Jane

2 hours ago, Jeff said:

As with the Miskatonic Repository, submissions to the Jonstown Compendium need to use RQG. They can come up with additional material, such as new spells, new sub cults, etc., but not rewrites of existing cults, etc. 

RQ? I thought it was stated at the start that if rules were used at all (and there's no need to do so), it could be RQ or HQ (plus I think one other than I don't use so didn't remember). 

36 minutes ago, SDLeary said:

There was a Goranthan font at one point that had a lot of extra stuff... Was that the HeroWars font, and didn't it have some of these at least?

SDLeary

My folder "runefonts" has eight different TTF files in it, complete with the PDFs that explain them, dating from 2004. I got them as free downloads (somewhere!), and would be happy to pass copies on, but I have no clue if they obey all the legal requirements for use here.

On 9/13/2019 at 5:54 AM, Godhi said:

The Iron Quill

i.e. Quill of the Master Scribe, The Wyrm's Tooth

Description:

This magical artifact appears at first glance to be nothing more than a fancy writing quill crafted from an iron-gray feather of unknown origin, attached to an iron nib bearing the Truth rune. If examined closely, the tip will be found to be moist with a small amount of octopus ink, which never dries out no matter what the circumstances.

Cults:

Associated: Lhankor Mhy
Friendly: Lightbringers

Knowledge: Cult secret.

etc

Very nice! What my "Sian's Quill" wants to be when it grows up. Since it's a cult secret, the Humakt  who made hers won't know about this, but I bet she's looking at it and thinking "oh, the irony".

Right, I'm taking the combination of this and the "play a game in October" thing as a personal challenge. I haven't run a F2F game in far too long. Lost my nerve when I had that breakdown, but if I can stand up and deliver a talk to an audience, I can do this. Playtest as the F2F thing (assuming I can get players), then the scenario to go out here. It'll probably be pretty much systemless (it was when I ran it at Continuum a while back), but if I haven't thrown "In Pavis Fair City" at you by Xmas, feel free to nag.

17 hours ago, Jane said:

Perfect! This is what I'm thinking of
http://www.jane-williams.me.uk/glorantha/marshedge/marshhaggis.cfm

Drat. I knew one of the fanzines had it, was going to chase it down and grab the artwork. It's in Rule One issue 7. Electronic not dead tree, so still available. Will rethink.

4 hours ago, lordabdul said:

What about conversions of old RQ2 adventures for RQG?  (converted NPC stats, general notes and remarks, etc.)

Third time of trying to type this, and I hate the phone interface! What about conversions of the HW/HQ scenarios? I'm told RQ2/3 conversion to RQG is pretty straightforward, but this wouldn't be. Not that I plan on doing it myself, they're already in my preferred format, but that's a lot of good material.

Just now, MOB said:

If removed it from your website once it was on the JC that would be fine. You could put a link on your website to the product at DTRPG.

Perfect! This is what I'm thinking of
http://www.jane-williams.me.uk/glorantha/marshedge/marshhaggis.cfm

There's also quite a lot of myths around, mainly either Humakti or Vingan, but they'll need a bit more work to be presentable.

Now, me not being one of the "BRP Central folks", do you want to send me info on how to present it? Or do I wait until you're out of beta-testing?

So no, no, and no, for almost anything I have to offer, but thanks for the detailed explanation.
And in good news, not only did I get a notification that there was an answer, but the notification told me what the answer was!

Though.... I wonder.... 

39 minutes ago, MOB said:

A fundamental stipulation of all community content on DTRP is you can't offer what's there elsewhere....

So if I picked something that's currently on my website, took it off there, and offered it to the more central location...? There's a systemless scenario I wrote that I think would work rather well for other people, but it's currently hidden down the bottom of a link tree and I can barely find it myself, never mind expecting other people to.

So, copying over my question from Facebook:

"Looks interesting. I don't use any of the rules systems mentioned, but presumably statless scenarios would work. Fiction? How about simply adding resources that already exist online to this central collection?"

Now let's see if notifications of answers actually work....

1 hour ago, Pentallion said:

SPIRIT DEN

Description. A Spirit Den is generally an enchanted place or object where an animal spirit is voluntarily bound but with the freedom to roam within its POW in meters from the binding enchantment

Cults

Associated. Daka Fal, Waha, all shamanic cults.  

Knowledge  Automatic.

Procedure. A shaman can bargain with an animal spirit to voluntarily be bound to a place or object if in return it is allowed to range freely within its Power in meters.  These spirits can be more easily persuaded if the area of the enchantment is desirable to its species.  ie fish spirits in water.  Beavers near dams.  

Powers. The Spirit Den serves as a local source of power for those who are allowed to draw upon the animal spirits magic points and for spirit magic known by the animal spirit.  These are essential spirits a shaman maintains for his community.  

Value. Priceless to the shamans community.

Oh, very nice! Borrowing that for NPCs everywhere from now on.

The Swords campaign, being the tale of a group of Humakti mercenaries, contains quite a lot of magical swords. Have a couple of them, converted from HW to HQ to RQG (and special thanks to Diana Probst for help with Numbers, and being nit-pickingly specific where HQ prefers flexibility)

The Water Sword

Appearance varies, but in general, a finely made sword forged out of pure lo-metal (quicksilver, or aluminium). In the hands of someone with a strong Water link, it can change its form, moving to the liquid form of lo-metal as it does so, and has, for instance, appeared as a trident.

Cults

Associated: Humakt, any water cult, especially those associated with rivers.

Enemy: Dragons. Daga.

Knowledge

This is a one of a kind item, probably usable by anyone. It is not (yet) well known.

History

Given to Hereward’s Legion (a Humakti mercenary band) by a river god, to aid them in rescuing his niece, who was then persuaded to provide water to the Horn Gate oasis.

Powers

Apart from being incredibly light in the hand, and the shape-changing, this sword gives a bonus to killing dragons. It has been used once for this purpose, and a single blow to the eye dispatched the dragon.

Numbers:

Quadruple damage to dragons. Not dragonnewts. Not people with “dragon” in their names. Dragons. Dream dragons, or true dragons. This can be combined with other enchantments the wielder may wish to cast upon the sword.

A successful roll on the wielder’s Water rune, plus a magic point, will allow it to change form.

Very light weight, so has half the ENC and half the strength requirement of whatever is normal for the form it is currently in.

Value

Not for sale. Probable price if you steal it – being hunted down and killed by a hundred or so very competent and very annoyed Humakti, plus the enmity of most rivers in Prax. It might however be given away to a suitably honourable ally who had a need to kill a dragon.

Barzaad’s Tooth

“It didn't look like a magical sword. It was short, dark and plain. It was a working sword. It had no runes on it. No mystic gleam twinkled on its edge. It was old - not in the sense of "antique", or "full of legendary promise", just well-used. You could believe it was a sword that had been used so much it had ceased to be anything other than a quintessential sword; a long piece of metal with very sharp edges.”

Cults

Associated: Humakt, Jaldon, Waha

Enemy: Mostali, Pavis, Flintnail, and now certain Lunar regiments. (The current owner has sworn an oath never to use it to harm Mostali or New Pavis).

Knowledge

Probably one of a kind. Certain powers appear to only be usable by the rightful owner (as determined by the sword).

History

Found in a heap of discarded equipment in the Rubble in 1621. It communicated its name to its new owner, but no more. Investigation at the Library revealed this:

“Barzaad was one of the nomads who tried to attack the city in its hey-day, when Flintnail was the main power here. He was in competition with Jaldon "Toothmaker", and claimed that his "tooth" was better than that of his rival for getting through the walls. While it was certainly effective, he died during one of his many attacks. Various people claim to have used his "tooth" over the years - some of them may even have been right. He's said to have followed "Iron Man", a spirit who seems to be vaguely similar to your Humakt.”

Powers

In the hands of the rightful owner, cuts through stone as if it were butter – and also Mostali, and to some extent any warriors whose magic or wyter is linked to Stone. (Tested on the Marble Phalanx, who did not enjoy the experience.) It does an automatic critical (after any armour not made of stone is taken into account), doing full damage no matter what the damage type would normally do.

In any other hands, does not cut anything: reacts to all substances as a normal sword would react to stone.

Of the other two powers, only the names are known to the current owner: “Devour Wall” and “Gleaming Whiteness”.

Known only to the GM:

“Devour Wall” enables it to absorb any wall, of any non-magical material, at a rate of one ENC per minute.

“Gleaming Whiteness” is essentially a very specialised Glamour spell. It causes one object, normally the caster’s own teeth, but sometimes the sword itself, to display the aforenamed property. Can be applied to inanimate objects as well as people, making them look more impressive and enhancing any “display” properties they may have. MP cost as for Glamour. 

Limitation: not known to the current owner, this is not a simple inanimate object. It used to be the wyter of Barzaad’s heroband, and will only accept as an owner someone who in its opinion is friendly to Praxians. Use the rules on Wyters in the core rulebook, and rate this as per the Wyter for a shrine or large family.

Value

Not for sale. If it were on the open market, price would vary enormously depending on how much was known about it, and how the buyer and seller felt about its history and powers.

And here's the next one - well, two. Never tried in play. I'm working on the assumption that RQG is a lot like RQ2 or 3, being much more a HQ person myself.
 

Chorus Drone

A small trumpet-like instrument, curled into the shape of an Air rune, and with three strings over the wide end (looking like a Harmony rune). It is playable as a mundane musical instrument, though not a particularly useful one.

Cults

Associated: Donandar 

(However, some cultists regard the use of a Drone as “cheating”, and will show a distinct lack of respect to anyone using one.)

Knowledge

Most people who are entertainers, or who work with them, know of the Chorus Drone: singers are the most likely. It can be used by anyone who can supply it with magic points.

Procedure

Physically making the item requires a skilled instrument maker, used to working with both brass and strings. Enchanting it needs a good singer, who knows the Harmonise spell, and a successful Ritual. This will usually be a Donandar initiate or priest.

Powers

If the user sings a short phrase into the Drone while also putting a magic point into it, it will repeat the phrase, but in multiple voices (the pitch of those available depends on the strings used). The number of repeats can be increased by using more magic points. The sound will be “released” upon command by the person who supplied the MP, so can be set up by a soloist before a performance begins.

An alternative use is to record a spoken message, so as to minimise the risk of the herald in question forgetting a critical part, or when the language of the message is not spoken by the message-bearer.

Value

Varies depending on the perceived or reputed quality of the voices – starts at 50L and goes up. Those used as message-carriers require clarity rather than a beautiful singing voice – normally sold to Issaries Heralds.

The Squeaker

Looks like a Chorus Drone, but somehow distorted. The strings, rather than being obvious wire or gut, are so thin and fine that it’s easy to cut your fingers on them.

Cults

Associated: Asrelia

Enemy: Donandar, Yinkin

Knowledge

One of a Kind. And those who know of it hope it stays that way.

Procedure

Attempt to make a Chorus Drone. Fumble the ritual. Look around for Tricksters in a suspicious manner.

Powers

Similar to those of the Chorus Drone, but

·         The repetition is four octaves sharp - inaudible to the human ear, but painful to animals such as alynxes.

·         The sound starts immediately, and requires a direct command to stop rather than to start.

Value

Varies enormously depending on whether the potential purchaser thinks they have a cunning way of using it.

History

The identity of the person who accidentally made this is a cult secret, due to acute embarrassment. It seems to have been in the early 1600s, since reports of it exist from about 1605 until late 1619.

At first it was simply known as a nuisance, to be disposed of, preferably to a customer you were never going to see again. Then it was realised that the property of scaring animals could be useful, provided that you had none of your own to be affected by it, and after a few experiments with defending travellers from wild animals (it tended to anger them rather than scare them, unless they were too small to be a problem in any case), it was given to the Asrelia cult to help keep mice out of granaries.

It ended up in the besieged city of Whitewall, and this is where it had what might have been its moment of glory. Someone, we don’t know who, came up with the brilliant or desperate idea of feeding the Bat’s Scream into it, and then playing it back, on the assumption that humans would not hear the result, but the Bat would. This might well have been true. It’s entirely possible that the Bat’s reaction was due to fear, fury, or possibly hearing what it thought were the cries of either young Bats in distress, or perhaps a mate, but nobody managed a successful Insight (Crimson Bat) roll. All we know is that the bodies of those making the attempt were never found, nor was the Squeaker, and nor were the walls in the immediate vicinity. A very truncated Library record is all that is left to us.

Sian’s Quill

A small paperknife/stylus, made from iron in the shape of a Durulz tail feather. It acts as a matrix for Bladesharp 6. It is not intended for use as a weapon in its own right, but if used as such, is clumsy in the hand, used at half the skill of a dagger.

Cults

Associated: Humakt, Lhankor Mhy.

Hostile: Storm Bull cultists in the region of Jonstown.

Knowledge

This type of object is common, this specific form is not.

History

 Made specifically for Sian “Quillsharp”, then a junior scribe at the Jonstown Library. There was an incident involving a very young duckling and a group of drunk Storm Bull cultists who we hope had the excuse of a fumbled Sense Chaos. The duckling tried to take refuge in the Library, and Sian, on door duty at the time, defended duckling and temple with nothing more than outrage, melodramatic acting, and what she claimed was an enchanted Quill of Power. (Don’t ask about her Truth Rune.) The duckling turned out to be the niece of the High Sword of the Humakt Temple at Duck Point, who was suitably grateful for the rescue, and made the Quill as a reward for Sian, saying that if she was going to claim that the pen was mightier than the sword, she had better have the means of making this True.

Procedure

A little bit of iron crafting, and the ability to make a Bladesharp 6 matrix

Powers

Bladesharp 6 matrix, useable by Sian and by anyone she gives permission to – others have not yet been tested.

Value

Not for sale. If it was on the open market, the value would normally be standard for a matrix of this type. In the Jonstown or Duck Point areas, value would be heavily influenced by the potential purchaser’s knowledge of, and feelings about, the item’s history.

Notes:

Yes, this is my first ever post on this arrgh-it's-controlled-by-the-authorities forum. So I haven't a clue how it works, yet.

Yes, that really is the self-insertion character I used to write as in the 1990s, now generated in RQG

Yes, I did find that rather nice iron feather in a craft shop, and buy it for this purpose. Mine doesn't have the matrix, though (yet).

Yes, my GM does have a thing about ducks.