Stephen L

I'm sure I remember that Boldhome had a pipe organ, built by the dwarves, and played by the winds of Orlanth. But now I can find no reference for it. Any one has any ideas? Thanks in advance...

Hunt? Are you mad!

Whilst you wait, I have stats for Elasmosaurs, generated for my campaign. They usually hunt alone and prefer to grab one victim and swim off with them and eat them, than to stay for a fight. I must update my list of generated stats, as I can see the one on the download section predates my Elasmosaurs. I've got all sorts of Aldryami now... https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/833-npc-squads-txtzip-npc-squads-pdfzip/ Elasmosaurus.pdf Elasmosaurus.txt

The Bestiary mentions Elasmosauri live in the elf sea and it's tributaries, so a very good reason not to sail a small boat there. But an excellent for Jaws inspired scenarios. I would second Joerg on this.

And indeed the whole point to me of the passions are that they are excellent scenario hooks. Here's mine to play on my groups very high "hate Lunar" Passions. In quotes because I've posted before. In some thread or other.

Ditto in mine. It was seen as quite heinous. Then the Ducks parent got eaten. Suddenly it was funny. Especially when the other got eaten as well.

Glad to have served. That was the aim of the post. The whole point of Argrath is that he has many potential faces, so that in our *game* he can be whatever leads us down the most fun and interesting paths.

Many thanks for the reminder. It is a *very* long time since I have played Dragon Pass, and you have brought back very fond memories.

I am quite intrigued about the debate about the Lunars and Argrath. For me, the Lunars have always been “evil”, from the very beginning, in the Dragon Pass Boardgame, there is no doubt, especially with the bat which must be fed (but also, from the position on the board, Sartar always had more luck with emissaries, because they had less far to travel, which gave a feeling of unpopularity for the Lunars). But that evil has always been very nuanced and fun to play – it is a game after all. I usually ended up playing the Lunars in Dragon Pass. As anyone else was largely playing it to humour me, and they preferred playing the heroic, underdog Sartarites. Similarly, with RQ, the Lunars are the bad guys, but a very nuanced fun to play bad guy. Halcyon Var Encorth as exhibit A. Also, the debate about Argrath. Most of what he does is in the future in the hero wars, so we don’t yet have much to go on. King of Sartar is written from many viewpoints, which range from the perfect hero, to the ultimate monster. But my reading of the material is that yes, he’s a hero, but a very nuanced one. Lastly, to lighten the mood, we should remember Monty Pythons contribution to the endless scholarly debate: I remember Monty Pythons contribuation to the endless scholarly debate: What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us?

Nope, RQG is *everything* I want in a roleplaying system. I *loved* RQ classic when it came out (RQii), but RQG is incomparably better. It's ironed out the stuff that didn't work, and sprinkled everything through with the Glorathan magic dust, so it oozes Glorantha with every dice roll. The advantage of starting with RQG is that a lot of thought has gone into how to introduce you to the system and the world, Glorantha, both in the core rules and the adventure supplements. The free (for PDF) quickstart, the broken tower is an excellent introduction. https://www.chaosium.com/runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-quickstart/ Then, the Game master screen pack has an excellent setting for a starting campaign and adventures that flow naturally on from the quickstart (or a good starting in it's own right). (and you get it with the RuneQuest - Roleplaying in Glorantha - Slipcase Set, which you would be mad not to get). https://www.chaosium.com/runequest-gamemaster-screen-pack/ Then, either of the adventure books: https://www.chaosium.com/the-smoking-ruin-other-stories-hardcover/ https://www.chaosium.com/the-pegasus-plateau-other-stories-hardcover/ But by then, you'll be well established and the (Gloranthan) world is your oyster. Though I'm an old hand, my players aren't. And that's the path I've taken, and they're loving it. And the youngest is 7. No wait, it was his birthday Sunday, he's 8. So trust me its a good way to start. But there are plenty good places to start from RQ classic - savages in Balazar (Griffin Mountain) would be my choice. But veteran D&D players might like the Pavis settings, or just emerse yourself in troll culture with trollpack would all be good (if very different) starting points. But more work.

Very pretty. Thanks muchly. And I at least find the correspondence with earth dates helpful for weather and day lengths, and this saves me doing it in my head.

Indeed, normally a linear squash would leave notable transition between the 4 sections, but an error of 2 days is only about 2%, so I don't think anyone will see. And I've convinced myself that this is indeed all to do with the Earth's elliptical orbit.

Given it's a couple of days here and there, I don't think it's worth the effort. I should keep quiet and hope no-one notices.

If Argrath's focus is Pavis at the time, then perhaps he's less worried about a Dragon gobbling up Sartar. However, its still very risky, as the temple/dragon site isn't that far away!

My source is King of Sartar (p126), which at the very least, implies that Orlaront was surprised by the Dragonrise. All sources are quiet on Argrath's involvement, and Argrath neither confirms nor denies his involvement. So I guess it's up the individual GM whether he is or isn't. My assumption is that he isn't. It's too soon after his defeat when he tried storming the Lunar temple in Fire Season, and the Glorantha source book (p39) has him retreat to Pavis spending the rest of the year rebuilding his army. So my guess is he's licking his wounds. Also, in my campaign the PCs are going to be the ones who convince him to take the rekindle the flame of Sartar, so it suits my campaign that he has a Pavis focus up to this point (and his rush on the temple is just an opportunistic exploitation of his victories at Moonbroth and Pavis). In my campaign, it's the players that awaken his interest in Sartar. (Until they fumble the orate roll). However, I very much suspect that Canon will always be elusive on Argrath's involvement in the Dragonrise, so if your assumption is that he is behind it, that holds.

As confirmed in Jeff's post, Kallyr was completely surprised by the Dragonrise. In my Glorantha, her reaction is shock. Yes she wants to liberate Sartar, but witnessing the Dragonrise, she realises that she'd rather there be a Sartar to liberate, and with the powers that have been unleashed, she's not sure that they're not going destroy what she's trying to save. I'm not sure Kallyr is one to be too worried about unpopularity of her actions, or deterred by wereguild, or fear of reprisals from her opponents. For me she isn't scapegoating Orlaront, rather repudiating what he stands for - dragon friendship. All the more striking, as, it would appear, Orlaront isn't involved in the Dragonrise either. And indeed given the necessity to understand what has just happened, and what's the likely ramifications are, and Orlaront is likely to be her best source of information for this.

Although the real world dates for solstices and equinoxes are slightly out. The lines shouldn't be at right angles to each other. As an (former) astrophysicist I should know why. Since I don't, I'll guess and see if anyone notices, but the Earths orbit is elliptical, rather than circular. So the problem is the graduation for the real world days are all equal, if they varied to take into account the orbit eccentricity, then you could draw the solstice / equinox axis as perpendicular straight lines as shown in the figure.

I think the goddess of "The Solace of the Deep Dark Within" who provides the healing aspect in the darkness pantheon, to be very appropriate in the time of a global pandemic.

Well, reading off the wheel Summer solstice is pointing towards Fireday, Harmony Week, Fire Season, which is Yelm's high holy day. So that tallies, and looking at the Calendar supplied with the Game Masters Screen pack, all the solstices and equinoxes are marked there, and the dates tally. So yes all the solstice and equinox dates are correct.

Sounds like we've our culprit. I wonder who else was involved in that pact... Also, I still wonder whether the Lunar Temple was built above a sleeping dragon by simple chance, by covert influence, or was the Dragon summoned. King of Sartar suggests the last option (p126): But that's not conclusive, its conjecture based on the author not knowing of anyone who knew the origin of the Dragon. It does imply it was a surprise to Orlaront, which is interesting, and makes his exile by Kallyr seem harsh.

I always had a fondness for RQ Vikings, so (yet another) vote for Mythic Iceland. I played Stormbringer when if first came out. I remember *nothing* about it except I really enjoyed it. I’d love RuneQuest for Heroic Age Greece, inspired by Odyssey or Aeneid or Argonauts, that would be amazing. Sumer was a childhood fascination for me, so I’d love Sumerian RuneQuest. I have a great love for Pendragon as a system, for me its perfect. But two things limit it. It only works for playing knights. Which is great, but eventually you yearn for something else. And the combat. It’s a very simple, elegant system, and I should love it. But for me it’s just not as exciting as RuneQuest. So, I’d like a medieval RuneQuest, perhaps something Crusader or Byzantine based. (Aquelarre looks very interesting, if my pockets were deeper). Dark age Europe would excite me very much as well – expanding the horizons from the Vikings, and bringing me back nicely to the start of the post.

Rameau made the decision, when writing the part for a man (baritone/en travesti). However, he didn't specify that it had to be an outrageous man, we can probably pin that on the director. To be fair to Rameau, he balances it by making the male role L' Amour sung by a woman. Opera tends to be fairly well balanced for male/female parts, at least for singers. (Given this is a Glorantha forum, if any one mentions Billy Budd, we'll have gone well off topic).

No, the whole point is that he doesn’t need to enact the destruction of the Lunar Temple. He’s already set the Lunars on the track to their own destruction in terms of ensuring the right site and rituals. Indeed, if his cover's close to being blown, it might be better for his plans if he dies. It would throw the Lunars off the track, as they would believe they are in the clear, thinking to have foiled his plans. And would Starbrow or Argrath balk at these sacrifices if they are necessary to secure the Freedom of Sartar and defeat the Lunars?

I'm not sure why I'm defending what I've already acknowledged is a dumb theory, but the contention of said dumb theory is that Temertain is the perfect inept cover for a brilliant revolutionary planner (I suppose as Sir Percy Blakeney is for the Scarlet Pimpernel). Starbrow and Argrath are just opportunistically seizing the moment he has created.

Trust me, once seen, never forgotten.