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Some Questions about Pavis and the River of Cradles


rust

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An iron meteorite, now buried in an ancient tomb?

Thank you very much for an excellent idea. :)

The iron meteorite fits in very well, especially because it is not too difficult to

create the cave paintings showing something falling from the sky, picked up by

someone who "looks like a shaman", and later buried with him.

Remember though that Glorantha has only has 1600 years or so 'since time began' - so even an ancient, primitive culture is going to leave quite a lot of traces.

Yes, there will be the usual bone and stone tools at the cave, bronze tools and

thelike at the ruined village and temple, and all over the island many previously

domesticated plants and animals returned to the wild - this is also a nice way to

let the characters find or capture some useful things or animals the refugees we-

re unable to bring with them.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Just an FYI, the map you attached seems to be in mirror! :)

Actually it is only turned 90° to the right to better fit on the page of my

setting description, and this is also the reason why I have shortened the

floating docks a little. I have not yet marked the marsh on the map, main-

ly because I have not yet found a nice way to do it - my attempts until

now look rather ugly, but I keep working on it. ;)

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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And a first idea for the introduction of a potentially important nonplayer

character, a scene that will of course only happen in this way if the cha-

racters react friendly to the begging baboon:

Goreek the Baboon

The characters accompany Lord Kerum and his retinue to the market of Corflu,

and while Lord Kerum and his best merchant Rona Norelen try to buy and sell

various goods with the help of Malas Ferigim's language spells, the characters

wander around to take a look at what the local merchants have to offer. There

is also a small troop of nine baboons at the market. The characters have never

seen baboons before, but these ones are obviously in a very bad shape, hungry

and begging, and treated rather rudely by the merchants. When the troop's lea-

der realizes that the characters are watching him, he walks up to them and begs

for food, and then follows them at a distance.

A while later, when the characters return to Lord Kerum's group, they learn that

he was unable to hire someone willing to travel to Kerumar with them to serve as

a teacher of Tradetalk and regional lore, and that his attempt to buy a slave with

the necessary knowledge failed because the local merchants demanded an outra-

geous price of 2,000 silver pieces for such an educated slave. While the Keru are

still discussing this, the baboon suddenly begins to tug at the clothes of one of the

characters and obviously attempts to speak to him.

Provided the character can convince Malas Ferigim to cast another language spell

(„I am already exhausted, and I see no real need for a chat with a begging animal.“),

the baboon will tell the characters that his name is Goreek, that he heard what the

merchants were talking about, that he speaks Tradetalk fluently and knows the ri-

ver valley well, and that he and his troop would be willing to go with the characters

and teach them in return for enough food for all members of the troop, a knife for

each member of the troop, a safe and friendly place to stay and a promise to return

the troop to the Zola Fel valley whenever the baboons so desire.

If the things develop as I expect, the baboons will become permanent inhabitants

of Kerumar, with the foothills of the Merapar Mountains in the north of the island as

their new home. I think this would add an interesting faction to the population of Ke-

rumar.

Edited by rust

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Looking at my plans for the setting, I have one exploration adventure with some

environmental challenges, a few riddles and an encounter with the angry spirit of

a tribal shaman unwilling to let the characters take the iron meteorite from his gra-

ve, and a sightseeing and trading adventure in Corflu with the description of the

regional culture, the introduction of two species - baboons and newtlings - and

perhaps encounters with the usual thieves and other troublemakers of a market.

My campaigns are traditionally low on combat, but after these two adventures it

would seem nice to continue the campaign with a little more action.

When the characters return from Corflu to Kerumar they will learn that in their ab-

sence the fishing boats in the Bay of Dolphins have been attacked by what looked

like a giant sea snake. It seems that the beast did hide while the Keru's big ships

lay at anchor in the bay, but came out to defend its hunting grounds when these

ships left for Corflu. A sea monster and fishing boats in the same bay do not go to-

gether well, so Lord Kerum will ask the characters whether they could deal with the

problem - which they will probably do (it is still a sandbox, and they can also decide

otherwise, in which case a few nonplayer characters will be killed before the beast

is defeated).

If the characters manage to kill the monster, the bay will also be open again for the

Ludoch merpeople of the region, who will then try to establish a friendly contact with

their new Keru neighbours - the introduction of the third Gloranthan species into the

campaign.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Press release from Moon Design...

Good news Glorantha-philes!

Pavis: Gateway to Adventure is off to the printers. For more information, and a few sample pages to give an idea what is in store for you, check it out: Pavis: Gateway to Adventure is off to the printers! | Moon Design Publications

Jeff

The Design Mechanism: Publishers of Mythras

DM logo Freeforums Icon.png

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Meanwhile I have finished the "technical" part of the setting with the available

skills and professions, the beginning status, income and living expenses and all

that, much of it based upon material from the unpublished RuneQuest 4, which

has a very useful chapter on economics.

I have also added a lot to the description of the Keru's culture, including some

notes on their history and more material on their philosophy, and the first three

adventure options (exploration of the island, first trade voyage to Corflu, fight

against the sea monster) are also more or less ready, with a fourth one (a first

voyage along the Zola Fel to Pavis) in the works.

I am not yet sure how to continue from there, because I have no idea what the

characters will be interested in. I think I will prepare a couple of encounters of

different types both for Kerumar and for the Zola Fel valley and also add some

internal conflicts among the Keru, but right now I do not have many good ideas

- it seems I will have to put the setting aside for a while, hoping that I will be

hit by inspiration later on.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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One element of the original setting which I will certainly have to change is

the official Hero Wars timeline, I think I will mostly cut it off around about

1616 ST and delete the various adventures of Argrath and Harrek comple-

tely, designing a new timeline based upon the needs of the campaign - no

barbarian "liberations" of Pavis and Corflu in my setting, and also not such

a high frequency of world changing events. I am not sure what the most

important long term "historical trend" of my setting will be, but I think that

I would prefer a continuing slow expansion of the Lunar Empire.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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I have decided that the Lunar Empire already has enough border problems in

Balazar, the Grazelands and Prax to switch to a defensive stance for a while,

in order to digest what it has swallowed and to secure its new borders, so

the Pharaoh of the Holy Country will not be assassinated and Karse will not

be attacked in the foreseeable future of the setting.

The Wolf Pirates will attack Kerumar Island in 1614 ST, soon after they have

learned through their agents in Corflu that the island is again inhabited. Whi-

le the pirates are superior in numbers, equipment and experience, the Keru

sea magic should be sufficient to repel the attack, especially if the charac-

ters managed to negotiate some kind of alliance with the Ludoch merpeople

of the region. In the case that the Keru not only repel the attack, but also

destroy a significant part of the pirates' fleet (unlikely, but not impossible),

the Wolf Pirates will be defeated in their sea battle against the fleet of the

Holy Country in 1616 ST and will cease to be a naval power for at least a

decade or so. This would make trade voyages to the Holy Country possible

for the Keru and thereby add another adventure region to the setting.

The Lunar Empire's Grantlands along the Zola Fel will be organized and sett-

led from 1615 ST on, beginning with the Weis Domain of Duke Raus. The no-

mads from the Wastes will attempt to resist this, so there will be a perma-

nent state of low intensity war along the Zola Fel between the Sun County

and the mouth of the river at Corflu, as well as political and border conflicts

between the various domains of the Grantlands. Add to this rebellions in Sar-

tar and incursions of raiders from western Prax, and every voyage north be-

tween Corflu and Pavis will be rather ... interesting.

I have not yet decided what the major events or developments of 1616 ST

will be, but I think it will again be something on Kerumar Island, preferably

another contact with a new culture or species combined with something my-

thological or magical. Some kind of magical visitor(s) from the Far East of

Glorantha could be an idea to work on.

Afterwards there will again be the constantly changing situation in the Zola

Fel valley, perhaps in a combination with the exploration of some important

ancient ruins, like those of the lost city of Feroda west of Corflu.

Edited by rust

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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