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Ditto for the maps in Runequest publications so they resolve better in VTT e.g. the map of Nothern Sartar in the Starter Set

No… every Wednesday there’s a “behind the scenes” and members’ Q&A podcast extra but it’s for subscribers only. If you’re a fan of the podcast and a regular listener, the membership is reasonable value - just over a pound a week for the extra content.

On the off-chance the Venn diagram of CoC Players and Rest is History podcast listeners intersects... the weekly members' podcast saw Dominic Sandbrook waxing lyrical about CoC and speculating that they might do a series on HPL at some point.

That can stay missing and I wouldn't notice.

Thank you - I found it. I was looking for characters under the Actors tab and equipment under the Items tab. Possibly not unreasonable assumptions for someone new to Foundry. TBH, fiddling around with it reinforces the mixed feelings I have about Foundry in general. It's unquestionably more configurable and powerful than Roll20 but that requires a more comprehensive onboarding which is presently unsupported. The base character sheet has no spells and the Combat skills seem to be limited to natural weapons. Five or ten minutes of experimentation and I managed to add a cult, find the field within a tab within a box to change my cult status and then add rune magic. Got it. As for combat I imagine there's a way to add weapons on the Combat tab but absent a user manual it's left to more frustrating experimentation. Dragging a weapon to the Combat section adds it as gear on the Gear tab. Right-clicking the Combat section allows one to edit or delete the natural weapons but not add new ones... Maybe it's not possible to have anything other than natural weapons in the Combat section? But then characteristics like STR and CON - those seem to be fixed? Now clearly I'm missing something. More fiddling around and I found the unobtrusive icon to switch to edit mode. That solves for characteristics but not for adding a weapon to the Combat section. Grrrr. I appreciate that this is WIP and it's clearly the product of a lot of work. I'd love to love it but it really seems like a test of faith at the moment.

Really? All I found was this... no skills, no hit locations just some basic stats. It seems every component of the character sheet needs to be added by hand. I've only loaded Foundry up as it has an RQ module so this could be user error and inexperience on my part... Where did you find the PC template for humans please?

That looks quite impressive and gives me hope that the Foundry implementation might amount to something. I did take a look at it but was put off by having to build a character sheet from lots of different components. I imagine it is far more flexible but, for my group, I can't see the benefit when Roll20 has a character sheet ready to go.

I found Roll20 a lot easier to just jump in and use. They host the games so you don't have to worry about hosting the game on your own PC or renting a server from someone to run your game on. Foundry is more powerful and a good game implementation (like Warhammer) is a very slick experience and one that Roll20 cannot match. Because of its capabilities and modular approach, Foundry has a steeper learning curve - if you are prepared to put the effort in you will get more out of it. Foundry seems to assume a fair bit of tech knowledge, certainly more than Roll20. For sure the community is helpful but that's just a compensating mechanism for a pretty ordinary onboarding experience - you can just get going on Roll20 and are less likely to need to ask for help. Roll20 did suffer from having a fairly dated interface - they have been updating that over the last 12m with noticeable improvement. If there was a fully featured RQG module for Foundry I would probably put the effort in. As there isn't, I use the fan made sheet on Roll20. The absence of official support for Runequest is a shame.

Thank you for supporting it for as much as you were able to and for as long as you did.

Voted - I play RQG via Roll20. For an RPG with such a pedigree it is a very poor digital relation to a broad swathe of its competitors.

In my idle moments I wonder if the runes are the 'characteristics' we need and that STR, CON, DEX etc could be abandoned.

Thanks for publishing the article - it's a set of useful observations. I don't mind complexity when it serves a purpose - there's a trade-off. My group is prepared to accept a good deal of complexity for the sake of plausibility and verisimilitude. Hence we play RQG and Mythras. Back in the day, I adapted 2300AD to incorporate Phoenix Command but that's another story... I reflected that perhaps it's not so much a 'hidden' rule as 'no' rule in this case. Absent clarity, it may be that each of the contributors interpreted the halving of a damage bonus their own way and it wasn't picked up. It seems unlikely there are design principles that establish cases when the damage bonus needs to halve the number of dice rolled, others when the number of faces on the die needs to be halved and others when no damage bonus at all is required. Or if there are, then perhaps I've found my complexity trade-off tipping point 🙂

My group dropped the RQG opposed skills roll RAW in favour of the version in the Quickstart, which is similar to Pendragon. It does run counter to the "lower is better" dice roll philosophy. However, it is less likely to yield a draw.

Here is the Storm Bull initiation I came up with. The adventurers had explored the ruins of Bonn Kanach in Beast Valley (excellent JC scenario). After some further adventures one of the band sought initiation into the cult of Storm Bull, to serve a minotaur Bull Priest called Redeye (YGWV!) === You spend days with Redeye in the woods outside of Ash Anvari. Others come, some human but mostly Beast Men many of them minotaurs like Redeye. You fast together and over the heady smoke from plants burned in the embers of the campfire, they talk to you of Storm Bull and how he fought against his brother Ragnaglar the Mad God during the Greater Darkness killing him when he brought Wakboth the Devil into the world. You hear how Storm Bull threw himself into battle, over and over, losing an ear and being left almost dead on the ground where Eiritha lent him her vigour to continue the fight. Caring nothing for himself Storm Bull chased Wakboth, roaring with fury and demanding the very Cosmos itself come to his aid. Such was Storm Bull's rage that the Cosmic Mountain, the Spike that holds the world together, exploded and a fragment fell from the Air pinning Wakboth beneath the ground. Almost spent from his efforts Chalana Arroy healed Storm Bull, giving him the strength to ensnare the Devil with his raw strength and courage so that Arachne Solara, the Spider Grandmother could devour and bind him within Time itself. You dream and sweat with Redeye and his initiates. Together you chant, dance and perform Storm Bull's stories of the Godtime. Over the days and nights something stirs and grows within you - whether it was always there or whether it is the fragment of Vrigama you cannot know. You start to grow a deep and burning rage against Chaos and how it has shattered and spoiled all that was Good. You understand that laws and taboos have no place in the fight to defeat the Devil and his spawn. The only thing that matters, that can matter, is a relentless, unyielding and vengeful pursuit of all Chaos - to cut it out of the world. "Any Chaos is all Chaos". Gain Cult Lore (Storm Bull) at 5% + modifier, Worship (Storm Bull) at 5% + modifier, Hate (Chaos) at 60% Feeble and almost delirious from many days of fasting, intoxicating fumes and bitter herbal infusions, you and Redeye's initiates congregate and feast together. After the celebrations, you fall into a deep sleep. Some time later you awake. You are alone and naked save for a breech-cloth; your skin is covered in a red ochre dust, streaked with your sweat. It maybe morning, or perhaps evening - it is light but you cannot see Yelm burning in the Sky. You are standing in the woods but you do not recognise this place, there are tracks front of you. The tracks are misshapen and uneven, the grass around them withered and brown. You follow them to a tangled thicket of vines and brambles. Make a Track roll You see something lurking, hiding from you. Make a Scan roll You roar in fury at the creature, blowing the undergrowth away and revealing its evil form. Make an Air rune roll Looking down there is a weapon in your hand, you charge and fight the vile beast. It claws at you, wounding you. But, with a mighty swing, you pin the vile creature to the ground. But not before it gores you with its horns. Make a Weapon roll You drag yourself into a dark cave and lie on the ground, your chest heaving and your life-force bleeding away. Yet the ground is warm. Its vital energy flows into you bringing you new life and strength. You leap to your feet and realise at once that you are not alone - the wound you took from the creature has healed and is but an old scar. It tingles and burns with a sensation that something is not right - there is something else in the darkness with you and you know it is something that should Not Be. Gain Sense Chaos at 20% + modifier Guided by the sensation from your scar, you look for the source of the evil. Make a Search roll You find the creature in the darkness, it is dry yet slimy, scaly yet smooth. It howls and claws and rages as you wrestle with it. With every sinew of muscle and fibre of your soul you give your everything to overcome this foul violation. And perhaps that might not be enough yet for the energy flowing into you from the Good Earth beneath your feet whose sanctity you are giving your very all to preserve. With a final surge of strength you wrestle the creature to the ground where roots quickly coil around it and pull it into the soil. Make a Death rune roll In something of a trance you notice the light from the mouth of the cave and stumble blinking into the daylight. Your head clears and you see Redeye and the initiates standing before you with your gear. Turning around you realise you have emerged from Arroket's Cave, the holy site outside Ash Anvari where you first came after you met Redeye. Perhaps you have been here all along? It does not matter, the band welcomes you and you thirst for the ale they offer. Using a bone needle and some ground-up paste made from dirt and plant-leaves, you tattoo yourself with the runes of Storm Bull. Then you drink and feast with Redeye and his initiates until you are in a stupor. Where is the scar from the fight? This is the source of your Sense Chaos ability. Make a POW gain roll Make experience rolls for all checked skills and runes You are now sworn to Redeye, he is your Bull Priest. Many see your kind as dangerous extremists, prone to fits of rage and unacceptable behaviour, violators of laws and traditions. What these people do not understand is the singular, unrelenting devotion required of those who must hunt down and root out any and every rumour of Chaos. You can have no time in your life for baggage or for strangers. Only those who are sworn against Chaos, such as the Lightbringer gods and their followers warrant even the slightest moment of your time or attention. As the source of your strength and succour when all is dark, the Earth goddesses and Chalana Arroy are deserving of your protection.

I'd also throw a vote in for the first 30 or so pages of the Gamemaster Adventures booklet in the Gamemaster Pack. It zeroes in on a single tribe in Sartar but is very accessible and complements nicely the Starter Set and the 'History of Dragon Pass' section of the Glorantha Sourcebook.

I have ordered Nochet and Furthest. I hope my elderly mother in deepest, darkest Suffolk will enjoy them until I visit Blighty some time next year. No doubt the pile will grow between now and then...

Hi there. Yes they can and yes there is. You don't even need the Starter Set - you can create a new game and select the Pendragon 6th ed character sheet. The character sheet is OK but not great. There are some bugs that don't seem to be getting any attention but it's far, far better than nothing.

Nice upsell, BTW. I see what you did there 😄

Thanks Nick - very helpful. I shall order the standard book and perhaps some others for delivery in the UK.

Hi... Nochet is going to be my first JC POD order 🙂. I'm visiting the UK next year and can avoid the hefty shipping charge to Australia. Some JC POD's have a premium color option. Will that be on offer for Nochet? Thanks.

As of version 1.21 of the character sheet on Roll20, this bug is still outstanding - Squire rolls don't work. Adding the Entity's name to the template for a skill roll would be an improvement. The current implementation doesn't show which PC/NPC's skills are being rolled:

Book 3, p.16 Boxed-out Pictish Warrior. HP = 24, not 25 (STR 11 + CON 13 = 24). Therefore Unconscious = 6, not 7 The Pictish Warrior's base damage is 3d6 so the 2H Spear damage should be 5d6, not 6d6 and the Battle axes should be 3d6, not 4d6

I'd be interested to see that. I've toyed around with the idea of creating a single roll for the joint distribution as a thought experiment but have not actually committed effort to implementing it. I think you don't need the 10,000 individual outcomes but you do need to map the probability of each outcome (e.g. success vs failure, special vs fumble etc) to a distribution that you can sample with a single (d100?) roll. It may be possible to simplify the inputs eg not having 100 different possible attack chances but (say) 10, or 20 (per RQ2, which had 5% increments). For choice I'd probably go down the Pendragon opposed roll route to simplify but as I depend on VTT I'm locked into the fan-made RQG character sheet until I learn HTML/CSS. That's pretty good and simplifies a lot of the die-rolling and calculation of specials, criticals etc.

p.36 LH column provides details of the rune spell "Flood" p.39 RH column repeats details of the rune spell "Flood" - two explanations in three pages. === p.38 RH column, 4th para - the third sentence virtually repeats the first: This constellation has ten orange stars and one prominent green star, called the Dragon’s Head. It is roughly shaped into a circle or spiral. All but one of the stars are orange; the last star, called the Dragon’s Head, is green.

p.27 col 1, 1st para, 2nd sentence "They must meet the requirements for becoming a Storm Voice..." The next sentence starts, "The requirements for a God-talker are the same as Storm Voices" Duplication.