Darius West

LOL yep, thanks for the edit.

Yes, -5 on everything applies. They are now grumpy and awkward and everything is going wrong. They cannot harness their emotions to fuel their actions and words, but are over-run by their feelings and become clumsy, inarticulate, and frustrated. Their best option is likely to STFU and let other characters do the work. When the scene is over they will begin to get back their self control.

Okay, the main problem here is that your character is a tiny little fellow. This means he has bad knockback and poor hp. It is perfectly realistic for this poor little titch to keep getting knocked down, and eventually not get up again. Given that he has effectively got 14 points of damage and is facing a weapon that on average does 10-11 damage, the archer rolled very well to damage you as much as he did. I agree with Boamvndvs however that the rate of fire as given, is way too high. A good archer can performed about 1 properly aimed shot per 5 seconds, and a person can run 50 yards in about 15 seconds. It would therefore be more realistic if the archer was able to fire 2 shots before needing to draw their side weapon to receive the closing knight imo. It is worth pointing out that in 800AD, the armored knight was the "king" of the battlefield. Archers were low value levies, and could generally only damage well armored footman enemies relatively infrequently. Archers typically used hunting self-bows in this period in Europe, and their pound pull was not high. People who look at Lars Anderson videos as evidence are ignoring the fact that he took multiple takes for every single stunt he performs btw. Lars has been proven to be a bit of a faker as far as I am aware.

Good system Tizun. I would suggest +0 honor for entering and +10 Honor for winning, with a prize purse of 30 pennies. It is a peasant competition after all.

Agreed. The issue is really why they are as they are, and where they come from. One would assume there are disorder giantesses in the Rockwoods birthing the disorder giants. I wonder what they eat?

Creating tension between players is just fine. Don't sweat it. In fact passing them notes or taking them aside can be useful. I would fully advocate passing them clues not available to other players in note form. C'thulhu is supposed to be about nerve wracking situations. If anyone complains, remind them that this is a horror game, and creating tension and mistrust is all part of the game, and not to blame each other for what happens as they will likely all die horribly or go insane anyhow regardless, and that is sort of the point. I once had a player working as a Mi-Go posing as his character for 6 months before the party eventually figured out what was going on, while his real character had been transferred into the body of a surgically deformed circus geek billed as "The Human Id". The story was involved, epic, disgusting, and an hilarious comedy of errors, that largely slipped past the party because they were (read: "weren't") dealing with their own problems.

Let us not forget the Soviets and their Briefcase Nukes. 250 manufactured, 150 accounted for. Thanks Mother Russia 😞

There are a few different types of giants. Giants with the disorder rune are only one sort, and they tend to be smaller and more active than some of the others. Flipping the matter on its head the way you have done is an interesting approach though Ladygolem. It is quite possible that the disorder giants of today are echoes of the likes of Genert and Tada, who battled Chaos and lost, or have been infected by the trickster's approach to life.

I liked this rule from CoC 7th, and it would add more realism as far as I can see. RQG could also use some pursuit mechanics a la CoC while we're at it.

I agree. Mountains as manifestations of laws is a very interesting idea. The idea certainly raises some interesting and difficult questions about the metaphysics of mountains however. For example, when a mountain is actually a giant, or a dragon. How does one understand that within the mythology? I mean, think about it. A giant man rune sits down and becomes a physical manifestation of law. I mean, I could extrapolate, semi-humorously, that perhaps this is a subjective social law that applies to man-rune communities. Should we then view Dragons posing as mountains as manifesting some form of "mystical" law or principle? As to volcanic eruptions, well, clearly this is a legislative response to reinforce existing laws in times when they are proving inadequate. It is also interesting to consider how the mountains move the political landscape of the societies they affect. Walls of mountains serve as a barrier that is more effective than any line drawn in blood on a map as to define what laws hold in what territory.

Much appreciated Svensson. A very useful article. Thanks for the contribution.

A duck flying on a sylph is not a flying duck. The sylph is flying, not the duck. And ultimately, we must ask ourselves what isn't Yelm offended by (apart from utter conformity to his whim)? Also, I can honestly say that even my Chalana Arroy gangster character never learned Dullblade. It just isn't a versatile spell. Where possible, I would always advocate for Dispel Magic rather than Dullblade, although Dispel Magic is almost never provided as a cult magic as far as I can tell.

We can but try.

Yes, self-castration is the go, a bit like the Cult of Attis in what is now Turkey. For added authenticity, you can even follow the practice whereby the newly created eunuch must throw their "junk" through the doorway of a house, obliging the family within to pay for their care and healing or be cursed by the goddess.

There is only one thing you need to know. Do the Aeolian Cataphracts still ride around with form/set lightning lances? Shock cavalry ftw.

Gravity derives from the Stasis Rune, which may be the first Rune, and the anchor point of all reality.

The Elves of Brithos must be an interesting lot. They would have one of the more bizarre histories of all the elves imo.

Educator or Cosmic Internet Troll?

Herodotus' lies are likely far more interesting than the truth, and for a fantasy RPG that is gold imo.

It was great the way Blackwood makes something as innocuous as a dwarf willow tree become menacing in conjunction with other environmental factors. The way the two friends become increasingly alienated by the bizarre situation is good too. It is definitely a slow burn story, and having both read and listened to it, I would actually recommend listening to it as an audio book story. This is the recording I liked>>> The Willows

As a rule of thumb, if the bad guy has a C'thulhu mythos of 30% or less, they likely have no idea that Nyarlathotep has masks. From 30%-50% they may have suspicions, and if they are intelligent (Int 16-18+), they may have figured it out. Otherwise the 51% serves as a bracket that determines that they definitely know Nyarlathotep has masks. This is an arbitrary rule that I have just dreamed up, feel free to use or modify it. Really, you are the Keeper, and it is up to you who knows what. The system I have outlined might be useful in giving the rules some context for the NPCs however.

Okay. Firstly, rules-wise it sounds you should consider taking a look at Mythras, as it has a non-standard approach to cults that might be a better fit for Hellenistic religions. Mythras also has its own game world. Secondly, there is an Atlantis RPG that takes a somewhat "Theosophical" approach to the matter. I think it is called Atlantis: The Second Age. It might be good for source material and ideas. BTW, historically speaking, there were no "pre-bronze age Mycenean Greeks". The Myceneans simply weren't in Greece until the late bronze age when they came as migrants. The locals were the Palask, the Cretans, and some other cultures now entirely lost to history, but who may have been related to the Etruscans, but the period is pre-Herodotus and not well recorded. As RQ is bronze-age, best to stick with bronze age I suggest; things are still plenty primitive, and it will be very common for people to use flint weapons and arrowheads, for example. Next, if you haven't read anything my Mary Renault, she does some historical novels set around the period that deal well with Greece, but "The King Must Die" and "The Bull from the Sea" are stories about Theseus and pretty much bronze age, and most women I know who have read these stories love them. RQ3 did include a system of sorts for a syncretic approach to deities that could be cross-applied to the Greek Pantheon with some heavy modification. As to the setting of Heroic Era Greece, well, read up on your mythology is my only suggestion. It is replete with Gods, heroes and monsters. RQG has plenty of Rune Spells that can be transferred to Greek Gods with a similar "portfolio" the the equivalent Gloranthan God. As far as keeping a table of young women interested in an RPG, I would suggest trying to find out what they read and watch for fun, and getting a sense of your audience that way. You should also feel free to retro-fit existing Glorantha scenarios into ancient Greece. For example, the Praxians become Centaurs, Amazons and Scythians, your Orlanthi Tribe becomes a local Greek City state, the troll adversaries are modded to become bandits or political rivals, etc.

Well at least the illuminates are still getting some value then 🙂

The issue is that illuminates do not suffer from spirits of retribution, but the lunar effect is specifically not a spirit of retribution. In RQ2 write-ups it specifically says that Seven Mothers and similar cults don't have spirits of retribution, but anyone who attempts to leave will permanently be affected by the Lunar phases in any other cult they join. It has been stated elsewhere that as this is not a facet of retribution but a "flavor change", that even illuminates are affected by it permanently, especially pertinent as most illuminates are lunar initiates of some kind.

It costs 5MP to cast the spell, and you get your MP back every night you sleep, so I would argue that each casting costs 5MP (plus the cost of ingredients), and gives you access to 1MP reserved as a potion until you need it. If you are GMing, you may want to be more (or less) stingy than this.