Thaz

Just now, PhilHibbs said:

Their desires seem to get stuck at what they were when they died, when Orlanthi talk to their ancestors in KoDP they are always complaining about not following the old ways. This goes hand in hand with the idea that only mortals have free will, gods and ghosts don't seem to have any ability to change.

They also complain if you don't try new things ❤️

28 minutes ago, Joerg said:

It is possible to play a heroquest mainly based on moral choices with largely unskilled characters, and to come out with a world-moving result. RQ - not even RQG with its percentiles for runes and passions - probably is not the vehicle of choice for such quests, though.

Remember that you haven't seen all of RQG yet. The rules for heroquesting etc are coming. 

58 minutes ago, Pheres said:

This seems to be a very sad state... But why ghosts, who are dead, have some desires, or does is it because ghost have desires that they are ghosts?

I would say that the ritual journey to the underworld and towards Daka Fal's judgement strips the spirit of it's mortal desires and goals and attunes it to the afterlife. If its desires are too strong it is turned back (or possibly cast back by Daka Fal) to become a Ghost.  

2 minutes ago, davecake said:

Jar-Eel was the Lunar Kwizatch Haderatch, the creation of a multi-generational magical breeding program. She was never a typical PC for a second. 

Indeed. And I see no reason for a Player not to end up at a power level that approaches it....but my I'll make them work for it. It's a time of Hero's so 20 something rune Lords...rare but sure. 

4 minutes ago, davecake said:

In an old RQ3 game, I had a green elf PC that qualified for Wood Lord on character creation (15 years of previous experience, = +75 to Elf Bow, etc). I took this same tack - sure you qualify, but first you need to be tested on a mission. I let them become one fairly shortly thereafter, though. 

Kallyr and Jar-eel were both teenagers when they started being impressive. This is a time of Hero's. After a few adventures I'd allow it. But not from the get go. 

9 hours ago, gochie said:

It's worth pointing out that an assistant shaman is NOT a shaman. There is nothing wrong in assisting a shaman as an up-and-coming Chalana Arroy initiate, especially if he's the main healer of your little village. 

Agreed. I was more directing this at later comments about a CA High Healer WITH a Fetch being rather powerful (I wouldn't allow this as the two roles take up too much time. Being a Shammy isnt all about healing so its not a 100% overlap. CA God-talker and Shaman maybe................) 

I suspect the cults book may limit CA's ability to be a shaman as well...but hey I guess you could argue they started off that way and then converted when healed by a White Lady. We shall see when it comes out 😄   Good Munchkining. And much less likely to get a slap down as a healer than as a Warrior IMHO

7 minutes ago, Crel said:

Could you direct me toward your references on this? I've just started the research/pre-writing stages of my next bigger project, writing up an Esrolian city, and this sounds like useful reading. I basically just assumed clay from the near by river(s) and stream(s) would be used.

I'll nudge our academic type for references and PM you

13 minutes ago, Crel said:

That's a solid plot hook. Nice and simple (and works with any variant of land goddess).

I DO like the options for the Ritual back in Clearwine with the various politics and factions. So If I use this it will be to return it to the nearest major earth temple...ie Clearwine 🙂

11 hours ago, Joerg said:

You would want an infrastructure that keeps the best craftspeople away from the fields and inside their workshops, except for the holy days.  But then you also want skilled craftspeople to oversee the harvesting of the raw materials used in your trade, 

Transporting charcoal actually was a bit of a problem as it is a high volume, low weight cargo, 

Setting up near a source of clay may be more efficient than moving into town

Firewood and other lumber may be easier to transport as long as you have a downriver waterway towards your destination. Even marginally navigable rivers can be used to float lumber. In case of doubt, dams (also those built by beavers) can aid in regulating the transport of the lumber.

Snipped a fair bit to answer:

Yes to keeping people in their workshops. From experience materials selection is going to be the occasional visit and possibly apprentices afterwards. There's lots of Babylonian cuneiform arguing over quality of materials promised vs actually delivered.

The point on charcoal is very fair. In Ancient Greece charcoal/firewood bearers and producers were very low status but a lot were involved in carting it in (often in baskets). It was however quite lucrative both for large land owners and a way of picking up actual cash for the poor. Stickpickers are an important part of keeping a town or city running and keeping the home fires burning!

Our initial assumption was that indeed you'd do your potting near you clay. But it turns out there's quite a lot of physical evidence that it was the other way around back in ancient times. BwT Archaeology department got quite excited and geeked right out over this. Turns out you want to make your amporah near to where you fill them. 

Firewood. I think I agree on firewood and rivers...but. Firewood. It's not like today. Axes are your primary wood cutting tool. Saws exist but only for going WITH the grain (ie making boards or long planks) NOT cross-cutting across it. So it's easier to make planks than it is to make rounds to split with an axe. So firewood is most likely sticks or longish logs rather than chopping short chunks of firewood like we see today. Turning big trees into lump wood charcoal is also efficient for making small fires as the burning breaks it down into useful sizes and smaller homes in towns and cities. 

23 minutes ago, Crel said:

Your post is good feedback to hear for me, as a gamemaster. 

Yarp I'm not keen on having ancestors swap in for PC's. It's fine for the NPC as a plot device. For me as well the intro doesn't really work  because the party have been kicking round for a bit now. 3 of them are initiated into Orgvale Summer (See The Dragon of Thunder Hills) and although as a group they do have some loyally to Lekia and the Colymar they also do to the Feathered Horse Queen and other interests. I think Orgvale is more likely to ask (via all sorts of divine style hints) to recover her mothers mirror than the complicated plot in TSR. 

16 hours ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

If you assume that the torso is covered by clothes or armor, there's a limit to the size of heads and arms.  At a reasonable distance (over 100 meters before a battle starts) the only area large enough would be your shield.  Or something like a Japanese Nabori.

I think we have wildly different perceptions both to the look and feel of both general population and the nature of Gloranthan warfare. YGMV  and indeed should.  I'm very happy my interpretation fits very well with whats described in RQG and the nature of warfare as described by Greg et al. Having spent a load of time in a shield wall personally you'd have plenty of time to ID and cast Spirit or quick cast rune magic before blows are exchanged. And yes people do have dirty great big runes on their helms and shields. I could certainly pick out which group and most importantly captains and skilled fighters with relative ease. Choosing which guys looked weak and to lead the boar snout into was kinda my job. 

Sword Trance adds MP and therefore time to cast. If it wasn't for his archery support taking out a couple of charging tuskers would have been 3-1 against lance equipped foes without his mega-parry spell and in a very bad way. Team work made the fight not Sword Trance. And as previously mentioned the bad guys ran away to fight another day and 30 minutes later the group now find itself in another dangerous fight and the Humakti is flat bust.  2MP and 0 RP. A little better of than a snoring Storm Bull would be perhaps but still... 

4 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Perhaps your edition is different...

God-talker

Requirements: As per Rune Priestess (below), except that males may become God-talkers, but must be eunuchs.

(my emphasis)

Interesting. Checking my PDF then yes I agree with you. However I am sure I read celibate, maybe in one of my hard copies (I have both printings). I'll check when I get home. Edit :- Also the Priestess requirement reads differently to how I recall. I _think_ I was using my 1st printing hard copy but I will check tonight 

I'll reply at length later. But no. Despite being in a bad location they spotted the ambush. Sword Trance was certainly effective and the Humakti was certainly a big hitter.... But so was a Yinkin hunter. Its was a really great team effort. 

And now their facing the big bad and the Humakti is running on empty.... 

Sword Trance is awesome. While it lasts. Just like berserk and a few other spells. 

Looking to earthly examples for inspiration :- Urbanisation for craftspeople was a thing right back into the bronze age.

So if your family were great potters then you might relocate to town in order to make the most of your skills. Its fairly easy transport clay and fuel, less so pottery so you want it where it will be sold. Likewise charcoal production and transportation (along with firewood) was a fairly major industry in Ancient Greece. 

Yes Beer with Teeth have been doing some research on this and there might well be a resulting Jonstown pack in the works.....

4 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

in my opinion, if a PC or NPC's rune tattoos and clan markings are too small to be seen at a reasonable distance, then that just means they need to make them bigger and clearer.

Also there are practical reasons. Do you _really_ want to start something with someone who has a dirty great big death rune right between their eyes? Maybe you should just buy them that beer after all? I mean we all hate chaos right? 

And if you're Clan and Tribe ink is obvious then maybe when your down on your luck, your horse just threw a shoe (yes they were in thing in the bronze age), its dark season and snowing and you go knock on that isolated stead's door and they see your kin....or that they once were done a favour by your Uncle...or his Dad fought alongside yours at Grizzly Hills....

19 hours ago, dumuzid said:

That's an excellent point.  Strictly speaking, there's no gender restrictions on the Babeester Gor or Maran Gor cult writeups in RQ:G either,

8 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Besides, that's only for God Talker... Which is perhaps slightly better than Ernalda, which won't allow males at all at higher status.

The forthcoming cults book may be more explicit but the RQG book merely states a male god talker of MG remain celibate rather than requiring castration.  (As indeed a Priestess must also remain celibate.)   

16 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Why isn't he sleeping it off in a cave then?

Because there's a big fire in the hall and liquid honey on tap (aka mead). 

On 3/7/2020 at 8:44 PM, Thaz said:

In my Campaign the Defense of Apple lane went very well because the players won the recon battle. However they didn't kill all of those Tusk Riders....and the next outing will be harder. 

And so it goes. The next encounter my Players with their local friendly* Tusk Riders went differently.

The TR had called up some impressive re-reinforcements (Not least because only their leader survived Apple Lane). Note Tusk Riders are particularly interested in taking on decent opponents because they want their hands.  They suckered the players into attacking without much recon (amazing how effective torturing a few clans folk can be) which put the players on the receiving end of multiple charging Riders/Tuskers. Of of the latter one-shoted the party Hunter/Yinkin cultist who had managed to break up the charge with several effective leg shots on Tuskers. (Yinkinte who had just completed HeroQuesting/Heroforming the Blue Boar quest and was as a result doing bonus damage to Tuskers). 

To bring this back on topic the Humakti did get his Sword Trance off while bracing for the charge. However he's also cast a 1 point shield up front (I'll ask if that was deliberate) and so when the dispel went in it took out the Shield not the Truesword. Attempts to disarm him didn't work due to high parry specials and in fact parrying a natural weapons was highly effective in taking out extra opponents. That and the groups fau-shaman getting in a good befuddle on round #1 on the RuneLord Leader Iron Pig meant the party held the day at the cost of one dead (now resurrected) Player and two NPC's down and later healed up. Still though the Tusk Riders losses were close to the players, in Rune Quest whoever holds the battlefield is normally able to heal or at least recover the bodies and possibly resurrect and it's a major goal. The Tusk riders evacuated to fight another day...

*Not

On 3/7/2020 at 9:21 PM, metcalph said:

A tactic that has not been mentioned when seeing who the best warriors are has been to adopt disguises.  Patroclus wore Archilles armour during the Trojan War

Spotting a old foe by distinctive bit of gear is a truism. Lending out an old distinctive bit of kit to a newbie can have unintended consequences 😄 

3 hours ago, gochie said:

Do MA work with Cestus? Fighting claws? Where does it stop exactly--a "hand blade" à-la Assassin's Creed/Diablo 2 assassin?

They did in rq3 if memory serves. I would assume so. 

2 hours ago, Crel said:

It's totally not worth the equivalent RP in Munchkin terms since it turned out you can't Extension the various spells involved (which makes me sad since when I get to play my adventurer is an Odaylan), but oh my god it is satisfying when you start ripping enemies apart.

Given how little love the various hunters get IMG you can extend these spells. Currently one of my players is off at Blue Boar fort and is being instructed by two old Hunters....one of whom isn't much help as he's currently a Bear and isn't planning on dropping his Extension just because someone wants to talk to him. It's winter and its cold and he prefers being a bear right now. 

6 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Then here is my thanks, during the dark times, this was my only Glorantha Solace!

Mine too. I got all the books but my players baulked and refused. I know some people love it but it just didnt work for me. I want my Glorantha to be one where you always have to worry about that lone trollkin with a spear. . . 

11 hours ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

Huge?  Also, see any runes on the others?  Any at all???

Yes, her chest is covered with them.  And yes the others have several, note the HUGE movement/air rune. All excellent points well made for spotting them in advance. 

I'd also point those are old images from previous product lines where the obvious tat's and scarring were less mentioned. The game's focus has moved to a much more formalised form of warfare for example where clashes of champions are much more common. Looking and reading the Guide/RQG/Source I read it as most elites will indeed be very obvious in their cult allegiance and indeed clan/family.

33 minutes ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

Most 21 year old "I just rolled up a character" scrounged for their armor at Gringles.  They have a mishmash of stuff.

Here's Naimless - Runes, but far from "great big".  Put her in a helmet and have the wind blow the cloak around and they are invisible.

Here's Kallyr - Runes are more visible but could be covered or hard to see at any distance

So huge obvious runes...yeah. I think you made my point. Cheers