soltakss

On 1/11/2019 at 8:21 PM, metcalph said:

On 1/11/2019 at 4:54 PM, soltakss said:

For me the dancers in Darkness are corrupted Nymphs rather than Vampires, they are Marsh Nymphs, so have some crossover between Water and Earth Nymphs, but have been corrupted by Delecti.

They are written up as vampires, looking and acting as vampires do.  In what way are they not vampires?  

Sorry, I confused the Dancers in Darkness with the Pale Ladies, the Marsh Nymphs who can expand the marsh by placing magical staves in the ground and performing a ritual.

On 1/11/2019 at 8:21 PM, metcalph said:

 I have yet to see a single gloranthan vampire which makes spell-stealing as a major cause for fear (let alone a minor one).  Rather than waste words and energy about how so-and-so aren't vampires, you would be better advised to describe how and why vampire spell stealing is scary.

As a PC, having Vampire steal by magic is incredibly scary. Having them being able to use stolen magic against me is both blasphemous and scary.

On 2/12/2019 at 4:42 PM, nclarke said:

Where's the thumbs up button

👍

In the emojis, about two-thirds down.

Excellent news.

I am a big fan of Alternate/Mythic Earth and can only welcome more settings.

The Aztecs are a really good culture to explore. Of course, I'd then also want the Incas and Mayans.

Mythic Polynesia is also a very interesting and underexplored culture.

Thanks, I've downloaded them and will definitely use them, if only for ideas and inspiration.

On 2/11/2019 at 3:24 PM, Sumath said:

The written word is a rare and magical thing in a bronze age society.

Another example of Glorantha not really being a Bronze Age world in the way that we understand it in the real world. Glorantha has paper, parchment, papyrus, clay tablets and so on. Far more than existed in the RW Bronze Age.

On 2/11/2019 at 3:24 PM, Sumath said:

Outside of court scribes, Lhankor Mhy sages and the Lunars is anyone else in Dragon Pass likely to keep good-sized and interesting libraries? Issaries temples would have libraries, but they'd be full of mundane stuff - inventories and loan records. In theory, all temples are places of knowledge, so there is potential for them all to have a library, the extent of which would vary dependent upon the deity, and temple size.

Depending on your interpretation of Dragon pass, Pavis definitely has libraries, as one of the Heroes of Pavis is a librarian, is is according to the P&BRC Series.

I would say that all temples have libraries of some kind. Yelmalian Temples do, as one of the Priests is in charge of the library, or so I recall. The Truth Rune is also the Knowledge Rune, so Truth cults might have libraries. I see Humakti libraries as being records of duels fought, locations of undead and so on.

Ernaldan temples libraries might contain inventories of grain, as well as records of births and maybe marriages. Ty Kora Tek libraries would contain records of deaths. Black Fang temples would contain lists of hits, who hired them, who carried them out and who was targeted, mainly for insurance purposes.

Thanatar also has libraries, as Thanatar is the Chaotic equivalent of Lhankor Mhy or Irrippi Ontor.

On 2/11/2019 at 3:24 PM, Sumath said:

Would important Orlanthi marriages be recorded in writing, or just vocalised and witnessed? Would you even marry at a temple?

Yes, they would be recorded and yes, some people marry at a Temple or Shrine. Although the traditions of jumping over a bonfire, jumping over a broom, trying hands together and so on, exist, important or devout people could get married in a Temple. You can also get married as part of a HeroQuest, quite often if the marriage is taboo or forbidden, HeroQuests are ways to get around the rules.

On 2/11/2019 at 3:24 PM, Sumath said:

I imagine writing, depending upon its origins, would be on parchment, paper or clay (and all of these forms found in LM temples, for example). 

Yes, Lhankor Mhy would have access to all kinds of text.

Earth cults would use the equivalent of cuneiform, with letters stamped or written on clay tablets, for their most sacred texts, with permanent records having the clay tablets fired to turn them into ceramics.

Troll Cults carve Darktongue into rocks. Other Darkness Cults might do the same.

Water Cults wouldn't use parchment or paper for their most important documents, as they need to be available underwater. They do have a good supply of ink, though.

Fire cults may well brand letters into wood, or something similar, for their most sacred documents.

Air/Storm Cults don't have an obvious way of writing, unless you count smoke signals. Thunder Rebels, I think, mentions Cat Scratchings as a form of writing, the equivalent of Ogham, scratched into bones. That could work for some cults. 

I think that all cults make use of writing on scrolls, parchment, paper, papyrus and so on. This means they are easily stored, don't decay and can be easily copied or transported.

On 2/11/2019 at 3:24 PM, Sumath said:

Would friendly or associated cults be likely to allow copying or even loaning of each other's texts? If so, what texts would be permitted, and what would be restricted (apart from obvious cult secrets or matters of court)?

I am not sure if texts would be routinely loaned out. Certainly you can visit a library and study the texts there. Scribes make their living by copying texts, so they would be paid to copy a text.

Cult Secret texts would not be allowed to be removed from temple libraries, but could be studied by Associate Priests, I would think. Particularly embarrassing secrets would be restricted. Lore that reveals cult weaknesses or describes enemy cult secrets may well be forbidden, or at least only available to the High Priest of the temple.

On 2/12/2019 at 3:24 AM, davecake said:

I don't think every group that takes heads as trophies are Thanatari, or Chaotic. 

The Storm Tribe definitely took heads as trophies. That is why Tien was beheaded - Storm Bull's Son took his head as a trophy.

RQ2 and RQ3 Strike ranks are very similar, except that RQ3 has 10 SRs per round.

Ringworld has an Impulse system, apparently, but RQ3 doesn't.

In any case, I'd just use whichever Strike Rank system you prefer and adapt as you go on.

I don't generally play CoC and have never run it, but RQ Bestiary creatures should work well. You might need to work out the SAN Loss for seeing some of the non-mundane creatures and can ignore Hit Locations, but everything else should work OK.

On 2/11/2019 at 2:29 AM, Hzark10 said:

My notes are somewhat crude on this, but Greg decided that Merlin could not have brought the entirety of Stonehenge over from Ireland, too much information proves those stones have been around much longer than Merlin.  So, the stones that Merlin (giant's crown?), did bring over completed the ring in combination to the existing stones that were giants cursed into stone by the sun.  These stones were magical in nature, having been used by giants for healing.   Together they create a bridge to the other world in a protective fashion. Bran's head was also part of the magical defense of the island.

As a result, these stones from Ireland DID have some purpose, according to Merlin.  I know Greg had a reason for the text as it changed into its present form.

In my Dark Isles game, I am torn between the Myth of Merlin bringing over Stonehenge from Ireland and the fact that it was clearly there beforehand. Merlin bringing over some extra stones to change the way it works is a good compromise.

9 hours ago, jajagappa said:

I have both (as well as the earlier HW/HQ1).  I've been running HQG close to 5 years now and don't think I've ever referenced the HQ2 Core in the entire time, though I know there are a few things which are described/written somewhat clearer in the Core book.

For me, and I know I am in a definite minority, I shouldn't have to refer to rulebooks to clarify things about HeroQuest.

At its heart, HeroQuest is a very simple and elegant system that just works, without having things clarified.

Everything that needs clarifying has been bolted on to the elegant system, so I have to ask "Do I need this?" for every extra bit, and the usual answer is "No".

Sounds a good idea, I might suggest it to my gaming group. We are using Revolution D100, but with Traits/Bonuses giving +10 and Penalties at -10, so I might just say one Penalty (-10) per SR.

1 hour ago, Steve said:

I seem to remember that there is a kind of horizon effect in Glorantha, even though of course it's nothing to do with curvature of the lozenge. There isn't unlimited visibllity just because the earth/sea is flat.

Magasta's Pool lies below sea level and sucks things into it, so ships can dip down, effectively going below the horizon.

It depends on how you see Dragonewt Magic.

In WF14 (RQ2), Dragonewts have Runespells that give them Breathe Fire, Summon Dream Dragon and so on. Thanatari magic would absolutely be able to use those spell.

In RQ3, Dragonewts still had the same abilities, but I don't think they were Divine Magic.

In Mongoose RQ, they had some Mystical magic that gave them the same effects, but it did not come as Runespells/Divine Magic.

In RQM, looking at the Bestiary, Dragon magic is definitely of the Mystical variety, so is personal to the Dragonewt. It explicitly says that they are not spells, so I would think that they are not usable through Thanatari magic.

You could still make a Thanatari head and use its knowledge, or Consume Mind to make a mindless Dragonewt, though.

There are lots of ways to do this.

I'd just pick one that fits with how you want it to work and go with that.

For me, HeroQuest is not about the mechanics. The mechanics are a quick and easy way of achieving a result. In my opinion, anyone who agonises over detailed mechanics in HeroQuest is missing the point of the game.

In the olden days, Spell Spirits were the remnant of people's souls that had been ripped apart, or they were the leftovers of a deity's being. So, they would have had a portion of a deity's magic. Lower INT Spirits have lesser magic, higher INT spirits had more magic and so on. Spell Spirits might just have had 1D6 INT, which automatically restricts the size of the spell they have.

For me, higher INT Spirits are those especially sacred to their cults and would be in carefully guarded sanctuaries, or be difficult to find.

As to why normal spirits would know Bladesharp, it's because the deities that fought it out had chunks knocked off them and they contained magic. So, Humakt would generate Bladesharp or Parry Spirits, for example.

You have to do the Hallelujah Trail, or at least some elements of it.

14 hours ago, jajagappa said:

It's in RQG Bestiary as the short writeup of Thed is there.

Is it really, thanks. I'll have to read the Bestiary again.

6 hours ago, Aprewett said:

Thanks. How does it increase? Is that a mechanic in the Flaw system? Sorry very new to HQ, with only a one session one off played a year ago and then we shelved it as I tried to digest Glorantha and felt I had to digest Runequest and whilted.

As Corruption increases the more you use the magic, I would give it a +1 every time the magic is used.

It may well be that you can spin it off into a new skill, especially if the Corruption is going to outweigh the original skill. So, having Magic 10M (Corruption +40) means that Corruption effectively has Corruption 20M.

Having said that, this is outside the rules as they are, so needs a ruling from the GM/Narrator.

6 hours ago, Aprewett said:

Maybe if I could be so bold; a working example of a creeping corruption from every spell cast. That eventually overwhelms and turn you into a abomination. My player loves playing spell casters and I need to get over this speed bump as fast as possible, incidentally one of the reasons I felt I had to play Glorantha with RQ first to understand the magic imbedded in the setting.

Yes, that matches with the adding +1 to Corruption each time you cast it. It may well be that you engage in an Opossed Contest between Corruption and Magic to see if the Magician becomes corrupted. The effects would differ between a Marginal Defeat and a Complete Defeat and that would be Narrated.

It all depends on what you want to get out of it.

"Kenny's dead", "OK, I attempt CPR using First Aid, damn, I failed", "Well, Kenny's dead, then", is a one-off shot at First Aid.

"Kenny's dead", "OK, I attempt CPR using First Aid, damn, I failed, I keep trying until he recovers or my arms drop off", "Well, Kenny recovers after a few rounds, as you succeeded your First Aid eventually", is multiple attempts at First Aid with increasing Penalties.

7 hours ago, Darius West said:

Plenty of boats sink without being sucked into Magasta's pool as a result of the Closing.  Any ship that goes over the horizon is supposed to invoke the Closing.  Clearly the Cradle didn't do that, nor did it have an altar to Dormal onboard.  The Cradle literally sails for days past the horizon of Prax without invoking the Closing, we know exactly the path it takes, and it should have sunk on day 1 if the Closing was in effect.  Furthermore, there is no record of a late addition altar to Dormal being put onto the ship, and clearly Argrath would have been clued in if this were to be a problem.

Not all boats sink as part of the Closing. Some are driven back to shore, some sail around endlessly, lost in some strange currents, some are attacked by sea monsters, some are bewitched by sirens, some follow the Doom Currents into Magasta's Pool.

Just having them sink is just plain boring.

The Cradle may well have found a Doom Current and sailed into Magasta's Pool, or it might have just sailed to the Pool under its own steam and dropped that way.

The Cradle did not have a Dormali on board, as far as I know, but it doesn't need one, as it is already Doomed.

4 hours ago, Sumath said:

Whilst we're digressing, what's the Dragonewt outlook on displays of martial prowess? Would they be likely to watch feats of arms as entertainment? I'm thinking of putting an ancient, eerie amphitheatre up in a small hollow in the mountains and thought I might make it part of a Dragonewt ruin.

They probably would, but not for entertainment, or rather not finding the combat entertaining. They would find beauty in the forms and moves, treating it like a Dragonewt dance, exploring the subtleties and inner meanings of the various moves.

15 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

I don't understand. What do you mean by "a high enough level", and what other mechanics?

I think he means that you need, for example Countermagic 6 to stack onto Shield 2, as anything less is blown down by the Shield, giving you effectively Countermagic 6 in total.

From past discussions, in RQ2 it never worked that way. protection and Countermagic just stacked on top, so Shield 3 Protection 4 give you 6+4=10 points of Protection and 6 points of Countermagic.

RQG should play in the same way as BRP, as they are fairly close.

Don't shove everything down the players' throats in the first session. Introduce things slowly and steadily.

Have a lot of healing, including Healing spells, Healing salves, Healers on tap, generous use of First Aid, PCs not dying straight away and so on.

On 2/4/2019 at 12:30 AM, Sir_Godspeed said:

That's something that I've found interesting - Flamal apparently killed Stone with an axe. That scenario seems so backwards in terms of tool implementation that I can't help but think that there must be some deeper symbolism to it.

High King Elf also used an Axe, I believe. They only stopped using Axes when Zorak Zoran used an Axe to kill Flamal.

A Critical Library Use, if ever I saw one.