Beat-Pot Aelwrin and Jar Eel

From: Philippe Sigaud <sigaud_at_...>
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 16:24:55 +0100 (MET)

Peter Metcalfe :

> >When was he 'Jar-Eel-ized' ?
>
> Beatpot Aelwrin was converted after a revolt that "ravaged
> half of Kostaddi" Glorantha: Intro p105. Now there is
> a known rebellion in Kostaddi circa 1612 which result in
> Rone razed and Duke Raus being exiled to a distant land (i.e.
> the Borderlands).
>
> So Beatpot could have been converted within a year or two
> after that. There could have been another revolt at a
> later date but like Sartar, I don't think Kostaddi can
> revolt twice in less than ten years.

That's perfect, as far as I'm concerned. 1612 is quite good, the PC was no more a slave at this date and can't know what happen to his 'poor little friend'.

Nick :

X I may have some answers at my website; see these two pieces --

X http://www.etyries.com/moonson/beat-pot-aelwrin.htm (a character X sheet for Beat-Pot Aelwrin, used in our "Life of Moonson" freeform)

X http://www.etyries.com/folktale/aelwrin.htm ("The Ballad of Beat-Pot X Aelwrin", a bawdy Lunar song)

Oh yes ! I saved them a month (a year, already ?) ago and read them. Then a thousand files and 10000 emails later, I'm afraid I forgot to look at them again.

Thanks.

X > In what way was he changed ?
X
X Spiritually, not physically. His magic is an outgrowth of himself and X his devotion to the Living Goddess manbi, not an exotic Lunar graft.

Well, too bad, I loved the term 'manbi' and wanted to learn a new lunar word :)

X > Does anyone know if he manifests some lunar powers ? Pentan X > magics, anything apart from being able to eat walktapus ? X
X Only as the High Priest of Jar-Eel's Moonsword Cult. Kick-ass combat X magic

Exactly what I need ! And the Moonsword cult (that I also slipped my minde) is also _exactly_ what I need.
The PCs are trying to understand this strange moon death rune, so different from them. Poor Heroes, they quested hard to obtain death/hell secrets to be able to enter in the underworld and right when they decide to find the lunar hell to deliver Belintar the Godking, they understand that the Lunar Hells are Quite Another Matter. No doubt they will be interested by any cult related to Jar Eel (they hate her) and death/moon/saber/hell secret...

(btw, as you can see, my player have perfectly mad, er, heroic characters and we prefer high level campaign).

X    > I have supposed in my game that Jar Eel uses him for missions
X    > where loyalty is important, so the PCs can meet him, in special
X    > circonstances...

X
X Sounds right to me. We had him as passionately jealous of Jar-Eel, so X he'd be resentful and suspicious about being sent away from her, X however good the cause. He might also offload his personal feelings X to an old comrade from his slave days... good chance for a heart-to- X heart with one of your PCs?

Yes ! And this PC is secretly in love (or something between love and hate) with Jar Eel.
The clash will be heard in all Tarsh (were they are) Stars will fall and the face of the world will be changed :)

X    > Initially, I supposed he was in the '10W3 range'  (Class III
X    > Hero ;)  ) and Jar Eel in the 10M4 range, but, due to some
X    > inflation, I suppose it's more 10M4 for Aelwrin and 10M5-6
X    > for Jar Eel ?

X
X That's not what the rules say. Aelwrin should be 10w3-ish and Jar-Eel X 10w4-ish in their best abilities. Any "inflation" you add on top of X this is entirely your own decision.

My decision is that he is somewhat of the same level than the PC (a bit higher), whatever their best ability will be when (if) they see him. But then, XW4 is 'Living Goddess level', someone changing monthly the face of the Empire IMG...
Heck, for me even one mastery is quite impressive (see below)

Me:
X > And, initially, I supposed he was in the '10W3 range' (Class III Hero ;) )
X > and Jar Eel in the 10M4 range, but, due to some inflation, I suppose it's more
X > 10M4 for Aelwrin and 10M5-6 for Jar Eel ? X > In any case, enough to step on the PCs without trouble, poor boys.

Peter Nordstrand:

X Let's compare Close Combat abilities in the Hero Wars rulesbook with some of
X those presented in Barbarian Adventures:

X Heortling Weaponthane 15-10w (HW), 12w (BA) X Dara Happan Elite Cavalry 10w-10w2 (HW), 5w (BA) X Dara Happan Hoplite 15-10w (HW), 10w (BA) X Heortling Clan Champion 10w-10w2 (HW), 10w3 (BA)

Well, I suppose that I should read the rulebook again. Didn't open it in quite some time (many months).
But in this case, I'm sorry, but I don't see Jar Eel as being the next step on this scale... from clan champion to Fourth Inspiration of Moonson, Living Goddess, someone who won a war while still a baby...

10W4 would be way to small for her. Just MHO, of course. Or else you consider 'clan champion' as being demigod level, hercules/odysseus like person. That I can relate to.

But then, I do not use the preceding scale, I think. My initial question about Aelwrin best ability was more curiosity (to know the 'rules' answer).

X I could go on. My point is that the evidence of this inflation is hardly X conclusive.

Well, I haven't read much (still) of BA, but if to be a clan champion you now need 3 masteries, I'll ditch the numbers and use my own. I do not want to create another mastery thread, but here is my PoV : To reach this level, you'd need, er, 40 game sessions. (5W to 5W3) For us, playing 2-3 campaign in parallel in many rpgs, that's 2 years of gameplay.
To long for me, thank you. I sold Herowars to my players by telling them they will be the best of their clan (or at least quite good in their clan) and getting rapidly better. I love the fact that in HW, 1 HP gives you +1 in an ability, whatever is the ability level.
They loved it too.

X One must also remember that a beginning hero isn't really that X good. An ability rating of 17 has only 49% chance of scoring a Marginal X Victory or better versus the default resistance of 14.

that may be were we differ and I understand your point, OK. We do not use the 2-dices resolution system. mostly, they roll one dice. If that's under their TN, OK. So 17 is 85% and 5W means 25% chance having a crit. That they loved all right. The rules offer 4 resolution system (something like that), I just use the easiest : no dice or roll one.

As for us 17 is 85% (without opposition) and one mastery quite good, I think my scale is smaller than some. Well, I always describe their abilities (in the 15W-20W range now) as outstanding and almost magical and 10W2 would be demigod level...
That's because I considered their starting 1W-5W abilities to be quite good, not journeyman level.

I love seing films or reading books were bowmen kill their target with one strike right in the eye, were warriors can defeat a dozen persons without much problem. LotR comes to mind.
That's how I play 15W in Ranged Combat(Bow) or CC(Sword and Shield). We like this kind of play, and that way their PCs can be quite good after one year...

Anyway, enough, we're far from my Aelwrin initial questions :) I didn't want to imply any criticism about BA and the rest.

thank you all for your answers,

Philippe

Powered by hypermail