Austin

I've got to process the rest of your thoughts more, but I do really like this. It makes it obvious whether or not the roll was a crit or a fumble the moment you see the dice. When you round up for Outstanding Success, where do you cut off the rounding? In other words, would a 51% also round up to a 6% Outstanding Success? When I'm a player, this is how our GM has chosen to do Perception, Knowledge, and some other skill rolls. I personally enjoy it because it lets me settle into character more easily. "Oh, of course the basilisk is right over there!" Two rounds later, no basilisk... However, as a GM I like having my players roll their skills because it speeds up play. If I had a longer time to play, I'd probably roll it myself.

My brain was working along similar lines (although I didn't come up with Uzuz whalesong; I like that!). Battle choir amuses me. And really, isn't that what this is all about?

If you're willing I'd be curious to see those too. I really like the Presence & manipulation rules, since a sorcerer's spell skill actually corresponds with how good they are at magic. I've been working on my own writeup (for an ongoing, severely houseruled RQ3 game, not RQG) melding Petersen's Malkioni rules and Tsolyanu rules, and I'd love to see another person's take on it.

That would be useful for me. I want to make up something to snarl at my players .

I'd like to put together a phrase or two of Darktongue for my RQG game, to emphasize the non-Earth feel of the Uz. How many words of Darktongue do we know? Is there a glossary or grammar of Darktongue or other languages spoken by trolls? What sorts of characteristics does their spoken language have? And so on. Also, how do y'all pronounce "Uz"? I read it as "Ooze" but figure it could also sound a bit like "Us," but with the fricative voiced instead.

The default's human, and if you're newish to the game I do strongly suggest sticking with that. RQG's got a bit of a learning curve both in mechanics and in lore if you're coming from other games. Of the species in the Glorantha Bestiary with "Creating X Adventurers" sidebar boxes, I'd say the Uzko/Dark Troll, Aldryami/Elf, and Mostali/Dwarf are the most completely described. Several other species have text assigned for creating adventurers, but I've personally found they feel incomplete.

I figure they'll kill+reanimate the cave troll just so it'll stop whining about being hungry.

Ooh, I like that. That's super gross. Thanks! Even just "throw some bugs in the tunnel, collapse our end, no more problems" works for my module. Much appreciated.

Anyone have suggestions for traps and defenses trolls would make? I'm trying to get a little more creative than "rocks fall, everyone dies." A friend of mine suggested pits which only collapse under SIZ 13+ weight and then sending trollkin out to fight, which seemed plausible. I was also thinking sentries with Darkwall prepared. The more haphazard and improvised the trap the better, I reckon.

Honestly, I just hand-waved it in my game that all cults have the common spells list. My decision was basically screw the lore, it cuts out one layer of complexity for my players. If there's going to be a common Rune spells list, I'd rather play a game where it's universal. It just makes the life of everyone at my table simpler.

I'm not sure of a pretty canon-friendly answer, but my plan is that for the time being it's entirely unregulated--along with most of New Pavis. It's a period of conquest, turmoil, and transition. Pretty much every bureaucrat and Lunar functionary has either fled or been executed for religious reasons. Eventually, the new ruler of New Pavis will establish rules and control over the Gates, but at least for the first year or so in the campaign I plan for the backdrop to be wild and lawless. I see/understand Argrath as not caring at all about the taxation and day-to-day aspects of ruling. That's delegated to his associates in my game (of course, YGMV). As long as he gets the hidden lore and artifacts out of the Rubble which he needs for his plan to fight the Lunar Empire, he's satisfied. Of course, I'm playing a couple seasons before the Dragonrise; a campaign starting around the conventional date for RQG will probably have some more control.

This week's session started with Beowulf & Derkep (the Zorak Zorani and his pet trollkin) looting the bodies and coup de grace-ing all but one of the incapacitated or injured trollkin from last week's raid. They tied up the last trollkin, and handed him over to the baboon for interrogation overnight. In the morning several villagers--including the innkeeper's daughters--gushed their gratitude to Tatonka for saving as many of the sheep as he could, in addition to general thanks to the adventurers for driving off the trolls; I tried emphasizing that the villagers's greater concern was preservation of their livelihood, rather than murder-hoboing and killing trolls. Upon hearing that the adventurers were going to chase down the trolls and try to retrieve the remaining sheep, Ludic thanked Tatonka with a Humakti blessing. (An Extended Shield I spell, which should last the rest of the adventure.) After a day in the village, the adventurers headed out on the trampled trail. One of my goals this session was to further introduce augmenting and becoming inspired by Runes and Passions, and Toren the Morokanth demonstrated their value admirably. When tracking the trollkin & stolen sheep, he augmented his Track with the Beast Rune, bringing it up to 60%, which made his 03 roll a crit! Toren led the adventurers westward, and the ground grew rockier, and a little uphill. After a few hours of hiking, high rocks loomed in the distance--the walls of the Big Rubble. The tracks vanished about thirty meters from the wall, expertly wiped out. However, thanks to Toren's critical success, he spotted a pattern in the dirt and rock where they were swept away. This led to a crevasse in one of the boulders along the wall. Investigating further, they found it curved and sharply went down into the earth. Torches alight, the adventurers pressed on (and into territory I hadn't yet mapped for myself...). After going down a ways, the passage opened up a little. To the left, it extended into a cavern or wider tunnel while straight ahead it continued, curving slightly. They chose the straight path, and walked for a long, long ways. The torches half-dead, the adventurers eventually came to a sharp turn, which led into an enormous cavern. The ceiling wreathed in shadow, and no further side in sight. Many shack-like buildings of stone were in view, and shadows shuffling nearby, indistinct. "Get out!" a voice boomed in Darktongue. "Go away, leave now! We don't want your kind and your stink down here." When the adventurers--headstrong Beowulf in the lead--did not depart immediately, someone threw a spell from the darkness. Beowulf resisted. The party spotted no one with a Scan, then immediately fled. Next session, we'll see how the adventurers respond to having found a village of the Uz...

Based on my experience as a player in RQ3, I'd rule that they gain Sense Chaos once they become an initiate due to their connection with the new cult/deity. They wouldn't get the cult skill bonuses, since those only apply during character creation (to represent time spent for the cult and training provided by the cult). I don't see a clear ruling in the Skills chapter or in the Storm Bull cult description, so I'd start a new initiate in the cult with either a base 5% chance in Sense Chaos or a Skill% equal to their Magic category modifier, whichever's higher. I think RQ3's Gods of Glorantha started the skill at 5%. Hope that helps!

This is how I've been trying to frame it to my players. I think it's helpful that the Elemental Runes are so specific, because it gives a starting point for thinking about how P&F might work. But I'm still working to train my players to "think Runically" about their actions and motives.

Does anyone have advice for using the Power & Form Runes to augment/become inspired? The skills which the Elemental Runes apply to feels fairly clear to me (based on p.48-49), but I feel less confident about how the Power & Form Runes should be used.

I've got a partially created character. I stopped because the occupation & cult options I wanted to mess with weren't in the database, and I didn't have time to add more entries. I haven't experienced something which feels like an actual error yet.

This is a great tool. Thanks for making it & sharing, @Cgeist7. I spent some time tinkering, and added the Kyger Litor cult. Is there a way to add Rune spells or cult references not already in the database? For example, Kyger Litor has Subere as an associated cult, which provides Attack Soul. I didn't see an option for adding new spells (but wouldn't be surprised if I missed it).

I'd completely missed Reputation, you're correct. I'd allow it. One of the challenges I have with this experiment is that there are some skills which become substantially less useful to adventurers, such as Sing, Dance, and Play Instrument. Especially in a combat-heavy game like mine (or at least I assume mine will be), the major mechanical value of these skills is to augment magic skills. I don't want to just say "skill augmenting's a nope, except for X/Y/Z" because that's adding layers of complication the game really doesn't need. And again, I personally find the idea of Rune & Passion augmenting more exciting than skill augmenting (even if singing a holy song does make total sense when casting spells). It's an experiment. I'm still figuring lots of things out. *Shrug.*

I like the idea of Insight letting adventurers understand when another character is influenced/inspired by a Passion. Myself, I've currently been experimenting with removing skill augmenting and only allowing augmenting via a Rune or Passion, so that they feel more special. To my mind, this makes the Runes and Passions more special because they can do something that no other skills can--increase other skills. I'm also not planning to follow the "roll or else be forced to follow your Passion/Rune" rule, because I really dislike mandating player choices. Of course, if they aren't following a Passion it's percentage is still going to drop. My goal is that if the players want to keep access to their Passions & Runes for augmenting in combat scenes, they'll need to play in character. I'd also like to second OP's opinion about Runes & Passions in general. I really like them. They're an interesting way of providing a mechanical way to describe and encourage player behavior, which is something I've found most RPGs either don't design for or when they do design for it, do so poorly. (Looking at a lot of CRPGs here.)

This week, we got to start playing in earnest. We're currently doing material I've written (if I ever get a tidy version finished I'll share it). After a short journey, the adventurers arrived in Blueflower Village, a few kilometers from the walls of the Rubble. They stayed overnight at the Calf's Rest Inn (startling the bejeezus out of the villagers in the process), but were woken in the middle of the night by the innkeep, Doric Helmbold, as he begged them to come downstairs. In the common room was Jora Wattling, wife of Ludic the Sneer (who they met the previous evening). They're the village's sole family of ducks, having fled Sartar following Starbrow's Rebellion. Ludic shepherd's the village's flock of sheep, and heard/saw shapes lurking around the pen. The conclusion's obvious for Jora & the adventurers--trolls! Well trollkin, it turns out. The adventurers ran off, and found about a dozen trollkin running amuck with the sheep, trying to Herd them away. Ludic's already in combat in the pen with one trollkin wearing a wolf pelt. They rushed right in. I wrote this scenario intentionally to favor the adventurers, so that they could get the feel of the new edition and practice with some combat houserules I'm trying. Also, I've not GM'd in a while and have a bad habit of killing characters through my errors... Most of the adventurers just went murder-hobo trying to kill as many of the trollkin as possible. One (Tatonka, the Bison Tribe herder) did the "save the sheep!" thing, so I'm working on a suitable reward from Ludic & the other villagers for next session. He'll certainly get most of the glory, in their eyes. While there were a lot of trollkin, they were mostly focused on stealing sheep, so the first round or so they didn't end up doing a lot of fighting. Aaand two trollkin managed to fumble Herd checks, so I decided they got trampled by a sheep. Which also made the encounter a lot easier. We never reached the "massed trollkin sling fire" phase I expected to end on, during the rustlers's retreat, because enough damage was done with Befuddle, the Zorak Zorani warrior's attacks, and the panicked sheep. I played this encounter out on a mat, pretty much just sketching the pen and a nearby pond. I used coins for sheep tokens, and moved them a few hexes in a random direction (D6 to indicate) if no one had successfully used Herd. If an adventurer or trollkin succeeded at Herd, they got to move that sheep. The encounter took about two hours to run, and was kind of a chaotic mess. Kind of on purpose--that's why there were so many pieces on board! (Six adventurers, a dozen sheep tokens, a dozen trollkin, Ludic the Sneer, and a Snaggletusk the Dark Troll hiding in a corner.) Next session, the adventurers will be chasing after the trollkin & missing sheep in the daylight. If they go all the way along the trail, they'll end up in the fringe of the Rubble as they look for the hideout of the Leadgut Clan. Also, I think I've figured out the adventure I'll run for their share of the Rubble Expedition! In Prophecies of the Dragon, a campaign for the Wheel of Time D20 game, there's an adventure which sends the heroes under an ancient city to retrieve the Artifice of Brassion from some Black Ajah Aes Sedai and Trollocs (read: chaos sorcerers and broo). It's a nasty muck-infested, half-collapsed ruin crawl with one fight right at the end, and seems perfectly on theme my Rubble & Glorantha.

You get an iron sword! And you get an iron sword! Iron swords for everyone! Oprah the Trickster? I'm into it.

That was the thrust of my thought too, on the complexity of the encounter. I imagined a bison, Stone Woman, adventurers, and then like twenty cows all crowded onto the board at once

How did you end up running this encounter? It sounds fun and exciting, but also complex, with cows and warriors and a Stone Woman all over the place. About how long did the combat take?

Enchant Iron is a one-use Rune spell, and all of the Rune enchantments are locked to God-Talkers, Priests, and Rune Lords only. So it'll probably be pretty hard to get it enchanted (without GM fiat, anyway). My suggestion is that your player could have it forged into the desired weapon by a skilled redsmith (I don't think RQG really has a distinction in different types of smithing... yet, anyway), and then the enchantment might be a reward for completing a big quest or service for a temple. That is, unless they become a Rune Lord or Priest and enchant it on their own. It's going to cost a point of POW for whoever casts it, so it's a non-trivial spell.

Toss my Wish in on the Lunars, too. There's lots and lots of gods & goddesses in that space I'd love to see in more detail. Also, the Lunar Colleges of Sorcery!