Squaredeal Sten

Having read all this and also having observed that different people in the campaign I am currently playing in apply the strike rank calculation in different ways, I request a clarification and additional example in the next Rune Fixes PDF. I went back and looked at the RQ3 rules on this and found them clearer. Note that I am not advocating a return to RQ3, just to the quality of the explanation in RQ3. It seems to me that the RQG strike rank section has at least three problems each of which need to be fixed: A. It never clearly and simply says that SIZ and DEX strike rank modifiers are added for melee, but that only the DEX modifier is used for shooting and magic. And the strike rank mod table just presents the modifiers, never says whether you take the best of two or the worst of two or you add them. Yes these things are implied but people can be a little dense when they really really want their character to be a killing machine. B. It does not have a example of strike rank calculation for melee, although it has an example of strike rank calculation for magic. I submit that such an example is needed as a teaching tool, to get people to think through the rules as written and say "Hey, this is really different from [other game or my preconceptions]." C. It is easily misinterpreted for the player take two or three attacks per round, since I have observed that, for example, people look at strike rank modifier for SIZ and DEX=2 + for 1Hspear =2 and say "that sums to 4, so with 12 strike ranks I can attack 3 times a round". And they conveniently ignore the earlier explanation that strike rank is for sequencing inside one round, and also ignore the later paragraph that says you need skill > 100% to make multiple attacks. So it seems to me (though maybe not to you) that an appropriate fix would be an example of a round or two of combat in which this, as well as the whole strike rank concept, is correctly illustrated and explained. And by the way, thanks to all above for the discussion. i have sent the link to my GM.

Actually I'm thinking of a path though shrine to temple from an Issaries point of view. The PC's key may be economic development. This should appeal to the local lord. thane, or chief for obvious reasons. How does this sound ? For example, you' re in Apple Lane.... its population and economy clearly depressed after the Lunar invasion. There must be more arable land than is under cultivation, because there is at least one ruined house.. Available services have probably declined as the skilled practitioners left town. Call the priestesses and innkeeper and horse breeder together at the thane's house. You can see the potential but the actuality is economic recession.. This town can either grow or die. What to do? No, not start a band - this is not River City and I'm not the Music Man. I can Create Market. The plan: Let's establish a monthly or weekly market, and hold an Issaries worship ceremony on the side. An initiate can even do that, you don't need a priest for the basics. There is an existing shrine on the edge of town. In any case bring in a traveling priest - or have a good enough market to attract one for free - on seasonal holy days to initiate new members. Begin to provide marketing services for local produce and craft production, otherwise known as a monthly caravan to the nearest city. [Plenty of plot hooks there for the GM.] Maybe develop local production: Set an NPC to mash some of those apples and produce hard cider which is easier to transport, raise the proof in Storm Season by the old ice wine method, and you have an exportable product; firewater! It's already been market tested, just organize the distribution chain, trademark it with an apple lane brand on the jars or kegs, and advertise it. . The local congregation grows. The local economy grows. The inn and the temple of love get more customers. The tenant farmers get to rise above subsistence level. There is something here to attract more people. Trips to market provide hooks to hang adventures on. The shrine is dusted off and popularized. The PC grows in skill and POW, gains new rune spells at the temple in the big city and applies them to local needs. Eventually applies for the priesthood, which for Issaries will normally NOT require getting a job at a temple, but instead should be be running your own caravan or other successful business and running that weekly market. (I note that there's no book reference for Issaries God Talkers, but that's what I'm working up to.) Now with a growing community that has partaken of the benefits of the Issaries cult, can we put together the necessary support for a minor temple? Essentially an expanded market with a permanent meeting room built around the old shrine, shelves for votive images, niches for a couple of associated cult shrines chosen to NOT compete with the local Orlanth priestess, some art work on the walls, surrounded by permanent shelter for market day, and stones set to hold the Issaries staffs for the market corners. Of course there is that Heroquest to get though.... How is that for a business plan? And is it believable in a Gloranthan context? All without convincing 150 people to migrate as a group.

I like Lordabull's approach, though I think an additional layer or ceremony and sacrifice would be appropriate. Something like ten initiates sacrificing a point of POW during the dedication. The god may maintain the sirine's magical essence after that, but it's got to be difficult to establish or every street corner would have a shrine. Of course in Nochet it appears that every street corner MAY have a shrine, depending on how you want to interpret the description in "Esrolia, The land of Ten Thousand goddesses. " p.9 "there are a thousand temples and shrines to the deities, spirits and essences that reside here."

Wow, about shrines; Today (4/15/2020) I found this in Well of Daliath: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/chaosium/runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-players-book-print/cha4028-runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-qa-by-chapter/cha4028-runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-chapter-13-rune-cults/ Temple Sizes (page 284) How does one set up a new shrine for a Rune cult? The book talks about this being a thing one might be asked to do by one’s cult but only details of how to start a spirit shrine are given. This is a task beyond any hard-and-fast rules set. You’ll need to work with your gamemaster to determine the costs of the physical location, the social/civil negotiation required to build it, the procurement of labor and materials, and the process of having a Rune Priest or God-talker come in and Sanctify the place. If in doubt, consider it a case of casting a multi-point Sanctify with Extension to last at least a year. The particular god may have requirements above and beyond these, such as Ernalda demanding an underground chamber, Yelm an eternal fire, etc. The upcoming RuneQuest Campaign Guide contains a bit more about temples and shrines, with some ballpark prices, but does not go into great detail.

Reading the explanation of Sanctify, p. 338: It is "ritual, stackable" - pp.245-246 and the spell glossary on p.247 explains ritual preparation, which can last from half an hour to 20 years, but no indication it changes the duration of effect of a spell once cast. And p.317 Characteristics of rune spells: "Unless the description says otherwise, all rune magic spells are passive with a duration of 15 minutes and a range of 160 meters" = nothing in the description of Sanctify says it lasts longer than 15 minutes. The description does say 1 point only covers a 10 meter radius. So the description does take the trouble to indicate the casting time is "ritual" = at least 30 minutes, and the range is non standard, but the duration of effect is not changed from the default 15 minutes. This looks to me as if sanctify is a device for letting a party of adventurers regain rune points in the field, but 15 minutes had better be long enough for them to do that. They can be performing their own rituals to increase Worship % while the priest Sanctifies, but when he is done with the ritual they had better be done in 15 minutes.. Ready, perform - rituals! Pray fast, men, we attack in an hour.

Which seems to directly contradict the passages on Wyters i referred to, p.286 and 287 How to reconcile this? "a wyter spends points of its characteristic POW instead of Rune points when casting Rune spells, with a chance of success equal to its CHA x 5." "A wyter is incapable of recovering its own magic points. Instead, the community worships the wyter and gives its magic points on the wyter's season holy days. This worship is often combined with that of a local cult, such as Orlanth or Ernalda, making the wyter a subcult of the greater cult."

Of all the answers to far. Crel's makes the most sense to me: A heroquest, from which the successful quester comes away with a wyter that is intended for the new Temple. More or less by definition, wyters make Loyalties/Passions possible or at least enhance them. (We are told on pp. 286-287 that if the wyter is destroyed, the community and its passions and loyalties dissolves.) The table on p.287 indicates that for an actual temple 251+ members of the community are needed, but less , as few as 50, for a shrine. I don't see a requirement that all of the 251 be initiates. I do see that the wyter gets magic points at worship time (p.297), so presumably the wyter would not be sparing of its magic points. But it looks as though the wyter must use its rune spells very sparingly, because (pp.286-287) it spends POW points and not rune points, and that POW will only be replenished by sacrifice of characteristic POW by members of the community. Therefore I don't see how the the wyter would be casting Sanctify regularly. Wyter Rune spella can't be the source of daily Temple status because characteristic POW from the priest and congreagation would quickly run out. Instead the wyter's existence and (I suggest)some dedication-event enchantment boosted by a large ceremony must create the Temple or shrine status, after which the status persists as long as the wyter does, if not perpetually then for a very long time, without eroding as long as the site is in use for worship. By the same reasoning, i don't see the wyter using its own rune spells / own POW often to do favors for the worshippers, despite the suggestion in the book. Why resurrect one individual or bless one pregnancy if you come closer to dissolving the community? That had better come from the priest, not the wyter. This, like pp.286-7, brings up the topic of defense of a temple, which might be a game play event: Or the player characters foolishly deciding to raid an enemy cult temple. Because of the limit on repeated rune magic available to a wyter (POW points not rune points), it is in the priest(s) and the temple community's interest to begin acquiring cult spirits for the defense of the new temple. A temple wyter has to defend with its own POW for last ditch efforts only, normally using any worship-acquired magic points for spirit magic and for rune spells relying on the cult spirits and the temple rune points (see next paragraph below). I would guess that in extremis the wyter would attempt a divine intervention, with a 100%? worship skill and temple plus, and if the temple has been established long enough for lots of initiates to sacrifice POW to it that should fry most enemies unless the GM has it in for the temple. I do see on p.288 the part about temple rune points for every 100 initiates worshiping there, thanks for pointing that out. The temple gets one rune point/100 initiates for defense and that DOES regenerate daily. The book doesn't say the initiates must worship daily, just that they must worship there, presumably with some regularity or maybe that they at least were initiated there, wherever they may roam thereafter. I suggest that the count would include not only visiting initiates and any initiates of associated cults hat worship there, but also initiates with a Loyalty (or Passion?) to the temple community. I also suggest that the wyter which is the core and definition of that Loyalty can be presumed to keep the roll of these rather than the chief priest worrying about it and inquiring into everyone's loyalty and passion like a bronze age KGB agent. (No specific caster is designated for those rune points, so I suppose the caster might be the wyter or the chief priest or maybe any priest or maybe the temple just operates on is own from the god's awareness, GM's choice.) I note that not all of the community of 251+ will be initiates, so depending on demographics a new minor temple may not be getting those defensive rune points. On the other hand the great temple of Issaries in Nochet, a center of world trade that might expect a visit from many Issaries initiiates some time in their lives, would have hundreds or thousands of rune points for defense: Come to desecrate it and you are simply erased from the universe in one melee round, here's a match to set fire to your character sheet. No wonder the Lunars couldn't take Nochet. Follow up questions: A. Why would an initiate sacrifice POW to the wyter rather than to the god? B. If a player sacrifices POW to the wyter, as distinct from sacrificing POW to the god, does that increase Loyaly? Give a Passion check? One would think.

How to Found a Minor Temple? Let me quote some background first before I pose my two questions, if only to show that I have indeed read the rules: Campaign background of the question: Note that for Issaries, temples are markets, so the ambition to found one’s own minor temple seems a logical long term goal for any developed Issaries character who has a fixed base away from an existing temple. Rules background: p.282 of the rules [Roleplaying in Glorantha] says somewhat casually that a Priest can become a Chief Priest by qualifying to Found Own Temple of the cult. The qualifications as printed are not impossibly demanding for a highly developed player character qualified as a priest: 15 rune Points and 90% ability in three cult knowledge skills. And “often” the permission of the High Priest “which is easy to get if the Priest goes somewhere else to set up the temple, and has sufficient funds to do so. “ I have found one additional item, essentially a change not included in Rune Fixes, in the Well of Daliath Q&A from Jason Durall: “Qualify to Found Own Temple of the Cult: To do this, a Rune Priest or Rune Lord must have the support of at least 150 lay members and initiates that will follow them to the new temple. This often requires the permission of the High Priest, which is easy to get if the Priest goes somewhere else to set up the temple, and has sufficient funds to do so. “ https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/chaosium/runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-players-book-print/cha4028-runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-qa-by-chapter/cha4028-runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-chapter-13-rune-cults/ Question 1: It seems to me that the requirements as written in the book are too easy, though the Q&A change primes the GM to set a barrier and avoid the issue. A PC may object that the temple is to be founded in a place where 150 lay members and initiates already live, at least within half a day’s journey. But what does founding a minor temple mean in practical game terms? A temple gives bonuses for worship rolls, and it seems inconsistent with other parts of the same book for it to only be a cabin with a carved image in one corner or a plot of land with a “Temple” sign tacked up. Why inconsistent? A. If you want to replenish rune points in any unofficial plot of ground, you have to use the Sanctify rune spell (p.338) and presumably if you want to use more than 15 minutes of Ceremony to improve your odds of success that Sanctify will have to be combined with Extension (p.328 ). Using this method we are already up to a cost of 5 rune points just to accommodate one Holy Season. B. Given the explanation in Rune Fixes 2, that long-term Extensions tie up both the caster’s rune points and the character’s other activities, it doesn’t seem practical to say that the priest just casts Sanctify and Extension frequently to make a minor temple. Why? Because while that Extension is in effect the priest won’t be able to perform other useful rune spells to benefit the community, won’t be able to teach spirit spells, and also won’t be able to regain his own rune points. Also, if you do that spell combination on one Holy Day or in Sacred Time, you’re very low on rune points until you can visit another temple. When you make that trip to the other temple, your store is no longer a temple. The local initiates may thank you for leading worship. But you can’t support yourself as a priest this way and I question whether you have a temple as indicated in the rules. C. Therefore a temple founded on those terms (just casting Sanctify and Extension) can’t possibly operate in the long term and can’t benefit its community with only one priest or god talker, as the two examples in Apple Lane operate. My conclusion: To have a Minor Temple as a permanently or at least long-term sanctified area must require more, something really special, much more than just a single priest hanging out his or her shingle. So Question #1: what should the ambitious priest expect and what should the gamesmaster require for actually setting up a minor temple that can satisfy the standard and basic worship bonus functions indicated on pp. 315-316? Question 2: While I ask that about founding a temple, the same question applies to setting up a shrine, which gives no worship bonuses but evidently does allow rune point replenishment and even in some places possibly sacrificing POW and gaining one rune spell. Here we do have an example, for a shrine to a spirit rather than a god, p. 378. That example requires a “focus of power” (a relic?), a shaman, and at least ten initiates who will guarantee sacrifice of 1 magic point each every week. But what would a god require to set up and maintain a shrine? I only count three Issaries initiates in and around Apple Lane, but there is an Issaries shrine there. It must not take the same maintenance as a spirit shrine . Presumably a god’s shrine is more durable and not so high-maintenance. And in discussion I see talk about nomad shrines in Prax, which would not have a population every week but only seasonally.

If i recall correctly, voice pitch depends on the size of the pipes, as with a pipe organ. Therefore while song birds chirp in a high pitch, a dinosaur would be much much lower pitched. More bass than an elephant. A dragonewt would be somewhere in the middle if i understand their size correctly. So I argue from this theoretical basis that dragonewts don't chirp, to human ears, nor sing soprano They may roar or they may lowe like a large bovine.

Many thanks, Grandmother, now i can keep my background consistent - Sten isn't too far from Kesten so i think i''ll keep that character name -

The book about Esrolia is pretty thin from a character background point of view. So it's a rich field for the invention of more Gloranthan background. But it seems to me that Stafford wanted room in his world for very different societies. Look at the trolls, how's that for different? And part of the charm of Glorantha is that the players find adventures where two or more of those societies touch. So re. women in Glorantha - there is room for any status you want to play in, certainly somewhere but actually most places. But getting down to particular cults: From my original RQ GM, who seemed to have studied Glorantha pretty well, i understand the cult figure as an archetype. A cult initiate's goal is to become a better (fill in cult name here). And Ernalda is an archetypical historical/real world Bronze Age earth goddess. They were very popular in their time too. Which is not surprising given that Bronze Age folks were mostly farmers, so being a priest of a goddess of grain looks like a pretty good gig if you are set to go into the religion business. But that doesn't mean there is no room for other female archetypes, nor that the whole world is patriarchal.

The Nochet book will be late but eagerly awaited as far as i am concerned. I generated a male Esrolian character - why not? and find that there is really very little Esrolixan background published. for example a list of enfranchised Houses would be nice.... and a sample of Esrolian names, since i note that different Gloranthan areas do have different sounds in the names generated by the original authors. Can anyone steer me to a draft list of Nochet Houses?