jeffjerwin

In the Book of Heortling Mythology there is an Orlanthi depiction of Dara Happan gate rituals: 

"Orlanth was the most thoughtful of his siblings, and wanted recognition of his place in the world from the Emperor. More – he wanted his place in the world to be equal to the Emperor’s. So he traveled to the Emperor’s palace, but was rebuffed at the gate. He tried again but the door was shut in his face. He tried once more and was thrown out by the Emperor’s guards. Angry, he smashed open the gate, blew down the door and threw the guards over the palace walls. He confronted the Emperor and demanded his place at the Emperor’s side. The Emperor merely shrugged and turned away. Orlanth challenged him to the Three Tests, which the Emperor could not ignore. The 294 Judges were assembled and the young upstart pitted his powers against the Emperor of the Universe."

Obviously the position of the Emperor's Porter is important here, and it is they who mediates access to the inner part of the palace: it's a little like the Butler in 19th century society. Thus there's probably a ritual confrontation at the threshold and Orlanth's behavior is the very definition of impoliteness. Also, the Heortling greeting is obviously going to get no reaction. Orlanth was probably left waiting while they figured out who was lowly enough to interact with the stranger. There was apparently no one of the right status. Who was Yelm's porter?

1 hour ago, Puckohue said:

According to Sartar : kingdom of heroes, the Vingan high holy day is in Earth Season the day the first Defender Storm blows.

What week does this usually happen, and what exactly is the defender storm?

Isn't it bothersome to go around waiting and then one day suddenly discover that today is your deity's high holy day? What if you are half way to Runegate to buy a dress for your niece? Are you supposed to keep your calendar agenda empty for all of Earth Season?

I suspect that Rune Lords and Rune Priests of Orlanth/Vinga, given how they were described in RQ2, can predict the weather some time in advance.

3 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

 

Interesting that these Darkness deities, supposedly remnants of an age preceding sexual dichotomy are so clearly sex-identified in modern Troll religion. An innovation that happened after they emerged from Wonderhome, perhaps? Did something happen to Kyger the moment she stepped on Gata's upperside, or is this mono-sexual identity another "wound" from Chaos as with Heler?

Interesting stuff, nonetheless.

Darkness does still contain gender-fluidity, as we can see in Varzor Kitor.

2 hours ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

That is the problem though. They are some of the few npcs that can fuck shit up on that level but with the RAW over 100 rules they would put the whole rest of the party through a meat grinder. Without subtracting percentiles over 100 at least the less skilled party members can parry a couple times. 

Truthfully, avoiding melee combat with Humakti seems like a decent survival strategy. Of course Humakti are not immune to missile weapons (there's only so much Parry can do), nor are they immune to Sunspear, nasty Sorcery spells, or Mindblast, etc. In fact, RQ even in earlier editions was much more survivable if everyone learned how to shoot a bow (particularly against Chaos and Trolls).

From what I've seen of real European sword fighting, a skilled master can make short shift of a less skilled person, and the results are rarely in doubt - except versus multiple opponents, or when there's some serious disadvantage to the master. In skirmishes and battles, no doubt the strategy with Humakti is to isolate and overwhelm them, probably aided by magic.

1 hour ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

There are a couple situations I have found in combat where stuff just gets weird and un-fun with the RAW skills over 100 rule. 

 

My starting Humakti had 100 to hit. With a bladesharp 4 he got to 120, with a simple success at inspiration/augmentation he is at 140. Still fairly reasonable, opponents are -40% to hit him and to parry most if the time.

This same character got ahold of just a 12 point mpm and then used his MP + the MPM to cast a Sword Trance with 15 MP in it. This put him at 290 to Hit and to Parry. Every opponent he faces would be -190 to hit and to Parry. Combined with Truesword and Bladesharp 4, he is hitting for 4d8+4+1d6 with his greatswords. He still only crits on 5 or less and specials on 20 or less. He wades through anyone with less than 200 skill. It's probably just me and the way our group plays but, this quickly led to the battles all feeling like The Humakti Show, lol. Basically the only tool the gm has to throw at me is some other dude that if he happens to get lucky and ruin me, he then decimates the whole party with no chance to resist. Then there is the whole reduction of crit and special, which to me having grown up RQ3ing with pretty epic characters, just leaves me feeling like I never advance at all. I may be winning more but, the satisfaction of a crit or special success is awesome. 

 

That's just my two sense about the whole Skills over 100 thing. 

It sounds like this PC needs to meet a properly kitted out Yarnfil Tarnils Rune Lord, or be challenged by another Humakti to a formal duel.

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

Thanks for those.

By the way, I have added unnamed ruins from the official map, in a very rough way. It helps make certain things not stand out as much.

Where is Iffinbix? any theories...?

Orane got the necklace at the Feyghost River, which is not (now) a particularly safe place - it lies between Beast Valley and a Dragonewt City.

Reminds me of the story of the Brisingamen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brísingamen and the Nauglamir in the Silmarillion.

3 hours ago, drablak said:

@Pentallion thanks for the feedback, I will certainly look into it. I see it is for HQ, is It hard to translate into RQG?

HQ is extremely rules-light in its setting and campaign books. The work will be in making RQ stats, which are pretty easy to extrapolate. My practice with HQ > RQ (or any other system) is just to borrow an NPCs stats that mostly fits from some other published material. The GM Pack, for instance, or RuneMasters, or many other sources... Minor characters can be hand waved as 30% (apprentice), 60% journeyman, 90% master or some such for relevant skills.

3 hours ago, womble said:

The description of Cwim in the Bestiary gives it 3 arms and 3 claws. So it does 'kinda' have 2 and an extra. Though the hit location table refers to each body having a left and a right arm... So maybe it doesn't. Or maybe "It's Chaos, innit?"

Also, the battle has a lot (like 25% because it's a +5 to a D20 roll unless you're Lunar Tarsh, and the result comes up on a 20+) of the PCs who survive driven mad by Lunar demons, so Cwim was backed up by some serious 'sendings', which might actually have decreased the casualties Cwim inflicted...

I am also interested in what "demon that had many sharp mouths" was "let out of its skin" to do for Broyan and company.

The latter demon was actually a Darkness/Hell spirit that the Kitori sent after him. Clearly not chaos. Its remit was to punish those who didn't pay the Shadow Tribute. 

It's really a sketch of different hero quests. More useful for writing an adventure based on them than anything else. It doesn't provide a functional system for running them, but does give a sparse sense of what components a hero quest ought to have.

2 hours ago, Ultor said:

 

Animate [Substance] - Combine Movement [Element]

This spell imbues an inanimate object with the ability to move. The wizard can animate a volume in SIZ equal to the Strength of the spell (or cubic meters in the case of insubstantial elements). Default movement rate is 1, but that can be increased by devoting extra MPs on a one-for-one basis.The animated substance can produce “limbs” that can perform skills at half the rating of the magician. Damage is calculated according to twice the SIZ of the substance. This spell requires extreme concentration, meaning an INTx1 roll is needed if the caster is damaged.

 

Ah, the Sorcerer's Apprentice spell...

I posted this on the facebook thread but the DenegEria myth [daughter of Lodril and Oria ~ Voria] in Entekosiad shows signs of being about menstruation being the result of the Third Error, of bringing Death into the world.

I also intuit that the Moon and menstruation are connected, for the following reasons:

1. Spelelkirt means 'Poison Blood', which may indeed contain a root Kor/Gor ~ Kirt relating to blood and earth. 'Unclean Blood' sounds a lot like male fears of menses. The Cyclical pattern is also suggestive.

2. Natha, the blood moon goddess is clearly connected to shedding blood and 'balance'/purging.

3. Hon-Eel. Red-headed fertility goddess who fertilizes the soil with blood.

The whole mystery of the Red Goddess, the Turner, Sedenya, smacks of Pelorian women's mysteries that are ignored/suppressed by the Dara Happans. I suspect that the DH would have enforced menses-based taboos, as do many real cultures, and the resulting isolation of women's magic would be an ideal focus for understanding menses as an abeyant power, perhaps even the power to make life without Men.

Among the Earth gods of Kerofinela, of course, we see the Kor/Gor motif of holy bloodshed, one marking 'not motherhood', but that capacity, again deferred, in abeyance.

I personally very much like the idea of inscriptions because of the RW techniques of mandalas and magic seals. I see them as the same thing. They focus the buried 'imago' of the spell in the mind's eye, where it has been lodged in the Memory Palace.

A compromise could be made where a spell is learned through an inscription (i.e., a grimoire page), perhaps?

Perhaps there's an undescribed form of Sorcery where the medieval 'recipe' style is used, but not memorized. I don't know. But a grimoire in real life is a lot like a cookbook.

There's reference to the King of Tarsh, Orios, failing to get an augury prior to raiding the Empire and ending up in Tork in the Sourcebook, p.16. The implicit criticism that all good leaders take the time to do so.

2 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

Finally they will become Illuminated and realize they can no more define and categorize Gloranthan myths than they could actual Greek mythology (as it is apparent in the ancient sources, not the GL constructs we usually read) and realize it doesn't matter.

When I was young I discovered Graves' summaries of Greek mythology, with all its variations and so-called contradictions, and I was very happy.

12 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

The theists of Genertela HAVE to have some kind of term of abuse for the Malkioni, what with their monotheism and claims of invisibility and all. I can't come up with something catchy, though.

I always assumed 'meldek' was a term of abuse.

Orlanthi > 'Windbags'

Argan Argar cultists > 'Rats'

12 minutes ago, Manu said:

I don't totally agree. Orlanth, Storm Bull, ... are cult that were described many time as the creator of the game considered that they would be the nice cult to play. It is a designer choice to give the nice fun spell to these cult, and nothing to the others. And with the time, they justify this with Myth, Culture and a lot of game material.

Why is Art, Dance, Entertainment less important? When a troup comes to a village, the whole village comes and sing, laugh, ... This is a lot of people for the 'worshiping'. Maybe even more than in the Orlanth Temple (where there is manly the males) or in the Ernalda temple (where they are all female).

 

My point is : Why  should a small cult (i.e. a non described cult by the authors since decades) be less fun to play than the big ones? I don't see that as minimaxing, but more as 'I want to play this and it should be fun...', and being fun also come with basic spell as extension or Heal wound.

But I know the answer : YGMV (but I like to read others opinions as it feeds mine and in the end, I find a way to have fun with my players

Donandar troupes aren't warriors. In fact the Puppeteers appear to be pacifists (and thus Heal Wound is hardly as important). In a troupe, there will be lots of different jobs, and a number of people initiated into a variety of cults. The Donandar cult itself appears to be a mystery cult reserved for traveling entertainers or urban ones. This is sort of how Lambril works among urban thieves.

Here is how the Puppeteer Troupe in my game is structured:

Troupe co-leaders: Issaries/Donandar initiate; Eurmal/Donandar initiate

Troupe chief puppeteer: Ernalda Skovara/Donandar initiate

Troupe musicians: Hombobobom shaman, Orlanth Drogarsi piper

etc.

There's always someone in the troupe who knows the spells required. A wandering, solitary musician/minstrel might be an initiate of Donandar, but combining that with Orlanth will improve dramatically their survivability. So the choice of god depends in part on how 'go-it-alone' one is.

1 minute ago, Manu said:

In the Donandar discussion, I asked why Donandar cultist didn't have access to all the common rune spells. And someone told me that everyone is anyway initiated of Orlanth, hence have access to all common rune spells.

But it seems that it is far easier to give common rune spell to all cults (because I still don't get why some cults don't have access to them, except maybe subcults). Otherwise, it doesn't motivate players to play some 'exotic' gods. (small gods)

I suspect what is going on here is that most entertainers start out belonging to a smaller subcult like Orlanth Drogarsi or Ernalda Skovara. Initiation from the start into Donandar would imply birth (or running away as a child to join) into a traveling performer group.When you asked about a skald, who remains a part of their clan and tribe, then they are more likely to initiate to Orlanth (first). They may never initiate to Donandar. Note that skalds are significantly more higher status among Heortlings than 'jugglers' and 'actors'.

There may be an exception as well for urban entertainers, where Donandar alone might be joined. 

I can help but think that the Hunting and Waltzing Bands started out with a pantomime dancing dragon, like the ones used for the Heler rites, or in our world, for Chinese New Year festivals, and/or the Dragon and George festivities in England and elsewhere.

By some bizarre deviation, the ritual combat when differently...

On 11/29/2018 at 1:06 AM, davecake said:

I'd rather see a less God Learnery approach, and have details about gods (and variations to major gods, such as local sub-cults and heroes) for the major areas of play. Throw the Dara Happans and the Lunars in together, so you can run a campaign in Peloria. Put Veskarthan and the Aeolians and the Only Old One together with the sub-cults of Ernalda for a holy country game. 

This would also be my preference. It's more useful and allows one to include cultural information in the book as well. Cults don't exist in a vacuum.

57 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

First off, there's a place called Helerela. I assume this is after they joined the Vingkotlings as the third Orlanthi tribe? "Helerela" is an interesting name, as it is a territory-name after a water deity. I suppose it's not completely unprecedented (We have a land named after a storm deity, Umathela, in Time), it's just interesting, as it's usually the Earth godesses that get that honor, or associated entitied (Genert, Pamalt, Vith, possibly Lodril as well). If they truly were ancestral to the Entruli (although I suspect that there's a good deal of Mraloti Hsunchen in them too), how did they transit from a blue-skinned boat-storm people to pig-farmers and woodsmen? I'm not saying it's hard to explain, I'm just interested in the actual, literal process. Sheep are sacred to Heler, wonder why they're so associated with pigs and not shepherding? Maybe Entru/Entra just took better care of them in the Darkness. Or the Green Elves of Arstola for that matter.
 

Heler is sometimes also a goddess...

4 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Good catch!

The climates are going to somewhat different, I suppose, and I'm still not sure what it's supposed to mean, if anything.

I have no idea either. A similar thing happened in Tolkien's universe as well, though there he meant Middle-earth to be our world in an imaginary past. Here, there rationale is unclear, though I can't think its completely accidental; maybe it's subconscious.

And here is the De La Costa map, in outline, from c.1500:

This one is very very similar.

Here are some our world's late medieval maps for comparison...