jajagappa

Nice design! Do you have a rough scale for what's likely supportable for roofing (given some slope and likely terracotta tiles in Nochet)? As I noted on the G+ thread: Many of the halls of Nochet are likely complexes of these townhouses built over differing periods as the particular House grew, added additional buildings for junior branches of the family, interior gardens, pig sties or other domestic animals, specialized craft buildings, etc. The Enfranchised Houses are effectively small palaces but likely retain similar features in certain wings. I think these variations will account for not only rectangular, but other somewhat irregular forms across the city, but I'm going to play around a bit with this model and see how it works for my players' House's hall complex.

For Boldhome, the Storm Season picture in GtG is probably the best starting point. It's an odd layout with its varied 'Pockets' set into the mountainside. That picture combined with the map in Sartar Kingdom of Heroes should provide a decent visualization. For Jonstown and other Sartarite cities, I'd start with the maps in Sartar Companion and then overlay with Joerg's suggestions on building styles.

Then hopefully you left Daughters of Darkness behind there. ;-)

A few of the deaths are described in Fortunate Succession. I think you are remembering Yelmgatha. When Yelmgatha was cremated no torch was put to the wood, but his body burst into flame when the priests sang the mortuary refrain. No smoke rose from the fire. As he burned the statues within the fire burst into song, praising his honor and Justice. A bright beam of light rose from the fire and a pure white phoenix ascended to the Sun. Another good example is this one: Radaidavu died in bed after a fall from his horse. He made his appointments and died without pain, under the tender ministrations of his wife and doctors. He was burnt upon a bier of aromatic wood, and even after the wood was burnt to grey ash the flames continued for a week, and there was not a wisp of smoke or cloud in the sky for the whole time. These are clearly Yelmic ideals, what all good Dara Happans aspire to. The less pure the person, the more likely to get smoky fires, or leave charcoal soot upon something nearby, or Yelm forbid, the fire stinks or the wood doesn't even burn.

Seven Mothers (per Cults of Prax; probably representative of some common Lunar practice): For persons beyond resurrection, local preference always is given to burial functions. Rune Priests and Lords will have their bodies preserved until the full moon, but others will be taken care of right away. Both will have songs of creation sung during the rites, and have their souls commanded to the “Circles of the Moon, of Time, and of Being.” Yelmalio (covering at least the Sun Dome practices, based on Cults of Prax): The dead of this cult are burned at dusk with smokeless fires if they have not risen after seven days. Services begin with a great mourning and the burning, then wine or beer follow, as do victory paeans and the call for the soul to join with the Sun. At dawn the sunrise is read for omens, and the ceremony concludes. Yelm (version included in Cults Compendium and representative of Dara Happan and Pentan practices): Worshipers of Yelm are cremated on great funeral pyres, along with appropriate death goods. The barbarians of Pent sometimes show grief for a great chieftain by sacrificing servants or concubines with him. As with Yelmalio, I'd expect Yelm's pyres to be purifyingly hot and smokeless. There will be many other varied practices in Peloria based on ancient Rinliddi, Naveria, Darjiini, Kostadi, and other areas.

And one more old bit from NLG #2 The Start of the Great Cheese War (1) It all started after Ilsandor was cast out of the Ronon clan for one year for failure to uphold his guestright (2). After a series of disastrous encounters and his luck nearly gone, Ilsandor stepped into the kettle and was taken hostage by the dwarfs. But Ilsandor was not yet cooked and he somehow won the Eversharpening Blade. The dwarfs were most upset, but Ilsandor demanded his release and they had to assent. On his way out of the dwarf fortress, though, a wily dwarf offered Ilsandor a deal. In return for the Eversharpening Blade, the dwarfs would give Ilsandor the Silver Key to a cave of great magical treasures. Ilsandor was torn, but greed won out and Ilsandor took the bargain. (3) With the Silver Key, Ilsandor went to the cave and opened the door. Only after the dwarfs closed the door behind him, did he realize that the key only worked one way. He was stuck with the treasure of the cave--a marble statue of a laughing man covered with green mold. He searched all through the cave, but all he found were bags producing the most hideous stench. The smell was so strong that Ilsandor had to plug his nose. Realizing that he had been duped, he did the only thing he could--he took the statue, hoping that it would prove of some use. In its place he left the cattle goad that he had stolen from the Valusi clan. Ilsandor eventually returned to his clan, the Ronon, after his year was done. He still had the statue and he presented it as his token of goodwill, though he knew not its use. The Keepers and Seekers knew otherwise. For this was Renurdas the Green Veined Spirit and from him the clan gained the secret of cheesemaking. The Polan clan had honored this spirit and held the cave as sacred. When they found their spirit gone, their cheeses gone bad and a cattle goad where the statue should be, they blamed the Valusi for their woes. Thus began the Great Cheese War. (4)

Hence the Cheese secrets of the Imtherian clans. Here's a bit from my old Imther material. Selections of Imtherian Cheeses, from A Guide for the Temple Cook This small, slim document was found at the Temple of Hwarin Victorious in Hortugarth. It was supposedly penned by one Bibishar, formerly a temple cook. The cheeses of the Zarkon clan were particularly well noted and praised. The following are excerpts from this small guide: Blackwall Amber: A soft amber cheese encased in black rind from the vicinity of Blackwall. Though called bland by villagers of the Southlands, this cheese keeps well and rarely varies in flavor. It is popular with innkeepers as a result. Blackwall amber is not a cooking cheese being best used as an accompaniment to a meal. Mountain Marble: Another notable cheese from the Zarkoni ridges, this soft white cheese is mixed with the crumbled flowers of the fireweed. As it ages, the cheese develops a fiery red marbling and sharpens in taste. It stands up well with ground meats and stews, adding a richness to the flavor and a thickness to stews, though it can certainly be served alone. Salt-crust Cream: “The Zarkoni herders only use the top cream from their goat’s milk in making this cheese. Once the creamy cheese is sufficiently thickened into long rolls, it is cut into segments the length of a hand and rolled in quarried Serpent Salt, the last remains of a water god slain by Daga. It stays wonderfully fresh with a rich salt tang even after long journeys.” Zarkoni Ice Rind: “A fermented goat's milk cheese infused with silverblossom flowers, wrapped in cloth and aged on the high slopes of Giant Top Mountain in the icy crusts favored by Inora, it is usually considered one of the Three Finest Cheeses of Imther.” Northern Flower: Made from the milk of cows fed on wild onion and wild blackfire, this very soft and fresh cheese has an extremely tart taste. Serve it with a hearty black bread and an aged cider, but never cook with it or serve it with sweets. Rhynon's Gold: A golden, buttery-flavored cheese from the Northern Plains around Rhynopolis. This rich cheese is preferred as a marriage gift in the north, ostensibly to show the richness of the giver, though it is commonly served in local inns on a daily basis with bread and ale. And a little bit on food in Hortugarth from New Lolon Gospel #2 Delicacies of Hortugarth These foods can be purchased at many of the local inns and taverns of the city of Hortugarth. Many can also be purchased from street vendors in the Central Market. (L= lunar; c = clack) Apples: 1/2 c in season; 1c otherwise Applesauce Bread: 1c Blackbird Pie: 5c Cider Paste: 1L 5c per wheelweight Crow Wings: 1c for 4; 1c for 3 if spiced Fire Grapes: 2c per bunch Fish Tails (roasted): 1c for 5 Honeyed Apple: 2c Panbread: 1c Pork Rind: 1L for bag of 10 Sausage Bun: 5c Spiced Oat Cakes: 2c Squirrel Legs: 5c for 2

Aside from noting the Shrine of Calyz, fire of men, and the Shrine of the Many (i.e. a common shrine for the Teshnans), I have merely noted that "Harkelemos the Seeker, a Goldentongue voyager helped bring Calyz to Nochet." So, no, you won't find anything else at this point in Nochet re: Teshnans. There is also a Homeland writeup in the HQ1 book. Overall, I'd say work through the Guide and create!

Larger steads like Old Man Village of the Orlmarth or Apple Lane are effectively villages. The former is laid out in Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes, and the latter in either Apple Lane or Sartar Companion. For a smaller stead, as others note, there's likely one or two longhouses with several small cottages, barns, or animal pens. The layout shown in this image would be an example I might use: http://koso.ucsd.edu/~martin/CelticVillageAltburgSmall.jpg

Neither are required to get a game going. Most likely you'll have someone task your heroes with something. If it's the clan chieftain or chief priestess or similar, then give that person a name and say they are on the Ring. And that's more than sufficient to start.

Yes, there's a tremendous range of content built up over the years. But at the same time, you use what you want to play the game you want to play. Your Glorantha Will Vary. When I first started playing in Glorantha (RQ2/3 days), there was already a wealth of material. At its core, though, I worked with three concepts: it's a Bronze Age world (i.e. a world of heroes like Achilles, Odysseus, etc.); religion, in the form of cults, is pervasive; and magic is pervasive. I took this small fragment from the Griffin Mountain book: "Kingdom of Imther. Imther is another client state. It fell to the Conquering Daughter in 1347. Its barbarian population is mixed herders and farmers; the state controls the Imther Mountain mines." I built my campaign around this concept of a small Lunarized kingdom on the Edge of Empire. The Lunars were there. The Conquering Daughter was a glorious goddess. The sun worshippers of Yelmalio were there (convenient since there was a cult writeup for them, though I modified to produce the Imther cult of Khelmal). And it grew from there (and it was easy to pull in or go to Balazar/Elder Wilds). For my HQG game, I just started with Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes, HQG itself, and an old scenario borrowed from Sun County that fit my needs. I'd always wanted to run a campaign in one of the 'classic' settings. But we started with the basic premise that all the heroes were in the Orlmarth clan, struggling to survive against the might of the evil Lunar Empire. And once underway, then it's easier to pull in more as you need. HQG lends itself to narrative rather than remembering lots of charts.

No problem, and I hope you convince her to try out Glorantha! It's a wonderfully rich world to game in. And if you have questions on either HQG (or my game), just post here and I'll do my best to answer.

It's on RPGGeek. It's a Colymar/Orlmarth campaign as described in Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes. The campaign has been going 1.5 years now so there's a lot to read! When we started, we were all new to HQG so in part 1 we were still getting a feel for how it worked (including me as GM). The current active In-character thread is at: [IC] HeroQuest Glorantha - The Colymar Campaign 2 - Orlmarth Clan - part 4 In brief, part 1 covers much of the Harvest Games (based loosely on the old Sun County scenario transposed to Colymar lands); part 2 moves to a quest into the Spirit World (my interpretation thereof); part 3 is the marriage of the Harvest Queen as part of the Earthseason Ernalda rituals (warning: spoilers re: HQG scenario); part 4 starts with the Clan Moot and now moves to a quest to Jonstown. Campaign background material is here: HQG Orlmarth Campaign Background Leaders and significant NPC's are described here: Leaders, factions, and other NPC's of the HQG Orlmarth Campaign

I loved the sandbox nature of Griffin Mountain - it's why I ended up developing Imther and Saird content as it was very convenient to drift into Griffin Mountain for major quests. Never went to Griffin Mountain itself over 10 years of active games, but had a wonderful quest to Gonn Orta's Castle via Trilus and Dykene, and a very active Imtherian village established along the western shore of the Elf Sea with plenty of Votanki visitors.

If you're doing a RQ style game with random treasure, I could see a need for that. But personally I find it far more interesting to explore the implications of using a crystal derived from a different rune (e.g. acquiring personality traits/flaws of that rune, acquiring unexpected foes, attracting the wrong type of attention on a heroquest, etc.).

HQG p.48: "...the petrified blood of dead and wounded gods provide magic crystals. These crystals provide magic from a Rune that might differ from the hero’s own Runes. The players or GM should give the crystal a colorful, but enigmatic name, like Arroin’s Tears, Esrolian Ruby, Smoke Rock, Snake Crystal, Barnablood, Ernalda Tears, Gata Save, Grandpa’s Aid, Second Wind, Star Tip, etc., and assign it a Rune." It's already in HQG. And it explicitly allows you to gain magic for something that you do not necessarily have directly via yourself or your god/spirits. Personally, I'd probably add some level of bonus/penalty in trying to use a crystal of an opposing rune, but the basics are there.

I think the Imtherians largely do not. I'm sure some of the Vanchite clans and confederations do. I'm sure the lowland Sairdites do. The Jajalaring dog servants are largely a 'thrall' underclass of long-time subservient clans. Holayans most likely do.

I suspect that the location and magics unleashed in the Night of Horrors opened a rift into the advance of Chaos coming south from the Stormfall and on its way to the Icebreak and the destruction of Genert's Garden. Basically the full brunt of the chaos army - I think Tien fits fine here.

Thanks, she was an interesting one to write up. The Esvulari/Aeolians are a bit odd in that respect. Mythically 'western', yet have been amongst the Orlanthi since the Dawn so they acknowledge the Orlanthi deities, but get their magic via 'sorcerous' spells and rituals. The nice thing with HeroQuest is that I don't have to worry about the 'magic system' to run it!

Yes. Only the Group Simple contest is an oddity since a bunch of Hero Points applied there will completely skew results. A tie only occurs when masteries are equal or have been applied, and the success/fail result is the same, and the roll is the same. Otherwise there is a clear winner. Example 1: Beohrt has Spear & Shield combat at 17 and fights a fire demon with difficulty moderate at 14. Beorht rolls 10, the difficulty roll is 10. No masteries involved, Beorth succeeds, the demon succeeds, both rolls are the same. This is a Tie. The result is inconclusive. Example 2: Dyrrkind uses is God-talker ability at 17 to try to overcome the divisions in the clan at the Moot at very high level 14W. Dyrrkind rolls 14, the difficulty roll is 14. Dyrrkind succeeds, the reluctant clan succeeds, but there is a mastery involved. Dyrrkind's result is bumped down to fail. Failure vs. success in this case, so minor victory to the reluctant clan. Example 3: Aren battles the demon Veloramash. Aren uses his augmented Spear at 7W, the resistance of the demon is very high at 14W. Aren rolls an 8, the difficulty roll for the demon is 8. Masteries cancel so effectively it is 7 vs. 14. Aren fails, the demon succeeds. While the roll is the same, it is a minor victory for the demon. Example 4: Harrik attempts to solve the logic problem posed by the White God. Harrik uses his Keen Mind at 1W and the difficulty is 20. Harrik rolls 10 and the difficulty roll is 10. Harrik has failed, while the difficulty is a success, but Harrik has a mastery, so he bumps down the result of the difficulty from success to fail. Both results are now fails, and the rolls are the same. This is a Tie and the result is inconclusive (Harrik makes no progress in solving the problem). Now, using your example, I'll assume that the heroes' ability is 17 and the difficulty is the 4W you note. You roll a 3. You've succeeded. If the difficulty roll is 2, that is also a success. But the difficulty has a mastery so bumps you down to a fail. Failure vs. success is a minor defeat for the hero. In the story, your hero saw a clear opening, drove his sword in, but was turned aside by an unexpected maneuver and suddenly the foe scored a clear cut upon your arm. You roll a 3. You succeed. The difficulty roll is 5, which is a fail. But the mastery is there and bumps you down to a fail as well. Failure vs. failure. But now high roll wins rule (assuming you are using HQG and not HQ2) comes into play so it is a marginal defeat for your hero. Your hero saw a clear opening, attacked and seemed to drive the foe back, but the hero slipped on the bloody ground and lost his advantage. You roll a 19. You fail. The difficulty roll is 20, which is a fumble. Again the mastery is there and bumps you down to a fumble as well. Fumble vs. fumble, high roll wins. Again a marginal defeat for your hero. Both stumble badly over the broken ground as they try to engage, but your hero twists his ankle and falls down taking some damage on the sharp rocks. You roll a 5. You succeed. the difficulty roll is a 5, which is a fail. The mastery bumps you to a fail as well. Both fail, and the rolls are equal. This is the inconclusive Tie. Hope those help clarify.

Here's Tathorine Stone-hearted that I created for Chris Bell's short-lived Warlocks of Sartar campaign. Tathorine is from the Esvulari/Aeolian community of Nochet, of the priestly line of Bauric the Blessed who led the priesthood through the Adjustment Wars and Ernaldine of Leskos, sent to the community some 160 years ago by radiant Belintar to aid Queen Bruvala. She is the daughter of Alboric Speaker of Aeol (high priest of the Esvulari of Nochet) and Elanine the Bountiful. Tathorine was of the priestly (sorcerous) caste of the Esvulari - as the castes are endogamous, Tathorine was destined to be a priestess of the Aeolian Temple from the time of her birth and was schooled to that end (and held the vow to only marry within her caste). Like all Esvulari, she was not tattooed. Teased and harassed by the neighboring Rokari for her Esvulari ways and her skewed-eyes, she often ventured into Nochet itself, exploring its many by-ways. She learned to be street-smart and savvy and how to use a dagger to defend herself, though counter to the ways of her caste. Tathorine was initiated when she came of age to the Aeolian temple outside of Nochet - she gained her runes: Earth, Law, and Change. She was a very pragmatic and logical child, though distant and stone-hearted, who followed the prescribed patterns of ritual. All that changed when she encountered the goddess Delaina directly in the midst of a Nochet Earth ritual. One day she found herself carried along by the great mob of people to Grace Square amidst the wondrous ritual called the Blessing of Grace. Though of the Aeolian way and practices, she not only saw the goddesses emerge from the temple, but the great goddess Delaina, the goddess of wisdom, music, magic, and heroes, walked directly to Tathorine and literally kissed Tathorine upon the forehead. Not only was Tathorine marked and blessed by the Mark of Delaina (an earth rune filled with an eye and surmounted by the crown of mastery), but she was filled with the songs and voices of the earth. This cathartic revelation nearly drove Tathorine mad. Her parents and community were horrified by this event (not to mention the divine marking). She was cast out by her temple and fled into Nochet (though she stole her favorite grimoire on the way). She had always been the One - one of those destined for the path of the Aeolian priesthood. Now she did not know who she was. And amongst the multitude of Nochet she was only one of the Many. She lived on the streets of Nochet, always hearing the thousands of voices of the earth gods there, but eventually found herself amidst the Dark Warrens, the troll center of Nochet, and ended up at the shrine of Sacred Murder, a dangerous trickster shrine. Here it was revealed that her third rune was in fact the rune of Disorder, not just Change. At the trickster shrine, she encountered The Old Good Shadow, who led her into experiencing a new perception of the gods, the laws, and the runes - she became Illuminated. This enigmatic figure (possibly of the Umbarite or Spolite School, possibly an Arkati, possibly Argrath himself!) showed her three teachings: "The Earth and World are but part of the infinite cycles of birth and death and rebirth", "If we are not Light, then we are Dark; if we are not Order, then we are Chaos", and "Whether following the arcane logic of the Runes, the proscriptions of the Spirits, or the paths of the Gods, there is Always Another Way". These messages brought Tathorine back from madness and back from the Many to Herself. They also offered a strong sense of anti-authoritarian and rebellious impulses. She came to understand that Life is broken by Death and Death is broken by Life, but only through Disorder and Chance can those properly occur for they can never be Reborn the Same. Further, the Earth holds Light and Darkness and all the Elements and Powers within - only by breaking the Earth can the Elements be freed to be fashioned anew. The breaking and rearranging of the World is both the logical and pragmatic thing to do. She understands that she was marked to do this by the goddess, but that it could equally have been any other than herself. She is simply the vessel of such action, and has unique skills to do so, but that she will be broken in turn. It was the Mark of Delaina which caught Sir Narib's eye, and he recruited Tathorine to join his company. Abandoning her Esvulari and Nochet heritage, she travelled with his company, drawing on the magics of the Grimoire secreted out of her temple and became a Warlock. Sir Narib has sent her on to Sartar to help Argrath fashion something new. Tathorine looks like most Esrolians or Heortlings. She is olive-skinned, with brown hair and green eyes. Her eyes are skewed apart and she always appears to be looking both at a person and off into the distance or into another world.

Joerg and Peter have both noted Saird, where the Orlanthi and Dara Happan cultures overlap (and get Lunar cultural trappings overlaid on top of that). Aggar is the most 'traditional' whereas the area around Mirin's Cross and along the Oslir have a strong heritage of Lodril farmers mixed in. Here's a bit of my cultural keyword for Imther: "The people of Imther are a hardy, rustic pastoral folk, and considered hospitable with a reputation as hard-working and honest. But underneath this surface is a conservative, stubborn, and quarrelsome nature, as rough as the land they live in. The clans cling to old Orlanthi ways, though many in the lower and more fertile lands have embraced the Lunar Way. For many, the adages "No one can make me do anything" and "Violence is always an option" hold firm. Feuds between clans are common and are long-lived, even erupting over matters such as the theft of a cheese secret. Only in the western and southern regions do tribes exist." And a similar bit for Vanch: "The people of Vanch are widely considered thieves, a people who will eagerly take whatever is of use to them without concern for their own traditions and others’ rights, whether a god, a city, or a treasure. The Vanchites themselves know better – survival and a ready adoption of new ideas are actually central to their tradition, taught by their wily raccoon god, Tunoral, and the nest-building Green Woman, Negalla. Many gods and peoples have conquered them, but they have always survived and come through the experience somehow richer. They are like raccoons: nocturnally successful, omnivorous, opportunistic, and mean and ornery as hell. Neighboring peoples were all robbed of survival traits useful to these people. The result is a culture made up of such a blend of bits and pieces that it has gone beyond imitation and created something new." And then down in Nochet in the Holy Country, you have something totally different: urban Orlanthi where the 'clan' is an extended family dominating part of a neighborhood and "chiefs" run protection rackets, and organize skilled crafters, merchants, weavers, potters, and so on.

As Joerg noted, the particular challenge with I Fought We Won, is that most of the quest is 'I Fought' - it is intensely, and really completely personal. When your hero, alone, meets the Face of the Devil, and possibly the Void, your hero must be able to stand against the forces that would dissolve the hero into nothingness and say 'I AM' and 'I EXIST' and 'THIS IS WHAT I AM'. It is the ultimate existential test. And at that exact point, you discover that every other hero has said and achieved the same. The Void is driven back and 'WE WON'. Your heroes have reaffirmed that the world exists. They have brought order out of chaos. Because this is an existential test, it also makes those first four steps of the quest very critical. For instance, your ancestors may demand that you do this fight for them or for your clan, etc. And you may take the quest on for them. But they will not be there when you face the Devil. And if you try to draw on your loyalty, or your duty, you'll find it's not there! You will have to face your mirror self. This could be exactly you, or a you gone 'wrong' emphasizing 'evil' traits. I ran something of this recently with one character in a 'dream' sequence where a Lhankor Mhy sage was confronted by his 'evil' Dara Happan sage self - a self that was devoted to order, ambition, pure truth, etc (and of course well-oiled and styled black beard vs. free-flowing greybeard of LM). There's lots of ways to go here, but this is a confrontation with those parts and reflections of your self that are unsavory. But if you don't succeed here, these are 'tools' that the Devil can use and destroy you with. Anyway, lots of ways to potentially play this, but I do think it's critical to keep each person's actions distinct and completely separate at certain stages such as the mirror self, the meeting with the Devil, the confrontation with the Void. From a session PoV, you might find it interesting where each hero can see the others confronting that stage, but they cannot speak or say anything or give any clues to each other. And you withhold the outcomes until each has gone through that stage - heightening the tension, and hopefully the fear for what each of the others is doing.

Only some 50 miles by the new Skik Mountain Tunnel should the mages happen to fund that newly proposed dwarf thoroughfare.

Yes, I would translate those the same. The one that is different and more specific is the Gods War, which is only a part of the God Time.