From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer) To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest) Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Mon, 25 Oct 1993, part 1 Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily) Sender: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM Precedence: junk The RuneQuest Daily and RuneQuest Digest deal with the subjects of Avalon Hill's RPG and Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha. Send submissions and followup to "RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM", they will automatically be included in a next issue. Try to change the Subject: line from the default Re: RuneQuest Daily... on replying. Selected articles may also appear in a regular Digest. If you want to submit articles to the Digest only, contact the editor at RuneQuest-Digest-Editor@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM. Send enquiries and Subscription Requests to the editor: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Henk Langeveld) --------------------- From: wk039316@rzcipa01.rz.tu-bs.de Subject: Submission Message-ID: <9310220539.AA26577@rzcipa01.rz.tu-bs.de> Date: 22 Oct 93 07:39:05 GMT X-RQ-ID: 2079 Submission for RQ-DIGEST --------------------- From: graeme.lindsell@anu.edu.au (Graeme A Lindsell) Subject: Lots o' Stuff Message-ID: <9310220745.AA28909@cscgpo.anu.edu.au> Date: 22 Oct 93 17:45:14 GMT X-RQ-ID: 2080 Sandy Petersen writes: >I'm going to say a Bad Word here: Heroquest. I do NOT wish to open up Nothing bad about that word: there was a fairly big discussion about how "mundane" heroquests are a couple of weeks ago, with several posters supparting views very similar to your own. >In the ritual, one or more Humakti perform >special oaths and swearings against a known enemy person. Then, they >go after him, bolstered with special magic. Once they kill the chosen >enemy, he cannot be resurrected. This sounds very much like an assassination ritual to me :-). I suppose the Humakti would reply that they kill openly, not like some sneaky assassin (actually, if I said that to a humakti's face, I'd expect he'd just kill me). Was this or a similar ritual performed by the Household of Death, though their declared aim seemed to be the protection of Sartar? This version would make the Humakti into the ultimate guards, since if what they have sworn to protect dies, so do they. > re: Graeme Lindsell > Most sorcerers don't admit... {etc.} I think you have your attribtion wrong here, I can't remember asking about sorcerers. The comment about resurrection is interesting though: it's stated in the Genertela pack that the Brithini sorcerers can resurrect other Brithini, but this is the first time that anyone's mentioned that other sorcerers can do it. You imply that shamans have access to resurrection as well. David Dunham writes: >Quite possibly, older, retired Humakti do farm. They must be pretty poor Humakti, allowing themselves to get old! :-). Seriously, I'd expect most older humakti to become weapons teachers or something else associated with the military rather than farm, though some may. You need to be a pretty dedicated warrior to join Humakt, the less dedicated would probably join those cults that have retirement plans (ie Orlanth). johnjmedway writes: >Greg also (over?)stressed one >other thing regarding Humakti: They mean ONE thing. DEATH. Well if that's what he said he did overstress it: they also mean TRUTH, and there are those Swords who would emphasize that part over death. Roland Volz writes: >Besides, CA is associated with Orlanth. She is also associated with Yelm, check out the Yelm cult in GoG. Given that Dara Happa is where Yelm is worshipped, the I expect that there would be plenty of CA worshippers there. >Actually, you mean a PERFECT Humakti never kills at a distance. That's right. Just like Humakt. The purposes of the geases are to make the initiate act like humakt. A perfect Humakti chooses to forgo tha ranged weapons (except for throwing knives) and act like Humakt, and never slay at a distance. Why then should Humakt's most powerful spell allow one to do just that? Loren Miller on Polytheism: I agree with what you say, though I doubt the results would be all-out religious war. The disappearance of lay-membership as a cult status in RQ3 and the increase in the number of initiates helped create this situation IMO. When most people were lay members and initiates were faily rare then the situation would be more like true polytheism. I think the easiest game-mechanics way to implement what you want is allow a cultist to join most associate cults in a pantheon as an initiate but not to enforce the 10% time/money rule, in the same way that rune levels can choose to do so, just getting the rune magic but not the DI, ransom or much real chance of cult progression. It's really just the POW and MP's the god wants, and these associate initiates would give those minor gods most of their support. Graeme Lindsell a.k.a gal502@huxley.anu.edu.au --------------------- From: s.phillips@gla.ac.uk Subject: Running a Sartar Campaign Message-ID: <22_Oct_93_11:03:16_A116EC@UK.AC.GLA.VME> Date: 22 Oct 93 10:03:16 GMT X-RQ-ID: 2081 Hello everyone (And Sandy - fawn! fawn! Bootlick! etc.), I mentioned ages ago that my GM (Harry) is off to Japan so to keep myself and the other players from going cold turkey I have decided to take over running RQ. Gosh! What a can of worms. How does anyone do it? I thought I knew a lot about RQ but I find I-know-naffin. I had to look up how to calculate HP... Still I am soldiering ever onwards. To avoid clashes with Harry's RoC campaign I have decided to locate in Sartar. That is where the *BIG* trouble begins.. Sartar I thought. Great we have KoS, we have good write ups for Orlanth, Ernalda, loads of old examples in WF, the Genertla book, What my Father Told Me, ..., it should be fine. Woah! To my dismay I found it all sadly lacking. I have Vikings but then Sartar is Celtic/Saxon. I know they have Long houses (that's in WMFTM -GP) and I know how the Clan is organised I have a list of some of the tribes etc.. & I have Apple Lane. But I need help. All you Sartar lovers out there. What is it like for you. Any good adventure ideas etc. Jeorg, you play in Sartar don't you. How do you do it? I have chosen to take WMFTM as my base. I have made everything said in it absolutely true. I have rolled up everyone mentioned and filled out the Varmandi even down to the Tree House. Oh, and I gave them a lake (not mentioned).. (oops run out of time I will finish this later - Cheers!) PS. Why doesn't Sartar have any big Lakes? There is one south of Whitewall but that aint Sartar. I kind of fancied some lake settlements. Crannogs? Hedeby? even some of those German ones built on Islands and totaly surrounded by staockade in the water. - sigh! Cheers Sam. x Not Scotland But Sartar --------------------- From: eosgg@raesp-farn.mod.uk (Geoff Gunner) Subject: Bits and pieces ... Message-ID: <9310221155.AA22076@raesp-farn.mod.uk> Date: 22 Oct 93 11:55:19 GMT X-RQ-ID: 2082 re: Sandy's words on Humakti. I am humbled and shall remain silent for at least the next three days in repentance. I have seen the divine light ... but : (!) I'm guessing that Orlanthi Culture loosely follows 5th - 10th Century Germanic-type society, with a tendency to include the tastier bits of Norse culture. IMHO the number of dedicated soldiers was quite low, the majority being farmers who could fight. The Viking phenomena arose because of overpopulation, which doesn't apply to Dragon Pass. So the majority of fighters would be Orlanthi. So okay, perhaps 2% Humakti. More modern societies are different; as distribution methods improve we can support a larger population living off the land, so there's more scope for a bigger standing army. Look at the problems in medieval (and earlier) times in raising a fighting force - were'nt a lot of battles timed to be in the quiet periods between harvests, because you could then press-gang the peasantry into fighting ? 'Nuff said ( by me, at any rate :-( ) Attached is a poor attempt at mapping the Gloranthan year to an Earth year; any comments ? Gloranthan Clandaric Equivalents Sea 2nd Week May, Apple Blossom 5th Week June 5, 7th week Midsummer Solstice Fire 1st Week July 5th Week August 7th Week September, Harvest Earth 2nd Week Fall 4th Week October 8th Week November, Trees bare Dark 1st Week December 2nd Week Snow 4th Week Midwinters Solstice 5th Week Jan Storm 1st Week February, New Life 1, 3rd Week Valentines Day 5th Week March, Pancake Day Sacred 1st Week April 2nd Week Easter --------------------- From: s.phillips@gla.ac.uk Subject: (more about my Sartar Campaign Plans) Message-ID: <22_Oct_93_14:15:16_A10242@UK.AC.GLA.VME> Date: 22 Oct 93 13:15:16 GMT X-RQ-ID: 2083 (Back again!) Sorry, where was I. Hmm! I have just re-read my last posting and it was rather rambling. I will try to be a bit more clear this time. (recap) I have started to plan a Sartar campaign and I am looking for advice from anyone who has already succeded in doing this. Any comments on what I have done, changes you would recommend and anything I have got blatently wrong would be appreciated. I would like to get the feel of Sartar right as I have been a player for over 10yrs now and, allowing myself a bit of an indulgence, have been giving it a lot of thought.. Here is an account of how I have got on so far.. * Sartar, though one of the main places mentioned in Greg's writings, actually has less campaign stile info about it than is first apparent. There is a *lot* of history but not a great deal of every day type stuff. In a letter I got from GS back in 1987 he said that Sartar was Saxon/Celtic. Viking is easier to find resources for and is very similar and so I have included much of the Vikings in it. * I chose to model my campaign on What My Father Told Me (WMFTM). It is absolutely brilliant. It states that the Varmandi Clan (the one mentioned) is located in the Ormthane Vale near Apple Lane. The Varmandi's also get a reasonably big write up in KoS so they seemed a good clan to choose. * I first chose to locate the Varmandi clan south of Apple Lane, around the spot where a ruin is marked. I drew maps and designed the Stead etc (more on this in a mo). But Alas! my first experience of being Gregged (or maybe more research was called for) I found the Ormthane Vale, home of the Varmandi Clan, on the TrollPack map. It is *north* of Apple lane. Not much harm done. The *South* bog is now the *east* bog, but that's about it really. * I chose the Viking model for a Stead as I have a *lot* of stuff about the vikings. I have a good collection of children's picture history books which are brilliant source books. I highly recommend the Usbourne 'time-traveller' book of Vikings for sheer character (and characters!) and the How-would-you-survive-as-a-Viking book which is immensely detailed. (if anyone want's ISBN no's just let me know). I find these children's books to be better than many adult texts. They cram loads in and are full of great ideas. They are also *very* accurate the Usbourne book is written by one of the leading writers of adult texts. I know a first year historian who used it as a revising text. Anyway, my Varmandi stead has a Long house and another four or five stead-houses in the main settlement along with a tree house (I couldn't resist putting the bard up in it - sorry!), an unfinished piece of defensive wall, Barns, storage huts etc. The Shepherds have smaller houses outside the main settlement. The stead houses tend to be divided by occupation and status. Sartarian houses appear from literature to be rectangular rather than round. I would have liked round houses (Celtic) but I went with rectangular. They don't have a temple as such but instead have an open air shrine with standing stones. What are these like? I kind of fancied a wind rune shape, are all open shrines like Pairing Stones (two large slabs slightly leaning in towards each other)? What about roofed temples? I fancied the Celtic style - Large, round, hut-like buildings with a hugh hole in the center of the roof above the hearth. This would allow all the benefits of an open temple with a cosy indoor atmosphere. * I felt my stead needed a fishing lake so I gave them one. As I said before there don't appear to be *any* lakes in Sartar at all. Why? I think it needs them. This way my players can roll freely on the RQIV professions table. (more on this in a mo). Also it fits every picture of a Viking stead I have seen. * Technology level is hard to decide on. What the average clan would have will be very different from what is in the towns etc. Sartar was the Great Builder and the 5 Sartar cities (Boldhome, Jonstown, Wilm'skirk, Swenstown, Ducktown?) have some of the greatest walls after Old Pavis. But what of the smaller settlements. My stead has *no* stone buildings at all. It has a very small peice of defensive wall, earth mound, ditch, Wooden wall. It was an unfinished experiment and covers around 10% of the stead perimeter. Should it have a full wall? Asterix's village did (another good source - especially for the Lunars!). Runegate has a wall. The Sartar dynasty roads have towers along them and are butressed in places. Are they stone cobbled? * The two closeby settlements are Apple Lane and Redbird fort. Apple Lane is easy, although fitting it in with everything else isn't so easy. Where is the Lunar presence? Why are the houses so advanced? The road going through it isn't a Great Road. How do the clans feel about the weirdo's who live there, what with their Shamanism, three eyes, funny coloured skin, trollkin, Chiminies etc. Gosh! Why would anyone go there.. Redbird fort I chose as a wooden fort in the shape of a wind rune. The Lunars have added stone buildings to it, temple, barracks etc. It surrendered around the time Jonstown did as was missed out by the main armies (along with Apple Lane) who headed South after taking RuneGate. Runegate has stone buildings, towers and a big hole in the wall. The temple (a round hut type) has been closed down. * RQIV experience rules are great. I highly commend them. But do they favour the heroic PC rather than the less than heroic NPC? I find you cannot create anyone older than 30ish who isn't bordering Rune status. Is everyone of status at least an acolyte? If so my stead ends up with a heap-load of powerful people. * Orlanthi cults & Initiation into them caused a few problems. I want my players to experience initiation in game time. To do this I have made up an excuse why they haven't been initiated. The priest, along with the old leader (the Rastorlanth - is that a title?) and his housecarls all went off on a rebellion and haven't returned. Would the stead have it's own priest (Godi). Would they wait? It has been over a year now and the clan needs new warriors and less children. One of my players wanted his 17yr old lad to join Ernalda instead. I wouldn't let him saying a) Ernalda won't take him until he is adult - ie initiated into Orlanth b) A young *male* warrior would die rather than join Ernalda as his main cult, he would sooner drive a *wagon* for the rest of his life.. ptoo! * Jonstown:What is it like? It has big walls. Is probably stone (mostly) It has guilds and temples (including a large Y-shaped Lhankor Mhy temple). What would the Orlanth temple be like? How would the Lunars have changed this place? They've been here Nigh-on 20yrs. It's funny really that of all the places is Sartar, Jonstown is the most talked frequently mentioned but there is practically nothing written about it (itself). The index reference of it's founding in KoS appears to be a mistake. * Gentle Vastyr is the new clan leader. A gentle farmer voted in by the Ernaldan womenfolk. He is well liked but the remaining men would rather a warrior in charge. Could he be an Acolyte of Ernalda? He obviously can't be a priest. Would Orlanth Rex be more suitable? I opted for both. * The Eurmal: I decided to have a trickster on the stead. He ran off when the Rastorlanth left. He now lives on a small Island in the lake. He always went there when his protecter left as he fears the womenfolk would do for him (and he's right). He will return to the longhouse when the men return. * I want my young Orlanthi to have had little or no contact with the outside world (apart from other Colymar). Is this realistic? Warriors, traders etc would cross the Elder hills to visit Apple lane etc but what of the others? Perhaps the odd raid on a neighbour. Something nasty perhaps like trollkin or small chaos band.. But no real regular contact with the outside in these troubled times. Is this againsed the Orlanth unspoken virtue: Independence? * Virtues: I have adopted PenDragon *style* virtues. But instead have the Olanthi ones.. Courage, Wisdom, Generousity, Justice, Honour, Wyrd. I also gave them Viking characteristics +1 Str, +1 Siz. So that's about it so far. Feel free to E-mail me direct. I have been using my Apple Mac to produce plans etc so if you want to see all this when it's finished give us a call. - Any Criticism? Be as cruel as you wish.. Cheers! Sam x. Sam Phillips, Not Scotland - But Sartar. --------------------- From: nrobinso@sirius.UVic.CA (Neil Robinson) Subject: Golden Bow Message-ID: <35299.nrobinso@sirius.uvic.ca> Date: 22 Oct 93 17:48:16 GMT X-RQ-ID: 2084 A few of us have been playing the 'hunt for all the information on a topic' game. A grazelander is returning home during the Sacred Time, and we need to work out more information. Here's our big question: The gods of the Grazelanders include a Jardan the Warrior, whose master warriors are called the Golden Bow (KoS p. 108). Now the grazelanders are apparently the remains of the Pure Horse People who were all but defeated just outside of Pavis by a combined force of praxian nomads (the Battle of Alavan Argay). Prior to this battle, the Pure Horse people also suffered a loss to the Trolls, where their War God (Golden Bow) was crushed (KoS 193). RoC also mentions this. Does this mean they worship a Dead God? We are currently feeling that the other Grazelander deities, particularly Pole Star, are making up for the Golden Bow/Jardan's loss, and it is one reason for the success of Hiia Swordsman, a vendref hero cult that is gaining in popularity. Oh, are we going to have a 'most used KoS' contest at RQCon? Neil Robinson | "Never underestimate the power of human nrobinso@sirius.uvic.ca | stupidity." - L. Long 2996 Dysart Rd. Victoria B.C. V9A 2K2 (604) 385-1642