Pentallion

Metcalph is right. Some heroes are demigods, but not superheroes. So demigods doesn't work as a replacement for what Harrek, Jar-Eel and Androgeus are. There needs to be a new term if Superhero is dropped.

Razalkark will make the Black Sun appear momentarily when he moves the Red Moon into an Eclipse of Yelm. He probably gets the Red Goddess to let her hubris get the better of her, trying to eclipse Yelm and all. Who knows how he manipulates that event. But it's what happens after that matters most: The Red Moon and Yelm merge, (some say Yelm hadn't gotten any in such a long time) becoming the Blood Sun and as the Red Goddess and Yelm die, their blood and the blood of all those who die upon the Red Moon, pours over Kralorela. Harrek and Argrath witness the whole thing. Harrek merely grunts but Argrath is quoted as saying "well, that's messed up." Jar-Eel gets pretty bent over this. "Really? REALLY? AAHHHHH!" and she stomps off. Androgeus just shakes his head, "Raz, why you always gotta be like that?" The Dwarf looks on in horror, then hangs his head in despair and heaves a huge sigh. "All right, we've got some recalculating to do. Back to work."

Yep, I've always heard the Infinity Rune. Metcalph: Much as I know Jeff hates the term, Superheroes came out of the box quite literally over 40 years ago and nobody but a few at the top want to put them back in. Darius: "perverse" Vadeli magic?!? Perversity is in the eye-phone of the beholder. Jeorg: Why don't you think of Hon-Eel as a Superhero? She seems more powerful that Jar-Eel.

I agree. I think the "chaos is only about destruction" boat left and I missed it. Chaos isn't "about" anything. Chaos embodies everything even Law. All the runes, after all, come from chaos. Law sprang from the Chaos and tried to impose Order on it. I think people try to hard to find a place for Chaos ever since. Law imposes order but the Disorder rune fights it and people think that is chaos, but it's only a form of chaos. Movement causes change and that upsets Law too. Again, sort of Chaos, but not Chaos. So then they want to put Chaos in a nice, orderly place, and say "well, Chaos is about the destruction of everything", but Chaos isn't going to submit to Law that way. Vivamortists don't want to be destroyed. They are diametrically opposed to the destruction of the world. They want it to last for eternity. Malia wants her diseases to live and flourish, not be destroyed. And they wouldn't destroy things if everything worshipped Malia, they'd be immune. If everything were destroyed, Thed couldn't have her justice. There'd be no one to rape. How could the world know the pain she'd suffered if the was no more world? And she brought Wakboth into the world to be the Lord of Pain. To make the world suffer. But some parts of it are only destructive. Because Chaos embodies everything. Chaos doesn't obey the rules. Change obeys rules, disorder obeys rules. Chaos won't fit in a tidy little box so you can say "this is what Chaos is."

This is all really good stuff. Thank you everyone. Off tracking greatly, I was talking last night to the player who played Nymphia/Razza and we came up with how it all begins. For those who never read Lunar Diaries, a quick background. Nymphia's player thought he rolled up two sisters, Nymphia and Razza. Razza was a Jakaleel Witch. Nymphia a Deezola Priestess. But all of us except the player knew the truth: There was no Razza, Nymphia had a split personality and her sister wasn't real. But she believed it so fully that when Nymphia died she believed Razza would resurrect her and so she rose from the dead. The Jakaleel and the Blue Moon trolls all said she was holy. At the end of the campaign came the big reveal and the player learned the truth. There was only Nymphia and finally, Deezola had reunited her and made her whole again. But along the way Razza had become a Spindle Hag and acquired an allied spirit which manifested as a split personality named Azzar. A male. He went the chaotic route. So our new premise is that Azzar, being an allied spirit, wasn't really gotten rid of. And one day he banishes Nymphia. In Azzar's mind, he is real and so is Nymphia. None of the personalities think they share the same body, they all perceive themselves as separate individuals. So he believes he trapped Nymphia in Hell. Razza then wakes up and where is her sister? So Nymphia is gone. Razza is seeking her and Azzar is deliberately leading her astray down the path of chaos. And that's how our campaign will get started. Madness. But that's all at least a year from now. So I've got heroquests to figure out and I've got to figure out the why of them. As in why does the end of the world require this or that heroquest to be completed? These characters are all rune lord level. I'm thinking Hero level stuff. Arkatting through the chaos cults to bring about the end.

From the chaos being's perspective, it would seem that the "orderium" is the one doing all the destruction. Here we were, just hanging out, doing our own thing, when suddenly these aholes summon us into a battle and wipe our people out. Racist bastard Orlanthi! Why don't they just leave us alone? Killed my family they did. I'll kill them all! I can see hatred breeding hatred.

Thanks, these Lusts are like addictions and just like a real life addict, they leave nothing but a trail of destruction in their wakes. I like that. The Lunar group is already so into that sort of dysfunctional mindset. The merchant who suffers from traumatic bonding and is now caught a twisted hate/love relationship. The healer whose violent instincts led to self mutilation and a split personality. And of course, the assassin who just kills because he gets off on it. The merchant can relate to Thed, who was abused and filled with vengeance. The assassin filled with a kind of lust and amorality. The healer, well, she's just nuts, no telling what might drive her to do something. But they all share something with the Chaos gods: their personal "addictions" leave nothing but death and destruction in their wakes. That seems an interesting theme to explore. How does an addict find redemption? Do these PCs find redemption? Not the assassin. He would never even seek it, nor acknowledge he has a need for it. But that makes the merchants story more compelling. She's been dragged into it. And the healer is already in a battle with herself and that can play out nicely. But still looking for anyone's actual myths they might know about or heroquests they might have had/heard of.

While that's really useful - and I thank you for it - I think there are other forms of chaos heroquests that might prove more meaningful. Thed, for example, doesn't start her heroquests by bursting into the world, though many of her broos do. If we are on a Thed myth, however, it won't follow that pattern. There's probably plenty of variations of Thed being abused, however. I've read the wonderful work on Thed being the victim of Orlanth's injustice, so I know there's good dramatic stuff out there to be found. Vivamort was the brother to the river Styx. Certainly there's a really good story to be told there. After all, Styx marks the line between life and death and Vivamort won't cross that line to either side, neither living nor dead, yet the Styx annihilates him. That's got to have a mythtastic story going on there told from the other side. And then there's Tien. That heroquester is obviously trying to destroy some crucial information, not trying to prove he belongs in time. I'm just hoping other folks out there have dabbled enough with Chaos to have some good myths to reimagine.

I'm getting way, way ahead of my group here, but probably late next year we should go back to our Lunar campaign and the crazy, dysfunctional party I detailed in "Lunar Diaries". I intend to send them on some horrifying chaos heroquests. They are going to bring the white moon by destroying the world and while some of them are guaranteed to get carried away, others will be there working for Arachne Solara to ensure there's something left when it's all over. One must destroy to create. Or, as a better analogy, there needs to be a "controlled burn" and that requires someone to be the fire. But where to find epic chaos heroquests? Which gods don't necessarily matter. They'll be "arkating" their way through the chaos gods.

There's also something to be said for the quality of the adventures that came out for Stormbringer right out the gate. There was nothing comparable on the roleplaying market at that time.

The Monty Haul of the Money Tree is what made it the perfect opening adventure for any RQ 3 campaign. Just rolled up PCs were in dire need of better armor and a few spells. Survivability improved greatly thanks to that adventure.

Stormbringer is what started me into roleplaying games. 2nd edition is still my favorite.

Can't wait! Two weeks....not more than two weeks.... Oh, and a important question: I may be moving in a couple months. If I preorder, how do I update the address once I find a new place?

Why is no one concerned that the artwork shows the Coneheads have landed on Glorantha and are probably right now consuming mass quantities?

Good luck Pete and Clarence!

Rani's armor looks actually rather practical, rather than just ceremonial. The cobra's prevent someone sweeping her head off and on overhead chop is going to deflect at the worst into the side of her helm, but quite likely the attacker is going to find they have to withdraw their sword directly back to get it out of there and that's not a very good move to have to make. And Rani would probably have trained in breaking their sword should they be in that position. But the helm looks like the cobra might deflect the blow down onto her skull if delivered from the most likely angle. So that helm I wouldn't want to wear.

Take two had that bronze age feel to it. I really liked it the best.

If you start your players off dealing with Dorastor, well.....let's just say my players have gamed in Glorantha for many years real time. And if I say the name Dorastor, they all reply "F Dorastor!" One player had his duck get those two words tattooed on his arm. So maybe if you want players to get to like playing in Glorantha somewhere else to start would be better?

I once wrote a little comic. The family is packing up from camping and heading home. They pass a McBurgers and the kids in the back seat wake up sleepily "Are we there yet?" "Not yet." the parents say. Next frame they're driving past a ChickinRUs and the kids in the back seat wake up sleepily "Are we there yet?" "Not yet." the parents say. Next frame they drive past a Cow Queen Restaurant and the kids in the back seat wake up sleepily "Are we there yet?" "Not yet." the parents say. Last frame shows the car entering town. The sign says "Welcome to Generica. Population: Everybody" And there's a McBurgers, a ChickinRUs and a Cow Queen and everybody in the car is cheering "We're HOME!" This reminded me of that.

It has a lot of great stuff. It's D&D guys. Of course it's all about those set combat pieces and character classes. D&D is the antithesis of Runequest. In Runequest you try to avoid combat when possible. There are no character classes and you can become whatever you want. A warrior with great stealth skills is a thing in Runequest. In D&D, not so much. Let's face it guys, D&D is stupid, Runequest is smart. But 13G is really good and has a load of great stuff. So much so that I'd try playing it. I'd rather steal everything I can for Runequest however. Those trickster spells.....O...M...G.

That was a really excellent review and it made me go out and buy 13th Age and 13G. I don't buy into GNS Theory, though. I think WOTC's study hit the mark far better. You need a group of players from all spectrums to get the most out of the game. I've found that to be true with my group. There's the hack and slasher who just wants to maximise his damage. There's the Character Actor who wants to have long conversations with every NPC. The strategist and the tactical player. And the creative ones. And that one who just likes to win. And everybody wants all of it in some doses.

I've read somewhere official but I can't remember where that Mallia had her diseases from the get go, but was not evil, just feared and misunderstood and thus lonely. Subere understood her, however, and put her to use guarding the great secret that was death. But she was later tricked or seduced into failing her duty. I wish I remembered better. There's more with Vivamort and trickster etc. I cant remember the details anymore.

The Eolians would disagree, seeing as one of their five elemental spirits they worship is Fiery Fox. (Along with Slippery Otter, Raven, Reindeer and Owl)

And I'd say OK. The GM always has the final say.

First off, if the magic spirits spell is detecting magic or detecting enemies or whatever, and it's condition is "cast the spell whenever etc. etc." then one can pretty much "wave one's hand" and say the magic spirits nature is to detect whatever and all it is doing is giving YOU that ability. It's that easy to explain how the magic spirit could prejudge. But you take this too far and it devolves into silliness. You can take some of the greatest novels and when you start applying such stringent detail to it and you're left with, well, the sword in the stone is magic, don't you see, so it knew Arthur was the one. Orrrr, you come back to the point that whoever put the sword into the stone put a condition on it and that's how magic works. That's as far and deep into the mechanics as you need to go. Those ARE the rules. As written. It's not going too far, nor making shamans all powerful, to say a magic spirit or even a spell spirit innately knows and can do what it's spell does, what it is doing is letting YOU in on the magic. Now, as for the OP's question, no it's not permanent per se, but it virtually is for all intents and purposes and can fulfill the conditions of his needs.