Bell Digest v931119p2

From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer)
To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily)
Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Fri, 19 Nov 1993, part 2
Message-ID: 
Precedence: junk


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From: jjm@zycor.lgc.com (johnjmedway)
Subject: scrums with spears, and other ramblings
Message-ID: <9311182146.AA00183@hp0.zycor.lgc.com>
Date: 18 Nov 93 21:46:19 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2372

JARDINE@RMCS.CRANFIELD.AC.UK in  X-RQ-ID: 2295
>>  
>>  Dwarf eyes are small dish antennae.  
>>  
>>  Size is about 3 cm, which gives an approximate wavelength of 3 cm.  
>>  Thus frequency = 10^10 Hz = 10 GHz.  This is SHF and right in the 
>>  middle of the X band radar range.  Thus dwarves use radar to see...  

Bwahhahhahhahh! Great!


sandyp@idcube.idsoftware.com (Sandy Petersen) in X-RQ-ID: 2298
>>  
>>  functions of their army was to patrol their vast empire. The  
>>  heavily-armored Greeks didn't have to go on long marches. It is  

They were a defensive force, rather than an offensive one. The whole concept,
armor, weapon, style of fighting, reflected that.


>>  superior. Ardant du Picq, in his classic "The Art of Battle" points  

In french or english?


>>  johnjmedway: probably still wants to know whether the Sables switched  
>>  before or after the lines were set at Moonbroth. 

Yep.


>>  Well, IMO, it would make for a more interesting miniatures game to  
>>  have the Sables be on the nomad side at first, and as the game  
>>  progresses have them keeping rolling to see whether they switch to  
>>  the Lunar Side. This chance should probably be increased by losses  
>>  the Sables take (so the Nomad player won't just try to sacrifice them  
>>  right away). 

Indeed, that is probably the most interesting way of running it, and how I 
probably will, someday.


>>  By the way, sorry about accusing you of being Loren Miller, David  
>>  Cheng, et. al. 

Apology accepted. 


>>  "What has four legs, horns, and an asshole in the middle of its  
>>  back?" "A sable."

I need to pass that one to the Sable-tribe shamaness in my campaign.


watson@computing-science.aberdeen.ac.uk (Colin Watson) in X-RQ-ID: 2301
>>  
>>  (Anyway, were hoplite shields really *that* much thicker than heater shields?)

Shape has something to do with it, also. The hoplite shield would be more 
likely to deflect a blow ( 'round the edge, off of the curved surface ) than 
a heater, with its flatter front and straight-edge top.


>>  A friend of mine had some insight into this. He drew an analogy between
>>  the Chaos rune of Glorantha and the Radiation rune of the real world...

Hmm, superimpose Chaos and Truth, and it's visually fairly close.


100270.337@CompuServe.COM (Nick Brooke) in X-RQ-ID: 2302
>>  
>>  Or perhaps the Lunars should choose whether to outrage public opinion by 
>>  "spending" Diplomacy Points to bring on their Chaos atrocity units, or play 
>>  down the vileness of chaos (i.e. not committing such units) by using DPs 
>>  for their designated purpose. You get the idea: it could cost DPs to bring 

Great idea.


>>  Nick ( earlier ):
>>  >> Should the Lunar Empire have been expanding in the Seventh Wane?
>>  
>>  Graeme:
>>  > I'm not sure it was. I think it was Tarsh that was expanding.
>>  
>>  A very good point; with Fazzur Wideread the driving force behind the late 
>>  stages of the advance. I like this view of history immensely, and will see 
>>  if I can put it to use somewhere.
>>  
>>  But what about Pavis and Corflu?

But why didn't the Empire pull back, after sacking Fazzur, and replacing him with
a Dara Happan?


>>  John Medway:
>>  > Who better, but an accountant?
>>  
>>  Fuck you. I'm a historian. I just work as an accountant... 

And I'll claim to be something besides a computer scientist...


>>  BTW, Peltasts largely for (a) the historical correctness of having them 
>>  with Hoplites; (b) the *perfect* shape of their shields, for the Lunar 
>>  army.

Without some form of light infantry support, hoplites would get flanked and 
butchered. The same goes for pike phalanxes, so there should be some supporting 
light infantry/peltasts/whatever with the Sun Domers and Dara Happan phalanxes.
Then again, since the Solars are into bows, maybe the Sun Domers, et al, use
bow-flanked pike units, much as Pike and Musket were interspersed in the English
Civil War, or as Flemish Longbowmen and Pike.


joe@sartar.toppoint.de (Joerg Baumgartner) in X-RQ-ID: 2310

>>  I didnt think of that alternative, but this (combined with Nick 
>>  Brooke's Jar-eel involved in his disappearance rumour) certainly makes 
>>  sense.

Is that where that idea started?


>>  Sandy Petersen in X-RQ-ID: 2287
>>  >God Forgot would actually have a few magician-like units with exotic  
>>  >abilities. There's the Flying Machine unit, for instance, composed of  
>>  >insane inventors with bicycle-like or flapping-winged devices (I  
>>  >actually saw this unit in the old game for this region). 
>>  
>>  So it existed? What was its distribution? (I.e. how do I get my grubby 
>>  hands on it?)

We're talking about all those creations of Leonardo, right?


mcarthur@fit.qut.edu.au (Mr Robert McArthur) in X-RQ-ID: 2312
>>  
>>  or
>>  that Greg(?) was off with fairies again translating from some Eurmal document 
>>  and that it really meant half the lunar army currently occupying the north-east
>>  corner of a apprentice alchemist's store in Quackford.  The section about the

More likely.


100270.337@CompuServe.COM (Nick Brooke) in X-RQ-ID: 2314
>>  
>>  Paul Reilly wrote:
>>  > Nick writes some nice speculations on the Lunar military.
>>  
>>  rounding it after reaching the 7x7 basic 'platoon': add one officer, and 
>>  you can start counting in fifties. Lunar culture is still very Dara Happan 

But what mythic significance translates the units of 50 into 1000 ( or thereabouts ).


>>  As Gloranthan practice equates to real-world theory in other spheres, I 
>>  thought I'd give the Lunars the benefit of the doubt and settle for 1%. 
>>  You've noticed the key consideration: quality. A Heartland infantry unit is 
>>  usually a 5-4-3 hoplite, while Provincial militia starts at 3-3-3. Which 
>>  would you rather have in a fight?

Should the sultinate units be as good, though. I'd say probably not, as they're
just patrolling parade grounds and smushing rebellions, should anyone start one.


>>  I agree with the general principle that Glorantha is "smaller but more 
>>  extreme" than our world. Lunar decadence rivals the Romans and Byzantines 
>>  at their worse, though the Empire is many times smaller and ought not to be 
>>  able to afford such a large class of parasites at the top.

Hey, man, we're artists, not parasites.


>>  These rules are suggested for use either in conjunction with or as an 
>>  alternative to the "Two-Handed-Spear-With-Shield" rules presented in Sun 
>>  County p.43f. and Cults of Prax p.109, which do not reflect the cooperative 
>>  nature of the Hoplite formation, in which every man protects his neighbour 

Those "Two-Handed-Spear-With-Shield" rules should more properly be used with
Pike, not spear. In that case, they fit.


>>  and supports the guys in front with a great "push" -- something like a 
>>  lethal Rugger scrum!

Yikes! Ruggers with sharp objects!


>>  Comments and criticism welcome. If Morale, Berserk and Fanaticism are 
>>  "spells", why not treat other features of military life the same way?

And, of course, on the battlefield, groups of spell casters will "cast" 
MoleSharp, RamStrong, Tortise, SpeedBallista ...


henkl@yelm (Henk Langeveld - Sun Nederland) in X-RQ-ID: 2316
>>  
>>  This issue is the first since Friday.
>>  Hope you all enjoyed your weekend...

Ah, the pains of withdrawal.


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From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham  , via RadioMail)
Subject: scenarios; Prax
Message-ID: <199311182345.AA27883@radiomail.net>
Date: 18 Nov 93 23:45:37 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2373

>From: joe@sartar.toppoint.de (Joerg Baumgartner)
>Do you want ready to run scenarios, or just cameos, which can easily be 
>fitted into any ongoing campaign? The latter we have seen in reasonable 
>amounts e.g. in Elder Secrets - not terribly original, but working.

I vote for cameos, but more like those in Griffin Mountain, i.e. cameos
attached to NPCs who have stats so they can be used quickly.

The whole purpose of buying scenarios is to save effort. Sometimes you save
creative effort. Sometimes you save the effort of creating stats. If the
scenario costs more effort than it saves (in having to change the setting,
or go through contortions to get a typical adventuring party to run it,
it's not a worthwhile scenario, no matter how clever.

Sandy said:
>For what it's worth, there's cloud cover around the Block whenever  
>the Storm Bulls gather there. Perhaps this makes it harder to see?

I was under the impression that Storm Bulls always guarded the Block (to
make sure nobody tried chipping away bits of Truestone)?

Prax questions:
1. How hated _are_ horses? (Would a band of Praxians attack someone just
because he rode a horse?)
2. If Praxians see someone riding their herd animal, do they automatically
assume it was stolen?
3. Are there procedures for friendly meetings (as you recently described
for the Doraddi, and the Orlanthi also have)?
4. What keeps Praxians in Prax? Is it the Guardian Hills? (The Six Sisters,
seen in Troll Realms, are supposed to contain wards set up by the
Grazers... But they don't seem to have stopped Argrath's allies, or the
raids on Tarsh during the interregnum.) Is it the inhabitants? I imagine
that Sartar is more fertile and full of good grazing, and the Praxians
would want to use it.


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From: henkl@yelm (Henk Langeveld - Sun Nederland)
Subject: Re: Lunar Cycles, etc.
Message-ID: <9311190801.AA14533@yelm.Holland.Sun.COM>
Date: 19 Nov 93 10:01:42 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2374

_____
Nick:

>Where I come from (Greydog Village), we use the Stasis rune for this. After 
>all, our Law Rock doesn't have a pointy top...
Hear, hear...

>More seriously, I think LhM has the Law rune when in "Scientific" mode (at 
>the great libraries of the Holy Country) or when viewed as Guardian of the 
>Stone Scrolls (the Great Compromise, using the Invisible God == Compromise 
>theory), but the Stasis rune when revered as the keeper of tradition -- 
>lawspeaker and mnemonic reciter of histories and genealogies.

>I don't think most Theyalans would recognise a Law rune if they saw one.

Glad that you raise the subject.  Of late I have been wondering:
What *is* the difference between Law and Stasis?

-- 
Henk	|	Henk.Langeveld@Sun.COM - Disclaimer: I don't speak for Sun.
oK[]	|	My first law of computing: "NEVER make assumptions"

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From: WALLMAN@VAX2.Winona.MSUS.EDU (Personal friend of Little Elvis)
Subject: Height of Wintertop
Message-ID: <01H5HE93JVTU000AUC@VAX2.Winona.MSUS.EDU>
Date: 18 Nov 93 21:05:51 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2375

>From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham  , via RadioMail)

>>From: WALLMAN@VAX2.Winona.MSUS.EDU (Personal friend of Little Elvis)
>>Does Wintertop in Dragon Pass block the moon from those who are behind it?
>>It is really tall (12 km)

>It's not that tall, only 4000 ft above the sea [King of Sartar p.184].

Correct, but...
The incredible peak towers 12 kilometers into the air and is visible from 
hundreds of kilometers around.  [Glorantha, Genertela Book, p. 61]

It's greggin' easy to get gregged with such gregly facts.  

Ed Wallman@vax2.winona.msus.edu

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