Gallowglass

4 hours ago, Joerg said:

Making even the two Malkioni religions who claim orthodoxy rather than syncretism for their schools effectively henotheist, with standard spirit and rune magic dominating their lands, sort of cheapens the expectation everybody had from the Malkioni.

 

Kind of how I feel actually. If the official word is mixed spirit and rune magic, so be it. But I think it would be interesting to see new things done with the sorcery rules. 

8 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

I think...  there isn't a problem here unless you're continually running hack'n'slash adventures.

 

The idea I've put the most thought into is running a Loskalm campaign in the style of King Arthur Pendragon, stretching over many years. While such a campaign wouldn't be all about hack'n'slash, the main antagonists would be the rune-magic using Kingdom of War, which is why I've spent so much time thinking about sorcerers vs. theists. 

3 hours ago, scott-martin said:

One outside-the-box approach people have explored in the past is lavish use of (sorcerously) enchanted iron to really mess up enemy offensive magic and, depending on what emerges in the Game Master's Guide, cleave through magical defenses as well. Think of it as a balancing factor: if you're better warriors and they're potentially better magicians, bring iron to the party and eliminate their edge.

 

That's an interesting idea. I remember reading somewhere that the Jrusteli had lots of iron weapons and armor for their soldiers, which I guess could partially explain their success against gods-fearing folk. 

26 minutes ago, prinz.slasar said:

The only "problem" in the current rule system is the fact that it doesn't cover the West of Glorantha.
To say RQG has a problem is not really fair, because RQG Core to date is for Dragon Pass characters.
Your question will be answered in the supplement for western Glorantha.

I wouldn't say that RQG's sorcery rules are incomplete, they just don't have as many spells compared to spirit and rune magic. I would think the basics, including the long casting times, will still carry over into any other supplements. What I imagine we would be getting rules-wise is character creation rules, maybe some of this Westerner spirit or rune magic Mr. Metcalph is talking about. 

4 minutes ago, metcalph said:

Based on what I've seen on the Sorcery rules, if you are a Malkioni fighter then you'll make use of spirit and rune magics for combat.  The sorcerer only works in combat if there are fighters providing protection until the Big Spell can be cast.

What is the source of their rune magic? The Ascended Masters? And do you envision something similar for the Rokari in Seshnela?

The discussion in this thread has touched on what I see as a problem in the current rule system. If I wanted to set a campaign in the West of Glorantha, including Loskalm, Seshnela, or Ralios, I feel like I should be able to make a character who only uses sorcery as their main form of magic. I feel like the Guide implies that this is how many Westerners practice magic, including zzaburi wizards, Loskalmi Men-of-All, and definitely the Brithini (although I don't think they would make good PC's). I could accept that not all Westerners exclusively use sorcery as their main source of magic. Commoners and soldiers probably practice spirit magic. But the idea of a true blue Malkioni using Rune magic doesn't feel right to me.

Here's the problem though. A character using only spirit magic or sorcery would be very unbalanced against an enemy with access to Rune magic. Rune spells are generally more powerful, and much faster. A sorcerer takes at least a full round to get one of their spells off, and if the spell is actually going to do anything impressive, it would probably take 2 or 3 rounds. When I first read the sorcery rules months ago, I didn't think much of this. But now that I've been running an RQG game for a while, I've found that most fights tend to be over in less than 5 rounds. Not much fun for a sorcerer. It seems where sorcery really shines is when you have plenty of time to pull off a big ritual, before the fight begins. But that doesn't seem... very fun somehow? 

Imagine your players are a group of Loskalmi Men-of-All, they've given up spirit magic for sorcery. They're about to go fight some raiders from the Kingdom of War, so they spend a whole day casting big spells on each other, then ride off to battle. They're probably buffed enough to stand up to the KoW guys, who have Rune magic from gods like Humak,t, Storm Bull, whatever. But what if they miscalculate, and didn't cast strong enough spells? Or what if the raiders know they're coming, and just go hide until the spells wear off? A system of magic that isn't usable during combat just doesn't click for me. 

I'm curious to hear other people's thoughts on this, especially people who have played sorcerers before, or run games with them. Also, how could the rules be tweaked to make a pure sorcerer more feasible? I could see changing the rules to make sorcery spells go off faster, like spirit magic. Or maybe using a system where you can sacrifice POW to make "quickened" spells or spell matrices that could go off faster.

The back-and-forth between metcalph and Joerg is making me very uncomfortable, so I'd rather not participate in this discussion anymore.

I'm planning to start a thread in the Runequest forum about how feasible a pure sorcery-using character would be in the current rule system. I feel like it is implied in the Guide that this is what advanced Loskalmi warriors would use in combat, but I also accept the sorcery rules make them better for long rituals, rather than in the thick of battle. 

9 hours ago, davecake said:

I have found a super useful resource for getting into the Loskalm mindset is the Just City books by Jo Walton, which are set in a version of Plato's Republic (as a divine experiment). Lets you get a feel for life in the city without having to rely only on extrapolating from Plato's Republic directly. 

 

I'd love to see someone put together a "Malkioni inspirational reading list." Occasionally I try to find an accessible book on Gnosticism, Manichaeism, or Neoplatonism, but so much of it is new-agey weirdness, or written for Christian audiences. At some point I guess I should try to read Plato if I'm ever going to run a Loskalm campaign. 

9 hours ago, davecake said:

I find the Loskalmi tricky, in that from a philosophical point of view I find them the most playable, with few beliefs that are offensive to modern players, lots of potential for individual PCs to make their own moral choices, etc. But from a rules point of view, as written now their sorcerers only beginning to learn sorcery in mid-to late adulthood, usually in play, means that with the current sorcery rules their magic is going to suck, which makes them less fun to play. I hope we can find a rules hack to fix that somewhat - maybe something to do with obsessive following of the Ascended Masters (though in general I think the Ascended Masters are not worshipped, but provide advanced magical practices to follow for obtaining knowledge through experience rather than book study - eg heroquest practices, monastic disciplines). I think we are a long way off getting them right rules wise and the time probably isn't right to even try, let's get both the Rokari and a bit more on mysticism first. 

 

The Guide says that every Loskalmi starts working in the fields, then those that show "spiritual virtue and ability" are chosen to be trained as Guardians. It doesn't specify when this training begins, but I would guess around 12-14 years of age. Then promising Guardians are inducted into the Men-of-All, and from there it's wizards or First Brothers, then potentially nobles. A big part of learning sorcery involves becoming literate, which could happen during childhood. And even though Guardians don't use sorcery in combat, it doesn't explicitly say that they can't begin learning it during their training. If you become a Man-of-All by 18, which is not unreasonable, at 21 you could have mastered at least one Rune and one Technique, and learned something like 1-3 spells. I'm thinking that the basic sorcerous course of study is from the canon texts from p. 203 of the Guide, by Tomaris, Snodal, Siglat, and Talor. After that, a Man-of-All or wizard could specialize in whatever Ascended Master they please. 

3 hours ago, Joerg said:

All of these societies claimed for themselves to follow the true way of Malkion, and subsequent movements in Malkionism all built on Hrestol's influence, even the Brithini reforms shortly after the Dawn (mainly Zzabur's retirement from politics).

 

Something I am still confused by is when the idea of "Solace" and the "Invisible God" became a thing, and how that fits in with the major traditions in the Third Age. In Revealed Mythologies, which I realize is not totally canon, Solace is described as an "Ice Age" development. I thought that all the Malkioni during this period were actually Brithini, who don't even recognize or worship the Invisible God. So at some point in this mythic period, a few people on Brithos got it into their heads that there was a transcendent being, probably embodied by Malkion in his various forms, and that there was a way they could join with it after death. Is this why some Brithini left the island to found colonies in Genertela?

Where did this idea come from? It seems to be something Malkion himself may have taught during the Fifth Action. Quote from Revealed Mythologies, p. 12, "The Sacrifice of Malkion brings contact with Solace for the mortals who have been suffering. This is the start of the return to Godhead of the Malkioni." What's weird about this to me is that all of Malkion's followers were seemingly killed (except the Brithini/Enrolvalini), and New Malkonwal destroyed. How did these teachings about Solace survive, and spread among the Brithini later on? 

Then there's the Invisible God as a concept. I am totally tripped up at this point on the difference between Malkion, the Invisible God, Makan, Irensaval, and others. The term "Invisible God" seems to have been introduced with the God Learners and their Abiding Book. What is actually revealed in the Abiding Book that differs from earlier Hrestol or Brithini traditions? Did it just have lots of cool new spells in it!? And how does the Invisible God relate to the greater mythological narrative? Does it represent Malkion in a specific Action? Revealed Mythologies conveniently links many of these concepts with each Action. Solace=Kiona, Second Action. Joy=Ferbrith, First Action. Not sure what the Invisible God is in connection with this larger system. 

Sorry I'm asking a lot of barely coherent questions, I'm probably reading too much into the Revealed Mythologies stuff. 

9 minutes ago, Runeblogger said:

I still imagine western peasants knowing some sorcery to make their daily work easier. Because knowing spirit magic would be worse, right?  

Maybe this is a better question for the Runequest forum, but I'm still very confused about what kind of magic you're allowed to use if you're Rokari, and not in the zzaburi caste. I got the impression that the other castes can't cast any kind of magic, just receive sorcerous benefits from their wizards. If you were playing RQG, this seems like a huge disadvantage, compared to what the average theist character receives. 

4 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

Which brings me to why I never like Western/Malkioni settings: they are so unpleasant and the theology is worse, grim and miserable. I might think, like, Orlanth is an ass (I don't specifically) but at least Dragon Pass is interesting and the myths are fascinating.

 

I can definitely understand this take. I'm curious which Malkioni sect or culture you think is the most "playable." I've put a lot of thought into how I would potentially build a campaign in each region featuring the Western culture, namely Seshnela, Loskalm, and Safelster.

Despite what the GtG says, I think the Rokari Seshnelans are probably the least playable next to the Brithini, who are unplayable for lots of reasons. There's the Vadeli too I guess, but I don't really consider them part of the club. In Seshnela, if you're a horali or a dronar, you pretty much have to do whatever the talars and zzaburi tell you to do, right? It would make a mixed-caste party of Seshnelan characters a bit difficult to manage. The status of women in Seshnela is also quite depressing. Every other religion in Glorantha seems to have some kind of escape valve cult for non-conforming women (Vinga, shamanism, basically the entire Lunar Way), but I don't see that among the Rokari. 

Loskalm on the other hand has rejected caste restrictions, and apparently grants women the same status as men. Their religion is a bit grim, yet they still celebrate the human body through art, athletics, etc. I'm not totally clear on their attitudes to sex. Probably somewhere between, "All flesh is evil" and "the body is a reflection of the unknowable divine." I think it's also notable that there seems to be acceptance of same-sex relationships there, based on the relationship between Meriatan and Gundreken. I could see playing a Loskalmi character being more interesting too, because they can choose to study and worship different Ascended Masters, kind of like a theist character has their choice of cult. 

4 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

At least give me bodhisattvas boldly stolen from other religions. Manichaeism worked because it made Gnosticism interesting. Sure the evil creator made this filth-world, but also look at this amazing art and the printed books and hymnals and wow, here are some great stories. Hype those saints. Bring me the Navigationalists and their weird ship-cults.

Sounds like Safelster is your place!  Weird cults and occult knife fights. I would run a campaign there in a heartbeat if I just had me some good heroquesting rules, and an Arkat cult writeup. 

Hello, I'm also a relative newcomer to Glorantha. I wouldn't really recommend my method for learning the setting, which was just to plow through a pdf of the Guide to Glorantha. But some more accessible products that I would like to second include-

• King of Dragon Pass for PC or mobile devices - Kind of challenging at first but really fun, and relevant to the RQG setting and timeline. The sequel, Six Ages, is also excellent. I actually prefer it to KoDP, but it's set in the mythological period waaay before the default starting date, focusing on a totally different region and culture. 
• Prince of Sartar webcomic - Incomplete, but still really good and does a great job at establishing the Bronze Age feel of Glorantha. If you're interested in Esrolia, there are some really cool depictions of Nochet, and the Esrolian noble houses.
• Also going to champion this blog series on Chaosium by Ellie and Scott Akers, Selkana's Saga. It might not help you learn the setting, but it's great for seeing what a game of RQ:G can actually look like. It also stars some interesting and diverse characters that hail from Esrolia. 

I would actually hesitate to recommend the Glorantha Sourcebook as a starting point. It's really more of a companion piece to the Guide, and it expands on stuff that is not as well-developed from that book, specifically Dragon Pass, major pantheons, and the history of the Lunar Empire. I loved reading it in the same way that I loved reading the Guide. It made my head spin, in a pleasant way. 

On 7/27/2019 at 9:21 AM, HeartQuintessence said:

Is there a Glorantha discord running around somewhere?

I'm only somewhat familiar with Discord, and I haven't heard of anyone using it for Runequest or Heroquest. Would you want to run or play in a campaign on Discord, or just sound out your questions and ideas with other folks? 

14 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

The unifying concept of "onion-domes" in both Indian/Persian-inspired Seshnela and Russian-inspired Akem is pretty neat though.

I agree, I think medieval Russia is a helpful visual for imagining the Fronelan west. Although the designers have specifically stated that Jonatela and other places are definitely not medieval Eastern Europe, I think a GM could still  borrow architectural ideas to paint a clearer picture. And Fronela has a lot of timber to make use of, so I could see their temples looking more like these Russian wooden cathedrals-

I've been struggling to get a good visual sense of what Western cities actually look like. We have some excellent pieces of art from the GtG showing some background structures for cities in Seshnela and Safelster, and also Sog City, but these offer only tantalizing glimpses. I was initially thinking of all Malkioni as being way more Greek/Byzantine with style of dress and architecture, but the more I look into images of ancient Indian cities, temples, costume, etc. the more I can see that influence. Here's a good image I recently discovered on Wikipedia that could easily be a city in Seshnela or Ralios, minus the elephants. 

For me this fits with the cities depicted in the Guide, a mix of stone and timber, stylized roofs in an apsidal structure, or lots of domes and spires. The only thing I'm noticing about ancient Indian architecture is that the pillars, walls and so forth are absolutely crammed with reliefs, statues, and depictions of gods, heroes and so forth. In Safelster I would bet this is also the case, but in places like Seshnela or Loskalm, I would think the decorations would be more abstract, favoring geometric principles. The description of temples to the Invisible God on p. 53 in the Guide kind of backs that up. 

On 7/5/2019 at 8:16 AM, David Scott said:

Spirits bound by pacts are just like sidekicks in HQG. They are simply spirit helpers that have agreed (with POW) to be friends with the shaman. A bound spirit is different in that the shaman has defeated it and bound it to service. I would personalise these spirits giving them their own magic and abilities if needed. In the case of a Deity (don't forget you can easily modify you chances of finding a deity), I'd make the spirit an avatar or just part of the deity's power. So when meeting Chalana Arroy, you might just have a giant healing spirit as a friend that has all of her rune spells (plus rune points to match). As part of the pact it would tip your Harmony rune +20%, etc. This type of spirit represent to me the normal type of spirit helper that shaman have. They are much more useful and provide game hooks.

I like that there is a system in place for shamans having a more "egalitarian" relationship with spirits. I think having them hang around the shaman makes sense, and is probably what the rules are trying to imply. I worry that what a pact spirit does for the shaman is a bit limited however. What I'll probably do, once my player's character becomes a full shaman that is, is say that they can still ask their pact spirits to cast spells or do other tasks, but they reserve the right to say no, or demand additional sacrifices or favors. 

44 minutes ago, CBDunkerson said:

The book covers this. If the spirit is reduced to 3 magic points or less, or 5 fewer than an opponent it is facing in spirit combat, the pact ends.

Missed that, thanks.

46 minutes ago, CBDunkerson said:

It seems like spirits captured by the shaman's fetch can do everything a spirit in a pact with the shaman could. Thus, making spirit pacts likely only makes sense to recruit multiple and/or more powerful spirits.

I was wondering what the point of pacts is at all, but when I looked over the spirit contact table on p. 359, there’s a pretty good chance of contacting a spirit with a POW of 20 or higher. Bargaining may end up being more beneficial than binding for powerful spirits. 

I'm a little confused about a shaman's spirit pacts, as described on p. 358-359 of the rulebook. My understanding is that these pacts are distinct from any bound spirits that the shaman might have, but they still serve a similar purpose. The rules say a spirit involved in a pact serves as "eyes and ears" in the spirit world, allows the shaman to use their magic points, and will fight for them in spirit combat. They will not hold or cast spells. 

So if a shaman makes a pact with a spirit, can they use it's magic points at any time? I would assume they can't use all of a spirit's magic points, as that would put it in danger. Also, if a shaman wants to call a spirit to fight for them, does it need to already be present? The rules don't say anything about how to contact the pact spirit after the initial bargain, so I would guess that a shaman would need to discorporate, find it again, and ask it to come along on an adventure first. 

Any insight into this would be helpful, sorry if it's been brought up on the forums already. 

9 hours ago, Joerg said:

 

A crystal is the equivalent to the product of the binding enchantment spell p.257 (which takes POW to create) and (unlike the enchantment) conveniently isn't limited in the number of characteristics of the spirit to place in the crystal. Page 265 has the Spirit Binding spell which is required to bind a spirit into an animal, a matrix or a crystal. This appears to be a special form of "Control (entity)" which doesn't specify the species but doesn't make the spirit entity do anything but enter the prepared housing.

 

So if this player of mine wanted to bind the spirit (which is a wraith), all they would need to do is cast Spirit Binding? And once the spirit is “bound,” my understanding is that you can use it’s mp, spells if it has any, and release it to follow your commands. But that last option requires something like “Command Cult Spirit.” Do I have all that right?

8 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Not at the same time. It's explicitly forbidden. You can *either* bind a spirit in it,, *or* store MPs. (I hope I'm reading your post correctly. Apologies if you already realised this).

That makes sense now that I think about it, you can’t have two sources of mp in the same rock.

A question came up with one of my players during our last session of RQG. When he rolled for his family heirloom during character creation (p. 83 in the core book), he got the 8-11 option. It says you have a magic POW crystal that can either store a certain number of magic points, or serve as a spirit-binding matrix. He chose the second option, and just recently found a spirit that he considers worth capturing. However, once we checked the rules, it looks like he would need to still sacrifice a certain amount of POW (3 points in this case), and also have access to a binding enchantment spell, which is Rune Lord/Priest/Shaman stuff. 

Does anyone have any insight on how this family heirloom is supposed to work? I'm thinking that maybe what it actually meant was that the POW crystal stores and mp, and could also be used to bind spirits as well, when that becomes feasible. But even that is confusing, because I thought any object could be used for binding. 

I don’t remember Ygg being included in the list for Gods of Glorantha. Is he now being included, or will a cult write up possibly appear somewhere else?

5 hours ago, Runeblogger said:

What kind of cultural differences exist among Genertelan trolls, for instance? I don't remember any right now.

I feel like the differences are implied mostly by their religion. Dagori Inkarth and Halikiv are probably both very similar. But in Guhan the trolls revere Arkat, and I think are actually descended from his trollish followers. In the Shadow Plateau, Argan Argar and the Only Old One are likely much more prominent, along with the usual deities. I also get the sense that Holy Country trolls have better relations with humans around them. Nochet even has a troll neighborhood.

The most divergent are probably the Blue Moon Plateau trolls worshiping Anilla, or the Kingdom of Ignorance. They either ally with or rule over humans, and worship gods that are weird even by troll standards. 

If you consider Snow Trolls to basically be the same as regular Uz, they represent another divergent lifestyle, worshiping Himile and living together in big sacks. 

On 6/1/2019 at 6:16 PM, DreadDomain said:

 Some I have less affinities (Some more because of lack of depth) like, Pentan, Kraloreli, Teshnan, Vormaino, Morokanth.

 

I feel much the same way about these, although I like Teshnos as a setting. I think the idea of Solar worship transplanted to a different place and culture is neat, and I find the Zaranistangi connection interesting. 

One reason I didn't include the elder races in my original post is because I feel like there are actually several different cultures within each species, as among humans. They just aren't as well-explored. When people say they like "Uz" for example, I feel like they are usually referring to the Dagori Inkarth trolls that venture into Dragon Pass and Prax. But after reading the GtG, and skimming the old Trollpak books, it's clear that there are fundamental differences between the different troll "nations," especially since they tend to exist in isolation from one another. This is also probably true of the Ludoch. The Aldryami seem to diverge culturally across their different sub-species, but otherwise display a lot of continuity across a wide geographical area (part of why I find them kind of boring). The Mostali have their various heresies and sects. All in all, it seems like classifying an elder race as a monolithic culture is kind of selling them short. 

I'm seeing a lot of interest in the people of the Holy Country (Caladralanders, Kitori, Esrolians). This is definitely one of my favorite regions simply because it so densely packed with weird cultures that would each play very differently from one another. Hopefully we'll see some RQG material in the next few years that gives it even more depth. 

On the subject of the Kitori, in our campaign my PC's recently liberated some Ergeshi slaves from the Sambari tribe. These are Kitori who have been isolated from their kin for generations, so now they want to be adopted into the PC's clan rather than return to the Troll Woods. The players haven't made up their minds if this is a good idea yet, but I hope they go for it because then I'll have various excuses to make trouble for them later. 

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

4) Ludoch!: if I was doing a non-human culture, this is the one I'd be interested in exploring.

 

Among the Elder Races, these are the ones I've put the most thought into for running a campaign. You could set up some good sandbox adventures in either the Marthino Sea (war with the Malasp), or the Mournsea (lots of sunken ruins to explore). Also, the Sea Pantheon is huge and has a lot of cool mythology associated with it. Much of it is grim and depressing but I appreciate that about it.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

Is there a reason why you limit this to human cultures?

That's probably worth it's own post, but I do have my favorites among the Elder Races.

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

The Orlanthi or rather Theyalan culture is way more than just the well-explored Sartarite storm worshipers or the Grandmother-cowed Esrolians. Sun Domers have their great RQ3 sourcebook for the Praxian branch, Caladralanders and their Porthomekan and Dwarf-controlled offshoots are quite different, and the Pelaskites, Ingareens and Kitori of the Holy Country/Kingdom of Night are sufficiently alien to deserve separate investigation, too. Quite multi-flavored, or at least "vanilla and ..." flavored.

 

I would say that every "Orlanthi" culture definitely has it's own thing going on. I've spent a fair bit of time investigating the traditions of Oranor and Jonatela for example, and after a while they start to feel very different from Dragon Pass Heortlings. I think the "Major Cultures" section of the Guide is basically describing those Holy Country/Sartar Heortlings as an illustrative example though, and I still find them interesting in spite of the fact that they are somewhat overplayed at this point. 

8 hours ago, Joerg said:

 Pelorian cultures are different, and apart from the Lunar Way or mixed forms of Theyalan, western and Pelorian influences probably less suited for RuneQuest games that appear to assume Initiate-level involvement with personal magic. There are such people in the Pelorian population, but they are unusual in the same sense that D&D adventurers are different from NPCs. (But then, the Western culture has the same problem with regard to sorcery, and personally I am disappointed about the "they just use spirit magic and theism" for the main portion of the population. Fine for mixed regions like Carmania, Ralios, Esvular, Umathela or Jonatela, less so for the purist Malkioni in Seshnela and Loskalm.)

 

Fair point about the Westerners. I think among purist Malkioni, Loskalm is a better region to build a campaign from, at least if your players are Men-of-All. With Seshnela I was actually under the impression that all castes can use sorcery if a person is semi-literate, it's just that the teaching and research of new spells is heavily controlled and restricted by the zzaburi.  

8 hours ago, Joerg said:

The Artmali struggle and the Melibian quest for the Sword of Tolat ranks fairly high on my interest scale. The resurgence of the Blue Moon people, and Gebel possibly even reaching Zamokil before (or after?) making his way to Loskalm and back is a very interesting campaign premise, and intersects with many other Hero Wars major events (White Moon and later Sheng Seleris in Peloria, returning Arkats in Ralios while potentially tracing the steps of the Loper army, the Kingdom of War in Fronela, the disappearance of Kresh Wagons in Zamokil).

 

Right with you there, if I ever did run a campaign in Fonrit, it would probably be centered around Gabaryanga's uprising. Although, again, it kind of bothers me that the official Hero Wars plot for everything related to Fonrit is, "decadence, corruption, Chaos, slavery, everyone dies horribly, etc." 

The Guide to Glorantha was my first introduction to the setting. I thought the early section on major cultures was a good way to start the book, and it made a strong impression on me. Right away I had a good sense of which cultures I would be interested in playing, or organizing a campaign around. In fact, pretty much as soon as I had finished that section I had them all ranked in my head from most interesting to least. Once I had finished the Guide, I had a much deeper understanding of each culture, but my rankings didn't change much. My criteria for a culture being "interesting" include:

1. Playability - How easy would it be build an adventuresome campaign around a community in this culture? 
2. Diversity - How much does the culture vary in different areas, or is it monolithic?
3. Uniqueness - How cool and weird and different from our historical cultures are these people?

Please note that I actually find all the cultures of the setting fun and interesting, way more so than most other fictional worlds. I just think it's fun to make lists. So, here is my ranking for the 8 cultures presented in the Guide, from what I see as most interesting to least - 

1. Western - The Westerners are definitely my favorite, and I think they win for being the most unique. I love their strange religion with it's Neo-Platonic roots, and their humanistic worldview which is not shared by any other people in Glorantha. The different sects of the Malkioni faith make for some interesting diversity within the culture, as does the caste system for the Seshnelans. It's hard to say how "playable" Westerners actually would be, since there is very little material provided for playing them as written in the Guide. However, I feel like there is plenty of opportunity for adventure and epic conflict in the West, especially around Loskalm and Ralios. Definitely would not try to run a Brithini campaign though. 
2. Hsunchen - Upon first reading the early section on the Hsunchen, I found them interesting, but not overly exciting. As I continued to read the Guide, I realized that the Hsunchen are probably the most diverse Gloranthan culture. Each totem animal has it's own associated tribe with wildly differing lifestyles and traditions. Even though they are all classified as "primitive," some are basically herders, some known for being powerful magicians, and some of them build empires. I also love how weird some of the different tribes are, including mammoth herders, hyper-sexual skunk people, and blood-drinking were-bats. I think the Hsunchen lifestyle is also naturally inclined towards questing and adventure, although maybe not too far from the home range. 
3. Orlanthi - Although the Orlanthi are sort of Glorantha's "default" or "vanilla" campaign option, I really do think they have a lot going for them. Tribal cultures are, in my opinion, the most playable. The instability of their political system, and their traditions of heroism, make it really easy to build adventures around this culture. And while they might at first seem to be a cultural monolith in Glorantha, a closer look reveals that this is not at all true. Even within Sartar, the different tribes can have a very different feel to them. It's also hard to deny just how deep and well-developed Orlanthi culture and religion is, since it has basically been the main focus for Runequest and Heroquest material for the last few decades (and continues to be a major focus in RQG). 
4. Praxian - I just really like the idea of warlike nomads that ride anything that's not a horse. But beyond that, I feel like the Praxians are very diverse, playable, and plenty weird enough. They also benefit from having tons of stuff written about them over the years. 
5. Doraddi - I like the Doraddi for many of the same reasons that I like the Orlanthi, in fact I think they have a lot of similarities. Their social structure is vaguely similar, many of their gods have similar roles to one another, and it's easy to create stories out of their many cultural minutiae (feuds, taboos, rituals, quests, etc.). They also have enough diversity between the major plains regions that they stay interesting. I do think however that southern Pamaltela is not as well-developed in the Guide as it could be.
6. Pelorian - I wasn't terribly impressed with the Pelorians in the early section of the Guide. I think they are, in some ways, the least playable culture (at least the Dara Happans). This is due mainly to their staunch conservatism, arrogance, and patriarchal tendencies. However, once I read the Lunar Empire section and read up on all the other cultures that are technically "Pelorian," I grew much more enamored with them. You have the Rinliddi, Pelandans, Alkothi, Darjiini, the list goes on and on. I also think the Solar pantheon is arguably the largest and most complex of all the theistic religions, and that scores them some points. 
7. Fonritian - I love many things about the Fonritians, but the overwhelming focus on the tradition of chattel slavery is a big turnoff for me. There are plenty of fascinating things about their religion, history, and culture as written, but I just don't think I would ever find a group of players who would want to explore a setting where the most brutal form of slavery is so normal and accepted. In other words, I find them basically unplayable. 
8. Kralori - I rate them lowest because I feel like they lack much of what makes the other cultures exciting. Pretty much all of the others are a blend of different historical groups plus "a whole lot of weird stuff." To me, the Kralori seem to be basically a fantastical version of Han China. My criticisms mostly center on Kralorela and Vormain, I actually find the Kingdom of Ignorance, Teshnos and the East Isles to be quite fascinating. 

I'm curious to hear what other people think, or to see how other people would rank their favorites. I also acknowledge that there are many other cultures that don't fit neatly into the "Big Eight," like the Pentans, the Yggites, the Maslo, and many others that deserve honorable mention. I just figured it would be easier to focus on the major ones. 

8 hours ago, Bohemond said:

I doubt that many Heortling clans attempt a full quest version of the LBQ--it's one of the hardest quests there is and it's rare enough that a successful quest is a long-remembered event, like a major war. But some might do one small piece of the quest, depending on what particular problems they are facing. Others (perhaps most) will simply do the Gloranthan version of liturgical drama, walking through the events with people playing the roles but not performing an actual quest. A clan with a strong tradition of worshipping one specific Lightbringer, like Issaries or Chalana Arroy, might focus their rituals on that god, while others might have a meta-cycle in which each year they focus on a different Lightbringer. Each Lightbringer receives at least one day of the Sacred Time focused on them (except Eurmal--no one wants to focus on him), so if a clan has a strong relationship with a god their rituals might culminate on that day. Worshippers may be transported to the Godtime on a particular day and help their god perform a key event during the LBQ.

Thanks this gives me a lot to work with. I may try to pick one specific part of the quest that my players can assist with. 

8 hours ago, Bohemond said:

Another key activity is taking omens for the next year. I think most clans conduct at least one ritual seeking omens, most commonly from Lhankor Mhy I expect. But the rituals probably vary from one clan to another--one studies the entrails of a sacrificial animal, while another pours out Lhankor Mhy's Inkpot and studies the patterns that form or looks at the shapes of the clouds. Unusual natural occurrences during the Sacred Time are extremely important--if Chalana Arroy's sacred doves refuse to eat, that means that war or chaos is coming while a strong gust of wind on a cloudless day is Orlanth saying something. Everyone pays special attention to their dreams.

 

I've specifically told the players that the clan has no Lhankor Mhy worshipers, so divination is probably going to involve entrails. I also think 1626 would definitely be an "ill-favored" year, given the death of Kallyr Starbrow and the general chaos that follows.