Psullie

I think as a GM part of the process would first deciding does the situation need to be resolved in a single instance, or is there the probability of an extended test. If you need an immediate result then perhaps the Opposed Resolution system is not suitable,  then just a single roll (adjusted by the difference ?) is made.

I feel the as written system is weighed towards the fact the in many circumstances opposed situations are not readily resolved in one go. When both participants of a contest succeed then both should be rewarded - it's not enough to weigh in on favour of the PC's (what happens when two PC vie for the same thing?) or attribute arbitrary passive/active labels (a guard is passive when searching but when PC's are searching it becomes an active state?). 

At first I was in favour of the Blackjack approach but then realised that the opportunity to introduce tension and uncertainty was less than 1%, wether its armwrestling, hide and sneak, political debate or any contest. If your PC's enter into such a situation without a distinct advantage then the likelihood will be a long drawn-out affair. The system therefore encourages players to establish an advantage over your opponent through augments before your start. If Big John needs to hide form the Guard then he better tap into his Darkness Rune first.

I'd imagine there would be a whole sub-cult devoted to conception, pregnancy and labour. Gloranthan magic would make the whole process safer but as adventuring is inherently risky how much 'confinement' would be an important consideration plus neonatal care and breastfeeding. We just had a women in gaming month so I'd be interested in women gamers point of view?

3 hours ago, Jason Durall said:

To give credit where it is due, Jeff did the lion's share of work on this book.

I came in and edited, clarified what needed it (obviously missed some things), and added bits and pieces where they were required. I did a lot of reorganizing. But this is Jeff's book through and through.

We had incredible contributions from others on the writing team, but without Jeff's work there simply would be no new RuneQuest. 

 

Now Jason when the mob comes wielding pitchforks and burning torches you'll not get away so easily 😉

PS. I'm enjoying just reading the book 

55 minutes ago, Pheres said:

I have tried to open it under Apple's Preview and Safari, all numeral are dispayed, but nothing is generated. Damage bonus, SR and Skill mods don't auto generate (i can see negatives values for skill mods and damage bonus that don't change when characteristics values changed).

Note: i have tried Jason's sheet.

What OS are you running, I'm on Sierra. 

27 minutes ago, Jason Durall said:

It's on the boat. We'll have to clarify in future print runs and via a FAQ. 

 

😀

Just opened it using Apple's Preview - Characteristics only display first numeral so it looks like your character as 1 in each, same with elemental runes. And the Skill mods don't auto generate. But this is likely a Preview issue as its not known for playing nice. If I open the PDF in Safari it all works. 

21 minutes ago, creativehum said:

I am curious what else might better arm newcomers in how to infer and decode some of the details that might not be readily apparent to newcomers trying to make sense of this material.

Just dive in, so what if you miss some things or play it 'wrong' for a bit. I've been exploring Glorantha on and off for twenty years and still have lightbulb moments. Organise a game with your players and explore it 

I've always had best success when almost everything is mundane, the unseen but whispered at horror can be far more unsettling, For example, if every session has the investigators killing cold ones or defeating mad wizards then a book made from human skin is not even noteworthy - but when things seem normal the realisation of what such a book means becomes eerie and disturbed. So what ever you play establish the baseline of normalcy then slowly turn up the heat.

just to add to the very good suggestions above, in many cultures some women had the duty of preparing the dead for funerals but due to their association wth the dead were often shunned by the community. but this was a skill that had to be learned and the rites passed down. Perhaps she's an apprentice embalmer. 

There are also keeners, professional women who would wail and cry at funerals, so your character could be a travelling to learn songs for the dead and earn some coin at funerals. 

a young follower need not necessarily be barren, she just has to wait a few decades before becoming a full priestess 

the shifting rooms is a fun hook, perhaps it is not random but a way to trace out a non-euclydan rune by passing though the rooms in a certain order - clues to the order are perhaps in hidden noted in the library. The PC could have fun (while slowing losing SAN) jumping about the house

The main theme of CoC is the investigators futile attempt to stop the bad guys, The players should want to stop the sacrifice, particularly if its the innocent Miss Hazelwood or one of the investigators (although I'd avoid the later as any the players of a captive PC may find themselves out of the action for too long). So the classic CoC finale would be; reduce the damsel, stop the unholy ritual, defeat the cultists and save the world while avoiding insanity injury or death. As this is a one shot you could have the PC succeed but becoming trapped like ghosts in the house for ever with a possible sequel with a new bunch who come later to investigate a hunted mansion... 

Make all those things 12 year olds are great at crucial at solving the mystery - or even something that only kids can see

perhaps its a stew of potherbs like kale, cabbage, collard greens, spinach etc. little if no meat

Current thoughts on Dragonewts is a theory accepted by most as truth, but like all theories is open to challenge once more data is collected 

I'm sure Glorantha has it's dragonewt deniers along with the round earthers

I think a lot of this could easily be resolved with a couple of solid examples of play - either by video or text.

17 minutes ago, Ian_W said:

Back when Trav was a thing, there was also a game called Runequest that had a supplement called Cults of Prax, that had fluff based around a guy going around buying and selling. A party could either be that guy, or be hired by that guy, or be trying to rob that guy.

As a GM there are few thing less satisfying than watching thieves become merchants after telling a bunch of PC's after a hard won fight that the 'treasure' amounts to sacks of grain, bolts of silk or some other bulky trade items, ah the gaming potential.

2 minutes ago, Mugen said:

But if you parry with both weapons in a turn, you can't attack at all.

If you get a -20% modifier no matter what weapon you use to parry, you're just sacrificing your attack potential with no benefit.

If you parry with both weapons in lieu of any attacks then both parries are at full potential, only subsequent parries suffer the penalty - this is how I'd play it...

One of the things I liked about RQ was that shields were active and not something that passively improved your armour. I always took the view that they were no different than weapons in that you learned the skill and fought with them, they were naturally better at parrying than attacking but not exclusive, so essentially a sword/shield combo was already using two weapons. You can attack with both, parry with both or one each (and the choice was the players). Now that the attack and parry skills are one it does change the mechanic and therefore weapon choice, but the fundamentals are the same, you are using two weapons wether its a sword/axe or sword/shield. 

I think the attack/parry choice remains the same, the only difference is that you can now make extra parries at cumulative -20% after the first - it does't matter which weapon you choose to make the parry.

I always find a great way to create an immersive world when GM'ing is to mention things by origin. To say it is a Lorthensket built ship is better than just a ship, or to know the difference between a Loskalm Destrier from a Jillaroan Race Horse is far more evocative than a big horse or a fast horse, Fortunately the Guide provides a rich resource but as it is not easily referenced for this sort of data I created a table of Gloranthan Trade Goods and Places of Interest. 

Hardly complete but serves as a ready reckoner for adding a touch of the exotic or realism to you games. For the most part if the Guide said xyz Is famous for abc I added it to the list. Here is a PDF arranged by item with locale, region and Guide page number for reference, and my original exel sheet for those who want to edit etc. I've also uploaded them to the Downloads. 

Enjoy

Gloranthan_Trade_Goods.pdf

Gloranthan_Trade_Goods.xlsx

4 hours ago, Tigerwomble said:

I understand that some lasagnes found on Sainsbury's shelves contain Long pork. 

For the Praxians it was actually much worse - it was horse meat! (and I think it was Iceland) 

4 minutes ago, creativehum said:

My problem with this is, as you your self say, we are left as players what to do now? Do we make the same roll again? Then why not, as you say, just resolve the roll with the first roll somehow? 

Tension, sometimes the situation takes longer than expected to resolve

2 minutes ago, jongjom said:

Which is Okay, but is this the [official] case? 

And if the PC is still trying to Hide and the guard still does Search, does that mean that there should be a second roll? In which case, why not have the blackjack rule to allow for speedier resolution?

However, there maybe some merit in building tension with repeat rolls in some instances. 

No not official, just my reading. I'm in favour of the blackjack rule (thanks @GianniVacca for the phrase) and would only tie with a 'number tie' - and yes the point is to build tension. 

From: https://www.chaosium.com/blogwhats-happening-with-rqg-4-jason-jeff-and-ken-talk-about-plans-for-the-future-at-chimriades-convention/

"The GM's book will also feature magic items, guidance about treasures, and Heroquesting and Hero rules."

46 minutes ago, David Scott said:

Based on this reply from @Jason Durall, the official answer is that it's a tie, so the situation is not resolved (nothing happens).

39 minutes ago, jongjom said:

Which is a result in favour of the Hide roll? They are not found. The Search was not successful. Is that not a resolution? 

For me a tied success (wether it's equal number or just levels) means both succeed - in the above example the PC hid but the Guard saw 'something' which would warrant a second Opposed Roll (unless some other event distracted the Guards attention). For me "not resolved (nothing happens)" doesn't mean that the contest ends and everyone goes about their business - just that the status quo remains the same - the PC is trying to hide and the guard is looking.

28 minutes ago, Jeff said:

But for the human Praxians, it is their pork substitute. And the most economical of herd-beasts to eat.

Praxian Spam! 

ya kinda matches the Runners in the bestiary sample