Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

Gloranthan Dwarfs

Posted on November 5, 2022

Always keep in mind that Gloranthan dwarves are most emphatically not the Scottish-accented dwarves of the Peter Jackson movies or of most D&D campaigns. A small Gloranthan dwarf might only weigh 10 kg (22 pounds) and be 60 cm (23 inches) tall. That’s about the same size as my cat (admittedly she is a Maine Coon)! Dwarfs often have grotesque (but not hideous or repulsive) facial features, disproportionate and gnarled limbs, hunchbacked and twisted.

Larger dwarves exist, of course. A large dwarf might be 140 cm tall (55 inches) and weigh 75 kg (165 pounds). So there is a bewildering variety in sizes and shapes among dwarfdom. A dwarf like Ginkizzie or The Dwarf might be almost human sized, while other dwarfs in the community are no bigger than a large house cat.

Mime at the anvil by Arthur Rackham, 1911

Is there an average/mean size for gloranthan dwarves ?

Quote

SIZ 2D6, average 7

RQ Bestiary, Mostali, page 57

Dwarfs are stocky humanoids from 60–140 centimeters tall and from 10–75 kilograms in weight. Average size is 45 kilograms in weight and 115 centimeters tall.

Page 54

SIZ 2D6 7

or about 3 foot 9 inches.

Are the size connected to the caste/role of a dwarf? No.


Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
Dwarfs

Sections

  • Search Tips
  • Current RuneQuest Glorantha Publications
  • RuneQuest Glorantha Corrections and Q&A
  • Catalogue
  • References for Glorantha
    • Gloranthan Canon
  • Gloranthan Documents
  • RPG Systems & Versions
  • Gallery
  • About This Site
  • Get involved!

Latest Posts

  • Sartarite Geography
  • Is the Man Rune always male?
  • The Sun Disk
  • Designing New Cults
  • Common Rune Magic
  • Cult vs. D&D classes
  • RQ Character Creation
  • Caravans II
  • Cult Membership
  • Creating scenarios

Links

  • Chaosium
  • Chaosium’s RuneQuest RPG Wiki
  • Glorantha on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on Discord
  • Prince of Sartar Webcomic
  • Glorantha G+ Archives on Tapatalk
  • Search mailing list archive

Latest from BRP Central

  • What to do with the Feldichi Device from DLoD
  • House Rules - spirit combat
  • Skills, skills, skills!
  • Table Tales: Coming back to Glorantha
  • Jelmre - Jonstown Compendium
  • Solung Question
  • Journey to Jonstown #77: Nick Brooke's Jonstown Compendium Index 2025
  • Journey to Jonstown #76: Adventure in Dragon Pass
  • Greg Stafford bibliography
  • Initiation without Cult or Temple

Popular Tags

Boldhome (large city) Chaosium Colymar (Sartar tribe) Contents Cult demographics Cults of Runequest (preview) Ernalda FRA Furthest (large city) G+ post GBR Gods Wall Greg Stafford Guide to Glorantha Guide to Glorantha (preview) index Jar-eel Lunar Empire Lunar Pantheon Magazine Malkioni pantheon Map Michael O’Brien Mongoose MRQ1 New Pavis (small city) Old Glorantha Q&A Orlanth Orlanthi pantheon Photo reference Population demographics Prax (homeland) Q&A RQ3 RQG Sandy Petersen Sartar (homeland) Spirit Cult Star Subcult Tarsh (homeland & Lunar province) Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon Youtube
©2025 The Well of Daliath | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme