Essentials of Glorantha

Utgardloki

Mongoose
I remember playing in a Runequest campaign back in the 1980s. The book I had was the one with a scantily-clad chick fighting some kind of reptile beast. I used to have the Snakepipe Hollow and Apple Lane supplements. I believe Glorantha has been developed since then, but haven't kept up with it.

I'd like an idea of what the "essentials" of the Glorantha setting are thought to be. My own thoughts:

1. I envision Glorantha as a primitive place. I suppose I could run a Third Age or Fourth Age campaign when things become more civilized, but the setting notes I have indicate a place where tribal allegiance is more important than alignment ethics. The impression I have is that Glorantha is no place for wimps.

2. I remember sexy babes. Maybe it's because when I ran a Runequest character in a Gloranthan campaign, our group was a bunch of horny teenagers and the Runequest GM was the horniest of us all. Or maybe it was the scantily-clad woman on the Runequest rulebook cover. But I'm also sure that at least one of the published scenarios indicated the priestesses of a temple would be willing to have sex with heroes who succeeded at a quest they wanted completed. I remember that Glorantha, at least the area around Satar where we adventured, had women with fewer inhibitions than in the modern world.
I've given some thought about this, and came up with the idea that around Satar, honor and reputation are important, and a woman who feels taken advantage of could devastate a hero's scores in those areas. It's not fee love, by any means, and marriage is very important. The Gloranthan religion would be certain to apply rules and regulations to sexual activity, which might not match the Judeo-Christian rules.

3. Religion was very important in Glorantha. It seemed that just about everything was done with the aid and permission of the gods. Every cult had not only a patron deity, but also a written reason for what the cult did and why it exists, and why it continues to exist. The gods were not just names of characters living up in the sky, but were involved with the world.

4. Everybody had battlemagic. Perhaps battlemagic was used too liberally, both by the GM and in the published material of the day. But on the other hand, there are tons of non-technological settings out there, why not run a Runequest version of Eberron?

Any other thoughts, comments, cries of outrage?
 
I have to disagree with your observation about Battle Magic.

We live in a Techonological age, and most people are adept in some way (even a simple one such as using a VCR or DVD to record something) at using Technology.

Why would a Magical environment be any different. If Magic were real, and tangible. Surely it would permeate every level of society and most aspects of daily life.

My only criticism, is that there aren't spells for the simple things.

We have Microwaves, Blenders, cutting and chopping machines - things that make life easier.

Surely in a Magical environment, some lazy Magician would come to similar conclusions about doing chores Lol!
 
Lieutenant Rasczak said:
My only criticism, is that there aren't spells for the simple things.

We have Microwaves, Blenders, cutting and chopping machines - things that make life easier.

Surely in a Magical environment, some lazy Magician would come to similar conclusions about doing chores Lol!
RuneQuest was always a compromise over magic. It was created in an environment (the '70s) where magic in RPGs was special, restricted, and only really used in combat. It tried desperately to make a more sensible magical world, one like the old myths and legends, where things just WERE magical, and people lived with it daily, but there were no guidelines. So, we got Battle Magic - magic everyone could use, all the time, all around them - but primarily for battles.

HeroQuest is about the best system for allowing everyone to use magic all the time for every purpose.

Wulf
 
Utgardloki said:
But I'm also sure that at least one of the published scenarios indicated the priestesses of a temple would be willing to have sex with heroes who succeeded at a quest they wanted completed.
Snakepipe Hollow.

The major appeal was the more primitive setting. You just knew you were somewhere different. After a glut of pseudo-medieval, it was such a refreshing change.

I'd always assumed that the more "utility", "day to day" spells for boiling water, making plants grow, helping cows calve and the rest were there, but kept out of the way. A few snuck in over time, and GoG introduced a lot of "domestic" cults.
 
GbajiTheDeceiver said:
Utgardloki said:
But I'm also sure that at least one of the published scenarios indicated the priestesses of a temple would be willing to have sex with heroes who succeeded at a quest they wanted completed.
Snakepipe Hollow.
Which temple was that? Or, rather, which Goddess? I would have said Apple Lane, since that includes the Temple to Uleria - and Ulerians would have sex with ANYONE...

Wulf
 
Wulf Corbett said:
GbajiTheDeceiver said:
Utgardloki said:
But I'm also sure that at least one of the published scenarios indicated the priestesses of a temple would be willing to have sex with heroes who succeeded at a quest they wanted completed.
Snakepipe Hollow.
Which temple was that? Or, rather, which Goddess? I would have said Apple Lane, since that includes the Temple to Uleria - and Ulerians would have sex with ANYONE...

Wulf
Chalana Arroy, oddly enough.

"They offer free room, board and companionship for a year".

Y'know the teenage mind............
 
sexy_davey said:
Wow - now that's what I call a motivation! Makes a change from 'guard this caravan for 100L'...
To be fair, anyone who knows Snakepipe Hollow would NEED that level of motivation to consider going there...

Wulf
 
Utgardloki said:
I envision Glorantha as a primitive place. I suppose I could run a Third Age or Fourth Age campaign when things become more civilized...
Actually, civilization waxes and wanes in Glorantha. RQ2 is set in the Third Age (around 1600+ S.T.) and is mainly about the encroachment of civilization (the Lunar Empire) into the barbarian lands (Dragon Pass).

MRQ is set in the Second Age, and more centered around the clash of different empires. The Second Age is actually more technically advanced than the Third Age, which could really be considered the equivalent of our historal Dark Ages (this is because the Second Age ended with a series of events that both destroyed the ancient empires and made travel and communicatino very difficult). One of the great legends of the Second Age (as told in the Third Age) are great machines that could mass produce magical items.
 
sexy_davey said:
Wow - now that's what I call a motivation! Makes a change from 'guard this caravan for 100L'...
I certainly wouldn't accept caravan guard for 100L. No way sirree. We all know that stuff is gonna happen. 100L won't even buy you Healing 1. Forget it!

I'd love to send someone on a caravan guard mission and have nothing happen... that would be fun, but nobody would ever accept it... :lol:
 
I certainly wouldn't accept caravan guard for 100L. No way sirree. We all know that stuff is gonna happen. 100L won't even buy you Healing 1. Forget it!

Heh, and yet, in theory, that would be enough to keep a typical laborer fed, clothed and housed for nearly four months. Adventurers are truly the elite of the priveledged classes...! ;)
 
GbajiTheDeceiver said:
Chalana Arroy, oddly enough.

"They offer free room, board and companionship for a year" .
I've just checked my copy, and it's even more blatant than that:

"They promise that they will treat any survivor to free room, board and sex for a year after they return with the priestess and that they will teach one additional point of Healing for free to everyone who returns."

Back when I was a shallow teenager, my own reaction was to check the priestesses' Charisma scores to see if it was worth it... :oops:

Nowadays, I just wonder how your typical heterosexual female adventurer would react to such an offer...
 
SteveMND said:
I certainly wouldn't accept caravan guard for 100L. No way sirree. We all know that stuff is gonna happen. 100L won't even buy you Healing 1. Forget it!

Heh, and yet, in theory, that would be enough to keep a typical laborer fed, clothed and housed for nearly four months. Adventurers are truly the elite of the priveledged classes...! ;)
Plus there's never been a caravan guard mission that hasn't been ambushed. It's in The Rules... :lol:
 
Plus there's never been a caravan guard mission that hasn't been ambushed. It's in The Rules...

Ah, sure there have been. It's just never the One That The Adventurers Are Guarding. Why, everyone knows trouble follows adventurers around like a problematic shadow. :)

Heck, if adventurers were really clever, they'd start extorting towns and villages so as to ensure that they don't visit them. As soon as adventurers hit any sort of organized community whatsoever, suddenly there are mysterious murders that need solving, strange cults kidnapping innocents, corrupt politicians that overstep their bounds, etc.

Kinda how like how in "Murder, she wrote," whenever there was a murder Angela Lansbury always managed to be nearby, ready to 'solve' it. I mean, c'mon, didn't anybody start suspecting things when a murder-mystery writer suddenly starts showing up every time someone in the town is killed, and she's the only one who can solve it (and then goes on to wroite a book about it and make millions)...!? :twisted:
 
SteveMND said:
Heck, if adventurers were really clever, they'd start extorting towns and villages so as to ensure that they don't visit them. As soon as adventurers hit any sort of organized community whatsoever, suddenly there are mysterious murders that need solving, strange cults kidnapping innocents, corrupt politicians that overstep their bounds, etc.

I love the event in A-Sharp's 'King Of Dragon Pass' where a motley crew of adventurers turn up at the stead.. nice to see things from the other side..

Ned
 
ned-kogar said:
I love the event in A-Sharp's 'King Of Dragon Pass' where a motley crew of adventurers turn up at the stead.. nice to see things from the other side..

Ned

Yup, it's among the worst things that can happen to your clan :D

A strangely dressed Vingan warrior woman, a morocanth (rather like an intelligent giant panda), a dragonewt, an agimori (like an eight foot Masai warrior!) and a duck come to the chieftains village and demand hospitality. The Vingan(?) is loud and insults your warriors, the dragonewt throws darts at your cows and the morocanth "fondles married women in an untoward manner". The clan is very upset.

Then when one orders the weaponthanes to expell them from the tula (or kill them!) they fight like demons and usually win killing and wounding many of your best warriors! Bastards!

The only good thing is that if you _do_ manage to have them killed, you get loads and loads of magic! :D
 
About the essentials.

What attracts me is, in large part, the "ancient world" feel. Not medieval, but bronze age / early iron age. Sword and Sandal, if you wil. :)

Greg Stafford himself is almost exclusively interested in cultures and mythology, so he leaves the details to others. This unfortunately means that quite often the Glorantha material is full of anachronisms, like most RPG's.

For my own game and vision, I do my best to keep to the early times. I don't want napoleonic navy traditions, when the biremes and triremes of greeks and persians are such a rare treat in games! I don't want two handed swords and platemail when I can have bronze shortswords, hoplite armour and spears.

And so on. :)

The point of the Western Genertela is monotheistic feodalism. That doesn't need high medieval technology. Instead of knights and the catholic church I've taken muslims as the primary inspiration for the monotheism, and cataphracts for the heavy cavalry elites.

It's not hard to keep the focus, and I find the results immensely rewarding.
 
I've always played third age Glorantha as more post apocalypse than anything else.

The point of the Western Genertela is monotheistic feodalism. That doesn't need high medieval technology. Instead of knights and the catholic church I've taken muslims as the primary inspiration for the monotheism, and cataphracts for the heavy cavalry elites.

Nice idea. I did the Westerners as sort of christianish and the Carmanians as more muslimish (very very very VERY loosely in both cases!)
 
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