PhilHibbs

Here's my take on "canon". I don't care about it. So Whitewall has changed from a previous map. Fine, I'll run the new Whitewall material with the new map. And if a few years down the line a new writer comes up with a new Whitewall scenario in which the layout is different again, so what? I'll use that. Maybe the new scenario material works better with a different map, maybe it needs a spooky ancient EWF building that was never detailed before, or has a dramatic final confrontation on a cliff edge that wasn't on the earlier map. I really have no problem with that, why would I? This is my pragmatic approach for stress reduction. Sit back and enjoy it, why not? Maybe poke a little fun about buildings popping up out of the ground, then move on.

So, if geases are mythologically linked to the compromise, breaking a geas lets chaos into the world. Nice. So, you don't break a geas even when fighting chaos, because it literally makes the problem worse.

Again, maybe a lot if it can be gained theoretically, by listening to the songs and watching the shaman with Second Sight, backed up with practical experience oncer or twice per season. I expect there are other ways to do it, getting stoned or travelling to special places, but it wouldn't surprise me if some shamans insist that Discorporate is first of the spells learned so that the assistant can use it as necessary in the service of the shaman. I woulnd't impose that on a player, but I'm sure that they will find the spell useful during the time that it takes to become a shaman, which may be the majority of the character's played time. Worrying that the spell will eventually "waste" one of the rune spells learned slots is just bizarre to me. It's a bit like worrying about wasting time learning offhand sword skill, because it will be wasted when your main hand skill gets to 200%. From what I understand, that's one of Argrath's special magical tricks, but one that he can teach. I can't provide an official answer, but since Assistant Shaman doesn't say that you must take the spell, I assume that one or both of the following is true: It is not a requirement. There are other means of becoming discorporate - I see now that this is definitely true, since it can happen by fumbling in Spirit Combat (p370). Also, Spirit Travel has a base of 10%, so everyone has some basic instinctive knowledge of it. I'm not sure what that says about learning it, but game mechanically there's no prohibition on learning any skill.

Some parts of the Rainbow Mounds are quite dangerous enough as they are!

Time zone difference.

You don't spend Rune Points to learn spells, and you don't lose any Rune Points when a spell becomes redundant. By the time you get to be a shaman you've probably got more Rune Points than there are spells anyway.

I think the Discorporate spell is an early choice, so they can learn Spirit Dance and Spirit Travel. You can learn the basics as theory just by being told, though.

I think that works well with neighbours who are raiding and capturing regularly, a "cultural norm" will come about. The further you stray from that cozy relationship, the more I guess it becomes negotiable and unpredictable how much they will demand.

If they have the Discorporate Rune spell, yes.

Isn't that the same as having one, bigger ransom but retaining the option of saying "Don't kill me, my ransom is 500L" when in fact you have 1000L available, but are pretty confident that the captor will settle for 500? If they scoff, you can then say "My cult/chief might stretch to a little more, maybe 600 or 700". Of course the latter option is available even if you do only have 500L ransom, but reckon you can make up the difference somehow by pulling in some favours. Maybe if you have a high Truth rune or a geas to never lie, that might not be an option. If so, keep your ransom low but have other options lined up ready. Like, as you say, a second ransom.

which makes it harder to quote you... The original question was telling between a powered and an unpowered crystal.

If it is correct, it's not a big problem. The only danger is that you might lose some POW trying, or that the crystal might be tainted with chaos (so get the Storm Bulls to check it first). If you already have a powered crystal attuned that you would rather keep, it's trivial to attune it a second time.

Yes, but "by modern D&D standards" is the key. I once played in a high level AD&D campaign, we were all around 14th level by the end of it and we were big damn heroes, taking on armies and demigods. We did D&D equivalents of Heroquests, learning the secrets of the universe and breaking the rules the same way that Gloranthan Heroquesters do. I think some later (A)D&D rules expanded the level range above 18, and people were talking about 100th level characters, but our DM had come up with his own mechanisms for superpowering D&D that didn't rely on level numbers. This cartoon reminded me a lot of our game. Sorry I got a bit off topic there. My point is, advancement to heroic levels involves more than just the core rules. Sure, your basic skills and attributes need to be fairly high to provide a good grounding and to get you there in the first place, but there will be more to it than that. Heroquest abilities like self-resurrection and powerful "gifts", potent magical items like Beat Pot's returning scimitars, permanent Rune spells, and powerful spirit allies.

Isn't that what Greg wanted, that anybody should feel empowered to discover Glorantha just like he did?

@JavaApp Sorry I goofed up on Sorala, I put her as having 1H Battle Axe instead of Broadsword as that made more sense for her culture. I have changed it now, so you might want to take a fresh copy using the same link. I got her missile weapons wrong as well. Oh, also Vishi Dunn's Hit Points are wrong in the pregen sheets, but are correct in my spreadsheet. The official versions don't give him the +1 for having a high POW.

Good idea - I will make a version of Sorala in my character creation spreadsheet for this, as @JavaApp is going to use them for con games.

I just noticed that Vishi Dunn's Hit Points are wrong. He should get a +1 for his high POW, giving him 14 HP not 13. This does not affect his location HP.

Reproduce doesn't boost stats, but Bless Pregnancy does, and is pretty awesome at it. A priestess like Ereneva Chan with 12 RP can bless a child to have +10 spread across any characteristics. If you go with the rule that spells can't be regained during their duration, though, she's out of RP for the whole pregnancy. I think Bless Pregnancy is just for people, I would have also added a target restriction like the Yinkin and Basmol spells.

Yes, I didn't spot that, I agree, typo. Could be a Yanafal Tarnils gift I suppose. A character in my RQ3 game had something like 34 HP but that was through Strengthening Enchantments. Actually it should be 28 + 0 + 3 = 31.

There's a big difference between "not possible" and "not covered". None of those items are ususable due to missing rules, and nor do they break any hard game rules. You could say the same about the NPCs in the Gamemaster Adventures book - Black Spear, Asborn Thriceborn's self-resurrection power, King Vererenenos's shield, spear, and javelin etc. What we need - and I hope we will get in the Gamemaster Guide - is some guidelines or suggestions for creating and describing such items, either through "mundane" means like the Windberry Staffs or as Heroquest rewards.

Or like happened in my game, "My torso! My precious torso!"

Spell Trading uses the Rune rating of the character that you traded the spell from. Matrixes use POWx5. Special items might have their own Rune rating. If all else fails, bring a Wyter with you. Don't forget Wyters. They're a great resource, either as a GM or a player.

No. They don't even have to be Orlanth initiates. Some clans traditionally have an Ernaldan or Elmali chief.

I would contend that such rules (at least, traditional mechanical rules) should not exist, but that does not mean that adventurers can't ever do the cool things that "heroic" Gloranthans do. Urrrgh the Ugly achieved the impossible when his player rolled 01 on his attempt to worship his gold. Do the RuneQuest rules say that this is possible? Is there a rule that says "if you roll a 01 on worshipping something that can't be worshipped, then it becomes Gloranthan reality"? Clearly not. Should they? No. There will never be a definitive list of Impossible Things And How To Do Them, that would take all the fun away. If an adventurer is going to "do the impossible", then sometimes it needs to be a spur of the moment call. What GMs need, maybe, is clear direction that this sort of thing should be something that they can consider. Most GMs in that situation, particularly those new to Glorantha, are just going to say "no, don't be silly", assuming that "Glorantha just isn't like that". It is, though. Well, Greg's Glorantha is.

We're not talking about breaking the game-rules, we're talking about breaking the world-rules. The two are entirely different. What we are lacking is a clear line between what is a world-rule and what is a game-rule. For instance, is "species maximum" a world rule, and are the various ways of bypassing that "game-rules for breaking world-rules"? Not really, but that's the sort of thing I'm thinking of. In fact, I would argue that RuneQuest, HeroQuest, and 13G don't actually model world-rules at all. It's all game-rules. For instance, Strike Ranks aren't a world-rule. It would make no sense to have an "I have 13 SR in a round" Superhero power. A negative DEX SR might be cool, but that isn't breaking a world-rule. I'm trying to think of a good example of a world-rule. Any ideas? And there are games that have rules for breaking their own rules, the original Illuminati card game for example had rules for cheating, but that's a bit different. Illumination, maybe. That's a game-rule for breaking world-rules. Before Illumination was invented/discovered in Glorantha, it was impossible.