Reseña del juego de rol Comae Engine

Comae Engine es un juego de rol genérico de reglas sencillas y fáciles de aprender para ponerte a jugar rápido. Usa el dado D100 para la tirada principal, pero al contrario que la mayoría de juegos centrados en el D100 (La llamada de Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Mythras, Warhammer, Delta Green, etc.), es más narrativo que detallista, es decir, en vez de darte muchas reglas que describen lo que ocurre, te da pocas reglas pero flexibles y los jugadores describen los detalles concretos con su imaginación.

La portada de Axel Sauerwald me sugiere unos roleros imaginando juntos y uno flipándose porque acaba de sacar un crítico

La tirada básica

Como otros juegos D100 desde RuneQuest, Comae Engine determina el éxito o fracaso con un porcentaje de posibilidades. Por ejemplo, si tienes un porcentaje de Astucia de 70%, tiras los dos dados de diez caras y obtienes un resultado de 1 a 100. Si este resultado es igual o inferior al porcentaje, has tenido éxito. Las ventajas de esta mecánica básica son que sabes muy bien las probabilidades de éxito y que el avance de los personajes en sus habilidades es paulatino. Además, si el resultado es un doble, como 22 o 33, el éxito es crítico y mejor de lo normal, y si es un fallo, es peor que el fallo normal (una pifia). Otros juegos D100 también aplican esta regla desde que apareció por primera vez en Unknown Armies.

Los personajes

Igual que otros juegos de la familia D100, Comae Engine define los personajes básicamente con atributos y habilidades, pero muy pocas: solo 4 atributos y 9 habilidades. Al ser pocos rasgos, cada uno cubre muchos aspectos que a los personajes se les pueden dar bien, mal o regular (como en Revolution d100). Por ejemplo, la habilidad Social engloba todas las pericias sociales como dar discursos, mentir, hacerse el gracioso o causar una buena impresión. Al crear el personaje, solo hay que asignar unos porcentajes fijos (30%, 50% o 70%) a estas habilidades, así que solo tienes que pensar qué se le da bien a grandes rasgos a tu personaje (70%), qué se le da más o menos bien (50%) y qué no se le da muy bien (30%) o muy mal (5%) y listo.

Respecto a los 4 atributos, son Cuerpo, Inteligencia, Poder y Carisma, con puntuaciones más o menos entre 16 y 10, que también se reparten en puntuaciones fijas o se pueden generar con una tirada de dados. Estos también te dan una idea de en qué ámbitos destaca el personaje, pero en términos de juego solo se usan para los conflictos extendidos.

He creado un personaje. Si quisiera añadir focos (ver más abajo), dentro de Tecnología 50% podría tener Conducir motos 70%.

Los conflictos extendidos

Comae Engine toma la mecánica del desgaste paulatino de los puntos de vida que otros juegos usan para las reglas de combate y la aplica a toda clase de escenas, no solo las de combate. Los 4 atributos del personaje son «puntos de vida» que tiene en varios ámbitos. Por ejemplo, para obstáculos físicos como escalar una montaña, perseguir a un mafioso o noquear a un neonazi, será el atributo Cuerpo el que se vaya desgastando, mientras que si el obstáculo es intelectual, como un reto de adivinanzas o desactivar una bomba, el atributo que se desgastará será Inteligencia. El bando contrario tendrá su propio atributo y en cada turno se hace una tirada enfrentada de la habilidad pertinente de los dos contendientes. Eso quiere decir que quien obtenga mejor nivel de éxito o resultado más alto en caso de mismo nivel de éxito, gana esa ronda y le resta 1D6 al atributo del oponente. Quien antes consiga reducir al otro a cero puntos, gana el conflicto. El oponente puede ser un obstáculo inerte o abstracto como el mecanismo de la bomba o una montaña, pero siempre tendrá un porcentaje de «ataque» y un atributo que hay que reducir a cero para superarlo.

Está mecánica se describe casi igual en M-Space, un juego de ciencia ficción del mismo autor. Pero su origen es anterior: apareció por primera vez con más detalle en el juego Revolution d100 que, a su vez, se inspira en los conflictos extendidos de HeroQuest y QuestWorlds. Para más información, puedes leer la entrada sobre los juegos de rol D100 y los conflictos extendidos.

Aunque en Comae Engine también hay tiradas simples de habilidad, los conflictos extendidos forman el núcleo del juego. Su principal baza es su enorme flexibilidad, ya que permiten representar cualquier tipo de obstáculo o escena dramática que sería aburrido solventar con una sola tirada de dados. Al extender la duración del conflicto, se hace más emocionante porque pueden haber vaivenes antes del desenlace. Por ejemplo, puedes empezar ganando, luego empezar a perder y al final sobreponerte en el último momento, lo que le da más enjundia que una sola tirada. Otra ventaja es que reducen el efecto de la mala suerte puntual en el caso de las habilidades altas. Por ejemplo, en otros juegos tu habilidad de Oratoria de 80% puede que sea crucial para convencer a la reina de que te preste sus ejércitos, pero al tirar los dados, paf, puedes tener mala pata y fallar la tirada pese a ser un gran orador. En cambio, si esa escena la resuelves con un conflicto extendido, donde vas a hacer varias tiradas de Oratoria, es más difícil que en todas las tiradas tengas mala suerte y, por tanto, es más probable que tu buen porcentaje de habilidad se imponga.

Parte de una de las pocas pero sugerentes ilustraciones que adornan este pequeño reglamento

Comae Engine incluye 7 ejemplos de conflictos extendidos que cubren 3 ámbitos: Cuerpo, Inteligencia y Carisma, y cada uno incluye pequeños detalles de reglas que puedes añadir para reflejar mejor algunas escenas y que no sean a todo o nada, sino que haya grados de éxito. Por ejemplo: una fiesta a la que acuden los protagonistas para recabar pistas hablando con los invitados. En este caso, el atributo que se desgastará es Carisma y las habilidades a usar son Social y Atención. Si los protagonistas reducen el atributo abstracto de la fiesta a cero, habrán conseguido todas las pistas posibles. Si solo logran reducirlo a la mitad, pues la mitad, y así. Por el contrario, si el atributo de Carisma de un personaje se ve reducido a cero, significa que se ha cansado de que lo ignoren y se marcha, o que lo han echado de la fiesta por fisgón o grosero.

Como es obvio, estas tiradas enfrentadas de habilidades tienen que «vestirse» con una descripción adecuada, Por ejemplo, en cada ronda de la fiesta donde hay que recabar pistas, no solo tiras los dados y ves quién causa «daño» a quién, sino que hay que rolear las conversaciones y describir las situaciones y, una vez tienes el resultado de la tirada, describes qué significa ese resultado. De lo contrario, será extremadamente soso. Por ejemplo, en la primera ronda tu personaje se acerca a un corrillo de gente que está charlando animadamente junto a un ventanal, con sus copas en la mano. Escuchas (están hablando de aviones) y esperas el momento oportuno en el que poder entrar en la conversación. Haces la tirada de tu habilidad de Social 50% y, sacas un 47, éxito, pero la directora de juego hace su propia tirada y saca un 61 con su habilidad de 70% (habilidad alta porque los invitados se conocen entre sí pero tu personaje es un recién llegado). Las dos tiradas son éxito, pero la de la oposición es un resultado más alto, así que en esta ronda es tu personaje quien sufre «daño». La DJ tira 1D6 y saca un 4, así que tu atributo de Carisma pasa de 12 a 8. Y entonces describes lo que ha ocurrido en la ficción: tu personaje espera a intervenir y al final se cansa y hace un comentario algo chorras, por ejemplo: «No sé nada de aviones, pero me encanta volar, ¿y a usted?» y la señorita a la que se lo has dicho se te queda mirando como diciendo «eres tonto ¿o qué te pasa?». Así que te vas discretamente a otra parte de la fiesta, a ver si hay más suerte.

Dato curioso: El título del juego, que se pronuncia /kóumi ényin/, significa «motor de comas» (comas de estado clínico). Lo del «coma» viene a cuento porque, si en un conflicto extendido te reducen el atributo a cero, en principio quedas «fuera de juego» para ese conflicto, lo que puede significar situaciones distintas para cada tipo de conflicto. Pero, si aun así, te emperras en seguir adelante, puedes seguir acumulando «daño» en puntos negativos y si acumulas el máximo, llegas a un «coma» que supone consecuencias más desastrosas. Por ejemplo, si llegaras al máximo negativo de tu atributo de Carisma, no solo te echan de la fiesta, sino que la DJ puede decidir que toda tu vida social y tu reputación quedan tan destrozadas que no sales de tu casa en seis meses o te cambias de país.

Esto da un extra de flexibilidad, porque puedes elegir qué nivel de riesgo estás dispuesto a correr para que tu personaje tenga éxito. Además, permite a los jugadores influir en la dirección de la narración. Otro elemento que hace eso son los puntos de suerte, que permiten repetir tiradas o introducir contactos u objetos en la narración.

Parte de otra de las ilustraciones de este juego de rol

Mayor nivel de detalle

Comae Engine incluye varias opciones para dotar a las reglas de un poco más de detalle. Una son los focos, que son especializaciones que añadir a las habilidades para describir a los personajes con más detalle y que se distingan más entre sí. Por ejemplo, puedes tener la habilidad base Tecnología 50% sin más, con lo que todo lo relacionado con la tecnología se te da bastante bien. O puedes decidir afinar más esa habilidad usando la regla de focos y poner que, dentro de Tecnología, tienes la especialización Informática que te suma un +20% en ese ámbito, de forma que en todo lo relacionado con la tecnología tienes 50%, pero concretamente en el tema de los ordenadores tienes un 70%. De esta forma, dos personajes que tengan el mismo porcentaje en una habilidad pueden diferenciarse mejor mediante especializaciones concretas.

Finalmente, puedes incluir la mecánica de las actitudes en los conflictos extendidos. Estas son modos concretos de actuar que alteran ligeramente el «daño» que causas o el porcentaje de éxito que tienes, y sirven de base para describir cómo el personaje enfoca su acción. Por ejemplo, si en un conflicto adoptas una actitud «cautelosa», tienes un bonificador a la tirada, pero infliges menos «daño» al contrario porque vas a lo seguro. Otras actitudes pueden ser «agresiva», «rápida» o «extravagante».

Por último, las últimas páginas del librito contienen una serie de tablas para darte ideas para crear la personalidad de los personajes jugadores o no jugadores y para crear PNJ al vuelo.

Las ilustraciones son obra de varios autores, incluido el autor del juego: Clarence Redd

En definitiva

Cuando empecé a jugar a rol con trece años me encantaba la emoción de las escenas de combate. Sin embargo, con el tiempo te das cuenta de que jugar un combate tras otro es aburrido y que las historias de aventuras que nos gustan tienen muchas otras escenas tensas, como negociaciones cruciales, persecuciones trepidantes, enigmas, partidas de ajedrez contra la muerte, luchas contra los elementos, fiestas donde conseguir información, etc. Comae Engine fomenta jugar escenas que sean tan tensas y mecánicamente tan interesantes como un combate. De este modo, el combate deja de ser necesariamente la parte más tensa o emocionante de la aventura y facilita crear aventuras con mucha más variedad de escenas.

Otra ventaja es que la mayoría de los conflictos suelen terminar rápido: en unas 5 rondas más o menos (si usas atributos medios entre 14 y 12), de forma que agiliza la partida. Por ejemplo, podrías jugar toda una batalla en 20 minutos y eso te da espacio para avanzar más rápido en las historias. Además, la flexibilidad de los conflictos extendidos no solo permite cubrir muchos tipos de escenas, sino que, además, te permite jugar en muchas ambientaciones al vuelo. 

Sin embargo, el reglamento no te ayuda mucho en eso. De hecho, parece más orientado a partidas en periodos históricos o mundos modernos. Por ejemplo, si quisieras usar Comae Engine en un mundo de fantasía, tendrías que currarte un poco algunos detalles como conjuros o poderes especiales para que tenga un poco de enjundia. Por otro lado, al reglamento le faltan consejos sobre cómo usar los conflictos extendidos. Por ejemplo, no hay ejemplos con el atributo Poder, ni de cómo gestionar persecuciones de 4 contra 1. El sistema es lo bastante sencillo para que se te ocurra a ti, pero habría estado bien incluirlo.

Aún no he usado este juego en ninguna partida, pero tengo en mente usarlo para dirigir la campaña corta (The Red Star) en una ambientación del mismo autor (Odd Soot) algún día de estos. Como esa campaña ya incluye escenas con conflictos extendidos, será especialmente fácil. Aun así, he jugado con la mecánica de los conflictos extendidos en otros juegos de rol. En la campaña de samuráis la usé por ejemplo para solventar la escalada de una montaña en pleno invierno o una persecución a caballo muy tensa. También la usé en una partida de Revolution d100 para una escena de persecución entre canoas en el río Orinoco. En varias partidas de M-Space que he jugado, como Artemisa VII, también hay conflictos extendidos. El último que recuerdo fue para hackear los sistemas de una nave estelar. Finalmente, en la campaña de los milicianos del Condado Solar hace unos días usé la mecánica para representar un partido de empujaescudos (parecido al rugby) y una breve negociación de un rescate. En todas estas ocasiones, me ha parecido una mecánica muy fácil de aplicar y que permite jugar escenas donde hay mucho en juego de forma más interesante que con una sola tirada o dos. En el caso del partido de empujaescudos en concreto, me vino de perlas para abstraer toda la acción y así no tener que inventarme un mini-wargame para jugarlo, lo que habría sido muy pesado. Así que, si no la has probado, y no te asusta abstraer escenas y tener que usar la imaginación para los detalles, te la recomiendo muy mucho. Para resumir esta reseña de Comae Engine:

Lo bueno:

• Mecánicas intuitivas, rápidas de leer y aprender.
• Tiene opciones para hacer las mecánicas algo más detalladas si quieres.
• Puede usarse para muchos mundos de juego distintos.
• Los conflictos extendidos aportan flexibilidad para resolver escenas con tensión prolongada.
• Los conflictos extendidos pueden aplicarse a otros juegos (sobre todo si son D100).
• Barato y fácil de transportar (50 páginas).

Lo menos bueno:

• Al tener que describir el resultado de las tiradas con detalles concretos que tú imagines, puede cansar si te falla la imaginación o prefieres que las reglas lo definan todo o casi todo.
• Habría estado bien contar con más ejemplos y consejos sobre los conflictos extendidos.
• Requiere algo de trabajo usarlo en mundos con magia o poderes especiales.

Comae Engine estuvo disponible en la campaña de mecenazgo de Verkami que terminó el 15 de marzo, y la editorial 77Mundos promete entregar el PDF (5€) una semana después de que termine. Por su parte, el librito físico de 50 páginas (17€ con PDF incluido) llegará a los mecenas y tiendas aprox. un mes después. Además, en esta campaña también podías hacerte con Trey, un pequeño juego de rol para jugar en solitario con cualquier ambientación de juego. Y ya está, espero que te haya resultado útil esta reseña. ¿Te parece interesante este juego? ¿Has usado los conflictos extendidos en alguna partida? Cuenta, cuenta...

Eurhol's Vale & Other Tales: short stories in Glorantha

Eurhol's Vale & Other Tales is a collection of four short stories by Penelope Love set in the fantasy world of Glorantha. It was published by The Chaos Society in 2007 with permission from Greg Stafford, and here's my review.

The art on the cover is by Dario Corallo and it shows a tense scene in the second short story: Quackser facing the broo

The book is a 192-page long paperback with color cover and back cover. The text inside has narrow margins, and some runes decorate the blank spaces between chapters (they hide messages from the editor, but nothing exciting!). The illustration on the cover by Dario Corallo depicts a scene from the second short story, and it is quite striking with the Durulz and the broo. Still, it would have been better to depict the main human characters instead to avoid giving potential readers a wrong impression. On the back there is a small piece of black and white art depicting a scene from the third short story.

Eurhol's Vale

The first story is a short prequel to the epic novella The Widow's Tale (read my review). It starts with Arqua and Talloran arriving at the vale and meeting Rulk right at the entrance, and then Shisanna. If you haven't read The Widow's Tale, this small vale lies in the mountains between the plains of Prax and the Whitewall citadel, and it is there where these characters (together with many others) mount a daring defense against the Lunar Empire. This first story in Eurhol's Vale & Other Tales is of much lesser importance, but still vital for the survival of its inhabitants. Talloran, the Wind Lord, and Arqua the Sword of Humakt arrive to this place while looking for iron weapons and armor for Talloran. This Orlanthi warrior has been just ordained runelord, but his temple no longer has the resources to provide him with iron armor and weapons, so he is searching some ancient tombs for it. However, their cultic duties and personality force them to stay in the nearby village longer than they had anticipated when they learn a monster is preying on the defenseless villagers.

If you read this after The Widow's Tale, it is cool to learn how the main characters got to the vale and met the others. It also gives some background to how Reha, the young Yelornan, got her unicorn. If you read it before The Widow's Tale, it is a tiny, gritty taste of what's coming next, and it works as a cool introduction to the main characters. At any rate, although the plot is simple, the story becomes more and more tense as it progresses, until it reaches a climax where the heroes face unexpected dangers. I particularly loved reading Love's descriptions of the villagers, of the Rune magic the characters cast, and how she plays with emotions to make a small epic out of a simple plot.

Down the River

The second short story is the longest in the book, and it has very different main characters and tone. While the first one is epic, but at a much lesser scale than The Widow's Tale, this one is humorous. Whereas the first one deals with heroes, this one follows the shenanigans of humble rogues, Dink the thief, Quackser the duck boatman, and Gy-Lopa the rank and file Lunar soldier, as they make their way through New Pavis and the Big Rubble. Since these two locations are well described in game sourcebooks, any RuneQuest and Glorantha fan will enjoy recognizing some of the places and seeing the characters interact with them and their denizens. The descriptions can also be helpful for GMs wishing to portray the city's feel in their games.

You can more or less follow the characters through the streets of New Pavis with the map in the Pavis sourcebook (not included!)

In this picaresque story, the three main characters are after a big reward for their own personal gain: they all want to recover Sor-Eel's laundry bag to get a bounty for it! So their temporal alliance is one made out of necessity rather than companionship. This is refreshing after the preceding gritty but heroic epic, and New Pavis, nicknamed the "The City of Thieves" is great as a backdrop. In fact, the picaresque short stories about Griselda are also set in New Pavis. Here the race for the prize will force the antiheroes to brave unexpected dangers and meet strange characters, and in the end, circumstances may end up revealing the true nature of the protagonists. 

Although it is meant to be funny, it only made me smile, so do not expect to laugh out loud at the misadventures of the three characters. Still, it is a nice read if you are even passingly familiar with the setting. It is also cool how the initially comical characters become a bit heroic in the end, showing the epic of the small is equally epic. Finally, I loved seeing characters from The Widow's Tale appear in this farce, and I was surprised to learn that this was actually the first story the author wrote in which Talloran, Rulk, Shisanna, Arqua, and even Darlath-Lar ever made an appearance.

A small excerpt from the short story "Down the River" by Penelope Love

The Harrowing

This short story is also set in New Pavis, but it is way more serious. Although told by the usual third-person narrator as all the others, it focuses on the point of view of a unique character: the city's governor's young wife. Trapped in a life others have planned for her, this sad, sad character is going to be a pawn in the fight the local Orlanthi rebels wage against the Lunar forces occupying the city. 

Despite the difference in tone from the previous tale, it follows nicely from it because it takes the theme of the freedom fighters you can see in the background of "Down the River" and puts it in the spotlight. However, Orlanthi and Lunars fight in a totally unusual battleground here. I love it you can see Talloran and Darlath-Lar again facing off in a way. But most of all, I love that Talloran's "feat" is a bit ambiguous, and it makes you wonder if his spite and revenge are justified. If the story had totally focused on him, he would clearly be the hero, but by shifting the focus towards Torys-Kineel, the ending left a bad taste in my mouth and thus made the story way better. I am looking forward to know if other readers agree with me.

Excerpt from the beginning of the short story "The Harrowing" by Penelope Love

Zebra and Wolf

This short story is the one I like the least in the book, because it is a strange, brief extra epilogue to the events described in The Widow's Tale. It is a dialogue between two children from the main characters in that other bigger story that shows how the personality and the background of their parents have filtered into their way of thinking. I guess the author wanted to see her character's heirs come to life through words and paint an innocent, cozy picture of how new life springs forth even after tragic events. Still, this story gets extra points precisely for focusing on Gloranthan children, something that you also get to see a bit in "Eurhol's Vale", which makes Glorantha more down-to-earth and believable.

This particular copy of Eurhol's Vale & Other Tales has seen a lot of use

All in all

All the stories in the book are entertaining, even more so if you are a fan of Glorantha. For those who do not know anything about the world, the book includes a short introduction at the back so they can follow who is who in the mythology. The plots are simple and lack any surprising twists, but it is a great book nonetheless if you enjoyed The Widow's Tale, because you can see how that story started, and it is written with style, love for the setting, and a great deal of sensitivity.

Eurhol's Vale & Other Tales is still available from The Chaos Society website for 13€, where you can also purchase some of their Tradetalk fanzines focused on RuneQuest and other Chaosium games. The editor can be reached at editor@tradetalk.de. Now the fanzines are also sold through DrivethruRPG in PDF. You can also find "The Harrowing" easily enough as it was also published in Tradetalk #8. Aside from that, you may find copies of the book on Ebay and other second-hand book stores online. Finally, I want to thank my friend Kenrae for lending me the book years ago. :-)

If you haven't done that yet, you can now read an interview to the author of the book: Penelope Love.

Review of Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles Vol. 3

Islands of the Lost is the third volume in a series of publications focused on a small archipelago of the East Isles, published in the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha. To fully use this book, you need the preceding volumes: Korolan Islands and Fires of Mingai. While the first volume includes the general background of the archipelago, and the second two of the five islands plus 4 scenarios, Islands of the Lost describes two more islands and includes 2 scenarios more, plus some other content. Hannu Rytövuori, one of the authors together with David Cake and Nils Weinander, provided me with a copy of the book, but I have tried my best to review it objectively. Please tell me if you think otherwise. Let's have a look and beware of the spoilers!

The look

As in the preceding volumes, this PDF is well laid-out using the template provided by the Jonstown Compendium at DrivethruRPG. It is in full color, and it has a lot of art. Although some of the art is black and white and amateurish, most of it is good at representing the cultural aspects of the isles, and the portraits of NPCs are helpful to visualize them. This is particularly important for the East Isles, since there are almost no pictures of their inhabitants in the official publications. Besides, the few color pieces by Joel Sammallahti and some other artists are awesome and stand out a lot. As for the maps, they are quite good, mostly done using Inkarnate and Wonderdraft, and very usable for online play, which is a plus. However, none of them include a scale, which baffles me, because it is essential to determine distances.

The cover by Tania Rodriguez-Kaarto is a dark action scene on a boat in a storm. What looks like a human warrior is jumping to attack a lizard-looking humanoid that might be a Varanid. While the two preceding covers are static, this one is dynamic and has a lot of tension, with the lightning, the rain, and the waves. There are a lot of ships and seafaring in the scenarios in the book, so it is a fitting, striking image.

The content

In the 140-page-long Islands of the Lost PDF you get a variety of content: some ships rules taken from RuneQuest 3rd edition (with Chaosium's permission) and ship stats, 6 cults, the description of 2 islands in the Korolan archipelago, and 2 long scenarios.

Click on the image to enlarge

The ship rules are incomplete but usable: they only include the description of the ships' stats and how they work in game terms. They are a portion of the navigation rules in RuneQuest 3rd edition (published in 1989) and reprinted in the BRP supplement Magic World. The authors have included that together with the stats of 8 ships your players can encounter and use in the course of the campaign in the East Isles: from humble canoes to powerful warships with 40 rowers. Each has its Seaworthiness, Hull Quality, Structure values, etc. Hopefully, Chaosium will provide a full set of official ship rules for the current edition of RuneQuest at some point. Moreover, Ships and Shores of Southern Genertela includes some additions to the seafaring rules to make them more Gloranthan. However, if you own RuneQuest 3rd edition (long out of print) or Magic World, you can use those, so their absence is not that problematic. See also my review of Pirates of the East Isles for more info. But if you don't, you can still use the pieces included to play the scenes in the second scenario.

Stats for rafts, canoes, Luvatan ships, Haragalan ships...

As for the cults, they are short descriptions in two pages each, with some myths, the skill bonuses for creating characters, holy days, requirements for rune priests, and the magic they provide. Some spell descriptions refer you to The Red Book of Magic, so having access to that supplement is essential. One of the most interesting cults is Enevar, god of Victory, because there is no similar god in central Genertela where the RuneQuest ruleset is focused. His myths are from Revealed Mythologies, but they have been expanded a bit. Curiously, this cult provides very little spirit magic, but quite a lot of Rune magic, even three new Rune spells. Of these, Protection Breaker looks useful to defeat powerful enemies, which is fitting for a god who studied hard to learn his enemy's weakness. In fact, all the spells map well onto the god's myths. Another good thing is most of these cults offer certain Rune spells provided the initiate follows certain austerities or taboos, which makes them feel a bit different from the ones in central Genertela. Finally, I have found some errata, like the missing cult requirements for rune priests of Mairnali, or the fact that Enevar provides a Rune spell as an associated god to Mairnali, which he does not teach to his own initiates, but probably these have already been spotted and corrected by now.

Prosendara is the Goddess of Animals in the East Isles

Out of the 5 islands in the Korolan archipelago where the campaign is set, here the islands of Tamoro and Luvata are described in 4-5 pages each, with some general background, short gazetteers with details that may spark adventures, and color maps of both islands made with Inkarnate. Each section also includes some key NPCs of both islands, fully statted and with background, plus an extra martial arts school. Finally, the sections "What Your Grandfather Told You" are a great addition, because they showcase cultural elements of each island explained from the point of view of an inhabitant, in a dialogue, in the best tradition of the Gloranthan Voices from the old Genertela and Gods of Glorantha supplements for RQ3. They are useful to understand the people and their way of life, so you can have a better idea of how to roleplay them.

Map of Luvata, one of the 5 main islands in the Korolan archipelago

The 2 scenarios start on page 46. "Pirates on the Horizon" is 18 pages long (not counting the NPC stats), while "Islands of the Lost" is roughly 34 pages long with around 11 pages in each of its 3 parts (also not counting NPC stats). Be warned there are SPOILERS AHEAD. The first one takes place in Tamoro island when a small foreigner fleet is seen approaching, and the PCs are sent to investigate. In the first half of the scenario the adventurers will meet some important NPCs who will appear in later scenarios (some allies and some recurring villains). Then there is a tense scene where the players get to decide whether to have a risky fight or negotiate with pillaging pirates to save some villagers (no right-thinking adventurer should be willing to risk the lives of two innocent villagers just because they are itching for combat, so the negotiation is far more likely, but with players being players, you never really know!). After that, the adventurers will have to negotiate some more with the leader in charge of the fleet, so there is quite a bit of roleplaying and the use of social skills.

In the second half, the PCs are tasked with retrieving a stolen holy mask which turns out to be in a pirate ship beached nearby. The adventurers will need to be stealthy or come up with a smart plan. There is no suggestion as to how exactly to accomplish the task aside from trying to stay undetected and fleeing with the mask as fast as possible, so the scenario is open-ended and can go many different ways. It includes a map of the ship and the location, as well as a table to include some unexpected events to unnerve your players with, such as "one of the pirates goes below decks looking for something unrelated to the adventurers, just when they happen to be there", which can provide opportunities or more tension. All in all, it is a fairly simple scenario that can provide 1 o 2 two fun sessions of play. It also introduces the ransom tradition, which is cool because it teaches players that capturing enemies is far better than killing them. Finally, I like that it emphasizes talking and thinking over fighting, because too many scenarios focus too much on combat already.

Yotheata is a recurring NPC in these scenarios

A minor detail confused me: the keet in the group of pirates who cause trouble at the stead is found again on the queen's ship right after the adventurers deal with the trouble, and go back to her to negotiate. That keet shouldn't be able to cover the distance between the coast and the ship so fast! Also, on the section about Wapato stead, he is referred to as a pelican keet, but in his stats and art he is described as a seagull keet. That is probably just a typo, and it is easily fixed by just making him be two different NPCs.

As for the second scenario, the first half starts in a rather classical way with the disappearance of the princess, who they met in the first scenario, so they need to track her down as fast as possible. Therefore, it starts as an investigation and mostly on the island of Luvata (described in this book), so it is a fun way to introduce the island and its main places and personalities. At the end of this first half, the adventurers will get on a ship to follow the clues leading to the princess, only for a sea monster, and a sudden storm to hit the ship. This is handled through a series of urgent tasks the PCs need to take care of by succeeding in a series of rolls like Jump, Climb, or Shiphandling. If everything goes wrong, the storm will destroy the ship, and the adventurers will need to return to Tamoro. They will also return there for repairs even if the ship is not destroyed, although this is not spelled out in the scenario. There is no explanation why the person they are looking for would go in that direction knowing there is a storm coming. On top of that, the attack of the sea monster seems rather random: it attacks the ship once and then departs. Therefore, although the storm and the chain of shiphandling rolls are very exciting, it lacks some reasoning behind it all. 

Village maps like this one are cool because they help visualize the place better than normal maps

Still, the worst part is that after they return to shore and repair the ship or use a new one, or even keep going, the next scene is another (this time 100% unavoidable) shipwreck, which can feel repetitive and frustrating for some players because, even if they make all the rolls and come up with clever ideas, their ship will get wrecked anyway. As a player, I don't mind losing agency now and then, provided it is for a brief period of time, and the tradeoff is a cool enjoyable scene afterwards. In this case, the shipwreck is a way for the adventurers to enjoy the experience of being castaways in a small island, and trying to survive for as long as possible. Instead, when I run this scenario, if the players get good rolls and have clever ideas, I will skip the forced shipwreck, and just let the adventurers reach their destination. The castaway scenario can always be played at some future point in the campaign when the players fail to weather a storm.

The small island where the adventurers are shipwrecked is full of cool ideas though. It is inhabited by strange creatures and two giant intelligent animals who hate each other. One mysterious castaway remains hidden from the adventurers, and two NPCs vanish at the start, and only later the adventurers may or not be able to rescue them. On top of this, the authors have devised an interesting subsystem to handle the survivalist experience on the island. At the end of every day spent on the island, the PCs need to roll their Survival skill or lose points of CON, but even if they fail, they can avoid that by spending "survival points". There are several ways to acquire these points, like finding fruit or fishing. Players can also spend their time building a raft by generating "Crafting points", but the details are left fuzzy, as it is up to the GM to decide how many points every successful Craft skill roll generates. What a missed opportunity to devise a crafting system for RuneQuest! On top of that, the book describes small events that happen in each of the 15 days the adventurers are expected to survive on the island.

At the end of every scenario half there is a section with all the stat blocks of the enemies and NPCs

On the negative side, these events are mixed with ideas your players may come up with in order to find resources, which is jarring. For example, it looks like the PCs can only start fishing from day 5 onwards, which does not make any sense. Therefore, it would have been far better if the authors had provided two lists: one list of activities the PCs can spend time on, and how long do they take to acquire Survival points. And separately, the other events happening each day. Instead, mixing the two just gives GMs the extra work of having to separate them.

Finally, on the second half of the second scenario, the adventurers reach a second small island to find the princess. On it, they will have to explore a cave that is basically a dungeon with 10 locations, with the twist that the monsters living here are being attacked by another group of monsters, while the adventurers need to sneak in and rescue the princess. There is also an old temple that is not fully described here, but in volume 5: Bezarngay Boil. A deeper part of the caves is also described only in that other book, as the adventurers are supposed to return there in a future scenario. This is the final scene, and it includes lots of combat if the adventurers are not cautious, or only some if they are. If they are clever, they may be able to avoid it entirely. For example, one of the rooms includes an "unlimited supply" of enemies, so if the PCs decide to fight, the GM is encouraged to use the Battle rules instead of normal combat. Finally, the scenario ends with a detailed chase scene between the PC's ship and a ship full of monsters. Although in the scenario the PCs are supposed to steal an enemy boat to get out of the island, and convince a huge water elemental to help them, when I run it, if the adventurers manage to weather the storm, they will be able to flee with their own ship. The bound elemental may be found in a magic item in the caves, instead of bound to one of the enemy ships. All in all, this can make for an exciting scenario, I only wish the authors would have described how the monsters move through the caves instead of being locked in their locations waiting for the PCs to arrive. On top of that, the fact that part of the caves and temple are described in another book can be frustrating if your players insist in going to those places and you do not have it yet.

I love that picture of the sea wyrm by Joel Sammallahti

Wrapping up

As in Fires of Mingai, this third installment in the East Isles series is chock-full of gaming material, two more of the islands, and exciting scenarios set there, so your players can get to know them by playing. The combination of background and playable material is great. Moreover, the fact most scenes are not combat-oriented is refreshing, although there is some, particularly at the end, and there are plenty of original ideas, with my favorite part being the island where the characters can end up shipwrecked. On top of that, it is well presented, particularly thanks to the amount of art and maps.

On the negative side, some details in the scenarios could have been better detailed. Additionally, it is a bit annoying that the content of the 5 islands of the Korolan archipelago is spread between the 3 first books, as you have to remember in what particular book the information you are looking for is found. For example, the rules for creating Varanids (a race of lizard-men) are found in the middle of the second scenario, not even mentioned on the contents page. Despite that, if you want to play in a different part of Glorantha, far away from Dragon Pass, Islands of the Lost will provide you with many sessions of entertainment. I hope to be able to run these scenarios at some point!

The best

• The scenarios make it easy to play in the East Isles and get to know the islands described.
• In most scenes, negotiation, stealth, and investigation are more common than combat.
• Lots of art that provide cultural details on clothing and appearance.
• The 5 pieces of art by Joel Sammallahti are awesome.

The not so good

• You need the precedent two volumes plus The Red Book of Magic to make the most of this book.
• The full seafaring rules are in another book: Magic World.
• Most maps lack a scale. :_)

Islands of the Lost: Hero Wars in the East Isles Vol. 3 is available in PDF from DrivethruRPG for just 10$. Hopefully, there will be a print version available soon. What do you think of my review and this supplement? Have you run or played the scenarios? How did it go? Are you planning to run a campaign in the East Isles? Please let me know in a comment below!

Cults of RuneQuest: The Gods of Fire and Sky, a review

Cults of RuneQuest: The Gods of Fire and Sky is a supplement for RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha by Greg Stafford and Jeff Richard (with other authors) detailing 13 cults of the main Gloranthan deities of sky, light, heat, and fire. It also describes the stars and constellations of the world of Glorantha, as well as providing some snippets of information on two of the main cultures that worship the solar pantheon.

As the rest of the Cults of RuneQuest books, The Gods of Fire and Sky is both as a source of lore about the organization and cultural significance of these cults and the myths of the deities, and as a source for creating RuneQuest player and non-player characters who belong to these cults and wield the powers of these deities. Below you can read my review, where I go over the different cults and other information.

The wonderful cover by Loïc Muzy shows Yelm in majestic appearance, dispensing his light to the world surface

The cult write-ups

This 154-page-long book includes write-ups of the following 13 cults: Yelm, Dayzatar, Dendara, Entekos, Gorgorma, Lodril, Lokarnos, The Lowfires (Mahome, Gustbran, Oakfed), Ourania, Polaris, Shargash, Yelmalio, and Yelorna.

Roughly speaking, since the RuneQuest rulebook focuses on creating characters from the areas of Dragon Pass and Prax, where the cults of Storm and Earth are the most widespread, The Lightbringers and Earth Goddesses supplements mostly contain cults for player characters, while The Lunar Way describes enemy cults (unless you want to play a Lunar like Vostor!). However, the cults in The Gods of Fire and Sky are more varied: some will often be used for enemy characters, like Polaris or Shargash, while others will be attractive for player characters, like Yelmalio, Yelorna, Lodril, and Yelm, as these have followers and temples in Dragon Pass or Prax. In fact, the four first elemental books in the Cults of RuneQuest series (Storm, Earth, Moon, Fire) round off the main cults in central Genertela and complement each other a lot.

For example, while The Lightbringers describes how Orlanth rebelled against Yelm's injustice, The Gods of Fire and Sky tells that story from Yelm's point of view, so you understand why there is a certain eternal rivalry between the worshippers of these two gods. Another example is that the heartlands of the Lunar Empire are still one of the main centers of the solar pantheon, so The Gods of Fire and Sky completes the picture that The Lunar Way paints. Finally, Yelmalio is a well-known cult in Dragon Pass and Prax, and being a god of light, it is described here.

Moreover, from the point of view of an Orlanthi-centered campaign, the Solar pantheon and its derived cultures are great frenemies. For example, Orlanthi always fight against Chaos and other monstrosities, and they could get the Solars as allies, but the rivalry between the sun and the storm gods extends to their worshipers. Moreover, the Dara Happans, a predominantly solar culture, are now part of the Lunar Empire who is an enemy of the Orlanthi tribes in Sartar, so this relationship becomes much more ambiguous, and that can be the source of great roleplaying opportunities. The same goes for other sun-worshipping peoples in Dragon Pass, such as the Grazers and the Sun Domers. Can your (mostly) Orlanthi PCs trust them? Sometimes they will be staunch allies, but other times they can follow their own goals due to the honorable rivalry between the Storm and Sun pantheons.

One of the first sections is a list of small entries about all the deities in the solar pantheon, including some info on Dara Happa

The head of the pantheon is Yelm, the Sun. Much like sun gods from our Earth like Kinich Ahau, Shamash, or Ra, he is the ruler of the heavens and all the universe, and, aside from Light and Fire, is identified with Justice, Purity, Rulership, and other concepts like horses. However, Greg Stafford imagined a sun god that is different enough from any sun god from real mythologies, but is still coherent and its own thing. His runes are Life, because he is the source of life for many beings, but also Death, because he dies every day and travels through the Underworld back to the east. Finally, he is the current ultimate source of the Fire rune, according to the classification of the God Learners. As befits the main cult of the solar pantheon, it is the longest in the book, containing many subcults and associated deities.

Speaking about the God Learners, this book includes a table with the equivalencies these scholars found among the Fire and Sky deities across several cultures (there is a similar table under the topic "interpretatio graeca" in the Wikipedia). Thanks to this, you can learn how the names of the gods vary in different lands of Glorantha. This opens up a bit the point of view of the Cults of RuneQuest series, which is focused on the cults of central Genertela.

Moreover, the Yelm, Dayzatar, and Lodril cult write-ups include some brief paragraphs about how their cults vary in faraway regions such as Pamaltela, Teshnos, or Ralios. Although they mention what subcults are the most important in every region, they do not offer all the details. Since the sun cult is obviously so widespread, it is reductive to offer just one general version of it covering all the variants. After all, you cannot expect different cultures to worship the sun god in exactly the same way or to share exactly the same myths. Following the example given above, Kinich Ahau, Shamash, and Ra sure have some similarities, but their myths are quite different. Of course, having just one general version of a cult is practical and less confusing in game terms, as you can refer to that and just mention what differs in other regions, but something important is lost anyway: the cultural differences. Hopefully, future supplements about the regions where this is the main cult will describe how it differs from the general write-up in further detail. For example, I am curious about the cult of Yelm in Kralorela (called HeenMaroun).

Part of the write-up of the cult of Yelm, with details for every position in the cult hierarchy and nice art by Ossi Hiekkala

The rest of the cults are described in alphabetical order, but they can roughly be divided into two main groups. One comprises the deities of the sky, and the entourage of Yelm (Dayzatar, Polaris, Ourania, Dendara, Gorgorma, Entekos). These are all cults often restricted to the aristocracy, and have only a tiny following according to the cult distribution charts at the back of the Mythology book. The other group includes deities that are far friendlier to mankind, more accessible, and whose cults are often more widespread, like Lodril, Lokarnos, Shargash, the Lowfires (Gustbran, Oakfed, and Mahome), Yelmalio, and Yelorna. Let's start by looking at the first group.

It makes sense that Yelm and other deities of the sky are only accessible to people on top of the social hierarchy, as that matches the inaccessibility of the natural phenomena these gods embody. Just as the sun and the stars are high in the sky, higher than the rest of nature, it is fitting that only a few chosen can worship them, precisely those who are the highest in the social pyramid. Therefore, for example Yelm is usually a cult for rulers, the same way the sun rules over the sky. There are some exceptions, though, like the Grazers, who worship their own version of Yelm due to having closely followed strict traditions.

Dayzatar is another example, being the god that stays beyond the sky dome to maintain the utmost purity, so his worshipers are ascetics and hermits who retire from mundane life. It is clearly not a cult for your typical adventurer, but not all cults are, obviously, as that would not make sense at all. Only priests of associated cults can join its ranks, and it provides some cool spells related to the heavens, light and truth. Despite this, these spells will rarely be used in a RuneQuest campaign, but they are so cool that they make me want to include Dayzatar monks in a scenario. For example, you could run a murder case at a Dayzatar monastery, in which the resident monks (the PCs!) must find the culprit, ala The Name of the Rose!

The cult of Ourania had never been described for RuneQuest so far

Similar to Dayzatar is the only-female cult of Ourania, the Virgin Queen of Heaven. Her initiates' main task is to sing praises to Dayzatar and sing as a choir at the ceremonies of the other sky gods. Aside from that, they live secluded in their nunneries. Although her cult is tiny, she provides many different and cool Rune spells. Strangely, the Rune spell she gets from Arraz, Summon Luxite, is different from the Summon Shanassae spell Dayzatar provides, even though the book claims Shanassae are Luxites. The book does not explain why. Also, the section about life after death does not mention where do the souls of her worshipers go after death.

Both the cult of Ourania and Dendara fulfill the worldbuilding purpose of informing us how patriarchal the sun-worshipping cultures of Glorantha are, as they strongly imply upper class women must be virtuous and relegated to unimportant roles (as sadly many cultures of Earth did). I love that you can see the culture through these write-ups. Dendara is the cult for the spouses of leaders, the same way this goddess was the virtuous wife of Yelm. It is also extremely similar to the cult of Ernalda, with obvious clues that make it clear that it is actually the cult of Ernalda, but as seen through the filter of the solar cultures. For example, while in The Earth Goddesses you can read all about the many husbands of Ernalda, Dendara is strictly only married to Yelm. Therefore, Dendara might actually be the piece of Ernalda that was happily married to Yelm, before she managed to escape his court and became Queen of the Earth with many husbands.

The patriarchal theme is also present in the cult of Gorgorma, which encapsulates men's irrational fear of certain womanly things. This is shown in her myths, and in the memorable Rune spells she offers. Similarly to Dendara's case, I guess Gorgorma is the solar culture's way of looking at the cult of Maran Gor (and perhaps Babeester Gor too), the dark side of the Earth and the feminine. Thus, it makes perfect sense that her cult's role is to provide balance against the overwhelmingly patriarchal society of solar cultures like Dara Happa. For this very reason, it is a tiny cult that was suppressed by the Yelm cult for a long time (it's no surprise one of her favored passions is "Hate men or solar authority"!). However, it is interesting that the cult is now allowed by the Red Goddess, as she finally managed to reinstate feminine power in the male-dominated Fire and Sky pantheon. These "tricks" Greg Stafford did with the cults of Glorantha are fascinating, as they let you to see deities from other pantheons if you squint enough at them and read between the lines. However, a small detail I dislike is the fact that the Red Goddess provides the cult with the Illumination spell, which is not described anywhere (not even in The Lunar Way book).

The cult of Entekos had never been described in RuneQuest terms and it is pretty mysterious

The cult of Entekos is even more intriguing. Entekos is the goddess of calm air, the only air deity that did not cause any trouble to the Fire and Sky gods, and therefore, was welcomed in their court. Again, her cult is tiny and relegated to a small region of the Lunar Empire. The greatest mystery lies in its weird association with the cult of Dendara. Why is it possible that the initiates of Entekos can participate in the rites of Dendara as if the two goddesses were the same? Is it perhaps due to the fact that in her myths, she married Bijiif, which is the part of Yelm that reigned in the Underworld? Her mysteries do not stop there: She is the mother of the gods Lokarnos and Annilla, but if that is the case, why does the wonderful Genealogy of the Fire & Sky Deities by Katrin Dirim show Lokarnos as the son of Lodril and Annilla as the daughter of the river Styx? Oh well, the Mythology book already warned that myths can be conflicting, and that truth is inconsistent. And this was intended. As I mention in my review of The Lunar Way, I bet Greg Stafford left these mysteries unexplained both to make his mythology feel real and to excite our creativity, letting GMs and players find their own explanations. Despite all this, the Rune spells this cult offers do not match that well its role in the world. According to the book, some farmers worship Entekos to tame the weather and fend off the cold storms. However, the only magic Entekos offers in this regard are the spells Increase/Decrease Wind, and Dismiss Air Elemental, so OK, they might stop a hurricane, but how do they stop torrential rain and storms with that? I would expect her to offer spells that straight away stop cold or stormy weather. Moreover, her spell Predict weather is not even described in the book (you can only find it in The Red Book of Magic).

The group of deities for the upper classes finishes with Polaris, god of the Pole Star and General of the Armies of Heaven. His cult provides cool Rune spells to commanders in the armies of the solar cultures. His spell Captain Souls is particularly representative of his role, and his relationship to dance makes it unique. However, I wish the book had also included the full write-up of the cult of Avivorus, so that we could know what magic common soldiers get aside from Truespear. 

Polaris is the General of Heaven, so he is the god of army generals who commands the dancing stars.

Speaking now of the deities of the lower classes, the main cult here is that of Lodril. This lusty god of Heat and the Fire Below is the opposite to Dayzatar. Whereas the god of purity is aloof, Lodril merrily went down to the Earth and cavorted with the Earth goddesses. That goes to explain why he lost the power of Light and thus his Fire rune provides only Heat. It is a nice metaphor of the power of magma, the fire inside the earth, as he is also the god of volcanoes. He is also the god of peasants in the solar cultures and other places like Caladraland, and of all the common people who actually do most of the work. His cult's write-up includes fantastic details of its main holy days that make me wish the rest of cults would have also included their own. I wonder what causes this strange disparity in the level of detail of certain aspects of cults. As a powerful, widespread cult, he has many subcults and some paragraphs dedicated to his cult in distant lands such as Teshnos. For the same reason, he offers a wide range of Rune spells, some fearsome like Firespear and Lava spear, and others for protecting crops and travelers like Earthwarm. As Lord of the Underworld, he also offers the Smoldering rebellion spell which priests can cast in order to rise the whole peasant population in revolt against unjust rulers. I love it because it ensures the nobility will take care to treat their farmers well, and it is a means to put an end to tyrants in an otherwise obedient society.

Lodril is a likeable god of peasants and volcanoes with many aspects

Other gods of the lower classes are Lokarnos, god of wheels, wagons, and wagon drivers, and the Lowfires, a triad of small gods related to fire. Gustbran is god of the work fire, not only of furnaces and smiths, but also of kilns, Mahome is the goddess of the hearth fire, and Oakfed is the god of the wildfire or the holy fire, depending on who you ask.

Fire can provide life, but it can also destroy, and Shargash fully embodies the latter concept. Reading his myths, I guess he stands for the unbound fury of the sun and his outrage at being dethroned. Therefore, he is a brutal war god of the Fire and Sky pantheon. In fact, if you thought the solar culture looks rather soft, this god is there to thoroughly change your opinion, as he demands sacrifice of sentient beings, can call fiery underworld demons (whose stats are provided), and is all about mayhem and endings. He reminds me a bit about the fearsome aspect of Shiva. His cult is mostly limited to the Dara Happan city of Alkoth and its environs in the Lunar Empire, but he is also known as Tolat in Teshnos. The text includes a cool story about Tolat's Red Sword that can inspire a whole campaign. Moreover, the book also dedicates a page to the faraway Trowjang amazons who worship Tolat as their patron god of love and war. Nothing is said about his cult in Fronela, although Mythology mentions the god is known as Vorthan there (this is included in the celestiology section though).

An interesting detail is that Shargash was only released after Yelm's demise, when Yelmalio could not suppress him any longer. But Yelmalio was born when Yelm died, so how could he have suppressed Shargash before that? I take that to mean that Yelmalio is Yelm's pure light, so he was the part of Yelm that suppressed his fury in order to be just, but that was released once the sun was cast down and his parts became separated. Anyway, Yelmalio's write-up is another big reason to buy Cults of RuneQuest: The Gods of Fire and Sky, because he is a popular cult for adventurers in Dragon Pass, Tarsh, and Prax. I must admit I like this god of Light without Heat, who has many detractors among the fans of RuneQuest and Glorantha. Fans often dislike this cult because they consider it underpowered compared to other warlike cults like Orlanth, Humakt, or The Seven Mothers. Moreover, many were disappointed when the cult of Elmal from the videogame King of Dragon Pass was later turned into the cult of Yelmalio, who is a rival of Orlanth, instead of his staunch ally. However, I understand Yelmalio is not a war god, but a god of survival and persistence against all odds. He is the honorable god who kept fighting through the Great Darkness, and protected humankind (including the Orlanthi) from trolls and other dangers, to the point that, although he was defeated many times, he never actually died like most other gods did. I love how his mythology encapsulates the idea of the undying light, even though I wish it were more detailed.

The write-up of the cult of Yelmalio includes a cool piece of art by Ossi Hiekkala of a Yelmalio warrior on a horse

The write-up includes an explanation of the relationship between Elmal and Yelmalio, which makes perfect sense, and it is a fine example of how cults can evolve through time. Moreover, it still allows you to create Elmal initiates, and now the cult also offers the Rune spell Shield on top of the usual light-related spells from earlier versions back to its first appearance in Cults of Prax. Thanks to this, and other small changes, the authors have at least tried to make Yelmalio's cult more congruent with his myths, and more amenable to the fans. Still, I wish they had given him a couple more spells derived from his myths. For example, having access to Detect lies and Oath would match his Truth rune, and having some sort of spirit magic to dazzle foes would also make sense. For the sake of completeness, it would have been great to include the location of the Sun Domes (as they did in the cult description in Pavis: Gateway to Adventure, an out-of-print book for HeroQuest/QuestWorlds), although that will surely be included in the Lands of RuneQuest supplements.

Finally, Yelorna is a similar cult to Yelmalio, as she is also a goddess who descended from heaven to protect mankind against the monsters of Darkness. However, her powers come from the stars instead of the sun, so her Rune spells are similar to those of Polaris, and her cult is much smaller. The description is almost the same as Michael Trout wrote it in 1983 for The Big Rubble, but now it provides a couple Rune spells more from Ourania and Polaris to round it out. It is a cool cult for adventurers, particularly if they ever get to ride a unicorn. For the heroquest to acquire one, look for the piece Simon Phipp included in the fanzine Tradetalk #17.

The write-up of the Yelorna cult now includes more Rune spells than the original version from 1983

Note that these are not all the gods of the solar pantheon. If you look at the cult distribution charts of the lands of the Lunar Empire in Mythology, two popular gods are Buserian and Erissa, but they are included in The Lightbringers book as the cults of Lankhor Mhy and Chalana Arroy. Similarly, the grain goddess Pelora/Oria and the spring goddess Voria are in The Earth Goddesses, the river goddess Oslira is described in the cults book of the water deities, and Nysalor in The Lunar Way. Finally, I wish the book had also included full write-ups of other minor cults such as Hyalor Horsebreaker, because fans of the videogames Six Ages would have loved it; Avivorus, god of the spear, which would have been helpful to stat up common soldiers of the Lunar Army; or the cult of Vrimak, god of birds, the same way the Orlanthi have the cult of Yinkin (god of shadowcats). 

The constellations

At the back of the book is a section about the stars, the planets, and the constellations of the Gloranthan night sky. Some of this information had already been published in The Guide to Glorantha, and the old supplement Elder Secrets of Glorantha. It is fitting to include this here, because many of the deities described in the book have a presence, representation or home in the sky, and the descriptions of these stars and planets contain additional information on them. This will come in handy to plan prophecies and events for your campaign that can only happen one particular night, like: "When Lightfore overlaps with the constellation of the Tree, the path to the secret forest will be illuminated", and then the PCs must roll their Celestial Lore skill to determine the exact day of the year. This section also includes a brief rundown of what went on during the Dragonrise event in 1625, as it had a lot to do with the sky and the constellation known as Orlanth's Ring.

The section about the Gloranthan sky describes all stars and constellations

There is a wonderful piece of art depicting the night summer sky with all the constellations and planets that is a bit more complete than the one in The Guide to Glorantha. Unfortunately, this one does not tell you how to look at it, as it does not indicate any cardinal directions aside from including the Dawn and Dusk stars. Besides, some stars are in different spots, so now I do not know what picture is more correct. Another cool detail is a small table showing the brightness of planets such as Shargash, Entekos or Lokarnos, although I wish they had included the sun and the red moon. It is missing the brightness of the sun, so you have nothing to compare the magnitudes with. According to the Wikipedia, the brightness magnitude of our sun is -27 and the full moon -13 (the more negative the magnitude, the brighter it is). I was also surprised to find out how big Lightfore looks in the Gloranthan sky.

The art

The art is amazing. As in the other supplements in the series, you get idealized images of the deities by Loïc Muzy, Katrin Dirim, and Agathe Pithié, and realistic pictures of their followers doing mundane activities by Ossi Hiekkala and Lionel Marty. On top of that, the depictions of devotional objects and items used by the cults offer even more verisimilitude to the world and helps it feel more "lived". My favorite pieces are the god Polaris, the mural-like drawing of the history of Yelmalio, and the picture depicting the different strata of Dara Happan society. The piece I like the least is the one of the volcano, (also included in The Earth Goddesses) because it does not tell me anything new at all.

A piece of the mural-like art for Yelmalio by Katrin Dirim, depicting how Monrogh Lantern found him.

In a nutshell

This is another great book in the Cults of RuneQuest series, beautifully illustrated, and useful for creating enemies, frenemies, and adventurers of cults related to the Fire/Sky rune in some way. It is also a must-have sourcebook for playing RQ campaigns in regions where the solar cults dominate, such as parts of the Lunar Empire, Pent, Teshnos, and the Grazelands. However, you will need a copy of The Guide to Glorantha, or else you are limited to the background on the Grazers and the Sun Domers included in the RuneQuest rulebook and the Lands of RuneQuest: Dragon Pass book. Sure, the boxed texts about the Dara Happans and the Pentans are great, but by no means enough to play a campaign. Anyway, the cults have the internal consistency that makes Glorantha a strange but at the same time believable world, with tantalizing mysteries included. Moreover, some cults had never been described in RuneQuest terms before, and the range of Rune magic can bring out interesting challenges and situations in your RuneQuest adventures, particularly if you are playing a campaign of Orlanthi adventurers against the forces of the Lunar Empire. Finally, it is also a great read even if you just enjoy reading about fantasy cults and mythologies.

That being said, the book could have been better, had its authors paid a bit more attention to some details, to avoid having cults with very different amounts of information in some of its sections. As it is, some cults detail all that goes on in their main holy days, which is great, but all the others do not, while some cults lack the information about where exactly the souls of the deceased go. Most importantly, the descriptions of the most widespread cults, such as Yelm and Lodril, should have included clear indications on what subcults are available for different cultures, and how myths change in different lands. The need to cover all versions at once can make the result confusing as far as the lore goes. It would have been better to limit the cult description to a couple lands with clear guidelines on the differences. Luckily, some cults like Yelmalio and Yelorna have been updated a bit from their earlier iterations, and those changes are good, even if I would have changed them even further to round them off better. To finish with, here's your TL:DR:

The best:

• The art is stunning, including not only idealized images of the deities, but also realistic pieces of their worshipers, religious items, and even Rune spells in use.
• The cults are thematic, have internal consistency, include mysteries, and depict a varied, and credible pantheon covering all aspects of fire and the sky.
• These write-ups complete the list of cults most usually worshiped in the Lunar Empire, so if you own The Lunar Way, now you can get a more detailed picture of those lands.
• Some cults incorporate small changes that please long-time fans, like Yelmalio having access to the Shield spell.

The worst:

• Presenting only one general version of cults that exist in very different lands is reductive. It would have been great to know exactly how the cult differs in other lands and how the mythology changes from one place to another (although that would have taken many more pages).
• Some write-ups have sections that are a bit lacking in information.
• The piece of art for the night sky and its constellations has no indication on how to look at it.
• There is no full description of solar cults such as Hyalor Horsebreaker, Avivorus, or Vrimak.

Cults of RuneQuest: The Gods of Fire and Sky is available from Chaosium's website, DrivethruRPG, and your FLGS. The hardcover book is 40$ (PDF included if you buy it from Chaosium or any store affiliated to the Bits and Mortar alliance), and the PDF alone is 20$. What do you think of it? Do you agree 100% with my review? Did I miss anything? Please let me know in a comment below.