Designing Homebrew Cults - Is there guidance anywhere?

[Arcadiagt5]

I'm currently helping a player generate a Crafter (Redsmith) character for whom Gustbran would be the recommended god. Alas, Gustbran does not have a writeup in RQ:RPG. 

However this thread was immensely helpful, as was a snippet of lore on Well of Daliath:

So, I've come up with a draft cult writeup but I was wondering if there are any general design principles that should be followed for this?

I worked out that 15 of the 21 cults in RQ: RPG give 45% to 3 skills (usually +20/+15/+10) so I applied that here. Craft (Redsmith or Pottery), Evaluate, Bargain for the record based on that thread and the lore I found. I considered Mineral Lore, but left that as a Cult skill in the extended writeup. 

But what's the design rationale for the outliers? Ernalda's +65 at the high end vs Yinkin's +35 at the low end is quite a spread. 

[Ian Absentia]

12 minutes ago, Arcadiagt5 said:

I worked out that 15 of the 21 cults in RQ: RPG give 45% to 3 skills (usually +20/+15/+10) so I applied that here.

That's a solid start right there.

14 minutes ago, Arcadiagt5 said:

But what's the design rationale for the outliers? Ernalda's +65 at the high end vs Yinkin's +35 at the low end is quite a spread. 

I reckon it's the pre-eminence that a god exerts over a condition or facet of life, and maybe the popular support the god receives from society.  Ernalda is pretty ubiquitous throughout Genertela, and the pre-eminent popular Earth goddess, so more influence over daily life is attributed to her and thus she confers more skill to her faithful.  Yinkin is a bit of a niche hunting god, local in influence and subservient in nature, and what he has to offer can be found elsewhere.  Those are subjective interpretations, but I think they help set a precedent that can be applied to other cults.

Gustbran is a solid god of smithcraft, but far from archetypal in nature -- there's other crafting gods about, so his skill bonuses should be about on par with others.  He presides over a specialty, though, so his skill bonuses shouldn't get short shrift.  If he doesn't confer more than the standard 45% in skills, make up for it in specialist magic or effects that emphasise his role in society.

!i!

[Arcadiagt5]

10 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

That's a solid start right there.

Thanks

14 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

Gustbran is a solid god of smithcraft, but far from archetypal in nature -- there's other crafting gods about, so his skill bonuses should be about on par with others.  He presides over a specialty, though, so his skill bonuses shouldn't get short shrift.  If he doesn't confer more than the standard 45% in skills, make up for it in specialist magic or effects that emphasise his role in society.

I was guided to a significant extent by the Gustbran initiate seen in The Rattling Wind so there's specialist magic aplenty. Commentary elsewhere seemed to confirm that Gustbran is the exception to the rule of only Rune Masters getting access to enchantment spells. 

So we're currently expecting this PCs POW to yo-yo like nobodies business. 😁

"You want me to make you what?! OK, that'll be X lunar for the thing, and 1,500 lunar so I can spend three months at the temple getting my POW back."

(I may allow the future owner of the item to be the one who sacrifices the POW, there may even be a rule for that somewhere already)

[Austin]

18 minutes ago, Arcadiagt5 said:

(I may allow the future owner of the item to be the one who sacrifices the POW, there may even be a rule for that somewhere already)

There is a rule stating that! The caster must sacrifice at least one POW, but others can voluntarily contribute.

[Arcadiagt5]

7 minutes ago, Crel said:

There is a rule stating that! The caster must sacrifice at least one POW, but others can voluntarily contribute.

Goes looking. Oh, there it is on p249! Thanks for that. 

[Akhôrahil]

1 hour ago, Arcadiagt5 said:

But what's the design rationale for the outliers? Ernalda's +65 at the high end vs Yinkin's +35 at the low end is quite a spread. 

It's been often noted that this game hates hunters.

[Arcadiagt5]

25 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

It's been often noted that this game hates hunters.

I'm running two campaigns that each have a hunter. The Odaylan in one is doing OK (although he wants expandable armour for when he casts Bear's Skin), and the Vingan in the other seems to be thriving.

[Akhôrahil]

1 minute ago, Arcadiagt5 said:

I'm running two campaigns that each have a hunter. The Odaylan in one is doing OK (although he wants expandable armour for when he casts Bear's Skin), and the Vingan in the other seems to be thriving.

You start out with a lot less skill percentages than others, though, and you're missing critical skills like Peaceful Cut. Some players at my table noted that Herders make for better hunters than Hunters do.

[Arcadiagt5]

15 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

You start out with a lot less skill percentages than others, though, and you're missing critical skills like Peaceful Cut. Some players at my table noted that Herders make for better hunters than Hunters do.

I might check that and maybe award some retrospective compensation. 

Although this is seriously off the topic I wanted to discuss which is guidance generally for designing cults.

Edited July 22, 2020 by Arcadiagt5

[Akhôrahil]

Yes, I mean basically follow the pattern of the existing cults, doling out the average amount of skill points. Rune Magic selection is probably the most important part. The kinds of normally lesser cults that don’t get covered yet probably shouldn’t get a wide selection.

I’m planning to introduce some subcults (Hedkoranth ftw!), but I’m waiting to see how the Cults book handles them.

[Arcadiagt5]

4 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Yes, I mean basically follow the pattern of the existing cults, doling out the average amount of skill points. Rune Magic selection is probably the most important part. The kinds of normally lesser cults that don’t get covered yet probably shouldn’t get a wide selection.

I’m planning to introduce some subcults (Hedkoranth ftw!), but I’m waiting to see how the Cults book handles them.

I was hoping to wait as well but when a player asks to be a crafter and enchanter...

[David Scott]

2 hours ago, Arcadiagt5 said:

I'm currently helping a player generate a Crafter (Redsmith) character for whom Gustbran would be the recommended god. Alas, Gustbran does not have a writeup in RQ:RPG. 

However this thread was immensely helpful, as was a snippet of lore on Well of Daliath:

So, I've come up with a draft cult writeup but I was wondering if there are any general design principles that should be followed for this?

The actual write up is 4 short paragraphs - membership, what members do, and training, spirit magic and rune magic (these are in the other thread - note that Gustbran is the only cult that lets initiates use Enchantments).

Quote

 

Starting Skills:

Cult Lore Lowfires +15% Worship Lowfires +20% Meditate +5% Craft (bronze or pottery) +20% Bargain +15% Evaluate +10%

 

Gustbran is the God of the Work Fire, so potters as well. 

[Akhôrahil]

4 minutes ago, David Scott said:

note that Gustbran is the only cult that lets initiates use Enchantments

This is a significant deal.

I'm of the opinion that every cult should have some selling point, something that it can do better than anyone else (one of my problem with the old style of Grain Godesses cults, which were just bad compared to Ernalda). It doesn't have to be something big, but it should be something.

[Austin]

17 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

something that it can do better than anyone else

Or at least anyone else in the region, anyway.

[Akhôrahil]

Just now, Crel said:

Or at least anyone else in the region, anyway.

Sure, that will do too.