Mythras & The Glorantha Sourcebook?

[kronovan]

I've only ever sat down to tables running adventures from the world of Glorantha a few times, but the setting did intrigue and stick with me. On those few play occasions, after the sessions I queried the hosting GMs about setting details. The responses left me with the impression that it'd be cool to run a campaign or even a short series of adventures in the setting. Then the other day I noticed in the Runequest sale on drivethrurpg that The Glorantha Sourcebook is on sale at 50% off - quite a discount.  The book reads like it's system agnostic based on these comments from the introduction in the preview:

Quote

... This book is more mythological than materialist; within, lands are defined by their goddess and history is the deeds of kings, heroes, and prophets, not economics, agricultural output, or tax revnues.
Nor is it a "gaming book" - there are no game mechanics, rules, or scenarios contained within...

That certainly seems to describe it as a book that could work with other RPGs; especially one based on d100 like Mythras. I then saw this recent thread in this forum and reading it leads me to believe there's more work than I would have first imagined. I've done my share of adapting settings to other RPGs, but I'm new to Mythras. From what I read in that other thread, it seems like setting specific Cultures and the rune magic are the key differences.

So I'm wondering how applicable, or adaptable, that sourcebook could be for Mythras?

[7Tigers]

As said, TGS is not linked to any system so it is applicable to whatever rules you want to play in the world of Glorantha.
Best for you to read a detailled content review such as excellent:
https://elruneblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/review-of-glorantha-sourcebook.html

[kronovan]

Thanks for that link 7Tigers.  From that review, it reads like the kind of sourcebook I enjoy and appreciate. It does indeed sound adaptable to other RPGs.

[Joerg]

It is perfectly possible to run Gloranthan adventures under Mythras - it has a Gloranthan DNA, after all, being the descendant of MRQ2, which was the revised rules system for the Mongoose Glorantha Second Age series, then divorced from Glorantha as RQ6 with its own bronze-agey setting(s).

It is a lot of work to interweave the setting with the game system to a similar degree as RQG (or the other two official Gloranthan game systems). But then, that much interweaving isn't strictly necessary to start having the Glorantha experience.

While the sourcebook is quite centered on Dragon Pass when it comes to local detail, the myths in it are way less localized and useful for most of Genertela.

But yes, to play somewhere else, with local detail in the character or clan creation rules, you will need to invest some work as the GM (or part of a GM council), with a bit of world building. Although I find communal world building where all players contribute NPCs, background detail etc. to be a very good idea in general, and perfectly applicable to whichever part of Glorantha you might want to pick as your stage. It is possible to use the Guide to Glorantha as your entry point for most places in Glorantha (although it is weak on detail for the magical places in the Outer World). There are a few other HeroQuest publications which are quite rules-light and can serve as good background fodder for a different sort of campaign, e.g. the Men of the Sea book which gives great advice for ship-based campaigns (advice which works just as well for other settings, up to space opera), and gives quite a bit of Glorantha detail which doesn't get contradicted much  by later publications.

The Mythras magic systems in general are very close to the ones dictated by the Glorantha setting. Details vary from RQG, in some parts significantly, but that doesn't matter unless you plan to cross over characters from other rules systems back and forth (not quite advisable, but neither impossible, although in my experience such a thing works best by creating a similar character with the same character concept rather than trying to convert every detail).

I can think of a number of other rpg rules systems which could be used to run Glorantha, too. In all cases you need to define cults and cult magic to the extent the game system requires, which can be quite a bit of work for some rules systems, and a piece of cake for others (Mythras among these if you get cheap access to the Glorantha 2nd Age cult books for MRQ2). There are a few I wouldn't use, but more from personal preferences than from actual impossible combinations.

[kronovan]

49 minutes ago, Joerg said:

But yes, to play somewhere else, with local detail in the character or clan creation rules, you will need to invest some work as the GM (or part of a GM council), with a bit of world building.

I do own the Runequest Roleplaying in Glorantha PDF and I'm wondering if it might provide some of that missing setting content you mention? Just prior to purchasing that PDF though, I'd bought Mythras and after a quick read of it I preferred its organization and presentation and concluded it would be a better fit more my gaming group and I.  Admittedly though, I'm more of a universalist for RPGs and tend towards rule books that aren't tied to specific settings. It's also my approach when adapting a setting to an RPG, to adapt flavor as opposed to actually converting. If there's chapters in RQG I should give a read through though, I'd appreciate hearing about them.

49 minutes ago, Joerg said:

Although I find communal world building where all players contribute NPCs, background detail etc. to be a very good idea in general, and perfectly applicable to whichever part of Glorantha you might want to pick as your stage.

I'm very comfortable with that approach and it's in fact the way a campaign I'm currently playing in and another homebrewed setting I'm running, are being played and run.

49 minutes ago, Joerg said:

..It is possible to use the Guide to Glorantha as your entry point for most places in Glorantha (although it is weak on detail for the magical places in the Outer World).

...(Mythras among these if you get cheap access to the Glorantha 2nd Age cult books for MRQ2)...

My searches for the Guide to Glorantha book on drivethrurpg didn't turn up any results - I'm wondering if Chaosium has stopped publishing it, or never bothered to publish it as a PDF?

The only Glorantha books related to cults I can find on drivethrurpg are these 3: Cults of Terror; Gloranthan Classics Volume III - Cult Compendium; Cults of Prax. Are those the Glorantha 2nd Age  publications you're referring to, or are they something else? The Cults of Terror actually looks to be a book created for the most recent RQG rule set?

Edited March 25, 2019 by kronovan

[Joerg]

There are other outlets than just Drivethrough, but it is quite likely that getting a legal copy of MRQ2 titles might have become impossible due to loss of license a decade ago or so. Print copies should be available second hand.

Chaosium.com has all its titles in pdf format, including stuff from earlier editions with no longer 100% canonical info. The Guide doesn't come cheap even as pdf, but 800 pages of massive info are worth it if you really want to delve into Glorantha.

The Cult compendium contains the other two titles you found on Drivethrough. All of these are originally for Chaosium's RQ2 (aka RQ Classic, not identical to MRQ2), but the spells are quite easily ported to other editions, including Mythras.

 

[kronovan]

4 minutes ago, Joerg said:

There are other outlets than just Drivethrough...

Of for sure and I realize that, but for an old and decrepit gamer like me with waning memory, keeping PDF purchases under one umbrella helps. 

5 minutes ago, Joerg said:

The Guide doesn't come cheap even as pdf, but 800 pages of massive info are worth it if you really want to delve into Glorantha.

Yikes, @ $66.28 CDN you're not kidding! That seems a bit steep considering I just bought the Mythic Britain,  Mythic Britain Companion and Mythic Britain Logres PDFs for less than half that.  That's more $ than I want to spend for an initial investment, so I'll probably start with the Sourcebook and if it hooks me in and leaves me wanting more, consider getting the rest too.

[hkokko]

Glorantha is perfetly runnable under Mythras. Have been running it for as many years as rq6 and Mythras have existed. Notesfrompavis blog contains Gloranthan Cult One Pagers, Mythras Encounter Generator has pretty much all the enemies ever published - if something is missing - you can create it easily or ping me and ask me to. There are few articles about how to start as well - look at left hand column of the blog. Tools.notesfrompavis.com provides additional generators.

[jbbourgoin]

And you can use the Glotanthan runes for Openquest article in Openquest Adventures book to integrate runes in your games. Conversions between openquest and Mythras are easy.

[g33k]

15 hours ago, hkokko said:

Glorantha is perfetly runnable under Mythras. Have been running it for as many years as rq6 and Mythras have existed. Notesfrompavis blog contains Gloranthan Cult One Pagers, Mythras Encounter Generator has pretty much all the enemies ever published - if something is missing - you can create it easily or ping me and ask me to. There are few articles about how to start as well - look at left hand column of the blog. Tools.notesfrompavis.com provides additional generators.

Yeah, this.

For running the Mythras rules in the Glorantha world, "NotesFromPavis" is really a GREAT resource.

It is, arguably, a better resource in many ways than any of the "official rule" online-resources (i.e. for RQG/HQG/13G) are!  The Encounter Generator is something I wish RQG had ...

 

Edited March 27, 2019 by g33k
clarification

[g33k]

On 3/25/2019 at 2:23 PM, kronovan said:

Yikes, @ $66.28 CDN you're not kidding! That seems a bit steep considering I just bought the Mythic Britain,  Mythic Britain Companion and Mythic Britain Logres PDFs for less than half that.

By size/content, the Guide is equivalent to about 4 "typical" 256-page sourcebooks; so price-equivalent to $16.57 per 256-page book.

As one massive item... yep, it's expensive!  As $/value, it's reasonable, and appropriately priced.

OTOH, I'm one of the Gloranthaphiles who actually spent for the physical set...  

 

[kronovan]

Many thanks for all the replies.

I've now purchased The Glorantha Sourcebook PDF and visited the notesfrompravis website. That site does indeed appear to be very comprehensive and I'll give it a thorough browsing before considering any more purchases.

[Bill the barbarian]

On 3/25/2019 at 1:59 PM, Joerg said:

But yes, to play somewhere else, with local detail in the character or clan creation rules, you will need to invest some work as the GM (or part of a GM council), with a bit of world building. Although I find communal world building where all players contribute NPCs, background detail etc. to be a very good idea in general, and perfectly applicable to whichever part of Glorantha you might want to pick as your stage

Pefectly applicable indeed! From what I have read (In way too many sources to begin to cite) that's the exact way Dragon Pass and environs was populated and given a history in the first place, That is, to say it was built on the adventures of early PCs.