You're not alone here. Look at the archives of the various lists.
> What happened to Urox? Elmal? Eurmal?
They're not in the generic book, they'll be the specific books (Thunder Rebels or Satar Rising). Also getting Urox the Storm Bull to work right took a bit more brain power than planned, so it got yanked to avoid problems.
> Why are seven major aspects of Ernalda listed, but only three are described?
> Not that I have any great desire to play a Uraldan, but come on, I have an
> equal level of desire to play a Uraldan as I do an "Ernalda the Mother"
> worshipper. A couple aspects of Orlanth are missing, too (Farmer and
> Lawspeaker).
Same as above. Page count is at a premium, and there was a "race to market". I'm not in the know, but I think they'll be along shortly.
> Wealth/Pricing/Buying Stuff
Some people have talked about giving it a miss and sticking with coins. I guess that is in the "you do it your way" category. I'm gonna try the abstract wealth concept, but I don't consider it one of the high points of the rule system.
> Questions about the sample character, Kallai, page 28:
>
> "Great deity: Orlanth 13": What? Where did that come from? Where in the
> rules does it say who gets a "great deity", what "great deity" they get,
> what it means to have a "great deity", and what it means to have a "great
> deity" of 13?
I think the "theory" is that a great diety is one that has multiple aspects that have different cults. Orlanth the Thunderer is not the same cult as Orlanth Rex, although they are both the same god. Eurmal the Thief, Eurmal the Seducer and Eurmal the Murder are all the same trickster, same "cult". I think a god is considered great if:
There is a system of runes that hasn't been published (nice, eh?) that describes this a bit better. The god defined at in position 3 is a great god. The Orlanthi Humakt is
[Theism] [Storm] [Orlanth] [Humakt]
Orlanth Adventurous is
[Theism] [Storm] [Orlanth] [Orlanth Adventurous]
and a sub cult of OA is
[Theism] [Storm] [Orlanth] [Orlanth Adventurous] [local hero]
Humans worship beings with 4 and 5 runes. Having fewer is just too abstract for most folk. How do you get your mind around [Theism] [Storm]? Is that just primal Umath?
Question of my own: how does Valind fit into this? Is he a Great God? Would he be something like
[Theism] [Storm] [Valind] [Valind]
> "Initiate of: Humakt": Huh? But he's a warrior, not a god-talker.
> God-talkers are the only ones who have the "initiate to (god)" skill. Or
> does that mean that they're able to initiate other people?
Anyone can be an initiate. It indicates a level of commitment to the god, not a profession. In the old RQ days, how could you become a RL without being an initiate first? The majority of Heortlings are at least initiated. http://www.glorantha.com/hw/P03Keywords1.html says
> Magic: Most Heortling adults are initiated or devoted to a specific god. > Suitable gods are listed below for each profession. Heortlings fear > sorcery as soul-draining. Shamanism is rare, and shamans are generally > outcasts and hermits. Mysticism is extremely rare, normally equated > with dragonewts and outsiders.
God Talkers have to be at least initiated, they can't settle for "Worship Storm Tribe" (aka Lay Membership).
> "Devotee of: Humakt 17": How did he become a devotee? Does every character
> get to be a devotee of somebody, as opposed to a just plain initiate? And
> what does the "17" mean? When answering that last question, please keep in
> mind that the character has a specific "mythology of Humakt" ability, as
> well as specific Humakt affinities. So if this "devotee of Humakt 17" is
> neither knowing about Humakt nor being able to channel Humakt, what is it?
I will allow anyone who wants to start as a devotee to do so. It has costs in time and actions (that old commitment thing again) that have to be respected. Why shoudn't I let them start as devotees? I wouldn't for a bunch of initiated newbies, but we're talking about the 5w1 standard characters, right?
> "Eastern Customs 13, Eastern Languages 13, Foreign Customs 13, Foreign
> Languages 13": You mean to tell me that "foreign languages" is a single
> skill? As opposed to, say, "French" or "Korean"? This strikes me as
> extremely munchkinistic. Why not, say, "Kallai can kill things", leading to
> a "kill" skill of 13, obviating the need for "sword" or "spear" or whatever;
> he just can kill, regardless of whether he has a particular implement handy
> or not?
What is wrong with generic skills? Everytime you use them there is an improv penalty, and they are expensive to develop (rarely count as "actively used"). And my RW experience is that languages do group together. French and Korean is a bad example, but French/Spanish/Italian with improv penalities works for me.
ObRedirect:
Have you looked at the lists on eGroups? The GD is more for "how
Glorantha works", and is fairly rule free. hw-rules_at_egroups.com
(http://www.egroups.com/group/hw-rules) is for rulesy stuff like your
post. There is also HeroWars_at_egroups.com
(http://www.egroups.com/group/HeroWars) for using the rules in
Glorantha. I'm not so keen on three Glorantha lists (four if you count
the one for King of Dragon Pass), but this is how it stands right now.
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