Runes

Spirits, monsters, and many other creatures of Glorantha have certain affinities with the Runes that make up the fabric of the cosmos. Characters also have these affinities, represented by their Rune abilities.

Rune Scores

Runes are percentile ratings that represent how attuned the character is to certain Runes:

  • Below 40%: The character is weakly attuned to that Rune.
  • Between 40% and 80%: The character is moderately attuned to that Rune. The Rune’s traits are recognizable in the character’s personality for those who know them well.
  • 80% and over: The Rune is strongly coming through the character’s personality, and may override their actions.

Gaining a Rune

Adventurers gain a couple of Runes during character creation (see the Characters chapter). After the game starts, gaining a new Rune is something that happens in the story.

Gaining a Rune in play should always be a major, magically infused event. A change in one’s Runic affinities should always be rare and momentous. A dramatic change of cult membership, or a shocking heroquest, are examples of such moments.

Strong Runes

When a character takes on a new Rune, the player must specify which trait of that Rune manifests the most. This trait becomes like Strong Passion if the Rune’s rating is 80% or above. See Passions for more information.

Testing a Rune

A player may sometimes wonder which way their character would act in a given situation, knowing what their Rune affinities are. This works the same as Testing a Passion. See Passions for more information.

Scene Augments

A character may, consciously or not, use their affinity with a given Rune to help accomplish their goals. This is a subtle use of the magical nature of Glorantha, and the player and gamemaster are encouraged to accompany it with descriptions of small magical elements in the scene.

Runic Scene Augments work the same as Passion Scene Augments. See Passions for more information.

Rune Descriptions

There are four types of Runes: Elemental Runes, Power Runes, Form Runes, and Condition Runes. The first three types are available to adventurers at character creation.

Elemental Runes

Elemental Runes define the nature of the cosmos, including the main conflicts that power it. For instance, the light and warmth of the Fire/Sky Rune opposes the Darkness Rune and gives us the cycle of day and night. The gods that embody these Runes are locked in eternal conflicts with each other.

Darkness

o

Most creation myths say that Darkness was the first Rune to be created, pushing back against the Void of Chaos. As a result, creatures of Darkness have always been proud warriors against Chaos.

  • Home: the Underworld
  • Characteristic: SIZ
  • Traits: hungry, stealthy, cruel, secret
  • Skills: Stealth
  • Weapons: blunt weapons
  • Metal: lead
  • Animals: insects

Water

w

Water was the second element in the world. Fluid as it was, it found and spilled into all the places where Darkness wasn’t, adapting to the newly expanding world.

  • Home: the sea, lakes, and rivers
  • Characteristic: DEX
  • Traits: flexible, adaptable, capricious, unpredictable
  • Skills: Athletics
  • Weapons: trident, whip, net
  • Metal: quicksilver
  • Animals: fish

Earth

e

Few things lived in the cold and hungry Darkness, or the ever-moving and capricious Water. So when Earth came into being, things finally had a stable element to live and grow upon. The Earth is loving and fertile, but its wrath is fierce and deadly.

  • Home: everywhere on land, especially fertile areas
  • Characteristic: CON
  • Traits: pragmatic, prudent, compromising, sensual, worldly
  • Skills: Persuasion
  • Weapons: axe
  • Metal: copper
  • Animals: reptiles

Fire/Sky

.

The Sky appeared above the Earth and helped it stay fertile thanks to its light and warmth. As the world grew larger and more crowded, the Sky also brought order, overseeing things from above.

  • Home: the sky, the sun, the stars
  • Characteristic: INT
  • Traits: Intellectual, chaste, perceptive, idealistic
  • Skills: Perception
  • Weapons: bow, spear
  • Metal: gold
  • Animals: birds

Air

g

The fifth element brought disorder and violence into the world. The Air wanted a place of its own, and it made it through sheer force, pushing the Sky and the Earth apart. The Air Rune provided storms and rain, which also fertilized the Earth, and it blew away any of the bad things. But it eventually killed the Sun and brought Chaos into the world. It also saved the world by bringing the Sun back from the Underworld.

  • Home: the air, the clouds, the storms, the high peaks of the tallest mountains
  • Characteristic: STR
  • Traits: passionate, violent, proud, strong
  • Skills:
  • Weapons: sword
  • Animals: bovines

Moon

4

The Moon Rune was thought lost during the Gods War, but it was brought back during Time with the birth of the Lunar Empire. This element is woven with secrets, and is strangely cyclical. It has now found its place in the sky, allied with the sun and the other deities of Fire and Light, while forever at war with the gods of Air.

  • Home: the Red Moon, which hangs stationary above the capital of the Lunar Empire
  • Characteristic: POW
  • Traits: progressive, spiritual, knowledgeable, dual, cyclical
  • Skills:
  • Weapon: curved blades
  • Animals: none

Power Runes

Power Runes represent the cosmic dualities of the world, and of the people and creatures that dwell within it. Neither side of the Power Runes is better or more positive than the other: they are only archetypal approaches that, in one way or another, both good and bad people embrace.

Fertility | Death

x | t

These Runes govern the differences between what is alive or felt, and what is dead or unfeeling.

  • Traits: pleasure / asceticism, togetherness / separation, life / death

Harmony | Disorder

l | j

These are the Runes that differentiate between peace and strife, or between order and anarchy.

  • Traits: communal / individual, generous / selfish, organized / anarchic

Movement | Stasis

s | c

The Movement Rune is about change, progress, and evolution, whereas the Stasis Rune is about stability, tradition, and constance.

  • Traits: energetic / unmoving, progressive / conservative, changeable / unchanging.

Truth | Illusion

y | i

These Runes define the scale between what is factual or true, and what is subjective or imaginary.

  • Traits: objectivity / subjectivity, facts / fiction, honesty / lies

Form Runes

Form Runes are what constitutes the nature of things and beings on Glorantha. In most cases, living beings are associated with one or two Form Runes. Humans are made of a balance between the Man and Beast Runes.

Beast

B

The Beast Rune was an earlier form that helped the gods populate Glorantha with many types of animals, beasts, and monsters. The Beast Rune tends to create simpler creatures than the Man Rune, but it is much more versatile in the forms it creates.

  • Traits: wild, natural, simple, instinctual, feral.

Dragonewt

A

The main Rune of the dragonewts and the few other draconic races, this Rune is extremely rare in humans.

  • Traits: excentric, visionary, unpredictable, detached.

Man

,

The Man Rune was originally simply a tool used by gods to create humanoid creatures in their respective realms. Over time, it grew in power and these creatures became sentient, created their own tools, and formed complex civilizations.

  • Traits: civilized, artificial, complex, logical, reasoned.

Plant

p

The Plant Rune is the main form Rune for the elves. Few humans are attuned to it, but those that are often benefit for their friendship with the Aldryami.

  • Traits: patient, natural.

Spirit

b

The Spirit Rune indicates a connection to the Spirit World. Spirits have it as their Form Rune, and few humans are attuned to it. Those that are generally become shamans.

  • Traits: spiritual.