jajagappa

Because Glorantha is a world where myths are real and it is important to reinforce the myths, sometimes in This World, sometimes in the Other World, in order to keep Chaos at bay (as well as other things). Consider Christmas. Every year, millions of people reenact/retell the same story. We put lights on trees to keep the Darkness at bay. We celebrate a rebirth within the world. We see gifts brought to honor the birth. We call for the Sun to return and fight back winter and the ice. Most years that is enough. But some years the omens are bad. Some years, more is necessary. Some years, you must cross over and enter the myth. The omens say the Hell Mother is coming this year to devour the lights, to eat the newborn/reborn one. You must be there to drive her off, or to ensure that the three wise women arrive with the gifts and blessings, etc. And if you fail, your community is in for a very, very bad year. This is more than just going to Jonstown to the market, or going to Snakepipe Hollow to kill some Chaos and maybe return with a treasure. This is interacting with the myths that define you, your community, your relationships with the gods, and reinforce your belief in how the world does or ought to work. The HQG core book has one: the quest to restore Orane, the Earth Goddess, who fled from the world in the midst of your holy day rituals when enemies attacked. It's a quest into the Underworld to convince the goddess to return and bring life/fertility/harmony back to your community (for without her, the fabric of your community is unraveling). The Eleven Lights has another which is to go into the Underworld, find three dead stars, then bring them all the way to the Crown of Heaven to resurrect/relight them. The heroquest in SKoH is the rescue of a soul trapped in another goddess' Hell. Most of the Underworld quests have common elements: descent into Hell via some path; crossing Hell through a world of nightmare and trials to reach the place where the dead soul/spirit is; rescuing/recovering the soul/spirit; then returning. This is very much along the lines of Joseph Campbell's basic mythic outline in a Hero With a Thousand Faces. The Eleven Lights also has the myth to Gain the Red Cows. In this one, the heroes cross over to the Otherworld and follow the mythic path to reach the Giant's Stead, outwit the Giant, and Steal the Cows to bring back to your clan. Pavis Gateway to Adventure has the myth of the Emperor Naming the Gods. The heroes are thrust into this somewhat against their will as among the foes who will be named. If they fail, they are effectively thrust into a Lunar Hell and the powers of their gods are diminished. If they succeed, their gods are strengthened. There are varied places where other myths are described, though not necessarily in scenario form: the Slaying of the Sun by the Storm God; the End of the Green Age (aka Innocence); the Coming of Death; the Birth and the Banishment of Drought; the Survival of Light through the Great Darkness; etc.

Let them pass through Greydog territory to go to or from Runegate, or the Upland Marsh. Vouch for them at some point in the future. Of course, that's assuming they don't accuse the Colymar of having killed the victims.

My campaign does. And I haven't seen anything yet of the Heroquesting of the GM Sourcebook.

A GM can fairly readily follow the story and add in or around it without much difficulty - it really depends on if you want to pursue it or not, but it's a solid outline if you want to use it (or connect it/characters as passing events in your own). I've already used the Battle of the Queens story to frame that as a short interim piece in my game.

Yeah, you definitely don't want to be in that situation. It's exactly like the "Tough" example in HQG.

Not without hitting Nearly Impossible as the default resistance for many activities. It will not be good for all challenges. Yes, that's their focus. Beast and Storm. A bull's fertility powers definitely fit. But if someone is sick and needs healing, call the CA healer. (Of course the Storm Bull can intimidate the healer into helping. Or can be the one sent through the battle to bring the healer back. Etc.) Don't put that out of the question, though. He might Intimidate the rivals to accept a peace. Maybe refuses to aid either side against Chaos until they achieve peace. Maybe challenges all to a Drinking Bout - the loser has to accept peace. These might be Very High Difficulty - unusual but possible.

I would not be surprised if this turns out to be the method by which the Loskalmi defeat the KoW. Sounds like something we've heard before... where could that be... oh, Dorastor! What better Man-of-All than a Nysaloran!

It was printed by Unspoken Word (as were a few other publications). Effectively a fanzine, though of good quality. Those ceased publication by 2005 and are not available through any site/store. eBay likely the only source.

Yes, and their focus is the Janube Valley, perhaps with a goal to unite with Carmania vs. the Lunar Empire.

No, I believe Loskalm and Seshnela are on two distinct tracks. The Serpent Crown is clearly associated with the Seshnelan expansion. The three kingdoms might be Seshnela (probably Tanisor specifically), Arolanit, and some part of Ralios (Naskorion most likely). The Black Dragon Pictoglyphs all suggest this action is going on in the Seshnela/Ralios area, not Fronela. 13. An Uzko and four Men, each marked as Arkat, fight against a King of Men wearing a Serpent Crown, his Blue Sorcerers, and Stone Men. This is Seshnelan king vs. Ralios backed by his zzaburi + the dwarfs. This should tie into Guilmarn's campaigns as noted in GtG p.424: Once Seshnela is unified, Guilmarn turns his attention to Ralios and Fronela. The king launches an even greater invasion of Ralios with the goal to exterminate all Arkati. The Arkati strike back, with unexpected magic and new Heroquesting secrets. 14. The Serpent Crown is on the ground, fought over by Men. The Arkats wear a collective crown but fight amongst themselves. Presumably the Seshnelan king dies, and now it is fought over. 15. A Man carrying a sword, a woodsman’s axe, and casting sorcery couples with the Snake Goddess and receives the Serpent Crown from three kingdoms. Stone Men guard the scene. New figure receives the Serpent Crown. Sword, axe, and sorcery could be the symbols of the three kingdoms. The dwarfs are allies here. Snake goddess should be Seshna Lakita. 16. The Arkats flee from the Serpent Crown king and his Stone Men who shoot fire from sticks. They flee to a Storm King who breathes fire. Arkats go and join Ardinyar Kocholangsson in Otkorion. [He is noted in KoS p.27: In the third direction, Argrath got the help of Ardinyar Kocholangsson, Lord of the Seven Storms and King of Ralios. He had been sent by Orlanth and brought the Storm Dragon.]

Well, that does force them into some interesting roleplaying situations!

Based on what's available, that is correct. Somewhere there was a note that Loskalm basically must become as warlike ("evil") as the Kingdom of War to defeat it. In 1628, Charg is freed from the ban. Likely Loskalm attempts to conquer the Janube valley cities (including the Arrolian Properties) and then confront Charg. The King of the West at this point should be the King of Loskalm. The King of Seshnela is busy conquering Ralios and fighting the Arkats. There may be Elf Reforestation across Fronela during the late 1630s or early 1640s. Around 1644, the Red Emperor retakes Carmania, then marches west to regain the Arrolian Properties, defeats (and probably kills) the King of the West, and sacks Sog City. And then by end of the 1640s & early 1650's things get really bad. The Great Winter comes, and then the Flood comes (and what Prince Snodal tried to stop comes true after all). Should be defeated by Loskalm, but perhaps Loskalm effectively becomes the Kingdom of War in defeating it. Tribute. Someone's got to pay for the War against War. Should be Fronelan at this point. Seshnelans are busy with their own war. And also remember that there is the opening the gate of Banir. I.e. Chaos emerges/returns in various forms.

Although if it is one that reflects a conditional restriction, I'd impose the next higher-level restriction. E.g. Never eat the meat of birds; I'd now make it: Never eat any meat.

I used it in-game and worked quite well. I noted this in another thread, but this is how I ran the Battle of the Queens: Asked them to identify what roll the PC was taking in the battle: Warrior and fighter; Missile caster; Magical support; Healer and medic; or Recorder of deeds/messenger Indicated that those who wished to augment their subsequent rolls with Inspiration, should identify whether they are inspired by a Rune or a Passion, and make those rolls Then had everyone make a Battle roll (considered adding a Penalty for Prince Kallyr's bad omens, but didn't end up doing so) for the opening scene of the battle Somewhat like a Group Simple contest in HQG, I narrated the flow of this stage of the battle based on the sequence of their results Missile casters and riders generally acted first, fighters fought in the melee, messenger was sent by Queen Leika to Prince Kallyr and had to add in a Ride roll through the battlefield (in time to see Kallyr fall & die) Queen Leika made a rousing speech (i.e. succeeded in her Battle roll which gave everyone in her group a +20% bonus for next scene of the battle) Previous Inspirations carried forward; those who failed prior Inspirations could attempt Inspiration via a more limited set of options: a Rune or Passion associated with Queen Leika, the Colymar (or a Colymar clan), Orlanth, Air, Movement, or Truth Then had everyone make a Battle Roll for the second scene of the battle Again narrated results based on the series of results (this time the messenger got to ride to rally the Cinsina and got to see Queen Ivartha fall) Number of battle successes indicated that the Colymar had driven the Lunars back into the Creek (and were busy warning folks not to get too much blood in the Creek itself lest they feed the Delecti's undead downstream) At the conclusion, depending on Battle results, they either took wounds or gained experience checks. Could have elaborated pieces further (or divided the battle into more scenes with added bonuses or penalties based on the results of the army leaders), or added in some set encounters (e.g. a fight with some named Lunar NPC), but seemed to work well for what I wanted and the players appeared to enjoy the overall flow. All good ideas that I can see using in the future.

That's how I played as well, so it likely was in some rules. Plus unenchanted iron blocks/dampens magic around it.

Aha! I do have that too! Just in a completely different folder (one of the downsides of doing this so long). Mine is a revision from Jan 1994 though, right before RQ Con 1.

As I recall from discussions, this was Jeff's preferred/primary approach to RQG playtesting.

I don't remember when that emerged. RQ Con 1 was 1994. This material therefore was early 1990's.

Finally turned up the old RQ Con 1 program book. This is the entry (and it is a MoLaD variant): Masters of Luck and Death (MoLaD) Created by Charles Morehouse - One round, 5 players per table. Remember the old Chaosium board game that never quite made it to print? Well, Charles went and wrote his own version. Reenact the HeroQuests of your gods in an effort to become the next Pharaoh. Stafford tried it at Convulsion, and said: "This is a lot like the game we were working on, but more fun."

The Blue Book is clearly the best, but so hard to get a hold of! And Sog City University is too difficult to get into!

Found these odd pages in an old folder containing RQ Con 1 and 2 stuff. Think these were from RQ Con 1. Clearly from a game that I must have participated in and looks like something of a MoLaD variant, though can't say I have any recollection of it. I must have been the Fire player since that's the sheet I have and some items were checked off. The list of units and descriptions is interesting though and the suggestion of Fire-related myths.

Since Rinliddi/First Blessed is the origin/heart of the Lunar Empire, I'd expect that Lunar military tradition arose out of Rinliddi practices (which may be one reason why it's not overly detailed). DH practices, probably as developed by Yelmgatha, would be the second source. The third core source for Lunar military should be the Conquering Daughter and what she developed in Sylila/Jillaro (likely combining earlier Lunar with that of Orlanthi). Part of the Lunar military tradition would seem to be the ability to flexibly bring together a number of these diverse practices into a homogenous grouping as seen in the Heartland Corps, IMperial Bodyguards, Cavalry Corps, and Lunar Provincial Army. I'd suggest Lunar military tradition minimally includes everything except Carmania.

I removed the flimsy piece of paper even though it looks nice and put it aside where it wouldn't get damaged.

Those sound more like the Uncolings, the reindeer hsunchen.

In my run-through, my players ignored Carthalo entirely and didn't even pursue him. (And thought he might be part of some bandit party.) They buried the body under gathered stones, Yanioth said a few words in prayer to Ernalda, and they moved on without even encountering the ghost. Orlanth: use Air or Movement; Yelm: use Fire (i.e. use whichever rune specifically associated with the cult is felt most appropriate and have it manifest that way - Orlanth's shield is like a buffer of wind, Yelm's is radiant heat, etc.). If it's interesting to apply it, do so. You can treat it somewhat like Ride: if nothing untoward is going on, it can be automatic; if something unusual, like rock lizards attacking or Idrima stomping around, then apply to try to keep them from bolting off. Even where my PC's fumbled, the cattle didn't go that far off. It's definitely of use if you want to bring that cattle back!