Lordabdul

This week marks the amazing milestone of the 100th issue of the Journal of Runic Studies! And it's a farewell issue! And it's not even an issue at all anyway!

LOL that makes me happy 😄 Anyway, @Jeff has mentioned elsewhere that the Telmori tribe in Sartar gets their Chaotic taint during cult initiation, i.e. Telmori kids don't have a Chaotic taint. I can't find a reference anymore, I think it might have been a Facebook comment. Hopefully I didn't misremember. In my opinion, the god Telmor itself isn't Chaotic, but the initiation rituals aren't just limited to saying hello to him. It's very possible that the Chaotic Telmori of Sartar have extra bits in their initiations that tread along Nysalorean pathways (and gets them Wolfhide and other such things), while the non-Chaotic Telmori of Ralios have simpler, more traditional initiations that don't have these extra bits, don't provide as powerful magic, but also don't taint you with Chaos. If you're interested in the Telmori and their relationship with Chaos, you should definitely check out these two notes from Jeff: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/sartar-telmori/ https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/sartar-telmori/

IMO the Chaos Rune is just as diverse as the other Runes. Air Rune can be represented as being proud or violent or passionate or a mix of those or anything else that fits the bill. So you can make up your mind about what the Chaos Rune represents and pick something in there as a change of personality. Again, "A Short Detour" goes into that. Runes have nothing to do with one's moral standing. You can have a high Harmony Rune and be a horrible imperialistic bastard who only cares about his own kingdom's wealth. You can have a high Fertility Rune and be a creepy womanizer. Esrolian grandmothers are dangerous mafia bosses and a high Earth Rune makes that possible. Etc. The Lunars will tell you that a bit of Chaos is needed sometimes. It might help you think outside the box. It might give you permission to dismantle archaic traditions and build new ones. It might give you freedom from outdated standards. And of course, it might also help you justify killing and burning down everything you want... something that comes naturally with TTRPG players, I might say 😄 Anyway, again, to each their own, YGWV and all that. But that's my own view of it. More details in "A Short Detour". The Telmori generally have Chaos 20%. It comes from their adulthood initiation into Telmor, whose traditions have included Chaos ever since the late First Age. It's part of their identity, and what gives them *very* powerful magic such as Wolfhide (which can thankfully be cast with the Beast Rune too!) So what about Telmori? They have no problem with it. Most Princes of Sartar had no problem with it (the Telmori Royal Guard protected a lot of them). Many clans around Sartar *did* have a problem with it, but frankly the Telmori were just minding their own business until someone came to poke them with a sharp stick. Apart from that one regrettable incident, they don't raid or do "eeeviil things" more or less than anybody else. I think the main problem is that (1) they're Hsunschen people who adopt stone-age ways of living, and the nearby Sartarites are bigoted assholes, (2) they have like I said very powerful magic, and the nearby Sartarites are sore losers, and (3) they have a Chaos taint, and the nearby Sartarites are bigoted assh... wait, I already said that. Disclaimer: I love the Telmori. I even wrote a one-shot scenario in which everybody plays Telmori people. Hopefully coming this year to the JC.

Yes indeed! Thanks Brian! The appendix goes in depth into what is Chaos, the Chaos Rune, and so on. And then there are indeed rules for Chaotic taint, with a downward spiral mechanic and a quite hard-to-achieve way to get yourself rid of the taint -- although there are also a couple of leads towards magical cleansing and other ways to get rid of it. In my game, there was a heroquest to get rid of it, which was tied to how the characters got it in the first place (hint: they had to face Cacodemon) As @PhilHibbs says, the page you linked to gave the percentage chance of getting tainted by Chaos -- not the percentage of the Chaos Rune. Personally my first thought is to handle it as experience, i.e. get a check on the Chaos Rune each time you learn and master a new Chaotic spell. Otherwise, learning only a couple spells would taint you just as much as, say, a Telmori, born and raised into a society where the Chaotic taint goes back generations... that doesn't feel like these are equivalent to me 🙂 See "A Short Detour". I present rules where trying to resist Chaos can backfire and increase your Chaos Rune. And where finally getting rid of the Chaos Rune might leave a "hole" in your soul.

Ah thanks!

The Journal of Runic Studies 99 is out! Arkat, spreadsheets, RuneQuest combat, new digital downloads for your rulebook, Glorantha demographics, chief and crown tests, many videos, and more!

For people making spreadsheets like me, this point about ~2/3rd of the population being adults is worth noting, especially since I did spot this change of statistics between the HQG Red Cow books, the RQG Gamemaster Adventures book, and the many clan statistics that Jeff kindly shared (archived on the Well of Daliath) as a sneak peek into the Sartar Homeland book. I've been using this ~60-something% of adults in my world-building for the past couple years. There are a couple other things to consider, which may or may not be "canon" but make sense to me: - Different clans and tribes might have different percentages of adults/children based on how they survived the Great Winter (aka the Windstop) and the Lunar occupation. If you used a 50% stat, congrats, you can add a sub-plot of many children having died during the Great Winter, and how that affects the community. Or, you know, just handwave it. The extra 10% of kids were grounded. - Becoming an adult is only one step in someone's life. Children get initiated into adulthood between 14 and 17 years old, but then they undergo 2 years (sometimes 3) of apprenticeship with a cult. Maybe they stay in their village to work at the local Orlanth temple, maybe live in the city in the bigger Orlanth temple, or maybe they move away to Jonstown to be a junior scribe at the Lhankor Mhy temple. Either way, in my Glorantha, these young adults learn the cult's skills and spirit magic during that time, and then they become initiate of the cult. So not all adults are initiated into a cult yet IMHO.

Episode 23 is all about the great Arkat, with Bud (from Bud's RPG Review) as our guest! We talk nonsense about Arkat's life, war against Nysalor, and legacy. Of course we give ideas for using Arkati lore in a RuneQuest Glorantha game. Plus: conspiracy theories!

The Journal of Runic Studies 98 is out! Our latest episode, ChaosiumCon report, Jonstown Compendium releases, lists of celestial and air gods, Lunar armies, religion in Glorantha, a Spotify playlist for your RuneQuest games, and more!

New Glorantha Initiation episode is out! Ludo talks to Michael, who came out of the "deep freeze" with RuneQuest! We chat about old games, Prax, Gloranthan fiction, dealing with large amounts of lore, and not worrying too much about it.

The Journal of Runic Studies 97 is out! It's a quiet week but we've got some heroquesting questions, the rules-light Gloranthan system Rune Heart, a mighty Malagasy rotten egg, and more!

The Journal of Runic Studies 96 is out! Some quick thoughts about ChaosiumCon 2023, some art for Six Ages 2, hunting gods, new counters for Dragon Pass, summoning earth elementals, Bronze Age female beauty, and more!

Nice, that's a very useful summary of changes, thanks MOB/Jason/others. Thanks for acknowledging this 😄 I do think BRP in general (including RQ) should get a big modernization and streamlining bump similar to what CoC got with 7e (in spirit, if not in implementation), but I also understand it's quite tricky to achieve and I'm sure there are hordes of old fans out there who would disagree. But it's nice to know it was at least discussed at Chaosium... fingers crossed for this changing in a few years 😉

It totally would! That sounds like a good background for a game! But AFAICT from Chaosium's Glorantha, that game would be set in the mid/late-1500s or something. In 1625 (again, in Chaosium's Glorantha) these events were in your parents' and grand-parent's lifetime. It's like saying French people are hostile and grumbling about the Germans when, as we know, we actually love our German friends. Any Frenchman still talking about the war(s) would be considered a weirdo who hasn't gotten the memo. But of course, if that's a theme you want to play with in your Glorantha, by all means you can change the setting's history and have this whole affair drag on for a century -- it can work perfectly fine. It's sometimes fun to unravel all the threads of a simple world-building change. I went the other way, because I frankly don't care about Elmal (I never played KoDP or HQG). That is: they're all Yelmalions but of different allegiances and traditions. The Yelmalions of Alone got a severe reminder of who was the boss in 1611, and the Alone temple's hierarchy was quite shaken up. One of my players' PC's dad was on the "wrong side" of that conflict (read: "the right side" 😄 ) and got demoted from priest to drill sergeant for newbies. The PC is now trying to rise in the ranks and is finding it hard to walk the fine line between respecting Harvar's authority and his own personal opinions... let's just say that his meeting with the boss, when he has a Hate (Harvar) Passion, was quite fun to play. There have also been several occasions for spying on the boss and other such shenanigans. But an Elmali revival sounds great too! Have fun with your game!

In my opinion (and for what that's worth!) that kind of stuff is already implied for all cults. The worship of, like, Humakt or Issaries in Ralios is bound to be very different from their worship in the Holy Country or in the Lunar Provinces. The temples and traditions and accoutrements and prayers and songs and stories and such will be very different. There's even published material establishing that some specific city or temple, here or there, are completely unique in their approach to their god (including the occasional using of a completely different name and/or availability of unique magic) So no need to make new/separate cults in my opinion -- that actually makes gameplay more difficult and limited for the player, without allowing anything I couldn't do already.

The Journal of Runic Studies 95 is out! A Lunar trollkin adventurer, previews of Jonstown Compendium books, reed boats, Beast People, painted Broos, the assassin's teapot, the neverending storm of Lake Maracaibo, and more!

Yep that too! It could be from being penny-pinchers like Nick says, or because they're just not as wealthy and can't afford too many fancy things, or because the paint and decorations are taking a beating every winter under the rain and the snow, and it doesn't last as long. Personally I keep it simple -- it's Yelmalio everywhere, except for a few tribes (like around Runegate I think?) that are mentioned in the RQG book to worship the Elmal sub-cult. I came to Glorantha with RQG so I have zero nostalgia or interest in this Elmal guy. Maybe? It's also possible that horses are more common around Alda-chur, where it's less mountainous and where the biggest Yelmalio population lives, compared to around Alone. There was a lot of patronage from Sartarite kings, yet. But Alda-chur was under Tarshite allegiance for a long time before it switched over to Sartar, and IIRC there's some text out there that says that Alda-chur sort of developed more organically than your usual Sartarite city. For example, Wyrms Footnotes #15 says that Alda-chur was built on a Second Age city and has "glass walls", "timber-planked streets", and a variety of things like red brick buildings (including a whole quarter made of an old palace complex), wood and stone Orlanthi quarters, fancy brick buildings in the Solar quarter, etc. Sounds like a weird architectural melting pot to me.... In comparison, Alone was nicely planned and raised by a Sartarite king, so yeah it has nice stone walls and some nice stone temples, but after that the king left the locals to do the rest on their own, and Harvar Ironfist destroyed half of it in 1611 when he showed everyone who was the boss. Things got probably rebuilt with few resources and means, especially since Harvar has been heavily taxing the Alone tribes every since, keeping them barely above poverty or something. Funnily enough, until 1625, the City Rex of Alone was "Eliardo the Plasterer" according to some old RQ material, so I figure at least the walls were plastered OK? (or not!) My games don't go in hard-core agricultural simulation and I'm totally ignorant of different varieties of grain, so I'll leave you to it 😄

Don't forget that this started as a necessary measure for a few households in the northernmost Amad tribe, but quickly became a common scam all around the Alone Confederation.

That's good stuff! I haven't used these kinds of cultural heroes in my campaign aside from some flavour bits during worship rituals, but it occurs to me this could be useful for adding nice backstories to McGuffins -- like if there's a missing important tribal object missing or whatever, one could tie that to Arim or Yarandros and their role in the tribe's history.

Sorry, bad phrasing. I mean more prominent in a spiritual and magical role. It's my personal headcanon for this (so the usual disclaimers about your Glorantha apply) but for me, in the Esrolian model (and to a lesser degree the Sartarite one), the female/Earth leaders are mainly in a political position. My Esrolian and Sartarite Earth leaders are part clever schemers, part mafia bosses, part spy network heads, that sort of thing. Of course they also oversee all of the Earth magic stuff like blessing fields and pregnancies and so on, but I imagine them looking at spreadsheets and land allocation maps and ledgers while doing so. Still in my headcanon, the Tarshite Earth ladies are more mysterious and spiritual and scary. Less Cersei Lannister and more Melisandre of Ashai. Less Machiavelli and more Rasputin. Again, some of the things I love about Tarsh are the fact that its first dynasty was co-founded by a (demi?)-goddess, and its Lunar dynasty was also co-founded by a (demi?)-goddess. That second lady's husband even died during the consummation of the marriage.. or ascended, or was illuminated, or whatever, we don't know. That's scary and mysterious! I love it!

Hey! Yes that was me 😄 I set my RQG campaign in the Alone Confederation -- and currently writing it up for the Jonstown Compendium (but it's taking aaaaages to do) I spent some time thinking about all this and asking around and, of course, playing there, so what I have boils down to: Different language, as @Jeff mentioned, which is probably your most important "culture clash" when travelling between Sartar and the Far Place. Lots of knowledge of Tradetalk in the cities. Some knowledge of Sartarite and Pelorian. They probably are slightly more polyglot than in Sartar on average. Their own main cultural hero is Arim the Pauper, who founded the Kingdom of Tarsh a long time ago, his wife Sorana Tor (a sort of Earth demi-goddess), and their twin kids who started the Twin Dynasty of Tarsh. Not Sartar and his dynasty like in, well, Sartar. They do however owe a lot to the Kingdom of Sartar, who came to their help several times in the past couple centuries. They are loyal cousins to the south, but circumstances make it difficult to help each other (Lunar occupation, Harvar Ironfist's coup, etc) They are very protective of their culture. They are the only remnants of the "original Tarshite culture" (although of course this is a lie they tell themselves... Alda-chur developed its own culture over generations, and the Alone tribes had been partially Lunarized before they came here, whether they admit it or not). So jewelry, fashion, and all that would be influenced by Solar and Lunar fashions. The only other "original Tarshites" are their Wintertop cousins, but they're weird angry inbreds who engage in cannibal rites or something. Around Alone, it's possible Palashee Longaxe is also viewed as second tier hero below Arim the Pauper. Palashee led a successful rebellion in Tarsh again the Lunars a few generations ago, and for a time reinstated a "classic Orlanthi" kingdom. Of course the Lunars whooped his ass some years later. The tradition of Arim+Sorana sort of sets the political template of the local tribes, wherein you might see female leaders (tribal Queens and such) have a more prominent role, especially on the spiritual and magical side of things, than in Sartar or Esrolia. Again, their culture was founded by an Orlanthi priest marrying a demi-goddess (possibly an incarnated goddess) It's cold and rainy up there. The semi-open-concept architecture of Sartarite villas is nice, unless it's raining half the time, and there's two meters of snow on the ground for months on end. So Far Place architecture is probably more about big sturdy buildings with few openings and large cozy hearths, with appropriate ventilation for the smoke. Because of the cold and snow, there's more organized movement of population between the fields and grazing hills (in the warm months) and going back to clan and tribal centres (including Alone and Alda-chur) in the cold months. Basically, people temporarily move to the city every winter, especially around Alone (less so around Alda-chur) Lots of Yelmalions, especially around Alda-chur. Unlike the Sun Dome in Sartar who are super disciplined soldiers trained to fight as a phalanx, the Far Place Yelmalions are super disciplined soldiers trained to fight in smaller units in a whole variety of environments: mountainous terrain, narrow tunnels, etc. Yelmalions in and around Alone and Amadhall are useful to fight the neighbouring trolls. Many Maran Gor initiates and priestesses. She's important in Tarshite culture (again dating back to Sorana Tor), but also it's often dark, the Indigo Mountains have volcanoes and earthquakes, and people often have to go deep underground, whether to fight Chaos or trolls, or to mine for copper. A fair number of shamans and cult spirits, at least around Alone. This place was fairly unoccupied until a couple generations ago, and there are many spirits to get friendly with, now that humans are living there. The Sheep of Luck Hills and Chalk Man Vale have quite powerful spirits, in particular. Smaller horses. It's mountainous, there's lots of rain, mud, snow, and so on. People probably ride less here anyway... or maybe they just ride in the warm months. Less Praxian mounts seen here too. Probably fewer chariots too, they're impractical around here for similar reasons. Heartier cuisine and thicker clothing. None of those bullshit sandals and thin white robes. Again, it's cold. Lots of horn and whistle crafters, because that's how you can signal important things from one valley to the other. "Loud as a Far Place horn" is probably an expression in northern Sartar. Less trade overall. Alda-chur is sort of on a trade route (but not that much), Alone isn't. They didn't have someone like Sartar to make it a priority. Incidentally, Sartar and his dynasty were also a patron of the arts and culture. Not so much here. People travel to Jonstown for the library, because the library in Alda-chur isn't as good, and the one in Alone is a joke (I know, my PCs were hanging there ever since they were kids) Less cool looking stone buildings. Sartar cheated and stole some masonry secrets from the dwarfs. Not so much here. But Alone has some decent stone walls, because they were erected by a Sartarite king. More knowledge about trolls. They fight the trolls, because of course they encroach on their territories when they lead sheep up the mountains, but also they trade with them, especially for bee produce from the Gorakkiki cult. Although overall there's not as much troll trade as the Torkani, probably. Seasonal relationships to river naiads and newtlings and so on. Most of the rivers there come down to a stream in the summer, but get big in the winter. Lots of bogs and other wetlands, especially around Snakepipe Hollow and the Indigo Mountains. Don't go hiking alone if you don't know these parts, or you'll end up like one of those very well preserved bog corpses. Far Place people know danger, and are fearless. They live next to Snakepipe Hollow, next to the Woods of the Dead, next to the Giants' Path, next to Dagori Inkarth. You're not going to scare them with your little Sartarite stories of, like, big wasps or mean wolves. They're going to laugh right back at you. Phew! That's all I can think of for now... I hope this helps! Ask specific questions if you want more answers... @Crel and my other players (if they're around here) might have more answers. But of course the best way to get answers is to play there! I only had a handful bullet points when we started playing, and now I have all this because we've been playing in and around Alone for two years now. The best way to find out is to fuck around! 😄

The Journal of Runic Studies 94 is out! The Lunar Empire, Six Ages 2, the RuneQuest metaplot, looking at Teshnos, All Fool's Day, Roman road construction, and more!

Yelm is down there half the time, I think. That's one of the reasons why the trolls didn't bother going back under after the Dawn: wherever they go, it will be sunny and warm half the time. Orlanth and Yelm completely ruined things for them, and they lost their home. Anyway, as Jeff says, the heat comes from Lodril, or whatever "underground heat" deity or spirit you want in whatever region of the world you're playing in. Generally speaking, I consider that most things behave in appearance just like they do in our world (otherwise it would be super impractical to play in Glorantha), but I try to make up some vaguely mythical or spiritual shit up whenever I need an explanation (and only then). For instance, I don't know... something random, why do our nails grow all the time? I don't know... errr.... (looks around in panic)... probably some Eurmali trick? When Yelm created the first anthropomorphic beings, he gave them smooth hands to build his nice golden ziggurats, but Eurmal brought forth some sort of contagion that made everybody get nails that scratched every surface and made Yelm's buildings look like shit. Eurmal laughed his ass off, and Yelm tried to get rid of the "nail disease" but it was too late, it was spreading too fast. Now we all have growing nails. In turn, finding some bullshit explanation like this brings gaming ideas. For instance, rivers flow down to the sea because they help Magasta plug the Chaotic hole left in the middle of Glorantha, and not because of, like, gravity or whatever. That gives the obvious idea that maybe some river naiads don't care about it, and flow upwards. Which is super cool. And now, in the same spirit, maybe I'll have Solar-worshipping people who occasionally give birth to a child with no nails or something. Or some sort of Yelmite ritual scarification that involves pulling out one's nails. Eeuugh.

In episode 22 we welcome @Nick Brooke who tells us all about the Lunar Empire! We chat about what RuneQuest adventurers know and think about the Lunars, the history of the Empire, playing a Seven Mothers initiate, and of course Chaos and Illumination!

Oh snap yes sorry about that! 😅 Now fixed! (for late readers...)