Lord High Munchkin

"File your teeth flat, get the slaves to drain the blood for you, and you'll be fine!"

I wonder what happens in Pamaltela?

My main point is that both ancient horse-driven chariots and wagons use the “throat and girth” harness (as in the chariot drawing - OK, outside China that is). This utilises a fair bit of tack and reins. Oxen use yokes and no tack. Controlling and driving a vehicle via reins is substantially different from having to use a whip, or actually walk holding the yoke of an ox-cart. A chariot-driver would be frustrated and slowed driving a wagon, while attempting to drive an ox-cart, they would be seriously hindered (hence 1/2 skill - actually I’d go for 1/4).

True, the structure of the vehicle is different - but the method of "driving" is similar, but different to goading on oxen.

I think what I'm more interested in is using an intermediate level event structure - more like the 'Regional Activity Table' (p. 555 GtG2), but slightly more wide-scale, to give more appropriate events. Looking at the timetable that Dave kindly gives is that it's too "all over the place" - background events for Fronritian are more localised and pretty urban in scope. There are huge region-spanning events (usually involving the Vadeli somehow), but they are unusual. It's the "middle" sized polities and cultural areas that I think need to be focussed on (as equivalents to 'Grazelands', 'Sartar', or Old Trash' etc.).

I used to work for the local farm museum as a "agricultural vehicle restorer" (involved a bit of animal handling, and knowing your animals was key). Position of the driver matters hardly at all - it really is the animal; with that goes different harness types and so on (an ox is hitched in a very different fashion to that used with a horse and its harness). Harness is a major thing, you are always adjusting and sorting it out. Now, I do think chariots are different to carts and wagons (but far more similar than to ox-carts and wagons) - but that can be just handled by halving the skill. There shouldn't be separate skills.

OK, trying to put together a Fonritian character generation proceedure and recent history for my players. Obviously, if anyone has an already assembled timeline it would help (I don't want to reinvent the wheel) - otherwise I am going to collect one together.

I would rule that it depends on the animal. A chariot driven by horses uses the same skill as a wagon pulled by horses. A wagon drawn by oxen would be at half skill

Like Roger Rabbit - "only when it's funny!"

I have polished tamped earthen floors in France using bullocks blood. We poured the blood over the earth and rubbed with rags for ages (well it seemed like ages as my back hurt badly after a while) until we got a nice shiny, and very resistant protein layer built up. The final result is very much like old fashioned linoleum. Polishing turds laid as a floor surface should be pretty similar.

Ompalam and Garangordos.

Obviously the Mostali would replace every "grown" (ghastly "organic" stuff!!!) component with some much more acceptable manufactured parts.... Which raised the thought in my mind - do the Mostali actually use wood (in weapons, or even at all), or do they have some other dwarf-made alternatives?

My players once ran a vastly successful caravan to Pent loaded with household metal goods and as much gold as they could rustle up. This was bartered and traded for horses - lots of horses. The Pentans naturally tried raiding them but the PC party was too tough, and bribed the right people (they also, under "slightly mysterious" PC-type circumstances, procured a Lunar contract to supply horses). Not the naked bullion laundering that has gone on in Each history - but one can play the game.

One of the things that happened in the 16th C was the gradual “sucking” of world silver to China. As the ratio of gold to silver in Europe (and Japan) was almost twice that of the ratio in China, a canny merchant could load up on silver and sell it for gold to the Chinese, as silver was cheaper for Europeans (or Japanese) to source, and more valuable to the Chinese (and banned as an export, although gold wasn’t). Of course back outside China the reverse was true - which enabled a nice turn of profit and getting more silver…. Once the Spanish had access to New World silver they really went to town, while the boom in Japanese silver mining caused a rise in the demand for gold (which the Portuguese gladly supplied… as they received silver, which they naturally took to China).

Surely bathos?

Well, there are Northern Pacific examples of Chinese coins and of metal rings sown onto a leather base - but these are waaaay outside the time reference-period of RQ. I'm also sure that some Japanese armourer in the 17/18th C tried it too. However, these are not really either common enough or "in period".

We could do with a "Grand Line Graph" of the ups and downs of all the elements/runes throughout time (not just in "Time").

Maybe Vamargic was simply a "great" troll? Or, that his parents were unusually barbaric and crude (even by the typical standards Uz are described as being by human scribes). More seriously I would likely chalk this up to writer error.

"We Are All Me"

"Notorious" merely means lots of people will have heard of it - almost certainly bad, wildly anecdotal tales about how "poisonous"/"degrading"/"corrupting"/"socially vile"/"degenerate"/all of the previous it is. It doesn't necessarily mean any illegality and/or regulation, just that folk know stories.... Of course some thrill-seekers will thus seek it out - which just confirms what most people believe. Temples might also use it, especially if part of a mystery tradition.

Low level (probably one only needs a single point) Bladesharp would be very high up. All those common-use tools need constant sharpening and attention if you are a farmer or crafter. "Kill Vermin" (aka Disruption) might be popular too.

Defiantly the drugs - it's the cheapest, most scalable, simplest, "low-tech" way of doing it. Less technological societies often have a wide range of herbal and traditional methods of utilising the natural world around them. People also spend a lot of effort in working out how to get "out of their heads" - combine the two and that's the easiest method.

Its power lead can only stretch so far....

OK, I know that some hated MRQII but they did have some useful info that built on David's work (which I used).... The similarities and correspondences used were: Umathing God Orlanthi Counterpart Tyloque the Storm King Orlanth Ropotes the Wise Lhankor Mhy Phausia the Warrior Maiden Vinga Rabilis the Sister Whore Babeester Gor Systella the Sister Witch Maran Gor Thyla the Green Life Sister Aldrya Rondella the Pauper Queen No Counterpart Neiropha the Healer Chalana Arroy Mayedra the Earth Mother Asrelia Vrala the Grain Sister Grain Goddesses Ernamola the Earth Sister Ernalda Aloral the Herder No Counterpart Chortikan the Hunter Odayla Eler the Ram of the Rains Heler Umath the Spirit Father Umath, Primal Air Rondella and Aloral have no Orlanthi equivalents but do provide their worshippers with Higher (Rune) Magic. Aloral: Beast Form (Pig/Boar), Laughter. Rondella: Absorption, Cure Poison, Dismiss Magic, Spirit Block. Umath is never worshipped directly

Some things are simply inordinately difficult - which for most people means “impossible”. The ancient Chinese certainly used dagger-axes 2H while standing in rapidly moving chariots (I’d say as hard a feat as while riding), so I wouldn’t worry too much over the point. A hefty penalty or a Dex resistance roll should cover it. Cultural familiarity might mean that Llama Riders are raised to do such things Not everything can be covered in the rules, this probably falls under the category of a GM ruling.