styopa

It's my life. Pretty sure Murphy lives in my house, if not my clothes.

Yes, it CAN be but rarely is. Further, import shipments can be cleared in the US up to two days before actual vessel arrival at a US port. I've been an international logistics professional for 28 years.

For us it's a pretty straightforward order: 1) grapple attack, if successful 2) target's STR to resist immediately 3) at end of round, damage (if any) applied 4) on subsequent initiatives, the target can use one of their attack/parry/dodge actions to try to break free which is just straight STR vs STR (but you have to beat the grapple roll like an opposed roll - showing that if the grappler has a really good grip/lock, it might be quite hard to break free other than simply killing the grappler)

IMO the entire 18CHA thing wasn't entirely a bad idea, but was tossed into the rules without a lot of thought. It's fine if you're envisioning the very-pedestrian Orlanthi, Ernalda, or Yelmalion. It's less supportable if you're thinking of (as you mention) a loner, Outlaw Josey Wales sort of Humakti, or even less a cringing, skulking Malian or Krarshti. I get of course that CHA isn't APP, but no, I don't know that it makes sense that every cult necessarily even requires a strong, compelling personality. I don't buy the idea that CHA = reknown, either. They're pretty distinct concepts. It's already been highlighted elsewhere that other cults have species that can't even REACH 18 CHA. It certainly makes sense that SOME cults have that requirement, just like other cult-specific requirements. But the blanket "they all must have this" like a "you must be this tall to be a Rune Lord" is silly - we're disregarding it.

Any chance someone @Chaosium could perhaps give us an ETA on the books? If it's actually in-transit, this is a known thing. If you can't get your forwarder to answer you (it happens) pm me the container number or if LCL the transport company and HBL and I can give you a reasonably conservative ETA.

Sorry, I wasn't laying out the entirety of our rules in all their detail, more intending to illustrate that making grappling meaningful wasn't that substantial a task. Even with just the simple version above, note that grappling an armed attacker is pretty dangerous: even if they'd attacked, any parry will cause damage to the grappler. If the grappler doesn't happen to secure the weapon arm of the target, that target can freely attack (doing damage), and then parry again (doing damage) all before the grapple normally would get to do any damage...which is pretty vicious. We rule that - barring a fumble, weapon attacks against someone holding onto you are automatically successful...it's really just a matter of how much damage they're going to do, and if it special or criticals. If the target has a 2h weapon, yes, it's smarter for them to drop it and fight with fists. (We allow people to parry with their hands as well.) These rules work well for us. It's incredibly dangerous for the first guy tackling an armed opponent, but in a world with healing magic, it's much less of a risk than the real world, obviously. Of course, you can also strike to disarm, or grapple with a called shot to get that weapon arm.

That's nice and simple! Thanks! I get hung up on missile weapons a little. I can see MAYBE a shared cap across "missile weapons" at 25%, but I don't think it'd be higher. Up to 50 might be shared across type - bow, sling, thrown (spear), thrown (axe), thrown (blade), but beyond 50 I just can't see where the coordination, techniques, even the missile flight wouldn't require some pretty category-specific knowledge/experience. Above 100 would still be specific weapon. That results in missile weapons skills generally not being as laterally "portable" as melee. That seems credible? Then again, every system is a rationalization between playability and realism; in that sense, maybe it would just be simpler to use the same tiers as melee 50-75-90-100. So if you have sling at 95 and pick up a bow, you'd be at 50.

Yeah, as stated not a fully fleshed-out system, more of a germ of an idea really. It just seemed silly that super-nasty 140% greatsword warrior picks up a dagger and is...base skill only. I'd agree that realistically the steps should probably be diminishing bands, not equal ranges. So it might be: 01-40 41-65 66-80 81-90 91-100 ..etc?

Why thankfully? Seems pretty simple. We use grappling that on a normal attack, it does no damage initially. Then, at the end of that and subsequent rounds where the hold isn't broken, the grappler does 1d3+db to the grappled part, IGNORING ARMOR (special 2x, crit 3x) for each subsequent round. On each application of damage, the grappler either does that, OR can reroll their grapple (getting a better grip) but of course runs the risk of losing their grip entirely (failure/fumble). A parry of a grapple automatically does weapon damage to the grappler AND the grapple is automatically successful, unless the attack is fumbled. If characters so chose or found special training, I'd probably allow them to turn specials into locks or throws or submission holds or something. Grapples are a GREAT way for swarms of trollkin (or otherwise-feeble creatures) to take down even pretty-tough heroes. Literally swam tactics.

It's relatively trivial to trace any international shipment. Do we actually have an expected date these will be for sale? Can we put in pre-orders yet? Certainly there's a known, finite number of books on the way in, I presume pdf buyers will get dibs on the paper versions? I'd be curious to know how fulfilling pdf-to-print orders will deplete the stocks for open sale. Thanks

I thought that was due to be available around now?

Wait...what? Oh dear. /shudder.

Not sure who you're responding to? Who ever suggested those things were equal, or even equivalent?

I get both yours and Rosen's points, but there also has to be some consideration of balance. If the players can do it, so can the NPCs. Should a PC be able to Form/Set Count Julan's magical sword to uselessness without any ability for him to resist/avoid? More importantly, should any of the waves of enemies faced by PCs be able to destroy/remove important pieces of the PCs gear without any defense? YGMV but it's easier (and fairer) for me to assume that everything "on" a person is not just physically but METAphysically "theirs", and thus gets their protective aura. It was the same in D&D. RAW everytime someone got fireballed, lightning bolted, or even a long fall, you were supposed to roll saving throws for every meaningful piece of equipment. Maybe realistic, super not-fun. I don't know anyone who did that usually, aside from quasi-sado/masochistic campaigns where everything was RAW for the giggles.

There's an argument (and I have a fair amount of half-baked notes) about recognizing that a lot of combat skills are generally shared between weapons until you get to extremely high levels of proficiency. For example I toyed with (for melee weapons): 01-25 basic combat....at this skill level, it doesn't matter what weapon you pick up and use. They all share this same skill - fundamentals of breathing, watching your opponent, etc.. Once you get your Basic Combat to 26... 26-50 basic specialization....you have to pick "Swinging" or "Thrusting". Swinging, whether it's a mace, a sword, or a chair, 1h or 2h all are going to be about timing, dealing with blocking, your own center of gravity, etc. Thrusting whether it's a spear, rapier, or dining fork they all share the same. If you have 38% in "Swinging" and pick up a spear, then you default to your 25% basic combat skill until you've leveled up that "Thrusting" category. Once you level either category to 51, you have to pick... 51-75 family specialization...per the RQ "groups" of weapons - I think I'd probably lump together 1H and 2H, because I don't think (at this level) they'd be THAT different, at least not as different as swinging an axe would be to swinging a scimitar. 76-00 weapon specialization - it's the specific weapon on the table - 1h battleaxe vs 1h hatchet, for example. 00+ expertise - your weapon skill is tied to A SPECIFIC WEAPON. YOUR broadsword, for example, not just any broadsword. As I said, unfinished notes. I personally think the 'expertise' level should probably be at 125+, but not sure where justifiably to insert another bracket. I kind of think the 26-50 bracket could use a couple of more categories "shield" would be an intrinsically different method of attack than most swinging weapons, as would "hand to hand" (which itself could justifiably be broken into strikes and grapples). So for Noob Guard at 45%? You can hand him a 1h spear or pike or pitchfork, he's going to pretty much be as effective as his level of skill they'd all be pretty much the same method. Elite Duellist at 118%? If you can break her sword or get rid of it, you just knocked her down to 100% skill - a big advantage.

Specifically, I was wondering about Sorcerers.

Precisely where I get my frustration over a lot of the 'hand-craftedness' of RQ2/RQG. When you start to try to distill things down to what a computer can understand, then you run smack-dab into inconsistencies that are trivial to the human brain to resolve but end up with a programmer pounding their head against the desk at the arbitrariness. For example all the different tables with different breakpoints for stat mods, SR, etc...."WHHHYYYYY????"

Sounds like I'd keep a life jacket handy...and always take along someone who swims slower than me.

Oh, I like that idea *very* much.

Interesting article, particularly good job pointing out how an important "non-adventuring" cult can nevertheless play a major role in an adventuring party. One tangential question immediately occurred to me however: are we collectively assuming then that the *astonishing* increase in fecundity and infant survival thus provided by Ernalda and parallel deities/magics (compared to IRL bronze/iron age societies analogous to our Gloranthan faves) is then offset by what? Monster predation? Just a higher level of violence? I'm picturing a Glorantha figuratively hip-deep in bodies - particularly children - as the urban/rural populations put forth in the Guide would suggest that adult populations are nevertheless close to that of historical iron age societies. So...tons of pregnancies happening, babies surviving infancy...but historical population numbers. That would suggest a great winnowning going on between infancy and adulthood. Or I guess it just occurred to me, are we assuming that magical birthcontrol would be used by iron-age women to the same degree that we see in educated western modern women?

So a shaman with a Fetch with 5POW and a handful of spirit magic would be equivalent to a Rune Lord? I'm not just doing this because I enjoy splitting hairs, but when spell effects - pretty bloody potent ones - rely on the binary yes/no answer to that question, the boundary line should be very clear?

It's an interesting viewpoint on language, though. Is that your interpretation or did I miss something (admittedly, I had nothing to do with Heroquest, and it seems a lot of the magical structure underpinning Glorantha was evolved there)? But if it's a conscious, intentionally executed magical act, then shouldn't there be an MP cost? In that case, I could CERTAINLY understand that someone has Tradetalk skill X and with the spending of a MP could have a chance of making themselves understood to another. That would be completely logical. Then, too, you offer the person with Tradetalk a limited utility because it doesn't grant them necessarily the ability to understand what's said BACK. Just one-way, which is useful enough in "DONT KILL ME" situations, and could even provide limited trade capabilities in "if you give me that cow, I will sell you this bow in trade".

I guess it's up to what you want to see in your campaign. Personally, I think giving attackers the ability to essentially destroy anything the character has without any resistance roll would be too powerful, and would rule on that basis that if someone's wearing or using it, it uses their resistance.

Honestly, it's only in our Monday-morning quarterbacking that people care. If the people at the table walk away saying "that was a blast", nobody gives a crap that rule X wasn't applied exactly how the book said it should be.

"Tradetalk 2.0(tm), easier and better to use, but is unfortunately not backwards compatible with Tradetalk 1.0(tm). Unfortunately, where you could formerly just buy Tradetalk 1 at a flat fee and then you owned it, Tradetalk two requires a monthly user licence to stay current or it's user-license is revoked." Well everything in Glorantha is magical. Gravity's magical. The dirt is magical. Forks are magical. Shoelaces are magical. At a certain point it become a banality. .