Beoferret

Personally, I find the overall case that RAW indicates -20% per defensive action (whether dodging or parrying) after the first (whether dodging or parrying) convincing. But this discussion throws two other things into question: 1) Dodge seems (to me) to be really poor for most characters (e.g. DEX 15 only gives you a dodge of 35, including the agility skill modifier, if you have no encumbrance, i.e. yer naked and wielding a pointy stick) unless you throw a bunch of points at it. Is it too weak of a defense as RAW now stands? Should dodge start as DEX x 3 or DEX x 4 to make it more useful? 2) Two weapon use. RAW says that "Any adventurer using a weapon in each hand may use them for two attacks, two parries, or one attack and one parry (RQG, pg. 224)." I would assume that the second option means two parries at full skill rating. But the third option seems...well, how is it any different than attacking and parrying when you only have one weapon? I have my own ideas about how to "fix" this, but don't want to muddy the waters quite yet.

I don't know if I would ever allow a dragonewt adventurer, but this makes a lot of sense and could be really fun to play - esp. if it occasionally meant getting the other PCs into trouble! Imagine the dragonewt PC seeking out progressively more dangerous encounters, without regard for the rest of the party; meanwhile the other PCs, because of their attachment/engagement with/to their comrade, do their damnedest to help it out, even in the face of overwhelming odds. The "seek danger to disengage from overattachment to bodily existence" idea definitely makes sense for explaining the random dragonewt mercenary or adventurer. What about a dragonewt who's wandering/adventuring among humans and others, in order to better understand the concept of engagement? (and who has lots of alien questions whenever characters demonstrate any of their passions)

Can you provide basic info for anyone who'd like to have a Wolf Pirate/Ygg islander character (e.g. cultural skills, rune affinities, starting passions, etc.?) Would a Wolf Pirate PC have a starting passion of loyalty to their ship? (or is that info being held on to for a future publication?)

Thanks for the input, everyone! Things have been clarified, while retaining a good deal of dragonewt mystery. So, another question! Who's more alien in their mentality and culture: dragonewts or mostali? And if you had a player who wanted a character who was one or the other, which would you allow and why? Which race do you think would be easier to play? Which would be more interesting?

So, it is written that Dragonewts begin to reengage with humans in 1625 after the Dragonrise (I'm probably not remembering the wording right in the Glorantha Sourcebook, but that's the gist.) If Dragonewts were not interested in getting involved in human affairs before that point, then why did Dragonewts hire themselves out as mercenaries to the Lunars? What would they gain from fighting in other people's wars? Seems inconsistent, at least on the surface. Secondly, the RQG GM Pack says something about Dragonewts occasionally going on human hunts. Does anyone have any information about that? How often did/does this happen in Dragon Pass? Why does it happen? How long is a hunt? What're Dragonewt goals when they do this? (OK, that's more than two questions, but maybe most of them can be considered just aspects of the second .)

"The Smoking Ruin" adventure, in (drumroll please!) The Smoking Ruin, might be a good one for your group, if they're ok with a few sessions that are heavy on NPC interaction. I think it really showcases a lot of Gloranthan themes and shows how a Runequest adventure can be similar, but very different from your standard D&D romp. And I love the "Wild Temple" location that's outlined in TSR. Since your players are experienced with Call of Cthulhu, "The Crimson Petals" in Pegasus Plateau could be a good intro to Runequest and Glorantha (at least Sartarite Dragon Pass), since there's a lot of room for playing investigator and violence probably won't be to the death. "Gloomwillow's Hollow," in PP, looks to be a really interesting and evocative adventure, though several people who've reviewed it or posted actual play reports note that the main villain is potentially, very hard to deal with (so, maybe not for newbies?) If you want to take your players to Prax and/or New Pavis, then get PP and run them through "The Pairing Stones" on their way to adventure in the Big Rubble.

Thank you for putting this together!

Would you be alright with the use of your drawings for in-home, player handout/player aid materials (i.e. non-published) or is it absolutely, strictly Jonstown Compendium titles? Not trying to push boundaries; I'm honestly wondering since I'm putting together an intro to Glorantha and Dragon Pass document for some players who have no prior exposure to the setting.

I've wrote up an NPC, for an upcoming adventure, who's a Chalana Arroy follower. Her schtick will be to use her staff to defend any on her side that fall or are seriously wounded - parrying and maybe disarming with gusto. But once the fight's done, she'll insist on healing the wounded Lunars too. One thing I'd tell players regarding this is that anyone a CA follower deems worthy of protection is also worthy of ransoming. Plus, in some situations it might be easier to engage in diplomacy with an antagonist, if the PCs didn't just murder their way through the antagonist's henchmen, clan members, etc. in a previous encounter. And the CA will help limits wergild demands from survivors and their families! Spin the CA as Wade from Saving Private Ryan - and woe unto anyone who hurts them!

This honestly tripped me up a little. So thanks to you and Stephen L for pointing it back out to me. When I read about reattempting ability rolls, I took that to mean only characteristic checks. Still, I'd argue that the -25% to a second roll only makes second attempts a reasonable option for characters that already have decent to high levels of skill in the first place. My main concern is for starting and low-power characters who might sometimes flounder when they need to use a basic skill they don't have much ability in.

Hello all. One of the mechanics I like best from 7thed Call of Cthulhu is the concept of the "pushed roll" for skills. Basically, if a player fails a non-combat skill roll, they can appeal for a second roll after explaining what their character does to accomplish the failed task a different way. The drawbacks being that it takes extra time for a task to be accomplished and that, most importantly, a second failure brings serious consequences of some variety. Since beginning characters start off with fairly low values in many potentially useful skills, wouldn't this be a good mechanic to port over? I don't think that it gives players too much of an easy street. I think that it'd work well with Rune and Passion augments, without supplanting them, and adds a little drama to games. For example: Case #1: you have a low ride skill, but need to gallop away from some broo. The first ride skill roll is a failure. Your horse doesn't move, does whatever it wants, won't let you mount, rears without dumping you, or something similar. The broo are now closer, so you try the roll again in desperation and either succeed or fail a second time - leading to you getting dumped off your panicking horse's back, hurt, and /or much closer to the broo (or the horse turns and gallops towards them with your character hanging on for dear life.) Case #2 (with augment): Your character is inspired by their devotion to Orlanth while worshipping to restore rune points. The worship skill roll fails. Needing that connection to the divine to fill their rune magic bucket, the character keeps going (maybe after adding a quick sacrifice). With success, all is good. A second failure though and the character feels a growing disconnect with the Storm God (i.e. -5% to their devotion passion), or they'll have a penalty to their next worship roll, or Orlanth is annoyed by the character pestering him and sends a spirit of retribution to perform a brief, minor corrective. So.... has anybody used the pushed skill roll mechanic in their Runequest games? If so, did it work? Can anyone think of any reason why it wouldn't work in Runequest? And if it could easily work and has worked as a mechanic in RQG games, could we convince Jeff and Jason to include it as an optional rule/mechanic in the Gamemaster's Guide or some other publication?

You could easily play it that way. Makes mechanical sense and seems appropriately Gloranthan. I'm not sure I'd make that the case in 100% of situations. Maybe those with Death Rune of 80% or higher are either opposed to having their own kids or simply indifferent. I can't see anyone with a high Death Rune being excited about having their own kids (and maybe moving towards wanting kids would act to weaken that character's affinity to Death.) An add-on question, if ya don't mind: is fertility impaired by a strong association with the Death Rune, even if characters did want to procreate?

Thanks for the advice, Nick. I love the idea of discorporate recon! Added fun for a shaman PC, but also a nice way to reinforce to all the players how RQG/Glorantha is really different than most other fantasy games and settings.

By any chance is an English-translation of the Les Enfants de la Flamme supplement/adventure going to be published at some point? For anyone who doesn't know, this is part of the French edition RQG crowdfunding drive (https://www.gameontabletop.com/cf186/runequest.html). It's set in the Dundealos area (including Swenston) and focuses on that tribe. I think we had a very brief intro to some of this material in Jeff's White Bull campaign (can't remember which episode off the top of my head, but one of the more recent ones.)

Many thanks for providing this!

I like this idea. I can imagine that an Odayla-oriented shaman be kind of like Creb in Clan of the Cave Bear, except more of a loner. Playing a Yinkin-oriented shaman could be a thoroughly good time.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I'm trying to stick with the cults that are described in the core rules (plus Aldrya); and I'm trying to stick to cults found in Sartar, Esrolia, or Prax. I only found one mention of Kolat (pg. 359), so I suppose I'll simply stick with Daka Fal, Waha, Yelm (for Grazelanders), along with Orlanth, Ernalda, and Aldrya (maybe Eiritha and Storm Bull, as well?). I'm starting to recruit folks for a game and don't want to overload them, though I'm pretty sure that one player is interested in a shaman-type character (either that or a Eurmal worshipper), so that's why I've been thinking about how to link shamans to the cults described in the core rulebook. I suspect that this player might be interested in playing a nature-oriented shaman (D&D druid-style) character, so that's why I've been considering Aldrya as well. Perhaps I'll steer her towards Ernalda worship as a starting point for taking the shamanic life path. In my opinion, I'd assume that once a character had achieved status as a full shaman the authorities for any cult they belonged to would a) automatically moderate any claims they made on the PC, but would b) turn to the PC first for any shaman/spirit word related problems they had (due to the initial cult connection.) I suppose this would be less of a problem if PCs didn't start out as initiates of a cult (not just socially initiated into adulthood, while remaining laypeople of a cult), but I'm not really interested in starting the players out at a lower power level (the transition from D&D to RQG will be hard enough.)

Hello all. So, the core rulebook for RQG lists Daka Fal, Waha, and Yelm as possible cults for assistant shamans (pg. 64). My main question is: are there other cults (from the ones listed in the core rules) that a shaman could potentially be associated with, especially in Sartar and/or Tarsh? I'm certainly interested in shamans as mediators between the living and ancestral spirits, but also in shamans who are primarily mediators between people and the natural world/nature spirits. So, to ask a more specific version of the above question, are there cults that would be especially linked to nature spirit-oriented shamans? Odayla? Ernalda? Foundchild? I know Aldrya is only listed in the Bestiary, but could one imagine human shamans dedicated to her (though Jeff has said before that humans who become initiates to Aldrya have to go through a process that essentially turns them into Aldryami)?

This is exactly the kind of cat my dogs should live with.

One benefit of sticking to Dragon Pass and Prax is that it keeps the world from being completely overwhelming to new players and GMs. Let's expand the player base before demanding a large number of supplements detailing areas outside the core setting for RQG (beyond what you can get in the Guide to Glorantha). That said, I'd personally love to get more info on Pent, Dara Happa, and Fonrit (and how to play in those areas). But I'm quite happy getting a more detailed treatment of unique areas like the Wasp's Nest.

Seems like this could open up a lot of adventuring possibilities: a Gloranthan "seven samurai" scenario, protecting stubborn farmers (some of the last in the area) from a large Praxian warband (with the possibility of negotiating some sort of mutually agreeable settlement between the two); recovering someone's family heirloom from a destroyed village/manor house (it was successfully hidden and now adventurers are needed to get it, since prowling Praxians still make the area dangerous); or being Praxian warriors and/or allies acting to prevent Lunars from recovering some hidden treasures.

Maybe give slings a half damage bonus? Isn't that how thrown weapons are handled? (can't remember and don't have rule book on hand at the moment.)

Thanks for the work your put into this post, Manimati! It's awesome. I love seeing someone actually test whether received wisdom is right or not. And you're right that any fix would have to be subtle. I'm more convinced that giving crushing weapon (including slings 😁) the chance to stun an opponent, or knock them out, after any damage to the head (even just 1 pt getting through armor) is the right way to go. Maybe also provide a chance at winding an opponent (adding 5 to their SR that round?) after a chest or abdomen strike or forcing them to drop a weapon or halve parry w/ a shield after an arm strike (assuming any damage gets through armor)? Any chance that optional combat rules and/or fixes will be a part of the future gamemaster's guide?

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Renekot's Hope as described in The Pegasus Plateau collection. Very local with lots of adventure possibilities in the locale (bandits, broo, barely explored ancient ruins, the aged great troll the community has kinda adopted, etc.) Plus, it also seems like a setting that you could bring some low-level intrigue into, if you wanted - since it's a frontier town that's nominally under Lunar control, though mostly ignored and self-governing. Some fun NPCs too.