Alex

8 minutes ago, scott-martin said:

The improved version we'll be rolling out for the fourth age will be pluralistic and recombinant . . . more of a platform play.

But where's the Crypto Rune?!  All hail the ZistorChain!

Successful parry vs failed attack with an impaling weapon certainly sounds like a potential stop-thrust situation.  Other cases are maybe less obvious, but aren't that hard to rationalise broadly similarly.  Or you could make that class of weapon a distinct case, if you like the crunchy colour angle.

22 minutes ago, Baron Wulfraed said:

Justification for the invention of socks? 👹

Excellent point!  Prior to that, too many hands were HeroForming into Bag King Brangbane.  Talk about Dr Stranglove!

On 12/29/2021 at 6:13 AM, Darius West said:

Thed is mentioned as having wanted to seduce Orlanth.

I believe in another thread you said this was in one of the BoDRs, but I don't believe you were any more specific than that.

On 12/29/2021 at 6:13 AM, Darius West said:

The point is, I suppose, that everybody has ancestors, even Broos whose reproductive cycle resembles that of a wasp more than that of a mammal.

Possibly something of a combo of the two, as it certainly seems that the "maternal" line contributes to the nature of the offspring.  Of course, whether this is anything remotely like "ancestry" much less "genetics" (or whatever Glorantha is using as an analogue for that) another matter.

10 hours ago, davecake said:

Chaotic ancestor worshippers are just the same - a family of ogres might know all their ogre ancestors, and get good help from them (the ancestors probably like a little blood sacrifice and to enjoy a little incarnation for food and torture every now and then, but that’s expected).

Yes, I think this seems functionally like DF, or "generic RQ3 Ancestor Worship (TM)", so whether you say it's Daka Fal per se, or that it's "collateral worship" of the same entity, or just a game-mechanical artifice for something that's not theism at all, or it's explicitly recognised as the same thing, all seems   The Broo case seems much more distinct from this.  As does for example the Kyger Litor one, not in this case for any sort of explicitly "biological", but because of different cultural practices.  "Father's blood is short and weak", and that sort of malarkey.

5 hours ago, soltakss said:

Some cults treat theatre as a sacred act and put on religious plays. Some think it is sacred and put on secular plays. Some think it is not sacred and put on various types of plays.

The distinction must be more than a matter of opinion, of course, but of ensuring the two are formally and magically distinct.  It's difficult to imagine a 'method actor' or indeed a production of a play like MacBeth in Glorantha (or at least, in theistic Glorantha):  it'd be a little too on-the-nose and heroformy.  This might be the Big Subcult Secret of the Puppeteer Troupe's form of Donandar worship, how to do such things without getting sucked too far into each individual role.  (A (metric) ton(ne) of llusion SFX and "have you tried acting, dear boy?")

5 hours ago, soltakss said:

Mystery Plays should be a thing in Glorantha, teaching cult mysteries and cult lore to spectators.

Perhaps more like lack-of-mystery rites, where cults conduct some of the forms of worship rituals, but with the cult secrets removed or hidden, in such a way as they can be conducted in public.  Certainly in such cases there's no problem with emulation, it's all to the good.

20 hours ago, Eff said:

This is certainly not Aeschylus's or Sophocles's tragedies, which were marked by having two and three actors, as a significant shift from the actor-and-satyr-chorus plays of Thespis.

The latter type's probably by far the more usual form of 'dramatic entertainment', certainly among the Orlanthi.  Travelling poet/bard/skald pitches up, and recites an epic or three until they get fed, or their hosts get fed up of them.  Scope for "join in if you know the words" in some pieces.  Your trendier type of performer might not just recite the words in a standard metered manner, but actually "do the voices".  Stephen Fry audiobook LARP!  A Donandari (or whatever other cults and subcults we have to cover such things these days) with their own travelling backup group would be pretty fancy and high-end.  Actual multi-performer, multi-part theatre -- as distinct from worship rituals -- I'd take to be about the rarest format, confined to the very largest and most cosmopolitan of locations.  I'm also inclined to say the structures of the pieces are very different from modern, and indeed somewhat different from Classical drama, partly to defray the "anachronistic" thing, but I confess at this point I'm at best handwaving how they might be different.

17 minutes ago, Kloster said:

Additionally, my personal experience with fencing makes me think this is correct: you can parry and attack with the same weapon in the same 12 second timeframe, but not at the same time, meaning not the same SR.

But very clearly and explicitly, a SR is neither a second, nor an instant.  (Nor is what's true of a fencing foil necessarily also the case for, say, a 2H Battleaxe.)

19 minutes ago, Barak Shathur said:

Anyway, I was talking about BGB. Is my interpretation of the wording correct? A "parrying weapon" is a weapon that is used exclusively for parrying in that round. Makes sense to me, I think I'm going to run it that way.

I don't have the BGB, but I'm pretty sure that's not the intended interpretation.  The BRP SRD simply used "parrying weapon" to mean "the weapon you're parrying with currently", and that's consistent with what various iterations of RQ have done too.  Otherwise you'd essentially never parry with a 2H weapon, and by similarly restricted if you were using a 1H weapon on its own, as you say.  (Style/life choice, or other limb with Damage Equal to or More Than the Location’s Hit Points.)

Which is a legit alternative way to play it, and certain keeps your Dodge skill busy!  And also avoids the whole "you can parry on 11/12 SRs, but not remaining one, even though SRs aren't times" angst.

6 hours ago, Joerg said:

I blame the absence of a Google Maps equivalent for Glorantha. But then, if you google named Martian features like Pavonis Mons or Valles Marineris, the maps search points you to North America and India, respectively. Maybe the maps of the other planets are only available in Google Earth.

I've managed to be sent to places in Ireland and in Germany when searching for "Peloria", confusingly.  But at least those would be shorter commutes!

1 hour ago, EricW said:

For some reason I just got a vision of Storm Bullies ripping a "chaos vegetable" field apart, building a big bonfire, then changing their minds after the potatoes started cooking... 🙂

Conversely, ever left a few spuds in the cupboard too long?  Has "chaos vegetable" written all over 'em!

4 hours ago, Ian_W said:

I find throwing name of obscure Gloranthan thing or myth into the search bar more useful than hunting on facebook ...

Just remember to add "Glorantha" to the search term, otherwise you end up with the thing Greg borrowed it from in the first place, or other shrapnel...

Also remember which world you're in, and if looking for a map, hit the "images" tab, and not the "maps" one.  True story!

50 minutes ago, Ironwall said:

Does flamal get around as much as his wife if so potatoes could be flamal x mountain goddess or mountain god x aldarya in my head makes more sense because peloria is more of a flat land right? Sartar or any other sufficiently mountainous place could be the home of the best vegetable

Peloria has a large flattish central river valley, but quite a few major mountain ranges too.  Both wings of the Rockwoods, Hydras, Autumns, Imthers, Tobroses¸ Yolps, Jords, Vons, Brasses, and the Blues/BMP.  Off the top of my head, the Western Rockwoods would make a decent Andes analogue...

3 minutes ago, icebrand said:

Are there potatoes in Glorantha? What about other American stuff, like corn and tomatoes??? 

Where would this stuff grow anyway? 

If so... Do we have all the Eurasian produce?

I'm sure there's a seasonal Tom Brady joke to be had about eating members of the Deadly Nightshade family -- which apparently includes mushrooms now (what?).  I don't recall either of those coming up Canonically as such, but I'd assume so, based on Sandy saying that his model for the flora and fauna of Genertela was North America, not Europe.

Maize is well-known -- infamous, some might say! -- as a crop of the Lunar Empire, associated with the Hon-Eel cult and blood sacrifice.

On 6/13/2021 at 2:36 AM, jajagappa said:

"High level" really has to do with the stories told, not the game systems used.  Both HQG and RQG can be fully heroic and engage characters in heroquesting, or can be very gritty, low-level games.  Particular actions are more abstracted in HQG, more cinematic in a sense, but you shouldn't think that you have to use HeroQuest in order to go heroquesting or RuneQuest if you want to hang around lowly dives in Pavis.

Right, but that's addressing "heroquesting" rather than the "high level" observation.  It'd be over-egging things to say that one was necessarily higher- or lower-level than the other, but if you're looking to run an extremely powerful "I'm working on having my own personal DP counter" character in RQ, or conversely if you're looking to really get over a sense of "I might be rubblerunner kibble in an instant if this combat goes wrong for me" in HQ, the game system does much less of the heavy lifting for you, and you're going to have to do significant work to convey that successfully.  Which isn't to say that might not be worthwhile, depending on you and your group's specific and general preferences, and what the game is trying to do exactly.

On 6/13/2021 at 2:36 AM, jajagappa said:

Some heroquests may look very mundane and be entirely in "this world", but still have broader ramifications.

Ah, them thar ramifications, now there's the rub...

The tricky thing with HQs is that on the one hand, they may look like this, and then one has the tricky issue of reverse-engineering their metaphysical implications.  And on the other, they might very clearly be seeking to follow a given myth, so the potential magical angle is pretty clear, but then the trick is for the quest to play out in a satisfactory or even manageable manner.  Then there's all the other cases...  and they're probably not actually separate cases at all, they're all more of a somewhat fuzzy continuum.

So tack back to @soltakssand his work on heroquests (not specifically this book, also thinking of his website and what he's shared over a long time), there's quite a lot of descriptive complexity going on here, and he's done an excellent job of collecting that and joining the dots.  Were he to come up with some Big New Idea out of whole cloth, or conversely to have neglected or pruned some of the different cases, no doubt he'd be getting it in the neck for that, too.  A future Official System is more free to do that, though if I were to guess, it seems more likely they'll continue to nibble at the various edges to cover it progressively, rather than big-banging it.

Very engaging video, thanks.

And I vote for '12', of course. 🙂

DJ in these parts just mentioned the Irish for "solstice" being "An Grianstad", which he translated as...  "sun stop".  *checks nervously for new deities and marauding First Age Heroes*

Which of course is essentially the etymology of the English(ish) word too, but it's not normally glossed in quite such an on-the-nose manner!

On 12/18/2021 at 12:54 PM, LordNigel said:

That being said, I do consider GMing Gloranthan adventures in GURPS when I'm comfortable enough with the world, even if it's just to see how it feels.

I think there's a lot of logic to at least trial-ballooning an adventure or two in RQ, especially if they're written for that system and you have them to hand, and you're curious to see how both the system and the world go down with your group.  Then you're mainly worrying about "cranking the handle" right, and not having to do adaptation as you go.  Then afterwards you can review, especially if you get feedback that they'd much rather be playing GURPS (or 13th Age, or Fate, or...), as well as what aspects of the adventure plotline and the world agreed with them, and what didn't.

1 hour ago, Akhôrahil said:

21 Hides means the Chaos incursions happen yearly.

This is why you need to kill the Evil Emperor, any time you meet him on the road.  Even clan- and tribal-level Orlanthi thanes and nobles are likely already riddled with Chaos, think how bad an entire empire would be!

2 hours ago, Marc said:

Looking at it some more, I'm sure someone will point out that each L in extra tithes to the Earth temple, or local spirits, gets you a -1 to the roll.  Which is true.  It doesn't change the issue which is that having more land really means a greater chance of something really bad happening, not a greater chance of something happening

My hot take on this is that one possible "fix", if you want to be slightly fiddlier in order to avoid what you describe, would be to treat it as a "50% base chance of nothing bad happening", then modify as suggested.  Then treat a "special" on that roll as "something good happens", and a miss as "something bad does happen".

Crits and fumbles I leave entirely to your discretion!

50 minutes ago, svensson said:

Well, according to the 2021 pay scale, she'll be pulling in $5523 or 6023 per month. Which is a pretty good slice of pie no matter which shugilli cooked it 😆

Hoist by my own obscure-reference petard!  Had to google what a shugilli is!  (Other than Scots for a wee bit wobbly.)

Funnily enough I was just watching the TV version of Catch-22.  Even more captain-inflation than the 'proper' army, if such a thing can be imagined! 🙂

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

There was suggestion at one point in time that a shrine or temple of Black Arkat was hidden among the trolls/Kitori of the Troll Woods.  I don't recall where that reference was, or if even accurate.

The more the merrier, IMO.  If canon says the placement of a given group of Arkati is Wrong, then it's in good company that every other Arkati will say they're wrong about everything else anyway.

And if there's anything better than Arkat coming back as a troll again, it'd be coming back as two trolls that loathe each other...

23 hours ago, svensson said:

I referee a Traveller game every week and one of my players, the very first Active Duty officer I've ever met who was a gamer, just got promoted to Captain!

Army captain, or real-money captain? 🙂

(Sorry, but inter-service nonsense seemed especially on-brand for Traveller!)

1 hour ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

First, that the Great compromise means the god will keep hands off of events unless mediated by a cult member.

Which here it clearly is:  the CA initiate themself.  This is a very different case from CA simply deciding that She doesn't like some random person committing violence.

1 hour ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Second, that it's not clear, to me at least, that the incident is direct harm to a living being.  It's just a spirit.  No flesh, no blood.  It may have consequences for the living shaman - but how far down the chain of causality would the god go?  Sure, a butterfly's wingbeats may result in a tornado a month later, but who blames the butterly?

I think by any reasonable definition the shaman is a living being, and their spirit is a part -- kinda the key part, really! -- of them. Of course, it depends on how you see the 'crit' working -- does the damage just spontaneously appear on the associated body, or is this caused by them suddenly fitting, or self-destructively sleepwalking, etc?

1 hour ago, Dr. Device said:

Especially considering if your goal is to convince Sartarite reactionaries to be more open to the whole Draconic Mysticism thing, pointing to the cataclysmic event with a death toll in the (tens of?) thousands is probably not the way to go. Argrath has the easier job of subtly introducing the draconic perspective through the Sartar Magical Union.

i'm reminded of the old "break it to them gently" joke.

"So some of you may have had ancestors killed by dragons, following people mystically meddling in their affairs..."

"Yes, the Dragonkill!"

"Maybe think a little more recently..."

11 hours ago, Dr. Device said:

Either way, iirc Kallyr distances herself from the event because it would be a political nightmare for her to take responsibility, on account of many people losing kin who were present at the Lunar temple. Even if Argrath were responsible, I doubt he would parade that fact around.

Also because IMO at that point, the whole 'consorting with dragons' thing would still be immensely room-splitting in itself.  Even with upsides like "lots of Lunars and symps died" and "liberated the Kingdom", that's set against "oh god, more mysticism: frying pan, fire!", "this ended really really badly last time!" and "we have to explain the the Stormbullies all over again how it's not actually all a subtle form of chaos".  Be a while until people start taking epithets like "Dragonfriend" as a point of pride, and not a snarl word.

43 minutes ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

I... disagree. You could have a thoroughly Lunar Empire, living according to the demands of the phases of the Goddess, ebbing and flowing by day.

It's just that this is such an alien experience to the existing, massive metropolides and civilisation already existing there that it wasn't going to work. Such a thing would have required a societal collapse or other similar "world"-ending crisis to offer something better than what already existed.

Well, like the old joke about asking a Kerryman for directions, it's always a problem not just of whether there's a place you could in theory get to, but how do you get there from where you are right now.  And the Dara Happan baggage is veryvery evident.

But what sort of empire would Lunar even be consistent with?  Large Lunar community or polity, absolutely.  But the sorts of things that make an empire an empire, seem fundamentally different from any consistent realization of The Lunar Way.  Yaknow, lots of strict hierarchical organisation, tons of rulership rituals, etc.