Akhôrahil

I trace SR for SR during the round, so it will depend on speed, positioning and action selection. This is not Rules As Written, though. One of the best ways of managing this is that you declare that you're protecting someone during Statement of Intent, in which case you don't have to fiddle with changing your SoI in order to intercept. (Similarly, our healer likes to declare "I will heal people if and when they need it".)

Meanwhile, I find RQG:s subcults a bit weaksauce - pick up as many as you like without even any cost to it. Gotta catch 'em all? (Hopefully, the Cults book will introduce complications or costs to doing this.)

Yes of course, but it illustrates that ditching your shield when you run away is standard. You probably leave any metal leg greaves at home as well, because I cannot imagine that running in them is much fun. And considering that a medium wooden shield costs 60% of the value of a cow (!!), tossing several of them during a retreat makes a significant economic impact on the raid.

We should distinguish between cattle raids and other raids here, too. The non-cattle kind will tend to be nastier, bloodier and a far bigger deal, and the War clan will definitely do more of that.

The problem with a shield is that it's big, bulky and heavy, and would get tossed if you have to run away (hence "come back with your shield or on it"). So I can see the argument - if you get caught out on a cattle raid, you have to run.

How often do you think an typical clan cattle raids? About once yearly in Fire Season? (You would be subjected to a cattle raid about as often, for symmetry reasons.)

-20 in HW due to Misapplied Worship, i.e. using the wrong kind of magical system to approach an entity. Like Aeolians trying to approach Orlanth through sorcery. Very few people think it was a good idea these days.

I think this is how we're supposed to think of Tarumath?

Right. Just because you could do anything - "everything is permitted" or perhaps "do as thou wilt" - doesn't mean you should. But any moral restrictions to your actions are now completely up to you, personally, in an existentialist kind of way. A Humakti who gets Illuminated is not forced to adhere to Humakti rules any longer, but can still decide to, possibly even doubling down on them. Aware that they are in a sense arbitrary, but still committing.

I sometimes imagine Brithini immortality as a successful (for a value of "successful") denial of the Man rune, but this has a bunch of issues to it and probably doesn't actually work. Perhaps a denial of the change to the Man rune introduced by the killing of Grandfather Mortal instead? Replacing parts of the Man rune with the Law rune? A Law-based caste system is clearly related to immortality in Glorantha, as Dwarves do the same thing and with the same consequences for failure (or in the case of dwarves, "failure").

The large focus on Nysalorean Illumination with its frequent outcome of "nothing is true, everything is permitted" seems like short-changing the mystical tradition as well. No-one would do Kabbalah and then suddenly realize that no divine laws apply to them any longer.

I'm sure it can be really scary though - not just the cold, but trolls and ice demons abroad.

I think this definition is a little restrictive. There are Christian and Muslim mystics as well, who often don't practice ascetism (at least not a very strong one - excess should typically be avoided). There's an ecstatic aspect to it that is almost universal, though, as in Sufi whirling. The idea is to achieve direct contact with an otherwise inaccessible Ultimate, whatever that is pictured as being (God for Christians, unsurprisingly). So an Old Wind Orlanthi mystic might seek to achieve a direct connection with Transcendent Orlanth (painting himself blue, breathing in a controlled manner, and reciting the Laws of Umath and Orlanth). * This was an idea I had for such an Orlanthi mantra recitation: No-one can make you do anything. No-one can make you do anything. No-one can make you do anything. No-one can make you do anything. No-one can make you do anything. No-one can make you do anything. No-one can make you do anything. No-one can make you do anything. [repeat]

Winter pelts would be one simple reason. Moose can be easier to hunt in snow (they’re not nearly as good at running in it). Just doing something instead of just sitting in the hut. My Odaylan hunters sleep a lot in winter, though.

Winter hunting could be another.

There may be a gameplay bias here as well - I would imagine there are cattle raids that just go nice and smooth from beginning to end, but those aren’t the ones the PCs run into during play...

What could possibly go wrong?

Barbarian Adventures has the following stations for a cattle raid (I believe this is far and away the most detailed description anywhere, it's four pages): Gathering the Band. And to answer the question about the leader, yes: "The first thing a raiding band needs is a leader, usually an aspiring warrior. A typical raiding party is about a dozen men." Getting Permission: "Such a permission is not strictly required, but any responsible clansman tries to get approval ... Since raiding is expected of young Orlanthi, seeking permission is usually a formality" Preparations and Sacrifice. Sacrifice to Finovan. The Stealthy Approach Stealing the Herd Retreat and Ambush A Hero's Reward. Give all the stuff to the chieftain. "Since generosity is an Orlanthi virtue, the chieftain should return much of of the cattle and loot to the band—favoring the brave and bold first. Even the youngest raiders should receive something if they acquitted themselves well. A feast in honor of the raiders is essential!" (I would note that since the chieftain wasn't there, boasting is critical here.) It also includes a whole slew of possible complications to make it into a full adventure. Great stuff! The Blood Feud part by Ian Cooper is even better. Very underrated book, IMO.

If I were an Orlanthi, I would like to invent a Taser spell, because man, it sucks to kill people! My players decided that since killing just three opponents would be more expensive than all the cattle were worth, and that was assuming they won, they went full orate and animal lore instead, rolling really well too.

I'm also using various fraught encounters (Cattle Raid from the GM pack was another) between the PC clan and another one to slowly build towards a feud.

"No-one can make me not do anything!" And hey, you can always ask. What's the worst thing that could happen, that he says no?

It's wise to get one from the chief, but strictly speaking, you don't have to. Expect him to be annoyed and definitely not have your back if you screw up. You give it all to the chief, who is expected to return much of it as gifts. Again, one of the advantages of not annoying him. Wergild or feud, yes. Something has gone seriously wrong if a shepherd has died. I'm currently GM:ing the scenario from the quickstart, and there will be so much legal fallout from it that the scenario doesn't discuss.

That gods can be several things at once is part of their nature, even. Orlanth wielding Yelmalio is an interesting theological situation.

It’s the perfect tablet game, that had the misfortune of preceeding tablets.

This should be easy to check factually - both weight and a 2d6+6 roll are normal distributed, so all that’s necessary is to see if the weights given in the table are the ones you would expect from actual normal distribution of weight (with the caveat that we as modern people are very likely more overweight than Gloranthans).