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# Part of Simon Phipp's RuneQuest/Glorantha Site

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  Simon E. Phipp(Geo Cities)
Copyright (c) 1999 Simon E.Phipp
Last Updated On 15 October 1999

# Including Balazar

See Also: Dragon Pass Articles

The Dragon Pass/Nomad Gods game is limited by the fact that only two areas have been covered for the game - Prax and Dragon Pass. However, it can fairly easily be extended into the lands of Balazar and the Elder Wilds.

The map that comes with the Griffin Mountain supplement is the same scale as the map of the Dragon Pass game and also the new version of Nomad Gods. If these maps are copied and laid out side by side they actually interlink, which is very handy. In order to do this, try to get a early paper map from the Dragon Pass game rather than the later card map with does not copy easily. Then photocopy the Dragon Pass, Nomad Gods and Griffin Mountain maps onto plan A2/A1 paper. The Griffin Mountain maps each fit onto an A1 sheet and must be cut and pasted in order to join together. The southern portion of the map of Balazar fits neatly on the northern portion of the Dragon Pass map, use the numbered Dragonewt Cities to line the maps up. It may be worth recopying the maps together to get a new map of the whole region.

Now that we have a map of the Balazar area, we need to some work in order to make the map properly workable. What I did was to fill in the areas of the Elf Sea so that we know the shoreline and can leave the Elf Sea itself blank water. The mountains between Balazar and Prax can be filled in using the maps from the Trollpak supplement, this allows the inclusion of Dagori Inkarth in the scheme, although there is nothing really useful in that area for the Dragon Pass game. Now that the map is ready, we need some rules for the Balazar game.

We can use some rules from the other two games fairly easily. First, the Balazar culture is shamanic in nature, much like the Praxian culture, they also have Citadels and Hunter Hearths which are the centres of their religious lives. I would make each citadel and hearth a sacred site, with similar rules to Praxian Oases, allowing people to summon the spirits of Balazar at these sites. Since the Balazar tribesmen do not have Great Shamans or Khans, the rules for summoning spirits are different. I would give each clan a Medicine Bundle which can be used to summon a spirit - each turn a medicine bundle is stacked with a Balazaring clan on a Sacred Site their is a 1 in 6 (1 on a D6) chance of summoning a Balazaring Spirit. Otherwise, the spirit summoning and controlling rules are the same as the Nomad Gods game.

Fire Point may only be used to summon Fire/Sky spirits, Festering Island and the Cacodemon Place may only be used to summon Chaotic spirits.

## People of Balazar

Each Hunter Clan of Balazar has a counter of its own, normally each counter starts on a clan hearth, with many hearths having more than one clan starting there. Some of the citadels will also have clan counters. The Hunter Clans are poor fighters but do have missile capability.

The Sun Domers of Balazar are the equivalent of the Sun Domers of Dragon Pass and Prax, so those counters may be used here without problems. I would suggest that Dykene has 2 counters, Elkoi has 1 counter and Trilius has no counters.

The Lunars are in power in Elkoi, so that citadel has a garrison of Lunar soldiers. In the Balazar game, war is in the air, so there are more Lunars in the area than would otherwise be the case. The Lunars would be at Elkoi and along the Black Eel river.

Balazar and the Elder Wilds are home for a number of Elven communities. I would put elves in each of the forests, normally 2 or 3 counters per forest, each counter either being excellent missile users (**) and poor in combat, or poor missile users (*) and reasonable in combat. This gives the elves a little more variety than would otherwise be expected. I would give the Elder Wilds a Great Tree and each Forest a Dryad counter which was useless in combat but strong magically.

The trolls from the Troll Hills and surrounding mountains are strong. I would give twice the number of dark trolls and four times the trollkin that Cragspider has, spread around the troll hills.

Trilius has a couple of Adventurer Counters, use the best of the Sartarite army for these.

Festering Island can mount a couple of counters of Broos and maybe one or two other Chaotic counters, use the Nomad Gods Chaos counters, although there are no Bullsitch or Gas here. The Cacodemon Holy Ground has a single counter of Ogres.

There are many herds in the Elder Wilds, including Dinosaur Herds, Bison Herds, Sable Herds, Antelope Herds and Wild Cattle Herds. These behave in the same way as herds in Nomad Gods or Dragon Pass, except that there is no need for Support in the lush plains of Balazar.

Pentian tribes come from the North, use variants of the Grazelander or Barbarian Horde for these. Solar Pentians are like the Grazelanders, Storm Tribes are like the Barbarian Horde. Each Pentian Solar Tribe will have a Shaman counter the same as the Praxian Nations. The Storm Tribes also have Shamans but do not have the Magic Units of the Barbarian Horde.

The mostali of Greatway have a few dwarven units which can be brought into play. They have the same stats as the Flintnail dwarves of Nomad Gods or the dwarves in Dragon Pass and there are 3 counters in Greatway.

Spider Valley has a number of spiders here - treat the area as having a number of webs scattered around.

## Heroes of Balazar

### Blue Face

Blue Face is the only Great Shaman in Balazar. Treat him as a normal shaman, the equivalent of the Shamans of Prax.

### Grey Runner Runefang

This is a Sabre-tooth Tiger which is an ally of Blue Face.

### Cragspider

This Troll Hero is the same as in the Dragon Pass game and lives on the edge of Balazar.

### Red Emperor

This Lunar Hero will come to Balazar in the case of major problems. Otherwise he is the same as in the Dragon Pass game.

### Yara Aranis

This is the Horse Eater and is summoned from the Empire in the event of a Pentian Invasion. She has the ability of destroying a variable number of horse units each round depending on the phase of the moon. She has to be in contact with these units and they are removed before combat with her occurs. In the Dark/Dying Moon, she removes none, in the Half Moon she removes 1, in the Full Moon, she removes 2. She automatically disrupts any horse units in adjacent hexes, whether they are friendly or hostile to her. Horse units are those that Ironhoof can affect.

## Spirits

Balazar has access to many different spirits, some of which are worshipped elsewhere, some of which are unique to Balazar. These spirit are:

### Fire/Sky Spirits:

Grandmother Sky

Ancestress of the Votanki, this spirit is a benevolent one but may be summoned to help the clans when they are in need.

Balazar

Founder of the country of Balazar, this spirit may be summoned and incarnated in a warrior to lead the troops of Balazar in battle.

Golden Bow

This god of archers is known by the Pentians and the Balazaring natives.

Firshala

The Balazar equivalent of Oakfed, Firshala has similar properties - use the Oakfed counter from Nomad Gods.

Vrimak

Spirit worshipped by the Hawk Riders of Dykene, this spirit can be summoned by them in times of crisis.

Morning Star

This spirit is the same as in the Nomad Gods game.

Evening Star

This spirit is the same as in the Nomad Gods game.

### Water Spirits

Elf Sea

The Spirit of the Elf Sea, this spirit is a Great Spirit and can be summoned only by a Shaman. She has the same statistics as Zola Fel, but can only flood hexes adjacent to the Elf Sea.

Black Eel

The Spirit of the Black Eel River, this has the same statistics as Zola Fel.

Rainbow Girl

This spirit is the same as in the Nomad Gods game.

Grandfather Turtle

This spirit can carry units stacked with it across water. It can carry a number of units equal to its STR rating. This allows the crossing of the Elf Sea where that is normally impossible.

### Earth Spirits

Rigitana (Hunting Nymph)

Mistress of the Animals of Balazar and the Elder Wilds, Rigitana can control the movement of any Beast Counter for one whole turn once in the game - this is a major ability and must be declared in the exotic magic phase. She can also automatically destroy any single beast unit she is attacking before combat, the unit is merely removed from play.

Brother Dog

This spirit is the same as in the Nomad Gods game.

Votank

This is the same as the Praxian Foundchild counter.

Elder Sister

This is the incarnation of Aldrya in the forest. She can be summoned only by the Elves in their Sacred Groves. Elder Sister is able to prevent all movement by hostile troops in forests for three whole turns, this must be declared in the Exotic Magic phase.

### Storm Spirits

Lightning Boy

This spirit is the same as in the Nomad Gods game.

Gagarth

This spirit is the same as in the Nomad Gods game. It can be summoned by the Pentian Shamans.

Tornado Spirit

This is the Spirit of the Tornadoes of Balazar, it is a physical spirit which attacks in the same way as the Sylphs in the Dragon Pass game.

### Darkness Spirits

Spider Mother

This spirit is the same as in the Nomad Gods game.

### Chaos Spirits

Cacodemon

This spirit is the same as in the Nomad Gods game.

Mallia

This spirit is the same as in the Nomad Gods game.

Granny Keeneye

This is a chaotic spirit which is native to Balazar. It can be summoned at any Chaotic Holy Place and gives the summoning player Bad Luck, in the same way as Mallia or Thed.

Thed

This spirit is the same as in the Nomad Gods game.

## Diplomacy

Use the standard Dragon Pass displomacy rules to ally NPC types in Balazar.

Shamans can ally with the Greater Gods as in Nomad Gods.

Chaos may be allied at Festering Island or the Cacodemon Holy Place by using an Emissary as the normal rules.

## The Scenarios

There are several scenarios that can be used with the Balazar setting.

### Two Player Games

Pentian Invasion

Here, a number of Pentian clans come down from the north and attack the Lunar Empire. The Pentians can set up anywhere in the northern Elder Wilds, the Lunars anywhere in Balazar. The Pentians begin with several nations, 3 or 4 generally works well. The Lunars begin with the Red Emperor, Yara Aranis and a number of units to balance the Pentians.

The Lunars can ally the Yelmalians and both sides may ally the hunter clans individually.

Victory conditions are ownership of the most Sacred Sites in Balazar.

Elven Uprising

The Elves decide that they do not want humans in Balazar and rise up against them.

The Elven player starts off with all the Elven forces within the forests.

The human player starts off with the Lunars, Yelmalians, hunters and Orlanthi.

Both sides may ally the non-humans.

Victory conditions are defeat of the other side.

### Three Player Games

All Out War

Pentian Player -As Pentian Invasion

Lunar Player - As Pentian Invasion

Inhuman Player - Elves, Trolls

Each side can ally with the independent forces.

Victory is the side that holds the mot sacred sites.

### Other Scenarios

Balazar may be used in conjunction with the other games. The Pentians may try to raid into the Empire itself, with the goal of taking Glamour. This would act as an extra player in the Full Game of the Dragon Pass game.

Balazaring counters may be used to move into the Dragon Pass or Praxian games as extra counters to spice things up a bit.

[End]