Brian McReynolds

15 hours ago, Richard S. said:

But it was still a pretty powerful weapon, able to shoot an are far farther and more accurately than a crossbow. However, you needed biceps of steel in order to draw it properly.

Yeah, I used a longbow on more than one occassion during my reenactment of the Wars of the Roses. Our bows were limited to a 60lb draw-weight, which is at least half the draw-weight of English 'war' longbows, yet it was a genuine effort to pull that back to your ear and release as I'm not the world's biggest or strongest bloke :-)

Getting back to Glorantha, as the Rathori are larger than your 'average' human, I can see many, if not all of them having the necessary arm and lower back strength (or biceps of steel) to utilise longbows

On 10/11/2017 at 8:41 PM, Mark Mohrfield said:

Restricting long bows to only the Rathoreli. It seems to overate both how powerful and how rare the longbow was.

The English/Welsh Longbow was a proven weapon on 15th Century battlefields, yet was never adopted by European countries' armies, who pretty much stuck with 'inferior' crossbows.

(I know that our 15th century is in no way similar to Glorantha's 'bronze-age' tech-level/cultures, but this weapon was historically rare outside of England and Wales so I have no problem with it's rarity within Glorantha.)

'Tales of the Reaching Moon' number 11 was the Pamaltela themed issue if memory serves me right. May be able to pick it up from eBay.

2 hours ago, Scorpio Rising said:

So that brings me to a follow-up question: What does Chaos want? 

Chaos wants to destroy, defile, murder, corrupt, mutate and all of the other 'negatives' that you can think of.

They do it because they are chaotic, not because of any personal choice, but because it is in their nature. They are born that way. It is who/what they are. Chaos is the antithesis of everything that is 'natural/normal' within Glorantha. This is why normal folks are sh*t-scared of Chaos as it messes with their minds and their 'world-view'.

Uroxi/Storm Bull worshippers, with all of their anti-social behavior problems are tolerated within Orlanthi society, because they are amongst the few who can reliably stand against them.

I initially thought that as well, but something about the square tower just speaks to me of Nochet.

Square tower = earth kinda thinking. (Irrational, I know, but that's just me.) :-)

6 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

Angus McBride's version of an Assyrian siege. I doubt anyone would invest a hill-fort using such engines.

 

The Siege of Nochet perhaps? A Lunar Collegiate Magician/Dara Happan Priest of Yelm prepares to fire 'Orogeria's Bow'/'The Sun-Bow of Yelm's Displeasure'.

On 22/09/2017 at 7:15 PM, soltakss said:

Is it me, but doesn't that look like Minlister on the toilet?

I'd never noticed that before, but now that you mention it...

6 hours ago, davecake said:

Exactly who are the equivalent of the Deep Ones in Glorantha is a good question. 

Piscoi Mer-men perhaps? Malevolent 'Fish-men' who despise 'air-breathers' seems like a close match.

18 hours ago, Yelm's Light said:

 

Eh, the Grandmothers' control is somewhat less subtle than the Voice.

I can see the Grandmothers having some magical abilities which would be analogous with Voice. Before they were Grandmothers, they would have been Ernaldans, as Asrelia is the 'province' of the older women. As one of Ernalda's aspects is the Earth Queen, surely the power to Command Others would fall within her auspice. Ernalda respects her Mother, so I can see room for an Asrelian 'Voice' as well.

12 hours ago, Yelm's Light said:

It reminds me a lot of the competition between Houses in Brust's Jhereg series.

I always felt that the Grandmothers come across as 'Bene Gesserit-like' schemers. The power behind the throne, rather than the visible wielders of authority.

Those who live in Esrolia know who the REAL authority figures are, but woe betide foreigners who piss-off the 'little old ladies'!

22 hours ago, Joerg said:

Most, not all. I wonder whether those who didn't sleep through the Ban multiplied like crazy while the rest stayed in hibernation, given the sudden surplus of resources (except for salmons?)? Were the non-sleepers devotees of the White Bear? If so, did Harrek slaying and binding the White Bear affect their ability to remain awake?

Another possibility might be that Rathor slept through the Ban as well. (No evidence for this that I know of, but if his people weren't worshipping him through rituals and religious ceremonies, surely this would weaken him in some way.)  With their Ancestral Spirit slumbering, they may have been incapable of having children who were Rathori, as their offspring may have had no Bear-spirit within them. This could have led to a dying out of the remaining, awake Rathori, leaving people who were not Rathori, but something 'else'. The 'Not-Rathori' could have become one of the strange groups of people who 'appeared' when the Ban started to lift across Fronela.

Without their ancestral ways to guide them through every-day life, their communities may have been riven with kin-strife and other anti-social problems/chaotic acts, which could have ripped their society apart. What came out the other side may have no resemblance to the Rathori culture that they originated from. Those crazy bastards from The Kingdom of War must have come from somewhere! It's possible that some of them may be descended from the 'awake Rathori', who are now something else entirely. Just a thought! :-)

21 hours ago, jrutila said:

I have to say I really liked the Red Gates of Sog City image.

I'm with you on that one. Lovely image.

Very reminiscent of Pieter Bruegel, I thought.

On 29/08/2017 at 3:40 AM, Garwalf said:

For me, this evokes an ancient Mediterranean or Middle Eastern setting, rather than a northern European setting. It makes it easier for me to imagine the adobe slums of Pavis and the arid plains of Prax, and it makes it easier for me to imagine the distinctive religious and magical landscape of Glorantha.

When describing New Pavis to my players, I always told them to watch Monty Python's 'The life of Brian'. That was how I always imagined it, anyway.

19 hours ago, jrutila said:

 But what's with the ram heads?

A lot of Orlanth's & Heler's followers have Ram-horned helmets, as both of them have taken the form of rams within their myths/stories.

6 hours ago, soltakss said:

Of course, some magic might be able to regrow the severed items, in which case it would just be a temporary inconvenience.

The Chalana Arroy initiate might even feel a need to help the mutilated victims with her own Healing magics. For her, this might even be a good way of both atoning for these acts and emulating her Goddess' compassionate nature. After all, Chalana Arroy is known as the 'Compassionate Goddess'.

16 hours ago, Dogboy said:

What were the skies like when you were young, Grandma?
They went on forever and they, when I, we lived in Esrolia
And the skies always had little fluffy clouds
And they moved down, they were long and clear
And there were lots of stars at night

And when it would rain it would all turn, it, they were beautiful
The most beautiful skies as a matter of fact
The sunsets were purple and red and yellow and on fire
And the clouds would catch the colors everywhere
That's neat, 'cause I used to look at them all the time when I was little
You don't see that anymore
 

 

Quality tune! Totally works in the context of the thread as well. :-)

On 19/08/2017 at 0:53 PM, Dogboy said:

I think Yelmalion communities have a different idea about the Hill of Gold Heroquest. We always think of it as "ooh, wouldn't it be good to regain our lost powers" but I suspect for them it is a necessary sacrifice, and I suspect it forms the center of their Sacred Time rituals: you endure the hardships of the quest to renew the world. It kind of chimes with their Spartan outlook.

No disagreement here. I totally agree with your point about it being a necessary sacrifice, however, in the case of Invictus at least, he must've done something differently, as evidenced by his Fire Rune instead of Light. The precedent seems to be there as a possibile end result which was not 'expected'.

Whether it would be seen as a successful Heroquest is another matter

1 hour ago, kaydet said:

@Brian McReynolds I was just linking to Greg's article, not actually asking "Who Are the Blue Peoples?"

Sorry! That's what I get for coming on here when I'm really tired. :-D

1 hour ago, Oracle said:

So it seems, that the view a cult has regarding a respective god may have an influence on the assigned runes ...

I tend to agree with you on this one, as I loved Terry Pratchett's 'Small Gods', and see similar parallels within Glorantha, as regards worshippers 'shaping' their Deities. 

Consider Monrogh, the Elmali Companion of Duke Dorasar of Sartar/New Pavis who had the Revelation that his God was not Elmal, But Yelmalio. Elmal's runes are Fire/Sky and Truth. Yelmalio's are Light and Truth.

Those Elmali who 'converted' to Yelmalio must have lost access to their Fire magics when they became Yelmalions, losing Fire and 'gaining' Light magics instead.

One way round this might require 'The Hill of Gold' Heroquest to be (re)enacted with success against Zorak Zoran, (I think), in which case the Heroquest 'Challenger' would/could regain access to Yelmalio's lost Fire magics. Invictus of the Praxian Sun Dome Temple, has a Fire Rune in Pavis:GTA, as a consequence of this Heroquest, if I remember correctly.

12 hours ago, Steve said:

Babies are still acting within time though, even if they don't understand it. And the imposition of time onto adult sentient beings must surely have been something of a shock to the system. Suddenly everything was linear.

This is still kinda true for young children. I'm sure that I'm not alone in remembering those childhood summer afternoons that seemed to go on for ages when I was young.

It may have been similar for those merely mortal survivors of the Greater Darkness and early Silver Age, who remembered the God-Time as being 'different', though possibly not quite able to communicate that difference to their 'Time-bound' descendants who have no frame of reference for some of the strange things that 'Old Uncle Kalf' rambles on about!

Even for the 'transitional generation', the God-time may have become as poorly remembered as our own childhood memories.

3 hours ago, kaydet said:

Who Are the Blue Peoples?

Amongst the Tribes of the Vingkotling and their descendants, the Helerings spring to mind.

The Coming storm has blue-skinned descendants of the original Helerings in certain familial blood-lines within the Cinsina tribe. (More than a few of them are Heler worshippers themselves.)

Though they may have gained some friends amongst the Babeester Gor cultists, depending on how despicable/anti-social the Black Oak Clan have been depicted in your game. If the Black Oak/Darsten & Co. have pissed of the women/Ernalda followers somewhere, then they may have just made some scary friends. The rest of the party may try to atone for this act with some serious sacrificing & deeds on behalf of the Gods, otherwise, as other, wiser heads have already said, they, (and quite possibly their community, as they are kin), are going to be in for some bad times ahead.

I would see the Chalana Arroy initiate being particularly disgusted by this, as mutilation of prisoners is not a compassionate act, and the Goddess may penalize her follower's magic if she doesn't take steps to 'distance' herself from these acts.

20 hours ago, davecake said:

 All of the Element runes (except maybe Moon) are intrinsic and essential parts of the world. 
 

Couldn't the recurring cycle of the Ages (of linear Time) ending in disasters with attendant birth/rebirth of civilizations/'New Ways of Thinking or Worship, be seen as proof of the intrinsic and essential Moon element present within Glorantha?

4 hours ago, Joerg said:

And has anybody, ever, played an entire battle as round-by-round combat between individual RuneQuest characters with at least full combat stats? (Given the simulationist spirit of the rpgs in those times, I wouldn't think this impossible for a battle between clans or similar sized forces.)

 

The 'Cradle Scenario' springs to mind! The fights to defend the Cradle were a nightmare to run using the old RQ3 combat system, as I recall, (at least in my own, humble opinion).

8 hours ago, davecake said:

 

Similarly, I think the Disorder rune and Illusion Runes manifests in the personality traits that if they are strong would be 'cluster B' perspnality disorders such as sociopathy, narcissism and histrionic personality disorder. That is a who a Trickster is, a bad person who can't stop lying and stealing because it is intrinsic to their nature. 

 

I tend to think that the character of Floki from the series 'Vikings' is a perfect example of someone 'touched' by Trickster; he's already shown himself to be a pyromaniac, has committed murder and is sometimes your worst enemy and sometimes useful, (such as being a genius boat-builder). His constant nervous giggle is also unnerving!