Rodney Dangerduck

20 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Nor should you be suggesting one should use a skill which is vastly inferior (skill % wise

Many of our PCs have much higher Dodge than Parry. 

In any case, what I am suggesting is that a Martial Artist treat their highest defensive skill, under whatever name it was under older systems, as Dodge in RQG.

On 12/21/2023 at 10:50 PM, Shiningbrow said:

Let's get more specific then - natural weapons (especially with a successful Martial Arts roll). This is especially so with a) weapons such as a cestus, and/or b) where the creature has natural armour (especially looking at Uz here).

Would you allow the Protection spell to work in those cases with a successful parry against a crit?

1. No.  Having the armor / magic work sometimes but not others is even more confusing / non-sensical.
2. Parrying with natural weapons and Martial Arts are really more of a "Dodge".  That skill exists in RQG - use it.

1 hour ago, SDLeary said:

Huh, I don't remember a critical able to ignore a parrying weapon or shield. I mean, a parrying weapon does provide protection! Guess I'll have to go back to check! 🙃

SDLeary

A parrying weapon or shield still "protects" (possibly the wrong term?), dropping the damage by 12 or whatever.

What's really frustrating (or wonderful!) is that a normal success parry with an Earthshield results in zero damage.

In the case of an Allied Spirit, it hangs around for 7 days.  So I think it would be the same for a Wyter.

Note that Bound Spirits, in general, become unbound and go away.

54 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

They're magical armor! 🙂

And since critical hits do bypass them, we can conclude that they're not just a perfect energy sphere that always protects you or anything like that - maybe they do form magical armor pieces, or planes of force, or at least have weak spots. 

You are twisting logic into pretzels to match the rules.  Why do the magical armor pieces exactly match the size & shape of your existing armor?  Even armor you aren't wearing? (Say a Humakti with a geas)

The reason crits ignore Protection & Shield is to allow smaller weapons, skillfully or stealthily used, to be useful.  A rare instance of Game Balance.

The more important question is how do Gloranthans pronounce potato?

Let's call the whole thing off ...

1 hour ago, Jens said:

Shamans are very much tied to physical locations in RQ:G, as well as to their tribes- they must lead weekly worship ceremonies at any spirit shrines they establish. In the RAW, they couldn't be on the road for more than a few days

True by RAW.

Now consider the most famous (?) shaman, Blueface of Balazar / Griffin Mountain.  (link to Well of Daliath)  Emphasis added.

"Blueface is above tribal bickering. He goes wherever special healing or curative powers are needed in Balazar, appearing only when he wishes; otherwise he cannot be found"

5 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

i dislike this part of the design. This need of 90% time, etc.

I agree.  It's just punitive.  Everybody has ignored or hand waved ("of course, going to XXX is a cult duty, just like your last 24 random adventures were, by strange coincidence, also cult duty") this rule for 40 years.  Nor do the NPCs seem to follow it. 

5 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

There is no income tax, because it is not practical in a mostly illiterate society

I agree that it is not practical.  But isn't the tithe, as described, exactly that, an income tax?

I am even more confused than before.

On 11/16/2023 at 9:05 PM, Darius West said:

No, Argrath sacrifices some ducks to Delecti and gets the Necromancer on side as a mercenary, before marching a chain of zombies North West against the Lunars.   Play the boardgame and you will understand.

True.  Pretty sure that our Humakti PC, and perhaps several others, will desert Argrath should this happen in our campaign.

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

Loot ... also easy to work out

Here's where I disagree.  Cash loot is easy of course.

But what's the proper tithe on the one piece of iron armor from Berevenos (Dragon of Thunder Hills)?  How about a Hippogriff (Pegasus Plateau)?  Etc...

5 hours ago, soltakss said:

Griffin Mountain has Kuschile Hawk Archery, so it is already adapted to other mounts.

Horse and Vrok are both Yelmalian animals.  High Llamas aren't.

This is RQ, so I guess there could be an unusual heroquest.

5 hours ago, soltakss said:

Why not? If a Yelmalian High Llama Rider, who cannot ride a horse due to taboos, gained a Kuschile Archery skill, why wouldn't it apply to a High Llama?

Because it is Kushile Horse Archery?

3 minutes ago, g33k said:

I'm pretty sure that the circle the sling passes through can operate vertically -- alongside the mount & rider(s) -- and thus not endangering any of the 3.

Maybe?  Even if true, that really limits the angle of fire to basically straight ahead or behind.

In addition to the good ideas presented here, we've played Argrath as highly focused on "big things", where the ends justify the means.  Sometimes our PCs, or their clan or tribe, get trampled along the way. Sometimes they manage to intervene and help the "little people" or redirect Argrath's plans to better protect them.

I'm still wrapping my head around the idea of slinging from horseback with another rider 

Actually, change that, I'm wrapping my sling around the head of the other rider.

59 minutes ago, Malin said:

Lantern: The big flashlight. Good to cast on the shield of the person who walks first in a tunnel, making sure everyone behind them is not blinded.

1. While this is possibly true and realistic, I have never heard of PCs getting "blinded" by a basic Light spell, in RQ, D&D, or any other FRP system.
2. One could just cast a Light spell on a bauble on the front of a shield to get the same exact effect.

Lantern is pointless, worse than Light because it is much less flexible - you can't cast it on a rock or arrow to look ahead.  It is yet another example (see the Farsee thread https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/20010-farsee-the-gift-and-the-spell-question/) of Chaosium not caring about Yelmalio as a playable PC cult.

If Iron were truly a "death metal", then it should do more damage, not block more damage.  As written, it's more of a Life Metal, unless, as @Akhôrahil notes, you are a troll or elf.

On 10/4/2023 at 2:02 PM, Erol of Backford said:

Likely whoever ran Bagtrap was either just bored with the character, was a superfluous one or thought divine intervention would save them?

I was lucky to get invited to play at that one session, my only game ever with Greg as GM, running Parry Mason, a Light Son on his way to Balazar.  (And there to playtest Griffin Mountain).  I knew many of the other players, but not their PCs.  It was a long time ago so my memory is dim...

Bagtrap had a campaign reason for his actions, though I was unaware of what it was.  I don't think it was boredom.  He did not attempt D.I.

Given that RQ2 Farsee was 10X, the Yelmalio gift should be Farsee 3 or Farsee 4.

42 minutes ago, Malin said:

The way I view Iron weapons is that you are able to perform more desperate/risky parries that might break a normal weapon.

I have considered that.  However, you have years of training with your bronze sword including "don't do that parry, your sword will beeak".  Very hard to untrain. 

I still react slowly when an opponent's volleyball serve hits the net, and that rule changed decades ago.  🙂

2 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

You're probably mixing it up with Enchanted Copper weapons, which have +100% HP for purposes of not breaking but no bonus to damage absorbed.

I think this would work best for all enchanted weapons.  A iron sword doesn't change the laws of physics regarding mass and leverage.  And before you parrot "Glorantha has no physics", look at the pages and pages of charts regarding the Strength one needs to wield various weapons.

24 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

Compare a glass container to a similar one made of, say, wood or metal.

Poor example IMO.

Compare a wooden baseball bat to a metal one.  A well made metal one has more hit points and is harder to shatter.  But, when relatively undamaged, they are basically the same for blocking enemy damage.  Well, I've never actually tested this, but it seems like they should be equal!  🙂

That said, I believe that RAW gives the iron sword 18HP in blocking damage.  One of many RQG design changes that make shields less effective than in RQ2.

On 11/2/2023 at 10:14 AM, Jason D said:

We gave bonuses to the skills based on what we felt were appropriate.

There was no requirement to make them balance against each other...

 

OTOH, it would be simpler to balance them.  And probably shorten the rules. 

Just say that all occupations add, say, 175%, list the occupational skills, and allow players to distribute their points, maximum +30% each, amongst those skills.  Do the same for cults and homelands.

Many of our PCs made some money, and two decided to live it up in Clearwine as "nobles" by paying 200L a year.  They had a nice house in the good section of town, had parties, and could hire a few staff, including Asmara and Arlanda from a couple of the scenarios. 

Arlanda ("Rat Girl" from Dregs of Clearwine) eventually got shipped off to Apple Lane for detox...

So we treated it as just a noveau riche "higher standard of living", not anything very socially or politically meaningful.  Now, maybe after a few more years that might change.