soltakss

Does it contain a cabaret?

What I normally do is:

• For a contest with 1 PC and a group of NPCs, the best NPC rolls to see if they can beat the PC
• For a contest with 1 NPC and a group of PCs, each PC can roll to see if they can beat the NPC

That way, the PCs have an advantage.

I know that it breaks the rule that the rules work the same for PCs as NPCs, but it is more satisfying for players.

48 minutes ago, Roko Joko said:

That said, in King of Sartar nothing protects the red moon from the dragons that tear it apart except maybe the moon's own powers of rebirth.

The Red Emperor commits utuma to negate the sins of the Empire and the Red Moon gets torn apart by Dragons. Either the Red Emperor fumbled his roll, or the breaking up of the Red Moon was a natural consequence of his actions, allowing the Moon to change form into its next state. 

2 minutes ago, Thyrwyn said:

I’ve found that the mechanism of subtracting skill over 100% effects the same feel, has that been your experience?

Yes, it does. We used to call it AntiParry and we used it to emulate Lin Chun, from the Water Margin, in combat - he would fight normal soldiers, cutting them down with abandon (AntiParry), while not being hurt by them (Defense).

18 hours ago, Joerg said:

Pretty much like the Orlanthi and Praxians ensure the continued existence of Chaos in the world through their rites. Just saying.

Without Chaos, Storm Bull loses much of his reasons for being.

On 1/13/2019 at 10:54 PM, NickMiddleton said:

Pretty sure only Soltakss did, actually

I am a number of people ...

18 hours ago, Joerg said:

The Orlanthi all claim "foul" and "break of Compromise", but when and how exactly did that happen?

The classic answer, of course, is at castle Blue and when the Lunars killed Orlanth. Both cause the heroes and Gods to be active in Glorantha again.

Of course, the Red Goddess proved her right to exist at Castle Blue and showed that the Compromise was not broken, merely amended. 

16 hours ago, Kloster said:

Thanks for the explanation. Where does it comes from?

It was originally in Wyrms Footnotes, but I can't remember which edition.

On 1/14/2019 at 4:15 AM, EricW said:

Are Lunars God Learners?

No.

God Learners were a Malkioni religious movement that strove to examine every Malkioni belief and compare it to the Abiding Book, striking away beliefs that did not conform with the Abiding Book. They moved on to comparing the gods and goddesses, again striking away those found wanting. The God Learners passed with the ending of the Middle Sea Empire.

On 1/14/2019 at 4:15 AM, EricW said:

Are Lunars God Learners?

Yes.

Although they use new techniques, the Lunars have inherited some techniques from the God Learners and have reawakened more. They amend myths and blend in the Red Goddess into other myths, making it appear that She has always been there, or is an incarnation of some belief. In the same way, the Red Emperor has proven to be, or wield, ancient powers, through HeroQuesting. He is the Dara Happan Emperor, the Paradisaical Aviator (??? Can't remember the exact term) and others.

In my Glorantha, the Red Goddess is the Third Side of the Law Rune, with Malkion forming the base, Hrestol forming the right hand side and supporting the Red Goddess who forms the Left Hand Side. She is the Third Prophet of the Invisible God and has blended Malkioni Sorcery in with Lunar ideals. (OK, now the Red Goddess doesn't allow worshippers to manipulate Spirit Magic, but the statement still holds in my Glorantha).

Her followers are very active HeroQuestors. She was an active HeroQuestor who wove herself into the fabric of Time and God Time, far more successfully than the God Learners ever did. 

RQ2 Defense was a very abstract thing, involving moving about and being hard to hit. RQ3 Dodge removed the abstraction and made it a concrete thing.

Personally, I liked RQ2 Defense and lamented its passing. It makes duels between masters interesting and also causes master swordsmen to cut through lesser fighters very easily, which reflects my personal taste. However, people who like very gritty combat might not find it to their liking.

Just using Dodge = Defense x 2 should work, although that gives Soltak Stormspear a Dodge of 200%!

28 minutes ago, M Helsdon said:

Whilst I suspect a rhino could carry two riders, I don't believe that two lancers would be practical - too much chance of the lances getting in each other's way.

That's what Lefters are for - A Lance on each side, one held RH and one LH, aiiming at the same target. Simples.

22 minutes ago, Rick Meints said:

Anyone care to put an approximate number on what they feel "lots of people" represents? 10 people, 50 people, 200 people, more?

Tens, maybe dozens - Lots.

Honestly, I don't have sales figures for Magic World.

It isn't really my cup of tea, really, no hit locations, variable armour and so on, but I get the feeling that as many people like it as, say, OpenQuest.

Again, I have no sales figures for OpenQuest, so cannot justify anything I have said.

2 hours ago, 7Tigers said:

Just be aware that the map given in glorantha.com link above ( https://www.glorantha.com/docs/map-of-the-big-rubble/ ) is of far better quality (600 dpi) than the one in Pavis pdf...

Many thanks for the link. I have saved it off and will resize and add as a background layer for my Big Rubble Map, so that I can add features from it later.

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

Greg did a number of categorical statements which have since been softened up, like the "three strictly separate worlds until your activities in the Hero Wars change that" dogma which we have left behind us (without too much mourning for this dogma, I believe).

Yes, there were a lot of different statements from Greg, hence the term "Gregged".

I am sure that we can all pick and choose from statements made over 40 years to support various arguments. Unfortunately, as he is sadly no longer with us, we cannot ask him what he meant. I am sure that those who worked closely with him have a deeper understanding of what he meant, but we are not always in that position.

So, everyone, would it be possible not to use the "Greg said this" argument to support a case?

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

Jeff was wrong in the past, and he was right in the past, and sometimes with the same statements. Like all of us at this level of involvement.

Agreed, that could be said for absolutely everyone, as our ideas about Glorantha have evolved over the years.

Shutting up now ...

26 minutes ago, Rick Meints said:

Au contraire, mon frère. Please see the top of "overall route" map on page 37 of Tales 14. The map is for Carl Pates' Sins of the Father scenario.

And if Rick says it's canon, then it's canon, unless Jeff or David argue the point in some Chaosium Civil War.

6 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Every widespread cult has local variations. Yelm has Yelm of Dara Happa v. Yelm of the Pure Horse People. Orlanth has Adventurous, Thunderous, and Rex. Ernalda and the Grain Goddesses have zillions of local variations. Lodril has many local variations. Shargash is a local variant of Tolat that is so important that it has overwhelmed the more broadly known cult. 

I would love to see some of those in print. Maybe having the standard cult writeup in Gods of Glorantha, or one of the followups, then have local variations in Region supplements. So, have a writeup of Dara Happan Yelm in a Dara Happan supplement, to be compared with the current Pentian-style Yelm. 

1 hour ago, NickMiddleton said:

Lots of people post stuff in the forums or to the downloads section. Doing something under the Small Publisher Limted or Commercial licenses would be a more substantial commitment: the former has a explicit upfront fee associated for example.

It's a shame, because it is a Catch-22 situation. Magic World isn't supported because there clearly isn't a demand, as nobody applies for a Licence. People don't apply for a licence because there are upfront costs and the returns probably wouldn't be great.

It may well be that posting in forums and on fan websites is the way forward for Magic World.

2 minutes ago, Jeff said:

I currently have full writeups of:

Is that all? 🙂

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

But as I've made similar arguments over the past two decades, I haven't seen anything more than special pleading from the usual suspects.

Usual suspects on both sides of the argument.

1 minute ago, Ian Cooper said:

He was a Lunar heroquester and a revived Yelm cult began spreading after years in which it was 'underground' (Golden Dragon of EWF era and Carmanian Empire replacement with Idovanus)

Was he now? Interesting. I always saw him as one of the Back to Basics Yelm worshippers, who became Emperor to bring back those core Yelm values that had been lost/suppressed. I also saw him as accepting the Red Emperor as his heir due to recognising the power and rightfulness of the Red Goddess.

Having him as a Lunar HeroQuestor is something I had never considered. I had thought that the Red Emperor had HeroQuested to be accepted by Yelmgatha as his heir, but not that Yelmgatha himself took the Ten Tests so that he could legitimise the Red Emperor as his heir. 

Hmmm ...

Great stuff, thanks.

On 1/12/2019 at 8:54 AM, 7Tigers said:

Troll Break map is directly matching Rubble map (available on Glorantha.com) from HQ Pavis: GtA

Ah, many thanks. I don't have that as a separate image and was working from previous maps of the Big Rubble.

I'll have to check my PDF of HQ Pavis:GTA, extract the map and see what goodies it has that I haven't yet captured.

14 hours ago, Nevun said:

It occurred to me the other day that i didn't recall any reference to the HQ mechanic of Heroforming - allowing oneself to be possessed by  an ancestor spirit or becoming the character.

Is anything like this currently in the game - or planned?

 

I would guess that this will come in later supplements.

RQG is at that stage where a lot has been crammed in, but a lot has been missed out, to avoid an 800 page rulebook.

Hopefully, Heroforming will be covered later and put on an official footing. It is already there in previous canon, so just needs to be made official again.

25 minutes ago, Ian Cooper said:

Can you provide a quote in which he changes his mind on this? Because I don't think he did, so I am afraid you need some evidence to back your argument that post-2007 he declared that Elmal and Yelmalio were the same god. Otherwise, it's just your opinion.

Before King of Sartar they were treated as different gods, King of Sartar definitely said they were the same god and i can remember some backtracking on the whole concept.

It is not an academic debate, but a discussion over opinions and remembering previous conversations over 30-odd years. Having to justify every comment with footnotes and references is just plain mad.

17 hours ago, womble said:

I haven't seen a reference to a pillion Llama rider... where's that from? Is it the default arrangement, or a 'special case'?

It makes sense for Rhino Riders as well, imagine a Rhino Charge with 2 lances per Rhino!