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JRE

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Everything posted by JRE

  1. I assume Humakti temples hold frequent duels. Otherwise, how can the temple know who is better suited to be a Sword? Initiates duel initiates, Swords duel Swords to see who will become High Sword. With Gloranthan healing magic and probably agreements not to use powerful rune magic (except in grudge duels to the death), it is hard to kill someone outright, and Swords have divine intervention available. So Humakti holy days are like big game days or troll ball days.
  2. Not really gladiatorial, but most Malkioni areas which are not at war, and a few that are at war, will have tournaments of all kinds, which depending on the rules work more or less as gladiatorial entertainments. It also makes all those idle soldiers in peacetime useful to keep the peasants happy they are not the ones being hit. We already know about Kustria's Great Tournament, and that implies that Seshnela used to be big on tournaments as well. In the same way as the Lunar gladiators, the Castle Coast is practically shouting for frequent tournaments between castles or open to all-comers. Ralians also will be keen on them, if only due to the Kustrian example. I assume stylized tournaments are used in Loskalm for advancement, but I do not spend too much time thinking about Fronela. Carmania is a good candidate, but there I play the subvert expectations card and play as they lacking egalitarian individual tournaments, but set up melees between rival cults or nobles, and hazars massacring animals or upstart rebels in a similar way to what happens in the Heartlands I am playing that the current Rokari church is not so keen on tournaments, but the nobles will not let them take away their fun. I have separate events for soldiers and nobles, but some events do allow General melee style fights where a soldier may face a noble, which is not a problem as long as it is not their noble, as that prepares them for war. Most tournaments are not to the death, and wizards will be around to heal most serious wounds, but misfortune and a few deliberate accidents will still happen. In many orlanthi lands, Humakti duels will be considered as entertainment as well.
  3. Although the myths usually say that the Unholy Trio brought forth the Devil (which can mean Wakboth, Kajabor or some other Chaos), it does not make sense, as that is also an outsider, not a mix of Chaos and Gloranthan existence. So I propose what they did bring about is a hole, or a bridge, depending on how you like your metaphors, and the Devil was the first one across. So calling it Storm Bull's or Orlanth nephew, even if accurate according to some myths, will not bring you any laughs or friends in Glorantha. If there is another thing the Greater Darkness shows is that, except for those beings devoured by Kajabor/Chaos, most events can be reversed, as long as enough mythical base remains. So you can be on Chaos side briefly, and then be opposed to it. You can die, and then you can get out from Hell. You can be alive and dead, friend and enemy, chaos destroyer and chaos hanger-on, usually at the same time. Maybe Rashorana helped them weather this, but just those experiences, taken simultaneously, are what allows the worshippers to become illuminated, believing several impossible things at the same time. Because I propose that saying a deity is illuminated before the Great Compromise is meaningless, as the deity is unchangeable now, and it is unknowable how it really was back then. What it means, in my opinion, is that following that deity's god path is quite likely to bring you illumination, if you follow it closely enough. And that is before Nysalor found a shortcut and the possibility to become illuminated without following a difficult god path., and even without recourse to the divine. Orlanth shows little doubt and little change, so his worshippers probably are quite resistant to spontaneous illumination. Others however are much more susceptible, and those are the gods traditionally considered as illuminated, because devout worshippers can become illuminated. It is likely that the Red Goddess mundane life is intended as a highway to illumination, but as usual such shortcuts bring risks.
  4. Almost all gods died, which is why the last stand of the gods is in hell, and not in the surface. And even then we have a clear divide between the god of Chaos and all the others. I would say there are a few true chaos gods (Kajabor, Wakboth, Krarsht, Primal Chaos), and many more "corrupted gods", those that did not come from outside but sided with it, such as Thed, Malia, Ragnaglar, Vivamort, ... Even other gods may have been corrupted in the godtime and redeemed, which may explain some weirdnesses such as Humakt's flexibility and illumination.
  5. I play that Giants do not need to eat per se, but they need to eat to move and specially to move fast, so getting Gonn Orta, and probably his retinue, to come to help you requires a feast to feed (and water) them, so they can actually come. Being Argrath, I would expect a full convoy, where all is expected to be eaten, including the draft animals, the carts, some specially delicious rocks, the drivers, and other delicacies that would be inedible to others. Organized by the White Bull Society but bringing goods from all the East and Pent.
  6. JRE

    Munchkin Learners

    In my interpretation, and I only talked with Greg a couple of times in the 90s, rather than powergamers in general, they represent the people that confuse the map with the territory, so they believe that because they have a rulebook everything is explained and fixed, and anything with stats can be killed or controlled. His Glorantha, so by definition I suppose Chaosium's Glorantha is much more than the RQ rules. But they also fill nicely the age of empires and how the west is much weaker now than it was after Arkat, because the rulebook was true for a while, and then, though a good aproximation, it is not. I am a god learner wannabe, as I prefer RQ to the "anti-godlearnerism" HW and HQ, but now we are once again with an official Chaosium RQ book, and we ask for even more detailed maps, and still take them for the whole territory.
  7. Taking things one step forward, what if Third Age Arkat, which Argrath is a part of, has decided just that, after the horrors of the Monster Empire (and other catastrophes all over the place), the only way to break the cycle and stop Chaos being an existential menace is to break the Godtime, which means breaking all gods present at the casting of the net. Therefore the ending of King of Sartar. Because as long as Chaos is part of the compromise, even if unwilling, it will always be there as a menace, it is its role. The only way to make integration possible is to break the shackles that make roles unchangeable. Arkat/Argrath complete Sedenya's mission, and she becomes the White Moon.
  8. I am quite late to this, but I think it is an interesting point, considering how many PCs have fought and probably will in the future. We know Argrath is Giant-friend and that is based on his succesful efforts with the cradle, which included sailing down to hell on it. For me, the reason the Giants send their kids to hell is that there are not enough Giants in the mundane world, and those that remain have forgotten too much. So they go to hell to learn from the dead giants there. Even dead, they are beings on a divine scale, so once she makes it to hell, the kid is mostly safe, unlike normal mortals. However Argrath managed to be recognized as the midwife and that will be good for him later. So I would play it that unless you go all the way to hell and meet the teachers, you will not be recognized as a giant-friend, just a mortal mercenary or Lunar enemy. Argrath may remember you, however, and that may allow some Giant contact to be developed later, but the tolerance will be built on Argrath's. As for the Giant child, I expect her history lies beyond the Third Age, though her friends can visit her, and possibly get a "shortcut out of hell" through the giants. I do think Gonn Orta expects her to bring Genert's fertility back, but he may be wrong, or she may do even more. Something to work for, when the Godtime is broken and what happened in the past does not determine the future, and she can break new ground.
  9. My interpretation of Arkat the deceiver is different. No Arkati would worship Gbaji. But many sects will have enemy Arkati sects, and those obviously follow Arkat the deceiver. In most of Safelster Arkat the Destroyer sects, also known as Arkat Kingtroll, are classed as such, except in Naskorion. Many sects will be willing to use Chaos or chaos related magic if the benefit is large enough. It is part of the willing to do anything to win position. The limit, for me, is in the Hero Plane, where they will refuse to aid Chaos in any way. But in the mundane world, it does not matter as much. Most (if not all) of the claimed Boristi sightings or Chaos Monk atrocities are actually Arkati plots and deniable terror attacks. So I do not see Arkat the deceiver as one of the Arkats, but any gathering of different Arkati sects will have several labeled as deceivers.
  10. Like Joerg I have been trawling old 90s material and some new ideas to develop a new version of Kustria and the Tower of Xud. But my time is quite limited and I am traveling a lot, so it goes very slowly. Certainly not enough to even think of joining the JC writer’s circle.
  11. If they are doing the same quest from opposing sides, then MGF requires they become the opponents. Both Arkati and Lunars are experts in this oppositional questing to sabotage other people questing. IMG most opposition are Godtime echoes, but if you can arrange to be cast in an opposition role in a close point in time and space, you can become the opposition, and depending on your power levels, wreck the other people quest. See Jar-Eel and Kallyr’s LBQ. If you are cast in similar roles, you cannot act directly, but you could reinforce each other, so if others succeed they may soften the impact of any failure, or they may make some stages easier. That is what happens in the Sacred Time, you have so many groups carrying out the same myths that it is easy to succeed, and even if you fail, you might continue. You may have been unable to steal the cloud sheep, but your kinswoman did and she brings you some so you can continue with the shearing. Conversely, that may weaken your success a bit as you may need to share it with the other questers… If both fail in the same station, and it feels right, you may have both groups join and become a single group, and try again, if the test would allow a new attempt, even if they lost some critical roles, by replacing them.
  12. I assume Delecti is used at leaving damaged bodies behind and occupying fairly intact ones afterwards, so unless the loss is ritually significant I would not have him affected by the theft after he switches bodies. Delecti’s stolen toe could be a powerful Death/Undeath talisman for an Eurmali, however, and Delecti could be missing some magic until the Eurmali uses it up.
  13. We had a similar problem with fast firing projectiles and Sleep. We agreed the protection applied at the end of the turn, when you could see if the spell had worked and all actions announced before the spell were finished. None has attacked a protected target, even by accident. The consequence of being blacklisted by CA is too dire to contemplate.
  14. I would say that unless the Hero was a Daka Fal worshipper, they had other priorities besides their family. As well, depending on how they apotheosized, they may well be fixed in the Hero plane and not available anywhere else. Finally, IMG, a true Hero, having achieved control of the Mastery Rune, cannot be compelled by magics such as Daka Fal’s. So a Hero may return to give an omen or even advice to their descendants, but they cannot be compelled, except by the one they used as the path to herodom. So Orlanth can command or bring forth Alakoring Dragonbreaker, but Daka Fal cannot, because he avoided his judgement, being taken to Orlanth’s longhouse upon his death. You could start an Alakoring Hero cult if you can contact him, but I would limit it to Orlanthi even if you use a shaman to contact him. He was so tightly wound with Orlanth, some of his feats have become Orlanth’s, that he is subsumed into Orlanth.
  15. Need. The missing word is need. They are helpful, but Doraddi, because this is Doraddi specific, can manage without them.
  16. I confess I have never given much thought to Pamaltela. But I always assumed the big difference was that Pamalt was alive, and Pamalt, like Genert, was not only an Earth deity, but also a people deity. Pamalt's victory means that he showed mortals could do what gods could not, and that they did not really those deities, including Pamalt, that much. Genertela was saved by the sacrifice of a few gods (LBQ, Yelm's pardoning his enemies, the dragon emperor recreating the world, even Malkion or Zzabur protecting their people). Pamalt rune, the upward pointing spear, shows that the united people can beat those interfering deities, and that is against whom the spear is pointed. The chaos invaders, but also the northern invaders, the southern ones, and if necessary, the elves and the people from the sea. People discount the Doraddi by their disunion and apparent lack of ambition. They forget they always join together under Pamalt when it is needed and they relax because so far they have always beaten their foes at the end.
  17. Some additional notes. Aluminium is a special case, as it can be cast at normal temperatures or just underwater, casting quickilver (liquid, but heavy so it will always sink to the bottom) and then turning it into aluminium while in the mould. Some finishing and it is done. In the Earth's Bronze Age, Smelters were a prestigious job, though risky as well, as they were the ones with the secret knowledge of how to purify and mix the different ores to get a good metal. In Glorantha smelting is unknown, except by the dwarves, as people do not process ores but just take metal from the ground. That is maybe why they do not do much alloying at all, as that was the smelters initial job, to compensate for the presence of other metals in the ores, specially arsenic and zinc. In Glorantha the main alloy is adding the mostly useless tin to the plentiful copper to get the useful bronze. I am sure the dwarves do make special alloys, such as making a lead bronze to lower the melting point, or adding some aluminium to make it lighter. I am pretty sure the Brass in the Carmanian Brass mountains is a copper-lead alloy that the dwarves make as a balance to the copper-tin bronze.. In most cases, metals contain traces of copper and possibly tin or lead, depending from what period of the God War can it be traced, the Lesser or the Greater Darkness, which is why "pure" runic metals are usually only available from actual god bone portions, as all others were alloyed in former times to avoid the magic blocking. With the exception of iron and seldom used tin, Gloranthan metals are analogues of metals that do not corrode easily, or at all. That means that a piece of metal from the first age is probably still around and in use, though possibly in the meantime it will have been a horseshoe, a sword, a bell, a buckle, a cloak clasp and now it is a hoe blade. Recycling to the limit. Iron, IMG, still rusts, and the dwarves consider that a feature. As seen in the working temperatures, iron will be very hard to forge compared to the other metals, requiring special forced air forges with high quality charcoal, or magic. In Glorantha I assume it will be mostly magic, and otherwise an iron piece will be very difficult to shape or melt, another part of the mystique of iron. IMG Fire elementals are good aids for metalworking, but not a perfect solution, as they have a gradient of temperatures, with the hotter at the core, so you need tools long enough to reach inside, and probably expose you to flesh burning temperatures to work, so some kind of fire protection is a must. As you can damage an elemental with any weapon, unless you are toasting marshmallows, any real heating will require insertion inside the elemental, and I make such a manipulation cause 1 HP of damage to the elemental. So fire elementals cannot be used as help indefinitely. A small elemental could melt lead or tin, or heat objects for annealing up to 500ºC. They are the most used, as they are easier to control and a normal tong may be enough to reach the core. A medium elemental can help with hot forging bronze, but you will need extra long tongs. It could melt aluminium, but turning it to quicksilver is easier. The core would soften bronze items, so it will require skill to use one. A large elemental core is enough to melt bronze and other metals except iron. Any metallurgic use of such elementals will need iron tools. But you can probably work all other metals easily. Melting is not an instantaneous process, so a bronze spear will still damage it, but it is likely the shaft will burn and if all metal, it will soften and become misshapen.
  18. Amazing work, but I assume there are some differences with ancient practices. He seems to use modern Naval Bronze (which is actually brass), mainly used now because it is more resistant to corrosion and gives a great look with good mechanical properties. That is the easy to find metallurgic bronze nowadays. It can be worked quite fast by hot forging, as the forging temperature (when the metal is softened but still solid) is quite low compared to the melting temperature. It can be worked down to dark red (<500ºC) before needing reheating. Ancient bronze, and what I assume is used in Glorantha, with 10% Tin, has a higher hot forging temperature, which means shorter work periods and continuous placing in the forge, which also means a high fuel consumption. So rather than hot forging some people, according to records, did cold forging. You do not heat it intermittently as in hot forging, you heat it for quite a long period at a lower temperature till it is all softened, let it cool down without stress and then you shape and hammer till it is too rigid to work more. That also hardens the metal (work hardening) which is quite useful for weapons and armour, though it may increase brittleness. Many weapons and small armor pieces would be cast in a mould, a technique he does not show, and then cold forged to profit of the work hardening of the bronze and avoid the brittleness of the casting process. Tin enrichment also increases the hardness, but that probably was used only in weapon points and edges, as it becomes too brittle for useful armor. The armor looks beautiful, however, and it reminds us that bronze was still used in armor long into the Iron age, as it looks good, is often more resistant than iron, it is easier to work and repair and much more resistant to corrosion. It was much more expensive, so it was a sign of riches as well. This is a text I had started about Gloranthan metalworking techniques. I am not a metalworker, but working with furnaces, ceramics and metals, you always learn a few things. Working the metals in Glorantha. Cold working. The most primitive option to work a metal object is to just shape it or work it cold. That is actually workable with soft pliable metals, which are easy to deform: lead, gold and copper, and it fits with the Trolls dislike of open flames and fire in general. Copper is the hardest of the three but also the one that can give you some workable tools, apart from clubs, that will benefit from the heaviness of both lead and gold. Silver can be roughly worked this way, but it is not easy to get nice shapes. Lead was not widely used in Earth because it does not exist in metal form and smelting is difficult. Gold and copper were mostly used for jewelry, though copper had other uses, as stone or fire hardened wood is almost as good as copper and better than the others, except in blunt heavy implements. Casting Melt the metal, pour it into a sand or clay mould, let it cool, and you have a nice metal piece shaped as you want. Unless you have access to metal moulds (with a much higher melting temperature than your molten metal, so no bronze moulds for bronze) details will be poor and you will need to do some finishing work. Cast metals are usually soft and brittle, so you will need some annealing and work hardening to get useful tools. Cold forging In this case the metal is heated to soften it (annealing) and then it is worked cold or almost cold till it hardens. Depending on the work, it may be repeated several times. This works with almost all soft metals and allows silver to be worked almost as easily as copper. The window of opportunity when the metal is soft but cold and what temperature you need to anneal depends on the metal. Bronze can be worked this way, but it is very time consuming as you need to heat the metal to dull red for some time, quench it, and then it work hardens very fast, so normally you have only a minute or two to shape it. So if you have enough fuel you use hot forging. Hot Forging Hard metals need to be softened before they can be wrought into shape. That is most likely the only way most Gloranthans interact with iron, as it will not melt with the furnaces available, specially the wrought iron or steel that the dwarves sell out, and I am sure it is deliberate. Forging is a matter of shaping the rough form coming from a sand mould, or repairing or changing the shape of an existing piece of metal, as well as making sure there are no cracks or defects that will make the metal fail. As such it requires high temperature but not extreme. The table shows typical forging, annealing and melting temperatures, which shows how hot your forge or furnace has to be. I have also added the color it would normally correspond to, as that will be the main guideline a Gloranthan smith will have. Annealing temperatures will be a lower but close to the forging temperature, and you need the metal to stay certain time to increase the ductility that allows the cold working. Metal Forging Temp. (ºC) Melting Temp. (ºC) Preferred method Lead - 320 Cold working, casting Aluminum 300-400 660 (dark red) Casting and finishing Copper 900 forging (cherry red) 500 annealing (black red) 1080 (orange) Cold working, cold forging Gold - 1060 (orange) Cold working Tin - 232 Casting Bronze 600-700 forging (dark red to dull cherry red) 500 annealing 950 (cherry red) Casting and hot forging. Some cold forging Silver 500 annealing 960 (cherry red) Cold working, cold forging Iron 1200 (yellow) 1500 (white) Hot forging, annealing and tempering.
  19. As you point out, The Dancers in Darkness entry gives the answer in what corresponds to armor, and clothing, too. I suppose the illustration is at Delectí's hall, or artistic licence to avoid showing nude vampires. Presenting the base vampire also with 0 armor reinforces it, though they will be more open to concealing their nature with normal equipment. I would allow objects sacred to Vivamort to turn to smoke with the vampire, but all the other objects will be left befind. Of course, that gives a strong motivation, unless beaten easily, for the vampire to return for their possessions, and an opportunity for a second round.
  20. Many people consider it a cop out, but you can add some NPCs to help them in combat scenarios, mainly to change the odds, not to roll the dice and steal the focus. So you do not reduce the opposition, but the thane and two warriors you convinced to help you distract the guards so you can focus on the main villain. If you win, victory is assured, if you lose, who cares about what happens on the side. As we have only two PCs, they actually travel as a small caravan or mule train, depending on terrain, including one or two hired guards, sometimes a fellow traveler capable of defending themselves. And usually, if in a mission from a temple they can get some guards / minders, such as having always a half file with them in Sun County. A bother, but helpful in case of a fight.
  21. The difference for me is in case you have a magical organ implanted, or a magical false eye (anyone remembers Barran), or even scars and tattoos, that you do not wish to lose. And secondarily to explain why there is interest in a 2 point spell that may take a year to recover a lost limb, when there is a more widespread 3 point spell that recovers limbs instantly. A spell should not have intelligence to decide what you want healed and what not, and if youare unconscious and bleeding out, you cannot direct it either, but I do not expect Aruzban Ironarm to be frightened that someone casts Heal Body on him and lose his namesake. Or a Danfive Xaroni losing his brands and marks of punishment. So that is my solution. Your body just returns to the state when it had all wounds , marks, scars or implanted magics healed, even if some portion is missing. That becomes the baseline. On the other hand, it allows, if you lose a big chunk of you, the regenerated part from Heal Body will still have your scars and tattoos, so if you cut a finger as a sign of DX penance or to show repentance to the Lanbril kingpin, they will not suddenly return. It is related to how you look in the Hero Plane, if you do not go in body. You are still yourself without a body. That is the body image. YGMV, but I assume nobody uses Regrow Limb in that case.
  22. You can always blame the Godlearners, as they are credited with spreading Tradetalk and Issaries all over Glorantha. They surely showed all those different trade gods were first Issaries children, and a few generations later, Issaries himself. That will cause big local variations, but the traders will not let that get in the way.
  23. I am missing in your list Sartarite refugees, or would you include them among the Heortlings? They are culturally similar but they probably have different internal feuds, and many will probably leave after 1628. That would include a sizable (for Ducks) number of Duck refugees from the Duck Hunt. Those would not be very keen to return to Sartar and those neighbours that betrayed them. That interests me because one of the characters in my game is one of such Ducks, while the other is a true cosmopolitan Nochet boy (a self promoting historian, a LM godtalker and Issaries initiate, so we are discussing where he stands among the LM factions). Character creation was over one year ago, but we are discussing how to integrate Nochet more in their back history. I would also expect a second Esrolian wave during the abandonment of the city of Wonders and with Greymane raids, as the city brings safety compared to the countryside. As well, we should have a Nolos and Pasos influx after 1621, but that may be too early to show in 1623, but will surely be there in 1626. Similarly with hunger refugees from the Long Winter, but those will leave the city when the situation normalizes. People probably are still traumatized in 1626, after war, famine, civil war and a long siege, but going forward the biggest problem will probably be "only" the pirates, together with Argrath's request for help against the Lunars.
  24. I use the body's self image, not yours. So your body knows what is on your back, even if you do not, and Lie will not affect it. Of course, if you think it will be more fun the other way, it is your Glorantha. But I started this first about whether tattoos are wounds or not, then scars (specially concerned about losing a PC's hard earned scarring), and that by serendipity brought the reason why Regrow Limb has its place. Things like magical artificial eyes and iron arms just fit in as well.
  25. Also, the true specialties of CA are Ressurrection and Curing Diseases, and her true enemies are not wounds, but Death and Disease, Humakt and Mallia. Heal body for me it the boundless fertility of the Earth manifesting in people, making them new. She can make the same by focusing her mastery of life, but it is instinctive for Earth deities with Fertility.
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