soltakss

The new RQG rulebook has most of the same Dragon magic as well.

But, as Peter says, prehealing is what you are after. I recall is used to be called Vim, or something similarly random, but prehealing is a much better name.

6 minutes ago, Ufnal said:

How much of that is established "canon" and how much your invention? I don't mean that offensively, just wanted to understand that.

The Spirit Plane "canon" is that it is a vague, formless, misty place where you can see spirits as glowy things. That's about it.

Delving more deeply into the Spirit Plane, how it is formed and what it contains, means that we have to make things up.

For me, the idea that the Spirit Plane in an Orlanth Great Temple is the same as in Dorastor or in Prax makes no sense. The Spirits encountered should be different, in my view.

18 hours ago, Bohemond said:

So what does all of this mean for hero quests and how an animist quest differs from a theist quest?

HeroQuests don't usually happen on the Spirit Plane.

The major exception is the Shaman's Awakening, where the Shaman confronts Bad Man and awakens a Fetch. For me, this is a HeroQuest and it happens partially on the Spirit Plane. The Shaman confronts the Spirits, they attack and kill him, tearing him apart, he meets the Bad Man and fights him, awakens his fetch who then heals him and brings him back from the dead. If he fails to defeat Bad Man, he is still healed but is crippled and cannot reawaken a fetch.

I suppose that a Shaman contacting a Deity to make a link to the Deity might count as a Spirit Plane HeroQuest. In this sense, the Shaman discorporates, goes through the Spirit Plane to get to the Inner Plane, contacts the Deity, bargains with it and, if successful, gains a RuneSpell or Spirit Magic Spell from the bargain. This would be run as a series of encounters, using the random Spirit Plane Encounters, but I cannot remember of these made it into RQG.

Animist HeroQuesting is the same as normal HeroQuesting, as most animism in Glorantha is tied to a Deity of some kind. 

Shamans with a Tradition who are not tied to a Deity would not perform HeroQuesting in the normal sense of the word. If they did, they'd probably reenact the deeds of the Spirit Lords or Deities involved in their Tradition. So, a Shaman following one of the Sacred Societies of Prax might know some myths about how the Shamans gained spells from various Deities and might reenact those. A Newtling Shaman might be able to follow some Zola Fel, River Horse or Frog Woman myth snippets to gain abilities and so on.

19 hours ago, Bohemond said:

Is it less of a fixed narrative and more of a map or travel guide?

For Spirit Plane Quests, it is more a series of Encounters, at least it is in my games.

9 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

and in other news, Mello Yello acclaimed new Count of Sun County!

Nah, he became King of Dragon Pass and Golden Dragon Emperor of Dara Happa. At least, he did in my campaign.

2 hours ago, Joerg said:

Though not your own, as a parry fumble only allows the opponents to get a hit.

Which is a shame.

2 hours ago, Alexandre said:

1) How long it takes to recharge one? 1 MP/SR, the same as casting magic?

We used to play that it was instant, but always recharged them outside Combat, so it made no difference. 1MP/SR makes sense.

2 hours ago, Alexandre said:

2) Is it possible to pass the crystal over to another character so that he can recharge it or use the MPs inside to cast his own spells? As the crystal does not need attunement so I would say yes. 

We played that anyone touching a POW Storage Crystal could recharge it, so I'd say yes. Normally, we used Bound Spirits and drained them of their MPs to fill up the POW Storage, as they regenerate MPs.

1 hour ago, The God Learner said:

"It would be nice if we could control the Bat instead of that nasty Red Goddess."

"I suppose we could serve as the new Bat-Priests, just for a little while."

"In an interim capacity."

"Right. It's for the common good, really."

To be honest, that's what my Players would probably do.

I'd probably grumble a bit and then begrudgingly allow it, but it had better be a good roll, while secretly being very pleased indeed.

55 minutes ago, Steve3742 said:

Before anybody gets too worked up about this, I suggest they look at a calendar.

Are we in Disorder Week, then?

The sword damages the location used for the attack.

So, parrying a claw with a sword means you damage the location with the claw, perhaps an arm or leg. Parrying a bite means you damage the head.

And, yes, you can cut off someone's head by parrying with a sword.

1 hour ago, M Helsdon said:

A number of people have queried the lack of a bibliography in my fan book 'The Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass'. The core books are listed below. Some are now out-of-print and hard to find...

Fortunately, I managed to get them all as PDFs

13 hours ago, Ufnal said:

Are beings like, say, Kolat or Oakfed beings of Gods World or of Spirit World? 

Both

8 hours ago, Quackerjack said:

Some Bat Priests met their doom today. So, who's going to control the Bat tomorrow? Hello? Anybody there? Oooops.

That's what happens when PCs don't think things through, or, "One problem at a time, guys..."

11 hours ago, Ufnal said:

This is an interesting view, but it does seem to focus on the dead and not on the various elemental and conceptual spirits that spirit traditions most often use.

The Spirit Plane, for me, is different things depending on where you are and what you want to find.

• Around a Temple, the Spirit Plane will be dominated by the Cult Spirits, Temple Spirits and so on. The Cult Spirits available for each temple will differ, depending on the particular Temple.
• In other places, the Spirit Plane will differ depending on the Place. For example, the Spirit Plane of Prax will be different to that of the Shadow Plateau or Sartar. Holy Places, like Temples, have their own Spirit Plane that differs from the surroundings. 
• The Spirit Plane around Chaos Nests have a lot more Chaotic Spirits, but will vary according to the particular Chaos Nest.
• Spirit Pools are special places where the Spirit Plane and Mundane Plane interact, allowing normal people to access the Spirit Plane and contact/bind Spirits. It is possible to enter the Spirit Plane here and physically go to the Inner Plane, but if you then travel outside the Spirit Pool then you will become lost, drifting endlessly among the Spirits, unless someone comes to help you.

What about the different types of Spirits?

• Elementals can be found wherever there is a strong elemental presence, as well as anywhere. You are most likely to encounter a particular type of Elemental in a particular location. I am using old names for Elementals as I have not learned the new names. So, in Dagori Inkarth you will most likely encounter Shades, in rivers/lakes/seas you will usually encounter Undines, around volcanoes you will usually encounter Salamanders, on the Blue Moon Plateau you will usually find Selenes and on the Red Moon you will encounter Lunes. Earth and Air Elementals are available everywhere, as long as you are on the earth or have access to air. 
• Nymphs will be more common in certain areas, so Dryads would be most common in Aldryami Forests, Hags in Darkness Areas, Water Nymphs in rivers/lakes/seas and so on.
• Cult Spirits can be found at Temples and Holy Sites. A Shaman going to an Orlanth temple is likely to be able to find Orlanthi Cult Spirits. Shamans with a Spirit Cult, or with a connection to a Deity, should be able to find appropriate Cult Spirits fairly easily. Shamans can raid Temples and Holy Sites for Cult Spirits, gaining Spirits outside their Tradition.
• Other Spirits vary by location. Using RQ3 notation, Power Spirits, Magic Spirits and Spell Spirits are available everywhere, as they are the torn-up souls of various kinds. RQ2 had Spirits that you could bind with INT/POW but could store spells in and I think RQG has the same. Things like Disease Spirits should be uncommon, except around Mallia Temples or in Chaos Nests. 

You might find my Spirit Plane Encounter Table useful.

On 3/29/2019 at 2:32 AM, svensson said:

How would you present RQ magics to someone who's only known the fantasy tropes? Disruption can take the place of Magic Missile, for example, especially when you explain just how much deadlier the spell is in a world without 150 hit point uber-Gawdz running around.

I wouldn't compare spell with spell, for instance Disruption to Magic Missile.

Instead, I'd go with the magic systems:

• Magic is generally personal and doesn't usually affect large areas.
• Spirit Magic is minor magic that most people have access to.
• Rune Magic comes from the Gods and Goddesses, so you have to initiate in a cult to use it. Each Cult has its own spells that are not normally available to other Cults, so you can specialise by joining a Cult. Many Cults have Spirit Magic that is only available through the Cult. Sorcery is powerful magic that takes years of study.
• Sorcerers can be independent or can belong to Sorcery Schools or Religions. Each Sorcery School or Religion has its own spells, but these have not yet been detailed.

What i find useful is to produce a one-page summary, with 1 spell on each line, summarising what the spells do. That is useful in many cases and you can always refer to the rulebook if you need more detail.

21 hours ago, pachristian said:

D&D tropes clobber players in ways other than spell casting. I just had a play say he would not play in Glorantha again: Because he doesn't like that Elves are intelligent plants and Dwarves don't fit his mental stereotype. He insists he likes the game he's been in, but just can't handle the differences between Glorantha and his stereotype LOTR-derived game world. I've known people to refuse to play RuneQuest "because it has ducks". 

What I tend to do is to downplay that kind of thing.

Sure, Elves are Aldryami and are intelligent plants, but to me they look like classical elves, but perhaps with leaves for hair. I don;t play them as some gnarled woody thing, unless the scenario calls for it. Similarly, I play RQ Dwarves as Mostali, but more as 1970s Trade Unionist stereotypes, with a bit of Pratchett in there (Mostali are Mostali at home, but when they are out and about they let their hair down). 

At some point, I'll throw in something Aldryami that reinforces them as being plants, but only when the Players are comfortable. Similarly, Mostali might do something strange, or the PCs might meet a Mostali Construct, or even a True Mostali. 

But, I don't have a talking bush meet the PCs in the first session.

Some people are dead against Hero Points, preferring to let the dice lie as they fall. However, we first used them in HeroQuest and then in RuneQuest and our Players really like them.

Hero Points are not about removing the sense of failure, but making the story interesting. If someone spends 4 Hero Points to achieve something, that is a measure of how difficult it was to achieve and how important it was to the PCs/Players. 

I took part vicariously by reading the Facebook posts that came thick and fast throughout the day.

Maybe next time it won't clash with an operation so I can make it.

Glad to see that people enjoyed it. I know the organisers were not sure if it would be a success and were surprised that it sold out and filled up so many times.

Mechanically, the Crimson Bat can be killed, you just do a lot of damage to a vital location. Historically, it has been killed many times, so killing the Bat is not particularly unusual. 

Personally, I don't like sweeping statements such as "no PC of any level is capable of taking on the Crimson Bat when it's well-fed", but I can see why it is there in terms of D&D players going through Deities & Demigods to take them out.

In my games, if the PCs have taken out the Crimson Bat, they have either done it by dealing a shedload of damage or by using magical means. 

@Joerg has kindly pointed out that I posted the request for Triff to create a 13th Age Glorantha forum in the 13th Age Glorantha forum.

Either I must be prescient after the event, or an idiot. You can decide.

Anyway, Joerg very kindly PMed be, maybe so as not to embarrass me, thanks Joerg. Fortunately, I am almost incapable of embarrassment.

7 minutes ago, StevenGEmsley said:

Everything on Prax and Pavis?? My god, man, that must have taken a while!!!  😁

Everything I could find.

It helped that I have a large number of scanned PDFs, some time on my hands and used PDFTK.

Basically, I went through the PDFs, noted the page numbers of sections relating to Pavis/Prax in a text file, then write a batch job to extract the pages into a series of PDFs and another to combine them. I was going to put in a Table of Contents, but it would have been too haphazard.

I don't have Adobe Acrobat, but PDFTK is really good at that kind of thing and I'd advise doing it that way. You could always tart it up a bit in Adobe Acrobat afterwards.

One thing I do regret it not having good enough OCR software to convert to text. Had I had that, it would be awesome.

OK, I have watched an hour of one of @inwils' Actual Play videos and have some observations:

• I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite expecting to have hated it
• The video came across pretty much exactly the way I GM games, which was a pleasant surprise
• The rules were explained in an unobtrusive way, through game play
• Combat took a bit longer than expected, but that might be due to everyone playing online
• I expected it to be of the ham-acting "I am playing Deiree, a half-elven sorceress whose beauty surpasses all others" style of gaming, whereas it was just as we play scenarios
• I expected it to be completely focused on the game, with no interruptions, so was pleased to hear mentions of Dukes of Hazard and various other odds and ends. The summing up of the previous session was pretty much how we do it, with neither GM nor Players having a clear recollection.
• It makes me feel that I could record our sessions as Actual Play sessions. We'd have to bleep out all the swearing, puns and bad jokes, though.

So, please continue to make and post these, as I think they would be very useful for people who have not Played/GMed much.

On 3/20/2019 at 7:32 PM, PhilHibbs said:

We never bothered with detailing spell focuses, in any RQ game I've ever played in.

I go further and don't even have focuses in my RQ. If you know the spell you can cast it. If the PC is blindfolded, gagged and has hands and feet tied, then I might add a few Penalties to the roll, though.

On 3/24/2019 at 4:58 PM, Zit said:

How shall we manage the status traits when the social status is not completely related to the wealth ? For instance, in middle ages, there where rich and poor barons, rich and medium bourgeois and so on. How do you differentiate a poor baron from a rich one ? What if a PC finds a treasure ? In some countries, there have even been slaves as ministers. It looks that there shall be either one status trait or one wealth trait, and I'm a bit annoyed by that.

In Merrie England, Characters can have a Social trait and a Wealth Trait, allowing for Rich and Poor Nobles or Rich and Poor Beggars.

Basically, you can default one from the other, unless you know differently. So, if you are playing someone with the Baron Trait then you can assume that the Baron is Rich and use the Baron Trait in situations where money is involved. However, if you are playing a Penniless Baron, then you cannot use Baron in those circumstances, or it becomes a Penalty instead. 

If you find a treasure it can change your Wealth Status, at least temporarily.  Unless you have a way of investing the newly-found riches then your Wealth Trait could well slide back to Poor.

The way I see it, and this is my own personal view, is that the Spirit World touches all the other worlds, including the God Plane, but is distinct. In the God Time, the dead and living were mixed and this caused confusion, so Daka Fal separated the dead from the living, creating the Spirit Plane.

Animists treat the Spirit Plane as being just another place. In effect, they see their ancestors and various other spirits as being people/things that they can interact with, bargain with and enslave. Shamans don't really see a difference between the Mundane and Spirit Planes, or rather they know there is a difference but see them overlaid onto each other, or see both at the same time.

Theists see the Spirit Plane as places where cult spirits and the ancestors can be found. I play that the Spirit Plane varies according to where you are and that the Spirit Plane around a Temple is affected by the Temple's Presence.

Sorcerous folk see the Spirit Plane in different ways. Brithini don't exist after death, so they do not interact with the Spirit Plane. Hrestoli know of Solace, which could be seen as a special part of the Spirit Plane or something else entirely.

A further complication is that the Spirit Plane contains the souls of those who once lived and are now dead as well as spirits that simply exist as spirits and those that are spirits but can take physical form, such as Elementals.

On 3/25/2019 at 1:19 PM, Mike M said:

We believe we have published the definitive edition.

Until the next one.