I am very curious to know about long term gms that use Glorantha as a setting, what their campaign was/is like? 

What system did you/ currently use?

where is it set?

what time period?

how long have you ran it?

how did you change the setting? Or did you keep to canon?

loads of questions are swirling in my mind as I prepare to take the plunge myself!

So The Coming Storm is out and already annoying fans like me are noticing some mistakes: Londril Spear-Rattler's Rattle-Born rating is just 1(it should be 1W) and his Movement rune rating should be 13 (or maybe 17?) instead of 13W, a picture of a Dragon rune on page 15 should be an Earth rune, and several characters have a 13 in their second rune instead of a 17.

or of Northern Dragon Pass?

So I have an odd question about cults for the odd ducks in Lunar society... those who differ from the Seven Mothers, Red Goddess archetypes. You know, the criminals, the jokers,  the dissenters...

For the Storm cults we have Eurmal the Trickster for those in society who go against the grain. It's not an 'honorable' cult by any means, but it's accepted. Kind of like the drunk uncle at the family Christmas party, really. For the out-and-out criminal, there's even Gargath the Ill-Wind... he's in the family, but he's the one doing 10-to-15 for burglary and nobody actually likes him anyway...

There's even a couple of generic non-pantheon cults in Lanbril and the Black Fang Brotherhood, but these are fairly nasty mobsters and cutthroats.

Now, as I understand Lunar Empire it's core is overlaid on two cohabitant societies... the Solar [Yelmic] Dara Happans and  Pelorian Earth cultists along the Oslir River valley. In both pantheons, the closest thing to dissenter cults are Babeester Gor and Maran Gor, both of which would seem to be too violent for the Lunars to stomach in their Imperial core.

In the Lunar pantheon itself, we have only Danfive Xaron as a redeemer cult but nothing else.

Given the importance of magical institutions in Glorantha, where does the Lunar citizen go if he's a drunkard, or pickpocket, or jester, or whatever? The HeroQuest 1st ed. supplement 'The Lunar Handbook vol. 1' mentions a few names that I've never heard of, mostly cultural contexts, but give no details at all. And the obscure references there are not repeated in the Guide to Glorantha.

Anybody got thoughts on this?

Postscript:

Why such a weird question? Easy. Inspired by the Vostor pre-gen character, I thought it would be fun to put together a Lunar Army deserter who was from a family of smugglers... maybe an escapee from the Punishment Legions of Danfive Xaron. The concept is there, some of the mechanics are there [I'm having trouble deciding if Prior Experience ought to be Merchant or Thief], but run into a wall at magical skills or abilities. His version of 'honor' and 'heroic' ought to be WAY different than an Orlanthi or Seven Mothers cultist, but given how much a cult influences some of these decisions it's been a rough go to get the numbers crunched.

I once had a player who decided to play a Minlinster brewer, so I put a little work into the various types of booze commonly found in Central Genertela, especially Sartarite beverages (for the Brew skill) and Pelorian drinks (need something to despise for that Despise Foreign Drinks skill).

Despise Foreign Drink (Personality Skill) Minlinster hates the Lunar drink djinn, which has no positive benefits and many evil side-effects.  Lunar officers use djinn to make Martinets, their traditional drink.  Lunar soldiers drink it straight or mix it with a bubbly magical potion intended to help fend off tropical diseases.  Another military related import is wodaka, brought by Carmanian soldiers in the Lunar army.  (Carmanians make their Martinets with wodaka.)  In addition, rhum has started to appear in Sartar, imported by the Wolf Pirates from the southern continent of Pamaltela.  All three (but especially djinn) are popular with the poor, hopeless, and destitute refugees from shattered clans who clutter the streets of Sartar’s cities.  Touch not the Demon Rhum, the Villainous Wodaka or the Devil Djinn!

So what are the common alcoholic beverages in your game? Here are mine:

BEER/ALE - Brewed all over Glorantha, the main drink of the Sartarites. Made from grain, usually barley, and flavored with herbs, often hops.  Varieties (which require Minlinster magic to make) include:

COLD BEER: Beer which is always magically chilled and refreshing, no matter how warm the environment.  Cold Beer never has any negative side effects for the drinker and never causes a hangover.  It produces a sense of refreshment and well-being when drunk.

GOOD ALE: A satisfying ale.  Drinking Good Ale alleviates any feelings of fatigue and helps insure a good night’s sleep.  If imbibed in excess, it will get the drinker drunk, though the hangover will be mild.  

STOUT BEER: An especially hearty and filling dark beer (also known as Strong Beer, Winter Beer, Darkseason Beer or simply “the Dark”).  A pint of the Dark leaves the drinker as full as if they’d had an entire meal.  Several kegs of Strong Beer can mean the difference between survival and starvation in harsh winters.  Strong Beer has virtually no side effects (aside from a bit of burping and mild flatulence) and never causes a hangover.  Traditionally Heortlings only drink the Dark in the winter, but recently it has become popular to drink it all the time, mostly because the Lunars find the stuff disgusting.

MEAD - A mild alcohol made from honey. Favored by mountain or forest clans who have trouble growing grain. The Telmori make an excellent mead. There's one magical variation of mead:

MINLINSTER’S MEAD: An exceptional mead.  Drinking Minlinster’s Mead aids in social discourse.  Anyone drinking a bottle gets a bonus to Sing, Orate, Dance, and Play (Instrument) equal to the Brewer’s Brew Skill/5.  Mead will get the user drunk.  All other skills get a negative modifier equal to the Brewer’s Brew Skill/10.  Hangovers are mild.  

LIQUOR: Brandtwyn (when the base is grapes) or, more commonly, Uisce (when the base is malted barley) are the strong drinks of the Orlanthi. The Boldhome Thunderbolt is a traditional Sartarite drink made by dropping a shot of uisce into a pint of stout. Recently master-brewed uisces made from single malts have become extremely trendy in Glamour and other Lunar cities.  Also recently the Lunars have placed a tax on uisce production, though brandtwyn, mostly made by the pro-Lunar Colymar, can still be produced tax free.  The Lunars have been surprised at the vehemence of the opposition to this Uisce Tax. NOTE:  Uisce and brandtwyn are both in high demand as exports and can be very expensive. 

ENCHANTED UISCE or BRANDTWYN: Drinking these potent beverages gives mortals an insight into the divine.  While under the influence of these magical liquors, all Mythology checks are boosted by the Brewer’s Brew Skill/5, but only if the liquor has been aged for a number of years equal to the bonus.  This bonus carries over to the next day if the liquor is drunk in preparation for a religious ceremony.  All other skills are decreased by the same number (regardless of the Uisce’s age).  Hangovers are mild if liquor is used in moderation, but can be severe if too much liquor is consumed. 

WINE:  The Colymar Tribe grows grapes and makes a late-harvest wine wine, the famous Clearwine. When conditions are right, grapes are harvested after the first frost to make icewine. Wine may be further distilled into Brandtwyn.

SONTI: The rice wine of the Lunar Empire. Made where ever rice is grown. The Darjinni make excellent sonti.

LUNAR BEER: Terrible stuff, if you ask the Sartarites. Pelorian beer frequently contains rice or corn mash in addition to barley and wheat. Even most Lunars don't drink their own beers. Instead, they prefer...

LUNAR WINE: Lunars love wine. They make countless varieties, using all sorts of grapes. The best Lunar wines are prized worldwide. Lunar soldiers receive a daily wine ration. When marching, they carry skins of wine vinegar called Posca, which they mix with the local water. Posca is blessed by their priests and mixing it into local water prevents the local river gods from cursing them with the Brown Water Flux.

MOONSHINE: A Pelorian strong alcohol made from corn mash. Popular in Tarsh.

RHUM: The demon rhum. Originally from Pamaltela but also brewed in Pithdaros. Rhum is a strong alcohol made from beet sugar or cane sugar. Since the opening, rhum is increasingly common in Genertela, especially in Maniria. Rhum can be brewed much stronger than traditional Sartarite drinks and locals who drink it can become drunker than they might expect with much worse hangovers.

DJINN: The hard alcohol of Peloria, a clear spirit made from wheat or potato mash, then flavored with juniper berries. Like rhum, it's strong enough to catch Sartarites off-guard. The Martinet, favored drink of the Lunar officer corps, is made with djinn, a dash of sweet wine, and olives. Lunar officers also favor djinn mixed with "The Tonic," a potion made to help soldiers fight off disease. Many of the poor Sartarite refugees crowding Boldhome, Alda-chur and Nochet are addicted to djinn.

WODAKA: A clear Carmania spirit made from potatoes. Carmanian Martinets are made with Wodaka.

We know rune levels for certain cults have dietary restrictions and requirements, and Humakti and Yelmalian geases can also impose restrictions, but what are the wider dietary restrictions/cultural taboo foods in Glorantha? What foods do the various cultures consider "unclean?"

For example, I'm pretty sure Orlanthi don't eat goat and likely don't eat cat. They'd probably get queasy at the idea of eating bugs, including ham beetles and other insect livestock raised by the trolls, though freshwater crawfish and probably okay.

Praxians don't eat horse. Balazarings probably don't eat dog. The Pure Horse People don't eat cow, right?

Do Odayalings eat bear like the Ainu or Sami or forbid it?

Any other examples come to mind?

(This was inspired by reading about Ötzi, talking about health care standards in Glorantha, and a recent visit to the dentist.)

One of the horrors of history that we perhaps don't consider as much, is the utterly appalling state of dental health that people experienced ever since agriculture began and up more modern dentistry (Louis XIV, for instance, had horrific dental issues).  Hunters and gatherers may not have awful dental health, but as soon as we hit agriculture, especially with milled grain containing some stony remnants, dental health becomes simply ghastly. Ötzi the ice-man had really bad teeth, and it's probably safe to say that this was endemic and chronic in populations from the Neolithic onwards.

So what I'm wondering is to what extent this holds true in Glorantha as well, or whether the peoples of Glorantha have access to magical dentistry as well as healing. It would have to be a pretty gritty and grim campaign before the PC:s dental pains becomes much of an issue, but it's one of those things that go to the state of the world. And if there is magical dentistry, which divine entities handle that and provide the magics?

My wine vs beer debate with @Jeff made me realize we have a fundamental disconnect about the weather in Peloria. While of course, YGMV, he describes Peloria as similar in climate and plant life as the Upper Mississippi/Missouri Valley, and I've always thought of it being more akin to Spain or Southern France. Both are about the same latitude, but obviously there's a pretty big difference in the weather, both in terms of temperature range and humidity. My Peloria is more temperate and drier, Jeff's (I believe) is wetter with a more extreme range of temperatures.

Now based on geography, Jeff's view (and by extension the official Chaosium POV) makes a lot of sense. Peloria is the north central part of a continent roughly the size of the United States. There's a glacier sitting just off the map. The White Sea is ice-locked, etc. And Sartar is just to the west of a hot dry wasteland and could easily be a high desert, given the Rockwoods' significant rain shadow.

But... but... I don't know. That doesn't feel right to me. Dara Happa doesn't feel like it should be a cold place, normally. Nor does Darjin or Pelanda. I see ziggurats and togas and flat-roofed adobe and sandals and formation dependent infantry and none of that makes much sense in places with long cold winters, ample forests, and tons of rain. Dara Happa feels like a classic river flood plain civilization, dependent on the reliable Oslir for their water, not even bothering to sacrifice to any sort of rain or cloud god. In Dara Happa (and I think much of Peloria) river water + earth + sun = food. 

Meanwhile Sartar is boots and cloaks and long pants and forests and rain and storm gods. For Sartarites storms + earth + a bit of sun = food. They propitiate a god of winter (Peloria doesn't), they have a goddess of spring (does Peloria?), they seem to experience the full range of seasons. In Dark Season, they make no war (unless they honor Valind and then it's raidin' time!)

So my justification for my version of Glorantha is that the gods make the difference.  

In my Dragon Pass, Orlanth and Heler do not give two shits about a rain shadow. It rains a lot because they say it does. Valind doesn't care about latitude. Valind hides in the mountaintops most of the year, then claims his kingship in Dark Season because that's the deal Orlanth made with him.

In my Peloria, Yelm shines bright. He sends more heat to his beloved Dara Happa and the surrounding lands than the rest of the world. He's always moderated the climate there, except when he was dead. He does so still. Now from time to time, perhaps once a decade or so, Valind would beat Yelm back in a reenactment of the Lesser Darkness and Peloria would have a snowy winter.  But even that doesn't happen anymore, because Yelm has now has help. The Lunar Icebreaker cult, for the last 30 years, has made sure that Valind never wins. Even while snow covers Pent and Fronela and Ignorance, Winter never truly comes to Peloria. (Well except Talastar, and Yelm doesn't love them, so there.)

The point is, in my Peloria, hoplites can march in sandals and togas make perfect sense and I get my Lunar wine and olives and posca.

Because really it's all about the posca.

So how's the weather in your Peloria?

What does Moon Rock look like?

Because my PCs are still trying to get out of the Big Rubble (and I kinda don't want them to), here is the first bit of content I want to do for Blind King's Hill. Full stats, gear, loot and motivations for the beastfolk vampires supposedly camping out there, as well as a map and description of their lair. My intent was to use them as an encounter where they attack the PCs, and wrote up the lair as something that has no vamps in it, but it would be very easy to run it as a site encounter.

https://d-infinity.net/game-content/runequest-thursday-210-vampires-blind-kings-hill

Still to come - The Sun Dragon Shrine! And maybe the Barrow of the Blind King too...

I don't find anywhere this information... Do Sedalpists allow class mobility? Are they more Rokarists or Hrestolists?

Look, it is reductionist God Learner madness to think the Seven Mothers performed the Lightbringer Quest as part of the creation of the Red Goddess....

Unless they did.

If they did, which role did each of them take? Some are obvious, some less so. But for sake of argument:

Orlanth - Danfive Xaron is forced to play this part.

Lhankor Mhy - Irrippi Ontor obviously. He probably came up with the whole thing.

Ginna Jar - She Who Waits. Who exactly either of these entities is is a deeper mystery. It's entirely possible they're the same deity, right?  Perhaps both ritually invoked manifestations of Arachne Solara and/or Glorantha itself? Or maybe this is the ghost of Lesilla?

Chalana Arroy - Deezola seems the best candidate. 

Issaries - I'm thinking this is the role assigned to Teelo. Or maybe Etyries actually did this part, even though she's not an official Mother, because they'd already ritually sacrificed poor little Teelo?

Eurmal - Jakaleel. She has illusion magic and the Blue Moon is tricky. Though there's part of me that thinks it's hilarious if this was YT.

Flesh Man - Yanafal Tarnils takes this role since it's basically a blank. Interestingly, when we've run the LBQ in my games, the Humakti ends up here a lot. But could be Teelo.

No, it's all insane. This can't be what happened. It's all too neat. 

Unless it isn't.

SMOKE BOMB! TRICKSTER EXIT!

Well, it has been said by those who know me that I am given to pontification. Truth be told, I prefer to be known for puntificating. That is, I love puns and so in reaction to the thought that a new thread should be made it (and the demands of far too many of you to mentions here, no really let us not mention it) here it is.

What puns do you like and what is their tale as best you understand it?

For instance as I have heard it, Greg was asked about a dot on a map and he said it was a great capitol but he had not done much with it yet. When asked if he had named it, in a Californian accent replied notchet. <oooo>

Alright, line up folks, punishment time. Let's here it.

PS Oh and if it has not already been answered, what is the deal with Corflu? And I guess we will now need a thread about the absurdities of Glorantha now Thanks Ali, look what you started...

Cheers

What's the approximate population of Tarsh? Lunar Tarsh? Old Tarsh?

Gloranthan Cult One pagers are an attempt to gather together in a single page (well sometimes two pages) format the main cult information. Your game system may vary (Runequest versions or even Heroquest) but you might still find something useful in here even if you are not using the exact same version of game system - this is material I have created for my campaign over the years.  It relies on multiple sources but might not be exactly canon even if I have tried to follow that as much as is useful for my campaign. 

Gloranthan Cult One pager contains the following parts (if I have been able to find out the information from a source or invented it in case of some)

Name and the main purpose of the cult

Runes

Requirements to Join initiate

Requirements to join - rune level

Cult skills

Folk magic for Initiates

Theist Miracles (Rune spells)

Pantheons the cult belongs to

Sources

Areas the cult (thru its Pantheon or otherwise) can be found

Personality traits that the runes of the cult expect members to personify

Opposite runes. 

Enemy, Hostile, Friendly and Associated cults

Holy Days and High Holy Days

Spirit Societies the cult belongs to or is associated with

Totem animals the cult's spells can command or speak to

https://notesfrompavis.wordpress.com/2017/05/27/gloranthan-cult-one-pagers-renewed-main-page/

Been thinking a little about what root words we might be able to infer from proper names in Glorantha, especially Theyalan ones (since I think the Theyalan names are the ones that mostly appear in canon). So for example, Eurmal and Urox start with the same sound, Elmal and Eurmal have same ending, Humakt and Helemakt are know, Hu likely means "Sword" so...

Eurmal = Wild Man = Ur (Wild, in the sense of dangerous and unpredictable) + Mal (man)

Elmal = Sun Man = El/Yelm (Sun) + Mal (man)

Humakt = Sword Warrior = Hu (Sword) + Makt (warrior)

Helemakt = Cloud Warrior or Rain Warrior = Hele (Cloud or maybe Rain) + Makt (Warrior)

Artmal = Blue Man? = Art (Blue? Something else? Annilla is the Blue Moon, so maybe not) + Mal (man)

Yelmalio = Little Sun Man = El/Yelm (sun) + Mal (man) + io (diminutive suffix) 

Urox = Wild Bull = Ur (Wild) + Ox (Bull) (Or maybe Ur means cow/bull and Ur and Eur are different worlds. See Uralda)

Ernalda = Earth Mother = Ern (Earth) + Alda (Mother)

Uralda = Wild Mother or maybe Cow Mother = Ur (cow or possible wild animal) + Alda (mother)

Dormal = Ship Man = Dor (ship) + Mal (man)

Other possible root words (wild conjecture):

Tar = Land (found in Sartar and Barntar)

Arr = To heal (found in Chalana Arroy, Arroin, Arran, possibly also Argan Argar, given his harmony rune. Arkat and Argrath both mean Liberator, but that might be broken down into Freedom Healer or some such roots)

Esra = Barley (as in Esrola)

Gor = Blood? or "The Bloody?" Destructive Earth? Underworld? (found in Babeestor Gor, Gorgorma, Maran Gor, etc etc. Maybe also Gorakiki)

Ara = Spider (Aranea and Arachne Solera)

Ki or Ky = Darkness (Kitori, Kyger Litor, Gorakiki)

Anyone else got pet theories of this nature?

I wondered whether Chaosium might entertain a new printing of the Guide to Glortantha updated with some of the wonderful new art we've seen from the RuneQuest line, and other new products such as the Gloranthan sourcebook?  There's some cool images in the Guide to Glorantha for sure,  but I feel with the new art in products such as RuneQuest, there's an even stronger presentation & feel and for the setting.

I imagine that many Gloranthan fans have already bought their hardcopies, but perhaps some may be persuaded to look again with a new presentation, and maybe new Gloranthan fans maybe persuaded to invest with an even richer presentation? The new Chaosium books have been so well done, and I think it would pay (at least artistically) to revisit the guide at some point with the library of new artwork now at hand.

Are gargoyles some sort of mixture of Earth and Air?
Maybe with a dash of Mobility/Stasis weirdness?

Looking for cult compatibilities information. Does the Cult compatibility chart at Cult Compendium contain all the information known (in that format) or is there additional cults in any other publications or net. Several cults are missing there for example Ernalda, Eurmal... that chart contains 43 cults and I am looking for many more. I can start to extrapolate from that information but would like to first consider all the available material.  I am looking for information in the form of "

Flintnail considers these as

Enemy Cults: Krarsht, Kyger Litor, Primal Chaos

Hostile Cults: Bagog, Cacodemon, Crimson Bat, Lanbril, Mallia, Storm Bull, Thanatar, Thed, Vivamort, Waha, Xiola Umbar, Zorak Zoran

Friendly Cults: Caladra & Aurelion, Chalana Arroy, Geo, Issaries, Lhankor Mhy, Zola Fel

Associated Cults: Pavis