Mankcam

Yes that could work quite well actually

The Trade Rings (associated with Issaries cult) The Free Sages (associated with Lhankor Mhy cult) The Brotherhod of Market Porters ( unsure of cult affiliation, ? Issaries) Just sayin' (currently flipping thru Sartar Companion looking at the Jonstown section) I tend to like the the notion that guilds are probably localised to particular regions and although they may have counterparts in other regions, they are in fact different guilds, possibly with different names as well. The cults are broad, yet the guilds are local or regionalised - that seems to work for me.

I did a quick search on the locations Jeff suggested, but seemed to pick up photos of houses of later periods, not many looked ancient. My google-fu may be weak, and I will investigate further when I have time. From what has been indicated, I do like the Earth Rune shaped design; it makes sense from a runic point of view. However, like others I am wondering how good it is for retaining warmth in winter. I could envision perhaps a fat longhouse for the rear wall, which also contains a hearth. The hearth would be in a main living area to make things hospitable in winter. Having an open courtyard would be problematic in deep winter, perhaps animal skin tarpolines could be stretched across the courtyard, but this sounds impractical.

Regrowing limbs, curing disease, etc should be rare and not just spells that Priests know, perhaps these are miracles that occur due to devout faith, or as rewards for certain tasks etc. Basic Healing Magic does have its place however. I liked how RQ6 did their Folk Magic Heal spell, it just healed minor wounds, and had no effect on more serious injuries. I hope something like this could be modeled to a degree with the new RQ. I wouldnt want to see initiates running around with Heal 8 for example

Yes I now see what you are getting at with the Associated Cults, that's a tricky one so I guess we'll see how this rolls out

The HQ Sartar books are the best content you will currently find on the Orlanthi of Sartar. They do not have too much in the way of game stats for HQ, so you can use them as references for any system really, so no issues porting it to RQ. I think they are more or less consistent with current interpretations of Orlanthi, although occasionally some artwork probably a little too much Celtic or Saxon flavour. There are still alot of depictions that are probably more Thracian or Dacian influenced, which I think may be a closer fit to the Orlanthi at present. I'm not so sure about those longhouses and roundhouses though, I think they may not be correct for Orlanthi steads these days - earlier references to Orlanthi houses were square shaped with open courtyards, resembling the Earth Rune; these descriptions were in the RQ2 Pavis supplements, and were reprinted in the HQ Pavis book as well, and Jeff indicated that he agreed with these depictions. However the books also have a bit of content on the Orlanthi cities, which would still be more or less accurate I think, and it's great for having maps of Boldhome, Jonstown, etc. I think that most of the content is valid, and well worth the price if you want to know about the Orlanthi. From what I can gather, there is an upcoming HQ campaign that will help flesh out the contemporary depictions of Orlanthi quite well, and many of us are patiently waiting for it. I'll use it for RQ, regardless of whether it is for HQ or not; these things are pretty easy to port across. For what it is worth, I am portraying Orlanthi as a mix of Thracians and Dacians, with a few Norse influences here and there (more from the History Channel's 'Vikings' television series show rather than the classic Norse stereotypes). I think the Dacians may be the best fit if any one culture needs to be referenced however.

I wouldn't usually expect too much healing abilities for war cultists beyond the First Aid skill and Basic/Common Magic healing spells. The Rune/Divine level versions of Healing magic should be with a Healing Goddess of some type, and this will encourage the community connection between different cults within the same pantheon. Or not. Some war cultists may go to a Healing temple and get limbs regrown etc, although others may refuse that level of healing and let death be their fate, perhaps even welcomed. In my mind if I was redoing the Rune Magic I would probably get rid of the concept of Common and Special Spells, and just describe a typical list of powers that runic trappings enable them to be portrayed very differently, and provide some examples of such. The more magnitude the higher the potency. Then anything beyond this could be explained as Inner Secrets / Heroic Abilities / Mythic Gifts associated with Heroquests.

We have the ideas yet will never get the time to express them or run them. Ah, the curse of the GM gamer...!

I looked around for kids games a fair bit, and most were very simplistic and also depicted pre-teen or adolescent characters on the covers. However I realised that most pre-teen boys want to play 'adults', so I was barking up the wrong tree. Fighting Fantasy gamebooks pretty much hit the niche I was after (they were what I discovered around the age of 13, before finding Basic D&D and RQ2 a year later). I outsourced the rulebook for Advanced Fighting Fantasy, and it was pretty good, but then I realised that OQ wasn't that much more complicated and alot more intuitive for me so I went with that. I did trim the skill list a bit, but not overly so, I found the skill structure in OQ to be reasonable and not overwhelming for my lads. We use OQ Basic, so all magic is Basic/Battle Magic and I just rule that if you are a Wizard you can choose Spells whereas everyone else gets those powers as 'potions' so once used they are gone. It works pretty well so far, and I used the advice from the full OQ rules on how to make up Specialist Warriors and Wizards and just went with that. Heaps of Fighting Fantasy and early D&D scenarios out there to retrap, with very little logic or backstory, it's endless traps, combats, etc alot of old school fun. I hand out Luck/Hero Points a bit more just to downgrade wounds etc to keep them going. The kids are having a ball, and it may segue them into the wider BRP Family one day. So OQ is a great option if you have late primary/elementary kids, or if you just want to dungeon-crawl. Although this barely counts as a 'campaign' that I'm running :-)

If you don't have time to build your own setting then I'ld certainly just play through Book Of Quests, and perhaps somehow segue it into Thennla at a later date perhaps. Start vague and small, and slowly build the wider world as you go, it's less cumbersome for you and a lot of fun

Previously (up to 2 years ago): GLORANTHAN ADVENTURES - Previously in the 80s and 90s I ran this with either RQ2 or RQ3. In more recent years it was a hybrid mix of RQ3 and BGB rules, with alot of content from HQ. Loosely played the HQ campaign "Blood Over Gold', although not to completion. I tweaked the Malkioni to be more ancient-flavoured, which, as it turned out in G2G was more in keeping with the current interpretations of Malkioni. Cool !!! I will possibly return to it once I get more content on the Malkioni from future supplements; I really dig Glorantha. Currently running: PULP CTHULHU - Hybrid rules, initially started with CoC 6E + BGB + Amazing Adventures + Blood Tide Stunts (and a few home brew stunts, inspired by White Wolf's 'Adventure' rpg and Savage Worlds 'Thrilling Tales' rpg). Ended up replacing BGB with RQ6 and it still works well, although we use the simplier Mooks rules from Amazing Adventures. Probably should have went with CoC 7E + Amazing Adventures, but too late to rejigger it again. I ran several CoC scenarios with a more pulpy flavour, then embarked upon ' The Masks of Nylathotep' campaign, and still on it. It's great fun - much more Indy Jones than HP Lovecraft! DUNGEON CRAWLINGS - Not so much a campaign, just a time-filler for my two primary school age sons. I am rehashing Fighting Fantasy game books and old Basic D&D scenarios, and using OQ as the game engine. No prep, no brainer, surprisingly alot of fun and it beats console games. Potential future games ( I can't decide): PULP CTHULHU - As above, except I might embark the characters on "The Horror On The Orient Express'. It will be another undertaking if I do this PENNY DREADFULS - CoC 7E + Cthulhu By Gaslight + Stunts (ported from Blood Tide and other pulp rpgs). NORSE SAGAS - RQ6/Mythras + MRQ2 Vikings MYTHIC BRITAIN - RQ6/Mythras + Mythic Britain MYTHIC ROMA - RQ6/Mythras + BRP ROME book MYTHIC GREECE- RQ6/Mythras + Mythic Greece (once it is published) SAVAGE SWORD & SORCERY - RQ6/Mythras + either Book Of Quests, Spider God's Bride, or OQ The Savage North or Life And Death SPACE OPERA - Either Mercenary Breed (LEGEND), or River Of Heaven (OQ) GLORANTHAN ADVENTURES - ? Pavis/ Prax, ? Dragon Pass. ? Holy Country ? Trader Princes ? Safelster ? Seshnela - choices, choices. Likely to try out the next version of RQ for this, considering the setting is now baked into the rules. I'm apprehensively excited about the new edition of RQ, and itching to get back into Glorantha! (Well, the OP asked...heh heh, and that's my life sorted)

I really like having the Gloranthan Classics collected in hardcover compendiums, they are so much better in my bookcase. RQ Classic Edition will sit nicely alongside hem. I hope the Pavis & Big Rubble book is available in printed form again, as I have the others in my collection but not that one ( I have all of them as PDFs). I would like to see a volume devoted to the Uz, which could reprint RQ2 Trollpak and perhaps add the RQ3 Troll Scenarios

lol

The pictorial depictions of Orlanthi in the Sartar books is quite varied. There are definitely illustrations of Orlanthi that are along the lines of Thracians, Dacians, Halstatt. However there are also Orlanthi that are looking more Celtic, Gallic, or Norse influenced, and these are deviating from the contemporary flavour a little. Some of the village pictures with Viking style Longhouses and such are probably a bit redundant now. Despite this, much of the art is still useable, and the content is well worth it.

Yeah for the ancient feel of Glorantha I'ld suggest the RQ2 Gloranthan Classics compendiums (Pavis & Big Rubble, Cult Compedium, Griffin Mountain, Borderlands & Beyond). For RQ3 there is Sun Country, River Of Cradles, Strangers In Prax, Shadows On The Borderlands and Dorastor. Most other RQ3 stuff wasn't Gloranthan, or didn't portray the setting accurately. Even some of the artwork in Sun Country was a little too medieval at times, but mainly it got it right. HeroQuest supplements have a wealth of information which is easily ported across, so I would recommend Sartar Kingdom Of Heroes and the Sartar Companion. Pavis Gateway To Adventure is also very good, but much of the info contained has been presented in the above titles. I did not have the RQ3 Apple Lane, but it sounded wrong on many levels, especially the front cover. My scrappy old copy of Apple Lane from the RQ2 box has been used many times. If I was to run it again I would definitely transpose the trappings and changes from HQ Return To Apple Lane, presenting Orlanthi based upon pictures of Thracians and Dacians. Other than that, Apple Lane is still a great little starter sandbox I reckon.

Yes, most certainly purchase the Gloranthan Classics pdf collection and you're good to go. The outline above is a great guide on a good order to run a campaign, and should provide years worth of gaming. The settings are very sandboxy, so you can also easily port scenario ideas from other game systems and transpose it with Gloranthan trappings, which can also further extend your campaign. But how it stands, the Gloranthan Classics will provide several years of gaming material even for the most regular troupe. If wanting more background info on the Orlanthi, then grab Sartar Kingdom Of Heroes and Sartar Companion. These titles are for HeroQuest, but over most of the books are devoted to pure content, not game stats, so this can easily port to RQ or BGB with minimal effort from the GM.

good one Pentallion heh heh!

Sounds great. I'm eager for anything regarding the new 'ancient-flavoured' Malkioni

My players also liked the skill check system from earlier BRP games. My compromise with RQ6 is to hand out the usual 2 or 3 Improvement Rolls at the end of the story chapter, and also to award a bonus skill check at the end of any scene during which a character performs a critical success with a skill. The above seems to work well, although I don't mind if the next edition of RQ returns to the earlier BRP skill check system,

I just assumed that it was meant to be a bit vague in OQ Basic. I decided as a rule of thumb that you gained a Hero Point at the end of a Quest, perhaps more if it was lengthy or particularly arduous. I assumed each Chapter gave you an Improvement Point, plus an extra one here and there for incidental rewards such as good roleplaying, critical hits, great ideas etc. Actually looks very similar to what Newt outlines above.

You could certainly use them as a Talent/Feat system, and that was a good suggestion from OQ; quite good for a general fantasy setting. However as RuneQuest will be firmly tied to Glorantha once again then I assume that that they will be presented as low powered Basic Magic as opposed to Heroic Feats.

I found it all a bit fiddly having different city temples dedicated to different aspects of the deities. I did encourage Priests to specialise in a particular aspect however, so for Orlanth I did have Thunderous Priests, Rex Priests, etc. So a character had to not only dedicate POW to the Deity, but also appeal to a particular Priest if they wanted their spell specialty. I did have particular holy sites that were more potent in particular aspects of a deity, and that aspect's powers were stronger at that location - sometimes a shrine or temple may also be built at the site, and the Priests there would predominantly be associated with that particular aspect of the deity. I guess it played out more or less the same, but it just made it a little easier that standard city temples catered for all aspects of the deity.

I really like this idea of Rune Magic, it works well for Glorantha. I'm assuming this replaces Divine Magic/Theism, or will ALL higher magic be Rune Magic, just with different approaches/trappings? (ie: animistic, theistic, sorcerous, etc) I wonder how does this fit with the Malkioni? Also I assume that there will also be some form of lower magic covering cantrips/utility level charms, like there always has been. Regarding such, I just hope that it isn't named Battle Magic like in RQ2, as this does not fit with a large number of non-combat orientated powers. Likewise RQ3's Spirit Magic was also not a great fit for flavour for some cultures. MRQ/Legend has a better title in my opinion, calling it 'Common Magic'. However I think I prefer 'Basic Magic', which was actually the title of the chapter in RQ2 that contained the Battle Magic spells. If there is some form of Basic Magic, I am wondering if the Runes have any influence at this level, or are they just for casting the more powerful magic?

And I'll be the second!

Yep I'm not sure why it seems overwhelming. Yes the G2G may be viewed as overwhelming, but its not a typical gaming product. Glorantha can be presented like any setting, a piece at a time, without a care for what may lay beyond that localised region. I ran Glorantha in the mid to late 80s with just RQ2 and the The Big Rubble box. My cousin had the Pavis and The Borderlands box, as well as the two Cults books. Between us it all worked a charm, and to this day the richness of those books still give me inspiration I think getting back to sandbox settings is the trick, then widening scope later on, if desired. The Gloranthan Classics are a great place to start, regardless of which edition of RQ is being used..