PhilHibbs

Battle? I can't find that!

I can see how that would seem odd, but the rules are there to give a general structure, and from my memory of playing RQ as a teen-ager we ran it pretty strictly. Let's face it: a lot of kids cheat. They bend or break the rules as much as they can get away with, and fiddle their dice rolls. The original RQ rules were very much aimed at a teen-age audience, and that audience needs structure. Us grognards in our 40s and 50s, maybe not so much, so it's fine for Jason and Jeff and my group to play fast and loose with the rules. Perhaps there should be a line in the rules saying that SOI can be skipped if your group is comfortable with a more free-flowing combat system. Update: aploogies for the broad brush, correction inserted.

Yes, each spell traded requires 2 Rune Points from the Issaries priest, and it has to be done at a sanctified Market. If two non-Issaries want to swap spells, that's 4 RP from an Issaries that have to be paid for. Very few people will actually be doing this, for the reason I just mentioned. And those spells that they traded are still available to them, it's only the Issaries that is 2 RP down.

Maybe people were worshiping his wyter, or his allied spirit, which may have been the same thing.

Back to the original question... if they survive the first adventure, and the next, and the next, and so on, and become Rune Lords and go on hero quests and become demigods, then yes they were special. If they got killed by a 01 critical in the first scenario (I'm looking at you, Vasana in my game), then clearly they were not special.

Spirit combat should give you POW gain rolls. It doesn't seem to in RQG, but it did in RQ3.

A friend of mine rolled up a duck the other day, and more than half the dice were sixes.

Why not ask "why"? If you want to play in a game world where absolutely anybody with a gang can trivially become a god, well that might be interesting, but it wouldn't be Glorantha. Nysalor took major efforts by several races pooling their resources, questing to prove that there was a new god to be born from the pseudocosmic egg. The Red Goddess involved preparation, a human sacrifice, and heroic exploits in the underworld before she returned to the world as a goddess. Argrath... well, keep reading!

Yeah, Vishi Dunn starts with 95, and didn't even need to put any elective choices into it.

No, every apotheosis in Glorantha has been unique, and so it should be for characters (or indeed players) becoming gods. It certainly isn't a case of, "well, these people are worshiping me". There's no mechanism for giving POW to another person.

Found it! p366:

p144: Multiple augments to the same roll? I think that's specifically disallowed, isn't it? Let me check... p144: So, the question then becomes... does ritual preparation count as an augment? It is described as such: p146: That also settles another thought, that "becoming inspired" would be different to a "skill augment" and might stack, but that quote clearly implies that runes, passions, skills, meditate, and ritual are all "augments". One only, sorry! Unless you houserule it, of course. I might rule ritual preparation to be different from and stackable with one other augment. Also, just one day of ritual preparation? I'd go for a whole season, why not?

Re-reading the section now, it seems to me that the only really important thing is to have as high a Spirit Dance skill as possible, as that dramatically affects the POW and CHA of your fetch. The Bad Man fight is just how many taboos or free shamanic abilities you get. The fetch is the big deal.

What options would you present or allow for the player wanting to advance Vishi Dunn to a full shaman? He is more or less outcast from his tribe, and even if he could return to undertake the rite, his responsibilities as a High Llama Tribe shaman would largely preclude his adventuring with the rest of the Colymar party. Contriving to have him return to Clearwine once every season just when something interesting happens, that's going to wear thin. He could switch codes and undertake the shamanic ritual with the local Kolating shamans, but I don't think he wants to do that. He still loves his ancestors, the covenant, and his God-Khan Waha. Or... just ignore the whole "tribal responsibility" thing. That seems to be the approach in the example sections of the book! I suspect that my player is going to give up on Vishi and roll something else so we probably won't have to solve this problem anyway.

Those spells will do nothing, since they only reduce MP loss and there is no loss in this fight. And yes, if like Vishi Dunn you start off with 95% in Spirit Combat and go straight up against the Bad Man, you are reduced to 25%.

I guess I mean Man Rune. Or Beast Rune if you're a baboon. Or, if you took an elemental rune bonus to your CHA, maybe that rune could be used. I think I'd allow it. Maybe Moon rune (because POW). Maybe even Loyalty (Tribe), Dance, Sing, or Meditate.

They use Bind Spirit (p391) to create the binding enchantment, Summon (Species) (p400) to summon it, and Dominate (Discorporate Spirit) (p394-395) to force the spirit into the binding. Requires the Spirit rune, and the Command and Summon techniques.

Remember to augment your Spirit Combat with your Spirit Rune. See if you can find someone to cast Charisma on you as well, or find an Issaries to help get it with Spell Trading. Or Glamour, for a +10%. Shame there's no Spirit Combat Trance...

It's a shame there is no Endurance spell, which in part is probably due to the fact that there isn't a game mechanic for it to hang off. It was a nice speciality to have, to be the one party member who could carry on through the night and not be knackered at daybreak.

Picture the scene. I'ts Windsday, Movement Week, Sea Season, Orlanth's seasonal holy day. You've used two of your five Rune Points. You are guaranteed to get all your Rune Points back, n matter what you roll on 2D6, you still only get 2 Rune Points back. Harmast says to you, "Hey, I've still got 3 Rune Points. I'll cast Spell Trading with two of them, I'll give you one point of Heal Wound, if you give me three points of Shield." You agree, so now you and Harmast are out of Rune Points. You participate in the ceremony, and you roll a 3 and a 1, and Harmast rolls a 6. So now you're back to 4 Rune Points, plus one casting of Heal Wound. Well, you could have had all 5 Rune Points, so you're no better off really. Never mind, it's the Issaries holy day the day after tomorrow, another D6, so that guarantees to get you back up to 5 Rune Points... but wth an extra one-use Heal Wound spell! Harmast has all his Rune Points, plus Shield 3. He probably pulled the same trick with someone else on the day in between, so now he's probably got all 3 Rune Points plus Flight 2. I just asked for clarification on the rules questions thread as to whether "Shield 3" counts as "one use of a rune spell" for the purposes of spell trading. It has been suggested that this is too generous, and that the old RQ2/RQ3 mechanism where you can't regain the spell until the recipient has cast it should be restored by not being able to get the Rune Points back. Being down on Rune Points for potentially a very long time is a huge commitment that not many people will undertake, though. It's a trade that you cannot know will be fair at the time of making it - you might use that Heal Body spell the very next day, but the Chalana Arroy might be holding on to that Path Watch spell for years.

An Issaries character (or NPC) can help avoid the group "wasting" unspent Rune Points by Spell Trading them.

Ah yes I'd forgotten the generic term, thanks.

Plus some impests. Are they still a thing?

Yes, I think so. Between Adventures does not distinguish, I'd call augmenting a "use", and they all have tick boxes. I'd definitely say that it should say "cancel the bonus", not "cancel the effects"! Pretty much the same, mechanically, yes.

Further notes on Vishi Dunn for anyone wanting to play the character. I have found a number of places where the character does not match the rules. This may be because he was originally created under a slightly different iteration, so without intending criticism here are the issues that I have found. He has clearly not taken the bonuses to two cult skills of +15 and +20 each. All of his cult skills are at the value that you get from base, culture, occupation & cult, apart from Peaceful Cut which should be 10 points higher and Meditate should be 5 points lower and so can't be explained by that. Ride High Llama is at 65, but before personal adds it should be at 60, so can't be explained. Should be either 60, 70, or 85. Likewise Animal Lore and Plant lore are both 45, but should be 40. Speak Tradetalk is 20, should be 25. Battle probably has 5% from family background so that's ok. Peaceful Cut should be at least 60, not 50 (base 10, culture 15, cult 20, modifier 15). Meditate is 40, but should be 35. Track is 10, should be 20.. In order to get the rest of the skills to line up, I had to take 7 skills at +10 and 3 at +25, rather than 5 at +10 and 4 at +25. In numerical terms, he's sold short by 40 points.