Several people have asked about the status of a new gloranthan game... Things have definitely been quiet on this front. Chaosium put on their web page an Issaries Inc. overview statement a month or so ago, but they haven't made any public announcements since. I do know that many of the people I would expect to be involved (or at least know about the latest developments) haven't said anything about it either. I'm not trying to be a (lack of) name dropper, but usually someone in the Megacorp will know about the latest scoop, but not this time. In the end, we all await the next announcement from the only source that really knows: Chaosium. David Miller has been tempted to do away with the Spirit Magic system... I don't have a problem with the general philosophy of getting rid of game mechanics that don't work, but I don't agree with scrapping the spirit magic system. One of the major reasons he cites for doing away it is that his players have too many magic crystals and magic spirits to fuel them. I also imagine that his players probably have a wide variety of spells at their disposal as well. For me, the problem does not lie with the magic system, but the over abundance of magic items, spells, and spirits. Most characters should fear spirit combat. Spirits shouldn't be easy to defeat or easy to bind. Magic crystals are very rare. If people see characters using them, the PC's might become the target of other NPC's who want to steal what they have. Spells should be difficult to obtain, especially the more combat oriented ones. I like the idea that the PC's have to bargain with Shamans, etc. to get a spell. Money shouldn't really even be a factor. Magic is powerful, but also RARE. Do the Lunars have air spirits, etc. etc. etc... I feel that somewhere in the Lunar empire there is a group of worshippers for just about anything. That doesn't make their spells available in the mainstream. If the players want access to all manner of spells, I don't see how they could find the time to be that ACTIVE in all the different religions necessary to encompass that many types of spells. Most cults expect a certain level of devotion and time committment before they would allow you to use their cult magics. In many ways, I like the idea that many cult magics are only available as one use to all but the most devout. A Multitude of Stats... Whether it's adding VIT, PRE, DIV, ETC to the game, I'm always leary of new stats. I think that there are probably already too many, and if a new system does come out, it will probably have far fewer. For those of you still looking for RQ3 products... In the end, one of the biggest concerns I have is the lack of a new system, especially when Avalon Hill has put all current RQ3 stuff in the closeout bin. Buy what's left while you can. I don't think there will be anything new from official sources for quite some time. If you have trouble locating anything for RQ3 because you can't find a local store, you're probably left with surfing the world-wide web, where most RQ3 products are still available from online game stores. If you don't have web access, send me an email and I can forward you a few phone numbers from some of the online stores. Take Care, Rick Meints, Education, Training & Development, 8-737-2126 Mobile: 0976-686-454 Internet: RMeints_at_e-mail.com ------------------------------
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