From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer)
To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Wed, 08 Sep 1993, part 2
Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily)
Sender: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM
Precedence: junk
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",
they will automatically be included in a next issue. Try to change the
Subject: line from the default Re: RuneQuest Daily... on replying.
Selected articles may also appear in a regular Digest. If you
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Send enquiries and Subscription Requests to the editor:
RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Henk Langeveld)
---------------------
From: f6ri@midway.uchicago.edu (charles gregory fried)
Subject: It's called the Moon!
Message-ID:
Date: 7 Sep 93 19:11:25 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1565
Greg Fried here.
Nick Brooke:
Thanks for the preview of CREDO! -- it sounds like a lot of fun. Mind you, I
always thought that the excretion of one's own intestines was a sign of
intense hemorrhoids, not an intimation of the grace of God or a good
argument. BUt I will await the game for clarification.
---
Da Moon:
Lots of juicy speculation! This is how I would resolve some of the issues
raised by Nick, Lewis and others. The Red Moon is NOT visible beyond the
Glowline (despite the mention about its visibility in Pamaltela) EXCEPT in
the Sacred Time AND in Lunar temples on Holy Days. The Sacred time is that
period when the cosmos partially reverts to the Mythtime, and within which
cosmic realities are made visible to the mundane world. These suggestions
take care of the problem of Lunar missionaries getting treated like Malkioni
by sceptical victims who can't see the goddess in question.
I would take up Nick's idea that within the Glowline, the Moon is surrounded
by an intense crimson aura, that it still goes through its visible cycles,
but that the aura makes it full for magical and ritual purposes. (This
because I agree that the visible cycling of the Moon would be important to
even Lunar heartland believers.)
All this speculation about the Red Moon/White Moon thing makes me think that
if there were ever to be a Lunar Pack, one really cool scenario would involve
the eventual rebellion of the (supposedly pacifistic!) W Moonies against the
R Moonies. But as many have lamented, we have so little to go on, and I for
one would be loathe to do such work, only to get "Gregged" later.
---
Newton:
I too had hoped for an answer to your Q. I for one have no idea!
---
John Medway:
I thought that the Blue Moon fell to Earth and became the BLue Moon Plateau.
Joerg writes that some of it remains as a dead hulk circling the heavens. In
any case, it now seems Lightless. But I am a bit clueless on this one.
---
Joerg:
Your words of solace on the nasty muckings-about of the God Learners has
indeed cooled down my hapless Balazaring. T'anks!
---
Who knows anything about the tribal distribution across Prax and the Wastes?
Are specific tribes ONLY to be found in certain areas, or do they only
predominate in those areas, or are the various tribes interspersed throughout
the region? In the old Borderlands pack, the map of "The Domain" locates
Morokanth near Bilos Gap, Agimori near Weis Cut, and generic "Beast Riders"
east of Zola Fel and the river valley. If Bison Riders, Rhino riders, etc,
each have their own domain, does anyone know where these are? Also, it is
written (I think) that Praxians herd and ride their totemic beasts.
Obviously, there are exceptions. BUt do Rhino riders eat rhinos? And what
do unicorn riders herd? Or is the distinction that ONLY the major tribes
herd AND ride the same beast?
---
General Comment:
Though we who contribute to the Daily obviously do not sit on the Board of
AH, and we should not get swelled heads about the influence of our musing on
topics like RQLite, I think those who have said that such discussions are
more or less pointless are off the mark. True, our conversations here will
not directly influence publication decisions, but there are those who read
and contribute to the Daily who do publish RQ material, and the Rune Czar
does seem to turn his eye our way. Moreover, as I have said before, the
RQCon is coming up -- a venue where the movers and shakers will be assembled
-- and if there is a marked and thoughtful discussion of what the game
requires for a viable future in an e-venue such as this, it is not unreasonable
to think that this will have its influence when many of us converge and make
our thoughts known at the Con.
And as the last few issues of the Daily demonstrate, it is really just a
matter of a little effort to get folks talking about a topic that interests
you if you are bored by an ongoing discussion. There's room here for a
variety of conversations, no? I should say that I brought up the topic of
RQLite because I live in Chicago, a big city, and I find it hard to get RQ
material in game stores. To me, this implies a substantial problem
with either the marketing or the design of the game, or both. I
thought it was worth some space here to think
about what one response (RQLite) to the problem might be. I really
don't think that the RQLite discussion has reached such proportions
that it demands a separate e-journal! Most of it HAS been at the
general level of what we'd like to see in a new strategy for
propagating the game. I am ready to shut up about it for a while,
though, if the topic is that offensive to many of you. ;)
GF out.
---------------------
From: appel@soda.berkeley.edu (Shannon D. Appel)
Subject: Re: Article too large: rq-id: 1550
Message-ID: <9309071916.AA23913@soda.berkeley.edu>
Date: 7 Sep 93 05:16:34 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1566
>I've uploaded this to soda as "x-rq-id.1550".
There's a copy of this message (the cult of Gyzar) under the directory
/pub/runequest/cults/gyzar. I plan to eventually archive all of the
cults that have appeared on the RQ Digest/Daily in that directory (to
make it easier to access them).
Shannon
---------------------
From: mace@lum.asd.sgi.com (Rob Mace)
Subject: assorted stuff
Message-ID: <9309082014.AA06607@lum.asd.sgi.com>
Date: 8 Sep 93 06:14:16 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1567
Greg Fried writes:
>
> Why was there no Moon in
> the Gloranthan sky at the time of the Red Moon's rise?
How about because that Moon was one of the forgotten gods that was
destroyed by Chaos. We know that Chaos destroyed many gods so completely
that their name etc. were all destroyed so that no one can remember them.
In this scenario the Red Moon simply filled a void in Glorantha that
already existed. Perhaps this void is what made it possible to create
the Red Moon at all.
I bounced this idea off of Greg at DunDraCon earlier this year. He
Thought about it for a while and then responded that it was an interesting
idea. From his reaction I don't think he had thought of it before but
he seemed to like it.
------------------------------------------
Joerg Baumgartner writes:
>
> The legend of the Wolfbear led me to speculation: After all, there is
> one chief of the Wolf Pirates who has conquered the White Bear of
> Rathorela, a certain berserk...
I noticed this too. It certainly seemed that they were at least opening
up the possibility.
> Ralzakark is _not_ the bad guy, only illuminated, and far from
> being a monster - if he choses so. Rather face him than Harrek. He even
> has Chalana Arroy broos in service. A real gentleman trying to keep the
> chaos hordes in line.
At least that is what he wants you to think.
> Dorastan Economics:
>
> If he manages to buy gods which sell back home, he
> will make a fat profit of ca 125 000 L.
You can buy gods in Ralios? Cool! ;-)
------------------------------------------
David Scott writes:
>
> Who thinks after reading Dorastor that Ralzakark is a part of
> Nysalor/Gbaji/Arkat,
This one seemed even more hinted at then the Harrek = Wolfbear. Perhaps
if Ralzakark is not one of the pieces he contains or is in possession of
one of the pieces.
> and what will happen if all the parts are brought
> together again. Will Arkat/Gbaji/Arkat re-form.
I believe so.
The current HeroQuest campaign(Steve Maurer's) I play in is somewhat focused
around the pieces of Gbaji. Here is a basic and very simplified outline:
- Arkat destroyed Gbaji and cut him into many pieces.
- Arkat had his followers hide the pieces.
- One of his followers(female) had a daughter by Yelm and this daughter
was locked into a tower and used as a vessel to contain one of the
pieces(a talon from Gabaji's claw).
- This daughter is the Star of Morning Skys. She is the youngest daughter
of Yelm. She can contain the Talon with out becoming corrupted by it
because of her purity.
- Broo Hero Gregrog(mentioned in CoT Thanatar write up) finds out about
the hiding place of the Claw and breaks into the tower to try and get it.
He fails to get the Claw from Star and leaves Star with a chaos garrote
wounded.
- Yelmalio and Dayzetar send Adraen(my character) to rescue Star. Adraen
had recovered Fire on the hill of gold quest and had gained a special
Fire ability to burn chaos completely destroying it.
- Adraen rescues Star, they fall in love, travel to Dayzetar's court, and
are married by Dayzetar.
- Adraen now is left with the problem of how to permanently dispose of
the Claw.
- Adraen begins a quest to permanently dispose of the pieces of Gbaji.
Here are some of the things we have discovered so far.
- There are three talons that make up the claw of Gabaji. One is in Star.
One is in a Nysolar temple under the Maze area of Bicky and is guarded
by the Lunars. One is in the possession of the Trolls some where. It
was the Claw of Gabaji that wounded Kygor Litor and caused the Trollkin
Curse. It is apparently this Talon that was used to partially remove
the curse. The Trolls need the entire Claw to remove the curse.
- If the parts are thrown out of the Universe one at a time, a connection
will be left and they will be drawn back into Glorantha.
- If the parts are reassembled Gabaji will exist in full again.
- Apparently there is a way to dispose of a reassembled Claw in a way
that it is very unlikely to be drawn back into Gloantha.
- To beat Gabaji Arkat become like Gabaji. So there is really little
meaning to the question of which survived. They both become equivolent.
Arkat later left Glorantha because he realized that if he remained he
would take the same path as Gabaji.
Rob Mace
---------------------
From: mace@lum.asd.sgi.com (Rob Mace)
Subject: combat
Message-ID: <9309090005.AA07075@lum.asd.sgi.com>
Date: 8 Sep 93 10:05:03 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1568
> From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham , via RadioMail)
>
> Given that one of my prime reasons for RQ-Lite is speed of resolving
> combat, why not start a new discussion on how people handle large (PCs
> outnumbered, perhaps by up to 2:1) melees with the existing rules?
I can tell you what works for me. First don't bother with stats, skills
etc. for all the NPCs. Just determine how generally tough you want them
to be and determine everything else on the fly as you go along. The reason
to do this is that 99% of this information will never matter. Having it
all written down for all those NPCs will just get in the way and will make
it slow to find the bits you need. It will be quicker just to make it up/
determine it on the fly.
For example you might start with the following description of an NPC:
Dark Troll, Maul, Chain, ZZ, 75%
In combat I would only determine things like armor, power, spells, etc.
as needed, and then only to the extent needed.
Lets say he is hit in the 3 (leg) for 10 points.
First decide if he has protection up.
If he does then the blow probably bounced.
If he does not then a few points got through.
There is no reason to figure exact armor or hit points as the wound
will not take out the leg.
So in conclusion all I would do is write down "3 - 10" for that NPC.
For me this process would take only a few seconds, and I would be
on to the next part of the fight.
It helps if you can number your NPCs.
Determine spells when NPCs have an opportunity to cast them or when
you need to find out if they have a spell up. Things to think about
when determining spells:
- Experience
- Cult and rank
- Culture
- Wealth
Determine Pow only when they are involved in a Pow vs. Pow. Things to
think about when determining Pow:
- Starting pow (roll it).
- Experience/chance for Pow gains.
- Chance to have done a DI.
These types of decisions I will make by rolling percentile dice and quickly
determining some rough odds in my head.
Anyway that is what I do to speed up combat. It works for me but I have
been playing for close to 11 years.
------------------------------------------
Newton Hughes writes:
> ACTIONS PER ROUND
> Choices are Move, Melee (2 combat actions, chosen from attack, parry,
> dodge), Missile (usually 1 shot, but see below for 1/sr weapons), and
> Spell (1 spell per round). These choices are mutually exclusive.
The problem with this is that in real life movement and melee are not
mutually exclusive. Movement is an important part of hand to hand combat
and anyone who stands still is at a disadvantage in both attack and defense.
Rob Mace
---------------------
From: jeff@cotopaxi.Stanford.EDU (Jeff Freymueller)
Subject: Re: "starting sorceror"?
Message-ID: <9309072355.AA07083@cotopaxi.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 7 Sep 93 23:55:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1569
> From: JARDINE@RMCS.CRANFIELD.AC.UK
> Subject: Sorcery, White Moon, Fools and Barrels
> X-RQ-ID: 1547
>
> O.K. most of you will have met this one before, but for those who don't see
> the problem with sorcery it occurs at low level.
>
> Example: (Psycho the Sorceror)
> INT 18 (well its his best stat and one in 36 people get it on 2d6+6)
>
> Magic items:
> Intellect spirit INT 5
> MP storage xtals 6 & 8
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> Spells:
> Damage Boosting 25%
> Cast Back 20%
> Enhance STR 20%
> Enhance CON 20%
> Smother 30%
>
> Skills:
> Intensity 25%
> Duration 20%
>
> So with this starting Sorceror everyone in the party will have the first four
> spells running at intensity 6 ALL the time so all monsters are in for a tough time as is the GM.
This is a *starting* sorceror? With two crystals and a bound intellect spirit?
How did he get the spirit? He doesn't have summon, or dominate, or a spell
to enchant the binding. Family heirloom? ;)
So he has beginner's skills, but some nice magic items. He tries to cast his
spells, the first four at intensity 6, duration 9 for 18 points of manipulation.
But wait, he has 4 companions, so he has to add targets, which only gives him
5 points of duration. And by the time he has cast the spell, refilled his crystals
and regenerated his MP, the spells have expired.
Not so gross.