Naming Abilities in a non gloranthan fantasy setting

[Targhan]

Hi folks!

Though I've run a small campaign with HQ:G and some sessions with QW (some number around 0.4X?) making characters it's still a headache for me. I've read every thread I've found related to this, I've been rummaging in @Andrew J. Luther's blog entries... but I feel quite uncapable of listing abilities for a non-Gloranthan fantasy.

I'm trying to adapt my old Mystaran campaign to QuestWorlds/HeroQuest 2e; far from D&D and D&D-isms (I still need to come up with some sort of magic system to fit my campaign, possibly something in the line of a sword & sorcery setting), and I usually do this (when I've swiched to other systems) visualizing different characters: how would I represent a knave? and a swashbuckler? what about a fire mage? But filling up anything beyond the core concept seems beyond my capabilities.

So, here is my plea: would you be so kind to share with me some typical characters from your games?

Being HQ:G the game it is, I can't resort to NPCs as they usually aren't described as PCs are. And being most of the material dedicated to Glorantha, I have troubles thinking of examples in a different setting.

Can you help me?

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, Targhan said:

So, here is my plea: would you be so kind to share with me some typical characters from your games?

My HQG game is Gloranthan so I can't provide any non-Gloranthan examples, but I always start with these Keywords as the basics (and I think are applicable in any world).

• Culture
• Clan/City/Tribe
• Occupation
• Distinguishing Characteristic

With Glorantha, all the characters then have 3 Runes.  If I was converting 13th Age to HQG, I'd have an Icon Relationship and One Unique Thing.  Potentially, you could just take a D&D class as a Keyword.

Here are three character examples (my players all have their own styles of how they group and organize abilities, and that's one of the pluses in my mind of HQG, though the freeform aspect of that can feel overwhelming).

----------------------------------------

Sarotar the Soother, Honeywater
Charismatic healer, initiate of Heler Yuhurol
Imagine a young David Bowie who's set himself up as a faith healer and proto-cult leader.

Heortling 13
- Club-fighter +1 +1 +1 = +3
Orlmarth Clan 13(+3)=16
- Praise to the Clouds, Rain to the Ground +1 +1 = +2
- Vow to the Wyter +2
- Relationship: Friend of the Ash Creek Lady +1
Healer 17+4 = 1W +1 = 2W
- Lead Healing Ritual +2
- Feel the Undercurrent of the Request (sense motive) +1
- Flow away from Danger +1
Water 1W +1 = 2W- Initiate of Heler Yuhurol
- Soothe the Troubled Waters of the Mind +1
- Summon Healing Rain +1
- Extinguish Flames Dance +1
Harmony 17(+3)=20
- Reflect the Heart's Desire +1
Mastery 13

Distinguishing characteristic: Charismatic 17

Allies:
- Retainers: The Twin Blue-Clad Healing Women 17

Additional abilities:
Relationship with Serarernalda 13
Foe of the Bad Dogs 13

Flaws:
- "I know what's best" 2W
- Water always finds the Quickest Path (Unscrupulous) 2W

-------------------------------------------

Breya Hjaralsdottir

Concept
Rugged Huntress

Cultural Keyword
Heortling 13

Community
Orlmarth Clan 16
Foe of Lunar Witch Oheha +1
Vow to Serve the Wyter +2
Vow to Fight the Fire Tribe +1

Occupational Keyword
Hunter 18
Good provider +1
Watchful +1
Release Beast Spirit +1

Runes
Odayla 1W
Stalker +1
Harmony 17
Earth 13
Feel Presence of Earth Friends and Foes [talent] +1

Distinguishing Characteristic
Rugged 18

Additional Abilities
Heal Wounds 16
My Father's Bow 15
Darkfinder +1*
True Flight +2*
Gain Sanctuary Within the Earth 13
Know Spirit World 13
Relationship With Joseph Greenbeak 13

Indra
Alynx 1W
Move Silently 18
Ambush 18

Flaws
Territorial 2W
Prone to Wandering 17
Never Leave a Clanmate in Danger 17
Haunted by Vision of the Dying Bear 13

------------------------------------------

Gavran Purrs-a-lot
Happy-go-lucky Yinkini Warrior
Runes: Air, Life, Yinkin

Heortling 13
Community: Orlmarth 13
Warrior 4w (17+7)
+1 ‘Wind Claw’ (ancestral sword that belonged to great grandfather Derick who died at Grizzly Peak)
Air Rune 17
Life Rune 13
Yinkin Rune 4W (1W+3)
Initiate of Yinkin 4W
+1 charming
+1 nine lives
Likes riddles 15 (13+2)
Companion: Bobab (scary Alynx)
- Alynx 5W
- Scary 5W
- Loyal 16
Distinguishing characteristic: Happy-go-lucky 17
Flaws: Has an eye for the girls 5W, likes to party 5W

 

[soltakss]

2 hours ago, Targhan said:

I'm trying to adapt my old Mystaran campaign to QuestWorlds/HeroQuest 2e; far from D&D and D&D-isms (I still need to come up with some sort of magic system to fit my campaign, possibly something in the line of a sword & sorcery setting), and I usually do this (when I've swiched to other systems) visualizing different characters: how would I represent a knave? and a swashbuckler? what about a fire mage? But filling up anything beyond the core concept seems beyond my capabilities.

For QuestWorlds, I would stick with the Keyword (Breakout) format, where your Keyword is you magic system and the Breakouts are spells or effects.

So, if you have elemental-based magic, then each Element would be a Keyword, so you might have Earth (Wall of Earth, Sucking Mud, Dirty Hands), Fire (Scorching Tongue, Burning Glance, Hot Head) and so on.

If your magic was grimoire based, each Grimoire would be a Keyword, and the spells in the Grimoire would be Breakouts, so Book of Joy (Happy Place, Love Everyone, Kumbaya) might work.

2 hours ago, Targhan said:

I'm trying to adapt my old Mystaran campaign to QuestWorlds/HeroQuest 2e; far from D&D and D&D-isms (I still need to come up with some sort of magic system to fit my campaign, possibly something in the line of a sword & sorcery setting), and I usually do this (when I've swiched to other systems) visualizing different characters: how would I represent a knave? and a swashbuckler? what about a fire mage? But filling up anything beyond the core concept seems beyond my capabilities.

Things like Knave just become Keywords, so you might have Knave (Seducer, Cad, Climb) or Swashbuckler (Swing, Jump and Fight, Witty Insult).

Sometimes you just need the core concept and flesh that out later.

[David Scott]

I've run quite a few different HeroQuest game including HQG. The key for me in using a different setting / adapting the system was basically to just HeroQuest-ise the system. For example, I ran Exalted with HeroQuest and just used most of it as is (can't find any characters, but I've the sheet (attached). 

13 hours ago, Targhan said:

 and I usually do this (when I've swiched to other systems) visualizing different characters: how would I represent a knave? and a swashbuckler? what about a fire mage? But filling up anything beyond the core concept seems beyond my capabilities.

So, here is my plea: would you be so kind to share with me some typical characters from your games?

Donnie from our Christmas Adventures games (an Ickle Elf)

Tex from a sci-fi game

Some Dwarfs from my Pacific Rim / Glorantha mashup

Tex.pdfRock.pdfDragon Blooded.pdfAqua.pdfDonnie.pdf

 

Some simple run downs

Skimming https://arcaneeye.com/class-guides/swashbuckler-5e-guide/

Descriptor: Sneaky

Keyword: Swashbucker

                   Rakish Audacity +1

Keyword: High Elf

                   Long Bow +1

Keyword: Simple Magic

                   Cantrip 1 +1

                   Cantrip 2 +1

Flaw 1: Scared of Water

Flaw: Family dependants

----

Descriptor: Scheming

Keyword: Fire Mage

                    Fire Elemental +1

Keyword: Human

                    Teacher +1

Keyword: Fire Magic

                  Fire Spell 1 +1

                  Fire Spell 2 +1

 

Flaw 1: Enemy of the Windr

Flaw: Must eat coal

[Lordabdul]

10 hours ago, David Scott said:

my Pacific Rim / Glorantha mashup

wait wat 😄

[David Scott]

On 6/23/2022 at 8:34 PM, Ludovic aka Lordabdul said:

wait wat 😄

See

https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/7315-scenario-ideas-for-dwarf-knoll/#comment-102295

then the rest further down...

 

 

[Targhan]

Sorry for taking this long to answer! I've been reading and checking your examples and now I have some clue of what could be going on.

My guess is that I've been stuck in the "if you can solve a problem with it" motto and overthought most of the names. Probably getting too closer to the FATE phrasing style. Most of your abilities are actually quite simple in their statement. Truth is there isn't that many examples through the books. Most of the abilities in the HQ:G examples are excedeeingly gloranthan in nature. Replicating that in a kitchen-sink fantasy is not easy. Specially when I just want to use the proper setting while avoiding every D&D-ism (vancian magic, skills, classes, etc.)

I'm going to lower the bar a couple of notches and try some packages in the style of HQ 1e quite in line with @soltakss's advice. Later I will boil down that and see what's left.

You've been most helpful!

[JonL]

Mystara, eh? Meet...

Tritia Eirena Ptochoprodroma, or "Irene" in Common, for short.

Background: Patrikia of Thyatis (human)

--- Niece of Archon Metro Ptochoprodromas

---Civilized grace

Profession: Natural Philosopher (Magic-User)

--- Grimoire: The Prestidigitator's Primer

---Grimoire: On the Malleability of the Three Dimensions

Distinguishing Characteristic: Keen Powers of Observation

Aligned with: the Supernal Principle of Law

Other:

Familiar, Lukas the Owl

Lover of Ancient Tales

Alchemikal Field Kit

Flaws:

Can't let go of a puzzle

Used to privileged city life

Sleeps like a log

 

See here for the example D&D grimoire's I name-checked above.

 

 

 

Edited June 27 by JonL

[soltakss]

On 6/27/2022 at 11:42 AM, Targhan said:

I'm going to lower the bar a couple of notches and try some packages in the style of HQ 1e quite in line with @soltakss's advice. Later I will boil down that and see what's left.

One thing that I forgot to mention was that you could also take ideas from other games.

So, for a Gloranthan game, I use spells and skills from RuneQuest but in unusual ways. So, I could have Death (Bladesharp, Sever Spirit, Crush), Orlanth (Wind Words, Flight, Teleport) and so on.

For a SciFi game, take skill names and packages from something like Stars Without Number and have each Expert Package as a Keyword, so Bounty Hunter (Combat/Blaster, Navigation, Persuade, Survival) or Xenoarcheologist (History, Perception, Science, Tech/Alien).

That way, you have readily-available templates that PCs can use as guidelines for the skills they have. You can vary them and have other Keywords and Breakouts, but it should be fairly easy to do.

 

[soltakss]

On 6/22/2022 at 8:18 PM, Targhan said:

I'm trying to adapt my old Mystaran campaign to QuestWorlds/HeroQuest 2e; far from D&D and D&D-isms (I still need to come up with some sort of magic system to fit my campaign, possibly something in the line of a sword & sorcery setting), and I usually do this (when I've swiched to other systems) visualizing different characters: how would I represent a knave? and a swashbuckler? what about a fire mage? But filling up anything beyond the core concept seems beyond my capabilities.

I am not that familiar with the setting, but am familiar with D20, which is fairly similar, I think.

If a Class in D&D has abilities and skills, just have them as Breakouts from Keywords. 

So, looking at Rogue, we have:

• Skills: Acrobatics, Appraise, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Disguise, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Knowledge (dungeoneering), Knowledge (local), Linguistics, Perception, Perform, Profession, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Swim, Use Magic Device
• Feats: Sneak Attack, Trapfinding, Evasion, Trap Sense, Uncanny Dodge, Master Strike, Masterful Talent

So, use some of those as the basis of the Breakouts. Have Rogue (Acrobatics, Climb, Escape Artist, Evasion, Stealth, Swim, Trap Sense), or Rogue (Appraise, Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Linguistics, Sense Motive, Evasion, Uncanny Dodge), both are Rogues and both are very different.

[JonL]

Here's another one. (I haven't played in Mystara since I was a schoolboy, but it's been in my imagination since Isle of Dread.)

Kairon Manre of the Minrothad Guilds

Background: Guild Elsan of Seahome (Water Elf)

--- Natural Navigator

--- Cousins Far and Wide

--- Grimoire: The Prestidigitator's Primer

Profession: Manre Clan Pilot

--- Grimoire: The Silver Rutter

--- Can Smell the Weather

Distinguishing Characteristic: A Lover in Every Port

Aligned with: The Ocean Path (Neutral)

Other:

Sharp with a Cutlass

Sharper with his Tongue

Lucky at Cards

Flaws:

Can't Hold-on to Money

Terrified of Snakes

Sucker for a Pretty Face

 

The Silver Rutter: Clan Manre's collection of essential spells for seafaring.

 - Read Languages

 - Hold Fast (Similar to Hold Portal, but works with knots & rope)

 - Floating Disc

 - Locate Object

 - Continual Light

 - Water Breathing

 - Summon Elemental

 

Edited July 6 by JonL