Stephen L

I think the problem isn't with Criticals (which as you say are Specials), it's with Specials that aren't Criticals.

Unless you use the convention that 01-05 always succeeds, in which case: 1 Success/Special/Crit = Crit 2-5 Success = Special 6-95 Fail = Success 96-00 Fumble = Fail Which is the values I assumed. I admit, it's largely prejudice, but I've never felt the urge to explore HQ as a system!

(damn this new keyboard - hitting submit again in error!) For non combat skills above 100%, I'm tending to Rules as Written (if that's the acronym RAW?), but ruled on a case by case basis, by what feels right for the moment (my players really don't care about rules, so they, fortunately, don't worry about consistency)

This is very interesting, thanks for the post! I always though that RQ works best with skills in the 50%-80% range. If everyone makes their parries (which was often proof against a special), the fights used to go on forever. But with lower level skills, you were basically waiting for you opponent to fail their parry. (as an aside, combats are better now, where weapons/shield seem to suffer much more damage, and that's when you get your chance for the killer blow) The Gurps seems to push things into what I was thinking was the sweet spot... For my campaign, I'm encouraging the players to split attacks when their above 100%.

I've never read the HQ rules, much less played them, though I do own a shrink wrapped copy!, but my reading of Andre's post is: 101% become 1% with 1 level of mastery, so its: 0% fumble, 5% fail, 90% success, 4% special, 1% critical. If it is, then I'd stick with the 99%.

Zoomed in, certainly doesn't look like a dome, looks like flat top with eves to me:

There's the Shaker Temple down the road, suggesting we're on shaky ground here...

We’ve a few Yelmalians in our group. Whilst I understand that in the Gods War, he lost most of his powers, but, even so, his rune spells are quite sparse (the heal body, is pretty good, and fits with the “stays alive” despite everything). However, all images of him show a spear and shield. Perhaps I’m just biased by my real world love of iconography, but if those at least haven’t been taken away from him, then I’d wonder why he hasn’t a truespear and shield in his rune magic armoury?

Elementals are controlled by Command cult spirit, which, as a common rune spell, is through any of a deity’s runes, so Air/Movement for Orlanthi command Sylphs. Is that right? Or should a command elemental only be through the appropriate elemental rune, as for the summon rune spell? So, command Sylph is Air rune only. It seems the former, and the only thing that makes me pause is that if you had a bound Sylph, bundled with a (Orlanth) command Sylph matrix, then, anyone using it would mean rolling against their Air or Movement, but having to roll against Air feels more natural…

Not so grand enough to be treated as a rule mechanic, more an interpretation of the current RQG rules but... If a case can be made for it (for example, a player with a weapon in a category wanting to “research” another weapon skill in that category), I would allow a character to “self” train, so they go up quicker, without finding/paying for a trainer. Would I apply it to improving tradetalk? Not sure… Maybe I’d like the character to be inspired by an Issaries rune or passion. I don't like the idea of a trainer having skill. Unless there is a moment of drama, when a GM roll is adding to the suspense, my players are bored if I reach for the dice, so I try to keep GM rolls to an absolute minimum. Also there are 5 of them and 1 of me, so it would be a bottleneck it the between adventures bit if I had to roll for a trainer. My lot want to get through the between stuff as quickly as they can so they can get to the next fun adventure bit... Stephen.

There was a thread about the two villages near Kjartan's lake, here: 8744-villages-of-the-shores-of-kjartans-lake To confirm, Sartar Kingdom of Heroes has a map where the village is called Spawn, but there's nothing else about it there. The only thing I can see in SKoH that adds to the Gamemaster Adventures description of the Enjossi (p17), is that "they contest with the Locaem over control for the Richberry Vale", which I'd have though would be ripe to kick-off after the dragon rise... Stephen.

No, most emphatically not. One of the things I like best about the new edition, is that the good people at Chaosium have gone to great lengths to make it easy to run and play a game in Glorantha. Just rolling up characters will give you a background history for each one, and that gives each player everything they need to understand their character. Indeed, I think refereeing RuneQuest in Glronatha (see what I did there, I avoided the acronym…) is easier than other systems, in that the characters are so *vivid* and have such a strong backstory, that adventures just write themselves. Also, if you’ve the slipcase set you have *everything* you need. The rulebook gives you a great introduction of the basics for Glorantha and the lands around Dragon Pass, but not in overwhelming detail. The rules – they need careful reading, but understanding them is more important than remembering them, because if you understand them then you can be guided by them to something that works in nitty-gritty detail. The gamemasters pack has a very vivid setting, the Colymar lands. It just jumps off the page which background characters are going to take to the adventurers, and who not. Even more adventures. And that’s before you’ve even run Apple Lane. You get scenario ideas just looking at the map, and wondering about things.

If they've had an adventure and gained a Pow skill check... Though with a Humakti Duck with 19 Pow, that's pretty much once per adventure! Pow for worship as my comment above.

P418 Core Rules RuneQuest in Glorantha: So for my bunch of ne'er-do-well adventurer's its twice a year it's 2 a year, cause there's no way you'd put them up as the presiding officials of a kids tea party, let alone a god worship ceremony ...

Through the media of basket weaving?

Waha manifests again through/in his followers. That is within the compromise. If you are seeing a khan standing in for Waha, rather than Waha himself, then that’s just means you failed your devotion roll. And does it really matter whether its Waha himself, or Waha manifest in a Khan, is there a difference? A difference that maters, that is. If you cast a thunderbolt, you are manifesting Orlanth in a small way (it might not seem so small if you’re on the receiving end!), more heroic efforts might mean you manifest Orlanth more completely. The compromise only means that Orlanth cannot act directly, only through the means of a follower. Isn’t the origin of the word Avatar as the mortal manifestation of a god? So perhaps mortals are the gods going online to play a game… Is that narrative of past, present or future lives?

Easily missed by an idiot in a rush. I think Heortling is important enough to warrant an entry of it's own, rather than hanging off a link!

My experiences sound similar. I started with RQii in Glorantha in the early 80s. Switched to RQiii as it fixed problems, but didn’t quite have that RQii feel. Played Pendragon, which was fun, but didn’t have that magic. But RQ in Gloranatha is everything I’ve ever wanted. The vividness of the characters as they’re generated, and the settings, really the scenarios just write themselves. And so much care has been taken for the novice, so that they can just pick it up and have fun. My children are 9 and 7, and we’ve set up a group with an old friend and her kid, and we’re loving it. The youngest (with a penchant for melodrama and overacting, think Brian Blessed, just louder) was born to play a duck, demanded to play a duck, is a duck to his very soul (Stanislavski, eat your heart out), and now he found out about the dinosaurs, his life is not complete until he has achieved his goal of becoming a dinosaur rider! There’s a thief from Pavis, known to Argrath, there’s a Yelmalian noble with an intelligent hawk companion, and the son of a Khan, thirsting for revenge against the Lunar Empire for his robbed Sartarite inheritance… I have never experienced a roleplaying system that comes anywhere remotely close to this.

Apologies, I'd thought they spoke Heortling in Sartar!

An RQG character ended up coming from Pavis from a very eventful past history, and I recall it took quite a bit of inference what languages they'd speak. I think I decided on Heortling (with a strong Pavic accent) but a smattering of Old Pavic, Trade, Praxian. Try fitting that on the space for languages on the standard character sheet (along with any cult language)!

Obviously the old hack of inserting Html no longer works. I'm guessing a security loophole that's been closed. I'm afraid it's copying the address into your browser!

I'd agree about references to old publications (though the PDF is available for Cults of Terror from www.chaosium.com, https://www.chaosium.com/runequest-classic/ Never-the-less, I think it's beneficial to understand the history of the Arkat Nysalor struggle, and the excellent cult of terror history is available online, on the excellent Well of Daliath: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/gloranthan-documents/cot-history/ And if that sort of thing floats your boat, starting with the cosmology makes sense: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/gloranthan-documents/cot-history/cot-cosmology/ (and thanks jajagappa for the link tutorial for idiots)!

Thanks muchly. I knew I'd seen something somewhere beyond the cradle scenario. Another hunting trip in the loft for Strangers in Prax... Stephen.

Origins of the Lunar Wyvern riders. The cradle scenario has Wyvern Riders. Is there any more information about them? Where do they get their Wyverns, and how do they get their power over them? Thanks in advance you have any info on this (or indeed any other Wyvern rider lore!) Stephen L.

I’m not so keen on ident-a-kit NPCs, but don’t have time to generate large numbers of NPCs, so I’ve a programme for it. If they’re any use, I’ve posted some NPCs from my campaign, which can be found on the downloads (Home >Downloads >RuneQuest in Glorantha >NPC-Squads-txt.zip, NPC-Squads-pdf.zip). I’ll add any more I generate, but my campaign’s quite slow moving, and what’s there (Lunars and Olranthi, and the odd mount) will do for the next few scenarios. However, at some point they’re going into the Upland Marsh, so I’m guessing some undead will appear in due course