Within the earth is life. Within the earth is death.
Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses is the player’s guide to the earth pantheon of Glorantha!
This book covers the mythology of the Earth pantheon of gods, and provides mechanics for each of their cults to create your RuneQuest adventurer.
What’s Inside?
Chaosium Unveiled: Inside Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses
Watch the unveiling video to see the book for yourself. Remember that you get the PDF when getting the physical copy.
The Goddesses of the Earth
Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses features 16 cults, including Uleria Goddess of Love, Ty Kora Tek Goddess of the Dead, Donandar God of Music, Asrelia Goddess of Wealth and Fortune, Maran Gor the Earthquake Goddess, and more.
The book also includes cults especially suitable for non-human adventurers such as Aldrya, the Ancestress of the Elves, and Mostal, the Maker of the Dwarves!
Build Your Earth Priestess
New rules to use these cults in character creation in RuneQuest, detailing the skills, passions, spirit magic, and Rune magic these cults offer. You’ll also find new cult-specific skills and even some Rune magic! Embody the power of your god with rules for how your adventurer can grow into a God-talker, Rune Priestess, or even a mighty Rune Lord.
The Lore of the Earth
The book details the unique organization, history, and nature of each of its 16 cults. It also covers the storied history of the Earth pantheon—mythology of blooming life, death, and transformation.
Note: This supplement can be used with the RuneQuest core rules, or combined with the other books in the Cults of RuneQuest line to build a RuneQuest adventurer belonging to multiple cults.
What The Critics Say
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“A powerful follow up to The Lightbringers. While the first book is a splendid onramp to the wonders of the various Cults for new players and GMs, The Earth Goddesses is where you really get the sense that the writers decided to really showcase the grandeur and depth of the fictional mythology at the heart of the game.”t
— Philgamer, Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses Review.
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“As a new-ish GM to RuneQuest, I was worried that I would never be able to "get" the setting. This series of books is making sure I will, and that I fall in love doing so.”
— Jay Anyong, Twitter.
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"These are not simply splat books meant to give player characters kewl new powers and endless buffs (the trap so many other games fall into). There are skills and spells in here, but this is a series primarily about world building."
— Andrew Logan Montgomery, The Cults of RuneQuest Part Three: The Earth Goddesses.
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“5/5 – The Earth Goddesses is a rock-solid release (pun intended), which lays the foundation for more mythic adventures exploring the Earth religion in Glorantha… a valuable addition to your shelf, and heartily recommended.”
— AKHELAS, REVIEW: The Earth Goddesses .
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"In this day and age, RuneQuest‘s best bet is in emphasising the distinct and unique flavour of Glorantha and these books do a wonderful job with it... Though much of the material here was developed before his death by Greg Stafford, the job of finishing the project has fallen to Jeff Richard, who has made it a labour of love, along with a wealth of collaborators, including artists who’ve made some of the nicest and most flavourful-looking art I’ve ever seen in a RuneQuest book."
— Refereeing & Reflection, a RuneQuest Encyclopedia.
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The new 'Cults of RuneQuest' Lightbringers and the Earth Goddesses books come HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, says EuroCultAV: "Glorantha is probably the most fully realized RPG world ever created, and these books help actualize that realization in new ways. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED"
— EuroCultAV, Tabletop Review – Runequest – Cults of Runequest – The Lightbringers/Earth Goddesses.
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"This book is a *must* for running RuneQuest campaigns in the Dragon Pass area and adjacent lands."
— El Runeblogger, Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses review.
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"Extremely useful... one of the other draws is just how beautiful it is. The art in the book is stunning and it is some of my favourite art I have seen in tabletop roleplaying game full stop."
— The Gaming Table., Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses review.
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“Cults of Runequest The Earth Goddesses is going to be a staple of any gaming group, if not because of playing an Earth cultist directly, then because of their relationship with the Storm pantheon in a husband-protector aspect. Not having this book means players and gamemasters alike are missing out on a lot of useful and important information that will help their characters in the upcoming Hero Wars… It’s also surprisingly interesting to read just to read if you are really into Gloranthan mythology as it really helps one understand the credo of the pantheon which in turn helps people who want to create their own, spin off cults.”
— Cthuliana, CULTS OF RUNEQUEST THE EARTH GODDESSES Review.
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Product Footer
Footer Name:
- Publisher:
- Chaosium
- Ruleset:
- RuneQuest
- Year Released:
- 2023
- Format:
- Full Color Hardcover
- Page Count:
- 144
- ISBN:
- 978-156882-468-0
- Author(s):
- Greg Stafford, Jeff Richard
- Cover Artist:
- Loïc Muzy
- Interior Artists:
- Loïc Muzy, Agathe Pitié, Katrin Dirim, Antonia Doncheva
- Cartography:
- Francesca Bearald, Matt Ryan
- Layout:
- Simeon Cogswell
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The Earth Goddesses
A magnificent book, the richness of which lies in the details of its mythological tales, whether you play Runequest or any other gloranthan role-playing game.
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The Earth Goddesses
A magnificent book, the richness of which lies in the details of its mythological tales, whether you play Runequest or any other gloranthan role-playing game.
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Great content, beautiful book.
Love those Cults books, very happy this is coming and this really delivers on playable contents you would be wishing for.
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The Earth Goddesses
Fantastic!
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Earth Goddesses
Absolutely brilliant and completly indispensable
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Admirable !
The best book on gloranthan cults ever ! And the illustrations are wonderful.
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Groundbreaking
Of all the wonderful books published in this Runequest renaissance, this is my favourite. It's such a thorough exploration of the earthy powers that it will transform my campaign, allowing my PCs and I to confidently play and meet the whole array of earth-worshippers, from folk musicians to tusk riders. It's beautiful.
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Bringing the Earth to life
This is an excellent volume beginning to end. With only a couple of minor quibbles (see below) I can highly recommend this lovely volume. This book covered Earth-related deities of many stripes. Most of them fit into the Ernalda-related pantheon, from Ernalda herself to Maran Gor to Ty Kora Tek. There are full write ups for each of the 16 cults included in this volume and they should inspire your players no end. This is very important in that its companion volume (The Lightbringers) has obvious hooks for adventurers, given that Orlanth is himself the god of adventurers among other things. But, as Ernalda points out, there is always another way and by applying less physical force and instead applying wit, grace, and societal pressure much may be achieved. There are two "outliers" in this book -- The Cult of the Bloody Tusk and Mostal. Neither of them is intended for PCs, but their inclusion feels a little odd. In the end, though, they had to go somewhere and both of them are indeed Earth-related cults. There are two quibbles that I have with this. There are some maps here that are both small and difficult to read. The one relating to the spread of Earth goddess society is particularly difficult, in that some of the of the colours for the extent of the cults is so similar to that for depicting mountain ranges that it is difficult to say which is which. The other problem, and it is a very small one, is also a very common one with all of the BRP games over time -- skill creep. There are several new skills introduced, some of which (such as Bloody Cut) are no real imposition as it is limited to the cult, but others (Mineral Lore comes to mind) could be more widely applicable. As I said, this is a problem that has been found in all editions of RuneQuest, BRP, and COC over time. Beyond these small quibbles, I can highly recommend this volume. Open it and you will find that even cults such as Ernalda will appeal to adventurers.
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Fantastic supplement
As a newcomer to Glorantha, this supplement really helped to build and fill out the world for me. The mythic archetypes these gods repersent are fully realized and engaging. A masterclass in worldbuilding. I can't wait to bring this to the table for my players to peruse and flip through. Also, compared to the Lightbringers, this was my favorite! My game group includes players that are drawn to the earth goddess archetypes and it was great to give them more details and character options to play with.
