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[I posted this years ago on another site, which I recently noticed had disappeared into the vortex. I recovered it from the Wayback Machine and thought I might as well post it here. It's not exactly a Glorantha post, nor exactly RQ3 but it concerns adapting the River of Cradles/Zola Fel setting.] (Originally published July 24, 2011) In the latest of my Nehwon Campaigns, I used an adventure campaign called ‘Troubled Waters’ from the Runequest ‘River of Cradles’ supplement. In this post, I’ll talk about how I adapted this adventure for Nehwon. Glorantha Glorantha is the main game world setting for the game Runequest. I am no expert on it but it is quite a different place from Nehwon. Magic is commonplace; most people know a few spells. The influence of the gods is powerful, and forces from mythology have shaped (and continue to shape) the world. Everyone believes. As in Nehwon there are many gods and none is all-powerful; each commands a relatively limited sphere. Glorantha has all sorts of non-humans and a powerful, Chaos-worshipping empire of humans, which comes into conflict with barbarian cultures at its fringes. So far so un-Nehwonian. The River of Cradles This is a campaign setting from the times when RPG supplements were made with real love, which is one reason I wanted to use it. The Runequest game system is not so different from the Elric! rules I use in Nehwon, so no problems there. The River is in a fertile valley between arid grasslands and wasteland. There are many detailed human and non-human cultures in the area, including river folk, farmers, various barbarian tribes, newtlings (small lizard-like bipeds), and city folk and garrisons of the conquering Empire army at the top of the river. The maps are gorgeous and the detail is great. The campaign itself is interesting, if a bit linear (you travel up the river, so it couldn’t really be otherwise). I played it over ten sessions with two players who ran an exiled Quarmallian and an outcast from Klesh. Where in Nehwon? Because I knew this setting would be quite different from the norm, I wanted to place it carefully. I put it in the south of the Lankhmar Continent, draining from the southern Mountains of Hunger to the Sea of Stars. To the east are the Jungles of Klesh and to the west are the Quarmall Barrens. Leiber doesn’t really describe this area (perfect!). Fafhrd and the Mouser passed it to the south in Trapped in the Sea of Stars. Other questions to resolve What about all this magic and gods? The campaign did assume a lot more magic in the hands of characters and opponents, and more ‘godly’ powers. I toned both down but left the essentials. For example, a river god plays an important role in the adventure. I allowed it as a local effect (local to the river) and justified the extra magic because the area was closer to Godsland. It helped that the characters were both sorcerers of different traditions(1) and from areas considered quite outlandish for a mainstream Nehwon campaign. I took a similar attitude to the various intelligent non-humans around. Leiber after all had mermaids, Ice Gnomes, and invisible princesses. How about the ‘evil empire’? How come Fafrhd and the Mouser never heard of it? No problem. It’s a recent development, and not really a huge empire, founded by a band of fanatical ex-slaves of Quarmall, confined mostly to the Mountains of Hunger between the Jungle of Klesh and the Great Southern Swamp. That works for my geography. Think of the Incas, who controlled a huge narrow empire from Ecuador to northern Chile in the late 15th century. Only not so huge. Something like that anyway. In any case, though the Empire’s military presence was visible in the campaign, it was not a major factor. How did it work out? Pretty well. The setting is a long way from Lankhmar, though even a typical Lankhmart rogue could have been used there. The only real changes I made while running it was the magic reduction and some setting adjustment as described above. Was it still Nehwonian? Yes, I think so. My campaign is a hodgepodge in any case, but what I love about Nehwon is that it is a land made for adventure and strange happenings. It is consistent in the broad view but sketchy on the specifics. This little corner fits nicely into my campaign. My players also gave it an interesting subplot of faith vs. skepticism, which Leiber might have appreciated. Having said that, I don’t think all Gloranthan RPG settings would transplant so well. Some things just don’t translate that well to a Nehwonian setting. 1) In my campaign, Quarmallian sorcery is a combination of sneaky mind control powers and dark wizardry. Kleshite sorcery is more nature-focused.

I'll be running a Stormbringer one-shot for my group as a change of pace between Call of Cthulhu campaigns. I'm looking for something that captures the spirit of the Young Kingdoms and isn't too dungeon crawly. I've read some of the adventures in the 3e GW core rulebook, and haven't been that enamored by them, but with some work for additional background, I can see them working. Does anyone have a favorite one to introduce people to Stormbringer?

Hi, I'm indepted to Questbird, who a while ago posted about combining Spell Law with BRP/Magic World. For example, in my version, spell users get a number of base lists (half INT) at INT% and can cast spells on their lists equal to lvl x 10%. So starting characters can cast lvl 1 spells. In my version, the spells are cast at a POW times 5 casting roll, but the lists are ticked for experience if the roll also goes under the lists %. That way individual lists increase but characters are not unnecessarily whiffy when it comes to using spells. Spells relating to damage, like a shock bolt (lvl 2), do damage based on the demon power list (so a d4 if lvl 2; but in my game I use POW and INT to derive a magic damage bonus, using the same table as STR and SIZ. That way a shock bolt can be fairly offensive). Magic point cost is the lvl of the spell. (Classic Fantasy's Spell Lore can be used to provide extra MPs while being used as an Arcane Knowledge/Lore.) I would suggest allowing characters to have up to half INT in base lists, but the remaining INT is for memorising other spells, with each lvl being a point of INT. This means that characters can also diversify a grimoire and can only hold in memory spells up to half INT in lvl. Thus, a character of INT 18 can only hold non-base spells up to lvl 9 in memory, but can cast base spells up to POW in lvl. (Related to this, I have been thinking of limiting skill levels to a corresponding statistic times ten. This would mean that skill % can max out while being tied to PC stats. It also means a demon with a high STR or DEX can also have a very high skill potential. But I digress.) The aim here (with memorising individual spells, combined with spell lists) is to allow for finding spells as being a motive, and to make sure magic users are not too rigid in relation to starting base lists. However, lists allow for different flavours of magical professions. Casting any spell uses POW times 5 as a casting roll, but for casting non-base spells the maximum lvl one can learn and cast is equal to the lowest base list skill the PC has divided by 10. Thus if out of all PC lists the lowest skill is 23%, the PC can only learn and hold in memory, and cast, a lvl 2 non-base spell. This controls power levels while tying power and diversity strongly to skill in all of one's lists. So lists in general, as a measure of magical skill generally, determine the lvl of non-base spell one can learn and cast. The above system is best if using Spell Law along with the Essence Companion, the Mentalism Companion and the Channeling Companion. The latter is especially great for god-specific clerics, and can model wfrp gods and other dieties. Spell Law on its own fails to do this. (Mentalism might work well as being reserved for elves, but I haven't decided yet.) However, different from the above solely in relation to magic, I would also suggest that Arms Law (or the simpler MERP or A MILLION WAYS TO DIE critical lists) can be used too. One doesn't need to use the attack tables, only the criticals. E.g., anytime a serious wound is done, it is now referred to the critical tables. This is a small change and requires little change to MW as per usual. It is true that such hits might now be fatal, but they also don't inherently lead to the PC passing out after a few rounds. Stunned means parry and dodge at half skill %; unable to parry is self-explanatory, but you can keep dodge at half; and bleeding and extra damage can be converted by the recommended (in an ICE supplement for converting to Runequest) 6 equals 1 (in BRP/MW), perhaps rounding up. Thus an extra 10 hits and bleeding 1 per round can be an extra 2 hits and 1 hit per round. The description also ties in nicely with some healing lists, as nerve damage or whatever may require such specific healing. The sole issue for the above critical lists is what severity column to use: from A to E. This can be answered by skill level. Thus, if the attacker has 40 or fewer percentiles, then use A. 60 or fewer is B; 80 or fewer is C. 100 or fewer is D; and over 100 is an E. This seems to model nicely how skill level makes serious wounds more lethal, and the descriptions model the deadliness of the attacker. This also means that spells can also use the Spell Law critical tables (let the list % determine any severity column), without recourse to the convoluted attack tables which required rolling high. In this system, only the critical tables are used instead of the previous serious wound table in MW. I feel it adds to the flavour of the setting. In a way, the core BRP/MW system simplifies Rolemaster while allowing for the RM spells and gorey detail. In fact, when one considers that RM OB ratings are convertible to MW skill levels, such as creature attack levels, according to RM conversion guidelines, the RM treasures material are also useable. A +20 sword can now be used. (Although you might feel that such a weapon should only increase damage rather than skill rating. But the latter is effectively how RM did it.) In any case, the above provides some suggestions for RM Spell Law and Arms Law to be used with MW. It also suggests how MW can essentially replace the core of RM while still using its other elements. Again, Channeling Companion provides for spell lists based on religious spheres, such as war or fire, or nature/druids, and is essential to give fantasy world clerics the required detail. Wizards, too, are rather elemental in RM, so one might want to allow wizards/mages to pick three elemental base lists (from mage lists) and the rest from closed lists. The GM can decide if closed lists are available for further spell memorisation or not, or if only open lists are. Likewise the place of Mentalism in your world may need consideration. Naturally, dwarves make good alchemists. You might give regular dwarves the Inorganic Skills list as a species trait, which would fit their great crafting abilities. Likewise, elves might get some lists as racial/species abilities. (I would personally use the RM and MERP guidelines that make Hobbits and Dwarves very resistant to magic. Hobbits get effectively +10 to POW and Dwarves +8 for resisting magic. This balances the lack of magic users among these peoples, with the exception of Dwarven alchemists. But that's just me; MERP was my first rpg, so it left a mark!) Any thoughts on the above, let me know. Again, my thanks to Questbird, who started my thinking on the above lines. :-)

Due to reading, and fixing with my roleplaying collection.. And reading far to much on blogs and forums.. Has made me yearning for playing Strombringer and D&D esque games.. So during this vacations i sat down and played around with my old Spanish edition of Stormbringer.. and painting 10 deamonettes for use in Age of Sigmar/ 40 k. this made me want to stat up some demons so Here comes my first work in progress deamonettes for Stormbringer 4th.. If someone more versed in this rule set could point out errors i would be happy,, will probably do more demonic types soon.. Deamonette of Aanesh... STR 3d8 14 CON 3d8 14 SIZ 2D8 14 INT 3D8 14 POW 3D8 14 DEX 4D8 18 Cha 3D8 14 (63p characteristics) Abilities / Skills: Baffle attack 40p 3d6 pot up to 5m, shape change 40p, Garras 20p 3d10% 1d6 damage *2, Hands 30p, Eyes 10p (+1d10 search, detect), saber 20 (int*5 one topic)jump 10p (4 m high), legs 30p 60m/round 200p skills total 263p to invoke hmm, feels kind of weird.. will probably adjust size so it will be smaller, if i understood the Spanish text correctly it costs 3 point per d8 dice. I can not find any mention how to raise the combat skills of the demons... I suspect that there is inconsistencies compared with the English version.. input appreciated.