> The Only Old One is/was the son of Argan Argar (not a troll) and
> Esrola/Ernalda, also not a troll. Proving that he was a troll by HQ would
> have been the hard part, IMO.
Hmm, it's true that [according to the Troll Cults Book] Argan Argar isn't stated to be a troll, but then, neither are Xiola Umbar or Zorak Zoran. Or even Kyger Litor. On the other hand, neither of the OOO's parents are humans either, so it would be just as hard to prove he was human.
For the record, the two references [from RuneQuest Companion]: "The dwarfs of Gemborg were the first group to dissent, uniquely while their ancient Silver Age hero was still alive. He and the Only Old One fought hand to hand, and the Only Old One proved he was no troll, for iron did not burn him." And, "After the Dragonkill War of 1100, the Only Old One proved himself to be a troll in magical contest with Kajak-ab Brain Eater and so shared rule of Dragon Pass with the leaders in Dagori Inkarth." Neither one of these is necessarily a heroquest. And they can be explained by saying that the OOO is a title, and the one who fought at Gemborg was human, the one who fought Kajak-ab was a troll.
Nick Brooke wrote (with fewer =s than normal)
> My only caveat is that the names of the (explicitly Christian) traits in
> Pendragon may not be the most appropriate for their Gloranthan users, and
> certainly the descriptions should be rewritten with appropriate attitudes
> and examples from each major Gloranthan culture's POV
Agreed, and I've been remiss in not doing so for my game. (The most important thing may be to rename the traits, which many people have tried, though rarely in my opinion successfully.)
> Also, maybe each cult deserves a description of its own approach to the
> (5?) religiously-significant traits it embodies. This could surely be done
> in a cultural context: explaining the "different" Humakti take on Honesty,
> Valour, etc. could be fun.
This would be excellent in a full writeup. For example, if Issaries really does have Worldly as a virtue (which I'm not sure about), it would be explained as not meaning that the merchant sneers at deities (though an outsider might still see him as behaving in overall Worldly fashion).
> > Also, my philosophy is that traits must be rollable. I simply can't
> > conceive of anyone making an opposed Natural/Chaotic roll.
> Seconded, heartily. My own approach would be to make any odd attitudes held
> by a minority of weirdoes into a Passion rather than a Trait. Thus Mystical,
> Cyclical, Draconic, Chaotic, etc. would be unusual stigma, rather than
> "normal" Trait-pairs (each with an opposite)
I've done this in my cyberpunk game (I think my best example was Curious -- you could have a Curious/Incurious pair but it didn't seem very useful to have characters driven by their lack of curiosity, but one could be inspired by curiosity to do dumb stuff). The only caveat would be that you'd almost never be able to make an Inspiration roll for being Cyclical.
Alex Ferguson suggests
> Worldly/Ascetic
Which seems to preclude the "superstitious" interpretation of the Pendragon Pious trait.
BTW, neither English Muffins nor Australian Toaster Biscuits are sweet by nature (though sometimes they're baked with additives like honey).
Bringing this back to Glorantha, it seems that any food item known by a place name is unknown (at least by that name) in said place. Are there Lunar Loafs in Tarsh, that a citizen from Raibanth would be clueless about? Orlanthi Beer, drunk in Safelster, perhaps with fruit added such that no Orlanthi would recognize it?
As I recall, croissants were invented to celebrate a Muslim (crescent-symbol) victory. Presumably the Lunars have them.
Joerg wrote
> >I also believe the old body of the Pharoh is destroyed being too used up
> >by the strains of god-hood but the idea of an elite bodyguard of zombie
> >ex-Pharohs is a lovely one!
>
> Certainly you mean the mummies of previous incaranations...
I hope not. I don't see Esrolia as hot and/or dry enough to have natural mummification (though I don't know what Belintar's homeland is like), but in any case, I dislike the Egypt identification that seems to have spread thanks to the title of the Pharaoh.
David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_pensee.com> Glorantha/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
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