Richard S.

4 hours ago, jongjom said:

A small aside: maybe use the term 'terrestrial' rather than 'Earth', as 'Earth' is also the name for one of the Gloranthan Elemental Runes. And more confusingly these animals do have an Runic Earth connection?

I second this. I read the topic title and thought that my Glorantha had just been given a smack upside the head.

Well for the topic of an alternate Glorantha, I can only say one thing: YGMV

As for major changes, I'm no where near the most devoted sage in the library, but I can make a few guesses:

1. Malia would probably be a healing goddess still, albeit a minor spirit cult probably. Perhaps Thed as well though i don't know what type of goddess she was before the, *ahem*, incident.

2. Broos would probably be of normal beastman stock, a lot cleaner, and not have "Impregnate Everything I Breathe On 20W4". They could still have mixed animal descent possibly.

3. Kolat would no longer have his special abilities against Thed and Malia.

4. Generally a lot less Chaos in the world.

5. HOLY CHAOS! I just realized that the distinct lack of Wakboth means that Sedenya survived, therefore never going on her quest and achieving illumination, never gaining the cyclical association, and most importantly: NEVER FOUNDING THE LUNAR EMPIRE. Well, actually, there's nothing that really says that she didn't go on to found an empire, but it would probably be a more naval power.

31 minutes ago, Rick Meints said:

For those scouts that seem interested, I have handed them a Call of Cthulhu QuickStart, or told them they can download some stuff from our website. One of the older guys who was pretty good at being the DM I gifted with a CoC 7th ed rulebook from our "dinged and dented" bin. He mainly plays Pathfinder now, but at least he is gaming with books and dice...

I did a similar thing in my own troop, albeit with HQ, though it's been a while since all my players have gone on a campout together.

Magic? Because it represents the connections between runic powers.

2 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

There is no absolute Truth in mortal Glorantha as the Goddess of Truth resides far from the mortal world, with Dayzatar in his sky-realm, (perhaps), it is impossible for us to know the truth of the matter, any more than any mortal in Glorantha can know. Maybe Jeff and Greg know...

If I recall correctly, Anaxial's roster had a myth where the boggles broke her staff, and that's why no one can know the truth of anything anymore.

I came up with some possible dragon magic rules for RQ4 that I feel more accurately portray the system than most previous ones. Of course it's not all complete yet, I still need to come up with spells, but these are the basics as I see them:

What is dragon magic? Dragon magics are both inside and outside, refined and crude, beautiful and ugly, transcendent and worldly. The inner magics are the magics of transformation and evolution of the soul, the purification to achieve the ultimate goal of draconic transcendence. Outer magics are the crude and vulgar magics which transform the body, giving the outside form the power of the True Brothers, but corrupting the soul and tying it to the illusion that is Glorantha. The skill of Dragon Magic begins at 00%, and any training in it for humans is a long, dangerous, and costly road that can only be given by the masters of the art, the Dragonewts.

To walk the path of the dragon is to realize that this world is an illusion. You must sever your ties with the natural and transcend the physical illusion of the elements if you wish to follow the path of the True Brothers and work their inner and outer magics. Until you have discovered how to separate the illusion from your soul and reduce your elemental runes to 00% you always subtract their total value from your chance to perform dragon magic.

One must also balance their mind, body, and soul in perfect harmony with the cosmos, to forget the wild emotions of the body and tread the line between, the path of Right Action. If your power runes are in imbalance, not 50%/50%, then the total of their differences is also subtracted from your chance to cast dragon magic.

Dragon magics of the outer are spiritually damaging, retarding the soul even as it empowers the body and leading the mystic into temptation. Have great care when using the arts of transformation, for a successful use will imbalance the users mind and tie them to the illusion. Whenever an art is used, the GM determines which of the runes that the art was invoking and you must add 1D6 percentiles to the correspondent rune of your soul. If this is a power rune, do not forget to subtract from the other side as well.

Dragonewts are the natural practitioners of dragon magic, which is as much a part of them as a mind is of us. From their first hatching, all dragonewts begin the journey of transcendence, from the lowly ranks of the Crested scavengers to the mighty Inhuman King itself. Through many reincarnations, a crested dragonewt devotes its time to understanding and rejecting the physical illusion and learning the secret arts of dragon magic from their betters. Only when a Crested shows the capability to work dragon magics, when their elemental bonds and emotional imbalance not longer reduce the skill to 00%, are they permitted to commit sacred Utuma and evolve in both body and soul to take their place among the Beaked warriors. However after this stage the dragonewt now risks spiritual contamination, disgrace, and devolution, for with each reincarnation the total of their runic imbalances and elemental illusions is made into a percent, a percent that which, if rolled under while in the egg, means that they still have much to learn and must add the discrepancies which made the percentage to their corespondent runes. If this means that their dragon magic skill is taken to 00% or lower, they must reincarnate among the Crested for further spiritual instruction.

Feel free to use this as you wish when RQ4 finally comes out, though I will of course be editing this to better fit the rules then.

The Elmal cult has a fairly strong presence in Sartar, namely around Runegate I think, and he serves the role of a combat deity like Yelmalio, though a bit less formalized and focusing more on cavalry and guards. Some clans replace the worship of Orlanth with worship of Elmal, and I think that someone once said that Elmali clan chieftains tend to eventually turn into more emperor-esque figures, with the rank being hereditary.

On Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at 6:50 PM, MOB said:

Yep, RQ Quickstart's release is confirmed for June, and will include an introductory scenario. Fortunately there's plenty o' RQ Classic to keep them entertained in Glorantha for the mean time...

Is the RQ Quickstart going to be like the CoC Quickstart?

Another question: If all little suns are aspects of one god of Lightfore, do they all have the same runes of Sky and Truth?

On the topic of Elmal being a little sun: If he is, then how can his worshippers use the power of fire?

I don't know what they look like, but they would probably be a thisworld heroquest.

I would say fate would help with divination and the like, though it could also possibly affect your dice rolls.

Okay, that sounds alright. It's good to know that I don't have to be active all the time or on specific times. If no one else wants to fill the slot, I can maybe play Harrik. I'll have to make an account though.

I'm intrigued but have no idea how PbF game works, could you explain it please?