Jeff

The old conflict between Elmal partisans and Yelmalio partisans reappears! Simple way of looking at this - the Elmal (sub)cult is associated with Orlanth, the Yelmalio cult is neutral. The gods fought in the Gods War, but also cooperated together in the Gods War. Orlanth has few non-Chaotic cults he cannot cooperate with on at least a neutral basis - he is the King of the Gods after all. He's hostile to the Seven Mothers, but not an Enemy, The Red Goddess is an Enemy as are all Chaotic cults.

I read the Anabasis and Diaz's Conquest of New Spain while doing a 160 km kayak trip in the Canadian Rockies with my brother. Nothing gives you more respect for the hardship those folk went through than reading about it after having done a 6km portage in the wilderness.

Orlanth is neutral to Yelm and Yelmalio. And yes, it IS possible to be in both Orlanth and Yelmalio. Seven Mothers is not Chaotic, and thus only hostile. You may be surprised, but that Cult Relationship chart accurately reflects how Greg and I view the relationships between the cults. YGWV and all that, but that is how it works in OUR Glorantha.

We have big tubs of dice. Tubs of them. And somehow I always fail to have the appropriate dice handy and end up borrowing from someone else.

How is fighting with a shield much more difficult? It is a separate skill, yes. But most folk start out with a decent skill at shield, and shields usually have more AP than weapons, cheaper to replace, and way more useful against missile weapons.

The single skill for Attack and Parry comes from everyone - Greg, myself, Steve, Sandy, Jason - and everyone I know who has ever done martial training, and even my own limited experience in Chinese staff and straight sword training. Multiple Parry comes from Steve and Jason. I like the rule addition (or I wouldn't have included it), although in practice it is used as more of a desperation move.

Pendragon came out of RuneQuest, and design-wise I find Pendragon to have very similar DNA to RQ2. The main reason Pendragon's opposed role system wasn't used in RQG is because we wanted to keep the dynamic of attack and parry for combat in RQ - and didn't want to introduce two very different "dice interpretation regimes."

She was exiled because you don't stage a coup d'etat and let the previous ruler just stay around. To make matters even worse, Kangharl was part of the Chan family, who held both the tribal kingship and the high priestess position. His father, mother, and surviving family members had been exiled, and he was a Lunar hostage. Like Theodoric the Great (who was a hostage of Constantinople in his youth) or Segestes of the Cherusci, Kangharl came to see that the Lunar Empire was victorious and that ultimately they were the true decision makes in Sartar. He made his peace with the Empire and was richly rewarded. Until that day he got devoured by a True Dragon. Funny that.

Since the last list was posted I've added a dozen or so cults, including Ygg, Voria, Yelorna, Horned Man, Barntar, and others.

Yes, that is what the Chase Rules for RQG emulate.

This is to me the essence of the game and is the reason for the Family Background part of character generation. It is a playable crash course into the setting, your community, your foes, and your allies.

Opposed rolls come from Pendragon, not MRQ.

I'd suggest reading a nice version of the Iliad or the Odyssey or Gilgamesh to get the Bronze Age vibe. There's Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze, Rosemary Sutcliff's Black Ships Before Troy (with art by Alan Lee), or David Boyle and Viv Croot's Troy. Or Ludmila Zeman's Gilgamesh Trilogy. Or get Mary Renault's classics like the King Must Die. Think ancient world, when gods interacted with mortals.

I don't think that the secrets of Illumination are needed for players and gamemasters to understand geases. Let's deal with that when you have an Illuminated player character.

"Thus, a deity will know what has happened to its Rune Masters and, to a lesser extent, its initiates." If the initiate breaks an oath sworn on the god, the god knows. Period.

Characters take geases on their own free will - you aren't FORCED to join the cult of Humakt. But if you do, you swear a powerful oath to the god - a geas - and get a gift from the god. All done voluntarily. Humakt (or whatever god you swore by) KNOWS when you broken the oath. And when you present it that way to the players, they tend to be far less rules-lawyering about it. "Sure you might not think that violates the geas, but ultimately Humakt decides whether or not you broke it, and there's no appeal from the God of Endings." You'd be amazed how concerned players get about not violating the oath when it is put that way!

Breaking an oath is an objective deed not mind-reading.

A geas is very powerful oath. Humakt is the god of oaths. He knows when his initiates break their oaths.

This came out very nice indeed. Agriculturally the flat lands are going to have a lot of pastureland (for horses), lots of hides of emmer, and orchards for fruit trees, etc. There are no doubt vineyards on the west and southern sides of those hills. It might not be as good as what is grown around Clearwine, but still! For one of the sources of inspiration behind the Marsh, a good place is the Suisun Marsh in the Sacramento Delta. You can see the line of trees at the edge of the marsh (which here is strangely absent its customary vegetation of Blackthorn Oaks, willows, and cedars).

It is now 1625. The fleet has gone around the world.

Which shouldn't be surprising. Gagarth is a fellow Vadrudi.

Well I for one am happy with the translation and it has MY full support. And if Game Mistress didn't sound like something from the BDSM scene, I'd use the phrase in English.

There's currently some 60+ Wolf Pirate ships and some 3100+ Wolf Pirates operating out of Three Step Islands. I believe about 40+ ships followed Harrek, and the fleet lost many ships and many crew but the fleet numbered about 60 when it arrived in the Mirrorsea Bay in 1624 About 3000 Wolf Pirates fought at Pennel Ford. Many died, but the Wolf Pirates have more than replenished their losses. There are maybe only about 20 of the original Yggite ships left (which aren't based on Loskalmi ships btw). Ygg has Increase Wind, Windwalk, Shield, and Summon Small and Medium Air Elemental. He gets Snow from Valind, some slave Water Elementals, and Summon Large Air Elemental from Orlanth.

During your initiation you learn secrets of the god and devote yourself to the deity. Leaving the cult is a form of oath-breaking and triggers the spirits of reprisal. In Humakt's case, you lose your magic and your gifts, you keep your geases, and you can never hold a sword.

Authoritatively, his runes are Air, Death, and Movement.