Bell Digest v940202p1

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To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily)
Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Wed, 02 Feb 1994, part 1
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X-RQ-ID: Intro

This is the RuneQuest Daily Bulletin, a mailing list on
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world of Glorantha.  It is sent out once per day in digest
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From: sandyp@idcube.idsoftware.com (Sandy Petersen)
Subject: re: RQ Daily
Message-ID: <9402011714.AA06959@idcube.idsoftware.com>
Date: 1 Feb 94 05:14:42 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2967

Carl Fink claims: 


> The Vadeli and Veldang are the same race -- note that the "missing"
>caste of the Vadeli are blueskinned.  Greg's unpublished "Lunar  
>Book" mentions the conquest of Peloria by blueskins in the God Time.

I'm not so sure. Mere possession of blue skin is not enough to make  
you racially identical -- the Veldang never, as far as I know, had  
brown or red-skinned racial members, and the Vadeli never conquered  
Peloria -- the God Time conquerors of Peloria were undoubtedly  
Veldang from the Blue Moon. IMO, the Veldang and Vadeli are not the  
same race at all, and only a heroquest to prove otherwise would  
enable the Vadeli to utilize Veldang as their Lords. 

	Note that the red and brown Vadeli have in fact encountered  
Veldang (in Fonrit), and did not appear to recognize them in any way  
as their missing caste. 


So there. 


Some questions from Devin Cutler answered: 

>a) Magic Spirits, Spell Spirits, Power Spirits,and Intellect Spirits  
>cannot engage in spirit combat. Therefore, how does an enterprising  
>young spellcaster capture and bind such spirits? 


Said spirits cannot ATTACK in spirit combat. They can BE attacked by  
a discorporate spirit, which is how shamans nab 'em. 


>RQ3 rules seem to imply that ANY Healing (even 1 point) will stop  
>bleeding.

RQ3 rules are supposed to stop bleeding once you've healed a location  
up to positive hit points. 


>RQ3 Creatures book says that Vampires cannot use Spirit Magic or  
>Divine Magic, yet the Vampire in the Sun County scenario has Divine  
>Magic, and it is implied that he could cast Spirit Magic had he not  
>forgotten all of his spells. Which is correct? 


RQ3 Vampires have no POW. Hence, they cannot cast Spirit Magic or  
sacrifice for new Divine Magic. However, they keep all the Divine  
Magic they had from their previous existence, and can cast it all  
they  please. 


> f) When an impaling weapon criticals, does it do maximum impaling  
>damage, ignoring armour? In other words, if a Composite Bow  
>Criticals, does it do 18 points of damage ignoring armour?

Yes. It's like being hit in the eye or aorta by an arrow -- deadly to  
most victims.

> The rules imply this, but it seems to make impaling weapons very  
>dangerous Why would anyone want ot use anything else? 


Because most other weapons do more damage most of the time. If you're  
not relying on a "lucky hit" to kill your opponent, non-impaling  
weapons are just dandy. 


>May she use Spirit Block and other such spe˙lls? If so, it would be  
>almost impossible for the Chalanna Arroy to lose such a  
>[resurrection] combat. Also, how about cult initiates learning  
spells and using Spirit Block?

Once the spirit's MPS drop below the level of the Spirit Block, you  
can't interact with it any more, and it goes away. 


>What happens when one spirit fights another in spirit combat? Do  
>they have to both be Visible per the spell? 

No. 


>Can they damage each other permanently? 

Usually not. Depends on the spirit, I suppose. Most spirits can't  
"possess" another spirit, so the whole combat is kind of pointless. 


>What happens to a spirit when it is beaten down to zero MP,
>aside from its susceptibility to binding? Is it "unconscious"? 


It is inert, and incapable of action until it has regenerated at  
least 1 MP.

Also, can a Visible spirit be affected by a basilisk gaze?
I play no. After all, how can a spirit be killed?

> a) When you summon an ancestor, how long does it stick around for?  
>15 minutes seems way too short for a ritual that could take up to 24  
>hours to perform, but forever is ridiculous.
I have always played that a summoned spirit remains for as long as he  
wants. Remember, he can't stay on the mundane plane forever -- he's  
got things to do back in the spirit world. We usually played that the  
ancestor was only around for a very short time -- the player  
generally only summoned ancestors for one of four reasons: 1) to Gift  
Spell or POW; 2) to ask questions; 3) to bind an ancestor to his or  
her fetch or a magic item; or 4) experimentally, to get a random  
ancestor and see if he or she is any good. There was never any real  
need for the ancestor to hang around once the summoning was  
completed. 


> b) How long DOES it take to summon an ancestor? 1 Hour per MP of  
>the spirit?
	We played that it varied. So that whatever was dramatically  
right for the scenario was when the spirit showed up. 


> c) How exactly does Axis Mundi work? It says that all Summon spells  
>are treated like ordinary Rune Magic. This is VERY vague. Does that  
>caster still have to make his Summoning %, or merely the 01-95 roll  
>for all other Rune Magic? Does the Summon Spell take 1 MR to cast or  
>still take however long it normally takes (see question e above)? If  
>the caster fails to cast the Summon Spell, is the spell used up,  
>like regular Divine Summoning spells, or can he try again next MR  
>like normal Divine Magic?
Summoning spells cast under Axis Mundi go off in 1 MR, and have a 95%  
chance of success. If the caster fails to cast it, he can try again  
next MR. At least, such was the intent when I wrote it. 


>How exactly does the Visibility spell work? Does it make a single  
>Spirit Visible or all spirits within range Visible?
Just the targeted spirit. 


>By definition, you don't see the target of the Visibility spell  
>until AFTER it has been cast? 

You usually cast it somewhere where you know there's a spirit (like  
in your fetch or a magic item). Or the spell is cast by a spirit on  
itself (probably the most common use). 


>What happens if you randomly cast a Visibility spell and 2 random  
>spirits are floating around in the area, which one is made Visible?
First you kick yourself for being an idiot, because the spirits can't  
attack you until they're Visible. Then the gamemaster picks the one  
that he likes the most. 


>Do spirits gain POW-gain rolls for overcoming targets' MP's? If so,  
>which spirits? If so, is it the old RQ2 5% chance, or is it normal  
>chance?

Yes. All spirits. It is the old 5% RQ2 chance, in my campaign.  
Otherwise elderly spirits would all be maxed out in POW. Besides,  
what's the max POW of a spirit?

>What happened to the Lunar Scimitar! In the Genertela Pack Book 3
One-handed sword = Scimitar

> g) Has anyone ever worked out a system for determining if a  
>resurrect spell is available at any given moment. 

See my notes back in (is it November? Some of you guys must remember  
the discussion). It's real easy for there to be no resurrection  
spells available. I won't go through all the math again, but what it  
boils down to is that a gamemaster is entitled to deprive a player or  
NPC of Chalana Arroy resurrection at any time. Well, I'll go through  
a tiny bit of the math, so you can justify it to your players if need  
be. Pavis and environs has somewhere around 700 deaths in a year. If  
half of these are unresurrectables (elderly or guys whose bodies  
weren't recovered), that leaves us with 350 resurrectable deaths. If  
the 4 High Healers devote a third of their lives to casting  
Resurrection, leaving all their other many duties to the other two  
thirds, they can cure about 130 guys a year (a little over a third),  
IF the deadsters come in at reasonable times (evenly spaced).  
However, most resurrectable deaths occur in bunches, when there's a  
big gang war in the Rubble for instance, and so the healers are taxed  
and can't cure 'em all. Also remember that some deaths are children,  
and CA healers are probably going to put them at the top of the list  
for resurrection. Your PCs come way down the list -- if cured, they'd  
probably just kill other people to further tax the CA healers'  
Resurrection ability. What's the point?

> h) How do people assassinate others in Glorantha?

They can just kill the target, hoping he won't be resurrected (see  
above). To ensure non-resurrection, they can cut out the heart or lop  
off the head and throw it in the river or something. Trolls eat the  
target. If the enemy is killed in the wilderness (like the Plains of  
Prax, or the Big Rubble), it's unlikely the corpse will be recovered  
before it has decayed beyond resurrection. 

	POW-destroying spirits have been known to be used. Another  
ploy is to reanimate the corpse as a zombie, ghoul, or vampire. 


>there are no rules for severing heads in RQ
You must be joking.

> i) What are the exact benefits that a Priest gets over an Acolyte?  
>Until I know, I cannot figure out why anyone would be the former.
Priests are tended and supported by the cult. They receive the alms  
from the worshipers. They get automatic POW gain rolls every year.  
They are loved and honored by their people and the tribe. They get an  
important seat on the chieftain's council. 


>Can Magic Spirits be taught other spells? Also, do Sorcery-oriented  
>Magic and Spell spirits also have Intensity, Duration, Range,  
>Multispell, etc? What if a spirit knows a ritual; how can it cast  
>the spell, since it has no body and presumably cannot perform many  
>of the dances, gestures, etc. required by such?
Yes. Yes. Spirits can always cast a spell, as stated in the rules. 


>Didn't anyone playtest RQ3, especially the spirit rules and Daka Fal  
>rules?
Yes. Most of your questions seemed pretty obvious to me, and some of  
the answers are right in the rules.

Devin Cutler also asks:-
>Further to DLOD, in the description of the Hungry Eater on page 76  
>it mentions that it has the attack of"Inversion", yet the  
>description for this attack is nowhere to be found. Can anyone tell  
>me what this power is. It sounds nasty, but if it isnt, then the
>Hungry Eater may be one of the few Special Encounters in Dorastor  
>that a party could defeat (although not bloody likely).
Either I didn't send Ken all the stats on Hungry Jack (which is what  
I called him -- it's a later alteration to Hungry Eater, which I  
mildly disapprove of, as it makes him less personal), or Ken forgot  
to put in the "Inversion" ability. 

	The "Inversion" attack turns the target's power inside-out.  
Thus, if his INT is 18, it is dropped to 8 instead. If he is a  
shaman, his fetch and he exchange places (giving him a huge POW, but  
losing most of his bound spirits, since they can't stay attached to  
an ordinary human POW, regardless of size). Etc. 


>Finally in the writeup of Ralzakark on page 81 it mentions that he  
>has the ability to summon up the "Sky Terror"

He knows the secret of the Chaos Gaggle, and can create the Sky  
Terror from it. The Sky Terror is a huge flying monster that feeds on  
ambient chaos in the air. It is on a scale equivalent to the Crimson  
Bat, the Mother of Monsters, a true Hydra, or Slimestone. 


Bryan Maloney: 

>Are the Praxian tribes cannibalistic?  Now, I do NOT mean dietary  
>cannibals.However, do they practice ritual cannibalism--eating  
>portions of a dead foe to partake of strength, etc.?

This is the Cannibal Cult's practice. I don't think it's the case for  
most Prax folk. Though the Praxian tribes are based loosely on  
Amerinds, there are some basic differences -- the major Praxians are  
nomad herdsmen, for instance, with all that implies, while the  
Amerinds were hunters or farmers, unless you count sheep-herders. 


Joerg Baumgarter sez: 

>re: Wereran, Wareran
>Are you sure? The spelling I used appears consistently in the  
>Genertela Box, and as well in a fragment of an old Wyrms Footnote 

Hmm. Perhaps I am the guy in error after all.

>Then does this race have anything to do with descent from Wrera 

>-Triolina?
Yes. That is where the name comes from, though now it does not mean  
that any more than "Caucasian" means people from the Caucasus. 


>The way I look at it, in the Golden Age Prax and its earth deities  
>were conquered by Storm Bull
But no one claims this except possibly aberrant God Learners. The  
Storm Bulls don't think this, the Waha worshipers don't think this,  
nobody thinks this. The Storm Bull and Gagarth (the only native storm  
gods in Prax) are neither of them fit to be a leader-religion. 


>To me this [Storm Bull's subservience] sounds exactly what the  
>Esrolian queens tell about Barntar, Orlanth, and Eiritha,  
>respectively.
Yeah, but I don't think the Esrolia culture has survived as it is  
since the Green Age. Rather, it was formed into its present form in  
emulation of the First Council (this is a Sandy assumption, not  
dogma). I view it as a fairly recent innovation. The Praxians, on the  
other hand, are an ancient faith. 


>The Pelorian blueskins might be the Loper people, mentioned in Troll  
>Gods' Annilla write-up. The last of these were officially destroyed  
>in the Battle of the Lopers by the Seshnegi around 500+.
The Loper people are Veldang, I know this fer sure. There's still a  
very few of them in Pamaltela, and some people claim that there's a  
lost Loper tribe in the Chaos Wastes (most folks agree they're  
extinct -- in my own campaign, they're extinct). 


The Lopers are kangaroo-like beasts from Pamaltela capable of  
carrying a rider. They can teleport short distances. They're  
extremely rare nowadays, despite their ability. (Or maybe they're  
common, but they teleport away so they're never seen?) Anyway, my own  
players never saw any in many years in Pamaltela, though I knew of  
their existence. They did meet a Hoolar and plenty of Jelmre, though.  
I think they even had a fight with some Watchweres. They once met the  
Pamaltelan monster (whose name I forget -- not published in Glorantha  
Bestiary) that looks a bit like a gorp, but without acid -- the outer  
skin is like flesh. To fight, it forms itself arms and eyes to grab  
weapons and flail away. I don't think the players realized what they  
were fighting, and assumed it was just a funny-shaped, especially  
tough, broo. 


Guy Hoyle
>I was wondering why the gods of the Grazelanders ... are not
>the standard solar deities such as Yelm, Dendara, etc.
Because the standard solar deities proved of little worth in  
preserving the Grazelander culture and economy. So they switched to  
more useful cults. Why worship outdated gods?
	Incidentally, the Pent gods are not the same as the  
Grazelander gods -- for one thing, Yelm is very important in Pent. 


Paul Reilly quotes me, then goes on:
>>The Seven Mothers are most common in the Lunar Periphery, and are  

>>rare or even unknown deep within the empire. They are a  

>>specially-designed Border Cult

> This is in Cults of Prax.  However, we play that the individual  
>Seven Mothers have important cults in the Empire - it is the fusion  
>that is the artificial border cult. 

Yes yes, of course you are right. When I said Seven Mothers, I meant  
the manufactured religion, not the actual Mothers, six of whom have  
quite complex and widely-worshiped religions of their own, generally  
only found deep within the Empire.