Rodney Dangerduck

In our campaign, my Sartarite Vinga warrior, along with another PC's Chalana Arroy, visited The Block.  The local Storm Bulls were polite to the healer, but obnoxiously hit on my red head.  She learned a lot more Praxian - I noted it as "57 different Praxian terms to describe sex".  The GM gave her a free +5% in her Speak Praxian.  🙂

On 7/28/2023 at 12:27 AM, French Desperate WindChild said:

You already have: Yinkin is a subcult of Orlanth in Sartar !

I sincerely hope not.  It means the effective elimination of Yinkin as a cult.  No PC will join Yinkin when they can get all the benefits from joining Orlanth and paying the appropriate POW points.

36 minutes ago, Richard S. said:

I believe mongoose's material required both a split tongue and a split brain to speak Auld Wyrmish fluently, but I don't think any other books have referenced anything other than the split tongue.

I wonder if that 25% limit is just for speaking, or also for listening comprehension.  For example, my ability to understand French, even though not that high, is much better than my ability to speak it.

45 minutes ago, Nick Brooke said:

if you want to know much more about its sinister draconic motivations than you get from Book One, you should probably pick up Book Two

When I looked a couple of days ago, all three of Andrew's books were at a discount on Drive Thru RPG.  Came very close to pulling the trigger but I'm saving money for others...

29 minutes ago, Daesta said:

Some kind of listing or example of cult spirits would be really useful

Maybe the upcoming Cults books will provide a listing?

12 minutes ago, g33k said:

Similarly, early versions of "Cults" were available as a "Con Special" books.

For future Chaosium reference, which they are free (and likely) to ignore, this pissed me off.  If the Cults books had come out shortly thereafter, no problemo.  Some early promotion and swag is standard practice and makes marketing sense.

But, in this case, for roughly 5 years, a select few had access to very important materials unavailable to most, including our group.  IMO, bad move.

6 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

On the other hand, for an expert swordsman to evaluate a sword doesn't seem magic to me.  An alternative would be to simply use the sword skill or to make it an augment to Evaluate.

Agreed.

Same for evaluating a Horse or other mount - use Ride to choose the "best" one and as a possible augment to Evaluate.

6 hours ago, JRE said:

a Babeester Gor initiate with 30% Death is workable, and probably an interesting character, as she can use Earth to cast her Rune Magic

Several of the better spells, like Ax Trance, Berserker, and Slash, do not use Earth.  A BG at just 30% Death will face serious problems casting these spells.

6 minutes ago, ChrisWentWhere said:

But there are definitely codes of behaviour - most important of which is that you never, ever grass anyone up to the authorities

THIS!  THIS!  A hundred times this!

The RQG concept that there is One True Concept of Honor is completely bogus.  Samurai concepts of honor are also quite different.

Now, rename "Honor" to something else, like "Fidelity" (Semper Fi) or "Integrity", and it works as written.  Maybe this is how we should think about it?

As for getting the Lanbril and Humakti to work together, a mission to infiltrate a Zorak Zoran or Vivamort complex would certainly appeal to both of them.

2 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

but the second one is more like fanatic storm bullers (not all storm bullers, those who are really bullers), enraged, violent, and almost random death bringer.( don't know who is the guilty, kill all the village, daka fal will judge them). The second one  is the group with berserker spell

Why would society allow these breakers of sacred Hospitality to live?  If somebody like that, whether BG, SB, or Humakti, visits Apple Lane, where my PC is Thane, they either leave quickly or not at all.

I agree with @kara: the psycho BG are way over the top and frankly unplayable.  Why would other PCs, especially male, ever adventure with them?

6 hours ago, ChrisWentWhere said:

The Ring of Lanbril will only let initiates or lay members on a job

Get the Humakti friend to kill the members of the Ring.  Problem solved.

Stop treating cults as character classes or alignments.

It would certainly piss off Berevenos, if the PCs accepted any of his aid.  My PC took her oath to him seriously, and squelched any thoughts by the other PCs (which were very minor "hey, what if ..") of allying with Storn.

We have a new PC coming into our campaign who, at least tentatively, will be BG / Yinkin.  I think that's a reasonable combination.  Not sure how it will work in practice, but we will find out!

Note: the player is a bit of a mini-maxer, and really wanted Bear's Strength for use in combats, but we both agreed that Yinkin was a much better fit than Odalya for the character concept.  So we gave the PC a Bear's Strength rune matrix as a starting magic item.

I had a similar concept for an NPC who appeared for a few episodes.

Mainly cards, dice, etc.

I can imagine some Eurmal tie ins, and possibly Krarsht in the nastier darker areas.  But anybody else for "fun" gamblibg?  Donandar?  I know Kolat does a little with tossing sticks.

Thanks for any ideas.

4 hours ago, Guy Hoyle said:

What do you use to breathe some life into the stats of your NPCs, since you don't base them on real or fictional characters?

Often some stereotypes.  Pick genres you love.

"Spoiled rich kid".  "Fat disreputable merchant" (maybe Sidney Greenstreet from Casablanca). 

"Scheming political Machiavellian matron" (pick your favorite soap, GoT, etc.) might work for Leika.

Or loosely base on historical characters.  For example, I think Amelia Earhart works, as a rough guide, for Kallyr.  

45 minutes ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

John Wayne would talk tough and pose.

That's somewhat unfair.  He made modest efforts to enlist.  Arguably, he should have tried harder.  It was mainly his studio that prevented it.

I will often loosely base an NPC, or even a PC, on a character portrayed on film or TV.  For example, Josie Wales, La Femme Nikita, or Lagertha (Vikings). In Apple Lane, we have a Mrs Marlowe (Brokenwood) town gossip.

6 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Of course, that's me laying down my perspective as though it's the law. I am aware that other points of view exist

Relativity was a rules change (see atomic bomb) that changed Earth.

With the change to reusable rune magic, "all" Sartarite males would join Orlanth and sacrifice 2-3 POW.  Why? 

It allows them to achieve one of mans' greatest dreams for thousands of years:  They can fly.

Not to mention catastrophic health care (Heal Wound, possibly Heal Body?) and a host of other benefits, such as protection from spirits and in combat.

Likewise, for "all" women, going through pregnancy without major pains, and in great safety, seems amazingly useful.  I would expect that any Ernaldan, upon discovering that she was pregnant, would either get somebody else to cast Bless Pregnancy, or sacrifice a 2nd POW to get the spell for herself and cast it.

I strongly agree with the idea of letting the player, in conjunction with the GM and group, decide what is their PC's concept of Honor.

@Scotty  thanks for the chart.  As pointed out by many, the terms are very confusing.  There seems no real difference between not forbidden and "yes but".  Please consider simplifying or clarifying.

Also the phrasing that shamen can join as initiates begs the question of whether initiates can become shamen, which is what one of our PCs did.  (We didn't have your chart then)

We play that spells or augments that get you over 100% do decrease the opponent's skill.

Given this, splitting attacks is usually a bad choice, so that question has not arisen.

2 hours ago, Hellfire6a said:

My PC has so many complications and contradictions already. Air Rune at 90% and Fire/Sky at 60% just to name one...

Why do you consider this such a contradiction?  One can be idealistic, perceptive, yet also proud and violent. 

Vasana the pregen is very similar: Air at 90% and Moon at 50%.

2 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

that was my idea too

However, the "canon" is that honor is the shared system of warriors values

Your initial idea is correct.  Honor varies, slightly, by culture and individual.
Ignore "canon" on Honor.  (... minor rant deleted... )

Wyrm's Footnotes #12, pages 16-18.

You'd also need to think about his guards, aides, and servants.

48 minutes ago, JRE said:

that often the negotiated solution will be a transfer to another temple, rather than an expensive wergild

Kind of like how we all too often handle rogue cops and priests today?  😞