Harrek

Better later than never☺️ He has visited the place of course, but he spends more time in Pavis. He has a small temple and a group of followers in the Nine Good Giant Mountains, where he goes to worship Valind. The campaign is still going on. 

I would buy the Sky Spears explation. My GoogleFu showed me the way to glorantha.com entry of Lodril:

"[LOE-dril]
Solar pantheon and Doraddi pantheon — father of peasants and volcanoes, a Doraddi Old God

This god is brother to Dayzatar and Yelm, and father of the three Lowfires. Where Dayzatar sought mysticism, and Yelm suffered to prove his worth, Lodril always sought pleasure in common life. At his worst Lodril personifies carnal gratification, totally unhindered by civilized mores. At best he is the personification of the common man.

When Lodril came to earth he became Volcano God. During the Gods War, the Sky Spear pierced the earth trying to impale a slimy thing of chaos. Rather than holding firm, the Spear snapped and broke freeing Lodril, the god who lived inside the weapon. He is sometimes thought of as the source of heat without light. In Kethaela there exists an immense volcano called Lodril’s First Home.

Lodril is usually depicted as a crude but powerful peasant among the solar worshipers, sometimes even portrayed as a slovenly, overweight sot. Among the Pamaltelans he is shown on baskets as a warrior carrying both a long and a short spear."

That would explain the volcanic activity in the area also. Maybe the chaos was too strong for Lodril, so that he had to escape/hide somewhere. Before that, Tunneled Hills were covered with lava...

Thanks a lot, that's a great source! I've actually read it few years ago but I have totally forgotten it... 

I've been reading GtG and ToRM #15 about Tunneled Hills and Plateau of Statues. I'll send my players there and I'd appreciate some help.

Both GtG and ToRM #15 give an overall picture of the place. However, I'm interested if someone has made more precise maps, descriptions of places, session notes etc. about either Tunneled Hills or Plateau of Statues.

I also have few questions:

- What/who exactly is the demon child mentioned in the GtG (whose father is Cacodemon and mother a deceased broo)? He sound to be a prominent chaos leader...

- Tunneled Hills was a God Time city, what city exactly? Krajlki Bog is where Genert's garden (I quess center of it) used to be, Genert's dead body lies there. Is what is now Tunneled Hills the former Genert's city?

- Whose place was Plateau of Statues? In ToRM #15 there is a description (p.59) about party going in to Plateau of Statues. It's good but what else is there? Any more info would be nice.

- Weeping Valley seems to be the worst place of Tunneled Hills, what is there and why it is like that?

- Has someone thought more about Than Ulbar or Only Safe? Maps, description, people of note etc.?

In our campaign the demon child is The Big Enemy #1, who's going to awake Wakboth again. There is going to be a huge Hero Wars clash between chaos and Pavis/Prax. I have some ideas to my own questions but I'm looking after another perspective and ideas which I could use in the campaign.  

Thank you.

I read through the "Balazar in 1625?" -topic where Joerg wrote about the Uz movement from various Uz strongholds towards Dagori Inkarth in 1622 (It's in the GtG also). GtG also says that the Great Mother is pregnant again and very, very hungry. What actually are the plans for the Uz of Dagori Inkarth after the big movement in 1622? And as a side question, what are the plans of Pavis trolls during the Hero Wars?

Our campaign is set in Pavis. There's some already established contacts to Dagori Inkarth and regular contacts/co-operation with Pavis trolls. It would be nice to hear some ideas to flesh out the ongoing Hero Wars in the campaign. Trolls have been present in the campaign from the very beginning, but they have not made any big operations so far...

2 hours ago, Psullie said:

Wind Lord Shield 130 - 120 = 10%

That's right, my mistake. 

2 hours ago, metcalph said:

Monro can also make two attacks of 80% (splitting equally gives 110% against the Wind-Lords 130%) against the Windlord's parry of 100%.

That's true but who would split attacks if you have better chance to win with just hitting once?  High level combats are actually quite simple-minded usually, because players become more cautious also. This usually diminishes tactics  used to hit once + dodge/parry (maybe your allied spirit cancels some magic from the enemy etc.). I hope to increase tactical options for the players in the future. That's why I try to make this rule to work with really high percentages. None that I've heard so far, does so. 

I've been reading through the fantastic RQG-book (like everyone else). The rules say: 

If both combatants have combat skills of greater than 100%, the combat skills of each is reduced by the amount the highest skill is above 100%. 
Thus, if a Sword Lord of Humakt with a 150% broadsword skill fights a Wind Lord with a 130% medium shield skill, the Sword Lord attacks at 100% and the Wind Lord parries at 80%.

In our group there's a player character, Monro, whose raw % with mace is around 220%. The rules seem to break a little bit if he'd fight against the same Wind Lord mentioned in the example. Monro would have a mace A% of 100, while the Wind Lords chance is 05. Right? This seems a little bit wrong to me.

Another example: if we have a troll with a maximum damage around 50 point and mace A% of 90. In the old rule versions this would have been a dangerous fight for Monro, even though he has much better A%. Now this would end in a situation where Monro has a skill of 100% and the troll's A% is 05. Monro would win really easily. 

I like the new rule, just can't figure how to put it into practice. The basic idea is good because it fastens the high level fight (more success vs failure, less success vs success) and makes them more interesting. Any suggestions how to handle this are appreciated. 

Thanks for your excellent ideas. Let's see how all this transfers to our campaing. The main idea seems to be that it really is up to GM how a particular battle goes. I think we'll apply some kind of fixed casualty rates depending on the battle (who is fighting against who, purpose of the battle - - > skirmish vs kill them all etc. ) and modifying that with possible special circumtances (heroes etc) . 

4 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

Um, no. The losing side takes most casualties when it routs.

I know. What I was after is that some secondary units might not even get to actual battle, because they see their comrades butchered in the first wave few dozen meters ahead and they flee from the battle scene unharmed. 

45 minutes ago, Joerg said:

Another question: What do you count as a casualty on a personal level? A non-serious but debilitating wound that could not be magicked away on the battlefield? A temporary madness or panic? A period of unconsciousness? Or only permanent death or crippling?

I'm interested about casualties meaning death, permanent crippling, permanent madness etc. As a gamemaster I'm interested about how many men both sides have left for the battles in the future.

Thanks. I quess that in most of the battles, it's the breaking of the morale that keeps the casualties relativily low. This means that the losing side tries to retreat/escape from the battle when things go badly (if possible). The winning side may or may not pursue them...

Only the most hardcore units are ready to fight to death(humakti, berserks etc.). 

Hello, we have been playing a few mass battles in our campaign using different systems to model it. Now we are using a modified Warhamster to model the battles. My question is, however, more about the world itself, that’s why I started this new topic here (there’s an ongoing discussion about Gloranthan battles in Runequest-subforum).

My question is: What is the casualty rate in Gloranthan battles? By casualties I mean death or severe injury.

This depends of course of few things: what kind of battle we are fighting (a small clash between clans vs Battle of Heroes), who are fighting and against what kind of opponent, what is the purpose of the battle etc. Just to mention few things...

And I’m interested about "casual" fights not involving Harrek, Crimson Bat or other "nukes".

I also did some internet research about the matter:

-Historically the casualty rate has been something like 5-50% depending much of the battle.

-Casualties for the losing side are 2-4 times the casualties of the winning party

-Historically diseases killed as much or even more than the actual battles

-More advanced military technology results more casualties

-There is a huge difference in casualties between different types of battles: the small scale fights of the early Middle Ages were relatively safe for both sides, the huge battles of the late Middle Ages were much more dangerous

See for example:

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/5883/how-severe-were-the-casualties-in-ancient-medieval-battles

https://www.quora.com/How-has-mortality-rate-per-battle-changed-throughout-history-i-e-how-has-the-number-of-casualties-per-battle-as-a-function-of-total-combatants-in-each-changed-over-the-course-of-history

Glorantha is a magical world, how does magic effect the casualties in battles? On the other hand there is healing magic, and on the other hand there is some hardcore war/killing magic.

Morale certainly plays a very important role in battles. In our games for example, it is usually the morale which is kind of resolving the battle.

Then there is a type of a fighting force: I guess trolls for example, try to catch some of the opponents alive to eat them later, Praxians might also try to get some prisoners as slaves etc. And on the other hand, Zorak Zorani berserks would just kill everyone and maybe raise few as zombies later.

Any ideas?

Thanks for your ideas! I have already found some usable and/or fun items Please produce more... 

Few of my own ideas:

Simple box camera

Battle wheelchair working with "drivers" magic points and shooting electricity. The wheelchair is filled with small tanks containing different kinds of battle drugs: drugs to stop bleeding, healing wounds, enhancing senses etc. It will make the driver very hard to kill.

Helmets with gas mask, night vision goggles, hearing enhancing "trumpets", spyglass, underwater breathing equipment, voice altering device etc.

Writing machine

Diving equipment

Pressure-working, 1st WW style flamethrower

Steam-/elemental-working, small (maybe 1m tall) "attack towers" controlled by nilmergs

Repeating arbalest

Noisemaker - machine that makes terrible noise  and paralyzes enemies

Rangefinder

Compound crossbow to make extra heavy shots

Hello, I'm asking your help to create (or share) some cool mostali inventions/items. My players just looted a partly abandoned (but still working) mostali mine/city and I need some cool stuff to give them. I have already found some items from other threads of this forum, but I'd like to hear more. Let your imagination fly... 

I have already used all the "basic" mostali stuff, like food cans, repeating crossbows etc. in our long campaign. 

Thanks. 

11 hours ago, David Scott said:

The Paps cult of Eiritha is far removed from the tribal cult. It even says that some of the Paps priestesses are not trusted within the tribes. The Paps has no real khans of its own. The tribes are independent tied in by their shared mythology. The Paps is not the centre of a centralised cult. The Paps is a very different to Nochet.

This is good news for my character. He is very much in rival with the leading khan of the morokanth tribe. So maybe it's not impossible, if difficult, to turn the MRE Egajia's head for my characters favor. He is after all trying to bring Genert back (some might remember my postings from the different topics related to Genert and the Green Age. The characters did return from the Green Age after ten or so sessions, only terribly changed ). 

Thank's for your thoughts about Paps and Pimper's Block everyone. I'd forgot the the excellent picture from Pimper's Block and the ziggurat also.

Just now, soltakss said:

Once she has been elected, of course, she is drawn into the politics of Praxians.

That's exactly what I also meant.

4 hours ago, David Scott said:

When it comes to the MRE there are no politics. She is chosen by Eiritha herself and is for all intents and purposes Eiritha in the Middle world. 

That's bad news and also what I expected. I still doubt that she's immune to politics or that there's no politics around the MRE. It's not about if she will continue in her position, but what she can achieve with that position. That is of course my own opinion.

Thanks for the information David. I'm not sure if it's because of some previous forum discussions, but I already had Petra temple in my mind even before you posted the pictures...

Soltakss, the rammed earth buildings are also a nice idea for the oasis people. I think we'll go with that. 

How about Pimper's Bock, any information about it more than there already is in GtG?

Hello, does anyone have more detailed information about Paps than what is provided in the GtG? Maybe a map of the place and generally what's there? I have the Eiritha cult description from the Tales of the Reaching Moon (actually both Prax issues 14 & 15) and The Book of Drastic Resolutions volume Prax. Where I can find more info?

I'm also interested about Pimper's Block, is there a full description of the place with a map somewhere? How many people are living there? How many slaves can be bought from there at once (generally speaking)?

In our campaign the Lunars have left the Pavis and Prax. How does it effect slave trade in Pimper's Block? Is it Issaries cultists who are running the place again after freeing of Pavis/Prax?

Is Egajia still the high priestess of Paps after lunars left (she negotiated the Armistice of Prax with lunars after all)? I guess she'll not be politically popular after Lunars were beaten. My character doesn't get along with the morokanth, that's why I'm asking...

The things I'm asking are not decided/configured in our campaign, so I'm interested to hear your thoughts, thanks.  

Thanks for the reply!

Who was Ovodaka, the last guardian, whom Babeester let to kill her? That's the only info I found about Ovodaka. Any ideas? I might need Ovodaka in my campaign, so I'd be pleased to know what it was. 

47 minutes ago, David Scott said:

When the Devil returns at the end of the Third Age, and the Heroes have to save the World again, there's a good chance it will get destroyed. Likely you will get to play it out in the God's War expansion pack - Gods War Onslaught Third Age.

When this will be out?

6 minutes ago, soltakss said:

Ogres are HeroQuesting to find Wakboth's Eye, in order to resurrect Wakboth, in the same way as my PCs HeroQuested to bring back Genert. Obviously, bringing back Wakboth would be worse than bringing back Genert. Having said that, both gods returning would cause wars to erupt.

We have the same process going on in our campaign...I really wait to see the outcome

2 hours ago, MOB said:

A descent to the Eye of Wakboth features in the heroic efforts by some of the leaders of Sun County and Pavis to break the Great Winter (1621-22). Even deploying the holiest relic from the Sun Dome Temple, the Goldenblood Light, the actual blood shed by the god Yelmalio in the Darkness, was not enough to destroy the Eye, only temporarily blind it.

What's the source for this information?

Thanks for the already plenty replies. The answers gave me some "nice" ideas. The Call of Cthulhu books have already been in use when I have been planning this adventure...

2 hours ago, jajagappa said:

@David Scott noted the following in the thread below: " Going back to the Great Darkness, the whole of Genert's Garden was breaking apart - actually separating and floating off. Such was the death of Genert that the very land was flying apart." and "Zola Fel actively prevented Prax from breaking up he was at the edge of the void. The rest of the Wastes broke apart and drifted away"  and "...Waha's myths. He went and tied all the parts back together and grandmother Spider pulled the net tight and everything (nearly) was pulled back together at the dawn."

This is what I like in Glorantha: even if something seems to be totally absurd there's still a coherent, rationalized explanation for that.

I also like the the Zola Fel explanation about the Ogre Island Geyser.

1 hour ago, Steve said:

I hate to be a party-pooper, but what makes your heroes think they stand any chance of coming into contact with part of the Devil and not being at the minimum driven insane, or more likely just instantly killed? This sounds like only something that the very most powerful of Heroes/demigods would stand any chance at.

The characters are the number 1 heroes in Pavis/Prax.  Certainly powerful heroes (in our campaign equal with Argrath), but not demigods yet. Whatever that means They have done many heroquests over the years, have multiple hero powers against chaos and to protect their mind and soul, they have been in Thanatari hell and survived etc. The campaign is ten years old in real time and we are playing Hero Wars big time now. The reason for the characters to go there is not to see some nice things, but to do it as an inescapable last option. 

I guess I'll go and take the good old Call of Cthulhu madness charts in my hand....