Psullie

Boldhome is less defensible than Whitewall and has three times the population. 

Whitewall (from the guide): An impregnable fortress built atop solid rock, it is surrounded by high gleaming white stone walls some 50 feet high and 30 feet thick, and the city is well-provided with granaries and wells. 

I think even with magic the basic rules apply. Sieges are massively expensive undertakings, far more than seasonal warfare. I recall someplace that an advantage of 4:1 is required for a successful siege (although that related to the Italian Wars). As the attacker your job is to cut off the food supply and hope their morale breaks before help arrives or you run out of money and have to leave.Laying siege to an ancillary fort is slightly different in that all you need to do is keep them occupied until the main job (Whitewall) is accomplished. Who's to say that Sanuel overstepped his mark by pillaging the fort.

As the defender your main job is keeping the water clean (hunting and destroying disease spirits), managing food reserves, preventing fires (water elementals), shoring up defences (earth elements), keeping up morale (both with fort elders and commoners) and maintaining communication with the outside (knowing the state for play with Whitewall is key for keeping morale). And there is the occasional sortie to harass the attackers vulnerable spots. Lots to keep enterprising players happy. Remember too that the fate of the fort is determined, so the most the PC's can hope for is minimising casualties. 

powerful spirits could generate proto-spirts, rather than possess the host themselves they seed the host with a new spirit. this is how I imagine plague might spread...

11 hours ago, Pentallion said:

yep, good point.  The Cradle adventurers were not intending harm, they were simply flowing down the river.  Simply being made to move through the warding is enough to set it off.  And motion doesn't invalidate the warding as then, as Styopa said, all you have to do is lean against the wagon to set it in motion.  So we're back to marketing Hula Hoop of Death (tm) to all the Geo stores.  I'm back to thinking God Learner Forbidden Secret.

I disagree, I think the Wardings were placed there to effect any craft attempting to sail past, and the Cradle in sailing over them sets them off, as the target is trying (intention) to cross the warding. Remember that as per the Detect Enemies spell, setting the ward means that the cater must who constitutes an enemy or else it defaults to enemies of the caster. 

The scenario also states that much of the magic in that battle are beyond the scope or standard RuneQuest, so it's not a clear example. 

I would say, if your players want a hullahoop-O-death then they must create a new Rune Spell based on Warding

you got to hand it to your players for seeing that loophole. However I would argue that the Warding spell is based on keeping unwanted visitors out and is therefore defensive magic. The spell uses Detect Enemies to trigger, therefore intention to gain access to the protected area for ill is a requirement of spell. Forcing a warded loop onto a victim does not have this intention

This way you could place it on a wagon or ship and it would work to keep people out but would not work if you were to push the cart on to the victim.

ubiquitous though it may be, it is still just another valuable resource - education for example may be ubiquitous here on earth but access in many places is controlled or the privilege of the wealthy. I see magic in Glorantha as the same, just because someone can cast Heal 2 doesn't mean they will. Gloratha has a substantial barter economy which is based more on need than value and this applies to services (magic is a service industry) too. 

If you can get a copy River of Cradles makes for a great primer and with a little fudging would work well for a one on one campaign as it assumes that the PC's have little knowledge of the region.

btw 15 and running D&D and Traveller, sounds like a great kid.

trigonometry + algebra = sorcery 

was when I was in school 

6 hours ago, Joerg said:

Keeping such craft, alchemy or measuring processes largely abstract probably is friendlier to the gaming table than hammering a blade strike by strike, melee round by melee round. (This could provide dramatic tension and urgency in a very limited set of circumstances, but doesn't require detailed rules.)

I agree, the 'big magic' wether divine or sorcery is on a scale usually outside the scope of the players. It's usually forms the plot (stop the evil priest from summoning X) or part of the hoot (find the sacred hen's tooth to complete the ritual) 

30 minutes ago, Mark Mohrfield said:

What sort of trade ship could make it from Nochet to Pavis? I've an idea for a campaign.

an airborne one!

the Zola Fel would require a very different vessel from one that hugs the coast. You'd need two ships, one for the Rozgali part of the route, the trade off at Corflu for a river barge.

the Pacific is a much calmer body of water than the Atlantic hence the koa-koa were able to island hop. Another reason why ancient vessels hugged the coasts was the unpredictability of the weather, if you see a storm coming you might make it to a safe harbour or cove rather than risk being swamped at sea.

navigation loses were significant up until longitude and reliable clocks! Glorantha doesn't have that equivalent 

Sorcery is staring to sound very interesting...

very interesting, but the value of amour is far more than it's weight. Finding blacksmiths of sufficient skill in Glorantha would be a real challenge

41 minutes ago, soltakss said:

There's a sci-fi show about Orville? Does he wish he could fly?

You had to go there...

2 hours ago, Zit said:

The question may already have been addressed somewhere else, I'm sorry if it is the case.

The rules for augments on page 2 are not the same as later for Runes and Passions, although it is said on page 2 that "Where appropriate, abilities—whether Runes, skills, or passions—
may be combined to augment one another".

Page 2:
• Failure: Subtract –20% from the desired ability.
• Fumble: Subtract –50% from the desired ability.

Page 8 & 10

• Failure: Subtract –10% from all rolls using that Rune/passion etc.
• Fumble: Immediately lose –1D10% from the Rune/passion etc.

I know the Quickstart is only a draft and I guess this has already been spotted and will be corrected, but I'm wondering if, the definitive rules, there will be a difference when augmenting with skills or with runes/passions, and if yes, why ?

Page 2 relates to using a Rune, skill or Passion to augment another, usually a once off roll, for example using Dance to augment a Ritual roll.

Page 8 refers to Runic Inspiration to effect a whole scene, using your Movement Rune to augment a night of Dancing 

11 hours ago, Scout said:

The only pdf I own is HQG

Hi Scout 

With HQG you have all you need to start exploring Glorantha with your players in terms of background and cults etc. It covers the core area of Dragon Pass and Prax and gives you enough material to play regardless of which rules you decide on. In fact when I ran the QuickStart for RPG day I used HQG's maps and cult write ups to introduce new players.

From your opening post I get the feeling that RQ is more your thing, a recent post on the community link explains very well the core concept of HQ particularly how keywords relate to solving  problems rather than objective values. 

The new version of RQ will have so much of it's RQ Classic DNA that transitioning will be easy. If you like games with wargaming like skills and abilities and can wait until November hold off and buy the new edition, if you really can't wait then RQC will get you going. In this case I recommend Apple Lane and Snake Pipe Hollow as the two introductory scenarios, while very dated now by today's standards they are great to get you and your players started.

without fermentation we would not exist, it goes beyond chocolate, cheese and beer. 

that said, while the process may not be understood save perhaps by the God Learners, it does require careful management to get the desired results least you end up with a glass of meths. This is where ritual and divine guidance pays off, follow tradition and respect the gods and your bread will rise, p*** off Eurmal and you may end up with ergot in your wheat!

29 minutes ago, Scout said:

Is this the quickstart for the upcoming RQ7?

https://www.chaosium.com/runequest-quickstart/

Yes, but it will not be RQ7 

It has more in common with RQ2 & RQ3 plus extra bits...

20 hours ago, g33k said:

We do a "sprawl around the living room" seating-style these days, rolling dice on clipboard in the lap, or a nearby end-table / etc.   Also, we've had some mobility-impaired & some seating-limited (due to back problems) so rearranging seating order isn't viable (in our group).

Way-back-when, I think I played (for a little while) in a group where the GM did this...  Psullie?  Was that you?  Somewhere in the SantaCruz - SanJose area of California?

 

hi g33k, no I'm on the other side of the Atlantic

What I've done in the past is arrange players around the table by DEX or SR (depending on the system)

I ask for statements of intent in reverse order, so last acting declares first. I visualise where the NPC's sit in this order (a bit like g33k's cards above) and jump in accordingly. Then player act going back around. Rinse & repeat.

For big battles I only narrate directly what the PC's can impact. Though I usually mirror the tide of the battle by their success (if they actually have enough influence)

... and this is Glorantha, classical military tactics do not apply when magically powerful individuals can obliterate entire armies. 

1 hour ago, Jason Durall said:

Just to be clear, we're still collecting feedback and reading these forums carefully. Part of the purpose of the Gen Con preview edition was specifically to get the rules outside the Chaosium biosphere and to external player groups. 

Until the print proof is authorized, it's not final. We want it to get there soon and hold off on any last-minute changes, but they happen. 

As many on those who purchased Gen Con copy are NOT on the forum, and therefore not contributing to the discussion, would you consider making a digital copy available to those who are on the forum?

This was from Jason's posts clarifying combat results:

"A successful parry always blocks an attack, whether the attack is a regular, special, or critical success. In each case, the attacker rolls damage. If the damage is below the parrying weapon/shield’s hit points, no damage is done. If damage exceeds parrying weapon/shield’s hit points, excess damage always goes to an adjacent hit location on the defender (see page @@) and the parrying weapon/shield loses 1 hit point."

So I would say the sword only takes damage if the total exceeds 12, and then only 1 point.

ohh, looks like the preview would benefit from some serious play testing, perhaps even a Release Candidate

2 hours ago, Joerg said:

This detail was already in Genertela Box and accompanied the longbow discussions for the 1993/4 project RuneQuest - Adventures in Glorantha. It was hard to miss back then if you cared about archery in RQ.

Do you mean the Crucible of the Hero Wars box for RQ3 - I don't recall that being said apart from listing the Longbow as their cultural weapon. As for AiG Dragonewts were given longbows p. 187. 

On 8/29/2017 at 5:48 PM, Joerg said:

Rathorela during the Ban: Were only the Rathori asleep, or did their hibernation fall onto the other Hsunchen and the 100 k Vronkali?

I'm guessing that of all the Hsunchen spirits in Fronela only bears hibernate, though badgers slow down quite a bit, then they were the only ones to sleep. I imagine they were quite cranky when they woke :-)

Also, page 233 suggests that the Rathori are the only non-Aldryami users of the longbow in Glorantha! Surprised I'm only seeing this now.

21 minutes ago, m0n0cular said:

What about bound spirits in the bodies of hibernating animals? The binder can't stray too far from from their spirit or the bond is broken, so they pin themselves down to a tight geographical area during the periods of hibernation. What mythological precedents might there be for taking on such a restriction?

If the spirit is bound to the animal then it's bound wether it's sleeping or awake, in fact binding a watchful spirit during hibernation would be tremendously useful, rather like dryads keeping watch over winter. With regard the binders spirit wandering during long hibernation, the accompanying spirit could either travel with the dreamer or remain watching over the corporal body. 

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

 is a matter for God Learner speculation of the intense kind only found in these forums. 

brown elves hibernate... and trolls