Quackerjack

And where can I find that beautiful Pete Fenton style map of Dragon Pass? Or is that a secret of the Index? 😉 =)

Thank you Andre. I had no idea about this account. Paths of the Damned was great too. =)

I have Widow's Tale and my 13 year old loves it but I've searched for Eurhol's Vale by Penelope Love and cannot find it. Could you please provide a link?

in general the defensive stats are pathetic, but the characters can deal out such a whalopping that it often doesn't matter. Battle Drill, Undeniable Strike, the escalating berserker die for Zorak Zoran, etc.

Also Uroxi and ZZ'ers can choose the Scrapper talent to keep them alive. In about Round 3 when they get to Staggered levels, they sometimes heal more HP than the monster did to them in the attack that triggered the auto-heal. Humakt's Who's Laughing Now? power is also handy, if not as powerful. 

haven't even managed to lurk =(

Not meaning to be rude or dismissive about the value of the IP here, but offering some thoughts.

At the level of Glorantha's brand awareness, isn't virtually any brand proliferation good proliferation? Even if piracy was 50% of Gloranthan image use (which I very much doubt), wouldn't that help attract people to the world and the (paying) products? 

The marginal cost of producing digital IP is close to zero, and the costs of producing Pavis material have been recouped many times over. This is when other IP companies like Nintendo (random example) tend to discount heavily. Now, it may work for them precisely because their scale is so much larger than Chaosium's, but I wonder if it isn't in your best interest to act similarly. 

I'd really love for Glorantha to become a CoC-like property, and it probably isn't going to happen through the ferally-loyal-but-few fans like me, who own multiple copies of the same books.

I'm not sure I can manage the time commitment. Is it possible to lurk?

Newt, thanks for a great fanzine! Am still enjoying!

On 8/16/2020 at 2:02 AM, Nick Brooke said:

Prax has an Ennio Morricone spaghetti western soundtrack. It is known.

In particular, 

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly for the discovery of Foes

and

The Ecstasy of Gold. I found this particularly evocative of the Zola Fel in the beginning, and then a heroic return. Perfect for a Cradle Defense scenario, or maybe Troubled Waters.

I've used Morricone for years to indoctrinate my kids. =)

John Zorn's version of the Big Gundown is outstanding for the Rabbit Hat Farm scenario. 

7 hours ago, Lysus said:

I have exactly the opposite opinion. The fact that Runequest NPCs and monsters have those massive stat blocks, most of which will never be used, is a big turnoff. I prefer systems where NPCs have only the numbers that are absolutely required for when they're interacting with players. Many systems that I enjoy don't use stats for NPCs at all.

Have to agree with you there. Saves lots of time and can still have a combat involving fun decisions and lots of flavor with those simpler 13A rules. There is an intricate beauty to RQ monster design - all the spells, allied spirits and tactics they involve - but I no longer have the time and free INT to play that way.

I also love the fact that PC feats are "PC only - no monsters allowed" because it makes the PCs that much more special and heroic.

But again, for those who do so much the better. Go to it!

This poster by "Mockman" Jason Thompson rekindled my interest in the early DnD modules:

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/vault-drow-walkthrough-poster

And yes Gazza there was rivalry between the Kua Toa and Drow. Very funny how one of the PCs in the linked poster is a Kua Toan "Monk" character class (they had martial-artist "Monitors") and one is a cleric of Blibdoolpoolp - both out for revenge against the Drow. 

Oh, I get it. Great idea! 

Thing is, I really like Uz. I don't want them to be the major enemy. It could be an offshoot tribe of course: Cragspider's Chaos double, an unintended consequence of trying to cure the troll kin curse or something. Nothing that can't be hand waved. 

7 hours ago, g33k said:

Uhhh ...

drow?

Scary, matriarchal Dark folk?

I ... think you may find a fit in Glorantha ...

Yeah, I hear you. Really.

These are just a bunch of crazy ideas. Vault of the Drow turned out to be an amazing city adventure setting for me back in the teenage years and so I was thinking of revisiting that. Probably out of badly thought-out nostalgia. But it would have to be done right. As a hallucinatory dream or something. Otherwise it would wreck Gloranthan verisimilitude. 

I don't like the whole concept of the Drow very much as presented in D&D (at once special and "better" and evil and dark-skinned), but I could have them be purple fungi-folk developed by an offshoot Aldryami Godlearner cult, meant to exterminate the Uz. 

But so far, what has worked best for me and my group is a little bit gonzo. What works in play can be very different from what works on paper. I love the Farmers Collective (or whatever it was called) and their work, but actually playing like that doesn't work for me. I need gaming to be stress relief, and scenes of a decadent Red Emperor bathing in Moon Tangerine Champagne while sending the Crimson Bat to "talk" to Delecti do the trick. 

This is great! Thank you very much!

I find class-repurposing (ie changing a D&D4 class to suit Glorantha) much more challenging than adventure-repurposing. That may be a personal preference.

Similarly, I have a hard time coming up with plot and characters. I find it very easy to replace the River of Cradles monsters with 13G analogs (heck, I did it with FATE), but I could never in a million years write that scenario. Again, this may be a personal preference. 

Like you, I would rather see lots of new material for 13G than not. I'm really just trying to encourage you to: 1) plunder existing plots, and 2) enjoy what there is of 13G. Which you already do. 

Hmm, I see that I have failed my Systems roll again and have inadvertently quoted a blank space. :p

Quote

 

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

Reasons to play 13th age Glorantha with RQ:

• There is already a conversion of the classes
• You can play it with Classic Fantasy

 

Just skimmed the doc. You did a lot of work!

Going to give this some thought ..

Thanks for engaging on this, Gazza. I'm going to try and reply in a way other than "You MUST like 13G!"

Reasons to play 13G over RQ:

1. Moar powerrr
2. Faster, simpler combat (of course, many prefer full-on RQ crunch. I get that.)
3. Setting flavor crystals (robust trickster, earth priestess, hell mother classes, for example)

If these 3 things are desirable to you, then conversion is simple. You just don't care whether the opposition's sword skill is 100% or 110%; the idea is to provide a similar experience. 

Reasons to play 13G over D&D:

1. Classes specifically created for Glorantha

I don't know enough (anything, really) about D&D4 to comment on mechanics. Will take your word for it. 

As it happens, I am trying to finagle a way to get my players into Vault of the Drow in Glorantha (will probably be on some bizarre hero plane). Had some good times there back in the day - using RQ rules, funnily enough! Actually, a mashup of RQ and ICE's Arms Law ... 

On 2/21/2020 at 2:42 AM, GAZZA said:

And this is basically what kills 13G for me. I bought 13A just to play 13G, but with essentially nothing outside the core book it's never going to get played. Yes, of course I can convert stuff, but that's what I pay money for supplements for - for someone else to do the legwork. It is especially disappointing whenever you have a book that references upcoming books only to discover that these will likely never see the light of day.

RQG is not immune to this; it's been 2 years and we still don't have the gamemaster's guide that is referenced in the main book. The only real reason that's tolerable is because I have enough older/different edition RQ stuff to fill in the gaps without full scale conversion.

Dude, as I've mentioned on another thread, it is dead easy to convert RQ or 13A to 13G. Even I can do this. Just take the classic RQ stuff. Even if your players have been through it, you can use that as "history".

5 hours ago, Oracle said:

Tried to use the above link, but all I've got was a PAGE NOT FOUND ...

same here

4 hours ago, GAZZA said:

Eh. I have it, but I have a couple of objections to it. Firstly, it's basically a D&D Heartbreaker - I don't think the creators could even seriously dispute that - and if I want to play D&D I'll play 5e (I do, in fact, regularly - although not since I started my RQG game last month).

... I gathered that with RQG's publication 13AG is pretty much twisting in the wind). I'd love to hear I was wrong about that - even if I won't necessarily play the game, I'm always interested in supplements or adventures I can repurpose.

Not going to dispute taste; if you prefer other systems, by all means please enjoy them. I think it would be interesting to debate whether 13A is in fact a heartbreaker or an improvement, but since I haven't played D&D since the '70s, I might be a little biased.

[tried to multiquote but failed my Comprehend Systems roll}

I also get the strong impression 13AiG is twisting in the wind, which is part of the reason I brought it up. There is so much Gloranthan goodness in the book; the rules on runes, the art, the locations by rune, the hero quest gifts, the Duck Point writeup - the list goes on and on and on. It can be mined for other systems easily. 

Likewise, Runequest adventures are easy to repurpose to 13A - building battles is one of the easiest things. And a lot of 13A material has a remarkable resonance with RQ. The battle scene supplements (the Crown Commands et al) are particularly useful for time-strapped GMs. 

OK, I'm well off topic here so will be quiet now.

On 5/1/2020 at 10:48 AM, Dissolv said:

 

This really hits the nail on the head for something missing in Glorantha gaming, and particularly Runequest.  It's clear that there are pathways to becoming much more than the rules will current allow.  It is also clear that pursuing these paths of power is a major tenant of (and probably reason for the terribleness of) the Hero Wars.  But there is nothing mechanically on how to actually get there.  It is 100% sorted out between the players and the Gamemaster. 

 

If I may plug 13th Age in Glorantha here? It takes the power level up quite a bit from RQ, while keeping lots of crunch. Around 3rd level PCs are comparable to clan champions, and by 9th level they are capable of serious feats of magic like making a Building Wall. Have been playing this for 2-3 years now and I must say it is a deep, robust supplement to Glorantha that we have not exhausted. It is full of fun Glorantha flavor, like the Zorak Zorani power of Embarrass Sun or the Trickster's Fuster Cluck (it is also the only RPG I know of with a viable trickster class). 

Also, I think sorting it out between the GM and players is part of the fun. 

On ‎4‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 5:13 PM, The God Learner said:

That's a quite good blog, by the way. Thanks for pointing it out.

Who is this mysterious Zzabur of which you speak?

On ‎4‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 9:23 AM, svensson said:

Well, Quack, this is for the most part an old RQ grog board. In my observation, there's a whole bunch of discussion about Glorantha trivia that seems to creep in to a lot of discussions. As an old grog in several games myself, I very much appreciate the existence of a portal to ask the deep lore questions of the devs and writers.

Sven, you evil scheming otter (judging by your avatar, =) ), I'm an old grognard myself, but given I haven't played much in the last 35 years, I guess I'm more of a rear echelon m*f*.

Do appreciate the deep lore, but also need some help on these rules. It would be a shame if 13G didn't get more recognition; it's a major addition/enhancement to Glorantha RPGs. Try out the Trickster class!

Thanks guys! This is proving to be very helpful. 

Some Bat Priests met their doom today. So, who's going to control the Bat tomorrow? Hello? Anybody there? Oooops.

The 13G book points out that no PC of any level is capable of taking on the Crimson Bat when it's well-fed. That is as it should be, given the rule structure. But my player is already indicating he is interested in shaping reality in Glorantha the way Harrek or Jar Eel does. Ie, bringing back the Green Age and that sort of thing. Any ideas on how to do play this sort of thing out? I want to avoid a game around politics and rulership, and have it be more personal.