Darius West

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I agree with what mvincent has written . Arkham isn't a large city, so response times will be about 15-20 minutes. They will prefer to show up AFTER the shooting is over. The police almost always drive Model T fords. Paddy Wagons, as they were known were named as an ethnic slur on the Irish, who were often police. Arkham police will, according to the supplement be armed with .45 Revolvers, probably Colt M1917s as illustrated below, and nightsticks. Depending on the level of professionalism of the police they may adopt a number of different investigative techniques. They will certainly ring local clinics and hospitals for admissions with gun wounds. It is quite possible that both the player party and the cultists will wind up in the same cell or interrogation room if the police are being incompetent. On the other hand, to the advantage of players, the Arkham police have a LOT of unexplained disappearances to solve, and continuous rumors about witches and so forth, so some officers might give characters who raise such concerns a better hearing (Credit Rating?). If all else fails, you might try bribery, in which case it is a good idea to have a standing payola agreement with the police as a bootlegger might. Competent police will probably separate players for a very repetitive and long questioning process where they get the characters to repeat what happened over and over again, and only ask slightly different questions. Or they might tell the players that their friends have confessed and incriminated them so they better "sing". In short, if you don't want trouble with the police, follow the old CoC maxim of "don't use guns"... as if that ever worked?

I really enjoyed "Plunder". Rick, you should start a page where people can donate ideas for new Gloranthan magic items a la Plunder with the possibility of getting them published.

So what exactly is a high llama? Is it actually a camel? Apparently not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aepycamelus

I could easily imagine the Vadeli creating the Cult of Ompalam... who is another candidate for an Evil Emperor...

One would suppose that Lhankor Mhy lawspeakers would be pretty good at memorizing or recording clan genealogies to prevent accidental incest. Incest after all leads to kinstrife and ogres and broos (oh my!). I suspect that such things would be immensely important to the Earth religions too, as you might not be sure who the father is, but of the mother we can generally be pretty certain.

Hi Yelm's Light. I seriously think almost the entire Lunar Secret Service are illuminates, and if they aren't, they should learn. Point taken, in fact I think you can see strong evidence of the Lunars being really good at infiltrating Earth cults e.g. Hon Eel, Jar Eel, Hwarin Dalthippa etc. Think about what I wrote in these terms. You are playing Argrath for a moment. You gave recently conquered Tarsh, Holay, Ithmer, and Saird. Like it or not, you are now in much the same position as the Lunars were in when they conquered Sartar. You have a largely hostile population, and you can't extract much wealth from corpses, so you need to keep them alive to tax them. On the up-side, due to your propaganda efforts, some of them would be quite prepared to come over to your side if it weren't for the fact that you trashed the Temple of the Reaching Moon and now their magic is sort of weak... until they get back inside the Glow Line. Solution? Rebuild the Temple of the Reaching Moon, and "tweak" it for your own use. Thus is born the Reaching Storm.

The notion of witches are well incorporated into the fabric of Glorantha already. Jakaleel is a witch because she dabbles in nasty magic that other people are afraid of, and the same notion goes for Cragspider the Firewitch. Much like a sorcerer, a witch is a socially transgressive magic user, outside the normative social order and morality. Witches and sorcerers don't derive their power from sources that their respective societies feel comfortable with or understand. Typically "sorcerors" in anthropology are people who are born with powers and wind up using them badly i.e. super villains, as opposed to your more typical heroes. You might think of them a bit like X men mutants perhaps? Probably a poor analogy. I would have said that your classic Mallia (note double L spelling) Shaman would be your more classic Gloranthan witch. Also, the notion that the witches described in the article would be subject to a lot of bigotry anywhere but Malkioni lands seems a little unlikely. Orlanthi are prejudiced against sorcery, but that is probably because of the Jrusteli and Vadeli, and while shamans are odd, they are sort of understood and accepted, mainly they would hate "witches" because they were feuding with their clan. The Lunar Empire is inclusivist, and they currently dominate the Solar pantheon (who are great bigots, but sort of have to pull their heads in a bit within the Lunar Way.). I imagine the Kralori would simply sigh at yet another load of peasant superstition, and merely exile them to the Kingdom of Ignorance if they became a nuisance. That basically leaves the Malkioni to be all "burn the heretic!". ANIMAL FRIENDSHIP - Hsunchen. HURL FIRE - Lots of places. Casting firearrow on a rock for example. CURSE OF BRITTLE BONES - Mallia. UNRAVELING - Form/Set "Stuff". BEAST SHAPE - Hsunchen. What is written here http://d-infinity.net/game-content/runequest-thursday-103-witchcraft seems like an odd hodge podge of shamanism and sorcery, all half understood, forming something like a pseudo-tradition. The sort of thing that would happen when a natural shaman stumbled into a sorcerous realm and bound sorcerous spell spirits. For that reason I like it. It isn't overpowered, and being an individualistic tradition non-reliant on a broader cult is interesting. It could be fun to develop a campaign around these ideas. I would probably set it in 3rd Age Ralios.

So the question is this... what is the difference between Draconic illumination and Nysalori Illumination ? Clearly the Dragonewts were present at the Broken Council and were cursed by Nysalor just like the trolls (though a true dragon rose and devoured the curse). It is also true that Nysalor was birthed from a "cosmic egg" or "Omphalos" just like a dragon deity. It is also pretty clear that in Kralorela, the two paths seem to merge apparently pretty seamlessly. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that they are NOT the same. Clearly Nysalor didn't teach his followers how to transform into wyrms (that was a second age fad) or sprout claws and scales, in fact he was probably more tentacle oriented because: "It matters nothing that we fight here today on the side of order, and that Ralzakark and his hordes fight for chaos, for if we all willed it in reverse, so then we would fight in each others' place." - Krishna. Bhagavad Gita. We can also see that in the destruction of the Red Moon by the True Dragons that this is a Draconic HeroQuest of transformation via a playing out of the Sacred Utuma Ritual. Such a thing would not be necessary if the Red Goddess' illumination were perfect. So should we see Nysalor as being essentially a false illumination? Is that why Arkat, the shadow of Nysalor, came to pull down the Bright Empire. Is that why Argrath, the shadow of Rufelza, comes to pull down the Moon? It is quite possible to see in Arkat the perfect counter argument to Nysalor's philosophy and it's moral and cultural relativism. So too one can see in Argrathsaga, that Argrath is the same philosophical counter argument to the Lunar way. "Fight not against monsters lest ye become a monster, and know when you stare into the abyss that the abyss stares also into you." - Eliot Ness. The Untouchables. The path of the True Dragon is not to surrender to Orxili (chaos?) but to defeat, reform, educate, and reconcile Orxili back into the cosmic unity (I assume). And yet Orxili never seems to be destroyed any more than the True Dragon is destroyed? In fact, Crested Dragonewts are called Orxili. Is the entire process some sort of elaborate draconic mating ritual conducted every 600 years to replenish the eggs? There is no evidence to support it, but perhaps the ritual is not complete and the new eggs are going to be laid soon? "Every six hundred years you have come..." - Michel de Nostradame. The Quatrains. Now throw into the mix the various forms of mysticism and renunciate paths in Glorantha, and even the Orange Schools of the Vadeli and we have some very blurred lines. It seems that the Dragonewt path is one of mystical renunciation, and that is why they go backwards when they prematurely manifest their draconic powers. This is why the path of Immanent Mastery is a heresy; if your aim is to become a true dragon illuminate, then Immanent Mastery is the exact and deliberate opposite of that. Effectively the transformations are not building draconic power but dissipating it frivolously. Is the renunciate path of the Invisible God the same path? Is this what the monomyth is pointing towards? White chocolate is neither white not chocolate. Discuss.

So the question is this... what is the difference between Draconic illumination and Nysalori Illumination ? Clearly the Dragonewts were present at the Broken Council and were cursed by Nysalor just like the trolls (though a true dragon rose and devoured the curse). It is also true that Nysalor was birthed from a "cosmic egg" or "Omphalos" just like a dragon deity. It is also pretty clear that in Kralorela, the two paths seem to merge apparently pretty seamlessly. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that they are NOT the same. Clearly Nysalor didn't teach his followers how to transform into wyrms (that was a second age fad) or sprout claws and scales, in fact he was probably more tentacle oriented because: "It matters nothing that we fight here today on the side of order, and that Ralzakark and his hordes fight for chaos, for if we all willed it in reverse, so then we would fight in each others' place." - Krishna. Bhagavad Gita. We can also see that in the destruction of the Red Moon by the True Dragons that this is a Draconic HeroQuest of transformation via a playing out of the Sacred Utuma Ritual. Such a thing would not be necessary if the Red Goddess' illumination were perfect. So should we see Nysalor as being essentially a false illumination? Is that why Arkat, the shadow of Nysalor, came to pull down the Bright Empire. Is that why Argrath, the shadow of Rufelza, comes to pull down the Moon? It is quite possible to see in Arkat the perfect counter argument to Nysalor's philosophy and it's moral and cultural relativism. So too one can see in Argrathsaga, that Argrath is the same philosophical counter argument to the Lunar way. "Fight not against monsters lest ye become a monster, and know when you stare into the abyss that the abyss stares also into you." - Eliot Ness. The Untouchables. The path of the True Dragon is not to surrender to Orxili (chaos?) but to defeat, reform, educate, and reconcile Orxili back into the cosmic unity (I assume). And yet Orxili never seems to be destroyed any more than the True Dragon is destroyed? In fact, Crested Dragonewts are called Orxili. Is the entire process some sort of elaborate draconic mating ritual conducted every 600 years to replenish the eggs? There is no evidence to support it, but perhaps the ritual is not complete and the new eggs are going to be laid soon? "Every six hundred years you have come..." - Michel de Nostradame. The Quatrains. Now throw into the mix the various forms of mysticism and renunciate paths in Glorantha, and even the Orange Schools of the Vadeli and we have some very blurred lines. It seems that the Dragonewt path is one of mystical renunciation, and that is why they go backwards when they prematurely manifest their draconic powers. This is why the path of Immanent Mastery is a heresy; if your aim is to become a true dragon illuminate, then Immanent Mastery is the exact and deliberate opposite of that. Effectively the transformations are not building draconic power but dissipating it frivolously. Is the renunciate path of the Invisible God the same path? Is this what the monomyth is pointing towards? White chocolate is neither white not chocolate. Discuss.

I take everyone's point about Sartar cavalry, it has been a long time since I found my copy. The Sartar cavalry aren't nearly as good as I remember them. My opinion is no doubt misinformed by the fact that I used them to break the back of the Lunars and harrowed Tarsh with them so often, back in the day. In the game King of Dragon Pass, you cannot have more weaponthanes than you have horses. I think a horse represents the difference between the carls and the tribe's dedicated warriors, as much as proper armor and weapons. Clearly being mounted is something the Sartarites understand and value, even if their hill fort culture can't produce cavalry of the quality of the Grazers or even the best of the Lunars. I would expect that Sartarites on the Eastern border with Prax would be better riders than the western side of the kingdom, with the exception of those Bush Rangers (they seem to get in everywhere). Next up, there are in fact a few Orlanthi tribal rider subcults of Orlanth, he is, after all, a mobility rune deity such as Finovan the Raider, Ulanin the Rider, and Beran the Rider, quite apart from Elmal. Yes, it is likely that many Orlanthi weapon thanes are poor riders and so operate more like hobilars, riding to battle, then dismounting to fight. On the other hand, many Sartarite ex-pats, outlaws and refugees served as mercenaries, and many of them would have been caravan guards and therefore would have been mounted. I am not suggesting that they would be a majority of Sartarite forces, perish the thought, that would be silly, but there would be enough. Now perhaps Mastakos is a god of Chariots, but he also likes riders, and there is an age of Hero Quests coming. Now Argrath is quite a cosmopolitain ruler, being one of the few people who has traveled across Glorantha and hero quested pretty much everywhere he went. If anything Argrath represents something pretty terrifying, in that he is perhaps the first person who will reconcile the magic, tactics and philosophy of the EWF and the God Learners since Delecti. Is there any doubt that he saw the cataphract tactics of the West, the Praxian riders the Lunars, and who knows what else? Now Argrath is NOT a conservative, and he has a war to win. Why would he rehash old tactics that are proven failures when he could hybridize a new and better answer? And if not him then why not Kallyr? To turn the Sartarite rebels into an effective force will mean an abandonment of prior military doctrines in favor of new tricks that the Lunars aren't ready for, even if those new tricks have their origins in old tricks. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the results to differ is a form of madness, so stop cuddling the lunes. I also don't buy the idea that Sartar cavalry uses recycled Lunar equipment and methods. Perhaps that is true in 1624, but why would it be the case even 5 years later after ongoing Sartarite military success and all that plunder? It might be handy to be able to dress as Lunars to mount surprise attacks, but you would want to have a clearly identifiable look so you didn't get shot down by your own side.

Page 157 of King of Sartar features mention of the "Temple of the Reaching Storm" built by Argrath to stem nomad invasions from the North and East into Saird (Pentans? Hungry Plateau Sables?) between the years of 1629 and 1635. I remember reading this and cocking a skeptical eyebrow at this aberrant development, and then I had an idea which I think bears repeating. What happens when you become apostate from the Seven Mothers or other Lunar cults? Well, some might send spirits of reprisal, but lets face facts, that won't discipline an illuminate, and the Lunars are all about illuminates. Instead what happens is that you remain tied to the Lunar cycle. But hang on now... If you are tied to the Lunar cycle and you are within the Glow Line, you still get all the magical advantages of the Lunar Cycle at it's ongoing Full Moon peak of power. Now consider, if you were at war with the Lunar Empire what an advantage that would be? If you had ex-Lunar apostates as recruits who now worship Orlanth, who were effectively turning the power of the moon against itself. You might even consider joining the Seven Mothers yourself, just to quit and be tied to the Lunar cycle so all your spells now have twice the juice and twice the freshness. Say, that whole thing about the White Moon... you don't suppose that is what happens when the Orlanthi suck all the magic out of it? Remember that Argrath is an ex-Wolf Pirate and therefore one of the most cosmopolitan people in Glorantha, and he has even been to Jrustela, the home of the God Learner philosophy and now a Vadeli/Mostali hangout. This seems like a very small concession to God Learnerism when you think about it. Thoughts? Criticisms?

Personally I have always loved the RQ system, so much so that I used to award XP points in Ars Magica in specific skills that characters performed and succeeded at regularly and cut down the overall scenario XP reward points a bit. Of course if you want players to be able to develop their character in BRP then offer them a 1d6 increase in 1 skill of their choice if they fail but survive a scenario, 1d8 if they manage to scrape a reasonable outcome, and 1d10 if they demonstrate brilliance. This is on top of the skill checks they have received. Personally I think a good Keeper or GM should gear scenarios somewhat towards giving characters situations that somewhat play to their strengths and encourage them to make plenty of ups in the areas they use most often.

If you want a bit of a laugh, imagine being a Real Estate Agent in Witch Haunted Arkham. Property for Sale. 3 Story Gothic Revival. 6 Bedrooms, Electricity, Gas and Water. 3 previous owners (all missing presumed dead). Any reasonable offer.

Shamans in RQ have historically been a bit like playing a Netrunner in Cyberpunk, i.e. they are generally stuck playing a mini-game outside the main action. I actually quite liked the RQ3 variant of Shamans, as with the power of a spirit cult behind them, plus a fetch, and a coterie of other spirits the shaman brought a lot to the table. It was notable that a Shaman in the right spirit cult could have an allied spirit AND a fetch. I had fun GMing a trickster shaman whose fetch and allied spirit didn't get along and used to prank him for taking sides, as well as the rest of the party if they got involved. Having a Shaman in the party can be a lot of work for the GM, as every new spirit in the mix is another personality to keep track of. It is potentially rewarding however. I used to simulate the spirits by passing notes from the spirits that a shaman needs to respond to with their voice. These odd outbursts can be quite interesting. I totally agree with davecake that anything that can be used to make spirit travel more interesting (and more structured) would be good. I tried to do this by suggesting that certain spirits were more common in some areas than others. In retrospect it did become a bit like playing a lethal game of (dare I say it) pokemon go. One thing that annoyed me however was the somewhat arbitrary Dex limits on skills. Yeah, I know it existed to stop powerful magical characters also becoming combat wombats, but it is hard enough for characters to get decent skills regardless. If you think about it, that arbitrary Dex rule should apply to many more characters than just Shamans and Priests, for example, all knowledge deity initiates, healers, alchemists, slaves, bureaucrats, etc. I found RQ3 style shamans to be really quite powerful, often being more versatile and dangerous than even sorcerers. IMO shamans either die stupidly or wind up as tin pot demigods. As Runeblogger says, much depends on your POW up, but if you have an allied spirit AND a fetch, that is 3 bites of that cherry. Shamans generally wound up trading spell spirits to people and getting pretty rich to boot, even after looking after their tribe and cult.

The chupacabra is just the interbreeding of a Cat and a Bat because they have the same number of chromosomes. It was an early genetic black project in Puerto Rico due to less stringent laws in the protectorate. The Owlman is actually also the Mothman, and is a time displacing ghost. The Sasquatch are Hyperborean voormis. The Men in Black are either the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign fresh outa Kn'yan or Opus Dei feeling threatened by flying saucers. The Loveland frog is a Deep One.

As a side note, not specifically on the issue of Glorantha, but pertinent to this double raising of merkins, people don't seem to be aware of quite how unsavoury merkins actually were. People hear "pubic wig" and giggle, but in fact merkins were pretty evil things. You see they were used to hide the visible signs of syphilis so that the merkin wearer could get service in brothels and therefore infect the prostitutes, and of course then the prostitutes would infect the rest of the clients who would probably go on to infect their spouses. My understanding is that merkins were pioneered by the Hungarian nobility under another name, but I don't know what it is because I am not fluent in Hungarian.

I remember reading somewhere that the Blind King's Palace in the Big Rubble was so-named because the king who ruled there had owned Tada's Wig, which was essentially a huge toupee that rendered the wearer very powerful with lost fertility magic from the Green Age but basically unable to see out from under it. Is anyone able to shed more light on this weird rumour?

Bison: Flower Bison Clan (from Cults of Prax...Birurian Varosh, narl flowers, Aldryami etc.), Upriver Clan (Orlanthi ties), Dark Rock Clan (Zorak Zoran ties) Sables: Twin Star Clan (Early Lunar Converts with Hungry Plateau links), White Bull (From Prince of Startar, anti-Lunar Stormbull Sables from the Wastes), Grass High Clan (Own a piece of Tada's loincloth), Impala: Spring High Clan (Jump and dodge), Arrow Fury Clan (Storm Bulls with Arrow Trance rather than Berserk), Flashflank Clan (High speed and dodge/manoeuver), Dawn Riser Clan (Wastelanders with water secrets) Bolo Lizard: Three Stones Clan, Wyrm Talker Clan (Dragonewt Friends), Five Brides Clan (Eiritha Secrets), Clam Hunter Clan (Sea Ties), Knee Striker Clan (Wastelanders) Ostrich: Yellow Clan (Sun Ties), Ripclaw Clan (Close Quarters), Dazzle Clan (Use sun magic and shimmer to aid their dodge). Unicorn: Hidden Oasis Clan (Special Eiritha gift of an oasis no other tribe can detect in the Paps), Never Drew Clan (Unicorns born sentient) Rhino: Avalanche Clan (they frequent the Valley of Avalanches), Agimori: Spear and a Half Clan (Use sarissas), Long March Clan (High stamina), Sacred Ash Clan (Strong Ancestor Cult), Finds the Mark Clan (Thrown Rock Specialists), Great Mask Clan (Own a sacred Genert Cult mask, gifted to Pamalt) High Llama: Face Spitter Clan (Guess), Giant Kick Clan (Close Quarters clan), Too Fast Clan (super fast, terrifying charge), High Glider Clan (fast riders and great jumpers), Stoops Low Clan ( Extra size beasts) Pol Joni: Derik's Clan (The Founder's Clan), Wolf Hunter Clan (Telmori Haters), Dark Wind Clan (Troll Friend Stormbull/Zorak Zorani), Jaldonfriend Clan (They made peace with Jaldon Toothmaker and raid into Dragon Pass with him, despite being "horse bastards"), Serpent Clan (Waha Enemies, use serpent river magic) Zebra: Mule Clan (Strong Issaries Clan, trade into Sartar, Heortland, even across the Wastes rarely), Wall Rider Clan (Pavis Clan), River Stripe Clan (Trade along the Zola Fel). Morokanth: Flat Tooth Clan (Breed More Herd Men), Hooknet Clan (Capture specialists, slavers), Thumb Clan (More Morokanth Thumbs), Maneater Clan (Eat humans as readily as Herd men).

Regarding the "Saw Tooth" formation, you are right about it not increasing the frontage, but I have read in a number of places that introducing a wave in his line is what gave Hannibal his edge at Cannae and broke the Romans. I could see how such a tactic might be adapted to phalanxes, but I don't know how well it would work. By Roman tactics, I assume you are referring to the way the Romans defeated the phalanxes at Cynoscephalae ? By using pilae with their flexible soft iron upper shafts to pierce the shields and render them unbalanced, followed by pelting with the heavy fighting spears, while the vanguard slipped under the sarissas with gladii? I am interested to hear what you consider Argarath/Kallyr's innovations to have been? Obviously the Sartarite Magical Unions, which no doubt incorporated different cults and styles of magic into advantageous "buffing" positions. From memory the Sartarite cavalry is quite good. This has always seemed odd to me, given that there is no specific Rider god of particular note in the Orlanth pantheon. I thought that perhaps this was achieved by combining Praxian tactics with those of the Western knights of the Heortlands?

Cults of Terror notwithstanding, I have generally seen Illumination as an ascetic tradition which is immanent not transcendent. Obviously it once had a divine component, but that is gone now since Nysalor's death. In essence, the whole thing is an exercise in chaotic moral relativism, and a trap you don't want to fall into unless you like having sex with ogres and broos. What would Conan do? Fail at even getting 1% when Thulsa Doom has to explain the riddle of steel to him.

This is great stuff. I could also see a lot of merit in an Earth Rune formation that protected archers within, and a Sea Rune formation that increases frontage by forming a zig-zag. The main weakness of a phalanx being its flanks, a square formation somewhat solves the problem. The concept of frontage is all-important to making a phalanx work. Depending on the length of the pikes/sarissas/spears, a single infantryman facing a file of phalangites might face as many as 5 spears attacking him. In RQ terms this is not fun, and even Rune Lords have a hard time dealing with that much punishment. ] This is merely added in case someone didn't already know. I think I can safely assume M Heldson is an expert and pretty much everyone replying to the thread is an expert.

You probably want different tables for different terrain settings. Such as Urban, Small City, Town, Rural, Forest, Desert/Prairie, Mountain, etc. Possibly also Air travel hazards and sea/lake/river hazards for water travel. In the 1920s horseshoe nails would be a big puncture hazard on most roads, as was mud. Covered freeways were far from widespread.

I also felt that I was being railroaded by the plot of Horror on the Orient Express. I couldn't quite put my finger on why though...

I thought the creature was a bit like a gug. But just around the head,