A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Cults of Prax

Cults of Prax by Steve Perrin and Greg Stafford is a role playing game supplement published by Chaosium Inc. for use with RuneQuest and Glorantha.

The supplement is available as a 120-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $12.95 but was purchased at a reduced price during a sale. Two pages are the front and rear covers and one the front matter and Table of Contents.

The Introduction explains that this book describes 15 cults and their appropriate deities, helpful for a Gloranthan campaign and methods that are useful for other settings. It looks at the Gloranthan calendar and how the different cults are laid out. Each cult has a very formulaic approach to it, with ten major sections and various subsections to these, each of which covers a different element of the cult in detail. The major sections are the cult’s mythos and history, nature, organisation, lay membership, initiate membership, rune lord membership, rune priesthood, subservient cults, associated cults and miscellaneous notes; each of these bar the last has subsections. These different sections and subsections are then explained, with examples, and a sidebar looks at devising rune spells. Finally, it’s explained that throughout the book are passages from the travel journals of Biturian Varosh, a wandering merchant priest. The travels of Varosh are marked on the map of Prax and are given the dates of his travels and which chapter they are in. The map itself is on the next page. In various places throughout the book are designer notes.

The Barbarian Gods starts by explaining that the War of the Gods caused a lot of destruction in Prax and it looks at how the different barbarian gods helped. Each barbarian god’s cult is then covered, this being Daka Fal, Storm Bull, Waha and Eiritha. These follow the layout described in the previous section. There is also an ancestral summons chart, for when a Priest or Initiate uses the Summon Ancestor spell and the Eirithan Genealogy, which shows how the various deities and cults are related.

Invader Deities explains that the cults in this section have three things in common; they were introduced into Prax in recorded history, they have few if any associated cults in the region and they have survived after the foreigners departed because they fill a need for the people of the region. These are again described in the same format laid out earlier. The invader deities are Humakt, the Seven Mothers, Pavis and Yelmalio.

Lightbringers starts by explaining that the Lightbringers are set apart from the previous groups by the pantheon’s organisation and integration of several cults. The Invader Deities are individuals who intruded onto the plains whilst the Barbarian Deities were organised to provide minimal protection between the cults. The Lightbringers, however, exhibit more civilised relations. There are seven beings in the Lightbringers; two are not worshipped as deities and one is not worshipped in Prax. Each of the seven Lightbringers is given a brief description, followed by descriptions of the four cults found in the region, again following the same format as in previous sections. The four are Issaries, Chalana Arroy, Lhankor Mhy and Orlanth.

Non-human Gods starts by stating these deities all come from the God Time, which is when they were most powerful. The cults declined with the rise of humankind yet have still survived. They are not usually worshipped by humans, but such isn’t impossible. These are again described in the same format laid out earlier. The three deities are Kyger Litor, Zorak Zoran and Aldryia, and some information is given on the ancestry of the elves.

Appendices has a collection of different things; these are cult compatibilities, nomad weapons and magic, cult membership by tribe, new weapons data, calendar of holy days, new skills, new battle magics, truestones, new rune magics, slave bracelets, weapons use, other Gloranthan material, chronology, the final part of the travel journals of Biturian Varosh and a note on other printings.

Cults of Prax in Review

The PDF is bookmarked with major sections linked. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth and is hyperlinked. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be mostly free of errors. There are a variety of black and white illustrations, up to full page in size. Presentation is okay.

The way this book is designed is a bit curious, though it does mean that there is a standard format for creating cults and laying them out. In many ways, it is more like an actual reference book than a book for a game, and this does make it a bit harder to read. Given that the nature of the cults means that they grant different abilities to members, this doesn’t work so well with RuneQuest; it’s not a system natural Gloranthan reference, but ties both the setting and the game together. Cults of Prax is a useful reference work for Glorantha and it can be found by clicking here.