g33k

Oh, yeah -- Moana, the Disney movie (of all things). Start to finish, the whole story is a Glorantha-style Heroquest (complete with Otherworld excursions).

I don't think it's NEARLY as symmetrical as that! You have way too many Yinkini. Assuming 75 women & 75 men, I'd presume most of the women follow Ernalda as their primary goddess... but a few would follow Vinga, Maran Gor, etc, and most of those women would likely be at least Lay Members of Ernalda. Call it 65-70 "Ernaldan" primary. Something similar would apply in parallel for the men and Orlanth... with some Uroxi, Barntar, Humakti, etc (who are "Lay Members" in Orlanth). Given that you've called out Yinkin as especially important, I might expect an unusual number of them... maybe 15-20 (normally I'd think just 2-3 at most) Orlanthi as Yinkini-primary? And while Yinkin feels kinda "guy" in vibe (very "Tomcat" in wanderlust (including wandering amours)), I don't think it's a Boys-Only Club, so let's steal a few Ernaldan's to be Yinkini, too. Women - 60-65ish Ernalda, 5ish Yinkin, 5-10ish Misc Other. Men - 45-50ish Orlanth, 15-20ish Yinkin, 5-10ish Misc Other. I'm sure someone will be along to show me -- with citations -- how very wrong I am. But they'll be Eurmali, so ignore them.

Your instinct is excellent, I think! John Boyle was writing a Gloranthan novel. I'm unclear why he moved it, but it apparently never got published as-such... but a VERY minor re-write has seen it published as a Hittite novel, Queen's Heir. Reviewers say that it's still clearly Gloranthan. I haven't gotten it (yet). Gilgamesh too; I believe their origins were different, but I think the Hittites absorbed a lot of that Sumerian/Mesopotamian/Assyrian/Akkadian/etc imagery and culture. I certainly find their art, & archeological records, to be visually compatible! Yeah, I throw the ancient Vedic influences in there too! Good call. Of course, it's kind of hard not to go Vedic, with Jeff saying his "go to" visual for Orlanth is this one I know Chaosium is trying to deprecate those, but personally ... I retain that whole anglo-saxon-celtic-viking northern European pastiche. It's kind of hard not to, with terms like "swordthane" and "cottar" and "hides of land" floating around. 🤫 Not to mention how that whole tribal cattle-raiding vibe sounds so bloody ancient-Irish to my ear... I just take the pastiche as ONE element, along with other ones that are less common and "generic fantasy" in feel... That was MOB originally, I think; back in Jan 2018: I've also recommended it since. I think others have, too.

My own point -- specific to @Joerg's issue with FP-generation being off-track -- is that the creation of FP's is largely per-character (arguably, the character is mostly MADE OF those FP-creators). That it may be -- in some ways -- somehow "off-track" from the "story at hand..." nevertheless, generating FP's is utterly ON-TRACK for the characters (pretty much by definition).

Fate Points should be earned in ways that are very particular to individual characters, not a generic "Earn FP" mechanism. Usually, the GM will create situations that generate FP's for characters, without the players taking any particular steps. For example, in game of Fate in Glorantha a PC with "Arachnophobia" will get FP's every time they meet a Scorpionman (and maybe Uz bug-herders, too).

I think it's that "Initiation" has (at least) a couple of meanings. First is the social, clan-based one. If you have been "Initiated" into adulthood, you are now subject to the responsibilities thereof. You are expected to answer a call to battle. You are expected to begin "pulling your weight" in terms or work for the clan's well-being, in Sartar; or the House, in Esrolia; etc. In many cultures, you may be called upon to make a political marriage, or otherwise marry for duty. You also have certain new rights... Generally, you can conduct business in your own name. Take service with a Noble, hire on with a merchant caravan, or as a field hand, etc etc etc. You're an adult. Many cultures mark that via an "Initiation" ritual. But it doesn't imply anything about Cult/Religious "Initiation," which is a separate thing.

The "sword sage" is a fighting LM path. Is there a canonical Orlanthi loremaster, as well? Then there is just straight-up dual-Initiating O+LM and advancing both... Prob'ly needing to HQ some sort of non-standard dual Rune-Level advancement.

You poor, naive child... This is Glorantha. When you ask a "nerd question" you can never... ever... count on it being a "quick" question! It's like opening a Hellmaw to roast a marshmallow. 😋 (good job!)

Well, this is the Inn, no longer the RQ forum, so it's pretty wide open AFAIK! Everyone is staying reasonable and polite, so... fair ball! Even if it were still the RQ forum, don't think Fate/FatePoints (or any other RPG getting a mechanic mentioned for compare/contrast) is a verboten topic or anything, but I DO note that HQG offers a Gloranthan-centric narrative-mechanic engine. As noted above: RQG is a crunchy-simulationist game, so PCs mostly live and die by the dice, by design. What does the world-machine (RAW mechanics, diced) say happens? Fate &c have a different design, where an equally-important criteria is the story, the narrative, the drama of the scene -- what makes for a better STORY? One can build a mechanic to be crunch-centric, or narrative-centric, or try to find some middle path or zone; none of those are any more "right" or "wrong" than any others, but simple expressions of personal taste, preference, or even mood. It's worth noting, if the Fate game-engine scratches your itches nicely, that it's a suite of narrative bits (Aspects, etc) sitting stop the Fudge game-engine, which is another story simulationist engine. In fact, the wholly-divorced "Aspect-Only Fate" is a Google'able thing. This means that, with a bit of tinkering, the "Fate" suite can be lifted off of Fudge and placed atop another simulation engine... such as RQG. === None of which is really on-topic for the issue of how Christianity has dealt with sexuality & celibacy and women across the centuries... Y'all just managed to tantalize one of my own geeky/OCDish preoccupations.🤡

But which Sherlock? The one starting Smaug & Bilbo is quite modern...

Dude. I am a parent. You can't scare ME with that crap! - We'll be there when we're there. - I've got an idea! Let's all play "who can be quiet the longest?" - Don't MAKE me turn this thing around!!! - <annoying woo-woo-guru voice>: "Wherever you go, THERE you are. So we are THERE now... And we are there NOW... And... " (obligatory contuation, at random intervals throughout the rest of the trip: woo-woo-guru voice "And we are there now, too!")

+1 on the very unusual vibe & creatures in Odd Soot! And of course all the other books, supplements, &c as recommended above. There's also newly re-available "All the World's Monsters" trio, likely to have useful content! I think those have over 200 monsters per book, so ... 700ish in total? And there's at least one Bestiary-type fan project available for d/l here on BRPCentral.

I think they dropped the "Glorantha" news over here, where we don't live and die by the Videogame Schedule. They're not pumping the Videogame market because their news HERE was a couple of years before the timing THERE.

This sounds a touch abstruse/arcane, and frankly just a bit too God-Learner-ish. 🤫 In other words, just about perfect for Gloranthan sorcery... ☺️ Keep us apprised of any progress you make, please! And if you decide you want playtesters for these HR's... do speak up! 😉

I have a suspicion (and I bet the videogame developers and marketers are really on top of this issue!) that in that particular world, there can be a downside of too-early an announcement getting negative buzz of the "yeah, they announced it YEARS ago, I think it's just vaporware at this point" sort of rumors/commentary. The software world is big into accusations of "vaporware," I know... The'll work on building buzz and interest when they expect they can produce a product at/near the apex of the interest-cycle they can generate... if that makes sense?

Every column is a sort of Rune. Those are "Condition Runes"

A wise man once said, "The GM's plans never survive first contact with the players." Also, remind your daughter that her character may have jiu-jitsu training; this'd be the "classical" usually-upright style, not the modern Gracie/Brazilian method emphasizing a clinching "ground game." And I don't know how "historical" they are, but sword-umbrellas always fall under the Rule of Cool.

The fine folk at Bundle of Holding inform me there's an upcoming Mythras bundle... 👍

See now... this is exactly the sort of thing that (I believe) you didn't want to do. And if I'm right... I'm sorry we've driven you to it. 😧

Ars Magica (ArM) geek here! Quick overview: 5e (ArM5) is the current edition. The line is "quiescent," with the publisher having no plans to expand it. Barring a major revamp (e.g. to the Gumshoe mystery-RPG engine (it has been discussed)), they feel the rules are as "iterated" and as polished as is practical. Supplements likewise -- the line has everything they deem appropriate to publish (n.b. they have intentionally left Blank (well... at least semi-blank) Lands un-detailed. The publisher, Atlas Games (www.atlas-games.com) has a free-to-browse forum, free registration needed to post. The complete 4e rulebook is a freebie in PDF, and the magic system is about 90% the same. So if you want a "free sample" in a 100%-legal way, there ya go! You can sometimes find 3e books still on the shelves of some shops that don't purge old stock, or DO buy used for resale; but that's getting pretty rare (if you find the 3e core rulebook for cheap, it has a nice color fold-out map of Mythic Europe; I kinda-sorta wish I had bought a few back when I found a store purging stock at $3/book). === ArM uses a verb/noun magic system, 15 Arts comprised of 5 "Techniques" (the "verbs," what you magically do) and 10 "Forms" (the "nouns," what you do it to or with). Combine at least one of each to describe the sort of magic you are doing. You add your score in your Technique&Form (plus a die roll, & maybe other stuff depending; but I won't go deep into the mechanical weeds, here). The Arts use their Latin names; e.g. Creo is "create" and Ignem is "Fire" so all sorts of fire/heat/light creation spells are "Creo Ignem," whether you are creating a small light to see a map on a cloudy night, or incinerating the razor-taloned monster coming to eviscerate you. With 5 (Te)chniques X 10 (Fo)rms, there are 50 basic TeFo combinations; but further elaboration comes with what are called "requisite" arts, where more than 2 Arts are needed. The classic exemplar here is shapeshifting -- Muto is the art of Change, and Corpus is the art governing human bodies. Muto Corpus lets you change your body... but only within human & human-like parameters. If you wish to become a wolf, or a bat, or any other (normal, non-magical) animal, you also need the art of Animal (the Latin is identical, here!), and so Animal is called a Requisite Art, written Muto Corpus (Animal) & commonly abbreviated MuCo(An). As this is not the atlas-games.com website, nor an Ars Magica forum, I'll leave it there and not delve further into "Spontaneous" and "Formulaic" magic, the setting of Mythic Europe, the Virtue/Flaw system, etc etc etc. PM me if you like, or grab the free PDF, or consult the AG forum, etc... Another good resource I haven't mentioned is the Project Redcap wiki at redcap.org.

It's also worth noting that this is Trif's site. We are his guests here. I'd hate to actually work toward making this site into something that may be less (or just other) than what he wants... nor make it more onerous for him, etc.

Sometimes, when my wife asks me to reach something down from a top shelf, I sob & accuse her "You only married me for my BODY!"

Hey now! 😠 I heroquested for that damn bottleopener, I did! Fluted-spiral point and rainbow sparkles an' all!!! ok, I wasn't expecting the sparkles an rainbows an... an bein' all delicate... an... an all that... right embarrassing at a Storm Bull Stampede, that part...

I am utterly without funds at the moment (due to a major transfer that bollux'ed on the bank side of things), but shall certainly contribute as soon as I can. Also, and even moreso: condolences to her. I can only imagine how devastated she is. Prayers, visions of golden light -- and any other spiritual support she accepts -- are fervently offered. Sarah is good people.

Ummm... Bill? 1000 posts, guy? Dunno if you're expecting congratulations, or whatever... Ummm... I think condolences may be in order. I'll take the free beer, though.