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To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
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Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Wed, 02 Jun 1993, part 3
Precedence: junk
Status: O

The RuneQuest Daily and RuneQuest Digest deal with the subjects of
Avalon Hill's RPG and Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha.

Send submissions and followup to "RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM",
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RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Henk Langeveld)

---------------------

From: f6ri@midway.uchicago.edu (charles gregory fried)
Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Tue, 25 May 1993, part 2
Message-ID: 
Date: 2 Jun 93 01:33:39 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 918

Hello all, this is Greg Fried again.  I was inspired to put together a cult
from my East Isles campaign to send in to the RQ Daily.  SOme of the lines
don't 'turn corners' -- sorry, I haven't mastered all the arts of e-mail.
This is a 'Cult of Terror' -- I hope you enjoy it!

[Well, tell me what computer you use, and maybe I can help.
 I just happened to have the time to re-format your text. -HL]

Uralog The Mouth of the Deep, God of Sea Ghouls

I.  MYTHOS AND HISTORY

	"Each of us who lives from the generosity of Mother Sea and her
bounteous inhabitants knows a certain occasional feeling -- an uneasy
shuddering, an unnamed terror, at swimming in waters that seem to
plunge to unfounded depths.  In the Dreamtime, a nightmare came into
the World during the Great Darkness that enfolded our ancestors.
Uralog, The Mouth, surfaced from the uttermost Deep.  Uralog is that
terror."  -- Parzenda, shaman of Obtoro's clan, Jana tribe, Aldin
Island.

A.  BEFORE TIME BEGAN

	In the Golden Age, the Waters that surrounded lovely and
perfect perimeter of Earth stretched outwards to the very winds that
swirl at the edge of the World on the brink of the Chaos beyond.  But
the Waters reached down also, down to unimaginable depths.  There too,
at the uttermost edge, tremendous currents separate the World from
Chaos.  But when the cosmos underwent its awful stress during the Great
Darkness, the rents in the fabric of Being ran down to these very
depths as well.  Chaos surged through, and one of its manifestations
was Uralog, the Mouth of the Deep.  The cravings of the Mouth soon
became apparent.  Appearing as a gigantic, churning whirlpool, it
lusted to suck things of the surface world down to the deepest depths,
from which they never returned.  The Mouth began to eat away at the
edge of the Earth herself, devouring the daughters and granddaughters
of Gata and Ernalda.  In the Chaos Wars, great regions were drawn below
the sea and lost forever, sucked down the maw of Uralog, down the
monster's winding gullet to the nothingness of Chaos below.  Relief
from this onslaught came only when Ezroth [an important god in my East
Isles campaign], the god of Ocean Storm, son of Umath and Triolina,
drove Uralog from the surface waters, severing his gullet from the
Chaos below.  But many lands were now permanently lost, or separated
from Earth as islands and supported above the waves only by the
sacrifice of Ezroth below, whom Earth lovingly thanks.

And still, the Mouth lurks beneath the surface, yearning to gobble when
it can.

B.  SINCE TIME BEGAN

	Not a deity much given to subtlety, Uralog has had little
impact on events since its first horrific entrance into the World.  But
Time may yet again see a widespread return of this deity, and indeed,
its worshipers prophesy the restoration of Uralog's gullet at the End
of the World.

C.   LIFE AFTER DEATH

	Worshipers fervently hope to be buried at Sea, far out where
the shelf of Land does not extend beneath the surface.  They
believe they will then sink endlessly, finally to be caught up
in the maw of Uralog, perhaps to be turned into sea ghouls.

D.  RUNIC ASSOCIATIONS

	Uralog is associated with the Runes of Water, Chaos, and
Undead.

II.  NATURE OF THE CULT

A.  REASON FOR CONTINUED EXISTENCE

	As long as a primordial fear of the vast depths of the Water
remains among mortal races, Uralog will have power over those who
drown.  The MouthUs cult also possesses strange and fearsome magics
which attract twisted mortal followers.

B.   SOCIAL/POLITICAL POSITION AND POWER

	Except when it thoroughly takes over an island, the cult rarely
has any political power.  Most sane societies abominate Uralog,
destroying its worshipers wherever found.

C.  PARTICULAR LIKES AND DISLIKES

	The Mouth is a loner among the gods, even those of Chaos.  It
feels most comfortable amidst the undead.  The cult loves to destroy
Earth and its worshipers, and its mortal enemies are Ezroth and related
cults.

III.  ORGANIZATION

A.  INTER-CULT ORGANIZATION

	Sometimes this cult gains political power over a large area.
In such rare instances, a powerful high priest may gain dominance over
inferior priests.  When the cult has no such open dominion, relations
between temples is tenuous.

B.  INTRA-TEMPLE ORGANIZATION

	Each temple is ruled by a single priest .  Anyone may challenge
this rule, but all losers in such a struggle are sacrificed to Uralog.

C.  CENTER OF POWER, HOLY PLACES

	By its nature, the Mouth resides in the fathomless depths of
the Ocean, and thus has no localized place of worship -- 'places' are a
thing of the Earth and something that Uralog is bent on destroying.
Nevertheless, there are island and coastal areas upon which the Mouth
left marks of its passing, and these are sacred to the cult.
Sharkthrow Cleft, a chasm separating Dry and Hellet islands in the
Bansora archipelago is such a place.

D.  HOLY DAYS AND HIGH HOLY DAYS

	Weekly: Wildday; seasonally: Death week; high holy day: Sea Season.

IV.  Nibblers (Initiates)

	There are two methods of being initiated into the cult of
Uralog.  The first is when a mortal being is on the verge of drowning
and prays to Uralog: on a roll equal to POW as a %, that person dies
and is 'saved' as sea ghoul.  The second method can be practiced by the
still-living.  Like many Chaos cults, this one is also highly
secretive, and carefully screens and recruits worshipers. Candidates
must pass a test abstracted as STR+CON+POW as percentages, plus Swim
divided by 5%, plus man-catcher skill divided by 5%, plus 5% for each
sacrificial victim brought to the cult.  Failure in this test means
being sacrificed to Uralog.  Nibblers may hear the howls of ghouls
without fear, and even associate with these  undead horrors without
being attacked out of hand.  Nibblers are taught swim and man-catcher
skills for free, when the teachers have time.  Nibblers may gain
one-use divine magic, and may, with a priest's ritual assistance, cast
Create Ghoul upon themselves.  The cult forbids light and fire spells.
All cultists must learn the cult spell Detect Sentient Life.

Special Cult Skill: The cult instructs members in the use of the cult
specialty weapon, the man-catcher (special damage; STR/DEX: -/9; Enc:
2; BS: 5%; AP: 10; SR 1).  This pole arm has a horseshoe shaped head
whose two prongs, which have inward barbs, come close to meeting.  At
the base of this head, is a blade protruding from the head of the
shaft.  The weapon does a meagre d6 of damage on a hit.  But on a
special success, the two prongs are flexible, and the opponent will be
caught in the "mouth" between the two arms and prevented from escaping
by the barbs (DEX x 1% to escape; failure results in d4 damage on the
barbs, and the Mouth cultist gets to roll an attack to see if this
damage is a critical to avoid armor).  The attacker may then attempt to
force the captive down (STR + man-catcher skill divided by 4 vs. SIZ
+DEX), or stab at the snared victim with the point that protrudes
between the arms (d6+1, and can impale) at double attack %, and the
victim may only dodge at one half skill.  This weapon is used to
capture sacrificial victims.

Special Cult Spirit Magic: Detect Sentient Life.  Ranged, Temporal
Active.  This spell will operate like a Detect Enemies spell, except it
finds any living creature with free intelligence.

V.  Chompers (Acolytes)

	The initiate must have been a Nibbler for at least one season
and must bring at least one sacrificial victim before the cult.  He
must have 90% in one of the skills required of a Gobbler (see below).

VI.  Gobblers (Rune Lords)

	A candidate for Rune Lord status must have been a Chomper for
at least one year and have a POW of 15.  He must bring five victims for
sacrifice to Uralog.  He must have 90% skill in man-catcher, plus 90%
in four more of the following skills (being a ghoul counts for one of
these): weapon attack, weapon or shield parry, missile weapon, hide,
sneak, swim, boat, shiphandling.

VII.  Mouths (Priests)

	An acolyte may become a Mouth in one of two ways, and first he
must possess a POW of 18 and 5 points of divine magic.  Either
the Chomper must challenge and defeat the current temple
priest, or he must succeed in a Ceremony skill on the high holy
day and then move away to form his own temple.  Uralog divine
magic:  all common divine spells (including Find Water, Find
Corpse, Summon Undine) except Heal Wound, plus special spells
Howl, Drown, Create Ghoul, Whirlpool, Summon Mouth, Devour
Earth, Command Undine, Command Ghoul.  Special Cult Divine
Magic:

Undines:  Uralog's cult summons vile, polluted undines.  They cannot
purify water.  When attacking any being attached by nature or cult to
the Earth Rune, the undine acts as an acid of potency equal to one
third the elemental's POW.  Attacks from Storm based magic does double
damage to these befouled undines.

Howl: 1 point; Ranged, Temporal, Nonstackable, Reusable.  Grants the
caster the power to Howl like a ghoul (qv. RQ III Creatures Book).
(Initiates of the cults of Ezroth, Aethellin and Varla -- gods who
defeated Uralog in the Mythtime -- are immune to this spell.)

Drown: 1 point; Ranged, Temporal, Nonstackable, Reusable.  See the
Wachaza spell in Gods of Glorantha.  Does 1D8 of damage to the chest of
any air-breathing target who is overcome.  The Breathe Water spell
makes a target immune to this spell.

Create Ghoul:  2 points; Ritual, Nonstackable, Reusable.  This spell
may be cast on a willing or unwilling target.  The target must be
drowned either ritually on a cult holy day or by a cult undine.  If
cast on an unwilling victim, the caster must overcome the dying
target's POW.  If the attack is successful, the victim becomes a ghoul
in the caster's service; if this attack fails, the spell is lost as a
reusable spell and must be sacrificed for again.  The caster may apply
this spell to himself in a dying moment, if he is in water, and so
become a ghoul himself.

Whirlpool:  2 points; Ranged, Temporal, Nonstackable, Reusable.  This
spell must be coupled with a Summon Undine spell.  It then creates a
swirling vortex which sucks victims below with the strength of the
appropriate Undine.

Summon Mouth: 3 points; Ritual, Temporal, Nonstackable, Reusable.  This
spell brings into being a gaping void in which anything sacrificed or
thrown is lost forever.  It can only be summoned and placed at the
bottom of a Whirlpool summoned by the cult divine spell.  The void is
about one meter/yard across.  (If a cultist succeeds in a Ceremony
skill while tossing a victim into the Mouth, Uralog will grant the
cultist 1/10th of the victim's POW (rounding down) in Magic Points over
and above the cultist's normal MPs.  The cultist can retain these extra
MPs only if on each cult holy day he sacrifices an equal amount of
temporary POW and succeeds with a Ceremony skill.  Ghoul cultists
employ this gift of the god to keep unbody and unsoul together!  The
cultist may wish to waive this benefit when engaged in the Devour Earth
ritual.)

Devour Earth:  3 points; Ritual, Nonstackable, Non-reusable.  This
spell is non-standard in many ways.  It is employed by the cult to
destroy Earth.  Practically, this may only be done to islands.  The
ritual is elaborate.  When using the spell Devour earth, the priest
must also create a sacrificial alter by casting Summon Undine,
Whirlpool and Summon Mouth.  Each casting of these spells in
conjunction with the Devour Earth renders them one-use, but the alter
will remain in place until the ritual is completed -- but if the alter
is destroyed, the ritual is ruined.  For the Devour Earth to succeed,
the priest must sacrifice a minimum of 1000 points of POW of living,
sentient beings to Uralog for every square mile of land to be swallowed
up; this land must be one unit, ie, the spell cannot swallow part of an
island or continent -- it must go for the whole thing.  Initiates of
Earth cults confer three times their POW when sacrificed for the
ritual, acolytes five times, and rune levels ten times.  Earth cult
artifacts sacrificed also aid the ritual, at the GM's discretion.  As
the ritual builds, a band of water surrounding the island will get
progressively choppier and more disturbed.  When sufficient POW has
been sacrificed, the priest must succeed in a Ceremony roll, and then
this band of water will rise up in a gigantic tidal wave and engulf the
island!   Such a drowned island becomes "ghoulish".  (Uralog cannot
utterly annihilate Land, since Ezroth severed his gullet in Mythtime.)
All life upon such land must resist the POW of the priest, or become
ghoulishly undead upon drowning in the ensuing flood.  The whole place
radiates the mark of chaos.   All ghouls produced are subject to the
priest's control.   No plant life will grow unless watered with blood.
Even if the cult is wiped out on such an island, it will remain a dead,
chaotic land until it is taken over and thoroughly purified by Earth
cults.

VIII.  SUBSERVIENT CULTS

A.  SPIRIT OF REPRISAL

	Depending on the gravity of their transgression, cultists who
displease the mouth may be attacked by the Little Mouths, which operate
as standard spirits of reprisal.  These manifest themselves as small
whirlpools with gaping holes beneath them which engulf the apostate.
Very serious offenders may be attacked by a Whirlpool or even a Summon
Mouth spell sent by the deity.

IX.  ASSOCIATED CULTS

	The only associated cult is Primal Chaos, which grants use of
the divine spell Chaos Gift.

X.  MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

A.  Sea Ghouls

	The undead creatures created by this cult are standard, except
that they have slightly webbed hands and feet and swim about
quite happily (MR 5).  Their undead, grey flesh is sleek and
glossy, and will not rot if they keep themselves well fed.
They take double damage from the magics of the Ezroth,
Aethellin and Varla cults [gods in my campaign].

I hope that wasn't too long!  -- Greg

---------------------

From: davidc@cs.uwa.edu.au (David Cake)
Subject: Cute idea for sorcery in RQ4
Message-ID: <9306020358.AA25117@cs.uwa.edu.au>
Date: 2 Jun 93 04:05:19 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 919

	I strongly feel that sorcery in RQ4 should be compatible with RQ3, to
the extent that existing powerful sorcerers remain powerful, that spells do the
same thing as they did before - or at least do similar things and have the same
name.
	However, I have just thought of a reasonable way to add the spontaneous
formulaic dichotomy that people like from Ars Magica without changing the rules,
only adding to them. Unfortunately this makes sense only to people with RQ4,
but here it is anyway.
	We already have the concepts in the skill system of inclusive skills,
and complementary skills. Ie acting includes mimicry, acrobatics includes 
balance and armory is a complementary skill to bargaining when bargaining about
armour. Why not implement the skills necessary for 'formulaic' spells in this 
manner. For play bablance they would be hard or very hard magic skills, and thus
very difficult to get to high levels in, but they would be pretty nifty.
	Some examples -
	Fred the Fire mage has general Fire magic at 70%. This includes animate
fire and manipulate fire, so he has those at 70% automatically, and can use them
freely. He meets an unusual fire spirit, and the GM asks him to make a spirit 
Lore roll, but with Fire Magic as a complementary skill. He attacks it, and 
tells the GM he wishes to cast a spell to cause it to stop buring so hot. The
Gm tells him that this is Smother, a spell he doesn't have. So he must improvise
on the spot. He makes a Fire Magic roll, he makes an Intx3 roll (for 
concentrating in combat), and takes two actions to formulate the spell. 
He suceeds, and attacks with a special Smother attack that works only versus
Fire creatures (and for this creature, causes it to burn less brightly).
	A poweful healer has Life magic. She knows no particular spell to ward
against poison, but want to help her friend. The GM may allow her Life magic
skill to act as a complementary skill to her treat poison, if she uses some 
MPs in various charms. He may also allow her to attempt to create a special
purpose spell useful against the Scorpion venom, utilising parts of the dead
Scorpion man nearby, if she asks him in appropriate terms.
	Just two examples - and not meant to show how such a system would
necessarily work, just to convey the flavour. I would probably guess that such
skills would be hard skills for Elemental Rune magic, and very hard for Power
Rune magic, though possibly only medium for possible Form Rune Magic.
	In any case, I welcome input on how to add this nifty complication to
the existing Sorcery rules, and I think perhaps that I'll write it up and send
it to Oliver as a suggestion for RQ4. Much as I liked previous attempts at
fancy sorcery systems, they lacked the compatibility with RQ3 that I think is
essential if RQ4 is to suceed. The current situation of a spilt between RQ2 and
RQ3 is bad enough. When RQ4 appears, we want to get all the RQ3 players and
most of the RQ2 players (I'd say all, but I'm a realist) playing it. To do this
we need to keep at least the outward form of RQ3 sorcery, even if we change 
mechanics wuite a bit. RQ3 is one example of a revision that spit its market.
A D&D 2 is another (many people I know play A D & D 1.5). Shadowrun 2 is a ve
example, it was almost completely compatible world wise, and character wise,
its just that the mechanics were much better. That should be one of the main
aims of RQ4 (which I think Oliver, Ken, etc. realise). 
	I think my sorcery idea provides a reasonable example of a way to
add significantly to the mechanics, but still remain back compatible. It also
adds a possible way to add in such mechanics as spell research, special magic
itme creation, and other stuff, if we want it, later. I also think it would
give sorcerers a bit more 'depth' on heroquests etc. without taling away the
'scientist-magician' flvour. So what do people think?
						Dave Cake



	

---------------------

From: 100270.337@CompuServe.COM (Nick Brooke)
Subject: Characteristics and Runes
Message-ID: <930602074401_100270.337_BHB65-1@CompuServe.COM>
Date: 2 Jun 93 07:44:01 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 920

Based on the "Birth of Aether" myth, I tried to put the stats in a 
developmental order.  Excuse me if I wax whimsical below.  Caveat: I do not 
believe there is "One True Way" and am delighted to have my theories 
disputed.  But nothing I've read has yet changed my mind one jot or 
tittle...

Life = POW
What defines a living creature, other than that it has a POW?  Life is, 
after all, a Power Rune.  I'd postulate other species, indeed peculiar 
heroes, who could use different Runes as their source of Power, but that's 
way out of my (tough-initiate level) league.

Darkness = CON (not STR)
Constitution reflects your basic health.  If you're an infant in the womb, 
after life you have health before you can do anything else.  High CON makes 
you fat (like Trolls, creatures of Darkness).  Trollkin are plausibly more 
"unhealthy" than weak, if I'm to argue against you on your own terms.  Add 
Darkness to a base human and he becomes a fat lazy slob: I've met some.  
Darkness per se. has no "physicality".

Water = DEX (not CON)
The image of the eternally moving sea as the changing principle of 
Glorantha inspired this one.  Along with "fluid movements", "running 
water", and the link in GoG between Sea deities and the Coordination spirit 
spell.  That's the baby moving inside you.

Earth = SIZ
"The element of solidity and definite shape.  More Earth means more 
material substance."  We're agreed on this one.  You can see the bulge in 
the mother's belly by now...

Fire = INT (not APP)
One of the basic oppositions of Glorantha is between Yelmic Civilisation 
and Orlanthi Barbarism.  Now, I find that better simulated by the clash of 
Intellect against Brute Strength, rather than that of foppish Appearance 
against swift Dexterity.  Lankhor Mhy's beloved is the Mistress of the 
Light of Knowledge.  Yelm defeats Orlanth because he knows how to behave.  
Birds look lovely because they are the pinnacle of Creation: Storm-Rune 
mammals followed after the perfection of the Golden Age had been broken.  
You tell me, "Fire was never broken."  I tell you, Orlanth killed Yelm 
wielding Humakt, the Sword of Death.  How badly broken can you get?  The 
child is born, and comes out into the light of the world.  It opens its 
eyes...

Air = STR (not DEX)
The primaeval Storm myth has Umath exerting his strength to rip the world 
apart.  Orlanth teaches the Spirit spell of Strength.  If you're about to 
exert yourself, you breathe deeply, filling your lungs for the effort.  The 
baby does this, wails loudly, and starts to break things...

Moon = nothing (not INT)
Your explanation nicely explains why there will be no Lunar characteristic 
until the White Moon is healed.  It does not explain why the existing moons 
should have the attribute of INT.  Maybe the White Moon characteristic 
would be Rationality, or Balance, rather than Intelligence?  But then, I 
don't believe that the Lunars have *yet* added something new to all 
creation, so I didn't want to put them on everyone's character sheets.

Man = APP
Appearance is a measure of whether or not you look like a perfect human 
being.  We know that other species have different standards of beauty, 
while non-human ones are not rated for APP at all.  Maybe elven APP is 
based on the Plant Rune; maybe you could roll a Beast Rune APP to work out 
how fine your horse looked...

Must dash off to work!

Nick