Darius West

Presently the only criticisim I have of the Rivers of London RPG is that it is clearly built for people starting the hobby, and from reading "between the lines" in the magic system I can tell that it was originally a lot more complex and was toned down and simplified. Some of us like complexity however, and are not new to RPGs, and would love the opportunity to tinker with Newtonian magic using the Rivers of London as a setting. Is this in the offing guv?

1. The fall of Pavis (either for the Pavis survivors or the Praxians under Jaldon, perhaps even for Trolls?) 2. Arkat's Campaign. (Or at least one portion of it, before Arkat jettisons them for a new fighting force) 3. The last years of Tarsh (Can the player characters change history?) 4. Balazar goes into the Elder Wilds. (A Yelmalio campaign) 5. The Rise of Carmania

This is a fair question. Frankly there is this hang over from D&D that Charisma is somehow attractiveness when in fact it is a measure of leadership and strength of personality. This makes charisma sound more like a Willpower stat. RQG Page 52 goes on to say that it should not be mistaken for mere attractiveness. Now, to be fair, perhaps we need to create a derived attractiveness stat? I would suggest that we divide each of CON (healthiness is a fundamental of attractiveness, if you aren't healthy you are not at your best, and wan looking droopy sorts are not in fashion during the Hero Wars), DEX (human beauty standards across all cultures tend to favor the gracile look which is indicated by high dexterity), and finally CHA (personal magnetism matters). Divide each by 3, rounding up each fraction, and add them together, then halve if you aren't human or at least human-like in facial appearance. Arguably there is no reason why a tusk rider or troll might have less leadership and strength of personality than a human. The fact that their charisma is low is purely a result of bad writing imo as it reflects only that they're ugly, which is exactly what the rules say should not be the case for assigning CHA.

This needs to change. 2d4+1 max for ducks

Agreed. It was also Saturnalia, Dong Zhi, Toji, Shab-e Yalda, Yule, etc. The fact is, the Winter Solstice is always going to be celebrated by someone with the nouse to know when it is. Jesus' birthday, if myths are anything to go by falls around Pesach which is March/April. In all likelihood we should be celebrating the birth of Jesus on 1st April, no jokes.

I like this interpretation a lot. The idea that Openhandism effectively predates the present interpretations of the Decamony is novel, and you express it in a way that fits. On the other hand, it does bring into question whether Openhandism is in fact a heresy at all. Perhaps the Decamony are the heretics, given that they have closed themselves off from the world to live in a permanent siege mentality.

The Empire has a vested interest in keeping order in its far provinces. This sounds like it is taking place in Prax. The Empire's grip on Prax is not as strong as they might like, but not inconsiderable all the same. When I GM I play that there are quite a few Lunars who have mustered out relatively early, and many of them hang around in Prax for various reasons. They become swords for hire, or Rubble adventurers, or sign on with the likes of Duke Raus. Many of them will see the opportunity to claim a bounty as an excellent prospect, naively assuming that they are tougher than their adversaries, or relying on the idea that "a mouse may overcome a lion if it strikes from surprise". Essentially waging guerilla warfare on wanted rebels, thinking they are Johnny Rambo or some Lunar equivalent, when they are likely closer to his victims. I also have a number of Sable riders who deal on the same margins as these mustered out Lunars. In particular I make use of a character called Artasta the Manhunter. She is a daughter of Roneer the Hue, a Sable Khan. She foresook the path of Eiritha to adopt the Seven Mothers, but has used her position with the Sables to gather a party of hardy Waha and Seven Mothers braves who specialize in hunting bounties for the Lunar Authorities. To this end, they have adopted non-lethal Praxian weapons like bolas, nets and pole lassos to bring criminals in alive. Artasta has a sick habit of picnicking beneath her captives while they die of crucifixion after their trial. Her father Roneer will later side with the White Bulls, but for now is yet to accept the prophecy and sides with the Lunars. His daughter's fanaticism in the Lunar cause and her eventual fate may play a role in this. Artasta has an uncanny knack for tracking people down, as she can put herself in their position and think the way they think. I call this skill "read fugitive", she has it at 65% and it can be used to put her on the right track. Artasta likes to take her enemies alive, and is fond of using mind blast for this reason. Her picnic ritual seems to increase her Life and Death runes. I also like having morokanths play a role in hunting fugitives. They are skilled man-catchers who favor the dark. They are specialists at catching humans, whether as slaves or escapees, and fugitives from justice are just another opportunity to obtain coin. Human misery is Morokanth profit. The fact is, the Lunars are eager to catch fugitives, but they don't often have the home town advantage they need. The Antelope Lancers are quite good, but without tip-offs they are as likely to wander into an ambush as catch their quarry. There is also an impetus to keep the garrison forces alive, as losing large numbers of troops looks bad on reports, but not reporting losses would be even worse as there would be no reinforcements. Far better to let mercenaries and freelancers solve these problems from the perspective of the Lunar Authorities in Prax. This may be the perspective more of Sor-Eel than Halcyon Var Enkorth however. Sor-Eel didn't take rebellion as a personal affront, while Halcyon thinks everything is about him personally, as he is a malignant narcissist (or at least that's how I play him as a GM). Duke Raus' brief tenure as governor actually saw a drop-off in all manner of crime and rebellion, as he tried to do the right things for the right reasons, and largely achieved this.

In retrospect, we might ask what makes a Mostali orthodox and what makes them heretical? Is it merely a matter of numbers? Can we show that there is a true mostali path? Do Mostali live forever if they keep true to their programming like the Brithini? Does this mean that individualists cannot take part in this blessing? I think not. Isidilian. for example, is a Dwarf hero and he is also unquestionably an Openhandist, and immortal. If there were to be more individualists Octramondists, Openhandists, or even Vegetarianists than the alleged "standard" "non-heretical" dwarves, would the system change? It would be good to clarify the relationship between Isidilian and Flintnail. There is much discussion of the "fall of Greatway" but really Greatway only "fell" to seeing things slightly differently than the Decamony.

I get the feeling that anyone who casually asked Brygga Scissortongue for sexual favors may find themselves verbally emasculated, as an example of what her sword-name means.

A good look you say? Does the tentacle have eyes instead of suckers? It doesn't matter, as chaos says, there's a sucker born every minute.

Chaos ridden slime? How dare you refer to the Lunar Tax Demons in such a denigrating way, you barbarian? Audit time!😈

That implies Issaries and persuasiveness, not vicious criticism that cuts people and arguments to ribbons.

This is just a failure of marketing. It just requires the right salesman with the right pitch to sell the idea to the right person.

Having run out of rocks for a trebuchet, reverse it, put a hook on the end of the launching line, then use it for hooking and launching siege ladders. Clockwork repeating ballistae. Box Kite arrays that drop incendiaries. A clockwork riverboat that simply anchors itself and allows the current to rewind it when going upstream. A clockwork factory that produces textiles by way of humanoid automata that run on tracks and are rewound by a waterwheel or a windmill.

No character has access to that many RP, plus it is subject to the Lunar cycle (RQG p322). The bone I have to pick is that unless the character is illuminated they will detect as chaotic thereafter. That isn't a good look for someone who wants to be an unobtrustive infiltrator.

Hence why she isn't called sharp tongue or spear tongue or chisel tongue.

I didn't know that piece of lore (not thinking much of HQ in general). I don't dislike the idea at all. It's pretty good.

There aren't actually that many elves in the Stinking Forest, because Crabspider's trolls have been using them as a vegie patch for years.

If Chalana Arroys are a major established feature of your settlement or obviously nearby in a temple a day's ride away, you should start the scenario by mentioning that this Season the clan had a major epidemic or battle, and the Chalana Arroys have used all their Rune Power healing people. The next way to handle it is to have time elapse before the body is discovered. You only have 7 days to Ressurrect before the damage to stats is too terrible and the character is dead. The next way is to simply have no characters with resurrect present. Heh, the real problem is why nobody is using Divination... And the answer is that the gods can't see thru a mask any more than characters can.

I think the Scissortongue epithet just means she can cut you to ribbons with her wit and quick retorts.

RQ3 Elder Secrets I think. Still the most complete write-up for Tusk Riders.

This works as a setting in so many ways. The sheer alienness of the Australian wilderness alone works, but when you add a gulag system to provide motivation... So much opportunity for terror. Plus the snakes and spiders are real.

Trolls eat elves. Tusk riders are half trolls. Elves bleed. Why wouldn't Tusk Riders hunt and torture them ? They scream.

Actually that is a very unfair characterization of the Flintnail Dwarves imo. Consider if you will that the whole point of Pavis building a city where he did was to recreate the Green Age, in the hopes of building back some of what was lost when Genert died. Remember that the Green Age was a time of universal peace and cooperation between people, when everyone who had a man rune was equal. As such, it is unequivocal that the Flintnail Dwarves are serving to fix the World Machine, and even better, they are doing so in the manner of past ages, by cooperation with other peoples. Some have even suggested that Flintnail and Isidilian of Dwarf Run are the same person, and this Dwarf Hero merely went home to Dragon Pass when his work was done. It is true that these dwarves are all Individualists, which many dwarves don't like, but are they really apostates from Mostal? No. They are very much an assemblage that is fixing a part of the world. It should also be noted that Flintnail Dwarves are generally not shown as having access to the more extreme technical weapons of the Mostali, likely due to not being part of the warrior caste and not having access.

AFAIK in the First Age, the Aram Ya Udram was an Orlanthi Hero and was on the Unity Council and was around to be present for the forming of the Second Council. His people became the Aramites. Aram Ya Udram is known to have slain Gouger, and also to have captured a darkness demon during the Greater Darkness. From these illustrious origins they subsequently fell, perhaps worshiping the darkness demon Aram captured for short term military advantage in a time of need. We know that the Ivory Plinth, the axis of the riders is formed from the tusks of Gouger. It seems that they joined with the trolls, becoming half-trolls, likely during the Second Age, as Tusk Riders are mentioned fighting against the Machine God's worshippers in the Clanking City. We don't know what precipitated this change, but it allowed them to survive the Dragonkill, as they weren't human. The Tusk Riders live in the Stinking Forest, which is unquestionably Aldryami territory, and we can hardly assume that they would have good relations with the elves. The Stinking forest is not teeming with arable land either. We can assume therefore that the Tusk Riders hunt, but they don't have any hunter deities as hunter deities often teach Peaceful Cut, which is antithetical to the Bloody Cut taught by the Cult of the Bloody Tusk. Likely they ride down and gore or trample or impale their prey, be it sentient or beast. From memory Zorak Zoran has little hate for the Tusk Riders, and it is possible that Argan Argar merchants trade with them. For the most part, however, they appear an unspeakably cruel folk much given to torture (Ikadz?) and utterly disposed to the fanatical worship of a single cult.