Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

God Time and the mundane world of our adventurers

Posted on December 30, 2021

When we think about the interactions between the God Time and the mundane world of our adventurers, two categories come into view.

First is the regular, ceremonial interaction that every cult does on every Holy Day. This activity maintains the pathways between the mundane and the divine and allows us to wield the power of the gods in the mundane world. These ceremonies are ritual and usually very predictable – on the other hand, the individual gains are pretty much that you gain access to Rune Magic, keep your cult spirits happy, and all the stuff that is usually handled in the background. In fact, I’d say they are only worth incorporating into a game when either

  1. the steps of the ceremony are deliberately kept secret from the adventurers and they need to thus make their own decisions (e.g., initiation rites); or
  2. something goes seriously wrong and the ceremony is now not so predictable.

Second category is the experimental exploration of the God Time. This is usually what is meant by a “heroquest”. These quests are dangerous and unpredictable, but the rewards are far greater. Magical abilities, new spells, powerful spirit allies, new insight into the gods, and even immortality. Not all such heroquesters becomes “heroes” but this is the precondition for such status.

These heroquests are dangerous and powerful precisely because they are not regularly traveled. So if you repeat a familiar and well-known story, it probably falls into the first category. It becomes interesting for a gaming session when it turns out the story is wrong, incomplete, or seriously misleading. Or that something has changed so much that the players need to create a new story.

If the adventurers need to explore the mythic realm itself then it is probably the second category. The Lightbringers Quest involves a trek across the changing landscape of the Lesser Darkness (as it becomes the Greater Darkness) and then a trek through the Underworld – where the questers GET LOST. That’s second category, no matter how much you try to prepare for it. The Red Goddess quest is similar in its mysteries.

Art by the amazing Jeff Laubenstein

In the Third Age, that second category gets a little bit of a Canticle for Leibowitz vibe – as our explorers are also trying to rediscover things known to the ancients (who also nearly destroyed the world with the knowledge).

“Only a few secretive successor groups remain” – not forgetting those Old School Shadow Guardians who essentially live on the Hero Plane, nowadays. Those that haven’t already been defeated by God Learners or Lunar heroes like the Seven mothers, Red Goddess, Hwarin Dalthippa, the Red Emperor, Hon-eel or Jar-eel, you mean?I do think any time you try a “new” path you run the risk of those Shadow Guardians.

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
RQG Heroquesting

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
  • Role-playing in Glorantha
  • About This Site
  • Get involved!

Latest Posts

  • Boldhome Embassies

    In general, Gloranthan kingdoms and empires send representatives to each …
  • Yanioth the Red-Haired Huntress

    Yanioth Two-Sight was born in 1577, the daughter of Arene …
  • The Founding of the Colymar Tribe

    Colymar was the son of a farmer of the Orshanti …
  • Chaos and The Great Compromise

    The Spike held Glorantha together in the Gods Time. The …
  • Notes on The Red Goddess and Chaos

    In 1220 ST, great stirrings in the world centered in …

Links

  • Chaosium
  • Glorantha on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest Glorantha on MeWe
  • Glorantha Wiki on Fandom
  • Prince of Sartar Webcomic
  • Glorantha G+ Archives on Tapatalk
  • Search mailing list archive

Latest from BRP Central

Popular Tags

2007 Avalon Hill Boldhome Chaosium Chaos pantheon Cult demographics Cults of Runequest (preview) Ernalda Esrolia (homeland) FR G+ post Greg Stafford Guide to Glorantha (preview) Humakt Issaries Jar-eel Kralorelan pantheon Lunar Empire Lunar Pantheon Magazine Malkioni pantheon Map Maps Michael O’Brien Mongoose Nochet (metropolis) Nomad Gods Oriflam Orlanth Orlanthi pantheon Photo reference Population demographics Prax (homeland) Praxian pantheon RQ3 RQG Sandy Petersen Sartar (homeland) Spirit Cult Subcult Tales of the Reaching Moon Troll Pantheon Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon

Recently added or updated

  • Boldhome Embassies

  • Yanioth the Red-Haired Huntress

  • The Founding of the Colymar Tribe

  • Chaos and The Great Compromise

  • CHA4032 RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary – Q&A

  • Protected: CHA4042 – The Prosopaedia (2023)

  • Zaytenera

  • Zotulla

  • Zong the hunter

  • Zzabur

  • Zorak Zoran

  • Zaktirra

  • CHA4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Chapter 16 Sorcery Spells Q&A

  • CHA4034 Red Book of Magic – Chapter 02 Rune Magic Spells Q&A (A-M)

  • CHA4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Chapter 04 Homelands Q&A

  • CHA4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Chapter 07 Combat Q&A pages 206-225

  • London Calling… A wonderful presentation on the Guide to Glorantha project (2013)

  • CHA4035 RQ Starter Set – Book 1 Rules – Q&A

  • CHA4039 The Smoking Ruin and other Stories – Q&A

  • Teelo Norri

©2023 The Well of Daliath | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme