Jon Hunter

Cheers for the Nice Words Roddy, I have got a few more bits to come.

OK an up to date hub page for the WOG:Gloarntha stuff

• http://www.backtobalazar.com/wodglorantha/

Also a nice page of Lunar bad guys;

• http://www.backtobalazar.com/lunar-slaver-gang/

OK whole pile of posts on a gloratha mash up system, It is a WOD storyteller reskin for Glorantha

• http://www.backtobalazar.com/wod-storyteller-system-glorantha/
• http://www.backtobalazar.com/character-sheet-skills-first-draft/
• http://www.backtobalazar.com/gloranthan-storyteller-character-backgrounds/
• http://www.backtobalazar.com/spirit-magic-world-glorantha/
• http://www.backtobalazar.com/natures-demeanours-bog/
• http://www.backtobalazar.com/gloranthan-runes-wodgloranthan-mash/
• http://www.backtobalazar.com/aspects-gifts-geases-merits-flaws/
• http://www.backtobalazar.com/character-gen-glorantha/
• http://www.backtobalazar.com/virtues/
• http://www.backtobalazar.com/wodglorantha-character-creation-example/

On 11/04/2016 at 11:41 AM, Joerg said:

...a great long post...

 

Brill, Kinda the variation I was pushing for.

drizzle always drizzle ...... sorry that's manchester

11 minutes ago, TRose said:

 

was Looking at the fact both Pigs and dogs go wild very easy.  You are right that the pact between man and dogs might protect dogs  to an extent .But pigs have no such protection and wild hogs might even be native to the elder wilds . Pigs that have escaped and gone wild  have become  major nuisance in parts of the USA I know. Wild Razerbacks are not something you want to meet on a hike.

If it floats your boat go for it, I would not rule out pigs. I placed wild boars in the Elder Wilds, I just don't see them as easy breeding stock for the broo, so didn't put them on my most common list,

3 hours ago, TRose said:

 As for the Broo in the Elder wilds.. Would there not be a number of dog and pig Broo since since dogs are common and there are domesticated .and almost certainly wild pigs.

Maybe,

I've placed the broos mainly in the Elder Wilds and not in Balazar proper, so I looked for dominant animals of the Elder Wilds not Balazar for broo stock

My thinking is that the pact of brotherhood between man and dog in Balazar keeps them much safer than other animals, To my mind there are very few wild dogs in Balazar.

Also broos rarely seem to cross breed with predators of any kind.

I did give a nod to the dog possibility with noting hyenas in Broo stock showing the different fate of dogs protected by humans and a similar wild species.

As regarding pigs I see them as a a domesticated animal in the citadels; and not one that is common in Elder Wilds.

These are opinions but this is the logic behind my thoughts.

Cheers

Jon

Ok its been a few weeks because of news job and finding a life and stuff;

However a new post placed today

• Tusk Riders in Balazar

6 hours ago, jajagappa said:

I can think of exceptions in both Nochet and Pavis/Big Rubble where dressed stone previously used by the rich becomes available for reuse by survivors of various devastation (e.g. Veskarthan's eruption and the subsequent tidal waves washing over Nochet and leaving it with great ruins and 5000 people; nomadic and troll invasions of Old Pavis).

Factor one comes into play here then, local materials, dressed stone is probably cheaper in Pavis than wood, so things get turned about.

5 hours ago, Jeff said:

I'd be inclined to add Boldhome to that list.

My thoughts are that when Satar built the city everything was dressed stone from the richest to the poorest, as part of the magical build of the city.

What has been built since, or what has been repaired would be more subject to the other factors. Though history, local skills, material and urban wealth will make stone much more likely than rural Satar.

All I will say on this I have published my fan material on-line recently and have only had a supportive line taken by Jeff and the guys.  

I couldn't haver asked for a more gracious attitude, as im an opinionated pain in the ass .

After some pondering a few thoughts on house design;

1)  Local materials will play a large role in how buildings are made and thus designed.

2)  Weather and climate will be a large determining factor

3)  Available space and requirement factors make massive differences to urban and rural houses

        Size of the inhabiting and wider community are very important factors

4) Houses are very unlikely to be planned and built in one go, houses will be built lived in and then be added to over time, probably numerous generations.

5) Well planned and consistently built houses are the sign of wealth and prosperity.

6) Dressed stone is the preserve of the rich

7) Mud brick, uncut stone, thatch, wattle and daube are the likely materials of the more modest of means.

8) Religion means more to building in Gloranthan than it would in our history

9) The use of magic could bend some of the rules above

Id go for a pavisite who needs to be outside Pavis for a while, and Lanbril con man who has to lie low for at least a few seasons.

He could easily be a binding and calming figure in a less sanctimonious way.

1 hour ago, Mankcam said:

I really do like the Norse/Saxon/Celtic flavour, but it just doesn't feel the best fit for kingdoms like Sartar, Esrolia, or Tarsh. In my Glorantha I will probably give the Wenelian Theylans a little of this flavour. Being such a heavy forested region I will probably give them square timber houses with villages fortified by wooden pallistrades. They need to feel different from their Esrolian neighbours in some ways, and a few Norse trappings added to a Dacian core may work well for them. 

However if I really want to get my teeth into the whole Norse/Saxon/Celtic thing I will use RQ6/Mythras to play MRQ2 Vikings or Mythic Britain.

For Dragon Pass and Holy Country  these Thraco-Dacian Mycenaean references work better from my way of thinking. Most of the HW/HQ depictions of the cultures just seemed too Celtic for me. 

When the Dragon Pass gazetteer was published I was pleasantly surprised to see cities with stone walls and such, and there was a return to the Mycenaean undercurrent. However when the two Sartar books were published I was a little confused as most of the artwork seemed back on track having a Bronze Age flavour, while some of the artwork still retained a more Saxon/celtic influenced depiction, mainly with things like background buildings and such; it's no wonder that people have established different ideas of these cultures over the years.

Yes it's good to see authors and artists working together to create a distinct vision of Glorantha.

I'm glad someone thinks that.

I think the northern European look and influence, was firmly there from King of Satar, King of Dragon pass and early Heroquest Stuff.

What we are now seeing is a change of emphasis and vision, which isn't wrong, but it is a change.

However in my opinion commercial games need both consistency and accessibility, i'm not sure current vision is giving either. 

Fine if its a pet project for 40 and 50 year old guys who have been gaming 30 years and love arguing about discussing there ancient history.

If you looking at introducing games to new younger players we may be getting a little esoteric. 

An opinion that is probably as popular as a fart in a space suits, but its mine.

Quote

 

11 hours ago, Salla said:

I love this thread.

I must ask re the Esrolian houses, why do the Oxen need stalls? 

They don't its juts obvious when drawing stalls that bit is for the cattle.

2 hours ago, Jeff said:

The distance from Karse to Boldhome is pretty similar to the distance between Venice and Merano or Innsbruck. Nochet to Boldhome is pretty similar to the distance from Genoa to St. Moritz. And I view Esrolia as being humid sub-tropical like much of northern Italy, Sochi, or coastal Bulgaria (or Savannah, Charleston, or DC - but a LOT closer to real mountains). Dragon Pass is further inland and significantly higher (pretty much all of Dragon Pass is above 2000 feet). Thanks to the Rockwoods, it is where coastal Kethaela meets continental Peloria, but things get really screwed up by the dry and warm Urox winds from the east.

So the differences between rome or venice and the mid alps would be good comparisons?

3 minutes ago, Jeff said:

I also suspect that in Storm Season, we alternate from cold wet (snow) weather from the north, with dry warm weather from the east, with warm moist winds from the southwest. Making things a mess.

The reason I asked was id always imagined a temperate climate, so visually a northern European look worked. If its closer to a mountainous Turkish climate or high altitude palestine the re positioning of visuals may make more sense to me.

4 minutes ago, Jeff said:

But one thing I really want to emphasize is that the Orlanthi of Dragon Pass are NOT Vikings, Irish or British Celts, or La Tene spiky haired Celts, or ancient Germans. They have a very different background, context, and society. And so naturally they have different architecture, different clothing, and different appearance. 

Jeff one question is the climate of Satar Mediterranean or more temperate?

14 minutes ago, TRose said:

 Two  of my favorite Sorcery spells are animate wood and form set wood. Very useful for day to day living.

I think spirit magic needs something(s) to represent this kind of common magic which isn't adventurer, not as game focus but as a catch all for day to day magic. 

19 minutes ago, Steve said:

Jeff, would you say that the following illustrations from Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes are still accurate or not so much? How about those diagrams of the towns of Jonstown, Swenstown, Wilmskirk etc?

 

Add to that the look and feel of KODP and other stuff.

However I do like square Esrolian house as an option.

I've also had the idea of a round larnsting house that uses the round shape to reflect the air and movement runes.  

You could even suggest that a round house is seditious in Lunar controlled areas

However arguing for both side of this,

We are looking at real world  examples without the use of magic  which may make stone use much more affordable, However how expensive is the magic used to aid construction?

I assume there is a lot more mundane magic around than is written up for adventures for daily tasks such as bake mud brick, shape stone, etc.

However i'm still prone to believe economics will push people to cheaper and easier materials unless its a state or religious project.

18 minutes ago, Jeff said:

If you want to be part of the merchants' guild, be protected by Issaries' magic, and have the right to sell goods in the Issaries market, I suspect you need to be at least a lay member (if not an initiate) of Issaries. Heck, in many cities, the Issaries market is the Issaries temple. When the members of the temple acts in city affair, we often call it "the Merchants Guild". But we'd be just as accurate to say "the Issaries cult". 

 

That works fine when your looking at one culture with professional merchants, what about a culture where there are multiple trading cults.

• Issaries/Argan Argar parts of kethelia  
• Issaries/etyries/lokarnos lunar provinces

In these situations guilds would need to cross cult lines.

It also doesn't look at non professional merchants such as the farmer selling his excess crops, the rural cottar/potter bring her excess wares to a larger market once a season. I can see many market stalls in cities being of this type. The trading cults will organise and police such markets, but many stall holders will not be merchants.

I'm not entirely sure the point i'm trying to make apart from I thinks its messier in many situations that all traders = guild members = cult members.

Different cities could run different systems

So city A in the empire one guild rune exclusivity by etyries, initiates only in the main market, have to be a lay member to trade in the farmers market, no other cults allowed to trade.

or the Johnstown Guild runs predominately by etyries and Issaries cults, the lunar administration demands an open a market for its traders, so the cults and the guild are separate entities, this makes Johnstown busier as it becomes an open not closed market.

Again variation is the spice of life.

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

New Pavis was built by Sartarites. The Sartarites know much about stonemasonry (more than most human cultures but not as much as the Flintnail cult), and it is safe to say that they regularly use stone (at least for the foundational walls) in their buildings. It is likely that widespread stone use comes in the wake of building Boldhome, but in the following century it is pretty standard for Sartarites. Add to that the ongoing influence from Esrolia (always important, but became even more important post-1492), and you have the Sartarite style. 

I'm not sure why I always imagined mud brick for Pavis, sure stone for the important stuff, but day to day building mud brick always struck me as the material of choice.

Maybe its the just the artwork you used to be Pavis always had a north african feel for me.

I also never realised the size of new pavis compared to the satarite cities its actually quite big isnt it.

1 hour ago, M Helsdon said:

I suspect that houses in an urban setting are likely to be more variable in size and shape: space within the walls is often at a premium and only the wealthy can afford not to be pragmatists about the layout of their houses. Many of the structures at Apple Lane are not homes but halls and barns. In Pavis there are some square houses with central courtyards or light wells, but many buildings are rectangular and divided into apartments and tenements.

I see Pavis as very different than Dragon pass, the main reasons being climate. 

Anyway our gloranthas may vary, so my dragon pass has square esrolian design, long houses and round houses which reflect the air and mobility runes.

3 hours ago, Paid a bod yn dwp said:

More importantly what type of house are we going to chasing Broos around with our broad swords! 

I tend to find I get chased by broos