Shiningbrow

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

We played that it did.

Soltak Stormspear won several games of the Shell Game by casting Farsee on the pea and then using Detect Magic, including the one where the pea ended up in the chappie's pocket.

I"m totally confused... what's the point of casting Farsee on the pea??? Wouldn't Bludgeon be bettet

19 hours ago, David Scott said:

The elemental runes in Glorantha are not opposites.

Sorry, yeah. But... I had in my head the  Powers which have opposing Runes. And, since the Elements are placed in a pentagram, I also figured there was some sort of contrary relationship which may be similar... Thus, the reduction of one etc...

So, from the above discussions, we have some who say Tapping (Elements, and probably most other things) will bring Chaos into the world... and others who say "nah, go for it" (unless your cult happens to  be associated with that Rune (which is possibly why Lhankor Mhy might not Steal Breath/Tap Air).

Q: Do the Form and Power Runes have sub-runes as well? So, for example, is there a sub-Rune for Movement such that a PC could have a Tap Dance spell?

1 hour ago, soltakss said:

Slap a woman in the face? That's fine, I can just cast healing, she's OK. Not my interpretation of the geas, but Your Geases May Vary.

This is a society in which women are frequently warriors, so yeah - a slap in the face might be nothing!

OTOH, disparaging her and mocking her ability, demeaning her, etc etc would be a type of 'harm' that no Heal spell will fix!

In the example above (Yelmalian challenged by a Vingan) - "harm" is not going to be "hurt"... and, denying the challenge would be a gross insult...

So, yeah, apparently MGDV.

Compare it to the phrasing for Soul Sight and Pierce Veil...

3 minutes ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

In our Glorantha nearly EVERYONE not in a Western, Sorcerer-Centric, Society loathes the Tap spell. Literally when I asked about it being related to ALL the techniques my GM said no freaking WAY would a LM sage use TAP ever on anyone's anything. As far as our Glorantha, especially in Dragon Pass, is concerned Tap is for Evil Bad Guy Sorcerers.

I'm not so sure.

Orlanthi hate the Lunar Empire - and the Red Goddess. Many hate trolls and darkness. They're not totally fond of the Sky either (although, some are...). Chaos? Tap that shit out of existence! (although, obviously, that would require having learned the Chaos Rune...)

3 hours ago, Sumath said:

Hilarious, but also fits well with mythology. Taliesin was gifted with omniscience and sentience from birth. Cu Chulainn was a boy (Setanta) who had immense strength and skill from an early age, and defeated armies without making it to adulthood.

I wouldn't call it "omniscience"... it wasn't on all the time, and it was limited. Somewhat similar to Bran Stark at the moment.

3 hours ago, Sumath said:

Come to think of it, Taliesin means 'shining brow'...

Ummmm  - you got me ☺️

2 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Does anyone else think that the existence of Bless Pregnancy is a good enough reason to throw out the 18 limit for the 3 points distributed if you rolled low?

Definitely!

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

As moonbeams stream from the moon, it just converts them to mps much like the Twinstars spirit magic spell Benison.

No, you'd have to add dark. There would just be less light, I imagine more blue like Dayzatar.

No you need to add light. It would make the darkness less dense.

No you'd have to add fire, it would likely cause ice to form (imbalance of sub runes)

 

You seem to have an image of Glorantha that doesn't have oppositions as strongly as my mind imagines...

Less light =/= more dark??

Less dark =/= more light...

(and yet, you suggest that Steal Cold would bring Ice...????)

There was another question I forgot to ask... using any of those spells - I'd imagine that their respective deities would be very unhappy with their use - yes? Or, is  the mundane form of the element irrelevant?

2 hours ago, Crel said:

(Moved from characteristic generation thread because felt like we were moving into Egregious Munchkinnery territory )

STR's important for making up your ENC. CON's important for HP, so it doesn't factor into skills but is far from a "dump" stat. I think SIZ can be a "dump" stat, more or less. You want STR+SIZ to be 25+ for the 1D4 damage bonus, and SIZ 13 gives a bonus Hit Point (but reduces Stealth by 5%, which is kind of whatever?). That 1D4 can often be the difference between getting through armor or not.

I don't think you can get more than 20 INT in RAW chargen. Fire/Sky as your highest, use some of your +3 points if under 92 to get to 18 then the Rune buffs to 20. (Those +3 can't go above 18, as Phil pointed out to me earlier in this thread.) So, I'd settle for aiming for 17+ INT.

Ironically Rune Lords don't seem to have a requirement on POW, or RP built up? Although as a GM I'd rule they have to have at least 5RP like priests, but I don't think there's a requirement present in the text. I'd say optimally, you want a minimum of 5 POW. At 5, you get the 1D6 Spirit Combat mod w/ CHA 18, but don't take the penalties to all of your skills. Of course more POW is generally better, but as a Rune Lord you resist with POW 21 at all times so that's pretty great.

If you want to be as heavily armored as can be, you want STR 15: Closed helm (ENC 2), Plate vambraces (ENC 2), Segmented plate (Chest&ab, ENC 5), Plate greaves (ENC 2), a weapon (usually ENC 1), and a Large Shield (ENC 3). You can wear leather underneath all locations for an additional +1AP at no ENC increase. This combo results in 7AP in all locations, plus an HP16 shield to parry with. If you've got STR 16, pick up a few darts to clip to your shield (2 darts for ENC1) to get a quick ranged attack.

"Dump stat" in that it's not one you want maxing out... or even needing to get massively high.

For creating a quick Rune Lord, the order of stats should probably be - INT, CHA, POW, DEX, followed by the other three (probably SIZ at the end - but it's a 2D6+6 anyway). (CHA is necessary for RL - Rune Lord... although, I'd suggest having a high CHA in Real Life is probably pretty useful as well 😛 )

Once you get to Rune Lord, your DIs become D10, and you can sacrifice your POW to up your other stats... with POW obviously being the easiest to increase (especially with the +20% and the incredible frequency of such rolls now - at least 1/season!

I think I mentioned using the Bless Pregnancy munchkinnery to get the INT to 21...

48 minutes ago, Joerg said:

Ok, we have ways to maximize Bless Pregnancy. But the initial question still remains: when do you roll the stats for the baby? How do you know which stats to enhance if you have a limited pool of rune points? And what stats do the children have in their infancy and youth?

Also looking out for magical children like Salinarg's who formed the Household of Death.

Has anybody considered an ill-intentioned use of "Bless Pregnancy" with just the minimal blessing on a pregnant political rival aiming for giving birth to the next great queen?

The Bless Pregnancy says the stats go to the child at time of casting - caster's choice.

I'd say - those points get allocated then, and the random rolls at birth (well, technically... but really at adulthood... a 2 year old child better not have STR or SIZ 16 :p)

ETA: Stats for kids? Maybe - final (rolled) stat divide by age until adulthood? The stat is rolled at birth (or before - who's counting?), and then adjusted by the age as I mentioned???

1 hour ago, Crel said:

Putting them into that top 100

But yeah, you're basically right. And as a GM, I'd allow it. IMHO the main barrier to reaching Rune levels isn't the required RP, but rather the skills required. Especially for some with required skills that can't be increased by experience, like Lhankor Mhy and Chalana Arroy.

Just quickly looking over possibilities... getting those 5x90% for Rune Lord isn't really that hard at starting if they have good starting stats (see Bless Pregnancy 😛 ). (BTW, Humakti Swords only need one Sword at 90%, plus only three other skills at 90%... with the +20% to cult skill Gift, and you can take 3 of them at initiation - that's made really easy!)

If STR, CON (and if possible, SIZ) become 'dump' stats (ie, not so crappy you can't pick up your sword) and try to get high in INT (21 is best, for the extra +5% on lots of categories), we know the CHA needs to be at least 18, and so should POW... then your weapon skills just based at least 25% (plus culture... plus occupation... plus cult (if so inclined)... plus personal skills))... and you have Rune Lord!

Many PCs are likely to start with at least 1 weapon skill at 90%, possibly two (especially if you choose dagger),  plus shield. So, right from that, you've got 3 out of 5 skills for Orlanth Wind  Lord or Humakti Sword. (if you choose Humakt, you actually have to spread them around, or you'd waste skills over 100....)

Other cult skills are likely to be in the 80s or higher as well.

So, with the right choices, players could (technically qualified to) be Rune Lord within a year - if not at starting...

6 minutes ago, Crel said:

Putting them into that top 100

But yeah, you're basically right. And as a GM, I'd allow it. IMHO the main barrier to reaching Rune levels isn't the required RP, but rather the skills required. Especially for some with required skills that can't be increased by experience, like Lhankor Mhy and Chalana Arroy.

True. I was thinking about trying to find out what combination (not including stats, but obviously minimum CHA and POW) would get closest.

Re: those LM skills.... I don't see why having a cast of Logician to a language they can barely R/W, then transcribe/translate a treatise on a Lore from one language to another (especially if said Initiate has the Total Recall spell available).

I think we've all gone up a few % in Gloranthan Lore by our readings of the various texts... pretty sure it didn't take years and years and years (although, I wonder who would claim to have 100%... or even 90%)

2 minutes ago, Crel said:

Here's another way to look at it: my take is that the starting adventurer in RQG, as an initiate, is already someone who can be treated as a representative of their faith. They aren't a major figure, but to some degree they've already become someone significant to their community. At least, that's what I think is the dev intention. Whether or not that's the best approach is another matter.

It's also worth noting that not every cult gets every common Rune spell. Eurmal, for example, only gets Divination, Extension, and Multispell (IIRC). And while @Shiningbrow is right about how important and precious RP are on an adventure, having access to common+3 at adventurer creation does provide lots of both complexity and flexibility.

 

Actually, a basic starting PC is about 2 sacrificed POW to Rune Points from being a God-Talker.... and I imagine most GMs would be willing to let the player do it!

RE: Lay Members... yeah, makes the concept of being "initiated" into adulthood rather confusing, as that usually means initiation also into the cult. They'd also be Lay Members of the Associated Cults of their main cult.

Clarification requested...

2 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

It would not surprise me if there were other ways of awakening the Fetch other than the formulaic Bad Man fight. I think Shamanic Abilities probably require a Fetch, although again there are probably Heroquest powers that strongly resemble them. I doubt that any of this would be any easier or safer than the Bad Man method, otherwise more people would use it.

Maybe Argrath knows.

You've just made me think of something... is a Fetch always a Fetch?

By that I mean, could someone have something 'awakened' that is mechanically exactly the same as a Fetch, but would not be considered a 'shamanic' fetch as far as the cult/god/tribe is concerned???

Thus, allowing not only membership into the cult (or higher membership), but also without the restrictions (100% responsibility to the tribe)

9 minutes ago, dracopticon said:

Thank you for explaining this! Yes, I probably have misintepreted the rules a bit, but... I still think it's a lot of casting possibilities for budding heroes. As I say, just the possibility of all this casting is too much for me, let  alone understanding for the players as they are quite new in this here. It should be a lesser amount in my mind - except when you are a playing a true representative of the temple/faith, such as a priest or a shaman/assistant shaman.

I also think that the role of a representative of the faith is really lessened when this much magic and this type of magic is spread throughout to just about everyone. In my eyes, if a group or a person that is not this kind of representative(s) finds some rune magic laid on something hindering them, let's say a Spirit Block or a Warding, then the interesting thing would be to have these people understand that they can't solve that kind of thing themselves. They need a priest or a shaman to take a look on this problem. In my eyes, only such a person should be the solution to something like this.

But, they are budding heroes. Close to becoming that Shaman or Rune Priest (or Rune Lord).

I do understand that for the new player, the amount of spells available will be a little overwhelming (although, mostly for Spirit Magic... not so much for Rune Spells), but it shouldn't take too long to get over that.

Also remember... as per the Glorantha Adventurer's book, there are about 12,000 people in the Colymar tribe - including about 5000 kids, and 7000 adults. 3000 adults are (free) farmers.. so, almost half. The rest are half-free. Meaning - most won't be adventuring anywhere too soon. (at best, they might go on a raid once or maybe twice a year).

Of those 7000 adults, all should be Initiates of their local cult (usually the most dominant, but not always), but only 100 will be higher. Our heroes are expected to be a part of those 100 fairly shortly...

Bruce Dickinson... modern day hero!

(Top 10 UK fencing champion, commercial pilot, singer in one of the most successful bands in the world, owns a football team... Somebody Blessed his mother's Pregnancy!)

8 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Ever seen a 747 taking off piloted by anyone, never mind a debbil worshipping licence  holding (yes, yes, very competent) screaming crazed I did say debill worshipping, right,  Brit, God knows, they  aint pretty, they aint graceful, but they sure are big, And i aint talking about brits, metal singers, of debbil whorshippers. 747s. love em of not, there they are, BIG!

How do they fly, and who is this Bernoulli guy anyway?

Cheers

"Scream for me, passengers! Scream for me....."

I'm sitting in my cockpit as the revs begin to climb

retracting the wheel chocks and we don't have much time

Cos at 5 O'clock we taxi to the tarmac road

The fuel gauge in front is running low...

Running low

Yeah!

2 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

One could say Notchet,  Use imagination and you will find another possible pun, buried herein (HINT, imagine a green planet style silent "t" in that capitol city where one might find evil priestesses 

Actually the far worse that I alluded to  were other cults than Ernalda. Though I can imagine the court  and intra/inter temple wars in Esrolia twixt priestesses can get epic.

Rereadin..., yeah, they might be a bit bene geserat, eh?

cheers

Well, to be... fair??... there were assassination attempts made. And when the former High Priestess to Samastina (sp?) aligned with the Lunars, after she was brought down there were lots of killings....

Mothers are nasty types when their kids are threatened!

I have a question - can a Discorporate person go to the higher spirits and get Shamanic Abilities?

And, could a Discorporate person have their Fetch awakened? (what about on a HQ?)

14 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

In another thread I compared running the full game of RQ RiG like taking off in a 747 piloted by the vocalist of Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickenson—a heavy, impossible, powerful flight lacking grace but making up for it in sheer massive imposing bulk. The magic systems and the power of NPCs and adventures are some of the reasons i state this.

This is also why I do not suggest Chargen'ing more powerful adventures. 

Cheers

I'm confused... Bruce has been a licensed commercial pilot for decades (iirc... I know it's been many years). What makes you think his flying would be 'heavy and impossible... lacking grace" etc?

Just now, Bill the barbarian said:

Same as the  right makeup to intimidate the opponent, a bribe to the right server to bring the wrong dish, a blade with poison, just another tool in the tool box to get things done.

Your (or your Ernaldan priestesses) is/are evil!

Command Fertility (Life) Stasis (unchanging) Man... Or Separate Death (from) Spirit ?  Or, Command Combine Fertility Spirit Man Stasis (forever) 5 point minimum for Immortality... at the very least!

Resurrection - Summon and Command Fertility (Life) Spirit (of) Man... yep, lots of Runes. Should be for a Reusable, MP only Resurrection spell!

5 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Hmm, again, I do not see problem. I see two ladies arguing and that it has little to do with their religion. I would be very worried should they start to use Ermaldn magic  to solve Ernaldan debates using style and magic, and paying little or even no heed to substance. Magic fine, oratory fine, whatever other court politics intrigue, and skullduggery up to and including murder probably have been done if  they think they can get away with it without causing scandal...religious doctrine underlying the other items should please the wise who hear the arguments. Without substance and with any combination of the others one could be very worried indeed. 

Cheers

Agreed! But then - what's the point of the spell then?

Also, when one clan is saying "let's go to war", and another is saying "Nope, too risky".... it's a situation in which I can see the priestesses trying to convince the council one way or the other. After all, the ramifications of this would be huge! (and, like in my previous post, DI would be smart!)

(I know I'm being really specific, but I think in general the discussion about how visible magic is still works)

15 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

I would say this is troubling to the faithful, and many could see this as bad omens (superstition, Glorantha style, and having as much to with Gloranthan truth, imo).

Too be honest a priest or priestesses disagreeing in public is not the worst that can happen Hell, probably happens more that many wish it would, bad for stability and commerce. It has nothing to do with the gods or goddesses, who are either removed from such pettiness or even to having a whole different levels of pettiness of their very own. How about a priest actually working from within his cult to bring it down in reality. Or change it for the better Lex Luthor style with them as head (cue insane laughter,  bwahaha—they will all follow me now!). Or worse, much, much worse—I have modules that... say no more...

Remember that the gods are not even near omnipotent.

shh!

I didn't have in my head that it was a public debate...

Unless they're throwing DIs (which, to be fair, they probably are!), they may well debate who should be the next High Priestess.

Certainly, Clan Taraling may well be arguing with Clan Enaldoring for whether they should go save the Hill of Orlanth Victorious...

Let's talk about blue planet people...

Blue Planet has lots of peoples who believe in lots of pantheons (in the general sense of "deity" - singular or otherwise). Some of those beliefs have separated (like the clans have on Green Lozenge).

Now, the different 'clans' won't disbelieve the powers shown by one of the Godspeakers.... but they won't automatically accept wha they say either... (while I do have in mind US televangelists, it's also appropriate to other religions across the planet). So, many people do choose to believe that the High Priest Roberts is in God's favour, they won't all throw money his way, because they're seeing that he's using their god's name for his own personal motives...

And that's how I'm seeing what can happen in Glorantha - and even more so, because such magic is so common!