Jenx

Thank you!

It is strange for me to put into words my thoughts on Greg Stafford. I never met the man in person. I wanted to do that so much, I was making very real plans on how to attend GenCon so I can finally see him in person. I wanted to shake his hand, and thank him from the bottom of my heart for giving me the life that I have right now. Because, indirectly, he very much did that. My job, how I view myself, the woman I love. All of those came very directly from Glorantha, and thus from it's Great Shaman. I would like to think that Greg would have enjoyed that, and I am filled with such deep regret that I never got to do this. All I can say, is that the man created something truly, and utterly beautiful and unique. He brought magic and wonder into our world and also into my own life. For that, I shall forever be grateful to him. The only thing now left to do is to mourn his passing, to honour his memory with one of his many games, and for me personally - To strive to maintain the man's legacy and his great work through my own. Rest in Peace, Greg. We Are All Us!

I'd go a step further. Don't just "let your players", encourage your players to have visual and auditory effects to their spells. Magic in Glorantha is not subtle or quiet. Some spirit magic might be, but all Rune and Sorcery magic definitely has very real, very obvious effects. As for cantrips - I'd say there's no point in rolling anything if a player just wants to add a visual descriptor to what their character is doing. If they want that visual effect to have a meaningful impact (say, impress the tribal king), then I'd say this counts as using an augment, specifically a rune augmenting a skill. And in those cases, I'd always ask the players in what way their augment manifests itself. You are channelling the power of one of the runes, after all!

The next chapter of Selkana's Saga is now out, talking about the place of combat and violence in the setting and in this campaign in particular. Also featured - the full party portrait! https://www.chaosium.com/blogselkanas-saga-6-violence-is-always-an-option/

Yeah, Saranthos is both an obvious and fun figure to include as a shoutout! Always fun to see Gloranthan characters like this show up in people's campaigns!

With Hazia specifically I'd say that being "addicted" to it is actually just another way for mortal being to show it's desire to return to the God Time, as Hazia can be used to ease the communication with the gods.

Sure, but you are a way more devious man than I am, Jeff.

This is Glorantha, the correct answer to that question is always going to be - Go on a heroquest to find an even greater weapon! Also yeah, this character sounds like they'll end up having some very fun encounters with trolls throughout because this kind of infamy isn't exactly easy to conceal.

Part 3 is now out as well, featuring character art! https://www.chaosium.com/blogselkanas-saga-3-help-ive-joined-a-cult-practical-advice-for-the-new-initiate/

Yup, it's that guy!

Yup. From Jeff's art direction: Patreena: Seven Mothers priestess from Furthest. She is General Fazzur's envoy in Nochet and is clearly friendly with Hendira. Pyjemstor: Tarshite captain and kinsman of Fazzur Wideread.

The beards must flow! (Really. They should be long enough to flow!)

I think tattoos might be okay for lay members, but anything beyond that would probably require a long beard. After all, Lhankor Mhy's beard is really long, that's how you can tell he's so wise and knowledgable after all!

Yeah, the original og post had a typo in the name, but it got fixed. That must be what's causing the problem.

Right, so. On your first question of what Ty Kora Tek followers actually do - they tend to perform funerary rites, such as preparing the body of the dead and then leading the ceremonies afterwards. TKT isn't really widespread in Sartar and amongst the Heortlings, however the Esrolians to the south definitely have a much larger space for her in their culture, as she is still, ultimately, one of the Earth Goddesses. So if your player wants to be a follower of Ty Kora Tek, I'd recommend maybe picking an Esrolian character, instead of a Sartarite one. Now, as for actually being an initiate - Ty Kora Tek, similarly to Asrelia tends to be a cult in which older women get into. However, it's important to note - this is how things usually are. You are making adventurers, you are making Player Characters here, so the usual can be ignored if need be. Why would a young woman be initiated into the cult of Ty Kora Tek? Here's some possible ideas: * During her Adulthood initiation rites, she chose to stay in the women's hut along with Asrelia and Ty Kora Tek, instead of following Ernalda and leaving for Yelm's court. There she learned things which she really shouldn't at this stage of her life, but it seemed t hat the two Grandmothers had taken a liking to her. So the character follows TKT, because the goddess herself hand-picked her for it. This would have the potential for a lot of interesting roleplaying, as you have a young woman trying to both deny her natural urges, as well as the expectations of her community, while also playing an important role as a spiritual leader, helping communicate with the ancestors and lead the souls of the dead to their rightful place. * Again, during her initiation rites, she was attacked by an enemy of some kind, probably Chaos or something else, and it scarred her, making her barren. When she returned from her adulthood rites, the women in the clan were worried and horrified at what had happened to this young woman. However, maybe a follower of some of the Malign Earth goddesses (Maran Gor, Babeester Gor, or even Ty Kora Tek herself) said she can still find a place, and led her away, and she then joined the cult of Ty Kora Tek as a way of coping with the realities of being a young woman who is going to be forever unable to bear children, a rather painful fate in the kind of societies you have in Dragon Pass. Lots of potential here if the player wants to explore a more troubled character, since this situation can cause a lot of drama, both internal and external. And drama, at least in RPGs, is good stuff! *Once again, during her adulthood initiation, maybe one of the many things that the character encountered was a revered ancestor of hers. Perhaps that ancestor, maybe an important great-grandmother from her family, impressed on this woman the direness of the times to come, as the Hero Wars start to pick up steam, and so she offered to join with her, to both guide her, and help her guide the people around her. So this young woman accepted and her soul became the same as her ancestor. She returned as someone who, while in body is young and fertile, in spirit she was old, and thus joined the appropriate cult. Again, this also gives a lot of amazing situations for roleplaying, as you have a character who is both young and old at the same time, yet not actually either entirely. She would probably be seen as both weird, mad and sacred, a common trope in both fiction and in our ancient world societies. I can probably sit here for a bit and think up a few more scenarios, but this should give you a good idea of why a starting PC of young age would be drawn into the cult for old women who deal with the dead.

I think maybe I didn't express myself all that clearly, sorry. What I mean is that some cults just..don't have Rune Lords for example (I am not sure if there are ones without Rune Priests though, but I wouldn't be surprised if one shows up).

Your main question, I'll let someone else answer, since I am not entirely sure on how things work in RQ regarding this stuff. As for your second one - Rune Lords and Rune Priests are game abstractions that RuneQuest uses. Cults and temples in the setting do not have such clean delineation between their various members. In HeroQuest: Glorantha the term is Devotee, and that would encompass both of these roles. As to why some cults have one or not the other? Simple answer is - because they just do. Some cults simply put do not have roles for a priest or a rune lord.

The Summons of Evil is a preparation ritual, really. It is often used when a community wants to perform a much larger ritual or heroquest. When you perform the Summon of Evil it helps you define your enemy, it gives them a concrete shape and known powers, which is very useful when you then plan on venturing into the other world on a dangerous heroquest, and you're unsure what enemies you might encounter. If you have the Book of Heortling Mythology, that actually has the origins of the Summons of Evil - Orlanth asked Lhankhor Mhy to come up with it, as this new enemy that the gods were facing (Chaos) could not be fought in the usual way - it would strike and then vanish. So Orlanth needed a way to bring the enemy to him, and make that enemy stay there so he can defeat it.

Most of those come from @Jeff so I actually think he should explain what means what.

136 and 177 are Simon Roy's work.

It probably says a lot about me that when I saw Jeff 3:16 my first association was with pro wrestling, not with Christianity. That's what happens when you're not American, it seems.

Now, to be fair, this really is the same with HeroQuest. In that system it's not that you "have" just the 3 runes on your charater sheet, those are just the three most dominant ones in that character, and therefore the ones that are relevant in play.

Prax is littered with them, really. Remnants of old gods and spirits, dead or petrified and broken.

It seems redundant, because that really isn't how you should be using the contest in the first place. A more appropriate way of describing the differences would be: Traditional RPG: "I attack the orc with my sword." and then you roll. HeroQuest: "I want to defeat the orc in combat." and then you roll. The point of the contest is that it is not just a single, split-decision action performed by your character. It is a contest. The roll that you, as a player make, as well as the one the GM makes give you a result which comprises the totality of the actions needed. In HQ you do not roll to hit the orc, unless hitting him is all you want to achieve in this sittuation. If you want to kill the orc, you should frame the contest as that "I do everything in my power to kill this orc. I will use X ability to do that.". If you want to just beat the shit out of the orc and take him as prisoner, then you should frame the contest roll as "I attempt to fight the orc into submission and then take him prisoner." and then you use whatever ability you think would help you do that. In those two examples, the effect of the success of the roll is already obvious, you have stated it when you framed the contest. If you fail though, then the framing also comes into play. If you try to kill the orc, but fail, then maybe he'll in fact hurt you instead. Or maybe he'll just run away. If you try to subdue and take the orc captive? Maybe the failure means he ran away, but maybe it means you instead swung too hard and accidental killed it, thus depriving you of your prisoner and of your stated goal.

Sorry, I should have written that better - By Orlanthi I mean "An initiate of Orlanth", not Orlanthi when used as broader describer for several cultures.