Squaredeal Sten

Page 59, Caladra and Aurelion, under Requirements to Belong:

"followed by some sort of business transaction.  This little ceremony may akso be used before all transactions which should be blesed by the gods...*

This looks like a copy and paste from Issaries.  It is not obvious what business transactions have to do with Caladra and Aurelion.

3 hours ago, coffeemancer said:

Am I insane or is there a story about Eurmal turning blood into wine which babeester Gor got drunk on and then they banged?

I have some feverdream about having read a story like that...

Blood into beer, not wine.  To end BG's berserk massacre.

2 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

Hmm … this seems to play to the idea of everyone picks a side — or has one picked for them — and we none of us need those awful people/insects/plants on the other side: if they are pollinators, they can’t be eaters.

Isn’t the reality of the relationship between insects and flowering plants more complicated? Bees will take nectar without doing the work of pollination if they can — think of short-tongued bees who punch holes in the sides of flowers to get at the nectar, bypassing the “front entrance” where the pollen-dabbing mechanism is waiting for long-tongued bees. Honeybees steal and eat pollen, and every grain eaten is potentially a fertilisation foregone.

There are conflicts between insects and plants — they are playing on opposing teams — and this is reflected in behaviour and biology. (Which are surely more complicated than anything I understand.) That doesn’t mean they don’t need each other.° We may find we need our enemies (even if we have to trick them sometimes) more than we need our allies, hirelings, and slaves — wouldn’t that be a lesson to learn?

 

° Perhaps this goes for those who eat the whole organism, too: the zebra eaten by the hyena didn’t need that hyena, but perhaps the herd benefits from predation. Perhaps. And if not, think how much darker the Waha–Eiritha relationship looks than it already did.

The pharase in question is aimed at "these are OUR insects. Not like those pests". Dont overthink it.

Its only a legend. Not a literary interpretation class.

On 9/4/2023 at 3:31 AM, DucksMustDie said:

But the Storm Bulls would probably say ´No thanks´ to a date night with Babs. Even they have limits 🙂 

Or some would be unable to pass up such a challenge.  

Seriously, all you need for such a night is a high Death rune affinity  and a Babeester Gor who is off duty and looking for some fun. 

Just remember, you never lie to her... especially on oath....  The last guy who said "Baby, I swear I only want you", well that's part of him on that string hanging on her armor.

But back to the topic of Storm Bulls, that behavior normally drops off after a guy enters his 30s.  Though I agree that most won't last that long if they seek out Chaos to fight every season or more often.  The broos and ogres probaaly have a Storm Bull drill, one baits him into the ambush.

So children quiet down, sit quiet in the Yelmlight and I will tell you why we and all of Flamal's brown chidren keep bees.  

One of Flamal's greatest creations is flowering plants, which made the peak of the Green Age.  But when flowering plants spread over the world, they were so successful and so many!  There were so many that not even  Flamal could  care for them all.  First Flamal created Aldrya who created us, whose purpose is to care for the forests.  But as the Green Age reached its peak even we, the mreli. were unable to do it all, and though we cared for the forests who would care for the flowering plants of the meadows?  So the perfection of the Green Age was not quite accomplished.

Then a heroic mrel Gardener named Narlen quested and bested one of the Darkness goddesses, yes Gorakiki, and carried away some of her children to serve us: These are the bees, who have been taken from the Eaters to serve the Grower.  They please the flowering plants' sexual parts, the flowers, and are rewarded with sweetness; as in the rest of the world, this increases Fertility.   This benefits the flowering trees which are our first concern,  but also the smaller flowering plants of the meadows which we mreli usually do not worry about. They do not eat the plants, neither flower nor leaf nor  stem nor root, so are no longer Eaters.  They have been taken from the gods of Darkness and live as we mreii do, sleeping in Dark Season and emerging full of activity in Sea Season.  And because they are our captives we have the right to share their sweet food. honey.  But we don't take too much from their hives because we are not greedy Eaters. so we mreli and the bees and the flowering plants all prosper every year.

And for this Narlen is named Narlen Beekeeper and is worshiped as a hero.  Her cult gives only one rune spell, Calm Bees, which enables moving hives and taking their honey in season.  But it also teaches spirit magic: Control (Bee Swarm), and the craft of Beekeeping.  Narlen Beekeeper's holy days are those of Aldrya.

Rune magic; Calm Bees, 1 point.  Ritual, Ranged.

Renders the bees of one or several hives within 5 meters of the caster, calm and docile to the extent that their hives can be moved and/or robbed of the majority of their honey.

Spirit magic: Control bee Swarm: 1 point, ranged, temporal, active. 

As with all control spells (see RBOM page 111)  except that it enables the control not of just one bee but of a whole swarm of bees from a single hive, through a volume of up to 9 cubic meters.

Cult lay membership is open to any mreli plant tender or priestess-shaman. Vronkali are generally not interested.  Joining requires the sacrifice of 1 MP on a holy day, and allows the member to be taught the craft of Beekeeping for free.

[What's "for free" mean?  Oh it refers to money, which we Aldryami have trouble understanding.  Ask me about it when you are older.] 

Non-Aldryami may be accepted as lay members for unusual service to the Aldryami. but they must pay for training.

Cult initiate membership is open to any Gardener, also to Dryads of course. It allows learning the cult magics.

The cult's highest rank is initiate.

TheGorakiki bee subcult may have some Aldryami association due to a mythical event.  All you have to do is write the mythical event.  These insects are not " eaters" like other insects.  They have a different relationship with flowering plants including deciduous trees.  And by the way I believe that is brown elves.  Might it be a little known Aldrysmi heroquest?  

4 hours ago, ZedAlpha said:

So I might be running a Gloranthan game in FATE Core soon, and one of the campaign ideas I had was one set in the Hero Wars era in Caladraland, probably just after the City of Wonders is sacked by the Wolf Pirates (about the same backdrop as the Harrek Must Die! campaign I ran a few years ago). I love the idea of an impenetrable volcano-kingdom ruled by an amazingly helpful, loving, himbo fire-god's priests, and I love the thought of dinosaur-filled jungles and whatnot.

Problem is I can't think of any interesting plots. A quick survey of my players shows not much enthusiasm for the classic season-by-season community-based gameplay common to a lot of Gloranthan campaigns. I can work with that, but I'm not sure if tilting more hack'n'slash, dungeon-crawling swords-and-sorcery  would be the way, or if I should guide the campaign in a more capital-E Epic Fantasy Quest region would be the way to go. What is certain is that my players are absolutely wary of the "Elminster Effect" of established settings, where big powerful NPCs get to do all the setting-warping plot-advancing stuff, with PCs relegated to roles of helpers and assistants to the characters with real destinies. That means I'll probably be steering clear of Argrath's story, or changing this Glorantha (once more) into one where the Multiple Argrath Theory is true.

All that long-winded nonsense is just to say I'm kinda stuck for ideas on what to do in Caladraland about that time. The other idea I had was an Orlanthi game set in Dragon Pass about the same time as the King Of Dragon Pass video game, so we won't have to worry about any of the stuff involving the Hero Wars at all. That would probably be more of a community-centric game, but that's probably another thread.

Anyway. Anybody have any ideas for plot hooks or campaign concepts I might be able to use?

Trade based.  Learn to know and love the Trader Princes on the route west. Or alternatively east to Nochet.  

There has got to be some Bestiary or story material in tumbleweeds.  Plants that break free and move with the wind  on terrain where there are no forests to break the wind - that looks ghostly right there.  Surely with an animist worldview it is obvious that tumbleweeds have spirits and both the movement and plant runes.  

My own view of Illuminstion is stronger than my view of Arkat, but here it is:

Illumination is realizing the true nature if the world, it"s all a game.  This includes realizing that chaos is part of thu universe.  It also implies realizing that many munchkin dodges are possible including using chaos. 

There are varieties of illumination, one being Andrew L. Montgomery's view of draconic illumination.

That does not mean that the illuminate is suddenly stupid and unable to realize that chaos threatens the rest of the universe and all the he holds dear, so it had better be fought, kept far away,, controlled etc..  On this general principle, Arkat and Sedenya agree. Where they differ is on where they draw the line.

The Gloranthan character is unlike the player in that he or she can't get out of the game, can't just put the book away.

Having said this, there are many ways people can react to illumination and incorpoate it into their actions.  Arkat's is one way, Sedenya's is another. Argrath's is a third.   Your own is yet another. These reactions differ according to the illuminates' prior experiences, values, assumptions, associations etc..  Which do not go away upon illumination. 

Therefore Akat's behavior is not necessarily the behavior of all illuminates.  

On 8/26/2023 at 4:34 AM, Steve said:

There are several references in the Guide to Glorantha to Prax containing areas of chaparral. e.g. p.441 "Prax: Beyond the oasis are the Plains of Prax, a chaparral and sagebrush desert."

According to Merriam-Webster online, chaparral is:

 

You ought not to take too seriously or strictly that description of the vegetation as "scrub oaks".  i would gamble that the person who edited that dictionary did not have a close acquaintance with most of the terrain that people call 'chaparral=.

Besides tumbleweeds, another plant I would recommend for portions of your Prax and Wastes - it is certainly in mine - is mesquite.

Mesquite is hardy, prolific,quick growing,  thorny, grows nourishing seed pods, produces nicely grained wood when it is allowed to grow to tree size.  Leave it alone for a few years and you get a hedge that is a barrier to movement and covers acres. 

https://texnat.tamu.edu/library/symposia/brush-sculptors-innovations-for-tailoring-brushy-rangelands-to-enhance-wildlife-habitat-and-recreational-value/mesquite-ecology/

It spreads to open ground if not controlled.  Ask me how I know.

Having grown up in El Paso, which is at the north end of the Chihuahua desert and on the Rio Grande valley, Prax seems pretty homelike.  But the Prax rainfall is actually higher than we got.  Would you consider most of West Texas to be equivalent to The Wastes? Of course the Journada del Muerto in New Mexico is The Wastes.  

Anyway, the published Praxian rainfall is more seasonal but not bad as an annual total.  I would suggest that if Prax and the Wastes had not had their fertility  magically damaged, they would be comfortable and more agriculturally productive.

It is my impression that when you quest into the Gods World, you are going into a world before Time or independent of Time.  So there is no simultaneity.

All of the various questers' efforts do have a cumulative effect as I understand it, either strengthening or weakening the myth. But: It is like our both  replaying the same recording of music: the various iterations neither clash nor harmonize with each other.  My turning  off the music half way through in my house will not interfere with your experience in your house. 

But parties on opposed sides of the myth may encounter one another.  This is the efficient way of providing mythical opposition.  It still does not require simultaneity in the Middle World: your quest today may encounter my quest of yesterday or of yesteryear.

I don't think the word "integrated" is even used in RQG rules.  Will search the PDF.... I was right, it comes up null.

W&E suggests an Awakened animal  might be the reward of a heroquest.  Or from " a cult or highly magical entity".  

It is the reward of a Waha hereoquest outlined in Arcane Lore pp. 119-120.  I've got to tell you that when I ran that quest as written it underwhelmed the players.  Maybe it was just my delivery.

35 minutes ago, Godlearner said:

It says "Through Rune magic and ritual, small animals can be awakened". Is there an actual spell for that?

Not officailly, no.    Read W&E page 46 and you will see that this is a gamemaster function.

34 minutes ago, Ian A. Thomson said:

Zebra Bridge Tolls

Am thinking the following amount needs to be revised, with maybe a sliding scale depending on the person's status

6 Lunars seems a heck of a lot since a noble's standard of living according to the RQG Rules is only 200L per year

Maybe I should change Lunars to coppers? Even that seems high, but then these people are little more than bandits. (Impoverished Manside/Zebraside Locals are exempt as long as they are registered with the Fort Staff.)

Opinions welcome

"Hargran has a squad of the Fort Guard stationed by the bridge at all times. Their job is to keep the area under surveillance and collect toll from bridge users. The toll has, since Hargran’s take-over, been one silver per leg for each of those who cross (i.e. two silvers per man, and four per beast)"

i agree  with you. The RQ2 to RQG conversion advice would indicate a 1;10 ratio,    And the average Free Gloranthan household makes about 60L a year, though the standard prices seem to be Sartar-centric.  . 

Rune training is possible.  See RQiG section(s) on training.    It requires a long training period in a temple. And implicitly you need a trainer who has that Rune at a high level.

But since the spirit rune is basically for spirits, you may have a hard time finding that trainer.

The new Lightbringers book [pages 103-104] gives us the Humakt honor code. Or rather codes as the wording changes by level in the cult, and many things in the previous discussion are not in it.  It seems to me to be directed to interactions with other Humakti.

At the lay member level,

"Every lay member must take the Honor Passion and
uphold the Code of Humakt. This code of honor requires
that a member must:
. Always fight other members fairly.
. Honor the fallen.
. Maintain strict truth and confidence with one another.  "

At the initiate level.

All Humakti must uphold the Code of Humakt. This
means that a member must:
. Always fight other Humakti fairly.
. Honor the fallen.
. Maintain strict truth and confidence with one another.

[italics are my emphasis to point out the difference in wording.]

So it looks to me as if the qualifier "other members" or "other Humakti" is important.  You are to be fair to them,  Non-Humakti are a different case.  What that implies may vary according to your taste, and any geases are still in effect, but in the absence of a geas I don't see how this honor code prevents you from using an advantage in combat against the bandits referred to in the original post, unless they are Humakti.

Similarly, truth and confidence with "one another".  As I read it that is with other Humakti,

That doesn't mean that I'm saying a Humakti with a high Truth rune can lie all the time.  But the god's retribution is not going to fall on you for misleading the enemy by means of feints and distractions.  The third rule of that code would seem more directed against making false, incomplete, or misleading reports.

On 1/13/2023 at 5:43 PM, Erick Eckberg said:

The players were tasked, by their patron, to capture or kill a group of bandits harrying the lands.  Upon dispatching the lone sentry and bursting into the ruins they used as a hideout, the Humakti moved to slay the scoundrels.      

Nothing in that description says that  the bandits surrendered.   Have the bandits committed dishonorable outrages, deserving of final punishment?  We are not told.

IMHO if the bandits surrender  the Humakti "should" (with respect to honor)  capture them, perhaps sell them into slavery, perhaps turn them over to his employer's justice. (Which may be rather final.) But until they do surrender, all that is hypothetical and someone is going to die.  By default following the wishes of his patron is honorable, unless some specific situation contradicts that. 

As I recall there are no dates given for the volumes after that.  But thanks, I had not even known that the January release was Moon.

4 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

This book will have massive amounts of content about “Tarsh in general.”

I already mentioned “a map and guide to the Kingdom of Tarsh.” There are actually two maps, accompanied by a couple of dozen pages of gazetteer entries (covering every city, named village, landmark and holy place), perspectives on neighbouring lands, details on the districts, clans, great clans and noble families of Tarsh, etc. - plus almost a dozen Tarshite spirit cults, and a bunch of bestiary entries, ranging from albino sewer crocodiles to the Hydra itself.

If your adventurer comes from Lunar Tarsh, you will want this book. If your game goes to Lunar Tarsh, your GM will want this book. If you fear non-canonical material will rot your brain, you should get over yourself and want this book. Greg Stafford loved what the Unspoken Word crew did with his material for Tarsh In Flames, and this is its lineal descendent, blessed by Mark Galeotti and helmed by Simon Bray.

Simon plans several companion books of scenarios set in Lunar Tarsh, if this one’s a hit; he also has a gazetteer of Copper Town, where some of them are set. But let’s not run before we can walk.

Oh. Sold, sold!

My campaign has already gotten into Tarsh with Argrath's first invasion.  That is where we are on the timeline, and a gazzetteer of Tarsh would already have been useful though the Guide to Glorantha was. enough to go on.  Currently in the Grazelands but that will not last forever unless we reboot.  If we do I'll want a trader campaign and want to go beyond Sartar in several directions.

I have a lot in there for the GM, naturally.  But the original core of chapter 5 was material I exposed to my Key Adventurer's player early in running the advenure that turned into chapter 2.   

Anyway one of my goals was to make the caravansersi easy for someone else to GM.  Thus the spreadsheet and the two pages on using it.  There is no sense in everyone having to re invent the wheel.

So back to the topic of Furthest,

Does it have content (how much?) about Tarsh in general, or is it strictly about the city?  

Is there a companion book in your works about Tarsh in general?

Go for it.  My own opinion is that rubber is one of the inexplicable goods thst Mostali trade for, which seems almost useless to humans.

1 hour ago, brionl said:

I missed this the first time, but it looks good.

As I was reading the Weapons & Equipment Guide I was thinking that building & operating a Caravanserai would be a nifty idea for a campaign basis.

Are you thinking of this as a player or as a GM?

Made Copper Best Seller.