Oracle

9 hours ago, styopa said:

Cool are you allowed to give any rules feedback?  If not specifics, then general impressions?  Did the 'updates' improve the RQ2 rules?  Play quickly but still feel like RQ should?  Very curious.

In fact I'm not the right one to tell you for different reasons:

• this was my first Runequest session after a long, long time (probably around 30 years) ...
• I thought and still think the story and the Gamemaster as well as the players are more important than the used rule set ...
• during the last years I concentrated on HeroQuest Glorantha, because that's supporting my approach to role playing games so perfectly ...

But besides that: as far as I can say, yes, it felt like Runequest, in fact even more so, because Runes played a much more important part than in previous versions (as far as I remember ). So the 'updates' (that I could identify) improved the rules. And it definitely feels very Gloranthan, which makes it very attractive to me. Fighting did not take too much time and was overall short and effective (if not to say deadly, because it was not in all cases ). The pre-generated characters in some cases gave me a suprisingly new view on how to define certain character types like Lhankor Mhy sages or Ernalda priestesses (but that may be just my personal view). The history of the pre-generated characters was created using the new rules for character history and gave them a background, which made them immediately more interesting. The new passions did drive the actions of some of the characters, which supported real role playing. Overall it was real fun to play through this scenario.

So I liked it and I will definitely give it a try as soon as the rules are available.

On 6/5/2017 at 11:39 AM, David Scott said:

I think we had the only two copies of the Quickstart at ukge and they were for browsing only. No copies can be given out until free rpg day (unless you are doing the GM thing for the day). Then like the Cthulhu QuickStart it can be downloaded for free or bought from the website. 

That's exactly, what was told to us during Eternal Con. I was lucky enough to participate in a "Play Test" of the upcoming Runequest Quickstart GMed by Jason Durall - and it was explicitly stated, that this was a play test game, because they are not allowed to give out the end product before the official Free RPG Day.

I missed the new Apple Lane adventure completely (too busy with other topics), so I be would interested in a published version too ...

15 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

All of the above two sets of edits have been entered.

The extra text in the intros is text Bill Keyes wrote, but it got cut from the final product.

Thanks for all these typo catches.

I interpret this so, that we can expect an updated version of the RuneMasters PDF file. Is that correct?

The Game System specifics outlined in the New RPG Submission Guidelines for Chaosium do only cover Call of Cthulhu and Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. What about HeroQuest and HeroQuest Glorantha?

2 hours ago, Joerg said:

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One problem with the Lunar Empire is that you have to deal with many cultures at once. You will find Dara Happan bureaucrats practically wherever you go, alongside with Lunar officials. Non-Lunar Carmanians may be rarer, but Lunar Carmanians will still be able to follow old Carmanian cults, too, like Countess Yolanela, whose dedication to Teelo Norri sits side to side with her involvement in the old Spolite religion.

What about the description of Peloria (including Carmania and Dara Happa) in Glorantha - Introduction to the Hero Wars (which is still available as a PDF similar to the lunar books for HQ1)? Are these descriptions still useful? Or do they have to taken as out of canon too? They may be overruled by the Guide to Glorantha, but I was under the impression, that these descriptions are more detailed as in the Guide (which may be a wrong impression).

3 minutes ago, hkokko said:

Does anybody recall what are the cult rules for the following cults

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Cult rules or Cult runes?

5 hours ago, soltakss said:

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Prepare a paper?

I thought this was just a game, not an academic exercise.

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In fact reading some of the discussions in these forums I'm not so sure about that ... ... but anyway in most cases I admire the knowledge of some of the veteran Glorantha sages.

I agree too.

I have to confess, that I had lost the context of the Catch-Ups section.

If I would rephrase that sentence now, I would do it that way:

• You can’t raise abilities under a keyword using this package deal.
• Neither can you gain a catch-up when the effective value of a sub-ability reaches a mastery (since it’s the keyword, not the abilities under it, which has a rating).

Thanks, that was the hint/eye-opener, that I needed.

In fact I have issues to make a decision here, because every time I touch an unknown are (e.g. in the Guide), I'm completely fascinated and would like to know more, so that I could start a game there. And even exploring Sartar and Prax in the detailed level, that is available already is quite exciting.

But one area, that catches me again and again is Kralorela (probably because I'm interested in this kind of philosophy ...). Joerg's proposals in his above posting would be quite a good start. I could imagine purely Kralorelan scenarios with all heroes from Kralorela (similar to 'Crouching Tiger, Sleeping Dragon' or 'Heroes') or scenarios with outsiders (e.g. from Sartar or Prax or the Lunar Empire) being confronted with a completely unfamiliar culture (similar to 'Shogun' or 'The Great Wall').

But in the end a detailed setting book would be great.

A similar question recently appeared on G+, which contains several answers already:

15 hours ago, Jeff said:

I am but one person. I am currently working on (writing, editing, commissioning art, or doing final approvals) of seven Gloranthan books for release this year (there's a few others that Ian Cooper is doing in addition). On all of these books I am either the primary author or the co-author. 

Seven! Really? Working on my own project since nearly 2 years, this seems to be a HUGE amount of work for a single person. So if there is any way in supporting you in this work, I happily would volunteer to do so.

Anyway, so far I'm quite impressed with the work Moon Design has done and Chaosium is doing now, so feel highly praised and do not despair.

7 hours ago, styopa said:

I believe that is already more generous and conscientious than some other companies that 'give away' pdfs of things.  Thanks Rick!

I would like to second that! Since I've started my return to Glorantha nearly 2 years ago with the still overwhelming Guide I've acquired tons of PDF documents from Moon Design and later from Chaosium, and all of them were searchable (which is a big help in doing your own research in Glorantha) and printable - and in Germany we use paper formats in our printers, which differ definitely from the formats used in e.g. the USA. That never was an issue.

So thanks from my side too!

2 hours ago, Iskallor said:

No I am talking about the Orlanthi greeting rituals when one bunch of Orlanthi come across another. Proving that strangers are not dangerous when they arrive at your stead.

 

EDIT: I can't remember where I read about them. There's a mention in the Sartar book under hospitality for example.

I think it's basically what happens in the myth 'The First Hospitality', which you can find in Sartar:Kingdom of Heroes on p.89.

This is explained a bit more on p.90 of the same book.

9 hours ago, David Scott said:

I don't think Dark Eater is an individual troll god. Under hero quest Glorantha, it's a single rune spirit - darkness. And looking at the sources this doesn't fit perfectly with anything (bear in mind the drastic series aren't canon):

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Zolan Zubar is mentioned in History of the Heortling Peoples, in terms of a powerful war god not a great darkness spirit. More info is in the Kolat cult write up:

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Below Me: This position must be filled by Zolan Zubar, the Underworld Spirit.

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What is the source of this quote? The Kolat cult write up I have access to is in the Sartar Companion and there the respective description is:

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Below Me. These are Darkness spirits called Zolan Zubar (“Hell Demon”). They provide charms that fight one of the Six Foes: undead corpses, possession spirits, spirits of death powers, spirits of diseases, and curses sent by women. The taboo of this charm is Never Kill.

This sounds as if Zolan Zubar is a whole category of spirits, not just one.

4 hours ago, soltakss said:

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However, from a story/character point of view, why is Archery not an ability on its own if it is so good?

Good point.

BTW, is it possible to move an ability from a breakout ability to a full ability (e.g. by investing a Hero point)?

2 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

I think it only applies to sub-abilities (i.e. they cannot go to +W). 

You can certainly raise a keyword value without restriction.

Ok, that supports my own interpretation. So that means given my last example

Quote

Hunter: 14
    Archery +6

it is not possible to raise the sub-ability Archery until the keyword Hunter is raised at least to a value of 20 (i.e. the first Mastery Level) giving an effective value of 1W6 for Archery. Now the sub-ability Archery could be raised again, because now there is room again for reaching the next Mastery Level ...

The following sentence on p. 106 in HeroQuest Glorantha at the end of the Catch-Ups section gives me a bit of a headache:

Quote

You can’t raise abilities under a keyword, nor gain a catch-up when the effective value of a sub-ability reaches a mastery (since it’s the keyword, not the abilities under it, which has a rating).

So given I have a keyword like Hunter and a sub-ability (that is a breakout ability, right?) Archery with the following values:

Hunter: 13
     Archery +1

According to the above rules I'm not allowed to raise Archery higher than +6, because raising it to +7 would mean, that the effective value (13+7=20) would reach a new Mastery level.

So far, so good.

Now imagine, that over time I have reached this maximum value:

Hunter: 13
    Archery +6

Now, at the next possible opportunity I raise the keyword (e.g. by investing 2 Heropoints):

Hunter: 14
    Archery +6

Wouldn't that break the above rule? And more so, if I raise the value of the keyword even higher?

Or does this rule limit the raising of sub-abilities only? Whereas reaching or exceeding the next Mastery Level by raising the keyword value is possible without any restrictions? (In fact I would tend to use this last interpretation, but I would like to know, how other people handle this.)

5 hours ago, Pentallion said:

Is this thread not dead yet?

It isn't dead, it just smells funny ...

2 hours ago, g33k said:

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The biggest "problem" with the RQ/HQ/13G split isn't IMHO any adversarial "schism" but the "GOOD problem" of having quality Glorantha material within each of the separate communities.  It was just more-convenient when the Glorantha content that was intertwined with game-system content was all in the same place...

 

If my impression is right, that there is a clear tendency to publish material related to Glorantha in format, that provides information more or less system-free or at least useful for all three systems (like the Guide to Glorantha, the HeroQuest (Glorantha) source books for Sartar, Pavis and the Red Cow as well as the upcoming Glorantha Sourcebook for 13th Age Glorantha), then I do not expect this to become a real problem ...

sorry for answering so late, but I was busy with other tasks during the last months ...

On 11.9.2016 at 7:39 PM, Steve said:

Here are some more which I don't think have been included so far, along with some attempted answers:

p. 35 - point 8 - spend on improving abilities, Runes and keywords, not buying new ones?

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I do not see the issue here. My version of HeroQuest Glorantha says:

8.    Spend up to 12 additional points on keywords, Runes, additional abilities, or supporting characters. ...

This seems clear enough for answering the above question. Or do I miss something?

On 11.9.2016 at 7:39 PM, Steve said:

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p. 35/36/46 - Concerning distinguishing characteristic. If you choose it as a new ability, its score is 17. As a breakout ability, it adds +1 to the score of the linked keyword. But if this keyword has a score of 13 (like the basic score of the third rune), does it mean than the distinguishing characteristic increases to +4 to reach the minimum of 17 or doest it keeps its +1?

Answer from David Scott via forum - Good question. Give the distinguishing characteristic +4. This happened recently in a game of mine: Death 13, unnerving stare +4. He soon realised that this could injure people.

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Not sure if this describes an editing error or a real errata. But David answer is definitely helpful.

On 11.9.2016 at 7:39 PM, Steve said:

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p. 63 (and 243) - the result table is  very confusing (see HQ:CR rulebook for a much clearer table)

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True, but this seems to be more of an editing issue than a real error (see rules for what's being considered an errata listed above by @Ian Cooper)

On 11.9.2016 at 7:39 PM, Steve said:

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p. 84 - last paragraph says that the winner never scores less than a Minor Victory, but the table allows for a Marginal Victory.

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already listed in the companion thread:

On 11.9.2016 at 7:39 PM, Steve said:

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p. 92 - The Battle of Auroch Hills example appears to lump together the resolution points received for each hero facing multiple opponents rather than keeping them (as per the rules on p.79) in separate tracks for each opponent. On p.92, David is concerned that with four points against Herrox he is nearly out of the contest. However, these points have been (mistakenly?) added together and in fact he has received one point from Guard 8 (p.90) and three from Guard 9 (p.90 and p.92). The example makes it look like adding together all the received resolution points is correct.

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As far as I know this part is already under reconstruction by @David Scott. Although I'm not sure, I would consider this to be an editing error.

On 11.9.2016 at 7:39 PM, Steve said:

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p. 116 - Major Defeat mentioned in text, presumably at King's Banquet, so it should be a double arrow in the diagram. Should the earlier paragraph refer to major and complete being double arrows?

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already listed in the above mentioned companion thread ...

For the remaining points I'm again not sure, how to handle them.

Given link above contains to many characters: http://bit.ly/khanofkhanspp%uFEFF (looks like an additional UTF code ..)

Removing the additional characters solves the issue: http://bit.ly/khanofkhanspp

2 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

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Page 38: such as the Sun, Lightfore, the planets and stars – Lightfore is a planet?

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It seems so:

Quote

Sartar Companion, p.40, sidebar:

Venebain
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Venebain is identified
with the planet Lightfore.

20 minutes ago, Runeblogger said:

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I'm curious: how do you translate Swenstown into Catalan? Do you also translate "Argrath" or "Arkat" and just call him "Liberator"?

Names like "Argrath" or "Arkat" I wouldn't translate (in my case into German not Catalan :-)), because they do not have any implicit meaning in the original English text. Therefore I do not try to give them a similar implicit meaning in my language.

On the other hand "Boldhome" is obviously a construct out of English words, which gives the name of this town an implicit meaning in the original English text: " the home of the bold". In this case I would try to create a similar underlying meaning in the language I'm using in my games.

As Nel already said:

14 hours ago, Nel said:

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As a GM, it's my duty to keep the flavour of those names, and forcing a player to use English names he doesn't understand would obscure their meaning.

I've just realized, that @M Helsdon was the Copy Editor of the latest version of King of Sartar. So I take his above statement as kind of an official explanation .

I've asked a similar question regarding German translations in this thread:

I've described my approach to using translations in this reply