Storm Bull Cult, Not Suicide Pact?

[Atgxtg]

Note that while the Storm Bull must seek out Chaos, the rules don't say what particular form of Chaos. So I expect places like Snakepipe Hollow get a pass because the Storm Bulls are going after other forms of Chaos they encounter first. They will get to the bad places, eventually, but in the meantime they can't let the local chaos get away. 

 

"I was half way to Dorastor when I spotted a three-eyed rubble runner, and had to hunt it down before it spawned more chaos ilk."

[Jon Hunter]

I think we are having a view from 10,000 feet. 

My expectation would be for a stormbull initiate in a clan for face the trouble the clans faces, not seeking out the biggest manifestations of chaos in the world.

Gloranthas are 'local people' with 'local' outlooks,

Edited February 24, 2020 by Jon Hunter

[Bill the barbarian]

On 2/19/2020 at 12:16 PM, Akhôrahil said:

and the servant girl impregnated.

The way I heard it, it was the alynx....

[seneschal]

So, Storm Bull cultists automatically head to the nearest Walmart?  🤨

[Richard S.]

24 minutes ago, seneschal said:

So, Storm Bull cultists automatically head to the nearest Walmart?  🤨

What better chaos nests are there?

[davecake]

A lot of the population has Fear (Chaos) as a passion - it’s the normal outcome of an encounter with Chaos. One effect of Face Chaos is override that normal reaction. 

Storm Bulls always have Hate (Chaos) instead (and some more heroic types also. 
 

Storm Bulls have both a compulsion to fight Chaos (and the passion), and a cult value, and there is obvious overlap - but the compulsive and hate kick in usually when it’s in sensory range, outside that they are able to plan and act like anyone, just with the goal of hurting Chaos.

I think Storm Bulls would generally be regarded, in modern society, as suffering mental health problems stemming from severe trauma. Chaos hurts them to be around, it haunts their lives, it has stopped from living normal functional lives with normal relationships for the most part. They deal with the way their Chaos trauma compels them to violence and rage by a combination of drinking and other hedonistic transgressive behaviour that deadens them, and obsessively thinking about how they can destroy it. Like traumatised people in our earth, they find it difficult to turn off, difficult to pull out of an adrenalised state of alertness, they are always alert for Chaos, and know that destroying it is the only way to be safe once you sense it. 
Unlike terrestrial traumatised people, they can use that to trigger magic powers and fighting abilities, and Chaos is so big a threat that this broken life is considered valuable. But not many people would want to be one once they understand what it means. 

[Akhôrahil]

3 hours ago, davecake said:

A lot of the population has Fear (Chaos) as a passion

While I personally agree with you, RQG explicitly rules out Fear (Chaos) as a passion.

"Fear cannot be defined towards general concepts or forces, such as Death or Chaos"

[davecake]

1 hour ago, Akhôrahil said:

While I personally agree with you, RQG explicitly rules out Fear (Chaos) as a passion.

"Fear cannot be defined towards general concepts or forces, such as Death or Chaos"

Yet it's literally an example of an appropriate Fear passion on pg 26. Ugh. 

[Thaz]

Of course.... If you're Storm Bull you ain't aiming to die any other way but with your boots on, axe swinging and a pile of dead chaos around you. 

 

It just doesn't have to be week 1

[pachristian]

I played in a game where the GM took the rules literally and absolutely. When our party Storm Bull follower wanted to get initiated, at the Block, the GM told the player that if they were initiated at the Block, they could never leave the vicinity of the Block; because they biggest chaos anyone knew of was pinned beneath the Block, and they had to stay at the Block to defeat the manifestations that came out. In other words: "If you become an initiate of the Storm Bull, you're out of the game."

My Glorantha varies: Young Orlanthi men, and women, who are difficult and get into a lot of fights are steered towards the Storm Bull. Everyone knows it's an eventual death sentence, so being "encouraged" to join the Cult of the Bull is a clan's way of saying "You're a troublemaker. We're sending you to join them in hopes you accomplish some good before you die." The cult of the Storm Bull is a collection of the rejects and misfits of Orlanthi society. They're the bad boy biker gang of the tribe, the tolerated outlaws who are tolerated as long as they do more damage to the clan's enemies than friends. Naturally, they are idolized by teen-age boys. Once in the cult, there is no obligation to be stupid or suicidal; if they chaos is overwhelming you get allies - and if the odds are reasonable, you put yourselves in the front line. Between fights, pretty much all of the Storm Bull followers suffer from ptsd. They know they will die in battle, they just hope it's not in vain.

[Jeff]

1 hour ago, pachristian said:

I played in a game where the GM took the rules literally and absolutely. When our party Storm Bull follower wanted to get initiated, at the Block, the GM told the player that if they were initiated at the Block, they could never leave the vicinity of the Block; because they biggest chaos anyone knew of was pinned beneath the Block, and they had to stay at the Block to defeat the manifestations that came out. In other words: "If you become an initiate of the Storm Bull, you're out of the game."

My Glorantha varies: Young Orlanthi men, and women, who are difficult and get into a lot of fights are steered towards the Storm Bull. Everyone knows it's an eventual death sentence, so being "encouraged" to join the Cult of the Bull is a clan's way of saying "You're a troublemaker. We're sending you to join them in hopes you accomplish some good before you die." The cult of the Storm Bull is a collection of the rejects and misfits of Orlanthi society. They're the bad boy biker gang of the tribe, the tolerated outlaws who are tolerated as long as they do more damage to the clan's enemies than friends. Naturally, they are idolized by teen-age boys. Once in the cult, there is no obligation to be stupid or suicidal; if they chaos is overwhelming you get allies - and if the odds are reasonable, you put yourselves in the front line. Between fights, pretty much all of the Storm Bull followers suffer from ptsd. They know they will die in battle, they just hope it's not in vain.

Your GM was not taking the rules literally. He was taking cult guidelines to an absurd extreme. There are Storm Khans at the Block - and the Devil has been beneath the Block since before Time. The Khans watch the Block, as it is prestigious to be there, but eventually they need food and plunder for them and their followers, and leave after reporting to another Storm Khan. They curse the Devil and then wander off to kill something more killable. The Bullmen follow their Khan - when the Khan says it is time to go, they go.

But when you sense Chaos - which is effective only with about 15 meters from the source - then you confront the Chaos. Period. The Frenzy of the Bull is upon you. Whatever can be killed must be killed, whatever cannot be killed must be reported to a Storm Khan (or whoever) and lead the next party to it.

[Austin]

On 2/22/2020 at 12:02 PM, Akhôrahil said:

Bring a small feral broo in a cage far to the rear so that you're allowed to charge the Chaos in that direction.

Get back in the munchkin thread!