Date: Thu, 1 Apr 93 17:15:08 +0200
From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer)
To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
Subject: The RuneQuest Daily, Thu, 01 Apr 1993
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--
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The RuneQuest Daily is a spin-off of the RuneQuest Digest and deals
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From: bmm2012@tamsun.tamu.edu (Brian Mcdaniel)
Subject: Humans and Elder Races
Message-ID: <9303311843.AA01836@tamsun.tamu.edu>
Date: 31 Mar 93 06:43:19 GMT
On the subject of humans vis a vis other races:
It has always seemed to me that the primary reason that humans have
caused the major events since time (gbaji, ewf, jrusteli empire,
apothesis of red moon, removal of brithos, dormal breaking closing,
etc) relative to other races is that humans are the only race to have
and to only have (qed more purely than anymone else) the man rune.
I intepret this to mean that humans are more independant of the
supernatural than other races, which are bound more closely to the
magical cycles of Glorantha. This gibes with descriptions of pre-Time
when elder races were more numerous and important, because they had
closer associations with their gods.
Time strains the supernatural link, making magic more difficult, and
the gods more removed. Thus races that have strong magical/runic links
will find life more difficult (e.g. trolls w/ darkness and man rune).
Naturally those without the strong link will be better off (humans
that is.)
Furthermore this independance of the supernatural manifests itself in
completely observable traits in society such as flexibility, energy,
progress, individual achievement, etc. Of course this also leads to
hubris, irresponsibility, corruption, and a tendancy to change for the
sake of change. But in sum this makes humans more _intresting_ than
elder races, and that's why the important and intresting things done
since time have been (mostly) from humans.
-Brian McDaniel
bmm2012@tamsun.tamu.edu
P.S. I would like to see a thread about how centaurs fit into
Glorantha.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
email: bmm2012@tamsun.tamu.edu
PGP2 public key anon finger: bmm2012@photon.tamu.edu
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From: marks@slough.mit.edu (Mark S. c/o Tom Yates)
Subject: Humans and Elves
Message-ID: <9303312315.AA16053@Sun.COM>
Date: 31 Mar 93 23:17:54 GMT
ATTACK OF THE HUMANS
I wrote:
>> On the whole humans seem to be a rather pathetic race in Glorantha.
Jeff Okamoto responded:
>Please don't forget that humans *did* take part in the I Fought We Won,
>thus earning themselves a right to inhabit Glorantha.
A good point, and an encouraging one.
>> What does any of us have in common with Jar-Eel, the illuminated immortal
>> daughter of the immortal son of a goddess?
>The first and obvious answer is nothing. On second glance, though, the
>purpose of mythology is to instruct and inspire. The inhabitants of
>Glorantha are luckier than us in this respect, because their heroes and
>gods are immanent.
Well, that's a pleasant way of looking at things. Of course, when
seized by a darker mood one might note that the concept of great
leaders embodying the hopes of a nation seems more than a little
fascistic.
The Staffordian heros whose stories I've found most affecting have
been Argrath and Snodal. They are both human, both flawed and
imperfect, achieving herodom not through birth, nor to force a mystic
ideology down foreigners throats, but instead to protect and preserve
their communities.
STEVEG@ARC.UG.EDS.COM adds,
>So far as the abolition of normal humans goes, I though the sub-text of
>Argrath's achievements as chronicled in KoS - especially the heroquest of
>the spider's net - was the abolition of all these pesky supernatural
>influences leaving the world safe for normal people.
This may be what Argarth tried to do, although given our fragmentary
information it's hard to tell. Still, the post Argarth era doesn't
seem to be a golden age of humanity. If all the gods did go away, I
wonder how this affected elves and trolls whose societies seems very
closely connected to their gods.
Speaking of Elves
marks@slough.mit.edu writes
>> You also ignore the slightly significant fact that as an elf she
>> has to hibernate each winter!
Steve also said,
>Don't forget that pine elves stay awake, keeping darkness pests at bay, all
>winter, so could well get MORE checks then than during the rest of the
>year.
Ah, mon amime, I carefully considered that possibility, and rejected
it. Apply the little grey cells to Zeronian deduction and you will
see that this elf was no green elf! Her initial stats were too high.
Green elf females are, on average, smaller of body and spirit than
most other elves.
In any event, even if she were a green elf, there was no way, under
the rules, that she could have received more skill check than the
original post postulated.
>The point still stands that she is getting skill improvements about three
>times as fast as a human of the same skill, whichever way you look at it.
>But this has been true to some extent in all versions of the system; but is
>amplified at RQ3. At RQ2 the INT% chance of getting a gain for skills > 5%
>would have reduced the advantage to about 1.5fold.
And there are still those of us who don't see how this is a problem,
given that the character (bogus or not) has both superhuman
intelligence and dexterity.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Sabalauskas-Marks@slough.mit.edu
---------------------------
"There is always more misery amoung the lower classes than
there is humanity in the higher."
Victor Hugo
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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From: STEVEG@ARC.UG.EDS.COM (Entropy needs no maintenance)
Subject: Re: The RuneQuest Daily, Wed, 31 Mar 1993
Message-ID: <01GWH4V1UJSI000O1Q@UG.EDS.COM>
Date: 31 Mar 93 16:20:15 GMT
S.Phillips@vme.glasgow.uk.ac asks :-
>>Does anyone know if Alarums & Excursions is still going?
Send sterling or $ to Lee Gold, 3965, Alla Rd, Los Angeles
CA 90066 USA
cost ~$2/issue+postage or ~$2/page + free postage. Issue 212 is just out.
>> RQIII spell cost. We have never seemed to work out whether
>> spell cost is cumulative or linear. ie having to pay again
>> for your first point when buying your second.
In our last - admittedly RQ2+ rather than RQ3 based - campaign, we
required e.g. Heal 2 as a prerequsite for buying Heal 3
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From: trystro!rune@Think.COM (Peter Maranci)
Subject: RuneQuest, A&E, and TWH
Message-ID: <9304010801.AA28202@Early-Bird.Think.COM>
Date: 1 Apr 93 07:20:25 GMT
Sam Phillips wrote:
SP> 1) Does anyone know if Alarums & Excursions is still going?..
Yes, it is. The address is:
Lee Gold
3965 Alla Road
Los Angeles, CA
90066
So as not to appear selfless, I'll also mention that The Wild Hunt is
still being published, too (issue #180 came out last week). RuneQuest
material is still frequently included -- I should know, since "Random
RuneQuest" is a regular feature in my own zine in TWH. 8^>}
Other, better known RQ folk have also been known to contribute to TWH.
8^>}
The address for TWH is:
Mark Swanson
40 Bow St.
Arlington, MA 02174