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I don't recall the origin, but have long and repeatedly seen references to the "fact" (dunno current canon) that some places implant gigantic stakes -- or even just trim & sharpen whole trees -- to deter giant-stompage.

They have been all over my news headlines online... and yes, I'm looking at mainstream domestic US news, multiple sources. I'm not sure what your sources are, but suggest you broaden your filters. It sounds possible that you've gotten into a search-result bubble without even realizing it. They have the same norms, but the conditions are much worse than "normal." They've been having a heat-wave for months already, and temps are forecast to be over 100F, + high winds fanning+driving the flames. Scores -- sometimes hundreds -- of separate fires all over the nation (the normal practice of shifting resources from "low-risk" areas to high-risk is... risky). At least 20 dead, more missing or injured; over 12 million acres burned (that's a quarter of Oklahoma), hundreds of homes burned, and no real relief forecast any time soon... indeed they're bracing for worsening conditions in the next 1-3 days. As Ian says, this is really unwelcome politicization. Also false, as the USA reports I'm seeing DO include this story.

I haven't delved deeply, but from what I have seen -- and please correct me if I'm wrong -- the key element is... hrm... let's call it mutability. Hykim-Mykih, shapeshifting, genderbending. Not really "genderfluid" in the modern parlance (still binary), but M-or-F-as-needed-or-inclined. Gender seems to be less of an "identity" here. I'll add that the more devolved away from their divine ideal, the less mutable. Shapeshifting gets harder and harder, and the gender-switch seems to go away entirely.

I've got a couple of suggestions for you, @Vaegwrym ... First up: Blood Tide. https://www.chaosium.com/blood-tide/ Chaosium's BRP-engine'd game that's definitely NOT "Pirates of the Carribean" (because that sh1t is copyrighted by Sith Lawyers, man!) but you could definitely do PotC with anyhow. It's got a subsystem called "Stunts" that let you do pulpy-action-events, combat stuff outside the realm of "roll to attack." It's on sale, too! 👍 Then there's TDM's Mythras. http://TheDesignMechanism.com/store.php#!/Mythras-Core-Rules; many consider it the best iteration of the BRP engine; many others do not. The authors replaced the crit/fumble mechanic with "Combat Effects" that make for a more tactical combat scene. Personally, I enjoy tactical options; but my group of players were daunted by the subsystem, and I failed to sell it to them. I suspect one (or both) of these may offer you something like what you want.

So we've got this "Dark Earth" concept floating 'round. Gouger & the Tuskers (does that sound like a great name for a thrash-Bronze Donandar group, or what??!? You just KNOW some Eurmali is involved with THAT one!), Asrelia, M.Gor & B.Gor, etc. Bloody, lots of Death, lots of Dark. Secrets and Mysteries. Dark Earth is a very RealWorld notion... We even have a word for it, "cthonic." Lots of exemplars, too. But... In Glorantha, the two elements are allegedly separate; they seem inordinately close! And why are these all EARTH (with some Dark) rather than DARKNESS with some Earth? Why is "Dark Earth" so very MUCH of a thing, unlike, say... Dark Wind (yes, I know there IS such; but there's just... less of it, mythically speaking)). And then we have beings like Kyger Litor. DarkRune + ManRune ... And yet one of the most prolifically Fertile deities we know of! With no Earth, no Fertility! I don't want to be accused of GodLearnerism, but... boys & girls ... I begin to suspect that whole Dark / Earth division is a helluva lot less crisp than some of the other Elemental splits! And they both seem to have a "special" relationship with Death and Fertility, too, that the other Runes don't have... Yeah yeah, I get that whole "cycle of Life" with Death clearing the way for more Life. But don't think I don't see that crimson Lunatic smirking over there, as soon as "cycle" comes up! Puffed-up little nouveau dei tart, with her "Illuminations," and her "We are all Us" and pretty soon her "differences are illusory" madness will have us mooshing all the Runes into one big loaf and stuffing ourselves into her handbasket! And if you think she'll stop carrying when she'd gets to Hell... No sirree sirrah, she's marching THAT loaf straight to the Chaosium. Ahem. Sorry. Little Miss Moonshine, miss wannabee-queenbee, always sets m'back up... Where was I, again? Earth. And Dark. Dark Earth... Earthen Dark? What is going on, over in that oh-so-secret bit of the Lozenge?

I can affirm this experience. There is a period of shock; not "numbness," IME, but... so many different parts of who-we-are that are intertwined -- in many different ways -- with our dearest. More and more aspects of the self get exposed to the pain. We didn't realize how much a particular favorite food of theirs would matter, but there in the bakery... suddenly it's too much. Or whatever; everyone is different, every relationship between two people is different. 3 years on, and I still feel pangs just driving past a red-headed pedestrian... because my mother-in-law was so fond of redheads, and I'd always point them out as we drove by. It DOES get better with time, but it's definitely a "spliy" grief-filled journey, with more grief before the less-grief happens. But the less-grief... it does happen.

I think I'd require the Sword skill and the Sword(offhand) skill to be separate castings of Sword Trance, with separate skill-boosts (and extra MP's per casting). But I'd allow it for as many swords as you can wield, so if someone with a melee Trance-granting deity somehow got the ability to Heroform with multiple arms (looking to YT + Sedenya, most likely) or vice versa, they could get pretty freaky, pretty quickly.

The bowstring, certainly. It already is. Duh! Sure. I mean, most just carry theirs in one hand. But if you wanna do some wonky "Slope Arms" shoulder-carry position, and don't mind looking silly & affected... yeah. No. But under the RAW, if it's a magic bow & someone casts "Detect Magic" then the bow will glow. If someone has a "Detect Bow" spell, your bow wouldn't HAVE to be magical... All bows in range will glow. We aim to please. And we cast Arrow Trance to help us hit the mark.

Wait... Does that mean he gets the Cultural Skill +10% Ride(Moose) during chargen??!?

01 <lordabdul Crit's his Admonishment roll!> Chaotic creature has an OMG-what-am-I-doing moment, "What does my life even mean?!" Etc. 01 <Chaotic Crit's its Illumination roll> *POOF* no longer Sense's as Chaos. Storm Bullies bow down in Awe as the Greatest Lawspeaker Evar!!1! converts the Chaotic before their very eyes.

There's a LOT of things you can do with a bow. You can stick it under a boulder to act as a lever to pry it up. You can stick it into the water to fish out a drowning kitten (without getting your delicate tootsies wet). You can festoon it with garlands and use it as a prop in a Fertility ritual. Etc etc etc. STR roll, DEX roll, Worship(Ernalda) roll, respectively. None are Archery rolls. Neither is a Qstaff roll an Archery roll. You don't have a magical bow: you are a magical Archer. Not only does Arrow Trance not Skill-boost you doing those non-Archery skills... your badass Trance'd self cannot do non-Archery skills / rolls. YGWV, of course.

When I said "absurd" there, I meant "absurdly difficult and improbable feat of archery" which falls within the Arrow Trance wheelhouse. I'd have to think a bit... I might call for a penalty to the Trance'd skill... -50% or something? Not sure...

I would not allow bow-parry under Arrow-Trance. That seems to be explictly the Quarterstaff skill . I would allow Legolas-style absurd point-blank shots. You can do absurd acts of archery under Arrow Trance.

Yes but I think the OP is asking -- if you're a bog-standard Olanth/Gustbran redsmith, what can you do to learn to work Iron? In Glorantha, that's not just unrolling another scroll to see the characteristics of yet another metal...

But this is neither Church nor State. This is TRIF's house. And IIRC Trif ain't even a USA resident or citizen, so USA law has even LESS relevance... Mainly, he wants us to stay civil; but really... we have no "rights" here, he just hosts the space out of the goodness of his heart and allows us to play in this very fine sandbox he owns. 😁

That, or duckbill caps...

I don't see that we can avoid this issue. Low-value product is an inevitable consequence of a program like the JC... We may be a skilled and talented Tribe, overall, but every tribe has got its Awlredd the Awful... At least those products appear to have reasonable quality (even if the content's a bit minimal for the price). In time, I presume there will be some actually crappy product... some, "it's so bad, the author should have paid ME, to read this crap" product. It's just the nature of the fan-content beast.

I give Sword Trance parrying; it's part of Sword-ing (bow-parrying is NOT a part of archery, however!). I think it's a mis-read of Arrow Trance to think that parrying is disallowed from all Trance-y spells, that's just a specific feature of archery.

I presume that @Chaosium (noting that without a proper username from the site, an @summoning is just another text-string) are keeping an eye on the JC content and enforcing a takedown against inappropriate content. I looked at the maps offered there and thought they looked like an awfully small amount of game-usable content for the asking price. Maybe there was something more than I saw, or maybe the seller just values their work differently.

Hello, and welcome! Your English is FAR better than my French, and more clear than some native English-speakers seem able to write... And much, MUCH less rude!

There are some minor rewording's and such, that are drop-in replacements. But stuff like adding the Q&A's is a substantial increase in linear column-inches of text, which would totally mess with the layout. I do not see that as a quick stopgap, an "intermediary." My guess is that Chaosium won't see it that way, either...

Good Orlanthi will make the woad RIGHT, so it'd only be blue. Of course, then there's the Eurmali who got that hot-pink dye, cheap, 'cos nobody else would buy the hideous stuff offa th'Issaries... <studiously avoids looking at anyone whose name begins with "Q"> no idea where th'bastid got th'idea fer a pink troll, fer crimminies sake! No idea at all.

It will take time; and some people we never stop missing. Wishing you all the best.

At a guess, the stylistic similarities are own to the software & settings used...

<glares suspiciously> "Fossil??? Are you calling me...." Just because a guys remembers the Stones early days (even if just as a tyke m'self)...