Jeff

Man Rune represents civilization, man over nature, enjoyment of the things made by man. You can be a very disorderly civilised person and a very harmonious person who prefers the wilds.

Sorcery is presented in the context of Dragon Pass. None of the Tap spells are on the list of stuff commonly found in the Lhankor Mhy temples, who aren't even Malkioni. So let's imagine a player wants to create a LM Philosopher character and says, "I know Steal Breath isn't on that LM spell list, but I want to have it - as a philosopher I get three sorcery spells, and that's one." I'd say fine! There was a scroll containing Steal Breath hidden in the Jonstown Library and after much study you've figured out how it works. The spell didn't come with commentary - and you don't personally study Malkioni ethics. So you have a spell. It asphyxiates your foes AND gives you magic points! Hurrah! But then your High Priest hears about this, and wants to know what strange magic this is. He researches the spell and learns of its other name. Tap Air. He worries that this might be evil God Learner sorcery and the sort of thing that nearly destroyed the world. He doesn't forbid it but discourages it. And then you meet a traveling Rokari wizard. He is appalled by your use of the evil Tap spell - you've proven yourself to be the stereotype of the amoral or evil Krjalki sorcerer. He demands that you give up the spell or even claims you are a God Learner. Meanwhile, the new patron of the Jonstown Library, Prince Argrath, summons you to Boldhome. He asks you to join a group called the Free Philosophers, but you get the feeling that you are not free to refuse him. He expects that you broadly teach this spell to your fellow philosophers....

Most Malkioni consider Tapping of living things to be evil, and many Malkioni schools do not teach Tap spells. But the Technique of Tapping in inherent in sorcery. Transforming matter into energy is just basic to the principles of Runic manipulation. So even if a school forbids Tapping, it is likely that it is secretly practiced.

There are male Mistress Race trolls. I can think of several - Gore and Gash, etc.

This sort of (mis)use of power happens in Gloranthan stories. The rise of Lokamayadon, and the efforts he took to bring harmony to the warring peoples of the Second Council. Alakoring stripping priests of their power until they submitted to him. Hon-eel beguiled the priestesses of Ernalda and enter the deep womb of the Earth. And so on.

Broken Tower works just fine with the GM Adventures material, at least I've thrown them in together. If the characters are from around Clearwine, they likely will have conflict with the Grey Dogs, but can try to act as "fair brokers" with the Orleving. If they are from around Apple Lane, the reverse. One great moment in a recent run of Cattle Raid - having the player who only knew DD5e realise that his character might get killed when he was in the middle of a cattle stampede. He was both horrified and filled with excitement - "I might be killed by a cow! This is so awesome!"

Cast Spirit Block - a common Rune spell. And then run away!

You find a shaman or someone with Free Ghost.

In most Gloranthan communities, everyone knows that the gods act through their worshipers. This isn't considered "cheating" or "tricks" - of course any Ernaldan priestess worth her salt is VERY impressive when she wants to be. Of course people accept ideas and suggestions of the Trickster from time to time, even if doing so makes no sense on hindsight. Of course the local priests buckle down when confronted by the local Orlanth Rex. That's how society works. Another word for the visual aspect of Rune magic is Heroforming. The caster takes on the aspect of the god and often gets referred to as the god. So it wasn't Priestess Arndala who told the council they must make an alliance with the new Prince, it was the goddess Ernalda who spoke. And so on. This is part of the Gloranthan mindset. The gods can and do have multiple incarnations, and sometimes they even confront themselves. Orlanth Adventurous confronts Orlanth Thunderous, and so on.

Yep.

I agree.

That's not necessarily the case. The deity works through their worshipers who wield the power of the deity. When a priestess wielding the power of Ernalda acts, Ernalda acts. And yet at the same time, the gods act against themselves. Orlanth fights on both sides of the battlefield. Just because the priestess speaks for Ernalda, that doesn't mean she is her ONLY voice. But the point is that a priestess who incarnates the Charisma of Ernalda is going to be taken very seriously by her audience. This is no Trick - Gloranthans accept that the gods intervene in the world in this way.

Easy enough - they take upon the aspect of their god. The priestess seems greater, more important, like the very Earth Mother is present in the room and centered upon her priestess. The Goddess speaks - who dares defy Her? Eurmal is present. and despite any rational misgivings you ought to have, you are convinced by his incarnation. That is the way of Eurmal.

These are fantastic!

In RQG terms, the Mastery Rune denotes Herodom, not political leadership.

I'm not sure that Orlanth Forms the Storm Tribe is even what I would consider a "Mastery Rune" quest.

I've said this before and I will say it again - as a practical matter, canon only restricts people who are writing for Chaosium or for licensed products. "Canon" is that lists of texts I want my writers to follow. For players, gamemasters, and pedants, YGWV. I am happy to tell folk which books are on that list, but its function is not to resolve forum debates.

Is this a game mechanic question or a general Gloranthan question? The answer depends greatly on that - and if this is a game mechanic question, for which game system?

Yep. The players were on the west coast of the USA, Jason and I are in Central Europe. 9 hour difference.

That's not the reason at all. Both Jason and I were running those games at about 3 am our time and had a very tight time limit for the game.

I ran a wonderful session of RQG in Poland last week to a group of great players. None had ever played RQ (in any form before) - two were familiar with Call of Cthulhu, one was familiar with D&D, and one just started playing RPGs two days before. We played the Cattle Raid from the GM Adventures Book and used the Pregens. A few suggestions: 1. Don't overexplain stuff. The key concepts that players needed to grasp were: how do skills work? how do Runes work? how do passions work? How do I augment? Once they were familiar with that, they were 90% of the way there. 2. Only tell them about the spells they have. That's three special Rune spells and about an equal number of spirit magic spells. Let them know about Heal Wound and Divination - none of the other Common Spells really matter in the initial play. Tell them Rune spells are powerful and you aren't going to get your Rune points back until there is a holy day at your temple. Spirit spells are easier to recover and every day you will wake up refreshed. 3. Walk them through the first combat with something they are very likely to beat, but will show them that combat is dangerous. Rock Lizards, Saber-toothed Cats, Pig Dogs - all are good options. SR just gives them the order of action. 4. Give them non-combat conflict with their characters. Play up those Runes and passions. Make sure their characters have a backstory and connections between them. Give them a moral dilemma they have to wrestle through. 5. Tell them a little bit about THEIR gods but use the god's title as much as its name. Storm King says more than Orlanth to most people. Same thing with clan and tribe. You are a member of the Clearwine clan (Ernaldoring) who are the most powerful clan of the Colymar Tribe, the most important tribe in Sartar. Most players grab that quickly. IMO, the best current starting scenarios are either Broken Tower or Cattle Raid. Both are easy to run, teach elements of the setting, and have lots of different ways of resolution.

As an aside, one of the punishments for crimes against the Red Emperor is to be fed to the Crimson Bat. The Bat needs to eat about 10,000 people a year, and so criminals are often the first to go.

In pretty much every Gloranthan human culture in the greater Dragon Pass area, punishment for crimes is one of the following - pay a fine, be exiled, be enslaved, or be killed. Of course, if you can't pay the fine but your crime is insufficient to be killed or exiled, then you might become an indentured worker. People might be held in a safe place until they either pay their fine or are killed - but the idea of imprisoning folk to "serve their time" as a punishment is likely unknown.

In 1625, the three metropoles, along with Glamour and Elz Ast, form the core of Lunar Heartlands culture. In each of these cities, the Lunar Way and the Dara Happan traditions are deeply merged. The only folk who might view the Lunar Way as a dangerous innovation are young Lunar aristocrats who try to show how Illuminated they are (especially if they aren't) by pointing out the dangers of the Lunar Way. The Red Emperor has been the ruler of Dara Happa for nearly four centuries - which actually makes his "dynasty" the longest-lived Dara Happan dynasty of Time. Pretty much every Yelmic aristocratic family is descended or otherwise related to the Red Emperor (who is after all the highest priest of Yelm). Each city is a world to itself, but also each city has its specialisation for which it is best known: Alkoth stands out for its martial spirit. The "Sparta of the Lunar Empire". Raibanth stands out for its endless rituals and ceremonies. Proxies of the Red Emperor perform a ceaseless procession of sacrifices, chants, and other ceremonies intended to keep the world in Golden Age harmony. Many of these rituals serve no obvious purpose, but are done because they have always been done. Only 20 miles from Glamour, Raibanth has a similar relationship with Glamour as Assur had with Nineveh. Yuthuppa is the "city of scribes" or the "city of sky-gazers". The city is the centre of the Irrippi Ontor cult, and is where promising youths go to study to become the imperial scribes who administer the Lunar Empire.

The reason for all the changes was feedback from women players - especially women players who had children. I can recall Neil, David Scott and I sitting down with Claudia and having her describe Ernalda and what her magic should be. Claudia, Kris, Christine, Ellie, Pam - all have had huge impacts on the RQG version of Ernalda. It makes me wondrously happy that Yanioth is now one of the most popular pregen characters.