soltakss

This is completely a personal view and is probably irrational. For me, Extended Contests are "We want people who like to play RuneQuest to feel comfortable with HeroQuest", so it emulates a big RuneQuest Combat. If I wanted that, I'd use RuneQuest, which I do each and every week. Extended Contests bog the game down, in my opinion. They don't have a good feel and they end up with a bidding process that I don't understand and don't like. I much prefer to have chained Simple Contests. In group combats, it comes down to a roll - Us against Them. "Us" gets a skill that is augmented by everyone, as do "Them", then we roll. Sure, it loses a lot of granularity, but HeroQuest does that anyway. Where the Players want things done in more detail, we break the contest down into steps and resolve each one individually, with the effect of one carrying over to the next. It is more rolls, but gives a nice resolution at the end.

That's a big book. Make sure you wave it about at Dragonmeet - Would love to have a look.

Answered in the other thread - Sorry, just seen that it was moved.

My recommendation is Always use Simple Contests and Never use Extended Contests. Not sure what the Rising Action rule is and I don't think I have the original HQ2 Rulebook as a PDF, but you can always use Chained Simple Contests, from Mythic Russia.

To me, they can both be true. Borne by Night but raised by Dendara, both are effectively mothers.

That's because Gbaji cheated and chewed his way out after he was eaten. The answer is clearly not to eat them whole, but to bash them on the head, dismember them and then eat them.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Exactly - What could go wrong?

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".

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.

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

They can eat it, though, but probably can't digest it. 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. Good point, but, as Derak the Dark Troll was fond of saying "Twice nothing is nothing", when holding an iron sword.

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.

Welcome to Glorantha and I hope you enjoy it for many years to come. 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. 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. 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). No, you have hit the nail on the head, as we say.