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What would Gonn Orta trade?


Squaredeal Sten

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So Gonn Orta sits in his castle in the Rockwood Mountains and trades.  He is a priest (?) of Issaries so must trade fairly well.  But he doesn't go anywhere these days-

What would he have to trade?  What would he be interested in trading for?

Not for items of ordinary use like food:  With only a mule train you would be unable to carry enough food for a large giant's snack, and Gonn Orta is very large.

Trading for magic and making a profit, as in give me two and I'll give you one?

Seems to me that for his own use he would be above trading for most common magic items humans use.  A magic ring wouldn't fit his finger.  Maybe a magic barrel hoop would. 

 

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20 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

So Gonn Orta sits in his castle in the Rockwood Mountains and trades.  He is a priest (?) of Issaries so must trade fairly well.  But he doesn't go anywhere these days-

Most of the trading is done by Boshbisil. Who owns most of the goods. Gonn Orta, does very little.

20 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

What would he have to trade?

There's an example list of items on page 184 of Classic Griffin Mountain.

20 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

What would he be interested in trading for?

Buy low sell high, so anything.

20 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Not for items of ordinary use like food:  With only a mule train you would be unable to carry enough food for a large giant's snack, and Gonn Orta is very large.

Food is covered is covered on page 180, elves on the western side trade vegetable matter, Praxians trade herd beasts on the eastern side. Gonn Orta doesn't need to eat anymore.

20 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Trading for magic and making a profit, as in give me two and I'll give you one?

Buy low sell high...

20 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Seems to me that for his own use he would be above trading for most common magic items humans use.  A magic ring wouldn't fit his finger.  Maybe a magic barrel hoop would. 

He's got no need for them. What ever he has already is likely good enough for his Hero Wars activities.

Edited by David Scott
clarified Classic Griffin Mountain

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2 hours ago, David Scott said:

He's got no need for them. What ever he has already is likely good enough for his Hero Wars activities.

And he isn't going to trade those.

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4 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

So Gonn Orta sits in his castle in the Rockwood Mountains and trades.  He is a priest (?) of Issaries so must trade fairly well.  But he doesn't go anywhere these days-

What would he have to trade?  What would he be interested in trading for?

He owns the Trading Post but is busy becoming a mountain or contemplating current events. 

However, the Trading Post will trade anything magical. 

You bring things and you will probably get a buyer, as the Trading Post will buy things.

We played that the Trading Post would buy anything at half its official list price, or value, without checking on its provenance, as they could probably get a buyer later on, You could try to Bargain with them to get the price up, but you are likely to lose and drive the price down.

However, don't try to cheat them, as they are giants and will happily throw you off a cliff or stomp on you. actually, they probably wouldn't, but they would make you think that they would.

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To trade: magic Items, lot’s o’ them. But cheap, no way. Useful, well that depends on the use. Odd items found no where else that can only be bought by small nations, nobles of means, very rich adventurers, odd monsters, information.

Trade for: large trees or large milled lumber, food in  large quantities—think herds, Bushels upon bushels of vegetation etc. Rolls of linen/leather/cloth/ and large furs, large metal tools and household implements. Odd items found no where else that can only be bought by small nations, nobles of means, very rich adventurers. Being a famous site for Trollball, one could assume merch!  Odd monsters, information, goods for an inn. Metals, gems and jewels—magical or mundane.

Edited by Bill the barbarian

... remember, with a TARDIS, one is never late for breakfast!

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4 hours ago, Ali the Helering said:

Ducks?  I seem to recall that he has an interest in every one that goes past - Ahgwath, perhaps?

You know, thinking on that point, with his curiosity about the little folk a player or puppeteer troop should make a killing at the Castle!

Edited by Bill the barbarian
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5 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

So Gonn Orta sits in his castle in the Rockwood Mountains and trades.  He is a priest (?) of Issaries so must trade fairly well.  But he doesn't go anywhere these days-

What would he have to trade?  What would he be interested in trading for?

Not for items of ordinary use like food:  With only a mule train you would be unable to carry enough food for a large giant's snack, and Gonn Orta is very large.

Trading for magic and making a profit, as in give me two and I'll give you one?

Seems to me that for his own use he would be above trading for most common magic items humans use.  A magic ring wouldn't fit his finger.  Maybe a magic barrel hoop would. 

 

Gonn Orta likes to trade for magical items, especially ones that you find in Plunder.  As to what he does with them?  I suspect he is saving them for his daughter's cradle.

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2 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

Thanks, I have the Gloranthan Classics Griffin Mountain A Moon Design publication, so it's on p.210.

 

No worries, i am lucky enough to have PDFs and hard copy of both. The original is still holding together in a very nice faux leather 3-ring binder, spine long gone, while the Rick Meintz led remake is what got me back into RQ. I was gifted with the G2G hardcovers, RQ 6 and the Griffen Mountain remake back in ‘16. Sweet! 

... remember, with a TARDIS, one is never late for breakfast!

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13 hours ago, Ali the Helering said:

Ducks?  I seem to recall that he has an interest in every one that goes past - Ahgwath, perhaps?

It say's he had an interest in ducks, but not any more.

Edited by David Scott

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6 hours ago, David Scott said:

It say's he had an interest in ducks, but not any more.

Ah yes, thanks - away from my books amid self-isolation, dammit.  Over in two more days, hurrah!

So - if durulz are in the past, what is his present fascination?  A mountain with something resembling OCD has interesting/disturbing possibilities.

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Maybe not ducks, but I get from the book that Gonn Orta is still looking for something, we just don’t know what.  My read is that he is looking for someone unusual, but he’s not sure what that cloak of unusualness might be.  Ducks are unusual, but apparently not what he was looking for (yet?).

As for trade, well, better bring the good stuff.  I doubt he has any interest in something mundane like furs or bronze weapons.  Potent magical items?  Okay, now we’re talking...  Thing is, mercantilism is a funny thing.  Very subjective.  Something that you might think is worthless could be something the merchant can turn around for a quick and relatively riskless profit.  Good merchants know their business and what their customers want.  That otherwise banal extra-long wool cloak you found in a monster cave?  Well, the merchant is going to know someone just the right height for it.  That non-magical garnet ring?  Turns out there’s a jeweler in the big city looking for garnets for a piece he’s working on.

Don’t forget also that merchants have overhead as well.  That saddle you paid 100 guilders for?  You might get 20-40 guilders for it when you sell it back, if he can still get 100 silver for it.  Your “worth” is his cost, and they ain’t going to pay you 100 guilders for something they’re going to sell for 100 guilders.  Don’t make dollars; don’t make sense.  Unless the adventurers want to set up their own trade caravans and market stalls and sell the stuff themselves.  Of course, then they get to deal with hagglers, who are a royal PITA.

Gotta keep ‘em poor and questing for more...

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On 7/12/2021 at 12:15 PM, Ali the Helering said:

So - if durulz are in the past, what is his present fascination?  A mountain with something resembling OCD has interesting/disturbing possibilities.

That was ostensibly in the 1615-1618 timeframe.  Perhaps it had something to do with the Duck Hunt?

Between 1618-1621, it seems likely that Gonn Orta is working on the Cradle Project.  Preparations, objects, gifts, etc.  You could go through the list of items found on the Cradle in that scenario and figure that Gonn Orta needed the various raw materials to produce those. 

Post 1621, maybe he needs things that he can "send" to his daughter while she grows in the Underworld (i.e. birthday "cards" and gifts).  Moonboat wood, magic carpets, dreams wrapped in the wings of a Nightmare, etc.

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One thing bothers me with Gonn Orta castle : trading posts normaly sit on, or close to a trading route with a lot of traffic and many visitors. But Gonn Orta is lost in an inhospitable mountain between to inhospitable lands where almost no caravan would dare travelling. So who comes there to trade ? And where do the giants get their trading stuff ?

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7 hours ago, Zit said:

One thing bothers me with Gonn Orta castle : trading posts normaly sit on, or close to a trading route with a lot of traffic and many visitors. But Gonn Orta is lost in an inhospitable mountain between to inhospitable lands where almost no caravan would dare travelling. So who comes there to trade ? And where do the giants get their trading stuff ?

IIRC, they are on a mountain-pass that cuts the travel-time by a *LOT*... and they themselves are the main "obstacle" to that passage.
Trade successfully, and pass.

 

On 7/12/2021 at 7:09 PM, GMKen said:

...  I doubt he has any interest in something mundane like furs or bronze weapons ...

Gonn Orta may be skimming items he personally wants, and willing to take the hit to his bottom line.
But (like any merchant) he's buying mostly for items that he plans to sell.

Bronze weapons & tools into Prax?  Yep.
Furs & other Praxian products?  Probably (in fact, it may go both ways, with different furs common & low-value  -=vs=-  rare & high-value on different sides of the pass!)

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11 hours ago, Zit said:

One thing bothers me with Gonn Orta castle : trading posts normaly sit on, or close to a trading route with a lot of traffic and many visitors. But Gonn Orta is lost in an inhospitable mountain between to inhospitable lands where almost no caravan would dare travelling. So who comes there to trade ? And where do the giants get their trading stuff ?

Gonna Orta lives where giants like to live.  And people with strong magic come to him to trade magic. He sits between Prax and Balazar, and his "castle" blocks a rare pass. So it is not a trade route for everyone, just for Gonn Orta.

As for where he gets it, he tends to take two in trade for each one he gives.  And he is an Issaries with an early history in Peloria.  Presumably that is where he first made his stake.  

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When it comes to Gonn Orta, there are two main answers: the mundane and the mystical.

Mundane: The Griffin Mountain manuscript was originally written by Jaquays and Kraft and submitted to Chaosium as a Gateway supplement. Greg Stafford was ok with that approach at first, but as he worked through the material he had them switch it to being based in Glorantha (this is discussed a bit in the designer's notes). Greg then spent most of his time adding some Gloranthan history and specifics to various places in the manuscript. Gonn Orta was given some of that extra Gloranthan detail. As is very common with many Gloranthan subjects, Greg never wanted nor intended to provide some definitive "end-all, be-all" information. He provided broad strokes and left the rest to be filled in by you. That's part of the elegant genius of what he wrote. Greg inspired you to speculate and expand on his notes. He provided a skeleton for you to add the flesh to. 

Mystical: Because the first Gloranthan campaign that I played through in 1981 was Griffin Mountain, I spoke to Greg about its contents often. A common topic was, of course, the big man, Gonn Orta. The best part of those conversations was how we speculated on what Gonn Orta represents, where he fit into things, and what he might do. His future was never written in stone. Being an ancient giant born in the Godtime before the dawn, he has seen far more than any player character. The passing of time and the importance of events to him is on a scale we mere mortals have little hope of comprehending. Gonn Orta is a way to give agency to the players. He is not the focus of events, but the backdrop within which they might unfold. He is technically a backwater unless you choose to use him otherwise. His daughter is in THE Cradle, and the rest is up to you.

In the end, as was said a mere 40+ years ago: Use of Gonn Orta is in the hands of the referee, but we suggest that the giant be reserved for mysterious actions, long-term plot developments, and exotic advice or information. Of course, that follows my favorite single tag line: Save him for the Hero Wars.

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On 7/12/2021 at 2:10 AM, David Scott said:

He's got no need for them. What ever he has already is likely good enough for his Hero Wars activities.

I have to disagree.  The impression I got from Griffin Mountain is that Gonn Orta collects magical items for pleasure.  I have since changed my opinion to one that he is collecting magic itself, and repurposing it for his daughter's crib by means lost since Time began.

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