Richard S.

Damnit, I told those God Learners to leave uncle beaver alone!

If we're talking middle earth magic, it is true that many men under Sauron did learn sorcery and other black arts, as shown by the Mouth. We also know that the elves had a great deal of magic, which we see very distinctly used by the wood elves in the Hobbit, and the Dwarves could make items that were so wonderful that they must've been magic of a kind. Gandalf also references words of power or something like that when they're trying to enter Moria, so those could be another form of magic. On the whole, though, save for sorcery which is portrayed as universally evil, magic in Middle Earth is more of an innate talent than book-learned spells, and is also far more subtle than the flashy fireballs and lightning spells we're used to from other fantasy.

Wouldn't Firespear do pretty much the same thing as casting Heat Metal on your spear but without the danger of melting it? I don't see the reason for using Heat Metal in that case.

I'd assume any Hsunchen or other shapeshifter could potentially be infected with the same Chaos magics Nyaslor used to empower the Telmori of Dragon Pass. I'm doubtful such powers would be known outside of Chaos strongholds like Dorastor though.

Since Ginna Jar is sometimes referred to as the Lightbringer's Wyter, then anyone who worships the clan Wyter could probably work. Another possibility would be for the position to be taken by the clan chief - the high priest of the Wyter - though then you'd have to have someone who isn't the chief fill in for the Orlanth role which could cause trouble.

48 minutes ago, RogerDee said:

There were some mysticism rules in a RQ supplement-

This draws power into the world by establishing a connection of inexpressible awareness between individual and cosmos. Although it can wreathe a martial artist’s fist in devouring fire or guide an arrow to an impossible target, true masters of mysticism claim that these worldly effects are a by-product, or stepping stone, to the true goal of personal transformation. Worse, they may be a trap, a test to see who is truly capable of separating himself from material distractions. That said, many mystics are perfectly content to stop at the fiery fists and inerrant arrows. Mystic techniques have been established by great yogis or seers of the past but they are cryptic and puzzling. The practitioner must use them as tools in an individualised inner quest, to find the truth hidden between the lines.

 Although I cannot remember which one...

I believe that was a quote from the MRQ Glorantha: the Second Age book.

2 hours ago, The God Learner said:

There has been some regression from AD&D version 1 in that case. At that time, magic-users needed to keep an actual spellbook with their available spells inscribed. These spells had to be collected from scrolls and whatnot, so there was no guarantee that everyone and their totally legit hellhound familiar had fireball. I do believe there was a substantial GP cost to inscribe a new spell too. And speaking of fireball, woe betide you if your spellbook was destroyed.

You still have to use a spellbook in 5e, at least if you're a wizard. It's 100 GP per level of the spell to inscribe it I believe.

>be me

>loyal cult spirit

>been waiting for some actual work since the golden age

>finally get summoned

>duckyes.papyrus

>ready to use my awesome powers

>some motherducking naked dude with a llama attacks me

>helpimbeingmugged.papyrus

>he takes my cool portable redsmith shop

>go back to my shitty sprit home

>complain to Issaries about getting mugged

>mfw he doesn't care

>fml.papyrus

I'd advise getting the Glorantha Classics versions. The old ones are neat and all but you get more bang for your buck with the GC versions, since they compile a bunch of related material in a single book. Pretty much the only reason to get the originals is nostalgia.

IMG, using dinosaurs in any fashion is incredibly rare, both due to the resources and the difficulty in domesticating them. Even Maran Gorites barely use them, and when they do it's nearly always as shock units. The event in KoDP is, in my opinion, the type of thing that would go down in Dragon Pass history as a major and unique event. Personally, I also think some tribes could have a stigma against using them, due to the draconic connection, and speaking of that I believe the dragonewts do have herds of triceratops war mounts, though I don't think they practice agriculture so they have no need of triceratops herd beasts.

YGMV though. Your ideas sound cool, they just aren't my cup of tea.

14 hours ago, metcalph said:

IMO when practiced by a human, Dragon Magic would look more conventional in terms of mechanics (Rune Magic primarily but other types are plausible).  A human studying Dragon Magic would still be engaging in mysticism because the experiences he achieves would be mind-altering at the very least.

Lunar Magic would be another form a mystical magic but I have no knowledge of how it would be handled within RQG.

Rune spells based on the Dragonewt Rune is how I've run Dragon Magic, though the spells and RP aren't granted by a higher power. Gaining the Dragonewt Rune is the really mind altering part img, since you need your tongue and brain split to talk and think like a dragon. Possibly another way to approach it would be treating Dragon magic like innate powers similar to shamanic abilities, in which case you could directly use the spells given for the dragonewts without changing them into Rune spells.

I believe that they're planning to include Lunar magic in the Gamemaster Book. I think it's going to be based on RQ3's Lunar magic, though I can't remember where I heard that. In RQ3 it was pretty much just being able to apply sorcerous manipulations to spirit magic, right?

Magic World is traditional BRP, much closer to Runequest or Call of Cthulhu. In fact, it's very nearly just a rewrite of the old Stormbringer 5th edition. Openquest is "variant" BRP, based off the old Mongoose Runequest SRD. Both of them have free quickstarts if you'd like to take a closer look.

Looks neat. Wonder how it will compare to the official cult once GoG is released.

The toys to live thing was just for that one game, I doubt it'd be included in a Runequest game

Well we know that "-a" is the feminine suffix in Theyalan. If "alda" means "mother" than "ald" could be either "father" or just plain "parent'. Hm. If we assume "Ur" is "bull" then "Ura" could be "cow" (feminine bull), so by that logic Uralda should technically be Uraalda (Ura-Alda?).

The idea of "-io" beings diminutive seems like a bit of a slur against the Yelmalians, implying their god is lesser than Elmal (sun-man versus sun-man-diminished).

I know next to nothing about languages and linguistics but these types of discussions are fascinating.

11 minutes ago, Julian Lord said:

I always assume that *everything* in Glorantha inevitably contains a trace of Chaos.

As for the World Machine, that's how and why it broke in the first place.

Well that's the great flaw of the compromise isn't it? Time is a naturally entropic entity. Arachne Solara's web bound everything that was in the world, including chaos. I actually remember somewhere that the compromise couldn't exist without Chaos, since the non-chaotic world needed a common enemy to unite against.

36 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

We learn from Karius and Bactus (1949) that tooth decay is caused by miniature trolls living in your teeth.

This does not strike me as inherently unlikely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karius_and_Bactus

I was right! (Somewhat)

Ooh, ooh, another thought! Tooth decay is caused by little darkness spirits trying to eat up bits of food stuck to your teeth. Sometimes they can't find it so they go burrowing into the tooth itself looking for the food, leaving cavities where they've tunneled. Some Shamans know rituals to ward off these spirits, and followers of the spirit White Crest specialize in fighting tooth eaters.

Cast Heal 1 on teeth, problem solved. IMG, most minor health problems like bad teeth aren't a problem since most people know or know somebody who knows basic healing magic.

1 hour ago, Smudgster said:

I managed to purchase a preview edtion  of Gods of Glorantha at Gen Con, I was tempted to show just the front cover

but on the first page it read

Those who would reveal the secrets of this book:

May Humakt sever you from Life and death

May Maran Gor blast and wither your genitals

May Babeester Gor remove your limbs

And may Arachne Solara devour your soul and discharge it into the void

...thought better not 🙂

You fool! That was a secret of the book you just told us, now they'll be after you!

This is nearly as big as the guide you say? *looks fearfully at wallet*.

Edit: How big is this in comparison to the core rulebook? Word count wise.

In summary:

1 hour ago, Akhôrahil said:

Probably not bones - those would be metal.

Probably blood then, which makes sense since salt is crystalline. Probably weak sea gods too else all that salt would be magic crystals. Or maybe it's the secret third state of quicksilver/aluminum ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

5 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

So, rock salt, presumably mined in especially the interior regions of Glorantha? Where does it come from? Remnants of slain sea gods? Dried-out divine ichor from any old gods? No water or fluid relations at all, but a form of Earth (thanks, Asrelia!), especially given that it's crystalline? 

Bones/blood of dead sea gods maybe?

7 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

No, we certainly didn't, although we probably would have five to ten years back.  The thing I find so funny is that no one wants to have another 30 page debate about Stirrups in Glorantha have not problems with a longer thread about Swords in Genertela, where people debate even more details. Saddle minute isn't esoteric enough? Not specific enough to a region? Or just not as well illustrated? I mean we are all discussing minutiae about a fantasy world. What is the litmus test that determines  significant trivial details and insignificant ones?

Oh, and just so as not to give anybody the wrong idea, I love that thread about Sword in Central Genertela, and M. Helsodon's excellent work into the military details of the region. 

 

It's just funny the things we get up in arms over.

 

 

"They're natural enemies! Just like Glorantha fans and other Glorantha fans! Damn Glorantha fans, they ruined Glorantha!"

"You Glorantha fans sure are a contentious people."

"You've just made an enemy for life!"