Yelm's Light

Extrapolating a one-line description in the QS to the eventual RQ:G rules is a mistake to begin with, unless you have a copy of the RQ:G draft that some of you bastards got. And that's still only a draft, which leaves us with RQ2. As stated above, I think the fact that the description even mentions parry implies melee only. Nor am I swayed by the idea that magical fanaticism is suddenly going to improve a skill that is based on timing and precision. Finally, I tend to take a dim view of what I think is an attempted exploit. In short, NIMG (Not in my game). Or, to ruthlessly appropriate Vince McMahon's theme music, "No chance. No chance in hell."

I'm not sure what was supposed to give us the idea that those are the QS characters, other than that it will appear in RQ:G. There's no mention of them ever having been in Swenstown together, let alone separately, in the QS. And Swenstown is just about as far from the action of The Broken Tower as it's possible to get. Both Boldhome and Wilm's Church are closer, although probably the better candidate would've been Wilm's Church. But granting that, what's a Lunar building doing in Swenstown anyway? However, going back to the QS and looking at her picture, that's definitely Vasana in the art above, with her riding bison. (She's an Orlanth Adventurous initiate.)

If it is, the artist doesn't seem to know very much about the background. The girl on the cover of RQ2 (and the QS) is shown wearing only the Fertility Rune, not something you'd be very likely to see on a Humakti.

That's more evocative of Pavis than Boldhome to me. Biturian and Norayeep in native(-ish) garb and a prominently displayed Lunar building? The woman petting the bison looks like an Earth goddess type, Ernalda or Eiritha, though since she's only partially visible there's not a lot of info available. Granted, Biturian is haggling with a fellow Issaries trader, and the girl is Humakti (not all redheads are Vingans...). That last brings up an annoying peeve of mine, that the Humakti is wearing a 'female' breastplate. It identifies her as a woman for purposes of the artwork; the character looks androgynous enough that there could be confusion as to her gender otherwise. But no warrior worth her salt would wear it if she ever planned on fighting.

Thanks for that. Interesting...I'd heard or read the story of the genesis of Glorantha/RQ somewhere, and I knew there were tensions between Chaosium and AH at the time, but I didn't have the particulars. So basically AH (or just Dott himself) were being willful idiots. In Greg's position I'd probably have done the $1M offer too. High enough for AH to have to be committed to putting effort into it, and if they did accept he was on Easy(ier) Street. But then his 'baby' would've been somebody else's and they'd've axe-murdered it.

Exactly the one I was thinking of, with the title in very large font running down the side.

FGU definitely existed before then. I bought C&S long before I'd ever heard of Runequest. As for the cardstock thing, they might have learned something from Chaosium's boxed sets. Every 'book' inside had covers that were of a heavier stock, if not cardstock in every case. (I seem to recall that Foes was an exception, but I'm not sure.) When I ran a game away from home, I'd pull out the books I needed and carry them in a backpack. I didn't want to waste space or weight on a box. And that would've worn through the paper covers a lot faster than the heavier ones. And then there's the pricing thing. Their most complex game at the time, (pre-ASL) Squad Leader, was $15, and production costs for the RQ3 Deluxe set were probably pretty close to equal. Yet Deluxe was originally priced at $24.95 ($29.95? I forget. I never actually bought it at the list price). And I understand it was even more ludicrously priced in foreign markets. I get that there was more info in RQ than Squad Leader, but come on. If you're going to overprice your product, at least make it durable. As far as the sale, yeah, I'd be interested in the motivations behind that as well. I think it may have been a combination of the cash-out philosophy of the '80's and that Greg didn't seem to have that much to do with the business side. EDIT: An interesting side-issue I came upon. I wanted to tie down some range for when I bought C&S, and the edition I had (which went away in the Great Water Heater Flood of '96) wasn't any of the ones that are pictured for those I've seen. My version had a cover with line art that was some form of red, bordering on pink, depicted a medieval battle, and had a square, glued binding, as opposed to the stapled-along-the-fold line-binding of many of the RP books from that time. Does anybody have a similar printing?

Reading that article, the thing that really jumped out at me was the artwork on the boxes. The front covers ranged from passable to pretty good. And then you turned over the boxes to be greeted by a pencil/charcoal sketch. Same issue as with the universally paper-covered rulebooks: they couldn't have spent the extra nickels for cardstock covers or another commissioned piece of art, especially with the inflated price of Deluxe? I was working peripherally in the business at the time, so I know the external effects, but I don't know what went on at AH. I'd really like to have been a fly on the wall at some of their meetings re: Runequest. I've also worked in more generalized, large-market advertising, and have to wonder, did they even bother to focus-group this stuff? (Yes, that was a thing, even back then.) In the absence of other evidence, I'm left to theorize that it was a combination of AH being cheap and just not getting the FRPG industry, which any number of people at a convention could have enlightened them about if they'd bothered to ask the right questions. Or, for that matter, any questions.

I would think that any place where hunting is a major subsistence strategy (and poverty or a lack of trade for textiles is common) would be prime candidates. The Praxian philosophy of using gleanings to their utmost would seem to fit well too. More generally, those broos that wear clothing would be likely candidates. They're not often accepted as trading partners.

You gotta catch 'em first. Where little elf-morsel? No can see. But seriously, folks, elves are far more intelligent and more agile, and have better archery. Flaming message for you, sir...

Zombie much?

When it comes down to it, all races were 'made' at their beginnings by gods. But we're talking about the genesis of gods here, a somewhat different proposition.

Unlikely, since there's nothing in canon that supports it. That would be an important fact that you'd think at least both cults would have a tale about.

I suspect that most of them would do the kitty equivalent of a mental shrug. Two-legs... I like that minis are more realistic. Nothing will take me out of story mode faster than being forcibly reminded that it's a game, especially after the Lego movies.

'Begat' tends to imply something less than immaculate conception, unless Ernalda is the progenitor. But what I find interesting is the next implication...conception by committee? There are only two such examples of that which come to mind, and they were both tainted by Chaos (well, the Red Goddess indirectly).

Much like pretty much every area in Glorantha that is developed...but there are strong correlations.

I learned when it happened to me...I lost about two thirds of my RP stuff because it was stored in the garage when the water heater gave up the ghost and a gasket, which spurred my RQ buying spree in the late 90's. Now everything is stored well above the floor, except the RQ stuff, which stays in closets or on bookshelves. However, a failed HDD won't destroy it forever.

Definitely Kralorela. Chinese mythology has always fascinated me, and I started getting the Kralorela bug when I came up with an item for our little More Plunder project that was straight out of Chinese myth.

A steady hand, drybrushing, and a good sense of complementary colors can work wonders. Kora's robe is awesome. I think I can guess who came up with "Fluffy."

Data is ephemeral, no matter how redundant your backups are. Hardcovers are not.

Always been Hoo-makt to me. Hugh-makt just sounds silly, and it's certainly not what would be called common pronunciation in RW linguistics. Edit: Actually, to make it fully representational, that should be Hoo-mokt...

There's a gulf of difference between attacking a scenario with a deep history and starting it with new toons. Players have had time to define their PCs' personalities, are fully conversant with their capabilities, and (hopefully) know by then how to work as a team.

No one, and I mean no one, runs a game without house rules. There are bound to be situations neither covered nor predicted by the RAW. Unless, of course, you play ASL and have a library to put it in.

V:tM? Really? I weep for the imagination of this generation. I could deal with WFRP4; I have the original and I love it. But Vampire? Sheesh.

Bah. 5th isn't even kissing your sister. It's lost in the crowd.