jajagappa

12 hours ago, Paid a bod yn dwp said:

I guess the flat roofed/ low tilt roof could be more common in the southern Esrolia region?

Expect angled and tiled rooftops in Esrolia to shed rain.

4 hours ago, Ian Cooper said:

Dragon Pass is climatically most similiar to areas like Translyvania and you can think of the Esrolia in the model as equivalent to the settlements around the Black Sea. I'll let Jeff offer up the US equivalents

For Esrolia, I tend to think of Georgia and South Carolina with a humid sub-tropical climate with mild winters and hot summers. 

On 7/10/2016 at 9:51 AM, Yohann said:

If you ever need an additional player in your Nochet campaign

See note in geekmail over on RPGGeek.

6 hours ago, Tindalos said:

As an idea: They become the Glowline.

I like it.  And it's in line with what Belintar did to create the Building Wall. 

And if they are woven into the Glowline, likely by dividing their six souls into separate parts, then it's not simply a matter of going to the Glowline to rescue them.  You'd probably have to heroquest to one of the Glowline centers, cause it to fail, and then find a way to recover the parts before the Glowline is reestablished.

2 hours ago, David Scott said:

Looks like he would have the Whirling 'Copter Blade feat

Given the magic streaming off of it, maybe it's the legendary Wind Sword!

And Griselda!  Presumably with Krogar.

21 hours ago, Evilroddy said:

Is it a Nysalor riddle of some kind, or am I blind to the wisdom which follows his third short paragraph?

You have failed to contemplate the Silence and the Emptiness which is without form.

2 hours ago, Falconer said:

Will RQ4 have the same assumed time period as the 13th Age materials?

Expecting that to be yes.

2 hours ago, Falconer said:

Will the Glorantha Sourcebook be equally directly applicable to both games?

Yes, we expect it should be fully applicable to RQ, 13G, and HQG.

29 minutes ago, soltakss said:

Illumination from Nysalor/Gbaji/Arkat/Red Goddess is treated as functionally equivalent to draconic Illumination

Yes.  Per HQG p.206: "Communicating with True Dragons (as opposed to their dreams or their immature offspring) results in a transformative mental and spiritual state called draconic consciousness that is functionally equivalent to Illumination. For game mechanic purposes, draconic consciousness is treated the same as Nysalorean Illumination, as it also liberates from fear of Chaos and True Dragons, and grants the same set of abilities as Nysalorean Illumination. Many scholars believe that draconic consciousness is somehow different from Illumination, although Argrath is said to have remarked that they are just different paths to the same place."

30 minutes ago, soltakss said:

or the insights that becoming a Hero gives you

I don't think is the case.  The Teachings of Arkat or Argrath (both being Illuminated) could give you such insights.  But just becoming a Hero would not.

1 hour ago, ajtheronin said:

Thanks both for the quick the quick replies.

No problem, and just ask as you have questions.  From 2+ years of active HQG gaming I've got plenty of situational examples I can comment on or point you to.

I started with new characters in the planned setting.  The pre-gens are fine for examples (or if someone is stuck on an idea), but you want the player to embrace their creation and I think that works best when they create it.

For HQG, I introduced some basic concepts.  You can look them over in my PbF thread here: https://rpggeek.com/thread/1192660/ooc-heroquest-glorantha-colymar-campaign-2-orlmart

The main pieces were:

1) the steps we'd take

2) a bit of background on the setting including some short 'flashbacks' to get some grounding in the setting

3) describing what character concepts, occupations, keywords, runes, and abilities were

Then we created the characters and worked through the clan generator.  At that point we were ready to get underway.

I provided a short Quick Start guide on this page of my thread (scroll down): https://rpggeek.com/thread/1192660/ooc-heroquest-glorantha-colymar-campaign-2-orlmart/page/7

and also a summary of die rolls, augments, difficulties, and contests here (some at the top, but scroll down for some more details): https://rpggeek.com/thread/1192660/ooc-heroquest-glorantha-colymar-campaign-2-orlmart/page/11

While we started off with Simple Contests and applied Augments (we just use the simple augment approach at 1/5 of the ability), I absolutely use Extended Contests.  They are the climactic and dramatic centerpieces and endings of all my sessions where the players really feel like they earn their victories and often need to use their Hero Points to survive.

1 hour ago, soltakss said:

Is there a campaign in the Coming Storm Vol 1? I have glanced through it but cannot see any scenarios or scenario hooks.

No, the campaign is in Vol 2.  However, there are plenty of scenario hooks and sandbox ideas in Vol 1 based on the Red Cow clan, the leadership of the Cinsina, the Emerald Sword Dinacoli, the Two-Pines clan of the Culbrea, the Telmori, and the ghouls of Brangbane.

On 7/8/2016 at 10:57 AM, Runeblogger said:

- How hard is it to run this campaign if you started with the Colymar campaign and your PC belong to the Orlmarth clan?

From what I've seen it should not be difficult.  There are several options:

1) The Orlmarth characters are exiled due to some event (feud with Greydogs, freeing the dragon of Two-face Hill, Lunar troubles) and go to kin in the Red Cow clan.

2) One of the Orlmarth characters is due to marry into the Red Cow clan and PC's are busy working on the arrangements/alliance.

3) The Red Cow clan (or others in the Cinsina tribe) have something the Orlmarth need.  Trade negotiations via the PC's ensue.

4) Telmori or Sazdorf troll raiders (or even bold Dinacoli or Culbrea) take something from the Orlmarth.  They need to get help from the Cinsina to recover it.

While I can't offer up any podcasts or videos, if you want to browse some narrative Glorantha/HQG examples in PbF format, you can have a look at either my Orlmarth/Colymar campaign starting at: https://rpggeek.com/thread/1204787/ic-heroquest-glorantha-colymar-campaign-2-orlmarth (and continuing on across 5 other threads over the past 2 years)

or my Nochet campaign at: https://rpggeek.com/thread/1499941/ic-heroquest-glorantha-nochet-campaign-pt-1  (now into its 2nd thread/session). 

Pacing/timing in a PbF is obviously different than in a live session and allows for more thought-out vs. spur-of-the-moment response, but mechanics for HQG work the same.

35 minutes ago, davecake said:

How they get air into their bubble nests I don't know.

Perhaps seasonal or annual quests to raid and capture winds, sylphs, and other air beings with magic spells or enchanted kelp ropes to bind them.  Some winds etc. may be better than others such as those formed in the Doldrums that pass over annually and are calm and placid, whereas the wild waterspout winds are dangerous to take on.

Overall I really like the layout style.  My one complaint is with the character charts such as on page 51 shown above where the greys of lines and figures blend too much with the background and make it hard to discern differences - color (such as the brown used in the style) would help clarify both connections and the factions.

11 hours ago, Iskallor said:

It's like a busy Lhankor Mhy temple in here, great stuff

The Glorantha Digest lives!!!!  The Hero Wars are truly at hand.  

p.101 The stat block for ROSTAKUS TWICE-OUTLAWED is incorrectly headed 'Kallesra Sees-Tomorrow'.  The faction looks copied as well.  Age and after looks ok.

p.102 The stat block for KORLMHYOR THE SWIFT has the same incorrect heading of 'Kallesra Sees-Tomorrow'.  Ditto on the copy of the faction.  Age and after looks ok.

21 hours ago, Joerg said:

The way I always played the Aeolians is that they have sorcery instead of Spirit Magic.

That is how I approached my Esvulari character from Nochet in a short-lived HQG campaign.  Although she had become an Argrathi warlock, she was Esvulari by birth and one of her Runes was Law, from which she had an Earth-based grimoire as follows.

Rune: Law 1W

(Personality Traits: logical, exacting)

• Initiate of the Aeolian Temple

• Grimoire: Earnalda's Calendar of Magicks +1

This grimoire contains spells pertaining to the earth and earth cycle. Spells include:

○ Plough through Earth (earth, movement)

○ Shatter Bones of Earth  (earth, disorder)

○ Mend Body with Earth  (earth, harmony)

○ Hide Treasure in Earth (earth, fate)

○ Draw Endurance from Earth (earth, stasis)

57 minutes ago, Alex said:

this here Chromebook, due to Google's War on Java

I found I had to take two steps to get the Ephemeris enabled on Chrome.

1) Look through the instructions here to enable/fix Flash problems in Chrome to enable PPAPI.

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/6213033

2) Update the Exception list for Java

https://www.java.com/en/download/help/win_controlpanel.xml

You will need to add the following to the Exception Site list under the Java Control Panel>Security tab:

http://www.glorantha.com/site-apps/ephemeris/EphemerisII.html

53 minutes ago, soltakss said:

The Guide to Glorantha doesn't say, but I would guess that most, if not all, of the Homeward Ocean is in the Abyssal Plain, deep, dark and dangerous.

Once upon a time, or a myth, the Earth was a great cube floating upon the waters/underworld.  Mountains were raised, etc. but coming down from the Spike there were vast plains stretching in all directions.

And then the Seas invaded.  They began to eat away at corners and then proceeded inland (perhaps pushing the Earth cube down as more waters came ashore).  The Seas clearly cut great rifts into the earth with the great Currents and formed some of the Abyssal Plains around the Spike until they were driven back by the Storm Gods and many lands were reclaimed.  The Shattering of the Spike and Zzabur's great spells clearly broke more of the Earth, and the Seas filled those voids.

But aside from the Void of the Homeward Ocean, I think the great Currents still rush across Deep Earth lands.  And it is quite possible that great magical struggles still occur between Earth Goddesses and their stony and fiery minions against the deep Sea Gods.  Perhaps in places it's even akin to Kimos where mighty magics rage back and forth:  sea mounts and ranges raised by the Earth, only to be torn away by great Doom Currents.  All far from the eyes of Mortal Men.

1 hour ago, Alex said:

Imagine sailing warily through the outer fringes of the Kahar Sea, and through the fog faintly glimpsing a manatee-like silhouette, and then the garish shamanic tattoos and outlandish jewellery...   as he snores his head off, floating in mid-air.

Now that sounds like a perfect scenario starter in a Vormaino or Kralorelan campaign for a ship lost in Kahar's Sea!

The Conquering Daughter and, of course, Jajagappa.

4 hours ago, Corvantir said:

Why would my character work for a Lunar?

Life is hard in exile in Pavis even for those from Sartar.  Old clan feuds live on and who says your clan had good relations with those who've previously come east.  You've got family to support and no connections.  Duke Raus is also an exile and is offering good plots of land for those who work for him - hard life, yes, but a chance for your family and it beats starving or seeing your children starve.

Or perhaps you're from one of the Elmali clans of the Far Point, largely destroyed from Harvar Ironfist seized control of Alda-Chur with his Yelmalions.  Now your in Pavis and the Yelmalions here give you a hard time too.  Life under Duke Raus may not be so bad after all.

Rick's update on June 21 on the Kickstarter page was the following:

" While I await the arrival of the test printing of the 3 volumes of Unpublished material and the RQ1 Playtest Manuscript, I have gone back to working on Plunder and Runemasters. After those are completed I can then begin the layout on Cults of Prax and Cults of Terror, which are almost done being edited for completeness and removal of any typos. The rest of the series of books will be spread throughout the remainder of 2016. We wanted them all done by June, and while all are in various stages of completion it now seems likely that they will get released in small batches over the next 3-6 months. The initial promise date in the Kickstarter was "in 2016", and we are putting a plan in place to stick to that date. If we can get them all done sooner rather than later, we will. "