Darius West

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.

Firstly, what god does he pretend is his patron to disguise his trickster initiation? Some are far better choices than others. There are a very limited number of people a trickster can fool in a single area before the community gets wise to their activities and call them to account. For this reason, mobility as a lifestyle is often a good choice for a cover identity. Remember also that tricks often run awry, or transform and take on a life of their own that you do not expect. I would argue that the best fit for a trickster is as an Issaries initiate. They are supposed to be gabby, interested in money and power, and prone to being a bit shonky, as well as not great in a fight and prone to move around a lot. Obviously you plan to make good use of the Lie spell, and fair enough, it is a pretty amazing spell. Remember that Humakti and Lhankor Mhys will be able to detect it if they think to however. You also need to remember that you cannot con people in a market place without setting off the Issaries based Create Neutral Ground warnings what are likely in place. Probably most of what you do will need to concern making people believe that they haven't been cheated post fact. Here is a link to a site that includes some famous grifts, some of which that you might be able to rework and reimagine for a Gloranthan setting. Remember that a hidden trickster is their own master, but also needs to hide their identity and live a double life. They will likely develop some contacts with any local criminal element. Tactically to perform their "tricks" with no witnesses makes stealth a good choice, and they need the means of disposing of their newly obtained wealth without being detected. They will also need access to Lanbril's Divination Block occasionally when things go bad. It is quite possible that Tricksters will wind up n the company of other inhabitants of the criminal underworld who are chaos worshippers, such as Krarsht or Malia worshippers, as well as hidden lunars. It is also quite possible that the trickster may be outed as a "Lunar Agent", if there is a clan sweep that catches them. The more powerful the people you hobnob with, the more likelihood that one of them will get curious and perform a divination about your hidden trickster. As a result, hidden tricksters are likely to prefer environments where there is more of a herd to hide within, such as cities, the larger the better. Being an outed clan trickster is much safer, even if you are "wearing a leash". You might have a leash on, but as any dog walker knows, it is often a moot point as to who is walking whom, and social protection is a very useful thing. Eurmal shrines and trickster shrines in general are not standard. They don't involve hundreds of worshippers, and are often hidden places of secret veneration that tricksters pass on the knowledge of by word of mouth, or by careful observation. Trickster Rune Spells are often unique too, offering a GM the opportunity to provide the player with a non-standard spell. Some trickster shrines are obvious, like a huge man rune covered in stinking dung, but others involve practical jokes like a silver penny that is glued to the floor, or a drinking fountain that is linked to a latrine reservoir, or even a knothole that looks suspiciously like a body part.

That is basically what Cerberos means in Greek, you know, the 3 headed hound of hell, yep, Fluffy. Never let it be said that Hades lacks a sense of humor. (Also see Darwin Awards).

Yes, the thing is, illuminates are NOT always righteous, are they? This is why the Gods have mortal agents. To ensure that their worshippers are properly disciplined. On the other hand, Ban is a 2 edged sword, and an infiltrator could quit plausibly use it. Great. See you at the start of next season for your trial. Back to the prison cells with this suspect, bailiff, and ensure that they have plenty of austerities to focus their spiritual energies. It isn't about getting their spells back, it is about the lunar effect on their magic, which is observable, given where they are in the cycle. As for guided teleport, well, simply deny them access to the Mastakos shrine so they cannot sacrifice for or renew their magic there.

Yes, I have done so a few times. Back in RQ2 days, you got a price in the thousands for the right matrix, and I was occasionally high on POW but short on cash. More recently I had shennanigans involving my Chalana Arroy gangster character and a Sleep Matrix she created that was used to get one of her enemies, a snoopy Issaries priest chucked out of her cult for offending the Chalana Arroys by using prohibited cult magic. It also involved shelling out hard earned cash/ill-gotten gains for a Divination Block at an exhorbitant price when the whole scheme nearly blew up in my character's face. It is also often handy for a party to have a Healing 6 matrix for when limbs go flying, as few people have enough dedicated space in their CHA for 6 points of a spell, and a matrix can basically be thrown to them or dropped into their hands (or hand if it was an arm that went flying) while someone defends them for a round. The same applies for spells like Bladesharp 6+, and any spell that is periodically very useful but not quite worth dedicating your CHA to, like Lightwall, Dispel Magic or Visibility, or Multimissile.

These economic issues are complicated. As a rule of thumb, a ransom is a round number value that is about 7 times (a crude average) of one's yearly income (give or take) and one's weregild should be about double that. As to a clan's finances, they draw income from their lands, which are divided in to cropland, pasture, and wilderness, and more directly from their clan artisans and the goods they make, plus whatever the clan temples bring in from outsiders. The land in turn is divided into Hides, and people of different status will work a certain number of hides, or draw income from someone who is getting revenue from their hides. Clans will typically be situated with about 2000 hides of worked land, that produce about 80L per hide per year. This revenue will not be in cash but in kind, and will need to be sold at market to be turned into coin, but much of it will be used within the clan's internal economy and never exported. Clans can also trade in favors. For example, if clan X has a member killed by clan Y, and clan Z has money and owes clan X a favor, well, they might just call that favor due. In terms of weregild, it is not the Clan but the individual who performed a killing who will have to pay the weregild. As Akhorahil correctly points out, Orlanthi clans are not communist states that own all the means of production, and take collective responsibility in paying for crimes. The individual who performed the killing must either pay the weregild or they are open to retribution from the kin of the offended party. Clans may intervene with financial aid if they want to head off the possibility of a feud, and may even over-pay so there can be no basis for recrimination due to an underpayment, plus there is the potlatch aspect of counting coup through the "generosity slap down". I would also point out that this only applies to people within an Orlanthi clan/tribal structure as a means to settle blood debts without reference to an external authority. Can a clan pay a debt of 2000L? Well it depends on how well they are doing. If they have recently been burned out by Lunar aggression, probably not, otherwise, they probably can, but it isn't up to them to do so, it is the killer who is required to pay.

Read the Yelm entry more carefully. The RQG rules are not for the Yelm of Dara Happa, but for "Sun Horse" aka Yu-Kargzant of the Grazerlanders. In the forthcoming RQ:Gods of Glorantha supplement, Yelm definitely has his two Fire/Sky runes, and all the deficiencies you have correctly addressed and questioned will be far closer to your expectations.

Yes, I forgot that Excommunicate was now called Ban. Good to know. And yes, illuminates don't get their full suite of powers automatically like they did in RQ2, and that is a good thing imo, as it creates opportunities for scenarios which involve the development of such powers, which can only help contextualize things, and means players have to work for them rather than having them handed out gratis. Well, you can ask them nicely in a court of law... With the subtext being that not to comply might be taken as admission of guilt. Now consider, Moon Phase is something even illuminates are bound to, especially if they belong to a Lunar cult and that is the source of their illumination in the first place. It is not a spirit of retribution, and thus Illuminates have no immunity to it, but all their subsequent magics are forever bound to the Moon, as it says in the write-up. So, if someone claims to be an Orlanthi, Humakti, Yelmalio, but their magic is overtly tied to the moon (a proposition we can test and demonstrate), they have some explaining to do. As it is almost impossible to become a Lunar spy without some sort of Lunar affiliation, it is a tell that the individual has a tie to the Moon Rune, and if they are also claiming (legitimately) to be an Orlanthi (they are a genuine illuminated initiate of Orlanth, and a lunar cult), then their magic will be moon affected. I have posited that this use of the Moon Rune may have been manipulated later by Argrath, in reverse. After all, having your magic doubled within the Glowline is a very handy thing, and you might even leave the Temples of the Reaching Moon in place so you can exploit the loophole. And from there you are only about 3 Hero Quests away from building a Temple of the Reaching Storm imo.