Subject: Why can't he get the Subject in the Header, Volume 2, Number 12
This issue:
Re: Your mail (Arachne Solare and You) Jeff Okamoto
RQ House Rules Keith Ivey
[Editor's note: If I knew how to get subjects in the header with a file as
input to mail, I would.
The submission from Keith is a sign of hope. It was Keith's long e-mail
discussions with me that prompted me to start the Digest in the first place.
Unfortunately, our correspondence has died down as of late, but I sent him
my new magic system recently so hopefully that will remove his ennui.
Keith and I gamed together for five years until he went to Yale, so you'll
see comments from me interspersed with his article, which is the final house
rules we had before he went away.
Hopefully, with a little arm-bending, I can get more from him...]
---
From: Jeff Okamoto
Subject: Re: your mail
>From: vu0141@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu
>Subject: Review: Arachne Solare and you
>This is an actualized world: the gods are real if not always present
>daily, the sun is a god rather than a star, and the world is flat.
The surface of the Earth is flat. The actual "three-dimensional"
representation of the world is that of a sphere whose equator has
been "pinched" as though its belt was on too tight.
>There is no gun powder. [Actually, the dwarves have gunpowder,
>as mentioned in the Bestiary and other places, but not in the
>products Fred is reviewing.-Ed]
Actually, humans do know about gunpowder, but they don't do much
experimenting due to a creature called the Gunpowder Gobbler that the
dwarfs created. Their purpose is to eat gunpowder (and other things
if they get large enough. The more gunpowder they eat, the larger
they grow.) [as mentioned in the Gloranthan Bestiary - Ed]
>The world is iron poor; most metals things are made of bronze,
>although actually the bronze and iron of Glorantha are not the
>same as the Earth equivalent.
Correct. Bronze is the bones of the gods. Iron is made only by
dwarfs.
>HeroQuesting is a spiritual journey expressed either as a physical
>journey outside of normal mortal lands or a magical journey to
>participate in the deeds of the gods, in order to gain gifts from the
>powers and immortals of the world.
Or to re-enact the deeds of the gods, in order to gain powers similar
to what the gods actually gained. For example, Orlanth's quest to
take a drink from Daliath's Well of Wisdom.
>Gods of Glorantha has a scene of two thieves stealing a jewel from an
>idol which I would guess represents Kali, although the box back says
>it is Yara Aranis.
It is indeed Yara Aranis, a goddess born of the Red Emperor and a demon
in order to terrorize the horse nomads of Pent.
>The Glorantha supplement was originally called World of Glorantha, but
>now its full name is Glorantha: Genertela, Crucible of the Hero Wars.
Yes, it was decided to break up WoG into pieces. Would you want to
purchase a $50 supplement pack?
>What the Priests Say, has little write-ups of how Priests in several
>pantheons would answer questions about existence and a worshiper's
>place in the world.
>The Prosopaedia is a listing of Gloranthan gods, heros, and
>philosophies.
The important thing to note here is that in "What the Priest Says"
presents a very SUBJECTIVE view of what the deity represents and things.
The Prosopaedia is intended to be an OBJECTIVE view of the deities
of Glorantha.
>The Mythos section contains the Jrusteli monomyth. A monomyth is a
>common pattern folklorists have found in all folk tales and myths.
>(See any of Jeremy Betham's books)
Or Joseph Campbell's "Hero With a Thousand Faces".
>The skills Cult Lore and Glorantha Lore are mentioned as universal,
>but are not defined. I assume Cult Lore concerns knowledge of cults
>other than your own. I can't figure out how Glorantha Lore is
>different from World Lore, since it is posssible to have both.
World Lore is knowing things about the world. Glorantha Lore is more
mythological. A house rule is that Glorantha Lore is equal to your
character's age.
>There are sections entiled "What my father told me," which show how
>people from these cultures view themselves.
Note the difference between "Priests" and "Father". The former is
about the major cult pantheons, the latter about cultures.
Jeff
---
From: Keith Calvert Ivey
Subject: RQ House Rules
RQ3 HOUSE RULES
Players Book
Charisma is still Charisma. It has not been changed to Appearance.
Throw is a manipulation skill, not an agility skill.
The communication skills modifier is: INT, CHA = primary; POW =
secondary.
The stealth skills modifier is: DEX = primary; SIZ = negative; POW =
secondary negative.
Skills modifiers are rounded up even if the modifier is negative.
Thus +2.5 rounds to +3, but -2.5 rounds to -2.
Hit points per location is based on the number of hit points a
creature has, not the next multiple of three. All fractions are rounded
up. Thus a humanoid with 10 hit points has 0.4*10 = 4 HP in the chest;
10/3 = 3.33, or 4 HP in the abdomen, legs, and head; and 10/4 = 2.5, or
3 HP in the arms.
A successful Dodge against an attack makes a successful attack into
a miss, a special hit into a normal hit, and a critical hit into a
special hit. A special success on a Dodge against an attack makes a
normal or special hit into a miss, and a critical hit into a normal hit.
A critical success on a Dodge against an attack makes any hit into a
miss. No successful Dodge has any effect on a failed or fumbled attack.
A failed Dodge has no effect. A fumbled Dodge against an attack makes a
normal miss into a normal hit, a normal hit into a special hit, and a
special hit into a critical hit; it has no effect on fumbled attacks or
critical hits.
A special hit with a crushing weapon does normal damage against half
armor (rounded up). A critical hit does maximum weapon damage against
no armor. In either case parries are counted normally.
A special hit with a slashing weapon does maximum weapon damage
against normal armor. A critical hit does maximum weapon damage against
no armor. In either case parries are counted normally.
On a special success with a parry, the parrying weapon takes no
damage, though it still blocks only the normal amount of damage.
An adventurer may perform two actions per melee round. An action
consists of attacking, parrying, dodging, or casting a spell. An
adventurer may not dodge twice in the same round, nor may hey attack
twice or parry twice with the same weapon unless heir skill is over
100%. Hey may attack or parry with each of two different weapons, or
attack and parry with the same weapon, even if it is a one-handed
weapon. Hey may not attempt to parry the same attack twice.
[FYI - Hey is a spelling reform, intended to imply he/she, popular among his
Yale gaming group. Hem and heir are also part of this...]
If an adventurer is fighting an opponent which has multiple attacks
and the attack the adventurer has declared hey is parrying misses, hey
may instead attempt to parry another attack later in the round from the
same opponent at half chance.
A scythe is a two-handed weapon.
The encumbrance of clothes varies considerably depending on type.
Armor weights include a small amount for normal clothing worn
underneath.
The ENC values for some armor types have been changed as follows:
S M L XL
soft leather 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
lamellar 11.0 14.0 17.0 19.5
scale 13.0 16.0 19.0 22.5
chainmail 13.0 16.0 19.0 22.5
brigandine 14.5 18.0 21.5 25.0
plate 16.0 20.0 24.0 28.0
[This particular change was gotten by our troll players...]
These changes have no effect on the price of armor, either in full suits or
in pieces. Ignore "cost per ENC".
All armor is one-third the cost listed in the book.
The only overlapping of armor which does not drastically increase
encumbrance is wearing soft leather under any other kind of armor.
Magic Book
When awakening a fetch, if the shaman has a special success on his
Summon roll, the fetch will have 2d6+6 INT. A critical success gives
the fetch d6+12 INT.
There is a new skill, Cast Spirit Magic. This is a magic skill with
a base chance of 25% (plus magic skills modifier). It is reduced by the
encumbrance penalty. In previous experience, initiates get 3% per year
and spirit magic users get 5% per year. This skill is used for casting
spirit magic spells and replaces the POW*5 roll described in the rules.
It may be increased by research, training, or experience up to 75%, but
beyond that only by experience. Cults do not teach this skill very well
because they have a somewhat flawed view of the process; thus it takes
twice normal time to learn it from a cult.
Befuddle is ended if the victim is attacked. There is no (20-INT)*5
roll to get out of it.
Coordination adds two points of DEX per point of spell rather than
only one.
Endurance restores lost fatigue poits only up to normal maximum
(STR+CON-ENC).
Glamor adds three points of CHA pre point of spell rather than only
two.
An object mended with repair permanently loses one hit point only if
it was reduced to 0 HP.
Initiates may sacrifice for reusable divine magic and regain it as
priests do. They may not learn spirit magic from associate cults. They
may not sacrifice for divination, excommunication, sanctify, spell
teaching, warding, or worship (deity).
Magic points gained from absorption do not add to the caster's own
magic points. They form a pool form which hey may draw to cast spells,
but they do not aid hem in overcoming other persons' magic points or in
resisting enemy spells.
Command (species) is a one-point spell.
Mind-affecting spells do not travel through mindlink.
Reflection reflects all spells less than or equal to it in power.
These spells never get to the protected individual and thus get no
attempt to overcome heir magic points.
Shield does not work exactly like countermagic as far as spells go.
A spell one point stronger than the shield will get through.
Countermagic 4 will stop a 5-point spell but be knocked down in the
process. Shield 2 will not stop the five-point spell but will not be
knocked down, either. If countermagic 4 and shield 2 were combined they
would stop a 9-point spell, but the countermagic would be knocked down.
Warding requires that magic points be put into it when the spell is
cast. This number of magic points is used to overcome the magic points
of enemies crossing the boundary in order to damage them.
A sorcerer may not raise the intensity, duration, or range level of
a spell beyond heir percentage in the appropriate skill divided by 5.
The free INT limit for manipulation still applies. Thus a sorcerer with
a Duration skill of 33% may not cast spells with a duration level higher
than 6 (duration of 640 hours).
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