JonL

I expect that a lot of the big congregational rites in City of Virtue and Siglat's Dream involve large scale COMBINE(Harmony,Man) and DISMISS(Disorder) effects, leading to a supernaturally low incidence of true malcontents within their society. Conventional law & order can handle the occasional hard case who can't or won't manage even a grudging coexistance with society as a recluse, workplace jerk, brooding artist, or quietly depressed Willy Loman, just like anywhere else. "Where did they go?" It has been suggested that Siglat's magical social engineering had unintended consequences just like his father's did: namely, that the sudden rise of The Kingdom of War may be some sort of counter-reaction to the Loksalmi purging their realm of its bad mojo, that Lord Death on a Horse is the avatar of all the spiritual toxins they spent a generation DISMISSing,

The Goats=Broos=Unclean=Thed&Ragnalar connection seems to be limited to Orlanthi cultures. The Guide has numerous mentions of goat herding in other cultures and areas with no mention of ill effects, Satyr mentioned as distinct from Broo, Caroni mountain-goat Hsunchen in Ralios ("While some ignorant people associate them with broo, the Caroni have as much distaste for Chaos as do other sensible Gloranthans."), Ram or Goat Mother as aspects of Daroria - the Orayan Over-Goddess, and more. In that context, I don't see any reason why Satyrs need to have any connection to Broo or to the Unoly Trio, despite what Orlanthi might assume.

Probably some, but not so many that the normal functioning of their society can't handle it. Lazy, disinterested, or disengaged? Well, you'll probably get shuffled around the worker sub-castes until your local noble finds something for you to do that you can at least tolerate and not screw up horribly, and they probably have some guidance-counsellor magic to help find the best match possible. Power crazed isn't necessarily a problem, since there is an open path to earning power. There's probably some petty crime here and there, but with something close to full employment and general prosperity (in part thanks to community blessings) there's not much reason for crime to flourish. A man with a gambling problem might steal or embezzle to cover his debts, but you don't have hundreds of hungry dispossessed folk turning to street crime or banditry.

It almost seems like there ought to be two. A HQ:G quickstart might have something really simple simple like a group of Heortlings going to Apple Lane to rescue Grimble and smuggle him to a safe-house, or perhaps the clan-patron-deity rescue from the core book. Keep the magic and setting options very narrowly focused, but do highlight some weirdness that makes Glorantha stand out and shows how HQ can portray that very smoothly by applying it's very consistent conflict resolution tools. A HQCR one should briefly implement two contrasting genres, like 80's action TV shows (A-Team, Knight Rider, etc) and D&D-style fantasy, or maybe something even farther afield like Jane Austen novels. Show the different ways it's tuned for the genres, yet still applies the same basic tools.

If you're using Umbrella Keywords (HQ:G default) instead of Keywords as Packages (HW/HQ1-style, option in HQ2) there doesn't need to be any difference. Functionally speaking, Abilities become Keywords when you hang breakouts from them. The distinction is mostly relevant for advancement purposes, cases of more specific abilities being privileged vs broader ones, and being more or less likely to have stretch penalties or right-tool-for-the-job bonuses. In that vein, I could also see Communities themselves having breakouts under their Resources representing particular assets or personel.

That's a great example, thanks. As I was saying in the sorcery thread, examples that demonstrate the intersection of the mechanics and the more fictive setting elements are a big need, especially for newcomers. Theism is a bit better covered than the others thanks to the cult write-ups, but even those are spread across four books.

Thanks for all the perspective. I did find a reference to long-distance communication in the Guide. It in describing the Syndic's Ban, it mentions, So there's a point of reference. It presumably requires congregational and ritual support on both sides, thus requiring some degree of pre-planned coordination to carry out every Godsday or the like. I could see it being stepped up to daily dispatches between allied city-states during a war or something, but even so that would carry a cost in personnel participating the ritual rather than doing something else.

The more I think about it, the more I think that may be for the best. It allows for someone on the wrong side of a mastery to sometimes squeak by a Marginal Victory on matched success grades if they roll well and the opposition rolls poorly. It seems that there ought to be some chance of that from a dramatic standpoint.

It seems I was wrong about Western Materialism precluding resurrection. The Arolanit section in the Guide specifically mentions the Brithini Zzaburi raising their fallen countrymen whenever possible, even the Dronars. That raises interesting questions about how they frame the process.

I'm good on making up spells within the framework, it's not that different conceptually from Ars Magica. The struggle isn't "What can sorcery do?" it's "What can Sorcery not do, or do only with extraordinary effort or support?" In the HQ:G framework, we're not to stretch them at all. One of the play examples has the GM chide Orensuval's player when she tries to use "Locate god in the Monomyth" to identify more than one idol, pointing out that as the spell specifies "god" rather than "gods" it can only identify a single one with each casting. What you describe sounds like a fine approach (I gather from other threads that RQ3 Sorcery worked that way, right?) but in the framework presented in HQ:G it seems like "Repel Foeman" and "Route Army" should be separate Dismiss+Man Rune based spells (and would also thus fail against monsters or anything else that doesn't embody the Man Rune, but that's another discussion). It strikes me that "Repel Foeman" should typically face Moderate resistance while "Route Army" might start from Very Hard or Nigh Impossible, but that's entirely conjectural. Going that route, completing a challenging ritual, calling upon a Community's Magic Resource, assistance from allied characters, and so on might all provide augments so as to increase your chances of success. Similarly accepting Pyrrhic Victory consequences could nicely portray a particularly dangerous casting. All the necessary pieces are there in the mechanics, I just don't know what fictional cases call for them to be applied based on what's presented in the current materials. Would getting "Middle Sea Empire" or something provide more insights? I rather like your idea of using extended contests for big rituals, especially where there might be some sort of opposition from enemy magical forces Is that an abstract example or is that how teleportation has typically been portrayed in Glorantha? I'm grateful for it either way, I'm just really trying to get clear in my head what the fictional constraints are so that I can apply the mechanical abstractions appropriately. I can infer from the impact of The Closing on the Jrustelli and things like bridges in The City of Wonders being legendary marvels that teleportation is sufficiently effort intensive or difficult that it can't be implemented on a commercial or logistical scale by people less impressive than Belintar. . I'm not seeing the contradiction there. While a devout Grey Sage might defer such a challenge to a Devotee of Chalana Arroy as a matter of principle (or Law), that's not the same thing as being completely unable to do it. In any case, feel free to substitute Carmanian or Henotheist sorcerer for example's sake. Reviewing the "Ressurection in Glorantha" section of Chalana Arroy's cult write-up in S:KoH, I imagine that a sorcerous parallel might entail an entire grimoire devoted to the subject, requiring several separate spells for the complete process. Combine Magic&Darkness to access the Underworld, Combine Trade&Death to bring back the shade of the deceased, Separate Death&Man to revive the body, and finally Combine Life&Man to return the shade to it's mortal coil. Merely separating Death&Man would merely create a mindless living body. (Hmm, perhaps a sufficiently blasphemous wizard might place something other than the original inhabitant in such a body. I could imagine Tap Man followed by Combine Chaos&Death being close to Delecti's zombie process.) OK, thanks. I could see privileging a flyer using Varghast's Breath for having a more specific ability should they come into conflict in the air. I realize that some of the "What Resistance?" questions can be addressed via plot needs and so on, but there is still a gap to my eye in fictional guidance on what sorts of effects are common/easy enough that you'd expect them to be in wide use in sorcery-friendly areas, and what sorts of things might only be attempted at great need because of their difficulty or cost. Like, should Seshnelan & Lunar cities and armies have the benefit of regular instant long distance communication thanks to their wizards, or is that something that takes a day of uninterrupted effort for even a brief message? That kind of difference can make a big impact on how stories unfold in the setting.

So, after plenty of reading, I've got a solid handle on the various ways a character can have grimoires and spells, the interoperation of the techniques and the runes to describe specific spells within a grimoire's theme, and so on. I'm good on the principles. What I'm really struggling with are the fictional capabilities the rules are trying to represent. I never played RuneQuest or HeroQuest 1, the only examples I have to go on are the examples in the HQ:G book and the historical things referred to in the Guide. Are there things that are particularly difficult or impossible for sorcery to accomplish? Things like instant communication from afar or teleportation have significant impacts when present within a setting, are those available? Are they easy? It seems like life extension must be difficult or impossible since people like Delecti or the Brithini have to go to such extreme lengths to achieve it. I expect ressurection to be off the table for Malkioni as they don't believe in the afterlife the way that the Theyleans do. Might a Lankhor Mhy sage develop a Seperate Death from Man spell though (even if using it might draw unwelcome attention from Humakt or Daka Fal cults)? Could a Combine Man & Air spell permit flight, or is the Middle-Air just for Air Rune Theists? In the play examples, Magatheus & Orensulva both cast spells more or less instantly within the flow of the narrative, so there's a bit of a baseline there for things that a competent sorcerer can do on the go. OTOH, we also have allusions in the fiction for things that require groups, rituals, preparations, holy/astrologically-significant days, etc. Are those just augments or calling on a community's magic resource? What are things that a sorcerer would need to go to such lengths to accomplish that they couldn't do alone or quickly? Tapping is mentioned as a way to gain magical energy to empower one's spells, but without any detail. It it just a way to get an augment in the future? What about the magnitude of spell effects, do those play into the resistance one might roll against to cast them? Say a grimoire had a Banish Man from Your Presence(Dismiss Man) spell and a Force an Army to Retreat (Dismiss Man) spell within it. The caster's ability rating with this grimoire is the same either way. Should the former face Moderate resistance while the latter Nigh Impossible? What about Tapping Earth from a pebble vs a boulder? (I have a similar struggle with what the bounds should be for things that a Theistic Initiate cannot do, but the Devotee level feats in the cult write-ups at least give some guidance there.) Ian commented on RPG.net the last week, "You only really need materials if they have a shared fiction that you don't all share or know." I need materials to provide this shared fiction, please. I know it's OK for my Glorantha to vary, but I really have no clue what the baseline is from which I might deviate. The examples in HQ:G and the Sartar & Pavis books are very few, while the Guide mostly mentions epic things that Zzabur or the God Learners did, which is a bit out of scope for typical PCs. I'm half tempted to hunt down old RQ & HQ1 books for examples, but with so much changed since then I don't know if that's really a solution. Help, please?

Which is the high roll though? You could look at it as crit on 17 beating crit on 5, or just as reasonably look at it as crit on 25 beating crit on 17. The question also becomes becomes relevant for situations like a success on 8 under 13 vs failure-bumped-to-success on 7 over 5w. I lean towards the marginal victory going towards the side with the mastery advantage in principle, but if so that means that the person on the lower side of a mastery mismatch is going to never squeak out a marginal victory over someone with a mastery advantage ever, which I'm not sure I like.

In the context of Theism, I believe the relevant question is, "Have the god or gods I approach via this Rune used it that way?" The Dismiss and Tap operators in Sorcery show that sort of thing to be theoretically possible, but Theists (unlike Sorcerers) don't just apply the power arbitrarily. I could see what's being described as something an Illuminate might learn to do though.

I use critical on rolling your ability rating exactly and fumble on 20, a-la Pendragon. It is not only more coherent with high-roll wins, it also gives room to award tied criticals to the higher roller. For the case of ratings of exactly 20, I have them continue to crit on a rolled 19 and treat a rolled 20 as a regular fail rather than a fumble. The one case I haven't quite come to a conclusion on is comparing criticals where one party to the conflict has a mastery edge and rolls lower than the one who doesn't. That is to say, is one party has a 17 and rolls a 17, and another has 6w and rolls a 5, which one has a marginal victory? I could see either answer being valid so long as it's applied consistently, but I'm not sure which one I like more.