Shiningbrow

Ok, so Benny is on "our" side. What if it was a promise to someone that the characters don't really care about? Dragonewts perhaps? Lunars? What if the character who made the deal didn't really care too much about Benny and his Sartarite connections? What would people do then? And thus, what, fundamentally, is the difference between these two scenarios, such that it may warrant a different handling by the GM?

It can introduce new scenarios or situations (aka, quests). If the character has forgotten, and the spirit comes back to tell them it's not pleased, then it gives the characters another round of adventure. This can be very handy for when the GM hasn't fully prepared something for the session, or can be used as an easy hook to get them to do something they were avoiding. As for whether the character remembered or not (instead of the players), also get that it may have been a fairly memorable event to the character, but then lots of other life and adventure stuff happens as well, and it can be easy to ignore or forget some things - like a very quickly mumbled "yeah yeah, we'll honour you - now give us the stuff!" - especially if the characters don't have an Honor or strong relevant loyalty passion. And, on a bit of a side note, it also encourages players to do some of the bookkeeping that they usually expect the GMs to always do. In this case, if they made that promise to Berevenenos, then they should have written it down on their sheet, or other diary-type thing, and look over said sheet regularly. Not expect the GM to remind them.

Making something easy for the PCs is in no way "rules breaking". Not even "rules bending". It's the way it should be! As for specific spells, nothing that has specifically been mentioned. However, there is the sorcery spell of Total Recall, which could be used with Translation in order to learn a language quicker. Additionally, Logician can be used to have 100%+ in Read/Write. And, any sorcerer worth their salt could fairly easily come up with a Speak (ie, Communication) equivalent. And, just for the giggles, also come up with a spell that allows for faster learning in general. And I can't see why an LM Heroquest wouldn't allow for the same as a HQ ability.

W&E book, p44 - "Once awakened, the animal will take a single person as their companion, a process that takes only a few days, they learn their companion’s language, becoming intensely loyal for life."

How many years do they have to wait until they're considered mature enough (a form of sentience) before they're allowed to be fully Initiated into the cult? How many years of effectively being a Lay Member?

Not necessarily. Sure, very likely, but not "inevitable". Besides, even if conflict does occur, it can be overcome - as has happened since the beginning of life. Trade eventually happens, and with trade, occasional (and later more regular) inter-breeding. Both cultures change (although, rarely, in equal proportions). Why did animals allow themselves to be domesticated? Imagine the conversations between the awakened alynxes - one from the wilderness, and one from the town. You're definitely right in one respect - the wilder ones would think the urbanites have been "enslaved", because they took the creature comforts over that freedom. They don't need to travel to get food - food comes to them... from places the wild cat will never get to! The young Hsunchen will be thinking the same sort of thing. Add in things like clothes (ok, for a shapeshifter, not so important... but differences in cloths will be amazing!), vastly different varieties of foodstuffs... even during the winters. Harder metals, nicer pottery. Amazing smells (mixed in with the stench of the humans). Is it 'better'? Depends on what's important to you... Yeah, I'll get it... after I've finally been paid... I'm sort of between jobs, and moved cities. So, I've gone through so much money in the last month... but, should be able to recover it fairly quickly (assuming they don't fire me! :p)

As @PhilHibbs said, different entity. One is a spirit sent by the god themselves to aid the person. So, the Initiate connection is automatic, and impossible without it. Quite probably, the spirit has never been in a nature-body like an animal, and can be put into other items, so doesn't need any of those other skills. The Awakened animal is merely an animal that has had its spirit opened up to receiving higher intelligence (and POW and CHA), such that it can be taught spells. Certainly, I agree that some (many? most?) can join a cult - but it's definitely not an automatic thing. And how would it prove itself to the examiners? Would it really understand what is required and what it's about? (not suggesting it couldn't, just that it's effectively at child level of cultic understanding). Some animals considered sacred to the cult would certainly be more likely to join the cult (especially if they've been the ones who have given you that awakened animal), but if you're choosing something that's not, I'm not sure the priests will smile greatly upon you.. (more likely give you strange looks). How would the Orlanthi feel about a dog? Or a bat?? Or lizard? that you just happened to have found in the wilderness, shortly after their initial companion died...

I think that's much less an indicator of the wonders of being a Traditionalist, and much more of the vast (vast vast) majority of them never having real contact with 'civilisation'. Especially not in their younger years, during which the clan/tribe has been saying "stay away from them there fools! They'll taint your blood". (add to that the reputation of those Hsunchen with the local agriculturalists, and they wouldn't be welcomed anyway, further keeping the Traditions alive). The real test of this would come from when Hsunchen tribes are close to towns and cities, and have a good relationship with those people (to the point of being allowed to stay and live there) - what do the younger Hsunchen do, say and think? (other than "phew, this place stinks!")

Just being pedantic, and you mention it anyway (but not to the full credit deserved) - yes, top level shamans are scary shit... but those are few and far between (and yes, so too are the Rune Priests, although I'd suggest a few more God Talkers). However, initiates in the various theistic cults have similar spell access to the tribes who need to go to the shaman for their spells (granted, some limits, especially with some cults), AND they have a bit of god magic to back them up. So, what I'm saying is that the average tribal member in a theist culture has a bit more magic than the average tribal member in the spirit traditions. Add to that that while you are correct in that spirit traditions can access Rune magic, it is usually a lot more limited than standard theist practices. This, in some ways, gets right to the root of the thread... when spirit traditionalists see the power of the Ernaldan or Orlanthi priests at work, they would be fairly mightily impressed, and the younger generations might just take a shine to it... and, for that matter, when a regular Joe/lene initiate pops off a Lightning, Thunderbolt or Flight,.. or Bear Fruit or Heal Body... that's pretty impressive, compared to a most of the magic they've ever seen in their lives.

I disagree, especially since they're both old (Elder) races. They would have been communicating (speaking) with each other for a very long time. Forming a Dragonewt ambassador type person would have been as easy as currently growing human ambassador type person.

You know, that's almost enough for me to create an Eurmali** who can get their hands on Berserker.... just for the fun of it (with a couple of points of Extension, of course) 😄 I think there should be a Love/Loyalty passion for both... (**Hmmm, an Eurmali/Issaries combo.....🤔 )

And they certainly don't have the same motivations (passions, cult affiliations, cultural affiliations) as the PCs. And they certainly aren't psychic or in a telepathic bond, so any needs the PC might have need to be verbally (or visually) communicated to them.

I'd be inclined to think that one should look at the Passions - especially Loyalty (maybe Love). If the thoughts are going against the ideals of that Loyalty, then they are bad thoughts.

Perhaps there's an in-between solution/compromise. Have it that they have actually done the offerings for the past 2 years, but that they are considered insufficient or inappropriate. Thus, Berevenenos appears to express displeasure, and the PCs have to act on that.

Arachne Solara? As per the temple in Beast Valley...

Well, yes. I totally agree with your first paragraph. But, having a ruling that fairly strongly indicates - or just plainly and clearly states - a player can't have something goes down a lot better than GM fiat just saying 'no'.

Ok. Maths isn't my strong point 😜

Oh, ok... Cool, I like it!

I've mentioned this elsewhere(and TBH, I think someone else on here suggested it) - Romulus (2020). Set in late Bronze/early Iron age (8th century BCE). Realistic, not fantasy. Much grittier than a couple of the aforementioned movies (but then, it's a 10 episode series).

True.. but I was thinking specifically during character creation, and not "all for roleplaying later..."

Like @PhilHibbs said, I don't think it's so much about 'balance', but more about "if you don't put a limit on it, munchkins gonna munchkin". "It doesn't say I can't have X, so...". I see it somewhat as character stats being 3D6... why not just give everyone 18s and a couple of 21s??? It's not about 'balance', but being more realistic (if that's the right word)

All this talk of honey and alcohol makes me think of mead.... I don't understand where you get this idea from.. other than the "real world", where the gods didn't actively engage in occurrences except by mere coincidence. In Glorantha, the gods could be called upon at will, and answered most of the time when requested. The people are somewhat freer than the gods they worship... Theoretically, very easy. In practice, very difficult. Although, I'd suggest that both may have been major considerations at the same time, so suggesting that one was more important than the other would be difficult.

I can understand that. And it makes sense. But my point is more that I think there's this perception that 8 is "low", while 14 isn't particularly high - even though they're the same distance from the average... almost like that 10-11 average is the minimum. So, people expect to see a LOT more 15s and 16s than 6s and 7s. (at least partly because we often think that 21 is the max... however, that's sort of illusory).

Except... a good portion of that "high mortality" is because of the lower stats. Survival bias needs a timeframe. I recall a nice bit about previous ages' life expectancy. Old people weren't that much of a rarity as most people seem to think. The life expectancy number was low because of higher rates of death in the first 5 years of life - not across the broad spectrum of ages. It's similar here (although, I'd probably suggest that the constant raiding, endemic warfare, etc is what contributes more to the life expectancy than sickness and malnutrition in the younger years).

I'd also like to point out then, that while there should be a sizable amount of the population in that 9-12 range, a very large percentage of the population will also have at least one stat that is above or below that... 13, 14 , 15... even up to 18 (e.g., STR for the local redsmith). BUT... it must also be remembered that going by the law of averages, it also means an equal number who have at least one stat at the 8, 7, 6 or even 3... Also statistically speaking, there should be quite a number of the population who have multiple non-averaged numbers. Given that, going purely by those 3D6, it means 2 in 36* should have an extreme stat - one at max, and one at min. So, how many is that in a village? Town? City? So, while there will be a 'rabble', it should be a pretty small group who probably aren't so stupid as to get into a fight anyway... (and, are unlikely to actually band together such that they'd be encountered as a group. The 'rabble' should be found amongst some of the other groups as individuals). Yes, I'm making more work... 😛 (well, actually, not really much - that's what spreadsheets with auto-formulae are for) (*I think my maths is right... please correct me if not... also, I haven't done the math for the full stats, and haven't included the +6)