JRE

Using a literary equivalence, that would be like expecting that Sam Spade, as an example of an unaffiliated (remember Humakt is neutral) truth seeker with a strong honor code and an affinity for violence, could never be friendly with a career criminal, specially one that focuses on non-violent crimes on people who can afford it... It is, basically, one of the basic noir novel plots... I was going to use Glen Cook's Pat Garret, P. I. as the example, but although it is fantasy I would expect it is less well known. In that case it would be his friendship with Morley, though he is more Black Fang than Lanbril.

As I do not have more space I buy all RPGs only as pdf, and in that case Drivethru has several advantages, specially if you buy products from different publishers. Here we are effectively comparing pdf only vs pdf only sales, so it is fair to me.

It is still outselling (in Drivethru) the Prosopaedia, so there is that...

And Fazzur is commonplace?

It fits with the moon multiplicity to have a Storm Shadow and a Sun Shadow. The Sun was more effective, possibly because Storm acknowledged her victory in Castle Blue, so that weakens the shadow. Sheng became the default superpower to use against her, but I am sure bringing back Jannisor is in Argrath's long "To Do" list.

You need to keep in mind the trade transport and the neighbouring areas, and where will it join the general international trade. The Wastes exports animal leather. It starts by foot, so the options are Kralorela, and likely an ongoing trade in the border for metal objects and other sundries, Dragon Pass, where it will enter into the international sea trade hubs and the internal Lunar Empire trade, and Pent, that does not seem a good trade partner, being normally self sufficient. If you follow the Dragon Pass Copper, it could go north to the Lunar Empire, East to Prax and the Wastes, or South, where it is packaged with the Holy Country's own copper so the Holy Country ports become the main source of copper worldwide. Salt traveled surprisingly far in Antiquity, but that will always will be away from the coasts. Teshnos glassware will be common in the East and in the Holy Country, where it has probably replaced the Ralian glass, as the Manirian road does not seem the right environment for glass transport, but the Ralians still sell strongly in the West. The fall of Nolos and Pasos probably mean most Genertelan glass traveling to Pamaltela is now from Teshnos, though carried by non-Teshnos traders. As for timber, it may well be specialized timber, whether tall straight redwoods for masts, hardwoods for shipbuilding or luxury furniture, so it may sell far away. It happened with Norwegian firs or mahogany. But it will not be Errinoru elves who trade it, but Fonritian traders. At the end of the day, what decides where you go is what trade hub you can reach. Despite their efforts with Corflu and Karse, most of the Lunar international trade passes through Nochet, but that also means they can sell and buy all over Glorantha, but with a severe markup (buying) or down (selling) when compared to the native Esrolians. Gives a different version for The Lunar policies in the south, and it makes you wonder if the death of Orlanth was for religious reasons, but the death of Ernalda was purely economic.

Steal Breath is a Tap spell, so it is normally forbidden to regular Malkioni. But that is quite far from being a chaotic act, unless we consider brithini, vadeli and others chaotic. So I suppose the taint is in the book. Does the teaching require access to the book? Or has the character transcribed the spell to their own non-chaotic grimoire? In the second case, it does not seem necessary to taint the student, while the first would risk at least exposure. Or chaos could be in the language of the book. Does the book implant or require a forbidden knowledge in the form of language? It is needed to cast the spell, so learning that form of the spell would include exposure to Chaos, and if the book does give you the knowledge, then it will spread Chaos on all its readers.

Glorantha being as it is, I am surprised more people have not tried to repeat Kallyr's "get a cool star on your brow" quest. Maybe it is because she has always been an ambiguous figure, or that the sky is not always seen as friendly by the Orlanthi, but I am sure some people must know about it. Her actions fit with Nick's description, including the "other opinions exist" sidenote. Honestly I do not know if she embodies part of a star, or if she is the lover of one, and whether he (being the Sky as it is, I will dare say that all the Star Captains are male) is Rigsdal, Polestar, Polaris or some unnamed Star Captain.

Although it may go against Occam's razor, I would expect there are several hundred Iron Crowns in Glorantha. It is the most valuable metal, so what do you use to make a badass crown?

According to the guide, Fonrit has over 10 million humans. The Holy Country has 3 million. The Lunar Empire around 8 million. The whole Western culture, including Seshnela, Fronela, Safelster and colonies does not reach 8 million. No other area is so densely populated with an active trading urban culture. Even isolationist Kralorela is over one million short and has more surface. Our Genertela centric view may ignore them, but it should be the trading powerhouse.

In Ralios it is the control of the rivers which drives trade, so although they were declining with the Manirian Road, the rise of the Wolf Pirates has renewed the importance of Galin / Drom. I agree with the other three, though I think Estal is mostly intra-Safelster trade, rather than international trade, as the river Jrimb does not have the reach of the others. The Kustria / Galin alliance reinforces this, and it will become more important as Safelster faces problems in the future trading through the Tanier river in the face of growing Seshnelan agression.

The troll gods watch the games. The conflict between Karrg and Zorak Zoran is fought in the field, and that eventually is linked with the undercover uzko revolt against Kyger Litor and the Uzuz primacy that will become more serious with the rise of the Blood Sun. In many places it will be just a game, but as in Earth, politics taints sports, and in Glorantha, and even more in the case of trolls, politics is based on religion.

For me those are mundane, and I am looking at the effect as a minor magic. So the Humakt will know if a sword has killed, and how best to use it, not because he knows swords, but because he is Death. That allows him to detect magical effects that only act in combat. Anyone skilled in swords could spot a masterpiece. This detects other influences, other powers. Such as being a humakti gift weapon, even if you cannot benefit from it, or other magical effects, though it will not know what, they will know if it is there. The same with a cursed or badly made weapon. As well, fair trade as seen from Harmony is not just that the value is the same, but also if with that amount the seller family will still starve to death, or if the seller does not value or need the object so its value should be much less than the nominal. Not the surface value you get from Evaluate, but what exchange would give a positive sum for both sides. That for me is the fairness of the Issaries rune, mechanically represented as Harmony affinity. Often that means selling expensive to the rich and cheap to the poor, and buying in the opposite way. For an Issaries, an unbalanced trade may be better for their soul and make a friend forever, an unvaluable gift. That is magic. In the Ernaldan and pregnancy, it is not using medicine to recognize symptoms. It is your own life recognizing the new life. It is about adding a little magic to a magic world. I just took the well known Orlanthi weather sense and applied something similar as cult magical effects. And it shows Rune affinities in a different light. It goes beyond augment, and in some cases it may be cumulative, which the rules do not allow.

I would say the risks of roleplaying are very high in Glorantha, pulling the practitioners into the God Time, so it is severely limited and controlled. As such all cults have a cadre of professional roleplayers, but they can only play the approved adventures and myths in the proscribed way. The Lunars are the only ones that have recovered the old free form adventures of the Autarchy. In the Unchanging days before the Lesser Darkness, however, Tylenea, as Mistress of Illusion, was the patroness of RPGs, and the few unaffiliated practitioners still call to her. They are prosecuted and hunted, as they can dramatically change the world, and probably still do it today.

As a system to create the heroes and heroines of the Hero Wars, average is not the target population. But it is still the main tool we have to see how an average person is presented, so I would assume they do have characteristics, runic affinities, and skills, and those are decided by the GM according to their view of Glorantha, so this is a clear example of YGMV, from people that scale up as the characters improve (like so many CRPGs), to ones where the characters progressively disconnect from the average, or they may well start disconnected, as was the case in Hero Wars / Heroquest from the initial concept. The return to a more granular and "gritty" system allows more flexibility in making "typical" NPCs, and more variations in competence. But it clearly does not need to fit averages with the character creation, as the PCs are exceptional from the beginning. The simulation chosen also influences the characters, even if you ignore character creation, as that fixes certain limitations for Rune levels, master artisans and even what to expect as Affinities. It will also modify magic use, as in my Glorantha many initiates seldom have much Rune magic because it is unreliable unless your affinity is high.

I have had only time to browse through, and I am impressed by the many names I barely remember but specially by the varied styles and detail of Katrin Dirim. I find her illustrations are key in showing the Gloranthan theist experience.

Once again I was referring to the bulk of the initiates, those that may have 1 or 2 points in their runepools, and usually will reserve them for emergencies, such as Heal Wound , Shield, Spirit Block or Dismiss Magic in a real fight, and focus on their Bladesharp, Demoralize and other spirit magic in combat. In the same way, they may accompany an Oathbreaker's hunting party, but they will never be the focus of it, as that will be the role of those in the fast track for Rune level, and probably the kind of test they have to complete to proceed. My Glorantha still has most things in a gaussian curve, so the few people with very high affinities will be in the cults fast track. BG initiates will be obviously skewed towards Death and Earth, but more on Earth as most of the temples are first Earth temples. Life will be stronger than Death, which means getting good candidates will be difficult, except in conflict prone areas, such as the Shaker temple, that does have a bigger focus on Death than most. The 30% was probably an exaggeration, though it is possible in the rules. Someone with 70% life will be more useful in Voria as she will then specialize on life giving tasks. But what do you do with those with 40-60% affinity?

I usually give most major cults minor magics, and some of them can be considered a supernatural sense, using rune affinity as I do not really want to make them a skill. So far we have seen God talkers and above of Ernalda sense pregnancy upon concentration, using the Life Affinity, Lankhor Mhy Identify Language (using Truth), Issaries Fair deal (to know if the trade is fair or not) using Harmony, and Humakt sense weapon quality using Death. That just spots if a weapon is better than normal or worse, not any specifics. But I am willing to give extra uses to high deity Rune affinities, though usually linked to a cult that owns that rune. Another benefit of being close to your deity ideals.

As I indicated, it may all change with the cults book, but as written, a Babeester Gor initiate with 30% Death is workable, and probably an interesting character, as she can use Earth to cast her Rune Magic. As this is the RQ forum, for me the rules have priority on the world. Obviously that would be someone who is more focused in guarding than killing, but I wonder how many oathbreakers need hunting normally every year? Rapists probably a few more, and in Dragon Pass possibly more problematic as they will be quite likely part of a military unit or deserters. If we consider that 90% of initiates do not make Rune level, it is not so problematic that many of the initiates, specially those that join as temple orphans, rather than due to trauma or special initiation, do not have a high Death affinity. They do their years, never progressing and then IMG, they move on. Whether it is Ernalda, Maran, or maybe even Asrelia or Ty Kora Tek, will depend on the character and her personal story, as well as the temple and its specific needs.

This may of course change a lot with the pantheon book. I may be reading too much on labels, but for me there are two main kinds of Babeester Gor cultists. Those with a high Death affinity, and those with a high Earth affinity. But all of them are Daughters. If Death is your calling, you will have to follow the path of Blasted earth, but if you are more a protectress of the Earth than a killer, I allow them to change their focus. It may be pregnancy. It may be maturity, a partner, a near death experience, but people do change, and the cults must reflect this, specially a cult whose adherents are treated funtionally as young adults, even if they are grizzled veterans. From what we have seen Orlanth is set up to embrace both the youthful adventurous and the mature thunderous, while the Earth has a different set up. We already know that internal politics has priestesses forced to change to Asrelia or Ty Kora Tek in Esrolia, as that keeps them from being Queens (becoming Dowager Queens, I suppose), a less bloody option for the losers in a conflict. It is also MGF for me to have the possibility, specially after several years of war, that a good number of Ernaldans did not go through the express way of Voria, kids, husbands, priestess, but a more convoluted path, including a high axe skill, combat spirit magic, tattoos and scars. And most likely at least a kid, even if she is now a temple orphan. I would expect the titular Hunter as someone with high Death, which would help with the Hunter cult as well, so that is already a lonelier path. As said above it seems a bit minimaxing, actually, but what I like about Glorantha is that most heroines are actually minimaxers as well, those ambitious and ruthless enough to sacrifice almost everything for hero power. On a related basis, I see most Axe Maidens, unless in a pure BG temple, as dutifully subservient to their elders, considering as such the other priestesses in the complex. Maran Gor however is not subservient to anyone, which is already a personal and social benefit for an Axe Maiden who is fed up with all those scheming Ernaldans, their nosy husbands and noisy children. As I said before, as a GM I only normally allow double initiation to cults who are associated. BG only associates are Ernalda and Maran Gor. Which means that if you are willing to work a little extra, you can have a mature priestess that still keeps her combat magics. That would be the minimaxer way, as she would have two runepools, while a natural pantheon progression would have just one runepool. And she gets to ride a dinosaur while cutting up enemies with a poleaxe...

It is a very valid point. However, as Rune affinity is a thing and it may shape the PCs actions, adding a sub rune modifier decouples being a good Inora God talker or a Lodrili headman from an extremely high Darkness or Fire, which may well be socially unacceptable in Sartar or Peloria, while it is still positive to have such an affinity for religious reasons. As IMG there are cosmetic and even some practical effects for very high affinities, and most people can recognize who is "strong" in the runes, it is different to have 90% Darkness affinity from 90% Cold, or 90% Fire, 90% Heat or 90% Light. 90% Darkness gives you the same cold resistance I give to 90% Cold, however, as it is the full package, and the same with Heat and Fire.

I want to remark that I said Dwarves in Genertela. In other parts of Glorantha they of course use ships. But as most people are gaming in a small part of Genertela, that does not help much, in the same way that the fact the dwarves could probably crush the Wolf Pirates if Harrek is not present does not matter because they are focused in their own thing. And being manipulated does not mean you are allies, it is that the others can predict how you will react, and set things up so your actions are what they want. But that still means a Vadeli ship in Jorkar's Sea is at high risk if they meet a dwarven ship, as would be any other ship. And the Vadeli are actively challenging the dwarves by sailing in Jrustela, Jorkar's and Dashomo Seas. Dwarves are very pragmatic, and they think they understand better the immortal humans than the mortal ones (and it is likely they are right), so of course they prefer dealing with known groups, whether they are Vadeli, Brithini or Waertagi. They will have their vengeance, but they are willing to wait if there is a benefit now.

My interpretation of this thread is not actually picking dumb ideas and rejecting better ones (hopefully to their own worthy threads), but presenting ideas as a stream of consciousness channeling of Glorantha. A homage to Greg Stafford's creativity by just improvising without the filter of the rules, the games, the books or even common sense. Where you are not wrong because somewhere somebody wrote something you did not know. Where that flash of inspiration while watching a curling tournament is as worthy as the actual quote from the Guide. Where having fun is the most important thing. Unfortunately I find being a God Learnerish monomythologist fun. That is also dumb. I hope the gems among the dross will be rescued and get their own proper threads. The others will get their opportunity to make people smile, laugh or huff and then be forgotten. But the wackyness and quirkyness is what makes Glorantha interesting for me after forty years, and this thread is where that shines.

I do not consider Uzko as demons, as they are a surface people, a creation of Kyger Lytor to have children that could thrive in the Hurtplace, or at least reproduce fast enough to conquer it. Which is why the Curse of Kin bites so deeply. As they are a weapon, an adaptation, a step beyond the demons, made by using the man rune / mating with Grandfather Mortal. And I consider them true children of Grandfather Mortal, and that separates them from the Uzuz, unless an Uzko (or a human) quests succesfully to become a demon once again, which will mean among other things rejecting their mortality. Grandfather Mortal was the first killed, but he learnt how to return to life, which is why he is still around doing things all over the place during the Lesser and Greater Darkness. Mostly suffer in many ways and have sex with many different partners. I think his ressurrection path, as Daka Fal, requires a descendant willing to give you their body, so not useful to certain kind of heroes, or for a fast return from death, unless prepared in advance. It would work with any of his descendants, however, so if you learn it you could return as anything descended from you. I assume most ressurrections that require an existing body and a certain willingness from the resident soul are based on his, though usually with an adoption ritual that turns someone not related into your descendant. Another of his secrets is actually being able to change his biological sex, so she is also Grandmother Mortal, and the secret her shamans try to emulate, first by changing their gender, later by actually changing physically.

When you really get down to it, Uz are the closest to humans because they are the only Elder race that enjoys sex. And who also enjoys kinky sex. The rest is window dressing. Ulerians assemble!