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I've never done an elevator pitch. My gaming groups have all been RQ fans anyway. What is the point of an elevator pitch? To provide a short idea of the good things and make the game appealing. Personally, I wouldn't use terms like Bronze Age or real world references. Instead, I would say that RuneQuest is a Heroic game, where you can go from Zero to Hero, can start as an established member of a clan, or start off as a lone wanderer. You can weave yourself into the mystic and magical world while adventuring. Everything is dangerous, but you can make friends among those who might be your enemies and enemies from those who might be your friends. Religion is important, as it defines who you are and how you should act. Your clan or tribe is important, as they define who you are. Your friends are important, as they might be the difference between living and dying. Come and walk the paths of heroes.

Clans are more barbaric, I think. Dara Happans have families. There might not be much difference in how they work, though, except that Dara Happan Yelmic families are ruled by the Yelm cultists. They could live in a Dara Happan city, perhaps in a compound that was once part of a great estate but is reduced to a rump. They could live in the country, in a house, or villa, that was once part of a great estate but only the house remains. It really depends on how powerful, or rich, the family used to be. They would probably have servants, or slaves, to keep up appearances. They might have preferred names, so all children have one of a list of names as one of their names. They probably have a family name, either expressed as the first or last name, maybe even a middle name. As to the names themselves, there would be a lot of them, as Dara Happa is big with lots of people. If he was born into the Yelm cult he could be a Sun Lord. Being the son of his father is very important for a Yelm cultist, probably more important than anything else. He could belong to Yelm Imperator, perhaps his was an important family that has fallen on hard times. Maybe they have a hereditary right, perhaps they can hold a certain office no matter how suitable they are. Dendara is a good wife for Yelm worshippers. Queen Deezola might be acceptable. Ernalda is possible, as she was a concubine of Yelm, but it might be scandalous. A Lokarnos wife might be suitable for a family with mercantile ties. In theory, almost anyone is possible, but there might be a story behind it. All of the sons could join Yelm, being the sons of their father. In fact, they probably all should. They would be Lay Members of Yelm, even if they were not Initiates. The first son could be a Yelm initiate and nothing else. After all, he is a commander, he doesn't have to be just a plain warrior. If he joined another cult that would be OK, as long as it is not an enemy cult. Polaris or Yanafal Tarnils might be OK, but they would be seen as secondary to him being a Yelm cultist. He would automatically be able to join Yelm if he wanted to, unless he has disgraced himself. Lay Member might be OK, especially if the oldest son was the one who inherited the family name. After the first son dies, the second son would be encouraged to become a Yelm Initiate, otherwise the family name would die, and that is very important to Yelmic families. A dynastic marriage is only important if the family still has some power. If the family is just another Yelmic family fallen on hard times, with no status, then why would anyone want to link with the family? Is she is beautiful then she would be a good choice for a bride, being a lesser noble. What should she learn as a good noble? To dance, sing, embroider, manage servants, and support her husband and father. Working metal might be fine. Joining a cult such as Lodril to be able to work metal better probably wouldn't be fine.

You would probably be surprised about how many GMs have absolutely no interest in HeroQuesting in their games. They think of HeroQuesting as being too powerful for their games, or not having the right feel, or just being too alien. Hopefully, the official rules will change their minds.

Thanks! I appreciate every mention. I agree. The Jonstown Compendium work is not supposed to replace Chaosium's work, or even be treated as part of Chaosium's work. Instead it allows people to produce scenarios and background material while Chaosium are producing masterpieces. As we know, masterpieces take time and effort to produce, so Chaosium's throughput is going to be slower than that of the Jonstown Compendium. In my opinion, as a GM, I use and abuse anything that comes out. If someone posts a good idea about an area here, on Facebook, on a blog or elsewhere, and I like it then I'll use it, whether it is official or not. If Chaosium then come out with something that is different, then great, I'll use that as well. I am not the GM who throws everything away because Chaosium say something different. One of my skills is blending ideas, so I'll blend official, Jonstown Compendium, web-based ideas and so on into a whole that treats all of them differently but as parts of a whole. I wrote half of my Dorastor Campaign before Chaosium brought out Dorastor Land of Doom. When that came out, I used some bits of it in my Dorastor, threw some things away and pretended some bits were just the same as DLOD but seen differently. That is how I would like people to see Jonstown Compendium supplements. Personally, I think that Chaosium will write their stuff as they want it. If it fits in with Jonstown Compendium supplements then great, if it doesn't then great. They will contradict a lot of Jonstown Compendium material and, for me as a GM, that is also great. I'll have two sets of material to use and can pick good ideas from both. For example, the HeroQuesting material will be very different from mine. If Chaosium redid Dorastor, it would be very different from mine. Funnily enough, I don't really care if people accept them or not. If someone buys them and uses them in their games, then great. If someone buys them and doesn't like them so doesn't use them in their games, also great. If someone doesn't buy them because they are not official, then that is great as well. If someone brought an Adventurer to my game with spells I didn't know about, I'd probably grimace as well. That is why each GM's game is their game.

Thread tennis has always been an issue. I generally ignore it, unless it generates good ideas. Unless, of course, I am playing thread tennis, in which case it is vitally important to get my point of view across, time and time and time again.

That is also a danger in the Ivory Tower - The feeling of wanting to stop and read all the scrolls, or to put them into some kind order, after all, it won't take long ...

That is really disorienting and the colours make it even more so. Any Adventurers who want to make a map of a set of caves should look at this to see how difficult it would be.

I have thought, for a long time, that CoC scenarios and Scooby Doo adventurer are very similar, in many ways. The difference is: The Scooby Doo gang don't suffer from long-term madness from their adventures People are monsters Every adventure can be solved

That has been the case for a long time. CoC pays the bills, basically.

Most GMs I know play that you don't lose the allied spirit, it stays around discorporate until you bind it into an object or another host. An Awakened Herd Man mating with a Herd Man would be bestiality. So, their choices are other humans or other awakened herd men, who are humans. A Herd Man familiar, with a spirit bound into it, would still count as a Herd Man, so would still be bestiality, but people might not know. A mate who is an allied spirit of the Awakened Herd Man is possible, as is an allied spirit of a Morocanth.

Maybe, although my Book Wyrms guard Lhankor Mhy's Ivory Tower. In our Holiday Dorastor Temple of Heads, there is a HeroQuest that, essentially, allows the Adventurers to access the Gloranthan equivalent of Disc World's L-Space, travelling from a Lhankor Mhy Library to the Ivory Tower, then to Thanatar's Library and finally to a Thanatar Temple. Book Wyrms guard the Ivory Tower, but could follow Adventurers into Thanatar's Library, in which case they could be captured and become his guardians. Maybe Treack Markhor did something similar.

Not in my Glorantha. An Awakened Herd Man is a human. It is no longer a Herd Man. There is a difference between binding a spirit into a Herd Man, as a familiar, and awakening a Herd Man. Awakening a Herd Man reverses the Survival Covenant outcome for that Herd Man.

No, but it is fun, which is as, or more, important! If Chaosium were to write a canonical treatment if this subject, they would either replicate Edan's work, which seems pointless, or change it, which also seems pointless. So, they might as well not write anything canonical and let us use Edan's glorious work.

That's Strangers in Prax done, thanks, now what about the P&BR Companion Series? That is what we are eagerly waiting for!

The closest thing is the Lamia, which is not described in the Gloranthan Bestiary. I have the Book Wyrm, which is a Lhankor Mhy guardian creature, who guards libraries and hisses at anyone who speaks too loudly. They can turn bad and become Chaotic.

In the olden days, Mistress Race Trolls (UzUz) could join any cults, so they were fine.

We just played that Pavis Runemagic just doesn't work, so works inside the walls but not outside the walls. As it works inside Pavis County, as soon as you go outside Pavis County it stops working.

That would be a Hidden Field, in my Glorantha.

I cannot remember SAN appearing in BRP before it appeared in CoC. Don't forget that BRP was just a little booklet in the RQ2 Boxed set, back in the early 80s. CoC came out at about the same time, based on the BRP engine, so the SAN mechanic was probably invented for CoC.

With all due respect... this is a spectacularly unhelpful answer (for most people) ... Here is the section.

Some GMs hate multiple cult membership, some don't mind it and some actively encourage it. I feel that many Gloranthans will belong to more than one cult. Trolls and Aldryami will often worship multiple cults, Kyger Litor/Aldrya and another cult. People who live in cities often worship the City Cult and another cult.

Apparently, Gonzo means: Definition of gonzo adjective (of journalism, reportage, etc.) filled with bizarre or subjective ideas, commentary, or the like. crazy; eccentric. noun eccentricity, weirdness, or craziness. So, not really me at all, then.

I keep Glorantha as strictly Bronze Age, with no extra fun at all. Except for Bastard Swords, they aren't Bronze Age but I like them. Oh, and flying Moon Boats, and dragons, and cities with guilds, and demigods who you can visit, and HeroQuesting, and all kinds of stuff. So, I keep whatever I want and call it Bronze Age, even the Iron Age, Heroic Age or Medieval stuff that I like to throw into the mix. I like my Glorantha to be magical, and I don't mean just casting spells. Casting spells is on the first rung of the magical ladder. I like Adventurers to manipulate Runes, to control water, earth, air, fire, darkness and moon, to wield Truth as a weapon, or to hide with Illusion. In many ways, I like to treat abilities as keywords, things to build on and to use. I love it when Adventurers have two entirely separate abilities and think of cunning ways to use them together. I like Adventurers who go to strange places, speak to demigods and heroes, awaken the spirits of long-dead Heroes, Demigods and Deities, bringing them back into worship. My Adventurers speak with Cragspider, Ralzakark, Argrath, Harrek and the Red Emperor, doing deals with them, playing one off against the other. I love using Elder Races imaginatively, to mess with Players' minds. I have been told that my Glorantha is Gonzo, but I don't really know what that means, the dictionary said something about being at the centre of things, so I am not sure how that applies. My Glorantha is fun, it is deadly, it is exciting, is is enjoyable, it is Gonzo (?), it is me. I don't think that is weird, though, is it? After all, I'm not weird.

Orlanth is good at movement stuff and storm stuff, but isn't great at water stuff. Ingizi is better at water stuff than Orlanth.

Apologies if that is the case. All I hear when people complain that Yelmalio has poor combat spells is "Whahhh, whahhh, whahhh!"