soltakss

98 last time and 01 this time, maybe?

I have thought for a long time that all magic in HeroQuest has been made far too complex. Lunar Magic is just adding further complexity to an already over-complex system. What would I do? Drop the lot and have everything as an Ability that can be used to do things and to augment. So, a Mage has a Grimoire and can use it to cast spells or generally to augment. A Priest has a Rune and can use it to cast feats and augment. A shaman has an ability that can be used to summon.control spirits and augment and so on. Lunars would work exactly the same, each Phase of the Moon provides an ability that can be used to do something and augment. What it does depends on how you interpret the Phase of the Moon, whichever school of magic is followed and who the person is, so a troll could use the Dark Moon to emulate Darkness magic but a Mage could use the Dark Moon phase to control demons.

And these used to be such nice forums ...

17%

Honestly, before Hero Wars came out, our Orlanthi were the least flavoured of the people. Praxians had a lot of background and flavour as did the Lunars, even the Oasis Folk and Pavisites had flavour, but the Orlanthi - nothing. They were in tribes, officially, but nothing was mentioned about the tribes in RQ2/RQ3, Orlanth Adventurous was the cult of adventurers, people blown about by the winds. That was it.

This is the danger of even naming background analogues. If you say "Orlanthi are more like Mycenaeans than Saxons" then a lot of people assume this means that Orlanthi have all the traits of Mycenaeans. Personally, I'd be happier if someone could list out the attributes of the different types of Orlanthi, so Esrolian Orlanthi would be different to Heortland Orlanthi, to Sartarite Orlanthi, to the orlanthi of Aggar or of Pamaltela. Perhaps that would be a lot to do, so maybe have a core "Orlanthiness" list of attributes and then a list where the Orlanthi types differ.

I never assume that PCs or NPCs will survive. If an NPC is vital to a plot and the PCs kill the NPC then they will have a hard time working out the plot. However, this can spark a number of other plots. Sometimes my players ask whether they can take out an NPC as it might affect the plot. I always say "sure..."

One of our Vingans had Distracting Puppies as an ability in HeroQuest ...

Cellars also allow secret doors into tunnels, sewers and chaos temples.

Thanks - It would have been useful having the forum name alongside the password-restricted message ...

I do indeed. I have been watching the Black Sails TV series and must have confused the two, thanks.

I noticed a number of topics are in password-protected forums. As a matter of interest, what are these forums?

Your "spring full-grown the following generation" theory is probably right. Trollkin appeared straight after the Curse of Kin. Great Trolls appeared as soon as the HeroQuestors finished their pregnancies. Dark Trolls are a bit different, but they only appear after the trolls left Wonderhome. I would agree that trolls are not the product of evolution but of magical events. Dark Trolls are the result of leaving Wonderhome, Sea Trolls were caused by Pocharngo mutating trolls, Cave Trolls are also Pocharngo's work, I think, Trollkin are the result of the Curse of Kin and Great Trolls are the result of Cragspider's attempts to break the Curse of Kin. Hot Trolls are slightly different and might be the work of evolution, but I cannot remember if Lodril, or his mirror in Pamaltela, had a part to play. Midget Slashers are also troll-related but it isn't clear where they came from.

Pirates of Legend (Legend), Blood Tide (BRP) and Renaissance all have Black Powder weapons and can pretty much all work together.

Some broos shamans might beg to differ there.

That is a nice taboo - I could use that in our game. It is easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission ...

Didn't Waha's Trails and Ronance's Tracks both contain all kinds of nutritious and magical plants? Probably not all in clumps, but spread out thinly along the pathways.

In my Glorantha, the Syphon is a cursed river and nobody in their right mind would want to use it. Having said that, some people travel up from the Mirrorsea by boat and Storm Bullers from Esrolia would probably take that as a nice short cut to the Footprint.

Merrie England: Age of Chivalry split the Status skill into one for Social Standing, one for Wealth and one for Reputation, I think, although it has been a while since I wrote it. So, you could have a Poor Noble with a high Social Standing, low Wealth and whatever Reputation he had gained. It fitted in well with the BRP rules but added a little more flexibility.

Gorp Hug ...

No problem. The comments on my website were made a long while ago and are not particularly relevant now. They are there for the record and I am still against the general idea of the old fan policy, but that policy is no longer current. I don't mind people quoting me to make points, after all I post enough comments myself. However, I have always tried to be supportive of those companies publishing in the D100 family and don't really like to oppose them if at all possible. I am aware that my website is fan-based and could be closed down at any time, so don't want to take the risk that someone takes offense about something I said, so I try to be as careful as possible. It wasn't your fault and I haven't taken offence at you at all. Whilst I appreciate that people read my posts and my websites and find them useful/informative for some reason, I have never seen myself as anything more than a fanboy with a big mouth, so am always surprised/uncomfortable when people quote me or value my opinions. I just don't want people in power to come down on me like a ton of bricks for something I said ten years ago. That is the only thing that I have ever been asked to take down. There was some confusion regarding the copyright notice, which was for the text not the modified map. However, my policy is to take things down if asked, so down it went. The map was deemed to be breaching copyright, not the fan policy, they are different things. As I have signed up for a fan website license, I am bound by its terms and take things down if asked. Other people took down their websites due to the very old Issaries fan policy, as they didn't want to sign the license. You are one of the most civil posters on this forum, far more civil and patient that I am.

Early on in a campaign, I like to use coins. However, as the campaign goes on and the PCs become more wealthy, I handwave coinage and use wealth levels, when I can be bothered. My current group of PCs rarely ever buy things. I can't remember the last time they bought a Battle/Spirit/Common Magic spell and almost never need to buy equipment.

And thank you for doing that.

OK, if I said it then I must have thought it true at the time. However, it was 11 years ago and things have changed since then. Although I am honoured at being quoted for truth about all things Gloranthan, that statement was just my opinion on the fan policy at the time. I would be grateful if people didn't use my comments to score points or to support positions against Moon Design/Chaosium/Issaries/The Design Mechanism/Mongoose/Alephtar Games/D101 Games or any of the other great companies who are supporting D100-style games. My opinions are that of a glorified fanboy and nothing more. Treat them the same as you would someone in your gaming group or someone you meet at a games convention. You wouldn't quote a conversation you had with someone at your gaming table, so why quote me?

If you have a fan licence then nothing should be taken down. The fan licence is very simple, fair and easy to use. In the 20 years I have had a Gloranthan website, I have only been asked to take down one thing. I suppose that people who don't want to sign a fan licence would have to take everything down, in theory, but I haven't a clue as to how many people that has affected. In my opinion, if they don't want to sign then they can't complain too much about having to take material down.