Bizarre Glorantha Trolling

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Dec 08, 2014 10:46 pm

Right, I think MRQ had the "only the best applies" thing too, now that I think about it. So your Enhance Characteristic buff routine takes a bit longer, but you can still do it.

Harshax · Post by **Harshax** » Mon Dec 08, 2014 11:06 pm

Prak wrote:Right, I think MRQ had the "only the best applies" thing too, now that I think about it. So your Enhance Characteristic buff routine takes a bit longer, but you can still do it.

Now that I think about it, shamans could be very devastating and they were quicker to build, but you had to kiss the MCs ass to find spirits stronger than the Bad Man. (POW 35)

Priests were also quick to build but they couldn't match the versatility of Sorcery. I think Thunderbolt stacked, so priests definitely had the flashiest Alpha-Strike in the game.

It all came down to figuring out ways to earn POW Gains. It was the worst thing about RQ3. Worse than people arguing for skill checks and making nonsensical skill attempts. It only took writers three more tries to finally fix the problem in RQ6.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Dec 08, 2014 11:13 pm

Well, really it all comes down to getting favors from the GM, because you have to find people to teach you this shit. Priests have it the easiest, because the most accepted god (at least from when I played) was Orlanth, so you can just rock up to an Orlanth temple, become a priest, and then proceed to walk around with a bunch of Thunderbolts ready. Shamans have to get the right spirits and Sorcerers have to find the right Grimoires. That's why when our GM did a non-Gloranthan game and told us to make our character's societies, I came back with a Tiefling society that used Solomanic demon-summoning magic to learn spells directly from demons, so I didn't have to fuck with having the exact right grimoire or worry about going to towns to find teachers. I actually learned a healing spell in the woods by offering an entire fruit tree in a summoning for a medicine demon.

silva · Post by **silva** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:04 am

Prak, you got me wrong.

By citing the old RQ2/3 game and its supplements, I didnt mean to point the systems but the suggested structure of play contained in them. If you open RQ2 or Pavis or Griffin Mountain you will notice the players are mostly "cult troubleshooters" doing the dirty work the high priests are not inclined to do, and hoping to raise in power in the meantime. They never actually raise to "myth-weaving" status though. The mythic and cultural richness of the setting is there to permeate, and serve as the means/causes for, the adventuring, but never to be an end to it. In fact, the act of heroquesting was never truly given mechanical form back in those days.

Add to this cultural richness a character progressing method that provided an immediate connection to the setting (for "leveling up" you must rise in the local cult ranks through deeds, communal works, etc) and you have a verossimilitude that your typical fantasy game (and their "lets kill the evil orcs for lootz") lacked back then, and arguably still lacks somewhat. I like to cite a pal from another site on this distinction:

Iron Simulacrum wrote:Traditional play:
An evil ogre has kidnapped the pretty village girl! go save her for reward and glory

RQ Spin:
The ogre is behaving according to his culture, he needs to sacrifice a pretty maiden as his cult obligation every high holy day. Perhaps secretly someone in the village is assisting him, as it prevents greater depredations or averts the threat from his own daughter. But your obligation as an initiate of your cult is to protect the villagers, so go get her back! If you succeed, your status in the cult will be enhanced, and we will teach you new skills and maybe a new blessing!

Glorantha gaming dont need to be an acid-loaded myth-weaving trip. It just needs to be permeated with culture and myth.

silva · Post by **silva** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:22 am

Lago Paranoia wrote:What's more, I'm not exactly sure why King of Dragon Pass resonated with me in a way a lot of other fantasy games that went out of their way to tweak tropes and details didn't.

Dont know about you, but for me its these points:

1. You have the spells working in a similar manner to how they worked (and still work) in real life - the so-called "folk magic" used by people for everyday issues like bringing luck and good fortune, raising crops, curing diseases, avoiding bad spirits, etc. Compare this to the industry average and you will see how much more reflective of ancient/pre-modern ethos it is.

2. You have charaters defined not by martial roles, but by culture, religion and occupation. Again, very anthropo-logical.

3. And you have a religion that is actually "game-relevant" instead of mere background fluff, and not because of "heroquests" or other trippy concepts, but because it determines your progression in-game. If D&D is a combat-progression game, where you level up by killing dozens of enemies through combat, Runequest is a religion and community-progression game, where you "level up" by behaving like a pre-modern man would, upholding the values and beliefs of your religion and community.

The fact KoDP manages to capture these qualities so well is a testament for the devs in depicting the setting spirit so well.

kzt · Post by **kzt** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:56 am

silva wrote:Runequest is a religion and community-progression game, where you "level up" by behaving like a pre-modern man would, upholding the values and beliefs of your religion and community.

While killing dozens of enemies and taking their stuff...

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 8:00 am

That would be the values and beliefs in question.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 8:05 am

Oh, also, Form/Set spells are deceptively awesome. Each material requires a separate spell, so Form/Set Wood and Form/Set Bone are two different spells, but basically they let you be a Bender. I had one character single-handedly provide a village with a wall from the trees around it, and another that reached over to their skeleton servant and pull it's head off when they needed a container for special spirit water. It's seemingly minor, but they're pretty versatile.

silva · Post by **silva** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 2:07 pm

Bender ? That's how you call your forbidden world-defiling magic you godlearner scum ? Get off my sight before I twist your mind with Lhankor-Mhy unfathomable wisdom.

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 4:19 pm

the ogre is behaving according to his culture

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 4:36 pm

actually I always got the impression orlanthi would be in favour of a good bender

silva · Post by **silva** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 11:18 pm

Hey Prak, what about an OSSR of RQ ? I would vote for RQ2 + Cults of Prax.

By the way, I would love to see the KoDP sequel situated in Prax. But I doubt it would happen. I bet they will depict some age in the past, like the dawn or the second age.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 12:04 am

I would only consider reviewing mongoose's versions, since those are what I'm familiar with.

silva · Post by **silva** » Fri Dec 12, 2014 2:22 am

By the way, I just reminded of this review of Cults of Prax by James Malizeuwski on the Grognardia blog. Worth a read, in special on the difference between it and Deities & Demigods.

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Fri Dec 12, 2014 5:18 am

I liked the reincarnating draconian dudes with the bizarre life cycle.

silva · Post by **silva** » Fri Dec 12, 2014 3:43 pm

Yeah, and for speaking the wyrm tongue (and learning their magic) one must cut his tongue just like that of a serpent. Cool idea.

Neurosis · Post by **Neurosis** » Fri Dec 12, 2014 10:32 pm

WHAT THE ACTUAL DUCK

silva · Post by **silva** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 4:14 pm

The map for the new 13th Age and RQ supplements is looking good:

http://www.glorantha.com/wp-content/upl ... poster.jpg