Soccercalle

It is often easier to become a priest/god-talker than a rune lord and one of the characters in my group (A farmer with some healing and fighting skills) will soon reach the thresholds for being a priest to Orlanth Thunderous. I am planning a longer campaign where the group will be traveling a lot and I am thinking about the possibility of having a priest in the group.

I priest is more than a title or "cult level", it is also an occupation that demands actual work in a temple. Would it be possible to have a priest in a traveling adventure group or should it be a god-talker instead? The adventurer will of course stay true to Orlanth (or whatever god/goddess) , visit temples on holy days and sharing income with the cult. 

Any thoughts?

10 minutes ago, g33k said:

 

Isn't ZF in the Cult Compendium?  I'd check, but it's stowed away in a box and I can't get to it right now...   😞

There as well. In av five page long form. And all the special rune spells can be found in the Red Book of Magic. So if you combine those you have the Zola Fel writeup. (You actually dont read the Red Book of Magic, the spell descriptions are basically the same). I dont think Zola Fel will be in the coming Cults Book but in a future Pavis/Prax book.

3 minutes ago, Kargzant said:

I haven't been able to find a writeup for Zola Fel and I'm planning to write one because he's the main water deity of the area. I assume that a lot of the Spirit and Rune Magic that Engizi offers would be suitable for ZF as they're both regional river gods and there's always the Book of Red Magic to flesh things out. What I'm wondering is Zola Fel's relationship with other gods in the region. All I really know he's subservient to Pavis although he's worshiped as a standalone deity as well. Is there anything else I should know about associated and hostile cults?

You can find it in the old Pavis books and in River of Cradles. 

I am also thinking about using Borderlands and other Paris/Prax scenarios in my campaign. We are at the moment playing "Six Seasons in Sartar" and I plan to run "Company of the Dragon" after that. Six Seasons ends in Sea Season 1620 och Company otD starts in Earth Season 1620.

I am thinking that the leaders of the "Third Wind" (the Sartar rebel group) sends the adventurers east on some kind of mission. Or maybe that they just need to avoid the Lunars for the time being. Or maybe they need to find more information for the Dragon part of the larger story. 

I thinking of a time-line like this:

Storm Season 1620: Borderlands Campaign. The group will hate Lunars but I think they can work with Raus as long as he is not an initiate of a Lunar religion.

Sea Season 1621: "One High Priest to Many" (from Strangers in Prax) and "the Cradle" (from Pavis & Big Rubble)

Fire Season 1621: "Gaumatas Vision" (from Shadows on the Borderlands)

They need to be back in Sartar in Storm Season 1621 to run the CotD scenario "Storm´s age" 

An alternative is to move "The Forging" to Earth Season 1621. It can make more sense to have the adventurers being fugitives in the east. "The dragon" can then ask them to go west again.

1 hour ago, SevenSistersOfVinga said:

"Wraiths can be struck only by magic"  those are the ones I used so far. 

And I guess werewolves.

Yes. But I dont consider Telmori to be undead.

5 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Swim?

I probably would. It have not been an issue yet. But yeah, I would.

I think that I have read somewhere that some undead only can be hurt by magical weapons. But I find no information about that when I read about vampires or Dancers of Darkness in the Bestiary. Have I misunderstood the rules?

i find information about the Telmori being immune to most weapon when in wolf-form.

I am not using the rules for foci or ENC. I will probably only use ENC if it becomes an issue. I have told a humakti player that she must choose between wearing broadsword and shield or wearing a great sword (she is good in both). If she wants to carry both on her body there will be a penalty.

I am only using ENC to lower skill roles when it comes to jump, climb and dodge. The most important thing is for dodge. A fighter must choose if the strategy is to parry or absorb damage. Or if the strategy is to avoid being hit. In the later case they should not wear anything heavier than leather. As a matter of fact. I only reduce jump, climb and dodge if they wear metal armor. I dont reduce it for wearing a sword or something like that.

I dont force them to use rolls for casting spirit spells outside combat (strike ranks). If they are entering a dungeon and wants to cast bladesharp och protection before, they can do that without using rolls. They just reduce the magic points.

Is ANYONE using the fatigue rules from RQ3? I think very few used them even in the days of RQ3.

Thanks

I am planning to take my players to the Upland Marsh and wonder if it is possible to get a copy (digital or physical) of Tales of The Reaching Moon 19?

On 1/30/2021 at 6:36 PM, jajagappa said:

Finished Episode 29.  It is the recap of their Sacred Time quest.  

From an RQG perspective, it delineates how Hero Points will work (like Rune points, but your tie to the God Time), and the benefits from gaining them.  Also, the challenge of getting them back!  (You need people to at least worship the deeds YOU did, if not yourself, and you need to set up a place where they can do that.)  Good stuff!

Do we have any information of when and where Chaosium will publish rules for Hero Points? GM Guide or something else?

I would probably have the players make a DEX roll. If they fail I will give them -20 in their weapons skill. It can be DEXx5 if the chariot is going on normal ground and lower if it on bumpy ground.

21 minutes ago, Bren said:

That's an important point.

 

Their stats may not have changed, but it's also possible that their over all power has been decreased. An old article (from Wyrms Footnotes I think) provides stats for Ken Kaufer's PC, Londra of Londros. Based on Tales of the Wooden Sword, she adventured for a time with Nameless (or Naimless as it was sometimes spelled). Since her stats include a Defense score of 50% I assume her stats are for RQ2, not RQ3. She has multiple weapons skills in the 95% - 110% range - that's more weapon skills at mastery than a starting RQG character will have, but the range is close to what a good starting warrior character might have for their best weapon skill. So her best weapon skills are lower than

Magic is where Londra's real power lies. She's listed as a Runelord/Runepriest of Humakt and a Priest of Orlanth. Between personal POW, Allied and bound spirits, and crystals she has 60 MPs, some special crystals, and a lot of Spirit Magic. And for Rune Magic she has a whopping 63 Rune Points (yes that is six-three) and her Allied Spirit has 12 Rune Points of its own. As for her age, I'm hoping there is a misprint because the write up says the stats are as of 1617 and that she was born Godday, Disorder Week, Dark Season, of 1605. Which would make her all of 12 years old. She must have been initiated really young. That Argrath guy better watch his step. 😉

 

In the RQ2 campaign we (myself and the other GM) almost always used the RQ2 prior experience rules. For warriors types, that gave them 50% weapon skill plus their starting skill bonus so it wasn't unusual for characters to start with best weapon skills of 75%. We had multiple characters reach 90% or better with their best weapon skills after running through about as many adventures as the Duke Raus of Rone Borderlands campaign. But that was back in the 1980s when we had a lot more time to play. The PCs with very  extensive play time did end up as Rune level with skills as good or better than Leika.

Of course that's just a couple of data points. Anecdotally interesting perhaps, but only marginally relevant to what goes on at someone else's table. As others have said, the GM will have to decide whether to adjust NPC stats up (or down) based on what the PCs look like in their campaign.

63 rune points at the age of 12. At 25 she could eat Ralzakark or Harrek for breakfast.

I realised after some googling that the Shieldwalls part of S&S is described in the Mythic Britain-book for Mythras. Seems to be quite easy to use and you could use Battle and Orate Skills from RQG. But is probably more done for battles with 20+ fighters than for 10-15 (where individual battle skills is more important).

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

Glorantha Skirmish Wars is coming out soon, which handles that kind of scale pretty well. I have played a few games at conventions and they worked really well.

You would have to convert RQG Adventurers into the format for the game, though, so would need conversion rules.

Is Glorantha Skirmish Wars a game in itself or a module to use in other games like RQG? This is the first time I hear about it.

1 hour ago, Nozbat said:

Mythras has Ships and Shieldwalls which is an excellent way to handle small scale to large scale battles on sea or land. 

Not much conversion needed other than skills for being the leader (in Mythras, Strategy & Tactics). All the rest of the skills are ones that a PC might have developed.

I've used them a lot with my Saxon campaign and they work well. As an ex-ancient wargamer I had initially wanted a little more depth but after playing them, I think they are quick and easy to use and allow PCs to feel involved in the decision-making 

I guess that the RQG Battle Skill is appr the same as Strategy & Tactics.

Hi. I wonder if there are some good rules anywhere about handling battle with say 10-20 people. Not a large battle like Dangerford or Auroch Hills but something that is too large for using the standard strike rank rules. 

5 hours ago, JRE said:

I think what is missing is that real people (and therefore well designed NPCs) lose skills as we age. This is not in the system (and it is in only very few RPG systems) because players will scream bloody murder if they are losing their hard earned skills every year, but that is how it should be. 

People are used to getting weaker as they age, but they believe they should get more skilled, as there is much more personal involvement in that development. As anyone over 40 knows too well, that is not necessarily true. Constant use is critical, and even with constant use many skills reach a plateau in reality, even if our paper analogues can progress indefinitely.

Mechanistically I would propose lose maybe 1 point in 1000/skill weeks without exercising, or tweak the numbers to give you your own decline.  Occupational experience might count as exercise, but it may not. Another option used by other systems is to have a maximum combined skill level, usually dependent on intelligence, dexterity and will (POW). That would mean that to keep developing your sword skill, you have to start letting go of charioteering, cooking and Pavis Lore, specially after years without driving a chariot, visiting Pavis or cooking your own food. 

It was not important with rootless adventurers having adventures every week, and with a life expectancy measured in months, but the shift to seasonal adventuring puts age and the passage of time into perspective. 

I totally agree. But Leika and Nameless are under 40. And probably very active in the uprising after the Dragonrise.

27 minutes ago, Darius West said:

It memory serves, back in the day Queen Leika's sword-name was "Leika Ballista" because she carried an arbalest (3d6+1 Damage) and became super-proficient with it.  Stack some blade venom on it and it was a damn near unstoppable combo.  For extra spice add multimissile.  Leika wasn't cowardly and it was no mistake about her having a low sword skill, because until she became a queen most of her fights were ended by decisive crossbow bolts in the opening rounds.  She used to have a crossbow skill well in excess of 120%.  If her outrageous crossbow skill didn't make it into the present stats, it is likely because she has had to put her crossbow away and be a more respectable Vingan matron, and odd mostali weapons are just not on.

She still has the ballista in her write up. With a 125% skill. If she had more than 120 in 1621 it seems odd if she only has 125% in 1625. (Especially as all skill levels are higher in RQG).

I was looking thru the skill levels of the pregens and the NPCs in the Starter and GMs Screen sets. A lot of the starter characters have some skills around 100%. For example Harmast has Broadsword 100 and Vasana has Broadsword 90. They are both 21 years old.

I then looked at some of the top NPCs. Queen Leika has Broadsword 105 at the age of 37. That seems very low. The first time she become king of the Colymar was 11 years earlier. She must have been a Wind Lord of Vinga already then (at 26) with a Broadsword skill of 90. I find it ridiculous that the most famous Vinga of the Colymar only has a 5% higher sword skill than a 16 year younger new Issaries initiate.

Ok. One can say that Leika is more of a leader than a fighter. But if you look at "Nameless" at age 34 the Broadsword level is "only" 120. She is described as champion of the Colymar already in "Sartar Kingdom of Heroes" that is happening in 2019. How can - maybe the best fighter in the Colymar - only have 20 more points than a new character. After having been champion for at least six years. 

58 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

As Leingod noted, he's not restored in body, but his soul is rescued.  So he won't be tribal king (that's Ranulf of the Culbrea) or a sidekick - he's still "dead", but his soul is once again accessible.  What that means though is that folk can worship him, and there is the opportunity for a Hero Cult to emerge where you could learn the Treeleaping magic (or whatever Rune spell you want for him).  I'd expect this to occur among the Culbrea primarily, and the rescue may be a factor in their reemergence, first at the Battle of Auroch Hills and then in general rebellion/aggression aiding Kallyr (i.e. the Two-pine clan aggression noted in the 11 Lights book).

That is great. I also guess that the hero/heroes that rescues his soul gets some kind of inside track of joining the Hero Cult.

6 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

I believe the HQ scenarios are set in the time period.

 

Yeah. I will try to adapt the Colymar Campaign to the period. The Eleven Lights will be harder as it doesn't really work together with Six Seasons/COTD. But I will use Return to Apple Lane and maybe some other scenarios. 

I start with 15 year olds in 1623. I skipped their personal history and only kept that of their forefathers.

I had an 80 cap on Runes and passions. You need to be older to be more aligned with a Rune or to have a very strong passion.

The usual rules gives the players four +25 skills and five +10 skills with a maximum of 100%. 

I changed that to four +15 skills and five +5 skills with a maximum of 90%.

I kept the skill points that are based on culture, occupation and cult.

I see that many posts discuss XP. I am a friend of rolling the dice for skill increases. But I am also struggling with spending time on this when all the sessions are online and people are quite busy. I trust my players but are thinking of a compromise where the you roll för increases in the skills you are using during a scenario. But where you just add some points for the seasonal skill increases.

I am thinking of a system that replaces the "Experience Btw Adventures" rules on page 416 in the core rulebook.

You can choose four occupational or cult skills. And maybe also two runes or passions.

If they have 90-%. They can add 1%

If they have 70-89%. They can add 2%

If they have 50-69%. They can add 3%

If they have 1-49%. They can add 4%.

This will also make it possible to increase Lore skills witch cannot be increased by adventuring. I guess that an adventurer can spend time reading or something like that.

I may also rule that they can't choose skills that have been increased by adventuring. I may also decide that this experience will not happen if where has not been enough "down time" during the season. (For example if they have played 2 or more scenarios or been traveling).