Cliffhome Description

[Jim]

I am looking for a more detailed description of Cliffhome than is available in the GtG. I thought I’d come across one somewhere but I’m struggling to find it again, so maybe it was the troll dream. 
 

Does anyone know of a more detailed published description?

[metcalph]

29 minutes ago, Jim said:

I am looking for a more detailed description of Cliffhome than is available in the GtG. I thought I’d come across one somewhere but I’m struggling to find it again, so maybe it was the troll dream. 
 

Does anyone know of a more detailed published description?

The nearest that I know of is Crabtown in Trollpak p144 and also Into the Troll Realms.  But that doesn't have any details of Cliffhome itself.

Edited July 11, 2020 by metcalph

[David Scott]

Firstly I always draw upon the sites at the Dawn in the Guide as the basis:

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Aranea Kad: This crude palatial temple on Black Dragon Mountain was home to the demigoddess Cragspider.

(don't forget the kilometres of pictographs etched into the Black Dragon mountains).

then HeroQuest Glorantha has the Confronting the Firewitch scene:

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The lair of Cragspider is deep within the bowels of the Black Dragon Mountain. Cragspider the Firewitch is astride a vast web that encompasses the cosmos and reaches into every Otherworld. Claudia shows the players a picture of Cragspider. In her dark chamber, Cragspider is the only source of light; a flickering flame that reveals hints of countless trolls and spiders around her.

So sounds like it's a simple affair - crude palatial temple - to troll gods and spiders. I've always used the avenues of Carnac for inspiration, increase the area and stone size, make the stones black for effect (a bit like the wild temple) in front of a huge gaping black gnawed entrance into the labyrinthine passages, chambers and caves inside the mountain.

Outside its a world of spiders, webs and bones... with a clean road to the entrance, Cragspider - always likes visitors (Confronting the Firewitch).

There's also a description in The Land Where the Shadows Dance by James Frusetta and Stephen Martin (The Book of Drastic Resolutions, Volume Darkness 1998), but it's a bit boring saying there's a weird stone structure, castle and some silk and stone buildings.

 

Edited July 11, 2020 by David Scott

[soltakss]

For what it is worth, I have always seen Cragspider's castle as being a Mongolian-style Pagoda-Fortress, nestled between the two peaks of Firewitch Mountain. Vast webs go from peak to peak and in between, covering the whole area and hosting hundreds of giant and lesser spiders.

Cragspider's castle itself forms part of Firewitch Mountain and has its roots in Hell and its peak in the Sky.

https://lh3.ggpht.com/9VBqd11NJwmz5bLLXHFlkSjRAZhEy_3v1pgrw2zPwkYgED5hs84P1cz4pBRa

 

 

 

[Joerg]

Redbird and his companions questing for a living heir of Sartar depart to the Holy Country using the Gorangi Vak heroquest path, which allows a quester to start the quest at Cliffhome and end it on the slopes of Stormwalk Mountain with the option to catch a sky bull as a steed. There may have been half a sentence of description of Cliffhome in that report.

Other than that, Kalin Kadiev's page of a future Prince of Sartar chapter showing Samastina's interaction with Cragspider is the best visual source I can think of. The Cragspider encounter illustration in King of Dragon Pass is very nice, too.

Edited August 9, 2020 by Joerg

[Bill the barbarian]

5 minutes ago, Joerg said:

Edited 1 minute ago by Joerg

Good lord man, look at the hour on your home clock! Didn’t you go to bed after finishing the Story Notes for Wind Words 6th episode? Gadzooks! Oh and thanks for the great transcript and work, now off to your dungeon!

Edited August 9, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[Minlister]

I believe I read a description in the Zine letters fanzine number 3, but I can't check because I am not at home and I made the terrible mistake of not renting a van to move with my Glorantha library.

Rookie mistake.

But if anyone has the book maybe it can check for all of us?

[Garrik]

On 8/9/2020 at 8:13 PM, Minlister said:

I believe I read a description in the Zine letters fanzine number 3

--

But if anyone has the book maybe it can check for all of us?

No such thing in the Zin Letters #3. The fanzine discusses the Orlanthi tribes, and there is next to no info on the Uz, and then only from the mannish perspective and near the Indigo Mountains.

[Minlister]

I made a mistake then, I can't remember where I read this description of Cliffhome, sorry!

[jajagappa]

On 7/11/2020 at 3:54 AM, Jim said:

I am looking for a more detailed description of Cliffhome than is available in the GtG. I thought I’d come across one somewhere but I’m struggling to find it again, so maybe it was the troll dream. 

I don't recall if there was anything in the old RQ3 Troll Gods book, and don't have it immediately available, but it did include the cult of Aranea.

Two other possible non-canonical sources:

Book of Drastic Resolutions: Volume Darkness (late 90's fanzine) - has about 3 paragraphs describing Cliffhome.

Uz: The Trolls of Glorantha (an Unspoken Word publication for HW/HQ1) - might have something, though again not immediately at hand.

[Minlister]

@jajagappa

Quote

Book of Drastic Resolutions: Volume Darkness (late 90's fanzine) - has about 3 paragraphs describing Cliffhome.

YES! that's what I had in mind! Thanks!

[Hijabg]

On 7/11/2020 at 4:23 AM, metcalph said:

The nearest that I know of is Crabtown in Trollpak p144 and also Into the Troll Realms.  But that doesn't have any details of Cliffhome itself.

There is some information about Cliffhome in the Into the Troll Realms adventure book for RQIII. It's in the players' information intro for the Skyfall Lake scenario. 

 

Lunar Report on the Skyfall Lake Region [compiled 1584]

This populous troll queendom is ruled personally by the heroquester called Cragspider. Her impenetrable castle, Cliffhome, perches atop the highest mountain of the region. Many able lieutenants assist her in dealing with her populace, for she is never seen outside of her home.

There are no cities here, though many tiny villages dot the shores of the misty Skyfall Lake. (...)

 

On the next page:

Lunar Report on Religions Ic. 15951
The most popular religion in the area is that of Arachne Solara, the goddess of nature. Cragspider, a monster troll, is said to be high priestess of the cult. She is never seen but the pinnacle which houses her is but 12 miles away from the lake, always visible. (...)

 

14 hours ago, jajagappa said:

I don't recall if there was anything in the old RQ3 Troll Gods book, and don't have it immediately available, but it did include the cult of Aranea.

Here is what I found about Cliffhome in the Aranea Cult description from the Troll Gods box for RQIII.

The cult is also popular among trolls dwelling in and around Cliffhome and Skyfall Lake, in Dragon Pass. Holy places for Aranea include Cliffhome, Spider's Rest (in the Rockwood mountains), and Web Combe (in the Man Mountains). Spiders and other arachnids are generally solitary creatures, and hence maintain no temples. Intelligent spiders living near Aranea's holy sites can obtain divine magic from these sites. The spider hsunchen maintain shrines or minor temples in their villages. The trolls at Cliffhome actually maintain a great temple. Shrines teach Spider's Head. (...)