Snugz

Hello, a spoiler in case my players are on here-- don't read on, guys!

I've been searching for info for my campaign and ran across some Hezal Darong discussions, and had some thoughts-- if "traditional Ralian chaos fighting magics were to be wholly ineffectual against him"/her/it [HD], and more logically in general, it seems that the problem is that HD comes from out of nowhere for Ralians et al., and they have no inherited lore to combat HD, which especially (as this is a god, not just a monster) means no known heroquesting myths to use. It's not just Mallia (or Krjalk, given all the monsters w/HD), it's some new god, probably linked to different runes (Chaos, Beast, Fertility fits something like Mother of Monsters?). But I was thinking that someone nearby to Karia/Ralios does, or might, have these things. Pithdaros takes a back seat in written HW material so far (even compared w/Nolos+Pasos), being the passive subject of (1) losing their Red Gold Knife (Loper/Artmal sword?) to Argrath; (2) getting conquered by Seshnela, and thence disappearing from HW history, and so forth. They're from Pithdaros originally, having come to fight Gbaji, so here's their "Gbaji" in the form of Hezel Darong, and they have some oral/written history hidden away that is the big missing puzzle piece, so send in the Pithdaran heroes to the rescue! Seems fun to me.

Cam's Well has lots of potential as written up there. I haven't done Hell Hound. Characters could get enmeshed in politics w/nomads, traders and Oasis folk et al. That's more mundane, but like you say could have broader potential w/caravans etc.- easy for PCs to get started on a trade route to various sites. Maybe get looped into defending town vs. a raid (See: many classic Western films). IMG I saw the snakes as the usual tie to the Earth rune. Cam's Well is where the Earth (well/ground above the water) meets the Water (inside the well/connecting waterways). Also, rivers tend to be called serpents in Prax so there's that secondary tie-in. We just finished a long set of sessions where the PCs went into the temple well, met the Son of the Goddess, learned of a heroquest into the Greater Darkness to get insight into some information they needed, and via that retraced some of Cam's wanderings in the Darkness before she settled down. They followed an expanded version of the myth on p37.

Yes, very cool, thanks @Joerg!

Hello, might anyone, please have maps that they can share or point to, of their/others' versions of layouts of the main cities (e.g. from Guide) in Safelster and Tanisor (mainly south/west side of Felster Lake, across to Dangk etc.)? Or ideas for existing maps that could be adapted for these Western 3rd Age settlements? I suck at mapping cities, but need some. Thank you.

Sorry if this has been explained elsewhere. I've bought this, it's super good, but it says it has 6 ready-to-use investigators on the Chaosium website, yet I cannot find them there. Where are they, please? Thank you. Ahh nevermind, it's with the handouts PDF... d'oh.

Pardon my ignorance but where is this from?? I love it.

But the Pralori won't be homogeneous; some faction/s will reinforce the Reforestation, raiding/blocking trespassers, and this divisiveness could make for fun in-game politics.

With the Zaranstangi/Lopers in Genertela, it makes sense that they rebuild their former alliance with the Pralori, and the latter try to bring them into the Serpent Beast Alliance (they are beast-riders after all) but the Loopers aren't so keen, the Pralori alliance is all they care for except as means to an end. But the Lopers won't like the rising of Seshnela's power, seeing that as too reminiscent of the kingdom that (seemed to have) killed their old king, so they help w/Ralios conflict, maybe via the link between Arkat's Godcleaver and The Red Sword. IMG some few Loper heroes who went on the Boat Planet quest returned with Far Leaping ritual abilities enabling them to teleport much further and bring others along with them, as a magical "Great Blue Ship". That makes them even handier, bringing small bands of them and Pralori etc. in for sneak attacks, forays into dangerous areas for adventuring, etc. The Pralori might make the best of a bad thing w/the Reforestation, saying hey, too bad about your trade route and all, but it just so happens that we're cool w/the elves and so we're the best guides for you through those forests if you dare. I'm sure there's more to it than that. I've probably forgotten something written/hinted about it. And with Ramalia, the Pralori/Beast Alliance won't like the subjugated/corrupted Mraloti there so there is great potential for a big conflict there (liberation attempt), with both sides using the Aldryami/Reforestation to their advantage when they can.

I've thought it "inevitable" that Ramalia would lay siege to Handra, in league with the New Fens broos, and then this would involve some stages, with "someone" potentially being PCs: 1) Handra needs to unite its bickering factions and someone helps. 2) The broos and Ramalians and such raid the city and other important places, and someone needs to fight that back in a series of pitched battles and counter-raids, bringing together an alliance of "beasts" (Pralori, otters, anti-Ramalian Mraloti) and "dragons" (magisaurs, dragonewts), maybe via some Hykim-Mikyh power. 3) But the Ramalians have a terrible master plan involving a hidden ally and they unleash the power of Urcheth/Big Chaos Mojo, which someone must heroquest to oppose. (climax 1) 4) Then it's time to take the fight to Ramalia with a united army led by someone, and... (I'm not sure what happens next but it's fun, involving finding out just how awful Ramalia is, maybe drawing in Waertagi/Wolf Pirates as the sea things that Ramalia so hates)

For re-uniting the shattered land of Seshnela w/its people + energy via Seshna Likita, one thing I thought of is that the giant iron spikes that the Luathans drove into the ground at the shattering need to be removed, and that is a great quest for heroes to do. The spikes may literally bind Seshna Likita in slumber/imprisonment; keeping her powers away from pesky humans. The spikes are sure to be heavily guarded (and hard to find) and most likely the heroes must negotiate (heroquest?) some way of the Luathans letting them remove them; or helping them; but I'd think it wouldn't go well if the Luathans remained opposed. And how would the spikes be removed? Finding a special song to sing them out? Magic tongs? A powerful gnome? Finding a dragon to pull them out? Sounds like fun.

Permission granted for bringing back the drunk dwarfs

I had so much fun with this series, have a deep and profound love for it, so it's wonderful to hear that it might see the light of day again. Who cares if it's not so close to the canon anymore; it's damn good fun, with a love of Glorantha running through it.

I've never managed to work in Kralorelans into my game, maybe as I feel they're too China-like and not distinct enough; but also as my campaigns have always been far from there, so I am blissfully ignorant. I am working the Black Sun into the West IMG, so we'll see... Ditto for Vormain/Japan. But I'd love to be a player in a good campaign set in either place. I just don't feel good enough of a Gloranthan GM to figure out how to make them work myself.

Hi, I am wondering how heroquesters deeper in the Underworld/Hells would perceive "time" (small 't'; any meaning; not the big Arachne Solara concept). In the Sky Realm it's easy, seeing the stars and other bodies scuttle about. But what about in Hell? I imagine Yelm becomes visible as a smouldering wreck or something that screams through each night until it falls to ashen silence, and thus would be visible from many places? Maybe "weather" like the Dehori show some cyclical daily patterns? Relevant to me IMG right now as the Boat Planet passes thru for ~4 days and I don't know what a "day" really means in Hell, except that it must correspond in some (loose?) way to Middle-World time.

Yes, very nice. I do love me some caves though!

More please, more more more!

IMG the Cleansed One was not just some boring average broo but rather was a major player in the Chaos army of Wakboth et al., even killing/mortally wounding Seolinthur. He was called Jajakan (a name of an otherwise uninteresting foe in a published Heroquest heroquest; foe of Zola Fel). In the 3rd Age no one remembers this/it has been suppressed but heroes can quest and find it out, much to their chagrin especially if they are River Voices. It worked well IMG.

If you can find any of Ian Thomson's ?late 1990s-early 2000s Pavis/Grey Company supplements, the ogre conspiracy w/Ogre Island, Eye of Wakboth and vampires and stuff are detailed in there and would fit fine into 1626. Very dungeon-y. I had tons of fun with it.

Maybe no longer (to be) canon, but maybe who cares-- [SPOILER]

Yeah seems to be Avalor-- https://glorantha.fandom.com/wiki/Avalor

I thought the Rokari were trying to recreate Danmalastan? Maybe that is in some non-canon stuff I read, though.

I loved it so much, I even Photoshopped the Guide's map of the coast to return it to match the Orange Box's island configuration, which had Giraine visible as a pathetic sliver of land; for some reason deleted in the Guide (probably stochastic reasons). Good to know the author; for some reason I never knew it!

I got into the West by accident and happenstance, and for practical issues. When I played RQ3 as a Pavis campaign, even with Sandy's rules we never liked sorcery much but my curiosity was piqued by the well-characterised Rokari in Strangers in Prax. I set that aside, since we never were going to play in the West. Then years later I decided to start a new campaign using MRQ (ouch! yeah, we moved on quickly enough), and I thought this Tradetalk article on the little Pithdaran isle of Giraine was utterly fantastic. I loved the tiny enclave of Malkioni heretic colonists set against the savage even more heretical native Malkioni (the Giranois) and underneath it all tones of tension between sorcery, theism, animism and (with a hint of draconic presence) mysticism plus the social struggle of castes; on one tiny island. Plus Godlearner necromancers, Waertagi, and hints of Arkati + Uz. it was easy, too, to make it a "sea campaign" and wander around other regions via 1 PC's ship, for variety so players wouldn't get too bored stuck on that island (we played various published stuff like the Island of Nekeros from TOTRM10). With other articles on Vadeli and such, I felt I had enough to build a fun campaign on that explored the main plotline of (1) broader Western Hero Wars e.g. Quinpolic League vs. Seshnela; and (2) local, seemingly trivial issues that grow in importance (a Talar gets moved here with his household and realizes its a s***hole island; then they find out that there are amazing epic things to do and get caught up in island politics that eventually connect with big Hero Wars issues). I like the Rokari as "baddies" (but they do mean well), and so do my players. And then they're not nearly as bad as the Vadeli, who do NOT mean well at all but sometimes still must play by Lawful rules. So there's a lot of moral spectra to explore along with the adventure. I didn't understand the Waertagi but eventually came around, sort of. And the fact that so little was (and still is) written meant that I could make a lot up myself, and/or adapt to what got published. Frankly by that time as a GM I was immensely bored with much of Dragon Pass/Prax and wanted something new that was Gloranthan. So it fit the bill. I wouldn't be brave enough to try to run a Kresh wagon-rider campaign as I'd have no clue how to do it, but I bet it would be fun if I knew how.

Mythras with some house rules/relicts of older systems (we've been playing for just over 12 years now).