Akhôrahil

HQ is in many ways quite similar to FATE (through convergent evolution more than any outright influence, I would think), and pulp has always been FATE:s go-to style (it takes an effort to keep FATE from becoming pulpy). So I feel confident that this would work out well. HQ is also excellent if you want magic and powers to be more free-form than nailed down in what they can do (as RQs are).

Agree. While it's more rote work to convert from HQ to RQ, it's in many ways the easier direction. Any HQ scenario will work structurally in RQ, while some RQ scenarios don't have the narrative "oomph" to work in HQ. People can enjoy a pure dungeoncrawl or fight-fight-fight scenario in RQ in a way they're far less likely to do in HQ.

Even by RAW, this would happen at least half the time (in a way) - Trolls have so few Dark Troll twins that they assume any multiple births are trollkin, and you get twins more than half the time with Bless Pregnancy...

I would be shocked if you didn't pick up Chaos from being force-fed Chaotic food or tricked into unwittingly eating it. Possibly less, though. (Again, Trolls can get away with it.)

Chaos is. What causes Chaos can and does differ between socieities. There’s a strong tendency for ”Chaos” to be what the society can’t handle (this is why regular murder is fine but secret murder or kinslaying is Chaotic in Heortling society). A troll or a member of the Cannibal Cult can eat people without causing Chaos. Presumably a Dara Happan paterfamilias can kill a family member without Chaos happening, as long as the forms are adhered to.

If we replace ”acquire taint” with ”having a detectable taint”, this is kinda what Illumination does. My personal interpretation is that being invisible to Sense Chaos and to Spirits of Reprisal are two aspects of the same thing - if you’re sufficiently shameless and guiltless about it, the detection shortcircuits somehow. And I think you’re wrong to think of causes of Chaos on a personal or individual level - it’s a social phenomenon. It doesn’t work to just decide that actually, cannibalism is fine for you - you’re still inside your social and cultural structure. And fundamentally ”freeing” yourself of traditional values does have an effect - again, it’s part of Illumination.

Did he actually do it (or even try) though, in either of his runs? I don’t question that he could have (it’s such a coincidence that the guy with the biggest army always turns out to be the True Emperor, isn’t it?), but did he bother?

It's one of those irregular verbs, isn't it? I rule with a firm hand. You're harsh. He/she is cruel.

Which includes the Red Moon, as moon demons are certainly a thing.

The Starter Set occasionally (and possibly intentionally) contradicts the main rules. I would go with the main rulebook, personally, although it’s possible the rules in the Starter Set represent a change of mind that will be implemented in the ”G.1” version once it comes out. Going with the Starter Set rules has the disadvantage of potentially landing both characters above 100% which the original rule tried to avoid, but the advantage that it significantly fixes the extremely powerful skill-tanking (that becomes downright obscene with Weapon Trances).

Another important factor is the ability to control the sex of the baby using the spell. We know how that's abused in for instance India even today. Sartarites are reasonably egalitarian, but it's only too easy to imagine how it would be misused among patriarchal Yelmalio cultures (or worse, Dara Happan, assuming Dendara has the spell).

RuneQuest borrowed the childbirth system from Pendragon, where there is a decent risk to the mother's life. I believe the reasoning in RQG is that, unlike in Pendragon, the pregnant woman can be a PC (she technically can be in Pendragon, but it's rare), they don't want to kill PCs with a random roll.

Relatedly, which forbid sorcerers? This should presumable be a lot more, as shamans are merely weirdos, while sorcerers are soulless atheists.

I think it makes sense to use different solutions by need. Inconclusive tie, roll again later (potentially even much later). As the above, except the stakes also increase. Resolves as a tie (a boardgame or an election could be literal tie), or as a compromise (Bargain, for instance). Highest successful roll, Pendragon-style. This is great when the conflict has to resolve, right now.

Correct (although you can make multiple melee attacks in other ways, such as splitting, two-weapon fighting or extra natural weapons).

IIRC, one of the HQ era books had the Lodril Plow as this enormous thing with a huge crew (but then it also had eight oxen for the Barntar plow, which even remains in the Guide but should reasonably be considered an error). The Guide had none of that.

My point was rather that you don't pay wergild unless you have a good reason to. Avoiding excessive feuding, not pissing off the tribal king or the Lunars, and so on, can certainly be good reasons. But it's also credible that one clan can shrug off demands for wergild from another by just saying "you want revenge, come get it like men!" This becomes likelier yet when they don't have a joint superior, like a king (note how this lack additionally makes it trickier to resolve a feud, as seen in HQ Sartar books).

With severed Humakti, this is why they need Sense Assassin. Yes, you can kill more or less freely, but you can also be killed more or less freely, and even a Humakti can get bushwhacked (or could, without the skill).

Successfully navigating a difficult hospitality situation. Gaining revenge. Participating in a proper duel, even if you lose.

It’s crazy that Intimidate isn’t a cult skill for them (although at least they gain a chargen bonus). I would imagine they rely a fair bit on Divination, which will work particularly well as it’s BGs domain to seek these offenders out. I don’t see Secret Murder as one of their core areas, though.

The core of an honor society is this: There is no central authority to enforce Rule of Law. Therefore, people would be free to steal and kill without consequence unless something is done about it. You can only protect against it to a limited extent (it's going to be somewhere between very hard and impossible to look after all your sheep all the time, for instance). But what you can do, is to credibly threaten retribution. If whoever considers stealing a sheep, or killing your uncle, considers you and your kin very likely to exact revenge, they should at least think twice before doing it. Of course, the problem is that they still might do it - they might not believe you have the will and means to exact revenge, or they may think it's still worth it. Now, you have two options - exact the promised revenge, or let it go. The problem is that if you let it go, you have now presented yourself to everyone as a readily available victim - after all, that threat of retribution has proven empty. This is what "loss of honor" fundamentally means. And it's really bad, not just for you, but also for your kin, who may feel that your failure to get revenge taints them as well. So you go and kill someone in the offender's clan to secure your honor. Perhaps even enhance it - after all, afterwards your ability to get revenge is no longer merely theoretical. Of course, now they are in the exact same situation, and it doesn't matter if the original offender was an asshat who had it coming - their honor will still take a huge hit if they leave the killing unavenged. It's almost immaterial what they think of the original offender - fundamentally, the revenge isn't about that guy, it's about them and how others regard their capital of violence. Rinse and repeat. The problem with this, of course, is that it means a feud that will either be unending or only stop when one side is wiped out completely. This is where wergild comes in. Instead of yet another killing, you accept monetary (or cattletary) compensation for the victim (this is why the wergild has to be commensurate with his or her value to the clan). This serves the same kind of purpose - it proves that people can't kill your kin freely. Yes, perhaps it's a bit less impressive than a revenge killing, and perhaps the chief actually have to tell people that this is the way it's going to be for the good of the clan, but ultimately, it serves the same kind of purpose, and it's at least possible to keep the violence down a bit (although it might not work - compare the Icelandic saga where the same purse of silver is passed back and forth as the killings continue and wergild is paid). As societal organization increases, kings might use their threat of force to get entire clans to settle a feud, backing up the judgement with the larger capital of violence. Perhaps eventually, after a looong time, this might mutate into Rule of Law, where it's the state that wields its monopoly of violence for retribution instead of individuals and clans. So back the question. People in an honor society can't just say "that guy had it coming, no need for wergild" - this damages their honor and opens them up to victimization. Even if they genuinely believe he had it coming and wish they didn't have to go through the hassle. What it might do is make them more amenable to just wergild and not revenge killings (because honestly, do we really need a feud over that guy?). And this means that the other clan can't just say "we're not going to pay wergild for that asshat", because the clan will feel the pressure to get revenge even if they didn't care one bit about said asshat. Is this a good system? Compared to no system at all, it probably is. Compared to a modern Rule of Law? Hell no! But you need a certain threshold of social organization and centralized power in order to fully enact Rule of Law, and most Gloranthan societies just don't have it. And there's just no way to get out of the honor system in the short or medium duration, because as long as your perceived honor is the primary force of deterrence, it's going to have severe consequences if you stop playing by the rules. The honor system traps people in it. With a duel, though, this doesn't necessarily have to happen, it all depends on the exact social codes. For instance, unlike with murder, both parties go in to it knowingly and (more or less) willingly. It's easy to picture either the situation where wergild is still demanded and expected, or a situation (made easier by formal structures and witnesses) where the form of the duel and/or the oaths of both parties state that regardless of outcome, wergild is off the table. Of course, in the latter the kin of the killed party could still decide they want to make a mess of things and demand wergild or vengeance (because violence is always an option), but at least they might not be under actual pressure to do so if their honor isn't considered at stake. (BTW, this whole thing is also why it's a massive deal to not accept a duel - clearly you're not ready to stand up for yourself. The risk of death might well be preferable.)

I think you're coming about this in the wrong way. It's not about who was in the right, culpability, sin, or anything like that - it's about how one clan lost a (hopefully) productive member and demands recompense, or else. We can sharpen the example even further. A tries to bushwhack and kill B for some stupid reason. B manages to kill A in self-defence. At this point, B is exactly as much on the hook for wergild for killing A as A would have been for successfully killing B. That B acted in self-defence, had no real choice in the matter, and so on, has no bearing whatsoever on the issue of wergild. What matters is that someone got killed. (Although one difference is that B:s chief is far less likely to grumble about paying than A:s might have been. One of the tragedies of the system is that even if A:s kin are well aware he was an idiot who had it coming, they still have to uphold honor.)

In some places (not Dragon Pass), Lightning specifically is a bit restricted, as it belongs to a/the Four Weapons subcult, and not everyone gets in there. This would be an easy way to somewhat limit lightning. It’s kinda fascinating that among Orlanth worshipers, even the average Vargast doing farming or herding might break out a pretty lethal Thunderbolt or 3-point Lightning if provoked or attacked.

But I agree, we often say "Telmori become wolves on Wildday", but both the quotes indicates it's only for the duration of the Wildday night. This certainly matters.

Who the hell knows how it's done in Dorastor (not sure time even always flows properly there), but I would imagine that that Talastarings have the Dragon Pass system, having picked it up from Theyalan missionaries if nothing else.