Psullie

AFAIK the new RQ will focus on Dragon Pass, Lunar Empire & Esrolia. So for your Balazaring campaign you'll be dipping heavily into older materials anyway, but the big change will be how Runic and Clan passions will/can impact on play.

great news!

Ty Kora Tek & Asrelia ????

ah it goes a bit Philip K Dick then...

but are there any side effects (in game terms) either from withdrawal or engaging spirits while tripping the light fantastic? If your NPC it taking the short cut to the spirit world what are the long term risks?

Nochet Vice Squad

So it's more like opium? (chasing the dragon with serious consequences) Just wondering if there is a social aspect or is it primarily a shamanistic totem. The plantations in River of Cradles suggest a thriving blackmarket economy which would only be supported by recreational use... Are Hazia dens a thing?

For my games, Portomekan pipe weed and Kafl = tobacco. Hazia = marijuana however for the uninitiated the effects are the lesser known Discombobulate spell

well the good news is that there will be good quality RuneQuest & Glorantha stuff coming down river for the foreseeable future,

Awesome!

So Joerg wasn't joking!

The RQ layout thread, which went off on a tangent, got me thinking about saddles and stirrups. The font of all modern knowledge, Wikipedia, tells me that saddles c. 700 BC (okay for Glorantha) but stirrups (c. 200BC) would be questionable, it also says that stirrups do help the rider utilise the mounts speed and mass but their absence does not preclude lances. I'm not a rider so thought I'd put it to the community. I'm thinking Pentan nomads would have the toe stirrups (for their archery etc) but what about Praxian or other cavalry?

I love the figure sketches. Would it be possible when all is said and done to release them (even sell them) as a Roll20 sprite pack?

I'm guessing that as bulleted text it is not right justified to make the distinction clearer

As for starting characters it might be worth your while to give one or two PC's a little bump, but make it integral to their backstory - demobbed soldier might have a high weapon skill or a journeyman priest with higher magic/healing skills. Another tip is stage your game in a 'safe' environment until they're ready. In RuneQuest the wilderness is a dangerous place only to be ventured into in large groups. No reason why your first several games can happen in a city

Avoid big combat encounters until you are all comfortable with the system. Keep it low key with the threat of violence - remember even broo want to live if given the chance to escape.

How do you pronounce Nochet? Hard C, silent C, silent T, long O, short O... Know - che? Naugh che? No het? ...

its not just liquids: apples and other fruits, salted fish, cured meats, all go in barrels (you'd have a job getting a leg of lamb into an amphora... )

would those not come under tithes - sacrifices are offered to the god and in many cases subsequent human consumption frowned upon...

trying hard not to descend into 'lightbulb jokes' or comments about fluctuating POW exchange rates... I'd guess it entirely depends on the power/divinity being sacrificed too, and the relative worth of the Cow to the aspirant. In pre-columbian Mexico for example there was a scale based on the individuals worth, from slave, captured enemy up to Moctezuma's own blood (where just a few drops were necessary). So ask your self how sacred is the Cow to the the God and how much of a sacrifice would its loss be.

Yep that was gold - and with the Glorantha box set it made is easier roll up characters for novice players - I also preferred rolling for the skill increase amount rather than the +5%

I don't think its the dice rolling but how you gauge the difficulty and the linguistics of explaining chance. It is easier to explain that you has a 25% chance of success than saying you have a 5 in 20. Also statements like 125% chance are understood, where as 25 on a d20 will lead to confusion.

they are not percentiles, which looks at the full range (and can result in bell curves similar to the 3d6 distribution) but a flat chance of success. 50% is not therefore average, just a 50/50 chance of success. If I recall THACO was a major simplification of the combat system - I only played 1st & 2nd and the d20 was core then too - it only became known as the D20 system to market the licence variants of other games: Star Wars, Delta Green etc.

my wife got me a book stand last Christmas for that reason...

I think intention has a lot to do with this, and the difference between a good and a poor brick. When the crafter makes a brick (for example) he combines water and earth and the intention imbues spirit into the brick. Like wise when many materials are brought together to raise a house, the intention creates a spirit - possibly drawing energies from the individual pieces. So a well built temple is one built from quality materials, too much poor or ill intentioned materials will lead to a weak structure and a weak spirit. This assumes that the spirit of a building comes into existence during construction with would involve regular prayer and ritual. The alternative is that the spirit already exists and is somehow bound to the building...