jajagappa

Interesting to know. Any comments on durability? That's another interesting factor to think about including resistance to damp and rot, resistance to fire, cracking and tearing as scrolls are rolled or unrolled, fading, etc.

Probably impossible to know, but both exist. Material used (e.g. parchment, vellum, papyrus) probably is a factor. (And don't forget the Esrolian clay tablets!!! Plenty of those in the great Temple of Knowledge in Nochet, particularly to record all those wonderful deals between merchants or Esrolian Houses.) A few references that might be of use: Glorantha Sourcebook p.9: Amstali of Nochet "selected several scrolls from the shelves of the Great Library [of Nochet]" Guide p.750: Ethilrist's History of My Black Horse Troop "The whole work consists of thirteen volumes, with the first twelve written before the Hero Wars." p.529: port of Old Trade: "This is now a source of great learning and its merchants deal in ancient scrolls" RQ Companion p.6: Jonstown Compendium "The Jonstown Compendium is a series of books kept in the Lhankor Mhy temple in Jonstown, Sartar. It consists of scraps of material which various scribes have thought worth recording over the ages. These scraps have been culled from the minds of great philosophers, collected from the fantastic memories of tribal storytellers, and transcribed from various odd scrolls and ancient parchments. Each entry was gathered and listed, one after the other, without order or meaning or editorial labor. Each entry begins with a number which is bracketed in our translation. Sometimes this is followed by a title of sorts, wherein the author or redactor lists himself. Then follows the entry. Individual entries may be of any length. One entire volume of the Compendium contains only a single entry 250 pages in length, though most volumes list hundreds of pieces of information." p.59: more on Ethilrist's work: "It is written in ink upon paper, and bound in leather. Microscopic and sub-atomic investigations have proved that the paper is from a plant which no longer exists, while the leather is from a creature whose genetic make-up is approximately 57% identical with the present-day horse. The ink was manufactured from freshwater crayfish. The whole work consists of twelve volumes, with an average of 324 pages per book. There is a total of 3868 pages." Sartar Companion p.23: "The three walls are covered with shelves for scrolls and codices reaching up to the vault." Same page: "The great Catalog Wheel of Eonistaran is a wooden device like a broad water wheel. Each of the Wheel’s seven boards holds multiple scrolls containing a partial listing of the scrolls and codices within the Library’s collection. At least five different organizational systems coexist within these great scrolls; some are numbered, some are based on the first line, another based on a cryptic code, and so on. If a scholar cannot find what he is looking for in one scroll, he simply turns the wheel and looks in another scroll. Most scholars agree that the 120 volumes comprising Garangian Bronze-Gut’s Compendium of Persons Eminent in Every Branch of Learning with a List of their Writings is more comprehensive (but far less practical) than Desosinderus the Librarian’s more concise Scheme of the Great Bookshelves." p.24: "Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of scrolls and codices line the walls. The most famous set of works, the Jonstown Compendium, has several dedicated stacks on the ground floor." Also I'd note the reference in Cults of Prax to the Seven Mothers Temple which keeps their "Paper Lists" (of weekly lay participants, which are supposed to be regularly burned) and their "Wood Lists" of more 'permanent' lay members which are kept for 5 years.

Yes, quite possible to play with two players. As a couple others have noted, one approach is to let each player run two complete characters; or to have a main character and a sidekick. The former works better if there is likely to be a fair amount of combat, but both work fine. There are also different types of campaigns you can run which may be more suited to two players. Some are similar to what you've likely run in CoC. They include: thieves in an urban setting: Pavis or Big Rubble from the RQ Classic series are good options; the great metropolises of Nochet (overview here: Nochet, City of Queens – The Well of Daliath (chaosium.com) ) or Glamour (in the Jonstown Compendium books here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/309765/A-Rough-Guide-to-Glamour ) shamanic apprentices aiding their shaman/cult apprentices serving their priest: in either case, the apprentices are charged to complete tasks, rituals, obtain supplies, etc. (one variant is the sages of Lhankor Mhy investigating strange phenomena, searching for esoteric scrolls or knowledge, etc.) merchant guards/sidekicks/scribes: traveling with the great caravans through Dragon Pass and Prax while interacting with various factors, innkeepers, etc. - the merchant has plenty of other guards at hand to deal with combat threats "heirs" of the community leaders: requires a bit more background on the communities, but perhaps these are young heirs/nobles/priests who are expected to perform particular deeds/tasks - even leading warriors on raids or in battle can be more abstracted through the Battle skill and keep focus on their ability to inspire/lead others or deal with community intrigues

That is a wonderful picture! Looks like Remove Eye. The question though seems to be whether it's the Trickster casting it, or a bound Trickster spirit? Or is there a second spell involved cast through the trickster's eye???

I think a lot of Lunars will turn up as slaves being sold at Pimper's Block. Many may be acquired as thralls by ambitious clans near the Praxian border anxious to build up their communities with experienced crafters, guards, scribes, or even laborers. Any could end up as PC's.

There was a whole episode around this in Jeff's White Bull campaign. The PC's actually helped the leading Lunar citizen escape the nomads. Once the two days of pillaging and looting are past, there are likely quite a few Lunars who will look to establish relationships with the new regime in power.

I actually don't see that. By removing the "shackle" of an occupied/rebellious Sartar, it opens up more possibilities of Lunars traveling through or coming to Sartar and being more tolerated. I think this is the idea with the pregen Vostor and with the village of Renekot's Hope described in the Pegasus Plateau adventures. Here's a few of the themes you could use to mix Lunar characters into a campaign: the disillusioned soldier/mercenary the ambitious Etyries merchant looking to reestablish trade routes the devout Seven Mothers priestess who sees the Empire as misguided or wrong, or who believes the mission of healing is still correct and is now free of politics the Irrippi Ontor sage who offers knowledge and service to new leaders

Steal Breath (aka Tap Air) - destroys the air, therefore you are killing/obliterating wind spirits by your action. All their kin will turn against you too.

In the RQ Classic pdf version p.27 (room 22): In the center of this room an adamantine column stretches from beneath the cave floor into the cave ceiling. It is covered with wispy writing, is warm to the touch, and cancels all magic in the room (thus there are no magical detects allowed, etc.). Adamantine = Truestone No reference to Argrath in the RQ Classic version. However, there is the Newtling prophecy p.26: Additionally, the newts will show their savior the greatest treasure in the Rainbow Mounds. They know nothing else of this item, for they have not seen it either. It waits as a promise by their ancestor, for their Liberator. One might interpret the Liberator here in any number of ways, but leaving it to player agency is best in my mind.

Given that Steve's wife is in hospice care, I suspect he's not had much time for this. See: Fundraiser by Steve Perrin : Care for the Phoenix (gofundme.com)

No, it was a theme well before that. One of the premises in my Imther campaign (which I started way back in 1987) was that not all Lunars are bad/evil! I particularly focused on Lunars being very human (mix of good and bad) and the majority of the PC's were part of Lunar cults. I suspect it may have been a combination of Cults of Terror (Crimson Bat among others) which showed the Lunar King of Bilini near Dorastor accommodating Chaos, along with the Lunar occupation of Pavis where bureaucratic documents for everything (including hunting in the Big Rubble) were a feature.

The strange colored fire, the presence of heads, perhaps suggests Thanatari creating Darklight.

Maybe if your ancestor was a newt 😉

Pretty much what @Dissolv said. Like many early RuneQuest works, it transformed that idea of another species from being NPC's to kill (e.g. orcs) into a fully playable species with a very different, yet understandable, mindset from humans. Uz Lore taught us about their place in myth and within Time. The Book of Uz explained how to play a troll, how their communities worked, and who their gods were (and how to join those cults). Into Uzdom covered both human interactions with trolls (and their insects) with amusing scenarios (troll drinks at the Grogshop!, quests to Skyfall Lake and the Vale of Flowers) and whole cavern complexes to live within. It is still the definitive work on trolls in Glorantha.

Perhaps think about a certain star goddess... 😉 Edit: it was referenced on the blog page introducing the new art director.

No. I think that's been explicitly noted before - not until there is more about Malkionism and the West, I believe.

Or the dwarfs. 🙂 Just what deal did Sartar make with them. Yes, nice that they built all these roads, built Boldhome in a day, etc. But when does the debt come due? And what has to be paid out???

The first seems like Truesword or perhaps Sword Trance. The second looks like Summon Fire Elemental (aka salamander).

Really the Sacred Queen of Dragon Pass, incarnation of Kero Fin, which includes Sartar, Tarsh, and the Grazelands. What must she do to unify the land? Perhaps she must even banish/exile Argrath eventually to ensure that peace comes to the land? There is much yet to explore here...

There's also a whole underlying thread in King of Sartar which is rarely noted: Argrath is not ultimately the "survivor" - he becomes a god (i.e. he goes beyond the world/passes on to the Other Side); the survivor is Inkarne. And while King of Sartar suggests Inkarne is the child queen of Saird (or the 2nd spouse of Argrath), Glorantha Sourcebook p.17 notes that Inkarne (aka Reaches All) is the name of the FHQ who succeeds after the Dragonrise.

I believe it is supposed to be a compendium of all the spells (spirit and Rune) from the core book + the cults books. I have not heard to any plans to modify the magic systems.

There's definitely an anti-Argrath feeling of late. The "god-killing" may be one, but I see a couple other reasons popping up in the subsequent posts and those seem in line with what I've seen recently: The Genocide Bringer Argrath "frees" or brings back Sheng Seleris, and therefore causes the genocide of the Pelorians. Yet, we also know that Sheng Seleris is the Red Moon's shadow and may be destined to return whether Argrath is there to shoulder the blame or not. We also don't know the extent of Sheng Seleris' destruction, any more than we know the destruction that Harrek wrought upon Laskal or the King of Seshnela upon the populace of Ralios. The loss of the Many-Argraths What is clear is that there is a storyline centered on one Argrath. Whether he performed or ever performs all (or even some) of the deeds from King of Sartar remains to be seen (and I suspect all of our campaigns will increasingly diverge from that). I always thought the MRQ book Dara Happa Stirs handled that well giving player agency to events later ascribed to the DH Emperor. Hopefully the Hero Wars campaign will support that.

Guarding the events from outsiders and threats! I had a murder mystery to solve. If unmarried, they could be part of Harvest Games competing to win the hand of the Harvest Queen (probably a bad omen for a Humakti to win that! But Storm Bull could be a great blessing.) Another example is the Feast of Beasts from HQG's Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes. It's set in Seaseason, but you could come up with a reason to have similar Feast. Think US Thanksgiving holiday - extended family invited to celebrate the feast and the blessings of the year. In this case the extended family might be rival clans, beast folk, elves! and someone is likely to have grievances.

In my HQG game, I ran a five-day event over this period (actually I used Movement week as the old Thunder Rebels book mapped that as the Harvest week, but easy enough to do in Fertility week instead). Prelude - the Harvest Queen was already chosen, but this could be run as a competition among the unmarried women, chosen by the Earth Priestess to represent the clan for the year (with the ritual obligation to marry the Barley King and deliver a hopefully blessed child at the end of the subsequent year). Freezeday/Waterday - this was the Harvest Games. I used the Harvest Bride/Melisandre contest that was originally in Sun County (as @French Desperate WindChild also noted). I spread this over two days and it was held in the sacred Earth grounds. The unmarried men (and Vingans) competed to become the annual Barley King. Contests included: Foot Race, Javelin, Wrestling, and catching the Greased Pig on Day 1; braving the Slingstones, Horse Race, and the Poetry/Song contest (last counted double) on Day 2. There was a murder mystery in the midst of this that threatened the omens for the games (as well as an attack by Dark shadows sent by the Lunars). Clayday - this was the Wedding Day. The Barley King and the Harvest Queen wed in the rites of Orane. I used the Orane scenario from HeroQuest Glorantha for this. The Lunars sent Shargashi sky demons against the event in the hopes of disrupting the clan fortunes. Orane was lost, and there was a subsequent Heroquest to the Underworld to bring her back. Windsday - this is the Threshing Day. All the Orlanthi are out in the sacred fields to harvest the sacred grain for the Earth temple. The Orlanthi had to hold a vigil through the night before (note that days start at sunset, not sunrise, so the vigil was throughout Windsday night). Fireday - I had the Clan Moot occur on this day. The Clan Ring gathers to discuss omens, take action, etc. I had the players take the roles of the leaders of the clan factions and try to maneuver their favorites into the clan ring, or remove those they didn't like (very much on the order of King of Dragon Pass clan activities). Good opportunity for the clan ancestors to appear and complain about things not to their liking, other clans to show up demanding recognition/recompense for wrongs, etc.

But really, really disastrous Sacred Time quest. And remember that she got many of the tribes to support her in this - so their magic goes all awry. Bad things happen in 1626. I'd have evil omens, poor crops, raiding trolls, Chaos, other bad stuff. And the Battle of the Queens was nearly a disaster save for Leika. The leaders of the Malani, the Cinsina, the Kheldon (i.e. Kallyr), and possibly Culbrea are all killed, even though the Lunars driven off. Nothing overly heroic in that, and most of her companions and allies are dead.