Thaz

22 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

In my experience, if there's even just one fight (including Spirit Combat) in a season, most PCs will manage to squeeze their POW gain roll from it.

Of course, there may not be a fight.

And depending on how your GM wants to run it you may well only have one or two adventures per year. The Beer_with_Teeth campaigns started off fairly frenetic up until the battle of Queens and aftermath but have since slowed down in pace. (which is fair, one big military campaign followed by everyone heading home for the harvest, winter and sowing.) . Also most of BwT players are more Role-players than Roll-players. I'll admit the three regular GM's are probably the worst Munchkins (Peers at his Storm Bulls use of Fear)

Currently on sale :-    https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/167649/Cold-Harvest?manufacturers_id=2&filters=0_0_0_0_0_31817  

The interview given the other day mentioned a brand new campaign set in Asia. <excite> It's good to see something new coming, much as I love the re treatments of classics like Masks.

https://www.chaosium.com/blogproject-update-the-children-of-fear-mythos-adventures-in-central-asia-and-northern-india/ 

12 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

This only matters in seasons when you're not adventuring (which might be 0), or if you somehow manage not to get a POW gain roll during the adventure.

Hmmm. Even with 1 adventure per season (and remember spending more than that will have impacts) your really not guaranteed a POW Gain roll. And it's entirely likely you wont have that many. Depends on your campaign. And for non players it's a huge step up in power. A Godtalker who has been leading worship at their local shrine for a while is going to have a lot of spare POW on their hands. And there's things they can do with that like have a lot of enchanted gear.  

1 minute ago, seneschal said:

Darth Vader:  Search your feelings.  You know that $150 coffee table books are the future of gaming.

Luke Skywalker:  [Clutching $4, essentially hand-written, copy of Tunnels and Trolls 4th edition]  Noooooooo!

You can always buy the PDF's and print them out on a Dot Matrix printer and stick them in a ring binder if ya want to go old school 😄    (or buy the RQ2 reprint and print that) 

On 2/24/2020 at 7:48 PM, Akhôrahil said:

God-Talker only really has one truly big thing - better POW gain. Although since you will have POW 18 anyway, it's not actually better POW gain, but rather getting to have 18 instead of, say, 14-15 in POW. Which isn't nothing, but it's nothing like the old difference between Initiate and Acolyte.

Well you also get really good Pow gain rolls (5-6 as per our other discussion) which you can pump into enchanting. Which stacks up pretty quickly into huge benefits. 

6 minutes ago, Glorion said:

Point taken, Argrath and Jar-eel have it too, as their single strongest combat powers, bigger than anything else they have going. So yeah, that means anyone with Sword or Ax or Mace Trance and access to lots of magic points is unstoppable by anyone without, pretty much. it's just so much grosser than any other combat spell as to be absurd. Battles get won based on how many soldiers on each side have Sword Trance, and a berserker with Sword Trance and Extension could personally put Nochet to the sword if in a bad mood. 

Now if only PC's and other hero's had access to serious mojo I'd agree. However if you power up and go berserk in Nochet Market Square (note I may have had my Storm Bull on the rampage there recently) then you're going to be met by a)Market Warding Spells (in my exact example) b)People ducking into their clan homes and strong points (which will be warded) c)The Tribal/Clan/Government professional warriors responding (Think SWAT) and these guys are likely to be lead at least by pretty serious RuneMaster types...again backed by town or clan/tribal wyters.  Do you want to be on the receiving end of Sever Spirit from a Humakti with their regimental wyter backing it up? Come to that 100 Trollkin Slingers .....  

Effectively think about how common this is and how fast the response can be. People can fly and spirit travel and there are spirits watching in areas with population. . . this is not a non magical bunch of serfs with no response.  And if you are dripping in magic and pow and weapons and you are not well known and trusted:- you'll be watched. And possibly robbed if your not part of the social structures of the locals wherever that may be. 

2 minutes ago, Glorion said:

That won't scratch 'em. But your 2000 or so percent sword skill from your couple of hundred MP would be another matter. Automatic crits are handy. Of course, you'd have to sneak up on them, that's what the Invisibility etc. is for.

Ah the joy of RQ. Anything your players can do the NPC's can do right back and this case they have access to entire cults of thousands of people magically power them. Not to mention extensive hero questing.

So go ahead and try it on the big guns and see what happens. 

I must admit I have a bookcase AND a large drawer under the bed full.

However a few years ago I had that PLUS a bookcase or two at my parents house (where I havent lived in decades). I've rationalised. Mostly by selling duplicates and forked systems I didnt like (Keeping only classic Traveller, 1st Ed AD&D for the memories, Hackmaster, Blue Planet, RQ3 and CoC) kept it manageable and actually paid for RQG and some of my bills 😄 

11 minutes ago, Valyar said:

IMO, role playing games are the cheapest hobby. You can have entertainment for years - just with the core book(s).

I've had a pretty serious collecting habit. Recently I admitted to myself I wasn't going to use a lot of it and sold off all but what I wanted to use or really loved (So I sold duplicates, in part because there are new editions of Traveller and RQ so I dont need multiple copies of the old editions). At cover value (and I bought all but a handful of books at cover price) I had spend a few thousand over the years. Just selling dupes got me a sizeable fraction of that back. That pales in comparison to what many Brits spend on the annual holiday. It really is a cheap hobby. 

Space is my biggest issue because much as I love PDF's I still want hard copy of the core. And the new Chaosium stuff is really really pretty. 

11 hours ago, Glorion said:

 and you can visit that big battle between Argrath and Jar-Eel and kill both of 'em without breaking a sweat. 

Except these two will be running levels of munchkinry which will make your ears bleed and your eyes burn.

Argrath has the backing of the White Bull Society. In effect his allied spirit could be the Society Wyter. Which means it may have a POW of hundreds or thousands. As just one wrinkle I could use. And that's before he founds his own magical millitary units.

Jar-Eel is a demi-goddess and is semi-divine. 

They can both throw _serious_ amounts of mojo about and your couple of hundred MP aint gunna scratch them. 

On 3/3/2020 at 10:23 PM, seneschal said:

We've had this discussion before, too.  Much as I appreciate durable hardcovers and gorgeous all-color art, "better quality" doesn't help me if I can't afford the product.  

The demographics have changed. Back in the 80's and 90's the market were mostly school and college age kids. We kept gaming. The new wave of gamers coming in behind us are 20-30 something types who learned from us old hands. Expectations have changed. There was an attempt to keep things cheap and cheerful with those gods awful (IMHO) paperback style books for HQ. RQG, CoC etc have outsold them in gorgeous hard back volumes many times over.

The market doesnt want cheap and cheerful it wants lush, well illustrated game books that are high quality.  Instead of buying massively expensive coffee table books to decorate our living rooms we buy game books and have our old gaming mates over to sit round the table with products we'd have killed for in the 80's. 

8 hours ago, g33k said:

I do agree with you that it's a different (and likely inferior) experience.  But maybe sometimes... it's the only experience available.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-07-08/how-to-be-a-professional-dungeons-dragons-master-hosting-games

Or perhaps it might be a better experience. Depending on what you want and how much money is involved. 

I mean seriously the art of what is _possible_ with enough time/money/skill is amazing. But few of us GM's can put the time/money in no matter what our skill levels. Do my players have fun? I certainly hope so. But even being one of three main GM's with another 2-3 back-up folk who are willing to step in and run a few sessions now and then there are times when real life gets in the way. I'm lucky. The Beer with Teeth shared campaign continuum (http://journeyoftheheroes.wikidot.com/) means when life happens I have backup. But how often do I have everything just perfectly right, all the handouts ready, how often am I able to get everything just so?  I think the last time I was really proud of my prep was back in the 90's running RQ3 or CoC and I had plenty of downtime. Oh what I could do with decent funding and time 😄

8 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

My point is this: "get a POW gain roll" otherwise doesn't mean "roll it at once",

I think the repeated use of "during" indicates it means exactly that and the POW Gain roll is then and there and in particular before the rest of Sacred Time activities. Besides which it makes thematic sense. 

In any case 5 or 6 pow gain rolls a year for a Rune Master. 

9 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Still unclear. It says you get a POW gain roll, true, but that usually just means "mark the checkbox, roll at next end of season".

Now, there wouldn't be anything weird about Sacred Time containing its own POW gain attempt - the opposite in fact, it makes every kind of sense - but it's not actually in the rules.

Hmmm Not how I'd read it.

"Sacred Time is formalised into these steps, which should be handled in the order listed 

1. worship

2 Perform Hero quests (if applicable)

3.. <snip> 

7 Read the Omens.

1. Worship

All Rune Points are replenished with a successful worship roll during sacred time. Even on on a failure 2d6 rune points are replenished up to an adventurer's total rune points. Additionally,  all initiates and higher level members of a cult get a POW gain Roll . 

God Talkers, Rune Priests, and Rune Lords get 1 free point of cult spirit magic during sacred time."

13 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

I personally don't count Sacred Time as a separate season either, but I feel a bit unsure here. It actually matters a lot if you get experience rolls after Sacred Time as well as after seasons. This being Sacred Time, I could easily see it including a "free" POW gain roll resolved immediately, but I really don't like the idea of counting it as a season for experience gain.

RQG p420 Sacred time "1.Worship  ...all initiates and higher level members of a cult get a POW gain Roll ."

That is separate to the seasonal rolls for leading worship or as a result of typical munchkin pow vs pow rolls you may have engineered yourself. 

6 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

So, easy POW gain roll every week, at +20%.

You only get a Max of one POW gain roll per season. You collect up all your ticks and then sort out advancement once a season. So a RuneMaster gets _many_ opportunities to get pow gain 'ticks' but 'only'  5 + Sacred Time = 6 rolls per year

8 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

And that's where I can see "Pay for Play" breaking down. What if the GM doesn't give the players what they want (success, magic items, personal retinue, kingdom, etc.)? Better for them to appease the players and take the money rather than run a better game. Especially short term.

Now I actually gave up mountain guiding because it _was_ ruining a perfectly good hobby.

However well a gifted set of amateurs may be however they have trouble stacking up to a professional.  The professionals we're used to in the table top gaming world are the staff of the gaming companies. Often the line editors and main authors, aided by a horde of both professional and amateur artists and writers doing piece work. However out there in the world of LARP players normally do pay to play because set and costume and safety gear cost. Often those events only barely break even.

So. Where's the dividing line? Personally I've never charged for a space at my table (or chatroom). However I can imagine a GM doing so to cover his costs. Lets face it to run a really fantastic RQG or CoC or whatever campaign there's a lot of time/money going into it. The books are increasingly not cheap. We're no longer teenagers saving pocket money (mostly) and the kids are playing fiasco or fortnight or whatever. However buying both rqg/glorantha slipcases and the upcoming cults and campaign books is a fair outlay. Likewise CoC if you want to go from cold and pick up the starter set, 7eCoC and say Masks plus the delux prop set....that is a chunk of change. I can see a GM asking his group to kick in. And from there :- Well if someone if going to make their own proper, lay on food and drink, provide a really top notch game...its a lot of hours and using all your free time to do that is an ask for some of us.

And lets face it GMing for strangers is a real skill set and hard work as well as fun if you're up for it. (Hats of to the Cult of Chaos by the way) 

Does not World War Cthulhu : Cold War  not cover this? I assumed it covered all angles? (I much prefer the less pulply Darker WWC over Actung!) 

There are the Humakti Trolls in the Haunted Ruins of course as well. 

You can even add a third kinda-Allied Spirit if you worship Daka Fal - an ancestor can become an impromptu Allied Spirit using Rune Magic. And since you can be Priest and Shaman simultaneously in Daka Fal, your Fetch acts as a fourth kinda-Allied Spirit.

I think the limit there is your CHA based spirit limit (Cha/3 ? Cant recall off the top of my head). The Rune Magic for Spirit Teacher doesn't list limits...so you could in theory have several (although your going to spending a LOT of RP on extension and so on). We're into munchkin land here.  

I've worked as a Mountain Guide. It's not much different IMHO working as a paid GM.

I've considered it when I was freelance contracting in IT and had downtime. But I didnt want to get 5e DnD on me. 

I wonder if there are granaries full in Tarsh that were waiting to relive the famine in Sartar and thus win the population to the cause.....after a few years... 

5 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

 And such a practical form of Heortling genocide, too - it runs itself! That the Sartarites managed to overturn it had nothing to do with what the Lunars wanted - they would surely have been happy to have the entire area (outside the Glowline) depopulated.

Not to mention there are Lunar villa/mansions (now abandoned? I've used these places for plot) scattered all over Sartar. Which would have been poised to take over agriculture and feed people allowing the destruction of Oralthi crofter/clan based systems and replacement with the Lunar model. If it wasn't for those annoying rebels and their pesky dragon then the Lunar way would have resulted in a far more efficient, peaceful and orderly place. 

Hmmm. Perhaps thats the answer to the entire 'What did the Lunars ever do for us?' We know that roads and infrastructure were already in Sartar. A green revolution of peaceful magical powered farming and organised transport would have allowed a population explosion. Whats Lunar Tarsh population wise as opposed to Sartar? Although of course there's just been a famine in Sartar...

This is completely against the spirit of the spell(s) involved but :-

Berserk and Fanaticism boost weapon skills. There is no mention of melee weapon only. 

Using these on an archer negates much of the downside (parry/dodge) and combined with a decent rate of fire and high chance for special/critical can be bad bad news. Of course once the archer runs out of hostile targets ......