Darius West

I look forwards to having a look at this. 🙂

Good point, I had not read the Second Sight description closely enough or recently enough to remember that. On the other hand, harkening back to my original point, it does reinforce the lack of availability of means for ordinary Gloranthans to interact with spirits even more. Now they are limited to Visibility spells and perhaps Detect Spirit (barely, but as a cheap option of "where spirits are" as opposed to actually seeing them), and Pierce Veil if they are using sorcery. As to your apotheosis point, I agree. I am sure that apotheosis does nothing to lessen anyone's atheism, it just becomes the next rung over herodom. You'd be like "oh, now I can grant a specific Rune Spell to deluded sycophants who hero worship me; hilarious!"

I must disagree. Not everyone in an Orlanthi setting worships Daka Fal or Grandfather mortal. Not everyone is a shaman. Your average Orlanthi farmer worships Orlanth or Barntar and cannot do as you suggest. Few if any Gloranthans hero quest, save perhaps the comparatively minor quest of their initiation into adulthood. When it comes to the afterlife, they cannot do as you suggest, and they must take the words of their priest or shaman as to the veracity of such things. Few if any people are rich enough to pay for a ritual that would allow them such a journey, and it would likely take a good portion of the tribe's resources to allow such activities so it would require some sort of official permission from the clan ring. Yes, there are cult spirits, but the number of people with access to Second Sight is quite low, as it is not a common cult magic at all within the Lightbringer Pantheon. Unfortunately I think your perspective might be biased to a HQ perspective of how Orlanthi society operates, and that is fine and good for heroic individuals, but your rank and file Orlanthi are not anywhere near that level of ability until perhaps halfway through Argrath's reign, when even teenagers from Sartar are hardened warriors due to the constant pressures of the Hero Wars to find warm bodies to plough into the next round of battles.

Gloranthan atheists will gravitate towards sorcery, I'm sure, and that has ever been an academic pursuit.

Without question that was like a HeroQuest. But we cannot generalize that everyone who consented to being a human sacrifice in Norse society had the same motives. Suicidal depression, for example, may have been a factor in the choice for some. Consider that most of them would simply have their throats cut on a stone altar, or were cast into wells or bogs, and were not hanged like Odin. Thralls were the ones hanged for Odin, not Jarls as far as I am aware in the literature. This is odd however as Thralls belong to Thor, not Odin, but then, worshippers of Odin, as jarls, were owners of thralls.

As you have suggested, the best match for a Praxian rhino is likely the white rhino which is an obligate grazer that favors short grasses. While they prefer short grasses, and fresh growth, they can likely get the calories they need from dry grasses by eating more of them, they just don't seem to favor it as much, is the inference. I would expect that starting grass fires is a pretty standard raiding practice in Prax, as a grass fire bearing down on an oasis with a prevailing wind can serve as well as a mounted charge for breaking an enemy. As to deliberate use of fire to stimulate grass regrowth in Prax, you'd think that Oakfed or Mahome would mention it, but they don't. Perhaps suggest a new Prax-specific spell to MOB for inclusion in RQ: Gods of Glorantha to add to the Lowfires (p204-207)?

Here is some rhino porn so you can answer that question for yourself. 😉

There are real world examples of people being blown off mountains and then blown back onto them by strong winds. Something similar even happened in my family history.

I think thralls are a bit more cynical about their masters' motives than you portray them then. For example, customarily in Germanic culture the idea of "assent to sacrifice" was typically a rope around the head and neck that was tugged down to produce a nod that was then taken as agreement. Does that sound like actual consent? On rare occasions people volunteered to be sacrificed in Norse society according to records. We dare not hazard to guess what their true motives were however. For the people less religiously inclined, no doubt the whole thing looked utterly horrifying, and merely an expression of the repressive power of the religious institutions, and if you think there were no atheists in pantheist communities, think again. To the less religious, the whole business looked utterly insane, and any halfway rational person could see the waste of precious resources in such acts, spent for dubious if any gains. I write this with my tongue firmly in my cheek however, as human sacrifice and its ridiculous apologetics and justifications definitely have a necessary place in RQ.

Definitely correct. Also Heler has often written up as being popular with shepherds.

No. It isn't. Having read it, I think it's a good post. In my game, the way you harness a rhino is to attach blunt light hooks in its ears and nose. Nothing that could draw blood, but something you can tug on and elicit a response. These areas are more tender than other parts. In my game, there is a somewhat common plant called Bumpstalk, that is the rhino equivalent of catnip (or heroin), that you can feed to them along with certain cactuses whose peeled flesh they especially enjoy eating. Bumpstalk actually propagates in symbiosis with Rhinos. That renders them very fond of humans, if a bit pushy. The rhino riders help this by scratching them with rakes, which they love, and grooming them for parasites, which they would otherwise rely on birds for. In this way, the rhino begins to see humans in the most positive light, and becomes dependent on them. These are special Rhino-Waha and Rhino-Eiritha secrets.

I am glad you like them. I had actually forgotten I had posted this, it was 5 years ago now. Frankly I am just glad that the links have remained intact.

🙂 Tell that to the thrall. Feed them the line about Ana Gor and a better afterlife. They might be gullible enough to believe you. There is every likelihood that the earthquake will subside on its own, but the priests will use a ritual murder to take the credit for stopping it. A very important ritual indeed, as it maintains the illusion of control by the priest class. This isn't so much about our attitudes as it is about the fact that the Orlanthi culture pretty much did away with the practice because they decided human sacrifice is morally wrong or unnecessary in the worship of their gods. As a GM who routinely takes the roles of horrible monsters I don't "have a dog in this fight", but please don't assume that our repugnance for human sacrifice IRL is entirely transferred into our gaming. Without fearsome enemies, where is the story after all? I bet Hon-Eel's ritual doesn't even invoke Ana Gor, given that she is part of a Chaos Pantheon. 😛

While there is undoubtedly an unfortunate amount of truth in what you are suggesting, the fact is that there have been a large number of nuclear energy patents that have been adopted well after the building of Tepco's plants in the 1960s, and with other plants around the world. The industry has not been entirely sitting on its hands entirely, and has definitely been innovating in other parts of the world. There is a contrary force that suggests that technical improvement will produce better and safer plants, than the older designs that have had their weaknesses revealed, and the fact is that more modern plants are far safer than the older ones.

As a fellow GM I commiserate, and here are some suggestions. To say that Dragonewts make no sense is merely down to human ignorance. (1) The Draconic Path is pretty alien to every form of human worship, but that is because it is mysticism, and that mysticism is central to everything Dragonewts do, and informs their lives. Dragonewts are essentially the hot-house flowers of mysticism. They have been set on a path of near instant reincarnation, where other souls would have to wander into the underworld (with or without a psychopomp), then be judged, then live in their allotted afterlife, then be reborn into the world. This means that Dragonewts somewhat behave like humans in an MMORPG. They die and respawn (but did they learn anything). They also hate being "corpse camped", and will call on their "guild" for help if that happens, and they are OP. (2) All Dragonewts are failures and fuck-ups. Permanent noobs. They have been following the Dragon Path for centuries, and the best among them have become dragons already, long ago. Those who remain are the remedial class. How do we know this (apart from basic logic?)? Well, when the EWF came along, plenty of humans were able to make rapid progress on the Dragon path, far in excess of what the dragonewts were able to achieve in the whole of the God's Age and the centuries after. Some dragonewts are so stupid that they haven't even figured out what eating is, and literally die of starvation every few weeks or so, and are so dumb that they assume this is a normal state of affairs, because they have never thought to question why they feel an incapacitating pain in their bellies, then gradually begin to weaken, and eventually die and reincarnate. Their whole society is a mess as a result, and something of an exercise in cat herding, as any society of mystics not based on monastic discipline would be. Crested dragonewts sent on hunting, scouting expeditions frequently run away, and those set to farming frequently get bored and wander off, and have to be tortured to get them to work, as if you kill them they don't feel enough pain to learn the lesson. (3) Dragonewt Castes are very important as an indicator of competence and progress on the Dragon path. This is however individual competence. Dragonewts are not a collective society, but individualists. Individual dragonewts can actually forget their skills and regress on their path, especially if they use dragon magic. It is also worth pointing out that apart from prime nests such as the Dragon's Eye, minor dragonewt cities represent heretical diversions from the main path. If these diversions become too pronounced, the dragonewts fall from the path to become dinosaurs. Does this involve having sex with Maran Gor? Who knows? Probably not, but it's worth a thought considering that she is the Goddess of Dinosaurs. Is it possible that there are a group of particularly bad crested dragonewts who get sent to Maran Gor for sacrifice to be expelled from the dragon path and become dinosaurs? We just don't know. (4) A goodly portion of the weird behavior of dragonewts is down to their odd rituals. This includes such things as performing a graceful eliding dance while wearing a wasp nest on their heads, or failing and being stung to death, thus ruining the ritual. Obvious things will seem bewilderingly odd to dragonewts, and they will hiss and flare their frills at you. This is because dragonewts are mystics, and not overly earthly creatures. When an Orlanthi comes inside and removes his cloak, a crested dragonewt will freak out because the orlanthi has "removed his frill WTF!". Dragonewts don't do clothes, or sexual reproduction. Many, if not most human technologies are completely superfluous to them, and thus alien. The point being, human life and cultures are weird to dragonewts too. (5) Have fun. Dragonewts are "the other". They are supposed to be weird. Their attitudes are bizarre. Their minds seem to be trapped in a waking dream state akin to madness. They will speak human languages badly, and allude to concepts that humans don't understand. How much of their incoherence is due to poor language skills? How much to their unusual spiritual beliefs? How much to their alien physiology? Some things remain constant. Crested dragonewts are cowardly and stealthy. Beaked dragonewts are warlike. Priests are solemn, ritualistic, and commanding. If a dragonewt starts using magic, they are up to something very important to dragonewts, as normally they'd usually prefer to die than use their magic.

Within the RQG rules on p316 there are rules covering bonuses to one's Worship skill. As an act of pure Godlearnerism, if it is a buff discussed in the rules, that is enough reason to use it 🙂. IRL there are a few different reasons why human sacrifice was carried out. One was to provide a deity with a servant, optionally a meal if they were man-eaters. Some deities notionally need to be placated, and will forestall their violence in return for a regular tax in human life. Remember that in Orlanthi culture, every year there are large sacrifices in cattle and sheep to all deities at Sacred Time. It is also worth underlining the importance of Ana Gor and the fact that the person sacrificed is not spiritually destroyed again. Given that this needs having attention drawn to it, perhaps it was not always the case, and this is part of how chaos slipped into the world, despite the protestations of the priests to the contrary? If you have to say "we have a special goddess who makes this bad thing we do not chaotic", everybody knows the act is morally suspect, and is just making excuses imo. The notion of humans forgoing the earthly advantage of the things sacrificed to honor the gods is supposed to move the gods to intervene on behalf of the worshippers, partly because gods like presents (even if they probably don't need them), and because gods are moral exemplars who feel compelled to act by witnessing worthy deeds conducted in their names. We must assume that Gloranthan gods don't feed on the souls of the creatures, as Ana Gor allegedly makes that unnecessary. Some people have hypothesized that the death acts as a spiritual catalyst, and the sacrifice becomes a channel for divine favor. According to the Mesopotamians, gods (the igigi) crave burning flesh, and are attracted by the smell of cooking. Old Germanic tribes conducted human sacrifices and made deities of those they sacrificed, carrying them into battle and venerating them until they began to suffer setbacks. Among the Norse, one would hang a thrall on Odin's tree, much as Odin himself had hung on Yggdrasil to receive the runes. It is also worth noting that human sacrifice is mainly chthonic in Glorantha, as in our world in ancient times, save that Glorantha is far more restrained than we Earthlings ever were. The sky and air gods don't perform human sacrifice, only those of Earth, Water and Darkness do.

Sorry to split hairs, but the jury is still out on whether sticks came before rocks, especially as chimps are seen to use both sticks for melee and rocks as projectiles. One can argue that the idea of a projectile is more complex than a club, but monkeys (further down the intelligence tree) fling poo, but don't use sticks as clubs. Correct me if I am wrong, but in anime it seems that weapons in general have a very hard time killing anyone with an actual name. How many AP do you think a name is worth in RQ? I'd say at least 6. "Sticks and stones can't break my bones if names are 6AP." And to think Bronies started innocently as some guy teaching his little sister that there is no such thing as a boy's program or a girl's program (something that anime doesn't entirely acknowledge), but then Rule 34 would have its way.

All I would add is that prices have definitely dipped in RQG. Back in RQ2, a "battle magic" (read "spirit magic") matrix, cost 1000L per point of POW that went into its creation. These days, as a rule of thumb, you seem to divide that by 10 for most items. Transactions involving magic items are generally handled by temples who will cut your tithe right out of the money you would earn. As matrices are expensive, there is plenty of room for shenanigans if temples are not involved.

The use of "reaching" in "Reaching Moon" and "Reaching Storm" is part of English idiom. Within English idiom we refer to situations where a criminal is "beyond the reach of the law", or explorers are "outside the reach of civilized comforts". So too you might refer to the "reach of Empire", i.e. what is within an Empire's reach, or beyond it. In this sense it is all about "grasp" as in the definition above, but there is a subtext of an "area of effect" involved too. Speaking about reach actually anthropomorphizes the empire, as humans have "reach" (and spears extend that reach, for example), but Empires either have as many pairs of arms as they have citizens, or none at all, as an Empire is an abstract concept. "Reach" as a word has its origin in Germanic languages, specifically West Germanic. When the Lunars build a Temple of the Reaching Moon, they extend the glow-line and thus consolidate the power of the Red Moon in a region, thus the Lunar Empire reaches out and seizes new land with these temples, bringing them under their political control beyond what would be possible in a mere occupied territory.

Orichalcum link Phosphor Bronze I have learned a little about metallurgy as a result of RPG research, it sounds like what you want for your bronze is actually Phosphor Bronze, which fits pretty much exactly what you are describing in terms of being as strong as a middle range steel. It was made by quenching in urine or blood to provide the phosphorus, and I believe it has been discovered in the bronze age ruins of Crete. Orichalcum is an interesting alloy, but not nearly as tough as phosphor bronze. I enjoyed the "see also" section of the wikipedia orichalcum write-up. All too often fantasy games falls into the mithril/adamantium paradigm, but you never hear of arcane alloys, if you know what I mean.

Idk how technically advanced you want to make the Atalans compared to other people, but you could consider having a basic skill in Read/Write Atalan for them to reflect a growing intellectual class, and perhaps some bonus to Devise to reflect an Atalan fascination with gizmos that make their lives easier.

Hard Earth was a deity who fought the demon known as Korang the Slayer and was killed by him, but destroyed Korang's poison spear, which is now the artifact that the Tovtaros clan town of Ironspike is named after. Eventually Engizi the Sky River Titan drowned Korang with his blood, but died in so doing. There is a good chance that Hard Earth was a son of Genert, and quite possibly a god-giant like Genert and Tada, albeit smaller.

Look, agreed, but remember that the 1920s is the age of the pay phone in a way we can barely understand in this age of pocket communications. Ringing the police from a pay-phone would mean contacting the operator who in most cities wouldn't charge you anything for emergency phone-calls as they were a public service. This was possible from corner stores even in poor neighborhoods, and likely the shop proprietor would do it automatically if they heard shooting, unless they had a damn good reason not to, such as being stood-over by the local mobsters. I agree that rural response times would be slower, but not within earshot of a rural town's main street. So the figures I offer are based on the idea of someone getting in their flivver and driving to tell the sheriff, which is unlikely to take more than 3 hrs round trip, and much less the closer to town they start from. Obviously the further away from civilization a character is, the more plausible getting away with gun violence becomes, but then, so do the chances that the people you will shoot at will have the means, motive and opportunity to shoot back. The aim IS to make the response times punitive, so guns become less useful and palatable as an answer to problems. Trading a little realism to end murder-hoboism seems like a reasonable trade-off to me, as seriously, what is less realistic than murder-hoboism? VERY few people irl resort to anything approaching such behavior, and they normally wind up arrested or shot pretty quickly.

There is no getting around the fact that the USA is a gun culture, and the M1911 is a readily available handgun in the 1920s. Gun permits and laws are managed on a state-to-state basis in the USA. The NFA is the only major firearms legislation (passed in 1934) that potentially affects gun ownership in the period. So really, this is actually a discussion about stopping CoC murder hobo-ism. And yes, murder-hoboism is a huge RPG problem that detracts from the whole game, potentially completely ruining campaigns, so how do you stop it happening? Some suggestions: Murder is bad for your mental health. Instantly lose 1d6 SAN for killing human beings with a gun. Even drawing a gun can be cause for a 0/1 SAN loss for all involved. Double the penalties for shooting an innocent party, and double it again for shooting women and children. Introduce sympathetic NPCs who are reliable and helpful to the players. Even make ordinary people in the street "kinda nice and helpful" for the most part. Make the players feel invested in the community at large, as then humanity seems more "worth saving". A lot of the murder-hoboism is created by the failure of GMs to invest the players with the sense that their character is part of a world that is worth saving, and where violence has deeply undesirable consequences. Imagine a CoC environment where the police are gruff but helpful if you go around solving crimes without shooting anyone. Give players dependents and jobs. NPCs who need them, and to whom they have a huge emotional connection. If they plan to get trigger happy, remind the player that if their character shoots someone, that the consequences for their family, their job, and their credit rating will be alarming. Shooting guns at people is a crime, and belonging to an insane cult is not a crime in the USA, in fact freedom of religion is protected under the US constitution. Even if you can prove that the insane cult is involved in multiple homicides, you will still have trouble getting a court not to convict your vigilante actions if you go around shooting people. Criminals use guns to solve problems, not law abiding citizens. Ram that fact home. Send offending characters to jail and even the electric chair. Even ownership of certain handguns can be used as evidence of criminal intent, despite what the laws say. Introduce a 15-30minute (1d4+2x5min) response time for armed police to respond to a phone call by conscientious neighbors about "shots fired" within any urban area. Double the response times for rural areas, and only if there are multiple shots fired. Realistically, rural communities are a lot less worried about gunshots, generally assuming someone is out shooting pests or some-such. Of course don't tell the players anything about these rules. Murder-hobos will become well known to law enforcement, and will engender major law enforcement investigations, and likely result in the players being gunned down by Federal Agents with brownings and thompsons. Live by the gun, die by it. Make guns more trouble than they are worth. De-escalate the use and availability of guns. Have the police confiscate firearms used at crime scenes, and then press charges etc. Remind the players that their characters are civilized people who don't need guns. Restrict professions with firearms skills.

Pretty much all cults have spirits imo. They are the pool from which cults get their allied spirits for Rune level folk. Most, if not all, are the spirits of dead worshippers, who are sworn to service after death in order to earn a better rebirth, or pay off sins, or gain better insight into their god, or because they volunteered, or somesuch. As repair is a favored Issaries spirit magic, it is reasonable that a cult spirit of Issaries would know it. Cult spirits spend their time flitting about their cult's temples, and may well serve as conduits for POW and prayers to be sent to one's deity. For inspiration, take a peek at Peter Greenaway's film "Prospero's Books", where all the naked folk parading across the screen are various types of spirits summoned by Prospero the sorcerer, if you need some sort of visual reference as to what temples look like under Second Sight. I use this as the justification for why Rune Lords get better Divine Intervention chances. Their allied spirits have the best connection to their god. YGMV, of course, and the people of Glorantha who lack access to Second Sight can go their whole lives without seeing any spirit, cult or otherwise.