Cloud64

Look at the Jonstown map. There's two Bs for the tunnel, one above the ground entrance, on the wall at the end of Dwarf St. 

There are tunnels off of it, but they can't be followed far by people. When my PCs were chasing the lune (Fire in Darkness)  it headed off down one of these side tunnels to give them the slip, but it did give them the idea that it headed off in the direction of the old Lunar temple. 

I'm pleased this thread was necroed as it's very useful. I'm planning for my players to take part in the Battle of the Queens during our next run (sadly not till Jan '23) and there's a wealth of useful info here. Thanks to all who've provided it. I hadn't thought to check my KAP rulebook – that'll provide useful Saturday-chore-avoidance procrastination 🙂

For the cheapskates among us I present <drum roll> the Waitrose freezer bag…

I do keep looking at the pilot cases, and they are very nice, but for a few measly quid (for 1 gbp is now a measly item) this does the job… and you'd think it was made to measure. It's posh too – Waitrose innit, and padded as well for a bit of protection. Joking aside, it works for me because I only need to carry the bags from home to car and from car park to venue so no serious travelling involved. And it nestles very nicely behind the driver seat so no risk of book damage in transit.

There are doors, and these doors lead to darkness – if you open them and go through the now open doorway. You can have a doorway without a door, so doorway doesn't necessarily imply that there's a door behind which something dark is hidden, which is what the title conveys to me if I think about it too much. I don't think there's anything wrong with the use of doors in this title. Equally, I doubt most native English speakers would bat an eyelid if 'Doorways' had been used instead.

I'd not considered Gateways to Terror as a sequel. If it is, I am disappointed that they didn't go with the pleasantly alliterative Trapdoors to Terror. Perhaps in that light I should give up hope of ever getting my scenario Anxiety Attic published in Loft-ladders to Lunacy, an anthology of gable roof based investigations. As for Portholes on Panic: Chronicles of Cursed Cruises, that's surely just a distant dream. 
 

I second owl bear rodeo for online play. It's free, easy to upload your own maps and tokens, easy to share with your players. Our lockdown play was  theatre of the mind, but using an online map and tokens really helped clarify the situation. At table I'll tend to draw the scene out (or have it pre-prepped) on a piece of paper and we use that with home-made standees or tokens as a rough guide of what's going on. Occasionally the battle mat or a gridded print map comes out, but it's rare we're that pedantic about combat.

I have now run first two scenarios at an RPG club, face-to-face, with 5 players. 2 have played 2nd and 3rd eds., but not much. 2 wanted to try it and have never had the opportunity before, never having known anyone into RuneQuest, and one has been a member of this club for over 15 years! 1 is relatively new to roleplaying and wanted to try it out, most likely due to me wittering on about when I give him a lift. Age range mid 30s to 60+. Myself, I've not run it since the early 80s, and never much back then, and with all the maturation of Glorantha over the years don't didn't consider myself particularly au fait with the setting and I was very rules rusty. 

All would like to play more, so I'll probably run another 8 week slot in a couple,of months' time. It's been an interesting exercise introducing them to Glorantha, which I've tried to do gently, without hitting them over the head with a book of lore. It's also been fun, which is my measure of a game being worthwhile. 

Of the 5, 2 are experienced GMs, 2 occasional and I don't know about the other one. All have said they don't think the scenarios are easy to run and felt they would've struggled themselves, in part due to lack of setting knowledge. All felt the Starter Set would be very difficult for folk completely new to roleplaying – rules complexity, overwhelming amount of character info (especially the amount of rune spells), tricky scenarios. And there's little help in the set for new GMs, for example in the way of box-out hints and tips; the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set does this better. 

We feel – and of course this is a sample of 1 biased by our experience – that the set best suits an experienced GM with some world knowledge, or enough enthusiasm to not be cowed by it, using it with players new to the game. People experienced with Glorantha will enjoy it as well. 

Time wise, A Rough Landing took 4 sessions. Our sessions are 2 hours*. It would have taken another hour or so after they'd defeated the enemies, but I summarised that for fear of not having enough time to get A Fire in the Darkness (AFiD) finished in the remaining 4 sessions of the club slot. In fact, AFiD ran more quickly than expected and could have been finished in 3 sessions (6 hours). As it is, we have the final denouement to take place next week. Our thought is that it was combat that slowed the first scenario. We have all got more competent with it, and other game mechanics, as well.

I've found it challenging to run and found a lot of prep was necessary, though I can be guilty of over prepping. This prep was at times frustrating, revealing flaws in the scenarios, whether that be story logic, desirable handouts not being provided, stat block errors, etc. I'm considering writing a constructive critique of the scenarios, if I find the time and motivation. I'm always wary of reviews from folk who've not actually run a scenario – it's not until you do that a scenario's true nature is revealed. 

We've had fun and everyone wants to play more. By that measure, the set is a success. 

* A pet RPG peeve of mine is when a review expresses scenario length in sessions with no indication of how long their sessions are. Without that, the statement is useless. Please don't do it, people. 

Book4 p28 para2

"…the one at they just fought."  Missing a 'which'.

Fascinating article, thanks for sharing, Rick. I remember as a teenagers we argued over which was better, D&D or RQ. I was initially on the side of D&D, but my teenage pedantry quickly conceded that RQ made a lot more sense and just felt logically correct. Thankfully that pedantry is now long <cough: decades> gone and I now enjoy many a game for what it is, not whether its system makes sense. I still prefer BRP though, and find it the most intuitive to play and to teach - everyone gets percentages, simples. 

31 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Interesting - in Applecline, it says Traveller had skills but not improvable after chargen (IIRC).

Checking my little black books, 1977 Games Workshop printing. Book 2 Starships p40: 2 pages on experience and improving skills.  Not easy, takes 4 years. 
 

Edit: I see now Rick beat me to it, but I politely disagree and think it is a system for improving specific skills. But realistically, did anyone actually do it? That's probably why it's mostly forgotten.  A skill improvement system based on actual use of specific skills; looks like a RuneQuest holds that crown. 

Book4, p15, col 1, para 4

"It's better for either Jonstown to know what is happening than for someone to die needlessly."  'either' is not needed. 
 

Book 4, p17, Mineste's Farm entry

An experienced GM will work around these inconsistencies, but this is a Starter Set after all. Even with experience, I'd rather apply my mental energy to embellishing rather than ironing out. 

Started playing last week and happy to report the first encounter was fun. Players being players, mine handled it in an unexpected but surprisingly effective manner. For those who may be interested…

Character Folios missing key skills.

It came up in play that the Listen skill wasn't on Aranda's folio. Examination shows that some commonly used skills are not on a lot of the folios. I would guess that skills at base value have been left off to save space. Problem is that there's no list of base skill values in the Starter Set, the individual skills have to be found in the rulebook to determine their base value. Also, players new to the system may not be aware that there is a potentially useful skill they can have a punt at. There is space for these skills on all but Vishi's folio.

I've mentioned Listen, but also notable in absence are Climb, Jump, Search, Conceal and Sleight, and some don't have all three key comms styles: Charm/Fast Talk/Intimidate. 

Whilst I'm sure there's a difference of opinion over what the most used common skills are, and it can be argued comms styles indicate the character's style, these will come up in play and should be to hand. It was bit of a facepalm moment for my player when he found Listen wasn't on his folio. When you're trying to introduce newbies to a system, such things a good impression do not make.

3 hours ago, AndreJarosch said:

I hop they will be available in PRINT, and therefore not for free. 
 

Why be mean and deny them to some who've bought the Starter Set? I hope they will be available as free PDFs, and purchasable in print. Wanting to keep my Starter Set reasonably pristine, I've printed off the folios for my players selected PCs, full size for a reasonable cost at a print shop near home.

Yanioth's character folio, background, para 3: " Now I travel with Vasana, following the path my goddess has set before me."

Now there are 14 PCs to choose from she might not be travelling with Vasana, in which case that sentence hangs a little oddly.

On 1/1/2022 at 1:03 AM, BrentS said:

One thing I immediately noticed as I started to browse was that there is no identification of what are obviously cult specific Rune spells.

Odd that cult references are in the Starter Set Rune spell descriptions, yet not the RBoM. Cult specific Rune spells are listed for each cult in the Core rules so it's not like the info isn't there. One rationale I can see is that cult info would easily go out of date in the RBoM if new cults become available and share some cult specific spells already in the book, so best leave it out. Then again, they may have new spells that won't make it into the book until it is revised.

Missing Grapple and Fist skills on character folios and definition in Rules book.

I am prepping for running the Rough Landing scenario, and have noticed some key information is missing…

Only two of the character folios list the Grapple skill and none Fist. Though there are grapple rules in the rulebook, it does not have it listed under skills and there is no information on how to calculate it. Likewise, Fist as a skill or weapon is not mentioned anywhere.

It actually took me a bit of rummaging in the Core Rule book to find the info I needed. Grapple is not explicitly listed in skills there either, you find it on the Unarmed Attacks weapon table (Core p208) and in the skills list (Core p61). Being a weapon it counts as a Manipulation skill, thus that modifier is applied to the 25% base. Similarly, Fist info is on the same pages. They are only defined as hand-to-hand weapons Core p207).

Seems these Natural Weapons/Unarmed Attacks could do with some clarification in both sets of rules, perhaps an explicit entry in the skills chapter.

To rebalance the poll after Chaot's comment - no contrarianism intended I assure you 🙂 - I have to go with hit locations. This is on the grounds that even of the system we're playing doesn't use them, I like to roll for location as it makes narrating the hit and its effect easier. 

On 12/6/2021 at 11:27 PM, AndreJarosch said:

For instance: 
How to Play Harmst still says: "Your high Fertility and Earth Runes makes you worldly and pleasure-seeking. Your high Beast Rune puts you in touch with your base instincts." 
He has Fertility 50, Earth 0, Beast 50

I see that corrected on the folio's I have.  My bad - it's in the last bullet point which is covered by my correction below.

The other issue with Harmast is regarding him not being a particularly good rider. He has 40% which seems adequate as it matches, for example, Vishi Dunn who has no such caveat re his riding ability. I suspect what should replace that whole bullet is this line from the core rules char sheet: 

Harmast rides a Praxian zebra (and has a second), and must dismount to fight, as neither has been trained to be steady in combat. Each has MOV 12. Characteristics are not needed.

That's what I've replaced it with for my player whose chosen Harmast.

At first glance I read the title of this thread as, 'Are bats Catholic?' this triggered by my preferred twisting of the classic phrases about bears and popes. For those unfamiliar, one is catholic, the other sh*ts in the woods. Maybe 'Are bats chaotic?' is used as a veiled insult by Lunar haters as it surely implies that the Emperor sh*ts in the woods.

As an old Dartfordian/Londoner, it can't be beyond the wit of man to get a few copies the ~25 miles across town from Dartford to Hammersmith for the weekend. Maybe a helpful someone going past on their way could grab a few. Alas, that's not me as I live nowhere near there now. Also, I admit I may have my old London dispatch rider head on, which I realise does give me an uncommon view of the ease of getting goods around London in a timely fashion when you really want to.

https://book.addisonlee.com/al/booking/new/courier

Book 2

I am puzzled at why a number of buildings that have entries aren’t located on the Jonstown map. I can see this being a philosophical choice, giving the GM some flexibility that they mind find useful, but given the target for this set – players new to Glorantha and possibly to RPGs – it seems odd to give a sense of incompleteness. In particular, the Malani Residence, due for visit in the Rough Landing adventure, isn’t specifically placed. This had me peering at the excellent map artwork to see if any of the buildings had a boar outside (they don't).

Also there is a Uleria temple (map key and p49), but she is not listed in the cults section (p11). TBF, there is a brief explanation in the entry on p49. Maybe an oversight, maybe not.

Book 3

Section 121

“Make a Stealth roll.”

Stealth is not a skill. In context, should be Move Quietly.

Section 22/23

Refers to Vasana using her Dark Walk rune spell, which according to her folio she doesn’t have.

Book 4

p14 col1 para4

“Brandgor Bisonbane” in bold appears to be misspelt as in every other entry he is Brangdor. The g and d being transposed.

The mystery of the missing tribute
 

p15

The scenario map shows Clay Man to be west of the river. On the Sartar map it is north of Jonstown, on the east side of the river. Also (a nice but not necessary) it’d be handy to have Mernyr’s Landing on the Sartar map. Though I can see it’d be bit of squeeze to get it in.

p17 col2 para1

A Speak Beastspeech spell is referred to. As far as I can find, this spell does not exist, not in the Starter Set rules, the Core Rules, nor even the RBoM. Edit: I see now this is referring to the Speak Beastspeech skill, which some of the pregens have.

3 minutes ago, g33k said:

waitWHAT???!?
Where?

https://www.chaosium.com/rq-soloquest-the-battle-of-dangerford/
 

2 hours ago, Alex said:

This is a cunning and yet noble plan to drum up sales, but players being a cheap and lazy lot 🙂 I feel obliged to mention there's also the QSR version, which is free, and only a couple of dozen pages long.   Should anyone's budget not stretch to $15, or their attention span to 60pp!

I think the Soloquest could be the big pull for players, and now I've discovered that Chaosium have put up a free, playable online version they won't even have to part with $15 to get some rules drummed into them. Props to Chaosium for their fierce loss leading on this product, let's hope it ultimately pays off.

I will be using the Starter Set to run an 8 week slot at an RPG club I joined Jan last year. As a result of the timing I haven't got to know that many of them as we split into a number of online groups during lockdown. We are back FTF now, and last week I asked our table of CoC players if they were interested in RQ and the response was a resounding 'Yes!' all round - basically I've got my players now. One counts as a grognard who, like myself, played it 'back in the day', but the others are two in theirs 30s and one late 20s none of whom have played but all have heard of the game and want to experience it themselves.

I don't have any reputation preceding me with these folk - I joined the club to get to play rather than be forever GM - so I'd say they have solid interest in the game and setting. It will be interesting to see how strong the interest is once the game proposal goes out as a general invite to all in the club, but on the strength of the interest from my casual testing of the waters, I suspect the game may be oversubscribed. I shall, of course, be encouraging them to pick up at least the Starter Set pdfs on the grounds that it's phenomenal value and three of the four books are usable by players, and please please make my life easier by at least attempting to learn  the rules (yeah, I know, but I can dream can't I?)

50 minutes ago, Urhizen said:

UPGRADE: All solved. Thank you Chaosium!

Still broken for me 😢 After initial, and prompt, Chaosium customer services response have heard nothing more.

Edit: Hurrah! Finally managed to complete the order process. Not sure what changed, but something must've.