28 December 2012

The Random Adventure Giannirator (cont'd)

After imaginos' improvements, now it is my friend Greg's turn to drastically improve the 'Giannirator'.

Greg's improvements are noteworthy in that:
a) he expands the Giannirator to add a Campbellian feel to it, and
b) he restricts it to Glorantha.

My initial and quite haphazard design born out of the boredom of an autumnal night, and initally destined to be yet another quirky curiosity in the long list of online OSR gaming aids, has now become a fully-fledged adventure generator.

Actually, rather than a mere advenure generator, it has become a campaign generator. And it is consistent with Joseph Campbell's monomyth, which is one of the fundaments of Greg Stafford's work on Glorantha.
The steps of the Giannirator are now to be rolled in the order outlined by J Campbell, viz:

1) The mundane world. Choose a Character or an Event.
2) The Call to Adventure. Choose a Character or an Event.
3) Refusal of the Call. Choose a Character or an Event.
4) Supernatural Aid. Choose a Character.
5) The Crossing of the First Threshold. Choose a Place.
6a) Allies. Choose a Character.
6b) Enemies. Choose a Character.
7) Belly of The Whale. Choose a Place.
8) The Road of Trials. Choose a Character or an Event.
9) The Ultimate Boon. Choose a Character or an Event.
10) Return. Choose a Character or an Event.
11) Resurrection. Roll 1D10.
12) Return. Choose an Event.

The above are just a brief summary of Greg's improved Campbellian Giannirator. Please give it a try, even if it's in French (an on-line translating tool may help).

Yog-Blosoth

I follow hundreds of blogs, but Yog-Blosoth is one that I follow enthusiastically. Not only is it updated regularly (almost daily), but the pictures are terrific and very inspirational — for your Call of Cthulhu games, of course, but even if you're running a dark and gritty frp game.



Today's picture, for instance, is very much a Timinit for me.

23 December 2012

Seasons in Umathela

This post can be considered as an addition to my earlier Umathelan calendar post.

As already written, the Gloranthan year comprises five two-month seasons, followed by the two-week Sacred Time. For reasons that go back to Glorantha's distant past, each season is heavily influenced by one of the elemental runes. Sacred Time, however, is devoted to the Gods, and no single element holds sway on it.

The first season is the Sea season
In Umathela, it is a dry and chilly season.This is the time of traders and travellers.


The second season is the Fire season
In Umathela, it is a time of warm weather, with long rains. Harvest takes place at the end of this season.


The third season is the Earth season
In Umathela, it is a time of hot weather, with short rains. This is a time of activity for all Plant-Men. Fishermen have their best catches during this season.


The fourth season is the Dark season
In Umathela, it is cloudy and humid, but with little precipitation. The temperature is warm to cold. Trolls are most active during this time, whilst Brown Elves sleep.


The fifth season is the Storm season
In coastal Umathela, this means frequent hurricanes. In landlocked areas, heavy snow. Everywhere else, constant wind. The weather is overall cold.


During Sacred Time, no element is prominent, and the weather is calm and mild. This is when Umathings plant and bless their crops. Theist people are busy praying. Spirits are particularly active during this period of the year.

10 December 2012

The Random Adventure Giannirator

My Bookshelf-Based Random Adventure Generator has met with unexpected success. My friends have even rechristened it 'the Giannirator', because of my Christian name.

One of my friends has brought about quite an improvement by adding a further D20 random roll to determine the core action of the adventure — in the basic version of the Giannirator, it was always sort of 'go fetch me this or that' from the PCs' mentor/patron/whatever.

So before you roll the six die rolls mentioned in the original post, do a random roll on a D20 to determine the central action of the adventure. Use the following table or devise your own:

D20 roll ‒ core action
1 ‒ retrieve (fetch, kidnap...)
2 ‒ transport (move, deliver...)
3 ‒ free, succour
4 ‒ survive to, escape from,...
5 ‒ go to, enter, penetrate
6 ‒ explore, discover
7 ‒ enquire, solve a mystery
8 ‒ exact revenge on, avenge
9 ‒ sell, barter, trade, get rid of
10 ‒ humiliate
11 ‒ defend, protect, escort, guard
12 ‒ persuade, proselytise, convert, recruit
13 ‒ create, build
14 ‒ dissimulate, hide, plant
15 ‒ blackmail
16 ‒ terminate, kill, destroy
17 ‒ deceive
18 ‒ sacrifice oneself for
19 ‒ conquer, invade, vanquish
20 ‒ other, or re-roll, or GM fiat

So in the end, the updated blueprint shall take the following into account:

ROLL D20 → CORE_ACTION
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → NPC1
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → LOCATION1
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → PERSON/OBJECT
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → NPC2
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → LOCATION2
ROLL D6, D6, D30, D6, D100 per earlier post → MISC

and look like this:
The Player Characters start their adventure in their home town/hex/current location in the campaign. {NPC1} asks the PCs to go to {LOCATION1} to {CORE_ACTION} {PERSON/OBJECT}. The PCs will end up fighting against {NPC2} in {LOCATION2}. During the course of the adventure, {MISC} will feature prominently.

Edit: Obviously I had to try the new table out. I've recently realised I probably had as many gaming stuff in (legal) PDF form as I had in dead tree, so I've decided to roll on my PDFshelf rather than on my bookshelf. Here are the results:
D20: 2 - transport/move/deliver
NPC1: Rule One Magazine issue No.14 - p13 - an Alchemist
LOCATION1: Religions of Ancient China, Herbert A Giles - p50 - the court of the Emperor
PERSON/OBJECT: Fantastic Fables, Ambrose Bierce - p175 - a lion's skin
NPC2: Temple of the Fool God - p31 - a Dwarf named Rocky
LOCATION2: Le meraviglie del Duemila, Emilio Salgari - p13 - New York
MISC: RuneQuest 6 - p112 - disease and poison

Hence the following text:

The Player Characters start their adventure in their home town/hex/current location in the campaign. An alchemist asks the PCs to deliver a lion's skin to the court of the Emperor. The PCs will end up fighting against a Dwarf named Rocky in New York. During the course of the adventure, disease and poison will feature prominently.

Frankly, except for the odd 'New York', that's quite an uncanny scenario seed!

09 December 2012

Forest's Guardian

(dedicated to Hervé Carteau)

The Forest's Guardian is a large, animal-like plant construct magically animated by the Great Tree of a given Aldryami Forest for purposes of self-defence in times of danger, typically to confront invaders. The Forest's Guardian will remain in the vicinity of the Great Tree to make sure it is unharmed.

 Sometimes, the Great Tree of an Aldryami Forest becomes mad. In this case, the Forest's Guardian may be created for nefarious, rather than defensive, purposes, and it may hunt down any sentient species it encounters, including elves, irrespective of their actual behaviour towards the Great Tree.

Despite its size, the Forest's Guardian moves at incredible speed through the forest.

HQ Characteristics
Large 5Ш
Fast 5Ш
Devouring maw 3Ш2
Liana attack 5Ш2
Lacks central nervous system 8Ш
Lacks Man Rune 8Ш

T&T Characteristics
MR 350
Combat dice 36D + 175
Special: 9/Ensnare - Lvl 5 SR against DEX or be ensnared within the creature (see picture above); Lvl 5 SR against STR to break free.

BRP/RQ Characteristics
STR 6D6 (21)
CON 6D6 (21)
DEX 4D6 (14)
SIZ 3D6+20 (30-31)
INT 2D6 (7)
POW 4D6 (14)
CHA 5
Move: 12
Hit points: 26
Damage Bonus: +2D6
Armour: 5 points
Attacks:
  • Maw 55%, 1D10+dmg bonus
  • Liana (×2) 75%, 1D8+dmg bonus. Any victim hit must roll his DEX vs the creature's DEX on the Resistance Table. Failure means the victim is ensnared within the Guardian (see picture above). Every following round, the victim may try and break free by roll his STR vs the creature's STR on the Resistance Table.
Special abilities:
  • Life Sense
  • The Forest's Guardian is attuned to the Forest's Song and hence can never be surprised, always know where its foes are, etc.
Magic: Plant Rune. Depending on his system of choice, the GM should devise plant-based spells.
Special defence: The Guardian lacks the Man Rune and is hence immune to spells such as Harmonise, and to any mind-affecting spells or powers (Befuddle, etc.)
Hit Location Table: Since the Guardian does not have a central nervous sytem, and since it immediately regrows (or rather re-sprouts) any lost limb, it is assumed to have but a single hit location.
Should the Guardian have ensnared one or more victims, then any damage to the Guardian may actually affect the ensnared victim.
For 1 victim, roll 1D20: on a roll of 1-2, the victim is hit; 3-20, the Guardian is hit.
For 2 victims, roll 1D20: on a roll of 1-2, the 1st victim is hit; on a roll of 3-4, the 2nd victim is hit; 5-20, the Guardian is hit.
And so on...

LotFP Characteristics
Armour as leather + shield.
Move as unencumbered man.
HD 8. #AT 3: maw/liana/liana, D 1D10/1D8+ensnarement/1D8+ensnarement.
Ensnarement:
Save vs Paralyse or be ensnared.
To break free: use the Wrestling rules. Consider that the Guardian has STR and DEX 18.

02 December 2012

Bookshelf-Based Random Adventure Generator

This post has been inspired by the recent "bookshelf meme", and by Zak's Bookshelf Roulette post.

my bookshelf — RPGs

Using but a few dice, your bookshelf, and the blueprint below, you will be able to design/improvise a fully-fledged role-playing adventure. Here's how.

First, get hold of 1D6, 1D30, and 1D100. Each adventure seed is based upon SIX books from your bookshelf, and information from within those books randomly extracted using the results of the dice rolls.

THE RANDOM ADVENTURE GENERATOR
For each one of those six books, roll five dice, in the following order:
  1. Roll 1D6. Check the results of the roll: 1-3: use the top shelf; 4-6: use the bottom shelf. Of course if you have more than two shelves use a different die.
  2. Roll 1D6. Check the results of the roll: 1-3: start counting from the left; 4-6: start counting from the right.
  3. Roll 1D30. Count as many books from either the left or the right, depending on the previous die roll.
  4. Roll 1D6. Check the results of the roll: 1-3: start from the beginning; 4-6: start from the end. Ignore covers, indices, empty pages, etc.
  5. Roll 1D100. Count as many pages. Using the guidelines from the blueprint, choose the relevant element from within the page.
  1. From within BOOK ONE, choose an NPC (person, sentient creature, god...).
  2. From within BOOK TWO, choose a LOCATION (city, hex, place, building, planet...).
  3. From within BOOK THREE, choose a PERSON or an OBJECT.
  4. From within BOOK FOUR, choose an NPC.
  5. From within BOOK FIVE, choose a LOCATION.
  6. From within BOOK SIX, pick up something interesting (this is the 'freer' choice you get): a situation, a political party, a magical item, a cult, a disease, weather type... anything!

Then using the SIX elements from the above list, fill in the following blueprint:

The Player Characters start their adventure in their home town/hex/current location in the campaign. __________ asks the PCs to go to __________ to retrieve __________. The PCs will end up fighting against __________ in __________. During the course of the adventure, __________ will feature prominently.


OK, let's get started...

Let's use this system to draw up two adventure seeds. We will see that the first one will end up having the potential for a fully-fledged campaign!

ADVENTURE SEED No.1
(no cheating, genuine rolls!)


Book ONE
a: 6- bottom shelf
b: 5- start from right
c: 12- book No.12: The Complete Dreamlands (Chaosium)
d: 4- start from end
e: 94- p.94 from the end, i.e., p91
Guardians of the Crystallizers of Dreams (Lesser Servitor Race)  — see the picture above.

Book TWO
a: 6- bottom shelf
b: 6- start from right
c: 5- book No.5: Borderlands & Beyond (Moon Design)
d: 4- start from end
e: 20- p.20 from the end, i.e., p278
New Pavis.

Book THREE
a: 2- top shelf
b: 5- start from right
c: 18- book No.18: Blood Over Gold (Moon Design)
d: 2- start from beginning
e: 61- p.61
Bishop Jestocos the Stern of the Rokari Church.

Book FOUR
a: 3- top shelf
b: 5- start from right
c: 20- book No.20: Imperial Lunar Handbook, Vol. One (Issaries)
d: 2- start from beginning
e: 65- p.65
The Senvaros League (a Lunar merchant guild based in Virindum, Peloria).

Book FIVE
Dorastor, Land of Doom (Avalon Hill)
p53
Dokat's Ruins.

Book SIX
Tirant Lo Blanc (Joc Internacional)
p88
Paraula Màgica (=spoken magic).

So here's the full text:
The Player Characters start their adventure in their home town/hex/current location in the campaign. A Guardian of the Crystallizers of Dreams asks the PCs to go to New Pavis to retrieve Bishop Jestocos the Stern. The PCs will end up fighting against the Senvaros League in Dokat's ruins. During the course of the adventure, spoken magic will feature prominently.

Now this is very, very Gloranthan, and has already given me a thousand ideas for a long game set in Third Age Glorantha, using the RuneQuest or HeroQuest rules!

ADVENTURE SEED No.2

To widen up the scope of the adventure, I will add more bookshelves (most of the books I'm currently using are focused on Glorantha). I'll be using 12 bookshelves (incl. comics and history books), and hence a D12.

Book ONE
Dinosauri (Stratelibri)
Cynognathus. Now this a non-sentient creature, so I'll swap it with the results from Book Four.

Book TWO
Atlas du Christianisme, p174
L'intérieur des églises (=within a church).

Book THREE
Breve storia di Venezia, p118
opere d'arte, libri e documenti (=works of art, books, and documents).

Book FOUR
Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol.I
Harry Osborn

Book FIVE
Waldo's Bar (a French graphic novel)
a jazz joint

Book SIX
Powerless
Wolverine

Wow! Quite a difference with the previous one... Here's the full text of the second adventure seed (remember I am swapping books One and Four):
The Player Characters start their adventure in their home town/hex/current location in the campaign. Harry Osborn asks the PCs to go into a church to retrieve works of art, books, and documents. The PCs will end up fighting against cynognathus in a jazz joint. During the course of the adventure, Wolverine will feature prominently.

30 November 2012

Monster Island Art

from Russ Nicholson's blog
I've already mentioned en passant the upcoming RuneQuest 6 product called Monster Island. It now turns out that legendary British illustrator Russ Nicholson will be doing the art. Now that's inspirational!

26 November 2012

Umathing Musical Instruments

As befits their name, Umathings favour wind instruments. Here are the most widespread ones:

overtone flute




cornetts




Umathing flutes




hornpipes



25 November 2012

My Umathelan Campaign

My tabletop campaign is set in central Umathela, around the year 950 ST — I haven't decided the exact year yet, but since the players are barbarous Umathings who reckon the years in terms of "three years after the passing of the Rune Priest of Ropotes", it isn't really important.

Varanswal

The campaign is centred around the landlocked cities of Arstranwal and Varanswal. Both are but a shadow of their former glory; both, however, are ruled by a strong-willed ruler who does not accept Malki decadence, and who is doing his best to have his city live up to its past grandeur. Both are also extremely jealous of their neighbour, and the Count of Arstranwal and the Duke of Varanswal are always competing in everything; lately in trying to revive the ruined cities that dot central Umathela, like e.g. Rampart.

Count William of Arstranwal, a direct descendant of Loftusus the Ragged, has managed to keep the small community of Iqari in the city, even though the Soul Net Observatory is but a shadow of its former self, and is now home to a single astrologer.
The city has recently been attacked by three gigantic Cold Daimones. The monsters have wrought much destruction upon Arstranwal, especially in those parts of the city inhabited by lower caste Malki and civilised Umathings. Most of these people have either died or fled to the suburbs of Varanswal. The Cold Daimones were killed by an alliance of heroes from neighbouring Varanswal and distant Tarien. The fact that his city has been saved from destruction by adventurers from its rival has mightily angered the Count. It has also been a source of considerable mirth for the Duke of Varanswal.

Duke Roderick of Varanswal rules a large city that has been relatively spared by the vicissitudes of 10th century Umathela. The relationship with the surrounding barbarian Umathings is good, and what little trade still goes through central Umathela stops in Varanswal.
After the False Gods Revolt in 901 ST caused by the experiments of the God Learners from the University of Varanswal, the Hwarosian Mystics and the Jogram Witnesses were expelled from Varanswal, and the College of Immediate Expansion was forced to stop meddling in other peoples' myths. Now heavily reduced in membership, the University focuses its curriculum on orthodox Malkioni theology, and on more mundane subjects such as history and geography. A single God Learner remains amongst the academic staff; a well-known Emanationalist, he is known for his opposition to the School of Hwarosian Mysteries.

23 November 2012

Time Reckoning in Umathela - Part One: Calendar

Umathings are an illiterate, barbarian people. As a consequence, time reckoning in Umathela is of Malki (and especially God Learner) origin.

In a first approximation, time reckoning in Umathela conforms to the generic Gloranthan dating systems. As in most other Gloranthan cultures, seven days make up one week; eight weeks make up one Season; five Seasons, plus 14 extra days called Sacred Time, make up one year. A Gloranthan year thus is 294 days long. Irrespective of culture, the year always starts on the vernal equinox (New Years Day).

However, the Malki influence is obvious in the presence of months in the Umathelan calendar. The concept of 'months' is unknown in Glorantha; only the Westerners use them.

The Umathelan calendar is hence as follows:

SEA SEASON (days 1 to 56)
  month of Sementis (days 1 to 28)
    Disorder week (days 1 to 7)
    Harmony week (days 8 to 14)
    Death week (days 15 to 21)
    Fertility week (days 22 to 28)
  month of Vernus (days 29 to 56)
    Stasis week (days 29 to 35)
    Movement week (days 36 to 42)
    Illusion week (days 43 to 49)
    Truth week (days 50 to 56)

FIRE SEASON (days 57 to 112)
  month of Fervidor (days 57 to 84)
  month of Aestival (days 85 to 112)

EARTH SEASON (days 113 to 168)
  month of Messistide (days 113 to 140)
  month of Aeror (days 141 to 168)

DARK SEASON (days 169 to 224)
  month of Frigidor (days 169 to 196)
  month of Brumastide (days 197 to 224)

STORM SEASON (days 225 to 280)
  month of Turbidor (days 225 to 252)
  month of Nex (days 253 to 280)

SACRED TIME (days 281 to 294)
    first week (days 281 to 287)
    second week (days 288 to 294)

Each pair of months within a given season follows the same pattern of eight weeks with the same names: Disorder, Harmony, Death, Fertility, Stasis, Movement, Illusion, Truth.

Each week within a given month/season always has the same names for the days in the week:
Day 1- Freezeday (Umathings), Hilmday (Malki)
Day 2- Waterday (Umathings), Fronday (Malki)
Day 3- Clayday (Umathing), Haranday (Malki)
Day 4- Windsday (Umathing), Orenday (Malki)
Day 5- Fireday (Umathing), Ulerday (Malki)
Day 6- Wildday (Umathing), Acoday (Malki)
Day 7- Godsday (Umathing), Oneday (Malki)

RPG Review - Issue No.17

I have already blogged about the RPG Review, a most excellent free on-line Australian webzine devoted to role-playing games, with a good mix of game reviews, industry news, interviews, historical articles about our hobby, and short gaming aids.

The latest issue is a GURPS special issue, so it does not have a particular interest to us Glorantha fans. However, it also features a thorough description of the two latest incarnations of RuneQuest: Mongoose RuneQuest II, and RuneQuest 6.

19 November 2012

The Guide to Glorantha KS and Umathela

OK everybody already knows about the kickstarter campaign for the upcoming Guide to Glorantha by Moon Design. If you're just back from a ten-year heroquest, here's the link:

Now would you flipping believe it... the stretch goal for having Umathela at the same level of detail as >>yawn<<< Genertela is $90,000, so keep those pledges coming!!!!

Dakon Ven Dalorin

the following was posted by Keith "kmnellist" on the WorldofGlorantha Yahoo! group on 4/10/2011 — reproduced here as a cool scenario seed for Second Age Umathela


998: Jrusteli scholar Dakon Ven Dalorin demonstrated that Basmoli of Tarien spoke Basmoli
[GloranthaBook.34]

Dakon Ven Dalorin is the hero of this story. Deconstructing this sentence, we have to come to the conclusion that Dakon wasn't in Jrustela when he demonstrated that Basmoli did indeed speak Basmoli like wot it woz spoke in Seshnela. He certainly didn't capture some Tarien Basmoli and move them to sunken Jrustela to demonstrate it. It seems more likely that Dakon was from Jrustela, but had left before it sunk and lived in Umathela (say, from 950). He probably knew the Lord of the World's Knowledge. He might even know that guy who "proved" that the elves of Enkloso were extinct. Perhaps he was that guy. His expertise in Enkloso lore recommended him as the leader of the expedition to travel through apparently Elf-free Enkloso, into the Basmoli country in Tarien.

So, here's the game— player characters are the assistants, guards and scouts of the famous scholar Dakon Ven Dalorin, who is setting off to prove his theory that the Fiwan of Pamaltela and Hsunchen of Genertela are related and share common ancestry. Perhaps one of the player characters is a Basmoli "specimen" from Genertela.

I'd set it in 976, just after the Errinoru dynasty gets ended by insects, further proof if any were needed, that Dakon's theory on Enkloso elves is correct. The plan is to go where no man has gone before— Hangofey and Guruch Tomoni, where "Umathelan humans have never penetrated this far south". Lively dinosaurs, trolls, slarges, and the occasional Basmoli lion man to talk to.

16 November 2012

A Hidden Gem

In this short article, Gred Stafford explains to wargamers what a role-playing game is, and why RuneQuest is the best rpg out there.
This is from issue No.2, Vol.20, of the General (July-August 1983)

14 November 2012

Umathing Names

Female Names

Female names usually stem from two juxtaposed words, one denoting the expected character of the child — an adjective — and another one with a reassuring or a religious meaning.

Examples:
1st word
Fair, happy, clear, blessed, gentle, good, faithful, bountiful, snowy, kind, peaceful.
2nd word
Blessing, gift, home, grace, faith, hope, earth, land, love, wind, rain, season.

The juxtaposition of the two words may hence end up in Umathing female names such as Fair-season, Blessed-home, Snowy-land, etc.
 Male Names

Boys are given disparaging names until their coming-of-age ceremony; this is supposedly to fool evil spirits: why would a spirit harm a boy who isn't loved by his parents?
Names such as dick-head, piece-o'-shit, ugly-toad, fart-breath, troll's-crap, etc are very common.
Upon reaching adulthood (at about 13) boys are given their real name, which, like female names, consists in two words, again according to the adjective+noun pattern, except that these are now bombastic or warlike names:

1st word
Young, firm, glorious, famous, cunning, high, angry, healthy, rich, sharp, long, strong, fierce, heavy, wild, free.
2nd word
Man, fate, fighter, warrior, honour, vengeance, sword, spear, wolf, bear, storm, thunder, cold.

Rulers and leaders, like clan chieftains or rune priests, usually have a name made up by a sentence containing the name of their deity, e.g., Tyloque-drives-my-arm or Eler-floods-my-enemies.

Delvers
Delvers usually have a nom de guerre. Reasons for bearing a pseudonym vary:

  1. Tomb robbers don't want to be known by their real name. Any living relatives of the entombed may be upset. And you don't want to upset a God-Learner.
  2. Mercenaries in the employ of the various Malki robber barons want to protect their kinsmen from any retaliatory actions by the relatives of their victims.
  3. Umathing names can be difficult to pronounce [this post provides mere English translations], so Umathings who operate in a Malki environment end up using an easy-to-pronounce nickname.
  4. Umathing society is extremely conservative and traditional. Choosing a new name is a way for an Umathing delver to show that he has severed all ties with his previous life.
For all the reasons listed above, delvers' pseudonyms are short and easy to pronounce.

Dinosaur Parade

Dinosaur Parade, James Gurney (1989)
A Umathelan God-Learner city at the time of their splendour. [Remember: no horses in Pamaltela]

13 November 2012

Second Age Umathelan Runes

Before the fall of the Middle Sea Empire, Second Age Umathela was a major centre of God-Learnerism. New Hrestolket possibly housed the best and most celebrated God-Learner university within Glorantha. "It graduates more God Learner HeroQuesters per year than any other" (Glorantha: the Second Age, p 105).

The Gloranthan runes themselves are believed to be God-Learner in origin, or at least it was the God-Learners who spread their use throughout Glorantha. As a consequence, they became very popular and well-known in Umathela, even amongst the illiterate Umathings. After the fall of the Middle Sea Empire, their use was not discontinued — contrary to other legacies from the God Learners. The simplicity and the clear shapes of the Gloranthan runes made them even favourite tattoo patterns or shield motifs amongst the uncivilised Umathings.

At the time of my campaign, the runes in use in Umathela are categorised in the manner described hereafter.

32 Core Runes, subdivided as follows:

5 Elemental runes

Darkness
 

Water



Earth

Air



Fire


8 Form runes

Plant



Beast



Man



Dragon



Dragonewt



Spirit

 
Mineral



Chaos


14 Power runes, in opposing pairs:

Cold
 

Heat



Death



Fertility



Disorder



Harmony



Fate



Luck



Movement


Stasis



Illusion



Truth



Light



Shadow


5 Condition runes

Infinity



Law



Magic



Mastery



Trade


Amongst the above-mentioned 32 Core runes, both the Malki and the Umathing add a further subdivision between 15 Major Core runes and 17 Minor Core runes.
The Major runes are: Darkness, Water, Earth, Air, Fire, Plant, Beast, Man, Dragonewt, Spirit, Chaos, Infinity, Law, Magic, Mastery.
The Minor runes are: Dragon, Mineral, Cold, Heat, Death, Fertility, Disorder, Harmony, Fate, Luck, Movement, Stasis, Illusion, Truth, Light, Shadow, Trade.

There are many other Minor runes that are not Core runes, but which are nonetheless quite common throughout Umathela. These have several different origins:
Personal runes
These were found by the God Learners during their HeroQuests. They convey personal power to whomever manages to get them in a HeroQuest, like Defence, Force, Perception.

Defence
 

Perception


Ethnic runes
These correspond to the peoples within or close to Umathela: Malki, Umathings, Fonritans, Doraddi.

Malki



Umathings



Fonritans



Doraddi


Deity-specific runes
These are mostly linked to minor deities— major deities are linked to major runes. These are the ones used in my campaign: Aleshmara, Balumbasta, Eler, Nontraya, Rabilis, Ty Kora Tek.

Special interest runes
These are linked to special "groups" that are neither really ethnicities nor deities: God-Learners, Undead.

Note: the runes not depicted here can be found among this list.