Darius West

The problems with the Skyrim magic system when compared to Glorantha are pretty obvious. Basically Elder Scrolls magic is sorcery by RQ standards, and not standard RQ sorcery. The mana system is fine in that it translates to Magic points in a straightforwards way, but mana potions are not really a standard in Glorantha so they would have to be far more rare, if they exist at all, instead there would have to be alternative systems for spirit combat worked into the game and of course crystals and fetishes instead of the Elder Scrolls Soul Trap system which is like RQ but is NOT RQ. Obviously the deities would have to become more front and central. At the moment "The Nine" basically provide minor stat buffs, and the Daedra Lords are basically a bunch of magically powerful fetishistic perverts who want you to do silly quest things in return for their special unique magic items, many of which aren't actually all that flash. There would probably need to be cult skill trees that focused on providing advantages for specific skills and abilities and Rune Spells that trigger like racial abilities, basically once a day, or require a certain amount of prayer and devotional activity to refresh. Skyrim has decently Sartarite architecture, but a few more rude huts would be good. The various clans would of course all have their Tulas, and that would require some research to get a sense of what they would look like. King of Dragon Pass tells us all about temples and fortifications, but is doesn't tell us about animal pens, farm steads and halls, and how they vary from clan to clan. I imagine that the most diverse of these will be in Far Point where the steads have spiked roofs to stop Giant Stomp, and also lake steads that are like crannogs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crannog. My own personal bitch with Elder Scrolls is the flippant lip service it pays to mounted combat. Yes you can get on a horse, and eventually they let you fight from horseback, though you can only swing a weapon on one side of the mount, and no matter how hard you are hit you remain mounted until you die, or until your horse dies. As I am a devotee of "Mount and Blade" (which still doesn't allow you to be dismounted by a hard blow), I know it can be done better. Speaking of which, if Skyrim Dragon Pass seems implausible, perhaps Mount and Blade Pent/Prax/Wastes might be a better alternative? Wow, imagine doing the wire frames for Rhinos, Ostriches etc, lol.

That's great! I must say that Polish has a lot of "Z"s in it. It must make playing scrabble impossible without a Polish set. Bądź zdrowy!

Well, I think the reference in RQ Adventures says that the head hunting cult is called Otyan, probably a reference to Atyar and Tien. I have an alternative idea... what if the suggestively named Hedkoranth offers a specific Divine Spell to tribes with an interest in head hunting, quite apart from Create Thunderstone? One based on the Tathlum of Irish legend? Where the heads of fallen enemies are covered in lime in hidden caves, and prepared for the day when they will be hurled at the enemy along with the hidden clan stores of woad and thunderstone? Enchant Hurling Head Ritual, Enchant Spell, Stackable to 6 points, One use (special). This spell may only be cast on Windsday of Mobility week each season by initiates and priests of Hedkoranth. If cast on the High Holy Day of Orlanth it is reusable for priests of Hedkoranth. It requires access to tar and gypsum, with which the head is coated, often leaving the hair in place as a convenient handle, and the heads are tended every season. The important thing to note is that Blessed Heads are hostile to the wielder and must be disposed of carefully. The face of the Hurling Head is still visibly the one of the victim from which it was taken. 1 Point: The head is covered with layers of gypsum and a disorder rune is carved on its cheek. The hardened head will now do 1d6 damage when thrown or slung as a missile and will demoralize all opponents who can see the head as if the caster were using the spell with their POW. This demoralize effect is twice as effective on the victim who is struck by the head. It requires 2 points of Countermagic or equivalent to resist this effect. 2 Points: The head is covered with a heavier layer of gypsum, and has all the effects of the first point but now does +3 damage and weighs 2 enc. 3 Points: The head is now covered in a layer of flammable corrosive tar and carved with a fire rune, and while providing demoralization it now acts as a 3d6+3 damage firearrow as well causing enemies struck to potentially catch fire. 4 Points: As with the 3 point spell, but now the fire and force of the head do 4d6+3 damage, and the fire is more intense, causing the opponent struck to catch fire automatically when struck. 5 Points: As with the above, but now it removes 1d6 MP from the opponent struck. 6 Points: As above, but now the damage done acts in place of POW for a Sever Spirit spell i.e. if 12 damage is done, the Sever Spirit is cast as if it were cast with 12 POW. Blessed heads are generally considered vengeance weapons, and not for use in "clean" or honorable warfare. They are used on occasion by Orlanthi as part of an intense feud, as generally decapitating an enemy and then throwing their head at their family as such a horrific weapon is either an impossible insult, or a sign that things have gone too far. Humakti and Elmali will not countenance the use of Hurling Heads and will leave the side of a conflict that employs them. Stormbulls however are surprisingly well disposed to the idea. The Cult of Hedkoranth does not encourage the use of this magic as it has a bad reputation, and the connotations are verging on chaos, however as a cult secret to be employed against enemies with which no quarter is asked or given, they are a thing to be feared. Most tribes with a strong Hedkoranthi presence will maintain a hidden cave or cellar where the arsenal of these terrible weapons are kept against the day when they may be needed.

LOL, who will stop the Rise of Cutethulhu?

You have raised a really good question. When handling interpersonal relations, sometimes other communications can substitute for psychology for getting a "read" on people. As the rules say that characters resist communication skills with their communication skills, it is implied that a god communicator can understand when they are being "fed a line", and may even be able to tell more from the line they are fed (by implication) than they could from a psych roll. After all, every lie you get told is a better indicator of what the truth actually is, because it is the truth that every lie protects, so you ask, "What is this lie protecting, and what is it diverting me from?" This works IRL btw. As for spot hidden, well, most clues are located in spaces that are relevant to particular skills, i.e. offices, workshops, warehouses, houses. An eye trained in what happens in a workshop or a building site would be able to spot what was out of place or hidden as well as or even better than a good spotter. Don't ignore Listen rolls as possible substitutes. A quaver in a voice, or a loose floorboard, or a thump in the distance might all be clues. Watch out however as Listen seldom costs as much SAN as seeing things. I have always found that Spot Hidden is a mixed blessing in CoC, a bit like Mythos Skill. Successful Spot Hiddens are often tragic SAN killers. The other thing you can do is to simply decide that if a character has a skill in excess of a certain margin in a certain situation that the information will be forthcoming without a roll, as a sort of default. The rules say that rolls are supposed to be used to build tension, and that failed rolls merely mean that more time is required to complete the task because an insight has been missed. Now by the same token you can, and should, ask players to make spot hidden rolls when there is nothing present to discover, then tut to yourself, or chuckle when they make it or miss it, so they players can't "read the Keeper" so easily.

So what is this I hear about there being the ruin of a city under Ex? Could it be Gorilla City?

I am very surprised that Dark Corners of the Earth did so badly. I am not surprised by the budget for Skyrim however, and 80+ million is hard to raise. I believe Ken Rolston has a lot to do with Bethesda and was instrumental in much of the Elder Scrolls btw. Actually there is an alternative... You see, the creation engine for Skyrim is now public access, and it has the terrain features required to build a pretty good Dragon Pass... Of course the magic would need considerable reworking to fit in with RQ, but the system is percentages and the perk per level does make for interesting characters. This would mean creating quite a few new critters of course, but there is no reason why a group of like minded Gloranthaphiles couldn't combine forces to build Dragon Pass as a Skyrim mod. Obviously it would require some organization, a central hub where things were uploaded to, an agreement to program with a view to integrating new material, a checklist of things that need doing that will be LONG, and some brave soul who will volunteer to be King of Dragon Pass... i.e. provide oversight, direction, veto, and creative direction. Think of me as the blind seer, coming to tell the clan that it is time to form a tribe by performing the Making of the Storm Tribe Hero Quest.

Actually Eric W my friend the Keeper is a Vegan. I think he is using psychic sensitivity based on a humanity as a vegan super power without telling us, as the more sensitive you are to suffering the more sensitive you are to the world at large, or so it seems within the game. I hope he doesn't see this, and I hope he laughs if he does. Interestingly he made us roll our SAN, HUM, and BRA separately, and it was not based on POW as it usually is. I don't know all of the inner working he has planned of course, nor what our adversaries are using, but your point regarding cultists stripped of their humanity is something I agree with. I think it should be tied to POW, not some arbitrary human moral overlay.

Name: Way Stones Description: These stones are simple hemispherical rocks of granite, two foot across and weighing the limit of what a strong man can lift (45 Enc) marked with two mobility runes and a depiction of a chariot in the middle at the apex of the curve. The cut of the stone is remarkably smooth, suggesting Dwarven work. Cults: Associated: Mastakos, Orlanth. Friendly: Lhankor Mhy. Enemy: Mostali Knowledge: Cult secret. Few temples possess a way stone and they keep the knowledge to themselves as much as they can. No secret can long be kept from Lhankor Mhy however, and the Senior scribes do know about these items but rarely mention their existence, preferring to simply buy the item outright and return it to its rightful owner for the bounty. The Mostali know of the Way Stones and while they no longer know of their locations, they would seek to retrieve them. History: The chariot of Mastakos was the fastest thing in Glorantha after Krarsht bit Larnste's heel. Mastakos was the loyal charioteer of Orlanth and often provided him with help. Once when at war with the Mostali, Mastakos was trapped by the enemy who used the power of Stasis against him, denying his ability to move as he pleased within a web of static power. Orlanth and the Thunder Brothers triumphed regardless, and part of their booty were the 16 hemispherical stasis stones. Mastakos complained to Orlanth about the power of these stones and claimed they should be destroyed, but Orlanth said "there is always another way", and together they worked on binding the stones to Mastakos so they could help him rather than hinder him. Procedure: Perform the sacrifice for Guided Teleport at an altar of Mastakos where one of the Way Stones is in place. It need not be prominently displayed. Powers: The Way Stones serve as anchor points for the spell Guided Teleport. If the stone is moved, all the initiates who sacrificed at the stone (knowingly or not) will find they appear at the location of the Way Stone. Way Stones are not required as anchor points, as a properly consecrated altar to Mastakos, as found in most Orlanth Temples is more usual, but Way Stones are sometimes employed by the tribes and priests who possess such items as the Way Stones can be moved, while other anchor points cannot. Value: 100,000L or the equivalent in cattle. The Lunar Empire would pay more for the knowledge of such items, let alone the possession of one. The Mostali would potentially pay double this king's ransom, and seek to retrieve the items violently if refused.

Is the Old Wind in Dragon Pass or Hendrikiland? It is on the border.

That is an entertaining system and a nice interpretation of how to use the various indices of normality. As to dark secrets, I never had any problems with players coming up with multiple dark secrets within play on their own. Introducing a new character became a complete minefield as the longer term characters were all so ashamed of or incriminated by their past deeds that they often lied to the new characters. As to your mythos index, it is good. I did something similar with Aklo to provide a bit more meat as to how spell creation could work. Here is the file of my Aklo house rules. Aklo.pdf

I could also be persuaded that CD Projekt Red could do a good Glorantha. The Witcher series has been great.

There is literally only one company who could do a Gloranthan game and get it right, and Chaosium has already had dealings with them. That would be Bethesda Softworks who do Elder Scrolls (which has major Gloranthan overtones), and Fallout etc. In the past they did Call of C'thulhu; Dark Corners of the Earth. With all the new source material available in Guide to Glorantha and all the amazing source material and adventures already out there, isn't it time that Glorantha finally landed the epic sandbox treatment? I know King of Dragon Pass has experienced a new lease of life on mobile phones. What are the chances of this happening? Don't get me wrong, I love paper and pencil RPGs, but this would bring Glorantha to the general public and give it the attention it deserves. Then all you precious hipster jerks can be all "I was into Glorantha before everyone knew about it" and lament how a new generation is discovering what you have devoted so many hours to making so cool.

Does anyone know anything much about Ex? It is a big divot in the ground from where the Block bounced before hitting Wakboth. Are there any write-ups? Also, what is at Feroda and Sog's ruins? Are there any write-ups?

Body...wanna feel his body? Feathers...such a thrill his feathers Beaky...wanna touch his beaky? Corpsey...kinda smells his corpsey Check it out his dead body. Don't you doubt his dead body. talkin' bout his dead body, check it out his corpse Every duck wants to be a brave humakti duck to have the kind of feathers, always in demand Bandit in the mornings, go duck go Ambush at the swamp ford, shimmer glow Then he was send to Delecti, now he's a necroduck Ready to reanimate anyone he can Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey! Necro necro duck (necro duck) He got drained, he's a necro duck Necro necro duck He got to be a necro! Ow.... Necro necro duck He got to be, a necro duck Necro necro duck (yeah, yeah) He got to be a necro! Body, its so cold, his body, Body, love to pop his eyeballs, Body, love…

Thankfully the Maslo don't make sacrifices at the Pyramid of Needs.

The correct answer is "The Cannon Cult". Human slaves under thrall to Osidilian in Dwarf Run who "serve the guns".

Nice work g33k. Kudos. I confess an inordinate fondness for beetles. Such is my godliness.

For extra bonus points, who were the only humans to survive the Dragonkill in Dragon Pass? (Delecti wasn't human by then, but immortal).

Elemental opposites are probably pretty weak. As are form opposites. I think therefore that Undeath (sentient, life draining) is the opposite of plant (non-sentient, life supporting). Dragon is clearly the opposite of man . Beast (material) is the opposite of spirit (immaterial), while dragonewt is the opposite of dragonewt. LOL. Michel Foucault would support my classification system, even as I totally disagreed with him.

Runes often have a logical opposite. Death-Fertility/Life. Mobility-Stasis. Law-Chaos. Truth-Illusion. Harmony-Disorder. Luck-Fate. It can be argued that Element Runes have opposites: Darkness-Fire. Earth-Water. Air-Moon. And if you are feeling charitable Shadow-Light. Some runes don't have opposites however. What is the opposite of plant for example? Dragonewt? Man? Undead? What is the opposite of Mastery ? (There is no known Rune for incompetence, but I have known a few people who have integrated it.)

Change his name to Hei Yu. (jk)

I have been playing (gasp) CoC rather than keeping recently. My friend the Keeper (Ralph Lowe), has done something quite interesting with the SAN rules. Quite apart from Sanity, and Luck, he has also added Bravery, and Humanity as indices that can be damaged by events. He has also incorporated rules for relative levels at which various behaviors become (or are no longer) a cause for a check. I think this has been a response to his time playing my game, where over the course of time the players began to make increasingly horrible and desperate moral choices that impacted their SAN, when the consequences of those choices became apparent. Thus Zero SAN means becoming a madman, zero Humanity means becoming a ruthless sociopath, and zero bravery means becoming a quivering bundle of urine soaked laundry. He seems to have been using Humanity as a means of measuring psychic sensitivity too ( I think). As far as house rules go, this is a nice novel one that draws a bit upon Unknown Armies and Vampire to give your character a bit of a grading as to how their characters are mentally collapsing.

So with shipping and handling (6 weeks) it will be arriving in Australia around early December. Guess what I am getting for Xmas?

Firstly... which god would that be? And secondly, I vastly prefer tick farming even if the little bastards do suck your blood.