Beoferret

This conversation brings a question to mind: what is the role of Fate, as a concept, in Gloranthan societies? Do Orlanthi and/or Praxians have a sense of wyrd?

The Chronicles of Prydain are awesome. The Black Cauldron is such a cool artifact (both in the story and in actual myth.) The story of its destruction befits a Humakti hero.

I almost forgot! Princess Mononoke has a number of aspects that feel very Gloranthan to me. Deer-riding warriors! Demonic/Chaos-taint! Massive godbeasts (e.g., the boar in the beginning)! But especially the depiction of the spirits in the ancient forest. It's strongly influenced how I imagine the spirit world.

I'm loving a lot of the suggestions here. I'd like to second the Epic of Gilgamesh. Portions of The Aeneid, especially Aeneas' trip to the underworld, definitely work as a Glorantha-esque hero's tale. I'd also like to pitch Kubo and the Two Strings as worthy for consideration. Elements of it really seem to illustrate the heroquest idea to me. (It's an awesome flick that my boys loved.)

This looks pretty interesting! Thanks for notifying us.

With opposed rolls, when both parties succeed at something where only one can be the winner, the easiest thing may be to declare that the one with the widest margin of success (between dice roll and target number)has come out on top. That's how GURPS does it. Simple. RAW's position that equal levels of success (i.e., regular vs. special vs. critical) leave a contest unresolved and/or tied, are still fine (to my mind) if that would lead to some fun drama (Argrath and Harrek both scramble for a sword on the floor, but they each roll a special success; they both end up with their hands on the hilt and now they have to wrassle for it!) As for the problem of characters with particularly low stats still having a chance at success, when they shouldn't have any at all, couldn't that be solved by assigning a minimum attribute score to the check? I don't know why the rules officially state that everyone has a 1-5 on a D100 chance of success, even if their attribute score is lower than 5. In terms of using Attribute x 5 with +/- modifiers for attribute tests, does anyone have a rough estimate of what they might be for various degrees of difficulty?

I could totally see Durulz using standard light chariots (or maybe something smaller in size) pulled by ponies or smaller horses (e.g., the size of icelandic horses). The question that comes to my mind is how often and for what purposes would a people who are culturally oriented towards rivers and marshes use chariots? They'd probably be of little use in actual Durulz warfare/military tactics. But, I can totally see important Ducks using chariots as a way to signal status and to project a certain image when dealing with human communities. They'd be even more of a relative extravagance than they already are for human nobles and warriors. Whether humans would take chariot-driving Ducks more seriously is an open question. And I could see a Duck noble's chariot being decorated in some pretty fun ways (like feather wreaths slung over the necks of the team pulling it around.)

Hell yeah! It's too bad that it wasn't out in time for this last X-mas or for New Gamemaster Month, but I'm sure Rick, Jeff, et al feel the same way. I'm actually starting to look forward to the rest of 2021.

Eurmal somehow captures Harrek in the Infinity Rune, subjecting Harrek to a dizzying roller coaster of space and time. As long as Eurmal holds on to the Rune, Harrek's trapped. But then Eurmal is distracted and puts the Infinity Rune down somewhere and forgets about it. Meanwhile, Harrek (being a demigod) is able to escape, but ends up reentering the world both a) far away from Esrolia, and b) in an embarrassing and/or compromising position. He's pissed and he has a vague sense that some poor schmuck he's never met before (*insert Eurmali character here*) is responsible for his humiliation. Esrolia is saved, but the Eurmali is now being hunted by Harrek and his Wolf Pirates. Eventually the bill will come due.

Thanks for the input everyone! I think the player in question mainly liked the idea of someone who defends or avenges women, but primarily through magic instead of bright, sharp bronze. I will remind her about the potential to use herbs/concoctions for effect. I haven't read the Miller book and haven't read the Odyssey in awhile (The Iliad is a little more present in my mind at the moment.) Thanks again, all.

Hey all. I have a prospective player who - influenced by Madeline Miller's Circe - wants to make a character like the titular sorceress. My initial idea is to encourage her to make an assistant priestess of Ernalda, who's also a lay worshipper of Babeester Gor (to cover the defense of women vs nasty men/revenge on nasty men angle). How to model the whole permanently turning men into pigs (or any other animals, for that matter) side of things though? I don't see any spells in the main rules that would cover this. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I'm impressed that it went as well as it did with so little lead-up (from what I've heard.) Wish I could have made it! As for John's SSG, I was under the impression that it was just a really basic and quick intro to Glorantha and RQG - which I'd love to see (my own intro document is ... um.... not very brief. Ugh.) Didn't realize it was it's own game.

Not canonical, but what about.... the Manhandlers.

On page 222 of the core RQG rules there's a textbox on "Dragon Pass Chariots." That says the common Orlanthi chariot has move 11 and 16 hit points. I'm assuming that they act like a shield's hp, when calculating how much the chariot's body protects its occupants relevant hit locations. And, of course, chariots can be armored to some degree; e.g., the chariot in The Rattling Wind scenario has bronze plating on it for an armor rating of 5. Hope that helps! (if only to give you general ballpark stats to work from.)

How'd it go?

Totally understood, Rick. Not trying to be a pain in the ass (honestly.) It is exciting to know that there are a bunch of products in the official pipeline; it also has the nice corollary that RQG must be doing well product-wise or else so much new material wouldn't be in production. I have seen some of the GoG art previews and maps that Jeff has shared, I'm just pretty dang eager to get a taste of some of the other stuff. I will indeed happily cop to being "super duper keen" 😁!

I've been partial to imagining Sartarites/Heortlings as being like a mix of the Samnites, Etruscans, and Italo-Celts (in terms of material culture and lifeways) As for everyone else.... Grazelanders are Scythians; Esrolians are Minoan/Mycenaeans; Lunars contain Babylonians, Assyrians, and Seleucid Hellenes living in perfect harmony; and Praxians are ... well .... a fun mix of all sorts of nomadic horse-riders (though there's definitely some elements of southern Plains Indian culture and some Pueblo elements, e.g., the Hopi/Tewa-like hairstyle of bison tribe women.)

Did anyone catch how far along (roughly) various RQ projects are in the pipeline? Any art previews available for us to salivate over?

Summon unagi!

I've been loving all the art associated with RQG, since its release. This has instantly become one of my top three favorites. To my mind, this is the kind of image you can show people that catches their attention, fires their imagination, and inspires them to play the game.

I've been thinking about picking this up myself, but am still in the "hold on to your money" mindset. What are the key selling points to this supplement, in everyone's opinion?

Roughly how quickly would the slave farms have been attacked - after the Dragonrise, that is? Are we talking days? A couple of weeks? And were these slave farms set up like latifundia? Or were they simply smallish farms with a few slaves? Did Lunar officers or other officials receive other forms of land and holdings in Sartar, as reward for their service?

I'm definitely looking forward to this. I was hoping that it'd be out before Christmas, so I could buy a couple of sets for friends. Maybe it'll come out in time for New Gamemaster Month? That would seem like a good idea from a marketing standpoint.

Thanks for this reply, Lordabdul. I'm a fellow GURPS enthusiast, which I suspect trips me up with the RQG rules from time to time. RQG is so much better (in my opinion) than bog standard D&D, allowing much grittier and more meaningful combats. But honestly, I do think the GURPS combat system handles some things better (and is maybe a bit more intuitive in some ways). I really like your idea of incorporating the step and action concept and I'm going to definitely adopt the retreat one movement point for a +20% to defense rolls. It just feels right (and, like you noted, can create some drama all on its own.)

Ah ha. Thank you.