JonL

I think this effort overall is some high-quality God Learning, but let's not go stripping Elmal and Kargzant of their Fire. Such not only lessens them but robs Yelmalio of his distinctiveness (Hasn't he suffered enough? ). It replaces one rough ret-con with yet another. I could see a recurring pattern in the tales where something is sacrificed though, which you kind of suggested. I'm quite happy to consider that whatever the Little Sun might have initially been like in God Time, over many centuries of Theyleans (mostly) performing Hill of Gold HeroQuests where Orlanth and Elmal team-up to defeat Zorak Zoran and Peloreans (mostly) performing it as Yelmalio losing to them both in turn (and learning deeper secrets still through enduring such suffering and loss) - and this is the key part - the results of those quests became the new truth to the communities that were supporting the questers. When an entire Heortling Tribe backs their great Elmali quester and he succeeds, the Yelmalio myth is false and foreign to them thereafter by virtue of the contradictions. Reinforce this enough over time and the very cultural trappings in the myths become mutually incompatible. I've seen very little on the Pent & Grazer Kargzant tales. Where can those be found?

I can't help but notice that Ponsonby is rocking the Sartar Rune. This Duck is clearly destined to be more than a webbed-footnote in the events to come.

I hear Sor-Eel's uncle once spent an entire year in the underworld in order to evade tax demons.

I wouldn't have figured Lionfish for the doubly-impale-a-hoplite-from-neck-to-sinus-cavity-one-handed sort, though I suppose Argan Argar teachess how to throw down when talking is not an option, especially in defense of those you have agreed to protect.

They use their flying buffalo to handle the troll tunnels.

I think the description you wrote there is most of what you need. They main thing that HeroQuest doesn't give you from the mechanics is the fictional context of what is possible. Once you have that (which your write up clearly provides), you just need to assign a rating to it somehow and perhaps define a breakout or few for any standout applications. I would also probably have a one or more other abilities relating to the heritage angle. Is Quarterstaff also a large & strong individual with the ironic surname of "Little?" Is there an immortal monk in a one of the Nottingham caves who has been the custodian of the artifact in between times of great need?

Good point. I suppose that, unlike his rescuers, the tortures and deprivations to which he had been subjected were enough for him to "die in the Underworld" as described in the HQ;G adventure, becoming dead in the concrete practical sense as well as in the legalistic ritual sense. Humakt seems to be more concerned with the Separation of Life and Man aspect of Death, as the Humakti guardian in the HQ;G scenario insists on somebody getting killed to death rather than just walking through into the ritual state of Death, perhaps insisting that the Death satisfy Truth as well. If there's guidance to be had on the subject of Humakti questing in the underworld, perhaps that's it. If the Humakti walks in, walking back out isn't resurrection, It's the ritual state following the Truth that Life and Man were never Separated in that person. If they, are it doesn't matter to Humakt in which World the follower was standing when it happened. You're not supposed to re-unite what Humakt has Separated. Ty Kora Tek, in contrast, embodies Death and Fate. Fate is arbitrary. She's less concerned with how you arrived than with the fact that you're there. It is the Fate of the dead to remain so (until and unless reincarnation provides a new Fate). Eluding her grasp is not a matter of pleading that you're not really dead, but that you're not supposed to be in the Underworld because your destiny lies elsewhere, your current Fate incomplete. If she allows your ritual state of Death to change (by leaving) to reflect the fact that your Fate lies above, it doesn't matter to her whether you were Separated from Life or not. What matters to her is that you must still fulfill your destiny.

It certainly seems to be that at least some of rules and expectations differ between people who are dead because they were separated them from their bodies and those who walked wholly into the Underworld, despite both being dead in the ritual sense. The sample adventure in HQ:G has those who survive to the end being returned to the living world by a grateful Asrelia intervening with Ty Kora Tek to allow their release, but those who are slain in the course of their journey become more properly dead and can only return if resurrected during Sacred Time. In the Underworld excursion part of the Colymar Campaign, the heroes are clearly of the dead by virtue of being there, yet also maintain a connection to the living world that is tested as they walk the Path of Silence and is both recognized and acknowledged by various personages they encounter in the Underworld. In the end, they require no particular resurrection as they leap from the Pit (with Holfstrang calling on Larnste to amplify his super-leap to world-spanning proportions) clear up to Orlanth's Hall. Larnste may have only been willing to help because because the Lunars cast Holfstrang into Hell directly while otherwise still living and the heroes came similarly to retrieve him. (Cue mostly dead vs all-dead bit from The Princess Bride.)

It hasn't come up in my games, but it strikes me that a clear line can be drawn between the religious groups and even the sex worker with few job opportunities in a city (the latter even protected by the former in some places) on one hand and enslaved war prizes on the other.

I expect that some non-illuminated Lunar who swapped the Moon rune for the Chaos rune would get flagged, but there's clearly an institutional space for it even so, given things like the Crimson Bat cult, the Vampire Legion (I wonder if some of them served under Nysalor?) , and so on.

Here's what I came up with from that thread (I'm Laminator_X over there): Distribute 13/13/15/17 among Culture,Community,Occupation, and a Distinguishing CharacteristicChoose three Powers at 13,17,and 1MChoose five Abilities at 13Spend 20 pts on improving and/or adding new abilities or keyword breakouts. A new ability starts at 13 and costs 1pt. Any ability can become a keyword by adding breakout abilities underneath itChoose (up to) three Flaws with ratings matching the highest, 2nd highest, & lowest ability ratings Text template: Character Concept – (13/13/15/17)Culture - Community – Occupation - Distinguishing Characteristic – Power #1Some Power - 1M--------Power #2Some Power - 17-------Power #3 Some Power - 13-------Ability #1 - Some Ability - 13Ability #2 – Some Ability - 13Ability #3 - Some Ability - 13Ability #4 – Some Ability - 13Ability #5 - Some Ability - 13Flaw #1 - Some Flaw - Highest Ability RatingFlaw #2 – Some Flaw - 2nd Highest Ability RatingFlaw #3 – Some Flaw - Lowest Ability Rating

I'm surprised to see Griselda rushing to the forefront, though I suppose there's little opportunity to arrange a clever reversal ambush on the open deck.

Yanafal Tarnils managed it, though he embraced a new patron in the doing. They have cult rules forbidding it, and institutionally encourage Illumination, which allows one to bypass cult rules. It's kind of having it both ways, but that's the Lunars for you.

Yeah, my smoothest introduction has been at a con where I got a table of PC gamers who wanted to see what tabletop was about.

It also strikes me that Stretches can fill this space as well.

Its refinements and variants to the rules are quite welcome, especially with regaurds to things like Flaws-as-Hero-point-generators and advancement options to replace Hero points as xp.

Got a favorite setting that's got no rpg available or has a deal-breaker of a system attached to it? You can get up and playing in HQ2 in minutes, maybe an hour or two if you've got some detailed magic or similar crunch you want to engage with mechanically. The mechanics are sufficiently flat that you can make whatever adjustments your taste might call for without breaking a bunch of interconnected bits in unforeseen ways. Detail is just where you want it, or find it useful. In play you can vary between high-level 1-roll conflicts, zooming in all the way to traditional blow-by-blow exchanges, or various parts in between. Character generation can be a detailed list & point affair, pick from this list and assign this array of scores, 100 words, or even Conan Cimmerian 15 --Mighty thews +2 --Sword in hand +2 A thief, a reaver 13 Gigantic mirth, gigantic melancholies 17 Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women! 5m aaaand DONE! Ratings can be abstract measures of narrative problem-solving power, quantitative metrics (like the Runes), or both, depending on how you want to play things. Prep just the important or interesting parts, abstract the rest. All the rules you need to refer to in play fit on both sides of a sheet of paper.

We kind of alluded to it above, but I really think that "Any Ability could become a Keyword if you hang an appropriate Breakout Ability from it." is a natural outgrowth of using umbrella-style Keywords. The prohibition against intra-keyword augments is disincentive enough to discourage over-loading them, IMO. I wonder if one might do Flaws as penalty breakouts, representing a weakness relating specifically to that Keyword. Perhaps do hanging something like: "BreakoutFlaw" -(KeywordRating/5)

Yes, although I agree with characters having breakouts under Communities where appropriate too. Here's the example clan from HQ:G re-done with slightly lower base values and added breakouts: Varmandi Clan This small clan of the Colymar Tribe in Sartar is notorious for their bitter feuds with their neighbors in the Malani Tribe, and their violent responses to any affront. The Varmandi are feared as bandits, mercenaries, and killers, but are also traditionalist and pious Orlanth worshipers. Communication 11: The Varmandi have a poor reputation throughout Sartar as bandits and killers. --Vendettas Feared +2 --Respected for their Piety +1 Magic 8W: The Varmandi are punctilious in their observation of religious rites to the Orlanthi gods and worship their heroic Founder at his grave beneath Vengeance Oak. --Varmand the Unforgiving Hero Cult +2 Morale 18: The Varmandi are divided between a more aggressively warlike faction and a faction that fears the clan is too weak to continue fighting. War 11W: The Varmandi are feared for their military prowess and their skill at ambushing larger enemies and defeating them. --Bushwhackers +2 Wealth 15: The Varmandi are not wealthy, but have surplus war booty from previous raids. --The Victor's Spoils +4 I just went with what was in the description, but you could also have breakouts for prominent NPC Ring members, specific treasures or artifacts, oaths, grudges, alliances, and so on. Such break-outs could also possibly benefit from specific-ability priviledge or just-the-right-thing augmentation when communities are in conflict.

Thanks! Now I have a desire to print the seven rays at 2pi/7rad intervals pattern on transparency material to lay on top of a paper map.

Ah, I see my mistake now. How do you make tables on here? I want to complete that one around the seven regions/directions.

I hadn't realized that She was actually pivoting to face different directions within the Middle Air, as opposed to facing towards or away from the world as a whole. So if I follow this right, while the moon is full in Dragon Pass, Kethalia, and Prax, it's at empty-half in the Wastelands & Kralorela, crescent-come in on the Blue Moon Plateau and Pent, Black in Eol & the White Sea, Dying in Carmania, crescent-go in Fronela, and full-half in Ralios - all simultaneously. I suppose the Lunars mark their calendars according to the phase that's facing Glamour? If you let out from Glamour on horseback to circle the crater, would you be at a different phase every 15 miles or so?

That really depends on how you narrate results. Suffering a Major Defeat in a sword fight could certainly involve having an arm lopped off, losing an eye, or similar crippling injury. Similarly, conflict framing can set the tone. If we were playing The Showdown at House of Blue Leaves scene from Kill Bill vol 1, The Bride's goal is to force O-Ren to face her in a duel, and the tactic she's using is to kill or maim anyone who stands in her way. The Crazy-88 opposes this, hoping to see either The Bride killed or failing that at least worn down to the point that O-Ren will have the advantage when they face each other one-on-one. The GM treats fighting the Crazy-88 (dozens of mostly weak foes) as an extended contest against a single obstacle with Resistance of Very High rather than fooling with dozens multiple opponents. After a few rounds, The Bride manages to carry the battle with five result points to the Crazy-88's three (the round the Crazy-88 scored those points, the GM described intense fighting vs Gogo). Since The Showdown at House of Blue Leaves is the climax of Volume 1, those three RP against her leave The Bride at Hurt status going into her duel with O-Ren.

Sounds fun. I think the key thing would be to get the fictional dynamics of the setting laid down such that everyone understands them, and then decide how the application of the mechanics should bend to reflect that. Not having seen the show, my thought from watching things like Xu Warriors and the like is that if you want to have dramatic blow-by-blow battles, look closely at the extended contests. Something like the sequential simple contests method used in Mythic Russia may be helpful at times. I've used that approach before where I wanted the length of a battle to be more open-ended, and having consequences applied immediately from roll to roll gives a momentum/death-spiral dynamic that captures the feel of more grinding fights - when that's what you want. The extended contest dynamic of the consequences kicking in at the end is better when you're aiming for the sort of highly-cinematic exchange with lots of sound & fury that doesn't actually slow anybody down much until a decisive coup-de-grace finishes the battle. Either approach is good, just be sure to pick the one you want on purpose. If you want to reward using lots of different abilities to change things up mid-battle, perhaps give a +3 plot augment the first time a given ability is used in an extended contest. For incorporating the dynamics of Chinese myth and super Kung-Fu, I would put some deliberate attention and planning into when you should apply bonuses for having just-the-right-ability, stretch penalties, and penalties for broad abilities used alongside more focused ones in the context of the setting. For example, I might keep a Taoist Elements chart handy to inform augment/stretch/resistance choices based on whether a matchup between opposing (or supporting) powers is advantageous or not. Does authority derived from the Mandate of Heaven include the ability to compel demons or demigods to obey the son of Heaven's laws while they walk the Earth? You'll want to know the answers to things like that. If evocative Kung-Fu styles are part of the picture, I'd make significant ones a Keyword, with at least couple of breakout Abilities for what they're best at, and make sure that they're descriptive enough that you know when they should be advantageous or disadvantageous. For example, things like: Eight Stone Oxen 17 Stampeding Avalanche Rush +2 Immovable Granite Beast +1 Iron Wind Fencing 17 Whirling Leaves Evasive Dance +1 Biting Wind Finds the Smallest Crack +2 ...give you an idea of how to interpret what sort of actions for which they're well suited. The "limited when dealing with mortals" bit sounds interesting, and is probably something you'll want to clearly define. You could maybe just wing it narratively by how you describe things rather than mucking about with mastery differentials or caps, unless maybe there are also some immortals around who are not so-limited also. That is to say, Glorious Thunder Daughter might be hurling tornadoes when battling the Unyielding Mountain Dragon with her full might yet just throwing thunderous punches when restraining herself facing Righteous Humble Village Hero, but GTD's player is still rolling 6w2 for her ability rating either way. You just describe and interpret the fiction based on the context of the conflict. In theory, ability ratings in HQ2 are just a reflection of the ability's effectiveness in overcoming challenges within the narrative context. In practice some form of "except when they aren't and actually represent something concrete" seems to be common as well. To take the obvious Glorantha example, one's ratings in Runes or Grimoires have actual concrete impact on what you're able to do with them beyond the target number for your die roll. Think about what spaces in this adaptation of the toolkit would merit such treatment, if any. If you want to have access to certain tiers of supernatural feats gated by mechanical thresholds, you'll want to define them. OTOH, if all the characters have wacky vaulting & fireball throwing or whatever, no need to sweat enumerating tiers for access - just follow the fiction. (I would enjoy playing a Taoist sorcerer that had specific spells based on mixing a few base verbs with I-Ching hexograms, but that may not be everyone's cup of tea.)

The Western Culture section of the Guide I quoted above seems to contradict this. I do wonder about Arkat though. If my theory about the Loksalmi above is correct, he may have arrived from Brithos with red skin, and had it fade when he embraced Hrestolism.