Richard S.

The book burning/sacrificing thread got me thinking on what types of books exist in Glorantha, specifically novels. I know that in most of Glorantha literacy is very rare and so most of their entertainment is oral stories and plays, but in more civilized regions like the Lunar empire and Kralorela, where literacy is more widespread, I imagine reading could be another common form of entertainment. And if there are books produced purely for entertainment, would they be completely fictional or would they be retellings of popular myths and the like (or is there a difference)? On a related note, would knowledge cults like IO and LM collect and preserve works of fiction?

Most dragonewts eat regularly, like normal people, and many tailed priests have developed a reputation as gormets. I seem to remember an example of them using human skin leather, but most of their leatherwork is made from dinosaurs iirc (maybe dead dragonewt bodies too?). They likely make much of their material goods via singing or dreaming it into the proper shape, like they do with dragonbone, however they also probably have advanced knowledge of stone and wood working which lets them build some of the impossible architecture they're famous for. I think I may recall something on them using dragon eggshells for some buildings, but I can't remember a source so it's probably just something I made up. On the topic of dragonbone, I believe that dragonewt bone serves the purpose just as well so most dragonbone weapons are actually made of that. The high quality stuff, though, is real dragon bones mined or recovered from dead dragons.

18 minutes ago, soltakss said:

Ah, you are talking about the thing that looks as though it has a horse's head? I thought everyone was mentioning the big swirly thing in the background.

The figure in the cape could be a dragon, or dragonewt, I suppose.

Yeah, we were talking about the actor with the mask, sorry for the confusion!

38 minutes ago, soltakss said:

Is that a dragon? Looks more like a giant chicken on its nest.

It looks as though it was drawn to be ambiguous. 

If you look at it closely I think it's pretty clearly supposed to be a dragon. There's even scales detailed on the cape.

19 minutes ago, Oracle said:

By the way: Is there a way to emulate the concept of Feats available for a cult from HeroQuest Glorantha in RuneQuest - Roleplaying in Glorantha?

Rune Spells.

21 hours ago, soltakss said:

It's an interesting idea that the Golden Sun Dragon, or Dragon Emperor, was an EWF mystic who became a Dragon. I am not sure if that was the case, though. When it passed the Ten Tests, it is commented that it did so without having hands to do something and so on, if it had been an EWF Mystic, then it would have had hands and would have been able to fit the clothes. 

While technically non-canon, Dara Happa Stirs says the Sun Dragon is the human mystic Hurarbargarten who unlocked a dragon form through the Yelm Dragon cult and his elevation to the Eternal Dragon Ring. Interestingly, it also says that the Sun Dragon as embodied by Hurarbargarten isn't actually a True Dragon at all but is just the body of one still with the mind and soul of a human.

24 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

That seems to be the Red Dragon.

The Red Dragon was one of those present at the Dragonkill and presumably existed before as well, so I wonder how the association could exist without a red moon to speak of. Of course, it could be a pre-existing connection from the godtime or just an example of dragons ignoring boundaries like death or time. It also seems to me that dragons are largely antagonistic to at least the empire if not the moon itself, considering how they aided Argrath against it and also how the dragonewts in the first age initially tried to resist Nyaslor, who the moon undoubtedly is tied to, until he enslaved them.

59 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

The whole EWF period suggests a replacement of key elemental roles by various dragons, but this seems to be an echo of both God Time draconic roles and a precursor to the latest group of dragons associated with the elements (though the Golden Dragon is conspicuously missing, unless it is Godunya).

Stuff like this has always been curious to me, as a major part of the dragon path as practiced by the dragonewts (and presumably their human students in the EWF) was that elemental connections were something to be avoided at all costs, yet many true and ancestral dragons seem to be associated with if not rulers over certain elements (GSD with the Sun, Green Dragon with Earth, Aroka with water, etc.). My personal theory is that True and Ancestral dragons are close enough to Ouroboros that they can interact with the illusion/dream freely without losing themselves in it, and their bodies reflect a personal preference or self-inflicted duty rather than a true affinity.

5 hours ago, scott-martin said:

I think the absence of Ant among the mainstream gorakiki is a clue to a horrible mystery / scandal that the grandmothers wouldn't want me talking about. There are "ant hsunchen" but they aren't very nice.

Obviously they stole food from Kyger Litor's picnic.

In light of the recent solar threads, I was wondering where the Golden Sun Dragon fits into the whole mess. I know (or think I know) that it was an EWF mystic-turned-true-dragon (though not actually ascended, just physically transformed) who usurped the imperial family of Dara Happa and impossibly became the next emperor. I have also heard that it was the hidden draconic aspect of Yelm or Yelmalio, and was worshipped by both Dara Happans and Sun Domers under EWF control. Does it have any other importance beyond the EWF's time, or was it just a constructed god of theirs? Also, was it actually a god capable of providing Rune magic a la the gods its worship replaced, or was its cult just a path into the EWF's draconic mystic schools that didn't actually provide magic in-and-of itself?

6 minutes ago, womble said:

Actually bothering to consult the only source I have on Lodril for game mechanics (RQ3's Gods of Glorantha) suggests we're both wrong: he doesn't provide farming magic, but his Lowfire magic would be marginally useful (they'd still need to provide all the fuel; it'd mostly save effort on the bellows, or time for the fire to warm up) for crafters who rely on heat (potters and smiths, masons, launderers and bakers). There might be more authoritative sources, of course... And there's no doubting his social function.

Hm. Every source I've read says that he's the primary god for Pelorian peasant men to initiate into. In HQG his affinities were fire/fertility/disorder, the second of which especially led me to believe he was partially a farming god.

14 minutes ago, womble said:

There's Lodril, but that's only 'protection from cold' rather than 'the easy way to get a plough team': good on the fringes of the glacier, less so further south. 

IIRC, Lodril gives lots of farming magic too and is one of the most popular men's god in Peloria, though his non-fertility aspects (fire and rebellion) are suppressed by the Yelm priesthood. He's much more than just protection against the cold.

10 hours ago, Brootse said:

What would those rates be in your Glorantha? Or has there been any official stuff?

Thunder Rebels gave an approximate of 80%, a value which still holds mostly true iirc.

On novels, the only one I know of that's most like a traditional novel is "the Complete Griselda", though there's loads of fanmade short stories and myths that you can find with a quick search. There's also the Stafford Library which is a collection of in-world reference materials and myths by Greg Stafford. I personally would love more proper novels set in Glorantha, but alas Chaosium doesn't seem to be interested in that at the moment.

Adventures vary depending on the group, but should only take two or three sessions at most. You may want to block off an extra "session zero" for you and your friends to design characters and make sure you understand the rules and stuff too, speaking from experience.

But anyways, welcome to the tribe!,

3 hours ago, Steve said:

The distance in the RW from the Earth to the Moon is approximately 250,000 miles.

So if the Gloranthan planets are of the order of magnitude of 100 times closer than our own Moon, then how small must they be to appear as they do? Surely tiny?

I would have thought that there must be some other mythical explanation for this. Something making the planets looking a lot smaller than RW physics would make them look.

Well if they're 100 times smaller than our moon that still gives us enough space to work with if we consider that each moon probably supports a single culture at most. 14,600 square miles is still more land area than roughly 20% of our Earth's nations. They also probably don't have to worry about stuff like reduced gravity and oxygen due to their tiny size, as they don't operate by our laws of physics.

I need some illumination riddles for something I'm planning for my players. Anyone know/come up with ny besides the example in HQG?

23 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Other celestial phenomena as well. If nothing else, then at least for flavor.

I agree. Stuff like nebulas and different types of stars would be a great way to make to sky dome look really cool.

3 hours ago, Jeff said:

Not all of these will appear in the book (in fact I am certain the Chaos Gods will appear in a separate GM-facing book), but they all exist in complete form. What is missing is:

• The Invisible God (needs a separate treatment, as it also requires the full sorcery treatment)
• Pamalt (needs a separate treatment)
• Lesser troll gods (will appear in Trollpak)
• Pavis, Flintnail, Lanbril, Yelorna, Zola Fel (will appear in Big Rubble)

 

How long until we get the IG and sorcery? In assuming it's pretty far down the road but since I'm playing with an atheist sorcerer in the party it would be helpful.

Since many of those runes were just now created for RQG, there's not any fonts or graphics with all of them yet. Some of them are the same/similar to others though, such as Tap being the same as the old Unequal Exchange rune.

1 minute ago, womble said:

Focus is absolutely not a requirement to become an adventurer.

Case in point, my players.

3 minutes ago, Tywyll said:

That's a pretty important thing to leave off...

I just checked and holy days are in the core rulebook's write-ups as well, in the cults chapter.

That's a lot simpler than how I was trying to do it. I was trying to calculate what AP values and weapon damages would provide equivalent average damage per turn to OD&D.

Yoooo those look sweet. Can't wait to get my hands on a copy once they're available. With how my schedule is, there's a good chance I could get it before my next session!

Okay. I think I'm a little more on board with the idea now, since it's been better explained, though I'm still a little dubious. My main question now is whether or not Elmal will keep the minor fire powers which he'd been given in HQ. Personally I'd say giving him fire-based spirit magic is a fair exchange for losing Yelmalio's gifts, especially since the Elmal cult doesn't have the Hill of Gold myth iirc.

On the first day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

A Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the second day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

Two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the third day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

Three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the fourth day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me.

Four demibirds three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the fifth day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

Five golden torcs!

Four demibirds three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the sixth day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

Six Phoenix's dying

Five golden torcs!

Four demibirds three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the seventh day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

Seven Augners prancing six Phoenix's dying

Five golden torcs!

Four demibirds three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the eighth day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

Eight Uraldites milking seven Augners prancing six Phoenix's dying

Five golden torcs!

Four demibirds three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the ninth day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

Nine puppeteers dancing eight Uraldites milking seven Augners prancing six Phoenix's dying

Five golden torcs!

Four demibirds three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the tenth day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

Ten tricksters leaping nine puppeteers dancing eight Uraldites milking seven Augners prancing six Phoenix's dying

Five golden torcs!

Four demibirds three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the eleventh day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

Eleven Wind Lords piping ten tricksters leaping nine puppeteers dancing eight Uraldites milking seven Augners prancing six Phoenix's dying

Five golden torcs!

Four demibirds three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the twelfth day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

Twelve trolls a-drumming eleven Wind Lords piping ten tricksters leaping nine puppeteers dancing eight Uraldites milking seven Augners prancing six Phoenix's dying

Five golden torcs!

Four demibirds three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the thirteenth day of sacred time King Argrath sent to me

Thirteen wyrm banners waving  twelve trolls a-drumming eleven Wind Lords piping ten tricksters leaping nine puppeteers dancing eight Uraldites milking seven Augners prancing six Phoenix's dying

Five golden torcs!

Four demibirds three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.

On the fourteenth day of sacred time King Argrath gave to me

Fourteen dead gods thirteen wyrm banners twelve trolls a-drumming eleven Wind Lords piping ten tricksters leaping nine puppeteers dancing eight Uraldites milking seven Augners prancing six Phoenix's dying

Five golden torcs!

Four demibirds three condors two Love Falcons and a Wind Hawk in a sacred tree.