Squaredeal Sten

So Heart Quintessence, are you interested in creating a new thread about how to game social mechanics?

Some of that emphasis on combat is in the life experience, or lack of it, of the players. That example of convincing the clan chief is a wonderful example: Why must it be the clan chief? How about convincing the ring or the clan or tribal meeting? If more folks had experience in politics they would do that by lining up votes before the meeting, which requires many interactions and many orate or regional lore rolls. Accumulating favors and debts. Maybe some work identifying the various interests of the various parties, then some gift giving, flattery, log rolling, and occasional bribery. Finally turning out the vote: Whether by persuasion, oration, or inviting them to a barbecue, you make sure your votes attend the meeting, even though they have to walk from a far-flung clan tula to Clearwine. You didn't really think the vote was decided on the day of the vote, did you? And if more GMs had that experience they would structure the scenarios to accommodate that sort of solution. But that also takes players who don't view politics as boring. Me, I recall getting thrown out of a campaign because my character spent time doing things like giving a local girl what amounted to a scholarship to study at the Ernalda temple, thus building goodwill. Evidently the GM and other players regarded that as a waste of time.

Sometimes the "hit-parry tedium" is very appropriate and realistic. For example: A couple of months ago a character of mine (Praxian Impala tribe nomad) got into a fight and with his relatively low shortsword skill (Impala tribe breeds archers, not swordsmen) he did a lot of fencing and landed few blows. When the enemy cast Dullblade this got worse. This fencing did not strike me as an anomaly: I knew from the start of the fight that he was at a disadvantage, both on foot and not using his bow. It was pride and friendship that kept him moving forward. He was keeping an enemy busy, who thus did not double-team the real killer swordsmen / swordswomen in the party. At no time did I say to my self "Gee, this isn't working like it should." Instead I cast a rune spell (shield) and said "I hope I get a skill increase out of this."

Don't count Kyger Litor out! Abandon human-centricity and express your inner Uz.

I am much less distinguished than Phil Hibbs, but I have given an NPC a divine intervention roll. When it seemed to fit the story, and when the NPC was high level enough that the question would occur to anyone ‘Why didn’t she [a lunar priestess] DI?” In this case, think about a couple of things: ● I wouldn’t let the DI reverse the outcome of the fight. The adventurers will still win. ● Broos hate each other, too, so asking the god to save the whole gang seems un broo like. ● The god’s response should be something the god would do. If it were Orlanth, a whole body heal and teleportation might be reasonable, since teleport is an Orlanth rune spell. Not so much for Mallia. Mallia’s responses should be disgusting. Your Disgust May Vary, but- I can see the broo becoming a spirit if disease. I can see the broo – having just been cut in half - exploding and spattering everyone around it with its diseased blood and crap (chance of spatter = 1/SQRT(distance in moves from exploding broo). And then the broo’s spirit having a chance to possess any nearby lower- POW broo. Or how about the broo, since it is cut in half, becoming two half-size and less powerful broos? Let’s be ingenious here – And review the Mallia cult. What Would Mallia do? No resurrection, it says that- Spirits of disease can be bound shaman-like to a disease master - wouldn’t such a binding be appropriate? But how would it fit into your story? How about binding that spirit to that neat sickle sword you wrote about? Just an idea.

OK, I bought it.... looking at it now.... There will be plenty of time before my current campaign timeline ends - tell us when Black Spear goes hard copy.

1. An unnamed rune spell cast by a priest. 2. Yes but haven't done that yet. Throwing an unprepared party into a heroquest is too daring for me. 3. As I wrote, a priest with intent.

Possibly carve Truth and Law runes into the altar? Here's another thought: Eurmal isn't Chaotic, it's Disorder and Illusion - so possibly making it sacred to a Chaos cult would do the job. This is when your vengeful Orlanthi are tempted to do evil "for the greater good".

it's my impression that the dream dragon THINKS it is the goddess / demigoddess.

As i understand the Dragon of Thunder Hills and the Glorantha Bestiary, it's a dream dragon. A dragon is not a god, and has an undefined relationship with the Great Compromise. A dream dragon is even more not-a-god. As a lesser and temporary being the dream dragon gets to exist in Time. And then at some point it "fades".

Phil is right: Red Book of Magic clarified that, and it's even more restrictive: Sanctify lasts until... "When the ceremonies cease, the spell effects expire." And looking at Extension you are right: Extension applies to "any Rune spell that has a normal duration of 15 minutes." So you can't Extend Sanctify. Which means that Sanctify is not what you use to make a shrine or temple. Given the game-specific meaning of "Sanctify", we have run out of unique vocabulary to name in one word whatever you do do to make the shrine permanently holy . Nevertheless there is a Gloranthan method because many shrines exist. Perhaps a heroquest beyond the gods' world to discover the procedure from Rick Meints?

I agree with David about this sword being the equivalent of Sever Spirit. You might argue that the 20% (special success) requirement makes it less powerful than Sever spirit - but if its spell lasts for 15 minutes, that means it's good for multiple decapitations, which i would argue makes it more powerful than a single Sever Spirit in the hands of a high-skill swordsman. At 90% skill, there is a 55% chance of achieving a special inside of four melee rounds. Now, questions - Will the opponent be able to parry? Remember the suggested spec was not even having to roll for damage... just thinking of the implications here. Will your players' adventurers survive this? If wielded by a high-DEX NPC, who may get to hit before the player, it just leads to a single POW vs POW die roll killing a player - IF the wielder, as suggested, needs a special - 20% of the time. And of course this would not be in the hands of a low POW swordsman. If you don't want it good for 15 minutes, but want to tone it down (!) to the level of an ordinary Sever Spirit, but want it good for multiple hits, put a piece of Truestone in the handle to carry additional rune points. Now you can exterminate a whole party and end your campaign.

Your Glorantha may vary - a lot in this instance - but my own interpretation of that Book of Doom table is that it describes the stone walls of ordinary buildings: probably less than a foot thick, and intended to hold the roof up. But the wall of a well fortified ancient city has nothing to do with the wall of a house or your garden wall. City walls would typically be stone or brick faced on both sides, and then rubble filled, and wide enough to walk behind defenders on the top. I don't think Alda Chur would be a big enough place to compete with Babylon - but take a look at pictures of the surviving remnants of the wall of Jericho, a neolithic city as well as bronze age, and evidently about 5,000 residents: .https://www.google.com/search?q=Walls+of+jericho,+archaeology&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=AOaemvJTMoNezA-L7PLbXTIXX7idhg6yyg:1631591094495&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=mObqKUH85TLXAM%2CUb7baf0jqqbcUM%2C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTMo0pHzRTcwwIk97OdVELkLM3_Fg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwie_Ou8xv3yAhUBX80KHekwDyEQ_h16BAgaEAE#imgrc=mObqKUH85TLXAM I would interpret these walls as off the scale shown. So I would rain on the ax parade: Your axe person gets to dull their ax on the facing, but if you rule that they break through, then your hero faces several feet of dirt (probably rammed earth, not the soft stuff you dig in the garden) or rubble fill to shovel away, and behind that another facing. While all this work is being done the defenders get to shoot, to throw down rocks (including pieces of the parapet), and to use long spears from above. The Create Fissure rune spell does sound like a solution: a fissure one meter wide and five meters long. But the wall wouldn't be gone; rather it would collapse from the sides into the fissure, so the heroes don't walk in. Instead your one meter fissure in the 15+ foot wall breaks the parapet and turns one meter of the wall into a steep slope of loose rock and dirt, still maybe 10+ feet high. Several such fissures would be needed to create a zone of collapse, then it's still an obstacle at ground level but you send a swarm of attackers to climb the slope. This looks more like work for the Lunar College of Magic than for a single adventurer expending one rune point. RW, city walls were not hacked into with an ax. Instead, the Assyrian technique was to use a protected ram to lever out the big blocks in the facing and then dig out enough of the fill that the walkway collapses. Or tunnel underneath and then burn your props to allow the wall to collapse. Siege techniques are not part of the RQiG rules, but we shouldn't regret that as they are the domain of combat engineering and not of heroes.

Sure, why not? Control it, redirect it, or dismiss it. Remember to keep track of the elemental's hit points.

According to RQiG p.284, for a Shrine you need 75 worshipers (both initiates and lay members) "present". I would define present as worshiping there regularly, at least seasonally, not necessarily all in one place at the same time. YGMV. But to establish a shrine I would want all 75 present at the initial ceremony. There are indeed precedents for a mobile shrine, both tribal in Prax and in the Orlanthi mobile temple carts during the Lunar occupation, as well as the Humakti regiments you cited. Beyond that, I would say that there has to be something that makes the place permanently sacred. This could be any one or more than one of: [A} Rune magic not listed in any rule book, but implied by (1) permanence, in excess of that given by a Sanctify spell, even with Extension, (2) the existing descriptions of the Lunar sanctification ceremony for the Sartar Temple of the Reaching Moon, until aborted by Dragonrise. Presumably priests would know how to do this, and the reason it's not in the rules is it's just not something that takes place at game-play scale. As a GM I would punt and say such a ceremony will require the combined magic of several priests and the expenditure of many rune points or even of POW / one-use spells and serious sacrifices. [B[ Another way also might be that the location was sanctified by a major mythological event. Or even a minor event involving a major god. It would appear that the Orlanthi temple site at Larnste's Table was sanctified by Larnste taking a lunch break there. In Eurmal's case your priest might learn that Eurmal had ratfucked some other god at a particular location. How would he learn this? Cult lore? Lankhor Mhy research? Divination? Maybe with a lot of hazia? [C] Possession of a physical item with religious significance, a relic. Like a fragment of Ernalda's Mirror in the case of Ernalda. or maybe the bone or better yet the mummified phallus of a famous Eurmali. [D] I recommend that ANY establishment of a shrine or temple requires a wyter, and to get that wyter you have to do some sort of heroquest and get that cult spirit as a heroquest reward from the god. This would provide a demanding adventure for the player(s) seeking to establish the shrine or temple. See RQiG p.297, left column, last paragraph, on sacrificing POW to the wyter. Establishment of a shrine or temple would require such a sacrifice of POW from the assembled initiates at the dedication ceremony. I suggest 10+ initiates. This should require your adventurer to get the cooperation of a fairly large number of Eurmali - which will be like herding cats. This is serious adventure material. Maybe you could build up a shrine into a temple by sacrificing enough POW to build up the wyter into a serious temple protector , while a site or shrine could have a wimpy wyter.

I got company of the Dragon in Standard print and am perfectly satisfied with it. I am using it now - edging into it as the campaign progresses. The color quality is not going to be a concern.

There are two ways I think about it: 1. Some base of information is necessary to get the scenario rolling and to have it be in Glorantha. Having the player roll for Sartar lore (or Peloria lore or wherever) is the way to pass that information out and have the players not feel force-fed. Then on with the game. 2. Some history and some cult lore will be known to almost everyone. Figure that the cults will have worship ceremonies which lay members attend, and that they will even bring their children. Including harvest ceremonies and Sacred Time ceremonies. I also assume that some time before you are initiated, you will get some formal instruction. These will teach stories that everyone will know: Just as all Real World Christians know the story of virgin birth in a barn, baby in the manger, all Orlanthi will know the story of the Lightbringers Quest. It's basic to the Gloranthan setting. This is the background on the cult that you just give to the players when they roll up characters or their characters are initiated, if the players haven't already read it. Much more lore and history will not be easily recalled by everyone, or nor known at all by many. How many RW Christians can recite the theses that Luther nailed to the church door, or even recall how many theses there were, or where that church was? (I can't - you probably can't - just google it!). But some can, and even I, who do not claim to be a christian but went to religious schools and have read a lot of history, can give a thumbnail summary of one or more of the theses. Anyway, if it's important to the adventure - this is the stuff they get when they make the lore roll. Maybe mixed with stuff that is NOT important to the adventure.

Rule of thumb ... RQ2 Chapter IX gave Treasure Factor, which is a function of how formidable the aggregate of opponents are. But IMHO we have gotten away from that, we're not playing D&D, RQ is no longer "Kill da monsters and take their treasure", for that you play the Munchkin series. The intent in RQiG seems to be to use more social rewards: The successful adventurers are first accepted in the community, then get rank in the community and the cult, and loyalty from and to the community, and they also get non-monetary rewards such as training (magic an non-magic) which helps improve the characters. I think of the players' generic goals as improving their characters and being a better follower of their cult / their god. Rank in the community and the cult gives them more challenges, more adventures, and so it goes.

Seems to me that making divine Intervention much more likely to happen and much cheaper is a substantial change to the nature of the game and of the world. Likely to produce a substantial change to the nature of play, too: Much less cautious if the players feel bulletproof. Because passions start at 60%, if devotion is a passion then that's a really substantial thing given in character generation, even before the player can role-play any acts that align with the god. And at rune lord level, when you mix the original 1D10 POW cost with changes that make DI very likely and the likely cost more like 1 POW, you have made the character a cartoon superhero. For me, the questions would include; Do I really want to GM a campaign in which the adventurers can never die, and know that from the beginning? Am I such a killer GM that I need to find a way to immunize the players from myself? What's the effect if i extend this rule to the NPCs - I have now made unkillable Bad Guys? Do I want to make a change in the nature of religion in RQ, from a transactional relationship with the gods (very bronze age) to a personal relationship (very protestant reformation)?

Actually there are more loopholes than that: if she has the child before initiation then the Storm Tribe (top of p. 203) no-sex provision would only come into play ex post facto. But anyway the Jeff extract shows that the Storm Tribe writeup is indeed obsolete, and the kid gets fostered out to the temple. So will probably grow up better adjusted than if Mom kept him or her.

That's a pretty weird character concept but Rules As Written it seems to me it will fly: All you need is one 50%+ rune in common with the god to initiate, Rules As Written. A good high Earth rune will take her far with both cults. Just looking through the spell list in RBOM, most of the Ernalda speclal rune spells will go with an Earth rune, so if she has a high Earth rune people may not notice that your theoretical character is pretty bad at casting Charisma and Restore Health, which are the only ones that require the Fertility rune. Heal Body will go with the earth rune, so she could still be a pretty good combat medic. Bless Pregnancy and Bless Crops will run on an Earth rune, so she could make it in the routine Earth temple functions.. As RQiG is written, I don't see a prohibition on the Babeester Gor having a child - obviously that may pop up again in the forthcoming gods and cults book, or it may not. So as RQiG is written she could even have a child and with 90% Earth, qualify as an Ernaldan priestess - even if she also has 90% Death / 10% Fertility, so not a nurturing mother, the child may grow up pretty weird, or just be fostered out. Neither Ernalda nor Babeester Gor get a cult writeup section in the canon RQ2 material. Yes, they are in the Gloranthan background, in Prince of Sartar - but Babeester isn't detailed there, just mentioned. Storm Tribe details Babeester Gor (and says no sex, so in that case your theoretical character won't ever qualify as an Ernalda priestess). But as I understand it the Heroquest books are not canon for RQiG. How much of that writeup will carry over to the forthcoming gods book? It's a mystery to me. But it's 2021 and the player doesn't have time to get the character up to priestess requirements before the gods book will be printed, so is it an issue right now? It may just be something the player will run into later, and find out weird character concepts have limits.

Good thoughts there, thanks.

True, it is. And some situations i was thinking about are actually in there too, for example I can roll "caravan" and then in that caravan description a troll caravan is included.

I'd like to have - or to make - one for troll country. Whether it's the shadow plateau or near Skyfall Lake or in Balazar - I have to think for a while about the Uz, they are not necessarily hostile, they have villages you can stumble on, they have their own concerns and politics, need to think about their activities by type, environment, maybe season, and how they interact with humans. I find the two choices in Griffin Mountain to be thin for a place where trolls greatly outnumber humans. (Not bitching, it's a very big campaign book.) And Trollpack's are pretty scenario specific, and my source for Uz culture. Much greater variety. But I'm pretty sure I don't have the inspired characterization of Trollpack's authors - both now passed away.

Well my Chalana Arroy lay member was promoted to initiate when the Seasonal Holy day services showed that a heroquest had changed the gods world.