Nozbat

Yep.. Nick Brooke and the Kernels of Corruption

From my research so far.. New Pavis and Pavis County can provide Grains: mainly Barley, possibly blood-induced Maize. Legumes: Beans? Not sure what types are grown. I can't find any references other than a mercenary contract which stipulates 3kg beans weekly. Root vegetables ? Zola Fel river: fish, eels, water plants The Old city provides: Possible Aldryami herbs and spices (traded through Manside?), Manside could provide specialities grown in underground caverns, Troll Markets may provide interesting insects and spices Prax provides herd beast meat and diary products Sun County: provides Hazia and I'm guessing other things but I don't have access to Sun County PDFs now Oasis's and Wastelnads: possibly exotic and unique spices and flavourings and possibly unique plants Trade caravans: exotic spices, rice, from the southlands. Rice from Lunarlands If anyone can add to this or give any other information I'd be grateful

Happy to do that.. will post it later .. anyone know where I can get information on local Pavis food types and spices? And then I can decide what needs to be imported?

Interesting.. and I would have considered it in making up the little vignette, but decided that the reason for Panke fleeing from Lavika was because a religious heresy. In my Glorantha, I decided that Calyz had sacred numbers, 3 (the number of the Spice Masters) and 7 (the number of permitted spices). To add more to either, as the heretical Senschalans do or even the profane Fonritians, would have been to undo centuries of sacred HeroQuesting to Calyz's kitchen. As a revisionist, Panke might have argued for using different quantities of spices using multiples of 3 and 7, but he didn't and just added two more "because he liked the taste" and thus fell foul of the three Calyz Inquisitors and seven Spice Cross-examiners. It thus became an ecumenical question and one Panke was not going to win. He had to flee with his family before the Inquisitors exacted revenge. This would have helped Panke in setting up his business and I fear that his business model is flawed and therefore doomed to bankruptcy. That is unless he can persuade his clientele that it is the latest must have food. I think to start off, Chhotimais will have a tasting menu. That way she has more control over the kitchen and a reduced menu while still being able to experiment with local and seasonal ingredients. I shall have to consider a suitable menu or will ask others for possible ideas

Thank you @jajagappa Anuraag Pande, formerly one of the Three Spice Masters of Lavika, was exiled by Hisgoranstor after he had the temerity to add two extra spices to the traditional combination of seven. Such heresy almost cost him his life and he only escaped with the help of his good friend, Lakshmana Ojha, a trading ship captain, who stowed Pande and his family in hollowed out giant gourdes. Pande landed in the cosmopolitan city of Nochet and with the help Ojha set up the first Melibian Brasserie where he sold a combination of cheap food for workers on their way to work and a more extensive menu for the discerning palette as a sit down restaurant. Pande's third child, Chhotimai Pande, felt constrained by her family and wanted to see more of the world. She persuaded her father to give her a portion of her future inheritance and went north arriving in New Pavis were she began her own Brassiere. However, the cost of importing and transporting spices may prove prohibitive. Only time will tell.

This has now made me hungry... and sadly I'm in Germany at present and Indian food is not so plentiful On another note, I think Ian needs to put an 'Indian' restaurant in New Pavis. I'm sure someone can tell us which culture would provide 'indian' type food

Its a bit like my favourite 'restaurant'... only advisable to go in and eat from it after 6 pints of Guinness ... and never do it when sober.. Thankfully it still exists and only is a brief stagger from the pub(s)

I'm a bit worried about what kind of curry places you frequent!!

Nice piece Alex.. particularly since you quoted one of my favourite characters in the movies..Inigo Montoya Drawing the characters into the scene is the most important aspect in my opinion, the rationale for the game. Making it personal, making moral choices, been seen or acting as the baddy.. all of those make it different and memorable Equally, protagonists acting with agency is in my mind important. I just read Design Mechanisms newly released Factions and in the course of reading it I had so many ideas for groups, cults, factions with which to irritate players who have goals and missions that they will carry out that will annoy the players. I remember being ‘burnt’ trying to run a bought scenario, when the players heard what they were facing, they understandably decided not to do it as there was no real hook or investment to pull them in. They just said..this isn’t our problem. And on the face of it, I had to agree. It was my fault for not providing a hook. Interestingly, their backstory was not enough for that one. More food for thought on a Sunday morning, drinking coffee on the terrace in the sun

Ordered ...and reading it shortly... just need a cool drink first

In my view the sequence of attack and parry in the melee round is a number of attacks, feints, sidesteps, ducking, stepping back, moving closer, thrusts, parries etc.. in game mechanics this is brought down to one blow that does damage and one attempt to avert the damage. If viewed like this then animals can 'parry' in that it blocks damage occurring. We could equally call it 'dodge' if that makes it feel better for you. No animal is going to run onto your sword and risk damage unless maddened in some way (thinking of boars) or defending young. They all have a survival instinct no matter how much of a 'big beast' they are. All creatures are intelligent when it comes to survival, even if that survival is survival of the species by sacrificing your life. I don't think a PC should get an 'extra' attack by parrying a bite or claw with a sword. I would rule it as just blocking the damage. And in the real world, hunters going after wild boar, hunting bears, lions, tigers etc took their life in their hands when doing so.. it wasn't a case of parrying their bite. In many cases the creature moved too fast for the hunter and it was too late to do anything (a missed parry obviously)

A sensible suggestion combining two of the above might be Three Golden Eggs connected be a superimposed Death Rune?

I have two thoughts... neither of which are sensible because I really don't like ducks at all (1) Two crossed dead ducks on a field of dead ducks (from Blackadder) (2) In my childhood, nearly every elderly person had three china ducks flying on the chimney breast... I'd vote for this one cos if you like ducks ...at least they are alive

As @Oracle said... Gateway Bestiary and in the Creatures Book of RQ3... and wasn't there one in Griffin Mountain or Borderlands? (I haven't the time or possibly inclination to look it up though) and Mythras Core rule Book has a write up too

Arrrggghhh... I should have suspected this... Jaffa Cakes are connected in some way to Disney... And (to come full circle and stay on topic) this is the answer to why the Future of film is always so grim...it's Disney! QED (maybe I used the wrong preposition there... 'of' rather than 'on'.. but the premise is sound)

I'd have thought offering the insult of Jaffa cakes would have been an opening for all out war... to ensure that no-one else suffered from having to eat them Thats just my opinion however. I concede that Jaffa cakes are very popular in my gaming circle and someone always brings a packet to the game

Absolutely agree with @EricW.. Investigators should loose SAN at every opportunity when casting Mythos spells.. at least in my game. The Mythos should only be used when absolutely everything else has been tried and the inherent risks for users should be obvious and drastic. What SAN represents is the human mind trying to understand and categorise the incomprehensible. The inability to do that, as in the real world, causes a dissociative effect which in game mechanics is SAN loss (providing they comprehend the enormity of events through an INT roll). It does depend on how you want to run your campaign though. If you want to give Investigators some form of advantage and it suits the narrative, let them bind and dismiss Mythos creatures without (or minimal) SAN loss. I think what is important is the terror and horror of it all to creative a narrative for maximum fun (or terror)

Its set in Ireland... in studios and locations close to where I live...lol Oh.. that's where it was filmed... not set 😇

Nice Review @Runeblogger.. bought this at Christmas but hadn't got around to reading it properly other than a light skim for future use

Shouldn't you sacrificing dogs to Hecate Alex? Not sure she likes chicken... oh and some wild garlic too

We would be interested in your feedback @Zouabar

My original thought was that if someone wants to have a sight impaired PC... why not? Then I wondered if someone was trying to eliminate SAN loss by thinking naively that, by not seeing any traumatic events, it would then negate the need for a SAN roll. BUT..there are lots of different ways that senses can be used and as you rightly point out horror can be conveyed through other senses. They will not escape SAN rolls just because they can't see the horror. They will feel it, taste it in the air, smell the decay, hear it approach. Touch can convey so much and will give a lot of detail to someone who is used to interpreting it. However there are major drawbacks: combat; collecting and reading evidence etc. I suspect that the life expectancy of such a person might be very limited in 'field situations'. However, I still wouldn't rule it out. I think a discussion with the player pointing out all possible drawbacks but also include that there are likely to be things that neither of you have thought about in the discussion that will come up during play. I would also discuss what the player thinks they will gain through using a sight-impaired character. Finally, I would also discuss that immediate decisions made during a game to keep the narrative going may be subject to review and change when you and all the players reflect on it. As long as they are happy with that, I'd run with it. As I said.. why not?

Firstly, I had always assumed MR are elastic. It is at least long enough for everyone to take an action (or dither). For those that need timings that means between 1-10 seconds. In Combat MR everyone acts on highest DEX and completes an action. The delays you note in firing weapons would then be to reload, cock, aim and fire. For example, you throw a Molotov cocktail, pick up another one (carefully), light the fuse, chose a target and throw it.. repeat. In the meantime your colleague with her .38 revolver has shot twice in the time you've taken to launch-prepare-launch the Molotov cocktail. I'm not sure that it would make sense if you launched an area damage weapon and it didn't do something? Therefore 'missing' with intervening shots is unlikely. IMO the main thing is the narrative rather than the mechanics but in combat (which should be avoided if at all possible), the mechanics are important because it is about survival. Players usually weigh up the costs of rate of fire/ damage done/ survivability I'm sure others have an opinion which will also be useful

... and breath... but not too much... Vol 3 is due when?

These are the initial handouts for the third and final part of my Berlin CoC game dealing with events from 1st January 1920 to the aftermath of the Kapp Putsch in March 1920 which I have called the Nyarlathotep Rag Berlin is sliding into chaos, sinister forces appear to be manipulating the increasingly tense political situation, the Spanish Flu seems to have appeared again, there is a new narcotic drug doing the rounds that sends people mad, the same man seems to have provoked a riot and a bloodbath outside the Reichstag and possibly worst of all Union Berlin beat Hertha in the local football derby.. In the background, every Wednesday Nyarlathotep plays Ragtime in Liebe und Tod, an illegal cellar bar off Landsberger Straße in Mitte. Admission is free to those who know the secret knock or can arm wrestle the bouncer into submission.