jajagappa

From conversations I had quite some time ago with Jeff, I believe the king as of 1626 is an adventurer and former companion of Broyan's named Daraventh. That may have changed.

But are they really? Most Sartarites would only know that he helped defeat the Lunars at Pennel Ford, and might connect him to the liberation of Orlanth. They may have heard that he liberated Pavis, or saved Pavis from the nomads. They might have heard that he has gathered strange allies with unusual magics or powers. Whether that's a good or bad thing is still yet to say. There may be varied other rumors about him, but he is still a largely unknown quantity. At the end of 1626/start of 1627 though he helps liberate Alda-Chur and the Far Place from the Lunars. So he may be seen as a pro-Sartar/anti-Lunar force at that point.

And eventually everyone gets tired of saying the new long name and just starts calling it Ex (and know we know how the Praxian site came to be called by its name, too). 😉

He was really a secret Thanatar priest, schooled in the deepest stacks of the Temple of Knowledge in Nochet. The Dragonrise was a Thanatar plot to consume the minds of the entire Lunar Provincial Gov't - which is the real reason anyone devoured can no longer be contacted. He's gone back to Nochet now and secretly aims to become the Court Scribe to Samastina - gathering the knowledge of all her spies and devouring it for his own secret plans.

Minimally, raising the dragon resulted in not just Lunar deaths, but deaths of important Sartarites (e.g. Kangharl). They still have kin, which means they could demand wergild and justice from Kallyr if they are going to accept her as Prince of Sartar. Orlaront, long known as a dragonfriend, becomes a convenient scapegoat - exile him and then say to any who come, "It was not us, but him! Seek your justice with him!" (Also, if Kallyr did not expect the dragon, this has probably thrown off many plans - she needs a personal scapegoat as well as a political one.)

Sounds very interesting! (Even though I don't play 13G, I've found the content very useful in my Glorantha games.)

Yes, Orlanth's Ring has already returned and been going regularly again (with 11 stars) for about 1.5 years by the Dragonrise. And what's unusual with the Dragonrise is that it should have been in its two-week Underworld phase, but against the odds opened the Stormgate and rapidly completed its cycle. Some combination of Harrek and Argrath is what happens as it occurs during the battle (not as an aftermath). Orlanth is killed at Whitewall. This is corresponds to the mythic event where the wicked uncles throw Orlanth into the Underworld prison and lock the doors behind (e.g. see Argrath in the the realm of the Strange Gods in the Prince of Sartar comic). The Battle of Auroch Hills partially frees Orlanth (if you follow the New Breather rites). He's still presumably chained in the Underworld, but he lives and you can access him via the No-wind (or whatever path you can find). Jump ahead to the Battle of Pennel Ford where Broyan (who is an Orlanthi hero) comes together with Harrek and Argrath. The Lunars try to destroy Harrek with a Sunspear. He fends it off, and far away Tatius ("the Sun God" incarnation) is temporarily blinded. Somehow this action brings the mortal and mythic worlds together. Maybe it forces Harrek into the role of Monster Man to shrug it off? Argrath knows how to escape from the pit of the Strange Gods, and uses the event to open the Underworld Gate. Orlanth leaps free and thunder rolls across the battlefield.

They return during the Battle of Pennel Ford right after Harrek blinds the Sun God. GS p.38: At the same time, a deafening roll of thunder, the first heard in three years, pealed over the battlefield. Orlanth’s Ring, now comprised of eleven stars instead of eight, triumphantly appeared out of the Stormgate and rapidly climbed a third of the way up the Sky Dome. Orlanth was completely freed from his fetters and the wrathful Storm God sought vengeance upon those who had imprisoned him.

It's not limited to RQG. I hit that with players holding back on Hero Points in HQG as well. And it was worse in RQ2 where you had to think about what spells you even wanted in advance. I'm also a player in an RQG Smoking Ruins game, and already burned a couple RP's to drive back some attacking spirits (and we haven't even reached the Smoking Ruins yet!). I am conscious of not wanting to burn through too many (and I was at 5 to start) where I might need some in the ruins later. I think as a GM, you have to be aware of this RP economy and decide whether you want to push the PC's early, or help ensure they have a dramatic conclusion (or an opportunity to regain somewhere in between).

I've done that in my HQG Colymar Campaign where I've had each player take a faction leader among the Orlmarth. Sometimes they are on the clan ring, sometimes not, but they can react to certain orations by the PC's, push their own agendas, etc.

That's all currently through the Jonstown Compendium on DriveThruRPG. See: Jonstown Compendium Content Guidelines – DriveThruRPG Support

That's variously called: creative Heroquesting, the God-learner RuneQuest Sight, or Illumination. 😉 (Or an act of Eurmal - in which case the offending Trickster must be found and removed.)

Probably within days of the news of the Lunar disaster reaching the clan. (Not at the Dragonrise itself - no one beyond the immediate vicinity would know what happened, and might even think that the dragon was initiating a new Dragonkill within the Pass.) But once the clan heard that the Lunar army and priests were devoured, and no one around to retaliate, then they would likely have marched upon the slave farm (and remember the leaders from the slave farms quite likely were at the Dragonrise, leaving only stewards, guards, and scribes behind). I would say that these were not huge slave farms, but well beyond smallish farms with a few slaves. And yes Lunar officers or officials received the land - usually with the ability to collect the tribute from surrounding clans for the Lunar-friendly tribal king.

Yes, doesn't it! Something you might think about for an Art Pack is your set of buildings, plus decomposed rooms/stables. I find they work incredibly well for building out larger villas, creating small villages, and even assembling a caravanserai with an inn.

Also see the Daughters of Darkness in the RQ Bestiary.

It looks like a variant of one of the Hero Wars era many-subcult-Runes, e.g.

Personally, I found it very useful, particularly during rituals and omen-reading. Thankfully, you included the Boat Planet so that part works fine post-Dragonrise. I used to be able to get it to work reasonably with certain browsers. Unfortunately, Chrome is not one of them as it doesn't like to run Java code. What browser are you using to run it? Or are you running within some other Java development environment?

There's a few different options available you could mine. A lot depends upon where you think the 7 Mother's Priestess' soul ended up. Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes has the quest to rescue Hofstaring's spirit. Everything up through meeting the Judge of the Dead can work fine (the 7 Mother's Resurrection of the Red Goddess is something of a variant of the Lightbringer's Quest). The main questions then are: where did the Judge of the Dead send her soul? what trials do you face to get there? And how do you free her spirit from the Underworld (assuming she's not a Hero with the ability to escape it)? HeroQuest: Glorantha book has the quest to restore the goddess Orane from the Underworld. She's held in Ty Kora Tek's Caverns of Silence. There's a couple pathways suggested to get there. Then you have to bargain with Ty Kora Tek to release the spirit. Still the challenge of truly escaping the Underworld, but the Red Goddess must provide some methods (and the Blue Moon path might be another). Also see some of the background on the Lunar deities in the Glorantha Sourcebook starting on p.147. For instance, Gerra is the Dying Moon, and descended into the Throne of Woe to enter the Underworld. Rashorana (Nysalor) is the Dark Moon - Illumination which can never be eliminated and always returns. Then there is Ulurda/Orogeria of the Crescent Come Moon - she was the celestial huntress, the Blue Moving Planet that appeared before the Dawn. She appeared in the Celestial Forest and stalked the Sky Bear, which had taken all the stars and animals. Ulurda caught it, but instead of killing it, she tamed it. She released the stars, and went among them in the Sky. You could use these three to shape the story of Descent (Gerra has the inverted step pyramid that descends into Hell), which is a story/path of Grief. Then confrontation with the Devil who is also the Empty Emperor (or possibly the Judge of the Dead), from which Illumination (and the spirit sought) are found. Then to escape, follow the Blue Moon Hunter path through the Nightwood to find the sleeping Sky Bear (who is also Odayla/Orlanth's Ring). If you can tame the bear, he can release you when he reappears in the heavens.

My PC's recently visited the ruins in the Nymie Vale. These are my maps for/interpretation of the place as of 1625-6 (based off the Sartar Rising pt 3 map). You can see from the wide view that parts of the manor's walls and some sections remain standing. Even where rooms were "intact" inside, the structure was unsound and likely to collapse. Only one section at the northwest corner largely escaped the burning. This included the rooms of the Jakaleel witch Oheha. Her work room had floor markings for summonings of spirits. The scrolls on the walls included the Paper and Wood Lists for the Seven Mothers (which are supposed to be burned, but were stored instead - Harmast discovered his mother's name on one such list). The mirrors are magical, of course. One had a view into the Black Death Snake realm associated with the dark swamps of Darjiin. The other had a view to Oheha's current location (and through which she keeps an eye on her old home) - Oheha could cast magic through the mirrors. The secret room held a bound large Shade - the PC's barely survived its release.

As @Nick Brooke points out, Imther is by far the smallest and most minor of the Lunar Provinces. It's primary importance for the Lunar Empire is the dwarf trade (i.e. metal and weapons) - something that gets shut off in 1623 when the last king dies. It (and Aggar) are the first provinces to subsequently rebel (Glorantha Sourcebook p.41) against the Empire, even before the Dragonrise. By 1626, the only part of Imther that the Empire holds is Hilltown (p.189) - and they still haven't figured out how to restore access to the dwarfs and their metal. So, by both measures, it's perfectly reasonable to exclude Imther. Also, this did develop from a LARP, and there's only so many characters/plots you can reasonably incorporate. If it was centered on schemes in the Provinces under Appius Luxius, then yes you'd likely want to include, but they are not central (or even of secondary importance) to the Life of Moonson.

When I ran my adventurers into the Spirit Plane awhile back, they were accompanying the shaman Joseph Greenbeak. Swords (and other mundane objects) could not be brought along when they discorporated, but they ingested various herbs that could. That included Sword Grass, a diminutive type of grass about 2 inches long with two side "blades" beside the main grass blade. On the Spirit Plane, these manifested like large grass-like swords for their wielders, and the PCs could use their Sword skill to use. (It was an HQG game, so didn't have to worry about specific damage stats - in RQG, I'd probably have it lower than their spirit combat damage, but with the assumption that the PC's using them would be more like to succeed than in spirit combat.)

Looks like Jar-eel there with her lyre. And marching along the Daughter's Road (upper level, I think). And love the artwork!

How the West was One was a really fun event. The Waertagi dragon ship returned to Sog City (unfortunately smashing the docks), the Judge kept peace in the city, the School of Necromancy was busy, the College of Business and the Performing Arts was successfully funded, etc. - all while the Ecclesiastical Council went on with its mundane affairs.

And I did remember there was a difference! 😉

I actually liked the fact that it was using red, rather than green. And I think it makes sense that Ernalda would make use of all the treasures of the Earth, not just select ones.