g33k

If I am using mini's at all (or bottlecaps, or spare dice, or etc) then I am likely to use a ruler/etc to determine any critically-important ranges; if there are no such range situations, then not.

Relationship-map, a tool popular with some writers, gamers, etc. Also usable in other areas where relationships (between individuals & organizations &c) can be very complex & confusing & become wall-of-text-y.

TYVM, Rick!

Mostly correct, as I understand things. But the price of $120 is for the STANDARD hardcover slipcase set, not the leatherette: And it's up to the FLGS's whether to order/stock it, of course! Note that: some (most?) FLGS's participate in the Brick&Mortar program and IIRC Chaosium will send you a free PDF on proof of purchase from such shops (but not e.g. cheap online discount sellers). if you buy the PDF from Chaosium, you get a discount-code for buying the hardcover, equal to the full cost of the PDF; so, free PDF with the printed book, either way: PDF immediately, book later, all straight from Chaosium You can choose to aupport Chaosium with more of the money; or support your FLGS. Either way, you end up with both products. The only buyer who'd be advantaged buying from a discount E-tailer like Amazon (so fast as I can tell) is one who wants ONLY the hardcover book and NOT the PDF.

Honestly, I see the wargaming roots here. Early Gygax was Tolkien-izing & Leiber'izing the team-A / team-B wargames, where the "referee" was a neutral arbiter of rules-arguments. Magic replaced guns/artillery/&c; dragons replaced aircraft and bombs &c. Etc. Then came the twin notions of grabbing the "interesting commander-unit" out of the squad/platoon/company/brigade/whatever, and just running the ONE PERSON as a "unit" and have "team B" be the Ref. The focus of the game remained the wargaming focus -- combat; adding in small-unit purposes like "scouting" (exploration) and some tropes from the literature like traps&puzzles... (edit: and huge piles of treasure!)

Overall, an excellent review. My only quibble is with your mention of the Broo's "omnifertility" -- I have never understood otherwise, since beginning play in 1980 or so (though the RQ2 core book only says "atrocities and foul practices"). Broo's mate (fecundly) with any species or gender, and AFAIK always have. HOWEVER...I don't actually have many sources available with me, to actually check my recollection!

Yeah; if you can identify a Big Threat, it makes good tactical sense to preemptively neutralize said threat, before it can begin taking down your own team...

Has anyone made an R-map of the Sartar Clans?

It's all coming (as I understand it) on the same boat: Bestiary, GMScreenPack, 2nd/revised printing of core rulebook, slipcase sets of all 3, slipcase sets with a cardboard insert in place of core rulebook (for those with corebook in hand). They should all be available at the same time (unless there is some repackaging needed at the various domestic warehouses, which (I dunno) may be a thing that needs to happen? In which case I expect the repackaged products will become available a few days after the standalone products). But Chaosium seems to expect everything to be available by the end of March, and hasn't (that I have seen) called out any products for such earlier (or delayed) availability, so I think it's only my own pessimism -- of course MY purchase will suffer delays...

Many, many thanks to Clarence! Turns out I'm one of the lucky winners! And Odd Soot was on my very-short-list of gaming buy's that I was forcing myself to choose between... So, that's solved! 😁 Of course (as I explained to him in my e-mail reply) now I have a NEW quandary: in addition to getting it for myself, I was also thinking it'd be a book my son (& his fiance) might really like. What to do, what to do ... I guess I could buy a copy too, and solve things that way ... I guess this is what they call a good problem! 😊

Don't be silly. Thirty pages isn't NEARLY enough to work through the details in such a debate!

Yeah, regional wildlife variations mess up lots of folks' "visualization" vs what the authors/devs intended. TheNorth American "moose" is what the North European "Elkhound" is named for, and the North American "Elk" species would all be "deer" on t'other side of the Atlantic. Robins. Buzzards. Badgers. Panthers (most folk seem to already know this one).

YGMV

My own "feel" for the setting suggests that the "Chief's adventures" may be very different from the arc of adventures of the party to date. I think they could adventure with the chief, but suspect there are a bunch of campaign-threads & clues and pending stuff they would have to let lie fallow. Maybe the player could create a new "champion" or "lieutenant" PC to take the place of the Chief PC when demands of the position prevent him going along ... ?

AFAIK, multiple entities can engage a single target in Spirit Combat. If you cast "Distraction" on your ally to save them ... It doesn't, it just means they are engaged with both their original attacker and with you (primarily with you, until the next round when they can declare a new SoI). If being already-Engaged was a solid defense against Spirit Combat it'd be a VERY popular defensive method!

SAN loss can be for more than just seeing something... for example, being Harmonized by a Jack'o'Bear...

How about an increasing penalty per SR? 1 SR sooner @ -10% 2 SR's sooner @ -10 + -20 = -30% 3 SRs sooner @ -10 + -20 + -30 = -60% 4 SRs sooner @ -10 + -20 + -30 + -40 = -100% So you can go a LITTLE sooner at not much penalty, but going a LOT sooner gets into hefty penalties. I can see the 1-2 SR's being routinely chosen; hitting the foe FIRST is a huge advantage! But you've got to have a HUGE advantage -- or be very desperate -- for 60%/100%/150%/etc penalties to look like a good choice... Also, I'd want to look at the way this interplays with splitting attacks, and with two-weapon fighting and the "You have to have the SR's to fit all the attacks into the 12-SR round" rules. I don't actuall SEE the exploit off the top of my head, but my gut suggests the odds are high for a "loophole" (aka unintended consequences) in the way these work together.

If you buy from Chaosium, you have the PDF. Just POD it through Lulu / etc with the requisite upgrades... I'm sure ONE of those services can handle your order ... can't they? 😋

My inner Eurmali REALLY wants to stand a beer to each player who manages to get into one of Jeorg's games, and pulls this stunt on him. Or even as all the OTHER players in a 'Con game where he's one of the players. My inner Humakti isn't willing to be foresworn, 'cos I don't realistically see my California gaming overlapping much with his, alas...

I think of them as a few lingering remnants of a much-more-powerful group. Like in the "Black Court" vamps in the Dresden Files novels (for those unfamiliar - there are MULTIPLE kinds of Vampires; the Black Court in particular was wiped out as an organization when a rival "arranged" for Stoker to publish _Dracula_: it made all their secret strengths and weaknesses and relative rarity into common knowledge; only the powerful survived the purges (other kinds of vamps have different suites of strengths and weaknesses).) Any remaining Thanatari tend to be among the most powerful and best organized, or they fell in prior assaults on Thanatari sites.

The no-head DN reincarnates as a "cripple" -- a Triceratops, a Magisaur, a T.rex, etc etc etc. All with a homing-instinct on the head, and a passionate desire to inflict ALL THE DAMAGE POSSIBLE onto the Thanatari that killed them. And the PC's "happen" to be there, because MGF.

I've got to wonder how much time/attention were placed on "art direction" for this? I mean, clearly some art of the era is STILL considered a "reference standard" for Glorantha. Other art... Not so much. Sometimes it's an actual /change/ to the way "element X" is envisioned; other times, I think there just wasn't ANY clear vision of "element X" so the editor/whoever just shrugged and said "not quite how I'd have envisioned it... But then again I don't HAVE a preferred vision." Sometimes it's hard to tell whether a given piece is still "canonical" (or nearly so), or entirely-not.

The DTRPG listing specifically mentions the "City State of the Invincible Overlord" so that's the (default) setting. It's JG's "house" setting for the D&D ruleset. FWIW, that doesn't rule out a RQ2 set of stats being included. Because they often rolled that way, Back In The Day... 😁

"Glory Hole Dwarven Mine"?

TYVM, all!