French Desperate WindChild

the only thing I hope now is that chaosium will announce that we can buy the product in another post, because this one is a little bit frustrating. No offence, people, just that as a too much empathic person, I feel your frustration, and it adds to my own So I will try to avoid reading this thread, but I don't want to miss the date !

It is fun that I totaly agree with you with the only exception that Death provides stasis (aka once dead you cannot change anymore, you cannot travel anymore)) and Life provides change (you move, you learn, you create, you build, you destroy, etc...)

not a proof at all 🙂 just what some gloranthan mortals conclude based on the facts they experiment (no more wind, no more plant, no more magic, etc...) Or maybe even not a mortals conclusion, just a dramatic name describing the desperate period what "really" (really from glorantha perspective of course) happend is not known. Maybe it was just the use of some magic reinforcing the power of the net, blocking even more what the gods (these gods) can normaly interact Maybe it was another effect, a power "miroring" the compromise : now not only the gods cannot interact by themselves with the mundane world but the mundane world (the worshippers and the physical domain - earth and air -) was unable to interact with the other world. Maybe something focusing their attention elsewhere, so strongly that they forgot the dragon pass for seasons, some magical drugs (same with sleeping more than dead) etc I know at least 4 "states" of dead gods : those who were lost in oblivion (are they totally ... "off ?" or just in another dimension ? who knows ?) those who are "dead" like Genert. What it means for them, except mortals cannot join them.. I don't know. Maybe what is called "Death" is just "We remember but we can't interact" those who are "dead" like Umath. What it means for them I don't know. Maybe what is called "Death" is just "We remember, we can't interact, but we can interact with what is clearly part of them" those who were "dead" like Yelm, and a lot of others gods. Probably not dead like Genert or Umath, as they were able to come back. In all cases, I would not say that gods can like mortas can It is probably different. Orlanth did not kill Yelm with a sword but with the death itself. What does it mean ? Don't know. Is it possible to understand what it means ? Godlearners don't seem to have totally understood anything Is their a irl canon explanation ? I don't think so. So answers are just what each of us understand and interpret the texts. Now answering about a god death without answering about the time and its impact, the pre-time and its rules, the differences between runes and gods etc.... seems a bottom less pit where you can only find questions and distractions. And maybe... if you are lucky enough to survive and continue your travel... In other words if your powerful and fool enough to follow Eurmal path you may find at the end a formless thing, bring back to us and ... just push the "end world" button

I have not any issue with that. I had an issue with the previous version, where lunar magic was "just" sorcery technics applied on spirit magic. Now, at least there is a difference 🙂 However something always disturbs me : there are specific rules or content on very specific characters (lunar initiate ... already illuminate, already priest / runelord; but also path of immanent mastery, comb and braid, etc...) Rules or content means efforts for very specific cases. And there is one case... one case which is the promise of the games names and period. Runequest, Herowar So I m happy that there was no change, no effort, with the lunar magic. At least, it saves time/workload on something I expect for more than 3 decades ! Note than deeper work on dragon pass, sorcery etc... is a good thing in my opinion. Just the big issue with the game is (imo) there are too many scopes to cover properly and satisfy every gloranthomaniac. So if the strategy becomes "less efforts on very specific cases, more efforts on the heart of the concept (we play hero) and the heart of the world (DP + peloria) " I can only applause. Just let JC makes a lot of exceptional work on strange and far lands, weird monsters and very local (sub)cults instead of fixing the missing part of the heart

you have, but you are in a jail 🙂

oh for me (as gm) I don't ask a reason every time. The point is more when the request seems to me bad "how do you explain that Orlanth will give you his power to kill your brother, breaking a taboo ?" If the anwser is reasonable, I let it do. If the answer is questionable, I ask a roll and let the dices decide. If the answer is obviously ridiculous, it doesn't work. An other impact is the character devotion: if the god refuses, automatic loss, if the character lies to convince the god, a devotion roll, to check if there is a loss (no possible gain then)

I don't know how far from canon (maybe it is canon, or part are canon 😛 )my answer is, but it is what I understand, or want to understand, and in all cases what I play: Gods are not machine or computer programme, gods decide and are sentient. The compromise does not change it. When the world started, the first thing who was was a rune. A rune is not sentient, a rune is a mechanism. Then, call it evolution, luck, or new thing, the god appears as a combination of runes and sentience. Maybe some gods appears before some runes but in all cases, a god cannot appear before its own runes. Then here are my gods : a combination of runes and sentience When you are a sorcerer you don't need gods, you need runes. you learn how to manipulate the runes. When you are not sorcerer, you can have effect magic in two ways : 1) you are powerful enough to create yourself the effect. That's spirit spell, heroic spell or heroic/shaman ability you know 2) you are not powerful enough to create yourself the effect. You need the power of someone else. That's rune spell. You need to call a god power (from a standard cult) or a great spirit/entity power (from a spirit cult) then based on "my" god definition : Since the compromise, gods are still sentient. So they have free will...or semi free will ^^ What they sacrifice is not (in my opinion) their will, but what they can do in the mundane world: they can't act by themselves in the time world. Of course there are exceptions, for me in two ways: When the god time merges with the mundane world (like the Holy country for example when Belintar led it) When the compromise is broken by another god (or a new god as Nick just said before). The other point they sacrificed (but maybe they did not imagine it when they "signed") is the capacity to change and create new power. They cannot anymore discover new powers, new manners. They have to follow patterns they created before the compromise. For example Uleria or Chalana will never find a way to kill someone. Then even are not able to imagine that killing someone could be an option to solve an issue they are facing (If there is no myth where they killed someone, of course; but I don't know any of them) But they can communicate (dream or other ways if they decide to tell you something when you don't ask them, divination or divine intervention if you ask them) And of course they can act through yourself (when you cast a rune spell, your energy and pray is used to open the gate, ask your god, then the god uses its power to have the effect) And of course (for me, for other this of course is not of course at all, it is the opposite 😛 ) even if you succeed to cast your rune spell (or divine intervention), they can decide to not answer your request if they decide ("free will") that's what you demand is "wrong" (see the sun county supplement describing how Yelmalio refused to save a lot of his rune lords who tried a divine intervention to save themselves from the dragons)

Maybe see the thing with another perspective : a) when you heroquest you meet the god. or a proxy but for you it should be the god because if you start to doubt that’s not the god, you are in a path where at the end you will remember you are not wearing your god’s aspect but just a wood mask (or tattoo or … any mundane gear) and your quest may fail only because this. b) when you meet the god, you may learn things (for example how to cast runespell) so why not you learn a wakboth runespell c) then you come back and now you are in the mundane world and you know how to cast Wakboth spell d) so as any « good evil », you cast the spell… the only issue is there is no one who will answer (no Wakboth) because now he is not here. Then no one answer, you are the gate , fine but the god’s energy will not use the gate just because there is no energy now e) no energy no spell effect f) no spell effect = no need to worship no one g) of course meeting a chaos god may give you some chaotic feature because even if Wakboth is not any more, chaos is still here.

Imo if the blow is instant death you can’t heal them (chest head etc with enough negative hp) except very heroic power you cannot heal your friend when the head is far from the rest of the body in other cases, as we are not with action points but SR I would rule like this : round 1 our guy is wound at sr 12 (or any) and no one is able to heal/save his life round 2 Ask who does what (intent) if someone says « heal the guy as soon as possible » fine that’s possible if anyone has other priority… well our guy is dead The point for me is not the SR in the next round, it must be the first thing the healer does. It is a question of priority At the end of the day it is the same logic when someone is dying at SR 3 and others decide to not heal the victim because they want to hit at SR 6 At the end of the round the victim is dead as no one saved her/him when they had the opportunity

everybody... everybody... At least not me, I'm still waiting English-speaker custormers* to have access to the books even if I buy only the pdf version. Following your proposal, that means, even if I "need" less than other customers, I would have to wait more than them to access to the book ? No there would be at least one guy not happy / more frustrated than today / maybe angry with this strategy. * because non English speakers will wait a lot of months / years / lives... to read this fabulous content in their own languages, don't forget these poor guys 🙂

yes of course, but once you have 20, and one of them disappear, you don't need to hire more than one and even you already have 20, and some of them are not rune lord, will the community decide to "fire" one of them to give the position to a better candidate ? sometimes yes sometimes no. What I say is that being a runelord is not just a test (minimum level) but a contest (a minimum ranking)

I can't agree 😛 because it means you get more runelords than you need. It is like any community (clan ring in glorantha, mayor irl and glorantha, CEO of irl company, etc...). You need one boss not twenty, even if you have twenty good proven candidates. I agree that sometimes, you may decide to have two runelords and not one, but that means you can "offer" them (standard of living, gear, supports, etc...)

by the way, is this notion still relevant : gods (like Orlanth or Yinkin) are different than great spirits (like Kolat or Fralar) ? I have deliberately opted for Yinkin because I have a memory of a war between gods and spirits with Yinkin "betraying" the beasts spirits, choosing Orlanth's side. both "no" and "yes" make sense for me, with the only issue with "yes" is there is a question to answer "what is the difference then ?"

there are, for me, different things to keep in mind to have a new rune lord. 1) there must be a need of a new runelord. the community/temple/clan/tribe/kingdom/empire opens a new position and is able (and wants) to support a runelord, or a previous one left the position (death, retirement, ....) And the cult agrees to appoint a new runelord. Of course this agreement is often obvious but sometimes... if the community is a band of mercenaries, or if the mundane leader who wants a runelord has... some disagreement with the temple leader.. Argh politics ! 2) there must be a good candidate enough abilities, enough power, enough probity (from the cult perspective of course). I see the rules requirements (90% in ..., x rune pool, ....) as a guideline, not a rule personaly. At least from the mundane position. If you need a holy warrior, you choose the best qualified and that's done. Of course if all candidates are unable to run more than 2 minutes well... you may wait and hire someone else 😛 Saying that... I imagine there is a ritual when a candidate can prove he/she has the capacity (morale, physical, magical) to become a runelord that may be an heroquest or maybe just a "mundane" heroquest reenacting the god(dess) activities. If there are several candidates and one position, it should be a tournament (same principle, the difference being that only the best is appointed, succeding the ritual is not enough). In fact I imagine something like the Melisandre tournament but more difficult, more dangerous. A kind of rare festivity (I would not say that all cults have new runelords every year) so initiates, priests, runelords, lay members, friends, families, clans, ... may participate in some ceremonies, games, etc... After a lot of more or less dangerous tests, the last step/station the candidate(s) is(are) expected to leave the community as initiate, and come back after days as a successful runelord once a heroic issue is solved : find a cult artefact, destroy a chaotic nest, save some community member trapped by a powerful monster/cult or community ennemy, etc...

How many people who can cast fire magic would like to join Yelmalio (so lose these powers) ? I don't know how different is PHP -yelmalio, but in all cases he would have at least the core (no)power : no fire.