Arcadiagt5

Something that’s come up a couple of times for me now when running The Grey Crane and also Crimson Petals is multiple adventurers engaging the same spirit in spirit combat at the same time. This led to what initially looked like quite tough opponents more or less vanishing with little effort or risk. Especially given that in a tie per RQG p368 both parties do spirit combat damage to the other, but if you have 5 adventurers all getting ties on the same spirit, that spirit's magic points will melt away like a sandcastle in the rain. Also, in the case of Crimson Petals, I awarded the POW boost to the only one of the adventurers to win the matchup with the disease spirit, even though one of the ties did more actual damage. What are people’s thoughts on managing rewards when multiple adventurers do damage in one round that cumulatively defeats the spirit?

Which is closer than Hostile but still not Associated for the purposes of Rune Point replenishment. 😀 We really need to see Gods and Goddesses of Glorantha sooner rather than later. 😀

Thanks for that. I think the shift work is probably a deal breaker as adventures usually run multiple sessions so having you be there for only half of each adventure would be awkward.

I’m not familiar with the named cult but it appears to be a hostile cult to Issaries? I would say that replenishment of Rune Points by that cult is not allowed going by RQG RAW p315-316. In essence rune points can be replenished on a cult's holy days, or on the holy days of an associated cult. The holy days of a hostile cult would not qualify, and the sorts of ceremonies that allow replenishment would only be conducted on those days.

Hi @BrentS it does look like we will have room for another player, and will shifting to Thursday nights. Does that work for you?

Hi Brent, we're still working a few things out. Let me talk to the other players and we'll get back to you.

That's mostly how I see them too. It's just that a lot of the discussion above felt disconnected from this view to me. Good to know. In view of the above discussions, this probably explains/supports the more nuanced view of a Babeester Gor as part of the social order of the Earth pantheon.

Excellent. If you private message me your discord ID, I'll invite you to the server. @Nano_Ranger and I can then set up a time to start going through character creation on Roll20, with Discord as the voice chat.

I have to admit that I'm still seeing a disconnect between “Babeester Gor are raving fanatic vengeance hounds all the time” and “Babeester Gor are the standing, and permanent, guard units for all Earth temples & protectors of the Earth priestesses”.

Yes and no. The character is light cavalry and lost the use of Lance (which had received a substantial boost during the Occupation step). I still don’t see an issue with this specific weapon (as opposed to all missile weapons) being adopted by a local variant of the cult. The counter issue is that the RQG RAW says “Other Weapon (pick type), not “Other Cult Weapon (pick type)” in the Humakt section of character creation. That’s a skill being taught to initiates. If it’s supposed to be restricted, RAW should say so. I am perhaps being overly sensitive on this aspect but I've had issues with relying on wider Gloranthan lore that not all players have access to, and that some see as “flavour text” rather than rules per se, when making in game rulings. To bring this back on topic with Babeester Gor: as per RAW her initiates are protectors of Earth temples everywhere, and seekers of vengeance (or justice, depending on how you look at it) for kinslayers and oathbreakers. And there’s no mention of celibacy or marriage bans (where Maran Gor DOES). So, and acknowledging that this will change somewhat with the cults book, that puts Babeester Gor initiates firmly within the social order, not outside it. They're an active part of maintaining it in fact.

Hi Dirk, webcam not needed but a decent audio setup via Discord is. We've had technical difficulties with video on Roll20 for this game and have settled on voice only in Discord. Maps, character sheets, dice rolls, etc are in Roll20. I would walk you through character generation, and of the other players at least @Nano_Ranger would help out. We would certainly discuss what role you wanted to play in the party, and how that can be fitted into the story.

Agreed, and certainly not something that meshes well with (as per RQG RAW) all Earth Temples having a contingent of Babeester Gor guards, and a shrine to Babeester Gor within them. That speaks of a cult much more integrated into Gloranthan society generally. Hence my take on them as the defenders of the social order represented by the Earth Temples. Primarily that’s the defence of the temples themselves, secondarily it’s enforcing oaths and respecting your kin.

I've already had to do that so no big deal. RAW allows Humakt initiates to pick “Other Weapon (pick type) + 10%”, and a character in one game used that for Composite Bow but then picked up a “no non-cult weapons” geas. Since she learned it as part of Initiation I ruled that Composite Bow is a cult weapon for her home Humakt Temple in Alone. It probably isn’t recognised as such anywhere else, but it is there. YGWV indeed. 😀

Good to know, thanks. The interesting thing here is that the Cults book will change what’s in RQG RAW. This is something I've kind of being expecting but I may wind up having to make local exceptions of the YGWV variety if I've already made a call that the book later contradicts.

That’s a fair point but one bone of contention in my current campaign, and one that I've been trying to avoid since, is reliance on lore that isn’t obviously available to all players. Where possible I'll rely on RAW for that reason. YGWV for me now needs to include “all players have equal access to the underlying lore”, which is why I responded based solely on the RQG text which doesn’t mention those aspects.

I'm currently running a Colymar based campaign that’s advanced to Earth Season 1626 on Roll20. Some slots for additional players have opened up, please reply if you’re interested. The game runs on Monday Thursday nights from 6:30PM to about 9PM AET. EDIT: Changed game night to reflect a recent change, and we're still looking for one more player.

FWIW* my take on it is that because RQG RAW explicitly mentions celibacy for Maran Gor but not for Babeester Gor that there's no such requirement for Babeester Gor. I read Babeester Gor as being more of the Earth Goddess concerned with the maintenance of the proper order of society. Hence her role protecting Earth Temples as the centre of that order, as well as hunting down kinslayers and oathbreakers that break that order. Similarly children, and expanding/protecting kin groups generally, is part of that proper order (see also: Love (Family) & Loyalty (Clan)) so that is a natural fit for Babeester Gor initiates and rune lords. I'm also not sure that Babeester Gor has priestesses. I've generally interpreted the cults sections as listing the Rune Master types that are applicable to each cult, and not all of them have the full set. * Not much. 😂

Running two Colymar campaigns that have moved on from there to Smoking Ruin and/or Pegasus Plateau with some JC stuff as well. Both running online via Roll20 ATM, which in one case is likely to be a permanent feature since I'm in Canberra and my players are in Perth.

Cattle Raid is fun. I had one group win the cows back via single combat of champions to first blood, and another that simply ransomed them back.

THIS. Seriously just say no to sorcery, I've been running the game for over a year now and I still don't understand it. The rest of @Crel's response is a solid guide which I also cheerfully endorse. 👍

The first step in casting spirit magic is a POWx5 roll. If this succeeds, then the magic points for the spell are expended, including any additional magic points committed to overcome resistance such as Countermagic. The POW vs POW resistance roll takes place after that.

Good to know about the Swords of Ibiros, even if I'm not familiar with that part of the lore (or the Clanking City). So the Rapier found in Urvantan's Tower is probably one of those. I presume that whilst making them is generally forbidden, using one that you, ah, found tends to be rather less so. The Gustbran write up sounds fairly close to what I put together as a home brew, although does it include Enchant (Iron) at the Rune Master level?

For various reasons we've adopted fairly strict interpretations of declarations of intent but have deferred death to the end of the next round to guarantee a chance at a reaction.

Waves at Dave Yes, I picked up Borderlands & Beyond which has the ritual in it and it seemed interesting. I could use it straight up in RQG (and may do) but my main reason for asking was if there was a way for a PC to replicate this: I don't know that part of the lore, alas. I have a new player who has opted to play a crafter, & for whom I've done a homebrew Cult of Gustbran with access to Enchantment Spells as an Initiate (which from what I've read elsewhere seems to be the special thing for Gustbran). So I was looking at that offhand reference to "Swords of Sharpness" in RQG and wondering what it referred to.

Excellent, thanks for your response and I’ll check that out later.