Dual Runes

[Michael Hitchens]

Having finally got and read HQ2 (yes, I know, slow, sorry), I have my first questions.
When a character initiates to a diety there’s a list (on p.110) of what that lets them do with the rune through which they initiate. At what point could other (suitable) runes be used as a personality trait/flaw? For example, a character initiates to Humakt through the Death Rune. Can they also (at some point) use the truth rune as a personality trait/flaw? If their truth rune rating ever gets higher than their death rune rating (yes, a very peculiar Humakti) could they use the truth rune as a social/knowledge ability re their cult?

Continuing the Humakti example, Humakt (like some other gods) is sometimes shown as having the same rune twice (in his case, Death, for Lhankor Mhy, Truth). Is it possible, and is there any benefit, to a player having the same rune twice, rather than three distinct ones?

[Charles]

Several answers, all my opinions.

• What ever makes your game work better for your group is the best approach. YGMV and YHQMV 🙂
• Typically, the hero’s runes are chosen before the god is chosen (but you could choose to do it the other way around). The personality traits related to a rune should be effective, even without initiation to a deity magically activating the rune.
• Some cults/gods allow a hero to use any of the god’s runes to approach the cult, others only allow one and others are in between.
• The doubled runes show that that god is considered to be the source of the rune, at least for the specific culture of the cult.
• There is no rules based benefit for a hero to take the rune twice, they still only get a single rating in the rune. Of course, it might be written on the sheet to highlight a specific characteristic of the hero.

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