How to travel fast?

[Manu]

Glorantha is very big. Just to go to one big city to another, it takes days/weeks/seasons. And I like to make my player travel a bit.

Therefore I tried to imagine how to travel fast in the world of Glorantha.

On a very good road, on horse, it is 50 km/day

What if carried by an Air Elemental (with extension enough for a day for instance, or the sorcery version)? Horse is MOVE 12, Air Elemental also. But as it flies, it can go straight.

Also, if it last for 1 day (meaning 24h), can it fly 24h? Does it have to rest? Can it fly during the night?

 

Teleportation is also a solution. Can I leave a bound spirit home and tell the spell to teleport where he is (as he can see the place)? Or is it just full Allied Spirit (as the one you get when you become a Rune Lord)?

 

Any other clues/Ideas?

[g33k]

Augments might reasonably be used to speed things up in a semi-mundane fashion ("mundane" as in, "no spells cast," but only "semi-" because a Movement Rune augmenting speed to inhuman/inequine travel times isn't really "mundane," is it?).

Wind Lords can cast Flight.

Mobility is the classic "go fast" spell, but needs to be bumped to some sort of on-all-day duration, likely as a magic item (I need to look at item-creation rules; I presume it's possible.).

With the party following him, the Eurmali walks up to the pilot of a Moon Boat <casts Lie> "Moonson has an utterly-secret mission for you:  you must take us to XX without telling anyone else anything about the journey, or about us, or communicating with others en route."

 

[Sumath]

Get yourself a hippogriff or a Pegasus (if you can catch and tame one).

By the way, I'd imagine that Move represents how fast a creature can reasonably go whilst still maintaining control under combat conditions. 12 seems to be the upper limit for the creatures in the Bestiary, but I'd still say that a flying griffin or dragon would be faster than a horse in a straight line.

[Akhôrahil]

There's this enormous ram that lives on Thunder Mountain and jumps around the Orlanthi holy peaks. Arkat hitched a ride on it once.

If you're specifically travelling to western Genertela, using the Westfaring as a travel heroquest ought to work.

Edited July 12, 2019 by Akhôrahil

[Joerg]

50 km corresponds well to "heroic movement" (six points) in the old Dragon Pass game. There are a few units with special mounts that move 56km a day, such as Ethilrist's demon horses, high llamas, or grazer pony riders, and if you have a grazer pony herd for remounts, that increases to 72 km a day. All of this without benefit of a major road, which doubles those distances, or adds half again the distance for minor roads. A day's ride (with a movement allowance of 4 or 5 hexes a day) will get you from Boldhome to Jonstown, Swenstown and Wilmskirk with no sweat, and connect those three cities with a little sweat, and almost all the way to Duck Point from Wilmskirk.

Magical travel aid can be gained from Ronance or the Traveling Stone, too.

Dragonewt roads are highly efficient if the newts let you tune in. In Kralorela, the bridges of Godunya appear to be tied into that network for sufficiently advaned disciples.

4 minutes ago, Sumath said:

Get yourself a hippogriff or a Pegasus (if you can catch and tame one).

Flying mounts are good, but rare.  Add wyverns, cooperative wyrms and giant vrok hawks to this list, and possibly Akgarbash of Laurmal's giant stork.

Magical flyers and wind children with elemental support might be in the same league.

Sea travel times can be astoundingly short in the right season. Riding a tidal wave or a doom current may not be for the faint of heart, but might still add to the speed.

The River Horse spirit allows you to move between headwaters through a watery otherworld and can cover quite a distance.

If you want to go west, "Mastakos Seven Steps West" are highly efficient

Nothing beats Guided Teleport for speed. You need to have sacrificed for a rune point at the respective temple before, though.

[HreshtIronBorne]

Our shaman has 5 Spell Extension Slots, so he can cover all of our mounts with Mobility for as long as he wishes. It gets us out of danger and into dungeons relatively quickly!

[PhilHibbs]

I'm sure there are Issaries traders who pick up Guided Teleportation spells to pass on.

[jajagappa]

Join the Mastakos cult; acquire his chariot and steeds (or his sandals); learn to step from mountain top to mountain top (or wave to wave when crossing water).

[Joerg]

22 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

I'm sure there are Issaries traders who pick up Guided Teleportation spells to pass on.

This is approaching that heroplane caravan service from the Malazan Book of the Fallen series...

"Reappear anywhere" could be an uz quest that involves descending to Hell, and then up one of the backpaths. As you avoid much of the surface world, and distances away from the surface world become subjective, this might cut significantly into long range travel times.

Blue Moon parachuters might spend a tidal cycle with their goddess and jump off during the plunge, sailing down on moth- or bat-wings to a designated landing zone.

A Star Captain quest could provide a similar parachute option for both Storm and Solar Star Captains.

[PhilHibbs]

59 minutes ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

Our shaman has 5 Spell Extension Slots, so he can cover all of our mounts with Mobility for as long as he wishes. It gets us out of danger and into dungeons relatively quickly!

...so long as everyone stays within 50m of the shaman...

Edited July 12, 2019 by PhilHibbs

[Psullie]

A trained Loper is what you need.

[Joerg]

5 hours ago, Psullie said:

A trained Loper is what you need.

Apparently those beasts require a line of sight. Otherwise the heroic struggle of the Loper people in Ralios and Slontos that took almost 70 years for the Seshnegi to resolve could have been solved by teleporing back to western Teshnos or Melib.

[Shiningbrow]

Well, obviously you take a shortcut... Find a gateway into the underworld, cut through there and back up again! Easy...

Edited July 13, 2019 by Shiningbrow

[soltakss]

Lokarnos used to have Hie Wagon, which allows a wagon or other wheeled vehicle to move faster.

Mobility has been mentioned, but I am not sure about how RQG handles Endurance, so it might tire you out unless you have spells to counter that.

Some cults have specialist magic that can help, Guided Teleportation has been mentioned. Frog Woman has Jump that takes a party of people in an extended Teleport that takes 24 hours to complete. River Horse has something similar that takes you to the Headwaters of any river, so can be used for fast travel, but I can't remember the spell name.

Magic Roads are another way of doing this. You perform a minor HeroQuest to move quickly to another fixed point. Orlanth's Ram has been mentioned, but in my Glorantha I also have the Rainbow Bridge, which allows you to call down a Rainbow, so you can travel up and along it, to come down at another place. Some Chaos Nests have ways of magically transporting you, but you might not want that.

Boats are good, especially along a river, you can use Undines to help power them, moving them faster. Ships with sails can also use Sylphs to fill the sails with wind, allowing them to move faster. Using undines and sylphs gives you a very fast ship. Winged creatures allow you to fly, sylphs have been mentioned, but Giant Hawks, Griffins and so on can be used. Pegasi are extinct, but could be brought back by a HeroQuest. Lunars use Moon Boats, Wyvern Riders and, in emergencies, the Crimson Bat, although the Crimson Bat is quite slow. Enterprising PCs might be able to fly on Dragons. 

[Shiningbrow]

Seriously though, in RQ3 sorcery had a Fly spell, and I imagine it'll re-appear in the next book. The question will be how size & speed will interact in the intensity.

Orlanth's Flight spell is, RAW, pretty slow

Guided Teleport is good .. Once you've been there. It's (RAW) Self only, but I'm sure a HQ could change that.

Teleportation with a huuugggeeee Farsee would work, and relatively cheap!

[PhilHibbs]

On 7/12/2019 at 8:32 PM, PhilHibbs said:

...so long as everyone stays within 50m of the shaman...

...although opinions seem to vary on whether this is a rule or not.

Edited July 13, 2019 by PhilHibbs

[HreshtIronBorne]

17 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Seriously though, in RQ3 sorcery had a Fly spell, and I imagine it'll re-appear in the next book. The question will be how size & speed will interact in the intensity.

Orlanth's Flight spell is, RAW, pretty slow

Guided Teleport is good .. Once you've been there. It's (RAW) Self only, but I'm sure a HQ could change that.

Teleportation with a huuugggeeee Farsee would work, and relatively cheap!

So, with the RAW rules for wyters an Orlanthi clan leader, High Priest, or other wyter connected individual can Teleport community members or Guided Teleportation them, depending on how you rule stuff, with pretty incredible efficiency. A wyter can be left at home and is mentally connected to the high priest like an allied spirit, meaning it can be used to 'sight in' a teleport as far as I can tell in the RAW. 

 

One of our favorites in Orlanthi parties has always been binding a large-ish air elemental for each party member, or at least enough SIZ and STR to carry all of the party members and equipment, hopefully with some extra for loot. A Binding is great as you can always target it with a simple Control Spell and have it carry you to a destination. Even if you lose the spell it will follow its last command as far as our Glorantha, so it should get you there even if it leaves afterward.

[d(sqrt(-1))]

I haven't seen mention of hijacking the Dragonnewt ley lines yet. Mind you it does tend to annoy them.

[Shiningbrow]

6 hours ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

So, with the RAW rules for wyters an Orlanthi clan leader, High Priest, or other wyter connected individual can Teleport community members or Guided Teleportation them, depending on how you rule stuff, with pretty incredible efficiency. A wyter can be left at home and is mentally connected to the high priest like an allied spirit, meaning it can be used to 'sight in' a teleport as far as I can tell in the RAW. 

I presume, RAW, the Guided would be out, due to the Self restriction. 

The wyter's discorporate self probably would mean POW x 0.5 km + "sight" Teleport.... Of 5 members per POW/RP.

(IMO...)

[Austin]

On 7/12/2019 at 11:04 AM, Manu said:

Therefore I tried to imagine how to travel fast in the world of Glorantha.

On a very good road, on horse, it is 50 km/day

RQG p.102 has a full chart for different travel speeds if you want it, which does max out at 50km/day mounted on the Royal Roads. Lately I've been using the Guide's hex-maps and hand-waving that the party can travel two hexes in rough terrain, or three in even terrain. It's a bit of a pain in the arse--and makes me wish the AAA had print versions available--but gets the job done without too many tears.

In the Bestiary on p.147 has a table for different mount speeds during overland chases comparing both Praxian animals and different horse breeds. I'm not sure how useful the information is, but it could give an idea what's quicker for overland travel when several creatures have a flat MOV of 12.

Love the Farsee + Teleportation trick. Almost worthy of the Munckinnery thread... Especially without curvature! Cross Prax in the blink of an eye!

I'd recommend caution on trying to co-opt Dragonewt Roads, since most of them go to Dragonewt locations. Of course, that may well just be the start of another fine adventure... Realistically though I suspect that they're unlikely to get an adventurer to a useful location.

On 7/12/2019 at 11:35 AM, g33k said:

Mobility is the classic "go fast" spell, but needs to be bumped to some sort of on-all-day duration, likely as a magic item (I need to look at item-creation rules; I presume it's possible.).

I'm unaware of current rules support for creating such an item; mostly the enchantment rules work for making matrices, which just hold the spell rather than a modified/longer version. 

[Bill the barbarian]

On 7/12/2019 at 10:35 AM, g33k said:

Augments might reasonably be used to speed things up in a semi-mundane fashion ("mundane" as in, "no spells cast," but only "semi-" because a Movement Rune augmenting speed to inhuman/inequine travel times isn't really "mundane," is it?).

Aye, and there's the rub. Caveats notwithstanding,  in a world of magic what is mundane?

 

On 7/12/2019 at 11:47 AM, Sumath said:

Get yourself a hippogriff or a Pegasus (if you can catch and tame one).

A vrok halk from Balazar might do. Others have tries to obtain such and train them.

 

On 7/12/2019 at 11:57 AM, Joerg said:

Flying mounts are good, but rare.  Add wyverns, cooperative wyrms and giant vrok hawks to this list, and possibly Akgarbash of Laurmal's giant stork.

Yes indeed.

 

On 7/12/2019 at 1:18 PM, Joerg said:

On 7/12/2019 at 12:47 PM, PhilHibbs said:

I'm sure there are Issaries traders who pick up Guided Teleportation spells to pass on.

This is approaching that heroplane caravan service from the Malazan Book of the Fallen series...

Both are very cool

On 7/13/2019 at 10:13 PM, HreshtIronBorne said:

So, with the RAW rules for wyters an Orlanthi clan leader, High Priest, or other wyter connected individual can Teleport community members or Guided Teleportation them, depending on how you rule stuff, with pretty incredible efficiency. A wyter can be left at home and is mentally connected to the high priest like an allied spirit, meaning it can be used to 'sight in' a teleport as far as I can tell in the RAW. 

Nice.

 

On 7/14/2019 at 4:00 AM, d(sqrt(-1)) said:

I haven't seen mention of hijacking the Dragonnewt ley lines yet. Mind you it does tend to annoy them.

Ooooo!

 

On 7/14/2019 at 5:00 AM, Crel said:

Love the Farsee + Teleportation trick. Almost worthy of the Munckinnery thread... Especially without curvature! Cross Prax in the blink of an eye!

I'm on the fence as to very cool or munkinerry cool and the same with powering a teleport by Wyter.

 

On 7/14/2019 at 5:00 AM, Crel said:

 I'd recommend caution on trying to co-opt Dragonewt Roads, since most of them go to Dragonewt locations. Of course, that may well just be the start of another fine adventure... Realistically though I suspect that they're unlikely to get an adventurer to a useful location.

On 7/12/2019 at 10:35 AM, g33k said:

Precisely with the right kind of victims err  players a GM need never buy a module.

[Shiningbrow]

I just realised...

Guided Teleportation is a Self only spell, and is limited by the need to have already been to the place you're going to, and the week long enchantment ritual to go with it (RAW).*

 

But, what about a matrix?

I could see a "way station" series of porting circles in place done by Issaries for fun and immense profit.

 

(* obviously I'm being quite anal about this in regards to RQG rules..)

[Austin]

5 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

But, what about a matrix?

I could see a "way station" series of porting circles in place done by Issaries for fun and immense profit.

IIRC both Teleportation & Guided Teleportation only allow the transported being(s) to carry up to their ENC. Now, if the matrix just happens to be a big ol' rock which they can't carry around... Of course, then there's the problem of getting it into an Orlanth Temple for a recharge.

[g33k]

7 hours ago, Crel said:

IIRC both Teleportation & Guided Teleportation only allow the transported being(s) to carry up to their ENC. Now, if the matrix just happens to be a big ol' rock which they can't carry around... Of course, then there's the problem of getting it into an Orlanth Temple for a recharge.

Temple-to-temple teleport, recharge in place.

The Orlanthi will be able to charge an arm and a leg, of course ...

[pachristian]

Just remember: The moment you put fast movement into the game, the players will look for ways to make money off it. Also, keep in mind that if the PC’s can do it, it is likely that there are a whole lot of NPC’s who can, and do, do the same thing.