Since yesterday I talked about the Orlanthi concept of “freedom”, lets look a little bit at the Lunar ideology of power: Like the Orlanthi, the ideology of power in the Lunar Heartlands…
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Orlanthi Freedom
Orlanthi “freedom” isn’t a modern liberal ideal of individual rights protected by impersonal laws and institutions. It’s a much older, fiercer conception: the freedom to choose whom you follow, whom you fight,…
Dorasar and Ancient Greek colonies
Dorasar was what the ancient Greeks would have called an oikist, the founding leader who held near-absolute authority during the establishment phase, only for the colony to transition to an oligarchic system…
Arkat the Bodhisattva
This is a DEEP background post and irrelevant for most games. But I know some of you will enjoy it a lot, so I’m posting it anyway. Let’s start with I don’t…
RuneQuest Warlords – Setting
So let’s talk a little about the setting of RuneQuest: Warlords. The game is set in Dorastor and Talastar, and chronicles one of the wars between Talastar and the Chaotic hordes of…
RuneQuest Warlords
I am so happy to be announcing that RuneQuest: Warlords is now available on Steam! I absolutely URGE you to get this! The team at Slitherine and Volmi have done an incredible…
Scale of Empire
The Lunar Empire covers about 410,000 square km, plus or minus 50,000. That makes it is a little larger the state of California or about the size of the modern nation of…
New Pavis after the Liberation
When Argrath and his alliance of nomads and exiled Sartarites breached the city walls, those Lunar soldiers that did not surrender were killed. Those that surrendered were disarmed and stripped of everything…
RuneQuest Adventures – Design and the role of combat
Enough on heroquests for the moment. Let’s talk a little about adventure design and the role of combat in RuneQuest adventures. In most video games and in 5e and Pathfinder 2, combat…
Devoting Yourself to a God
One more thought. In RQ, a character can really only overcome setting physics through magic, spirits, good equipment, and maybe the special abilities of a rune lord (multiple actions in a round)….
The RuneQuest Playloop
So now that we’ve dived down deep into heroquesting, lets pan the camera out and look at what actually is going on at the table in RuneQuest, or for that matter most…
Some HeroQuesting Thoughts IV
So how to do it? Well start with the RQ rules themselves. Let’s imagine we have a group of characters that are investigating the Old Vampire Cave on the darkest day in…
Some HeroQuesting Thoughts III
Now sometimes people just want cool powers. And maybe that’s what we should focus on: Now the trick with these is you either need players that say – I want X cool…
Some HeroQuesting Thoughts II
Because I am enjoying this, I’m going to continue on the heroquesting discussion. So lets first clear the table: The annual Sacred Time rituals or High Holy Day ceremonies are NOT the…
Heroquesting and the RuneQuest rules
There are two sets of questions: 1. What rules system do I use when my players are on a heroquest? This one is easy. Use the RuneQuest rules. They have characteristics, abilities,…
Some HeroQuesting Thoughts I
In Glorantha, we know that the myth is eternal, but the moment you enter it, it becomes personal, singular, and unrepeatable. This is the deepest and most paradoxical truth of heroquesting – you…
Storm Bull Amongst the Praxians
The Storm Bull cultists are violent and dangerous, and a result are feared. But among the praxian nomads they are loved for their willingness to sacrifice themselves against Chaos regardless of the…
Where to Adventure near Trolltown and Temple Hill
In the vicinity of Trolltown and Temple Hill are several other key adventuring locations:
The Troll Stronglands in Context
There are some 2500 dark trolls, trollkin, great trolls, and cave trolls in the Big Rubble. Now those trolls are divided into one great clan of over 750 trolls (the Kaggroka), three…
Playing RuneQuest
Having done some lovely test runs for RQ at Gamehole for almost entirely new players, here’s some observations: RQ combat is actually quite straightforward once you conceptualise Strike Ranks as the initiative…
Real World Sources for the Lunar Heartlands II
Now as you know, the Lunar Heartlands correspond to the American Heartlands on some magical level. But what about Glamour you ask? A few thoughts. At one level Glamour can be imagined…
Real World Sources for the Lunar Heartlands I
Having just done the very long drive across America’s Heartland from Madison, Wisconsin back to Colorado, I think it is worth thinking about the Lunar Heartlands as being a magical emanation of…
Opposing Chaos
Is there any chaotic cult, that is specifically opposed or a clear antithesis to Yelmalio? There are very few Chaotic cults that are specific opposed or a clear antithesis to anything. Few…
Halcyon in New Pavis
If you are running a Pavis-Big Rubble game prior to Argrath’s liberation (or conquest depending on your perspective), remember that the Lunar Occupation post-Sor-eel is rapacious. Halcyon, the new governor, views his…
Argrath as RuneQuest Background
Argrath lets us have a dynamic and rapidly changing setting WITHOUT requiring that the players or even the GM be responsible for the main thrust of the changes. So even if all…