Thaz

As an aside I think part of the reason we have this state of affairs is as you say we have focussed a lot on external threats and actions.

The stuff that shows up in songs of action and adventure. Action Movie fodder.

We've been a little short on clan based internal stuff. 

It''s something Beer With Teeth have focused on a little. Two adventures we have written for Chaosium have been very much focused looking inward in Sartar (Crimson Petals in PP and another yet to come). We have another approach again which very much shows women (and other genders) doing their thing and being in charge of it. We're waiting on art but hopefully coming to Jonstown soon and with a POD option no less!

On 6/22/2020 at 1:20 AM, Sir_Godspeed said:

80 horses for a small hamlet, regardless of its importance as a trading entrepot or taxation centre, seems ABSURD. Especially considering how much of a status symbol horses are in Sartar.

According to some discussions elsewhere :- Apple Lane is indeed a caravan stop. That's it's point. It was settled on the Royal roads as a stopping point for merchants on the Runegate-Jonstown road. The Scribe is there to collect Tolls. The Inn and Temples for travellers needs. So was Gringles. The Thane/Sheriff to enforce order and patrol the roads. The outlying farms are there to supply the Inn and trade post. 

80 is still well over the mark though. 

Because I have a Yinkin Cultist in a game I GM and a new player in a game I play in who has chosen Odayla I've done some research on the Great Hunt and how I think it works in Dragon Pass (as opposed to Balazar).

"The Great Hunt
Tis the High Holy thingy for the various Hunter Cults
which I had to look up for another Hunter type in another game so here it 'tis
You all get together for a big hunt the last three weeks of the year before sacred time.

a) In particular some Rune Lords and any who aspire to be made a Rune Lord this year go alone in the wilds to bring in the bestest/most dangerous/most impressive thing. This is to determine who is the Master Hunter aka Master of Hunters for the coming year.

b)Runelords can and do bring others with them (although they may not take part in the solo part of the great hunt of course) and other other hunters and initiates can and do attend. Becoming an initiate requires you to hunt and donate to the community once per season and that includes Storm and Sacred time. This would likely mean doing so at the Great Hunt so as to impress your peers unless there were a pressing need to feed the rest of your community. There will be skalds and tale tellers and merchants and crafters and so on along to sell goods or services or ale etc to the hunters. It's a bit like a hunters convention/outdoors show. 

c)Becoming a rune lord requires you to have won a great hunt (for Foundchild and maybe Odayla and Yinkin)

d)there are lots of training and story telling and hunting in the area by people who are not trying to be Master of Hunters this year. (aka cult and occupation skill rolls)

e)Once the Great hunt is done (on the last day of Storm season) all return to their communities and the travel together is part of the ritual and each group returns to their clan/community in sacred time with the bounty of the great hunt which is then provided to the community. This equates to a station of the Sacred Time "The Return of the Hunters and Feast on their Bounty"

Now. There are a number of questions here for you as GM to decide for your game :- Do all three cults operate as one as far as Hunting goes? So will there be one Master of Hunts for all three cults for the coming year or does each cult have their own? (I go with the former but YGMV, but I like the friendly rivalry for which cult gets bragging rights for the year).  

These events need to be within a few days travel of your tulu if your going to take part. A tribe or clan that depends heavily on hunting may well support it's own but others may cross boundaries.  Hunting Camps in the high mountains are popular as are places holy to hunters (Blue Boar Fort springs to mind https://glorantha.fandom.com/wiki/Blue_Boar_Fort) 

17 hours ago, David Scott said:

I think this is an artefact of RQ rules

Oh totally and somewhat tongue in cheek. My wannabe Shaman has one of his MP matrix enchanted on his left hand and the other on his forehead. Part of his rather obvious oddity is that he has a ton of non rune and non clan ink which confuses people a bit but make sense to him. And the Ancestors. 

56 minutes ago, Brootse said:

Is Pavis Half-elf the wyter of the city, or is there a proper cult about him in RQG?

Not as yet. Although it might be in the Gods or Pavis books which are in the pipeline. 

20 minutes ago, David Scott said:

The ones we can see are all truth or death runes.

She's only naked that one time. Ink them somewhere under your armour if your wise. Never ever ever get your Heal Foci inked on a hand....

1 minute ago, David Scott said:

Demoralize and Mobility would likely have their foci on the back of her shield,  her heal focus on one of her earrings. 

Or just inked on her body as tats. Frankly most of my players go for that so they cant be stolen. And on their bodies not their limbs after that one time....

6 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

It used to be the case that they were kinda crap as cults, but in RQG, both are excellent cults due to the truly massive spell selections and the ease of regaining Rune Points. Belonging to a big cult is good in a way it never was before.

In my stead-based campaign, most people follow Orlanth or Ernalda, with a smattering of Odayla and Yinkin for the outdoors people, and one Daka Fal.

I think that's a fair point for my previous campaigns. They were all 'Asterix in Sartar' or 'Asterix in the Desert' to some extent and therefore people were attracted to more extreme cults (Humakti, Storm Bull, Praxians). 

Also the campaigns I've played in and run have not been very settled and are prone to extensive road trips. In fact one campaign seems to be on a Grand Tour. 

Part of the issue with the new games I think is that RQG is too broad in its character generation(!) by allowing players to roll up characters from wherever they then tend to not want to settle down. 

I currently play in 2 RQG Campaigns and GM another. Total character count is mid teens. 

We have precisely 1 Oralanthi Cultist. Who is a Vingan. I think we have another Odayla cultist considering/may just have joined up to Oralanth as a bonus.

We have one Ernaldan healer type.

I have GM'ed RQ for decades and have _never_ had a player choose to initiate in either of those two cults. Across many different players and with many different play styles.

My Campaigns have generally been Sartar based with the odd trip to Prax or Esrolia as have the games I have played in.

So how is it in your games and how do people feel about these two cults? Do you get players choosing the big two? 

Check out the GM's shield and the GM's quick reference book in the same pack for a good start on handy stuff to have around. I have no use for Roll 20 so I cant comment on that. 

Note also there is an official battle system coming in future (does not help you now but it is coming) 

It should be noted woad is pretty good sunblock. So if its sunny your going to be wearing the reverse image for weeks.... 

Broo reproduction.

Troll's views on eating sentients including other Trolls.

The lethal gritty combat system (Applies to RuneQuest only)

Griselda and co. 

1 hour ago, Kloster said:

There was no bronze age chainmail in real world, but why not in Glorantha, and I'm absolutely sure that no real world human has ever clad is dinosaur pet or mount with barding, wether bronze or iron. But it makes an interesting story, so it is ok (at least for me).

We've seen chainmail in some of the latest art and I know art direction is pretty thorough (TSR and PP). It may just be that chainmail isn't fashionable/used much in Dragon Pass, Prax, Esrolia or Tarsh but is found elsewhere.  On Earth (and I totally agree Earth should be a rough steer for us not a firm rule) the Roman empire took ages to adopt chainmail from the Gauls Despite it being acknowledged as a good armour and the Legions crying out for it. 

For me no hat, no shoes, no shades. 

I'd allow personal jewelry in moderation. 

No belts. No wearing a shield across your back. Or front. 

Weapons and shields and other items carried in your hands

What would the trolls offer for sale that might sell in Pavis?

Trolls have really interesting Tech. It's biological in nature. So things that can be made via insects, fermented or brewed. They are BioChem and Lead and Stone not Bronze. 

Silk. Likely the top level trade item. Can you imagine the fantastic things that can be made from such silk?  (https://www.wired.com/2009/09/spider-silk/#:~:text=The resulting 11-foot by,who co-led the project.) although colours may be ...off....until Trolls have a long conversation about what regular trading partners might want.

Honey! Royal Jelly! In a world without sugar cane or sugar beet processing large amounts of sweet goodness is important. Insect eggs. Lead crafted items (lead is really useful for plumbing, roofing and many other things in the human world). 

We know Trolls are masters of brewing and fermenting and other odd chemical processes. Pickled insects and other foods. Vinegar, other acids and alkaline chemicals in stone jars sealed with wax. All really useful to bronze age humans.

Trolls Drinks are famous but think what other alchemy they may have for sale, for the right price.

Mushrooms! Dried as food or for other purposes. Mushroom Jerky is ace and that's air dried. 

1 hour ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

Serious barding (more than just light leather) was basically unknown until the Parthians, circa 500BC.  And even then it was rare.

If you are going with the whole "Glorantha bronze age vibe", IMO it should only be available to groups like the Carmanians, Western "Knights", and Sir Ethilrist.

Obviously, YGMV.

That discussion has been held elsewhere, barding is certainly a thing in glorantha. Remember it's already in the art of published RQG and the Guide/Sourcebooks (and not by accident) and indeed as I mention above in The Smoking Ruins. Glorantha Bronze Age does not = Earth Bronze age and their tech trees DO vary. Barding, Crossbows, Great Swords and a host of stuff I cant recall as I have only drunk 1/2 of my first cup of coffee today, exist. 

22 hours ago, ffilz said:

Oh, ok, I'll grant you that. Death in previous experience actually was pretty unique to Traveller (I'm not sure though, it may still be a part of Traveller 5...). On the flip side, a lot of the things common in the early RPGs that are no longer common is one of the reasons I tend to gravitate to the early games

It can still happen (although there are optional rules and medical loans to power through it) but Marc Miller still runs character gen sessions at Cons with "I survived character generation" T-shirts for those that do make it. Pro Tip :- Don't enlist in the Scout Service. 

10 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

I maintain that Pavis crossbowmen use a so-called ”Pavis” shield. 🙂

It does work for me. I mean you could steal the Yelmalio Pike and shield trick but not properly so you cant move and shoot/load. And I mean Hoplite shields got pretty big. 

4 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Also, that the javelin skirmishers can use shields is a Big Deal.

Slingers also. Which along with that 1d8 makes a big impact. Otherwise you need to pal up with a large shield user and we're a touch early for Pavaise use. 

Allllllllllllllllllllthough. I think there might be a house rule for this about loading on the move. I'm sure you can move at a slow speed and knock an arrow for example. Drawing a bow or crossbow or using a sling is going to preclude moving at any speed (hadda think about the sling)....for a regular strength human using a regular power bow. Larpers can do it as they use very low poundage bows or very light 'rocks' for example. But we live on Earth not Glorantha. 

The other day several members of the party all buffed the Vingan just before she entered single combat. She ended up with strength of 40 odd. That would make drawing a regular poundage bow equivalent to the Larp bows on earth....maybe then

28 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Perhaps this reading was influenced by the fact that throwing while moving pretty obviously works IRL. You won't see anyone standing still while throwing a javelin at the Olympics - if anything, you should get a penalty for not moving, at least a few steps.

However,  even if you don't like this reading, thrown weapons might be more mobile in another way - the rules are fairly clear that you can draw a weapon while moving (at least at half rate), which means that you can move while you get ready to attack again with thrown weapons, which is what you spend the majority of the time doing with thrown weapons anyway. Meanwhile, it seems unlikely that you can reload a projectile weapon while moving (or you could have arbalesters running around while reloading, which doesn't seem reasonable).

I'd go with this. With the addition you need to be moving int he right direction more or less. You dont run backwards to throw the javelin. Which makes retreat tricky 

2 hours ago, g33k said:

Cool!

Gonna add some barding to my Brontosaurus that the Asrelian uses as a spellcasting platform...

SIZ 24+ you say?  "One SIZ fits most" says me.

I was going to use an Elephant as my example but ya beat me to it. Siz 24 Troll =! Siz 37 Horse. Especially when we're talking Iron Barding(!) yes it exists.  Ok no worries I'll toddle off and write something 🙂

1 minute ago, Kloster said:

As far as I remember, all armor costs and weight in RQ3 are according to SIZ, so no need of a special rule, just use the horse SIZ.

They just price by small/medium/large/extra large (Troll) . I dont think Troll cuts it for Horse Siz

I think on previous threads and by looking at the Guide, SourceBook and art direction we have all established that Barding is indeed a thing in Glorantha.

However I'm _sure_ I recall a reference to this in rq3 and other legacy material but I cant find it for the life of me. Anyone else recall it? Only thing I've found is a reference to *5 cost of a human sized suit in rq2. But I'm SURE there was something in rq3.

Reason being in The Smoking Ruins there is a partial set of barding my players have acquired. It's mix and match and of course they'd like to even it up.    (And yes I have other reasons as some of you know but hey ho spoilers sweetys) 

Thaz

Depends on how you are learning it. A Priest or Rune Lord of your cult may well summon a cult spirit to teach you. A Shaman of Daka Fal might well summon an Ancestor and cast Spirit Teacher to have them teach you the spell. Another Shaman might summon a spirit and make you wrestle. Another might do that for you and then cast a Command spell.

YMMV. It's normally abstracted in RQG as not being MGF to have to game it out each time.