soltakss

Permission granted and I have some cool images that I can share with you, if I can get permission for you to use them.

I am writing up a such an NPC, the Sleeping Shaman (Mainly to annoy a Player in our campaign whose email begins sleepingshaman, but also for very good mythical reasons), but he will only begin to unite the Oasis Folk. One of the big conflicts, for them, will be the clash between Ernalda, Queen of the Earth Tribe, and Genert, King of the Earth Tribe, after Genert is brought back. Of course, each Oasis Folk Clan worships the waters and tress of the Oasis, so one of Mistress Palm's five daughters, for example. An Oasis without water is just a stand of trees, and an Oasis without trees is just a pool, the two have to go hand in hand. In my Glorantha, each Oasis has its own way of dealing with, and surviving, Chaos. Those near Chaos Nests, for example near the Tunnelled Hills, have stronger magic to hide or fight.

Because Praxians fed the Forest of Prax to Oakfed in the Darkness. There might be a few shrubs here and there, but, outside of Oases and rivers, no clumps of trees. Can't you get oil from skullbushes? I seem to remember that in the back of my mind. That could get a lovely fire going. Other than that, as others have mentioned, Cremate Dead is your friend.

Right, you 'orrible lot, into the Upland Marsh with you, by the left, quick march ... Now, line up and look at those nice zombies and skeletons Right, take one step forward if you think you are getting out of here alive. Not so fast, the lot of you!

There could well be. After all, the Earth Temple might not be the only thing that was in the area. The stream might connect to other, self-enclosed systems. I think that Snakepipe Hollow must contain more chaos than just the Caves of Chaos. That might be one Chaos Source, but I am sure there are others.

I am writing up the Oasis People for Jonstown Compendium, slowly but surely. In my Glorantha, the Oasis People are broken, their beliefs were shattered with the death of Tada and Genert, and they have remnants of the core beliefs. So, each Oasis Folk settlement has its own deities, pretty much just Spirit Lords, whom they worship. Oasis Folk don't travel between Oasis very often, so have no idea that their deities are worshipped elsewhere, in a slightly different form. Eiritha is a goddess of those who herd cattle of various types. In my Glorantha, Oasis Folk don't herd cattle. Instead they rely on the bounty of their Oasis for everything they need. If their Oasis doesn't provide something then they don't need it. I don't think they worship Waha, as they were not part of the Covenant. I don't think they worship Storm Bull routinely, as Storm Bull was out of their belief sphere when Genert and Tada were killed. Some individuals might worship Storm Bull, but not as a full cult. Instead, they have lots of Spirit Cults. But my Glorantha varies.

Buying a copy and shipping it over to the UK, then finding out that the Gestetner cult was a parody still burns. It has some useful Runespells, though.

Yes, sure, why not? They could be the memory of a tribe that was absorbed by the civilised culture, perhaps forced to settle down, or a Folk Tradition, perhaps like the Zola Fel cultists in Pavis.

If you want. If you want. Generally yes, but their ethnicity is far more important than their race. So, Grazelanders descend from Pure Horse People, who descend from Pent. So, their ethnicity is Grazelander. Each Praxian Nation has its own ethnicity, similar but not the same. So, Ostrich Riders are generally small, otherwise they can't ride Ostriches. Mythically, they were people who lived in Genert's Garden. Many different people lived in Genert's Garden. Maybe, their ancestors might have been Kralori who lived in Genert's Garden. No. The Agimori are Men-And-A-Half, very tall humans. Ostrich Riders are short and I think the same applies to Impala Riders. They are not Agimori in nature. Marriage between different Nations is rare, at least I think so. Marriage between different Tribes of the same Nation is common, though. When two very different people marry, their children have attributes of both parents, in my game. So, a Bison Rider marrying a High Llama Rider produces someone who might look like both, or either. A Bison Rider marrying an Ostrich Rider might produce a tall child, unsuitable for riding an Ostrich. An Ostrich Rider marrying a High Llama Rider might produce a very short child, unsuited to riding on adult High Llamas. But, appearance-wise, they might look like either, or both ethnicities. In my Glorantha, Sun Domers tend to look very similar, with fair or brown hair and blue, green or, occasionally, golden eyes. That is because they generally marry other Sun Domers. Converts marrying into Sun Domer families might mix it up a bit, so there is variability, but not a lot.

I agree and had to write a book to fill in the gaps. Yes, I normally handwave those, as it is better to be able to just goon a HeroQuest than to roll 96-100 and fail to begin it. I don't think that Adventurers can get the Mastery Rune normally. Maybe Orlanthi can as one of their cult runes. In any case, using the Mastery Rune for everything is a bit of a cop-out, for me. I prefer to use applicable Runes, where possible. The Air Rune would be good for this, emulating Orlanth and Ernalda. Yes, in this case the Air Rune would not help much, no matter how much you have boosted it. A good HeroQuestor needs to be able to be flexible in their approach. I agree. A Humakti Initiate doing a SwordQuest might come away with a Bladesharp 4 matrix and be happy with it. A Humakti Rune Lord doing the same HeroQuest might be unhappy at just receiving a Bladesharp 4 matrix. I think that if you actively perform the HeroQuest then you are trying to achieve something specific, so the main Boon should reflect that. Minor Boons are just add-ons.

No. No, but the Middle Air would draw the air in your lungs to it, so making you breathless, unless you could force the air back into your lungs. You might get cold, depending on which air spirits were there. You would only burn if you passed near the Sun or other Fire-based planets. The Lower Sky is Entekos, Goddess of the Upper Air, so she is not a fiery goddess. As you go through the Sky, you reach successive levels, until you reach the Upper Sky, which is Dayzatar's Realm and is pure.

Secrets of HeroQuesting, p28, describes a HeroQuest Challenge, but I leave the mechanics up to individual GMs. 10+10 per Victory Point still works. I would add the Magic Bonus to it, as well, to give them a good starting point. It is a shame that HeroQuesting was not given a chapter in the RuneQuest Rules, as it should be central to gaming in Glorantha. As a new GM, you have the freedom to do things in exciting new ways, which is good. So, use whatever mechanics suit you best.

Ah, this is QuestWorlds, then. Yes, that could work, but is a bit complicated. You could give them 10+10 per Victory Point. That is nice and simple, yet rewards success.

How well did they do on the HeroQuest? I know you have not run the HeroQuest yet, but I would tie the benefit into how well they do on the HeroQuest. Also, I would add the Magic bonus to the Rune, to give some variability, so treat the 20% or 50% as a base chance.

Making the earth move for them.

Page numbers are a beast, unfortunately. I'd just stick with sections, that way you don't have to go through and recheck the page references every time you add a page.

The trouble is, people seem to assume that all Babeester Gor cultists are the same. Babeester Gor has several different roles: Temple Guardian, Earth Avenger, the Shield of Ernalda, Big Sister to Voria and so on. Not all of those roles have the same mythical identity and followers of those roles will behave very differently. Even followers of the same role are likely to behave differently. So, a Temple Guardian might be quite bloodthirsty when fighting invaders, but would otherwise be quite calm and collected.

Soonish. Or, as someone I knew at Uni replied when asked if his thesis was ready, "On the Cosmic Scale, it is imminent".

Thanks, I had forgotten that

Personally, I am fine with that.

Many thanks for this. I have been waiting for this for a very long time.

Yes. The Red Book of Magic says, with my italics:

To me, a spell is a spell is a spell. Chalana Arroy Priestesses have an ability to bring someone out of a Berserk Rage. Does that only affect Storm Bull cultists? No, it affects anyone with the Berserker spell. The spell is the important thing. Using Orlanth Extension on a Humakt spell means that Orlanth just shows that he is good with any Runemagic. If I trade for Truesword and cast it, why can't I use my Orlanth extension on it? I like MGF and allowing things like this is easier than discussing it.

A lot of people think that HeroQuesting is about Power Gaming. It really isn't. It is more about exploring mythology and how it relates to the world.

If it had the spells, sure, why not? In my Glorantha, Wyters have Rune Points. Burning POW to cast spells is ridiculous for a Temple Spirit, in my opinion. In my opinion, yes, why not? Yes, again, why not?