jajagappa

In my Orlmarth campaign, the PC's never saw Joseph's fetch, though it guarded over their and Joseph's bodies while Joseph led the discorporate party into the Spirit World. Joseph had no attendant spirits at that point, though, as they had been destroyed saving Joseph from an attack by the Lunar witch Oheha. I'm thinking, though, that by the time the PC's encounter him again, that Joseph will have gathered new ones such as Slim and Pidgeon and Slippery Sam to help him!

I'd say 'It depends'! I think it really comes down to whatever makes MGF in the context of the game you're running. In my old Imther campaign, each clan had specific seasonal spirits which they honored. These were not static and unmutable, but depended on the needs of the community. It was not uncommon for a community to shift their spirits, much like they might change who's on the clan ring. And many spirits became unhappy with such choices as when the Woman of the Long Reeds was offended and cursed a village with disease. These spirits were often associated with specific locations, had relationships with other nearby spirits, etc. In my current Orlmarth campaign, my PC's ventured into the Spirit World and encountered the Assembly of Small Spirits - many spirits that once inhabited a small grove in the material world, but had been lost and forgotten. Though they all honored Little Rock, their ostensible leader, they were typically quarrelsome, jealous, or envious - petty in their demands and needs. Yet in other places, the spirits were well-ordered and well-behaved.

Yes, there are some ducks in Nochet. There's a clan (or family) of Ducks who live at the Palace of Desaranis. They are prominent among the merchants of Imarja's Plaza and have some protection there. There are more in the Marshes south of the city than in the city itself though. From the Index: "The Eye Ring clan of Ducks arrived here shortly after Starbrow’s Rebellion and the start of the first Duck Hunt. They and their newtling allies have nestled in near the edges of the Marshes." Many aid Stumptail, the "Talar" of Baurvo Sump on Duckprint Isle, "a horribly scarred and disfigured newtling who hates all Lunars with a burning passion."

Now that I like! Hmm, seems like that has to work into a good mythic story. Perhaps they were a gift to Ernalda when she went to Yelm sent by Genert (or similar). She set them to their task of carving the Garden walls so that the stone walls reflected the beauty of the life within. Of course, the Storm gods (and others) eventually broke the walls after Yelm fell, but there are still some gargoyles who know, or remember, or perhaps quest for such skill. Or perhaps there are Earth priestesses, particularly in Esrolia, who know the myth and know how to quest to the Garden, with a lifeless statue in hand, and imbue the statue with the powers of a living gargoyle. Of course, they are then set to work carving great works in places like Ezel or the Necropolis or the Sacred City within Nochet.

I suspect the Gargoyles will object, probably to the detriment of the carver. :-)

Before venturing down to Nochet, I was working on material for Saird and the Lunar provinces. This is what I sketched out for exports/tribute and imports by province. Region Major Exports (including Tribute) Major Imports Holay (excluding Saird) Cider, Fruit (dried), Herbs, Maize, Salt, Slaves (Balazarings), Wheat, Wine Bronze, Cloth, Copper, Horses, Marble, Metalwork, Stone Imther Bronze, Cheese, Copper, Firewine, Furs, Marble, Stone, Wool Cloth, Metalwork, Pottery, Slaves, Spices, Weapons, Wine Saird Cloth, Dogs, Fish (salted), Maize, Metalwork, Pottery, Weapons, Wheat, Wine Bronze, Copper, Horses, Marble, Slaves, Stone, Vellum Sylila Cloth, Horses, Leather, Metalwork, Pottery, Vellum, Weapons, Wool Bronze, Copper, Marble, Slaves, Stone Vanch Artifacts, Gems, Herbs, Leather, Stone, Wool Cloth, Metalwork, Pottery, Spices, Weapons, Wine

My original Imther campaign started with this theme. The King of Imther had imposed a tax on all cider to punish those who had opposed him. The players got involved unwittingly in a smuggling operation, and then got pulled into other shady deals. My Amber Fort campaign was also trade based - speculative venture by an Etyries merchant to make good on amber found along the Elf Sea. But while the merchant was busy working on that, my players came up with a scheme to cut and haul timber from the Elf Sea shores to Hortugarth and sell it there.

Is this the beer-bringing dragon or the wind-bringing dragon? Given its Barntar, I favor the former - perhaps he releases Minlister from the belly of the dragon?

Hwarin Dalthippa the Conquering Daughter in the Lunar Empire is certainly a patron and inspiration for artists as with the many statues, etc. that decorate and adorn Jillaro. The Esrolian heroes of the Silver Age were already noted, but certainly were inspired by the goddesses or gods there. While religious art is certainly important, there's clearly statues of important heroes, leaders, and military figures around. And decorative arts whether of Esrolian houses, Lunar pottery, carved chairs, jewelry, etc. could have any number of forms. Religious forms may be required by the temples, but I'm sure non-religious forms will be popular in daily life and trade.

And there's also a lot of repetition and overlap, e.g. stories of Asrelia and Ernalda as Earthmothers, the stories of the battles of Umath with the Sun and Orlanth with the Emperor, the raids of Orlanth and Vingkot.

There will be a number of Glorantha specific miniatures coming out eventually with Sandy Petersen's Gods War. You can see some examples here: Gods War miniature examples Also some examples at the Kraken facebook page: the Kraken (look for entries around April 8-19)

My Orlmarth campaign set below the Starfire Ridges started with Sartar Kingdom of Heroes (good for establishing Orlmarth clan background) and Sartar Companion (fleshing out areas such as Clearwine, the Starfire Ridges, and Colymar Wilds. As corvantir suggested, I also draw on the Sartar Rising: Barbarian Adventures book and the Dragon Pass gazeteer book that came out with HW/HQ1. There's also background material that I draw on from old Wyrms Footprints, and I transposed a scenario from the old RQ3 Sun County book that fit well. I tend to put together a lot of background material for my players. As it's a PbF campaign, you can find online here: HQG Orlmarth background Feel free to borrow if it suits you.

No long version to my knowledge. Rigsdal is presented as a subcult of Orlanth in SKoH p. 153. Truth is the noted rune. Expect that to be paired with Fire/Light for Polaris.

Correct, there is no Hippodrome in Nochet.

Given that HQG focuses on a quickstart approach to character creation, yes, it does gear you to making those three rune choices. On these points: 3. Yes, it definitely provides frames the magical focus/temperament. My players typically create/define abilities to fit with the runes. Sometimes those are the same as feats, sometimes not. I encourage them to be somewhat specific on these to align to how they view their characters. 1. and 2. There's really a lot of range here. In my current Nochet campaign, there are two PC's with dominant Earth Runes. One, Serenalda, is a hazia-befuddled seer and former low-life street hustler. Her Earth Rune primarily provides her with True Visions and a relationship with snakes. The other, Maranis, is a tumultuous Axe Maiden follower of Babeester Gor. She can track kinslayers, sense enemies nearby, and draw on the earth's power to wield a mighty axe. Neither is what you'd describe as having a "pragmatic" or "prudent" personality. Overall, use them as framing ideas and let your players run with them.

I've been running one HQG campaign for almost 2 years, and a second for about 6 months. I've yet to see either of these occur based on use of Runes. What they have been generally driven by is the Distinguishing Characteristic and whatever Flaws that they decide on when creating their character. Whether these are in tune with their Runes and their Gods is a completely different story. Nor have these choices precluded character development. Do my players use the Runes as personality traits? Not often. Mostly they are the foundations of their magical affinities. Have my players changed Runes? Two have during game play and these were conscious and directed choices by them. One effectively transformed from a Yinkin to an Odayla initiate as a result (and since those gods are both aspects of the Hunter in Orlanthi culture and the PC was a Hunter this seemed totally reasonable) - the character went off into the Wilds to meditate upon this transformation. In the other case, the character increasingly showed affinity to the Darkness rune though they had the Storm rune. The player pursued this connection, even though the PC was initiated into Orlanth. After the change was affected, the next time that PC engaged in a contest, Orlanth's spirits of reprisal (flint slingers) appeared and their flints removed the PC's Storm rune related magic with their attacks. Entirely reasonable and fit the PC. Has there been any impact on sense of discovery/drama about who they are? Not in the least that I've seen. If anything it's been even better than what I saw over 10 years running RQ3 campaigns. I think the best thing is to simply treat the Runes and their 'personalities' as suggestions, not absolutes. There are many ways to look at Fire, Storm, etc. - players are quite good at figuring out how they want to interpret such. If a player interprets the Fire rune to mean their PC is volatile, angry, and explosive, that works for me. May not fit the dour and conservative Yelmalions, but I agree that does create dramatic tension.

One challenge is how you'd approach this as a group, or if you would. It may be that sorcery is inherently an individual quest. The sorcerer confronts the Laws required to open the pathway through the Essence of the Runes and achieve their goal. It may be dream-like, or meditative with a focus on the targeted runes, or a ritualized 'ceremony' using rune sticks or rune stones, or something similar. One option to engage a group would be for the sorcerer to lead a ceremony that puts the group into a dream state, then he enters the same shared dream-state and leads them towards the goal. The tests may well challenge each within the group in different ways (could be Group Simple or Extended Group contests) and those who fail immediately wake from the dream-state. A good chance to apply a Flaw for whatever the failing was (Fear of X, etc.).

A post in the Glorantha G+ group asked:  The following was my response/'example' of trying such a quest. In my HQG Orlmarth campaign, I ran a 'dream' for my LM sage which was something of an experiment to run a quest in the Essence plane. This was the basic structure I used: 1) He 'awoke' into a world where runes and symbols swirled around like leaves in a breeze, but eventually those blew away and left him on a grey, barren plain looking at 3 'tiny' runes. As he approached he found they were doorways made of three runes: Luck, Force (the Shargash rune), and Law. Being a good LM, he went through the Law rune. (Possibly this might be described as the Law of Openings or the Law of Beginnings - you must start somewhere) 2) He found himself in a large room and in the middle of the room was a stand and on the stand was a book whose cover was Blue. He approached the book and as he approached the Book, he realized that this was the One Book, the Book of Everything, the Book of All Law. When he looks back at the walls of the room, he first sees a writhing mass of chaos (tentacles, eyes, typical Cthulhu-esque view) and then it transforms into the body of an immense dragon completely encircling and enclosing the space. Being too curious, of course, he tries to take the book. The pages fly out, transform into more runes and symbols, and he's left with the cover of the book and the walls now have 8 doors. (And I'm sure you can guess what each door represents.) He has reached the Law of Duality or Opposing Pairs. 3) Being a good LM, he chooses to try the Door/Gate of Truth. He enters and finds himself in a long, seemingly unending hall and the door has closed behind him. It is an Empty Hall and he is truly alone within it. As he walks forward, for there is only one way to go, he finds that the walls are like polished bronze and he has entered the Hall of Mirrors which conveys reflections of the True Self. He sees other figures in the mirrors looking back at him. They look like him, but are not (e.g. one is beardless; another has dark black hair and curled and oiled beard, etc.) Which is Truth and which Illusion, or are they all Truth? He's still too curious and finds himself trapped in the Mirror and the dark black bearded self is now in the Hallway heading off where he once was walking. (Might be described as the Law of the Power) 4) The mirrored hallway reaches a fork (it is the Truth rune after all). The LM sage still has the cover of the Blue Book in hand, so he opens it. He finds there is a map of a big square lozenge inside. Go to GtG p.681, and reverse the image as if looked at within a mirror. He doesn't do anything with it at this point, but tries to continue down the hallway. Being trapped in leftside Mirror, at the fork he is forced to follow the left-hand path and after a bit finds himself in a completely Dark hallway. He has started his descent into the 5 Elements and the Law of Affinity. 5) In fact, he is now confronted by the rustling, skittering Fears of Darkness. He tries to flee in panic and eventually falls into icy, cold water. He finds a dark cup in the water, picks it up, and realizes that he is standing inside the cup/bowl and it is in fact a boat. He travels in the boat until it comes aground on a small island. At the peak of the island, he finds a large, square stone slab on which there are four mounds of clay. He opens up and looks inside the book covers again and finds a new map. However, he doesn't do anything with that. Instead, he rolls the clay into long thin strips and places them next to each other until they form a door. While he rolls the clay, the area about has visibly brightened. He tries to use the clay 'door' and yes it works and opens to reveal a stone staircase descending into the island. He becomes aware of scents in the Air but eventually reaches the bottom of the stair in a great cavern. There's another stone slab here and on it sits a red-skinned woman in meditative pose. She suggests that she's met him before but last time he held a sceptre of fire. He has reached the threshold of the 5 Worlds - the Law of Refinement or Dissociation. 6) The woman indicates he must choose a door: they are in the cardinal directions and are gates of White, Gold, Red, and Black. He chooses the White gate. She indicates that whichever gate/camp he goes to he must confront his predecessor. Passing through this gate he comes to the Keeper of Innocence and Wisdom. To enter the White Camp and partake of the Baths of Healing he is instructed that he must fulfill the Three Tasks of Wisdom. 7) The first task is that of Judgment. He must judge the 3 fruits of the goddesses: the Fruit of Peace, the Fruit of Life, and the Fruit of Power. He chooses the Fruit of Life. He gains the Truth of Life in doing so and is immediately cursed/set upon by the Arrows of Discord and the Naked Truth of Power. He puts the book cover over his head to try to protect himself and... Fumbles... major defeat. His magic fails, the book falls from his hands, open, and from the book steps a giant minotaur. Voices say that he has unleashed the Destroyer and the Storm. He has learned the Truth of Unleashing Raw Power Unchained. 8) The gateway to the White Camp is shattered, the gatekeeper dead. And a large white raven, hungry for some food, is there. He feeds the raven some bites, learns some truths, raises the gatekeeper, and our sage is revealed to be marked by the Cruel God, so is forbidden to enter what remains of the White Camp after all. But he eventually enters anyway and sees the minotaur battle the red man. And while they battle, the sage confronts and fights his mirror self. (This might be the Law of Confrontation or the Law of Recognition or something similar.) 9) He at last wakes, and carries the Truth/Gift of Life with him. Since 'dreams' fade quickly, we actually concluded with an extended contest of the sage's Memorize Details ability at a hard difficulty to see what he'd actually be able to subsequently recall (or what details might be remembered 'wrong' if it would be put into something like a grimoire). The sage achieved a complete victory in that, getting a critical vs. a fumble at the final stage. This would be the Law of Return or Endings. Overall, the approach went well, and I think I'd play other aspects of learning spells or creating a grimoire along this line.

They're really still there in HQG, just not in a table format. The affinity is simply the rune used to approach the god. E.g. Argan Argar in HQ1 had 3 affinities (Exchange with Others, Son of Darkness, Husband-Protector), the first being the Issaries/Exchange rune and the other two being Darkness rune. In HQ2/HQG, if you place your Initiate of Argan Argar under your Issaries/Exchange rune, you effectively have the first affinity; if under your Darkness rune, you effectively have the latter two (or could state more explicitly if desired). In SKoH or Sartar Companion, they are still noted as affinities. In HQG, they are just listed as the god's Runes but Rune or (Rune) Affinity are effectively the same. The magics you can easily get are based on that choice. In HQ1, Husband-Protector lists these feats: Befriend Uz, Hide Wealth, Overcome Rival, Protect Earth, Sheltering Shade. In SartarCompanion, you get "An incomplete list of the abilities his cultists have been known to use the Darkness Rune for includes: halt trolls; placate trolls; dismiss dehori; stop anything born of the Underworld; take Darkness form; walk unseen and unheard in darkness and shadows; create pools of shadows; extinguish light; command and summon beings of Darkness;"... If you want to keep player choices minimized or channeled, it's easier to go with the short list. But if you really want to reflect some aspects of what the god can really do (and by reflection what the character could do), then the incomplete list gives you a lot more room for development.

It's also reprinted in HQG - slightly smaller version.

Yes, those were specific examples of the generic "Runepower" rune magic spells. And those were expanded on with Cults of Prax and Cults of Terror in RQ2, and later with Gods of Glorantha in RQ3. HW/HQ1 continued this, though rather over-splintered/fragmented into lots of little gods. HQG has returned more to the roots from RQ2. Reading back through your posts, my sense is that you'd like to play through more of the initial character development and growth as in this comment: So, yes, RQ2 pretty much started you out assuming that you had reached adulthood (in HQG terms, you would have awoken your runes at that point), but not yet joined a cult. It did little to develop the community you started with - one aspect of the Old School Gaming where you start off as an adventurer out to see the world. HQG's character generation assumes you've passed initiation into a cult. It also assumes you're part of the community that you grew up in whether in a Sartar clan, a neighborhood of New Pavis, etc. However, there's nothing in HQG to keep you from starting earlier. HQ2 offered several variants in character generation, only one of which was explicitly used in HQG, that would readily allow you to create less advanced characters. And if you want to run the coming of age story to define your runes, that's fully possibly in HQG. Just leave out the Rune keywords! Begin them with initiation into the community to help them identify at least their Elemental rune. If you're playing in Sartar (or Pavis), best place to start for that opening quest is here: Prince of Sartar: the Uncles. Pages 2-6 outline the initiation for boys to become men. Ernalda's initiation for girls to become women is elsewhere. The Elemental affinity will align them to likely cults they then may want to join. As most cults hold initiations at most once a year, sometimes every other year, your characters may have some time to wait, as well as proving themselves ready. Perhaps these adventures reveal their final runes?

If you look at the example character sheet in the 1st design notes, RQ Design notes pt 1, you'll find a couple of the Form runes. I'd expect the Form runes to continue to play a part as well.

1. The Runes themselves have not changed - they are the building blocks of Glorantha. RQ (whether 2 or 3) really did not explore use of, or even getting runes (and it's important to understand that runes are not like magic objects or weapons - they are what compose everything much like everything in our world is built off of atoms and molecules). PC's did join rune cults and the cults had runic associations, but there was nothing that truly utilized the runes. HQ2/HQG incorporated the idea that you inherently have certain runes as part of your self, though from a Gloranthan perspective the concept has been around for a long time. 2. All current efforts, whether HQG, 13th Age, or RQ are incorporating the runes in ways that really make them part of the world and game experience - fulfilling the promise suggested in classic RQ, but never implemented then. 3. HQG provides the runes as keywords to shape your PC's character, personality, magics, and affinity to join certain cults. They work very well in this regard. I haven't really explored the use in 13th Age Glorantha yet. As the Design Notes for the new RQ version indicate, runes finally play a role, both upfront in character design and in play as related to your cult associations, magics, etc. It's a different style of play, but again offers ways to utilize runes. 4. There never was any content for classic RQ that centered on questing for runes. They primarily served to define cults and cult affinities and that was about it. I run a couple HQG campaigns and while we've never had a quest to specifically gain a rune (quite feasible, but no reason to do so yet), I've had two players/PCs who have had runes change in the midst of play based on in-game events.

It looks like you gave Aldrya the Beast rune instead of the Plant rune.

Or... the seven cities of DH which were reinvoked by the Red Emperor (with their celestial protectors) Or... the seven granddaughters of the Red Moon Or... the seven wanes of the Lunar Empire Or... the seven servants who wait upon the Emperor Or... the seven phases of the Moon Or... the seven government monopolies begun by Artifex Or... the seven daughters of Militaris Or... the seven High Gods (Jernotians) of Pelanda