Beoferret

What are the big differences here? I've long been feeling like the RAW random hit location generation for melee combat - where leg hits are a lot more common than head shots - is a little skewed. My own experiences in Kumdo/kendo and in swinging foam swords at friends and family produced a lot more head hits than leg hits (yes, these results are shaped by the fact that the legs are not official targets in kumdo - but they do get hit from time to time during particularly intense bouts or in bouts between beginners with unsteady aim.)

So... almost as if they were reading a transcript of dialogue put through Google translate a few times?

Northern German? Though it'd be kind of funny to have trolls speak with a kinda of sing-songy Alpine German accent (esp. if it was Schweitzerdeutsch in inspiration.)

How do you all imagine what Aldryami, trolls, etc. sound like when they speak their own languages and when they speak human languages? Do Mostali speak in a veritable monotone? Do Uz incorporate clicks and other sounds that might carry in the dark into their speaking (even when using Heortling or Tradetalk)? Do they have deep, rumbling voices or are they actually high-pitched and insect-like (in contrast to what one might expect when looking at them)? Do Aldryami rustle their leaves or rub patches of barkskin together when agitated? Thoughts?

Possible update: Jonathan Tweet mentioned on his twitter account that he'd handed in a Glorantha manuscript today (7/12). Pretty sure that's referring to "The Dragon's Eye." (Unless he had some other, secret project he was working on.)

What a great way to improve one's GMing craft and to make scenes really memorable to players! And so easily done (with just a little thought.) Throwing in descriptions of smell especially could also be a fun way to notify players that danger lies ahead or as a means of misdirection. Imagine telling players that their characters catch an especially strong scent of honey (or roses or whatever smells nice) emanating from a ruin they're about to enter - only for them to find out it's coming from a broo with some sort of funky chaos feature (e.g., sores that ooze a sweet, syrupy secretion.)

Surprised no one's posted about this yet! Chaosium's twitter feed provided a tantalizing look at a campaign that Jason's apparently playtesting. Materials presented show a map of Nochet and an adventure involving PCs dealing with Queen Samastina and visiting Necropolis (set shortly after Samastina's coup?). Very cool.

Thanks guys. I'm asking since I was thinking of an adventure involving the discovery and exploration of an EWF-era country manor house or temple.

Oh devotees of the Knowing God! Hear my plea! Are there examples of EWF architecture in any current publication? If not, from what ancient culture(s) might a GM best draw upon for inspiration, in their hour of adventure-formulating need? And where might one find a basic outline of EWF social structure/society? Many thanks for whatever morsel of you may bestow upon this unworthy supplicant.

He's looking forward to the bonus he'll get to his Worship roll after the kid's offered up for sacrifice. He'll definitely get all his Rune points back now!

At no point have you sounded childish. Not in the slightest. Lots of games provide what you were asking about, so it's a reasonable question (and about a subject that pops up from time to time on the forum). Thankfully, you're getting some good advice here (including some that I'll take as well, since RQG is the only edition of RQ I've ever picked up.) There're a lot of old-timers here who are deeply immersed in the game and setting and who'll have good insights and suggestions for ya. Most are pretty good humored about it too. Some may come across a little harsher and/or impatient in forum and Facebook posts than they probably would in person - trust that you're not being singled out. As for magic and bog standard NPC's (guards, bandits, etc.): I'd keep a few general ideas in mind. Everyone has some spirit magic, but not everyone is going to have combat-related magic. I assume that most of the spirit magic spells regular people have learned would have little to no impact on a brief encounter w/ PC's. Not everyone is a full initiate of a cult and so has access to rune magic. There's at least one thread on this topic in the forum. And most of those who do have access to rune magic, probably only have one spell (aside from the common ones?). So, I guess I'd recommend putting together a very abbreviated list of spirit magic and rune spells that would be of immediate concern in a potential combat or a social interaction. And then just assign them to NPCs as seems warranted in the moment and what is consistent with those NPCs' roles and rough backgrounds - e.g., the bandits who are desperate, impoverished farmers might not have any combat-related spells, while ones who are former soldiers probably have a bunch.)

Coming up with a self-castration ritual/ceremony for the character could result in a pretty intense session! Something like: the player has to make some sort of will roll or roll vs their Earth or Death Rune (in any case with a significant penalty) in order to go through with un-manning themselves. To improve their chances, the character can to undertake a several days long period of ascetic worship, denying themselves food, etc. (i.e., make a worship roll as an augment - and a CON roll to stay coherent) and then take some inebriants or perform a final dance to help distance themselves from their body (thus giving them a further bonus to their final roll.) Then comes the moment of truth; the player makes the final dice roll for the ritual and ... a) they fail and just can't go through with it (leading to their rejection for Rune status and expulsion from the cult, but with reasonably intact genitals), b) they crit fail and manage to mangle themselves, but don't actually complete the self-castration (PC takes damage, they're expelled from Maran Gor's embrace, and they gain Reputation), c) they succeed (and take some damage, have a long-recovery, etc.), or d) critical success - they remove their junk with a fluid motion, beatific smile, etc. (gain Reputation, Rune rank, and maybe some token of Maran Gor's approval/acceptance.)

Nice! I think you put together a pretty solid review of the adventure and have a lot of good advice for folks GMing it. I haven't run it yet, but I'll definitely be using some of your suggestions when I do. What did your players think of the adventure, the setting, and ruleset overall?

Ausgezeichnet! Is there any new material (or material that's different than the English edition) in it?

With Aldryami, I could see a "grove" being a unit of belonging that's roughly equivalent to family or clan ( with "forest" = Heortling tribe). As for background, I imagine there'd be some distinct events that one could have a connection to - e.g., the character's grove (or the character themselves) was involved in some notable incursion into a dwarf hold or fought off a particularly large troll or Chaos force or were involved in a notable ritual meant to expand a portion of their forest, etc., etc. All sorts of things that humans would have little to no knowledge of. The same could be said of Mostali, I suppose (with the added event: what brought your character to convert to individualism and what happened to them afterwards?) Ducks and trolls have the advantage that they were directly involved in several events involving humans (if only passively); whether Starbrow's Revolt, the Duck Hunt, or the great migration of trolls through Dragon Pass.

Any sense of when (or if) more episodes will be uploaded to youtube?

Mayne Kuhn

That'd probably also increase their sense of agency; i.e., even when defending they get to act (roll), rather than being acted upon (GM rolls.)

That's a 70's album cover, if I ever saw one. Or maybe something for the side of a van? 😃

Can anyone imagine Heortlings doing this? In any of the three ages or the Godtime? Maybe as part of a heroquest reenacting Orlanth's killing of Yelm (if you could tie it to opposing overweening authority and somehow ignore the resulting Darkness side of the myth)? I can imagine king or chief sacrifice being involved in a Gloranthan myth about a leader sacrificing themselves in order to save their people from some horrible fate (starvation or a chaos incursion) or perhaps an aged leader who volunteers to be sacrificed so that their spirit becomes the community wyter. Interesting possibilities. * also, in RQG terms, I wonder what the bonus to a group worship roll would be, if a chief/king was sacrificed as part of the ceremony. +30% if they were unwilling and +100% if they volunteered? 😁

Are there any examples of folks sacrificing their king/queen or chieftain (when times are rough or as an emergency appeal to the gods' aid) in Gloranthan canon? If not, which cultures seem most likely to do/have done something like that? I'm thinking here of the example of iron age Ireland (like the bog bodies of Old Croghan Man and Clonycavan Man) and the plot point in Mary Renault's The King Must Die.

This looks great! I am ridiculously excited about this and am planning to buy several copies (for distributing to friends who prove themselves worthy). So, since no one else has asked yet: 1) Where's it gettin' printed? 2) And, if everything went completely smoothly with the printing, assembling, and the shipping of crates to key distribution centers, how long might one predict the rest of the process to take? We still a couple of months out from being able to give Chaosium our money? My clacks and lunars are getting restless......

Just thought of this this morning: the young adult/juvenile fiction series "Gods and Warriors" by Michelle Paver. They take place in the eastern Mediterranean during a Bronze Age where people have access to magic and critter companions. A young person in my house liked them and even said that aspects of the story were like Glorantha. And I just noticed my local library also carries a book called Dragonfly Song, by Wendy Orr, that's about ancient Crete and bull leaping.

Whoops! My bad. Must have gotten the page count switched up with the number of pre-gens! Thanks for not tearing me a new one.

Question that just occurred to me this morning: would the 14 page guide to Glorantha that's being included in the Starter Set make a good Chaosium offering for the next Free RPG Day, here in the U.S.? Might be a great way to get a few more people interested in the setting and its related products.