Subject: RuneQuest Digest Volume 8, no 4
Comments: Revision @(#)v8n04 1.2 92/09/22
An interesting article by David Cheng. This was also
posted to rec.games.frp.misc, but what I found there
had a couple of typos/transmission errors.
If you want to discuss David's proposals, send your
comments to RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM
--------------------
From: David Cheng
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 92 22:54:08 EDT
Subject: Variant Rune Magic
RUNE POWER BLASPHEMY
Variant Rules for Divine Magic
by David Cheng
-------------------------------------------------------
Emma, a Sartarite woman, is an initiate of Ernalda.
Because the omens for the next planting season are bad,
she goes to her temple and sacrifices three points of
characteristic power for three uses of Bless Crops.
Emma is also a wife and mother. It is her duty to
protect her home and children when a party of trolls
raids the family stead one night.
Nobody said it would be a fair fight. While the
other members of the household are fighting outside, a
fanatic Zorak Zorani crashes through the door. Emma
does her best to defend the children, but she is quickly
overcome. Battered into unconsciousness, she feels her
life slipping away. (In game terms, Emma is at one
total hit point, and losing blood from wounds.) Emma
knows that unless she gets some serious healing, her
beloved children will soon follow her into the
afterlife.
Ernalda, her patron, is able to grant the divine
spell Heal Body. Emma has recently sacrificed three
points of power to Ernalda. But, because it was for the
wrong spell, Emma's life slips away...
-------------------------------------------------------
Why does Emma have to die? Why do the current
rules say that Ernalda cannot intervene to save her
faithful worshipper without a full divine intervention?
Emma has sacrificed for three points of rune magic,
right? Why is it that Ernalda can't exercise some
judgement in how that rune magic is granted?
THE PROPOSED VARIANT
Instead of sacrificing for specific spells,
worshippers (initiates and up) should just sacrifice for
divine points, or rune points (I'll use these terms
interchangeably). These divine points would be "spent"
for divine magic, upon demand, from the appropriate
deity.
Divine points can be spent on any divine spell
offered by the deity. The player decides what spell he
wants at the time of casting, not at the time of
sacrifice.
Initiates get their divine points non-reusably,
just like current divine magic sacrifices. Acolytes,
priests, and lords get their points back through prayer,
just like the current system. Unless, of course, they
call for spells which are listed as non-reusable. As
with the current system, initiates do not have access to
spells that are defined as non-reusable for priests.
--------------------------------------------------
Paraeus the initiate begins an adventure in Pavis
with four Humakt divine points, having previously
sacrificed four points of characteristic power at his
temple.
Early on, Paraeus suspects that a certain "Swifty"
is trying to sell him and his buddies a bogus map. He
decides he needs some magical perception, and so asks
Humakt for a Detect Truth spell. He is now down to
three divine points.
Later, as they are wandering in the Rubble, he and
his party are attacked by trolls. Never one to shirk a
good fight, he calls for a Truesword, and Humakt gladly
obliges. Seeing that Paraeus is such a tough opponent,
the troll shaman sends a ghost to attack him in spirit
combat. This is one foe he cannot parry, so Paraeus
feels the need to call upon Humakt for a point of Spirit
Block (a common divine spell), and again is answered.
Paraeus' group goes on to win the fight, collect a small
sum of loot, and stumble back to New Pavis, only to be
taxed heavily upon their re-entry...
------------------------------------------------------
Note how Paraeus was able to call for any spell
Humakt is able to grant, as the situation warranted.
Not that he got off easy, however. Over the course of
one short adventure, he spent three POW worth of divine
magic. It will probably take Paraeus at least a year to
gain that amount of POW back, whether he plans on
sacrificing for more divine points or not.
A DIFFERENT WAY OF RATIONALIZING DIVINE MAGIC
As currently written, the RQ rules portray divine
magic as kind of a "holy hand grenade." A divine spell
is powerful magic your deity "gives" you. Once the god
hands it over, he or she has no control over how or when
you actually use the spell. You "pay" for it by
sacrificing characteristic power.
By adopting this variant, I suggest you view divine
magic not as a holy hand grenade, but instead as a
"divine favor," kind of like a limited divine
intervention. The deity, and thus the gamemaster,
retains some ownership. The character still controls
what spell he asks for. The gods are not omniscient,
and their attention is usually not on the inner world
(the physical plane), even when a worshipper calls for
divine magic. The god "trusts" that the worshipper is
asking for an appropriate spell. Note: as gamemaster,
you might want to intercede at this point. By going
with this philosophy, the flexibility, and
responsibility, is there for you to control the game if
you need to.
Because the character has a magical relationship
with his god, and because he previously sacrificed some
POW, he can "call the favor." This favor is answered in
the form of a predictable, magical effect: a divine
spell.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GREAT COMPROMISE?
The divine point concept fits within the
restrictions of the Great Compromise. Yes, a worshipper
has more flexibility with the magic he can call for.
But, he is still constrained to the divine spells
offered by the god. The flexibility allowed is totally
within the scope of the god. Worshippers can not create
new spells just by spending divine points - such an act
would violate the Compromise.
Let's look at two fanatical Orlanthi priests.
Hakon Cloudson spends all his POW on Cloud Call. Borali
Thunderfist spends all his POW on Thunderbolt. Both
have 20 points of their favorite spell, and practically
no other rune spells. Does either of these priests
violate the Great Compromise when they cast all their
points in one big spell? No. By adopting the divine
point variant, a character is free to wander between
these two extremes, but gains no "new" powers.
POINTS TO PONDER
Below are some observations on how the divine point
concept will affect your game, and some suggestions on
how to work out potential rules glitches.
WILL THIS MAKE RUNE MAGIC OVERPOWERED?
In the campaigns I have been involved with, rune
magic, even reusable rune magic, was a very precious
thing. The characters struggled for months of real time
to get POW increases, so they could spare a point or two
to sacrifice for a spell. Those spells were only used
when things really got bad.
Half the reason I developed this idea comes from my
belief that divine magic is underpowered, especially for
initiates. I think having magic from a god should make
a character tough! The character is sacrificing some of
his spiritual essence, his soul, for the benefit of a
magical effect - often for only one use. Let it be
worth it!
Acolytes, Priests, and Lords: Yes, they will be
much tougher, because their divine points are reusable.
These people are Rune Masters; they should stand far
above the average person. They should be magically
imposing!
Why are these people running around adventuring?
They have full-time duties. Most of their divine points
will go to pedestrian spells like Spellteaching and
Divination - and not Divinations for personal use
either! The flock that supports the priest with tithes
expects to be spiritually supported. Just as the
craftsman makes things for the community, the priest
"makes magic" for the community, (assisted by acolytes).
Acolytes are expected to give 50% of their time to
the temple, priests and lords must give 90%. Remember,
a priest's 10% free time is probably more like one hour
per ten, not one week per ten. Make the player
characters feel the burden of responsibility. Consider
insisting they semi-retire the character, except for
when there is a threat to the community so great that it
warrants "calling up" the Rune Masters.
Of course, some people prefer high-power, Rune
Master-dominated campaigns. See "Game Balance" below,
for some different suggestions.
MAJOR AND MINOR GODS
You will notice that the powerful deities have
longer divine spell lists than the minor deities. Thus,
worshippers of major gods will have a wider selection of
magic to call upon. This makes sense: worshippers of
major gods should be more magically powerful than
worshippers of minor gods.
BEING AN INITIATE OF MORE THAN ONE CULT
Characters that belong to more than one cult should
maintain separate divine point tallies. Of course,
divine points held from one god cannot be used to get
divine magic from another god.
--------------------------------------------------
Paraeus is an initiate of both Humakt and Orlanth.
After the Pavis Rubble adventure, his character sheet
might say "Humakt divine points = 1, Orlanth divine
points = 2." Paraeus can only spend his Orlanth points
on divine spells that Orlanth himself offers.
--------------------------------------------------
CASTING RUNE MAGIC AGAINST A WORSHIPPER OF THE SAME
RELIGION
A god will not grant a Divine Intervention against
one of his own worshippers. Thus, when viewing rune
magic as a "limited Divine Intervention," I suggest that
a deity should not provide an offensive rune spell
against one of his own; no feuding Yelmies Sunspear-ing
each other, etc. Of course, if the god had a reason to
strongly favor one worshipper over another, he might
consent. Perhaps Orlanth is a bit angry with his
Colymar followers for embracing the Red Moon, and would
favor any tribes who are fighting the Colymar...
DIVINE MAGIC FROM ASSOCIATE DEITIES
Back in the Godtime, the gods shared magical
secrets with their friends, and stole powers from their
enemies. Because of this, they can still grant their
worshippers those powers, in the form of associate
divine spells.
To cast associate divine magic, a character just
spends divine points normally. Of course, the
worshipper is restricted to only the spell or two that
his deity has access to.
Back in the Godtime, Issaries showed Orlanth a
magical way to keep his belongings safe. From this act
Orlanth now knows the spell Lock. That is why an
Orlanth worshipper can spend Orlanth rune points to cast
Lock. He doesn't need to sacrifice to Issaries.
However, Lock is the only Issaries divine spell that the
worshipper can get from Orlanth.
RUNE MAGIC FROM SUB-CULTS
A character can only call for the rune spells of
sub-cults he belongs to. For example, a foreign Humakti
could not get the Indrodar Greydog spell Release Zombie
(as seen in Tales #5). Release Zombie is only available
to Humakti in the Lismelder tribe of Sartar, and only to
those Humakti who have actually joined the sub-cult.
ISSARIES SPELL TRADING
During the Spell Trading ritual, each participant
actually casts their spell. The ritual serves to
capture the spells before they take effect, and deliver
them to the respective trading partners. So, each
trader spends the divine points to cast the appropriate
spell normally.
THANATARI HEAD STEALING
The Create Head ritual enslaves the victim's
spirit. The Thanatari can then force the bound spirit
to use its rune points to cast spells.
As the current write-up states, minor heads provide
only one-use rune points.
Major heads can get rune points squeezed out of
them reusably, if the Thanatari sacrifices his own POW
to do so. I believe this is compatible with the idea of
rune points. Think of it this way: the bound Rune
Master has an especially strong tie to the runes of his
god (remember, only a head that has reusable rune points
to begin with can grant reusable points to its Thanatari
master). The Create Major Head ritual allows the
Thanatari to manipulate that victim's runic ties, and to
get those runic powers reusably. Perhaps this is why
Thanatari are so hated, feared, and persecuted!
TRUESTONE
The holder of the truestone spends divine points to
cast a specific spell. That spell is held in the stone,
to be released later. I do not think that truestone
should be allowed to hold "raw" divine points.
But, if you like the idea of raw divine points, I
would suggest that only worshippers of that deity could
use them to call for divine magic. A non-worshipper
lacks the runic ties to be able to call for divine
magic. Perhaps non-worshippers could use the raw divine
points to summon elementals (i.e. Storm god divine
points are good for summoning sylphs, Sea god points to
summon undines, etc.)?
GAME BALANCE
Obviously, adopting the rune point system will make
your rune magic-using characters more powerful. They
will be able to call upon most of the spells their deity
offers, as the situation warrants. It will be harder to
design adventures because of this new player character
flexibility. Rune magic-using NPC's will also get
tougher.
What steps can be taken to prevent characters from
becoming unreasonably powerful? Below are some optional
suggestions to keep the rune point concept reasonable.
Mix and match them as you see fit. (Hint: even if you
don't adopt the rune point idea, many of these
suggestions could apply to regular rune magic too.)
MAKE IT TOUGHER TO GET DIVINE POINTS
Too many players think having some excess POW
obliges them to sacrifice it for divine magic. There is
a ritual involved, officiated by your priest. What have
you done for the temple lately, for the priest lately,
that he would allow you to sacrifice that POW?
Let's also look at the common "adventurer on the
road" situation. Perhaps Paraeus is in a foreign
temple, where nobody knows him. Will his host spend a
precious Divination to ask Humakt about Paraeus'
standing in the cult? What has Paraeus done for this
temple, that he should be allowed to sacrifice for more
divine points?
The gamemaster should be willing add some roleplay
to the ritual of divine sacrifice. This gives the
gamemaster more control over the divine magic in the
campaign. A word of caution: do not overlook the
responsibility of making decisions like this. The GM
should not arbitrarily deny a request for new magic, or
the players might feel betrayed.
If the character has not been a good temple citizen
lately, let the player know that the chances of getting
new divine points are slim. This is an excellent
springboard for adventures. In exchange for the
"privilege" of sacrificing, the characters might have to
perform some favor (big or small) for the priest. This
is part of the roleplay behind the initiate's 10% time
requirement.
Another way to limit the availability of divine
points is to say a character can only sacrifice during a
cult seasonal holy day. This is easy to rationalize:
the donation of spiritual essence (POW) can only take
place when the god is closer to the world, during the
suspension of Time that accompanies a worship ceremony.
MAKE IT TOUGHER TO RENEW DIVINE POINTS
Again, I suggest adding some role play to the
renewal of rune magic. Normally, the character spends-
one-day-in-prayer-for-each-point-to-recover. Pure
rules. What is happening during that day of prayer?
The character is giving his god information. Because of
the Great Compromise, the gods find it difficult to do
anything new. This includes learning things on their
own. Worshippers have to provide the gods with new
knowledge, through prayer.
How about a dialogue with the god? Perhaps the
deity insists that you tell him what you did with that
rune magic you cast, before he agrees to renew it. As
game master, perhaps you think the deity might
disapprove of how those rune points were spent. Did a
Sword of Humakt cast Shield just so he could retreat
from a combat? Maybe Humakt punishes the cowardice by
not renewing those points until the Sword goes back and
slays the foe that drove him off. Perhaps Kyger Litor
is offended that her priestess traded away some rune
magic to an untrustworthy Issaries Goldentongue, and
refuses to renew the points until atonement is made.
Remember, your god will know if you try to lie...
A word of caution: don't punish characters because
they beat up your monsters too efficiently. Punish them
for acting in a way the god would not approve of.
Another restriction could be to say Rune Masters
can only renew rune points on seasonal holy days. This
can be pretty severe, but if you feel that there is too
much reusable rune magic flying around your campaign,
this will definitely put a damper on things. If you
take this approach, I would remind you again about
temple duties. How many rune points will a priest spend
tending his NPC flock each season? What effect will
this have on his rune point tally for an adventure,
especially as he gets further from the last holy
day/renewal? Casting rune spells is part of a priest's
everyday duty; try telling the worshippers "sorry, I'm
saving up for an adventure on my day off."
MAKE IT TOUGHER TO BECOME AN ACOLYTE/PRIEST/LORD
An obvious one: don't just have the player make a
few skill rolls to qualify for Rune Master. Have
adventures where the candidate proves his worthiness,
maybe he won't survive!
My personal favorite is to add a new skill
requirement: Cult Lore. Doesn't it make sense that to
move up in the temple hierarchy, an initiate must show a
good knowledge of the cult legends? Perhaps a minimum
of 50% to qualify for acolyte, 80% for priests and
lords.
I also think the importance of the Ceremony skill
is underplayed. Certainly a priest should be well
versed in cult rituals? Would you want the priest
bungling your baptism, or wedding, or burial? In a
magical world like Glorantha, think of the
consequences... Again, acolytes might need at least 50%
in Ceremony, 80% for priests and lords.
To make it even tougher, impose minimums for
Enchant and Summon too.
LIMIT, OR EVEN DO AWAY WITH, ACOLYTES
I have a theory that acolytes are a rules
construct, to allow player characters reusable divine
magic without the burden of full priesthood. Too many
of these pesky guys around, throwing all that reusable
divine magic? Do away with them! We got along without
them just fine in RQ2...
A more moderate stance would be to limit the number
of acolytes in any temple hierarchy. A priest can only
have so many helpers around, and the community can only
support so many. If the gamemaster doesn't want a
character becoming an acolyte (or even a priest), tell
the player there are no vacancies. It's your world.
INITIATES AND ACOLYTES STILL SACRIFICE FOR SPECIFIC
SPELLS
A deity will obviously favor his priests and lords
above all other worshippers. Perhaps this "special
bond" is necessary for the use of rune points.
Initiates and acolytes are not yet ready for the fuller
power of the god, and thus can only be trusted with
specific spells. Of course, a mission of great
importance, or a heroquest, might prove to the god that
a special initiate or acolyte is trustworthy enough to
handle the flexibility of rune points.
A more generous gamemaster might allow acolytes
rune points, but keep the restriction on initiates.
WATCH OUT FOR THOSE TRICKSTERS!
Thanks go out to George Harris for noticing that
Tricksters will be unmanageably gross if you give them
reusable divine points. Imagine all those nasty magical
pranks, totally at the trickster's beck and call! Three
solutions come to mind:
1) Tricksters are an exception. The character must
travel to a shrine to "learn" the spell available at
that shrine. From then on, however, the trickster can
call upon that spell using divine points, as normal.
2) All trickster spells become one-use. They
retain the ability to call upon any spell, though.
Tricksters will still have an incredible variety to draw
upon, but will only be able to use it sparingly.
3) Impose a Disorder penalty. Recently, Stafford
mentioned that "all tricksters are fools. Half the
time, their pranks backfire." Perhaps you could impose
a significant (50%?) chance of a spell fumbling (which
could be great fun for the gamemaster and other
players).
Most of the resistance to the rune point concept
comes from what it will do to game balance. Yes, game
balance will find a new equilibrium point. Rune points,
admittedly, are more of a philosophy-of-magic idea than
a game balance idea.
The catalyst for the rune point concept comes from
my questioning why the gods are arbitrarily restricted
in the magic they give to worshipper. This just smacks
too much of D&D. I see rune magic more as a miracle
granted, and not an effect pre-packaged and handed over.
The gods are intelligent entities. They are
responsible for the well being of their worshippers.
Why shouldn't they be able to grant any "miracle" within
their scope of abilities? What is the justification for
having to sacrifice for a particular spell beforehand?
One of the great things about RuneQuest is that many of
the rules "make sense" (as much as a fantasy game can,
that is). It makes sense to me that rune magic, being
the miraculous event that it is, should have a bit more
flexibility than it currently is written with.
Thanks go to: Steven Barnes, David Hall, George Harris,
Oliver Jovanovic, Rob Mace, Mike McGloin, Charles
Morehouse, Erich Schmidt, Ross Stites, and James
Wadsley, for their help in the development of this idea.
BOXED INSERT:
MORE BLASPHEMY - LIMITS ON DIVINE INTERVENTION
While we're thrashing the traditions of rune magic,
why not also take a look at the other way gods interact
directly with the world - Divine Intervention.
In Wyrms Footnotes #12, Greg Stafford shares his
views on DI in the article "Divination and Divine
Intervention." Stafford addresses what he sees as game
abuses of DI, things like silly multiple attempts,
teleporting out of danger, and restoring the dead to
life. I would like to suggest a different take on the
question "what is the limitation of a god?". Much like
the rune power variant, I think that the gamemaster
should take significantly more responsibility to
roleplay the way a deity answers a call for DI.
Many players, and gamemasters alike, see Divine
Intervention as a miraculous cure-all. It can teleport
you out of trouble, it can raise the dead, it can
increase stats, et cetera. I ask "How?". How did
Ernalda get the ability to Teleport her worshippers?
How does Magasta restore life to a dead Orlanthi?
A god's runic association, his "theme" if you will,
determines the kind of divine magic that god can grant.
I think the runes should also constrain the Divine
Interventions allowed. Much as rune magic might be seen
as a "limited DI," Divine Intervention might be said to
be "super rune magic." The basic idea: take the god's
spell lists (both divine and spirit) as a rough guide to
the possible effects from DI.
Escaping Danger
For example, I think that only Orlanth and Mastakos
should be able to Teleport their worshippers out of
danger (or anywhere for that matter, using DI). This is
because only these two deities have the rune spell
Teleport. Other Mobility-rune gods might bestow a
similar benefit. Perhaps worshippers of Issaries,
Etyries and Lokarnos might pray and be granted a super-
mobility spell, to outrun their enemies. Looking at
spirit magic spell provided, I might suggest that any
god who can teach the spell Mobility might be able to
grant such a miracle.
What if the character doesn't worship a Mobility
god? Look at the runes. Look at the rune magic and
spirit magic lists. Use your imagination! I might
suggest variations on elementals. Ernalda could have
the earth "swallow up" her worshipper, to be borne to
safety underground by a gnome. Not necessarily far
away, as Ernalda is not a Mobility goddess; just to
safety. Air gods could have sylphs carry an unconscious
initiate away. Sea gods could have an undine knock foes
down, and "wash" the worshipper away to safety. But,
don't be afraid to limit DI; the gods are not
omnipotent! If the Magastan is in the middle of the
Wastes, there can be no undines coming to his rescue.
It's his fault he is too far away for his god to reach.
Magasta will have to think of something else...
Resurrection & Healing
I think a deity should only be able to restore life
to one of his or her own followers. The god has no
mystical link to other souls, and thus cannot pull them
from the path of the dead (An obvious exception would be
any Healing deities, who have special spells to do just
this sort of thing).
A related miracle is healing, usually in the middle
of a battle. An argument could be made that a god who
has no healing magic, spirit or divine, can't do it!
Admittedly, this could be pretty severe in a game. But,
I'm not advocating game balance. My intent is to keep
the gods within their spheres of influence, bound by the
Great Compromise. As an example, Wachaza doesn't offer
his worshippers any healing magic. But, to help a
worshipper through a combat, he might bestow several
points of Seastrength, Bladesharp, Coordination, and
Mobility. If the praying Wachazan is already
unconscious, then maybe he doesn't deserve the patronage
of Wachaza, and is better off dead.
Roleplay the Deity
This is the underlying theme. As gamemaster, you
have to decide what the deity thinks about this prayer
for intervention, and how to respond.
In a DI situation, the god turns his attention
toward the worshipper. Note the contrast to what was
said earlier about calling for divine magic. The god is
not omniscient, so he probably only knows what is in the
mind of the praying worshipper, and any other
worshippers in the immediate area. Using this
information only, the god, as played by the gamemaster,
decides how to intervene. The player can make a
specific request, but the ultimate authority about what
happens rests with the gamemaster.
Don't grant Interventions that don't fit the image
of the god. Humakti or Storm Bulls who ask aid to
escape from a combat should be laughed at, whether they
make the DI roll or not! Humakti and Storm Bulls who DI
to be better fighters have the right idea, and should be
answered appropriately, if the roll is made of course.
Other, less violent gods are more prone to protect and
shelter worshippers in need. Just how they do this is
up to you as well.
= END =