Virtues are not a key theme in a Gloranthan WOD game, however they make good tools for character definition, and they touch a minor gloranthan theme that as characters become more powerful characters they become, they move from being relational human beings into mythic aspects of runes and legends.
In short most gloranthan heros sacrifice the higher elements of their humanity for mythic power.
The classic WOD human virtues of conscience, courage and self control could work ok for everyone but we miss an opportunity to define and talk about different culture sand there different ways of thinking.
The classic white wolf system has 3 virtue stats which usually reflected the
- Strength of character which is the foundation for the willpower stat
- Characters ability to follow his values
- Warm and personal touch
I hope to evoke the same pattern but in doing so highlight the different cultural values that can be found in Glorantha. I also want to emphasise the different cultural norms between male and female in some cultures. I believe in most cases virtues will be consistent across cultures, but certain cults which are separate or deviate from the base culture may have different virtues.
Below is a table of WOD style virtues for the major human culture near my game, it is a straw man and i’m sure some glornathaphiles could suggest better alternatives.
| Culture | Strength of Character | Commitment to Values | Personal Touch |
| WOD Human Stat | Courage | Self Control | Conscience |
| Free Orlanthi Male | Pride | Justice | Generosity |
| Free Orlanthi Female | Wisdom | Prudence | Mercy |
| Lunar Provinces Male | Conviction | Honour | Conscience |
| Lunar Provinces Female | Conviction | Honour | Conscience |
| Lunar | Conviction | Loyalty | Conciliation |
| Lunarised Orlanthi Male | Bravery | Prudence | Generous |
| Lunarised Orlanthi female | Wise | Prudence | Forgiveness |
| Balazaring Male | Vigor | Trust | Generosity |
| Balazaring Female | Resilience | Honest | Compassion |
| Praxian Male | Bravery | Ruthless | Devotion |
| Praxian Female | Resilience | Ruthless | Devotion |
| Dara Happan Male | Pride | Honour | Piety |
| Dara Happan Female | Pride | Chastity | Piety |
| Peldaran Male | Conviction | Dutiful | Conscience |
| Peldaran Female | Fortitude | Dutiful | Conscience |
This same system can be done for cults, kingdoms,tribes, clans, elder races as a storyteller sees fit.
In terms of games play the strength of character trait is used to create willpower and the rest of it is mainly for character definition window dressing . However a player could ask if he could use a virtue instead of a social or mental stats on some social or mental roles. But the storyteller can say no increase the difficulty s he sees fit.
In terms of loss of their human side characters who loose on dot virtues for each dot they gain in runes above 5, they cans spend more experience points on virtues if they want but this both expensive and needs to be justified by game play.
I’m aware a Pendragon style traits/runes system is coming in the next edition of RQ but I think this would a large a cumbersome addition to the WOD mechanic. I may look at it after release.