Austin

28 minutes ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

given that baboons and trolls have essentially the same body plan, I am a little surprised they'd bother to give baboons a special hit location layout in RQG. I very much doubt I'd use it!

FWIW all trolls in the Bestiary (from trollkin to Uzuz) have the standard humanoid hit locations. They are presented as standing basically upright; although no pictures of baboons are offered, I think the implication is that they mostly move around on all fours, hence the different hit location table.

Their hit locations are the same numbers as four-legged creatures; the table renames "Hindquarters" to "Abdomen" and "Forequarters" to "Chest." Additionally, they have one less hit point in their limbs than four-legged creatures for the same hit point bracket.

4 hours ago, Puckohue said:

Thanks. Do you think it's worth the energy? The alternative being just going with the RQ2 stats.

I'm not certain. Part of it is I do enjoy doing it, and it's good practice; if I do it enough, eventually I'll get all the different charts memorized, for example. A big factor is also that RQ2 doesn't seem nearly as seamless as it's presented to be; missing out on things like Rune magic for initiates and differences between old & new cults adds different elements to play and changes difficulties.

For example, in the baboon troop's stats, changing the Daka Fal Rune Lord to an initiate with good combat stats, and changing the priest to a shaman per the new cult writeup. Also, RQ2 baboons have humanoid hit locations, not their own, I found.

I converted the scenario "Temple at Feroda" from the Gloranthan Classics PDF Pavis & Big Rubble from RQ2 to RQG to practice the math & formatting, and (hopefully) use in my own game. Figure since I've got a clean and tidy version I'd share with y'all . You'll still need a copy of Big Rubble in some form to run the scenario.

As an aside, I found that in RQG baboons have a hit point distribution not provided in "Creature Hit Locations" on pages 10 and 11 of the Glorantha Bestiary. Based on the baboon entry, here's what I determined is the chart for 13–15 hit points. As usual, for each additional 3 hit points, add 1 to each location. Subtract 1 per 3 points below 13.

RQG Temple at Feroda Conversion.pdf

58 minutes ago, metcalph said:

Esrolia: the Land of 10,000 Goddesses p13 labels the tributary past Helerdon the Whitefall River, the river past Kosh the Hrenal River and the River past Roskoth the Malthin River.

Gratitude!

Hey all, quick fiddly/obscure question on Esrolian geography. What's the name of the river which runs through Sylthi and Helerdon in North Esrolia?

Per the region's entries in the Guide, I'm pretty sure the left tributary passing through Roskoth is the Malthin river due to matching Longsi Land better and better matching distance (about 50 hexes at 5mi/hex, for 250mi length), leaving the middle and rightmost unnamed in the Guide and Argan Argar Atlas. Do they have names in material I'm unfamiliar with/don't have access to, or is that unexplored?

Thanks!

For reference, page 30 of AAA.

On 10/17/2019 at 3:19 AM, Dirk Le Daring said:

I recently bought the slipcase set, and it clearly states on the cover that a map "Of Glorantha Itself" is included... There is Apple Lane, Clearwine, Dragon Pass, but no Glorantha….. I hate to be "That Guy" but I did pay good money for this edition and that map was a carrot (I love maps). Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

For what it's worth, all of Glorantha is visible in the illustration/"map" on page 16 of the core rulebook, which is in the slipcase set .

20 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

Does tattooing something with fur really work out?

Or how about something like "Claim Horse" spirit magic spell from the Lunar Uralda/Eiritha analogue? Leave marks and stuff.

4 minutes ago, Manu said:

Then, when a character gain a rune point, can he choose any spell (whatever the number of point the spell has)?

Yes. Additionally, if you look at the pregenerated adventurers (Vasana et al), they too have 3 points and multi-point Rune spells.

I messed around with your understanding of it for a bit as a house rule as a way of soft-nerfing variable spells (so, you'd be capped at however many RP you've dedicated toward learning points of that spell). The side effect is that several common Rune spells are variable—like Dismiss Magic—and this adds complications. Ultimately, my game reverted to RAW so adventurers wouldn't be spending POW to learn points of common spells.

I think some variant of those house rules is viable, but it would require more reworking and playtesting than I originally anticipated.

8 hours ago, Joerg said:

Tattooing is a distinct possibility. Both methods have the disadvantage that they take considerably longer than the single painful experience of contact with the branding iron, though.

FWIW when I read the scenario, what immediately popped into my imagination was the Moon Rune tattooed on their flank, or somewhere else.

8 hours ago, Beornvig said:

As a long suffering RQ GM, like almost 30 years, at this point, someone needs to listen to these guys.  We need more, and a LOT more adventures. 

I'm largely in agreement with you on this, and I think/hope that the Jonstown Compendium will help alleviate this problem. Apparently there's two books of adventures in the pipeline, Pegasus Plateau (which Rattling Wind comes from) and a book focusing on the Smoking Ruins. But a system which doesn't publish something each year is, potentially, a system in trouble.

2 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Maybe not, but I think it has been clarified in the Q&A. CMIIW.

I hadn't seen anything there either, although to be fair I was skimming pretty quick over Jason's FAQ. I've come across it as an expected procedure before, just am not aware of it being explicitly stated in rules text of this edition. I'm wondering if it's one of those "oh, well everyone knows you do that" sort of situations and wasn't brought up.

FWIW I don't think any of the RQ games I've played in used that procedure, but I doubt that was based on actual rules text and was more just oral transmission.

Here's a shot I took to contribute to #WeAreAllUs from our weekly session yesterday morning. Wish I'd remembered to grab a picture later on—had something like a 7 v. 10 fight against broo which was a perfect hack'n'slash battle, featuring some of my new broo minis from Mad Knight Castings. First time I've gotten to play on the God's Wall side of the screen too. Leap-ambushing Odaylans are a blast to play.

So a multi-class multi-cult initiate of Issaries & Eurmal, then?  I like it! May he open a new office in Pavis in the near future.

4 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

You have to declare a parry before you get to know whether the attack was a success or not. That's part of the tactical structure of the melee.

Is that explicitly stated in the rules text? I thought it was, but I couldn't find it when I went skimming through.

1 hour ago, buckwheats said:

Going over the Combat results chart on page 199, I thought, why the heck would a missed attack or fumble warrant a parry by the defender? (The Dark Eye used to handle this that way)

I get, that this can inflict damage to the attackers weapon.

But nevertheless I think that chart could be simplified and combat made a slight but faster, if a miss (or fumble) on the attackers part doesn't need min. 2 dice rolls by the defending party.

I think the logic is that both attacker and defender roll simultaneously. This isn't stated in the rules text on page 197, but I think it's implied by "The parry should be rolled whether the attack succeeded or not, for some successful parries can affect a weapon used in an unsuccessful attack." In addition, subsequent parries/dodges take a –20% penalty.

So basically I'm imagining an idealized table situation like this: two broos are swinging at you. The fast one hasn't hit you either of the last two turns, but the big strong one just lopped off your buddies arm and sent him unconscious. You can either roll a parry against the fast broo and take a penalty to parry against the tough broo, or assume that Mr. Incompetent will keep doing his thing while you try blocking tough broo with everything you've got.

Then the gamemaster rolls a special anyway and eviscerates you because you've only got 4 protection in your abdomen and the "incompetent" broo's battleaxe rolls 2D8+4+mods.

I'm skimming the FAQ pages and not currently seeing anything relevant, but I very often Am Wrong On All Things.

TBF at my table, we don't typically roll parries against missed attacks exactly because of your point. We also don't track damage to weapons in several cases because that particular layer of crunch/"realism" isn't worth it for us.

31 minutes ago, Ochoa said:

Last year for my first talk I spoke with the host about how RPGs had evolved during my lifetime, the plethora of  different systems for different types of play availible now, and how a little work should be put into researching systems other than DnD . I'm thinking about calling this years' talk something along the lines of "This isn`t your generic Forgotten Middle Realms". 

Sounds to me like you should start with Cults of Prax, especially since it's the 40 year anniversary. It highlights both non-medieval Europe setting as well as emphasizing depth and creativity in the early stages of the hobby.

I imagine other useful points of impact for Glorantha v. medieval Europe would be where Glorantha plays with standard fantasy tropes. I.e., dream dragons, plant-people Aldryami (although that's not really all that unusual anymore, I suppose...), and so on.

If you're looking to talk about other settings/games, Eberron for D&D might be a good "comfort zone" to start with, since it's not exactly medieval Europe--warforged etc, after all--but it's still a setting folks would be familiar with. Or looking at how system melds with setting, I'm told King Arthur Pendragon is excellent, and I personally enjoy the recent RPG Overlight (well, more for its unique setting than the integration with mechanics, if I'm honest).

If you have access to a screen, I suggest sharing some of the pictures you've shared on the forums! A good way to highlight the hobby.

What's the general theme of your talk? "Here's What RQG's About" or "Intro to Tabletop" or whatnot?

On 10/6/2019 at 9:27 PM, Qizilbashwoman said:

On 10/6/2019 at 9:25 PM, g33k said:

... Tingleverse / Glorantha crossover FTWTF ??!?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1689960671 Someone hack this IMMEDIATELY

I'm sorry, what? Why did I not know this existed?! It's almost as beautifully surreal as the Wendy's RPG.

Also I'm like 99% sure I need that sweater now.

14 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Speaking of this kind of genre interaction: I've recently been catching up on Dragon Ball Z Abridged (the comedic parody redub) and there's a lot in there that reminded me of Glorantha. The flying nimbus (cloud as a flying mount) made me immediately think of a reward for an Orlanthi heroquest, for example.

Love TFS. Stealing this.

I'd love to see more imagery of ghosts and spirits and gods, especially minor spirits, the sort of thing adventurers are likely to bump into and upset. What does the spirit of a mountain look like? Or the spirit of a meadow? Naiads/dryads/oreads, etc.

Off the top of my head I don't really have a starting reference to offer, but I recall really enjoying the landscape spirit art in Magic: The Gathering's Theros expansion (which I'm admittedly biased in favor of as a classicist).

Also a trollball figure or two sounds hilarious. Do we actually have any canon images anywhere of trollball? Poor little enlo...

1 hour ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

On medium-intermediary level, I think Revolution D100 is onto something with their toughness characteristic.
It does change monster design quite significantly... But I think it can probably be adapted to all D100 variation!  

Could you elaborate on this? I'm not familiar with the mechanic, but I do personally find the one-shotting tendency of D100 to be more often a bug than a feature.

1 hour ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

I don't see a way some of the encounters I have seen wouldn't just 1-shot 1 or more PCs a round. 

Location matters, a lot, though called shots are still a thing.

In my game, the adventurers went to Tourney Altar to celebrate Humakt/Iron Man's High Holy Day, and participated in ritual dueling in honor of the god. The final "show" match was the Humakti adventurer against a Sword of Humakt, each dropping 10-20 MPs and ~8-10 RPs on buff spells in the agreed-upon prep rounds to invoke Humakt. Each strike back and forth did ridiculous damage, and it was basically just a roll-off to see who would special or crit first. Ended when the Sword lopped off the adventurer's arm (which a friend then glued back on with Heal 6). So, might not have been the end of a melee sort of one-shot (depending on configuration & number of threats present), but there is a sense that the D20 roll matters more than any other die in high-skill, high-damage fights.

I'm not personally familiar with Dorastor's baddies, but I do believe the design intention is that monsters in the "Terrors" section of the Glorantha Bestiary are not to be defeated by player adventurers, based on the intro text. I don't presently feel like there is an obvious system for getting adventurers to be more durable than 9AP in all locations (iron plate) and having ~24 HP (CON 21, +1 POW, +2 SIZ).

Long term (if/when heroquest rules publish) options like Asborn Thriceborn's self-res, a shaman's self-res, or other "walking off the Path of the Dead" or speedy regeneration options may be in play.

At present, the most Egregious (TM) option I'm aware of is playing a morokanth and getting your hands on iron plate, to end up with 13AP before spells (can start play as a warrior to get decent starting armor equipment, too, giving ~7-9AP at start of play).

Hello all!

I've got a short adventure written, titled The Throat of Winter, which I intend to publish with Chaosium's forthcoming Jonstown Compendium. I'm looking for one or two volunteer groups to playtest it and provide their thoughts. While it's not the first adventure I've written, it is the first I've put together with other people using it in mind. The adventure is set during winter, during the latter half of Dark season and the first half of Storm season. It's based on a site, the titular cave, which I've placed in the Starfire Ridges of the Colymar tribe's lands. However, the adventure is pretty modular, and I think it should be usable anywhere in Dragon Pass.

I believe the adventure should be suitable for use with the pregenerated adventurers (Vasana et al) but I'd prefer to know how it interacts with house adventurers. I've also tried including suggestions for ongoing play as part of a campaign set in Apple Lane.

Here's my current draft of the back cover copy:

Winter descends on Dragon Pass. When the child Rolf goes missing while checking on his family sheep after a blizzard, his parents Rastolf and Serla become frantic. They come to the village of Apple Lane begging for help from any who will listen. They come seeking any who will brave the wind and snow of winter to find a little boy. They come seeking adventurers.

This site-based adventure is intended to provide one to three sessions of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha play for four to six beginning to intermediate adventurers. While it is integrated into the Colymar campaign provided in Chaosium's Gamemaster Screen Pack, this adventure is designed for use in any Dragon Pass campaign.

While the topic's on Tusk Riders, quick question: why are they considered an "Elder Race" in the Glorantha Bestiary? Their origin is in Second Age EWF shenanigans, yes? Is it just an organizational convenience—no where else obvious to put them, since they're sentient and non-Chaos—or is there some further puzzle piece I'm missing?

15 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

I know I'm being a scratched record, but it's now 6 months from release and we still don't have PDFs that match the final printed product. We still have a PDF that says this for augments:

I promise that I won't harp on about this any more... not until 9 months or a year has passed anyway.

Silly Phil, don't you know that subtracting a negative gets you a bonus?

13 hours ago, g33k said:

seriously, youdathunk they'd have generalized the lesson whereby they no longer announce (over-optimistic) date far ahead of a product ...

That said, this announcement came across to me more as "Here's the starting line! Get ready for it!" than a reiteration of the "Heroquesting coming next year!" ghost.

Also, does less than a month count as "far ahead"?

Here's to hoping there was just a stumbling block or two with legalese shenanigans I don't understand, and that it'll get wrapped up and the JC rolled out shortly. Looking forward to some new RQ content!