It's about to get real....

[jackleg2010]

[svensson]

"'Dodge this', he says...."

[Joerg]

1 hour ago, svensson said:

"'Dodge this', he says...."

The amount of damage such an opponent can deal will take out a limb often even at minimal damage, which makes an unencumbered dodging approach sensible, The shield would make sense with Earthshield, again obviating any use of armor.

There is a risk that the opponent has magic or lesser minions, but a few points of shield will work nicely.

[French Desperate WindChild]

option 1) don't understand why the guy wants to use a shield and a blade... be honorable, hands versus hands !

option 2) they will run over to hug themselves, one of them crying "Dady"

 

 

very nice picture. I have a feeling of quietude + dramatic emergency, thanks a lot

 

[svensson]

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

The amount of damage such an opponent can deal will take out a limb often even at minimal damage, which makes an unencumbered dodging approach sensible, The shield would make sense with Earthshield, again obviating any use of armor.

There is a risk that the opponent has magic or lesser minions, but a few points of shield will work nicely.

So would running like Hell... I've personally found that knowing when to duck and knowing when to GTFO were two VERY important aspects to my lifelong ambition to, as my team sergeant said so long ago, 'not die stupid'....

[Joerg]

3 minutes ago, svensson said:

So would running like Hell... I've personally found that knowing when to duck and knowing when to GTFO were two VERY important aspects to my lifelong ambition to, as my team sergeant said so long ago, 'not die stupid'....

While the army probably tells people not to be a hero, our genre is all about idiots challenging overpowering odds against them. The fact that our game systems have experience systems shows some similar optimism on the side of the designers. (Even Call of Cthulhu retains the RQ experience system.)

But we are digressing from the nice image.

Nobody yet asked "where in Glorantha", but my guess would be in the forested south of Aggar, where the aldryami-gifted Jolanti from Gonn Orta's raid on Nida roam. No other dwarfen construct would allow itself to be overgrown like that,

Edited September 8, 2022 by Joerg

[PhilHibbs]

2 minutes ago, svensson said:

So would running like Hell... I've personally found that knowing when to duck and knowing when to GTFO were two VERY important aspects to my lifelong ambition to, as my team sergeant said so long ago, 'not die stupid'....

Well that's a common problem with roleplaying games, RuneQuest in particular. When I ran The Broken Tower, the party spent an entire game session agonizing whether or not they had the firepower to take on the bad guys at the tower. They were expecting a gang of six or seven seasoned raiders, which would have overwhelmed them.

If they're supposed to fight their way past something that isn't actually as scary as it looks, that can derail an entire campaign (that the GM may have paid LOTS of money to for).

One-on-one against that thing in the picture? Not smart. But a party of three should be able to take it down without too much bother. That's the thing with big creatures in RQ2 and RQG, they have very low hit points for their size so they go down pretty quick.

[RandomNumber]

2 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

One-on-one against that thing in the picture? Not smart. But a party of three should be able to take it down without too much bother. That's the thing with big creatures in RQ2 and RQG, they have very low hit points for their size so they go down pretty quick.

Yes, we noticed that. For example, Uz have a bit more of a glass jaw compared to RQ3 when HP were the average of SIZ and CON. We prefer the RQG approach.

[svensson]

@Joerg

'Where in Glorantha' is this?

Pretty much anywhere with a pissed off Ernalda Temple Queen that you offended recently... And that can be A LOT of places if one isn't careful.

I don't know if there's a spell called 'Summon Great Big Eff'ing Earth Elemental' but SOMEBODY figured it out....

[Squaredeal Sten]

It doesn't match the Bestiary description of an Earth Elemental.  I could believe a Jolanti.  

Whatever it is, a combination of Slow and an Earth Elemental should grind it down.  Maybe stacked Lightning would take it down too.   

Engaging it with a knife does not appeal, any more than grappling with a gorp does.  

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by Squaredeal Sten

[David Scott]

If you've not played the Broken Tower, you won't understand, but if you have you will recognise when the players meet the main protagonist.

 

[svensson]

3 hours ago, David Scott said:

If you've not played the Broken Tower, you won't understand, but if you have you will recognise when the players meet the main protagonist.

 

Knowing when to aggro the boss fight is a KEY skill in the overall goal of 'not dying stupid' 😁

[Shiningbrow]

On 9/8/2022 at 3:22 PM, Joerg said:

The amount of damage such an opponent can deal will take out a limb often even at minimal damage, which makes an unencumbered dodging approach sensible, The shield would make sense with Earthshield, again obviating any use of armor.

There is a risk that the opponent has magic or lesser minions, but a few points of shield will work nicely.

Except... note the complete lack of Runes across his body...

[Joerg]

14 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Except... note the complete lack of Runes across his body...

So? The blade already tells me he is quite likely from the Lunar Empire, which isn't as big on tattoos as the Orlanthi.

Ernalda's "Bless Champion" is not limited to Orlanth, or to other husband or Earth protectors, and Earth Shield is a typical blessing.

This guy might be a Steel Sword Legion fighter seeking to make a name for himself, with a cast of supporters not with him for this duel. Possibly a Yanafali, giving access to a number of sword magics that may overcome the Jolanti defenses.

[Shiningbrow]

8 hours ago, Joerg said:

Ernalda's "Bless Champion" is not limited to Orlanth, or to other husband or Earth protectors, and Earth Shield is a typical blessing.

I don't really want to derail the thread by heading down this particular rabbit hole, however.... yes, it *is* limited to Ernalda's husband-protectors... The first line of the spell says "This spell blesses a worshiper of one of Ernalda‘s husband-protectors." (RBoM, p17).

As for (most of) the other stuff... true! Could be a Tarshite Orlanthi... or similar.

 

It's still a very nice pic!