Nick Brooke

You know it’s Allabeer. Just thank your lucky stars Lord Goldbreath doesn’t visit Sandheart very often, or it’d be him.

I would treat this case by case (adventurer by adventurer), rather than writing a generic "Sandheart Militia" occupation profile that includes all manner of diverse specialisms. But that's just me.

The Sandheart Militia are unlike other Sun County militia formations because they aren't part-timers (farmers serving one season per year). Read Tales of the Sun County Militia to understand the Goldbreath family's experiment. As the Sandheart Specials are a bunch of specialists, why not let each of them suggest their main professional skill? The impala-riding scout was hired because he can Track, the Lhankor Mhy forensic tech is there because of his Human Lore, and so on. They don't each derive their income from the same skill, so why would you write the rules as if they did?

You can find a roster of artists who'd be happy to create Gloranthan masterpieces for your group for a reasonable fee via the Creators Helping Creators (CHC) Directory in the Files area of the Jonstown Compendium Creators' Circle group on Facebook. I'm sure they won't mind that this isn't for commercial publication: pecunia non olet.

All human religion was learned from baboons in the Dark, Joerg. I shouldn’t have to remind you of this.

Everything the Aeolians know about religion, they learned from Baboons in the Dark. This is a fundamental Gloranthan Truth.

Intriguing…

Potatoes have made an early appearance in a book I’ve just started reading, James C Scott’s Against the Grain (he’s the author of Seeing Like a State, so I know it’ll be up my street) as a crop that resists state formation. The author suggests that as there’s no defined harvest season for tubers, it’s not nearly so easy for tax collectors to get their cut. Interesting stuff, which plays well with the revolutionary anti-Yelmic origins of the Lunar Way.

King of Sartar, like the foreword to White Bear & Red Moon, the Hero Wars appendix to the Guide, and its source, the cacophony of overlapping Hero Wars Events in the old Orange Box, presents Glorantha as a world fizzing with potential and alternate takes. Dull timelines and plodding recitation of canonical dates and events do the reverse. I know which I prefer.

Says the wrongest man in Wrongville. And I have the sales figures to prove it.

Storm Bull wants you to fight Chaos. Go fight Chaos.

I’m not sure you grok what a grain goddess does. They don’t diversify, or rotate crops. They are their grain. Introduce maize? Doesn’t affect the previous grain goddess’s worship at all, except that farmers will gradually or rapidly swap over to the Fifth Wane Wonder Crop and the new, wholly bloodless* Blood Rites of Hon-eel. But the quaint ceremonies at the antiquated grain goddess shrine will continue, for as long as people want to give her worship. It’s a bit like what happened to the Orlanth cult in Lunar Tarsh. * Terms and conditions apply. The cult of Hon-eel did not write this disclaimer. Ask the corn priestesses if you want to know the secret of guaranteed bumper yields.

For playing RuneQuest, the Prosopaedia and much of the Guide will be largely irrelevant. They have lots of fascinating information about parts of the world where your game isn't set, and exotic foreign deities worshipped by people your adventurers will never meet, but no playable material to support campaigns there. So as Jeff recommends, I'd start with the Sourcebook for a thorough grounding in the core setting conflict: the Hero Wars in Dragon Pass between the Kingdom of Sartar and the Lunar Empire. The Cults of RuneQuest books are superb: of them, Mythology is the overview that ties everything together and contains critically important insights into how the setting works. I'd also recommend Weapons & Equipment to give a view of the material culture of our sword-and-sandal world. And read up the Guide sections on cultures that matter to your game (Orlanthi, Praxian, Pelorian?) and the places where it's set.

Take, eat. This is her body...

Gloranthan bronze isn't the same as our bronze: why do Gloranthan potatoes have to be the same as our potatoes? We know that the Lunars have a root vegetable called the potato, that can be found in army kitchens and charitable food doles. Sandy and others have created entertaining potato and tomato lore for the Empire. Wittering on about the Columbian Exchange and transformative calorie counts doesn't change that. And Sam Gamgee loved fish and chips.

“If I ignore all the evidence from primary sources stating that there are potatoes in Glorantha, it’s clear that there are no potatoes in Glorantha.” Sure: you do you. Have a nice day.

Greg Stafford, Sandy Petersen and Steve Perrin all demonstrably thought that Glorantha - and more specifically the Lunar Empire - had potatoes. They've been a feature of Glorantha since the earliest publications (see threads above: White Bear & Red Moon and Cults of Prax both featured Lunar potatoes). Jeff Richard thinks the Lunar Empire doesn't have potatoes, because nor did the Roman Empire, and we know that the two are identical in every way. (Or something like that.) So he's tried to retcon potatoes, with hilarious results.

See also the Maya and Mexica. Corn goddess imagery can be horrifying. And the Lunars aren’t “just” the Romans, or late-stage Capitalism: they have potatoes and socialism, after all!

“Earning POD’ability” is always at Chaosium’s discretion. If one of Chaosium’s best-selling, award-winning community content authors, who’s a valuable contributor to the team, puts together a beautiful art-book that is illustrated by one of Chaosium’s favourite, award-winning artists, we are not going to insist on Electrum sales before approving a print edition. And we will begin preparing “Ships & Shores” for print once it is complete. As you surely know, the digital edition is a work in progress, with several pieces of unfinished art. We aren’t going to rush this baby. It’ll be done when it’s done. And it’ll be worth the wait.

If you leave a nice review for Crimson King, I will do all the layout chores for you.

Ask @MOB if you can leverage major events appearing in his fiction, from after the Cradle through to Moonbroth. And if you’re doing a Sun County book and want help with layout, just let me know: I’d be delighted to lend a hand.

At the risk of stating the bloody obvious, OF COURSE the Lunar Empire is currently throwing White Moonie martyrs to the lions (and worse) in the Monster Coliseum. Did you even need to ask? (If your brain is consumed with an irrational hatred for tubers, you will already have dropped this notion, if only because it makes it seem that is sometimes useful to draw analogies between the Lunar Empire and the Roman Empire, while you enjoy pretending that it isn't. But for the rest of us, it's there: have fun!)

I make that two votes for Cleopatra. Any more?