Yelm's Light

Must be tough to play the recorder with your tusks getting in the way like that...

Who's the brunette? She looks vaguely familiar.

(In case it wasn't obvious, I'm Midnight Sun over there.)

It's nice to see a footprint over on RPGNet, btw. Seems there are more than just us grognards interested in the release.

If gold is as malleable as it is in the RW, it's completely useless in combat other than as decoration (i.e., gold plated over bronze or iron). That first set is clearly ceremonial; no wear whatsoever, although it does look like it could be functional, unlike most ceremonial armor. The second actually looks like it might have been used, and its asymmetricality suggests that somehow it was molded to the wearer's body.

I welcome you to present actual, historical, nonceremonial combat armor that's built like that. As for the 'equality' thing, I'm sure you know as well as I do that being topless is somewhat, uh, different when it comes to comparing the sexes, especially where the bible thumpers are concerned.

Bah. She's an Earth/fertility priestess. What do they expect? Have these people ever seen a Frazetta cover? I agree with the criticism on the breastplate, though. First, not many women warriors would be well-endowed enough to need it, and second, it's a target and an identifier for the chauvinists among the opposition who figure a woman would be easy pickin's.

Huh. I never noticed that Vasana had the Moon rune before. (It's there, in the QS.)

Agreed. The "Runequest" looks generic to my eyes. Everything else is fine.

I don't see the point to another QS. Why waste the effort to revise the rules of an incomplete version when they're going to be releasing RQG soon anyway?

I'm not a big fan of the random magic grants...and for a Disorder cult, Orlantio certainly appears to rule it with an iron fist.

Hmm wasn't that 476?

I don't have a copy of WB&RM anymore, but Dragon Pass is unequivocal: That's the gods-eye view, not what their tales say.

Unless it's been Gregged on the level of Morokanth vegetarianism, Tusk Riders have been a troll offshoot going back to WB&RM.

40 m looks to be a bit of an overestimate of length to me, based on the images presented (barring Jeff's which has no scale).

A wyter, perhaps?

I'm now into the phase that's the least work but likely to be the most time-consuming: legal inquiries. I have to do them in a certain order for a number of reasons, and every one of them is a potential obstacle. So I wait impatiently for a reply before I can move on to a resolution. There's not much point in doing the actual writing until that's all cleared. Meanwhile, I'm working on peripheral things, like assigning and coordinating keywords and abilities...which brings me to a big issue with HQ2 Core. Character creation is too generalized; there are all kinds of options for abilities but not a lot of guidance. If you happen to have played HQ1 or HQG, there's a structure that is missing with Core. I get why it's that way; abilities tend to rely on the setting, and Core is supposed to be able to cover any setting. But it's a high bar for newbies, especially if there's no one who has experience with the game in its more specific forms. Occupation and cultural keywords provide that kind of framework, so that you end up with a modular character that's still plenty customizable. To provide a bit of a teaser: magic, being the lifeblood of Earthsea, will have its own specialized framework, primarily having to do with wizardry. This is a consequence of the system presented in the books. It's going to be like yet unlike the schools in HQ1; for one thing, there's only one school and one system in Earthsea, although there are other avenues of magic (chiefly the Old Powers). There will also be a plethora of occupational keywords, so you won't have to be locked in to playing a wizard. That's about all there is to report at this point...except that I'm revising my theory in the last post to Segoy meaning parent instead of father, given the generally indeterminate gender of dragons. More news as it occurs.

Probably best for thread length and reader sanity if you put all your corrections at one time into a single post...

There was still battle/spirit magic, and a fair number of those spells were comparable to or better than some rune spells. Besides, everybody who was anybody (i.e., PC's) were in a cult and had access to at least some rune magic.

I never liked the idea of classes, particularly with regard to limitations on magic and weapons. Warrior? Sorry, no spells for you. Wizard? Hope a staff and dagger are enough. The only solution D&D offered was to run a hybrid, at the cost of advancement speed. Skills and occupations make much more sense, and the limitations aren't generally systemic. Edited well after the fact: Armor limitations too.

Now there's an interesting rewrite of history...

Hmm...based on their promiscuity, maybe Fertility? Of course, they don't reproduce when mating with humans. Which begs the question...are there Fox-men?

Outside of it, in Badside.

Research is finally complete, to the tune of 183 pages of notes. Well, mostly. Now that I have the basis, I'm going to check out some of the wikis to see if they have anything interesting or unique to add. The synthesis begins. I realized in researching the last book that I was missing the two stories that were the germs of Earthsea, The Word of Unbinding and The Rule of Names, both from Le Guin's short story collection, The Wind's Twelve Quarters, which is basically a sort of retrospective of her first decade of published work. (I happened to have that book as well, primarily because when I find an author that I really like I tend to buy up everything that I can get my hands on that they've ever written.) Unfortunately, they have a much different tone than the Earthsea series, and some of the rules of magic are in flat contradiction to the later books. So I read and discarded them; there's really nothing in there that I find that bears on the setting that isn't already better explained and executed later. This brings me to a question that cropped up while I researched the last few books. While there are things that Le Guin meant to be mysteries from the beginning, there's one issue that nags at me. It has to do with Segoy, the Creator. In the very useful appendix to Tales From Earthsea, where she gives a great deal of background for the world itself, there's a small section relating to Segoy which is as inconclusive as it is unsatisfying (to me). The logic is a bit complex, but bear with me. Let me quote the relevant statements here, interspersed with my own comments. Note: I've omitted page references because of the differences in various editions, using somewhat less specific but indicative ones. So there is no being before Segoy, whether he is a being or not. (I'll use the general pronoun, with the understanding that gender is inconclusive or even inapplicable.) Here we come to multiple ambiguities. If Segoy is an Old Power, he must be the first, since there are no Old Powers of the Earth that aren't connected to one of the islands, unless you count the sea itself, which isn't in the mold of the other Old Powers. I don't find the supposition that Segoy is another name for the Earth particularly compelling either, but it's not germane to the issue I want to deal with. As for 'what is certain,' I don't find it certain at all: If Tehanu calls Kalessin 'Segoy' in the Language of the Making, at best the etymology is the reverse: that the Old Hardic words are a derivation of the name Segoy. Assuming that the familial references are literal, Kalessin, being the son of Orm, cannot possibly be the Segoy, since Segoy was before all beings. This leaves us with the assertion that Segoy is an ancient, respectful nominative, and brings me to my contention: that Segoy is the word for Father in the Language of Making. Segoy is the Creator, the Father of all...and Tehanu calls Kalessin Father because it is literally so. (One wonders how that works out, since Tehanu is one of the 'winged people' and Kalessin is a dragon, but Tehanu's true origin is shrouded in mystery.) The reason I bring this up is that it will definitely appear in the variant...so, does anyone have any counterarguments? Is there some logic I'm missing or that is fallacious, or do you have other interpretations?

And the ranks behind the shield-wall are fighters with longer-range weapons (spears, pikes, picks) to keep the opposing front ranks from getting too close.