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Bohemond

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Bohemond last won the day on November 3 2019

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  • RPG Biography
    I've been playing RPGs since I was 8, in 1975. My older brother discovered Glorantha in 1981, and I've been playing it ever since
  • Current games
    The Orlmarth Campaign
  • Location
    Milwaukee
  • Blurb
    My blog, An Historian Goes to the Movies, at aelarsen.wordpress.com, deals with film and movie from the perspective of an academic historian.

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  1. To answer question 1: most clans have a single village (but a few have two). Most people live in small steads that might have some small out-buildings like a cow byre. So the village is where the clan gets together for social functions, worship, and politics. The same pattern is true at the tribal level. The clans are villages linked together around a larger settlement that is typically fortified so it can act as a center of refuge during times of strife. The same pattern is true at the confederation level. Several tribes band together to support a town, which will typically have better fortifications than a tribal fort.
  2. I think what this discussion is missing is that Bless Crops is available to initiates, not merely priestesses. If the average (85%) woman on a tula is an Ernaldan, that means the initiates do most of the field-blessing and the priestess only gets involved when there’s particular land that might need extra help for some reason. Or perhaps she blesses the hide of land set aside specifically for cult purposes. Or perhaps her casting happens alongside theirs and helps boost it (although that’s not how the rules work).
  3. Ah thank you! That is indeed what I was looking for. It seems very obviously an Argan Argar spell.
  4. I have a memory of a rune spell of Argan Argar that allows humans to become trolls and trolls to become humans for the duration of the spell, but I cannot find the listing in any of the RQG listing for Argan Argar--it doesn't seem to be in the RQG book or the Red Book of Magic. Can anyone help me with this--what am I remembering?
  5. Yes, but by that time they were very old-fashioned in doing so—other Celts had basically abandoned the use of chariots. As an isolated island population the Britons had less incentive/pressure to innovate. They appear to have abandoned them by the end of the 1st century AD or so—half a century after being conquered by the Romans. The last reference to them is in conjunction with the battle of Mons Graupius, where Tacitus says they were used on a plain (although given that Tacitus is at best using second-hand info, how accurate that description is is unclear). It’s also important to note that Caesar doesn’t say they fought from chariots. His description says they used them to throw javelins at the start of a battle, and then dismounted and fought on foot. And, of course, of the three battles where British chariots are known to have been used against Romans, the British lost the second and third.
  6. How does one set a price on a crystal? The RQG doesn't seem to offer any guidance on this matter. You could say that they generally aren't sold, but in a magic-rich culture like Glorantha that doesn't seem likely. If they're brought out of the Rubble, the Lunars at least will demand their 10%, and temples will probably expect a 10% cut as well. For POW crystals, one might say 100 L a point. Since they are reusable and can also house a spirit, that seems reasonable. But what about crystals with abilities--Spell Reinforcing, Senstitivity, Healing, and so on. What about those with more than one ability?
  7. One classic way to start orienting new players to the RQ system is to start with adulthood rites. But instead of doing a 'deep myth ritual' like the Six Seasons model, run it as an obstacle course of sorts. The PCs must prove they are adults capable to contributing to the clan. So they have to run an footrace (they have to make opposed DEX rolls to see who wins). Then they have to climb up a tree (Climb roll) and get one of the weapons that have been put up there and then Jump down. Etc--make up whatever stations of the obstacle course seem fun to you and as the players are making the rolls, you're teaching them where things are on the character sheet and how the mechanics work. They can use a Passion or Rune to enhance a relevant skill--teach them how that works. Then, partway through the obstacle course, something unexpected happens--a rock lizard shows up or a couple of Praxian braves take that moment to try and steal cattle, and the PCs encounter it and have to decide whether to fight or run away. If you want it to be slightly more mythic, whatever bad guy/monster shows up represents the clan's Ancient Enemy from the Godtime--sometimes during the adulthood rites, the power of the rite pulls in this enemy, and defeating the enemy strengthens the clan (and maybe earns them a point of Spirit magic or some other reward). This teaches the PCs that Glorantha is a little different than say D&D, because myth matters. After the whole adulthood rite is finished, the clan elders tell them a myth that starts teaching them about the gods. Rather than info-dumping huge chunks of mythic info on them a at once, teach them a myth each session or some important clan story about Why We Worship Orlanth/Hate the Praxians/Hate the Lunars/Mourn Our Great Clan Hero/Etc. At the end, they are taught some Spirit magic or maybe they're initiated into their cults. You can use a format like this in all sorts of ways--each station can be an important point on clan lands to teach them the layout, or one of the important clan elders is stationed at each obstacle and tells them a piece of the clan myth that obstacle represents. Include a couple of NPCs who are other characters coming of age at the same time. Make one of those NPC a jerk or a bully--they will be a rival in the early part of the campaign or an example of how not to be a good Orlanthi or something like that--or they can be a love interest if the players want that sort of thing. Or the rival can be used to model proper behavior. He doesn't want money--he wants cows, because cows are how Orlanthi count wealth. He is very honor-focused. You get the idea. This sort of scenario is relatively low stakes and helps the PCs learn the system and the world in an easy and fun way.
  8. When Esrola was first mentioned, she was described as one of Ernalda's daughters. But then the Heroquest rules elevated her to a third sister of Ernalda and Maran Gor, and developed a whole theology around them being triplets. Now the Earth Goddesses has made her a daughter again and seems to have reduced her importance. What's behind those changes?
  9. When heroquesting, you can't really pick an enemy that way (unless you have really powerful heroquesitng magic, like the Lunars do). In most cases, you have no way of knowing the identity of the people whose ceremony you're intersecting with, because they look like the god to you, and vice-versa.
  10. So there is one major difference between Orlanth and Gagarth--Orlanth is tied to Ernalda, and Earth calms Storm. So when Orlanth is thinking about violence, Ernalda reminds him that there's always other ways to address the problem. Socially, that means that Ernaldans often act to constrain Orlanthi. Gagarth is essentially Orlanth unbound from Ernalda. Violence isn't just an option, it's the only real choice. Both Orlanth and Gagarth engage in raiding and plunder, but Gagarth is restrained only by the other side's ability to fight back. Orlanthi occasionally injure the herders or guards when they steal cows, but the ideal cattle raid avoids opposition entirely, and they generally try to avoid killing because that is likely to trigger a feud, and Ernalda reminds Orlanth that feuds are very disruptive to the community. Gagarthi, in contrast, have no compunctions against killing the herders because they don't care about the repercussions. They aren't in a community, so feuding affects them much less. Orlanthi might kidnap someone and hold them for ransom, but there are rules--you treat the guests with some degree of respect because if you don't a feud will probably result. If for some reason you kidnap a woman, you don't violate her because that will deeply offend Ernalda and probably bring Babeester Gori after you. But Gagarthi don't worry about that sort of thing. They don't care what Ernalda thinks and they feel they're tough enough to deal with the Gori. Gagarthi terrorize people in a way that Orlanthi seldom do. An act like burning a stead is probably reserved for a hated enemy, but Gagarthi are glad to do that because it creates fear and confusion. An Orlanthi would never plunder a temple to a Heortling deity, but Gagarthi know there's a lot of treasure to be claimed that way. Orlanthi probably don't mutiliate their victims, but Gagarthi are free to be as sadistic as they want to. So Gagarth might not offer a lot of formal benefits in terms of the rule systems (their magic is certainly not stronger than Orlanth's overall), but what they offer in freedom from the rules Orlanthi follows is considerable, at least as long as you keep moving around enough to dodge the consequences.
  11. Great suggestions all! Many thanks. After a lot of thinking, I decided to make it a vampire backed up by a couple of ghouls and a bunch of skeletons. The Babeester Gori and the Snake Guardians will handle the big baddies, while the PCs will have to fight the skeletons (which are about their level) and might have to step in to assist with the sacrifices so the ritual is completely properly. My goal here is to show the PCs how opposed mythology works while giving them a little combat experience and giving them a connection with the Earth Temple.
  12. I thought about Oakfed or Daga, because this is happening in Fire Season when they would be strong. But do either of those have enough actual followers to produce a good fight scenario. I would imagine more spirts or even something like fires breaking out, but that's a lot harder to do an RQ style fight, especially with character who are very green and who would therefore have a lot of trouble with even just one spirit.
  13. The game is set in Pavis, so no Esrolian political factions.
  14. I'm running a scenario that is going to involve an Ernaldan ceremony, and I want to have it invaded by enemies that the PCs (who are pretty inexperienced) will need to fight off. But this led me to wondering what sort of enemies might show up? The most obvious is the Undead, since Nontreya is her biggest enemy. But I'm hoping for options. So what other groups might attack? Daga is an enemy of hers, but he's not actively worshipped, so he doesn't have a 'constituency' that would fight for him, although I suppose there are spirits of drought that could show up. Dwarves don't actively engage in agriculture, so far as we know, so I suppose they might be doing a ceremony to discourage plant fertility. Trolls? They don't engage in much farming either, but do they have a reason to oppose her? Anyone else?
  15. That is exactly what I was looking for--I somehow managed to miss them looking through the book 3 times! Thank you.
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