Trotsky

Duplicate post

Consolidated into Google Drive document...

It is well deserved, I am thoroughly enjoying running it...

Consolidated into Google Drive document...

Back in the day when I played RPG's regularly I would always keep a campaign journal. On my return I have decided to keep it in the form of a saga. I am not a writer so the prose might not reach the desired standard for publication but it is really a bit of fun. I am trying to write the verse as soon after the session as possible and I do minimal editing (so you have been warned). I have been lucky to meet up with a great group of players online and have been encouraged to start this thread so if anyone wants to follow along they can. I did post one or two parts in my previous thread ‘Returning after 35 years.’ The campaign we are playing is based on the excellent Six Seasons in Sartar – some parts I have changed and I am expanding many of the ideas in the episodes section as recommended by the author Andrew Montgomery. I find the passions in RQ:G quite inspirational as a GM and most of the changes I have made are due in part to create dynamic tension and interesting choices for the characters based on their passions. Anyway here goes… Link to file on my Google Drive

Stephen’s reminder about shield arm damage is really useful - gives a real imperative to parry with shield rather than a weapon.

I am just returning to RuneQuest but remember this issue from the past. Like most others have stated this is really a feature rather than a problem. However, I do remember as a GM in the past changing an occasional hit location during a fight. So that unexpected critical by a Trolkin (it is always the Trollkin) is moved from the head/chest/abdomen to a limb. Will still take the adventurer out the fight but give the rest of the party an opportunity to do something. You have to be careful with any modification because players need to ‘feel’ the peril of the situation and for key scenes I would never fudge anything. However for that minor situation where things just escalate then it could help.

Here the Saga of the Haraborn continuers... ......... CONTAINS SIX SEASON OF SARTAR SPOILERS ........... Below is an extract from the second book of the Haraborn saga The Maid of Ernalda Fire Season of a thousand suns burned bright in the Vale Haraborn lands yearned with thirst and doubt for a harvest of gold The Great Sartar humbled beneath a glaring Red Goddess It was a time of woe in the valley of the Great Stag Two children, fledglings of the clan were lost The first Andrin, apprentice to Gustran, father of all the smith forges The second Keogar, son of Tarn, friend to young Andrin The fate of both forever linked by the casting of a toy Now Binta daughter of Gunter, follower of Ernalda, entered the saga Amongst the leaf and twigs she spied Andrin, lost child of the clan A hand of flesh and blood she held so fleetingly But the boy once found was soon lost Binta, Araldar, Themis and Sarooth were at a loss Many a time did Andrin appear to Binta but little did he reveal No other Haraborn did see the lost child of the Stag and some doubted her The lost one called to Binta and charged her for its liberation Commanded by the Ring, our heroes did toil to lead the spirit to its rest Morganenth, the blind, knew that Mother did not hold the bones Saran, the thunderous, knew they did not breathe Orlanth’s air Two boys gone and the clan in mourning To the village did our heroes tread searching for a key In the trading house of the Haraborn did they spy a prize Soldiers of wood and bronze called to them - a link to Andrin’s fate On Redsmith’s soil did Themis, bright of eye, did find a pin of infancy With hopes of aid for poor Andrin and Keogor deep in their hearts The pull of clan and duty did drive them from their purpose The Founder’s Feast, High Holy Day of Sartar drew nigh And all our heroes had their part to play The night before the feast, Orlanth raged The first rain did feed the sod of the Haraborn Ernalda drank eagerly and the clan rejoiced in hope of Orlanth’s renewal But the respite was short and Yelm still ruled the day The Feast was hushed and the mood of the clan mild and sombre The annual ‘Bedding the Feathers’ the only breeze on that still day A play of clan and horse in memory of the Founder Ofin the Rash was first and the stallion of the wilds cracked his hand Next Sarooth calmed the beast but the halter did fail him Forward Themis with mind of a hunter but the brute spun him to the earth Fair Binta tried her hand but horse shook the ground and she too did fall Araldar, spirit walker, did shy from the task With the heroes of the Haraborn spent with bruise and blood Aventarl the Meek did sing the song of Splendid Yamsur Horse listened to the tale of Hippoi and lamented the deal she struck Three tasks did Aventarl complete and Bedded the Feathers did he Whilst the festivities danced on in a night of meat and mead A hand of fate fell upon fair Binta of the Earth, a touch of evil A spectre as grim as Eurmal is bright she saw, Keogor once was he A warning of death and foreboding was spoken unto her ‘Come to the woods where you first saw Andrin, Come tonight. Do not bring any of the men with you Or Ashart son of Beroth will suffer of it’ Binta, protectress, did consider what was to be done for poor Ashart Themis’ charge was missing, a boy full of hope and promise Much he berated his forgetfulness for the boy he promised to save In vain the heroes sought the boy but nothing did they find Fearing the worst, the heroes rallied to the call of Keogar Binta with breast aflame full of courage and compassion did go To meet her doom or bring forward the boy’s salvation Her friends did follow prepared to face any evil met The Red Moon did cast an angry shadow on the erstwhile champions At the rocky base of mighty Kagradus Peak did the path lead Binta, fair of face and hard as stone did lead with torch aloft Into the mountain’s bowels she strode With Sarooth, Araldar and Themis at her side The path was dark and full of terror Stench of decay and death wound around all who entered that night Binta with torch held high and shield of wood held fast Into a chamber of utmost despair, the heroes stole Bones of children and a graven image of bear, skin and goat did they pass Araldar cast sight into the darkness and two he could spy Sarooth unleased his dark-touched magic and was gone into the shadow Themis, the hunter mobilised all with his magic and readied his eager bow A spirit of despair began to fill the chamber with the stench of Chaos The hideous spectre twisted in the flickering dark An ancestor from a twisted god, screaming in the ecstasy of agony Blood ran from the eyes, ears, mouth and nose of our heroes Whilst all watched the growing shadow, the bones of the dead began to rise Two children, once full of life, now stood with bones of bleached flesh Clubs of twisted root did they hold to crush the living All at the behest of one whom still lurked deep in the shadow

Hi CaptinDan, great news all the players are enthusiastic in having another member of the party – I will PM you with the details of the game. Welcome onboard!

Hi CaptainDan, we have a UK based game every Wednesday evening - 7:30 to 11ish... we are only a couple of sessions into our campaign. If the time suits you I will check with the other players...

I was lucky - when I decided to host a game I posted on Roll 20 and within a week or so found some players - including @Westnovote ! Agreed it would be good to get a greater online presence on digital platforms. Roll 20's RQ:G character sheet is very good and user friendly.

Inspired by our session last night and wanting to keep a campaign log, I decided to write it up a saga. We are using Six Seasons in Sartar as the setting and the adventurers undertook a cattle raid to prove themselves to the clan on reaching adulthood (there are no spoilers about Six Seasons below – this was an optional cattle raid episode). The episode began well with Sarooth, son of Gordanger, who has a natural air of authority, addressing a packed meeting hall to speak of the glory and honour the raid would bring to his family and the clan and promptly rolled a critical success… Much ale and mead was consumed in celebration of such fine oratory and they had thick heads the following morning… I will try and add to the saga as we go along but it may include campaign spoilers in future – so you have been warned! (excuse any grammar errors and poor wording choices – I wrote this over my morning coffee) The first book in the Saga of the Haraborn How the Cat Saved the Day Yelm shone bright and the cursed Red Moon scoured the land The heroes of the Haraborn were revealed to all Youthful of mind and spirit but with a Starheart burning within A trial did Orlanth pass to them The most noble was Sarooth son of Gordanger, a man of blood and steel Themis son of Serenaral, follower of the nomad god, with a bow of true shot The third was Araldar son of Stoyan, who wished to walk amongst the spirits With their companions Ofin the Rash, and Aventarl the Meek In the Hall of the Haraborn did Sarooth Goldentongue speak Such was his words that even Orlanth himself stooped to listen A pledge to honour the clan and shame the unworthy Sambari A raid the like of which would be sung for generations To the land of the Sambari the trinity trod Through valley and hill of stone and rock under Yelm’s ever watchful eye Cattle of the Sambari lowing did bring the heroes to heel Sarooth, Themis and Araldar, stood at the precipice of glory Themis, with the eyes of an hawk did scout Heloth the Unready, on watch Sarooth, cast in troll-touched shadow, hunted across the valley Araldar, from afar did survey and readied his bow But the winds of Orlanth did raged in Ofin the Rash The hero not yet mentioned then showed its mettle Hart, shadowcat and constant companion of Themis, was cast forward Heloth the Unready did spy the alynx and absorbed on it saw little else Two arrows then did Themis send, striking from Heloth’s grasp the warning horn From the shadow did Sarooth leap to subdue the indignant Sambari Ofin the Rash, short of thought but great of action, charged through the herd His howls caused the beasts to stamp their feet and lower heads Themis watched all with arrow nocked Araldar keeper of spirits, knew the cattle were troubled He called to Ofin to cease his foolish charge but Ofin was taken with storm Sarooth turned and commanded Ofin to stop but the wind kept blowing Themis, imbued with the spirit power of haste, took chase Heloth the Unready, ran but the stalking Hart had other plans The shadowcat, with the heart of a sabre-tooth, leapt at the fleeing Sambari Its claws ripping into vein and tendon, down the slope they rolled With its courage exhausted, Hart did pant Sarooth with blade flashing in the last light of day dropped Heloth As Heloth was bound he raged with shame and fury The storm maddened Ofin raised his spear to strike Heloth But Themis swift of foot tackled him and the storm passed Araldar saw from afar that a horde of Sambari approached Themis calling upon Foundchild gathered around him the fattest and best beasts* The heroes returned to their tula driving their prizes before them Their journey to the Hero Wars had begun *One of the beast that Foundchild gathered for Themis was Yornalis mother of a thousand white bulls. The cow Yornalis would be traded all across Colymar lands in the following years giving birth each season to a white bull – a great prize for any clan.

Thanks for the update Jeff - I am sure it will be worth the wait...

This is just a personal thing but back when I played as a teenager it was always set in Prax - so Sartar and Dragon Pass feels kinda fresh and new to me.

Any update? Could not help feeling quite excited when we saw Jeff wave a copy around on the White Bull game online on Saturday...

Hi tmanmerlin, I cannot be called a long time RQ player – although I played a lot of RQ2 in the early eighties. Back then the world of Glorantha was very mysterious for us, glimpsed only through tomes such as Cults of Prax and Terror. There was no internet back then and so the mantra YGMV was inherent in everyone’s game. RQ2 was great system and completely converted my friends and I from D&D. I am returning to role-playing and took the plunge a few months ago to learn the RQ:G. I am a couple of sessions into running my first campaign for… nearly 40 years! The rules are a little vague in places – but as others have said the new/revised/repurposed system works. Much of the system is still recognisable to me. The removal of a separate parry skill surprised me at first but now we are playing it doesn’t bother me a bit – and it is one less thing to track. I, and the players in the campaign I am running, really love the integration of family history and detail in adventurer creation – it has really sparked some excellent roleplay and character development. An added bonus is that all the work put into a character’s backstory can even continue after their death as there are usually several family members that can pick up from where the previous character left off. By far my favourite addition is the central role runes now have in the game – it is called RuneQuest after all! Rolling for inspiration from runes and passions really amp up the roleplaying and character immersion. You will find some discussion on how different groups use these on the forums here – I tend to let the players create a rationale on why such and such would inspire them and if it adds to the story them I allow it. I did create a simple A4 chart on the runes that the players have access to when deciding on inspiration. The spirit magic system is much improved over RQ2 (although I think these changes occurred in RQ3 – which I never owned or played). Separating magic points from POW definitely improves the previous magic system. Rune magic is completely different – it used to be quite rare and now is far more common. I suppose these powerful spells reflect the more powerful characters are in RQ:G over RQ2. The general ramping up of magic in the game system I think gives RQ:G as far more magical and heroic feel. That being said we are running Six Seasons in Sartar (from Jonstown Compendium) in which the characters start younger and with corresponding less abilities and skills. Sorcery was introduced in RQ3 so I have never used it – none of the current adventurers in our campaign have any so I am safely ignoring it for now. Overall I am very pleased with the latest version of RuneQuest – it has been fascinating returning to Glorantha and seen how it has grown and evolved. But best of all in our game last night when broos attacked the party and I threw the (virtual) dice, I felt the same excitement I did all those years ago sitting on the floor of my friend Greg’s sitting room trying to defend Gringles Pawnshop. Whatever flaws the game has those experiences are priceless… Rune Inspiration.pdf

I imagine all the art for the two volume gods’ book will be the bottle neck for that product. Should be worth the wait though...

This looks interesting - lots of good products in the pipeline. After the gods book and GM guide, the base system will be all set. We can look forward to this and the updated Prax book. It is a good time to get back into RuneQuest. Started my first RuneQuest game for 35+ years on Roll 20 last week - chatted and generated characters. All but one of the players is new to RuneQuest and Glorantha. All week players have been chatting online about their characters and family history - very immersive so far. This week the campaign proper will start...

Of course, that is no problem and feel free to change any details.

Hi, I am now just one hour away from GMing my first RuneQuest game since 1982! Very excited. I looked around and decided to use Six Seasons in Sartar available over at DrivethruRPG. The characters start just as they are entering adulthood in an Orlanthi tribe in Sartar. Very community based, the characters are not even initiates of any cult at start so do not have any magic. It seems a good way to ease the players and myself into the world of Glorantha.

I continued the adventure a little more - chaotic possession and creepy baboon shaman included... Chaotic possession.pdf

Thank you - It might have been - I was writing as I went and am sure I may have missed some things ...

Thanks for the feedback everyone. lordabdul, I am pretty sure I missed and made some errors along the way. The Adventurers were from the website I listed so I should be able to track them down (https://www.cradleofheroes.net). The scorpion men I did not print off and they are generated randomly each time so would have to have a guess about them… I play mainly wargames such as Advanced Squad Leader and Star Fleet Battles but have a far more relaxed attitude to RPGs – I will never let the rules get in the way of a good story, and am therefore a little more lax in exact rule application The aim of the experience was to get a ‘flavour’ of how the system plays – but of course any errors I would be interested to correct. I will see if I can track down those stats tomorrow… Karlak, the scorpion men did have some strength bonuses but they were generated as ‘weakling’ strength from the website (https://basicroleplaying.net/rqg/adversaries/index.php) . The scorpion men did roll badly pretty much throughout the episode – which was a bit of a shame as I wanted to try out the healing rules. The rule about long-hafted or impaling weapon rule is still there but only appears to apply to a weapon when is causes a critical hit (p.200), but I maybe misunderstanding the rule or missed something - most likely

Thanks Balakatun - looks like I now have enough online players to start my return to RuneQuest - I am very excited...

Thank you. I am prepping for playing on Roll 20. Most of the maps I use are from 2-Minute Tabletop (https://2minutetabletop.com), I really like that style.