Squaredeal Sten

On 12/23/2023 at 3:11 PM, Zalain said:

Hello all

i come back again with a pile of new questions!

This time is about Telmoris.

As Gloranthta´s bestiary say in Pg.85, Telmori are inmune to all damage excepting Enchanted rune metals, Magic, poison, and another Telmori.

Are they inmune to blunt weapons? Fire? Fallings?....

My answer is different; That is not actually what the Bestiary says.  It says something less sweeping: P.85 right column first full paragraph:

"In wolf shape, the Wolfbrothers are immune to the effects of bronze weapons, which ounce off their hides. Only enchanted rune metals can harm them, as well as magic."

Immune to bronze weapons.  That is rather specific, and the whole passage deals with metal weapons.  As i read it they are not immune to falls, to fire (and in the next sentence it specifically says not to fireblade on a bronze weapon), not immune to falling or drowning or being strangled with a rope.   And most relevant, not immune to non-metal weapons, so you can beat one to death with a wooden quarterstaff. 

So in your Glorantha you can expand it to resemble movie werewolves if you want.  But that is not Chaosium's werewolves, and it will cause problems when playing through Chaosium's or other people's adventures.

35 minutes ago, svensson said:

I wouldn't even know how to begin to do that. Anyone I could talk to about setting up the how-to's?

Nick Brooke.  

Chaosium basically wants playable material on Jonstiwn Compendium.  So it might go down better if it included a playable adventure.

You could also take the next class from Storytelling Collective.

On Jonstown Compendium  look at the guidelines, also look at Chaosium's guidelines.

Mechanically, you drop your text into the JC template, put it into two columns, add any art, add a cover,   and export a PDF.  Best to get someone to proof it before you upload to JC.

18 hours ago, Jens said:

IMHO the use of Alter Creature by Morokanth to turn humans into herd men is mostly a tall tale told to frighten children and ignorant outsiders. Not only does it only impact members of Waha’s covenant, but it takes 2 points of permanent POW- effectively costing the Morkanth 400L to turn a skilled slave they could sell for 300L into a dumb beast for a net loss of 700L... I’d assume it is only done for particularly important social/mythological reasons, not as a matter of course or out of spite. 

Or perhaps if they see their prisoner would be especially good breeding stock.  After all like other Praxians the Morokanth way of life revolves around their herd.  Maybe they don't monetize thins as much as you and I do.

I would think the ransom would be higher for person + equipment, lower for just the person.  Maybe In  negotiations you would hear "well if that's too high for you then 300L for just his equipment and we'll sell him to the Morokanth."  

But ransom for Wolf Pirates is undefined at best.  They are basically bandits. who have no ransom in the RQG rules book.  If you want them to have ransom in your Glorzntha then feel free.

We could really stand for someone to write a Wolf Pirates book, if they have a clear vision of the Pirates.

.

I am looking for an in-person RuneQuest Glorantha game, or people interested in playing (I can GM), in the San Antonio, Texas, USA area.

This is not quite as long a long shot as it may seem, because I am currently playing on line with one fellow citizen of SA, have played with two others, and know of a Starter Set game that was run at one store last year.

So let's communicate and get together.  Schedule, frequency.  days, times and places are negotiable.

1 hour ago, PhilHibbs said:

So you would double it before subtracting natural hide armour? I'm not going to quibble about skeletons or dryads or elementals, your intention is clear in that respect.

Good question.   Another definition is called for then.   If we are consistent skin is hide,  our skin is thinner than an elephant's skin but biologically very similar.

But I do see that it would be unfair to  an opponent with chaotic feature= 9pt skin, and Far Be it from me to have an anti Chaos bias.  

Luckily the game rules themselves say such skin has "armor points".  So I propose to follow the game's terminology.  Sheet  metal. Scales, thick hide, layered fabric,  it's all "armor" if the rules define armor points for it.

How is this?  Let's say whenever the edge touches MEAT OR SKELETON OR. ? ectopllasm ?  the remaining damage is doubled.  So I  would only double damage after  parries, "armor" points  and magical protection.  Any damage to a parrying weapon is part of the parry and before armor. so no doubling at that point.

The doubling will occur when the sword begins to actually take life (or un-life), which I believe is mythologically appropriate to Humakt.

On 2/24/2024 at 7:55 PM, jajagappa said:

....The trigger for that is I believe is when they've finished printing the books and have dispatched them to the warehouses. Only at that point do they have solid timeframes for shipping to, arrival at......

More like when the ships dock on all warehouse continents & Britain (except recently Ausralia)  and the delivery dates to the warehouses are certain.  Recall when we were given tracking data links for at least one ship, but still not a firm release date (at that time).

For years we have been told they don't give uncertain release dates because there is no upside. They have been  pilloried  when something is delayed but not thanked when it goes smoothly.  

Let's thank them at ChaosiumCon.

On 3/26/2023 at 6:54 AM, mfbrandi said:

Which is great for theatre of the mind — where the requirement was zero miniatures, anyway — but I am looking forward to pix of upside-down Skorpionmenschen … suspended from hooks? propped up with perspex? 😉

How much does a scorpionperson weigh? Would the tricks that work for spiders, flies, and geckos work for something with so much mass? Is it a matter of intrinsic magic — they are held up by the force of narrative delightfulness — rather than physics? Either way, I love it.

Maybe hang them with a wire,, perhaps a paper clip, as they climb on a wall?

But also see the Bestiary, whi h gives them a 50% Climb.  Not a skill level to wLk on the ceiling with. is it?  But YGMV and I did once wake up to see a RW  scorpion on the ceiling, so if you want a shocking image that's it.  You bet I got up fast!

35 minutes ago, Diadochoi said:

Lunar army occupying Prax, sable lancers.  Sables by fenris games, lancers by Aventine miniatures with Pendraken miniatures wire spears.

looks great.  Also plain old Sable Rider Praxians, not all were Lunar army.

On 5/1/2019 at 4:05 AM, seneschal said:

https://www.magistermilitum.com/era/fantasy.html?cat[0]=60022&cat[1]=59625&cat[2]=61918

Medieval ducks in 15mm.  A fit?  Would 15mm ducks look right alongside 28mm humans?  Are their weapons and armor too advanced for Glorantha?

The ducks prefer light armor, stuff they can swim in.  "too advanced" is not really the issue. it depends on whether you can psint it up to not be 15th century pate mail., Short Swords and crossbows are OK.  Halberds not so much.  Refer to DuckPac. 

The curved sword in the picture looks Lunar, and the Durulz are not Lunar.  but you might rationalize it as a battlefield pick up.  A whole unit of them. no, in my opinion.

My own interpretation is that when the edge touches skin, the remaining damage is doubled.  Simple.

If you are in a pre 1625 ST game then you have several Prax choices.  Decide which you like best.  If necessary have them get in trouble with the Lunar occupiers and decide or be told to make themselves scarxe from a couple of years.

Borderlands

Pavis & Big Rubble

Sun County (Sandheart   4 books)

and most recently Sacred Earth Sacred Water.

All are in printing and in PDF, all are good buys.  Just plan in what sequence you want to do them. or move back and forth.

The last book went on sake promptly.

I think as Chaosium shifted printers, and the COVID19 shocks wore off, and the Suez Canal shutdown is history, the logistics have gotten stable again.  Now if the Huthis would just stop attacking ships in the Red Sea..... but no, we can't live all the time in a fantasy world.

8 minutes ago, Jens said:

I used this timeline to do the same, basing the results on equivalent events in earlier years https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/gloranthan-documents/history-of-glorantha/timeline-dragonpass/1625-1630-the-liberation-of-sartar/

So am I using it. but I am saying I need to make up 5 years of character or family history tables aligned with it.  And it is not really full of events with that granularity.

Supposedy IIRC, a 1625+ Prax book is in the works, at least that was mentioned in the upcoming publications list.   

Now that my own Sartar based campaign on Zoom is in 1630 ST. I actually need a timeline extension for chargen

The original laconic " yes" answer appears to be ambiguous.

I take it as yes, it does apply: it does double damage after armor is penetrated.  Since a person's armor is not yet penetrated when the shield is hit, there is no double damage then.  Since no armor is penetrated when a weapon parries, there is no double damage then either.  You have to get past the parry, past the armor, and then whatever damage is left will be doubled.

So IMG if stacked Humakt sword magic and normal weapon damage would give 20 points of damage. and it gets past the medium  shield parry (12 points) and through bronze armor with 1 pt padding (7 points) the remaining 1 point is doubled to 2 points of damage.

3 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

Said before, open them up if there is chunk-of-girl in their stomach then hospitality has reached its terminus no?

If not heal them an apologize but then track them down after and kill them anyway. But their tracks lead the PC's into an ambush...

Great game fun here.

Cut open an alligator or a shark, and you may find recognizable chunks of their most recent meal, who they attempt to swallow whole if they can, or in big pieces because they bite but  don't chew..  But ogres, being basically people, chew.  The ogre might call your bluff because he knows he chews.

Sense chaos skill starts out at a low% [20% according to the Lightbringers book - plus perception bonus] and as I understand it is only improved by experience.   {Page 183 of RQG).

It is also short ranged, only 10 meters if I recall correctly.  (I was wrong, it is 15 meters.)

So at low % you get a lot of false negatives.  And what about fumbles, are they false positives? (page 182 does not define this.)   I can see a witch hunt coming.

Combine these things and the mere presence of a storm bull in town does not provide automatic detection.

6 minutes ago, g33k said:

Just upthread, @PhilHibbs quotes pg. 275 & @Jens quotes p. 313

Are you looking for something other than these?

P.275 says a lot of things. but as I read it none of them is a method for learning rune spells without gaining a rune point by sacrificing a POW point.

p.313 "Gaining Rune Magic Spells" goes on to p.314, in which I see "For each point of POW sacrificed, the Adventurer acquires the right to cast an additional cult special Rune magic spell".

These seem to support my point that if you do away with free access to common Rune spells, and you still  require that the formerly common spells  must be learned like the cult special Rune magic, the CHA limit will apply and the count of usable spells will be reduced.  Of course you could change that by making further unspecified rules changes, but so far those are unspecified and so are their implications.

On 2/7/2024 at 4:26 PM, Jens said:

It's only your Rune Point pool (per cult) that is restricted by your CHA- while the normal way of learning a rune spell is to sacrifice a point of POW and both increase your pool while learning a new spell, it is possible to learn a new rune spell without increasing your rune points, and vice versa.

That surprises me.  How so?  Page reference or example?

2 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

The going rate for a point of POW is 200L. This can give you a 1d10 MP Matrix, which is only slightly weaker than a storing crystal of the same size. This would suggest 40L per point of MP in the crystal.

Or more.  After all the crystals are gids' blood, and they aren't making any more.

Though an enterprising person could prospect the spot where Harrek fought and killed Jar-Eel, just in case the line between superheroes and gods is blurred a little bit.

Now when Argrath brings the Red Moo down, that would be a place to prospect.  

On 2/5/2024 at 6:27 AM, radmonger said:

.....

Ideally a second edition of the rules would split what is currently 'common spells' into 'spells universally learnable', 'initiation powers' and 'rune-level powers'. Summon Colt spirit would be an initiation power, command a rune-level power. ...

 

 

A disadvantage of doing so is that it would actually reduce the Rune magic capability of all initiates and higher.  The max number of personally usable rune spells is now (count of common) + CHA but if you make that change it is simply CHA.

I do agree with you that the answer to the OP's question is not in the rules as written.

One concept that appeals to me is that there is a lot of cult magic that is not in the Adventurer oriented spell lists.  Examples include

[1] what EXACTLY is done to let heriquesters cross over to the hero plane or the god plane, as well as

[2] what exactly is done to teach rune magic and spirit magic. 

[3] Another example that comes to mind is what exactly is done by the priests of Caladra and Aurelion to cause volcanoes to erupt: This capability is in the cult history given in the Earth Goddesses book, but no spell is listed for it.

In all those cases one thing that comes to mind is a large ceremony powered by more worshippers than you will find in any gaming group of Adventurers.  So it is not provided in the rules because it doesn't make an enthralling game session that will involve the whole party and center on the players' characters.   

And yes I can think of exceptions to that, either a playing group of all Rune levels, or plans to make organizing such a ceremony part of a game session filled with graphic descriptions of the ceremony.  Several people on this forum are very capable of writing such an adventure.

On 1/30/2024 at 1:28 AM, g33k said:

Got a couple of White Bull Praxians (1 PC, 1 NPC) who've been doing the fish-out-of-water thing in Nochet, but it's time to go home.

Both Praxians are Uroxi, so their 1st destination will likely be The Block.  There's another PC -- a CA White Lady - who is tagging along because she has been advised it would be Politically Expedient if she were (far) away for at least a year or two; she figures she can mitigate the bloodshed of a couple of SB's, and they can offer her physical protection against whatever might not honor her white robes, so it's a match made in... well... practicality, not heaven.  😉

They've decided not to hire onto a caravan, they're going to travel independently (overland, not across the Mirrorsea).

The "obvious" route -- I think -- is along the edge of the water, passing south of the Shadow Plateau & through southern Heortland, south of the Stormwalk, then turning northward & passing near Monkey Ruins.  But maybe I'm forgetting a problem with that...? Should/would they be going upriver from Nochet, and passing north of the plateau, going through Beast Valley & Sartar &c?  Or am I overlooking some other, better route that would occur to them?

(eta:  both players are new to playing in Glorantha, so it's tempting to throw them into  All. That. Sartar.   But in-character, they have no real reasons to linger & explore; they want to go back home, reconnect with their clans & tribes, and with the White Bull Society.)

Any advice as to route?  And, for any route recommended, and in-character "must-see" places (or GM-perspective "must-adventure" locations /  modules, whether Chaosium or JC)?

Thanks!

The river route to Crystal City and Beast Valley or the Grazelands is very circuitous.  Not necessarily safe either, the Grazelanders are not on good terms with Praxians and the Beastfolk don't like humans traipsing through their land all the time.  And after Grazelands or Beast Valley it still goes through southern Sartar.  I don't know why they are avoiding Sartar but that's on them.  It is going to be a long land route rather than a simple boat trip up the Creek-Stream system  because the river gorge next to Crystsl City is probably not going to be passable going upstream.  Lots of occasions for adventure, but a crazy route if they are going to Prax. it's like going from Texas to Florida via Oregon.

3 minutes ago, Broadsmile said:

What with Cattle raiding being the national sport of Dragon Pass. Do the Oralthi (Sartarites) mark their cattle to show ownership as many earth cultures do? Do they Brand their cattle cowboy style? (Hard to remove). Do they tatoo them? Is there a canon answer?

Additional cattle query: Do the Praxians steal & trade each others iconic herd beasts? How mixed do their herds become? If i'm a bison tribesman herding a flock of Impalas, herd-men and Ostriches will the other Tribsmen look down on me?

Q1:  There is no reference to branding in canon or non=canon material that I have read.  Nor to tattooing cattle.  Please note that branding is only effective if you have a brand registry and rule of law.  

Q2: There is canon material saying that the Praxians steal herd beasts.  i also recall, but cannot reference,  a comment that the stolen ones are the one they tend to eat first when they eat meat.

A highly mixed herd would be a mark of an outstanding herd beast thief.  Such a person would be looked up to and influential.

I suspect that the original Lance rule was based on two states: Charging vs not charging.  And differences in charge speed are ignored as miniscule.  It's not the speed of the Lance, it's the muscle behind the Lance.

And I think similarly, with the bow or atlatl any differences in the shooter's speed (or the target's speed)  are miniscule compared with the speed the launcher  gives to the projectile.

That's my take on it.