Joerg

The comments on the statistics being about modern humans are quite to the point. Looking at archaeological records in publications, the gendering of burial ground data with partially destroyed (e.g. cremated) corpses is mainly done via the grave goods and a lot less via the reconstructed size of the remains. If there was a sufficiently significant sexual dimorphism in SIZ, it gets drowned out by individual or family variations. Given the occurrance of so-called "male burial sites" where 80% of the remains were assigned "male", without any finds of the corresponding female burial sites (e.g. for Iron Age Anglia), one possible interpretation is that there are a lot of female burials with male grave goods that have been mis-gendered (or wrongly sexed, at least), indicating a much more warlike nature even of the females of that culture at least for their afterlife. Age of death in archaeological records doesn't really give us a good idea about CON. Nutrition probably has a much greater role in deciding about the stats of these ancient people than sexual dimorphism. Including problems like cretinism from acute lack of iodide, or problems with parasites (I seem to recall reports that the frog-eating builders of the Bodensee Lake Dwellers showed typical symptoms from parasitic diseases you can get from under-done frog meat). Meteorological extremes and the after-effects of warfare and over-taxation battle against the magical benefits Gloranthan societies have to counter such adversities. Other than that, we only have written sources or artistic representations to guess at the abilities of the ancient peoples. Again, these have a huge selection bias as only able warriors or able-bodied slaves will make it from the barbarian habitats to the personal experience of the authors. Reading the two muslim reports on visits in Hedeby paint a quite disdainful picture of its inhabitants, whereas the material culture as excavated and reconstructed doesn't look that bad at all. But then hyperbole is a typical stylistic element in travelogues, and so is journalistic concentration on irrelevant details that help make the report or interview transcript (as the Ottar and Wulfstan ones in the Anglo-Saxon Orosius) interesting and exotic. The presence of dogs and pigs in the streets will be regarded as a symptom for uncleanliness by the islamic audience.

The civilian population of Boldhome doesn't seem to have suffered significant losses in the assault, at least we don't get any reports of massacres like that of Runegate. Sure, the Bat would have annihilated much of the population, had its attack been successful, but it looks like the champions' battle between Harsaltar and the Red Emperor was the decisive event in the battle. Another question is the number of slaves carried off from this assault, the way they were selected, and whether they disappeared forever or whether some managed to return. We do know that there was a great amount of plunder even for the King of Tarsh when the main effort in the assault was carried by Heartland forces. Boldhome remains a large city in the occupation, suggesting an ongoing settlement. And by Sartarites, rather than a complete resettlement with Tarshites. So what would the immediate experiences of civilians in that conquest have been?

Dark Season meals will see a number of weird Greater Darkness survival recipes brought forth for certain festivals, aka human-survivable troll cuisine. It is accepted alternative practice to fast rather than to partake in these dishes, but they will be produced anyway. Quite a few of these have seen recent use in the Fimbulwinter. Pavisite cuisine has similar dishes, mostly in the Real City and other Rubble survival centers. Some Old Pavisites continue their "cattle raids" on subterranean troll insect herds, while others content themselves to trade for those foods, or may even be treaty-bound to do so.

There are occasional ancient sorcerers around that - judging from their age and origin - were around in the Middle Sea Empire era, such as Akgarbash of Laurmal who resides somewhere in Aggar with his giant stork that acts as the finishing move for his Shapechange Human into Frog magic. Laurmal is a ruin in Arolanit, and was ruined during the Sinking of Seshnela. While Akgarbash might be a Brithini talar, Arolanit was under God Learner doination for quite a while. Those who were the magical representation of the Middle Sea Empire surely made enough enemies to be hunted down by the next of kin of their victims. Others were hunted down just for suspicion of being involved in God Learner manipulations, regardless of their track record. The exact definition of God Learner remains open, too. The Orlanthi hill man won't exactly say "oh, you're a Makanist and not a Malkioneranist, you may pass." Neither Halwal nor Yomili (the two leading opponents in the late Seshnegi empire) were Malkioneranists, both were exceedingly powerful individuals, and while Halwal was opposing the imperial doctrines (supporting practitioners of variant forms of Malkionism like Irensavalists and Arkati), his magical origin was pretty much the same as Yomili's. One of the East Wilds people of note is an ancient shaman who is famous for having rounded up several powerful God Learner individuals. We don't know what happened to Valkaro, and how much he was part of the Makanist orthodoxy or Malkioneranist leanings. The False Dragons Ring in Kralorela persisted until 1124, and those guys at least started out as God Learners, presumably of the Malkioneranist persuasion. The God Learner disappearance from Teshnos and Melib is unclear - while the heroic king Avalor is noted for taking the Red Sword of Tolat along on his hunt for the abductors of his wife (all the way to Fronela, where he may have allied with Halwal against the -adalla dynasty that ruled the land in the name of the Empire). The absence of the king wouldn't immediately lead to an absence of sorcerers, but with the native replacements, it doesn't look like Eest retained much God Learner personnel. Many may have taken the last ships west before the Closing would cut them off from a manageable land journey to Slontos and Seshnela. Their knowlede and their magic? The RuneQuest Sight stopped working some time between the university riots in Umathela and the sinking of Slontos. We aren't told when exactly, but I am inclined to blame the Luathan rite in Seshnela for this change in the world's magic. Another possible date would be the mutual annihilation of Halwal and Yomili a few years earlier. Yet another such event could have been the completion of the Closing. The Abiding Book remains. What spells may be drawn from it wouldn't have changed much, either. We don't see uses like the burning of Vralos any more, however - something clearly not tied to heroquesting, but pure overpowered sorcery based on insights from the Abiding Book. Are there still God Learner outposts around? That depends on how narrow or wide you apply the term God Learner. The Abiding Book is the original triumph of the Malkioni God Learners who researched their own philosophy, and it is the basis for most Malkioni schools. Most of the Neo-Arkati movements in Ralios are derived from the magical reconstructions done by Halwal, who used to be one of the foremost sorcerers in the Middle Sea Empire before running renegade/eco-terrorist. Cults created under God Learner influence persist and flourish, like Caladra and Aurelion, and presumably Humct, Worlath and Jogrampur in Umathela. Valkarism continues. Both New Hrestoli Idealism and Rokarism build on the Abiding Book and experiences drawn from the God Learner era. The monastic wizards transplanted to Jonatela by Jonat appear to continue the exact same doctrines they had in the Middle Sea Empire. The old Seshnegi ways are glorified on the Castle Coast, too. Zistorism is dead and gone, as is their deity. Its secrets have been taken over by the Mostali. Whatever new things were done in Jrustela after it was isolated by the Closing remains unknown, the only survivors of God Learner Jrustela are the timinits, and they don't tell - possibly don't remember. But then that may be due to Vadeli magics, after all the Vadeli were among the first to re-discover Jrustela and its magics. The conclave of elves, dwarves and trolls doesn't seem to have realized that they inhabited the core region of the God Learners for quite a while.

We get some of that dimorphism through the effect of the elemental runes on stats, at least among the Orlanthi. Those typical modifications make up for some of those dimorphism issues. But then, how many of your characters are rolled up completely randomly, without selection bias? How much do the rolled statistics survive after the decision whether or not to keep playing that character?

Any relation to his contribution in the Hero Wars book Gloranthan Visions?

The main thing I can do worse when taking off one of the hands (regardless which one) is to stop the blow at the end of the swing. Accelerating the blade in a two-handed grip is primarily the job of the left hand, the right hand is mainly responsible for the superior guidance the two-handed grip gives me and to help stop the swinging motion in a two-handed wringing motion. With a secondary attack option in the other hand, immediate retrieval of full control over the long blade is a little less urgent, as the threat or parrying potential from the other hand remains. I have hardly any experience with one-headed head-heavy weapons (heavier axes, hammers, maces), so I cannot comment on that. I'll have to add that I find the grip of a shinai rather short for my hand size, which might illustrate why I regard its use as a single-handed weapon with either hand as feasible. One-handed off-hand use of a field-hockey club to intercept a ball that might otherwise be outside of my range was definitely a thing I would do, often with enough force to block the opposing player's two-handed grip's force on the ball, too. On the other hand, I suck way more at any racket sport in the off-hand than in the main hand. In the lab, I use the main hand for operations with the spatulum when moving minuscule amounts of grains of salt into a narrow vessel on the scales, but when it comes to pouring liquids I am effectively ambidextrous.

It is possible to wield a long-hilted sword with the off-hand and using the main hand to wield and later let go of the javelin or the tomahawk, without having to ready the longer blade afterwards.

Sorry, linguistic preconceptions getting into my way here. Duckweed in German translates as "water lentils", which emphasizes its difference from frondy, frilly or leafy weeds.

Yes. Bandaging your head doesn't stop the bleeding on your leg, and vice versa. Doing both with the same bandage would result in weird bondage positions. Two people could perform first aid on separate wounds simultaneously, though, but I don't really see any potential for carry-over.

Which would be the result of training sword-and-shield combat styles. Reasons to learn an off-hand attack would be e.g. using a tomahawk or similar throwing axe or maybe a javelin as secondary weapon, especially with a weapon that can be used both in one-handed and two-handed fashion.

1/2: Just like any damage to a hit location affects total hit points, I assume that any healing done to a hit location will affect total hit points. 3: In RQ2 these potions usually have potencies ranging from 1 to 4, rarely higher, as their maximal potency was learned incrementally like with battle magic. The upper limit of a potion crafted with alchemy is the amount of raw material worked into the potion. When drunk, they affect a random damage and general hit points, when applied as an ointment, they affect the specific wound they are applied to. p.175 in the RQG rules specifies that one point takes effect immediately and the rest in hourly increments. Given the delayed effect of extra points, few high potency potions appear to be a worse deal than quite a few more lower potency ones. There are few characters who would actually benefit from a potency 10 potion applied to a single wound. These "1D10" potency heirlooms apparently lost their labels, or never had any. Normally the alchemist has rather tight control over the potency of the stuff he makes, with rare ones exceeding expectations.

Now that's interesting, mainly because the minotaurs appear to be one of those male only species, like satyrs or unicorns. Which makes milking them rather naughty. How prominent is duckweed in durulz cuisine? It is a fairly easy to harvest, protein-rich vegetable that is a main staple of their non-anthropomorphic kin's diet.

While I never made it to the kata level in kendo, some of these actually have dual wielding forms. Likewise, escrima has a number of dual wield forms. It is a bit like dancing both left turn waltz and right turn waltz. There are two ways to approach the zen-like state - blanked out pure muscle memory, or hyper-aware sword-trance like movement where you consider and appreciate the form you are going through. At least the hyper-aware state is something I have experienced on occasion, and that allows you to do things most beautifully effectively with whatever hand you are using. The kata isn't reversed. It is a different kata, the left-turn waltz rather the right-turn waltz. (Or vice versa, depending on whether you are the leading or the led dancer.) Doing things in the opposite direction doesn't wipe out your proficiency in the original direction. Serious martial artists would have already gone through forms using the other hand, too - if only in the teacher role in non-solo katas (which I've been told are the harder ones to do even though or maybe because you are obliged to lose the exchange). Much of the eskrima training appeared to me related to the active-reactive exchange of blows and deflections in kung fu rather than formal katas. Both for single hand and dual wielding. Holding at full draw is something you don't really do with heavy draw weights (my main beef with Hollywood depictions of historical archery - if you threaten to shoot someone with a bow, you do so at at best half draw, not at full draw). The good instinctive archers take aim during the drawing process and go through a fluid motion rather than attempting to micro-manage the last millimeters on target. Even if you are a systematic arrcher, you don't want to lose your tension trying to micromangage, so you aim to take less than a second between full draw and release.

Stew's amusing duck cuisine tales aside, Heortling cuisine is of course based on availability of stuff, and that makes it quite seasonal or dependent on preservation methods. As combined agriculture and dairy producers, their produce will dictate the main courses. Seasonings will rely very much on herbs and roots - varieties of onions or leeks, many of them fresh or a bit past their season from ground heap storages. Some will serve as condiments after some form of fermentation. A few flavors might be extracted from otherwise unedible sources by extracing them with oils, vinegars or possibly spirits. Another extraction or perhaps better leeching method might use lime (burnt chalk). Most of the "exotic" spices imported to Europe are really plant defence mechanisms (poisons) meant to ward off foragers. There will be a few such plants native to Dragon Pass and Esrolia, but I don't really see much of a native spice production here. Teshnos on the other hand may be home to quite a number of unusual plants, and parts of Caladraland might provide somewhat more active ingredients from tree bark or seeds, too. Salt isn't so much a condiment but a preservative, with the preserved food acting as bearer of that flavor. Let's start with the Earth Season harvest of grain, fruit, and late legumes. All kinds of herbs and roots are available from the previous post-winter seasons, so this is the time of fresh food in over-abundance. The herds may be be brought back from the high pastures into the low ones which by that time may have recovered enough from fire-season hay making to provide fodder until the stabling period begins. Out in the forest, the nut season starts, and pigs are out there to be fattened on beechnuts, acorns etc., promising feasting in the cold times. With access to fresh milk, all manner of cream or fresh cheese preparations are available to go with whatever grain produce is made. Bread is one option, but requires quite a few steps in preparation, and grain soups or boiled, slightly mashed whole grain may be the base for such dishes. Grain is a keeper, if stored dry and away from vermin. The milling of the grain into flour can be postponed, whether done in big communal mills or in household querns. Grain that couldn't be taken in dry is a prime candidate for malting and making beer (one of the staple sources of carbohydrates) or malt which may be used for sweetening bread or groats. Wine-making starts, whether from grapes, apples, or other fruit. The main other method to store fruit is by drying it, possibly making a secondary use of the heat from kilns or baking stoves. Fruit-bread made of drying fruit mixed with nuts or oil seeds will be a welcome alternative food in the seasons to come which have little or no fresh fruit. Dark Season sees a sharp decline in available fresh fruits and herbs, but will see the first batches of the preservation processes. Some very late fruit will only be collected after they experienced frost, including grapes, blackthorn prunes, and possibly juniper. Some root plants like black salsify are quite late harvests, too, as are certain types of kale. As long as the kale and similar plants keep coming in, there is no hurry to slaughter stabled lifestock. When the heavy snows fall, this reprieve stops, and hay rationing determines the amount of livestock that can be brought through the winter. Storm Season has more of the same, but will see the unstabling or un-corraling of the first livestock. It will also have early lambing, leading to increased access to dairy. Sacred Season is the time of both magical questing and of feasting on sacrificial meat. And also the time by which many of the fermented drinks may be brought forward. The cold time will see quite some consumption of animal fat - butter, but also tallow - to make up for exposure to low temperatures. Sea Season brings back plant growth with a vengeance. Sprouts and fresh leafy plants will replace or add to heaped kale in the vegetable diet. Animal protein will be from fishing or hunting rather than from livestock, although dairy production will be on still quite available, as retaking the higher pastures may take some time. Root vegetables like asparagus offer the first harvests. Fire Season is the time when last year's grain harvest may run out. Fresh vegetables may make up for this. Non-domestic beasts will contribute meat, especially when migrations can be exploited. Given their rivalry with the sky gods, I suppose that bird catching is fairly widespread in both the autumnal and the spring migrations. Fish migration - most prominently the renewed salmon migration into the Stream - has its own rhythms even in the inland, much more so on and off the coasts of the Rozgali and Solkathi seas. Estuaries and bays may see swarms of fish migrating in to deposit their spawn. Even river folk may join the coastal Pelaskites for harvesting these migrations. There used to be boar migrations between the Stinking Forest and Tarsh, providing another seasonal hunt event. The aurochs hunts are a part of an almost forgotten past, as no aurochs have been seen in the Pass region for centuries (probably not since the urbanisation that led to Orlanthland). Mountain antelopes, capricorns (and whatever other terms you can use to avoid saying "goats") will avoid the worst snow, too, making them a hunting opportunity in Dark Season.

Also note that for a Sword of Humakt, "my temple" may be synonymous to "my mercenary company", and 90% of the loot is getting re-invested in keeping the company equipped, fed and running. That's money you spend on your behalf.

I am hardly a swordmaster, but my experience with latex-foam weapons have shown me that half proficiency as a starting ability is about right. There are numerous things that you have internalized conceptually like balancing, how to translate vertical down movement effectively into weapon speed etc. which translate from primary hand to off-hand without much trouble, but then training two-handed techniques with only one hand with a shinai was one way my intro to kendo has influenced both my two-handed and my off-hand wielding. The "unlearning the main hand" effect is in my opinion and limited experience way out of the realm of realism. If your default weapon use is "a hand and a half" (two-handed with the option to let go with one of the hands) with a blade that is within single hand use length in relation to your body, then it comes rather natural to use "a hand less" as much for the off-hand as it for the regular leading hand. At 6'5 other peoples' (e.g. folk at 5'2) notion of a claymore is my notion of a spatha. Off-hand and off-eye archery is a much bigger problem for me than off-hand stick-bashing, parrying etc., as the muscle memory for archery out of motion with some real weight during release is at least as much an issue for this (if your experience is with compound bows, try a recurve or longbow for offhand to see what I mean). The "just hold the weapon still and prepare for the thing kicking upon release" stuff for crossbows, black powder and other such triggered, forceless weapons may be less of an issue.

The only Lunar cult that we have a write-up for is the provinicial, proselytizing amalgam cult of the Seven Mothers, which is probably the most common cult in Lunar Tarsh (including the holdings of Fazzur Wideread and his family), and fairly common elsewhere in the provinces (although there you will have Hwarin Dalthippa, too). The Lunar way has been overlaid over a plethora of Pelorian cultures, including the Provincial Orlanthi, and creates a lot of co-religionist groups with a quite divergent background. The Lunar Empire itself is the successor to the Dara Happan Empire, which had been conquered by the Carmanian Empire (to which the Lunar Empire is the successor, too, although it took almost a century to make that claim solid). Pelorian history has seen numerous types of military overlords being absorbed into the Dara Happan imperial structure over time, with dynasties along the upper Oslir descended from Beast Rider invaders in the Dawn Age gone native. Add a layer of Lunar religion to such diverse folk, and you will get lots of different motivations and cultural ballast to create very divergent though thoroughly Lunar characters. During which era do you want to play the Lunars? It could be a strenuous sort of fun to play Lunar occupation forces throughout the Fimbulwinter and the subsequent simmering rebellion up to the Dragonrise, for which your Lunar player characters' best chance for survival is to be bound up in some activity away from the temple dedication site. Unless you and your players are okay with a clear cut (or rather bite) to end that campaign arc, you should avoid playing through that event on site S:KoH does present its scenarios from an anti-Lunar, rebellious PoV in the Colymar Tribe. During that period, there are pro-Lunar Colymar tribesfolk or even imperial Lunar colonists (in the slave manors) in the region, but given Ernalsulva's goal to return her father from the Lunar Hell and to gather support for a rebellion, a party of Lunar adventurerers inside the Colymar tribe is unlikely to be approached by her. A sufficiently motivated rival of either Fazzur or Tatius (ideally both) with Imperial Lunar background might be willing to support a Sartarite band of heroquesters to thwart the powers that be in the occupation administration to further their own goals, but that is a quite weak way to insert a strong Lunar element into the marriage preparation hero band

Before the Dragonrise, you have some representation of the Lunar occupation forces about everywhere. Afterwards, all these representations are soon gone. Basically, before the Dragonrise, Sartar is an occupied kingdom. After the Battle of Dangerford, its liberation is confirmed. The difference should be momentous, and tangible.

Just like "Glorontha": Glor NTH A As for "Chosium", that's obviously spelled with a glottal stop after the "k" sound of the Ch.

That's the kind of speech you deliver after having subdued the Storm Khan with a lariat and a sharp stick...

Hardly surprising if you know that Jeff used to be a member of the Seattle Farmers Collective who were famous (notorious?) for their obsession with cattle and raiding thereof. Cattle raids (or the aftermath of having been raided) are an excellent excuse to pull player characters into some nearby wilderness with rather little preparation.

Arctic outdoor LARPing has one more significant foe - Gorakiki Mosquito. When temperatures are mild enough to play any character but Harrek (huddled deeply into his Ice Bear rug), it is a smørgasbård for these daytime vampires.

Most conventions covering several days with a sizeable crowd of Glorantha fans will see a LARP or two. Sartar High Council is an excellent short LARP, and Chris Gidlow's Tarsh War (also for a about a dozen players) took me a couple more hours to run. Another similarly scaled LARP was King's Funeral by Ingo Tschinke (which I never played, but refereed as a last-minute stand-in, once) - never been published, but was run close to ten times that I know of. I also was drafted as referee/narrator for a rubber sword LARP around a dozen years ago, using European style rubber sword larp rules set in Glorantha. The Great White North can be lonely - the best place for playing in Glorantha at those latitudes probably is Finland. During my year in northern Norway I did manage to find a club game in Bodø, Norway once, but that was WEG Star Wars, and five hours of driving (southwards, mostly), so I feel for you. (Now back in the south at about 54 degrees latitude.)

Isn't he sort of undead/possessed? Tied to dragons or dragonkin has been regarded quite similarly in certain quarters.