soltakss

You are trying to get me to part with all of my money - Back Foul Fiend!

The game looks amazing. I saw a game of Cthulhu Wars at Continuum last week and the figures looked good.

However, I personally have zero interest in owning such figures, so the Print and Play is perfect for me.

On 8/18/2016 at 1:50 PM, Ian Cooper said:

One common question folks seem to ask About Heroquest is when and how often to use an extended contest. There is a lot of advice in Heroquest Glorantha, and I don't want to repeat that here.

For me, it's easy. Players can trigger an Extended Contest once they've clubbed me over the head and stepped over my dead body.

Seriously, I absolutely hate them and won't have them in my games. I don't mind chained Simple Contests, though, so use them quite often.

Personally, I never use official character sheets as they are normally awful.

Excel allows for quite detailed character sheets that can be customised easily, so I use that now.

I ended up buying 10 things, so thanks for that! 

On 7/24/2016 at 10:54 PM, auyl said:

If anyone is running something either historical or mythological in any game world, then the Book of Enoch will be perfect to use as an out of game and in game resource. Get my printing of it here.

Is it available as a PDF?

On 7/27/2016 at 2:47 PM, Darius West said:

I bought Convicts & C'thulhu but I can't see why any of this has to be mis-attributed to the Mythos.  All the horror and disappearances are a perfectly normal part of the Australian way of life in the outback, thanks to Australia's unique fauna.

Having a BRP Australia set at the time would attract so many buyers, adding the Cthulhu name multiplies the interest by a fair amount, I would think.

On 7/26/2016 at 9:42 PM, M Helsdon said:

Mo Baustra

The Yelmalio cult was imported into Prax by the rulers of Pavis in the year 875 to help against barbarian raiders. The Templars brought their phalanxes, their cavalry and chariotry to support the beleaguered city.

 

Regiments rode and marched as part of the Invincible Golden Horde in 1100 to plunder and destroy the Dragonewt cities in Dragon Pass. They were entirely destroyed in the Dragonkill. This disaster was traumatic, and the cult purged itself of any vestiges of EWF-inspired Solar Draconicism to return to the unsullied, pure light of Yelmalio.

 

The Great Ballista was constructed to protect the Sun Dome Temple, but when draconic retribution never came it was later moved to the high bluffs above the river and renamed the Harpoon.

 

Eighty years later the city of Pavis fell and Sun Dome County, still reeling from the losses in Dragon Pass, struggled to survive surrounded by hostile Animal Nomads.

 

The theocratic enclave of Sun County spent most of the Third Age in isolation in what they call the Solitude of Testing. Their tradition of horse rearing was lost in the enduring face of nomad hostility and they relied solely upon their infantry. When required, the Templars have been forced on occasion to rely on allied nomad tribesmen of their religion for cavalry support.

 

The capability of Sun Dome Templar Squares to set pikes to withstand a heavy cavalry charge was one of the factors in their survival during the Testing.

 

The Sun Dome County has maintained its autonomy from the Lunar Empire at the price of military alliance. It can muster spearmen militia and a regiment of Templar pike.

 

The Guide to Glorantha has Prax being part of Sheng Seleris' Empire in the Third Age.

Now, Pavis was under the control of the trolls and was sealed, so Sheng Seleris had not effect on them, but Mo Baustra was out in the open and able to be attacked/taken over. How much of Sheng Seleris is reflected in the history of the Solitude of Testing? Your summary mentions fights against the nomads, but does this also include the Pentian nomads of the Celestial Empire? Yelmalians would probably have fit in well with the Celestial Empire with the Count being a ray of the Celestial Empire. 

Sheng Seleris conquered the Iron Forts, guarding the border between the Wastelands and Kralorela, in 1356, his army that attacked the Lunar Empire in 1362 included Praxian forces, according to the Gloranthan Wiki, so it makes sense that Prax was under his control between around 1356 to 1460.

The Light List has Kokostang (1352-1358), Belonni (1359-1370) who won battles, Zeoluz (1370-1375) the Shadowlord, then a series of Counts who took power and didn't last long or who were Outlanders (1378-1389), Pygmy Counts (1389-1420), Oloros the Blind (1420-1439) who imprisoned Malia, Skindille Longlaegs (1439-1458) who drove away Daga and Narakoris the Wise (1458-1498) who trained the people to spear and shield again.

So, it looks as though Belonni fought the Celestial Empire, Zeoluz was probably part of it, the series of Counts were fighting for control, the Pygmy Counts were probably an Impala Dynasty, Malia and Daga were driven out and Narakoris probably Selerian rule and brought back Yelmalian ways.

Maybe this has been discussed before and is old news, but I cannot remember if it was.

When I run HeroQuest, Missile Combat is either treated as an augment, as it helps in the general scheme of combat, or is treated as a single event/roll. So, someone shooting an apple off his son's head needs to make a single roll, someone specifically taking out the enemy's chief with an arrow needs to make a single roll, someone shooting arrows into melee just adds the skill as an augment.

Brastalos is the Inner Wind, the Cardinal Direction of Inwards. I thought that Orlanthi had Seven Cardinal Directions, North, South, East, West, Above, Below and Inwards. Doesn't King of Sartar list the Seven Winds?

On 7/24/2016 at 10:06 PM, styopa said:

FYI I'm pretty sure that's not been true for at least 15 years.

It was the case when I last played AD&D, maybe in 1984. 

The thing about Martial arts is that a particular Martial Art is no better no worse than another or than normal fighting.

What is different is that the techniques in Martial Arts are codified and the participants are trained. A Western Medieval Knight would be as good a swordsman as a Medieval Samurai, both would be better swordsmen than a self-taught peasant. A professional Turkish Wrestler would be as good in a grappling/throwing contest as someone trained in Judo/JuJitsu/Aikido.

Also, different Martial Arts have different techniques that are not commonly taught. So, Judo, JuJitsu and Aikido have a number of throws, locks and so on that normal people just wouldn't know.

From a gaming point of view, I would use something like Mythras, but would give each Martial Art technique a Special Effect and would detail the techniques taught by a certain Martial Arts school.

So, Savate might have Kicking and Punching, Shin-Kicking would have Kicking, Karate might have Punching, Blocking and Kicking, Judo might have Grappling, Throwing and Restraining and so on. The hardest and most controversial thing would be to classify each Martial Art style, I wouldn't ask the participants as they always say their style is better than anyone else's, I'd just check on Wikipedia and see what they use.

Different techniques might include punching, kicking, elbowing, kneeing, butting, slapping, blocking, grappling, throwing, avoiding, nerve strikes, restraining, knife combat, sword combat, stick combat and so on. Different Martial Arts might have different Special Effects, so Karate might have Kicking (Long, High), Savate and Shin-Kicking might have Kicking (Low) and Ecky Thump would have Black Pudding (Stun).

If you want magical effects for Martial Arts then they are also taught techniques that are only available to certain Schools. Many Chinese and Japanese Martial Arts use Qi/Ki to provide more energy and pseudo-magical effects. Indian Martial Arts might use similar energy through Yoga techniques. However, these are simply extra techniques with special effects.

For anyone interested in Glorantha, this should be a must buy.

Glad to see it in print again.

1 hour ago, g33k said:

Is there any reason not to do experience rolls on 2d4 instead of 1d6?

It's a bit faster skill-gain, but not by THAT much.  Gives a bit of a bell-curve... centered on that sacred five-percent value!  And it eliminates the whole "one pecent?  Really?" phenomenon.

I may just HR it that way; even for my up coming RQ Classic game!

 

Sure, 2D4 or 2D3, would work as well.

2 hours ago, Jeff said:

Going back to 5% increments in everything proved a bridge too far - as I suggested it. It proved a classic example of "game designer logic" clashing with "player experience". Wearing my game designer hat, I don't see a tremendous gain between 1% increments and 5% increments. Experience gains are normally 3-4% (1D6), training 2-3%, and so on. Bonuses from spells are usually in 5% increments or whole numbers, as are characteristic modifiers, and most other modifiers. Players and other designers enjoyed it (yes there is a minority that likes super-granularity, but I assure you it is a small minority, albeit a talkative one).

It also gets around the "Halving odd numbers" problem that someone with a skill of 65 halves to 33, which is not a multiple of 5, so incremental percentiles were always sort-of part of the game.

I think that moving to incremental percentiles was one of the strengths of RQ3. Another was removing limits on variable/stackable magic.

15 hours ago, styopa said:

You're overthinking it.

I was ONLY speaking in the context of hitting in melee.  A D&D character with an 18 strength will have a sizable bonus to hit from his/her strength stat.  A RQ toon with a similar 18 Str simply won't see anywhere near a similar bonus, regardless of which flavor of RQ you're talking about .  A player from the former now playing RQ is going to see 18str on their character sheet and expect "woo!  I have an 18str!" when it's really only a fairly minor advantage in RQ.

In RQ, skill and magic count for more that characteristics. Sure, characteristics give you the initial skill bonuses, but having a high skill or a good Bladesharp is a lot more important than just being strong.

In D&D, normal characteristics go up to 18, then a Fighter gets a percentile add 18 (45) to give incrementals. I think the Monster Manual had characteristics going to 24 or 25, but they were for superheroic characters. In RQ, gifts can increase a human's STR to 21, magic can increase a human's STR to 42, which means that humans can get a higher damage bonus, adding 2D6 to your damage is a big leveller in combat.

Don't forget that RQ is a magic-oriented game, especially in Glorantha. PCs are expected to have some magic and tend to gravitate towards some combat magic. D&D does not have that ethos.

18 hours ago, styopa said:

RQ is about simulation, not heroics.  Ask them to literally imagine themselves, say, planning to attack 3 bandits in a hut (or whatever).  You CERTAINLY wouldnt just walk in and start whacking about.  Way too much chance you get bushwhacked or overwhelmed.  No, you'd try to lure them out, or at least arrange some sort of ambush to do the maximum damage to the baddies with a minimum of risk to yourself...that's the mindset RQ players approach every combat.  Combat is dangerous; do everything in your power to give you the advantage, and disadvantage your opponent.  It's hard to understand if you come from D&D, truly.

George Patton could have been playing RQ when he said "if you're in a fair fight, your tactics suck".

Sometimes, but I disagree generally.

RQ is about simulation, true, but it is also about fiction. Look at the Heroic Fiction of the past, the Icelandic Sagas, Matter of Britain and so on, they are full of heroic characters who leap into battle and kill dozens of enemies.

If RQ cannot simulate a hero fighting in a battle frenzy then it is not a good simulation. RQ needs to cover the whole gamut of human experience, from those who do not fight, those who fight cautiously to those who put caution to the wind and embark on heroic battles.

In the games I run, I am very flexible with this kind of thing. I play that movement costs SRs, so you can move and do other things, it just slows down when the other things happen.

I wouldn't apply the rules too rigidly, they are meant to help, not hinder, the flow of a game.

Higher STR means higher Damage Bonus, with a 1D4, 1D6 or potentially 2D6 with Divine magic, for humans. That makes a big difference.

Speed up combat by throwing in tactics. Have a couple of NPCs use good tactics against the larger group of PCs and see if they pick up on them.A lot of "slow" RQ combat is due to players not taking risks.

You can do dungeon crawling with any of the D100 range. We've been dungeon crawling with RuneQuest for many years.

What Classic Fantasy does is to allow people to use D&D style structures (Class, Levels, Spells) in a D100 environment, to give a D100/D&D experience. That's a little different from dungeon crawling in D100, though.

Trolls using Gorakiki-Moth magic to grow wings is fine by me.

16 hours ago, TRose said:

 I would have the souls suffering and unable to break free since its supposed to be punishment. And freeing one would be a capital offence .

Oh, if you are in the position of freeing spirits bound into the Glowline, you are waaaay past capital offences.

Not everything in Glorantha has to be cultural.

Some people prefer round houses, some square. Some steads are this shape, some are that shape. Some steads are different to others because that's we build our steads.

Pouring petrol on the fire.

I await with interest the posts of the duck friends and duck haters ...

1 hour ago, Tindalos said:

As an idea: They become the Glowline.

Yara Aranis takes the souls of the sacrificed, and weaves them into her great glamour. For as long as the temples of the Reaching Moon stand, they know no peace, no sanctuary; only the existence of powering Lunar magic.

Which means that you can get to them and persuade them to break the link in the Glowline, perhaps making a hole. If you can persuade many of them you might be able to bring down the Glowline.