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soltakss

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Posts posted by soltakss

  1. 47 minutes ago, Bohemond said:

    In most cases, you have no way of knowing the identity of the people whose ceremony you're intersecting with, because they look like the god to you, and vice-versa. 

    I think that you can see who they are, in most cases. Sometimes it is really obvious who the HeroQuestors are, at other times they wear masks or are similarly cloaked, very rarely they identify so well with the deities that they are hard to distinguish. But, most of the time, it is not important who the HeroQuestors are.

  2. 22 hours ago, Bohemond said:

    Trolls? They don't engage in much farming either, but do they have a reason to oppose her? 

    In Cults of Prax, Zorak Zorani trolls attacked an Ernalda ritual. Trolls love eating Ernalda's bounty.

    Bandits might show up to steal grain.

    Chaos might appear to steal or befoul the harvest.

  3. These children of Yinkin are cat deities:

    • Alusar the Spy: Alusar was the son of Yinkin and a goddess known only as Eyes in the Dark. He is dark, with long whiskers and large 
    • eyes, and quickly gained a notorious reputation for independence and for spying. He could track down any being he wished, and he often did so simply to learn their secrets. It was Alusar who saw where Yelm went after he was killed, and told Orlanth about the Western Gate. Book of Heortling Mythology p 144.
    • Gavren the Hunter/Lurker: Gavren is the son of Yinkin and Velhara, the Lady of the Wild and is sometimes called the Early Alynx. He is the best hunter from among the family. He is reddish brown in color. Their child inherited the solitary nature of each deity, and he spent most of his time far from settled lands, hunting. He always came back when needed though and when Yinkin was severely wounded, it was Gavren who brought him food. He once clawed great Karrg, the troll war god, who in turn killed several of his litters. Gavren’s worshippers hate trolls. Book of Heortling Mythology p 149.
    • Hevren the Chaser: Hevren is the son of Yinkin. He is tawny with stripes across his shoulders. He has long legs and can chase down almost anything, and big teeth to kill with a single bite. Book of Heortling Mythology p 151.
    • Murni the Mouser: Murni is the daughter of Yinkin, and was born the runt of a litter and with a bobbed tail. Once Ernalda had to leave her home, and Voria hid Murni in the granary. She kept it clear of mice, so the food was there when Ernalda returned.  (Book of Heortling Mythology p155)
    • Tolar the Cloud-Yinkin: Tolar is the son of Yinkin and Tarhelera, a cloud goddess. He is the cloud alynx, the clouds of the middle air. Book of Heortling Mythology p 161.
    • Like 3
  4. 12 hours ago, Richard S. said:

    There's a part of me that wants to go even further and try my hand at a regional sourcebook, but I think I'm even less qualified to do that, and I'm terrified of stepping on someone else's toes if anyone else writes stuff for that area.

    Never be afraid of stepping on people's toes. If you have love for a place and have original ideas then publish them. How many people are writing for Sartar at the moment? They are forever stepping on each other's toes, or are dancing around each other, and nobody minds at all.

    I would love for other people top write things set in Dorastor, or to write HeroQuests, for example.

    • Like 3
    • Helpful 2
  5. 6 hours ago, Richard S. said:

    Hey y'all, maybe this is a bit of a broad question but any sort of advice would be appreciated. I'd like to write at least an adventure to publish the Jonstown Compendium, but I don't have any experience with writing them outside the context of very sketchy GM notes. For people who have done it, what do you think is needed to write a good adventure, and are there any good examples or guides I should look at?

    My advice? Just do it.

    There is an official Word template but it isn't very good, as the Headings don't map to PDF headings when you export to PDF. I have a revised Template that I can share with you that has fixed the headings issue, and I think other people have done the same.

    If you want good examples of scenarios, look at the Classic RuneQuest ones. Although they are a bit wordy for me, they are good ways of doing it. Nick has sales figures for scenarios, but there are a lot that have sold hundreds of copies, so someone must like them.

    As a GM, my scenarios are literally a list of bullet points and I riff of those. For conventions, I expand them a bit into paragraphs that I can use as the basis. For published scenarios, I tend to expand the descriptions of places a bit. 

    For me, a good scenario is a balance between "you have to do this, then this, then this" in a lockstep way and "you are in a village and something happens, over to you" loosey-goosey style. I don't use scenarios exactly as written, and never have. As a GM, I take elements of the scenario and adapt them to my campaign, and as a write I assume that GMs do this as well.

    So, for me, some general comments:

    • Outline the general plot of the scenario at the start, so that GMs know what they are getting into. I've seen many scenarios where I have to read it several times before I understand what is going on.
    • Split the scenario into Locations and Events, some events use the same location and some locations have several events, especially if the Adventurers might go back and forth between town and the ranch, for example, but only going through the gulley once.
    • Make it clear what NPC motivations and intents are, some scenarios are really unclear on this and it is not helpful.
    • Include sketch maps of places, if possible. They don't have to be great works of art but can show the general layout of buildings and locations.
    • If you want to use art, use free art wherever possible. If you want to commission art, assume that you will sell 101 copies (Silver) and budget accordingly. Good cover art is expensive (Maybe $150+) but might be worth it.
    • Use Nick's guidelines for setting the price. I normally set at $0.15 per page, or below, so that it comes into the Bargain/Cheap bracket, but others use a higher bracket.
    • Get someone else to read it before you publish and ask them for feedback. Always act on the feedback, as it has been given for a reason.
    • Get someone to proofread it. Use Word, or similar, to spell-check and grammar-check the document.
    • Don't endlessly edit and refine it. Good enough is good enough. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
    • Nick has some advice on how to publish it, otherwise ask here and we can advise you.

     

    • Like 5
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  6. On 1/8/2024 at 1:21 PM, sladethesniper said:

    What is everyone's opinion on a single skill NPC, such as Viking 45%, so that skill is basically a composite of all the skills that a viking should have without gettting into crazy detail. Naval tactics? Sure, for a longboat, 45%. Archery? Sure 45%. Axe 45%, Shield 45%, etc. etc. 

    It is a lot easier to use, so makes sense.

    • Like 1
  7. On 1/14/2024 at 7:40 AM, Ageha said:

    What they are stupid for is not realizing the importance of coopeting other groups into imperial building projects. This is a core pillar of all empire building in recorded history. From Egyptian use of Kush and 'Libya', Macedonian incorporation of Greek and later Iranian states, Roman use of auxillaries and client kingdoms etc. etc. every large empire building project in history comes to recognize the importance, and utility, of coopeting certain groups/states/factions which are foreign to their own. Typically, often, this involves granting greater largesse to those groups, or a significant role in the system of power not afforded to other groups. If Pelorians have not yet realized this and just try to enforce their own direct hegemony with no coopting of other local players to their advantage then I can start to see why they have never really managed to construct any signficant empire. Convincing peoples that they are active participants in, and members of, an imperial identity over simply subjects has been a core tactic of imperialism throughout history. 

    But, Dara Happans definitely did this. For example, they used Praxians to help drive out the Horse People in the First Age, and several groups remained behind. I'd need to look at a lot of material to think of other examples, but I am sure there are some. The Thunder Delta Slingers were absorbed by the Lunars, as the expanded Dara Happan Empire, as were the Char Un. 

     

    On 1/15/2024 at 9:17 PM, Ageha said:

    Similarly, I am discussing Pelorian the cultural population as specified in the canon books. 

    Pelorian is a wide term, though, that incorporates the Dara Happans, Lodrili, rice farmers and Lunars, and probably more.

    On 1/15/2024 at 9:17 PM, Ageha said:

    The guide is explicitly clear on this. Southern Peloria is simply outright stated to be Orlanthi. 

    Is it? Interesting.

    On 1/15/2024 at 9:17 PM, Ageha said:

    The Guide to Glorantha states outright that, canonically, there is no Pelorian cultural outside Peloria. That southern Peloria is Orlanthi culturally and not Pelorian. 

    The various Sun Counties exist both inside and outside of Peloria and are definitely influenced by Pelorian culture.

     

  8. On 1/13/2024 at 4:52 PM, Darius West said:

    Does anyone else find Kargan Tor to be a confusing deity?  I mean, he was the god of Death before Humakt. 

    He was the God of War, of Fighting, of Martial endeavours.

    Death merely made him less relevant, as anyone could be dangerous.

  9. On 1/11/2024 at 9:26 PM, Jeff said:

    What is the Esrolian characterisation of men? 

    Having played in a couple of CJ's excellent romps around the Great Houses of Esrola, they see men as  having their uses but as being ultimately a waste of time and resources.

  10. On 8/30/2023 at 7:16 PM, ZedAlpha said:

    Also, newtlings?! Where can I find more information about newtlings? Nobody said anything about salamander people! That is ridiculously cute. I can't not include them.

    Borderlands used to be the best source, then the Gloranthan Bestiary, now the Glorantha Bestiary is the best source.

    Spoiler

    In my Arganauts campaign, Newtling Tails tasted livery when eaten, and I made the point every time the Adventurers ate Newtling tails. The reason? Grandfather Newt, one of the original River Voices in my campaign, hid Genert's Liver in his tail. The Adventurers found him and worked out that he had a piece of Genert, then pulled out the liver and all Newtling tails became horrible to eat.

     

    • Like 1
  11. On 11/18/2019 at 3:18 PM, The Hooded Claw said:

    I have a suspicion that we have now moved out of the era where Runequest fans were always in danger of being 'Gregged' only for it to be replaced by one where the game is now being 'Jeffed'. I suspect that the bottleneck to getting a steady stream of product is Jeff's desire to 'dot the i's and cross the t's' on every single word of Glorantha that comes out of Chaosium. I'm guessing that that (despite the intention of the huge Gloranthan Guide doubling as a handbook for writers, freeing them to produce stuff without needing an editor on the shoulder at every turn) is the reason why there is a dearth of RQG stuff on the shelf.

    The Jonstown Compendium has shown that a lot of people don't really care what Jeff says and publish usable Gloranthan material anyway. Of course, we do care what Jeff says, but we don't let that get in the way of a good story, campaign or scenario. If Chaosium bring out their versions of areas detailed in the Jonstown Compendium then that would be excellent, and we wouldn't care about being Jeffed.

    • Like 2
  12. 37 minutes ago, Nozbat said:

    I suspect that there very little left to do after all that?

    Oh there was, but the Players thought that nothing could top Mello Yello becoming the Dara Happan Emperor.

    • Like 1
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  13. On 1/13/2024 at 3:32 PM, Jeff said:

    And there are no references to potatoes in any of the Chaosium books in the last decade.

    The reminds me of the Mongoose approach of ignoring what has gone before. Sure, retcon things that you don't like, but please don't ignore that potatoes were mentioned in Glorantha previously.

  14. 5 hours ago, Joerg said:

    Vingkot was immolated, but that was in order to rid himself of the ailing but immortal body that was unable to recover from the Chaos wound he had received at the Battle of Stormfall. It was part of his apotheosis, but may have set the trend for his successors (possibly hoping for a similar transition into the Storm Realm). Other Orlanthi may have retained other practices. None of the other gods of the Storm Pantheon received anything like a burial (unless you count the Underworld dismemberment of Umath at the hands and presumably jaws of Shadzor-Alkor).

    The Orlanth writeup in the Lightbringers Book says:

    Quote

    Life After Death

    The bodies of dead cultists are burnt using especially smoky fires while onlookers sing the “Song of Immolation.” The ashes and bones are often put in urns and placed in tombs. Funeral goods are always included to assist the person in the land of the dead.

     

    • Helpful 1
  15. I used some of Ian's ideas in my last Gloranthan Campaign, where the Adventurers became Earth People, then River Voices. They started off in New Pavis as member of a Firemakers Street Gang, which one Player kept calling the Twisted Firestarters, then they left New Pavis and rarely came back. They rescued Pavis, who was trapped in the Green Age, brought back Tada and Genert, brough waters back to the Wastes, combined all the Hidden Greens across Prax and the Wastes, brought fertility back to Prax and the Wastes, and did many other things.

    In that campaign we assumed that Pavis settled where he did because there was an Oasis there, and the Adventurers went to the Oasis by accident and realised that it was like other Oasis settlements that they had visited, making them realise that the oases were scattered remnants of a single civilisation. Our version of the Pavis Plan was to recreate the Green Age in Pavis. To do that, the Adventurers found many of the lost spirits, or heroes, of Pavis, integrating them into the local pantheons. They brought Pavis back, which helped with the Plan. They brought Tada and Genert back, which helped invigorate the powers of Fertility. They even stopped the Red Goddess from marrying Pavis, even though they had steadfastly remained neutral to the Lunars. In the end, Mello Yello became the Golden Dragon and killed the Red Emperor, or rather made the Red Emperor Utumna event permanent and fatal, thus becoming the Emperor of Dara Happa. We left the Campaign there.

    • Like 4
  16. 1 hour ago, ChrisWentWhere said:

    I will have the Carmanian suggest that he simply returns him to Pavis where his temple will pay his ransom but I think (and will have an NPC suggest) that anyone doing that will just be treated as rebel scum and crucified. 

    Ransoms are in many ways sacrosanct. People honour ransoms and do not capture people asking for ransoms. In any case, the Herald subcult of Issaries can be used to facilitate ransoms. In fact, in my Glorantha, the trading cults (Issaries, Etyries, Argan Argar, and Lokarnos) are the ones who allow ransoms to be paid. If ransoming is made too difficult, or too dangerous, then it won't happen and the alternatives are either execution, prolonged imprisonment or being set free, none of which are as acceptable as ransoms.

     

    • Like 4
  17. 1 minute ago, Nick Brooke said:

    Do you want to have fun playing in Glorantha today, rather than waiting for the mythical "Next Year" when everything magically appears all at once and makes your game experience 100% orthodox and wholly compliant with 2025-era canon?

    I have been officially told not to use the "Next Year" joke on RQ forums any more, so I am immensely pleased that you can still use it. 🙂

    • Like 1
    • Haha 3
  18. On 1/5/2024 at 5:32 PM, Scornado said:

    Just a query about Jonstown Compendium ... is there any danger that material may be superseded and invalidated by a canon publication? 

    Of course there is danger, and I welcome that.

    I would be happy for Chaosium to copy my Dorastor material and use it for "official" Dorastor, but I very much doubt if they will. However, it can be used alongside official Dorastor material. 

    Personally, I have never understood the prioritisation of "official" or "canon" material over unofficial material. In the Dark Days, when there wasn't much official RQ or Glorantha material around, we used what we found on the Internet and incorporated it into our games. When official material came out it sometimes wasn't as good as the unofficial material so we used a hybrid of the two.

    • Like 5
  19. On 1/3/2024 at 2:01 PM, Joerg said:
    On 1/3/2024 at 12:23 PM, Darius West said:

    Great pictures, but you seem to have ignored the fact that the streets of Dykene, Trilus and Elkoi run thick with pig poop.

    Not of Trilus - no pigs allowed in the citadel proper (any more). But there is a reason why these citadels were built on rocks overlooking the surrounding lands, allowing flow-off to leave the citadels, agreed.

    A friend of ours used to go backpacking around the world every winter in the 80s and 90s. He went to rural Thailand and Vietnam, and spent a couple of nights in a mud hut village on stilts. The local pigs used to root around the houses, looking for goodies. The toilets were just holes in a small room in the hut, with the waste falling on the ground below the huts. Sometimes, the pigs got a bit eager. "What is the weirdest sexual experience you have ever had?" "Well, I was having a crap and this big, long tongue comes through the hole and ..."

    After hearing that story, the Player of the King of Balazar banned all pigs from Dykene, Elkoi and Trilus.

     

    • Like 1
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