Gallowglass

3 hours ago, Peltast said:

Wouldn't a challenge be, rather than super tough oppnents, lots of opponents or skirmishers?  For example, 40 sling armed trollkin - that would be about 80 incoming slingshots a round, or a dozen or so nonad mounted archers - always able to move away from the party to stay out of melee range and patient enough to wait for defensive spells to time out?

Your topic probably deserves its own thread. But yes, I agree that sounds like a player's worst nightmare. And a GM's actually, because running combat with more than 12 combatants makes my head explode. 

I would say that over the course of the campaign, the battles that really made my players sweat had some combination of the following-

• Lots of ranged combat.
• Ambushes in which they faced enemies that had already cast protective spells
• Enemies that could clearly sever or crush body parts in a single blow, like Humakti or great trolls. 

All of our so called "boss fights" were kind of a let-down (for me anyway) because the PC's usually came prepared and tried to set up their own ambushes, and then really focused their attacks on the big bad before he could do any serious harm. The Bagog Rune Lord only got to fire off a few protective spells before he went down in the 2nd round. 

6 minutes ago, Dissolv said:

My take is that your players are ready for "next level" challenges -- they are clearly pro's!

Yeah honestly I had trouble keeping up with them, combat in Runequest is hard on the GM too. This was the end of our campaign, but when I return to Glorantha next, I’ll hopefully be ready for their hijinks.

1 hour ago, Dissolv said:

 

It does me actually.  Usually Scorpion men are very effective in slowing down the big hitters just because of the sheer number of legs!  They are notorious for it in my parts.

 

There was egregious use of aimed blows. 

Update: I ran the big battle last night. It was definitely one of the tougher encounters I have run for my players, but they still pretty much mopped the floor with the Scorpion Men. Turns out a shaman with access to 30+ MP, and a Storm Bull berserker who can regularly deal 20 damage in a single blow are VERY EFFECTIVE at killing things. Still, I think the sheer number of enemies (10 against 4), and the presence of powerful enemy magic was enough to scare them a little. 

13 minutes ago, David Scott said:

As long as they weren't the same rune and have enough RPs themselves, as they would both have to use the Rune Lord's rune casting ability (the allied spirit has no runes of its own). I'd have no problem with SR1 then SR2

If the spirit had no RP of its own, couldn’t it draw on the Rune Lord’s pool?

11 minutes ago, Joerg said:

You seem to be confident that your players aren't going to read this, @Gallowglass

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Leaving the scorpion might be easier if the allied spirit is not bound into it but dominantly possessing it. In that case the allied spirit would be able to use up the body, then leave at the time of its demise and attack in spirit combat. Might be a nasty surprise.

 

They know roughly what they’re up against. 

My players are about to go up against a Rune Lord of Bagog (tomorrow night). I'm now realizing that there are some things about allied spirits I don't get, and I want to make sure I'm solid on the rules so I don't make the fight too unbalanced. 

1. An allied spirit has access to all the Rune Lord's spells, and vice versa. Does this mean that the Rune Lord and spirit could cast Rune spells together on strike rank 1? So, for example, on the first strike rank, the Rune Lord and allied spirit could both cast Carapace on themselves? 
2. The allied spirit I designed inhabits the body of a large (dog-sized) scorpion. If the scorpion body is destroyed, can the spirit then act as a normal, disembodied spirit? Could it then cast spells or initiate spirit combat? 

Sorry if these questions have been asked before, I couldn't find any specific answers in my searching. 

6 hours ago, g33k said:

Why would he abandon all that work???!?

I don’t know, I’m just trying to see if I can get an official update since I haven’t heard anything about it in a long time. Unless Jeff mentioned it in these announcements and I missed it.

On 3/3/2020 at 7:59 PM, g33k said:

Heroquesting rules... maybe in the campaign-book?  Mechanical bits mostly worked out, but still working on narrative support for GM's and players who aren't deep-lore experts.  Hoping for playtest'able / demo rules by approximately GenCon.

Does anyone know if the GM book is still happening? I thought this was going to contain the heroquest rules. 

1 hour ago, dumuzid said:

There's two basic forms of troll shamanism. Korasting tradition focuses on ancestor worship and is analogous to the Daka Fal tradition among humans (Daka Fal is acknowledged among trolls as their common ancestor with humans and the other races, but Korasting is a more immediate ancestor-guide for trolls, being something like Kyger Litor's fetch).  Dehore tradition focuses on interacting with Darkness spirits, including elementals, which may be troll ancestors but are not always so, and would be analogous to Kolati shamanic tradition in Orlanthi society.  A male troll shaman might be more inclined towards Dehori practice; or rather, a male troll with shamanic inclinations will probably be directed towards a Dehore teacher by their clan queen, since the KL/Korasting shaman-priestess track is usually reserved for females.

Where does Jakaboom fit into all these different practices? I thought she was the original troll shaman. Maybe her cult is like a “graduate level” spirit society for those already initiated into other cults?

57 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

my view :

you can try the headshot, so apply the modifier

if you roll is not a fumble (with your modified skill) you hit the body :

if your roll is under your skill (modified) you hit the head, if not, you roll for the location

This is a solid ruling and makes sense.

39 minutes ago, gochie said:

Would I house-rule that? Absolutely. It sucks that a good hunter with a 100%+ skill has no use for his main spell. 

However I also like this solution, and will probably adopt it as a house rule. 
 

Thanks for the replies!

An arrow fired after casting Sureshot will always hit unless a fumble is rolled. But can the person firing do a called shot (the rules call them “aimed blows”)? Like, does Sureshot practically guarantee a headshot?

Just curious, have you read the Unspoken Word fanzine? Issues #1 and #3 have tons of great info on Lunar Tarsh and the Exiles. I don’t think it’s 100% canon anymore and it’s mostly written for Heroquest, but that shouldn’t stop you mining it for ideas.

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

The Syphon is a lonesome fighter against Chaos, much like his sister Sounders on the far side of the Storm Mountains.

I thought it was an “evil” river? Joerg I recall this being a point of contention for you, but the Guide says that the Syphon refused Magasta’s call, and that’s why it flows backwards.

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

Backford is a weird place in that it's the only crossing of the Syphon River that flows uphill and into the Print. Maybe if Gagix can turn the Syphon aside then Chaos can flow normally downstream out of the Print. But that's a big quest to undertake.

Just how “cursed” is the Syphon River anyway? Like, don’t step in it? Also, wouldn’t it be a salt water river?

Does anyone know any details about the city of Backford being conquered by the Queendom of Jab? I found a reference to this on p. 43 of the Sourcebook, but I can’t find any other details. My campaign is near the end of 1626, and I’m thinking that retaking the city from Chaos could be a fun (if deadly) series of adventures. 

If all goes according to plan, the party will be near Alda-Chur when Argrath recaptures it for Sartar, so that should be interesting. 

I covered it on my recap blog, which is hosted on this site. I ran the battle as a simple series of skill rolls, no actual combat. I only do these battles to involve the players in the larger historical events, they’re sort of incidental to the main story, which tends to be low-powered clan stuff. 

12 hours ago, Joerg said:

Where do I get this from? There is an overall agreement that both Issaries and Lhankor Mhy are from the West, or at the very least found in the  west. Revealed Mythologies gives us the six tribes of Danmalastan, with three already well established players - Vadeli  (formerly Vyimorni) vs. Brithini (formerly Enjoreli), with the Waertagi going to the seas, but there are three more - the builders (Kadeniti), the writers (Tadeniti), and the Speakers (Kachasti). It isn't a great leap of imagination to connect the Tadeniti with Lhankor Mhy, and from there another small step to compare the Kachasti Speaking Tour with something Issaries would do.

One thing I noticed in my Oranor research is that Greystone Fort seems to have had a connection with the God of Silver Feet. Why else would it be swamped with “angry ghosts?” There’s also the question of where the fort came from. It’s described as a massive stone “fortress-city.” Not something the local Oranor hill folk would bother to construct. So mayhaps its a ruin dating back to Kachisti times. Or King Drona’s time, which may be the same thing.

10 hours ago, Joerg said:

IMO there is a significant Kachisti ancestry in most of the Serpent Beast Brotherhood Hsunchen of Western Genertela - to the Man-people, that is. The God of the Silver Feet really is an important ancestor to the Man-people, will they or nil they, and because that is the case, the natural beast transformation of their ancestors may have become lost

Are you saying the God of the Silver Feet was a Kachisti? If so, where are you getting that from?

Also, in terms of ancestry, I thought the Kachisti were either wiped out by the Vadeli, or absorbed by the Orlanthi who rescued them as slaves. I don’t see the ancestral connection, although there probably was trade and exchange of ideas in the Storm Age, at least with the Enjoreli. 
 

Edit: looking at at the God Learner maps again, and I’m noticing that the Basmoli are described as having “enslaved many descendants of the Kachisti.” (GtG p. 690). Maybe that could happened with the Enjoreli and Enerali too.

Partly why I’m excited for more material on Esrolia is that the whole setting is “Ernaldan politics.”

19 hours ago, Manu said:

Are they? Do they attack with Spirit Combat? Are they discorporated?

I used a demon in our game that my players ended up fighting (and defeating). I decided it could not use spirit combat as long as it had a corporeal form, but it could also discorporate and re-form its body at will. 

My reasoning was mainly that there’s a Rune spell for using spirit combat in the physical world (Attack Soul). Giving demons that ability for free without the book saying so seemed unfair. 

After checking this thread, I noticed that there are quite a few Kethaela-related projects that I had never heard of (Whitewall, Heortland, Seapolis). Was there some announcement about these that includes more details? 

For example, what is the Whitewall campaign all about? Is it pre-1625? Or is it focused on the rebuilding of Whitewall?

So, my current RQG campaign has mainly taken place in Sartar and Prax. Lately my players have been hinting that they might want to visit either Esrolia or Heortland, and I find myself wishing I had more setting material to work with. Does anyone know if Chaosium has plans to develop Kethaela anytime soon? Or in the next few years? I’ve heard tales of a Nochet book, which is very exciting. I’m also hoping that when the new Trollpak appears there is more info on Shadow Plateau. Other than that I have heard little.

It’s a rich and fascinating land, and it’s right next to Dragon Pass with close political and trade relations. I feel like due to proximity, more material on Esrolia and Heortland would be very helpful for me as a GM. After that, I would love to see more on God Forgot, Shadow Plateau, Caladraland, and the Rightarm Islands, just because they’re neat places. 

Thanks for the responses, clearly it is the penetrating armor thing that I wasn’t understanding. That makes it less ridiculous.