RQG Pavis Campaign

[Austin]

12 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

I don't think there is such a rule. Baboons use the Man Rune for Daka Fal stuff just like all other shamans.

Glorantha Bestiary, p.29 ("Creating a Baboon Adventurer"):

Quote

Occupations: Either Troop Baboon (see below) or Assistant Shaman. The latter use the Beast Rune instead of Man.

According to the entry, baboons worship Daka Fal but call him "Grandfather Baboon."

[PhilHibbs]

Just now, Crel said:

Glorantha Bestiary, p.29 ("Creating a Baboon Adventurer"):

According to the entry, baboons worship Daka Fal but call him "Grandfather Baboon."

Oh, ok, I'm wrong. Thanks!

[pachristian]

On 11/2/2018 at 9:33 AM, Runeblogger said:

Hey, I'm also running a campaign there (and in the valley in general).

I'd be very interested in your stories of which scenarios especifically did you convert to Glorantha. and why they were so cool.

Since you ask: 

From D&D

The Moathouse from the Temple of Elemental Evil. Players have route bandits out of an old keep. In D&D it's meant for 1st and 2nd level characters, who will be totally outpowered if they attempt to just fight their way through. In RQ, numbers matter, and again the players will had to out-think and out-strategize the bandits. I've thought about using the rest of the temple as a dungeon complex on Ogre Island, but it's too "dungeons" to work well (odd as that may sound from me). However, I am using the "Elemental Evil" concept as an old god-learner school that specialized in elemental magic.

Temple of the Frog. Not run yet. The first dungeon ever published, and still outstanding. I used the D20 version published by Zeitgeist Games in 2006. I replaced the high-tech with god learner stuff based out of the Clanking City. The temple itself became a chaos-corrupted frog cult. I haven't place the temple yet - most likely it will be near Casino Town, in the swamps. A small town dominated by a powerful temple is very Gloranthan. It would also make a good town in the Krjalki bogs of the Wastelands. And the frog-spawn nicely fit the mutation theme of chaos. 

Ziggurat of the Ghoul-Queen from Mesopotamia by Necromancer Games (now Frog God Games). I'm currently running this. One of the players lost an arm on Blind King Hill, and the ghoul-queen's minions brought it to her. She's using it to scry on the player, and is working to manipulate events so that he is lured to her. I'm not running the whole sequence at once - bit by bit is my motto.

Dungeon Crawl Classics (Goodman Games). These modules are largely hack and slash, but are well-written adventures, and the swords-and-sorcery feel adapts very well to Glorantha.

#66.5 Doom of the Savage Kings A deadly beast keeps coming back, the clue to defeating it is is found in an old burial mound. Players learned a lesson in this adventure: Just because the clan chief is an Orlanth Rune Lord, doesn't mean he can't be a dispirited, two-faced, problem. Players ended as friends of the clan, but enemies of the clan leadership - a nice political conundrum.

#67 Sailors on a Starless Sea  Players enter a cavern to fight chaos-warped humans the tomb of an ancient chaos lord. Warped humans replaced by Broo, players found the challenges of fighting broo on their home turf deadly. I placed the cave upriver to Pavis, and the hook was broo attacks on nearby villages. 

#70 Jewels of the Carnifex  A sealed temple to a forgotten god. I placed the temple in the Big Rubble, made the Carnifex a 2nd age minor death and darkness goddess, Azazel became a fallen Light Sun. The players have to finish Azazel to allow him to re-enter the cycle of life and death. I avoided making Carnifex a chaos goddess, despite the write-up, because I wanted her to be available as a sort of a death and darkness version of Firshela.

#75 The Sea Queen Escapes I haven't run this one yet, it's another forgotten and imprisoned god(less) story. I've got the Sea-Queen's tower on defender's shore, not far from Sog's ruins, and I've liked her to the Waertagi. 

#82 Bride of the Black Manse an absolutely great horror/mystery story. I haven't run it in Glorantha yet, but I've got the mansion itself in the rubble. I replaced the Mammon with Humakt. Players stumble into a tiny pocket of god-time centered around a woman who (thought she) could cheat death. I have a Humakti in the party, so I think that resolving the Black Manse will be a suitable hero quest for him.

There are others which would work, but these are my favorites.

[Ultor]

16 hours ago, pachristian said:

Since you ask: 

From D&D

I have a long-term plan to place The Caverns of Thracia by the great Jennell Jacquays in Glorantha. The idea is that the Godlearner Thanrax the Fair founded a port near Sog's Ruins called Thanracia, which was cut off by the Closing and then the descendants of the God-Learners turned to Thanatar worship (instead of Thanatos). Add in an undead Dragonewt priest and a pissed-off Minotaur lord and you have something Gloranthan.

I have a suspicion that the original version might have been written for RQ, as a lot of JJ's early Dungeoneer scenarios were before conversion to DnD, but have no evidence to back that up.

[Skovari]

4 hours ago, Ultor said:

I have a suspicion that the original version might have been written for RQ, as a lot of JJ's early Dungeoneer scenarios were before conversion to DnD, but have no evidence to back that up.

She is active online.  You could ask her and she would answer I am sure.

[Austin]

We had our second session (our first "real" session, moving beyond adventurer creation) this evening (Tuesday, November 13th). I thought it went pretty well. We started with finishing up adventurer creation (mostly discussing Rune magic and Rune points), and we've added one adventurer to the group:

• Derket: I don't remember exactly how the player spelled/pronounced this one, but it was something like this. He's a Food caste trollkin (of his own choice, though I do have a D10 table made up for determining caste) who worships Argan Argar. Derket got dragged into the conquest of New Pavis by Beowulf--the previously-unnamed human worshiping Zorak Zoran. Beowulf is his master, and Derket took a lovely blend of Fear and Hate Passions centered on humans and trolls due to his caste. He rolled max SIZ (a 6 on 1D6+6), and then gained +2 from his primary Darkness Rune, making him a SIZ 14 trollkin! He's the third-biggest in the party, though I ruled that's more bulk than actual height. Beowulf may be fattening him up...

The adventurers started in the outer hall of a half-destroyed building, which once housed the Lunar bureaucrats governing New Pavis. They've come because word has spread that Argrath seeks adventurers to aid him in his crusade against the Red Moon. But the hall is mostly empty, except for a tanned, black-haired woman. She invited them to sit,  introduce themselves, and then "interviewed" the adventurers while making notes on a wax tablet. (I stole a bit from Monty Python for this.) Eventually the trollkin broke down sobbing in the corner. When an older man entered she fled, cackling. This was Sir Narib who (for better or worse) has ended up in a position similar to chancellor for King Argrath.

Sir Narib revealed that the woman was Argrath's Trickster, Elusu, and apologized for her actions. He made note of their names as potential members for the Expedition into the Big Rubble in a few weeks, and asked if they could help with some busy-work in the meantime. When they agreed, Sir Narib introduced the party to Jevona Sithert, a peddler of Pavis County and initiate of Issaries. She's been robbed by trolls twice in the last few weeks. Each time they waylaid her cart near dusk, threatened her with spears, and then swiped her donkeys. Upset, she's come complaining to the new King (which really means she's complained to Sir Narib) and now Pavis's new rulers have passed the buck on to the adventurers. Each time, the thefts took place near the small farming community of Blueflower Village, about two days north of New Pavis. So, next session the adventurers will be on their way north, to investigate for signs of troll bandits.

Thanks for all the comments/suggestions/discussion, everyone. I love seeing all the thoughts and ideas! That being said I've inevitably got some more questions (especially for the uzko out there). My Zorak Zorani heavy cavalryman has the Ride (Beetle) skill since it seemed interesting, but all the beetles big enough to mount (SIZ & STR 26+) seem really strong in comparison to the equivalent human mounts. We're currently saying that his beetle was slain during the battles with the Lunars & when conquering New Pavis--he rode in a ZZ mercenary company--but he's reasonably wanting to "replace" it. I'm of the mind that whatever the story, a riding beetle feels like something he should earn, but I don't think I want to force him to wait until Rune Lord (I'm thinking it would be a fun host for an allied spirit). Does anyone have suggestions for good beetles, or what a good cost would be if he tried purchasing one? I haven't seen any market info on them listed in the Bestiary.

[Joerg]

Sounds like a plan for steed-raiding at some of the lesser troll outposts, possibly along some official quest. Otherwise, they need to approach a Gorakiki breeder and negotiate the price (or quest) - not impossible through the ZZ cult. If not inside Pavis, then possibly at Adari, or north of that.

IIRC, rhino, dung or stag beetles in this size would be good armored platforms (though granting none of that armor to the rider). Praying Mantis would be almost like riding a bandersnatch, limiting the mahout to missiles or pole arms but being basically a bad-ass living weapon, detracting from the rider's heroism.

The Aranea cultists at Cliffhome use wolf spiders, another good aggressive steed.

[Austin]

14 hours ago, Joerg said:

Otherwise, they need to approach a Gorakiki breeder and negotiate the price (or quest) - not impossible through the ZZ cult.

Is Gorakik(i) a troll deity/troll cult? I'm not familiar with the term.

[Joerg]

Gorakiki is the mother of insects, a darkness cult similar (or equivalent) to the Hsunchen beast deities, and the go-to second cult for troll insect breeders. There is an entire genealogy of darkness beast deities.

The cult of Gorakiki itself has various subgroups, like beetle, dragonfly, moth, mantis, or bee. Like the Hsunchen beast cults, it is led by shamans rather than priests.

[Darius West]

8 hours ago, Crel said:

Is Gorakik(i) a troll deity/troll cult? I'm not familiar with the term.

Gorakiki is the trollish goddess of Insects.  Trolls who breed giant insects worship her, and she provides with with some Hsunchen-like powers as well as the skills to manage their big bugs and talk to them.  All-in-all she is an under-rated but surprisingly dangerous deity, who has quite a bit of financial clout to offer as well in terms of insect products.

If you are looking for scenario hooks and you haven't delved into Oliver Dickinson's Griselda stories, as they are very Pavis-centric, you might be well advised to do so.

https://www.chaosium.com/the-complete-griselda-pdf/

[g33k]

On 11/14/2018 at 9:18 PM, Crel said:

Is Gorakik(i) a troll deity/troll cult? I'm not familiar with the term.

As per @Joerg ... 

Also, you may get some value from the Gloranthan Classics line & particularly the Cult Compendium volume .   It is for RQ2 aka RQclassic, but that's highly compatible with RQG.

[jajagappa]

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 3:52 AM, Crel said:

She invited them to sit,  introduce themselves, and then "interviewed" the adventurers while making notes on a wax tablet. (I stole a bit from Monty Python for this.) Eventually the trollkin broke down sobbing in the corner. When an older man entered she fled, cackling. This was Sir Narib who (for better or worse) has ended up in a position similar to chancellor for King Argrath.

HA!  Love it!  A brilliant way to play Elusu.  

[Austin]

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

HA!  Love it!  A brilliant way to play Elusu.  

Thanks! I figured it was adequately bizarre and nonsensical. I intend to use her as a recurring character (though I don't know if she'll always be doing a Python bit)...

10 hours ago, g33k said:

Also, you may get some value from the Gloranthan Classics line & particularly the Cult Compendium volume .   It is for RQ2 aka RQclassic, but that's highly compatible with RQG.

I've got portions of the Classics line, but well... reading time is limited at some point. It's also challenging for me because I can skim a lot of material in hard copy (I got the paperback of Borderlands & Beyond and it's wonderful) but it's harder for me on laptop. Would love a POD of some of that out-of-print material... 😉 And @Darius West thanks for the suggestion!

[g33k]

On 11/17/2018 at 9:02 AM, Crel said:

..I've got portions of the Classics line, but well... reading time is limited at some point. It's also challenging for me because I can skim a lot of material in hard copy (I got the paperback of Borderlands & Beyond and it's wonderful) but it's harder for me on laptop. Would love a POD of some of that out-of-print material... 😉 

Cult Compendium is particularly useful in two ways... First, it combines not just CoP and CoT but cults from several other sources; until the new Gods/Cults book for RQG, it's the most comprehensive single canon title available.  Second:  each Cult is it's own bit, ranging from bite-sized snippets to hearty snacks; but you don't necessarily need to eat the whole banquet.

[Austin]

This week, we got to start playing in earnest. We're currently doing material I've written (if I ever get a tidy version finished I'll share it).

After a short journey, the adventurers arrived in Blueflower Village, a few kilometers from the walls of the Rubble. They stayed overnight at the Calf's Rest Inn (startling the bejeezus out of the villagers in the process), but were woken in the middle of the night by the innkeep, Doric Helmbold, as he begged them to come downstairs. In the common room was Jora Wattling, wife of Ludic the Sneer (who they met the previous evening). They're the village's sole family of ducks, having fled Sartar following Starbrow's Rebellion. Ludic shepherd's the village's flock of sheep, and heard/saw shapes lurking around the pen.

The conclusion's obvious for Jora & the adventurers--trolls!

Well trollkin, it turns out. The adventurers ran off, and found about a dozen trollkin running amuck with the sheep, trying to Herd them away. Ludic's already in combat in the pen with one trollkin wearing a wolf pelt. They rushed right in.

I wrote this scenario intentionally to favor the adventurers, so that they could get the feel of the new edition and practice with some combat houserules I'm trying. Also, I've not GM'd in a while and have a bad habit of killing characters through my errors...  Most of the adventurers just went murder-hobo trying to kill as many of the trollkin as possible. One (Tatonka, the Bison Tribe herder) did the "save the sheep!" thing, so I'm working on a suitable reward from Ludic & the other villagers for next session. He'll certainly get most of the glory, in their eyes. While there were a lot of trollkin, they were mostly focused on stealing sheep, so the first round or so they didn't end up doing a lot of fighting.

Aaand two trollkin managed to fumble Herd checks, so I decided they got trampled by a sheep. Which also made the encounter a lot easier. We never reached the "massed trollkin sling fire" phase I expected to end on, during the rustlers's retreat, because enough damage was done with Befuddle, the Zorak Zorani warrior's attacks, and the panicked sheep.

I played this encounter out on a mat, pretty much just sketching the pen and a nearby pond. I used coins for sheep tokens, and moved them a few hexes in a random direction (D6 to indicate) if no one had successfully used Herd. If an adventurer or trollkin succeeded at Herd, they got to move that sheep. The encounter took about two hours to run, and was kind of a chaotic mess. Kind of on purpose--that's why there were so many pieces on board! (Six adventurers, a dozen sheep tokens, a dozen trollkin, Ludic the Sneer, and a Snaggletusk the Dark Troll hiding in a corner.)

Next session, the adventurers will be chasing after the trollkin & missing sheep in the daylight. If they go all the way along the trail, they'll end up in the fringe of the Rubble as they look for the hideout of the Leadgut Clan.

Also, I think I've figured out the adventure I'll run for their share of the Rubble Expedition! In Prophecies of the Dragon, a campaign for the Wheel of Time D20 game, there's an adventure which sends the heroes under an ancient city to retrieve the Artifice of Brassion from some Black Ajah Aes Sedai and Trollocs (read: chaos sorcerers and broo). It's a nasty muck-infested, half-collapsed ruin crawl with one fight right at the end, and seems perfectly on theme my Rubble & Glorantha.

[Austin]

This week's session started with Beowulf & Derkep (the Zorak Zorani and his pet trollkin) looting the bodies and coup de grace-ing all but one of the incapacitated or injured trollkin from last week's raid. They tied up the last trollkin, and handed him over to the baboon for interrogation overnight.

In the morning several villagers--including the innkeeper's daughters--gushed their gratitude to Tatonka for saving as many of the sheep as he could, in addition to general thanks to the adventurers for driving off the trolls; I tried emphasizing that the villagers's greater concern was preservation of their livelihood, rather than murder-hoboing and killing trolls. Upon hearing that the adventurers were going to chase down the trolls and try to retrieve the remaining sheep, Ludic thanked Tatonka with a Humakti blessing. (An Extended Shield I spell, which should last the rest of the adventure.)

After a day in the village, the adventurers headed out on the trampled trail. One of my goals this session was to further introduce augmenting and becoming inspired by Runes and Passions, and Toren the Morokanth demonstrated their value admirably. When tracking the trollkin & stolen sheep, he augmented his Track with the Beast Rune, bringing it up to 60%, which made his 03 roll a crit!

Toren led the adventurers westward, and the ground grew rockier, and a little uphill. After a few hours of hiking, high rocks loomed in the distance--the walls of the Big Rubble. The tracks vanished about thirty meters from the wall, expertly wiped out. However, thanks to Toren's critical success, he spotted a pattern in the dirt and rock where they were swept away. This led to a crevasse in one of the boulders along the wall. Investigating further, they found it curved and sharply went down into the earth.

Torches alight, the adventurers pressed on (and into territory I hadn't yet mapped for myself...). After going down a ways, the passage opened up a little. To the left, it extended into a cavern or wider tunnel while straight ahead it continued, curving slightly. They chose the straight path, and walked for a long, long ways. The torches half-dead, the adventurers eventually came to a sharp turn, which led into an enormous cavern. The ceiling wreathed in shadow, and no further side in sight. Many shack-like buildings of stone were in view, and shadows shuffling nearby, indistinct.

"Get out!" a voice boomed in Darktongue. "Go away, leave now! We don't want your kind and your stink down here." When the adventurers--headstrong Beowulf in the lead--did not depart immediately, someone threw a spell from the darkness. Beowulf resisted. The party spotted no one with a Scan, then immediately fled.

Next session, we'll see how the adventurers respond to having found a village of the Uz...

[Darius West]

So here's a thing.  What do people think will happen with the taxation of Adventurers who go into the Rubble in a post-Lunar world?  I figure that Argrath Whitebull is unlikely to completely do away with such a lucrative and obvious stream of revenue entirely, but will instead reduce the "Exit Fee" from 10% to 5% and exempt members of the Whitebull Army from taxation on gems and magical items.  The notion being that reducing the tax will encourage more adventurers, who will learn more about combat, and the Whitebull exemption will encourage recruitment.  After all, ultimately the adventurers are still going to return to New Pavis for R&R, and training etc. so all the money will be in the Pavic economy anyhow.  Of course trying to dodge the taxation remains an offence.

[Ultor]

1 hour ago, Darius West said:

So here's a thing.  What do people think will happen with the taxation of Adventurers who go into the Rubble in a post-Lunar world?  I figure that Argrath Whitebull is unlikely to completely do away with such a lucrative and obvious stream of revenue entirely, but will instead reduce the "Exit Fee" from 10% to 5% and exempt members of the Whitebull Army from taxation on gems and magical items.  The notion being that reducing the tax will encourage more adventurers, who will learn more about combat, and the Whitebull exemption will encourage recruitment.  After all, ultimately the adventurers are still going to return to New Pavis for R&R, and training etc. so all the money will be in the Pavic economy anyhow.  Of course trying to dodge the taxation remains an offence.

In other words, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

What would be the correct cult for the precept, "Won't get fooled again!," I wonder.

[Austin]

2 hours ago, Darius West said:

What do people think will happen with the taxation of Adventurers who go into the Rubble in a post-Lunar world?

I'm not sure of a pretty canon-friendly answer, but my plan is that for the time being it's entirely unregulated--along with most of New Pavis. It's a period of conquest, turmoil, and transition. Pretty much every bureaucrat and Lunar functionary has either fled or been executed for religious reasons. Eventually, the new ruler of New Pavis will establish rules and control over the Gates, but at least for the first year or so in the campaign I plan for the backdrop to be wild and lawless.

I see/understand Argrath as not caring at all about the taxation and day-to-day aspects of ruling. That's delegated to his associates in my game (of course, YGMV). As long as he gets the hidden lore and artifacts out of the Rubble which he needs for his plan to fight the Lunar Empire, he's satisfied. Of course, I'm playing a couple seasons before the Dragonrise; a campaign starting around the conventional date for RQG will probably have some more control.

[jajagappa]

7 hours ago, Ultor said:

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

Yep.  Though perhaps the local denizens (trolls, elves, etc) will enforce an Entrance fee as well, or add their own Exit fee on top of Argrath's.

7 hours ago, Ultor said:

What would be the correct cult for the precept, "Won't get fooled again!," I wonder.

The Cult of the Who. 😉

[Austin]

Anyone have suggestions for traps and defenses trolls would make? I'm trying to get a little more creative than "rocks fall, everyone dies." A friend of mine suggested pits which only collapse under SIZ 13+ weight and then sending trollkin out to fight, which seemed plausible. I was also thinking sentries with Darkwall prepared. The more haphazard and improvised the trap the better, I reckon.

[soltakss]

25 minutes ago, Crel said:

Anyone have suggestions for traps and defenses trolls would make? I'm trying to get a little more creative than "rocks fall, everyone dies." A friend of mine suggested pits which only collapse under SIZ 13+ weight and then sending trollkin out to fight, which seemed plausible. I was also thinking sentries with Darkwall prepared. The more haphazard and improvised the trap the better, I reckon.

Many traps are common. A pit trap can be made by almost anyone and works against almost anybody.

What would trolls do differently? I think they'd use their special stuff. 

One of their special stuff is Insects and other critters. So, you put spikes in a pit trap with centipede venom on the spikes, you put some poisonous biting insects at the bottom of the pit and wait for people to fall in, you hang poisonous giant insects above a door and have them fall on people, you use sticky gunk from a Giant Slug as a glue to slow people down, you use a spider web to trap people, that kind of thing.

There's also the story of the Yelmalians who went on patrol in the Big Rubble. They saw a trollkin peeking out of a ruin and sent a couple of guards to sort it out, but none returned, then they sent half the patrol out and none returned, sending back for reinforcements, they sent out 10 men, then 20, then a hundred, but none returned. Finally, they saw a wounded Yemlalian crawl out of the ruin, shouting "It's a trap - There are two of them".

Edited December 2, 2018 by soltakss

[Austin]

1 minute ago, soltakss said:

you use sticky gunk from a Giant Slug as a glue to slow people down, you use a spider web to trap people, that kind of thing.

Ooh, I like that. That's super gross. Thanks!  Even just "throw some bugs in the tunnel, collapse our end, no more problems" works for my module.

Much appreciated.

[soltakss]

4 minutes ago, Crel said:

Ooh, I like that. That's super gross. Thanks!  Even just "throw some bugs in the tunnel, collapse our end, no more problems" works for my module.

If you like super gross, there are lots of things you can do with insects.

Some wasps bury their eggs in hosts, for the larvae to eat their way out, so you could have those in a trap, some even try to take control of their hosts.

Insect swarms are always good, the classic "Wasp Nest hanging on a rope that gets cut by a trap" is always good for a laugh, especially in a tight tunnel where you cannot just run away, a sliding door containing an ant swarm is a good one as well, as the PCs get covered in a blanket of biting ants. If you have ever watched I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here, you will have seen the various challenges involving bugs, just multiply those by a hundred and you get the idea of what trolls can do.

What I sometimes do is to check out insects on Wikipedia, or something, find out what they do and work out the game equivalent of the standard and giant-sized insects.

Aldryami do similar things with plants in the Garden. They are nowhere near as inventive or developed as the Poisonthorn or Hellwood Aldryami of Dorastor, but still have some cool stuff.

Dwarves are far more boring. They rely on pits, falling blocks of masonry, crossbow bolts fired out of walls and the occasional poison gas trap. One of our PCs was a Great Troll called Masher, he was in a dwarven complex when they set off a trap and a block of stone slid down to block their exit, Masher being Masher rushed forward and grabbed the bottom of this 20 tonne slab of rock, trying to hold it up, but all that happened was that it hoit the stone floor with a satisfying Splat, leaving Masher with two bloody stumps.

[The God Learner]

2 hours ago, Crel said:

I'm trying to get a little more creative than "rocks fall, everyone dies." A friend of mine suggested pits

A pit ... with a great troll in it.