g33k

Is that where half of Glorantha gets smashed into fragments, and the gods have to try knitting it back together with a Great Compromise?

I take your point.

I really like the notion of "rope maps" or "string maps" of linear journeys. I'm curious: is this attested in any anthropological source? As Jeorg says, information can be encoded in different kinds of knots, different inclusions, etc. Multi-day trips could appear as longer lengths, or simple crossed loops could show a count of the number of nights on the trail. One could also delineate features of some stretches of map with different materials -- a thin strip of leather or other hide, knotted at an oasis to a length of jute twine, which in turn is knotted at the next waypoint to a length of High-Llama-fur yarn, etc. This will allow the features to be "read" by touch (e.g. in the dark, without taking ones eyes away from something being observed, etc (it would also let a "guide" consult a map without revealing that they are ignorant of the territory!)).

There IS no absolutely "safe" way to handle Chaos, in any manifestation. Some aspect of it may seem 99.99% "safe," but the essence of Chaos is that every least bit of it has limitless potential. (YGMV)

And then reprinted in the Cult Compendium.

But with the GenCon special announced -- and all the work complete on it by then -- the incremental time to submit an identical print-job (to some supplier near The Kraken's lair) would be inconsequential. I presume their sale-price (at least) makes up for the printing costs, and likely helps defray other 'Con costs, so... no money invested by Chaosium that isn't recovered before they spend on the final. The good folk organizing The Kraken probably already have the printers lined up, business relationships established, etc. It's not like it'd materially slow down the actual art-and-layout hardcover retail product. And (as noted) the Eurofan's have long been shorted vs "GenCon Special" editions (of course, we Murrikan fans have missed all Chaosium's Kraken/Essen/etc goodness, too!).

Well, even an "inexpensive copyshop" version calls it a "print run" once you get past a few copies...

Rick has already said they aren't going to set that expectation at this time (over on the GaGoG thread):

Heh. In time. But Chaosium has a long history of Con specials; I don't expect that to stop. This just looks like an exceptional year, if you're into RQ/G...

... Pavis?

I don't think the cultures-at-large have a sufficient understanding of humans to be able to adequately produce a close-enough-to-be-useful pseudo-human. Maybe they each maintain a small lineage of human-interface individuals, part of whose duty it is to inform a new generation of such individuals, before they die? That'd make a good explanation for Elder-Race PC's: their REAL job to to learn about humans such that, if a crisis occurs, their respective races have a resource when they need one, not having to wait for a breed-and-grow or design/build cycle (that would only produce an entity without sufficient experience for the task, anyhow!) Maybe there are Mostali human-interface units that can be put into a "hibernation mode" for long durations, so they can be re-used later?

I believe there are both FG & Roll20 fan efforts. I don't know if Chaosium has any plan to "bless" any of those as official, or to issue any other "official" content. At one point, they certainly had the hope to have official VTT content, maybe even the intention to have it... and they may still. Hopefully, Somebody Official (tm) will be along to comment... Though I admit, I don't know WHO (or I would @summon them) would be the Right Somebody.

While it can be -- and is! -- overused, it's ALSO a very-fundamentally-Gloranthan thing. SO MUCH differs in cause from the RW, that in those cases where exceptions-to-expectations occur, it often really IS "the myth is driving it" -- both the pieces as we expect them, and the pieces that very-much are UNexpected. Overused (and perhaps abused) though it may be, it remains a staple of the experience of Glorantha. YGMobviouslyV !

I can agree with some of criticisms of Rowling's late-in-the-game revisionism & trying to insert "woke" and "edgy" elements... But this one in particular I disagree with. The whole Dumbledore/Grindelwald romance was implied (I admit, gently implied; but implied nonetheless) and Rowling confirmed it before the series had ended; the topic has re-surfaced in light of some of her other revisions since... But really, the books began as a youth/preteen series, evolving into YA (as characters and audience aged)... I don't think we want the early end of her spectrum to see much about the love-lives of ANY characters! "Gently implied" is plenty for that series!

Hmmm. Any chance at just doing a whole new Eurocentric print-run, picking it up locally? I ask/suggest for the sake of fans Over There, and for Rick's back... GenCon unlikely for me, and The Kraken impossible!

Hey, I am ALL about that!!! (You had a typo, btw: correct&official spelling is "Kewl Powerz"

The classic "starting in Glorantha" advice is "start small, work outward." So, you have a specific interest! Start with Esrolia, and Ernalda. Work outward... and inward. Relations with Sartar. Relations (and rivalries) with other kingdoms & empires; becoming part of "Holy Country." The Earth Tribe of peoples, & the Earth Deities. The cities Esrolia, families/politics of Esrolia. Etc... And, as you go, you'll likely get bits and pieces of the rest of the world, as you learn Esrolia's place (and Ernalda's place) in that world.

Hmmm. Try this: create a character according to the RAW in the core rulebook. The mechanics are intended to embed your character into the world, into your culture. Do it beside an open web-browser. If you find a person (like "Harrek") or an event (like "the Battle of Pennel Ford") that isn't explained enough in the core rulebook, try looking it up on the Glorantha Wiki . Info on the wiki is a bit sparse, but can sometimes crack-open a concept or make a hyperlinked connection that gives some insight. And yes, I admit that "create a character while sitting beside a wiki to help understand" is a less-than-ideal process. Also -- ask any specific questions; things like "Glorantha is just so big" are... well... yes it is. We AGREE with you, but we can't ANSWER a question that isn't asked.

<ahem> Pay no attention to the growing puddle lapping at your robes; that's not the coming flood, but my drooling anticipation...

The new Cults book, Gods and Goddesses of Glorantha, is up to 100 cults in long-form write-up, confirmed as 2 volumes. NEW !!! - Red Book of Magic, an encyclopedia of all canonical Rune & Spirit spells. Both those (3 volumes total) will be at 2019 GenCon in a rough format (text only, no art, no layout, editing may be incomplete, etc). I'm almost-certain that I read it SOMEWHERE -- but cannot now find to cite; help anyone? -- that both nuTrollpack-1-2-3 & Nochet are confirmed as being for the RQG ruleset. Given RQG's status as a "Pillar of Chaosium" (by which I assume they mean demonstrated revenue-generation, and associated plans for writing/dev & produced titles serving the cash customer-service), I suspect most or all of that "rule system TBD" list is destined for the RQG column. I continue to think that a dual-stat or triple-stat (with HQ:G and/or 13G) supplement might be a worthwhile project for Chaosium! In addition to selling into all 3 markets, it might cross-pollinate players into buying new corebooks for the new systems.

It's surely one of those grey-area things, arising from the close Storm/Earth relationship. As I think about it, I wonder if there might not be some sort of Ernalda/Barntar identity like the Orlanth/Vinga one; just one that is not (yet) revealed. Hrmmm. I think I see a mighty HeroQuest coming ...

It'd probably be this one, right here: BRP Central, the Glorantha and/or Runequest sub-forums. Yes, the grognards are lurking in the bushes with their Firehoses of Deep Lore; but mostly -- in a "beginner" titled thread -- they try to throttle those back. As noted above: The Glorantha Sourcebook was written largely to be an easier-access introduction. Many praise it as such, although I've seen a few report that it didn't help them. It's likely to be helpful, but not a sure thing. The computer game "King of Dragon Pass" is often held up as one of the best intro's to the world. Heroquest Voices is also a great orientation. My own favorite "intro" material -- back in the day -- was the sidebar travelogue "The Travels of Biturian Varosh" from Cults of Prax (now also reprinted in the Cult Compendium). There is an ongoing metaphysical battle: Chaos invading Glorantha. This plays out materially, in Dragon Pass, with the sometime-Chaotic Lunar Empire invading the Orlanth-worshiping kingdom of Sartar. From the Orlanthi point of view, Chaos is mutative, corruptive and destructive, never-to-be-trusted (also... those assholes invaded us!). Yes, it can produce amazing beauty & wonder... but you can never trust the Chaotic to be what it seems to be, to stay what it is/was... as when the Bright God Nysalor was revealed to be the Chaos God Gbaji (cue the villain-reveal organ chords -- duh-duh-dummmmm!). From the Lunar point of view, "we are all us" and the distinction between chaos and not-chaos is illusory (also... those stupid barbarians need civilizing!). The Lunar empire accepts everyone who holds to the Lunar Way, even Chaotic "monstrosities" like Vampires and Ogres and Broo. NOTE that this sometimes makes them more palatable to the modern view: less sexist, less racist, more accepting/affirmative, etc; at times radically so! BUT... there's this niggling question of whether the Lunar Way is no more than a deceptive (and ultimately apocalyptic) trap... In the non-metaphysical here-and-now of your actual character, however, a Lunar PC is absolutely playable (and is even one of the iconic pre-gen's in the core book (Vostor was a loyalist of a Lunar bigwig who lost in political infighting -- living in exile, possibly a criminal to the Lunar authorities, Vostor still worships the Seven Mothers of the Lunar Way)). A common concern! Many of the events in the family-history section are based upon the Lunar/Sartar conflict, and upon the arrival of the mighty warlord Argrath & his boon companion Harrek the Berzerk. For Esrolia, the loss of God-King Belintar about a decade ago is probably the biggest and most-disruptive event. That probably didn't affect your PC directly, but without Belintar's protection, Harrek's wolf-pirate fleet & Greymane the pirate ravaged Esrolia. There's two kinds of magic (well, three... but we'll leave the third way aside for now)... 1. Spirit magic (sometimes called "common" magic or previously "battle magic"). Virtually anyone can learn it and use it, and virtually everyone does. It's very utilitarian, but a bit limited. You have a pool of "magic points" to fuel these spells; pay the MP, cast the spell. Some cults put limits on some spells (e.g. Yelmalio had his fire-powers mythically stolen, and his followers may not cast fire-magic). Adventurers need to look at a "focus" (tattoo, piece of jewelry, carving on the edge of their shield, etc) to cast it swiftly; without a focus it takes an extra round or two to cast. 2. Rune magic, granted by your god/dess. When you formally "Initiate" into the service of a deity, you sacrifice points of your POWer score, lowering that rolled characteristic. Each point of POW gives you a "Rune Point," and a Rune Spell. The pool of "Rune Points" fuels your Rune spells. There are a large number of "common" Rune Spells that almost all deities can give their followers, but each deity also has some special spells that few/no other deities can grant. Your score in the associated Rune is your casting-skill in for that spell. Note that your permanent POWer, as rolled, is actually a pretty fluid number, easily increased; so sacrificing those POW points isn't as dire as it might seem at first! A great many people in Glorantha are "Initiates" of various deities, and they DO have access to Rune Magic from their gods. These are, overwhelmingly, faithful and devout folk, rewarded by their deity for their faith&devotion, for being the sorts of people their gods like. So yes... "vaguely" priest-like. The real priests (and the Rune Lords) are even moreso, and gain even more benefits! But "most people" really aren't Initiates -- they are kinda-sorta mostly faithful followers, probably of the entire pantheon more than a single god/dess... plus maybe another deity or two on the side... and sometimes some ancestor-worship... but not to the point of regular sacrifice of POW! They don't have a pool of Rune Points, or Rune Magic. (These people are, by and large, NPCs) One of the things that makes the Orlanthi of Sartar stand out is that they seem to have a much higher proportion of Initates than most cultures have. Quick history of the title: RQ1 (Chaosium) 1978 RQ2 (Chaosium) 1980 RQ3 (Avalon Hill published, but the authors were Chaosium) 1984 MRQ (Mongoose Runequest) 2006 MRQII (Mongoose Runequest II) 2010 RQ6 (The Design Mechanism) 2012 RQG (Chaosium) 2018 For RQ's 1-3, the "official" timeline was near the height of the Lunar Empire's power. They had conquered Sartar, were occupying Pavis (the only city in the Wastes of Prax) and Corflu (the ocean port downriver from Pavis). The "scruffy rebels vs. oppressive conquerors" was kind of a default... but folks' campaigns ran wildly outside those lines! These were all iterations/evolutions of the same rulesystem, and players tended to use their favored rule-set with supplements/adventures from any other of the three, adapting on the fly. None of the core rulebooks had deep lore (that only came with later supplements; RQ2+CultsOfPrax was amazing, back in the day!). Really, they only had hints as to Glorantha! So although there was nominally a firm date, what that meant in terms of setting-details wasn't clear from the core rulebooks. Lots of folks went and did whatever in their campaigns, without using any supplements. When Mongoose licensed the game, they went back to an earlier Age, almost a millennium prior (and also did a major rework on the rules, rendering prior supplements less-immediately useful (but still roll-under d100 vs skill, still basically usable)). The Mongoose material varied in quality, but is all now considered "non-canonical." Some fans still use it as resources (and some still prefer MRQ rules and/or 2ndAge setting). MRQII was yet another substantive reworking of the rules. When Mongoose lost the license, MRQII was de-Glorantha-fied and is now available as the Legend RPG. RQ6 from TDM was written by the same authors -- and derives from on the same mechanical chassis -- as MRQII. However, TDM opted to produce an almost setting-free game, with almost no Glorantha in it at all... it's the most "toolkit-y" version of Runequest! When Chaosium decided to produce the next version of RQ entirely in-house, TDM re-worked their RQ6 ruleset as Mythras (which is going gangbusters for them, and has a bunch of settings and supplements). With RQG, Chaosium has set aside all the "Mongoose" heritage -- the mechanics went back to (mostly) a mix of RQ2/RQ3, and the setting has advanced just a few years from the Lunar-Occupation era. Those RQ2/RQ3 supplements are useful again, though they need a bit of updating to RQG (with "Runes" and "Passions" and such). RQG also has MUCH more of the world included in the core rulebook, with a world-shaking event (the "Dragonrise") set just a few years prior to the start of the game. Character-creation in RQG is very time and place specific. It is meant to root your character in their culture, in the world of Glorantha.

<sigh> OK, time for all of us native English speakers to confess -- English itself is ludicrous.

You've been into Glorantha for how long now? And you still bold the word "really" and ask for absolutes? If I didn't know better, I'd wonder if you were trolling us...

To be brutally Frank, "Creekstream River" is pretty ludicrous in English (by the lights of this native speaker). This is in keeping with MANY early Glorantha-isms... ludicrousity abounds!