kaydet

I understand that it's a quickstart, but you'd think that the core concepts would be in place.

It just seems flavor-less to me, that's all. I had hoped for more.

9 hours ago, David Scott said:

It's up to you to decide how its modelled in the game.

So the mechanics of spirit magic do not go into more detail than "pay points, roll dice"?

That's a little disappointing for a set of rules specifically designed for Glorantha.

Could someone explain the Gloranthan mechanics for spirit magic and how those are replicated in the rules?

What I have always pictured is a personal relationship (friendly or otherwise) with a spirit housed in a charm or object (such as a sword). The spirit provides aid and guidance to its owner. e.g., "Strike here, move there. Now block..."

At least it indicates that people are passionate enough about the product to expect high things of it.

15 minutes ago, GamingGlen said:

Manage Household is a skill?  The game is called RuneQUEST, not HomeCLEAN (:D).

My hope is that this is taking a cue from Pendragon, so adventurers have a more grounded life style.

This thread is honestly something else.

The art's great, and the concept of a quick introduction to Glorantha is even better.

7 hours ago, Mankcam said:

For Lunar Empire, I would portray the core Pelorian culture as a mix between Sumerians, Hittites, and Achaemenids (early Persians).

Then for the Lunar Imperial Army I us a lot of Roman Republic military trappings, but overlay this over the base Sumerian/Persian mix. That way you get a very different flavour for the Lunars, far less Roman than they were portrayed in RQ3/HW era products.

I think this is on point. I've always seen the Lunar army on more of a Persian model, with lots of detachments (or regiments) of significant variance in equipment, origin, and capability.

Perhaps Carmanian troops could represent a semi-professional force on the Marian Roman model -- though with their cataphracts it might be more reasonable to represent them with Byzantine themata. These would, of course, represent only a small portion of the overall strength of the army.

I used the questionnaire in my first heroquest campaign, and made the mistake of using the version in the starter pack rather than the one in the book -- the latter of which which I believe contains a lot more information about the reasons and the stories behind all the questions. I would suggest using that version of you indeed choose to use one at all -- I think particularly for such a short campaign you'll get more bang for your buck by focusing on the characters rather than the clan.

My experience is that players care little about background for background's sake.

Miniatures in particular might benefit from a unity of vision and control, and represent a different production challenge than roleplaying supplements. First of all, two manufacturers working on the same line is kind of a weird dynamic as far as miniatures go, and not a little confusing for a customer. More fundamentally, though, who ensures that the models are at the same scale, and are stylistically compatible? Who coordinates the plan(s) for production and release? Having one company produce 28mm figures, and another the 6mm line would make more sense to me, if two companies were required.

I suppose I'm being an armchair quarterback here, and I'll admit I don't have experience running a business. Ultimately I'll just say that I'm sure Chaosium has good reasons for what it's doing, but I think that at the least there could have been some better communication about the status of this project in particular -- especially when the initial release date is several months past.

@g33k It seems like poor business sense for Chaosium to license two different companies to produce the same product.

My guess is that Dish Dash games saw the reaction to their first effort and pulled the plug when they realized they'd never produce anything that would satisfy the fans.

This Bison tribesman looks as if he could have stepped right out of a box of miniatures of American Plains Indians.

For the price, I'd rather just purchase historical figures.

I'm honestly not particularly impressed with these figures, and I can say pretty definitely that I'll not be purchasing any.

Without delving too much into ancient history, I'm quite surprised by the warm reception this is getting after the, in my opinion, rather vicious backlash against the previous (much higher quality) miniature concept.

Has there been any official word as to why that project was dropped?

7 minutes ago, Mark Mohrfield said:

It isn't too much of a change, really, In any case we're getting a little off track, and I recommend starting a new thread if you wish to pursue this subject.

I think it's a fairly big change to one of the core elemental runes of Glorantha, but ultimately my opinion doesn't matter a whole lot. I'm willing to table the discussion if you are; I don't think it really deserves its own thread.

21 minutes ago, Mark Mohrfield said:

I prefer the older version too, but realistically there's pretty much bound to be some variation in how the runes are presented across different cultures, times and even just different art styles.

I don't disagree with this statement in general, but I think its application here is misplaced. Runes in Glorantha are immortal, immutable concepts indelibly linked to what they are and what they represent. Why would they change? More importantly, why introduce confusion and uncertainty for the sole and dubious benefit of implying that the runes change with culture and time? Glorantha is first and foremost a game world, not an exercise in anthropology.

16 minutes ago, Mark Mohrfield said:

I'm pretty sure it was stated that that is just a Fire/Sky rune in a slightly different style. A true Heat rune, assuming such a thing still exists, would probably have a larger internal circle 

That seems more than a little silly. Why not just use the correct rune?

I've not read for grammar in this chapter, so I have omitted any errors of comma-usage and such in this entry. The magic section of the NPC stat blocks was a big item that I noticed, and I think it might be worthwhile to ensure the format is uniform throughout (e.g., Devotee of Ernalda -- subcult of Asrelia, or Devotee of Ernalda -- Asrelia subcult; my suggestion would be to go with the former, to allow the rune to follow right after the god's name.) I noticed that Orlanth doesn't get his subcults listed at all, even if the NPC is approaching from Movement, or Mastery. Adding the "Larnsting", "Rex", or "Thunderous" identifiers would add a lot of flavor.

Chapter 3

(pg. 22) General Authority Attitudes

The Empire is a powerful adversary and the ring treats it with respect.

(pg. 23) Red Cow Fort

[Map shows the river labeled as Heort River, while the text refers to it throughout the book as Heort Creek.]

(pg. 26) The Great Hall

[Uses "king" throughout. Perhaps this should be changed to "queen" since Ivartha is currently ruling the Cinsina tribe?]

(pg. 34) Salissa Three-Husbands

[Does not have her subcult identifier (Uralda) in her stat block. Her "look" is identical to the entry for Darna Longcoat. There should also be a space between Salissa/Three-Husbands.]

(pg. 35) Farandar Orendalsson

[Does not have his subcult identifier (Barntar) in his stat block.]

(pg. 35) Borngold Many-Brothers

[Does not have his subcult identifier (Voriof) in his stat block.]

(pg. 37) Kernalda Other-Ways

[Her stat block is printed twice, at the beginning and ending of her entry.]

(pg. 40) The Headmen

[Both Jarkorl Snow-Whiskers and Enerin Bristle-Beard do not have "Headman" after their bloodline name as all the other men do.]

(pg. 43) Griselda Gray-Tresses

She is an influential member of the Auroch Bringers.

(pg. 45) Willandring the Giant

[Has only a Disorder rune in the magic portion of his stat block. Should he have a cult or is this intentional?]

(pg. 48 & 49) Sidebar: The Burning of Eoric's Stead

["The Burning of" is cut off and stands on its own on pg. 48 -- the rest of the sidebar continues from "Eoric's Stead" on pg. 49.]

(pg. 48) Sureela Far-Traveled

[Listed as a "Priestess of the Full Moon" in her heading, a "Priestess of She Who Waits" in her description, and an initiate of Yanafal Tarnils in her stat block.]

Kallyr has the Heat rune in her stat block (pg. 106) from her association with Rigsdal -- shouldn't it be Fire/Sky? I remember that this was a mistake also made in Heroquest Glorantha.

I started reading my .pdf and since I notice these things anyway I went ahead and typed up some notes as I went. I only got through the first two chapters, but I might press on if I have some spare time.

The Coming Storm

(pg. 4) Chapter 1

It takes your players from the Lunar Occupation, through the Windstop and the Dragonrise.

This volume provides the setting for that campaign, and covers the people whom your player characters will interact with and the places they will visit.

It is suitable for both players and Game Masters, as it contains facts that characters that have grown up in this region would know.

(pg. 4) Before Starting

The parameters are the genre, the setting, the mode, the premise, and individual narrative hooks.

(pg. 4) Genre

This is a tale of swashbuckling PCs heroes risking all in the face of danger. [Since the previous example was speaking of fiction in general, it might make more sense to use a less RPG-specific term.]

However, the stakes in the such stories are personal triumph or loss, not the world-spanning threats of epic fantasy.

If the PCs heroes fail, their families, kin, and loved ones may suffer, but the that failure will not change the world. [Ditto.]

This differs from epic fantasy, where the events are world-spanning in impact.

(pg. 5) The Third Age is Ending; How Will Your Clan Survive the Hero Wars?

The Lunar missionaries bring a message of co-operation and unity: "We are all us."

He is a 'wall of spears' against the Telmori, and his settlers carve land from the forests that grew up after the destruction of the Maboder.

(pg. 5) Sidebar: This is Not a Stand-Alone Game!

These can be found in the Heroquest Glorantha, Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes, and the Sartar Companion.

The Sartar Companion is particularly useful, as it includes a description of Jonstown, a city in Cinsina lands, and two scenarios: The Crimson Bat Comes to Sartar, and The Gifts of Stone, which can form part of this campaign.

You may also find other products such as Pavis: Gateway to Adventure, The Book of Heortling Mythology, and The Guide to Glorantha useful, although they are not needed to play The Coming Storm.

(pg. 6) Narrative Hooks

Fintar is one of the chieftain’s housecarls. When the Hero Wars come, he will takes to the vanguard in the fight to defend the people of the clan from their enemies.

Chapter 2

(pg. 7) Your Clan

Your clan is better than others are, and your people have skills of survival and making that you have inherited.

(pg. 10) Axe Orlanthi

The Axe Orlanthi do not object to owning slaves — but the Red Cow do not take thralls, as their wyter, Many-Breath was amongst those who welcomed the “Cloud Folk” or Karantuel to join his clan as free men during the Vingkotling Age.

(pg. 10) Your Values

Cautious: “Fools rush in. We prefer to tread carefully, weighing our options before committing ourselves to action.”

(pg. 11) Number of People

Of those adults, 134 or so have lived long enough to become elders of the clan (50+ years of age).

(pg. 11) Bloodlines and Households

The Kerenelling trace descent from Kerenelli Indigo-Warrior, a son of the Blue Woman and Karganar from when he went upon the Orlanth and Aroka heroquest.

(pg. 12) Factions

They are the faction that refuses to talk of the Hero Wars and seeks to keep the troubles of the world outside.

(pg. 12) Your Friends [formatting of section title is off; both font and size]

Your friends stick by yours in your time of need as well as triumph.

(pg. 14) The Red Cow and Ogres

If the boy refuses Orlind kills him. If the boy knocks her to the floor he is overcome with powerful feelings of lust and rapes her, crying, “no one can make you do anything.” [Does she cry this, or does the boy? If it is the boy, this phrase doesn't seem well suited to the justification for his crime.]

Strangely, goats crop the grass outside the hall, not sheep, and dogs bark to welcome Orlind home.

(pg. 15) Your Gods

Many of these people have an elemental Rune of Water () instead of Air () or Earth () and worship Heler. [Dragon rune is where the Earth rune should be.]

(pg. 15) Your Thunder Brother and Ancestral Hero

You trace your descent from Yinkin, and all dogs, the descendants of Narga, are your enemies.

(pg. 16) Your Wyter: Many-Breath

His bones still lie on a wagon cart, within the burial chamber at the heart of the mound, surrounded by pottery, bronze swords, spears, and daggers.

(pg. 16) Ulanin's Thunderous Charge Feat

His horses reared and plunged in unison, trampling his enemies under hoof.

(pg. 17) The Vengeful Hunter

[Storm Tribe rune is where the Yinkin rune should be.]

(pg. 20) The Hard-Bitten Cattle Raider

[Storm Tribe rune is where the Yinkin rune should be.]

I did see those when I read the article, but that still leaves the question of how, mechanically, other runes will come into play -- if at all.

Will the other runes of Glorantha play a part in the new edition? Zzabur's Sigil and the personality matrix account for the elemental runes and the council of pairs, but what of all the others -- do they have a role or are they being subsumed into their god's primary power rune?

There are six in total so far, but here is a link to the first: Designing the New Runequest Part 1

The other five are all in the same place, and should be easy to find.

Have you looked at the design blogs for the new edition of Runequest?

If your goal is to create a version of RQ2 that incorporates the runes from the ground up, I would suggest reading through them to see if the new edition might interest you. It might, in fact, be exactly what you're looking for, as one of the major design goals is to include the runes as a more integral part of characters and gameplay.

I'm not saying you should give up on your homebrew, but the new stuff sounds like it might be exactly what you're looking for.

There was talk about a possible reprint some months ago, but from what I understand I think it's pretty far down on the list of priorities.

From what I've heard, the last playtest packet was released about a week ago, and the manuscript has been sent to Jeff for editing and art direction. Once that process has been completed, the book will still need to go through layout, printing, and shipment, which by my estimation will probably take until at least late 2016 before we have the books in hand.

Just my best guess, though. 

21 hours ago, TRose said:

First is the use of the term Dragoon by several Lunar units. For those who don't know Dragoon where named after a early fire arm(Dra Gunne) they used. So unless the Lunar Emire has an understanding with the Moatali , I doubt if they are using guns.

 Second was the use of Scimitar by most troops .. The scimitar is a cavalry weapon so no problem there. But heavy foot would want somethingmore hamdy and easier to swing in a formation.. For that a Greek style Kopus or Falcatta makes more sense and they have that curved blade look that Lunars love.

 Last is the percentage of cavalry in the army. For an army that supposed to rely on closed order foot, they have a cavalry percentage equal to many horse nomad armies.

To be fair, I believe a dragoon was originally a horse-borne infantryman, trained in combat both mounted and on foot. In this sense, at least, I don't think it's unseemly to have Lunar dragoons running (or riding) about in Glorantha. It is not a medieval or ancient idea, certainly, but I don't think we need to apply strict etymological rigor when giving names to unit classifications.

It's been a while since I've read much about the Lunar Army, but as I recall there isn't much to indicate that they have a (roughly) homogenous professional military based on close order infantry a la the Roman Republic after the Marian reforms. My impression of Lunar military policy is rather much more akin to the Persian Empire, where tributary states, provinces, satraps, allied kingdoms, et al, offer up heterogenous military forces that are pre-existing formations. There may certainly be elements of the Lunar Army which fight as close order infantry (Dara Happan hoplites come to mind) but I doubt it is universal.

As for the predominance of cavalry, we have to keep in mind that one of the major enemies of the empire are tribes of horse-borne nomadic warriors. Although I hesitate to make broad claims, cavalry is usually required to effectively combat other cavalry, and it makes sense that Lunar generals would cultivate a strong cavalry component.