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Squaredeal Sten

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Everything posted by Squaredeal Sten

  1. This implies thar for salt "regionally traded" includes, for example, Prax to Sartar or Balazar to Imther. And implies that Heortland to Sartar is also likely, as it is no more distant than Prax.
  2. ? I thought Orlanth's birthplace was Kero Fin. That's his mother, but she is also a mountain and mountains don't travel around.
  3. At this point I am just trying to get oriented on the continent enough to run some trading adventures to and in Pamaltela. I have a long way to go. Let me think about questions.
  4. To my knowledge there isn't much material available on Pamaltela besides the Guide to Glorantha. There are a few pieces in Tradetalk issues, whose canon status is highly questionable. In J C there is War Elephants of Fonrit, but that's not about Fonrit but just about the elephants. Was there a great Pamaktelan boom in fanzines decades ago, and I just missed it? It seems that Pamaltelan population maps were once worked out but have now vanished from the Web. https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/websites/old-glorantha-com-news/guide-to-glorantha-news/population-detail-maps-for-pamaltela-complete/
  5. How about sea routes between Genertela and Pamaltela? Would you go more directly south avoiding Magasta's Pool, or via the East Iskes to make sure you avoid it? In the first case a storm or navigational error can take you down, down to the Chaosium, in the second case the Isles are known breeding grounds for pirates.
  6. Indeed. It's clear in Griifin Mountain that Gonn Orta and his smaller giants trade regularly for food, and they keep many items for other trade. Also that he has a monopoly on direct trade between Prax and the Elder Wilds. I doubt that caravans pass through Gonn Orta's castle. They just pass to it.
  7. 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. And on a success I would give specifics, for example if a masterpiece is +10% to hit the Swordsman should know that it has uncommonly good balance and lightness. Similarly an Issaries has the Evaluate skill and should be able to tell whether a deal is fair, and to augment it with another cult skill.
  8. On the other hand in the Real World it was common for a new regime to re coin old currency. The reason was to get the king's (or in this case the Prince's) image out there (next best thing to TV ads) , and to show everyone who was newly in charge. (Sometimes the reason for re coining was also to debase the currency and inflate the treasury. But that is for old regimes struggling with debt, not new ones like Argrath's. Because when the debasing becomes obvious people can see that you're a cheat.) But realistically you can't re coin it all very quickly. You"re making coins one by one with a hammer and a pair of dies. Making or reproducing the dies will be a difficult process in a low tech world. (IMHO it would be worth using iron for dies, even at 700L a Thing In Glorantha. Because you don't want them to wear out.) There would be both old and new coins in circulation for a long time. And as the Guilder and Lunar are approximately the same weight of silver a handful of them is likely to be mixed. Also remember that trade with Peloria continues and the flow of silver is evidently southward rather than being balanced.
  9. Of course the trolls are still around. If you don't beleve me then just spend some time looking at Quora.
  10. I agree completely on the first one. I am not sure there will be any "left over " from clan land distribution, except common woods and maybe some grazing. But the stickpicker should also be a day laborer, during heavy periods like harvest. The. Trick will be for him to advance to tenant farmer. That is when he gets a garden plot and can run a few sheep and pigs. And a small house or shack. Even if he spends most of his time working for the primary landholder, he is no longer destitute. And I expect many tenant farmers will in fact be laborers in someone else's fields, herders of someone else's cattle. Dependent on that primary lzndholder. Probably paid for it too. At least a grain ration, maybe not money.
  11. However in Time there is plenty of provocation: Guide to Glorantha explains it in the Elder Wilds section, of all places: When the Unity Council broke up because the trolls didn't trust Nysalor, the elves attacked the trolls as Nysalor inflicted the Curse of Kin on them. So it turns out the elves are the bad guys.
  12. The complicating factor is that distance is not the same as time. Whether you walk or ride matters, and just as important is the quality of the road or no road at all. There is advice on that in Guide to Glorantha as wel as the RQiG rules. Then there is travel by water, addressed briefly in W&E.
  13. As far as I can see the only change is the de emphasis of the terms " carl" and "cottar". Which we are still free to use. It's just a judgment that it is more appropriate to echo the Eastern Mediterranean bronze age than the Northern European iron age. It is not a revision of the whole society. Please see https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/a-few-notes-on-terms/ If you look at the background material it is pretty clear that there are not 8% nobles in Sartar. There might be in Clearwine (taken separately from its agricultural area ) - with a royal court and a great temple (maybe I will count up and review Jeff's writings to find the % in Clearwine ) - but not out in the countryside.
  14. Well hex locations would mostly be from the Argan Argar Atlas. But your basic problem is that you are pioneering in Pamaltela while most of us are resting on the greater base of background material in Sartar. Since you are fleshing out Pamaltela why not write some of it up?
  15. I don't see anything in what Jeff wrote indicating that "Tenant" no longer means not fully free. The last that I saw "half free" was pretty clear. The only thing that i can see leading to such an interpretation is the discussion of family members, where someone wrote that the sons of the primary land holder would be tenants. But I don't accept that, because social status and free status belong to the household as well as to the individual. The primary social and economic unit is the household. Not the individual and not even the nuclear family, given that the longhouse will typically include more than one nuclear family. The whole household is a Carl family. Not one Carl and a bunch of tenant sons, wives, and daughters. And that economic unit, by the way. Is how I believe we can justify some socially attached Adventurers having the opportunity to Adventure. The land and the herd do not go untended when they leave for a week or two. The other members of the family pick up the slack. Of course in this model when they return most or all of the loot is expected to be given to the head of the extended family and will benefit the family as a whole including those who were plowing and hoeing while the Adventurer was away. The Adventurer will be returned a "fair share", vague as that may be.
  16. There is such a travel time item in theme Jonstown Compendium for Sartar. But it is not one big matrix. Since you want one for Pamaltela, would you be interested in creating one?
  17. .41 is an odd caliber. And the vast majority of revolver cylinders have six chambers. Is it possible the developers put in a unique and RW nonexistent item in order to trap plagiarists?
  18. Let's not get too far Into quibbling about the difference between a small town and a big village. And let's remember central place theory: in undifferentiated terrain we should see a pattern of a central clan settlement *town"? surrounded by a hexagon of six villages. All of a clan's settlements will not be the. same size. Instead in a clan of about 800, the central one will be much larger, with about 300-400 people, as the outer ones will have 100-200 people. The usual situation in the world is to have hills and watercourses and swamps, so differentiation of terrain will break up the geometric pattern. But the pattern of settlement sizes will endure despite that. In clans with a security problem, we will see more concentration of population Into walled places. A better security situation will show more outlying steads. The ability to farm more land without a long walk to get there, will.motivate wider spread steads.
  19. RQiG says that a shrine will be able to teach only one rune spell. So a character may have to visit more than one shrine and more than one Master Hunter to get all the Rune magic you want. That is the disadvantage with small cults in general, Foundchild is not alone. I presume that there would be a Foundchild shrine in many but not all temples of associated cults. As for the second question, in my opinion you can sac POW with a Sanctify but you still need a knowledgeable priest to lead you through learning the Rune magic through its associated body of myth and knowledge, taking about a week to do so. And if you are just at a sanctified spot then the two of you can do little else because the Sanctify exoires when you stop the business at hand. Far better to learn at a shrine or temple where there is support and a chance to take a break.
  20. My own interpretation includes: All this is fir Heortlings. Members of other societies such as Pelorians get different rules and statuses. Free vs semi-free (cottar or tenant farmer) status is based on land tenure and possession of equipment. The Earth temple decides on land tenure, and considerations include * Noble status and services to the clan and the temple. Nobles don't work themselves or only plow when they want to, and are free (or are voluntold) to carry out clan and temple business, that is to Adventure in game terms. That is why they are given multiple hides of land, which they will hire tenant farmers to farm. So who gets land? Social ties count. Heredity counts. But performance in service to the clan, and talent, also count. There is no canon scoresheet or algorithm for this. So kiss up to the Ernakda priestess and the clan ring if you want land either to farm or to graze. * Possession of a plow and ox team. Anyone who has these is almost certain to get primary land tenure of at least one hide of farmland. Because the temple wants crop production. It's not hereditary but obviously wealth is heritable: If you inherit Dad's ox team you have an ox team. Farmers without a plow and land will be cottars, tenant farmers on someone else's land. * Possession of the equipment necessary to stand in the fyrd battle line is what gives men and Vingans the electoral franchise. At the most basic level this is a medium or large shield, spear, and some kind of helmet. Obviously body armor helps one survive so it is highly advisable though not compulsory. Anyone who can afford to and does buy these, is in. They can vote. It's not hereditary. Anyone who does not have these is not going to be assigned land. Note that adults who don't own this equipment are not exempt from military service. They will serve as archers, slingers, maybe scouts. Note that Heortling wonen get their electoral franchise from possession of the equipment for stereotypical female roles. That is in RQiG. Anyone who does not have primary land tenure and farms someone else's land is a cottar or tenant farmer. Herders without assigned grazing will have cottar status. Crafters who only have tenure of the land their house/shop stands on, will still be of free status. But they are not Carls unless they also have the ag assets. And males will presumably normally be voting members of the fyrd. Note that a crafter might alternatively be a member of a longhouse dwelling family. Now about steads and longhouses: A stead can include more than one longhouse. Whether it does depends on the size of the extended family and tenure of enough land to support everyone. And maybe on whether an older daughter is fed up with Mom and wants some space of her own. Cottars or tenant farmers will live in their own cottages. They are not members of the stead owner's extended family. The family patriarch of a stead will be in the outer ring. Other adults in the household will have free status based on that even though they are not assigned land. They share the household's Standard Of Living. That is pretty clear from the SOL section of RQiG. In game you handwave the question of affording their military equipment, even though at book prices it is a major expense for the family. So back to social mobility: it is partly clan service and social ties and and job based, partly economic, partly who you marry. The child of a noble will not necessarily be a noble on adulthood when he or she leaves home. But does have a leg up from training and family wealth. The child of a free farmer may become a cottar. That's long enough. 🙂
  21. Just one suggestion. Minor in comparison to tbe time and setting changes you have already planned: Run it to the 16th century and make matchlock muskets available. 🙂
  22. I find the print edition easier to read through. And easier to flip from page to page. Your reading may vary.
  23. If you look at the Apple Lane part of the GM screen pack you will note a duck living with humans. It's not all that rare. To be polite call them Durulz. There is Durulz oriented material in Jonstown Compendiuom.The most important for your purposes is the recently published Duckpac, https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/401760/DuckPac--Book-1-Myths-Legends--Lore?affiliate_rem=1888122 whose 3rd book in a solo quest. The first two books are one volume in hardcopy. That would be ideal for your situation as it would really help your wife get into the duck character and will fill you in as a GM.
  24. Sometimes I think of people I know. Both thise I like and dislike snd not necessarily tjose I know well. Sometimes I think of fictional characters, like my recent discussion of Long John Silver as a Eurmali. Sometimes I just work from the needs of the scenario to their runes to implications of those runes.
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