Dimbyd

Available from Amazon is the Openquest edition of Ki Khanga- an afrocentric fantasy RPG. 

 

Funny on how you influence different creators.

With professions etc, I do point out other views exist.

I personally wouldn’t want a campaign to start with a PC severed from society; however @Ian Cooper has mentioned that replacement PCs could include that as an option if the group agrees. And earlier in the thread, there were some suggestions of handling severed PCs in interesting ways- which I hadn’t considered.

I hadn’t considered Mov rates for Willandring- in my session, people ran into him- and early demise....

i should point out, I was expecting to run the Coming Storm/ Eleven Lights as a RGQ campaign for my local group- some of whom dislike HQG. However, I’m running it as a HQG for my online group. I had adapted the Crimson Bat scenario for RQG con games last year (much streamlined) , which has informed my approach to the above.

And to bring things full circle, I’m preparing session 3 of a RQG “one shot” set in Esrolia for my local group, which have reacted very well to the new ruleset. 

 

Sunday's session has been put back to this coming session, which is just as well with my current state of preparations. I'm using "Dead Point" and "Nontraya and the Undead Empire" as my starting points- page 19 of "Esrolia: the land of ten thousand goddesses". 

Ironically, one of the reasons why my preparation is behind is the rabbit hole of Ty Kora Tek's husband(s)- fair too interesting for me to focus.

 

 

Ok- I've finally revised my original contribution- correcting some typos and adding references:

Some thoughts on running Eleven Lights in Runequest Glorantha. I hope you find this useful and/ or sparks off some thoughts on how you would run the game.

 

Character creation- adapting the core book 

 

The Runequest core book character creation assumptions will need to be modified for a “Coming Storm” campaign:

1.    All PCs will be from the same clan- the Red Cow clan, rather than the diverse backgrounds outlined in the core books. RQG page references- p24, p60 & p103-109.

2.    Define early on which clans the PCs’ mother come from = p 11-12 of the “Coming Storm” gives you some advice- it will provide plot hooks for characters- the different Clans marry out. 

3.    Default starting date for the Coming Storm campaign is 1618, not RQG’s 1625 plus. Use the parents’ and grandparents’ family history in character creation- Runequest core book p27- 36. As you PCs will have not gone through the Hero Wars, they will start with a lower base values than the default assumptions in RQG, but higher than default RQ2. They will rapidly progress during the campaign, 

4.    The Red Cow clan is not an urban clan, so ignore the following occupations (RQG corebook p28):
Chariot Driver
Entertainer
Noble
Philospher
Scribe 
Thief (remember cattle rustling isn’t really considered theft if you’re the one doing it)

[NB: check other posts  for disagreements over this- some good points made ]

5.    The cults of the clan are given on page 15 of the Coming Storm- the following page references are to the RQG core book: (cults in order of popularity)
Ernalda (p75 & p 292-294)
Orlanth (p76-77 & p 300-302)
Barnatar (NPCs only- good for clan, not so good for adventurers)
Seven Mothers (NPCs only- unless you want to subvert the adventures- in which case, go ahead)
Heler (see Engizi the Sky Titan p75 & p292)
Yinkin (p79 & p310)
Odayla ( p76 & p300)
Engizi the Skyriver Titan (p75 & p292)
Vinga (as Orlanth Adventerous, only cooler p76-77 & p 300-302)
Issaries (p76 & p298) 
Humakt- NPCs only

[NB: check other posts  for disagreements over this-  some good points made]

6.    No PCs should be severed from society eg no Humakt or Babeestor Gor- PC actions and decisions should have consequences for their clan/ faction/ nation.

[NB: check other posts  for disagreements over this-  some good points made]

7.    The Red Cow clan are “Axe Orlanthi” (p10 Coming Storm)- the values listed for cultural weapons in RQG p60 should swap the axe/ spear and broadsword to reflect this. 

Passions

Passions will need to be adapted and personalised to reflect the campaign setting.

Loyality: Red Cow Clan 

Devotion: deity as per normal

Love: family- this should include the maternal side of the family which means links and bonds with other clans.

Hate: this should reflect traditional clan enemies such as Ogres, Telemori, the Lunar Empire.

If you have “rattle born” PCs (Coming Storm p13) then this should be recorded as a “Flaw” starting at 60%. As GM or PCs use to establish the maturity or otherwise of decision making by a “rattle born” PC. 

As campaign progresses- there are references to “directed improvements”  (a Heroquest game system term) to factions. Under Runequest Glorantha rules, this should be reflected as a  loyalty passion starting at 60%. It is quite likely that PCs will gain conflicting passions- this is to be encouraged by the GM.

The passions are one of the major changes to Runequest Glorantha compared to previous editions such as RQ2. GMs reinforce player decisions at key moments with mechanical improvements. This will emphasise to players that they have made a key social decision, with consequences for future play.

Heroquesting

There are two heroquests in the Eleven Lights:
1. The Stealing of the Giant’s Cows (Eleven Lights p30-36). This is an annual “this world” heroquest and the PC’s partipation can be moved from year to year as the campaign flow dictates.

2. The Three New Stars- a Glorantha changing heroquest which takes places in 1621-22 (Eleven Lights p 115-143).

Until the Gamemaster’s book is published with guidance on running heroquests in RQG, I can offer no advice. It us quite possible that if you start a campaign in autumn 2018, by the time you will need the heroquest rules, they will be available. (Or not)

Major NPC statistics 

The Coming Storm details 60 NPCs with portraits of each by Rachel Khan. The majority of NPCs do not require complete RQG statistics- many are your kith and kin and physical violence should be considered unthinkable. 

There are perhaps three ways to use statistics as and when necessary:

1.    The “quick and dirty” method- each major NPC has runes against their name- for social combat assign a percentage against a suitable rune on the fly and use an opposed role against the PC’s ability (RQG p142-144). 
Example: a PC is using his orate ability to persuade Chief Broddi Strong Kin that he be allowed to take part on “the stealing of the giant’s cows” heroquest despite having brought the clan into trouble recent. Broddi will resist with his Mastery rune at 95%. 

2.    The reduced statistics method:

Chief Broddi Strong Kin 

Runes: Mastery 95% Air: 80% Darkness or Earth  50% (not given in Coming Storm but refects clan’s friendly terms with trolls or go for earth)

Orate: 80%;  Charm 65%; Intimidate 50%; Intrigue 80% 

Speak Tradetalk 50%; Speak Stormspeach 35% Speak Darktongue 25%
Insight human 60%; Insight Trolls 30% Clan lore 75% 

3.    Cut, paste and tailor the sample Chief/ clan warriors/ rune priests statistics from Gamemaster Adventures book in the GM packs:

Typical Militia: page 15

Vingan Queen: page 22-24

Royal Bodyguards: page 24

Orlanth High Priest: page 25-26

Ernaldan High Priestess: page 26-27

Humakti Rune Lord: page 30

There’s range of more normal NPCs which can be used for raiders etc.

Beast statistics

Sample statistics for Telemori, giants, the Crimson Bat are given in the  Glorantha Bestiary.

One little quirk between Heroquest and Runequest, Heroquest uses the imperial measurement system, while Runequest uses the superior metric system, so Willandring the giant is 35 ft tall in Heroquest; roughly 10.5 metres tall in Runequest. The statistics I rolled are not that much different from the Bestiary but are presented as an example for you:

Willandring the Giant

35 foot tall- the clan blacksmith 

Hobbled, sad demour,  large nose and bearded  

Rune:Disorder 95%

STR:  66    CON: 16   SIZ:  64 INT:  8  POW: 16 DEX:  11  CHA: 6

Total hit points: 38

Hit location                          AP/ HP

1-4 Right leg                           13/10

5-8 Left Leg                            13/10   

9-11 Abdomen                       13/10               

12 Chest                                 13/13

13-15 Right Arm                     13/9     

16-18 Left Arm                       13/9
19-20 Head                            13/10   

Maul 85% 2D8 + 7D6 SR4

No magic 

Note: Willandring is hobbled by an injury inflicted on leg by Karganar Blood- Eye, the clan founder. Healing Willandring is a major plot point and so I would recommend that only the Rune magic “Heal Body” is effective (RQG p330).

A quick and dirty Telemori Shaman (ie probably needs more fleshing out in a campaign):

 

Jag Sor- Telemori Shaman

STR: 22     CON: 11   SIZ:  12 INT: 16   POW:  11 DEX: 11 CHA:  11

Beast 75% Chaos 25%

Hate humans 80%

Magic weapons and iron only can harm

Hit points 11

Hit location Armour/. Hit points

 

1-2 Right Hind leg 1 3

 

3-4 Left hand leg 1 3

 

5-7 Hindquarter 1 5

 

8-10 Forequarter 1 5

 

11-13 Right foreleg 1 3

 

14-16 Left foreleg 1 3

 

head 1 4

 

Bite 60% 1D8+1D4 SR 9

 

Snake Fetch

 

Spirit magic: heal, glamour, slow, vigour

 

POW 14

 

INT 11

 

CH 14

 

Magic points 14

 

Gloranthan Bestiary references:

Giants: pages. 45-46

Wolfbrothers/ Telemori: pages 85-87

Ogres: pages 103-104

Cattle: page 142

Horses: pages 145- 148

Shadowcats: page 159

Wolves: page 162

Spirits: pages 164- 173 [ includes Naiads page 171]

Wyters: pages 173-174

Elementals: pages 176 - 182

Crimson Bat: Pages 188- 190

 

Hope this helps.

Interesting stuff! 

Ty Kora Tek is Ernalda’s aunt, and death goddess to a number of races/ traditions which is why I speculated multiple husbands. Clearly she likes to keep secrets too, possibly even from the Keepers of the Dead.. 

I’m running an underworld heroquest on Sunday- well 2 clashing myths- so this is sparking off ideas.

 

Andrew

 

Thanks- not sure how I overlooked the sourcebook reference.

 

Nothing to stop Ty Kora Tek having multiple husbands depending on the culture worshiping her. 

A question for the hivemind here- Ty Kora Tek is married to a darkness god and has a number of children. Do we have any canonical details on them?

 

If not, I’ll make stuff up.

 

Andrew

 

 

 

 

Some thoughts on running Eleven Lights in Runequest Glorantha. I hope you find this useful and/ or sparks off some thoughts on how you would run the game.

Character creation- adapting the core book 

 

The Runequest core book character creation assumptions will need to be modified for a “Coming Storm” campaign:

1.    All PCs will be from the same clan- the Red Cow clan, rather than the diverse backgrounds outlined in the core books. RQG page references- p24, p60 & p103-109.

2.    Define early on which clans the PCs’ mother come from = p 11-12 of the “Coming Storm” gives you some advice- it will provide plot hooks for characters- the different Clans marry out. 

3.    Default starting date for the Coming Storm campaign is 1618, not RQG’s 1625 plus. Use the parents’ and grandparents’ family history in character creation- Runequest core book p27- 36. As you PCs will have not gone through the Hero Wars, they will start with a lower base values than the default assumptions in RQG, but higher than default RQ2. They will rapidly progress during the campaign, 

4.    The Red Cow clan is not an urban clan, so ignore the following occuptations (RQG corebook p28):
Chariot Driver
Entertainer
Noble
Philospher
Scribe 
Thief (remember cattle rustling isn’t really considered theft if you’re the one doing it)

5.    The cults of the clan are given on page 15 of the Coming Storm- the following page references are to the RQG core book: (cults in order of popularity)
Ernalda (p75 & p 292-294)
Orlanth (p76-77 & p 300-302)
Barnatar (NPCs only- good for clan, not so good for adventurers)
Seven Mothers (NPCs only- unless you want to subvert the adventures- in which case, go ahead)
Heler (see Engizi the Sky Titan p75 & p292)
Yinkin (p79 & p310)
Odayla ( p76 & p300)
Engizi the Skyriver Titan (p75 & p292)
Vinga (as Orlanth Adventerous, only cooler p76-77 & p 300-302)
Issaries (p76 & p298) 
Humakt- NPCs only

6.    No PCs should be severed from society eg no Humakt or Babeestor Gor- PC actions and decisions should have consequences for their clan/ faction/ nation.

7.    The Red Cow clan are “Axe Orlanthi” (p10 Coming Storm)- the values listed for cultutal weapons in RQG p60 should swap the axe/ spear and broadsword to reflect this. 

Passions

Passions will need to be adapted and personalised to reflect the campaign setting.
Loyality: Red Cow Clan 
Devotion: deity as per normal
Love: family- this shouls include the maternal side of the family which means links and bonds with other clans.
Hate: this should reflect traditional clan enemies such as Ogres, Telemori, the Lunar Empire.

If you have “rattle born” PCs (Coming Storm p13) then this should be recorded as a “Flaw” starting at 60%. As GM or PCs use to establish the maturity or otherwise of decision making by a “rattle born” PC. 

As campaign progresses- there are references to “directed improvements”  (a Heroquest game system term) to factions. Under Runequest Glorantha rules, this should be reflected as a  loyalty passion starting at 60%. It is quite likely that PCs will gain conflicting passions- this is to be encouraged by the GM. The passions are one of the major changes to Runequest Glorantha compared to previous editions such as RQ2. GMs re-inforce player decisions at key moments with mechanical improvements. This will emphaise to players that they have made a key social decision, with consequences for future play.

Heroquesting

There are two heroquests in the Eleven Lights:
1. The Stealing of the Giant’s Cows (Eleven Lights p30-36). This is an annual “this world” heroquest and the PC’s partipation can be moved from year to year as the campaign flow dictates.

2. The Three New Stars- a Glorantha changing heroquest which takes places in 1621-22 (Eleven Lights p 115-143).

Until the Gamemaster’s book is published with guidance on running heroquests in RQG, I can offer no advice. It us quite possible that if you start a campaign in autumn 2018, by the time you will need the heroquest rules, they will be available.

Major NPC statistics 

The Coming Storm details 60 NPCs with portraits of each by Rachel Khan. The majority of NPCs do not require complete RQG statistics- many are your kith and kin and physical violence should be considered unthinkable. 

There are perhaps three ways to use statistics as and when necessary:

1.    The “quick and dirty” method- each major NPC has runes against their name- for social combat assign a percentage against a suitable rune on the fly and use an opposed role against the PC’s ability (RQG p142-144). 
Example: a PC is using his orate ability to persuade Chief Broddi Strong Kin that he be allowed to take part on “the stealing of the giant’s cows” heroquest despite having brought the clan into trouble recent. Broddi will resist with his Mastery rune at 95%. 

2.    The reduced statistics method:

Chief Broddi Strong Kin 
Runes: Mastery 95% Air: 80% Darkness or Earth  50% (not given in Coming Storm but refects clan’s friendly terms with trolls or go for earth)
Orate: 80%;  Charm 65%; Intimidate 50%; Intrigue 80% 
Speak Tradetalk 50%; Speak Stormspeach 35% Speak Darktongue 25%
Insight human 60%; Insight Trolls 30% Clan lore 75% 

3.    Cut, paste and tailor the sample Chief/ clan warriors/ rune priests statistics from forthcoming GM pack.

Beast statistics

Sample statistics for Telemori, giants, the Crimson Bat are given in the forthcoming Glorantha Bestiary. One little quirk between Heroquest and Runequest, Heroquest uses the imperial measurement system, while Runequest uses the superior metricsystem, so Willandring the giant is 35 ft tall in Heroquest; roughly 10.5 metres tall in Runequest. The statisitics I rolled are not that much differenet from the Bestiary but are presented as an example for you:

Willandring the Giant

35 foot tall- the clan blacksmith 
Hobbled, sad demour,  large nose and bearded  

Rune:Disorder 90%

STR:  66    CON: 16   SIZ:  64 INT:  8  POW: 16 DEX:  11  CHA: 6

Total hit points: 38

Hit location                          AP/ HP
1-4 Right leg                           13/10
5-8 Left Leg                            13/10   
9-11 Abdomen                       13/10               
12 Chest                                 13/13
13-15 Right Arm                     13/9     
16-18 Left Arm                       13/9
19-20 Head                            13/10   

Maul 85% 2D8 + 7D6 SR4

No magic 

Note: Willandring is hobbled by an injury inflicted on leg by Karganar Blood- Eye, the clan founder. Healing Willandring is a major plot point and so I would recommend that only the Rune magic “Heal Body” is effective (RQG p330).

On 6/21/2018 at 5:50 PM, Ian Cooper said:

On a simple contest yes. In an extended contest you roll for the series of actions. One of the early steps to mastering HeroQuest is to get used to using simple contests for most things, including violence, whereas traditional RPGs tend to have a subsystem for violence.

This is something I have forgotten in my own GM'ing Heroquest- instead of one contest; I've have slipped into a round by round approach in a fight. This,  partially,  I suspect because the scenarios I've run use very little violence. 

 

Old habits die hard. (The players didn't mind, but I should have framed the contest better).

Quick report back- ran the Runequest session for 4 people. Two were returnees from last year's Free RPG session; the other two had limited experience with RPGs - mainly D&D and one was considering GM'ing Fate. All were barely in their twenties- one dared to be a woman at RPG event- and they all enjoyed themselves. It felt like a good outreach experience all round.

You can book by stating you want to play on the Rules of Play Free RPG Day event Facebook page- if you're on Facebook. 

 

If not, just tell me on the day that you expressed an interest on Basic Roleplaying.org.

Just to let people know I'll be running Runequest- adapting a Coming Storm scenario for Free RPG Day in Saturday 16 June. 

My local FLGS Rules of Play is hosting the event at the Gate arts centre in Roath- Keppoch Street, Cardiff CF24 3JW .

Two people have pre-booked, three spaces left: https://www.facebook.com/events/197248214407410/  It'll start around 12 noon. 

Andrew

 

 

 

@Sky River Titan The Gaming Grunts did the Sartar Campaign on their podcast- some 20 episodes or so: http://www.thegaminggrunts.com/blog/?cat=12&paged=3 

 

Hope this helps.

Are there any gaming conventions close by to you? Playing Heroquest is the best way to understand it.

The GM pack & thevGM book are two different products.

Hard copies pre-Xmas; PDFs by Gen Con. 

 

GM screen; Colymar sandbox, impt NPCs stats for GM pack. 

Which reminds me; I really should write up some guidance on running the Coming Storm with Runequest. 3rd con game coming this Friday...

Its next Saturday. Also I’m running a Heroquest game straight after the seminar. But there will be tales to be told. 

I should be at the Heroquest seminar.

A second Runequest Quickstart is in the works for this year, roughly around the launch of the new core book. Most gaming companies only put out one Free RPG publication per year- Paizo & Goodman Games being exceptions.

Chimériades has an embarrassment of choice when it comes to great gaming and I had a huge amount of fun playing Herve the Trickster duck in the core book heroquest adventure "The Horn of Snakepipe Hollow" . It was a late night (10:30-1:30) session, so it was a little messy as we were all tired. Also the game was run bilingually by Jean-Christophe  Cubertafon, as I was the only non-Francophone. It was an unusual group with I think 3 Troll PCs. With three points in "Song and Dance duck" background, there was indeed song and dance and used my bag of tricks with a succession of improvised weapons- a sacred vase of Ernalda; a dildo in the shape of the Red Emperor and a model of Kero Fen. I can confirm that taunt and fuster- cluck are fun additions to combat. 

13th Age- putting the fun into F20 gaming. 

 

Oliver Sanfilippo has produced a number of evocative maps in the new core book, with a new take on the classic maps. 

So I took a few notes from the Chaosium seminar at Chimeriades convention in the beautiful South of France countryside.

There was some discussion on Runequest core book- which they hope to open pre-orders later this month- which is as detailed a date they were willing to commit to; with the aim of a Gen Con launch. A black and white print out of the laid out book was circulated at the con and it does look beautiful and evocative. The core book will have a conversion guide as an annex for previous edition adventures to be adapted and run under the new rules.

Jeff believes that the RQG core book looks more beautiful than the Guide, and that there were more artists available with a feel for Glorantha. The art is designed to reflect and enhance the uniqueness of Glorantha.    

The Bestiary is entering layout- it is a simpler layout than the core book, so it will go to production at a faster pace. One challenge is making stat blocks more interesting The Bestiary will allow you to play a number of different Gloranthan races including Trolls, elves, Telemori, and the most noble of all Gloranthan races- the ducks. (Hoorah!)  Some 150 different RQ creatures are covered including dinosaurs & mega-fauna

Next up is the GM pack- which is really a setting pack- a Colymar sandbox setting with 3 adventures which can be linked or play separately. Some 100 pages with lots of stated NPCs which can give GMs template for what a Clan Chief may look like stat wise. An impressive map of Clearwine by Oliver Sanfilippo was circulated to help GMs and players visualise locations. Boldhome appears in Dragon Pass campaign pack.   

No rolled maps will be produced by Chaosium- shipping costs to blame

Apple Lane will be a default base for players for post 1625 setting, reflecting the power vacuums following Dragonrise. Apple Lane buildings have housing maps to help give the feel of a base for players.

12 books in advanced production to support RQG- reflecting the work of the past 2 years. The new edition will be well supported to help time pressed GMs to run adventures for groups. Source books are likely to be statted for RQ, as it will be easier for Heroquest Glorantha GMs to adapt than the other way round.

GM book magic items, treasures guidance- Heroquest & hero rules

Gods of Glorantha will feature 50 gods with 8-12 page write ups of each cult. Orlanth will be expanded in coverage. The Red Goddess will be featured, with new Lunar magic. It will be a very God Learner book and designed for GM  to use. Issaries is a god/ cult which will see little expansion. The invisible God will be covered in a separate project. More regional gods will be covered in regional sourcebooks- such as Pavis- Jeff ran a Big Rubble scenario at the convention.

Art is being ordered for the book.

Jeff explains that he goes back to the oldest Greg sources & then work out what to keep & reject. Keen for returning players feel comfortable with Glorantha.

Chaos gods are not PC gods so not in the upcoming book - A separate gods of chaos pack with scenarios being worked upon. Therefore GM only.

Default 1625 early 1626 setting for the line

Sarah Newton is at the advanced draft stage for Barbarian Town - Wild West themed bronze age- opens up mixed group of PCs.. Another project by Sarah will be announced when it is further along.

Steve Perrin is writing old school feel scenarios to contrast with Sarah’s more modern approac

And finally on RQG, Jeff opened up a little on the heroquest rules-

 

1. Getting the feel.. River of Cradles campaign is a Heroquest- they are looking to get a toolkit of myth structure/ special effects to reflect hero-questing
2. REWARD- Guidance how to handle that hq gifts & Levels wider than a cult...  needs a Mythic restriction power with obligations. The hero should be embarrassed to use the power outside of the key needs. (Ken Rolston was animated on this point)
3. Building package of rules after Heroquesting & becomes Hero with capital H. The Hero not super skilled not always effective- eg various Greek myths. Developing immortal self- 2 different things. Hero & shaman archtypes. Two different stat blocks. Fetches are always on hero plane. Gifts & powers come from that. Depletable resource- that be recovered through GM tasks & they have to develop cult to be worshiped. Develop a community eg Harrek is worshipped by communities who don’t want a visit from the Beserker(!)  Switch of perspective Dragonewts don’t want the obligations....

 

Finally, Q-Workshop will be producing official Runequest dice- which look both stylish and legible- even on the mobile phone pictures I saw.

Bohemond- check in the Heroquest section on this here site for some more info- plus announcements at UK Games Expo to come, start of June. 

And you'll find yourself able to add runes and passions to NPCs in about 30 seconds on the fly with a little experience.