g33k

I think this is incredibly difficult to achieve!

I kinda mostly agree with you... and kinda mostly do not. I think Elves are going to be very very different from humans... but that doesn't mean they cannot be very comparable to humans. Sure, all Elves will Hate or Fear Trolls (and Dwarves, and Fire)... I might summarize it one "Hate the Ancient Foes." But then also, what experience has their specific Grove/Dryad had? Maybe good relations with a nearby Human tribe, or bad? Or with some Beast Folk? An associated Passion? The PC will likely have picked up that same perspective. But also: elves are Plants, and they think that way. They are much less "individualistic." You may not have an "Heirloom" from your family... because they are still adventuring with them! Or maybe they are not (adventuring is so rare for elves)... but your Grove/Dryad may have some "starter adventurer" items to loan you as you go out into the world. Also +1 for @hipsterinspace -- WHY is your Green Elf adventuring with humans? And are there any other non-humans in the group? How do they all work out those intra-party dynamics??? But however it works, that backstory is likely to generate some "Family-History-Adjacent" events...

☝️ THIS ☝️ It's a chronic issue with all the "vs." face-offs in fiction/fandom/rpg/etc. Borg Cube vs Death Star Gandalf vs. Dumbledore etc etc etc The only real answer is "whatever the author/creator decides."

As with most technologies, these things will get cheaper, and work their way downmarket. Antilock brakes were originally an aircraft system, first introduced to the auto market by Dunlop, who was in both aircraft and automotive industries. Then it came broadly to the luxury market; then it was an option for the mid-tier. As of 2012 in the USA, antilock brakes are mandatory on all new cars. (For big trucks, it was earlier to reach the market, and earlier to be mandated) === Not every target will have a Thermal Exhaust Port leading directly to the reactor system... but I expect that many of them will have *SOME* sort of weakness that precision can exploit!

In the real modern day, precision-guided munitions have as good as a 1-meter accuracy... that they are willing to admit in unclassified documents. I have no problem envisioning a future weapon which could target an individual porthole... if someone were stupid enough to put such a thing on their combat starship.

IMO, if a ship-scale weapon hits a character, it's an auto-kill. For those rare situations where the weapon is small-enough to even roll hit-location (if you're using them), then it destroys any limb, but is an auto-kill on a centerline hit.

Yeah, it's technically legal to own a (de-militarized, i.e. no working weapons, no classified comms/etc systems) tank in the USA... I believe even a modern one like an M1 Abrams! You just have to nerf it. Obviously, even a "nerfed" main battle tank is an intimidating road-warrior! Most places require modifications (headlights, turn signals, rubber cleats, etc) if you actually want to drive them on the roads... and most tanks don't actually fit into normal traffic lanes, so there's that issue for "street legality" too.

Of course, the Adulthood rite is always a safe "this-world" heroquest. Always. That is to say, for the Orlanthi version of "all" ... But even when something more-mythic impinges (and it's no longer strictly this-world) the ritual still always follows the basic "Adulthood rite" script. Oh, damn. Did I use that word "always" again??!? If you take the "six of every seven" -- and treat the collection of all those seventh's as their own collective case, then across the hundreds of them from a whole clan it's reasonable to suggest that another 6/7'th filter applies, 1/7 of 1/7, who are unusual even by the unusual standards; and so on, thousands of Sartarite exceptions providing hundreds of exceptional-exceptions, etc. 1/7 - 1/49 - 1/343 - 1/2401 - 1/16807 and so on. I can very easily imagine someone whose "adulthood" rite strayed unintentionally into a Cultic initiation. It wouldn't be a common thing, by any means! But "always" means something very different in Glorantha, than we moderns think of.

If it helps our poor mortal brain, perhaps it's better to think of it as different regions knowing of different myths. Or maybe the god (for their own reasons) responds differently in different places. Or they're just being F'ing ineffable.

oh, that was you? Hey man... I'm still pullin' for ya! 😁

@Jeffrywith1e necro'd the f--k out of this thread: ... but I pretty much 100% agree with his hopes! @Jason D ... ?

My uncle commanded a machine-gun nest for the USMC in Viet Nam. He cited me the survival statistic that, if all they had for protection was some sandbags, the average survival time of the machine gun nest was about 30sec after opening up. Once the other side knew there was an active nest, they became THE target.

Huh. I honestly didn't mean it that way... and even with you pointing to the specific quote, I don't read it that way. I was talking about different tastes in games, like... some prefer their combat to be grid-and-mini's, even with RPGs; some prefer a quick sketch, for-reference, and GO! ; and some prefer pure TotM. And while the TotM crowd can run most RPG's their way & ignore range-mods &c, the grid-and-mini's crowd usually need game-systems with pre-built ranges, AoE attacks statted out with their Areas, etc etc etc. So I was genuinely referring to some folks liking games whose genres & mechanics already support extensive gear statblocks, gear-customization-minigames, and such-like features I guess... <shrugs> different styles of communications, or something? No harm, no foul, & thank you for keeping things civil (recalling other forums where "casually abusive" and "grow a thicker skin" are the norms). Oh, yeah, absolutely! I've seen more than one gaming-comic whose punchline revolved around that RPG (the infamous CPA's & Notaries Public... technically a GURPS sourcebook rather than a separate RPG, I think). And really, how could BRP not fall (at least somewhat) into this tradition (since Glorantha came to RPG's by way of the WBRM wargame, and landed in the hands of SCA founder & knight Steve Perrin, who focused on authenticity-of-combat) ? 🤣 ROFLMAO! No, it isn't kinda ironic, it is hugely and gloriously ironic, it is the AA-12 of irony, OTT and slap-in-the-face-with-a-steel-gauntlet ironic. To be fair, of course, CoC is (afaik) kinda the RPG that invented the whole "accurate historical details in RPGs" schtick, often including bringing physical props (pseudo-news-clippings, train tickets, incriminating personal letters, and other clues) to the gaming-table, &c. To some degree, weapons in CoC are just an aspect of that obsession... but also, to some degree they are not.

I think there are separate questions: can (will) the "aspiring Aeolian" sufficiently adapt to the new cultural & Cultic norms? is there an officiant willing to bless their becoming an Aeolian? I think the "MGF" answers should depend on who's the PC & NPC, and be some form of "yes, and..." or "yes, but..."

No; it's not "just a player/GM thing." I didn't say that it was, though -- I was talking about a genre of "mil-tech Sci-Fi;" that genre calls for the specific "gun porn / gear porn" vibe. And yes: Bond counts.

I think I'd say that the Buserian has to do 3 things (before they can get a LM spell not listed for B): They need to learn the story, the myth, of LM having the power that forms the basis of the spell. They need to believe in the story, have faith that it's True. They need to accept that LM and B are masks of one another, but their godhead is one and the same. Then yes, they can sac for the spell and get it.

By my reading, these are mostly very Cult-specific. Arguably, an average "Lightbringer Adulthood" initiation might look somewhat like an Orlanth or Ernaldan rite of Cult initiation (or sometimes a Heler rite); but it would also have stations re-creating the story of the Founding-of-the-Clan, and/or meeting the Founding Ancestor(s).

🤔 IMG, this clearly needs to change to "converts are never encouraged, and rarely accepted. A few Zzaburi have occasionally set impossible (but useful & valuable to the temple) challenges to prove worthiness to join. These usually kill the aspiring Aeolian... but not always." 😱 MGF ftw! (a flat "no" is much less fun) 😁

Unless you live on a warring border (or are in the way when Sheng Seleris leads his hordes in to attack) it's safer than Sartar. Not by default, no. Illuminates, I think, are less susceptible to madness. ... Maybe some of them? In particular, I suspect anyone dealing with the Bat very much is in SAN-risking territory. There's likely some other, non-public SAN-risks, too. I'm sure @Nick Brooke will be along to tell us it's not so ... that's how you know it is so!

For a unit of peltasts, I'd think a javelin on the banner, and/or something to indicate speed/mobility... or maybe a winged sandal ? Invent some glorious victory, and include a symbol of it onto the banner imagery? Honestly unclear how to represent the NEW group, however -- the PC's. Maybe the wyter itself creates some part of the banner, based on the "feel" of them from the POW/MP sac's? Whatever their greatest victory?

There is a "mil-tech Sci-Fi" vibe that IME calls for a certain degree of "gun porn / gear porn." It can become a mingame of trading disadvantages (concealability, cost, ENC, etc) vs. various advantages (range, accuracy, versatility (variant ammo's), recoil, rate of fire, etc), also including accessories (scopes, clips vs drums, smart weapons, etc). I used to like those sorts of minigames better than I do these days; but I still understand those who like to have it as part of their RPG system.

It may or may not be explicitly BRP:UGE, or use the ORC license, but some version of BRP-adjacent mechanics look likely to run this game: https://www.rpgpub.com/threads/looks-like-artesia-is-coming-back.4499/post-227755 That was written prior to the OGLpocalypse (& the ORC license), but he was planning at that time (n.b. 3 years ago!) a RQ-derived game. The new BRP edition may have changed that plan (or may not have). Supposedly, Mr. Smylie is going to be releasing some beta/playtest rules sometime "soon"... https://swordandbarrow.com/wp/?page_id=155

Hmmm. I'm at GMT+8 ... I don't think I can make these! Best of luck!

As the fetch is part of the shaman, I would presume it can interact with the shaman's allied spirit in the same way the shaman does.

Of course, the Lightbringer & Yelmic pantheons are deeply intertwined, to the point that IMG they're basically just divine cliques within a single pantheon! The Lightbringers, after all, take their very name & identity from... Yelm's light. But we'll have to see, when the Solar book comes out, if they have the same perspective on Buserian... 😉 It wouldn't be the first time such mutually-contradictory "Truths" were BOTH true in Glorantha, after all! I presume both LM & B have individual members who specialize in Astronomy, even if "Sky Stuff" is a more-common specialty in the more-Yelmic sect. But LM priests are infamously obsessed with filing systems... to the point that some of the larger libraries have multiple, incompatible systems being simultaneously implemented, with adherents of one system conducting terrorist raids into the stacks of another, to rearrange the scrolls & tablets &c...