Nick Brooke

And to engage more directly with what @mfbrandi asked: sure, if you want to play in “kicking against the pricks” Glorantha, where female adventurers are constantly reminded that they’re weird aberrations and everyone else thinks they belong in the kitchen, then sure: that’s an option. Some players want to get away from all that bollocks, though. I enjoy empowering them.

Fuck those guys. Look, this discussion began because (a) old farts were annoyed that “Vinga” turned up out of nowhere, and (b) new farts seemed to be closing down the possibilities re: what “Vinga” could do/be/do. Which all begs the question: Why is anyone listening to farts?

You’ve read RQG, and The Six Paths, and you still think the Orlanthi are heavily into gender restrictions? Sorry, I can’t help you. Anyone can choose to play in Sexist Asshole Glorantha, just like anyone can choose to play in Bronze Age War Crime Sim Glorantha. YGWV, and we celebrate that! But it’s a choice, and it’s certainly not the choice Greg Stafford would have made.

This isn’t hard. The chance of making both rolls is 0.2 x 0.3 = 0.06, or 6%.

So: some people enjoy closing down options for player characters. (Which is fine, and if your group enjoys that, more power to you). Greg Stafford enjoyed opening them up. That’s where ideas like Vinga and Nandan and the “Orlanthi All” came from. Me, I stand with Greg. Adventurers can be exceptional, norms aren’t binding, and gender essentialism is far from essential.

Nine times out of ten, he fails the first roll. One time in ten, he succeeds in the first roll… but then there’s a 90% chance he’ll fail the second. Failing either is a wipe-out. See?

Simple probability. If he needs to succeed in both rolls, he has a (10% of 10%) = 1% chance of doing so.

What gave you the idea there's any gender restriction on Orlanth Thunderous membership?

Pretty sure Praxians are no more hung up on female-type-people in trad. masc roles / male-type-people in trad. fem roles than the Orlanthi are. The two cultures are closely related ("Sons of the Storm Bull!"); everyday survival in the Wastes is about competence, not niceties; and if the gods aren't complaining, why should the tribes? YGWV, of course, but mine has kick-ass Praxian women in it, so I win.

OK: the simple answer is that Leika can try to make it work, fail, and then kick off Act I. Only four of Sartar’s 24 tribes were present at the Battle of Queens, so even if they unanimously agreed on anything they’re a small fraction of the kingdom (and several of them have just been decapitated), and Leika is not and cannot become a descendent of Sartar. She can’t light the Flame in Boldhome (even the late unlamented Kallyr could make it fizzle, slightly). She can’t talk to her divine ancestor Sartar, because he isn’t her ancestor. It simply won’t work. That, of course, happens off-stage and can be quickly explained in extra dialogue in Act I. Your players, meanwhile, can head off fighting chaos or exploring ancient ruins or something for the rest of 1626: there’s no reason for them to be closely associated with a tedious process that leads to an inevitable failure. They gave it their best shot: well done. If they don’t want to get involved in politics, my advice is not to spend much time thinking or talking about politics.

Black Spear covers all of this (non-canonically). I saw that the historical record had Argrath achieving almost* nothing between his Hender’s Ruins fiasco (Fire Season 1625) and the liberation of Alda-Chur (Fire Season 1627), and thought I’d make sure that he was having a nice time, at least. Jeff may have a different take in the White Bull Saga (streamed games aren’t my thing, sorry). Spoilers below: * Edited to add: "by the book" he is probably skirmishing around the gors and gallt of the Far Place, but that's a miserable way to spend the winter.

Black Spear kicks off in Sea Season 1627. In my story, no matter what happened immediately after the death of Kallyr (canonically, Fire Season 1626), Sartar has been going to hell in a handbasket ever since, with no legitimate Prince, no functioning structures above Tribal level, and several decapitated Tribes in the south. Plus the after-effects of Kallyr’s botched Lightbringer Quest are still being felt at full force. tl/dr: whatever she thought she could do in the immediate moment, Leika has had almost a year to discover that it just won’t work. That’s why she sends for Argrath. It’s a last throw of the dice, after everything else has been tried and failed. Things really are that bad.

Argrath White Bull won the Second Battle of Moonbroth. You may be thinking of the Battle of Hender’s Ruins, the next summer, when he threw away a nomad army taking on the Lunar College of Magic and their, ahem, unconventional assets. Argrath wasn’t present at the Dragonrise, that was entirely Kallyr and Orlaront’s show. Hagiographers said afterwards that “while Kallyr made the Dragon rise from the outside, Argrath made the Dragon rise from the inside.” Which I believe means that he was very stoned at the time. My arse. If you believe that self-serving nonsense, you’ve drunk the Kool-aid.

Chatting with Chris Gidlow about this the other day: another disconcertingly "modern" aspect to Lunar divorces is that their courts will place paramount importance on doing what's in the best interests of the children. If neither parent can provide for them appropriately, the Seven Mothers cult runs orphanages, as do various private providers. (Not all of whom are Taloned). I refer the gentle reader to my earlier observations on the clash between ideal and reality in this or any other legal system.

My preferred reading of WB&RM's Best Friends rule is that Harrek the Berserk loves Gunda the Guilty. (Gunda, of course, can't love him back: it's a tragedy). And we can reasonably suppose that, at least some of the time, Androgeus loves the Tarsh Twins (cf. The Rising of Tarsh scenario). Of course, the text only tells us that they're Best Friends. But it's fun to extrapolate.

Updated on 26 August with a short scenario, The Sunken Dead by Peter Harroun. A cattle raid goes wrong when Thane Yantar Raelston of the Colymar tribe leads his band against the Varmandi clan of the Malani (shurely shome mishtake? ). An introductory scenario with six short scenes, inc. combat encounters, diplomacy and forensics. $5.00 $2.00 for 11 pages (3.5 pages scenario, 4.5 pages stats, 3 pages cover & front matter). setting a new record for price per page of content. (NB: the scenario has been revised and repriced since first release)

"Great Sister watches out for you," as the votive mosaics have it. Her harmoniously-orchestrated monopolies are self-evidently better for consumers than the disorderly, (small-c) chaotic alternative. The so-called "free market" is dominated by Bulls and Bears, terrifying creatures of the Storm Gods. Why be "monopolistic" when you can be a Monopolist? (Etyries Temple good standing and significant processing fees required from all applicants. No refunds. Hail Moonson!)

Yes, I think so. Doesn't mean he (or his family) will be happy about it.

It's from Sun County, and was explored at length in the Secret History of Sun County, which is crudely summarised at the end of my Sun County Backgrounds article in Sandheart Volume One.

I assume one of the major differences between the old-school Yelmic patriarchy and the "feminist" Lunars is that in old Dara Happa the husband would have called all the shots, whereas in the modern Lunar Empire his wife has at least equal rights. I can imagine other angles to have fun with (e.g. no such thing as a "no fault divorce" in Dara Happa, as the woman is always to blame; in Carmania, while someone is always at fault, it just might be him). But it's not something I've ever been particularly interested in, and there are other aspects (e.g. Pentan Sultans' harems, Yelm Imperator's concubines, the "Chaotic" liberation, gender-bending and Free Love inherent in the Lunar Way) that will also be relevant. To be clear: a traditional Dara Happan household in the Lunar Empire might prefer to govern itself in the old school way (Father Knows Best), but if anyone wants to break free of his antique patriarchal authority, the courts will, in theory, support them. (Unless they've been nobbled, of course: it's a decadent empire, I'm not an idiot, and I know what class the magistrates are drawn from) At least one of Chris's Citizens of the Lunar Empire is divorced, if that helps.

Blimey! I just noticed we've sold 999 copies of A Rough Guide to Glamour in English and French, and given away about 600 more via the Doctors Without Borders charity bundle for Ukraine. And 400 print copies of Glamour exist (being: 368 , 30 , plus my proof prints), second only to Six Seasons in Sartar (which is sitting pretty on 425). As well as those, there are more than 250 print copies of The Company of the Dragon, and 200+ each of Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass, The Duel at Dangerford, the first three Sandheart books and Black Spear. I plan to create a complete 2022 Catalogue at the end of the year, and I'll update all the relevant charts and stats for that. If there's anything you've been wondering about the programme, or would like to see included in that year-end snapshot, it can't hurt to ask.

And updated again with Holiday Dorastor: Woods of Terror, by Simon Phipp and Leon Kirshtein. The fourth major Holiday Dorastor supplement covers Poisonthorn Wood and Hellwood, two of the deadliest places in Dorastor, home to xenophobic and chaos-tainted Aldryami respectively. The book contains gazetteers and prominent personalities for both woods, character generation details for twisted Aldryami (elves, dryads, runners, pixies and voralans), plus the usual grab-bag of shortform cults, magic items, spells, monsters, etc. The setting is presented as a sandbox, with five fleshed-out and 13 one-page scenarios the GM can mix and match to create a campaign, plus random encounter tables and a suggested campaign arc. $17.00 for 123 pages.

Updated on 22 August with A Darker Shade of Night, by Jeremiah Evans and Scott Cox. An ambitious sandbox adventure set in New Pavis and the Big Rubble, involving factional shenanigans, furtive enquiries, dark rituals and a legendary artifact. $6.99 for 47 pages.

Recent news you might have missed: https://www.chaosium.com/blogchaosium-welcomes-ariel-sawicki-to-the-team/