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PhilHibbs

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Posts posted by PhilHibbs

  1. On 6/28/2023 at 9:57 PM, mfbrandi said:

    Based on the fact that I’d like Glorantha to be a fun place to visit — and not just some theocratic hell-hole careering toward apocalypse, all jaws firmly set — I would say “yes” to the first two. I don’t pretend to have any insight into canon — I am not Harold Bloom — that’s just how I want it to be.

    On 6/29/2023 at 8:26 AM, JRE said:

    My own view is that Gloranthans have much more fun than the typical bronze age people, just because magic makes sure that survival is easier and crafting is usually better and takes less time. Just add some minor magics for cleaning clothes and anticonception to the healing and productivity improving magics we already know. They also travel much more, which means more varied foods, entertainment and cultural mixes.

    Agreed, and that gives scope for a greater dramatic contrast between the utopia that the world could be, and the horrors of war, chaos, and other monsters. The more there is to lose, the more is at stake. They COULD be having more fun and greater life expectancy and a richer tapestry of life, if only some brave heroes would go sort out those Tusk Riders that have moved into the hills over yonder...

    • Like 1
  2. So Orlanth is usually depicted as having four arms nowadays, yet there's no game mechanical means of replicating this. How would a devoted Orlanthi do this? Is it not something that there's a well defined means of achieving in Glorantha, only available to heroes who have found a way through questing?

  3. Whilst many cults do allow shamans, and even have shamans as priests, I think there is a caveat.

    If a cult has shaman-priests, I would say that a shaman who joins that cult cannot progress to being a priest.

    The rules don't specifically say this, but I think it makes sense. Becoming a shaman within the cult's tradition is to become a priest. If you've already become a shaman under a different tradition, then you can't do it again. You already awoke your fetch, gained whatever abilities that tradition gave you, and forged relationships with powerful spirits.

    Can you become a priest of a cult that doesn't have shamanic priests? Personally I don't think so, but I'm aware that other opinions are available.

  4. p.274:

    Quote

    Initiation into a cult is a serious step, for individuals
    thereby pledge themselves to the focus of a single divine
    entity...

    Yeah, I can see how that heavily implies "only one". It is a little over-stated in that sentence. What it means is, rather than being a worshipper of a general pantheon and going along to the appropriate ceremonies most of the time, you choose a deity in that pantheon. As it says on the next page, some people choose two rather than just one.

  5. On 6/17/2023 at 8:41 PM, Jeff Freymueller said:

    Sorry for the slow reply; I was away.

    I finally figured out what was going on. It turns out that you can check the Active box next to the Jonstown Compendium content, which is what I did...

    It might be better to use something other than a user-selectable active control to indicate that the rule has been activated. 

     

    Ah, I didn't think of that! Good point, I'll see what I can do.

  6. 1 hour ago, Zalain said:

    ...And if you are in range but not in sight?

    I'd allow the spell to continue, unless the active spell requires control like some kind of telekinesis, in which case the control would stop but the spell could continue in a "holding pattern".

  7. The RQG spell description IIRC says it works on all natural attacks, I'm not sure about previous editions. The Gringle quite implies that it was a separate spell in RQ1 & RQ2, like Xenohealing was.

    And there's nothing inherently stupid about werebears, I think it's only cursed Telmori that lose their intellectual faculties when transforming under the moon.

    • Helpful 1
  8. On 3/19/2023 at 5:14 PM, Ian Absentia said:

    Are we still talking about Blade Runner 2049 seven years later?  If so, I feel that it's a film that, like it's predecessor, will be most appreciated in retrospect.

    Bad sequels to great films will always be talked about, that doesn't say anything to the merits of the bad sequel. People still talk about Highlander 2, but only, like here, in the context of it spoiling the great film whose legacy it pooped all over.]

    Back on the general subject:

    • There is a market for dystopian films, films that shock and upset us, and the future is as good a place to put them as anywhere since you can make up your society whilst still claiming it is the real world. You don't have to put it in a fantasy world.
    • As others have said, utopias are dull, and only work as a satisfying fiction if you break them at least a little. Iain M Banks's Culture series is a great example of this. The Culture is more or less a utopia, but the stories are mostly set around the edges where it interfaces with a larger, generally rather dystopian galaxy.
  9. On 5/23/2023 at 11:30 AM, Jeff Freymueller said:

    This tool is fantastic, and much appreciated.

    I am having trouble with activating the Jonstown Compendium content, though. Even after activating it, nothing new appears in the menus. I am not getting any error messages (and yes, I did authorize the script).

    When you first authorize the script, it doesn't actually go on to run the script. You have to click it again. Did you do that? Did the tick appear in the "Active" box?

    image.png.5bd6707294d4af48686eebca9b37ac0b.png

    I just tried it and it worked...

    image.png.f5a73bba4b67fc0d8e58b63c6f0b0c66.png

     

  10. 5 hours ago, Bren said:

    What are you reading into the text that I am not? The text says, "Bladesharp-6 on cutlass and Fireblade on cutlass." I only see one cutlass listed, so I infer the description means that Bladesharp and Fireblade were both cast at the same time on the same cutlass.

    image.png.0749d5621ba6cfb2b665507c797ddea2.png

    Ulforg can do this because chaos.

    RuneQuest scenarios have frequently overridden the core rules with exceptions.

    • Like 1
  11. 2 hours ago, Zalain said:

    As is said here: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/gloranthan-documents/greg-sez/chaos-taints-qa/

    i gave him a 10% of rune of chaos to begin with. And i think giving him extra 10% for each spell he learns from that book.

    If you're basing that on the first question, that 10% is the chance of gaining a chaotic taint, not the rune rating. A 10% rune rating is a chaotic taint, not a 10% chance of having a taint.

    On a personal note, I would not do this. A chaos taint for me is either end-of-character-story, or story-becomes-about-removing-the-taint. When it did happen to a character of mine, it was a kill-me-now moment resolved via a deus-ex-machina from the GM who realised that she had misjudged the mood. It totally dominates the nature of the character and the game. But your game group might be more comfortable playing characters who are chaotic, if so then have fun!

    Runes can go up and down, particularly opposed rune pairs, any strong action that is against the nature of the rune or a fumbled roll can reduce it, but I would say that the chaos rune is different. It's very hard for it to go down, and typically requires heroquesting. There is The Cleansed One ritual of the Zola Fel, @soltakss has posted in other threads here on his thoughts on that. He tends to go for a very gung-ho gaming style that isn't my group's taste.

    • Helpful 1
  12. On 4/23/2023 at 5:19 PM, simonh said:

    I actually think that's pretty reasonable when it comes to widely publishing material generated by ChatGPT. You can't generally sue a tool maker for work someone did using their tool...  the EULA would not be relevant.

    True, but having agreed to "indemnify and defend" OpenAI is then something that the user has to fight in court. It doesn't stop the rightsholder from suing, of course, but it does drag the user in with a potentially huge legal bill to fight their way out of.

  13. Watch out for ChatGPT’s EULA.

    If Chaosium decided to sue ChatGPT for copyright infringement, or libel, or anything else, based on you posting something that ChatGPT produced, then you agreed in the EULA to indemnify and defend them. That means they can hand you the legal bill and the fine for the lawsuit.

    Whether or not they actually could do that remains to be seen in practice but if they tried it then it wouldn’t be fun for you.

     

  14. On 4/16/2023 at 11:31 AM, DrGoth said:

    I agree. Unless it was something clearly laid out in advance I would never give a player a chaos feature (and everything that flows from that) from a random role about a crystal. There would have to be warning signs the player deliberately ignored.

    Same. Some groups might be okay with this, and I might choose differently depending on the group. Maybe at a convention game.

  15. 14 minutes ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

    Actually your answer is good and contains a Greg Stafford world design insight that informs us all.  Unsatisfying? Tempting of course, it's a variation on "don't eat the fruit of that tree".  My advocacy of mercy is from a GM viewpoint, not a Gloranthan lore viewpoint.

    True, there's a tension between perfect world building and fun game playing. I suspect that things going horribly wrong and turning into a disaster is entirely within Greg's definition of a fun game. Not everyone has as robust an attitude as that. I've also had great times in roleplaying games when everything is going horribly wrong and ends up in a total disaster, but it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

    An alternative outcome to you coming back with the blame for whatever imperfection you took there is that if you resist the temptation to exhibit that flaw, then you are stripped of it entirely along with a chunk of your Man Rune. And whilst you might not think that being stripped of a flaw is a bad thing, then if the temptation is carnal then you might lose your sexual desire. If it's violent, then you could lose the ability to fight. If it's pride then you could lose all your ambition. Some might prefer to take the blame.

    • Like 1
    • Helpful 1
  16. 3 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

    I can see the GM having some very humorous opportunities there.  A, um, boon from Uleria - and then dump him out of the heroquest.  This is still more merciful than everyone blaming you in accord with Phil Hibbs' suggestion.

    Yes, I certainly concur that the "don't do it, you will suffer, it will be terrible, end of" answer is unsatisfying.

    • Haha 1
  17. What Greg has said about The Green Age is, don't go there. Everything is perfect in the Green Age. We are not perfect. Any imperfection that you bring will destroy the perfection of the age, and it will be YOUR FAULT that that evil entered the world. All you get from visiting the Green Age is blame for everything going wrong.

    • Like 7
    • Helpful 4
  18. 3 hours ago, Frp said:

    You don't need to use your own POW to make an enchantment. A vampire worth his salt should be able to find someone to provide some. 

    You do need to provide one point, so a sorcerer without POW needs some trick to get around that. And I'm not sure if that rule applies to inscriptions anyway, but I would extend it to cover them.

  19.   

    On 2/9/2023 at 3:35 AM, Bren said:

    I agree the names of foodstuffs cannot be exhaustive. A quick search of the Guide to Glorantha Volume I shows many non-specific references to edible fish, but no entries for cod, herring, mackerel perch, trout, tuna, or whitefish. There is one entry for sea salmon on p. 97, and a few entries for a monstrous "black eel." 

    It would also mean that the raspberry leaf mentioned in Greg's unpublished story that he read at a few cons is now wrong, because The Guide doesn't mention raspberries either. Jeff seems to be implying that it is exhaustive though. Not in The Guide, not in Glorantha.

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