Jump to content

Nick Brooke

Moderators
  • Posts

    2,552
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    153

Everything posted by Nick Brooke

  1. Story beats rules, every time. Adventurers are exceptional individuals, the kind of stuff they do isn't routinely possible for everyone else. Don't assume everyone in Glorantha is spamming Rune spells all the time.
  2. I have some playtest notes on innovative ways to kick the crap out of Vamargic in The Duel at Dangerford, which you might enjoy skimming as part of prep. I agree with you that at best the adventurers will clear up some but not all of the ghost problems, and defeat Vamargic until it's time for the sequel. Zorak Zorani don't stay dead, and this guy is a historic monster, not a punk miniboss.
  3. Updated again, adding QAD: Pimper's Block by Drew Baker (2,000 pages of randomly pregenerated characters from every RQG homeland and occupation: 520 fully-detailed character sheets and another 2,600 short-form NPC grunts), and sadly removing the listing for Valley of Plenty: Shawn & Peggy Carpenter have decided not to finish the Jaldonkillers Saga, and have now removed the only published volume from sale.
  4. Er, TBH it was coined by me as a Lunar term for what the Nysalor cult writeup calls the dark side of illumination. (When you’re working within a Carmanian-Stygian-Spolite framework, that language is kinda absurd and misleading). Greg Stafford liked the word and adopted it for ILH-2. It’s not a uniquely Lunar problem, it’s the Lunar name for a problem that Illuminates (and mystics in general) occasionally run aground on: mistaking your personal desires for those of the Cosmos.
  5. The "Tenth Satrapy" is on the Red Moon, you impudent dolt. The Lunar Empire is perpetually full, complete and perfect, and the Grand Master will be seeing you shortly.
  6. 1. I run RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha "by the book." My group includes RQ2 & RQ3 veterans (like me). 2. We aimed to have monthly sessions from October 2018 until lockdown (March 2020), but being grown-ups this wasn't always possible; we restarted at the start of this month, with our next session scheduled for late September. 3. Sea Season 1626. 4. We started in Clearwine, because why wouldn't you? The adventurers had already met each other during the early battles of the Hero Wars; they're all based in Colymar lands now, and nobody needs to keep dashing home to a distant birthplace (which would be silly and disruptive). They have travelled west to the Smoking Ruins, east to the edge of the Great Wastes, north to Dangerford and south to Corflu. 5. Gwyntnos is a Welsh Orlanthi from Volsaxiland; Rastalon is a Colymar Yelmalian ("I thought we worshipped Elmal?" "Not now, Kevin"); Surruk is an exiled High Llama shaman from Prax; "The Grazelander" is a Grazelander, originally from the Grazelands. 6. RQG Core Rules, Bestiary, GM Screen Pack Adventure Book (played The Dragon of Thunder Hills and kicked around the Colymar Wilds), Smoking Ruins (played the title scenario), Pegasus Plateau (played the free download of The Rattling Wind that came out for Halloween), plus some playtest manuscripts. I find the big poster map of Dragon Pass & Prax particularly useful, and we're all very fond of the Q-Workshop RuneQuest Dice. 7. It's an episodic campaign, structured largely around scenario playtests (sometimes mine, sometimes Chaosium's). My players signed up for this in Session Zero: some would have liked a more sandboxy vibe, but I ruthlessly squished that. There is less "meat" connecting the seasonal adventures than I'd build in if we played more frequently, but we are growing a recurring cast of antagonists and helpers, some political themes are taking shape, and the adventurers are now building their own stead in a former Lunar fort in Namolding lands (between sessions). 8. My Glorantha Has Varied - see The Duel at Dangerford for a worked example. My current mini-campaign arc Black Spear varies much less (and needn't vary at all). I stay broadly true to themes, but can't be bothered to focus on hitting the right dates or sequences of events just because one book tried to nail them down. What my players lived through is what really happened. 9. EPIC! I like my players to feel like Big Damn Heroes in a widescreen Bronze Age sword & sandal Harryhausen movie with a cast of thousands. And I love using their Rune rolls and Discorporate recon flights to hint at the big-picture stuff - Runic oppositions, mythic reverberations, etc. -- that are secretly behind everything. 10. Don't sweat the small stuff. You do not have to build or detail everything in the world as if it were a player character - that way madness lies. A dozen or so pages of helpful advice to new GMs are in my first Gloranthan Manifesto (Vol.1 & Vol.2), which is a free download.
  7. Fun speculations, lots to chew on. The whole point of the Blood Kings Wars was to eliminate legitimate heirs to the Carmanian throne (and magic). I know that Syranthir didn't teach his son: the goddess Charmain did. Carmanos was raised by her in Castle Blue. The river is named for King Oronin, a wicked invading Water God who led a Blue Army inland in the Gods War.
  8. The programme you're thinking of is Bits and Mortar. Loads of RPG publishers are involved, not just Chaosium. If your local hobby store is signed up, they'll be able to email you the PDF of your book on proof of purchase. If not, do encourage them to join - it's a bit of admin, but it helps support all our Friendly Local Game Stores.
  9. Updated again, with details of The Company of the Dragon's new print edition and $10-off print sale.
  10. I would object to egregious weapons-caddying (that is, swapping weapons in combat against an inferior foe for no other reason than to grub up skill checks), and to deter it I have publicly pondered* eliminating all skill checks earned in a fight where a player tried it on. (They confused themselves by turning a not-particularly-deadly combat into an impromptu weapons-juggling display, so no experience was gained). I haven't needed to do it, because my players are cowed and obedient like sheep. Other than that, bring it on! If a skill is irrelevant, I don't allow the roll; if it's relevant and the player fails their roll, there are consequences; if there are no consequences for a failed roll, no experience check is awarded (non-stress situation, you see?). My players seem to roll between 6-12 experience gains after every adventure, I don't bother keeping track. If their initial skill was low and their success was awesome and memorable, I will quite often skew the points gained upwards if they roll low, because despite what you hear I'm a big softy. * including here!
  11. The Company of the Dragon is now available in print, with $10 off if you buy it in the first month of release: Standard colour edition $49.95 reduced to $39.95 Premium colour edition $74.95 reduced to $64.95
  12. My old theory was that the Esrolites, not being dumb, propitiated the Darkest Aspects of their Earth Goddesses away from their own land, in case of mishaps. (A bit like the Soviets building their Gate under Starcourt Mall, if you follow my train of thought). Hence the construction of the Shaker Temple (to Maran) in Dragon Pass, the Axe Hall (of Babeester) up on the Shadow Plateau, and possibly also the Ghost Fields (TKT?) in Wenelia. (Yes they’re still worshipped in Esrolia, I’m not an idiot, this is about putting their Holy of Holies outside the pomerium)
  13. That's right, you cut it. Here's the original source in Wyrms Footnotes #9, which makes it clear this is something Belintar outlawed. My suggestion back in the nineties was that this was only after he had participated in the rite (against his will?) as a dying and rising god, a human sacrifice to the goddesses of Earth. (Around the same time, other non-canonical fan theories had Belintar 'beating' each of the Sixths at their own sovereignty myths -- breaking the bank at Casino Town, and so on). My second suggestion was that this is the kind of thing the Old Earth Alliance might be trying to start up again, now that the God-King is no more. Here's what Greg wrote:
  14. Updated again, with Anders Tonnberg's maps of the South Pelorian Highlands. You know the drill by now: the package contains four high-resolution maps (Players', Game Master's, Detail, Political), each available in hex or non-hex versions, yours for 5 euros (c.$5.89). I'm also making a noise about the Jonstown Compendium's two ENnie nominated titles on the front cover - voting opens to the general public tomorrow, runs for a week, and we'd really appreciate your support for A Rough Guide to Glamour and Citizens of the Lunar Empire in the Best Organized Play category. (The ENnies use a ranked preferential vote, meaning you can support both titles)
  15. I think complaining that people want "rainbows and unicorns" in Glorantha will lead to unnecessary semiotic complications, and is best avoided.
  16. I'm delighted to announce that two Jonstown Compendium titles, A Rough Guide to Glamour and Citizens of the Lunar Empire, have been nominated for the Best Organized Play Ennie Award 2021. (For some reason, the Ennies judges assign that category to all community content creations). Final voting will take place from August 18th-27th. I'll share links and exhortations when the time comes.
  17. @Stew Stansfield’s “strict disciplines of an aldryami Birch Mistress” spring effortlessly to mind… Source: Ten Woonar! Quacky-quacky! Pimps, Pushers, Prostitutes and Preverts in the Military Occupation of Sartar, from the Hearts in Glorantha zine - one of the most effervescently creative Gloranthan articles ever written, and I don’t say that lightly.
  18. I don't know what gave you that impression. All the Chaos gods you'd expect are in the manuscript for Cults of Glorantha. I'm pretty sure Jeff has shared the list somewhere... (goes sniffing around) Ah! There you go: It's from a thread you contributed to, not sure how you missed it.
  19. My own RuneQuest Renaissance list would be: Sun County Shadows on the Borderlands Troubled Waters (the mini-campaign from the back of River of Cradles) Strangers in Prax Dorastor I wouldn't bother with Lords of Terror (it's mostly Cults of Terror, which is available as a Classic with updates to come in Cults of Glorantha), or scrapings from the Trollpak reissues (for completist uber-nerds only, who'll want the original RQ3 versions), or anything from Heroes magazine. But that's just my opinion.
  20. SUBERE = EREBUS. Facile, but deep.
×
×
  • Create New...