Psullie

Time does not exist in the Spirit World in the same way it does in the mundane. Some spirit combats could take days, rolling one opposed roll per night during a dream or the opposite, where the combat is over in a perceived instant - by the time you realise what's going on its too late sort of thing.  

36 minutes ago, lordabdul said:

So would it be not uncommon to see some possessed wild boar or bear or trollkin making trouble in your clan lands

which is why the shaman is a necessary member of you community. 

Spirits are inscrutable, many are bound by tradition or myth but rarely logic

7 hours ago, pookie said:

Jonstown Jottings #3: This Fertile Ground—A review of Michael Paul O'Sullivan’s scenario for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha published by Chaosium, Inc.

http://rlyehreviews.blogspot.com/2019/12/jonstown-jottings-3-this-fertile-ground.html

#reviewsfromrlyeh #rpgreview #rpgreviews #rpg #fantasy #Chaosium #RuneQuest #JonstownCompendium #JonstownJottings
 

Solid review, many thanks

4 hours ago, MOB said:

DriveThruRPG is handling the initial release, and hopefully the other three titles will be up soon. 

its now Saturday and still only one title...

22 hours ago, lordabdul said:

I was confused for a while about what you meant -- are you having problems with the mechanical details of how many points of damage are exchanged, or are you having problems with the underlying principle of a parry damaging the attacker?

If it's the former, I'm not sure if you want more or less points, or what the problem is.

If it's the latter, then yeah, it's all about the fact that the defender is parrying with a blade or pointy thing or hard thing. If the ghoul's claws get blocked by the flat of the blade, it's like punching a wall that's moving towards you, and that can hurt your hand. If the claws get parried by the edge of the blade, that can potentially hurt a lot more!

It was the latter. For now I'll go with the 'parry doesn't necessarily mean contact' and creatures with natural weapons don't take damage when a successful attack is parried. Any reference on the A&P table to the Attackers Weapon takes damage will mean the receive body part. I'd allow armour for non-special parries as the parry don't have to be against the business end of the claw/fist etc.

thanks for all the replies

20 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Was this a home rule based off some existing RQ 2 of 3 rule? Or did it exist somewhere in some form ?

cheers Bill

I did go back to 2 & 3 and didn't see anything, doesn't mean its not there though. I like to keep it simple and just say the parking natural weapons just keeps the attacker from connecting

20 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

I hear you, but I remind myself that the rolls by the rules are abstractions of the in-game reality.  "Parrying" doesn't necessarily mean weapon-to-weapon contact to prevent a blow, but may also be interpreted as intimidating an opponent into pulling that blow that may have landed.  I'm picturing how cats fight, for instance -- head back, ears down, paws batting the air in each other's faces and at each other's paws, not necessarily a lot of contact.

The contact your hero's sword made with the ghoul's claw may have been a successful parry, but is incidental in all but the rarer circumstances.  Maybe it was the flat of the blade that made contact, maybe contact was only glancing, maybe it was just a defending sword point that caused the ghoul to back away at the last moment.

!i!

this makes a lot of sense and easy to play, the Special parries would be those rare occurrences where your were able to turn a parry into an attack. 

So my hero is attacked by a ghoul, three attacks all on the same SR, two claws and a bite. My hero decides to parry all three with his sword. On a successful strike and successful parry the Attacker (ghoul) rolls damage and the Defender only takes damage if the attacking damage exceeds the weapons HP. But the attackers weapon is not damaged - this this case the ghouls claw or head.

The ghoul could take damage in a failed attack versus a successful parry, but only 1 HP if the parry damage rolled exceeds the claws HP. More if its a special parry etc,

Does this seem right to you? Should the ghoul take more damage from parried attacks? How do you handle these types of combats?

3 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Men of the Sea—MRQ?

HeroQuest: https://www.chaosium.com/men-of-the-sea-pdf/

here is my contribution, @MOB I hope you don't mind me posting this...

Forests were farmed, coppicing and pollarding were common techniques to produce materials as wide ranging as animal feed to boat building. Parklands were also maintained to promote deer, boar and fowl for hunting. Mass deforestation only began in the gunpowder age - ships and charcoal 

In my view most temperate landscapes will have substantial tree cover even if labelled farmland. Forests with an F would also have communities living within so the distinction between farm and forest gets very vague.

I love the duck pic on page 16!

some of you may find this interesting: https://gizmodo.com/social-inequality-marriage-habits-and-other-clues-to-1838943080

RQG laid down a promise campaign play in the same vein as Pendragon; one game per season, focusing on parentage in char gen and off season rolls. Even if you don't play the big campaign, have it as a framework to guide GMs in playing in different eras would be essential. Dynasty was such a core part of Pendragon and I believe should be for RQ too. The Hero Wars are about fighting for future generations with the aid of your ancestors. 

I feel that using appropriate terminology really helps set the tone for players. Though I use the common terms I often preface them for my players with the advice that these are 'nearest equivalent translations' and not to be taken literally. Unless we create a whole new lexicon we are going to mislead some people, but that can work too, by using Earth terms but presenting them in a unique way we highlight that this isn't Kansas.

39 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Yelmalio's myth is a powerful one - he held out against the Darkness and his light never went out. He aided humanity, elves, and others survive the Great Darkness when all other gods were dead. He was no more shiny shield of the god who broke the world - Yelmalio stood fast for what was true and just, and never gave up. He grants his worshipers power and contact with the Sky and the Golden Age. He is one of the husband protectors of Ernalda, and although Orlanth ambushed him and stole from him, Yelmalio willingly aided Orlanth in the Great Darkness. He suffered so we might live, and the other gods acknowledge that. Yelmalio is the Last Light in the Darkness, the friend of mortals when all other gods are gone.

When Orlanth's actions are just and right, we support him. When Orlanth's actions are selfish and destructive, we oppose him. We are constant and true - like our god Yelmalio. 

I hope the Gods book contains more insights like this, really useful for GM's and player to grasp the essence of an ideology - not just worship this god and you get these spells...

I can't speak directly to the Adventures book, but transplanting the NPC's should be straight forward. One word of caution though, start with some very simple encounters - 3 or 4 NPC's v the PC's just to everyone gets a chance to learn the system,. 

1 minute ago, PhilHibbs said:

Swords break so easily.

According to the rules they break as easily as Medium Shields. Also if you parry with a Sword you will do more damage on failed attacks and therefore more likely to break your opponents weapons. I can see some tactical situation where shields are preferred, but for most combats sticking with your primary weapon is the best option

3 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

There is no such rule in RQG, I think Jason has clarified this.

Which then begs the question why use a shield? Vasana for example has 90% parry with the Broadsword and only 55% with the Medium shield. Both block 12HP, why would she ever choose to parry with the shield?

1 hour ago, Sumath said:

Only two-handed weapons can be used to both attack and parry in a single round. One-handed weapons (including shields) can be used to either attack or parry during a round, not both.

Great list Sumath, can you provide a reference for No 10. I can't locate where is prohibits using the same weapon to attack and parry,

Cool stuff, I have a few ideas that would do very nicely.

I'm starting my new campaign on the 6th!

Thanks Sumath, that was an enjoyable read. Nice use of tactics to explain the rules. Also shows the importance of armour. My only suggestion would be that as the Orlmarth had the drop they should have cast a few spells to boost their chances... 

Lovely Rodney Matthews vibe to it

What was the date of this battle? So far I can only find references to the year, 1628.

Cheers