds of horses and eat horseflesh and dairy products, drink koumiss and have a similar kind of diet to the Praxians. However, they also eat cattle, sheep and pihs raised by Vendref and eat the grains grown by Vendrefi, although in my Glorantha they are not themselves farmers or tax collectors, instead their braves travel to a Vendrefi farm as a hunting party and hunt cattle, pigs and sheep that the Vendrefi release. This gives them a far richer diet than Praxians.

Pentians are like Grazelanders, byut don;lt have Vendrefi support. Some Pentians only eat horseflesh, others raise herds of cattle. They drink koumiss and eat dairy products.

Any scenario can start whenever you want, unless it specifically refers to an event that has already happened, an event that happens during the course of the scenario or an event that will happen in the future.

I haven't read the official scenarios, in the vague hope that I'll be able to play in one sometime, so cannot advise on specifics.

19 minutes ago, Runeblogger said:

Tattoos on their neck and chest, then! 😆

Derak the Dark Troll, in our RQ2 Campaign, had his bones slowly turned to Lead by his Lead Fist. Before he became a Living Lead Skeleton, he realised that he could open up a wound and carve things onto his bones, so he carved all his Foci into his Rib Bones, on the assumption that he could lose a limb but was unlikely to lose a rib. He discounted tattoos on the basis that they could be sliced off. When he became a Living Lead Skeleton, he enchanted some wraiths to permanently whirl around his bones and through his ribs, just because it looked cool.

I always give PCs the chance to dodge breath attacks, as it only seems fair.

Also, I give Cacodemon and Fiends Heroic Casting of Vomit Acid, as they are not powerful enough as they are, so when a hundred foot tall demon grins and starts to gulp, you know it's time to move out of the way! I thought about having him stick one of his fingers down his throat, but he'd lose a Claw Attack that way.

3 minutes ago, RHW said:

CULT PERSONALITY SKILLS:  Exacting, Lawful, Studious, Truthful

You missed off Dull, excellent in combination with Talk for Hours ...

20 hours ago, David Scott said:

Spaces in the Cthulhu Masters on Friday even though you can't be there...

This could have been yours...

Not there on Friday and don't play Call of Cthulhu, as a rule, so almost certainly couldn't have been mine.

Thanks for the info, anyway.

16 hours ago, Fort said:

How about Genertela?

We pronounce it as: Hard-G, as in Got, ener as in energy, tela as in teller. GEN-er-TEla. 

We specifically don't pronounce it with a soft G, as that sounds too much like genitalia. 

15 hours ago, Joerg said:

Regarding the huge numbers of trollkin - these cannot come from dark troll mothers, there must be significant numbers of breeding trollkin females to outnumber the dark troll births by a factor of at least 40 - even if you include cave troll-birthed trollkin. Trollkin are heavily predated on by their larger kin. The problem of a stable population or perhaps even over-population of Ignorance without any resident large troll types is another such indication.

Oh, you really don't want to hear my theories of the degraded sex-pits that are Trollkin dens, with Elites and values lording it over the Food Trollkin, generating more and more Food Trollkin.

On 5/28/2019 at 11:24 AM, PhilHibbs said:

People make this mistake all the time - "X is on the chaos feature list, therefore anyone with X is chaoitc". Go tell that to Forang Farosh.

Yes, Bolgar Brother of the Bull, I know that you are a Storm Khan with many years of experience and I know that broos and such like can Spit Acid and that you have suffered many a grievous wound fighting Acid-Spitting broos and other what-not, but I can categorically assure you that my own personal Acid-Spitting ability is definitely 100% not Chaotic and MIND WHERE YOU PUT THAT SWORD!

Just checking:

• 2 HeroQuest games, both by Ian Cooper and both full.
• 3 RuneQuest Glorantha Games, by Michael Paul O'Sullivan, Ben Smith and Andrew Jones, all full.
• 3 13th Age Glorantha games, 2 by Guy Milner and one by Andrew Moreton, one of Guy's has a space on Friday but I can't go on Friday, the others are full

Is that it?

Boo, hoo, hoo.

Just found a RuneQuest game by James McStravick at 0900 on Sunday! Wayhay! Looks like I'm going on Sunday, then.

Is anything happening on Saturday? I've bought a weekend Ticket, just in case ...

My wife has changed her birthday plans, so I can go to UK Games Expo 2019!

Well, she is travelling on her Birthday, so won't be around to stop me.

Is anyone going? Are there any RQ Games not yet signed up?

Are Chaosium doing any Seminars? I looked on the website but couldn't see any.

For once, I am excited to be going, as I thought I wouldn't be able to.

1 hour ago, Ali the Helering said:

Why be embarrassed about your personal Barntar-plough? 😉

I wasn't, Brankist was. Imagine D'Artagnan from the Holy Country, middle aged, telling long boring stories about "When I was in the Cavalry", now imagine him naked and blue. I think he was more embarrassed about being blue, to be honest, looking like a Smurf Musketeer. He became a Thanatar Hero in the end, subtly combining his love for Lhankor Mhy with his hatred of Thanatar and gaining control of a Thanatar Great Temple beneath Dorastor.

8 hours ago, Kloster said:

I don't see Ancestor worship giving access to DI. Perhaps have I deviated from rules, but this is my perception.

They don't in the rules, but most people I know will send an Ancestral Spirit to help for a Divine Intervention.

Firshala and Mistress Sazdorf get DI, but the DI just incarnates Firshala or Mistress Sazdorf. Maybe that's the way to go. Your Wyter incarnates the Hero or Founder.

19 hours ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

The Rune Priest gains an automatic 1-point increase in cult spirit magic each Sacred Time. Pg 277 RQ:G Core Rulebook

I have been confused by this passage and this seems like a decent place to field this question. How does one learn spirit magic, in terms of higher point values? This passage leads me to believe that you stack on additional points when you learn more powerful versions of a spell.

I think that it means you get a point of Spirit Magic that you can choose.

So, if you have Bladesharp 2 and Farsee, then you could get Healing 1 at Sacred Time, for example, or you could increase Bladesharp 2 to Bladesharp 3.

There has always been a difference in how people interpret variable spells, certainly from RQ2 times and into RQ3 and RQG. Some people think you learn Bladesharp 3 as a completely new spell, some people think you just add it to the Bladesharp 2 spell that you already have.

Personally, I think that each extra point of a variable spell is a new 1 point spell that just adds to the others. So, if you have Bladesharp 2 then you learn the (one point) Bladesharp 3 spell, that way you can cast Bladesharp 1, 2 or 3 easily enough. To learn Bladesharp 3 from scratch you have to also learn Bladesharp 1 and 2, although I play that you can learn them all together as one spell. The cost of the spell works that way, you have to pay for Bladesharp 1, 2 and 3 in order to get Bladesharp 3 from scratch.

Really glad you enjoyed RQ. The current edition is probably the best one.

7 hours ago, Ochoa said:

I guess my only problem with RQ is having to wait for updated materials to come out, mainly the detailed series of events that's supposed to come in the Gamemaster's guide. I like to have world events unfolding regardless of player involvement.

You could use the RQ Classic scenarios and supplements with RQG fairly easily. You might have to handwave some stuff and might need to give NPCs Rune Pools, Runes and Passions, but apart from that it should work OK. They are available as PDFs, so are nice and easy to get hold of.

6 hours ago, EricW said:

I think I remember reading that Orlanthi use magic woad as armour, maybe even tattoo themselves with woad for permanent protection.

Brankist Farlow, one of our PCs, gained a Heroic Ability of Permanent Woad, which only manifested when he was naked and gave him Woad = POW. Although he had POW 15, which was more than his normal armour, he was so embarrassed about fighting naked that he very rarely used it. He tried to use a loincloth or various ways of hiding his manhood, but to no avail.