soltakss

The programmer in me approves, as a set of codes should be meaningless, but the player in me screams "Surely (C) for Canon, (L) for Largely Canon, (S) for Some Canon and (N) For Non-Canonical.

In that situation, I'd just start the duel and immediately submit. Honour is satisfied without breaking a geas. Also, are you sure the geas wasn't "Never harm a woman needlessly"? In which case, all bets are off.

Oh yeah, thanks, forgot about that one!

Yes, but we had guidelines for ransoms, so a Rune Lord fetches a certain amount, Rune Priest a bit more, High Priest a bit more and so on. I can't remember the values now, but we had 10,000L lined up as a ransom, just in case. Soltak Stormspear's was more, as I was filthy rich and had given a lot to the cults.

OK, we are confusing several things here. A HeroQuest doesn't need to be badass. Most aren't. An Orlanthi who wants to marry someone from a forbidden clan can perform one of the many Orlanth Abducts a Maiden HeroQuests to abduct her and marry her. Although the act is normally forbidden, the HeroQuest makes it possible. This isn't a badass HeroQuest, the HeroQuestor invokes the HeroQuest and conforms to the Stations, where possible or finds encounters as per the Stations. It ritualises certain aspects of the scenario, causes some participants to want to behave in certain ways and gets a legally-binding result in the end. A Yelornan Maiden who want a Unicorn can perform the Unicorn Quest. She goes out into the wilds, purifies herself, hunts for a Unicorn, proves herself worthy and comes back riding the Unicorn. Again, not badass but with a magical effect at the end. These are Other Place HeroQuests, to places outside of the Mundane Realm, to the Sky Dome, to the Red Moon, to the Underworld or Hell, to one of the Planets, to the Eternal Battle, to a Star. You can go there in many ways, but only the most powerful HeroQuestors do this. The magical rewards of going to the actual place on the Other Side are more than doing it in a mundane place. In my Glorantha, yes, you can do exactly that, as in the examples above. Now, I think that you can. Every major event causes a Node on the God Plane and this allows HeroQuestors to travel to that Node. The Gbaji/Arkat Smackdown, Dragonkill, Battle of Night and Day, First Battle of Chaos, red Goddess at Castle Blue, The Dragonewt Dream, Wounding of Korasting and many more are events powerful enough and mythical enough to have created a God Plane Node.

Still waiting for the Jonstown Compendium, Jonstown Library or whatever the RuneQuest/Glorantha equivalent is.

We always left at least two ransoms, in case we had to use one of them up. Our cults normally stumped up for a ransom as well, as they knew that we were good for it.

They are in my games, especially for Rune Masters. The cult will pay for things that the Rune Master needs, so binding the Rune Master deeper into the cult.

If you highlight a section and press the Quote button that appears, then you can quote sections of a post. You can even highlight a quoted section and it gives both quote and response.

It's a good site, with lots of useful stuff. It started off really friendly, then got a bit snippy, but has gone back to being really friendly again, which is good.

It can be both. Have a look online, there are lots of ideas about HeroQuesting, with GM tips, sample HeroQuests and enough extra rules to make your head spin.

There are some things that PCs can make in Plunder. A Ball of Tails is the best example. I have a very relaxed attitude to Magic Items and making them. If the players can give me a good explanation of how they made the Magical Item then I might allow it. In theory, you'd need a spell or skill to be able to make the Magical Item, but there used to be a Rune Matrix Enchantment written up somewhere and I'd allow that to be used.

Probably a third comes from sources, a third is misremembered stuff and a third is made up stuff. The problem is when people claim their made up stuff is actual stuff, or when two people are doing the same. That's the problem. Some people argue about their own ideas and treat them like canon, only to dismiss other people's ideas as made up. It can get quite ping-pongy, with I said You Said I said You Said. Sometimes they contain useful information, often they don't. The Page Down Button is you friend.

It was also, in my opinion, a trap for him. In Glorantha, geases are seldom fatal, as it doesn't make for a good game.

On at least one level, HeroQuesting is Strange Adventuring. If you Adventure in a Magical Realm then you are HeroQuesting, in a way. However, for me, a HeroQuest is laying a Myth onto a scenario. You want to raid some trolls, so you lay the Orlanth and the Sandals of Darkness Myth onto your troll raid and it becomes a HeroQuest. You get a magical benefit from the scenario. You might even strengthen your cult, if you steal Troll Magic from their Temple.

Sure, you could say "The Ghoul has won a Complete Victory and starts eating you, you are all dead". Well done, you get to roll up new characters, Or, you could say "The Ghoul has won a Complete Victory and leaves you tied up in a dirty cellar, while he eats someone he has prepared earlier. He leaves, but you know that Ghouls are always hungry and will probably eat one of you when it gets back. What are you going to do?" Both are reasonable results from a Complete Victory. One has absolutely no drama, the other has a lot of dramatic tension. For me, the threat to the PCs is what could have happened, rather than what happens. My HeroQuest style is making things dangerous without them being deadly. That is different from RQ2's "You roll up a PC, it dies, you roll up another PC, it dies, you roll up another PC ...". I suppose it all depends on what you are used to and what you, and your players, want out of the game.

Don't explain the Magic Systems. Instead, explain what you need to. "Anyone can learn Spirit Magic, if you can find a teacher. If you join a cult, you can get some Spirit Magic, if you become an Initiate you can learn Divine Magic, which is more powerful.", that's all you need at the start. Explain rune Pools when they come up, explain sacrificing POW for Runemagic if it comes up. Don;t bother with Sorcery, unless they want to play a Sorcerer. If you don't really get Spirits, then don't use them at first. Start with the Basics - You have a skill and need to roll under it on 1D100, if you roll low then you get a Special, if you roll really low then you get a Critical, a Critical is better than a Special, which is better than a Normal Success. If you roll above your skill then you Fail, if you roll 96-100 then you Fail, but if you roll 100 or just below then you Fumble, Fumbles are bad. For combat, leave it until you have a combat. Nothing teaches RuneQuest like playing RuneQuest. People learn about Combat by rolling a Combat. Ignore all the fancy rules, you just don't need them. Take little baby steps, don't explain everything at once otherwise they'll forget the first thing you said when you explain the third thing.

We played that they worked by boosting similar effects, so a Power Enhancer 4 would change a Bladesharp 4 to Bladesharp 8 and also a Damage Boosting 4 to Damage Boosting 8.

And long may it continue!

Exactly, none of this "I didn't know" or "I was tricked into it" rubbish. You have a geas of "Never refuse Hospitality" and "Never eat dog", what do you do when you get served a cooked dog at a feast? You die horribly.

That's a good one, especially as Rune Pools are limited. You could do the same for Spirits, but effectively having a higher CHA. Are these in canon somewhere? If so, can you please point me in the right direction? No, my RQ rules are better than canon! 🙂 Seriously, HeroQuesting has been woefully underdone in RQ in the past and this kind of ability has never been described before. They just made sense to me and I have used forms of them for years.

Oh, it matters. If you continually break Humakti Geases then the Spirit of Reprisal comes for you and your swords shatter, until you get off the naughty step. For me, HeroQuest Geases are more important than normal ones, break them at your peril. Depends on the situation. A naughty Humakti might get Impests for a long while, but might get things thrown at him once. A bad Humakti might find that he can never use a sword again. It really does depend on the deity and the transgression.

Unless you are a Storm Khan, then you can use it once a day as a Detect Chaos, making anything chaotic within your POW in metres glow to any nearby Storm Bulls. We have used that a few times.

Ogres had a False Form spell, from Cacodemon, that hid their Chaotic Taint. I think it might work against Sense Chaos, but am not sure. It certainly hides their sharp teeth.

I normally run HeroQuest at conventions, as it is just easier. It also allows me to run in any genre I want, with no changes to the rules.