albinoboo

While we are worshipping at the altar of Vivamort, I have a suggestion. The bronze age concept of guest friendship could help explain why Sartarites came to Nochet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia_(Greek) It is way creating hereditary obligations between groups, for instance   Diomedes and Glaucus meat during the Trojan war, Diomedes ask about lineage and discovers that Glaucus and his father where guest friends. So instead of fighting   Diomedes and Glaucus exchange amour and parted peacabley.

In Gloranthan terms, a political house in Nochet would have guest friendship relationship with a tribe or clan in Sartar.   The Sartite side could  be used as place to toughen up husbands and children or as place of refuge when the risk of assasination is high. The Sartarites would also be under obligation to protect merchants of the Nochet house active in Sartar.  The same obligations would be on the Nochet side, with added  bonus of a dozen  or so battle hardened Carls led by a Windlord adds a certain weight to moral arguments in Nochet.  

Nysalor and Lokamayadon are perhaps the closest but they are both dead and have no current cults. Arachne Solara offers nothing to worshipers but is a real God.

15 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

That bad, huh? Oops, egg on face, will slink away now...

That's oeuf of that

54 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

Not directly connected to the discussion - I think we'd all have to say that " logical reasoning and wisdom literature" =/= "sorcery".

Nope! It's in the section specifically devoted to sorcery, so it's a perfectly valid assumption to think that it only applies to those who choose to learn sorcery - especially as the (yes, limited) cult write-up completely fails to mention it as a requirement for either of their Rune Masters, and as part of the Cult Skills...

Yes, again - valid inference - again, given what it says in the cult write-up which is a pretty solid "qualification" that is clearly present in the text!

It is a clear cut mention that sorcery is available (probably in most temples), but in no way suggests that it is mandatory - again, because it's not in the cult write-up!

 

Naturally - it's called "Cognitive Bias".

A greater deal of 'interpretation' is required to assert that it's a requirement for all initiates.

It's a ridiculous assertion to say that *all* Rune Master's are required to have 'mastered' sorcery to teach it to initiates.

 

Personally, I'd be happy to agree with you if the evidence was there to support the argument (my first RQG character would be an LM sorcerer...) - but it's not! It makes more sense to me to suggest that the use of sorcery in LM is part of a sub-cult devoted to it (but can be taught to other initiates).

It's best put down to your Glorantha mhy vary..........

2 minutes ago, Kloster said:

Dragon Pass had sorcery through Heortland, but Heortland is not part of described homelands.

Yes, of course. Your option is perfectly valid. This is part of the reason why I said that this choice given to the players (and GMs) is a good point.

Sorcery wasn't in RQ2 but Lhankor Mhy was. The original published version of Lhankor Mhy was the standard rune and sprit magic format. 

I always felt that Lhankor  Mhy got sorcery so that Prax and Dragon Pass had sorcery available. Personally I never liked sorcery and making it Lhankor Mhy sorcery optional means that I can safely ignore it in an Orlanthi context.

The header from https://www.glorantha.com/ has Arachne Solara in the centre. It looks to me like the bluey white that is used for Shiva and Krishna in Hindu paintings.

6 minutes ago, gochie said:

True, but is that really a problem? I'm sure the Telmori would want to stay in wolf form forever if given the chance.

HonEel cursed the Telmori of Sylila to be wolves. I wouldn't be too sure about the Telmori wanting to be wolves.

Harrek is known as the negotiator, because of his patience,  accommodating attitude and diplomatic way of dealing with conflict. 

11 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Yeah, both representations work, really. Might have one Heortling and one Esrolian, with different mythical interpretations, for example.

Perhaps the Esrolian version being used by Earth Cults in Tarsh and only done by women

The Heortling version  could be done by various Orlanthi cults, with different meanings and  acrobatic jumps for each cult.

Ernalda: showing there is another way. 

Orlanth Rex: Balancing violence and co operation 

Barntar: Taming of the Bull 

Vingains: Embracing violence is always an option.

5 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

I was about to say.

I kind of see Bull Leaping as some kind of Esrolian "Earth Masters Storm" ritual.

My thinking was Orlanth Rex demonstrating that he can take the wilder side of the Storm tribe without killing. There is another way verus violence is always an option. A king would need the raw strength of Storm Bull and the ability to control the wildness of Storm Bull. I also thought that it would show having no chaos taint. 

6 minutes ago, g33k said:

Hmmm.

The earliest I knew was the Cretan/Minoan stuff.  That most-obviously goes to Esrolia, and pairs rather naturally with their whole "master the fierce warrior to your service, without ever fighting him" ideas.

Egypt, you say?

Hmmm.

It's one of those arguments things. The earliest date of clear bull leaping art is in Egypt but in a style that is more Minoan than Egyptian. There is also arguments about  motifs on cylinder seals found in Syria dating to the 18th century BC. It could well be Minoan in origin but the earliest evidence is outside Crete. 

Bull Leaping

A genuine Bronze age activity dating back to the 18th century BC in Egypt but best know from the frescoes from Knossos. Bull leaping is still practiced in Spain today.  

There is an obvious Dragon Pass connection with the cult of Storm Bull. It could be a simple entertainment, a cult ritual for Storm Bull or an Orlanthi test of Kingship.   

These aren't the Ducks you are looking for

On 7/2/2019 at 1:25 AM, lordabdul said:

That's a typical thing I do whenever I introduce a new game world to my players, even if it's using a system they know because it's likely used differently than they're used to.

It can be a scene where they're training/sparring with other kids in the village but, usually, I do the equivalent of the cliche "kill the rats in this basement", but re-skinned differently... for instance, they're on herding duty but some low-powered pests or wild beasts (still figuring out which, suggestions welcome!) try grabbing one of the cows... basically something where it doesn't matter much if they win or lose, and something that will be followed by some narrative ellipse so that if they didn't fare too well, they can heal before going out to the real adventure (and, also, reflect on what went bad, even potentially re-adjusting their characters if they realize the party isn't well balanced). And you can still somehow integrate it to the broader narrative, like "since you kids did so well protecting the herd, you get to go on a cattle raid!".

Of course that's only possible when you start a campaign -- for one-shots and convention scenarios, there are completely different tricks to use.

I use the preparation for initiation into adulthood.  The local clan ring serves as a method of exposition to show different game mechanics and introduce some mythology. As to a threat I use foxes, they take lambs and chickens. Foxes aren't hard to defeat and you won't be using a full fledged warrior to guard against foxes. A success might mean duty against wolves, and wolves are not always what they seem, in Dragon Pass.

Just now, Julian Lord said:

I've been using a staff pretty much every single day for the past 10 years or so, and what you're suggesting is simply inaccurate, sorry.

Switching stances with a spear will certainly be a bit slower than with a staff, but your basic stance would be an offhand grip at about a third of its length and main hand grip at the base -- carrying the spear as she does would be quite fine without all of that load, but in RuneQuest terms it looks like she'd need to waste two actions simply to ready herself for combat, during which time she'd basically be unable to parry.

Maybe that spear is part of that loot haul and so she's inexpert with it, and so thinks she can just dump the entire load and seize her axe instead ... but that still doesn't justify not using the spear as a hiking staff, particularly as that huge load would still be easier to carry on her back instead of so awkwardly.

 To keep the grip overhanded you would be walking with the point down. You will blunt the point. 

2 minutes ago, Dan Z said:

How much interest are we talking here?  I'm extremely, very much, significantly interested.  And I'll coincidentally be at GenCon.

I believe the normal price is your immortal soul. 

47 minutes ago, Julian Lord said:

Good stuff, though this notion of how she might carry all of that extra load is extremely unrealistic and I'm afraid looks pretty ridiculous, notwithstanding the otherwise fine quality and execution of the design.

She's carrying far too much, and there is NO WAY that a single person might even need such oddly huge cooking utensils.

AND that would just *kill* her left arm and shoulder, not to mention her back. But maybe she's packing all of the loot from her latest Quest ?

It's just silly to suppose -- traditional iconography notwithstanding -- that one would carry more than can be inside or else hang onto one's pack ; and also quite bizarre that anyone would fail to use his or her spear as a hiking staff, and so always ready in defensive stance. Even in a temporary workaround from being overloaded and needing to be for her own reasons, she'd want to keep the spearhead down not up, to hasten combat readiness as she could use gravity to let the load slide off the blunt end whilst bringing the business end into better position.

Or -- does she maybe just have 35% Spear skill ?

To me it looks like she has, a helmet, a cooking pot, a water flask, some food and a bed roll on the spear. If she fights with the spear in an overhand grip using the spear as a staff won't help. 

Already posted 

1 hour ago, Carew said:

So to be clear then, the Legend OGL is fine as far as Chaosium is concerned? A simple 'yes' will do. If its a 'no', then an explanation would be good.

Legend is no longer listed as OGL by Mongoose.

I think it is important to remember that the battlefield is full of magic not just weapons. If you get hit by disruption 4 your armour won't matter. What armour is going to protect you from the Crater Makers, The Crimson Bat or The Cannon Cult, if the Cannon Cult is still cannon (been waiting for years for an excuse for that, sorry). Fundamentally is up to the GM to make the battle roll into an event. Say something like:

We formed the shieldwall, we sang the paean to Orlanth the Victorious. The armies  voices raised as one until we heard the the thunder of Orlanth in our hearts. 

Now ask for the battles roll from each PC. The GM must describe the result in terms of the outcome of the battle that they want. So a successful battle roll for a PC on the winning side  would tell how they broke the Lunar line, a failed roll would describe the wound happening while the Lunar line broke. A successful roll on the losing side would mean an ordered retreat, an unsuccessful roll would means a wound in the rout and playing dead on the battlefield.  

30 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

But someone naked (or wearing normal clothes) in the shield wall will be more likely to get hurt than someone of similar skill in armour in the shield wall.

The whole point is that you are fighting in formation with people similarly equipped. If you are the only person in the shieldwall naked, people either side of you increase their chance of getting killed because you have less protection. Skirmishers don't wear full armour but the shieldwall does. If you don't have the equipment for the job, you will used in a different unit. The battle roll is an abstraction of unit combat and that requires the assumption of basic competence on behalf of the commanders. It's not perfect but this is an RPG, not a wargame.

Normal combat is about individual action, battle is is different skill set. If you don't keep your place in the shieldwall, your armour won't count because you will be overwhelmed by your opponents. Unless you are a demigod or near status, you have battle in formation or pay the price.

12 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

But..

 

Why?

The disorder Rune was the first to separate from chaos and has the strongest anti chaos powers. So each act of humor acts like payer wheel for disorder and weakens chaos. Yeah that is it, I went on a heroquest and things to find out, honest.  

3 minutes ago, g33k said:

Yes, my master.

"It is by po alone I set my posts in motion.

It is by po-facedness that fingers acquire speed, that speed acquires Likes, that sadfaces earn Moderation.

It is by po alone I set my posts in motion."

 

The humor must flow