JRE

I see a difference between dead people in Hell, and live people who go bodily into Hell. Probably it is slightly easier getting out if you did not get officially killed, as then Hell is not your place. But many things can kill you and move you from embodied to normal dead. That difference is why still some people make an effort to go to Hell with their bodies, though I would say Magasta's whirlpool and Hellcrack are better entry points than a Chaotic cesspool as Larnste's footprint, as we know of people using the other two, even if they are far away, but I know of no example of using that particular entrance. Styx has power over gods and the dead (maybe it has power only on dead gods, which is most but not all of them...), but I am not sure it has such an effect on embodied mortals. Another reason to go with your body, if you want to bring back souvenirs, such as flasks of Styx water.

I would consider the Flintnail dwarves heretical, but unless we know for sure they age, there is not enough information to consider them apostates. The two nearer dwarven outposts, Dwarf Run and Greatway, are openhandists and with a high number of individualists. Pavis most likely received the most extreme heretics and also a fair number of vegetarians, even if they arose in Pamaltela, to fit with the Green Age and collaboration with elves. The dwarves have set up false gods for their human slaves helpers before, so what happens with the human part of the cult has little to do with what the dwarves really do and worship. I also think it is deliberate there are no / few iron dwarves in Pavis, both as they were unknown in the Green Age, and also because humans fill that position in the city.

Some loose ideas. I would expect the rise of the Boat planet will be the last nail on the Trader Princes coffin, as at that point almost all trade goes by sea. Tanisor (I still hope for Old Seshnela to be remade, and that probably is one of the reasons the One Talar becomes the big honcho) invading Ralios does not help with trade, either, though I suppose the kingdom is trying to raise funds by restarting the Quinpolic league trade routes. Good for Handra, desperate westerners willing to send iron, tea and other luxuries cheap to pay for a war. However that also brings Rokari and Theoblanc's manipulations to the ports... It would feel right that the war strengthens the Galanini and other post-hsunchen to join the new Beast alliance, possibly combined with a new Dangan Alliance as a buffer, and I am sure they will extend a hand to the Pralori, and maybe some efforts in Ramalia. Hrelar Amali becomes a mighty holy site again. However I see Ramalia as a Manirian problem that will be solved by the Manirians, possibly with Beast Alliance help. Pralori, former trader Princes looking for a new identity and Handra. I would have Ramalia being the first big problem of the Hero wars (1626-1630) with the Reforestation the second (1631-1635) and the flood coming later. Vadeli are in any oceanic port, though in small numbers, and I am sure they feel perfectly at home in Ramalia. However I do not see them interested in land except as a source of trade goods and slaves. So I see them more doing Faustic deals. What if rather than the Wolf Pirates, it is the Red Vadeli who come from the sea to save Handra from a Ramalian army? What do they get in exchange?

Someone from Issaries or Etyries could be trying to find an alternative to the Su Lo Cha trade route. That is why no caravan ever has returned. But it seems like a fun adventure. It would not be prioritary for the Empire, but the Governor of Pavis or Argrath of Pavis (depending on the date) would be quite interested if that route could be set up. Maybe others have reached Kralorela, but were not allowed to trade and starved there. Or they were so sick of the Wastes they returned by ship to Esrolia, without returning to Pavis.

The Lunars are not a monolithic block, so someone with limited resources would use local talent. Maybe an Etyries trader wanting to get better prices and weaken the Orlanthi farmers negotiating position. And Orlanthi rebels are not beyond a false flag attack, specially it the target is one of the accomodating Orlanthi. Kill a collaborator and rile up all the Orlanthi. Win-win. She is not really involved in the city, so I do not expect the city to be involved with her. Most murders are committed by family and friends, so that is where I would look first. Who wants to take her post?

Any critical portion missing would prevent Ressurection, unless you consider that Heal Body can regrow parts of the body that are not limbs. Just remember that if you rule that way, that fixes reality in your game, unless your players are not like mine. So if you rule that NPCs acnnot be ressurrected if the heart is missing, that should apply also to PCs. Lots of people practise head hunting besides Thanatari, and in my Glorantha the main reason is Ressurrection prevention. Although it does not say it explicitly, I consider that is why Yazurkial Blue Llama decapitated Sitzmag Redmoon and made a drinking cup of his skull, as I suppose Sitzmag (a scimitar of Yanafal Tarnils) had already been killed and ressurrected before (RQ:RiG p. 235). Taking heads and sticking them separate from the body is not only a show of justice in action, but in Glorantha makes it harder for the executed friends' to get them back. It also brings adventure hooks if the PCs need to recover some portion of someone important murdered before too many days pass.

My understanding (and a clear example of my belief in sequentiality before the compromise) was that Wakboth killed Kajabor because Wakboth (moral corruption) wanted to rule Glorantha, not destroy it, probably by subverting Kajabor and making it devour itself, as it was considered invincible. Dead Kajabor went to hell and faced the dead gods, while above the survivors of the world faced off against Wakboth and its hordes of the corrupted (freedom loving mortals with foreign support fighting against the corrupt theocrat establishment, according to other interpretations). At the same instant (sequentiality again) AS devoured Kajabor, the survivors faced off their chaotic mirror selves and Fate or Storm Bull squashed Wakboth with a big chunk of crystallized law. I would agree that the survivors winning their "desperate" fight was because they were not really fighting anyone, as everybody just wanted to survive, and with Kajabor gone nobody really wanted to ruin the world, so a true Compromise between the two sides once the mad leaders were not around. Apparently the official party line is that Wakboth now goes to hell (possibly after being squashed, but then why is the block needed to keep him pinned?) instead to be spider snack/fucktoy and unwilling parent of Time, so I am not sure what happened with Kajabor. Maybe they have just switched places. I at least will not look below the Block, and we have always being at war with Eastasia, yessir.

Ok, add detectable. So the rainbow grasses and the platypus were burnt with prejudice, but orchids (as an example) and other epiphytes did not detect as chaotic and are still with us, adding some variety to the world, at the expense of some low key parasitism... I am sure some Western wizard blames intestinal parasites, STDs and short skirts on undetected chaos influences, but at this point it is part of the world anyway.

I would not allow it as a Pure Horse /Zebra hybrid, as indicated above, and because those two cultures have different mythical relationships with their mounts, but I might accept it as an unusual Grazelander or a Galanini from Ralios if you want to be "brother or sister" to your mount. If you do not wish to "break" Hippoi to serve you, the model should not be Hyalor, but to go for a more hsunchen equality with your horse, worshipping directly a free Hippoi, or more functionally, Galanin the Sun Horse, a Hsunchen evolution. A grazelander with that attitude will normally be an outcast, but it is possible the Feathered Horse Queen would shelter such a Hippoi follower, as part of her new way. I find it very interesting that the Galanini are ruled by hereditary female chiefs, and the ruling clans can still transform into horses. Cross-pollination or mythical common ground with the FHQ? However that would still allow him to join Kargzant, just sideline Hyalor. Command Horse would not be right in this case. I would start with a Yelmalio like gift of Speak with horses and a geas of cannot allow a horse suffer, and continue from there.

For my own peace of mind I consider there was an objective reality of the events before Dawn. And that it was sequential, though unevenly distributed. But it is unknowable and unprovable from this side of the Compromise, as it separates both sets, Time and fixed out of time. My current opinion, though that changes often, is that the Compromise is a cheat to save the gods (and possibly the world, but it is also possible the chaotics were just freedom fighters against godly oppression. Damned establishment propaganda...). Just as they were going to lose, Arachne Solara took the gods, and most significantly their pasts, out of Time. So the Godtime really has all jumbled together, not because it was like that before, but because the Compromise took all references to time out. Chaos is just what comes from outside the world. One problem of arriving in a well established existing system is that there is no place for you, so you need to make one, which is not peaceful, so many manifestations of Chaos became destructive or violent. Natural selection through an aeon of war guaranteed that the non-aggresive, non-violent manifestations of Chaos were the first to go.

Most Chaos cults are unable even of basic collaboration, and Thanatar is vulnerable to this, as the only real way to ascend in the temple is to kill someone above you and gain control of their head. I am quite sure that is how the inner secrets are transferred, by head taking. Not a good recipe for team building. However Krarsht is different, it is Chaos because it is something external to Glorantha, but it is organized, it has a plan, and a detailed agenda, and something coordinating activities throughout the world, even if no human knows what is the plan. That allows the cult to act with a very long view and with surprising coordination, and why it is usually the most feared Chaos cult. It fulfills most of its promises, so it gets pragmatic practical followers and not only the crazy ones. And it puts the capable ones in charge, so it is often the best led organization in a certain area. You will end up devoured by the Maw, but you may enjoy quite a comfortable life along the way. That is the temptation.

Player characters usually are more interested in personal power than social power, and see Heroquests as a way to acquire new cool powers. That is good for a game. Glorantha however is usually focused in the community, even if most of the great heroes seem to be rootless drifters acquiring power in the pursuit of a personal agenda, from Arkat to Harrek, they almost always try to leave a community behind, from Argrath's new Sartar to Harrek's Wolf Pirates and his Pamaltelan kingdom, to Arkat's Empire of Peace. So heroes get a community they actually care about, because that will be what you will be betting in the big heroquests. This dichotomy will probably be enforced in the Heroquest rules, and I do so in my ad hoc version, as all heroquests are at heart, a bet against fate. I risk something to get something else. And when you are at high levels of reward, there is little a few people, even heroes, can offer to get a big reward. Enter the community, as now the people risking something increases. Now you can bet for a good harvest and healthy children, but risking something else. It can be the lives of a few initiates, or bad health, or making your enemies stronger. Symmetrically, if you lose your ante before the game is over, your heroquest will also fail. If Argrath lost Sartar before he completed the LBQ, the quest would have failed. Ynkarne saved Sartar, and along the way allowed Argrath to succeed, even if he lost almost all his direct followers in the process. Initial heroquests will be minor. Do Orlanth and the Dragon to get rain. The PC will probably have to choose whether they get some draconic link, or reinforce their Orlanth associations, while the community gets rain as needed. If the quest fails, the players will be weakened and rain will not come, but we know most games will be loaded so players will succeed most of the time. It is a game, not an objective simulation of Glorantha, and losing, except in carefully controlled circumstances, is not fun. However I believe players need to be aware of the risk in Heroquests. A heroquest that gives you a permanent Truesword and no real punishment for failure is not a heroquest, it is a GMs gift. Which is OK if that is how you treat character and cult progression, but lacks one of the elements of the Heroquest, which is the exchange. That is why I introduced high Runic associations. Your Humakti may do a Humakti heroquest, with the two main results of getting a permanent Truesword. or losing a season of time, some resources used in the ritual and probably some support from the temple. Right? Not for me. If successful, the character Death Rune also becomes stronger, as they become closer to Humakt. With Death at 110%, Fertility is straight out, and they often will lose Rune vs Rune or Rune vs Passion challenges. They will become Death personified, till at certain point they will win a last rune challenge, join Humakt and leave the material world. They can get quite a few nifty powers along the way: Kill at a glance? Animate swords? Break marriages and other social links? but the end result is foreordained. You join Humakt, possibly become a new subcult, and are out of the world. That is the limit of following the myths. Smart guys and gals with an ambitious agenda use those kind of heroes as powerful tools but do it differently themselves. Therefore, creative heroquesting. IMG Argrath does so many new things, or reinvents many old ones, precisely to break the easy path of becoming Orlanth and ending up unable to choose. Jar Eel walks a razor edge between doing her own thing and becoming the Moon, and that often leads her to affirm herself, even at the loss of the Lunar Empire. She has the clear example of Hon Eel, apotheosized and out of the world. I believe she does not wish that fate for herself, and her life is a dance of opposites to stay herself.

Currently the weight of how frequent Heroquests are, and how dangerous they are, lies on the GM, as well as most of the work in developing what happens and what are the consequences. Some ignore Heroquests, some make an abstraction with some rolls and benefits, some play complex systems based in their own or other designs. I am not sure we will get all questions answered in the GM book. Right now I am not sure we will get such a book in the next five years. So I can only say what I do in my games, and what I think happens in Glorantha. Nothing else. My starting point is that magic is an inherent effect in Glorantha from living beings, and magnified with sentients. That means you can get magic effects from mundane actions, as you get mundane efefcts from magic. I would differentiate two levels of magic involvement and two levels of character involvement., giving four subtypes. Low magic, without physical transposition to the Otherworld, whether it is the Godplanes, the Heroplanes the Spirit planes, or some other locations. That does not mean the consequences are not major. I consider Kallyr's failed LBQ or the failed consagration of the Reaching Moon Temple as Low magic heroquests, as the questers did not leave the material plane. Consequences are often important as any obstacles or defeats manifest within time and in the material plane, so the effects are swift and obvious. High Magic would be actually leaving the material plane, but some do it by simple physical movement, such as sailing down Magasta whirlpool. The risks are always higher for the questers, but in my opinion less for the supporting community (if any) as the risks happen in the Otherworld, and often out of time. Reinforcing the Myth quests follow known paths to get a relatively low risk low reward result. Relative because it is possible to up the ante to increase the reward. Most Cult heroquests and even many PC heroquests to increase personal power are of this kind. They usually strengthen in the questers their identification with an archetype, and in my own system strengthen their runic associations to the point free will is decreased and eventually lost, a frequent cultic Hero fate. Discovery or changing myth quests (usually called "creative" heroquesting) break out of the established patterns, either because you look for a new myth or because you want to change the existing one. Not only illuminates do this, as devout worshippers may engage in creative heroquesting to learn more about lost or little known aspects of their own metaphysics / God Time events. It is also possible to engage in this with low magic, by enabling change by material means. A desert tracker that wishes to survive the Hyena curse needs to engage in such a creative quest in the material plane, or do so in the Otherworld, but the established pattern requires their death, so it is not a solution. Killing all the worshippers of a god or subcult is also a creative heroquest, as you aim to change the mythic landscape, unortunately widely used in Glorantha. This is the path if you do not want to simply become an archetype, or if you want to create change in the world. This is what most people consider true heroquests, as only heroes dare them. The elven repopulation or the uz and Mostali flood effects are examples of massive low magic wide impact heroquests, even if surely they also involve minor heroquests of different levels. They require huge efforts if you want large effects, but that is to be expected. Great Gloranthan leaders often change the world without ever doing any High Magic quests. Mostali seem unable to do High Magic quests, for instance, and many Westerners prefer also Low Magic to High Magic, as that is the God Learners' mistake. The difficult paradigm change is that mundane actions can have a magic resonance, and a great action may well have a major effect, such as getting food and respect from all the Uz strongholds to Dagori Inkarth through the Swarm, being enough to manifest an Uzuz embodying Kyger Litor in the Lead Castle. That also means that actions that seem foolish to us may be mythically effective in Glorantha, without involving actively the Otherworld. Damming a river would not only weaken the river magic downstream, but also upstream, as it is the whole river which is affected. The following post will describe what is the characters role.

I like that. I would expect either Subere ate the Dark Truths, to keep her secrets secret, or there were originally Four curious darkness deities meeting Aether, but the Truth one was fully consumed by Fire, having approached too close (damned curiosity). They really wake my inner God Learner, as I cannot shake the feeling they are all the same deity, cross dessing to serve different masters, willing to get grant money for their projects from any source. Including Chaos. I would go as far as saying that Tien and Atyar were separate entities, but Thanatar is the Knowledge god crafting a chaotic mask out of the remnants of two defeated enemies... I would say Krarsht is Larnste's shadow, rather than Larnste itself, but that is sophism.

We have gone from the Hero (120-150% skill) being able to typically beat 1 skilled or 2-3 mook level (RQ2-3, Princess Bride or Conan level) foes to 2-3 skilled or 6-8 mooks (RQG). I have not seen RRR, but after the endorsement I will check. I do not have Netflix, which may explain it.

The obvious problem is that RQ is Heroic skirmish combat, and has gradually become (as most RPGs) Hollywood / Hong Kong Heroic skirmish combat. So you can reproduce Hero (the movie) style combat, but not any large scale combat. That is related to other combat complaints, such as Sun Dome Templars effectiveness or the distortion of high skill level or the ineffective shields. It is all linked to the deliberate choice to model heroic combat, so it is useless to extrapolate outside of what it covers. Some time ago I made a few army lists for Field of Glory (miniature wargame), using some Renaissance and Napoleonic troop types for magic users and special creatures, but that ruleset is no longer propular and it does not handle as well as DBA the magic effects. But once you have more that 5-6 people per side, RQ combat breaks down and you need different rules. And it is ok for me, as that is not the aim of the game. To return to the main subject, in all rulesets I am familiar with, a Renaissance infantry armor (as the famed pike and shot dwarves) can crush any ancient army of a similar value relatively easy, specially if they can use artillery. Interestingly more modern armies do not do that well (the lack of armor) except for the small detail of being 10 times bigger, and numbers and firepower are a class of their own.

I would say that ir depends on how you wish to present the Lunar Empire. If you take a positive spin, there is some corruption in the usual places (Spoken Word, criminal gangs in large cities) but most of the empire is unaware of that and the main powers are aware of them and work to suppress those two nasty cults. If you take the chaos empire way, there will be, as proposed above, Thanatari infiltrators as part of the special forces, with Imperial powers; sponsored Krarsht labyrinths below most of the Empire cities, and strong links between administrators and the cults. However, even if it is unlikely we will live so long, I would reserve that for the monster empire in the 1640s, as I would expect the current empire is better than that, if riddled with a weak emperor, a runaway bureaucracy and the loss of most of the army, so suppressed enemies of the empire are no longer suppressed, and that goes for both Aggar stormy hillmen and monsters in the sewers. It will be a hard and long decade in the Empire till Phargentes becomes Emperor. MGF, however, would have me rooting for epic skirmishes between sewerbroos and krarshtkids below Glamour, which means plenty krarshtkid-broo hybrids, and that quickly becomes a mix of WH40K Genestealers and classic Aliens horror. The real secret weapon of the empire against most chaos cults is illumination and tolerance. Why live as a secret assassin, paranoid about all your fellow cultists when you can join the Lunar College and get to play with foreign magics and foreigners' heads? Infiltration with illuminates loyal to the idea of the Empire can break any chaos cult except Krarsht. So I expect it will be suppressed when found, and outright destroyed when possible.

What the rules call demons and what Gloranthans call demons are different things. I would go with the bestiary demons as a wide variety of otherworld entities that were not living beings in the past, differentiating them from the typical spirits. It is a single category for dominate spells, but not for summoning. For summoning, I would class the demons by rune and pantheon / Culture. So you may have Storm Orlanthi demons (Gagarth followers) and Dark Uz demons (Zorak Zorans) as different beings. As enemies, you may play with alternatives- Orlanthi Fire demons would be servants of the evil emperor or his children, while Fire Uz Demons would be similar, servants of the carrion emperor, called differently, though dominated in the same way. As always, learning the true name allows you to call the same demon every time, with the advantage that it is a known entity, and you will not be surprised by a POW 22 demon the next time you make a summons. I would use the rules of elemental dominance to make strong demons at least manageable, or making a weak demon a powerhouse against its weak element.

I say silver, which the Lunars extract as tribute from their own vassals and many trading partners, as an analogue of the historical silk road, because as was the case with China, Kralorela is presented as fully self-sufficient and mainly uninterested in foreign goods, which is why the only trade good the Roman Empire could use was silver, which was very appreciated in China and portable. We can make a twist, although it would go against some published material, making good tea come from Seshnela and Tanisor, and have a significant tea trade moving East. Moving away from an excessive RW analogue. Other historical trade goods (magic items and magical animal parts) could also work in Glorantha with actual magic, though I suppose most of the interesting parts would come from Pamaltela or the Eastern Isles. Imagine if there is a trade in Broo horns (and fake Broo horns) for their runaway fertility power, and how that could affect economics and trade in the Wastes. I am sure the Kralori say that nothing worthwhile comes from Vormain, and that would explain why their trade interactions are mostly piratical.

I mentioned the heirloom because I would expect the Sword would want you to have a weapon worthy of the Humakt's gift. Blessing a club with a nail because it is the only weapon you can afford seems lacking in respect. That would also apply for an older initiate, though it is more likely that they can afford good quality equipment, worthy of Humakt's blessing.

I agree that there will be unscrupulous opportunist kralori traders that take trade goods north to avoid the restrictive "allowed" trade rules. That makes the trade route interesting for high value goods. As in the silk road, I expect the most typical product going east is silver.

I propose there are two factors at play, Humakt the deity and Humakt the cult. The gifts and geas make clear the kind of things the deity does not want, but the lists are what a local temple will emphasize, and it will be different (IMG) in another temple. The gift and geas will always be mediated by a Sword that is expected to know the taker well. That is also important. If the player is well known locally as an archer, has a heirloom bow as a worthy recipient of the gift, and is known not to be just a cowardly skirmisher, I see no reason not to allow the gift on the bow. One of the duties of the priesthood, but not of Humakt, is that the gift does not harm the community that supports the temple. That requires a certain control of choices.

My solution is similar to Godlearner's, though a bit slower. I play at one check per skill per adventure, and so far there are around 10-15 adventures per year, plus study / training in a seasonal basis. And sorcery spells get experience checks. That also means many POW checks, which means quite a few enchantments, a must for any sorcerer. I also added quite a few old sorcery spells as treasure in Pavis, to increase the spells choice, while controlling what spells are available. Of course the sorcerer now is quite proficient in Old Jrusteli and Old Pavic, and that also took some time. The sorcery spells he knows are language coded, but he has used the new spell creation rules to actually change the language a spell is coded in. It was that or spend effort in New Pelorian.

I would assume that dreams are not subconscious filing of waking experiences but an actual contact with the otherworld in Glorantha. Therefore, the contact depends on the otherworld where you are. In a theist culture, your deity will send you information in dreams, and make sure you are protected from interference from others. Surely each pantheon will have their own dream-keeper, usually someone with shamanist traits, but I would expect all deities can protect their followers most of the time, as well as wyters and cult spirits. Dreams are probably more complex among the monotheists, as they are open to many more messages, and spirits are always more suspect and less friendly. Another job for the wizards, and maybe an additional explanation why they are so urban, as there is protection in numbers. Good dreams will come from ascended masters and friendly spirits, bad dreams from krjalki and demons. More or less like many religions do in the Real World. The existence of a deity of dreams will cause the existence of dream magic, as in the East Isles, and where it is not known that magic will be exotic and weaker, as it will be opposed by the established powers, but it should still work, but weaker. Shamans, of course, dabble in dreams, believe in them, use them, fear them, and use them to keep others in awe of their power. But unless someone invested a lot of power in dream magic, it is mostly background noise.

I would expect Orlanthi hunters to use mostly spears, javelins, slings, traps and nets. Bows are not weapons for wooded hills at all, and I do not see them as having normally any bow better than self bow. I know that the rules gives them composite bow as a racial weapon, but a people of rain and storm lovers should not use a weapon that can disintegrate (that glue) in a downpour. Nomads in dry areas (Prax, Pent) with little wood, long lines of sight and no use for stealth, those use composite bows. YGWV certainly, but I see Yinkini as ambush melee fighters mostly, as the Alynxes themselves. Odayla as more of set spear and let them kill themselves. Foundchild yes, but it is an outsider brought from the chaparral.