Jeff

The Yelmalio revelation did not cause strife, it helped end it. Read the Making Gods essay carefully.

Well and in Boldhome. Which is a VERY big exception to what you just stated.

I have an entire Boldhome city guide in the works....

There is a Yelmalio Temple in Boldhome. A rather big one, probably commissioned by Tarkalor himself. It is on the map of Boldhome.

Boldhome has Yelmalio worshipers. What makes you think otherwise?

Gods and Goddesses of Glorantha has the official writeup. At just under 4,000 words it is the definitive writeup, and I am much happier with it than my Sartar Companion writeup.

A carl or a "free person" (as the term is used in RQ) is capable of supporting themselves and their family without being dependent on a master. A cottar or tenant is the dependent of another and is thus seen as "half-free". It is a pretty loose designation, but folk know who is what.

Dude, I don't think anyone is saying anything else. Some people really enjoy 5e and think it is the best incarnation of D&D to date. Which it might well be. Others who have played 5e are not as impressed and some even wonder if the things that made 5e so popular also made it feel more like a hybrid between a board game and what they understand as a RPG. That's not promoting one game by disparaging others (any more than people who have criticisms of certain elements of RQG are promoting D&D by disparaging RQG) - just people explaining that they have different experiences and different reactions. Which is all totally fine.

Oh I remember the fog and the damp well - I grew up near SF and have family in Carmel.

I don't see Heortland looking much at all like Britain. I'd say Monterey Bay and the South Coastal Range or Point Reyes and the North Coastal Range are a much better feel, although Heortland is likely much wetter.

If we wanted to do a D&D5e, we would have done D&D5e. We did 13G instead - which I personally think is far more interesting. But then again, different strokes for different folks. Just because something doesn't strike me as being interesting doesn't mean *you* shouldn't find it interesting! Heck, I don't get Dr. Who despite the best efforts of many friends.

For what it is worth, for me the jury is still out on whether D&D5e is a good or even particularly interesting role-playing game. My experiences with it so far have not particularly impressed me. But I also am unimpressed by a lot of so-called "modern ideas/approaches" (mostly because I think the basic parameters of game mechanics have not developed nearly as much since the mid-80s as people think, although what is currently popular changes like a kaleidoscope). But hey, to each their own.

Also keep in mind that the rules for generating adventurers ARE NOT intended to create ordinary members of society. They create adventurers who are likely participants in the Hero Wars.

Not really - to me the Lunar Empire is a short-term interlude. More like Santa Anna than the Union Cavalry.

Of course Pavis and the Big Rubble has an Old West connection. But we think that the Military and Sheriff themes resonate better when it isn't the Lunar empire, but some quasi-legitimate adventurer backed up by mercenaries. Glorantha has a lot of American mythology wrapped up into it - particularly Western American mythology. If you ever drive across the Rockies through the Great Basin to the Pacific coast, it is hard to miss its influence.

The conflict between the Red Goddess and Orlanth is an important theme in the setting (but then again, so is the cycle of elemental conflicts, the ancient polarities, etc.). But that theme is possibly more easily explored either before or after the Lunar Occupation of Sartar. But there are plenty of other themes - particularly in Pavis! - like frontier versus civilisation, hero versus community, conflict with others counterposed against the need to make unlikely allies in order to survive in a hostile world, etc. - all of which are just as important and just as interesting as the conflict between the Red Goddess and Orlanth. Also, the Lunar Occupation of Sartar lasted only about 23 years. RuneQuest has been around for 40 years, and it is time we open up the setting to new possibilities.

And I used the name "Deadwood" quite deliberately. One of the touchstones of Pavis is the mythology of the Old West - and I think it is fair to say that everyone on the team is more interested in Deadwood and Tombstone than Braveheart.

Who knows what you will think of it. But Robin and I both feel that post-Lunar actually lets us play more around with Gloranthan themes (and themes that Glorantha is built on), and gives us far more tension to play around with. Deadwood is a far more interesting town without foreign conquerers.

Thed and the Bloody Tusk are NOT NOT NOT intended for players. Frankly, I'd be inclined to kick any player who wanted to play a Thed cultist in an ongoing campaign out of my gaming group for obvious reasons.

Some creatures simply can't ever pull it off. Trollkin, newtlings, crested dragonewts, etc. They won't ever be a Rune Lord in any cult except maybe a Chaos cult of something disgusting and revolting.

Specific cults have specific rules. If a cult is not subject to the 18 CHA requirement for Rune Lords, it will say it in the long write up. Given that there are no player character Thed Rune Lords (or at least there better not be), I really wouldn't worry about this much.

Some cults don't have that requirement (particularly some Chaos and other warped cults), but the overwhelming majority do.

From an Lunar Heartland source about traveling in Dragon Pass: "The Orlanthi are barely human. They rut like barnyard animals, kill each other over insults and slights, and allow their Earth Priestesses to demand that their rulers satisfy their whims both carnally and in deeds. They marry their half-sisters and women abandon their children to the temples. Men and women wander around naked and without shame, and they keep snakes and black cats in their homes. I tell you that the tree people have far more to offer us than those hill barbarians. "

Yes. Humakti Sword Lords have by necessity high CHA. CHA is not charm, it is not beauty. It is a measurement of leadership and strength of personality. It is worth re-reading the description of the characteristic on page 50.

Outlaw Josey Wales definitely has an 18 CHA. And many non-human species do not have Rune Lords.