Austin

In case you needed even more Gloranthan goodness in your life, July's #MOTM is now live at DriveThruRPG! This month's issue describes an odd, sorrowful beast with inscrutable instincts.

Also he's just so damn sad. Don't you want to hug his widdle face?

You can purchase Dolorous Edd here.

Treasures of Glornatha is now available Print on Demand! I've updated the topic to reflect this.

2 hours ago, MOB said:

May Issaries bring you good fortune! To mark the commencement of Gen Con Online, our friends at Campaign Coins have their launched their new Gloranthan Coins set. Perfect for RuneQuest roleplaying sessions or for Gloranthan collectors!

Just to check, will Chaosium continue to accept dollars for their books in the future, or should I stock up?...

7 hours ago, Glorion said:

 And Orlanth definitely doesn't have Discorporate, and shouldn't.

Orlanth doesn't, but Kolat probably does.

Proof copy's arrived

1 hour ago, lordabdul said:

Maybe this spell was meant as something that requires a few minutes of face-to-face  discussion and dancing and whatever?

Hey there, shoo! Rules as written—this is Egregious Munchkinnery, after all.

It makes narrative sense that something like eye contact would be a minimum for a spell like this. However, it only takes an instant to invoke the gods to make poor Garrath's day. You can even take a swing at someone else afterward in the same melee round.

5 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Peace is another spell along those lines

Yeah, it's a splatbook spell, not a core rulebook spell, in my opinion. Not really any point having a spell restricted to High Priestesses in the core, IMO, and then zero information about the Three Bean Circus to accompany it.

I'm not sure it's complete and total "egregious munchkinnery" but one spell I'm starting to suspect is increasingly shenanigans is Arouse Passion.

In my game, I got hit with an Arouse Passion 6. It was from a friend, so I didn't attempt to resist his magic. He brainwashed me to Hate Ducks 120%—which was good, for the moment, because we were about to go into a fight with ducks. But it's been a spell I've been thinking about since. I think it has solid potential for abuse.

Any Passion or Rune affinity above 80% is effectively mandatory, or very close to it (RQG 237). Normally this isn't too large an issue because the players have agency over what their adventurer's major abilities are. With a spell, I'd suggest that "reduce the Passion to 80% or less" is generally not an option until the spell ends. This is hardly a writ in stone interpretation, but as a gamemaster I think it's a plausible ruling.

So in addition to needing to overcome POW, the target of the Arouse Passion would be able to "resist" it by overcoming the new Passion with another Passion or a Rune affinity, if reasonable.

The key piece where shenanigans come into play is that the spell is ranged. You can affect someone up to 160 meters away, per usual Rune magic rules. That means all sorts of nasty tricks are available! Primarily in the species of "I hide behind the boulder, then Arouse Passion that guy in the group of Lunars to Hate Lunars 100%. Then we'll ambush them in the confusion!" Of course the spell is also useful in other situations. In particular, a strong Arouse Passion stacked with Extension seems like a great way to manipulate someone into joining your team or giving information

At the moment, only Ernalda gets the spell (according to a quick Ctrl-F of my PDF). It felt like an underwhelming spell to me at first (which wasn't a concern since otherwise Ernalda still has some awesome magic), but from my experience playing with it, and as I try thinking on it, I wonder if it's her most useful proactive magic. Rather than reactive magic, like healing.

The downside is that it's somewhat expensive for the effect. Worth the Rune points, I think, but you really need to stack them to have a strong impact. Feels more like a mid-game or late-game play rather than a good choice for new adventurers.

1 hour ago, Arcadiagt5 said:

Are there any guidelines for this anywhere?

"Swords of Sharpness" are one of the items in Chaosium's RuneQuest Classic publication Plunder. It's available on its own in PDF, or the magic items section (the main reason to buy it, IMO) is also included, with some bonus content, in the Glorantha Classics series publication Borderlands & Beyond.

I presume some alterations will be needed to the Swords of Sharpness entry due to general changes between RQC and RQG in how Rune magic/POW sacrifice operates, but I'd imagine the basic mechanics are the same. Off the top of my head, I think it basically boils down to sacrificing one POW, doing a ritual, and the sword deals +1 damage and has +5% to hit. I remember that the magic works only for the person who did the ritual.

If you've read the latest Wind Whispers newsletter, you may know that Treasures of Glorantha: Volume One — Dragon Pass will soon be coming to Print on Demand! It managed to sneak in before the new Electrum sales requirement was instituted . I don't have an exact timeline yet, but the final files have been at the printer's for over a week. Once I've received and approved a printer's proof, it will go live.

REVIEWS!

"... a fantastic treatment of treasure in Dragon Pass, combining thoughtful and interesting essays on the subject with numerous relics to help the Game Master weave treasure into the fabric of her Glorantha campaign." — Pookie, Reviews from R'lyeh

"If you like to spice your game with magical artefacts, this is the book for you (PLUNDER has been around for so long and been, well, plundered of everything)." — Herve C.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/317421/Treasures-of-Glorantha-V1--Dragon-Pass?affiliate_id=546342

Page 14 of the Gamemaster Adventures book in the GM Screen Pack has a little more info. It's a major temple to Orlanth Adventurous, and has Mastakos as an associated cult. Currently under control of the Jonstown confederation.

4 minutes ago, John Biles said:

The Guide is waaaaaay too much for anyone who is just starting out.

Great for reference but not good as an introduction.

Seconded. I have the Guide, but it's more a writer's reference than a thing I use while gaming. Once in a while I'll drag it out for a map or a picture.

@Realmprotector I'd suggest going ahead with just the slipcase set. If you find you want to know more after reading/playing through that material, the Glorantha Sourcebook is a good next step (namely because it's actually readable). I think a better next step would be more game materials, like The Smoking Ruin or The Pegasus Plateau. I personally prefer the latter.

17 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

something that it can do better than anyone else

Or at least anyone else in the region, anyway.

15 hours ago, lordabdul said:

Well spotted, and very nice speculating sir!

Thanks!

18 minutes ago, Arcadiagt5 said:

(I may allow the future owner of the item to be the one who sacrifices the POW, there may even be a rule for that somewhere already)

There is a rule stating that! The caster must sacrifice at least one POW, but others can voluntarily contribute.

8 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

The ability may involve the correct and safe use of the right drugs.

Isn't that just Plant Lore?

9 hours ago, lordabdul said:

Based on that Facebook post, my understanding is that you're right, it's the equivalent of a fetch. You become a shaman when you awaken your "spirit soul" and gain a permanent link with the spirit realm. You become a hero when you awaken your hero soul and gain a permanent link with the hero plane and god plane. I'm looking forward to see what kind of cool abilities you get from that.

Speculation, and spoilers for one of the adventures in TSR:

Edit: Sorry, a whole bunch of text ended up in the spoiler tag somehow and I can't get it out. Non-spoiler text reposted:

I don't have any clue how that speculative stuff will interact with the new terms and concepts (Identification, Ranging, quest types, and so on) Jeff's notes described. Well, new terms/concepts to me, anyway! If I get random ideas I'll try to mention 'em. I've been trying to puzzle out how Chaosium's going to handle heroquesting for some time, to try future-proofing my own game as I start gearing up for our own HQ's.

Quote

@lordabdul: And while I don't enjoy having to check 2 forums instead of one, you can't argue with the fact that Jeff prefers the Facebook group because there's less vitriol over there.

They're fairly different milieus, and I like them each for their own aspects. Over here's better for long discussion. If I wanna type up a big rambly thing, I'll do it here. But for quick conversation and questions, or generally amusing stuff, game anecdotes, etc. the FB group's great. It's a fun, active space.

2 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Or, a new shamanic ability that allows them to discorporate others.

Isn't that just drugs?

7 hours ago, ffilz said:

But all through that, I gravitated to treasure seeking monster bashing, pretty traditional gaming though maybe with a bit more characterization than with D&D, and certainly smaller "dungeons." And that's the type of gaming that still interests me. ...

I'm NOT sold on the newer style tribal centered play. I'm not sold on what I've heard about the RQG rules. But Glorantha is big enough for all of us. It's had enough gonzo and wacky stuff that it makes the way I play still "fit". And that gonzo and wacky stuff is part of the appeal to me. I like ducks. I like some of the silly stuff that shows up in Trollpak.

If people ask ME for suggestions of how to get started, I'd say pick up RQ1 or RQ2, Cults of Prax, and Apple Lane. if that grabs you, look into Griffin Mountain or Pavis/Big Rubble for more extensive (and available) content, or pick up some of the newer Sartar centered material and make a game of it. Borrow from whatever source you want (I'm always borrowing D&D and other games content) or make stuff up on your own.

FWIW my game basically uses the tribal/cultural stuff to then justify the hack n' slash . Our old RQ3-ish game was basically just a series of AD&D dungeons. Some of us newer folk are still kicking down doors & looting the room!

2 hours ago, Jeff said:

The easy stuff - what is the Hero Soul, what do we get out of the hero quest, etc. is long done.

Are you willing to elaborate on this? As a gamemaster, I feel that what I need right now for playing my own heroquests is the mechanical end, not the narrative end.

50 minutes ago, DreadDomain said:

The Glorantha Sourcebook of the Guide to Glorantha are not needed at any given time. It's just that you want them because they are so awesome.

Yeah, I'd generally agree with this. RQG has a decent overview of the world & setting, and I hope it's enough to go off of for new players. I don't have personal experience as a new player using it, but I feel like the general buzz I hear is that it's successful.

For teaching lore to players, I find it's sometimes successful to just drop a weird-Glorantha-fact bomb on 'em, but to avoid the Deep and Inscrutable Gibberish in general. Something like "Metals are the bones of gods" or "Horses are technically birds" are the sorts of things that screw with players heads and that you also can explain the in-world logic in less than five minutes.

I've got a player whose trollkin adventurer joined the Sunset Society of Prax (although he was originally initiated into it by a local troll in Nochet and may have eaten a fellow trollkin's soul in the process, and kept that one's brother as a pet... but I digress). We've been heavily winging it as we go. For RQG rules, I've basically arranged it that his society is all one Rune point pool, and that as he joins different associated spirit cults, he gains access to different Darkness Rune spells. The different spirit cults are very loosely based on the troll spirits writeup in RQ3 Troll Gods, in large part because he loved the Worm writeup.

I think I started him with Dehore, and spells of Command Cult Spirit, Summon Darkness Elemental (small, medium), and Spirit Block. It's worth noting he started this during play, not as a new adventurer, because he wanted something less geographically restrictive than river worship considering our campaign has been wandering kind of all over Dragon Pass. I'd probably start a new player with comparable spell selection to other default cults.

He also kept the skull of the trollkin he ate, which is now a dehori binding enchantment.

There's many spells with the "Ritual" tag in both spirit magic and Rune magic, but apart from artwork descriptions of what adventurers do when casting a ritual spell are scarce. How do you, narratively, describe these actions? How long do you usually see rituals taking?

(I'm seeing this as more a "fluff" question than a rules question. )

A major element I often include is someone marking out a line for the sacred space. Usually something simple like a line of colored sand or dirt, or drawn on the ground, but it could even be something permanent, like the walls of a temple complex.

A specific ritual bit I use is that when a Chalana Arroy worshiper casts Resurrect, someone needs to stand in for Humakt. Their role is to wave a sword over the corpse, ritually "killing" it again, so that the CA initiate can heal them. I also usually have the corpse carried from a main room into a back room afterward, then after they're resurrected, the not-dead person walks back into the "land of the living."

1 hour ago, Hiro Protagonist said:

The Gamemaster Adventures book says it has premade adventurers, but I was unclear which of the NPCs were appropriate for them, if any, or if the scenarios have characters to give to newer players.

The Gamemaster Screen pack should have come with the same pregens as are in the Quickstart. In the physical they're each an individual sheet, and in the PDF I think they were under NPC sheets or something slightly odd. They're written up in the core rulebook too. I don't think there's any differences between the GM Screen Pack & the core but I'm not 100% certain (and I have no clue what/how much difference there is with the Quickstart).

I believe those pregens are intended to be suitable for use with any of the currently released material.

27 minutes ago, GAZZA said:

RQG sorcery pretty much is RQ3's sorcery's system - the alterations with Runes and so on are not significant to what everyone complained about (which seemed to be mostly about the Duration manipulation, and that's absolutely still there). I have no particular problem with RQG's sorcery system but it's funny to see it get a pass when it is so very similar to the RQ3 version - it certainly has more in common with RQ3 than Sandy's system.

I think the changes are more in the spells than in the system mechanics. Spells learned in RQG are very different from spells learned in RQ3 because of how the Runes & Techniques interact with spell choice. Also, RQG starts at a 5 min base duration rather than 10 min, so it's very slightly more difficult to hit those long Duration thresholds—though this is quite trivial once you start investing POW into inscriptions. The duration, range, etc. tables are also slightly changed, although I think this is more the result of rounding than an actual change to mechanics.

I also have a few friends (used to a high-powered sorcery game basically using the rules in the OP) who complain that RQG's sorcery nerfs sorcerers because of how it handles damage or damage-like effects, where a spell's damage increases in "tiers", basically. Every 4 strength, it improves about a D6. In the section on designing new sorcery spells, the rules recommend that an intensity of sorcery is about worth half a point of spirit magic. In RQ3 (even without our ruleset bastardization, I think), magic point per magic point sorcery and spirit magic had about the same effect.

34 minutes ago, GAZZA said:

I mean, you couldn't have based it on CHA in RQ3, since CHA wasn't a thing (and APP -> CHA is not a mere name change, though unfortunately that seems to have been overlooked for Tusk Riders... but that is an argument that I seem to be alone in).

I agree with you that it's screwy. It's just not a debate I've cared to delve into. You're not alone.

Does anyone know what Tusk Rider CHA was in RQ2? I'm wondering if there's some "edition-itis" at play, if RQ2 CHA equals RQ3 APP equals RQG CHA.

38 minutes ago, GAZZA said:

INT has turned out to be basically a "dump stat" in RQ3 unless you're a sorcerer (and as you point out, right now very few PCs will be) as other than a couple of skill modifiers it doesn't really affect much

Do you mean RQG? Personally, I think those skill mods matter quite a bit. They impact how easily an adventurer can get a skill up above 100%. If you have INT 17 that makes you much more capable of improving the majority of your skills (whether over 100%, or just in general).

48 minutes ago, GAZZA said:

If I were in the mood to make a suggestion, I might suggest that having INT as the maximum number of sorcery spells you could know (excluding matrices and similar) and the manipulation limit based on your skill level / 10 (or / 5 for specialists - the same as it was for Sandy's system) might work ... That's why I say I don't have the answers - I just note that Free INT seems like a very strange mechanic.

That seems like a reasonable hotfix to me, to get rid of Free INT. The big follow-up question for balancing is if using ritual practices to increase your spell percentage increases your manipulation as well.

INT as the cap on how many spells you can know makes perfect sense to me. It's the Free INT=Manipulation part which has always been my hang-up.