PhilHibbs

Other sundry tidbits about early conceptions of the Holy Country therein. Here we go again...

This is crazy. The rules are written for adventurers. Applying them mechanistically to a unicorn is just bizarre.

No video last weekend - is Season 3 over?

The name vaguely rings a bell. Source?

Ah... "Gloranthan Bestiary", not "Glorantha Bestiary", you had me confused there! Merfolk wouldn't want to kill one, "Mermen are very respectful of the Gnydron, who descend from the strongest Naiads of all". The characters might get merfolk to help draw it away with some kind of sacrifice.

I have a vague recollection of a Gifts and Geases table specifically for Allied Spirits. Possibly from a 'zine or '90s fan web page. But I think if it was intended that Allied Spirits had gifts and geases, then Nameless's sword would have gifts of its own which it doesn't.

Probably my memory whitewashing the story.

So you can't convert a one-use spell into a reusable spell with Truestone. You need someone who has it reusably. Same with a matrix, you need a cult that has it. With a matrix (I think) it needs to be created by the cult, you can't recharge some other cult's matrix at your ceremony just because you have the same spell. I'm not entirely sure about that last point though. The precise wording is "the user must take the item back to the proper temple to be recharged". RQG P.335.

Biturian Varosh traded for a slave (or was it a repayment of a debt?) but he was uncomfortable with it and eventually freed (and married) her.

The problem is, where is the consistent worship going to come from? If someone is enslaved, they have little opportunity to join a liberation cult. Once they've been freed and the overlords overthrown, they will be grateful to and worship the deity, but their children might not and their grandchildren even less so. The cult might become the dominant religion of the freed people, but it would be a relic of the past rather than an active liberating force. Maybe the cult would persist through some sort of Scarlet Pimpernel network of operatives who sneak into slave accommodations, enlist the subjects, break them out, then move on to the next job. A few might join up long-term each time to keep the numbers up. Could be a good campaign.

I suspect that Rodney's group didn't spot that permanent RP cost each time. It's easy to miss. I think that is because it is not repeated in the Rune Lord—Divine Intervention section. It does still apply, however, the only difference is the die roll. I must say it is particularly harsh that initiates and priests have to permanently lose a Rune Point even if the DI fails. I would not impose this cost on a fail.

This is RQG mechanics, so maybe this is the wrong forum for this question. Truestone is recharged by someone casting the spell into it. They cannot then use the Rune Point until that spell is cast from the Truestone. But if the spell was one-use to the cult then they'd lose the RP permanently anyway. Matrixes are recharged at a worship ceremony to the deity that provided the spell. I think a priest is needed, although I'm not sure that the rules are clear on this, maybe an initiate can do it. So the adventurers would have to be or find a bat cultist. I would assume that if the spell is one-use to the cult, then this cannot be done. It would need POW sacrifice to refill. Matrixes are far superior to Truestone in this respect, as it does not lock out someone's RP pool on a long term basis. Truestone is a little more flexible in that it can be recharged on the road without a worship ceremony. (as an aside, I don't run Truestone the way it is written up in The Smoking Ruin. It's more like it used to be, it just stores Rune magic, and it doesn't lock out the RP pool of the caster, so it's more like a matrix in that respect but is recharged by casting not by worship)

I'm wondering when the high holy day of the Black Spear Wyter might be. Perhaps the day that the Black Spear Clan was formed by Colymar, in Kethaela, when Belintar ascended as God-King? Or the day that Colymar crossed the Deathline into Dragon Pass? Incidentally The Guide gives two dates for that - p.240 says 1318 and p.141 says 1300. Which is neither here nor there when it comes to the holy day! I guess I'll pick something relevant to my game unless anyone has any suggestions. I was thinking as a spear it might have fire connections, so Fireday or Fire Season. I think I'll discount Fire Season as it doesn't work for my game, being as it's just crossed over into Earth Season now. So maybe a Fireday in Storm Season would be good. Movement Week. So in my game Colymar crossed the Deathline on Windsday, Movement Week, Storm Season. Orlanth's high holy day. An auspicious day for doing something new. The following day, Fireday, the Black Spear awoke as the new wyter of the Black Spear Clan. Or it re-awakened, having been dormant since the clan left its former home. But something about it was different, so it was welcomed as a new spirit for a new land. I just want an opportunity to do something with wyters, to introduce the party to the concept. Then there's THE scenario to come next Sea Season.

Okay yeah it's me mis-reading the headings. I thought Duck Point was a sub-heading within the Colymar.

Is Duck Point in Colymar lands? It seems a long way out of the way, the far side of the Lismelder. Yet RQG P.107 has it under the Colymar section. P.108 says under the Lismelder that they "are noted friends and allies of the ducks," so why isn't Duck Point in the Lismelder tribe rather than Colymar?

That's one down side of Ernalda, Issaries, Lhankor Mhy, Chalana Arroy, or other cults with only priests. Also Waha shamans. I suppose if the party has a RL of another cult, they could use their DI to help out a friend. Or it could be a reward for exceptional service. "Thanks for saving my nephew from that disease spirit. Have a point of CHA for your fetch!"

The only source I can find is @soltakss in a recent thread here: But it's obvious that their descendents do still survive in the sunken temple, because that's the awesome answer.

Page 3 made me LOL: Also this is insightful: Your Game Will Vary, and this dates back to 1974.

We were talking about RQ3, hence the mention of the Gods of Glorantha Trickster cult writeup.

It would start with just one RP, but can sacrifice POW for more. And it can use its adventurer's RP and vice versa so it can cast decent spells right out of the gate. And it isn't really a gift, it's just what a new initiate starts with. I wouldn't even give it that, but it can sacrifice its POW for RP as part of the ceremony that forms the bond to the PC.

Okay so this scotches my silly suggestions about rune priest allied spirits: RQG P.277: So an AS has a separate rune pool to the adventurer, presumably limited by its own CHA. They can both access each others' RP. So if you have an AS with a high CHA, then you have effectively doubled the RP available to you. That makes the initial 3D6 roll super important! Make sure to bling up your AS with fancy items, and find a way for it to get get the credit for heroic deeds, to get that CHA up!

Yeah that wasn't a serious suggestion! Just there to exemplify why an Allied Spirit isn't an independent entity and so should not fit into the normal cult hierarchy. I mean, are they also going to try to qualify for priest? What if your Allied Spirit makes it to High Priest before you do, is it in charge of you now? Again, not really a serious suggestion! Just a bit of reductio ad absurdum. Yes, and another good example of why the normal rules for initiates do not apply to allied spirits!

As a GM that would be a hard "no". In theory if someone had an idea for a character concept that involved starting off illuminated I wouldn't just shut it down, but "I want to powergame a trickster and have all the common spells" doesn't quite cut it. In any case, in RQ3 they would be one use.

I don't think that those two things necessarily follow. Like the other discussions about companion animals, I don't hold to the opinion that the cult writeups that we have are the only way of relating to a deity. Those cults are created by and for people, specifically the writeups that we have are written for player-characters. So whilst yes an AS is an initiate, I don't see that as directly expanding the range of rune magic that the player has. The AS is an assistant sent by the deity, not an independent worshipper of the deity. "Sorry, your Allied Spirit is off doing cult duty. Well, it's an initiate, so it has to follow the rules just like you, so it's not around this week!"

No I think Gods of Glorantha Trickster is it. And no common divine.