Lordabdul

23 hours ago, Godlearner said:

The name may still be in the myth, and could be brought back, but most worshipers have no idea that it even existed.

Sounds like you have a great basis for an adventure that involves the PCs helping some Issaries people do some research by hunting down old documents and artifacts, heroquesting into seafaring myths to gain more understanding of the old ways, and so on. In fact, you could have "the butter and the money for the butter" (as we say in French) by simply declaring that in your Glorantha the Issaries cult partially recovered their Second Age knowledge and magics, but still need help recovering some bits.

The Journal of Runic Studies #42 is out! Our interview with Rick Meints, a sneak peek at Ludo's next adventure, some Chaosium news from the grapevine, suppressing Orlanth worship, Holy Country notes, heresy in Glorantha, Sandy and Greg, pretty pictures, and more!

Episode 10 is out! @Joerg and I welcome Chaosium president @Rick Meints to the God Learners podcast! We chat about news such as Pavisite fanzines, ChaosiumCon, RuneQuest streaming, and podcasts. We then talk about Rick's origin story, his "Index to Glorantha", foreign licensees, magazines, QuestWorlds, LARPing, board games, collector items, and more!

4 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Seconded!  I really enjoy how you put together Jeff's commentary and thoughts.

Thanks a lot! 🤗

On 3/30/2022 at 12:26 PM, Oracle said:

Three parts? Ooops ... 😉
But in fact, as always, it's a great issue!

Haha yes, that's what happens when I start writing stuff and the 4th part appears later 🙂 (fixed now, thanks). And thanks for the nice words, it's very much appreciated!

On 3/27/2022 at 1:58 AM, polemikus said:

1. I figured that shields in my experience are a bit too weak to carry around if you have are better in your "normal" weapon. So I thought to improve shields with a simple method: the bonus die from Call of Cthulhu. What do you think about that?

I generally don't like mechanics that don't "belong" in a system even if they are "good" mechanics generally speaking. So even though I love this simplification of BRP for CoC 7e, since there's no bonus/penalty die in RQG, I personally wouldn't want to bring it over.

The one thing I have in the back of my mind is to simply expand on the rule about -20% to cumulative defenses. As in: you get -20% if you parry with the same weapon you attacked with, or -20% if you attack with a weapon you parried with. Basically simply making the attack part of the chain of cumulative -20% penalties (in order of how it happens in the round), not just parries and dodges. It's not perfect, there are a few things I don't like about it, so it needs more tweaking around with the idea, but that's where I would start.

On 3/28/2022 at 6:51 AM, Darius West said:

TBH the whole temple size mechanics rules are something I have always had some issues with.  They mean that a  niche deity like Ikadz, who is unlikely to have more than 3 followers in any city can never get enough worshippers together for a shrine.  I think more niche deities need to follow something closer to the trickster model, or have a special type of Rune Spell that they use in place of the ordinary rules for regaining their spells.

I do a bit of light rules tweaking by combining something a bit like what @Godlearner says (i.e. have worshippers sacrifice more MP to make up for the lack of attendance... but I think GL's numbers are too extreme personally, I only nudge numbers slightly), then I sprinkle a bit of "foot traffic" (i.e. a few additional worshippers who aren't local and are only passing through). But most importantly I take this as a world-building opportunity. I don't know much about Ikadz (given that I just read about him 5min ago) but in general for these niche Chaos cults I have this or that cult have some presence in one place but not another, a stronghold in this city but absent in other towns, some associated cult in some other city, etc. Basically like gangs and organized crime, where a given group only has some presence in some select locations, and then allies and enemies in others. It's rarely enough for more than a shrine but then again, even a minor temple is a big deal and would only exist in just one or two specific strongholds of that organization IMHO. Satellite gangs would have to use a Site or bless their own ground to do ad-hoc worshipping... actually, "Chaos cult tries to build a new Site or Shrine" is a classic scenario seed.

For those who don't do Facebook, these notes will be archived in the Well of Daliath by Scotty, but you can also see them right now with some (hopefully helpful) annotations by yours truly in this week's Journal of Runic Studies.

The Journal of Runic Studies #41 is out! The end of the RuneQuest Starter Stream, the Pendragon Battle system, notes on Esrolia and Pavis, various reviews and articles about Glorantha, geomorophological landscapes, and more!

2 hours ago, Brian Duguid said:

Anchoritenus and the Grand Flagellation

What book is this found in?

1 hour ago, Akhôrahil said:

Sanctify doesn’t seem cult-specific, so your own Sanctify would work.

The Red Book of Magic tweaked the wording to make it clear: "Cult members can perform ceremonies within a Sanctified area as if it were a temple, such as replenishing Rune points."  (emphasis mine)

So no, obviously you cannot lead or solo-perform worship ceremonies for cults you don't know the secrets of.

2 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

You’re likely full the next morning, and does it really matter even if you would be down a point or two?

According to my lengthy explanations, that's frankly the least of your worries compared to everything else. But hey, I gave you my explanations of why RPs are still limited. Feel free to post your own explanations if you don't find mine convincing. Or, you know, have PCs and NPCs travelling left and right every week.

2 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

temple and day bonuses

As I mentioned, and as clarified in the Q&A: nope. Not for associated worship.

On 3/19/2022 at 3:51 PM, svensson said:

OK, maybe I misread that... You can replenish Rune Points for one deity by attending a worship ceremony for an associated deity?

That makes absolutely no sense to me.

It makes total sense to me. As others mentioned, worship of Ernalda will almost definitely involve stories about Orlanth and Argan Argar and Babeester Gor and whatever. So as a worshipper of these cults, you have a place at Ernalda's ceremony. It's like, say, you're a big fan of The Hulk? Well, you're going to watch Thor Ragnarok because even though it's a Thor movie, the Hulk is in it quite a lot.

Warning: as always, cult relationships are not necessarily symmetrical. Orlanth is an associated cult of Engizi, but not vice-versa.

Also, you can worship at your cult's associated deities seasonal and high holy days only. And you only get 1D6 Rune Points back (assuming you succeed your Worship roll, but that's hard to mess up with MPs and offerings, although note that you don't get the holy day bonuses that the main cult worshippers get).

On 3/19/2022 at 5:32 PM, Akhôrahil said:

It’s kinda crazy the hundreds of Rune Points an Ernaldan could potentially spend in a year. How is not every field, every animal and every pregnancy blessed with the right spell for 3+ points?

Remember that you need to spend the whole day participating in those associated cults' seasonal or high holy days. Assuming you want to succeed the Worship roll, and since you don't get any day/location bonuses in this case, you might have to make offerings in wealth or in MPs (the pre-gens have between 35% and 55% in Worship, except Yanioth who has 70%... maybe your PCs have more I don't know). With MPs, depending on how much you spent, you might only recover fully some time in the afternoon of the next day. With other offerings, you're going to go broke pretty quickly.

So sure, your Ernaldan can worship in someone's ritual every week or every other week, but at what cost? And for only 3 RPs on average? In addition to the time spent at the ritual and part of the following day resting, you need to add time to travel there. Look at Ernalda's associated cults: unless you're living in a major city, you might have to spend a day travelling to a Babeester Gor or Maran Gor shrine. You might have to travel more to find an elf grove that worships Aldrya, or a troll-friendly place that worships Argan Argar, and so on. At this point, everybody says that you're "that girl" who doesn't do shit around the Earth temple, because instead of actually working she's always going out to get laid and drunk and oh do you know she lost our temple's sacred snake tiara because she took it once and passed out in a meadow with it and when she woke up it was gone? Yeah, we all hate her, she's full of shit. Let's go fill her panties with ants for fun.

By the way, I actually built a big spreadsheet a while ago to wrap my head around the magic economy of RuneQuest. And yes, Phil and Nick, I know I know, Glorantha isn't a RuneQuest simulation and yaddi yadda. Still, I played with it, because I like spreadsheets. Sue me. Anyway, once you start factoring the number of people in a tribe, the number of fields, of pregnancy, how much fighting there is and how many people need healing, and so on... that magic goes quick.  It varies a lot based on your parameters, but when I entered parameters I was happy with, my Ernaldans could only bless less than half of the fields.

Looks I I forgot yet another week 😄  Issue #39 is here.

But now, the Journal of Runic Studies #40 is out! A new Glorantha Initiation series episode, a fancy map bundle, the Windstop, a big "art history" series, and more!

Glorantha Initiation episode 5 is out! Steinar (aka @coffeemancer) talks about King of Dragon Pass, convincing players to try RuneQuest, stealing  sandals, and funny Gloranthan memes. Also: the “Elmal rant”!

On 3/17/2022 at 10:43 AM, David Scott said:

That's where that subcult is found. Lots of subcults have geographic limitations.

Eurmal can also get Invisibility as an associate of Raven, so a quick trip to Prax is also possible.

Based on the rulebook alone I just figured I would sprinkle my Glorantha with random subcults of Eurmal, as my mood goes. So for instance in my current campaign the Eurmal site near Alone (in Tres lands) has been established as having some limb detaching spell. But it could have been any other subcult from the rulebook or of our own invention.

Are you hinting at the Cults book giving more guidance about what Eurmal subcult is found where?

Quote

The previously mentioned Orlanth rune lord earned it on a raid deep into the troll lands of the Rubble. Under RQG, we've At the gamemaster’s discretion, an initiate can gain access to the cult’s special Rune spells in return for exceptional service to the cult, by donating the equivalent of 100 L per point of the spell, or for other reasons that further the cult’s goals and standing. So like all adventurers, it's never just pay and you have it, you have to work for it.

Oh that's an interesting interpretation of the text. My original reading of this paragraph was that although the rules at the top of that page say you need to sacrifice 1 POW to get a new special Rune spell, the gamemaster can decide that "exceptional service to the cult" grants you a new special Rune spell for free (without the sacrifice). It sounds like you're making your players do both 😄 

19 hours ago, soltakss said:

Dark Walk has a set of limitations built into it.

I am well aware of those limitations. But it doesn't necessary follow that these limitations are worth being 2 points cheaper than Invisibility's limitations. It's a subjective value, possibly derived from the following:

23 hours ago, g33k said:

Trees can cast a distinct & clear shadow.  A literal reading of the RAW seems to suggest that suffices for Dark Walk!

Exactly. I think Dark Walk's worth can vary quite a lot between two GMs based on how they handle it... and that's why I asked about the tree's shadow case. I guess it's the same with, say, whether trollkin would be affected by sunlight if they stand under the same tree.

6 hours ago, David Scott said:

It doesn't make the caster silent, and the spell description even gives a modifier. This alone would allow a move silently vs listen roll. Not sure what more you need.

I may be wrong but I assumed Darius was actually pointing out that the 3-pt spell has indeed these rules and limitations that can make the invisible person detectable, whereas the 1-pt spell doesn't. Whether the 1-pt spell's limitation of "only works in shadows" is important or anecdotal is up to the GM I suppose. For instance, do people interpret it as "no direct light, only indirect at most"? Can someone use Dark Walk to become invisible while standing under a tree in the middle of a bright and sunny summer day? I assume so...

6 hours ago, David Scott said:

Eurmal Thief (Kethaela, Tanisor, Ralios, Enkloso, and the East Isles only)

Err what? Why the geographical limitation? Eurmal Thief gets Invisibility in the rulebook without any caveat.

By the way, on a purely mythological level, I find it sad that it's more expensive for a trickster god to sneak around, than it is for the big loud show-off god of thunder. What's the story behind Orlanth getting Dark Walk? If I was bothered with changing all this (which I probably am not) I would give Dark Walk only to Argan Argar, lower Invisibility to 1 or 2 points, and give Orlanth some other sneak spell at 2 or 3 points.

It makes me a bit sad to see such a powerful 1-pt Rune Spell which, to add insult to injury, can now even best the trolls in their home turf... but hey, it's what it is, Orlanth is the best, blah blah (and don't forget Argan Argar can also get that spell). I want to point out that Light spells might be good, but you don't need magic to make light -- guards and the places they guard will have torches and such that the adventurer will have to avoid. It might include a hefty bonus to Move Quietly, but they still need to roll IMHO. It's probably a bit easier by day, since no torches are lit (except the occasional religious fire) and the adventurer only has to run from shadow to shadow... so an even bigger bonus to Move Quietly, and an almost guaranteed chance of sneak attack. But after that, Orlanth being not only the best but also the most famous, guards might immediately light things up since the Dark Walk magic is probably well known... along with its limitations.

52 minutes ago, Richard S. said:

I mean Storm Bull doesn't really have it to give in the first place, since he only has it as an associate of Orlanth.

(...hold on while I call @Crel to write some new myth where Shield was stolen and passed around just as Sword/Death was)

7 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

In fact, BOTH runes are OPPOSITE so I pity any Eiritha worshipper trying to cast Shield!

Huh, good point... maybe it's better to ignore or complement the correction by keeping Storm Bull as a possible donor (Beast Rune in common). It seems just as appropriate that Eirithia gets protection from her husband than from her son.

I assume that this is specifically for helping with copy/pasting on this forums, which is great for that, thanks Phil.

For those who just want to look up a deity's Runes, the Well of Daliath prosopaedia has this information (although I see some differences especially around the Runes that we don't know are still used in RQ or not, like Cold or Light)

I generally start with theatre of the mind. Then if players are asking many questions about the environment, or there's some confusion about what's where and how far, or if I myself need help to visualize something, then I draw a simple map. In face to face games, I generally draw this on a small portable whiteboard, so just for showing, not for miniature gaming. For specific scenes, or when I feel we have some time for it, I occasionally bust out the battlemat and miniatures. In Roll20, however, the hastily drawn map would be done on the grid anyway, so at this point we often drag the tokens on it and use those. However, it's frequent that the scale isn't 1:1 so each square might be 3 meters or 5 meters or whatever, and we round up the distances for tracking SR. We don't go too deep in the nitty gritty tactical stuff even then.

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