Gallowglass

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.

Resurrecting this thread because I basically have the same question as the OP, and I still don't quite get how the damage multipliers work. Sorry, this has probably been covered elsewhere. I've been digging around, but I still can't find an explanation that makes sense to me. Let's say I'm playing a Humakti with a greatsword (2d8 base damage), and I have the Gift that doubles damage after armor is penetrated. First I'm assuming that I should roll damage for everything else, then factor in the Gift as the last step. So I cast Truesword, doubling my damage to 4d8. Then I attack my enemy, and roll a special success. Do I double 4d8 to 8d8? Or just double the base damage and add another 2d8, making 6d8 total? I'm leaning toward the latter option, because I thought that magical effects don't get multiplied on a special or critical. Anyway, now let's say that I penetrate my opponent's armor, and multiply my damage again. It should be either 12d8, or 16d8, depending on your interpretation of the rules, correct? Just trying to understand how it works. The special/critical question is the important one for me. 12d8 is a LOT of damage, but 16d8 is enough to chop the Crimson Bat in half! I exaggerate, but only slightly.

Here is the recap for our last two sessions. The first one ended up being very short so I decided to lump them together. Previously, the heroes had learned that their neighbors, the Wozer clan, were having trouble with bandits in the Yellow Hills, particularly those led by Angtyr of the Horn, former king of the Balkoth Tribe and Lunar stooge. Egajia, in the name of restoring spiritual balance to the Yellow Hills and neighboring communities, convinced the other PC's to find this man and bring him to justice. The Wozer chieftain specifically requested that Egajia bring him Angtyr's enchanted horn as proof of his capture. To simulate the party's overland exploration of the Yellow Hills, I tried experimenting with a map-making program called Hex Kit, which I picked up in a Bundle of Holding. It allows you to draw a hex map, and then (if you have more than one screen) present a fog of war map to the players. It worked fairly well, but we had so little time for both of our recent sessions (each less than 3 hours) that we didn't do as much random exploration as I planned for. Anyway, here's a simple map I made of the Yellow Hills. The landmarks, towns and villages are mostly taken from the Hearts in Glorantha article by Stuart Mousir-Harrison. Each hex is meant to represent a mile, which makes it not quite consistent with the AAA maps, or accurate in general. Balkoth country covers the hills, the northern edge of Dundealos Valley, and the area south of Swenstown. Last time, the PC's were traveling from Wozer's Redoubt to Darrold's Hold, in search of a bandit with possible connections to Angtyr. They were ambushed by more bandits on the way, but managed to kill or drive off their attackers. They captured one of these, who failed to escape on her flying horse. Although she initially proved reluctant to talk, Egajia successfully intimidated her after an augment of the Death rune, which she is very strong in. The bandit, whose name was Zavia, proved easy enough to interrogate. She was convinced that her brother Destor, the leader of their band, would suspect her of treachery one way or another, and try to kill her. She agreed to share info on Angtyr and her gang if the party let her go afterwards. They agreed, so she spilled the beans. She told them the following- She and her brother had been raiding caravans for years during the Lunar Occupation. After the Dragonrise, Angtyr of the Horn was driven out of Harnafal's Rest by Orkarl Windstorm, and went bandit. Orkarl became the new king of the Balkoth. Angtyr took control of the bandit gangs and families of the Yellow Hills, and started raiding his own former subjects. Any bandits who resisted his takeover were killed or driven away. Angtyr is always on the move, and Zavia and her brother rarely speak with him face to face. Instead he sends messages to his lieutenants, who run their own gangs. Her brother Destor is one such lieutenant, along with an Impala Rider called Naveed, and a Telmori woman. She said these other two raided caravans near Swenstown, and near the forest at the heart of the hills respectively. Angtyr is personally very dangerous. He was a priest of the Gerendetho cult in the Yellow Hills, and still has access to powerful magic, including the ability to summon rock slides. When the interrogation ended, the PC's let Zavia go. She headed off in the direction of Prax, with the look of a person who hadn't yet escaped her death. Darrold's Hold Later in the day, the party arrived at Darrold's Hold. This was the traditional home and tula of the Daldari clan. They, the Wozer, and the nearby Untralos clan had stayed rebellious against the Lunars during the occupation, unlike the Penbal and Fimburos clans. After the Dragonrise, the former king of the Balkoth, Orkarl Windstorm, had returned from exile in Prax to reclaim his position. He set up court in Darrold's Hold, rather than the traditional tribal capitol of Harnafal's Rest. Upon arriving the party rendezvoused with Erindros, who had returned from business in Swenstown. Darrold's Hold is a stout hill fort with stone walls, built to withstand Praxian raids. There was a market outside the fort, and before speaking with King Orkarl, the PC's decided to listen for rumors or signs of bandits nearby. Egajia noticed one man standing out at the market place, due to his strange aura, which resembled red flames. He had a bushy red beard with singed tips, and wild hair. He was festooned with garlands of dried peppers and spirit charms. She also noticed he had a fetch, appearing as a small ball of flame. He introduced himself as Old Man Pepper, local shaman and seller of "invigorating herbal remedies." He claimed to be an expert on the nearby hills and woods, having lived rough outdoors for many years. Egajia asked him if he knew of any strange spiritual happenings nearby. He claimed that the local hunting spirit in the Smallwood to the north had been driven out of it's range. He had seen wolf spirits roaming the hills where none had been before, and heard rumors of Telmori attacking the goat herds. After asking if the PC's were hunting Telmori, he suggested that finding the lost hunter spirit would help in their search. He said the spirit resembled a giant saber-toothed cat (a sakkar). Egajia thanked him, and the party all purchased some hot pepper charms. These supposedly granted the ability to breath fire, although they had to be eaten, and thus only worked once. Next the heroes visited King Orkarl. They were granted an audience thanks to the Wozer guide, Hiark, who introduced them as emissaries of chieftain Orvengar. Orkarl was a fierce old warrior, who was suspicious of Dundealos emissaries at first. His thanes even more so. Egajia explained that they were operating independently of their clan and tribe, and wished to help the Balkoth hunt down their most notorious bandit. Orkarl's thanes reacted with shouts and disdain, demanding to know why the glory of finding and killing Angtyr should be given to Dundealos warriors. First Egajia sang the party's hit song about Angtyr that they had introduced in the Wozer village. It left the crowd laughing as it had the last time. Then Egajia explained that while Angtyr had betrayed and humiliated his people, he should not be given the status of a feared enemy. Rather he should be treated as a coward for hiding in the hills and stealing from his own people. Secondly, she and her comrades had no wish to steal anyone's glory. They only wanted to help build peace between her clan and their neighbors, and as skilled trackers (somewhat exaggerated) and deadly fighters (more accurate) they were in a good position to help. Orkarl was convinced, and offered the cooperation of his household warriors in hunting Angtyr. But he also explained that bringing the bandit in needed to be a joint effort, and he expected Egajia to report to him anything that the party learned. Egajia and the others agreed to this. The PC's then conferred about whether to stay in Darrold's Hold and look for the bandit Destor, or go deeper into the hills to follow leads on the Telmori. They went with the latter option, and set out north. Wolves and Smilodons Travelling for several hours, they met some friendly goat herders, who shared an odd rumor. Many herders had seen individual goats from their herds walking in a straight line out to the hills, then disappearing. No one knew where they went, or why they would walk off with such fixed determination. Occasionally these goats would be found later, dozens of miles away in a different clan's herd. Some suspected trickster magic. As the day went on, the hills gave way to a small valley filled with pine forest. This was the Smallwood shown on the map. Egajia did some cursory scouting with her fetch, but did not notice any major threats, spiritual or physical. Night was beginning to fall, so she decided that the time was right to go on a journey to the Spirit World to find the Saber-tooth Spirit. HWSAD was able to locate a rocky overhang that provided shelter, and some defense if necessary. Egajia performed the ritual of discorporation, and left her fetch, and her companions, guarding her body. It should be mentioned that we didn't have Garkar for the first session. We explained his absence by deciding it was Orlanth's seasonal holy day, so he had to stay behind at Rooster Stead. Thus, it was just Erindros and He Who Spits physically guarding Egajia. After about an hour, HWSAD's Chaos sense started tingling. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this in previous recaps, but HWSAD's Sense Chaos ability manifests as a pain in the back of his neck, a la Berserk. He and Erindros prepared for trouble, and soon a shadowy figure appeared in the trees. I showed the players the picture of the Telmori from the Bestiary (who looks a lot like Kurt Cobain!). He was accompanied by another hunter in the shadows, and two very large wolves. The first one approached and warned HWSAD that they were trespassing on the Wolfbrothers' hunting range. He Who Spits tried and failed an Intimidate roll to run them off, and he was met with thrown javelins. Thus began a fairly one-sided battle as the Telmori hunters got more than they bargained for. We ended our first session here, and then picked it up a week later with the werewolf fight, and Egajia's spirit journey. She successfully used Spirit Travel to locate the Sakkar Spirit. It wasn't far from where she started. She left the forest, and flew towards the hills. She found the spirit being chased by a pack of wolf spirits, nearly a dozen. The sakkar was huge, the size of a horse, and covered in glowing runes. But Egajia could see through her Second Sight that it was in a severely weakened state. After casting a powerful Spirit Screen, she charged right into the pack of wolf spirits, and engaged one of them in spirit combat, hoping to frighten the others. Unfortunately, she couldn't best it, and the pack soon surrounded her, taking turns in trying to overwhelm her soul. On the second round, she managed to roll a critical, and tore one of the spirits apart. The wolves momentarily withdrew in fear, and she used the reprieve to try communicating with the sakkar. She then failed her Spirit speech roll, although it wasn't a fumble. The sakkar did not attack her, but instead fled. It jumped into the sky, and began leaping from cloud to cloud. She had to use Spirit Travel again to keep up. The spirit wolves ran after them (flew after them?). Meanwhile, back in the world of flesh, the Telmori cast their eerie spells of transformation. They began to sprout fur, and take on more bestial features. Their teeth and ears elongated, their eyes became the yellow color of a wolf's. This was just from a casting of Wolfhide. The first Telmori charged, along with the two dire wolves, while the other threw javelins. HWSAD remembered that Gbaji's curse allowed the wolf-men to shrug off normal weapon attacks, so he whipped out one of the magical hot peppers. After chewing it, he immediately noticed certain side effects of the enchantment that the shaman had neglected to mention. His mouth was literally on fire at first, and he took 1 hp of damage to total hit points. But then the pepper worked as advertised, and a cone of white hot flame shot from his mouth, enveloping the Telmori brave and his wolf. They survived the blast, but were badly burned. Garkar (whose player returned for the second session) was tracking his allies through the woods to their campsite, where he saw the unfolding combat. He decided not to waste any time, and made a dramatic entrance by firing a lightning bolt at the first Telmori. It struck his leg with a crack of thunder, and he fell to the ground crippled. Erindros' player decided to roleplay his character's general ignorance and simply attack the other Telmori with his axe, to no effect. The tide was turning against the wolf-men quickly, and they made ready to flee. Egajia found herself swimming through the sky, up into the bottom of a black lake. She could still see the Saber-tooth spirit above her, and chased it up through the surface, onto a sandy shore in a forest. She knew the wolves were following as well, so she tried to talk with the spirit again, but failed a second time. The wolves came charging out of the water and swarmed her again, but she rolled well this time when defending herself. She blasted apart another two wolves in spirit combat, and again the pack withdrew, frightened. Looking at the sakkar in it's weakened state, she realized it might be easier just to subdue it. She grabbed it by the tusks and started to wrestle it. She was forced to do this and fend off wolves at the same time, and the sakkar proved to be a tough opponent in spite of it's depleted POW. After taking a few big hits in spirit combat, she managed to defeat it. It's spiritual body became hazy and amorphous. She turned it into a kitten (a symbolic defeat), and tucked it into her pouch. As the wolves began to renew their assault, she used Spirit Dance to make her escape. HWSAD had to fend off attacks from both of the wolves at once, but managed to cripple one with a swing of the maul. The fight had yet to turn truly deadly, when Egajia returned to her body. She fired off several Sleep spells, and soon had the Telmori and their wolves subdued. Garkar succeeded in a Lore roll to remember certain details about the Telmori and their customs. He remembered that they valued the lives of their wolves and treated them as family members. He advised not killing the wolves, and so they were trussed up along with their humans. Garkar graciously healed their wounds so they weren't crippled an longer. While they slept, Egajia bound the sakkar spirit in her fetch, and cast Visibility on it. She then woke up the Telmori, thinking they would already be intimidated upon seeing the saber-toothed cat. She was correct in her calculations, and the two wolf-men admitted to being in league with Angtyr of the Horn. They said that they (both brothers) and their sister Ashara had been driven south from Telmori country after a raid from the Cinsina Tribe had killed many of their family. They joined with Angtyr when he promised them protection. Erindros asked if their sister would take them back for ransom, and they said she would track them down sooner or later. The party decided to pass the night in the forest with their captives. The Telmori voiced their appreciation that they had spared their wolf brothers and healed their wounds. He Who Spits, who was initially prepared to cook the wolves in front of the Telmori, softened up on them a little in spite of their stench of Chaos. Egajia spoke with the sakkar spirit. The Telmori had already found them obviously, so the spirit was seemingly no longer useful. But she then learned that it was Angtyr himself who infected the sakkar with a soul disease, diminishing it's power. It claimed that it could help Egajia track down Angtyr, as it knew his scent. It could smell him within a kilometer. It also knew some useful spells, and had the ability to possess someone and change their shape. She decided to keep it bound for the time being, but as an object of local worship for hunters in the Yellow Hills, she planned to eventually heal it and set it free. The night otherwise passed uneventfully. Follow the Goat In the morning, everyone heard a strange bird call, and the Telmori called back in response. A woman appeared, dressed and tattooed the same as the other two, with her own wolf at her side. She harangued her two idiot brothers for getting captured, and then asked the party what their terms were for ransom. Erindros asked only that she help them find Angtyr of the Horn. She agreed, saying their alliance was one of convenience, and nothing more. She performed a strange ritual, drawing a rune resembling a goat in the dirt and whispering chants. She then instructed everyone to hide. After about an hour, an actual goat appeared out of the bushes. It stood still in front of her, not moving. She told it to give Angtyr a message, saying that Orkarl Windstorm was closing in on him, and he would have to move camps again within the next few days. After it left, she simply said, "follow the goat." She then left with her brothers. Instead of following the goat directly, Egajia sent the sakkar spirit after it. Everyone else stayed about a mile back from it. The goat walked in a straight line for a few miles, and eventually climbed down into another valley. This particular valley (the Balkoth call them "cuts"), was rocky and bleak, with more Praxian vegetation. He Who Spits sensed the lingering taint of Chaos on the place, although he didn't detect any specific entities. The goat wandered on towards a series of well-hidden caves. As soon as the sakkar spirit could smell Angtyr of the Horn (who smelled like goat of course), Egajia called it back, fearing any possible defenses he might have at his camp. The party then planned to return to King Orkarl, and inform him that they had found their quarry. We ended the second session there. I had originally hoped that the party would be able to confront Angtyr before we all took a break for the holidays, but alas, it was not to be. So next time, the heroes will finally take on the Goat King! Thanks for reading!

Barntar’s Rules!

This makes it sound like Men-of-All are exclusive sorcery users, and same for everyone above them on the meritocracy ladder. At least at the beginning of the war. Is this actually the case? I can definitely see Rune cults being popular among Workers, and those people in Loskalm who don't quite "fit in," like the former Hsunchen in the north and east. But sorcery seems like the magic of choice for the ruling castes. I keep seeing references to Hrestol's Saga, but I don't actually know what it is or how it fits into the Gloranthan canon. Is it available for consumption anywhere?

But isn’t the New Hrestoli movement also a similar reaction, just in a different direction? Their vile demiurge is called Makan, the God Learner name for the Invisible God. I think I get why the Rokari abhor Heroquesting, I should have left them out of it.

I still have a hard time getting a handle on the Loskalmi and their magic. Is it only those who have achieved the level of Wizard who actually use sorcery? My reading of the GtG was that Men-of-All are trained in both combat and sorcery from the beginning (late teens, early 20's), and those who excel in it become proper wizards. Do they instead get Rune magic from these ancestor or Ascended Master cults? That would solve a lot of my game balance problems when I try to run a Loskalm campaign. I've wondered about this a lot too. Why is this okay for the New Hrestoli, and not for the Rokari? Also, can Malkioni visit their own mythic past? Like taking a trip to Danmalastan, or taking part in the Kachisti's Speaking Tour?

I agree, it can be difficult to get a handle on. Malkioni still feel a little unplayable to me for this reason, and because they're often not portrayed sympathetically to more traditional theists and animists. The existing rule systems don't always provide great options for playing Malkioni characters either, although HQG would probably work fine. And maybe RQ3, I'm not actually too familiar with it as a rule system. My favorite Gloranthan rule set is RQG, but the setting focus for that is kind of narrow right now. The only campaign I've run in Glorantha takes place in Sartar. But with every culture in the setting, it always seems to be "one part (this ancient people), one part (this other ancient people), one part (a whole lot of weirdness). Here is how I think about the varied cultures of Fronela- Loskalm - They feel the most Greek of all the Western peoples, but because of their cold environment, I actually imagine their architecture to look like a weird mix of Mauryan India, and medieval Russia. Stupas and onion domes, with timber forts and log houses in more rural country. Their art would look comparatively very Greek, with lots of sculpture that idealizes the human form. I get the sense that everyone in Loskalm favors simple and utilitarian styles of dress that underplay their caste (which is defined very differently than in Seshnela). Still, you would probably see wizards wearing tall hats and robes, warriors decked out in full armor and weapons, and farmers wearing simple tunics with cloaks. The nobles probably display some austere combination of all three, rather than flaunt their wealth and status like their southern cousins do. For the people of the Janube, again I imagine the home culture (Pelorian), but visually they would be better adapted for the colder environment. More heavily (and perhaps elaborately) dressed, and their architecture might have more timber and sloped roofs compared to the mud-brick dwellings and stepped pyramids of Peloria. Zoria seems like an outlier here. It was founded by an Ulerian priestess who may have come from the east, but the people who lived in area previously were probably a mix of Noyalings, Orlanthi, Arrolians, and other such folk. They seem like more of a melting pot, drawing in all sorts with their many "attractions." The Orlanthi in Fronela intermingled with the Tawari Hsunchen in ancient times, and I imagine there are still many traces of that heritage in their dress, architecture, and art, not to mention their culture and religion. I haven't quite decided what this means yet, other than a lot of bull symbolism. I googled "bronze age Ukraine" and came up with some interesting visuals, particularly of the Cucuteni-Trypillia Culture. This site in particular has some great images, although it's mostly unintelligible in English.

Is there a god or spirit associated with the octopus? I feel like that would be a prime candidate for “Trickster of the Sea.” Just google the mimic octopus and you’ll see what I mean.

I was just writing some notes/ideas on this particular version of Eurmal. My explanation for why he is a "Friend of Man" is because he is worshiped in freezing cold Fronela, and he is known for stealing fire from Lodril (locally known as Ladaral). I was thinking that in places like Oranor, Junora, or Jonatela, Ladaral and Eurmal worshipers are both socially accepted (or at least tolerated) because of the role they play in keeping people from freezing to death.

For our most recent session, the players took the reins and decided to visit the neighboring Balkoth Tribe. I hadn't really planned for this, but thankfully I had some good material to fall back on from Hearts in Glorantha, with the Balkoth article by Stuart Mousir-Harrison. Erindros' player could not make it for this session either, but since he had a wedding to plan, it was easy to explain his absence. Friendly Neighbors I usually start off a new season by sharing the local news from passing merchants and travelers. The biggest news came from Boldhome. For weeks after the Battle of Queens, Kallyr had lain in state at the Royal Palace, her body preserved with magic. Finally, in frustration, Leika Blackspear of the Colymar Tribe decided to torch Kallyr's body, and leave the city with her entourage (these events are covered in various books, including the core rulebook). The PC's reacted with unease at this news, until a messenger from Blackmane arrived. The messenger explained that the Dundealos would stay strong even if the Kingdom of Sartar disintegrated, thanks to their close alliance with the Pol-Joni Tribe. Earth Season rolled through, with the harvest being meager, but free of raids or strange occurrences. The players reviewed some of the recent problems affecting the clan, and pondered their next course of action. Bandit activity in the Verge was getting worse. A gift from the Bardori to the Hyaling clan had recently been stolen. The Wozer clan of the Balkoth had successfully repelled all counter-raids after stealing cattle from everyone south of the Willow Beck river. Many Bardori thanes still agitated against them. Many Storm Bull warriors from the Valley were heading to Heortland to fight the Scorpion menace. Egajia meditated on the problem of the Wozer clan. They had always been troublesome neighbors, with a long history of slights, raiding, and land grabs. However because she was adopted into the clan during the Dundealos exile period, she didn't have quite the same animosity towards them as her kinfolk. Their behavior since the Dragonrise had been unusually hostile, and she sensed that something spiritual might be the cause of this. She made up her mind to speak with the Wozer's wyter spirit, and convinced Garkar and He Who Spits at the Devil to go with her. Here are some maps to get a sense of where the Balkoth live (the left one is from the AA Atlas, which is why it still includes the New Lunar Temple). None of the PC's could remember what the Wozer spirit was, or where it was kept. Egajia tried speaking with the Bardori's chief trader, Stolf Argin's Son, who visited the Wozer occasionally. He was uninterested in helping them, as he suspected that Egajia was trying to get neighborly with the Balkoth clans. He explained that the Balkoth were once the wealthiest tribe in the Swenstown confederation, but since the occupation had become the poorest, losing all of their cattle and gaining nothing but filthy goats. The Wozer were the poorest clan of the tribe, and their constant cattle raiding was because no-one would willingly trade with them from the Valley. He wanted to keep things this way, as "weak Balkoth mean strong Dundealos in the Swenstown markets." Egajia left in frustration, and decided to visit the Wozer chieftain without any background info. The plan hatched by the three heroes was that they would openly approach the Wozer patrols, and announce that they were investigating rumors of Chaos activity nearby. Because most clans are eager to dispel any rumors of harboring Chaos, this would hopefully get them an audience with the chieftain. They crossed the Willow Beck going north, and immediately met some hostile weaponthanes on horses, demanding to know their business. Garkar did some fast talking (unsuccessfully), and then HWSAD relied on his intimidating bluster to demand an audience with chieftain Orvengar. The patrolmen acquiesced, not wanting trouble from Storm Bull. The party passed through the stunted, yellow pastures of the Wozer. Gaunt herders tended to goats (gasp!), sheep, and the occasional cow. The Wozer's harvest was clearly even more pathetic than their neighbors'. Egajia was not bothered by the omnipresent goats, but I really tried to underscore the revulsion that Garkar and HWSAD would feel at confronting these beasts. I described them as "basically broos with four legs, playing with children." The PC's also noticed a lack of young men or women, with many folk being older, or just children. The chieftain's hall was located on high ground, near a rocky outcrop of sandstone. Chieftain Orvengar was a twisted old man, nearly crippled from falling off a horse many years ago. His hall was filled with cows stolen from various clans. He was in the process of milking one of them when the heroes entered. He greeted them with jeers and derision at having their beloved cows stolen. Egajia did the talking, while the other two fumed at the obnoxious old man. She accused Orvengar and his people of betraying all of Sartar with their raids and selfishness, and also said that he brought Chaos upon everyone with his reckless leadership. Orvengar denied that Chaos had visited his people, and said that raiding was the right of any Heortling clan. Egajia then suggested that the Wozer clan looked "sick" to her, and asked when the last time the chieftain had spoken with the clan's wyter. This seemed to catch him off guard, and after more pressing, he admitted that he had not consulted the wyter for several seasons. Egajia asked to join him in consulting the wyter, and promised to help him "overcome his clan's sickness." He agreed to this, although they were accompanied by armed thanes. They went further up into the Yellow Hills, to a hilltop crowned with broken sandstone. There they found a hidden statue of a grotesque-looking man, with massive hands, feet, and genitals. As Orvengar prayed to the statue, it became animated, leaping about and making faces at the chieftain. It excoriated him for not making proper sacrifices, and ignoring it's advice. After many apologies, Egajia asked the statue what troubles affected the Wozer clan that they could help alleviate. The statue grinned and said- "Change is coming to the Yellow Hills, and our people must embrace it! But they cannot become strong again until they remove all traces of the shameful past. We must cleanse ourselves of past stains, and bring justice to the one who brought that shame unto us!" After this, the statue went silent again. Egajia was not sure what all of this meant. Orvengar explained that the statue was talking about the Balkoth's former king, Angtyr of the Horn. While he didn't know about "embracing change," he knew that Angtyr unquestionably was the tribe's greatest shame. He was a Lunar hostage, who returned to rule the tribe during the Occupation. He brought foreign goat cults with him, along with the Seven Mothers, and lived a debauched lifestyle while his people starved. After the Dragonrise (which he managed to avoid), he became a bandit and disappeared into the hills. While Angtyr had not come from the Wozer, he had targeted them for reprisals due to their rebellious disposition. The people longed to see him brought to justice, but so far he had escaped discovery from the new Balkoth king. Egajia then offered help join the hunt for Angtyr, if it would help the Wozer. Orvengar said this would help to build friendship between Bardori and Wozer, as well as friendship between tribes. But the Balkoth had already been hunting Angtyr for many seasons, with no luck. He also said there was no chance of anyone getting their stolen cows back. "A Goat King, for a Goat People" The chieftain offered the PC's hospitality for the night. They decided to ask around among the Wozer folk about Angtyr, and see if they could learn anything interesting. They didn't pick up much (bad rolls again) other than what they already knew. One bit of info that Orvengar shared was that the two "goat cults" Angtyr had introduced to the Balkoth were still going strong in his absence. These included Gerendetho, an Earth god from the Lunar province of Kostaddi, and Uryarda, the Goat Mother. Angtyr himself was a priest of Gerendetho, embodying his more violent and hedonistic traits. The Gerendetho cult had been outlawed by the new king, but Uryarda's was still going strong. The people found that the goats did well in the dry Yellow Hills, and many admired their hardiness. There were also rumors that Angtyr still had supporters among both of these cults. The heroes decided to try something that would get some attention. They improvised a song satirizing Angtyr, and sang it to an assembled crowd of farmers. Their rolls were successful (and their lyrics were spot-on), so after a few hours the whole clan was singing it. I can't remember the lyrics now, but they involved Angtyr's alleged flatulence, and something about "blowing his own horn." While they had their crowd laughing away, they noticed a group of women at the edge were clearly not amused, and saw them slip away into the night. Garkar successfully followed them without being seen. He observed the women entering a large stead, and hunkered down to wait for anything interesting to happen. He heard loud arguments from within, and eventually a man stormed out of the stead. He mounted a horse, and surprisingly, the horse took off into the air on it's own, galloping as if the air were solid ground. Garkar, as a former outlaw, recognized the signature spell of the god of outlaws, Gagarth, the Wild Hunter. He assumed this man must be a bandit, and possibly might have a connection with Angtyr, the local bandit king. He heard the women refer to the man as "Destor," and also heard mention of "Darrold's Hold". He returned to the others to share this information, and also let Orvengar know. The chieftain told them that the women they saw were of the clan's Uryarda cult, and he would question them himself. There was no-one in the clan named Destor who fit the man's description, so he was likely an outlaw. Darrold's Hold was a hill fort owned by the neighboring Daldari clan, and the current seat of the Balkoth king, Orkarl Windstorm. The party decided to visit Darrold's Hold and find the mysterious Destor. Orvengar offered the services of one of his thanes, an Odaylan hunter and tracker named Hiark. He would guide them to Darrold's Hold (only a day's journey), and also make an introduction to king Orkarl. The heroes set off. They were going into the Yellow Hills, which were the traditional lands of the Balkoth. Dry, dusty, and rocky, the hills make for poor grazing, and are part of the reason for the tribe's poverty. The terrain is more like Prax than Sartar. I showed the players some random googled images to give them a sense of the place. After a few hours of travel on a herder's path, they entered a dry ravine (classic ambush spot). Egajia sent her fetch away from her body to get a bird's eye view of the land. She noticed two horses tied up near the edge of the ravine, and a man hiding nearby in the brush, readying a sling. Garkar noticed him as well, and warned everyone to take cover. The party cast a few spells in preparation, and then arrows and slingstones started to fly from both sides of the ravine. What followed was a short but bloody battle. HWSAD rode his antelope up the edge of the ravine, trying to close distance with the one attacker they had seen. Garkar and Egajia ran up on foot, he with his shield up, and she casting Disruption spells. Their guide Hiark stayed back and fired arrows. Her fetch continued to float above the battle, trying to locate other attackers with Second Sight. Egajia took an arrow in the arm from behind, Garkar was hit in the leg, and was forced to stop and heal himself. They noticed two other bandits, one a tall, muscular man with a bow, and the other a short woman, who began running for her horse after seeing HWSAD charge in. The first bandit they had seen rose up, and drew a two-handed sword. He was well-armored and tattooed in Death runes, marking him as a Humakt initiate. He whispered prayers to his sword, and closed in. HWSAD caught up to him first, and cast Berserker on himself. He then prepared to leap from his steed, but the Humakti got the first blow in. He cut deeply into HWSAD's leg, and had he not been raging it would have been severed clean. The extra hit points allowed him to keep it attached, and the Bull's rage kept him from going into shock, but he was now crippled. He fell to the ground. Thankfully, he could still swing his maul from the ground, and rolled a special success against the Humakti. As usual, he dealt a massive blow and rolled well for damage. The other warrior was crippled as well, and sank to the ground screaming over his crushed leg. Garkar let loose a javelin and impaled the big fellow, also through his leg. He then ran up to heal HWSAD, who rose and finished off both bandits. Arrows continued to fly from the other side of the ravine. Garkar took one to the head, but his helmet stopped it from doing serious damage. Egajia meanwhile was pursuing the fleeing woman. She attempted to cast her go-to Sleep spell, but the woman had fairly strong Countermagic up. The bandit leaped onto her horse, and it took off into the air, rising quickly. Egajia sent her bound Wraith after the bandit. Before it even caught up, Hiark, who had not accomplished much up to this point, let loose a well-aimed arrow. We ruled that a ranged attack from below would most likely hit the horse, and... it did. The arrow went through the poor horse's skull, and it died in mid-air. Rather than crash to the ground, it slowly sank down. Egajia's wraith enveloped the bandit, and began sucking her very life force way. The woman screamed for mercy, and then jumped free from her falling horse. She offered herself up as a prisoner. Everyone then looked over and saw another bandit, an impala rider by his steed and stature, take off into the air from the other side of the ravine. He was heading in the direction of Darrold's Hold. That's all! Pretty good session, considering I improvised almost the entire thing. With our next session, we will go deeper into the wild parts of Balkoth country, in search of Angtyr of the Horn. Thanks for reading!

Is this a problem with Drivethrurpg? Are they just... not uploading them for some reason? I also was looking forward to checking these out on Friday.

Does that mean “Sandy’s Glorantha Has Varied?”

Something I've been thinking about lately is just how ridiculously little we know about the Kingdom of War. Mysteries are great and all, but someone setting a campaign in Fronela might have to actually interact with these people, so it would help to know more about who they are, even the basic rank-and-file soldiers. I was looking at the map in the Guide that has population figures. Their total civilian population is 320K, and there are 100K warriors. That is a huge army! Even Loskalm only fields about 60K soldiers. For the civilians, I would guess that a big chunk of that comes from the conquered cities and their surrounding villages. But what about this obscenely huge army? Did they all show up in the Cursed City when it appeared in 1612? If so, then who are they? Did they come from the Underworld? And if that's the case, are they actually human or demons? I could see some of them being recruited from conquered territory, but keep in mind that the Kingdom has only been expanding since 1612. It might be easier to explain if the KoW came into existence right after the Ban started, but reading the Guide it seems like the Cursed City appeared near it's end. With the former scenario, the warriors of the Kingdom would be descended from the various people who lived in or near the Black Forest: Noyalings, Hsunchen, trolls, and maybe some Janubian river folk. I could see how over the course of 100 years, the mysterious leaders of the Cursed City, like Lord Death, Ezdene, and probably some demons, molded these people into a culture of vicious, bloodthirsty warriors. By the time the Ban thaws, they have a massive army and a religion built around their own death gods. But looking at the map of the Syndic's Ban, that doesn't seem right. The area around the Cursed City is relatively small, and it seems unlikely that many Fronelans would have been "trapped" in the region where it appeared (or was "added" to Glorantha, whatever). I'm also wondering about the identities of these "100 Death Gods" that the KoW worships. Some of these are likely demons or Chaos entities that Ezdene introduced to the Kingdom's soldiers. Maybe some of the classic death gods are part of the pantheon too? It's unclear how much Chaos plays a role in the KoW's religion. If it's not central to their worship, then I don't see why they wouldn't also worship Humakt, Urox, Zorak Zoran, and Shargash/Vorthan. Finally, Sufiazafran's post made me wonder, what actually happened to all the Black Forest trolls?

Just today actually, I was reading through an article in Tradetalk #15 on Zoria, meant to be used in Hero Wars. There might be some good inspiration there, or material to use. Also, the Swedish edition of RQG will use Fronela as it's default setting, but I don't know any details beyond that (and I can't read Swedish). Your campaign sounds epic and very interesting. I like how you bring in the Uz, and also address the question of "what happened to all the Black Forest trolls?" There are still the Xemstown trolls waiting to be released from the Ban too. I'd be curious to know how you see them fitting into your larger narrative. The more I looked into Fronelan events of the Hero Wars, the more unclear it became how the Kingdom of War would continue to be involved. We know that Loskalm conquers or otherwise "oppresses" the Arrolian cities, prompting an invasion from Carmania, and later the Lunar Empire. I don't have my books with me so I can't check the dates for these events, but I believe they happen in the 1630's through early 1640's. There's pretty much no mention of the KoW doing anything in the Hero Wars period after it invades Junora and Loskalm. To me it almost seems like Loskalm drives them back to the Black Forest and contains them, or maybe even conquers them by the 1630's. How long do you think your campaign will last through the timeline? Will you use or ignore these future invasions? The Hsunchen and Orlanthi of Fronela also don't seem to be opposed to the KoW in any big way. The Guide says that both of these regions send mercenaries to join the Warlords. If anything, they seem to hate Loskalm more than the Kingdom. Rather than the KoW dragging the entire region into conflict, it may just be a thing between them and Loskalm, and it may also be resolved pretty quickly in the grand scheme of things. By 1630 even? We don't know, there's a lot of missing information. Honestly it sounds like your ideas about making the Kingdom of War a bigger threat to everyone is more interesting than the current Hero Wars framework anyway. Other big threats that you might consider for your other campaigns are the Nameless Man, featured in the prophecy of Kyrmon's Scroll. The Uzhim of Valind's Glacier venturing south to eat stuff. The Aldryami of Rathorela might be attempting some re-seeding in the south. Fronela also seems to have a lot of doors to the Underworld lying around, and you never know when something might try to come through! Fronela is still one of my favorite parts of Glorantha, just for the diversity, weirdness, and great story hooks. I've now written campaign outlines taking place in Oranor, Sog City, Rathorela, and Loskalm. . Good luck with your campaign, and keep us posted about what happens! Also, I'd love to see some of the material you've written, hopefully you can get it published.

I decided to throw out some of my old ideas. My current Gerendetho has the Disorder rune instead of Beast. He still has Earth and Fertility, with the Reproduce spell being an important manifestation of Fertility, but his specific goat association mostly comes from Uryarda now. Generally less crazy powerful than before, this feels like a better fit for a more minor, regional cult. I threw out my two original spells, and made up some more new ones! Surefoot is just for kicks. Spear of Gerendetho is a nod to the fight with Granite Man, although it's not nearly as useful for cultists in a fight unless their enemy is below a cliff with a big boulder. Rockslide is supposed to represent the creation of the Jord Mountains, and it's... probably kind of powerful. My metric there was to make it less powerful than Orlanth's Thunderbolt spell, or Maran Gor's Shake Earth, which are comparable in power and dramatic effect. Gerendetho (Earth, Fertility, Disorder) Holy Days – Gerendetho’s High Holy Day is Wildday of Fertility Week, Earth Season. Seasonal holy days are every Wildday of Fertility Week. Initiate Membership - Standard - Cult Skills: Climb, Jump, Sing, Dance, Farm, Herd, 1H Spear, 2H Spear - Spirit Magic: Detect Life, Heal, Protection, Vigor - Favored Passions: Devotion (Gerendetho), Devotion (Hedonism) Rune Magic - Common Rune Magic: All - Special Rune Magic: Arouse Passion, Dismiss Earth Elemental (Small), Rockslide, Spear of Gerendetho, Surefoot, Reproduce, Summon Earth Elemental (Small) - Enchantments: Ban, Binding Enchantment, Enchant Copper, Magic Point Enchantment, Matrix Creation, Spirit Armor Enchantment Rune Priest - Standard Associated Cults - Lodril – Provides Earthwarm - Uryarda – Provides Bless Goats - Oria – Provides Earthpower Spear of Gerendetho (Earth, Disorder) 1 point Touch, Temporal, Nonstackable This spell is cast on a spear. It causes the blade of the spear to elongate, and take on a rough, stony appearance. The wielder of the spear can now make slashing attacks in addition to impaling attacks. The wielder must have enough room to swing the spear to make slashing attacks, depending on it’s length. Additionally, the spear point now ignores any armor points for stone or rock-like materials, crushing or shattering them on impact. This does not apply to metal or pure minerals like diamond or gemstones. Creatures with stone-like skin or bodies are affected, including gargoyles and jolanti. Gerendetho cultists use this spell to attack walls and other structures, and sometimes to cause rockslides. Surefoot – (Earth) 1 point Ranged, Temporal, Nonstackable This spell doubles the caster’s percentage for their Climb and Jump skill, for the duration of the spell. Rockslide – (Earth, Disorder) 2 points Ranged, Temporal, Stackable This spell calls up loose rock and gravel from above the ground, and directs it towards a designated target at great speed. The wave of earth is 5 square meters across, and usually includes small boulders of various sizes. Those struck by the rockslide must first roll DEXx5 to stay standing. If this roll succeeds, the target(s) take 1d6 damage to total hit points. Those knocked prone are carried by the rockslide until it stops, and take 2d6 damage to total hit points. Mundane armor does not protect against this damage, but spells like Shield and Protection will. This spell can be cast on level ground. In that case, the rockslide travels about 30 meters in a straight line before it loses momentum. This spell can only be cast where there are nearby rocks to be called. These can be on the surface, or called from below the earth if not deeper than 3 meters.

Lodril subcult makes sense, especially in Kostaddi. But because Gerendetho doesn’t have any association with the Fire rune, I still feel the need to come up with a whole bunch of different spells for him. Looking at the RQ2 Lodril, almost all of his spells involve fire, including his spear-related one. Not sure how the new Lodril is going to look in GaGoG though. Also, I prefer Gerendetho as a son of Lodril in my Glorantha, rather than the big man himself. In general whenever I’m presented with two similar gods, I tend to interpret them as separate beings. More interesting that way, for me at least. Lodril is often the exception however, cuz that guy gets around.

Thanks for your feedback. I’m planning to use this cult for an upcoming antagonist in our campaign, but I figured I would write it up in more detail just for fun. Gerendetho is a fairly minor cult everywhere but Kostaddi it seems, so I guess this would be the Dara Happan version of the cult. I think your take on it as a “cult for adventurers” fits the bill pretty well actually. The HQ1 version paints him as being a more wild, Earth-oriented version of Lodril. In Kostaddi he is somewhat tamed, with his fertility aspects having more importance. But outside the civilized bounds of the empire he is more reckless, feckless, and violent. His defining myth (his only one really) is his duel with the Granite Man, and his creation of the Hungry Plateau and Jord Mountains. I felt like his spells should reflect his mythic deeds, so he needed a spear-related spell (he fought with a spear, plus, male fertility symbol), and something about creating hills. I found it hard to come up with a good spear spell, because Earth gods generally don’t have access to destructive powers unless they have the Death or Disorder runes. 19 hours ago, Crel said: I could probably power him down to reflect his minor status better. He doesn’t really need Heal Body or medium earth elementals. But I don’t feel like a minor cult needs to have weak spells, just less variety than an Orlanth or an Ernalda.

Okay, maybe this is a less broken take on the Earth Spear idea. Still keeps the idea of HP tied to damage, with less immediate killing or maiming likely to happen to my players. Earth Spear (Earth) 3 points Touch, Temporal, Nonstackable This spell is cast on a spear. While the spell is active, the wielder of the spear adds half of their current hp (rounding up) to any damage rolled. Thus, if the wielder had 16 total hp, they would add 8 to their damage rolls. If their hp were reduced to 4, they would only add 2 bonus damage (minimum bonus of 1). Extra hp granted by spells like Vigor is factored into this bonus. This spell is incompatible with Bladesharp and other damage-enhancing spells.

I started this topic in the Glorantha forum about the cult of Gerendetho, and why it's come up in my campaign. I thought I would post what I have so far on my bare-bones cult write-up. I'm definitely interested in hearing opinions on if the new spells I made up are too powerful, and if so, how they could be nerfed a bit. Gerendetho (Earth, Fertility, Beast) Holy Days – Gerendetho’s High Holy Day is Wildday of Fertility Week, Earth Season. Seasonal holy days are every Wildday of Fertility Week. Initiate Membership - Standard - Cult Skills: Climb, Jump, Sing, Dance, Farm, Herd, Peaceful Cut, 1H Spear, 2H Spear - Spirit Magic: Befuddle, Detect Life, Heal, Protection, Strength, Vigor - Favored Passions: Devotion (Gerendetho), Devotion (Hedonism) Rune Magic - Common Rune Magic: All - Special Rune Magic: Arouse Passion, Command Goat, Dismiss Earth Elemental (Small/Medium), Earthpower, Earth Spear, Raise Earth, Reproduce, Summon Earth Elemental (Small/Medium) - Enchantments: Ban, Binding Enchantment, Enchant Copper, Magic Point Enchantment, Matrix Creation, Spirit Armor Enchantment Rune Priest - Standard Associated Cults - Lodril – Provides Shield - Uryarda – Provides Bless Goats - Oria – Provides Heal Body Earth Spear (Earth) 3 points Touch, Temporal, Nonstackable This spell is cast on a spear. While the spell is active, the spear’s normal damage is not rolled. Instead, the damage is always equal to the wielder’s current total hit points. Thus, if the wielder has 15 hit points, their spear strikes always deal 15 hp worth of damage. If they are reduced to 3 hp total, their attacks will only hit for 3 damage. Extra hp gained from spells such as Vigor is not included in the final damage. Damage bonus is not rolled while Earth Spear is active. Raise Earth (Earth) 2 points Ranged, Temporal, Stackable This spell raises up a pillar of bedrock from beneath the ground. The rock explodes upward with considerable force, potentially knocking foes to the ground if summoned beneath their feet. A roll of DEXx5 is required to keep from falling prone in this case. The caster can also choose to raise the ground slowly, however this still causes noticeable rumbling and tremors as the earth shifts. The amount of rock that is raised is a rounded pillar 5 meters tall and 5 meters wide. Additional Rune points add an additional 5 meters in either height or width. This can create walls, support structures, or even entire hills, but the rock cannot be moved or shaped once summoned. This spell affects solid, subterranean rock. It has no effect on soil, clay, or other loose materials. It can only call rock upwards to the surface, it cannot be used to move rocks on the surface or create fissures. Depending on the local landscape, it could be used to cause rockfalls or avalanches. Edit: Already changed one thing, extra damage from Vigor seems like too much.

Oookay you meant Ragnaglar, I got confused. Lots of goat fathers to go around apparently.

Never heard that comparison before, but it’s interesting. are you saying Durbaddath and Basmol are the same?

I'm working on a simple write-up for the cult of Gerendetho in RQG. The reason is because my PC's have ventured into Balkoth country, where they will be tracking down the former king of the tribe, Angtyr of the Horn. In my Glorantha, he has turned bandit since the Dragonrise, and continues to make life miserable for his people by raiding and kidnapping people's daughters (and sons). For details on Angtyr and the Balkoth, I used the Hearts in Glorantha write-up on the tribe. This is a really great article, I recommend it. But it's a little out of date (and canon I suspect). Anyway, Gerendetho. In the HiG article, Angtyr is described as having introduced worship of Gerendetho and Uryarda to the tribe, the "Goat Gods." I didn't realize that Gerendetho had anything to do with goats. The Guide describes him as being an Earth/Fertility god, possibly the same being as Turos in Pelanda, or maybe even Genert (this one seems unlikely to me). I then discovered that Gerendetho appears in HQ1, where he has a clear association with goats. Is this still canon? I actually kind of like the HQ1 version of Gerendetho, and I'm considering the goat thing as maybe just a subcult. For my cult write-up, I'm not sure what is reasonable to give a Gerendetho follower (or priest). Some spells related to the Earth and Fertility Runes, maybe spears. If Angtyr follows some kind of goat-related subcult, I'm also considering some spells that grant goat features, like horns, climbing up rocks, or eating practically anything. Any thoughts are welcome, and if anyone can offer more insight into Gerendetho, that would also be helpful.