#morokanth

[oldschoolfrp]

Why does this tapir look so pleased with himself? "The cover, by Lisa A. Free, shows Kareel Keenclaw, the Morokanth, setting a trap for potential herdmen." (Different Worlds 22, July 1982, Chaosium)

The first edition of Runequest (1978) tells us Morokanths are "Intelligent, Tapir-like creatures" who "herd Men on the Plains of Prax. This is a necessary, accepted, tolerated, but not appreciated practice."

Borderlands (1982) explains that after the Devil blasted the fertile plains of Prax, the god Waha "arranged the Survival Covenant. The men and animals of Prax chose lots to see who would eat, and who would be eaten. In most cases men won. The exception was the morokanth. Of all the animals on the plains only they would treat men as their herd beasts."

#Runequest #Lisa A Free #morokanth #Chaosium #Glorantha #Different Worlds #fantasy RPG #fantasy #1980s #Prax #Waha #old time religion #herd men #tapir folk #Borderlands #Survival Covenant

[vintagerpg]

Different Worlds 22 (July, 1982). Lisa A. Free depicting a morokanth from RuneQuest/Glorantha. This is the first time that a clear bit of Chaosium’s owned intellectual property is on the cover. I like this one — the morokanth is covering a pit trap likely intended to capture a human. The autumnal color scheme is nice. I am surprised I don’t like it more, though — I usually LOVE Lisa A. Free’s stuff, but this one I merely like. Oh, also, it’s now “The Magazine for Adventure Role-Players.”

#roleplaying game #tabletop rpg #dungeons & dragons #rpg #d&d #ttrpg #Chaosium #Different Worlds #Lisa A Free

[thewargameswebsite]

[morokanth]

Morokanth Time

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[oldschoolfrp]

Denizens of the Borderlands -- Morokanth, Broo, and Tusk Rider (Lisa A Free, Runequest supplement Borderlands, Chaosium, 1982)

#Runequest #Lisa A Free #Chaosium #Broo #beastman #beastmen #giant boar #Borderlands #half troll #trollkin #goatman #morokanth #tusk rider #fantasy #fantasy RPG

[vintagerpg]

Haaaa, that cover. This is Plunder (1980), a book of treasure for RuneQuest.

As treasure books go, this is a pretty good one, especially considering how early it is in RQ’s history. There is a selection of generic magic items that carry stat buffs in the mode of D&D style. There are also many pages of tables. But getting past that, there are some delightfully weird things in here.

The back half of the book details notable items. A few of these are unique. In D&D you’d probably call them artifacts – a shield or weapon that was once owned by a specific hero, say. But the vast majority are cultural items that, while unusual, are still tied to the lives of every day people.

For example, my favorite: rhino fat. Which is exactly what it sounds like, enough rendered rhino fat to cover one person head to toe. When it hardens (ew?), it provides extra armor until it dries up and falls off an hour later. I love it for a couple reasons. One, it sounds totally gross. Two, it doesn’t sound that different from practices you might find in a book about our own ancient cultures. Three, it strongly implies that even the things we might think are familiar in Glorantha, like rhinos, may have surprising properties.

Another favorite: Morokanth thumbs. The morokanth are a weird tribe of tapir-like humanoids that three fingered hands that lack thumbs. Because thumbs are handy (is that a pun?), they found a way to get magical prosthetic thumbs. Not exactly useful for your average adventurer, but it teaches players about the world and paves the way for interesting roleplaying, which is better than a stat buff in my book.

That cover though. I think this is the only example of a cheesecake cover in Chaosium’s history and I kind of love that it gallops right past the chainmail bikini cliche into some kind of weird dominatrix parody.

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#RPG #TTRPG #Tabletop RPG #Roleplaying Game #D&D #dungeons & dragons #RuneQuest #Chaosium #Glorantha #Plunder #Rick Becker