soltakss

There will be a third choice - 13th Age in Glorantha, if you like using D20-style games. RQC is not strictly out yet, I think, unless I have missed something. I think the design notes hinted it would be more like RQ2, which has a rich set of skills, better suiting your preferences. I am not sure about experience, but I hope they keep RQ3's 1D6 rather than RQ2's 5% increases. Personally, I'd use something like Revolution's rules with a reduced skill set but using Traits to give a far richer experience. HQ1 might be a bit more suitable for you. Don't worry about errors, I find that HQ works best when you ignore the fiddly bits and just concentrate on skills/abilities/keywords, treating everything the same. Glorantha has a feudal structure, of sorts. Even in Orlanthi Clans you have Cottars (Serfs), Thanes (Elite Warriors), Carls (Nobles) and Chieftains/Kings. You don't have the feudalism of medieval Europe, though, unless you want to play Glorantha like that, and there is no reason you can't. The West has more of a feudal structure, but it isn't the same as Feudal Europe. Myths colour everything, as do cults. A PC who is a healer and not in a cult can behave however you want, but a healer in Chalana Arroy has certain behavioural restrictoins, a Xiola Umbar healer is very different to a Chalan Arroy healer or an Ernaldan healer. Don't overthink things. Don't get hung up on particular rules, RQ is a game where you can import rules from other D100/RQ systems with ease, so you can make your own set of rules very easily. HQ is a fast, fun game that is very flexible, don't get hung up on rules issues, HQ works best with as few rules as possible. Glorantha is best enjoyed through playing. It doesn't really matter which rules you use, just sit back and enjoy the ride.

It could work OK. The cults would be local ones, of course, without any references to Gloranthan cults, but that is OK for a big city. You could fit it into a Gloranthan campaign fairly easily, I think.

You should try it ...

Going Berserk is fine, unless you need to Parry ...

No "Addicted to Alcolohol" is not a good Motivation. "Will go to any lengths to get a drink" could be. In any case, why should it be a good Motivation? if I had "Addicted to Alcohol" as a Motivation, then I would argue that it suits the character, whether the rules say it is a good choice or not. Rules are guidelines, nothing more, nothing less. If I have something that the rules say shouldn;t happen and yet it makes sense, then I ignore the rules. So, "Search for Aztec Treasure" is a good Motivation, yet "Search for next drink" isn't? Semantically, they are exactly the same. "When a Motivation is active, the player has voluntarily flagged it as a theme that he or she would like to place in the spotlight for that game session. ", so if I had "Can hardly resist alcohol" as a Motivation and I activated it, then I would either go and try and find a drink or I would do anything to get a drink, or possibly try to resist having a drink. What would the game effects be? If my PC had met a group of barbarians, then I could challenge them to a drinking contest and use my Motivation in that contest. If my PC is meeting a lord and saw a bottle of drink on the table, then I might try and take a swig, perhaps offending the lord. Motivations need not be good things.

Aye - Unfortunately, I couldn't make the convention, can't remember why, but Andrew and Stuart came back and told us about it in great detail. I would have loved to have been able to join them and taken part.It sounded like exactly the sort of thing I would have revelled in.

If they had archers, do they have towers for the archers to sit in? Medieval ships seem to have gone through various changes, from low ships to long ships, then long ships with small towers for archers, then filling bits in between the towers, then bulking them out.

One of the daughrters of Eiritha might have found the secret of ferminting herd beast milk, in the same way as Eurasian people make Koumiss from mare's milk. Pentians probably do the same to make their own Koumiss. Agreed that oasis folk probably make their own string drinks from fermenting the fruits of the oases. In Peloria and Kralorela, rice wine is probably made, but would they be made by cultsts of the same deity or would each area have its own rice wine deity?

Eurmal changed blood into beer to sate Babeester Gor's rampage through Healer valley, so Eurmali can make Blood Beer that calms Babeester Gor cultists. I seem to remember someone who could make Mead who was associated with honey, but cannot remember who it was.

They lightning bolted Ralzakark's genitals, or what was left of them, as a parting shot and flew away. Then they spent the rest of the session planning what they would do in future. That is the nature of our current campaign - Three or four sessions of careful planning, then a session of stunning action, rinse and repeat.

My interpretation goes something like this: Nysalor cursed the Dragonewts, but a True Dragon woke up and swallowed the curse, however the dragonewts were Nysalor's mercenaries for most of the Gbaji Wars. In the Second Age, the Golden Dragon became Emperor of Dara Happa. In the Third Age, the Red Emperor became Dara Happan Emperor and has a relationship with dragonewts both through being Emperor of Dara Happa and a manifestation of Nysalor.

Wasn't Fazzur written up somehwhere? I vaguely remember a writeup in Wyrms Footnotes, maybe.

A Scorpion Queen is a Priestess of Bagog, leader of her clan. So, she should have some Bagog Divine Magic, probably some Battle/Spirit/Common Magic, maybe an allied spirit and probably some chaos features. If the Queen was reborn using the Ritual of rebirth, then she would retain the weapon skills that she had before the Rebirth, so could have any weapons. If she was born a Scorpionman then she would have rudimentary weaopns, meybe a club, spear or sword. Bagogi can use their magic to transform their arms into spears or claws, so she might not need other weapons. They all have a scorpion sting, so are deadly in combat. They would have as much armour as they can get, normally through killing enemies. Scorpionmen don;t have a high level of technology, so wouldn't make their own weapons and armour. I suppose a transformed scorpionman who was originally a smith could make weapons and armour.

A whip can still be used to strangle, at close range, or to entangle, or to trip. Someone with a whip might be able to maintain distance, by whirling it around, thuis giving opponents no opportunity to close.

A Motivation is something that drives you. "Wants to get a fix" is a valid Motivation and is certainly not positive. "Can hardly resist a [temptation]" is a good Motivation, as it motivates the PC. If the PC sees what can hardly be resisted, then the PC will try and do/get it. The Motivation can be used in an Opposed Contest, with a RP against WIL, as the PC tries to resist the temptation. Consequences could happen as a result of the Contest. A permanent consequence would work, but a permanent consequence could well end up as a Motivation, so is a means to the same end, almost an intermediary step.

Well, they left a Storm Bull army in Hellwood, so they might get to find out what happened to it. At some point, Ralzakark will send people after them, but they might find unlikely allies amongst the people of Dorastor.

That's what I thought.

We had the weirdest RQ session last week. I don't normally share these, but this was so unusual, I thought I'd make an exception. Reader discretion is advised, people with a weak disposition might not want to read further ... The PCs are River Voices who are in Dorastor to gain knowledge of Arkat, in order to decide whether to help him return to fight the Lunar Empire, or to stop him from returning. Previously, the PCs went to Dorasta's Cleft, where they met a Broo guarding the door. Flargle, a Storm Bull hero, took exception to this and killed him with a massive ligtning bolt. When he entered the Cleft, the High Priestess denounced him as a Despoiler of the Earth, as he had killed a Guardian of Dorastor. It turned out that Ralzakark, as Husband-Protector of Dorasta, fathered a broo child on her every year, the broo grew to adulthood in a single day and serves as a Guardian for a year, whereupon he is sacrificed and the cylce continues. As recompense, Flargle offered to father a child on Dorasta himself, to act as a Guardian. The resulting rhino-headed man was immediately called Bruno, as he was not a broo, and was born fuly-formed with two axes. Later, the PCs went to Fort Wrath and were introduced to Ralzakark, who greeted them as fellow Heroes. After a whilel they decided to tel him what had happened, in order to defuse the situation. They decided not to go down the "Hello, my name is Flargle, I killed your son, prepare to die" route and simply decided to tell Ralzakark what had happened. He was not particularly upset, byt demanded recompense, so Flargle either had to under go the Seven Strikes of Ikadz the Torturer (The first punished the person, the second his parents, the third his grand-parents and so on, our Ancestor Worshipper was truly appalled by this prospect), the second choice was to replace the child that Ralzakark had lost by Flargle bearing Ralzakark's child. Now, comes last week's session. I expected Flargle to take the punishment, but to Sever his ties to his kin, as he was a Hero of Humakt, but they decided to take the bearing of Ralzakark's child, to my surprise. Mello Yello, one of the PCs, was a Light Son with the ability Vomit Acid, taken from Cacodemon on a HeroQuest. He filled up his gold helmet and passed it to Flargle. Flargle is a SIZ 22 Copper Man, General of Tada's Copper Army, who gained Immunity to Acid in the same fight against Cacodemon. He "filled himself up" with the acid, by having it poured into his back passage, simply because he thought it would hurt Ralzakark. When the deed started, ralzakark suffered some discomfort, but manfully carried on. When the deed was done, Flargle used his Move Wound heroic ability to move the Chaos Wound caused by the impending broo foetus to the nearest location, which he determined to be Ralzakark's abdomen. As he was a Hero and had moved a wound to another creature in the past, I allowed it but said the roll had better be a good one. An 01 later, Ralzakark withdrew, not knowing that he was now bearing his own child. Shan Agar, a shaman of many abilities, used Second Mouth on Flargle, to chop off Ralzakark's offending member, using Admantine teeth. Flargle was full of broo-churned acid, so the withdrawl caused explosive diarrhoea that covered Ralzakark. Shan Argar used her Tarien's Fire to set the resulting diarrhoea alight, resulting in Ralzakark being horribly burned, specificaly to burn away his fertility. Most of the weirdness was caused by the players discussing the various options and how they should work. Should Mello Yello transfer acid mouth-to-backside or using a receptacle? When should Flargle use the second mouth, on entry or withdrawl? Many other conversations of increasingly yucky content. I have to say, I was pretty surprised at how thing turned out and that this was purely player-led. All I had to do was to sit back and let it happen.

Somewhere (Wyrms Footnotes?) mentioned the elemental beasts, colours and sense, I think they were: Darkness - Insects, Black, Sound Water - Fish, Blue, Taste Earth - Reptiles, Green, Touch Sky - Birds, Yellow, Sight Storm - Mammals, Orange, Smell

I've seen a number of films/TV Series where one big chap has been mobbed by a load of people, then he does a mighty shrug and throws them all off.

Spartacus the TV Series has a different slant to Rome, albeit under the Republic, but as gory as any RQ game. I would echo the recommendations for HBO's Rome, an excellent TV Series with some ritual and HeroQuest magic included.

If this is based on a novel, then the planetary descriptions should be based on what the novel says, regardless of sciencey stuff.

Ah, now, that is far more like the Gloranthan example. I normally say that the Roman deities were originally based on the Greek deities, as the Greek deities were worshipped long before Rome was founded. So, a Hermes worshipper could recover spells from a Mercury temple and vice versa. For other deities, it all depends on whether the Romans had done their GodLearnery thing and recognised foreign deities as aspects of their own. So, a Hermes worshipper travelling through the Celtic lands in the 6th Century BC would not be able to recover magic at a temple of Lugh, but could in the 1st Century BC, as the Romans had already equated Mercury and Lugh by that time. Also, I would probably say it would depend on which Aspect of the deity was being worshipped. Hermes is a Messenger, Trickster, Psycopomp and Patron of herdsmen, thieves, graves, and heralds. Mercury is a god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence (and thus poetry), messages/communication (including divination), travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery and thieves and a Psycopomp. Lugh is a god of skill, arts, crafts, oaths, truth and the law and is a sun god. There is a fair bit of overlap, so a worshipper of Hermes the Speaker could recover magic at shrines to Mercury and Lugh, but might struggle at a shrine to Lugh the Sun. Don't forget that Great Temples would probably include all the Aspects of a deity, but Shrines might concentrate on a single Aspect.

I just use the stat blocks as they are, whether they are from RQ2, RQ3, RQMI, RQMII, Mythras or whatever. So what if an NPC with the same characteristics has 4 HP in the head in one system and 5 in another? Doesn't matter to me. So what if a human in one system has different D20 Locations than another? I will either use the roll as per the stat blocks or use whichever hit location the player has hit. After all, players normally refer to their own PC's Hit Locatoin Chart when saying where they have hit a humanoid NPC.

I'll believe it when I see it ...