g33k

I note that with 5e, D&D returns to the topspot. An interesting trivium: when I looked into the 5e PHB on Amazon, the #1 complaint was low physical quality -- spine breaking, pages falling out, etc. My 2 closest FLGS'es deny seeing any greater 5e complaints; I wonder if the 5e market is big enough for low-quality knockoffs to be worthwhile? I know that it is for, e.g. some textbooks...

Aren't those seminars (at least nominally) limited to paid GenCon attendees? I was thinking the restriction would come from them, not you... But since the prior ones have gone up without objection, I see no reason to expect different this time 'round...

Nearby Gamers looks interesting! I've had good luck with "Meetup.com" -- a couple of my FLGS's recommend it, and it has connected me with a couple of games (and other interests of mine).

And will those recordings then be available on Chaosium website? errr... once you get back and have the necessary recovery time, of course! I ask because some events get pissy about "their" content (which paid attendee's got) being available "free" elsewhere.

styopa, you are a god among men! Thanks -- I've never before seen anything like objective, reliable numbers on multiple RPG"s across an extended timeframe...

So ...might we see some "Common Sorcery" or "Basic Sorcery" rules/spells? For the "everyman" sorts of tasks, such as mending, water-dowsing, animal-tracking, etc... It could actually be pretty damnded cool to have both at low-level, with "house spirits" doing some sorts of "housewife" spells (such as sweeping & fire-starting), while "outside objects" (tools, clothes) had "sorcery" spells; or maybe it'd be a question of relative complexity, with more-complex tasks needing a higher INT -- if you can't summon/control/instruct a sufficiently-clever spirit, you need to use Sorcery... or ...? LOTS of options open up! I think I like the way this could go...

We don't have to look to Lunar exotica or other Gloranthan example to see mutilation-in-pursuit-of-beauty-and-art, after all! Most modern folk decry the ancient Chinese upper-class "foot-binding," and virtually all of the Western world despises FGM/clitoridectomy/etc; Piercings, guages, neck-stretchers, etc... surgical removal of lower ribs to enable tighter corset-lacing. Many even consider "ordinary" tattoo's to be the same sort of "mutilation," let alone the more-extreme bodymod's like branding & other scarification-for-effect... Then there is the plethora of tyrants & other rulers who decided that various forms of "entertainment" and/or "spectacle" and/or "object lesson" could be combined into art=horror...

So in "made" objects, do you end up with "one big happy family" situations, with (e.g.) a matriarch/patriarch(*) "house spirit" and individual "children" in the room-spirits? Older "teen" for larger and more-prestigious rooms, younger for the smaller/informal rooms? Or is it more a "quarrelsome" than a "happy" family? Or are the spirits more independent of one another? Or compositing, in a multi-facets-of-larger-whole? Or something broken -- like a human "split personality disorder" Or are ALL those human referrents irrelevant??? Or...?

Or maybe there's a thriving trade... even recipe exchanges!

BGBv2 ? I'd be on that like Mostali on a newfound mechanism!

There are other games which have 1:1 GM:player scenes; particularly-notorious is "Shadowrun," where the hacker/decker type has an extended Matrix-run, usually solitaire, for a subjective multiple-hour event. Mid-adventure... there is, IMHO, not a good solution. Luckily, the "HR Intake" situation is different. It happens AFTER your first adventure/arc, BEFORE the next. Honestly, I'd try to run those as a series of genuinely 1:1 occasions -- e-mail'ing and phone-calling, online-chat, video-call, and/or face-to-face meetings. Don't try to fit it in during your gathered/group gaming-session(s) -- as you note, there's liable to be a lot of boredom for everyone else! It's still likely to be hard on YOU, time-wise! Alternatively, you could run it as a non-traditional (from an HR standpoint) "group exercise" interview.... "Right. You lot -- this is your interview. Unfortunately, we are severely short-staffed at the moment -- zombie stenographers are remarkably voracious eaters when possessed by a non-computationally-bounded spirit ! -- and we just cannot give each of you a solo interview... until we can requisition and reprogram more zombies, we simply haven't the manpower. Personpower. Entitypower. You know what I mean! Fortunately, we've got some latitude at the moment. Our previous Director has issued an "any statute or regulation" memo, allowing us to use, well... any statute or regulation. I expect the new Director will reverse that memo... as soon as she finishes the exorcism. But for the next few hours, at least, we can use these reg's! So, this is your court-martial... I mean, interview. We'll change the regulatory status as soon as the sitting Director is a fully-corporeal 3-dimensional time-occupying being once again, and commute your sentences into employment contracts." etc...

+1 on this. I want some spells to be just that: spells. If everything is "I get a spirit to do <spell X>" (at least, behind the curtains) it feels VERY different, to me. If I am discorporated from my body, can my spirit then cast a spell? If a spirit gets bound into a body, is it unable to cast (until it goes discorporate)? No. I find no satisfying answers to the questions above... Not "yes" or "no" or "sometimes" or "maybe." Let some folks cast spells by getting spirits to do so on their behalf; fine. But don't make that the ONLY way -- let the ordinary "everyman" magic be (at least mostly) direct-cast SPELLS, not mediated by spirits.

... maybe the Gargoyles ARE the carvers! < mightily resisting the temptation to invent some article in a hard-to-find back issue of some low-circulation 'Zine from 1979, which defined Gargoyles as the pre-eminent Gloranthan sculptors... >

Note that there are Marsh Deer, and that our North American Moose (aka Elk in Europe -- FYI to Europeans, when we USAians say "Elk" you should think of the bigger deer varieties!) often wade for food. So yeah: Durulz eat Venison, I would think!

The mule-teams will work. Extra fodder (and probably water) will further reduce the profitable cargo, of course. I presume there are water-sources that the Beast-Riders keep secret; merchants (and other outsiders) don't know all the secrets of the Wastes! But a mule-trail does NOT carry wagons! The single-track trails will only allow in-line wheels, and a mule can thread its way around / amongst rocks, through narrow defiles, and otherwise go where a wagon cannot. I'll grant that a canny caravan-master might well carry non-perishable & low-urgency cargoes by routes a wagon COULD take, to break trail and pack the ground, so they can later bring the through the larger / more-profitable wagon trains. But there will always be the urge to take the faster routes, that the wagons cannot follow. I expect caravans of both sorts (wagon-centric, wagon-free) will traverse the Wastes.

I would expect the Wastes to be LESS navigable than historical USAian "westward ho" expansion; the countryside more broken, the ground softer, sandier, dustier, more inclined to bog the wheels. Also: isn't it true that only Herd-Beasts who abide by the Survival Compact can reliably eat what fodder the Wastes provide? I thought outsider animals would sicken and die...

@Freddie -- those quotes are invaluable, thank you! Indeed everybody's GWV (see my recent "YGWV" thread on the Morokanth...). Here, I think, my Glorantha will hew pretty closely to canon. Is there further (canonical) clarification on the phrase "broken from kin"? I'm inclined to interpret this to mean "one/few horses only, no herds; any group must be of a single gender: absolutely no chance to breed."

And of course other customers' shipments; it isn't as if BangPrint is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Moon Design, dedicated exculsively to Chaosium/MD product-shipments! Apparently Bang has enough stuff on their "to-do" list, and somehow finds the work-load to be so unpredictable, that they are reduced to saying "soon" but unable to provide any firm date(s) as to when they will get to the RQ stuff. :-(

Over on the "trade & markets" thread, topics of horse-trade, smuggling, anti-Horse bias, & similar issues on the plains of Prax has come up, leading me to wonder... Is there a definitive canonical description of just HOW anti-Horse the nomads are? I know that they won't ride/herd horses themselves, and the horses of the Pol-Joni are PART of what the Beast-Riders find aggravating; but is there a moderately-reliable normative "state" of anti-horse bias? Can (FrEx) a party of 5 horsemen (upon encountering a large warband of Waha worshippers) expect... to just have some negatives on all social rolls? To have really strong negatives? To be forced to pay a heavy toll? To face possible (or likely?) slaughter of their horses? Obviously, Beast-Riders will have quite a bit of individual variance: a Storm Bull might be more-inclined to violence; a badly-hung-over Nomad will be grumpier & less-forgiving than one who is feeling happy & well; a crackpot shaman may drive his clan to almost any weird extreme; etc. But is there any broadly-presumptive "norm" in canon?

By a carefully-perverse reading of your ad, I deduce that the Rainbow Mounds are actually situated in Oxford, and the Borderlands are somewhere in the midlands... - Steve, the g33k (from California ;-)

I think you probably need some way to at least roughly-quantify both "demand" & "supply." I'll discuss Horses, below (I think Iskallor had a point), but similar arguments will apply in most markets. Right now, your model says that ANY degree of demand will draw on / make available ALL sources of supply. I'd envision most Pol-Joni to get most of their horses straight from Sartar, not driven from Sartar to Pavis to resell. I expect the Lunar Empire would send horses as "official supplies" -- mostly for the use of Lunar soldiers, surplus sold to Lunar citizens, leftovers (if any) to be available at a general marketplace. Sure, there may be an occasional Pol-Joni or Lunar who needs a mount (quick, from local merchants). But mostly they get their mounts straight from the source! This probably drops the demand for horses dramatically in Pavis marketplaces. Then add in the Beast-Riders' antipathy-bordering-on-hostility toward horses. I don't really expect many merchants bringing many many horses to Pavis! It would make the Nomads far too pissy about letting the merchant-caravans pass... Liken it to... oh, cars. And the market is, say, an island. Demand on the island is for 35 vehicles in total, + 3ish per year to account for a bit of growth but also wear-and-tear, accidents, etc. THEN add some piratical eco-terrorists; they patrol widely & board many ships, exacting a heavy "Carbon Tax" upon -- or just sinking -- any ship carrying cars! "The Marketplace" is not going to look like a middle-American "auto row" situation, with many makers' vehicles and wide selection. Yes, there's demand on the island, and suppliers for that demand... but realistically, there will just be a sales-rep per maker, with 1-2 sample vehicles, and likely ALL the buyers will buy from the same supplier to reduce caravan^H^H^H^H^H^Hshipping costs. Getting back to Pavis, then: I'd expect most of the open market to be handled by a VERY few merchants, maybe 3-4 at most, each sourcing from only one origin (likely all sourcing from the most-reliable source(s) (probably Lunar)); maybe a REALLY well-connected merchant might offer 2-3 different kinds of horse... maybe...

Why not? I mean... seriously: Why not? If we take the source materials as-written, it's pretty clear that the Morokanth aren't a "chariot-heavy" culture (as I have been suggesting). But that they use chariots AT ALL is notable amongst the Tribes! Afaik there is NO hint in materials published to-date that Morokanth chariot-use is of Lunar origin. Yet here we have Ronance, a substantive charioteer-deity native to Prax and linked to a specific oasis (and the Morokanth a water-loving people!). You want the Chariots to be Lunar-origin, instead? <shrug> YGMV...? I realize my own "More Chariots!" take on this runs in the opposite (MGWV) direction! === So, here's how they're gonna roll, I think, in my upcoming Prax campaign... by and large, it'll as per my original post, but (with many thanks to those who've contributed here!) a bit of tweaking. As before, I'm asking for any comments/criticism/etc; I believe I've addressed all the logistical issues, but obviously tastes will vary! This is, of course, a My Glorantha Varies piece! === Because they are the slowest 4-Legs amongst all the people of Waha's Compact, and had the slowest Herd-Beasts amongst all the Herds of Waha's Compact, the Morokanth have had to adjust; this they have done mainly in two ways. One of those is the use of chariot and cart. Over a thousand years ago, five clans of Morokanth met by chance at Ronance's Well, and impressed that god so much that he offered an alliance: worship and service in return for the things he could teach, chiefest of them being the use of the Chariot. In a few decades, Ronance had Rune Lords and Rune Priests -- and chariot-use -- in all five clans. Within three generations, Ronance's Ways had spread to most of the Morokanth Tribe. Morokanth chariots differ from Human chariots in several ways. Physically, Morokanth race- and battle-chariots are low-walled platforms, where Morokanth ride either seated (rump-planted, forelegs braced) or recumbent (freeing the forelegs): This is because Morokanth aren't quite as bipedally-stable as "native" two-legged people, and are prone to falling over in a "regular" chariot. Morokanth sometimes adopt an upright/bipedal chariot, adding straps or braces to lean against. Herd-men must be specially-trained by a Beast Master, and successful charioteering (in all but the simplest circumstances) also requires EITHER (i) the driver is also a Beast Master, OR (ii) the Herd Men have a team leader who is either an intelligent slave, or an Awakened Herd-Man -- either way, also with special training/skills as a chariot-team leader. Magically, the use of Mobility is of course ubiquitous! Morokanth often use Rune Magic -- akin to the magic used to make armor strong and light -- to improve the materials available in the Wastes. Additionally, they often enchant their chariots -- with spells of Ronance's teaching -- so that moving chariots become lighter-still. This prevents further damage to the delicate Wastes, and allows the Gerns pulling even a heavy chariot to move as quickly as if they weren't pulling anything. There are persistent, but unconfirmed, rumors that some Morokanth actually have chariots that can fly, herd-men and all! Some of the Morokanth charioteers also claim that their Ronance-blessed chariots are enacting a mighty spell, re-knitting the Wastes year after year, and will eventually allow the land to grow green again (few humans believe either tale to be anything other than grandiose bragging and/or Morokanth propaganda). The other major adaptation the Morokanth have done is to their Herd Men. By capturing Agimori and breeding their lines into their own Herds, and by diligent prayer, POW-sacrifice (to Waha, to Ronance, and to Eiritha), and by heroquesting, the Morokanth have managed to adapt their Herds into taller, longer-legged and faster Beasts than regular two-legs, though not quite as large and fast as full-blooded Agimori. A regular human slave, enchanted with the "Alter Creature" rune-spell, becomes a Herd-Beast and begins to grow: after a year, they have generally become over a foot taller (mostly in the legs) and gained 2d4 of STR and CON, and can run almost as fast as a Bison or a Zebra! === NB -- in the very first "Borderlands" adventure, the Morokanth had captured some Agimori and were going to Alter Creature them. The PC's negotiation of the situation was significant for later adventures/encounters, but apparently nobody (not the Morokanth, not the Agimori, not the Duke's people) doubted that Alter Creature would affect the Agimori. Note that an unscrupulous (but daring!) Morokanth Herd-Breeder might capture an Agimori, use Alter Creature on him, breed him to a female in the Herd, then return him to Agimori lands, using Alter Creature again at the very end to make him an Agimori again! Add in a bit of "Sleep" and "Befuddle" and/or some drugs, and the Agimori "stud" in question would never know what had happened...

"public" as in, "open to all the public"? Not just playtesters/backers?

I'm working from MD's "GC Vol.IV: B&B..." pg.187, col.1: "His special joy is his chariot with its team of four matched herd-men, which he races against teams belonging to other Morokanth." First, I'll simply assert that the clear prima facie reading is that Velakol is the driver. Having mentioned the "four matched herd-men," NOT to mention that "a specially-trained slave is the charioteer" is simply not credible as the original intent: they aren't mentioned because they aren't there (n.b. the same is true in his list of "Treasure" which specifies the chariot & herd-men: it would include a trained charioteer-slave, if any!). Nor does it say he "watches" chariot-races; it says "he races." I will freely grant that "he races" is -- taken alone -- ambiguous: the owner of the racing-team is said to "race" in the same way. But the context makes it clear that this less-common usage is NOT the intended usage. It's hard to imagine that he DOESN'T have a "Drive Chariot" skill, since he owns a chariot, loves charioteering -- why would he NOT be able to drive it? Way back on p.42, it mentions "litter, cart or chariot" as ways for Morokanth to show off... Clearly, chariot-driving is part of the culture, a skill the Morokanth know; for Velakol NOT to know how is... extremely counter-intuitive! Maybe the lack of "Drive chariot" in his stats is an oversight in the original? (RPG stat-blocks are notorious for having odd bits missing / mis-calculated / etc). But instead... I suggest that "Beast Training" is supposed to subsume "Drive Chariot" in this context: returning to p.42, "Beast Training" is explicitly likened to the RIde skill, and several exemplar uses (although I admit, NOT charioteering) are given. Overall, p.42's inclusion of "Beast Training" as an explicit replacement-skill for "Ride," and the presence of carts/chariots in the culture, AND the lack of a "Drive" skill when chariots are called out, all lead me to conclude that "Beast Training" subsumes "Drive." No stat-block errors need be presumed. No missing slaves. No oddly-phrased omissions from the textual notes. Just a straightforward reading. YGMV. It's also clear that my idea (that maybe Morokanth use chariots for raiding, warring, etc) isn't supported by any of the text... though I find some mini's-folk have done Morokanth charioteers for both war and race purposes. Overall -- particularly given Ronance's chariot -- I think MGWV by including more chariot-using Morokant; it's just a question of how much...

So, Everobody's Gloranthat Will Vary... we are all us, after all! But I'm looking at some stuff about Glorantha before Time, and comparing it to my old/grognardian understanding, and 2+2 isn't adding to 4 any more. Is that just an illusion? <ahem> Specifically: I had always known "Godtime" as a sort of eternal and ineffable divine Simultaneity: while there were "events" and "cause and effect" there was not really any "before/after" or SEQUENCE -- that sort of thing is an artifact of Time. Yet I'm seeing the Green Age / Golden Age / Storm Age presented as entirely time-based and sequential. Have I been mistaken all along? Was there "time" before "Time"? Or are the write-ups implying this before/after sort of wibbly-wabbly timey-wimey stuff actually just presenting a "sequence" because it's so hard NOT to write "sequential" cause/effect accounts in English?