soltakss

On 12/5/2016 at 9:40 PM, Bohemond said:

This raises a question for me about the Hero and the Grove quest, which is written to have three levels: Orlanth, Heart, and Colymar. If PCs choose to do the Colymar/Easy Difficulty level, aren't they Heroquesting in Time? I thought it was possible to quest to replicate historical events as a way to strengthen one's chance of accomplishing something similar. 

Sure, you can HeroQuest within Time, most HeroQuests are within Time. You just overlay the HeroQuest over your particular situation and "pretend" that the places you visit are the God Time places.

However, that is not HeroQuesting to an event in Time and then jumping off to go to that time period. They are very different things.

Ernalda is only the land Goddess of Ernaldela, which sank in the God Time. Everywhere else, she is the prime Earth Goddess, above the Land Goddesses.

Orlanth without Ernalda would probably worship Orlanth in his youth, the adventuring, pillaging, thieving, abducting Orlanth.

I was too tired to go yesterday and it looks as though I missed out on a lot of stuff. Ah well, maybe next year.

On 11/18/2016 at 9:49 AM, Martin said:

Is it possible to Heroquest within the era of time? or can heroes only heroquest to the God's Age?

In my opinion, it is possible to HeroQuest in Time to those places/time that have a God Time component. 

So, for example, the Curse of Kin happened within Time, but troll heroQuestors can visit that point as it affected the God Time. 

The Dragonkill happened within time yet HeroQuestors can travel there.

The Battle of Castle Blue happened within time and HeroQuestors can travel there.

What you cannot do, however, is change history.

You can change the God Time event, of you are powerful enough. So, the God Learners cut off all the paths to Arkat's place on the Hero Plane, stopping anyone from reaching Arkat, but they didn't stop Arkat from existing.

If a troll cured the Curse of Kin through a massive HeroQuest, the trollkin that exist would still be alive, but any future Trolls born would be Dark Trolls. 

You couldn't drop out of the HeroQuest in the other time, as you are effectively only travelling to the God Time portion of the historical event.

Or is this a violation of the Comprimise of Time?

Not really, as you are travelling to the God Time portion of the historical event. 

More specifically, can you go to Orlanth's Hall in the God Plane then leave a door to the Hero Plane of the Dawn Age?

Probably not. However, you could travel to the Battle of Night and Day, Birth of Nysalor, Sunstop, Apotheosis of the Red Goddess or any of the other mythical events that happened since the Dawn. You just couldn't then leave as you are limited to those God Time events.

I'd definitely allow it.

In our old RQ2 game, we used to carry around medicine cabinets full of potions and salves.

This is where BRP's Quoting makes for a horrible reply experience, having to copy the quote 11 times and then edit out the lines is awful ...

I'm a bit late to the game, so someone has probably answered all the questions, but ...

On 11/21/2016 at 5:51 AM, styopa said:

1a) a character has protection 2 on them, and someone casts protection 3.  At this point, I think we'd all agree that effectively they would have prot 3 functioning.  Then someone casts a dispel that takes away the prot 3, do they still have the prot 2 remaining?

I would play not, because the Protection 3 cancels the Protection 2 spell.

In the same way that someone who is Fanatical then Demoralised cannot become Fanatical if the Demoralise is dispelled, the spells cancel out.

On 11/21/2016 at 5:51 AM, styopa said:

1b) would this be any different for divine magic, say someone had shield 1, then cast shield 2.

I would say it is the same.

On 11/21/2016 at 5:51 AM, styopa said:

1c) sorcery?  Say, resist damage 4 then resist damage 6.

I would say it is the same.

On 11/21/2016 at 5:51 AM, styopa said:

1d) in each of these cases, assume the HIGHER ones was already existing, and then (for some reason) someone cast the lower-power one; presumably in every case nothing would effectively happen as a higher-power spell already exists...but would the mp still be spent or the casting be considered "used"?

Yes, the spell would be cast, the MPs expended or the spell would be used, then the spell would have no effect.

On 11/21/2016 at 5:51 AM, styopa said:

2a) a person has a protection spell, some physical armor, and also natural armor: an attacker against them crits.  Does it ignore EVERYTHING (magic, physical, and natural armors?) or only some layers?

In RQ2/RQ3 it ignores everything.

In Mythras, it ignores a layer of armour, but magical counts as physical.

On 11/21/2016 at 5:51 AM, styopa said:

2b, c) same question, with divine(b) and sorcery(c)

Same, ignores everything.

On 11/21/2016 at 5:51 AM, styopa said:

3a) a person has protection 3, and someone casts shield 1; does shield 1 stack atop prot 3 (effectively giving them prot 5, countermagic 2), partially stack (giving them prot 3 (ie the best in existence in that category), countermagic 2), or replace the protection (giving them prot 2, countermagic 2);  What about vice versa - someone has Shield 1 and casts prot 3?

Shield and Protection stack, so Shield 1 and Protection 3 gives 5 points of Protection.It doesn;t matter what order they are cast as they are comatible. You couldn't cast Shield, Protection and Countermagic, though, as Protection and Countermagic are not compatible.

On 11/21/2016 at 5:51 AM, styopa said:

3b) a person has protection 3 and someone casts damage resist 4: do they stack, partially cancel, or does the DR replace the prot 3?  Vice versa: has DR 4, and someone casts prot 3?

Not sure about that, We normally played that Protection adds to the armour, so in theory damage Resistance 4 would take effect first and if the damage got through then it would need to get through the armour+protection.

On 11/21/2016 at 5:51 AM, styopa said:

3c) a person has DR 4 and someone casts Shield 1 on them?  The reverse?

The same, the damage needs to get through Damage Resistance first, then gets through armour+Shield.

On 11/21/2016 at 5:51 AM, styopa said:

4) would countermagic 2 in existence prevent detection by a detect life (1 pt spell)?

We have discussed this at length in our RQ games over the years.

There is a spell, Detection Blank, that specifically stops Detects without the caster of the Detect being aware of the spell, so countermagic shouldn't work in the same way.

I would say the caster would know that the spell was blocked or bounced off the Countermagic. In this case, the Countermagic would go down, as it it a point above the spell, so casting Detect life again would work.

On 11/21/2016 at 5:51 AM, styopa said:

5) attack spells can be boosted with mp's to help overcome defenses; can defenses likewise be boosted with "defensive" mp?

In theory, I would say yes. The only real benefit would be to make the defensive spell harder to Dispel/Dismiss/Neutralise. So, Protection 2 cast with 10 MPs would take Dispel Magic 10 to knock down.

Pity there isn't a "Too Late Sunday" ...

On 11/28/2016 at 4:24 AM, Iskallor said:

Hands you both Rapiers, points at the dawn and sighs....

They'd probably spend all their time arguing as to how the rapiers would work in the rules rather than having the duel.

I have bought it but not played it. 

The background is interesting and would fit a detective-medieval setting, where the PCs are members of a Military Holy Order. Use them like the templars, or Knights of St John of Jerusalem or any of the other Orders. However, they have a particular focus on rooting out heresy and the supernatural. 

Combine it with Merrie England, Stupor Mundi or Val du Loupe and you would have a good campaign setting. I would tend to use them as NPCs or adversaries rather than having them as PCs, but that's just me.

16 hours ago, g33k said:

Well, but... since we can't even be certain that he WAS or WAS NOT a Yelmalion, we CERTAINLY can't be sure whether he was unconventional, actually blasphemous, or had some Special Dispensation, an exception to the rules...

If not explicitly stated in Griffin Mountain, it is implied that he was a Yelmalian, He was a mercenary who brought his cult of Yelmalio to Balazar and his children established at least two Yelmalian temples there. Yelmalio worship is linked with the cult of Balazar.

In our old campaign, one of the PCs proved himself a descendant of Balazar, using Firshala's magic, then proved that Balazar was a Yelm worshipper, which gave him a link to Yelm and allowed him to become the legitimate King of Balazar.

On 12/2/2016 at 4:37 PM, Iskallor said:

Back to Balazaar. Did he wear trousers or a skirt....?

Definitely a skirt when fighting, but a manly skirt as he was not allowed to dress as a woman, being a Yelmalion Rune Level. Probably trousers when dealing with the Votanki, as he would have blended in and they normally wear trousers. 

On 11/28/2016 at 2:47 PM, Jon Hunter said:

• Was Balazaar a Sairdite, Dara Happan or a Pelorian?

Probably from Saird, as he was Yelmalian.

• In his reign was Balazaar more advanced or similar to now?

Probably about the same as in the Citadels. I don't think that Balazar himself was particularly advanced, but came from a civilised area. Instead, I think his strength was to unite the people and to find insights in their worship.culture. I am sure that he was building towards creating some kind of Elder Council in the Elder Wilds, but that is purely my own opinion.

• Had the EWF previously had an civilising effects on Votankiland before Balazar arrived?

Probably not, although the people of Votankiland seem to have been raiders with a higher level of technology than now. At least that's the impression I got from Griffin Mountain. They might have sent  missionaries north, but it wasn't that important an area to them.

• Did the EWF build anything in Votankiland, which has now been destroyed?

Almost certainly, However, I am not sure what.

• Were there dragonewts in Balazaar in the EWF/ pre dragonkill war period?

It mentions somewhere that the dragonewt nests were carried on the backs of dinosaurs. So, the dragonewts had mobile nests rather than cities.

• Who built highbridge and when? ( at least first age, maybe earlier)?

Maybe the giants. When? First Age or even God Time. 

All in my opinion, of course.

Brithini are born to their caste, live within their caste and die in their caste. If they don't then they become not-Brithini.

True Mostali are their caste, a Quicksilver Mostali can no more become a Gold Mostali than chalk become cheese. They are very good at their caste powers but useless at everything else.

Brithini follow the teachings of Malkion but do not worship the Invisible God.

True Mostali follow Mostal and are the physical representations of Mostal, why would they worship themselves, they are Mostal.

Brithini Zzaburi use grimoires and arcane lore to tease the secrets out of Glorantha, inventing new magic at times.

True Mostali do not learn new things, in fact I would argue that they cannot learn new things, they know what they need to know and don't need to know anything else.

Brithini do grow old and die unless they leave the Brithini way.

True Mostali just do not wear out and die of old age, they do not age in the same way that machinery does not age.

Now, Clay Mostali (normal dwarves) are different entirely. They worship Mostal, or at least some do. They age regardless of whether they follow the Mostali Way or not. They can change castes and can learn new things. To my mind, Clay Mostali are to true Mostali what the Hrestoli are to the Brithini, poor copies who are eminently flexible.

2 hours ago, HeirophantX said:

Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell would make a great Mythic Vikings setting...

Anything by by Bernard Cornwell would make a great Mythic setting...

Teleporting an army is pretty much the same as dropping a battalion of paratroopers. You get the army there quickly, but then they have to fight. Unless, of course, all the soldiers have access to multiple teleports individually, which makes them more mobile but how much of a difference would that make?

4 hours ago, Jeff said:

We are alive, but mighty busy. I can be spending my time writing and doing art, or I can be on forums. 

Or you can do both! 

Magic can do a lot and a fantasy army would be OK in the short term. However, I can only see them conquering small countries and then stopping.

Anyone trying to conquer multiple countries would be met with the hellfire that is a modern coalition, with jets firing missiles and dropping area-destroying bombs. Put an army of orcs against an army of modern soldiers armed with automatic weapons and the orcs will not last long. Sure, they will arm themselves with modern weapons, in which case they become the equivalent of a modern army.

Looking at the sizes of armies in the past and modern armies, it is unlikely that a Fantasy army could mount enough warriors to really pose a threat.

19 hours ago, TRose said:

What are Orlanthi laws concerning Sex between a Master and a slave? Does the slave have any rights in this matter or is it just hard to be a slave. And would a child born of a master/slave relation take the status of the free parent. And would it matter if the Slave was a fellow Orlanthi versus a non Orlanthi Slave

Bituran had a slave girl who whispered of Uleria's Arts and he married her in the end. So, it happens. It probably isn't frowned upon either.

As for willing or not, the Storm Pantheon has Vadrus and Gagarth, neither known for asking permission first. Orlanth took several concubines, were all those willing? I doubt it. So, Orlanthi have divine role models of forced or unwilling sex.

19 hours ago, TRose said:

And it was state that it is taboo for an Orlanthi to have sex with married people and foreigners . So if I seduce the wife of a Lunar Officer cause she very good looking, how big a fine do I have to pay for breaking two taboo? I willing to part with two bolgs.

The Orlanth-Ernalda model has no place for adultery, except when Orlanth or Ernalda committed adultery. Don;t forget, you can always HeroQuest and say "I am following in Orlanth's footsteps".

I am not sure about those taboos, they don't make much sense to me. Heort performed the Foreigner's Wedding to marry a foreigner, so it happens. Anyway, what is a foreigner?

Yes.

I'd probably use a variation of the Background, allowing different Backgrounds for different classes, if the players wanted to come from a particular class.

3 hours ago, Darius West said:

Glorantha is a lot like Earth.  Glorantha is however a LOW fantasy world, and why use references like existing species if they have no similarity to real world examples?   You want a Glorantha which is way more magical than it was ever meant to be.  You seem to think that Hero Quests are a daily occurrence and that more than a tiny percentage of the total population does them.  Most Gloranthans don't live in HeroQuest, they live in RuneQuest.  They understand the world through mythology, they have a couple of spells, but most magic is completely out of their grasp. They don't stack a keyword feat onto a multi-mastered skill and make impossible things happen on a daily basis.  If they want magical power they have to slowly and methodically work towards it.  HQ is a super hero RPG set in Glorantha.  You say Glorantha isn't Earth, but maybe it should be a bit more like the real world so that magic doesn't impoverish the game environment and the game experience ?  A believable world requires consistency, if everything is just answered with magic and magic has no limits, then you might as well say that the Vadeli used sorcery to mind control everyone in the whole world, there is no free will anymore, game over.  Face facts, the Vadeli have lived pretty well forever, they have mind control magics, so why haven't they mind controlled the whole sentient population of Glorantha?  The answer?  Magic has limits, and it SHOULD have limits.

I think that minor HeroQuests are performed far more often than people think. However, they only really affect the HeroQuestor or maybe his family. So, making a few trees in a fertile spot grow faster is possible, making a wood grow faster is difficult, making a forest grow faster is very rare.

4 hours ago, David Scott said:

I'm not sure this is true. Mostali are hard at work repairing the World Machine, wood is certainly a good plant rune material. It can be transmuted into a petrified form, liquified to make special alchemical creations, burnt to priduce other forms. I'm pretty sure wood is an essential although rare commodity. 

That's a very real world problem. Mostali sorcery and mundane techniques would eliminate this problem. They are lifting the land out of the ocean with a huge capstan, I'm sure water in a mine quarry really isn't a problem. Water spirits are easy to manage. 

But, one of the quarries in the Big Rubble is flooded and the dwarves have not been able to empty it.

10 hours ago, David Scott said:

What kind of horse nomad imports horses! The Pol-Joni are horse people, they pride themselves on their horse breeding. No Pol-Joni Khan would consider a foreign horse. He has the best, bred by his mother, wife, grandmothers. They would likely only trade the second rate horses to outsiders. I'm not saying they don't breed horses for export, I'm sure they do. Likewise I'm sure there's an Eirithan preistess who has a few quality donkeys/mules for sale. I'm also sure that they'd raid for a particular horse for breeding stock - that's certainly an adventure hook.

They might steal Goldeneyes from the Grazelanders, though.

On 11/3/2016 at 9:05 AM, Martin said:

In Orlanthi culture is cannibalism seen as a  capital crime? If not what is the punishment?

It is definitely seen as a crime. However, Orlanthi law is often about interpretation.

Someone who deliberately stalks and kills another in order to eat them would be treated differently to someone who eats a dead comrade during a great famine.

What is the exact nature of what is considered to be criminal...is unwitting cannilbalism the same as intended?

Again, it depends.

Intent is probably the key. If you eat human flesh thinking it was pork, for example, then you are technically guilty of cannibalism but were not aware of the fact.

In Irish mythology, Cú Chulainn broke a geas by unwittingly eating the flesh of a dog and this killed him. I suppose it is the GM's decision whether to punish someone for doing something unwittingly/unknowingly.

If we accept the definition of: Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh or internal organs of other human beings.

Then is it cannibalism for one sentient race to eat one of their own ?

Yes, that would be cannibalism.

Whether it would be a crime or not depends on the situation.

As Peter has pointed out, trolls definitely practise cannibalism as a cultural requirement and elves are described as cannibals for eating plants (something I have never agreed with, I am a mammal and I eat mammals, does that make me a cannibal?)

Ogres eat the flesh of humans. As ogres are human that makes them cannibals, but they would argue that they are eating the flesh of an inferior species.

Ghouls eat the flesh of humans, but they are not human, so is this cannibalism?

What about if a human knowingly or accidentally eats the flesh of a sentient being...is that cannibalism?

I don't think so.

Some people might say that all Man-Rune species are treated as one, so a troll eating an elf or a human eating a duck would be cannibalism, but I wouldn't agree.

There is probably a taboo on eating a sentient creature anyway, as we normally make a difference between animals and sentients.

What about eating an awakened bison or a naturally intelligent fish? That is the eating of sentient creatures and is also the eating of normal food.

The Redwood elves probably trade timber. 

Elves from the Garden might trade small wooden items, but not really timber.

The Storm Hills have trees and they are not too far from Pavis.

14 hours ago, Thot said:

I just did a basic calculation based on a few known weapons from the BGB:

Name	Dmg	Rng	J	Avrg Dam	MinDmg	Max Dmg	J/AvrgDmg	J/MinDmg	J/MaxDmg
Pistol, Heavy	1D10+2	15	2000	7,5	3	12	267	667	167
Revolver, Light	1D6	15	1000	3,5	1	6	286	1000	167
Revolver, Medium	1D8	25	1500	4,5	1	8	333	1500	188
Rifle, Assault	2D6+2	90	1800	9	4	14	200	450	129
Rifle, Sniper	2D10+4	250	3600	15	6	24	240	600	150

 

From these results, it seems that about 150 Joules of muzzle energy are 1 point of maximum damage, with numbers being a lot less clear for average and minimum numbers.

That is useful. Where did you get the value for Joules from?