First time running the game would love advice

[Super Thunder Bros.]

Hi there all I'm a newcomer to the forum (my first post!) and to running Runequest.
I'm setting up to run my first game of Runequest: Glorantha in a remixed take on the setting(I'm emphasising the Post apocalyptic Bronze Age feeling) but I'm worried I've written myself into a corner.

I know what kind of game I want to run: one centred on community, herds of cattle, going out there and taming some beasts. The kind of things you can't do in D&D. I want to really capture that strange bronze age vibe; being dressed like Mycenaeans, Messopotamians and Egyptians (That strange era of horned helmets, sacrfice, spirits) and coming across overgrown Dwemer style cities from who knows when! (Touchstones like Dark Sun/Athas, Shadow of the Colossus and Planet of the Apes)

To Prefix I'm playing fast and loose with the lore to make it easier on myself, slowly introducing magic and not caring too much about canon (once I'm read up and know the system better I'll run a pure Glorantha game)

As a GM I get heavy choice/worldbuilding paralysis; Glorantha is full of useful lore/beasts/factions I can drop in, but as I'm not sticking to canon I get stuck on what to take. Here's what I've done so far:

I have told my players they'll be a settled livestock herding tribe (maybe Orlanthi style?) on some open plains. I chose plains and savannah to go for a bit of a Mad Max feeling (I lke Prax alot) but it's not as empty as desert. I'm emphasising they're young, lay members of a community
I have given my players the Lightbringer Pantheon, so far we have 3 of four selected as cults: Heler, Storm Bull and possibly Issaries.

And this is where i'm stuck, somewhere between Orlanthi and Prax in terms of flavour. I would run a Praxian game, but don't really understand how I'd run a nomadic community, and REALLY wanna go all in on bronze armor and Bronze age/classical era buildings and settlements (I'm pulling on the Rome HBO series and the Conan movie)

I could give up on the plains and go more Heortling/Sartarite, but mountains really don't excite me (I'm Welsh funnily enough). And although I like how much Heortling lore there is, I don't like how segmented it is between Orlanth and Ernalda, and would rather a game of players out there roping exotic beasts. (Thinking about it I also really like Esrolian Matriarchy too)

So thats my rambling done! if anyone has any suggestions (I've asked before in other places but just get lore/canon thrown at me) on how I could do settled plains cultures and make my game pop, or if one of the other paths seems like an easier time. Happy with any suggestions from a worldbuilding/gameplay perspective, thanks for reading!

[radmonger]

It's hard to answer without quoting canon. Because, while you know your players, skills and taste, lore is the one thing we currently do know more than you.

To play into the strengths of a clan-focused game, you should have the players be a generation who grow up together and have known each other all their lives. This is the story structure used in Lord of the Rings. You live in a village, politics comes to the village, you rise to the challenge.

What I personally would do is establish the setting as a clan in the Balkoth tribe, or one of their neighbors, in 1625 in south Sartar on the borders of Prax. In that time and place the Lunars are a solved problem, the big issue is getting along with Argraths's ascendant Praxians. They can now range much further into Sartar than they ever did, and consider raiding with much more brutality than is customary to be within their rights as victors.

While the Lunar's ruled, the Praxians sold slaves at Pimper's Block. Now the Lunars are gone, but the trade continues. Surely this is an offence to Orlanth? Why does Argrath permit it?

So the first priority for the PC's clan is going to be understanding their new nomad allies, and avoiding a situation where they become overlords. Sometimes this may mean fighting them; Praxians do not respect those who do not defend themselves. But even that requires understanding those who you are fighting.

So take the RQ:G character creation step 1 and strip it down to only the events relevant to Sartar, Argrath and Prax. Make a campaign plan where those events happen at a specific point in the PC's childhood. In session 0, put each one in context, properly explaining it as something that just happened. 

Initiation should fit into that. However, it is not necessary to start the game with an adulthood initiation ordeal, especially the split-sex one that Six Seasons in Sartar establishes as canon in traditionalist North Sartar. Maybe your clan follows the Esrolian tradition of paired initiation. Maybe they use the Dundaelos initiation found in Valley of Plenty. Maybe you take those examples and make something up. Maybe it is just backstory and you start the PCs at 18 or 21 (the two options properly supported by the rulebook).

Whichever, during the initiation they get an omen that gets interpreted as 'these are the four people destined to find the way our clan must live now. Support and guide them, for they must travel far'.

Then launch into a full adventure scenario in session one. If you don't want to make something up, Sacred Earth, Sacred Water is a whole mini-campaign themed around coming to understand how Praxians tick.

 

Edited February 6 by radmonger

[jajagappa]

5 hours ago, Super Thunder Bros. said:

And this is where i'm stuck, somewhere between Orlanthi and Prax in terms of flavour. I would run a Praxian game, but don't really understand how I'd run a nomadic community, and REALLY wanna go all in on bronze armor and Bronze age/classical era buildings and settlements (I'm pulling on the Rome HBO series and the Conan movie)

I could give up on the plains and go more Heortling/Sartarite, but mountains really don't excite me (I'm Welsh funnily enough). And although I like how much Heortling lore there is, I don't like how segmented it is between Orlanth and Ernalda, and would rather a game of players out there roping exotic beasts. (Thinking about it I also really like Esrolian Matriarchy too)

So thats my rambling done! if anyone has any suggestions (I've asked before in other places but just get lore/canon thrown at me) on how I could do settled plains cultures and make my game pop, or if one of the other paths seems like an easier time. Happy with any suggestions from a worldbuilding/gameplay perspective, thanks for reading!

I'd suggest you check out the Jonstown Compendium supplement: Valley of Plenty

While it was written for the QuestWorlds RPG vs. RuneQuest, it is set in this exact borderland between Sartar and Prax, and I think the setting is almost exactly what you are looking for (and the authors had their own ideas on the gods that included more emphasis on sun worshipers than typical canon). You'd need to do a bit of work converting over to RQG, but there are those of us here who have run both systems and could give you some guidance on that.

And @radmonger has plenty of additional thoughts above that I'd concur with to help get going. 

[Bohemond]

One classic way to start orienting new players to the RQ system is to start with adulthood rites. But instead of doing a 'deep myth ritual' like the Six Seasons model, run it as an obstacle course of sorts. The PCs must prove they are adults capable to contributing to the clan. So they have to run an footrace (they have to make opposed DEX rolls to see who wins). Then they have to climb up a tree (Climb roll) and get one of the weapons that have been put up there and then Jump down. Etc--make up whatever stations of the obstacle course seem fun to you and as the players are making the rolls, you're teaching them where things are on the character sheet and how the mechanics work. They can use a Passion or Rune to enhance a relevant skill--teach them how that works.

Then, partway through the obstacle course, something unexpected happens--a rock lizard shows up or a couple of Praxian braves take that moment to try and steal cattle, and the PCs encounter it and have to decide whether to fight or run away. If you want it to be slightly more mythic, whatever bad guy/monster shows up represents the clan's Ancient Enemy from the Godtime--sometimes during the adulthood rites, the power of the rite pulls in this enemy, and defeating the enemy strengthens the clan (and maybe earns them a point of Spirit magic or some other reward). This teaches the PCs that Glorantha is a little different than say D&D, because myth matters. After the whole adulthood rite is finished, the clan elders tell them a myth that starts teaching them about the gods. Rather than info-dumping huge chunks of mythic info on them a at once, teach them a myth each session or some important clan story about Why We Worship Orlanth/Hate the Praxians/Hate the Lunars/Mourn Our Great Clan Hero/Etc. At the end, they are taught some Spirit magic or maybe they're initiated into their cults. 

You can use a format like this in all sorts of ways--each station can be an important point on clan lands to teach them the layout, or one of the important clan elders is stationed at each obstacle and tells them a piece of the clan myth that obstacle represents. Include a couple of NPCs who are other characters coming of age at the same time. Make one of those NPC a jerk or a bully--they will be a rival in the early part of the campaign or an example of how not to be a good Orlanthi or something like that--or they can be a love interest if the players want that sort of thing. Or the rival can be used to model proper behavior. He doesn't want money--he wants cows, because cows are how Orlanthi count wealth. He is very honor-focused. You get the idea. 

This sort of scenario is relatively low stakes and helps the PCs learn the system and the world in an easy and fun way. 

Edited February 6 by Bohemond

[Runeblogger]

9 hours ago, Super Thunder Bros. said:

I have told my players they'll be a settled livestock herding tribe (maybe Orlanthi style?) on some open plains. I chose plains and savannah to go for a bit of a Mad Max feeling (I lke Prax alot) but it's not as empty as desert. I'm emphasising they're young, lay members of a community
I have given my players the Lightbringer Pantheon, so far we have 3 of four selected as cults: Heler, Storm Bull and possibly Issaries.

Reading your preferences, I suggest you set your campaign in one of the Orlanthi clans settled in Pavis County, in Prax. They’ll be surrounded by nomads and plains, Pavis city is right there and there are loads of fun adventures to have. They can even have some Praxian mounts to ride.

[Super Thunder Bros.]

Hi all thank you so much for the suggestions, going to make my way through them!

[g33k]

On 2/5/2024 at 9:37 PM, Runeblogger said:

Reading your preferences, I suggest you set your campaign in one of the Orlanthi clans settled in Pavis County, in Prax. They’ll be surrounded by nomads and plains, Pavis city is right there and there are loads of fun adventures to have. They can even have some Praxian mounts to ride.

I like this... kind of a lot.
Postapocalyptic Prax.
Weird mounts.
Cattle (because Orlanthi settlers).
I think this ticks most/all of the OP's boxes!

Bonus:  the GM gets to use Sandheart early in their campaign!
Vol.1 --  https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/296533/Tales-of-the-Sun-County-Militia-Sandheart-Volume-One
 

Edited February 7 by g33k

[Nick Brooke]

On 2/6/2024 at 5:37 AM, Runeblogger said:

Reading your preferences, I suggest you set your campaign in one of the Orlanthi clans settled in Pavis County, in Prax. They’ll be surrounded by nomads and plains, Pavis city is right there and there are loads of fun adventures to have. They can even have some Praxian mounts to ride.

The third Pavis & Big Rubble Companion, Pavis County: Secrets of the Borderlands by @Ian A. Thomson and friends, contains local history (inc. family history tables) for the settlers, character creation guidelines, a detailed map of Pavis County, loads of information about the Zebra Tribe (inc. character creation), and maps and gazetteers for several local settlements, plus some new adventures and guidance on adapting classic scenarios for a Pavis County campaign. It's an Electrum best-seller (over 250 copies sold), with 13 five-star customer ratings, available in printed and digital formats from the Jonstown Compendium community content store. And I agree with @g33k that it could dovetail beautifully with the Sandheart campaign: six more adventures with that Praxian post-apocalyptic vibe.

[Super Thunder Bros.]

Ok giving this thread a read has certainly helped my ideas. I certainly want to pursue the Bronze Age flavour over the Mad Max stuff

 

@Nick Brookeand @g33k I’ve had a quick look at Sandheart and though I don’t want to set things in Sun County (due to the customs there) and am not after the militia stuff, it is a really good resource.

@RunebloggerHas sent me a great message with alot of details about Pavis and the River of Cradles. I was worried the area has too many D&Disms but happy to see that’s not the case.

So I’m still torn between plains in southern Sartar vs Pavis county, I know I want an area I can carve out and tweak, but also info for the current edition I can pull on. My gut is telling me there’s too much going on in Pavis county, but feel free to disagree with me!

 

 

[Techpriest]

If you're looking for a mix between Prax and Sartar, there's the Pol-Joni and the clans that neighbor them. They have long histories of interacting with the Praxian tribes for both good and ill, and it lets you ease in on the 'weird' of Prax for your players. The first Praxians they meet often know some Heortling and worship gods like Orlanth and Humakt, and herd cows and ride horses. Then the further they get into Prax, the more you amp up the 'Mad Max' part of it. The more apocalyptic things get because of the devastation of the land in the God Time. You can even include the remnants of the Lunar occupations holding out and adapting to be more like the Pol-Joni and tribes of Prax around certain oases. You also have Esrolia and the former Holy Country to the south to play around with, so you can drag out some things like say, some crazy guy declaring himself the new Pharaoh or starting some sort of cult to Belintar. Go nuts, your Glorantha will vary. Just come up with some good reasons for them going into the desert full of crazy nomads - caravans to Pavis or another oasis, deals with the Pol-Joni, and so on. 

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, Techpriest said:

there's the Pol-Joni and the clans that neighbor them. They have long histories of interacting with the Praxian tribes for both good and ill, and it lets you ease in on the 'weird' of Prax for your players.

This is why I recommended the Valley of Plenty above as it has some great ways to ease into the setting. (And it's not like you can't pull ideas from the Pavis books to use there too. The Pavis County folk are culturally Sartarites, so aside from Pavis-specific points, much should be transferable.)

[Nick Brooke]

From my notes on the Pol-joni

POL-JONI MUSIC

The Pol Joni musical tradition is formed from two distinct roots: plangent tribal odes harking back to their western origins in Dragon Pass; and upbeat ranching tunes celebrating the country where they have made their new home, the plains of Prax. One distinctive form is the lyrical outlaw ballad, retelling deeds of heroes and villains of the frontier. Songs celebrate love and courtship, spiritual immanence, death and war, the rigours of life on the cattle-trails, and the manifold splendours of nature.

 

Pol Joni music is played on stringed instruments (most notably the kithara, lute and bowed lyre), supplemented occasionally with vocalised humming on pocket devices of Mostali origin akin to the harmonica and kazoo. It can follow one of three rhythms, derived from the gait of their steeds: music is traditionally played at either the walk, the trot or the gallop, and can therefore be used to augment Ride skill on the trail.

 

The choruses of campfire songs can involve war-whoops, yells, ululations and glossolalia, reminiscent of Praxian spirit-cult chants but hopefully deprived of all context and meaning. This appropriation is yet another reason for Praxians to despise the Pol Joni and call them “Cattle Bastards.”

 

(Yes, of course country and western music is an anachronism, but what else would the Mycenaean Viking Cowboys of Glorantha sing round their campfires?)

[Nick Brooke]

PLUNDER: POL-JONI HATS

FRIENDLY: Orlanth
HOSTILE: Heler, Waha, Yelm.

The distinctive sun-hat of the Pol-Joni herders is a variant of the common rustic Sartarite Síðhöttr or Pelorian πέτασος (petasos), usually made of wool felt, leather or straw, with a high crown and a wide brim. Always durable and hard-wearing, some are additionally reinforced with metal or leather, becoming what the laws of Heort refer to as “hard hats” or helmets.

These light-weight, often waterproof hats have a wide brim (to shade Yelm’s rays  from the wearer’s eyes and hold off Heler’s rain), a high crown (which keeps a cooling pocket of Orlanth’s air on top of the wearer’s head), and can be used to carry water. (Cheap straw hats, of course, are not waterproof and cannot hold water.)

The few Yelmalians among the Pol-Joni prefer the crowns of their hats to retain a pure dome-shape, and the flat brim to form a perfect circle, but the more numerous Orlanthi commonly wear hats with a creased crown and a rolled brim.

Hat-bands (woven, braided, knotted, etc.) may be added, in personal, clan or tribal colours, to adjust the fit of the hat. Some groups have their own distinctive styles or colours. For example, Black Hats are commonly worn by Humakti, bandits and outlaws among the  Pol-Joni, and White Hats by the Horse-lords' appointed Sheriffs.

It's a special blessing of Orlanth that one's hat stays on one's head even in a high wind, and a special curse that it flies away.

[StephenMcG]

On 2/8/2024 at 7:47 AM, Nick Brooke said:

Yes, of course country and western music is an anachronism, but what else would the Mycenaean Viking Cowboys of Glorantha sing round their campfires?

To misquote a Men They Couldn't Hang song

Some of us are born to lead
Some of us are born to breed
And some of us are born to sing love songs
Some of us are born to win
Some of us are born to sin
And some of us are good Pol Joni boys

 

[soltakss]

On 2/5/2024 at 8:15 PM, Super Thunder Bros. said:

To Prefix I'm playing fast and loose with the lore to make it easier on myself, slowly introducing magic and not caring too much about canon (once I'm read up and know the system better I'll run a pure Glorantha game)

That's the best way to do it.

On 2/5/2024 at 8:15 PM, Super Thunder Bros. said:

As a GM I get heavy choice/worldbuilding paralysis; Glorantha is full of useful lore/beasts/factions I can drop in, but as I'm not sticking to canon I get stuck on what to take. Here's what I've done so far:

I have told my players they'll be a settled livestock herding tribe (maybe Orlanthi style?) on some open plains. I chose plains and savannah to go for a bit of a Mad Max feeling (I lke Prax alot) but it's not as empty as desert. I'm emphasising they're young, lay members of a community
I have given my players the Lightbringer Pantheon, so far we have 3 of four selected as cults: Heler, Storm Bull and possibly Issaries.

And this is where i'm stuck, somewhere between Orlanthi and Prax in terms of flavour. I would run a Praxian game, but don't really understand how I'd run a nomadic community, and REALLY wanna go all in on bronze armor and Bronze age/classical era buildings and settlements (I'm pulling on the Rome HBO series and the Conan movie)

I could give up on the plains and go more Heortling/Sartarite, but mountains really don't excite me (I'm Welsh funnily enough). And although I like how much Heortling lore there is, I don't like how segmented it is between Orlanth and Ernalda, and would rather a game of players out there roping exotic beasts. (Thinking about it I also really like Esrolian Matriarchy too)

The border between Sartar and Prax sounds right. Make them Pol Joni, or Sartarites friendly with Pol Joni, that way you can be cattle herders, can go on cattle raids, tend to sick cattle and so on, but have the plains of Prax nearby for adventure. Other have mentioned Pavis County, which could work as well.

But, the important thing is to start somewhere. If it isn't working, the Adventurers can move on to somewhere else.

 

[Super Thunder Bros.]

Hey folks this thread was a massive help! Currently putting together my Clan and the hills and plains they dwell in

 

One other thing I wanted to ask: came across the attached tumblr post which I think describes an Orlanthi game to a tee.

 

What games featuring the party as a chieftain’s retainers be like compared to say playing as young people?