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Karlak One-eye

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Everything posted by Karlak One-eye

  1. Though as a true son of Cymru I do have some "welsh" clans who are unsurprisingly quite fond of dragons - at least as compared to the rest of Sartar/
  2. Many years ago I saw a description of the Lunars as a synthesis of the Romans, the USSR and the British empire of the 1890s. Works for me...
  3. Big agree on the defence mechanism. I much prefer it to the dodge process.
  4. For those who want to know... 1714 … Wild Day, Harmony Week, Dark Season. The day started fair and clear with Yelm rising proud and glorious; casting his rays across the vaulted heavens and Greeting the blessed goddess in all her glory. There was no presage of the dread to come in that bright dawning… I and Aux. Morwen dealt with the remaining trapped spirits, their weakened magic sliding from us under the gaze of Sedenya. The village contained nothing left alive; all the natives, their livestock and even the birds had been slaughtered, sadly again I must report that the evidence of the tracks and weapon blows showed Imperial training - specifically from the “Control of rebellious populations” chapter in the Academy manual. Who are these people? After the spirits were freed we searched the village revealing the horror of an hastily built alter to the gods of unhealed Chaos in the Headman’s abode, stacked slabs of stone covered with crudely carved runes of Chaos, Disorder, Death and, blasphemously, the blessed moon rune itself. I cannot believe this is the work of a brother of the order. The alter itself enclosed a spirit of chaos which, had it not been for the direct blessing of the goddess working through Lady Olivia (and her mistress) would have taken Dagger Brightbeak who as ever honoured his god by taking the lead in investigating, despite the feeling of power in the hovel. I think his hatred of the undead drove him on. On the alter we found the bodies of the headman his wife and one of the Chalena girls the Orlanthi were seeking to rescue, we destroyed the place by firing the hut! Little was found in the village of any worth though the barbarians took some cooking pots, an axe head and spear head – presumably to honour the dead of the village. Ludovigo C. 1714 … Gods Day, Harmony Week, Dark Season. Today the sky clouded over but remained dry, a day of rest while we wait to see what news Rowan’s Aldryami friends can bring on the criminals we pursue. Auxiliary Icarus looks more unwell than yesterday and I fear the disease spirits may be harder to drive away than Lady Olivia believes. Still his spirits remain high and he is determined to do his duty, though I do admit to some surprise that he knows what duty is… Ludovigo C.
  5. 1714 Fireday, Harmony Week, Dark Season. The assaults from the unhealed Chaos continued – one wonders what we have that they value so or hate so, that it dragged them back to another defeat; being driven off with heavy casualties. Hopefully they will not return, anyway: The morning started clear, colder than yesterday, and it is a relief that the snow has stopped. It is perhaps only now that I appreciate the sacrifice of those worthies that undertake the Kaliakos quest each year to drive the spirits of Valind from the heartland… The body revealed little save that he was a large man, a longstanding follower of the Seven-mothers and that his harness was made for him, a renegade no doubt. He carried a handful of sun wheels (7) and a goodly haul of silver (221) as well as a black blood stone. Why he had fallen as low as to lead this filth is shrouded in mist. The clear still air certainly helped our strategy to free as many of the trapped spirits as possible with missile volleys “killing” the bodies from out of spell range. This worked well although some of us still suffered from spell attacks from bodies we had not seen. As our efforts to free the spirits approached their conclusion Aux. Rowan reported more Broo approaching from the South, Dagger-Drake Brightbeak took the group north over the stream to prepare an ambush using the only clearing available. This worked to some extent but the enemy were able to close with only limited damage as our rate of fire was not sufficient to break their charge. A somewhat undisciplined melee took place with the wild storm barbarians once again demonstrating both their bravery and their disorganisation. Again Dagger-Drake Brightbeak was to the fore at the extreme right of the line and therefore exposed to flanking attack which he courageously forced back even as Aux Morwen suffered a grievous arm wound which fortuitously Lady Olivia was able to heal. Eventually we drove the beasts off but with little magical power remaining and several of our force sore wounded we had to remain north of the stream using three outlying hovels to protect us from the cold. Aux Icarus is suffering from some disease spirit but Lady Olivia assures us the he will recover in a week or so... We will clear the village on the morrow… Ludovigo C.
  6. Hi Scornado, yes it is a long time and the game has been a Genertela wide sandbox for most of it. We happily use published scenarios and just adjust dates and as most key figures are heros and aging is optional we still have Naimless, Jo Myth, Gringle etc. We do still have Minarth Purple but more than a few people are keen to find him and he is proving elusive... I got lots of views but only one like (cheers Ochoa!) for the diary so I'll drop one more entry to see further reaction, then decide whether to continues or not..
  7. Hi everyone. I have posted some stories of adventure in our campaign elsewhere and have had some good feedback. I came across a "diary" of one of my characters recently and enjoyed reading about what happened quite some time ago in the real world (but less long ago in campaign). Best guess this happened in 2015/6 well before we started integrating RQG into our RQ2/3 home brew campaign but some of the characters mentioned are still going and are now considering "taking their runes" - as we call making Rune level. If folks like this I can post a good few pages of the diary in the future. As mentioned, our game is basically RQ2 with bits added from RQ3, Pendragon, and RQG. So we still use defence, differing attack and parry skills for the same weapon and separate hit location tables for missile fire for example. Our campaign has been running on and off since 1982 and way back when, we chose to advance the campaign story into the 1700s allowing the hero wars of a century ago to fizzle out into quasi-myth as Argath et all variously disappeared or died leaving the Lunars retreating to Empire after dragon-rise with only residual commercial interests, albeit well-guarded by ex-lunar army mercenaries in Sartar. Balazar remains wild and woolly although some Lunar commercial interests are starting to make (literal) inroads. We have a (Player Character) Queen in Imther and there are ongoing efforts to purify Tork to create access to more good farming land. The adventuring group came together in Elkoi, and have been charged by a senior Chalena to find and rescue three young healers who have been kidnapped. [Back story] Our author is a young squire whose Rune Lord has had to DI back to Glamour to avoid a horrible death in the Wilderness where they were off on errantry to find and slay new monsters. So Ludo is trying to stay alive and get home. He has some advantages; his is a very wealthy family so he is superbly equipped even if he is very green, but he is part of The Lords and Ladies of the Moon - a powerful quasi-monastic order who have significant political clout in the Empire - and a large force of well trained troops not part of the "normal" military structures. The Lords and Ladies are not universally liked... Truth be told Ludo is a pompous snob and as arrogant as you would expect a 15 year old scion of a noble house to be - He'll learn. Anyway: The Journal of Squire Ludovigo Carlstadt 1714; Windsday, Harmony Week, Dark Season. (In the local calendar) Holy Sedenya is sufficiently bright this night that I am able to write by Her light alone and may her radiance be strong to guide us in these dark places. Even under her gaze Valind’s reach spreads over this barbarous land, snow dusts the trees and my breath steams the air. Our odd company is sore troubled this evening, exhausted after a day of travel, terror, tumult and tactics. Our Auxiliary troops {from faraway Sartar no less} certainly earned their blood coin this day and the Durulz {who is given to death} was so wounded that he might have nigh gazed his god in the eye before the fair lady Olivia called him back. But first I should tell more of my companions, ordered by rank: The Lady Olivia is of the Octavius family and is a devotee of the Lady Deezola and companion to Her Majesty Elvianthea Queen of Imthere and outlaw, Olivia is a powerful healer, firm of mind and clear of vision. She is fair to look upon though aloof and I have clearly made some grave offense, as she will barely glance at or indeed speak with me, though her healing was given freely and was most welcome in the fight against the beastmen. I am sure I recall something of this Lady’s family - a disgrace or scandal of some sort but I will bide my time on that matter – it would be unchivalrous in the extreme to do otherwise as we share and shared some significant danger. Dagger Drake Brightbeak, Servant of Humakt, the old killer god! One of the legendary Durulz race, whose very existence I admit to have doubted hitherto. He is irascible and as sensitive to his honour as any student of the legends would expect, yet his bravery has no equal. Despite his slight stature he stood off 3 of the beastmen all armed with great hammers and spears and even when driven to the stone hard earth, nigh unto death, he held the right flank until reinforcements arrived. He speaks the tongue of empire with grace and care though with an outlandish accent. Auxiliary Morwen, A crossbow trooper from the land of Sartar beyond the Pass of dragons, she traversed the Rockwoods in the employ of Jo Myth, a famed local merchant, with 2 other barbarians from her village – a place with the rather agricultural name of Apple Lane. She has a pet, well an animal companion really, named Rem, some sort of mountain feline the size of a large hunting dog who obeys her command and seems an able war beast. Auxiliary Icarus, A spear and shield Orlanthi barbarian, with no understanding of honour, a hot temper and an unseemly dislike of the Empire and the Goddess. A brave fighter though, prepared to stand in the front line despite weak armour and only elementary training with the spear. How does one deal with brave companions who have stood side by side with you in mortal battle yet have no understanding of manners or decorum? Auxiliary Henrik, The third Orlanthi is quiet and seemingly timid, but I think he has a core of strength. He uses a war hammer of Mostali origin and though we have not spoken much I think it was the favoured weapon of a departed comrade in arms. If so, these neophyte mercenaries have walked with the elder races and perhaps carry a deeper story than their furs and feathers might suggest. Auxiliary Rowan an Aldyami was sent to us by his goddess (or a Wood lord?). I am not clear why the wood folk are helping us – they have no love for the moon, though all abhor abuse of the healing folk. But as my Lord says; “A man should not look a gift horse in the mouth” and Rowan has proved a useful comrade in battle using his woodland skills to flank the foul beastmen and deliver bitter blows to their livers and kidneys. Now I should turn to the events if the day: We follow the trail of a renegade Lord of the Moon who has taken three barbarian healers for his own purpose - 'Tis sad one of our Order should have fallen so low, mayhap he has become occluded. He has with him sundry local cut-throats, though we know not their numbers. And it seems they have allies among the local Broo beasts, cursed unhealed ones that they are, but I get ahead of myself… The tracks led from Elkoi into the forest, past the Hanging tree, until our Aldryami scout cut off the trail and led us towards a small hamlet that would provide shelter against the growing cold. As we approached the outer hovels we could see several of the peasantry scattered about dead, resting now under the fresh snow. It was soon revealed that these bodies held ghostly prisoners who cast damaging magics at us until the bodies were destroyed – an exercise that sorely tested our courage and endurance. As we moved into the village, engaged in the grisly task of killing these poor people for the second time, and taking many wounding spells we were attacked from whence we had come, by two sept of wild Broo, led by a well built and fast man at arms. It was only due to the healing magics of Lady Olivia, the courage of our auxiliaries and the cowardice of our foes, that we were able to triumph in the battle. In particular Henrik who was holding the horses to the rear of our group stood fast long enough in the face of their charge, for us to join him and form a shield wall, and also Morwen, our arbalesteer, who ensured the enemy did not flank us. Now we must see what the body and harness of the man-at arms reveals… I have questions: v Who sent the man at arms? v Why and how did he lead two sept of unhealed broo? v What has happened in the village? Ludovigo C. To be continued...
  8. And a likely long term feud - no good deed goes unpunished! The dice helped a lot in creating fun with several fumbles by both Entala and the PCs. the final fight started with a 00 fumble from Icarus and ended with an 01 strike.
  9. Hi all, As promised the story of diversions and insidious chaos, entirely based on "A short Detour" and then derailed by some great role play. Having said that it was a lot of fun to GM and the depth of the module made it very easy for me to extemporise as necessary. Indeed I now have a Roll20 page with 5 different flags on the GM level being moved around by the hour in play as each group pursues its own objectives and I need to understand where every one actually is. I should also say we remain firmly in the Sartar as Celts, Lunars as Romans And DH as Greek. It works very well for us though I can understand the appeal of a more overt Bronze age feel, also canon bends to our needs not the other way around. I cannot work out how to post a hidden "spoiler beware" post so I simply attach a word doc. Please don't open if you want to avoid spoilers, otherwise enjoy. The Home stretch and a small diversion part 1.docx
  10. I will do Lordabdul, but a bit busy for the next few days and want to run the narrative past Staff (my player and co author of mgf) so probably next week.
  11. Running this at the moment. A great story which my player managed to de-rail in the first session through entirely reasonable role playing decisions. Thanks for putting it together.
  12. Appreciated and thanks. It is more the idea that will be carried over. At present our Glorantha campaign ~9an RQ2/3/G mashup) is in 1716 with a somewhat altered past 100 years from canon.
  13. That's all pretty cool - love the sworn link to LM and his own internal honour. If I may, might I "borrow" that pairing as a "Wandering encounter" on the highways and byways of fair Sartar?
  14. This is fascinating and a very different perspective (which is great) from the way it would likely play out in our Glorantha: I would expect the Humakti to care little for local politics or authority - Humakt is after all the ultimate arbiter of Truth and is mythically separated from the Storm tribe so he has no tribal or clan bias, only the Truth matters! Now the LM may well be much more savvy and do a little politicking as things develop, so working well as a team. As for folks not trusting a strange Humakti (aren't they all strange?) that is a very dangerous thing to say or, in some cases, even imply and could be a quick way to the combat outcome, which of course would not bother the Humakti in the slightest 🙂. Having said all that in a situation where the Humakti does care about public opinion then I applaud your creative use of magic to make the truth as obvious as possible to all - even if they can't handle the truth! Humakt's Peace and Blessings to you all.
  15. Hi folks - looking through the Prosaepedia I can see no sign of Ingnew. Is he no longer canonical or is there some other reason he is not mentioned? Asking because I have a Humakti character in our campaign, who is also the Temple smith.
  16. This is brilliant. Thanks for sharing. I may well steal it 😄.
  17. We adopted the riposte many years ago and it works well. In particular it helps emphasise the benefits of highly skilled characters (PC or NPC).
  18. You have no idea how happy this post makes me, the use of multiple scenario packs and source material reset in Glorantha is perfect. My players have through hero-questing fought in many non Gloranthan places: "Defend the stead" took then to the halls and fountains of last hours Gondolin where the Yelmalians defeated a Zorak Zoran winged troll wreathed in stolen fire, which the Yelmalian took back as the troll perished, and now he can use fire magic and wear red! Then as they fled through the tunnels under the city they emerged in a great seven walled fortress to fight against the million hordes of steppe nomads on the Walls of Dros Delnoch (bloody "Pentans"!). Separately a young shaman from Swan vale was flung through the spirit worlds to fight in a yellow flowered marsh and over high snow topped mountain passes, alongside a swan-wing helmeted squire who was struggling to take his master's broken sword back to his only surviving son hidden is a secret forested ravine guarded by handsome almost human Aldryami. In sacred time the most powerful group of Characters in the campaign, a Sword, a Yanafali Curia priest and a Storm Khan (long story), fought "I fought we won" against dark knights, hideous horned men, foul sorcery and magic while standing back to back with silver knights, wearing the rune of a great cup, on the windswept gorse hills and fairy rings of the Gower peninsula in Arthurian Britain. We spend most of our gaming time in Genertela but have had a blast with one offs "away from home" that we have weaved into various myths.
  19. Here is a set of extracts from DQ adjusted for RQ environment by our House rules. It's not straightforward but the principles are as follows: Close combat exists as a thing where no shields and only certain weapons can be used while rolling around on the ground Entering close is automatic by surprise or from the rear, if attempted at the charge from the front it is doable but the opponent gets a dodge or some sort of courage check. entering from existing melee combat is harder against skilled opponents, and needs some sort of courage check from the attacker as wel las the defender getting a say. natural beasties become more dangerous, especially ambush predators. for things lie bears we allow an attack with a normal weapon as the enter close but after that you are doing a Conan and trying to kill a grizzly with a hatchet! a multiple pile on (say 3-4 trollkin) onto one opponent allows a good chance of restraining and capturing an opponent. Which is a great alternative to the traditional short spear impale in the back alternative for all your Yelmalio characters. As you might guess we have principle and narrative rather than crunchy rules (you have no idea how hard it has been for me as a wargamer to adjust to that!) but with 45 years RPG experience we are pretty good at winging it and making situational decisions to keep the story going. Extract: [20.6] An engaged figure may attempt to Close and Grapple. If the figure who wishes to Close and Grapple is within the Melee Zone (i.e. a frontal adjacent hex) of the defender, the attacker must make a courage check (passions are good for this). If the defender wishes to Repulse, he rolls D10 and compares the result to his Rank with any prepared weapon. If the result is less than or equal to his Rank, the attacker may not enter the defender’s hex and must cease all action for that Pulse. If the result is above the Rank, the attacker may enter the defender’s hex and execute a Grapple attack immediately. DQ weapon ranks don’t translate across to RQ that easily but they do represent combat competence and trying to close from the front of an effective opponent is quite hard so we have tried other methods to reflect combat competence and have settled on using a parry roll to “bounce” an attempt to close. Remembering that if the attacker is an animal or unintelligent opponent then closing is automatic An attempt to enter close combat from a rear hex or against a surprised or FI opponent succeeds automatically If the figure who wishes to Close and Grapple is not within the Melee Zone (i.e. a frontal adjacent hex) of the defender and is therefore charging, the defender may attempt to repulse the Close attempt by making a courage check (rolling under twice their willpower stat). If the roll fails the attacker may immediately enter and Grapple. For RQ we use an appropriate substitute for Willpower – like a passion check or dodge/defence or maybe Strength or Pow. DQ stats are close to the same range as RQ so twice a stat is still often challenging Note: Any figure who enters Close Combat must immediately drop any prepared shield and any prepared weapon not rated for Close Combat. As must the defending character. [20.7] A figure engaged in Close Combat may attempt to Grapple, Pass or Withdraw. A Grapple is an attack in Close Combat against any figure who occupies the same hex as the attacker. It is assumed any figures engaged in Close Combat are rolling around on the ground, struggling with each other. Grappling may only be attempted with a weapon rated for Close Combat or with unarmed combat. The figure who wishes to pass while in Close Combat may take any Pass action he wishes (at the GM’s discretion). The figure who wishes to Withdraw while in Close Combat must first attempt to “break contact.” The figure rolls D10, and adds his Str and that of any other friendly figures in the hex, and subtracts the total combined Str of any hostile figures in the hex. If the modified result is 10 or above, the figure may withdraw into any adjacent hex and is assumed to be prone. In addition, an unmodified roll of 10 always allows Withdrawal. Restrain: A figure may attempt to restrain another figure by executing a Grapple. A successful attack results in the hostile figure being restrained (pinned). The Base Chance equals ((attacker’s Strength+ modified Dex) ‑ (target’s Strength+ modified Dex)) ´3. No damage is done to the target. A restrained figure is treated as incapacitated, and remains restrained until the hold is broken by an attack from outside the hex which inflicts at least one points of effective damage to the restraining figure. Several figures may combine their PS and AG to attempt to restrain a hostile figure. Hope this helps
  20. Hi 10base. We tend to be flexible rather than using tight rules. I’ll try to dig out the DQ rules and then cover how we adapt them. In essence if a player or NPC can explain how they plan to get in close then we can rule the right roll to use or even no roll at all. In conventional combat typically it required a successful parry or dodge then a will power check to get past the long weapon and close/grapple. Entering an existing close combat is automatic. Further stuff tomorrow inshallah.
  21. We have borrowed the concept of close combat from Dragonquest. Close combat and melee are subsets of hand to hand fighting where “Close” is where the combatants are “corps a corps” or body to body and possibly also rolling around in the floor. In this situation only weapons rated for close combat are useable ( short sword, knife, dagger etc) crucially in DQ both mace and war pick are rated as close weapons. Natural weapon attacks are also rated for “Close” so if a baboon drops out if a tree onto you your broadsword or great axe that are only rated for melee combat cannot be used and you have to draw your dagger to fight whilst fending off claw/claw/bite. This works very well and any experienced fighter will have a plan for dealing with close combat monsters (tigers, bears, feral broo, ghouls etc). Which may be using a short sword, mace or pick as a universal weapon, dual using sword and dagger or relying on your armour to last while you spend 5SR to draw your secondary weapon. There are rules for getting into close (it’s not automatic for intelligent opponents for example) but it provides an in game sensible reason for using weapons that may not be optimal for melee but might keep you alive rolling in the dirt.
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