So whats up with the Cults of Orlanth and Ernalda?

[Thaz]

I currently play in 2 RQG Campaigns and GM another. Total character count is mid teens. 

We have precisely 1 Oralanthi Cultist. Who is a Vingan. I think we have another Odayla cultist considering/may just have joined up to Oralanth as a bonus.

We have one Ernaldan healer type.

I have GM'ed RQ for decades and have _never_ had a player choose to initiate in either of those two cults. Across many different players and with many different play styles.

My Campaigns have generally been Sartar based with the odd trip to Prax or Esrolia as have the games I have played in.

 

So how is it in your games and how do people feel about these two cults? Do you get players choosing the big two? 

 

[Akhôrahil]

It used to be the case that they were kinda crap as cults, but in RQG, both are excellent cults due to the truly massive spell selections and the ease of regaining Rune Points. Belonging to a big cult is good in a way it never was before.

In my stead-based campaign, most people follow Orlanth or Ernalda, with a smattering of Odayla and Yinkin for the outdoors people, and one Daka Fal.

Edited June 18, 2020 by Akhôrahil

[DreadDomain]

2 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

It used to be the case that they were kinda crap as cults, but in RQG, both are excellent cults due to the truly massive spell selections.

In my stead-based campaign, most people follow Orlanth or Ernalda, with a smattering of Odayla and Yinkin for the outdoors people, and one Daka Fal.

Also my experience. Back in the days, we had plenty of followers of Humakt, Storm Bull, Zorak Zoran or Yelmalio. Orlanth and Ernalda were quite meh at the time. Nowadays, depending on the type of adventures played, these cults can be quite appealing even if for true warrior types, they would not be favored.

[Thaz]

6 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

It used to be the case that they were kinda crap as cults, but in RQG, both are excellent cults due to the truly massive spell selections and the ease of regaining Rune Points. Belonging to a big cult is good in a way it never was before.

In my stead-based campaign, most people follow Orlanth or Ernalda, with a smattering of Odayla and Yinkin for the outdoors people, and one Daka Fal.

I think that's a fair point for my previous campaigns. They were all 'Asterix in Sartar' or 'Asterix in the Desert' to some extent and therefore people were attracted to more extreme cults (Humakti, Storm Bull, Praxians). 

Also the campaigns I've played in and run have not been very settled and are prone to extensive road trips. In fact one campaign seems to be on a Grand Tour. 

Part of the issue with the new games I think is that RQG is too broad in its character generation(!) by allowing players to roll up characters from wherever they then tend to not want to settle down. 

 

[Darius West]

Orlanth is one of the best and most detailed cults in the game. I personally would like to see write-ups for all the Thunder Brother subcults in any Orlanth write-up. Ernalda is a good cult too, but will never be as good at healing as Chalana Arroy, but trades that against being capable of warlike activities.  

[Akhôrahil]

2 hours ago, DreadDomain said:

Yelmalio.

Poor Yelmalio - the selling point (you might get 90% in a weapon, which used to be a big deal) is nowhere near as important, and the awful spell selection matters a lot more now. 

[Akhôrahil]

2 hours ago, Darius West said:

Orlanth is one of the best and most detailed cults in the game. I personally would like to see write-ups for all the Thunder Brother subcults in any Orlanth write-up. 

I'm thinking of writing up the Hedkoranth subcult, which would give you your personal Thunderstone (Little Weighty?)  that works like an ordinary Thunderstone but can be recharged with Rune Points on the fly. 

Quote

Ernalda is a good cult too, but will never be as good at healing as Chalana Arroy, but trades that against being capable of warlike activities.  

Ernalda is also an amazing "downtime" cult, with Bless Crops and Bless Pregnancy.

Edited June 18, 2020 by Akhôrahil

[Darius West]

On 6/18/2020 at 9:37 PM, Akhôrahil said:

Poor Yelmalio - the selling point (you might get 90% in a weapon, which used to be a big deal) is nowhere near as important, and the awful spell selection matters a lot more now. 

You have to remember that Yelmalions still gets all those Create Head and Mind Absorbing spells, so they can effectively harvest those much needed spells off other people.  In that respect they are much stronger than other chaos cults, except perhaps Vivamort.

Edited June 20, 2020 by Darius West

[jajagappa]

3 hours ago, Thaz said:

So how is it in your games and how do people feel about these two cults? Do you get players choosing the big two? 

The RQG Smoking Ruins game I'm playing in has:  Ernalda, Daka Fal, Telmor, 2 Humakti

The RQG game I'm running currently has: Issaries (Harmast pre-gen), Yelmalio, Daka Fal, Donandar, Storm Bull, Babeester Gor, and Lhankor Mhy (Sorola pre-gen)

My HQG game is the most clan-based and currently has: 4 Orlanth (god-talker, hunter, 2 warriors), Ernalda, Lhankor Mhy, 1 who was Issaries but currently unaffiliated, Daka Fal

The HQG game definitely takes advantage of the more flexible subcults of Orlanth and more flexible approach to magic to tailor characters in the directions the players want to go and make them more distinct.

My old RQ3 game in the 90s never had any Orlanthi.  Yelmalio and the Conquering Daughter predominated, usually with at least one merchant (Issaries/Etyries), one sage (LM/IO), a trickster of some sort, and various others.

[jajagappa]

4 hours ago, Thaz said:

_never_ had a player choose to initiate in either of those two cults.

In the Smoking Ruins game I'm in, the Ernalda character is definitely the leader.  When I ran the Broken Tower scenario, the Ernalda player in that was also the group leader.  Though a limited sample, I do think Ernalda with her broad social skills starts to come forward in this leadership role and move away from the previous "healer" position, and makes her far more interesting and complex.

I'm not sure what it is with Orlanth.  Personally, I just don't have any affinity to him or his cult, whereas I've always liked Yelmalio.

[Akhôrahil]

51 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

Daka Fal ... 2 Humakti

“Your god killed my god!”

”Eh, no-one cared about him while he lived.”

[jajagappa]

2 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

”Eh, no-one cared about him while he lived.”

In the end, all die, and all are judged, even Humakti.  And it is Daka Fal who judges them...

[Brootse]

Never had an Ernaldan in my games. When I ran the Pavis campaign book there were no Orlanthis, but outside it there has been many.

[PhilHibbs]

Seen and played plenty of Orlanthi, only one Ernaldan. Orlanth can be seen as "a bit predictable", some people don't like to take the obvious choice, thinking that a more niche cult like Urox or Babs or Humakt is more interesting. I've certainly come across that, and even felt that way myself from time to time. I think there's plenty of scope to be distinctive, though.

Edited June 18, 2020 by PhilHibbs

[gochie]

My Orlanthi/Humakti initiate is the most powerful adventurer our table has probably ever had. 

He's Orlanth Thunderous, which means Thunderbolt and a nifty guided teleport, which has been basically acting as a free Divine Intervention if there was ever a party wipe (or free win during a thieving mission).

 

Edit: The current campaign I'm GMing has an Ernaldan Assistant Priestess as the "support/healer" character. Has done great work so far.

Edited June 22, 2020 by gochie

[Stephen L]

Current game I’m running (a Colymar based campaign) 

• 2 Yelmalians
• 1 Humakt (duck)
• 1 Yinkin
• 1 Orlanth

This doesn’t reflect the normal make up, in that we actually have an Orlanth worshipper.  Which has doubled the overall tally (that I remember).  The only other Orlanth I remember is back in the early 80’s…

I do not recall *any* Ernalda worshippers in any campaign that I have *ever* played/run.  Oh, no, I think there might have been one a long time ago.  Maybe.

In the current set, all the adventurers rolled up where *really* interesting (the character generation for RQinG is quite amazing).  Except for one.  He was good, but just a bit boring.  And a god just didn’t really jump out as obvious, unlike for the other characters.  So, in the end he settled with Orlanth.

My current group are anti-power gamers, so the all the advantages you get from Orlanth won’t be a draw.  Personally, I think I'm not drawn to playing an Orlanthi worshipper because Orlanthi are good at everything.  Whereas specialist cults, like Yelmalio, with strengths and weaknesses, makes them more interesting.

Going forward, I imagine the Yinkin player will end up with a side helping of Orlanth, to round them out a bit.

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by Stephen L
typo

[Darius West]

On 6/19/2020 at 1:17 PM, gochie said:

My Orlanthi/Humakti initiate is the most powerful adventurer our table has probably ever had. 

He's Orlanth Thunderous, which means Thunderbolt and a nifty guided teleport, which has been basically acting as a free Divine Intervention if there was ever a party wipe (or free win during a thieving mission). 

Yeah, that's pretty typical of that combo.

[dumuzid]

There's an Ernaldan in the game I play in.  She's not a front-line fighter in any real way, though she's got the magic to be pretty durable, and she's very important in our fights as a support caster and healer. The Charisma rune spell is her most tactically effective magic though, it pushes her already formidable social skills through the roof and makes her a very effective spirit combatant.  That spell's been a component to most of the group's important diplomatic successes and heroquests.

[Rodney Dangerduck]

Charisma is a very effective and fun spell.  Definitely my favorite "offbeat" rune magic.

[Stephen L]

1 hour ago, dumuzid said:

The Charisma rune spell

Yes, our Yinkin Thief character has discovered the Charisma spell, which she uses to good effect with the formidable fast talk.  But Yinkin also get claws, which does wonders for climb!

[davecake]

On 6/18/2020 at 4:29 PM, Thaz said:

I have GM'ed RQ for decades and have _never_ had a player choose to initiate in either of those two cults. Across many different players and with many different play styles.

Not my experience - I've generally seen it run at about a third of characters in Orlanth for games set in Sartar or around Pavis. Nowhere near enough Ernalda worshippers, but that's probably because I have a male group of players. My longest running RQ group (back in the RQ3 era) eventually had a Wind Lord and a Storm Voice. 

[Jeff]

21 hours ago, davecake said:

Not my experience - I've generally seen it run at about a third of characters in Orlanth for games set in Sartar or around Pavis. Nowhere near enough Ernalda worshippers, but that's probably because I have a male group of players. My longest running RQ group (back in the RQ3 era) eventually had a Wind Lord and a Storm Voice. 

My experience is that Orlanth is the most popular player character cult, hands down. Ernalda, Humakt, and Storm Bull are more or less in a tie for second place. 

[ffilz]

11 hours ago, Jeff said:

My experience is that Orlanth is the most popular player character cult, hands down. Ernalda, Humakt, and Storm Bull are more or less in a tie for second place. 

I don't know if Orlanth has been the most popular in my campaigns (RQ1/2 with Cults of Prax), but I'm pretty sure just about every PC group has had at least one Orlanth worshiper. Lately, I've had lots of Foundchild cultists. Other cults that tend to be represented (but not necessarily every PC group) are Humakt, Storm Bull, and Yelmalio, and Aldrya (if there's an Aldryami in the group). I don't think I've ever seen an Ernalda PC. I have had Daka Fal, Issaries, Lhankor Mhy, and Chalana Arroy PCs. I don't think I've ever had an Eiritha or Waha PC, and I'm pretty sure I've never had a Zorak Zoran or Kyger Litor PC. I'm not sure about Seven Mothers. I'm pretty sure that other than Found Child I've never had a non-Cults of Prax PC (oh, and I have had a Zola Fel PC or two, and my current campaign did start with a Black Fang Brotherhood PC - who was also an Orlanth worshiper as cover), certainly no Cults of Terror PCs, and with no Troll campaigns none of the other Troll cults. Beyond that, I haven't had much play time with other cults as real possibilities due to when I got materials.

But yea, Orlanth has at least been well represented. I always point out the generous list of reduced price skills and spells. It's worth noting that my campaigns are old school adventure romps rather than Gloranthan new school culture explorations (nothing wrong with those, just not my play style), so a more "adventuresome" line up of cults is going to be represented.

[Ian Absentia]

In my experience over several decades in various incarnations of Glorantha, Orlanth, despite his prominence, has almost never been a player character choice.  While GMs may have been more enthusiastic about the cult, Orlanth is generally seen as a ruling class option for homebodies, and players have invariably leaned into more adventurous cults -- in older editions, typically Storm Bull, Yelmalio, the Seven Mothers, and even Issaries.  Third Ed. Gods of Glorantha and Hero Wars / HeroQuest opened up even wilder options for player character cults, and still no takers for Orlanth.

My experience with RQG is more limited, and its evident that the emphasis on Sartar is pushing Orlanth and Ernalda as pre-eminent cults, but even then I've seen players shy away from Orlanth.  I played a character who was an up-and-coming thane, so he got saddled with the Big-O out of necessity, and I still played up a spiritual conflict with Yelm, making his Fire rune equally as powerful as his Air rune.

!i!

Edited June 23, 2020 by Ian Absentia

[Jeff]

40 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

In my experience over several decades in various incarnations of Glorantha, Orlanth, despite his prominence, has almost never been a player character choice.  While GMs may have been more enthusiastic about the cult, Orlanth is generally seen as a ruling class option for homebodies, and players have invariably leaned into more adventurous cults -- in older editions, typically Storm Bull, Yelmalio, the Seven Mothers, and even Issaries.  Third Ed. Gods of Glorantha and Hero Wars / HeroQuest opened up even wilder options for player character cults, and still no takers for Orlanth.

My experience with RQG is more limited, and its evident that the emphasis on Sartar is pushing Orlanth and Ernalda as pre-eminent cults, but even then I've seen players shy away from Orlanth.  I played a character who was an up-and-coming thane, so he got saddled with the Big-O out of necessity, and I still played up a spiritual conflict with Yelm, making his Fire rune equally as powerful as his Air rune.

!i!

You are totally running in different groups than me, including at every convention I've ever been to, on-line games, one-shots, etc. At least one Orlanth cultist is pretty much always a given, unless the game is set in the Lunar Heartlands or in some weird exotic location like Brithos or Kingdom of Ignorance.