smascrns

Much has been said and I will not repeat it, but here are things I love most about Greg's contribution to rpgs and gaming, some of which I don't see people talking about. The BRP booklet, my first rpg (it was included in the RQ2 box and I started with the BRP booklet, of course). With it Greg showed that rpg rulesets can be minimalist with depth. 20 years afterwards this kind of compact games would be all the rage, but the BRP booklet had done it first. Prince Valiant. One of the two best-rpg-in-a-book (the other is Toon). Still almost unequaled. Any rpg designer should have a copy in his desk and try to be as good as (being better is just not feasible). Chaosium, Issaries, etc. The companies. Any prospective manager of a rpg game company should look at the way Greg managed his companies. Other companies may be bigger, may have more money, may have more flashing lights. But none has such an extensive portfolio of products and can claim to be there after almost half a century. (And I still remember that attempt to turn Chaosium into a game design studio at the end of the 80s. Talk about being way ahead of the times...) The HeroWars crowd funding. Yes, as far as I know, Greg launched the first rpg crowd funding, before Kickstarter, but already based on the www. And it was an enduring success.

Played one session with five participants: My three children (two girls, 18 and 13; a boy, 15) A friend (male, adult) and his boy (11). Most of the players had no problem with English, so playing accross languages went fine. The children have all experienced rpgs, but not intensely. For them it was the first contact with RQ. The adult is an hardcore rules-heavy player. He wanted to taste RQ, since he is fond of several d100 systems. I'm getting old and my ability to process data is going down. So, even if I'm at ease with RQ, keeping the new rule details and the scenario details in mind would be wishul thinking... Meaning I hardly played by the book! The scenario is fine, it works very well. I had to push players to use skills, augments, etc. (except for the adult that was there to test the system, so he picked things fast). But in the end they had a good game, setting-wise and system-wise. The route to the ruins was more or less according to the script.They didn't bite the 'fight the rock lizards' lead, though... Honestly, it's a bit of fighting that I was happy to avoid. When they got into the ruins they started to spread, almost each one going in a different direction. As a GM this is something I like. It allows me (and the players) to play as an articulated group in a tv serial where you have different people doing different things and converging to a single place for the climax. At the start fo the climax I had Vasana in the tower fighting Darkhalos alone, and facing the Stone Woman when she awoke. In the mean time the other adventurers got there (they shouldn't have, if I followed strict movement and timing rules, but I fudged for greater dramatic effect). Case is, I misplaced the Stone Woman's stats and data, so I just played like in CoC one plays one of the Old Ones: four or five masteries above the adventurers that just can't defeat her. So, Vasana tried to fight her while the Stone Woman was just starting to flex her 'muscles', and realised fighting was helpless. The end of it was the Ernaldan negotiating with the Stone Woman how many cows the party would give her, by feading her 5 at a time. Each time 5 were sacrificed, the negoatiation ability of the Ernaldan would go up +5% and the Stone Woman's ability would go down -5%. After 15 cows the Stone Woman was satiated and allowed the adventurers to move out with some 40 heads. Not bad. The bottom line is that it was a very enjoyable game session, with a lot of tension and suspense, but almost without combat. Very good. Good points: I like the scenario a lot. I like the augments, but I have some reservations. For a start, they mean a duplication of rolls, an added layer I would live without. Next, they don't make sense if the ability to use for the augment is bellow 50%. In other words, I'm not sold on their mechanical side. I'm not sold on the PCs. Their back stories are too similar (Grand parent / parent died in battle X fighting Y...). Some of their stats are too similar (all have DB +1d4, for instance). They all have good combat skills (even the Lankhor Mhy and the Ernaldan, and the best attack belong to the Issarites, not one of the warriors). IMO there's something wrong here, and it seems to be something ingrained in the character creation rules, not the way they were used by the people crafting those characters. The skill stat blocks of the PCs are heavily imbalanced. All of them have good to excellent combat skills, and much lower skills in other fields. Given the fact that most of the action involved non-combat abilities, this became very evident. High percentages are the norm, with values easily going above 100%. I know this was a design choice, but I'm not sold on it. Still, it was a good afternoon playing RQ and Glorantha, an afternoon that lasted from around 3PM to 6:30PM. I plan to replay the RQQS with one or two more groups of players. I'll report when that happens. Just hope to be better prepared next time. The funny story: At the end the 11 years old boy just couldn't understand all the fuss about the cows. Why all the negotiation, why not just leaving all of them to the Stone Woman. I and the father tried to explain to him that cows are one of the important resources and riches of the clan, loosing 60 cows was a major loss. But he just could not wrap his head around that idea...

True, but I prefer to allow players to decide what they do. If they think the riders are returning to the Grey Dog clan, they can figure out the approximate direction they would follow in normal circumstances, and may just move forward instead of spending time trying to find the track. If they do this, they eventually enter Lismelder lands, and may find local people. I just opened up that possibility and think it may actually be very interesting in game and setting terms.

The issue is the heavy rain and the storm. I assume that it may wash out the track. Untill then, I also think following it does not require any rolls; after they find it again, it's the same situation.

I've crafted a timeline for the events up to the moment when the adventurers reach the ruins. Here it is: Day 1, morning. Danakos steals the cattle and kills the herders. Day 1, late evening. Zarah sends the runner to check what happened, and comes to know what happened after rescuing Berra. Day 2, early morning, cloudy weather. The adventurers start the persecution. Day 2, early evening, prospects of rain. The party reaches the Grey Dogs’ encampment*. Finds Lannike’s body. Notices Carthalo. OPTION 1 Day 2, evening, prospects of storm. Party doesn’t contact Carthalo. May or may not bury Lannike. Resumes persecution. Storm. Party has to improvise a shelter (appropriate skill rolls). Day 2, night, storm and heavy rain. Party has to endure an eventful night (appropriate skill rolls). Day 3, morning, cloudy weather, light rain. Party resumes persecution, but the track is lost. Female statues. Day 3, noon and evening, light rain. Party decides what to do. Options (whenever an option directs you to another moment in the timeline, adjust day and timing accordingly): OPTION 1.1 Search for the track to the north. Encounter with XX, go to option 2, day 3, noon. OPTION 1.2 Search in circles around the place where they found Lannike. May: find Carthalo and interact with him, go to option 2, day 2, evening; extend the search to the north, go to option 1.1; search to the west or northwest, go to option 1.3. OPTION 1.3 Day 3, noon and evening, light rain. Party goes after Danako in a northwest direction, entering Lismelder’s lands. Eventually they will cross the local population. Encounter will range from hostile to neutral to (moderately) friendly, according to the way the party behaves. Sooner or later the party realizes that Danako didn’t return to his tribal lands, so he must still be in the Badlands. Party moves back. Day 3+, <as per events>, light rain. Party returned to the Badlands and searches Danako to the north. Encounter with X, go to option 2, day 3, noon. OPTION 2 Day 2, evening, prospects of storm. Interaction with Carthalo. Lannike’s burial. Party gets refuge from storm at Carthalo’s place. Day 2, night, storm and heavy rain. Conversation/information exchange with Carthalo. Day 3, morning, cloudy weather, light rain. Party resumes persecution, but the track is lost. Female statues. Day 3, noon, light rain. Encounter with XX. Following the track of the XX allows them to regain the track of Danako’s party. Day 3, evening, rain increases in intensity. Arrival at the ruins. Day 3, night, or Day 4, morning, in both case mist or fog. Party enters the ruins. * I consider a rate of movement faster than what's mentionned in the RQQS. If you don't agree with this, change timings accordingly.