Rock the Dragon! Let's play King of Dragon Pass!

Ah, hello, hello, and welcome to... Let's Play: King of Dragon Pass.


LP Rules:

• I will post one update per day, except for yearly goals, which will be given at least 48 hours.
• I will do whatever I want with events that show up more than once, unless on the second appearance you ask that I put them up to vote on subsequent appearances.
• No spoilers. I don't care if you want to metagame; go do it in another thread.

What's King of Dragon Pass?

King of Dragon Pass (KoDP) is a choose-your-own-adventure game which simulates the running of a clan in the world of Glorantha, originally released in 1999 for Windows. The goal is to lead your clan to glory, which occurs via making a tribe (and eventually a kingdom). Until then, you explore, raid other clans, troubleshoot intra- and interclan relations, and more.

What platform is this on?

As previously stated, King of Dragon Pass was originally released for Windows. It has since seen a rerelease on iOS with some bugfixes and a few bonuses, and more recently has been released on GOG.com.

Table of Contents:

• Table of Contents, Clan Information, etc.
• Introduction
• Year 1330: Sacred Time, Sea, Fire A, Fire B

Clan Information:
Map of Dragon Pass

Culture & Background:
Calendar; Chaos page 1 & page 2; deities page 1 & page 2; foreigners; glossary; Heortland; law; world map; runes.

• History: Page 1
• Dragonkill War: Page 1
• The Pharaoh: Page 1
• Early Settlements: Page 1

Shrines & Blessings:

• Ernalda: Shrine maintaining Bless Crops; Bless Crops.
• Issaries: Shrine maintaining Spare Grain; Spare Grain.
• Lhankor Mhy: Literacy

Treasures:

• Blacktail the Bull: A really fine bull, who sires more calves than normal.

Myths:
as our clan currently knows them

• How Things Began
• The Sword Story
• The Contests
• The Storm Age
• The Making of the Storm Tribe
• Humakt the Champion
• Issaries the Conciliator
• Lhankor Mhy Finds the Truth
• Orlanth and Aroka
• Orlanth the Justice Bringer
• Chalana Arroy Heals the Scars
• The Great Darkness
• Elmal Guards the Stead
• Uralda's Blessing
• Ernalda Feeds the Tribe
• Lightbringer's Quest: The Journey West, The Sea Journey, Luathela, The Underworld, Orlanth and Yelm, The Ritual of the Net, The Return

Clan Ring:
Eonislara (Clan Chief), age 31:

Worships Ernalda

• Animals: Good
• Bargaining: Very Good
• Combat: Good
• Custom: Good
• Leadership: Excellent
• Magic: Good

Harvar, age 35:

Worships Odayla

• Animals: Renowned
• Bargaining: Very Good
• Combat: Excellent
• Custom: Very Good
• Leadership: Good
• Magic: Good
• Plants: Very Good

Janerra, age 31:

Worships Issaries

• Animals: Good
• Bargaining: Excellent
• Combat: Good
• Leadership: Fair
• Magic: Good
• Plants: Fair

Darrold, age 34:

Worships Humakt

• Animals: Very Good
• Bargaining: Very Good
• Combat: Renowned
• Custom: Very Good
• Leadership: Excellent
• Magic: Very Good
• Plants: Good

Jostharl, age 38:

Worships Eurmal

• Animals: Good
• Bargaining: Fair
• Combat: Good
• Custom: Very Good
• Leadership: Very Good
• Magic: Good
• Plants: Good

Orngerin, age 29:

Worships Chalana Arroy

• Animals: Good
• Bargaining: Good
• Custom: Good
• Leadership: Good
• Magic: Excellent
• Plants: Good

Tarkala, age 30:

Worships Ernalda

• Animals: Excellent
• Bargaining: Good
• Combat: Very Good
• Custom: Very Good
• Leadership: Very Good
• Magic: Very Good
• Plants: Renowned

Nobles:
An empty field means the noble is mediocre at best in that skill.

Introduction

There once was a time when gods and people walked the earth together. Your clan traces its ancestry back to those times. Your clan history begins when you joined the forces of the storm god Orlanth. Back then, Orlanth was simply one of many upstart, rebellious gods bent upon conquest of the world. Orlanth's unique contributions at that time were personal honor and a close kinship to the other deities who seemed to be on the winning side.

After many tribulations, adventures, and discoveries Orlanth proved himself worthy of marrying Ernalda, the Earth Mother. The two of them created the Marriage Ring and established great harmony in the world through this sacred bonding. Your clan took part in the wedding ceremony. Most clans either whooped with Orlanth, or learned a secret from Ernalda. A few clans stood with Elmal, God of Horses and the Sun, as an honor guard.

How did you prepare for the great marriage?

1. Your men and women donned gleaming armor and stood guard with Elmal, to protect the celebrants from Orlanth's many enemies.
2. Your men whooped with Orlanth and drank the Eight Known Drinks, so that their heads would hurt during the ceremony.
3. Your women withdrew with Ernalda, and learned a List of Names, which they promised not to repeat to the men.

Orlanth's struggle to remake the world was just beginning, and many other gods joined him in it. Orlanth undertook many wars of conquest. Other more peaceful deeds were just as important.

Your earliest Famous Event was:

1. The Battle of Extinguish Field, when Orlanth's forces defeated those of his worst enemy, Yelm the Bright Emperor.
2. The Hundred-Day Hunt, when Orlanth's brother, Odayla tracked the Sky Bear.
3. Jested's Settlement, when Issaries the Talking God outwitted foreign deities in a difficult negotiation.
4. The Procession of the Animals, when Uralda the Cow Mother led the sacred herds into Orlanth's stead.
5. When Barntar, son of Orlanth and Ernalda, harnessed oxen to plow.
6. When Ernalda and her daughters went to the Hidden Place, and then came back with many secrets.
7. When Lhankor Mhy, the Knowing God, learned how to use the marking bone, which could mark signs of power upon anything.
8. When Pella, the pottery goddess, made the first pot to store grain in.
9. When Roitina, lady of dance, first performed the Clan-making Dance.

Orlanth succeeded in remaking the world, and thus began the golden era called the Storm Age. Orlanth's son, Vingkot was a famous warlord during this time. Most of the people in the area were among his followers. Many people who would not have survived joined his tribes. He was a great organizer and helped the many scattered people form into new clans and tribes. Your clan was one of those aided by King Vingkot. After you proved yourself robust and capable of survival, Vingkot placed a remnant people under your protection. They were the Nalda Bin, or "Stick Farmers." You had a choice whether to make them into thralls (slaves) or adopt them as members of your clan.

How did we add these strangers?

1. Adopted family
2. Thralls

The foes of the Vingkotlings were many, and our people fought hard against them.

Which one in particular did we fight?

1. Boztakang, the Troll Lord
2. Ukka Gra, King of the Basmoli Beastmen
3. Chinkis Mor, the Elf Warlord
4. Tada the Green, champion of the flat land called Prax
5. Faralinthor, Salty Lord of the Sea
6. Ves Venna, Son of Valind, Warlord of the Ice Tribe

The Storm Age ended in disaster when the gods and creatures of Chaos came and destroyed nearly everything. Orlanth and his allies fought hard against them, but Chaos almost always won. Catastrophes shook the world, such as the Sun Fall, the Rain of Blood, and the terrible Laughing Tsunami. In this era many gods died, and many new ones rose to prominence. The Darkness got so bad that even Orlanth and his companions had to abandon humans to their own destiny. Only a few deities, either small or weak ones, remained at all. The world stagnated and died. Our clan was diminished to a ragged handful of hardy survivors.

Heort the King was the leader who emerged amid the turmoil of the Darkness. The combined efforts of Heort and his companions helped set the world in order again. He created the laws that we follow to this day. One of the great distinctions which Heort discerned among his clans was that some of them tended towards either peace or war, while others maintained a balance between these two principles.

Which kind was our clan?

1. War
2. Balanced
3. Peace

(Note: Balanced is a pretty good all-rounder; War is better at raiding than at clan growth, whereas Peace is the other way around.)

Finally, the sun rose again. While the rest of society worked to find food, or just otherwise survive, the First Priests worked to re-establish links with the ancient deities. Thanks to this new harmony between people and deities, the world was slowly improved. Once the awakening process had begun, it got easier and went quicker as the gods helped wake each other up.

Who was the first deity which our clan helped to awaken?

1. None. Our ancestors were good enough.
2. None we retained worship of our Living Deity:
   1. Elmal
   2. Urox
   3. Odayla
3. Ernalda, the Mother Goddess
4. Orlanth, the Father
5. Issaries, the Talking God
6. Lhankor Mhy, the Knowing God
7. Chalana Arroy, the Healing Goddess
8. Uralda, the Cow Mother

Things have been different since the Dawn, thirteen hundred years ago. Orlanth and the other gods retreated from the world, leaving it to mortals. We can still contact the gods through ritual and sacrifice, or enter their realm by re-enacting the great stories about their deeds, which contain great magic. But they no longer walk beside us. When we settled in a new place we marked this great change in the world by naming our land, not after a god, but after a mortal like ourselves. We named it Heortland, in honor of the king who taught us how to survive during the Darkness.

About six hundred years ago, a dragon approached us, in either its own form or that of a human with a dragon's soul inside it. The dragons had always been hostile, or at the very best, utterly uncaring. Orlanth has always been the dragon-slayer. After an appropriate debate, we had to choose whether to believe the dragon, to cooperate and learn what dragons know, or to refuse the dragon and maintain neutrality, or to actively oppose the dragon's plans.

What was our attitude towards the dragons?

1. Hostile - We fought against them.
2. Negative - We would never believe a dragon.
3. Neutral - We didn't go along.
4. Positive - We joined into their dragon knowledge.

Most of the people who said "Yes" to the dragons moved to Dragon Pass, a land to the north of our home, Heortland. We stayed in Heortland, and it was a good thing, too, for a little over two hundred years ago, the dragons rose up and ate everyone who lived in Dragon pass. They ate the Orlanthi along with all the other foolish human dragonfriends. For a long time, no humans went to Dragon Pass; everyone was sure the dragons would eat them, too.

Recent events in Heortland made us think twice about the abandoned land of Dragon Pass. A generation ago, an usurper who called himself the Pharaoh came to Heortland and started a civil war. Our clan was one which broke into disputes, sometimes violent, about whether to support the Pharaoh or not. In the end, our group of dissidents decided it would be better to risk the dangers of Dragon Pass than to stay and kill our own kin, which is the greatest sin an Orlanthi can commit. The dissidents unable to live under the Pharaoh would come northward to Dragon Pass. People of similar beliefs from other clans had already made the same decision, and settled lands there. So we made a new clan, and made it a Balanced clan, just as our ancestors had done in the time of King Heort.

Our new clan made the dangerous trek to Dragon Pass and selected a place to live. Like the other Orlanthi refugees from Heortland, we settled in Quiviniland, a mountainous area in the southeastern quadrent of Dragon Pass. We would call these lands our home, or tula. Tradition required that we make a formal land claim.

1. Enough land for our people and herds, no more.
2. More land than we needed, to grow into.
3. Lots more than we would probably need.
4. Huge tracts, far more than we needed.

In addition to the above votes, vote also for our clan name (up to 10 letters/spaces).

3. Your women withdrew with Ernalda, and learned a List of Names, which they promised not to repeat to the men.

Our womens is always off talking somewhere.


7. When Lhankor Mhy, the Knowing God, learned how to use the marking bone, which could mark signs of power upon anything.

Fancy talk for "our dudes can write"


1. Adopted family

Let's farm us some sticks, family-style.


5. Faralinthor, Salty Lord of the Sea

The saltiest.


3. Peace

Our clan makes love.


5. Issaries, the Talking God

No mute gods for OUR clan.


6. Negative - We would never believe a dragon.

Our clan ain't no suckers.


3. Lots more than we would probably need.

We are a clan of optimists.


And what better name for a clan than Clan Pants Kilts?

1. Your men and women donned gleaming armor and stood guard with Elmal, to protect the celebrants from Orlanth's many enemies.

Let them frolic while we watch their backs.

7. When Lhankor Mhy, the Knowing God, learned how to use the marking bone, which could mark signs of power upon anything.

Knowledge is Power.

1. Adopted family

Do not want to create ill will with our new brothers.

6. Ves Venna, Son of Valind, Warlord of the Ice Tribe

Kid needs more seasoning.

2. Balanced

No need to take unnecessary risks.

6. Lhankor Mhy, the Knowing God

We remember who gave us our revelations.

3. Neutral - We didn't go along.

Thanks, but no thanks. We'll make our own way.

3. Lots more than we would probably need.

We're optimistic.

We shall be the Clan Moncrief, named for my ancestor.

3. Your women withdrew with Ernalda, and learned a List of Names, which they promised not to repeat to the men.

This is what happens when you let PETTICOAT RULE run rampant.

3. Jested's Settlement, when Issaries the Talking God outwitted foreign deities in a difficult negotiation.

We are Talking Time, are we not?

2. Thralls.

Slavery is cool, right?

5. Faralinthor, Salty Lord of the Sea

SALT FOR THE SALT LORD.

1. War

Duh.

8. Uralda, the Cow Mother

All the good ones were already taken.

4. Positive - We joined into their dragon knowledge.

This was unfortunately just after the Eragon craze swept through the clan.

4. Huge tracts, far more than we needed.

Why be optimistic when you can be greedy?

They shall call us the Foot Clan.

I'm glad someone is doing an LP of this game, because I'm not very good at it!

3. MEN ARE SCUM
3. Jested's Settlement
1. Adopted Family
3. ELVES ARE SCUM
2. Balanced
7. Chalana Arroy
3. I have no strong feelings about dragons
1. Enough land, no more.

Clan Fancy

Owing to the fact that there's only four whole ballots cast, i will give this thread another 24 to 48 hours. C'mon, folks...

All of the best relationships are forged atop secrets! Also, drinking to get a headache is missing the point.

I'm going to call my handwriting "signs of power" from now on.

How else would we find out the deep hidden mysteries of stick farming?

(He was actually Captain McAwesomepants)

Because there's only one thing war is good for... absolutely nothin'!

For reasons others have explained.

We are not a judgemental clan; we believe everyone should have the right to associate with the sentient beings of their choosing. But we ain't no dirty scalef***ers (not that there's anything wrong with that).

We gotta plan for the future, but greed will lead to our downfall.

I don't know, how about the Idunno clan?

Is voting still open? If so, here are my votes.

How did you prepare for the great marriage?
Your men and women donned gleaming armor and stood guard with Elmal, to protect the celebrants from Orlanth's many enemies.

Your earliest Famous Event was:
When Lhankor Mhy, the Knowing God, learned how to use the marking bone, which could mark signs of power upon anything.


How did we add these strangers?
Adopted family

Which one in particular did we fight?
Tada the Green, champion of the flat land called Prax.

Which kind was our clan?
Balanced

Who was the first deity which our clan helped to awaken?
None. Our ancestors were good enough.

What was our attitude towards the dragons?
Positive - We joined into their dragon knowledge.

Our new clan made the dangerous trek to Dragon Pass and selected a place to live. Like the other Orlanthi refugees from Heortland, we settled in Quiviniland, a mountainous area in the southeastern quadrent of Dragon Pass. We would call these lands our home, or tula. Tradition required that we make a formal land claim.
More land than we needed, to grow into.

As for the clan name, I'm going to second Clan Idunno.

Listen. I'm changing my vote, and so should you.

> How did you prepare for the great marriage?

* Your women withdrew with Ernalda, and learned a List of Names, which they promised not to repeat to the men.
(They got the Spreadsheet?!)

> Your earliest Famous Event was:

* Jested's Settlement, when Issaries the Talking God outwitted foreign deities in a difficult negotiation.
(Gotta agree with the general sentiment here)

> How did we add these strangers?

* Thralls
(Gotta have some cheap labor to keep the wheels of the economy turning)

> Which one in particular did we fight?

* Faralinthor, Salty Lord of the Sea
(Might as well)

> Which kind was our clan?

* Peace
(We're lovers, not fighters)

> Who was the first deity which our clan helped to awaken?

* Issaries, the Talking God
(Again)

> What was our attitude towards the dragons?

* Negative - We would never believe a dragon.
(Sounds like a bad idea to mingle with man-eating lizards)

> Tradition required that we make a formal land claim.

* Huge tracts, far more than we needed.
(You never know if there's going to be a daughter that needs to be married off somewhere, her having huge tracts of land will help)

> In addition to the above votes, vote also for our clan name (up to 10 letters/spaces)

I'm a go with Foot as well.

All right. I change my vote to Foot, as well.

Winners:

1. Ernalda
2. Marking bone
3. Adopted
4. Sea
5. Balanced
6. Issaries
7. didn't join
8. more
9. Foot

Please hold while I prepare the next part...

Looks very interesting
Hopefully our choices do not lead to ruin...

Sacred Time: 1330


Here's our clan, and the annual Sacred Time report. Because this is the first year of the game, and thus our first year in Dragon Pass, there's no actual report. Rest assured, however, that we'll be seeing one next Sacred Time. However...



...It's time to allocate our Clan Magic! Before we do that, however, let's talk about what this screen shows.

First, the Forecast: any omens, good or bad, will show up here, including the harvest. For instance, this year we'll have reasonable grain but our cows won't increase as much (and may decrease, if our cow-trading outpaces our growth).

Second, the Reputation: as time goes on, this will go up or down depending on our actions. Higher is better! (We can consider forming a Tribe with other clans once we hit Kingly reputation.)

Third, the Magic and accompanying Reserve. This is the most important part of this screen (and the only one we can influence directly). We can allocate 7 points, but be warned: the Reserve also doubles as our luck stat; a high Reserve gives us better rolls, but a low Reserve (and it can go into the negative) gives us worse rolls.

As for the kinds of Magic we can allocate into, the nonobvious ones need an explanation:

• Mysteries gives us better luck when we sacrifice for blessings and knowledge from the gods. This includes specific blessings as well as information about the legends of our region of Glorantha.
• Quests improves our god-LARPing chances. We can get treasures, improve our nobles, and gain other blessings by doing these.

Advice from the Clan Ring:

(Clan Leader, worships Orlanth): We have not honored our clan deity by performing the heroquest of "Ernalda Feeds the Tribe".
(worships Ernalda): We have performed no heroquests.
(worships Chalana Arroy): It's easier keeping people healthy than trying to cure them later. I think we should allocate 2 to health magic and conserve a few points in case we need to call on Chalana Arroy during the year.
(worships Elmal): We must put magic into mysteries so we can learn the proper rituals for aiding cattle fertility.
(worships Eurmal): Our clan magic would be stronger if our chief were a devotee of Ernalda.
(worships Humakt): Keep at least one point of magic in reserve in case we need it for something unexpected.
(worships Ernalda): Allot 2 to crop magic. Our herds are also important, so earmark 1 for them. Leave some magic available in case we need to call on the earth goddesses. By the way, with an Uralda worshipper on the ring, we could perform more livestock rituals.

You can also vote on clan goals. e.g. Exploring, Fixing the Ring, Raiding, Questing, Sacrificing for Mysteries, and so on.

Wow... I really don't like the look of this guy.

Yeah, Beard of Evil + Bedroom Eyes is not a pleasant combination, to be sure.

Well, Eurmal (the god he worships) is the trickster god of the pantheon...

Tarkala for Chief! What's the worst that could happen?

You generally want the person with the best Leadership for chief, actually, so e.g. Eonislara.

I'm assuming you're looking for votes on our magic and objective. Otherwise, ignore this.

For our magic, I vote 2 for Children (sex magic), 1 for crops, 2 for quests. Save the rest. Our objective is Questing.

I'll leave the burden of point allocation to people whose knowledge of this game wouldn't fit on a postage stamp, but I rather like the idea of Questing.

I was supposed to have knowledge of the game to vote on point allocation? Oops...

1330: Sea



And that's our magic allocated. We'll go hero-questing later, but for now I'm going to reorganize the clan ring because the starting set of nobles is bloody terrible.

I also realised I didn't actually have all of the nobles down. Oops. I'll put the rest up after this update, rest assured. (Most of the remainder are also awful, so I'm going to weed out the ones which aren't at least Very Good don't have at least one Excellent skill.)

Anyhow, our new clan ring: Eonislara, Harvar, Janerra, Darrold, Jostharl, Orngerin, and Tarkala. The game rewards having a clan ring consisting of worshippers of seven different gods, as well as for having at least three women on the ring. (Incidentally, reorganization consumes a turn, as do all other actions available to us. There are two turns per season, five seasons per year, and then there's Sacred Time.)

I also send out a team to explore our tula--exploration can net us neat artifacts, among other things.



We found some jade. Awesome.



And then this happened.

In the middle of Death Week, a gruesome delegation appears in your clan hall. These are the insubstantial spirits of your own dead warriors. "You have shamed the clan. You have turned from the old ways. You will face nothing but doom and disaster until you act in a manner worthy of our ancestors."

1. Promise them that you will do better in the future.
2. Sacrifice to Humakt for protection from ghosts.
3. Sacrifice to these spirits.
4. Scold them for frightening their own people.
5. Try to bind some of the spirits as magical servants.

Advice from the clan ring:

Eonislara: They may be hostile spirits, but they are also our kin. (She favours 1 or 3.)
Harvar: Give them fifteen cows' worth. (He favours 3.)
Janerra: Give them eleven cows' worth. (She favours 3.)
Darrold: Let my lord Humakt slice these ghostlings apart. (He favours 2.)
Jostharl: I've rolled dice sixteen times and gotten snake yes every single time. (He favours 4.)
Orngerin: We could capture them as spirits to use in our magic. But we shouldn't, because they are our ancestors. (She favours 1 or 3.)
Tarkala: Ghosts can be captured in spirit combat and used to power spells. (She favours 5.)

Tarkala knows how to do things. The Foot Clan ain't afraid of no ghosts! They make great toothpaste when you grind them up, I understand.

Well, your supply of cows isn't going to be so great this year, so you can't just go around holding sacrifices at the drop of a hat. Maybe they'll be willing to talk it out?

Scold them like Jostharl says. Everybody knows ghosts are cowards; call their bluff.

4 or 5 for sure. Fuck those ghosts.

Man, I love this game. I always do so well at it until it comes time to do the end game Hero Questing and clan uniting. THen I fail utterly. I should start a new version on my phone.