Jeff

The House of Black Arkat is in Arkat's Hold in Esrolia, not Nochet.

Nor were there Eiritha shamans in RQ3. I think this is a case of people misremembering the cults. In Dragon Pass the main routes to being a shaman are Daka Fal, Waha, and Yelm (if you are a Grazelander).

Intentionally amorphous scene-oriented segments. They are the exciting points in the battle for player characters. The approach we are taking to battle is entirely player-character oriented.

Well I am still play testing the scenario and the battle rules, but here are some notes that you might find useful. (FIRE SEASON) BATTLE OF THE QUEENS– King Pharandros took command of the remaining imperial troops in the provinces, and led them with the Tarsh army to conquer the disheartened Sartarites. Near where the Creek enters the Upland Marsh, some 5,000 Lunar soldiers faced off against less than 4,000 Sartarites led by Kallyr Starbrow. The Sartarites held a good defensive position at the base of Old Top Hill. A band of Lunar elite soldiers were teleported behind the commanders, and Queen Kallyr was killed in battle. But Queen Leika Black Spear of the Colymar drove the enemy opposite her warriors into the river where they drowned, which caused the Lunar attack to stop. The next day, Queen Leika harassed the survivors so much that they retired to Alda-Chur. King Pharandros, fearing the machinations of his rival Fazzur Wideread, quickly returned to Furthest with his most loyal officers and regiments. The Sartarites, despite their victory, suffered heavy casualties. Prince Kallyr Starbrow was dead and would not return despite the prayers of the healers. King Ranulf of the Culbrea, Queen Ivartha of the Cinsina, and Queen Amalda of the Malani also fell in battle. The Colymar, as the most powerful tribe present, took possession of Kallyr’s body and brought her corpse back to Boldhome to be burned. This battle was chosen to make it clear that certain battles are not true sandboxes. Like in Pendragon, there will be events taking place during them. Kallyr will die during this battle, although the adventurers can achieve great fame by trying to defend her. The Lunars will rout in Round 6 but the players can certainly make a name for themselves and impact the flow of the battle. Order of Battle Lunars Army Commander: King Pharandros Veterans Horse – 500 veteran cavalry Landholders Horse – 500 regular cavalry 1st Furthest Foot – 1000 foot levy 2nd Furthest Foot – 1000 foot levy Silver Shields – 1000 veteran foot Dalini Foot – 1000 regular foot Minor Class – 50 magicians Sartar Army Commander: Prince Kallyr Cinsina – 600 Commander: Queen Ivartha Cinsina Tribal Militia - 500 Cinsina Tribal Cavalry - 100 Colymar – 1250 Commander: Queen Leika Colymar Tribal Militia - 800 Colymar Tribal Cavalry - 300 Colymar Noble Cavalry - 130 Colymar Chariots - 20 Culbrea – 500 Commander: King Ranulf Culbrea Tribal Militia Culbrea Tribal Cavalry Kheldon – 650 Commander: Prince Kallyr Kheldon Tribal Militia - 500 Kheldon Tribal Cavalry - 130 Kheldon Chariots - 20 Malani -1000 Commander: Queen Amalda Malani Tribal Militia - 750 Malani Tribal Cavalry - 150 Malani Noble Cavalry - 100 Random Enemy 1-4 1st Furthest Foot levy 5-8 2nd Furthest Foot levy 9-10 Silver Shields veteran 11-12 Dalini Foot regular 13-14 Landowners Cavalry regular 15-16 Veterans cavalry veteran 17 Elite soldiers (roll 1D6 1= Veterans cavalry, 2= Landowners cavalry, 3= 1st Furthest Foot, 4=2nd Furthest Foot, 5=Silver Shield, 6=Dalini Foot) 18 Yanafal Tarnils Rune Lord and bodyguards (roll 1D6 1= Veterans cavalry, 2= Landowners cavalry, 3= 1st Furthest Foot, 4=2nd Furthest Foot, 5=Silver Shield, 6=Dalini Foot) 19-20 Special Enemy (roll 1D6 and consult the table below). This can only happen beginning in the second round of battle. Special Enemy 1 Discorporate Lunar magician attacks one of the adventures in spirit combat (this is not a mass combat attack, but an individual Seven Mothers priestess making an attack). Additionally roll again on the Random Enemy table, rerolling results of 19-20. Handle this as a regular melee combat. 2. Small Elemental (roll 1D4 to determine type 1 =Fire, 2=Earth, 3=Darkness, 4=Water) 3. Lune Elemental (roll 1D6 to determine size 1-3=small, 4-5=medium, 6=large) 4. Half-file (8 cavalry) of elite Veterans Cavalry are maneuvering to charge into the flank of the player's unit. The adventurers are in a position to disrupt it, but will be heavily outnumbered. Handle this as a regular melee combat. Success gives the player's unit commander a nice bonus to his Battle roll; failure an onerous penalty. 5 Adventurers can attack the commander of a Lunar regiment (roll 1D6 1= Veterans cavalry, 2= Landowners cavalry, 3= 1st Furthest Foot, 4=2nd Furthest Foot, 5=Silver Shield, 6=Dalini Foot) and his bodyguards! If they defeat the commander, there is no unit commander for that unit and there is a very good chance it will rout. On the other hand, they are very tough. 6. Adventurers can attack the Lunar standard bearer and its bodyguards. This is the magical regalia of that regiment and is fiercely protected. But if it falls to the adventurers, the regiment will rout! Melee Event - use for rounds 1 and 2 3 King Pharandros and his bodyguard is fighting nearby (but too far for the adventurers to intervene), wreaking havoc on your unit. 4 Lunar magicians cast Mindblast on nearby allies. 5 Yanafal Tarnils Rune Lord is fighting nearby 6 Your unit retreats 6 (triple 2s) Nearby Lunars are inspired by their Loyalty to Pharandros or to the Red Emperor. 7 Round of missile fire on adventurers! 8 Enemy pushes forward! 9-12 The clash continues! 13 The enemy loses momentum. 14 The enemy is outnumbered, reduce the enemy group by 1, 15 A Storm Voice casts Thunderbolt or hurls Thunderstones at nearby Lunars. If the characters fight well that round, they can impress that Storm Voice. 15 (triple 5s) Enemy unit retreats! 16 A Wind Lord and his bodyguard fight heroically nearby. If the characters fight well that round, they can impress that chief. 17 Queen Kallyr fights heroically nearby (replace with 18 after Round 4). Those with Loyalty Sartar can try to be inspired. 18 Queen Leika Black Spear fights heroically nearby. Any Colymar tribal characters can try to be inspired by their Loyalty Leika. Round 3 Special Melee Event (don't roll for Special Enemy or Melee Event) 1D3 Lunar Assassins teleport behind your line and charge towards Kallyr Starbrow. Additionally roll again on the Random Enemy table, rerolling results of 19-20. The adventurers can try to save Kallyr but will still be attacked by their other foe. Let the players treat this as a regular melee, that lasts as long as they are willing and are able to continue. [If the character's fail, Kallyr dies. If the character's succeed, other assassins kill Kallyr, but they get a +10% bonus to Honor and Loyalty Sartar, as well as an impressive reputation]. Round 4 Melee Event Kallyr Starbrow is dead! Unit commanders get a -25% penalty on their Battle roll. Any penalties the opposing Lunar commander had is now nullified! The Sartarites fall back and begin to retreat. Round 5 Melee Event Queen Leika Black Spear leads a charge at King Pharandros! The Lunars lose momentum and begin to retreat! Round 6 Melee Event The Lunars rout! Kallyr orders pursuit! Round 7 Melee Event Second round of pursuit!

An update regarding OpenCthulhu: We’ve reviewed the newest version of OpenCthulhu and it remains as problematic as before. It continues to be an egregious violation of our intellectual property and will vigorously respond to any attempts to disseminate it on websites or elsewhere.

I don't find "game balance" interesting (Greg used to always tell me, "game balance is for *******"), and RQG reflects that bias. In our house game, Yanioth is the most magically powerful, Vasana is the best fighter who overawes folk with her CHA, but if the session ends up being about knowledge, Sorala is all-powerful. Especially if she can use her Library Use skill. The characters solve obstacles however the characters can. Depending on the group, that might be through personal violence, magical attack, negotiation, stealth, calling in powerful friends, etc.

Battle of the Queens is a major event in the RQ Campaign. Once that book is finished, you'll be able to participate in the battle yourself.

I've circulated a few chapters of it to some key people. For me, that and the Cults book are the most interesting things I've worked on since... I dunno RQG itself.

It is automatic. In practice, the player tells the gamemaster that these are the spells they want to have, and the GM tells them how long it takes.

Joerg is correct - Threestep Isles is pleasant by Yggs Islander standards (and honestly, what isn't?), but is barren and bleak by the standards of folk from southern Genertela. In 1621, the only folk likely to visit the Threestep Isles are Wolf Pirates (who were still majority Yggsites). In 1625, Three Step Isles is a player in the politics of the Holy Country and most Wolf Pirates are not from the Yggs Isles.

Pretty sure that was Ken. Greg's proposed scenario for RQ3 was derived from the Sea Cave.

Otherland Science Fiction & Fantasy Buchhandlung Bergmannstraße 25 (U7-Bahnhof Gneisenaustraße) Berlin, Germany 10961 Jason Durall runs a game there regularly and I am there from time to time.

Because he is the White Bull. He has the full backing of the Storm Bull cult, of the White Bull societies, and recognises their rights to the March. The Pol-Joni were among the first to support him - crafty bastards, aren't they?

In short, Sartar in 1626 is a mess. Kallyr dies barely chasing off a Tarshite attempt to reconquer the kingdom. Actually arguably, it is Leika who wins that battle. And afterwards, there is no leader, no unity, and lots of resentment and disputes.

They are re-establishing themselves in the Dundealos Valley. And as Pol-Joni, many of them already pledged themselves to Argrath White Bull.

This is pretty much the subject of the RuneQuest Campaign book, which goes season by season to the acclamation of Argrath as Prince of Sartar, and then yearly going forward. Kallyr has support among the Kheldon, Culbrea, Cinsina, and Aranwyth tribes, and by the "Mayor" of Boldhome. She is also supported by the ducks. She is mistrusted by the powerful Colymar tribe. But actually, the reason she doesn't have much help at the Battle of the Queens is just the nature of her authority - she does get the Colymar, Malani, Culbrea, and Cinsina tribes mobilised, as well as her personal supporters. That's pretty good considering that less than two seasons before, she catastrophically failed her attempt to perform the Lightbringers Quest (and lost many of her strongest supporters in the process). The Wilmskirk tribes are disrupted by the Dragonrise, and by the rapid rise and fall of the Hendriki kingdom. After the Battle of Queens, there is nobody left in Sartar who can unite the kingdom. Queen Leika is distrusted by Kallyr's supporters and her bid fails to get any traction. And she's the strongest candidate. There's nobody else with a lawful claim + an army + charismatic authority. Except for that adventurer in Pavis and his Praxian war host.....

Not tremendously - the main difference is that the RuneQuest characters find combat more exciting and threatening than in HQG. So paradoxically, there is far less combat in our RQG game (which is warrior-heavy with the original Vasana character, plus another four warriors) than in our HQG game (which had Queen Samastina as a player character).

I have an Ompalam cult writeup but it won't be appearing in the Cults Book.

Yep. Most people are lay members of at least one cult, probably more. The boundary between lay member and associate member is deliberately fuzzy (as it is in Glorantha).

You never know!

There is an Ernaldori village called Greenbrass near Clearwine. Whether it is the same village as in the Money Tree is totally up to you. Personally, I didn't like that scenario much and so I put that Greenbrass in Questworlds along with Panache.

Golden Wheel Dancer was not thread-banned, or even given a time out. I just said knock it off.

MODERATOR'S VOICE: Knock it off. You've already let everyone know you don't like his work. You aren't engaging in the thread like a civilised adult - you are just trolling..

I love the pieces, but I am on record being a fan of Joann's art (and of Joann, who is an awesome guy).

Cults of Prax/Cults of Terror.