soltakss

16 hours ago, Unferth said:

No discussion there of reasons, though.

Because dwarf and Elf are tasty and faeces/air aren't?

1 hour ago, andyl said:

So ride-on lawnmowers and quad-bikes are ride (although the skill to use them is totally unrelated to horses or animals)? Or are you breaking out your ride skill into Ride Animal and Ride Mechanical?

I just use Ride, otherwise you have to ask "Is riding a horse the same as riding a camel?" and have loads of variations of Ride.

The rule of thumb that I have used is: If you sit astride it then you use Ride, if you sit inside it then you use Drive Auto.

So, horses, camels, bison, bicycles, motorcycles and hoverbikes use Ride, but cars, tractors, tanks and so on use Drive.

Elephants are an odd case, as you can sit in a howdah, but if I see any PCs on an elephant, I'll make a decision then.

Things like Skateboards, Snowboards, Surfboards and Hoverboards would use a Board skill that is, as yet, undefined. 

You could go as far as having different skills for Skis, Boards, Skates and so on, if you wanted, I suppose.

One thing is for sure, if you have listed all the modes of transport that you can think of and have assigned a skill to each, some player will come along and ask "What about such and such?" which you would not have thought about.

10 minutes ago, Anunnaki said:

And so on. Key points being, Bladesharp, IMO enhanced the weapon (specifically), so is applied to every attack (only, not parry). Sword Trance enhances the skill and is applied to both attack and parry (ignoring the ambiguity in the wording of "other weapon-enhancing spells" -- IMO, should just read "weapon-enhancing spells". /shrug

Yes, I think there is a distinction to be drawn between spells/effects that affect the person and those that affect the weapon.

Things like Sword Trance, Berserker and Fanaticism affect the person, as do most of the situational modifiers.

Things like Bladesharp, Dullblade, Truesword, Iron and double damage vs certain foes affect the weapon.

There is an argument that double damage vs certain foes affects the person and affects any weapons that person uses, but I think that varies on a case by case basis.

For me, if I use Berserker and Axe Trance, I should get a hefty increase in my skill. Adding Bladesharp to the mix and my weapon skill goes up even further. Adding Truesword and it increases the damage, along with the Bladesharp.

Powerful Rune Levels with lots of magic are very, very dangerous, as, indeed, they should be.

I have never had Dullblade, as we played it had to overcome POW to work, as it was cast on an opponent. Why use Dullblade when you can use Dispel Magic instead? If I am overcoming POW anyway, then why not use Demoralise or Befuddle? They are far more effective spells.

Humakti PCs are banned from using Dullblade, I think, but I could well be wrong.

Also, does Dullblade work on any weapon or just on blades? Not much use against crushing weapons, for example.

43 minutes ago, Psullie said:

here's the rub, with 98% sword, even with a boost you still can't split attacks as it's based on the natural ability

That is something I would houserule away immediately.

I have Sword 98% and use Bladesharp 6 and Berserker, but I can't split because my base skill is below 100%? No, thank you very much.

8 hours ago, Yuven said:

Maybe I'll post a pdf of an obituary if I get the time (and skill) to make one

Somebody posted an online tool to make Newspaper Headlines, but I have lost the link. It could have a picture and some text. You could use something like that to make a short obituary.

2 hours ago, Darius West said:

I meant that as something of a rude joke guys, though your straight man dissection of the issue was also amusing.  Still, Orlanth must have been looking at his kids playing at the foot of the stead, and he sees Barntar, a strong kid, hard working but a bit lacking in imagination, then he sees little Voria who is so pretty and full of life, and then he sees Voriof...  Voriof is a sheep. How did that happen? How does Orlanth react?

He is proud as Punch. When he became Orlanth the Ram, he tupped whoever Voriof's mother was and produced Voriof. Orlanth has many Aspects and Orlanth the Ram is just one of them.

It's strange for us, for sure, but real life mythologies have many, many examples of deities taking animal form and having offspring.

In Glorantha, Urox does it all the while, for example.

1 hour ago, Russ Massey said:

Situational modifiers do surely have to be applied to each attack, as they can change during the round. You could make your first attack in total darkness and then a light spell goes off before the second attack. Surely the -75% does not apply at that point. Similary you could make two attacks against an opponent with the first attack crippling him so he falls. The second attack would surely then gain the bonus for a prone opponent even if he was standing at the start of the round.

That is a complex one.

If the situation changes, then the GM should make a decision based on that change. 

So, in your example, if I have 150% Sword Attack then I can split 75/75, normally, however in total darkness I am at -75% so only have a 75% attack chance and cannot split. If my Sword is 200%, then I have an effective 125% attack chance and can now split 65/60. If a light goes on after my first attack, do I suddenly gain +38 to my sword attack? Probably not, as I would rule that the light appearing is probably confusing, you have committed your attack and now can see, if you want to take advantage of the +38 then delay your attack to see what is happening. I would never apply the -75 to both splits, as that is over-harsh and unplayable.

If I had Sword and attacked with left hand /right hand, then each sword attack should be at the -75 penalty. Again, if a light came on, the second attack would still be at the -75 penalty, unless the PC delayed, in which case the penalty would be nullified and the attack would be at full chance. If the light came on during the first attack, there is a case to argue that the second attack could be at full chance, as the attack has not yet been committed.

Others are more complex. If I have a 98% Sword and am on a horse, I get +20, so can attack on 118%, so I can split at 59/59, but if I jump down off my horse between attacks, I lose the +20 and so cannot split the attack and lose the second attack? As a GM, I would rule that both attacks gain the advantage of the +20, as they were committed at that point.

If I attack from behind, I get +20, so the 98% Sword can attack 2 people from behind. If the second person attacking turns around, I am not attacking from behind and lose the +20 so cannot split? Again, I would rule that the second attack was committed and so takes advantage of the +20.

I am sure there are lots of similar examples.

I haven't seen any. I have a list of the times that Soltak Stormspear died and how he came back (Divine Intervention, Resurrection, etc) but I think I stopped when I reached 50, it isn't on the web though.

You might be able to find obituaries on the web and take the format from those. Date of birth and death, how they died, whether they left any spouses/issue, a picture and a brief biography, that kind of thing.

On 11/19/2018 at 11:55 AM, Apache6Actual said:

Delta Green, which has most of the players being former military combat veterans, and special operations at that, covered this topic in greater detail. Kinda hard to be shaken by fishmen when you fought at Bagdahd/Berlin/Stalingrad...……….or the Somme.

Except you then get PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) or Shellshock, as it was sometimes known. Sure, you fought in the trenches and survived, so what can those fishmen do to you? Then you have a flashback, or hear a loud bang and it really affects you. Of course, in CoC, PTSD is just another form of insanity, so fits in pretty well.

On 11/19/2018 at 11:54 AM, Joerg said:

The alternative to such a serious sword-maker and iron-worker cult like mister Ingenuity is of course Eurmal, who (in)famously made copies of the original Death and pushed those onto just about everybody in the Gods War. Eurmal Deathbringer, master copyist, and provider of iron implements to all those rune lords outside of the cult of Humakt (or Mostal). Sounds like a really good idea.

Exactly - What could go wrong?

On 11/20/2018 at 11:09 PM, jps said:

Leafing through my GoG third edition supplement, I would say including a cursory treatment of other races' pantheons would be nice but an in-depth cover would be better left for dedicated supplements about Uz, Mostali, Aldryami, Kralori etc.

As a Glorantha fan, I would love to see a Deities Supplement for each of the Pantheons, so one for the Storm, Fire/Sky, Earth, Water, Darkness, Lunar, Chaos, Elf, Dwarf, Pamalt and so on. 

I would love to see all the deities, demiigods, Heroes and spirit cults written up, as well as Sorcery Schools, Animist Traditions and so on.

Also, I would love to see the Lunar pantheon written up as Deities, with special abilities, rather than having the Phases of the Moon working as they seem to do now. I've never been a fan of "But, the Lunars are different", or "But, Moon Powers work differently to everything else".

As Joerg says, you need more than just a fire and fuel to make a wildfire. Wet or damp fuel stops the fire from spreading, as does still air.

Orlanthi weather-workers can control wildfire by causing rain or by controlling the wind, blowing the fire back on itself.

A full Oakfed Wildfire is exactly what is happening in California, including spawning elementals that jump between areas and spread the fire. 

Instead of heroic firefighters, Gloranthans have Ernaldans who throw earth on the fire, Orlanthi who blow the fire back or make it rain, Shamans with a big Extinguish spell and Lodrili who just say "Now, now, just stop that nonsense and come hide in this jar, will you".

On 11/21/2018 at 9:35 AM, Sid Vicarious said:

This doesn't include sharks. Spiders ate them all. 

There is a Castlemaine XXXX advert that goes along similar lines. Someone drops a case of beer tins into a river and it starts ti floats away. "You'd better go get them", his mate says. "What about the crocs", he says, looking a bit worried. "Naw, mate, there aren't any crocs in that river, ...", his mate replies, so the man heads off into the river, "... the sharks ate 'em", his mate continues, quietly.

On 11/19/2018 at 2:49 PM, Sir_Godspeed said:

Secondly, the gazzam/dinos. My last reading seemed to imply that these are cousin-species of the Dragonewts/dragons. Is there a connection between Celestial Beasts (birds, horses, etc.) with "Draconic Beasts" (dinosaurs... reptiles in general?). I mean, Hykim itself is identified with Korgatsu, the Cosmic Dragon and creator of the Beast Rune. And they all lay hard-shelled eggs, for what it's worth.

Some dinosaurs are the children of Maran Gor, other, individual ones, are Dragonewts gone wrong.

On 11/21/2018 at 12:45 PM, PhilHibbs said:

Gold would give them severe heartburn, I'd think

They can eat it, though, but probably can't digest it.

On 11/21/2018 at 1:02 PM, Darius West said:

They can't eat truestone or adamant.  IDK about magical crystals.  I suspect they can eat chaos critters but won't.

Again, they can eat it, but it would pass through their digestive tract unharmed and undigested. 

They absolutely do eat chaos critters. I can't remember the source, but I am sure they eat broos for some ritual.

On 11/21/2018 at 4:32 PM, jeffjerwin said:

Iron. Trolls won't eat iron, which is why you need a can opener to eat a dwarf.

Good point, but, as Derak the Dark Troll was fond of saying "Twice nothing is nothing", when holding an iron sword.

On 11/21/2018 at 3:46 PM, Sir_Godspeed said:

Yeah, the Entekosiad was definitely an eye-opener for me too. I'd previously read the King of Sartar, both the volumes of the Guide, the GRoY, and browsed the wiki extensively, and I thought I had things sorta figured out to an extent.

The trouble with the Entekosiad, in my opinion, was that is was a flawed thesis trying to prove something that was not true. I believe that it was trying to prove that Entekos was Ernalda, but I could be completely wrong.

It had wonderful myths, loads of HeroQuesting stuff and so on, but was designed to be fundamentally flawed. 

Having said that, it is a great read.

On 11/19/2018 at 2:14 PM, UristMcTurtle said:

Well...I'm a native spanish speaker so, sorry if this post contains some mistakes.

I've fallen in love with Glorantha since few months, and, honestly, is the most complex setting wich i've seen until now. The cultures, the epic, epic mythology and the history...Man, the autors did a pretty great job.

Welcome to Glorantha and I hope you enjoy it for many years to come.

On 11/19/2018 at 2:14 PM, UristMcTurtle said:

While reading, i have the sensation that the information presented in the guide is very, very Theyalan-centric, or, at least, very Theyalan-Pelorian centric. 

Yes, this has always been the case.

dragon Pass is the centre of many of the things of Glorantha. It was the seat of the Storm Gods, the site of the Dragonkill and where the original RQ Campaign was set. 

Areas around Dragon Pass have been explored, but nothing to the depth of the Orlanthi and their Pantheons. Even Peloria, which is probably the next best explored area, has much less material. If you include Theyalans and Pelorians togther, then, yes, absolutely, this is where most of the things are happening/have happened.

Orlanthi lands are important and the Lunar Empire is important. Other areas are less important. Prax and Balazar have been published, some areas in the West have been touched on. Other areas have been sketched out, but nowhere near as detailed as Dragon Pass, Peloria and, maybe, Prax.

On 11/19/2018 at 2:14 PM, UristMcTurtle said:

I understand that a semi-unified baseline is necesary in the guide, because you can't simply throw contradictory myths to the reader without context, or without traying to consolidate his diferences, but...I don't know...It seems to me that, rather than a monomyth, is the Orlanthi mythology fused with some critical sections of other narratives. Even in the in-time history, sometimes, rather than a cold description of events, when talking about Orlanthi-related things it becomes a epic narrative, wich is good...But odd at the same time.

The Monomyth has a varied past in Glorantha.

On the one hand, the events of the Monomyth happened and you can HeroQuest to them to prove that they happened.

On the other hand, the Monomyth is a Frankenstein's Monster, stitched together from the Myths and Stories of many deities. Where bits contradict each other, they are left out. Where a Myth support it, the Myth is included, where it does not support it, the Myth is left out.

Did other things happen outside the Monomyth? Absolutely.

Did the deities of the Monomyth do other things that are not described in the Monomyth? Of course.

Does the Monomyth answer all the questions about Gloranthan Mythology? Not at all.

Can we discount the Monomyth entirely? Of course not, at it happened.

A lot of people have written background that deliberately goes against the Monomyth or confuses events, changes names and so on. This is fine from an artistic point of view, but an absolute nightmare for GMs and Authors, who have to unpick everything and relate it back to the Deities.

On 11/19/2018 at 2:14 PM, UristMcTurtle said:

'm not saying that is necessary give more protagonism to other countries, but if would be cool if in the myths we can see more perspectives of the god-time, wich other cultures have in plenty quantities. With all the information and perspectives until now, is easily grew bored about the Orlanthi, even when they are really, really epic and complex.

A lot of people became bored with Prax, years ago, and are bored with Orlanthi now, so you are absolutely right.

The trouble is, when people publish material for other areas of Glorantha, they just don't sell as well, from what I have learned from conversations at conventions.

So, you can publish something for, say, Kralorela and sell a thousand copies, or for Dragon pass and sell ten thousand copies (I am making these figures up).

On 11/19/2018 at 2:14 PM, UristMcTurtle said:

Again, sorry if i'm talking with ignorance. 

No, you have hit the nail on the head, as we say.

On 11/21/2018 at 12:55 AM, Pentallion said:

When tooling around on the spirit plane?

I think so, but just checking.  I don't know if this should go in the official questions thread or not.  If so, I'll move it to there.

Yes, why not? It might be a good tactic, as the Spirit might run if its Magic Points are reduced quite a bit.

On 11/21/2018 at 12:01 AM, MOB said:

This article gives us conclusive insight into how Mostali do parquetry (btw: no actual wombats involved, just years of training and plenty of roughage)
#gloranthafuel

Saw the article earlier this week and thought of Mostali. Always thought that Mostali waste would be in cubes, just for ease of stacking. I am sure that one of the Mostali Castes has magic to crystallise the stuff, if needs be, or to compress it into one big cube for reprocessing.

8 hours ago, womble said:

You still wouldn't be able to polish it though...

 

I work in IT - We polish turds all the time 

17 hours ago, metcalph said:

23 hours ago, Darius West said:

Sorry, you'd have to reference that with the post in question before I knew what you were talking about metcalph, and the question wasn't snarky but rhetorical.

I did refer to the post in question.  As for your confusion about what i was referring to, now you understand how I felt when I received your supposedly rhetorical question.  

Oh dear, here we go again ...

15 minutes ago, Joerg said:

A personal pet peeve here: why are miners - a quite specialized profession requiring quite a bit of knowledge and some skill - is always delegated to slaves? While slaves are useful as porters and for providing lifting power, they suck at organizing and securing a mine.

Because mining is dangerous, working in a salt mine is bad for your joints, skin and lungs, salt miners die early. Slaves are more expendable than citizens. Also, slaves are cheap, all you need is food, drink, a place to sleep and a good whip, cuts down on costs.

Really, the best way to mine salt is to squirt water into seams and extract the brine. Zola Fel cultists could do that with their magic, or with Water Elementals.

One of our RQ2 locations was The Acid Pits. The only way up was via an Illuminated flying griffin who riddled the PCs as he carried them up to the entrance. in hindsight, that should have been a Sphinx.