jeffjerwin

It bears a remarkable resemblance to our world map, and/or cartography of the Earth from the 15th century. The main deviation is the area around the Spike, Pamaltela closely resembles Africa, and Abzered Asia.

On the other hand, every knight at the table having the same personality traits is a decidedly uninteresting game. That Valorous story is fun, and also something that happens in the stories themselves. I'm not all that fond of point-buy and static systems, because the story needs to include some diverse personalities. Perhaps there's a 'middle way' that could generate surprises, without being completely random?

The standard method is the safe method: you won't end up with an incompetent unable to qualify for knighthood (I'm paraphrasing Greg here) which could easily happen as well in KAP 1.0. It's obvious that (meta-fictionally) whoever rolled up many of the main characters used dice. For Uther's reign and the Anarchy it's very important that PCs be competent warriors. For Arthur's reign, it's important that PCs be dynamic and interesting courtiers, knights errants, etc. Of course, they gain benefits from their father and/or mother to make them so.

Feel better! But I agree, this is an interesting thread.

Gareth, Lancelot, and Tristram are between the ages of 16 to 17 when they defeat or kill powerful, veteran knights. Lancelot, of course, fights multiple knights at once. Gareth (and his close analogues Erec and the Bel Inconnu) fights a series of increasingly more formidable opponents, with hardly any chance to recover from wounds. While I don't suggest using Lancelot's starting abilities, Gareth and his type are the very model of second-string Round Table knights (or future Round Table knights, really), and they all possess toughness, significant skill, and pronounced positive personality traits (Valorous, Energetic, etc. at 16+). Well, you may say, that is because they are the hero of the story. Well, then, what are the PCs? These kind of characters aren't immortal, but they tend to be killed by treachery or impossible odds, rather than by the dice alone. So I think PCs should be heroic from the start, kind of like in RQ:G. Edit: this is particularly true for the second generation of PCs, born early in Arthur's reign or during the Anarchy.

That's a reasonable reaction if you want to give the campaign a 'grounded feel'. However, KAP is predominately about being a hero of the Round Table, which is not a 'grounded' sort of story. The game ought to support both approaches, and I think Greg, based on my conversations with him, intended for there to be a more than one option; there was discussion of different character generation methods based on group expectations.

More potent starting knights may reflect the literature more than 'realism' - the generic Arthurian literature has squires and newly knighted youths accomplishing great deeds: think of Tristram, Lancelot, and Gareth (and Gawaine in some versions). This sort of story would be impossible if a few 16s and 15s aren't on a character sheet from the start. KAP has leaned more toward making the PCs major figures in the Round Table (displacing more obscure characters) rather than being bystanders, as the editions roll along. Non-PC knights and ladies presumably do not have so generous a starting assortment of abilities.

There are animals with an INT stat in the non-spirit/mundane world in Glorantha. Not merely awakened animals, but also magical ones. These are likely to become spirits after death. Also, before the Storm Age, and definitely in the Green Age, there was no difference in INT between animals and humans, and many spirits originate from that time.

The entirety of Lunar culture is an artificial synthesis. I mean that in the best possible way, but it borrows from everyone: Kralori tea, Dara Happan beards, Carmanian sorcery, even from the Orlanthi of the south, I'm sure, there are at least fashionable barbarisms to be had beyond simply gladiatorial styles.

I like it too - it makes sense with the notion of Free INT in RQ (at least for me) - I mean, it is through the 'storing' and inner-eye visualisation of hermetic symbols and patterns that, for instance, that Giordano Bruno perceived the will acting on the universe (and, of course we see elements in this in the Golden Dawn, and through them to modern Chaos Magick).

I always imagined the Heortling 'stick-pickers' as charcoal burners... it's a similar activity and similar (very low) social status as it was in at least medieval times.

In fact, it would be kind of unusual to not belong to one of these as well. It would be a little like being a Yinkin initiate without an Orlanth or Odayla initiation on the side.

It was Stewart Weick's idea (I seem to recall Greg mentioning this to me). If you look on p.2 there's an explanation. I think it isn't entirely representative of the game. My favorite is the one on the 1st edition box, though I also like the 1st edition cover to the Kerr's Companion. The helmed tourney knight of the 5.2 edition is kind of distancing. Maybe that's the point: Arthur became increasingly flawed in later editions.

And given that Hon-Eel 'proved' that She Who Waits was Ernalda, or more broadly, the Earth itself, perhaps we ought to note the unclearness of the boundaries between Ernalda and Dendara, sisters, and co-wives, of Yelm/Brightface? We may also note that the Moon was birthed from the Earth... And that Entekos is called 'Mother of Moons'.

I have a sense from my reading that the Sourcebook is more-or-less a Kethaelan/Manirian document (in fact, a lot of the art is Esrolian), and the scribes of Nochet are more likely to be familiar more with the well known Teshnan deity Tolat than with Shargash, whose cult is limited to weird Pelorian traditionalists who are deeply insular. There is a Teshnan community _in_ Nochet, but there really isn't an Alkothi one.

Well, Vingkot _did_ marry one of Tada's daughters.

Devoted followers of Shargash can in fact be reborn as demons after death, was the impression I had. Similar to how Orlanthi heroes can become Thunder Brothers...

Jeff Richard has confirmed that Waha is the Orlanthi god of butchers, I think (he may be able to confirm). He's the son of Urox/Storm Bull, after all, and Orlanth's nephew.

This seems like the sort of thing a Disorder or Hunger spirit might do if it is defeated.

Isn't skinning an aspect of butchery? And thus a sub cult of Waha or whatever the Orlanthi call him?

Iron. Trolls won't eat iron, which is why you need a can opener to eat a dwarf.

Zorak Zoran is the only troll deity to master fire. Xiola Umbar is part of the myth when ZZ discovers part of Yelm's soul in the Underworld.

Her temples are often called Loom Houses...

Asking a cat to share their secrets is a pretty pointless endeavor. They do so only at their own initiative. Though it was Alusar who knew that Yelm entered the Underworld by the Western Gate. http://glorantha.wikia.com/wiki/Alusar The fact that he told Orlanth may be a story in itself: no doubt Orlanth asked everyone, but forgot about the little black cat sleeping in Ernalda's basket.

I suppose I have to take into account that the king of the Durulz, according to Sartar:KoH in the early 1420s was Good King Stoutgild, who was secretly coerced by Delecti along with his Hoarfoot Clan into betraying Indrodar Greydog at the Howling Tower (see page 319). The King or Queen who succeeded him (though there may be a short reign in between) is probably ruling in the 1440s/50s, and as I indicated above, I'm going to go with Brackblood, a handsome drake and initiate of Orlanth Niskis. Edit: you are already know all this, having written that excellent article in Hearts in Glorantha. Anyway, Brackblood is no doubt not a Hoarfoot and part of some rival clan, which benefited from Stoutgild's decline and death in 1429.