Rodney Dangerduck

The "fact" that the King of Sartar must marry the Feathered Horse Queen is, in effect, a mythical forgery, faked by Arkati/Ernaldan heroquesters. Much like the Donation of Constantine was forged by the Church to give it power over the temporal rulers of western Europe, this was forged to give Ernalda and the FHQ power over the rulers of Sartar.

This bonus is in the weeds. Given that casting Mobility on your horse does not increase your impact bonus with a lance, (remember, it should go as mass times velocity squared), there's no call to add +1 to a missile weapon.

One interesting point they make in the video is that the atlatl has a lower rate of fire than a bow, plus a lower "muzzle velocity". Therefore, it is less effective against rapidly moving targets, which you are more likely to encounter while mounted.

When I GMed, I ran a few short heroquests, also trying to follow the hints from Chaosium. Rules mechanics got switched: instead of using Passions to augment skills, the heroes could use skills to augment their runes or passions. That worked pretty well. Definitely an interesting twist. I am skeptical of emphasizing CHA. it's already the most important stat in RQG, and I see no reason to make it even more so.

Though this is a side issue from the thread, I'm going to strongly disagree here. Orlanth / Harmast / Argrath didn't undertake the LBQ to "explore mythology". Sacred Time quests are performed to get good omens for the upcoming year. Initiation or obtaining rune spells are to achieve a (minor) power gaming effect. Whenever an NPC has some powerful magic item or insane stat or skill, it is attributed to "heroquesting". A Heroquest to "explore mythology" is a fascinating idea, I've just never heard of one. Except by the God Learners, and that turned out, well, poorly.

When a PC declines to gain a rune point when they sacrifice POW to join a cult, I will believe that they do it because "it is right" or "traditional".

I very much agree. Argrath, Harrek, and the Red Emperor are much less interesting.

I tend to agree with you and @Ynneadwraith. Especially if atonement is "offered". The fact that Yelm "demanded" atonement gives me pause - too reminiscent of war reparations. But I'm probably going way too far into the textual Glorantha rabbit hole here... (And Jeff clarified his intent)

Thank you for this clarification. Works for me.

I'm aware of the story. I'm stating that atonement is different from an apology. Does atonement imply apology? Maybe? Orlanth "entered boldly", which doesn't sound apologetic. But making a "bid for friendship" does.

Can you please cite sources / links for some of these? Maybe it's my google-fu - a Google search of "Orlanth Yinkin Eye" got nothing relevant. A Well of Daliath search for "apolog" brought up one item, Orlanth apologizing for stealing Death. I'd also argue that Well of Daliath shouldn't be the primary source for this stuff. I, and many others, just paid a lot of money for new books. Neither Mythology nor the Lightbringers Cult book contain the word apology. They don't mention Orlanth and Humakt reconciling! There is no statement, anywhere that I have found, that Orlanth apologized to Yelm. If there is one, please cite the source or link. (I agree that Orlanth did correct his mistake) Stormfall is noted in the books as a defeat for Ygg, Valind, and Vadrus. And "other storm gods". Which, I guess, by implication, includes Orlanth. Would have been much better to expressly call him out for this key battle in myth.

Please, I'd like more information on this. I have, yet again, reread the Orlanth writeup in Cults of Runequest, The Lightbringers. There is a brief mention "sometimes defeated temporarily", or "He was scorched ... yet survived". but zero details. Who defeated Him? What were the downsides? Lunars, Yelmalio, Uz, they have mythical downsides. Orlanth? I don't see where he ever admits he did something wrong. To whom did Orlanth apologize, and what did he say? There should be some "Bad Poetry" used for a formal Orlanth apology ritual.

There is a fair chance that the Carmanian Hazar is himself an initiate of Humakt. Especially if he is more "old school". Otherwise Yanafal, another highly honorable cult.

Well said!

Our group, and the late Steve Perrin's, use a slightly modified version of this. It isn't perfect, but it's much quicker & simpler than Strike Ranks.

Our group sometimes wonders mildly about Argrath's sexuality. He is extremely powerful and charismatic. Many compare him to Jagger or Bowie - a rock star babe magnet. Yet there is no canonical mention of lots of Argrath bastards children. Though, no canonical mention of Annstad kids either. So maybe it's just assumed... Mainly mentioning this as Annstad knocked up my PC, and surely many others, so seems like Argrath has too?

I agree with everything in your excellent post, other than the above sentence. I don't think that Illumination has such an effect. If it does, it's very very indirect.

OP is dead on. Maybe Orlanthi / "Storm Tribe" aren't actually morally good "good guys", but they are clearly the intended target for RQG player characters. Which is a reasonable design decision by a small game company with limited resources.

Agree. However, I (and some others) think that such an exception should be, well, an exception. Not the norm.

Ultimately, you are correct. However, clear rules can help. In this example (Climb), the rules are actually very clear, and support a strict application for elemental runes. "An Elemental Rune may be used to augment the adventurer’s chance with a single non-combat skill within its skills category..."

We allow Runes and Passions as Augments / Inspiration. But tend to be on the strict side. If the GM is liberal in accepting "off" runes, it quickly devolves into the player always using their highest, or maybe 2nd highest, rune. Which usually means Air, Earth, or Movement for the typical PC. As @Crel notes, GM strictness "encourages Runic diversity". Also, you'll get more arguments. For example, why are you accepting Earth or Harmony for Climb? Then the GM spends minutes explaining why they think Harmony is appropriate, and probably get a lot of confused looks and counter arguments... This is one of many cases where I think the rules are hard to interpret and adjudicate...

I agree with your conclusion that "RQG's combat needs a cleanup". Or at least a semi-official "quicker combat rules" As for Runes and Passions, I don't think they are "simple". Well, the rules themselves are simple. Except... when it comes down to the GM deciding if a Passion or Rune is applicable for an augment. Then it's a a mess. I remember a White Bull episode where Jeff let's a PC use Air to augment their Climb to get over the walls of Pavis. Isn't Water the proper Rune for that? If not, why write guides for the runes at all? And much of the time Jeff just says "no", you can't try any Inspiration for this simple situation. when, in a roleplaying situation, a GM requires a PC to roll their super-high Death or Love XXX and the player really doesn't want to follow the result. when they fail their Inspiration and the rules subtly vary between Passions and Runes.

Disagree. If the Tribal Leader or King of Sartar arrive in Apple Lane, the Thane would still offer Hospitality, right? I doubt that it becomes an issue. If you have actual Gloranthan counterexamples, that would be interesting.

Good and interesting question. However, Cults of Glorantha, Earth Goddesses, says that Glorantha deities may visit incognito. Page 71: (there may be other examples too)

In RQG, where rune magic is more common and reusable, our tanks frequently have something like Shield 5 and Prot 4 or 6. 16 points of magical armor, even halved, makes them immune to trollkin sling stones and (nearly) multi-missiled arrows. If not halved, they would be immune to a lot. I get here you are coming from, it sure seems like magic should protect, but be careful with changes.