Bell Digest v940420p3

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, Wed, 20 Apr 1994, part 3
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From: ROBERTSON@delphi.intel.com (Roderick Robertson, SC1-5, x52936)
Subject: More Orlanthi Games
Message-ID: <78F2B0F1A0032C53@delphi.intel.com>
Date: 19 Apr 94 03:23:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3708

>From: john.hughes@anu.edu.au (John P Hughes)
> - SARTARITE GAMES

>The Irish Celts were very big on Hurling, a no holds-barred form of hockey 
>(see the stories of Cu Chulain's youth in the Tain for details). It sounds 
>related to the  Sartarite 'full-contact golf' mentioned earlier.

  Since I'm the one who posted about Shinty (Full Contact/Combat
Golf), I figure I should elucidate... 

   I played this game for several years as a member of a 16th C. 
Scottish re-creation group here in California. Our rules were pretty 
simple: 

   No intentionally striking someone with your caman (stick)
   No wild swings (at least when someone was near you...)

   Play was usually to one or three goals. We played on any-sized 
field, usually with an out-of-bounds stated (so we wouldn't play 
through people's booths at Scottish games). 

   Shinty (camanachd) is the Scottish form of Hurley/Hurling/Viking 
Stickball/Field Hockey. There are modern leagues in Scotland (I caught 
a game once on ESPN or some such channel, many more rules than we 
played with). Early Camans were cut from natural branches with the 
right angle to the head. The sides of the head were angled (see 
below), and the head was angled about 75 degrees off the shaft.
Caman look something like modern golf clubs (Modern camans are more 
like hockey sticks).

    _
   / \  Head-on view of the Caman head
   ---



  Some differences between Field Hockey and Shinty are that
the ball may be 'lifted' with the caman (stick), then swatted like a
baseball; and the ball may be carried on the caman while running (Hope
this graphic comes out:) 

  Side view of the caman:

   \\ <---- Caman 
    \\
     \\__O_ <-- Ball 
      \----
              v--- Ground
---------------------- 

   Play in Scotland *used* to be much more free-form than even we played 
it, with no out-of-bounds or time limit, and probably no restriction 
on hitting people.

Herewith is my version of Shinty for Sartar, known there as Windball 
or "Whack the Sun" (which really pisses off the Sun worshippers). 

Windball

Teams are evenly matched (well-known Windball champion players can be
declared to be a two-man or three-man, meaning that the opponent gets
one or two extra men for his team). The ball is leather, stuffed with 
feathers, wool, or wood (it must be heavy enough to be hit at least 15 
paces). Political or religious staements can be made by coloring the 
ball yellow or red. 

   Windball sticks are wood, about as high as the user's waist, with a 
sharply angled head at the bottom (like a golf club). The head is 
about as long as the user's plam and forefinger (in the area of 6-8 
inches for most people)

  Local rules for Windball may include restrictions on magic, field
limits (if any), and number of players on a team. Women are usually
required to kilt up their skirts to play (We often lost the ball in
someone's skirts when we played). The ball may only be hit with the
caman, no hands or feet may be used to hit, kick, or pick up the ball.

   Play is continuous, no timeouts. However, a player may drop out and 
return at any time. Play is to one goal (or more, according to local
rules and pre-game negotiation). Each team chooses the goal they will
shoot at (some local rules require restrictions on the location of the
goal). Goals may be stones or trees (easy) or holes ("sending the sun
to the underworld"). 

   If you hit someone with the caman, be prepared for the 
consequences.

   Them's the rules


   RQ rules for Windball requires a new skill (Caman, base 15%, med.) as 
there is no weapon that is used the same. Most of the action with the 
caman looks like golf (for those log shots), or hockey (for precision 
passing). Special manueuvers with the caman include lifting the ball 
(knocking the ball straight up in the air); swinging it like a base-ball 
bat (to swat the ball after lifting it); and running with the ball 
balanced on the head of the caman. 

   Long drives of the ball fly 1D3xSTR feet if lift-and-swatted, or 
1/2 that if driven from the ground.

   Successfully 'carrying' the ball allows 5/10/20 paces for 
Success/Special/Critical roll.

  Succesful 'lifting' will send the ball about 8 feet straight up in
the air, enough to perform a 'swat'. Alternatively, you can send the
ball over opposing players or obstructions. Intervening players may 
attempt to swat the ball as it flies by (with a special or better).

   Passing requires a successful Caman roll by both the passer and 
reciever. The ball may be stolen by an opponent in line with the pass
(up to 5 feet on either side of the line) with a successful Caman
roll. An opponent may 'strip' the ball from a player with an opposed
caman roll (treat like attack/parry rolls). 

   Camans act like long single-sticks if used to thwack on opponent 
(or accidently hit a friend...). They can also be used to trip an 
opponent, or foul another caman to prevent shooting. Body checking is 
pretty common in the game (tends to resemble Ice hockey that way)

   Tripping is Caman opposed by Dex (or running?) rolls; fouling a 
caman is attack/parry rolls. Fouled camans cannot be used until 
dis-entangled.


More Games:

   Humakti probably play varieties of mumblety-peg, either the one 
described in Griselda (and in the movie Aliens), where you hold the 
knife like an ice-pick and try not to cut your outstretched fingers 
as you stab it between them; or the throwing variety, where you stand 
a distance apart and throw the knife between each other's feet, moving 
your feet in each turn. A third version is to hold the knife in 
various ways (by the tip, by the grip, across your palm, across the 
back of your hand, etc) and try to make it land point first.

  While some here on the list might complain of anachronisms or too 
Terran a game, a variant of Frisbee that we used to play was Bonnet 
Toss. Knitted bonnets make good frisbees, and can be thrown safely at 
people. We used to have distance and accuracy contests. "Frisbee golf"
(Throws for accuracy at a number of targets) or "Ultimate frisbee" 
(sort of like football/rugby with a frisbee)  played with a leather or
knitted disk seem perfect for Wind worshippers.

So, here is another game: 

  Weorpan

   Weorpan is played in two or more teams. Each team has the same 
number of players (Like in Windball, exceptional players may be declared 
to be 'worth' more people). The playing field is round (or as round as 
it can be), about 10 paces across per player on the larget team.
(about 20 paces for a two man team , a hundred paces for a 10-man team)
One-on-one games are playe din a 15 pace circle. Wooden posts are
placed around the outside, one for each team. One rand (a knitted
woolen disk, about one and a half spans across (12 or so inches)) is
used, no matter the number of teams. Teams are competing for *Lowest*
score. Points are scored against a team when the rand hits their post.
The game ends when a team has a specified number of points. 

   Throw and catch are the main skills here. The Rand will fly 
1D4xStr feet, Success/Special/Critical determine *where* it goes. To 
hit the post requires a special success or better at point-blank range 
(2 paces), Special out to 10 paces, and critical past that. 

   Passing is an important part of the game, as is misdirection about 
the intended target. Fighting is frowned upon.
   
  Local variants include diameter of the circle, composition of the 
rand (leather or wood are also used, one crazy clan plays with a bronze 
plate), maximum numbers of players, scoring, etc 

   Villages that are really into Weorpan often have a Rand made for 
them, often with the Motion Rune one one side, and Air on the other. 
Spirals and other circular patterns are popular. 

   Weorpan can be played by almost anyone and any number of players
can take part (even 5 one-man teams, in a 15 pace circle for example).
Some villages may have permanent Weorpan rings and Rands, shepherd
boys up in the high pastures can form a pick-up game. A knitted rand 
can be folded up quite handily, and a bonnet (tam o'shanter, flatcap, 
etc) can be substituted.


Roderick Roderick




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

From: devinc@aol.com
Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Mon, 18 Apr 1994, part 3
Message-ID: <9404190332.tn31640@aol.com>
Date: 19 Apr 94 07:32:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3709

Devin Cutler here:

While I'm saying nice things about Strangers in Prax (except for the casting
% :)), let me also add how much I enjoyed seeing a writeup of a sorceror
(ooops...I mean Wizard) in action. The concept of this Wizard never actually
having to enter a battle directly, but instead supporting his servitors via
Sight Projection is great.

Also, it shows that one of the strengths of the RQ3 sorcery system is that
really inventive uses for the spells and combinations of spells can be
invented. I hope RQAiG retains some of this characteristic. There's really
not much inventiveness involved with most spirit magic or divine magic (the
Glue spell being a major exception......I am continually amazed to see what
uses come up for this spell), but with a form/set and an animate spell,
anythinng is possible.

Regards,
Devin Cutler

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From: MOBTOTRM@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Subject: Lost Subber, Sandy Bares His Soul, Church of Immortality...
Message-ID: <01HBDMX3NMYI937S65@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au>
Date: 20 Apr 94 10:23:48 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3710

_____________________________
In Search of the Lost Subber!

Non-Aussie readers might want to skip this dull administrivia:

Back in early February I received a subscription request that I have
unfortunately been unable to respond to.  The handwriting is, let us just say,
"artistically idiosyncratic" (eg. illegible).

The name on the cheque is MR & VT Walsh, however, I would swear it is "Wuam"
on the subber form!  The cheque is from the NAB branch in Rockingham and
is dated 2.2.94.  The amount made out is $29.50.  I haven't cashed it.

The address on the subber form appears to be something like "4 Somma(?) Rise,
Port Kunnloy/Kennedy/Kingldy(???), WA 6172.  I can't match the Port Whatever
with any locality in my post code book.

I would like to fulfill this subscription, so if anyone out there can
identify the person I would be grateful!

P.S. While on this, please recall I have moved since issue #10 - new
address 48 Barcelona Street Box Hill, Vic 3128.  Quite a bit of TALES mail
is still heading to the wrong address and I don't know how long I can rely on
the goodwill of the new owner!


________________________
Sandy's Reaction to Issue #11:

Sandy bared his Gloranthan soul to the RQ Daily, a brave and honest thing to 
do.  We at the Reaching Moon Megacorp expected our readers to either 
love or hate our first Pamaltela Special, being so different in style 
and content to what we've published before.  Whether its rational or 
logical or not, if anyone might feel alienated by what was presented 
in issue #11, I guess it would be Sandy.

Note that sometime down the track Tales will visit Pamaltela again, and 
will probably walk the Right Hand footpath.  We will certainly welcome 
Sandy's unique contribution next time we head down south...

Sandy: 
>Au revoir, all. I won't be writing anything to the Digest for some  
>time to come. 
I for one will miss Sandy's wide-ranging input to the Daily, which 
sometimes offered Joerg, Paul Reilly, myself and others the chance of 
an occasional verbal/textual? joust on matters diverse.  I hope he comes 
back soon!

_________________________
The Church of Immortality:

Greg Fried picked up a copy of STRANGERS IN PRAX on the way to a job
interview and writes:

>Question.  In the desciption of Maculus, we learn that he fell prey to the
>Cult of Immortality, "an insidious false religion that claims to sell the
>secret of eteranl life."  We are told that the cult is really a pyramid
>scheme, and that when "Maculus finally reached the top of the pyramid, he
>discovered that the religion he had spent the last 85 years toiling for was
>an empty, hollow sham, and this prompted a complete nervous collapse." (SiP
>25)

>Now, given that the age for Maculus is presently given as 132 (SiP 30), how
>is the Cult of Immortality to be understood as this "empty, hollow sham"? 
>Seems it did SOMETHING for Maculus.  

It did.  However, he's been out of the Church for over 15 years, so I guess
he's been aging during that time.

>Is the "sham" that the cult just extends life, but does not grant true
>immortality 

Yes.
You can still die from disease or injury or shock, and if you do, my guess is
your soul becomes lost.

>-- AND it requires draining others of their youth?  

Yes again.

>Any more about this cult?

The Church of Immortality
[Taken from a document called "Cults of the Lunar Empire" supplied to me
by Ken when I accepted the offer to write the Lunar characters for STRANGERS
IN PRAX.  Ken got it from Oliver Jovanovich, and I think the original
author was Steve Marsh.  Anyone confirm this?]

#This cult believes that all gods conspire to keep humans mortal and poor, but
#one god violated the conspiracy, and whispered to them the Secret of
#Immortality.  For this, other gods branded him with Chaos and banished him 
#from the universe.  
#The "secret" is nothing other than a pyramid scheme.  Cult
#members transfer their money and youth to higher ups, in exchange for 
#greater standing in the cult.  Emphasis is always on recruitment.  The cult
#is rigorously persecuted by the Lunar Empire (which feeds the myth the cult
#is based on), and despite constant education programs, and declarations of
#finally stamping it out, the cult continues to exist.  The Church's stated
#runes are Infinity/Fate/Chaos.  The cult offers the runespell: Transfer
#Youth, and training in Fast Talk.

Cheers

MOB

P.S. Hope you get the job Greg ...if you want it.  I nearly got seduced 
by a very attractive offer from the corporate world during the Easter 
vacation. After some soul searching I knocked it back - after all, what 
other job can I indulge myself with Roman Feasts, acting out the sea 
battle scene from Ben Hur (tommorow!) and Byzantine Hagiography (I promise 
I'll do a lesson on this at the end of the year if my kids behave; they 
have no idea what it is, but maybe they behave to find out!) Amazingly, 
my wife was offered a new job on the very same day - she took it!



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

From: "Alex `I apologise to you all' Ferguson."@dcs.gla.ac.uk
Subject: Shoot me now.
Message-ID: <9404191500.AA29547@hawaii.dcs.gla.ac.uk>
Date: 19 Apr 94 15:00:56 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3711

In article X-RQ-ID: 3699 I write:
> [Lots of interesting stuff]

While in article X-RQ-ID: 3702 I write:
> [Similarly interesting, not to say identical stuff.]

And I don't even have Henk to co-blame this time.

Oops.

Alex.

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

From: RICK@qucdnee.ee.queensu.ca (Rick Pim)
Subject: grazelander deities
Message-ID: <01HBCVSC1BQA95MLW3@qucdnee.ee.QueensU.CA>
Date: 19 Apr 94 06:28:04 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3713


i seem to recall seeing mention of a yu-kargzant cult writeup on the 
daily within the last couple of weeks, but no mention was made of where 
it might be found. could anyone point me to the location of it and/or 
any other grazelander deity writeups? i've seen the stuff on soda under 
cults.


rp

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

From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham)
Subject: The REAL God Learners; Mastakos
Message-ID: <199404192106.AA04197@radiomail.net>
Date: 19 Apr 94 21:06:38 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3714

Did everyone else get parts 1, 2, 5, and 6 yesterday?

Curtis wrote
>        The other campaign I'd like to try is a group of Godlearners.
>This would be a very different sort of campaign to run since you'd have
>to really develop your camapign's version of Heroquesting and the gods.
>Plus to really drive the point home of just what sort of damage the
>godlearners did

Damage? What damage? The cultures who refused to join the Empire of the
Middle Sea are just crybabies, whining because they had no input into how
the world was being improved. Sure, there were undoubtedly mistakes and
failed experiments, but the information we have about the God Learners all
comes from their enemies. Who did such a good job of destroying the God
Learners that we have no way of learning the truth. I think it's quite
possible that the God Learners were good guys who were destroyed by jealous
enemies and outmoded gods fighting for their lives. The God Learners were
bad for gods, but who says gods are really good for people? Argrath got rid
of 'em, after all... [I don't believe this is true, but I do believe it
makes sense.]

Interesting campaign ideas, BTW, too bad you're not in the Seattle area...

Jesper said
> If there is one cult in Glorantha that ought to have a mobile temple
> it is Mastakos, and this one would probably be larger than a shrine,

Yu-kargzant (and whatever name the Pentans worship the Sun under) are
better candidates for mobile temples, because they have more worshippers.

> I don't think that the Mastakos cult is ONLY a subcult of Orlanth even in
> Sartar, even if most people sees it as a such.

I suspect you could belong only to Mastakos, but in Sartar, the only place
you could worship would be at the shrine found in Orlanth temples. (Or that
Motion Stone...)

> About chariots: A rumour that was labelled as true in an old issue of
> ToTRM claimed that the only people who still use chariots is the Volsaxi.

Ah, I vaguely remember that now. You'd think though that some would have
ended up in Dragon Pass.


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

From: alex@dcs.gla.ac.uk (Alex Ferguson.  , Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa)
Subject: Mastakos and side-trips.
Message-ID: <9404192038.AA07444@hawaii.dcs.gla.ac.uk>
Date: 19 Apr 94 20:38:50 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 3715

Me:
> >Cronisper has always sounded Dayzatarish to me.  Did the God  
> >Learners make this correspondance?

Sandy:
> 	The Six Legged Empire found a parallel between Cronisper and  
> Dayzatar (and Ty Kora Tek, and Drospoly), but he is not a  
> Dayzatar-equivalent. For one thing, he is not a solar cult, which  
> would have mattered a lot to the God Learners.

Not Solar, but he is a `Sky' cult.

> Why is Duala = Voria, you ask? Because the God Learners made the  
> correspondence.

But were they on drugs at the time, or is there some rationale?  On the face
of it, they have differents "parents", different associations (Spring vs.
the morning dew), and have only a vague `Youth' theme in common.

> Not only is Jmijie an associate of the King of the Gods (like  
> Mastakos), but he also has his own strong and healthy cult (unlike  
> Mastakos).

This seems somewhat odd, though.  After all, if most worshippers are
wanderlust `victims', the cult would appear to be _very_ thinly-spread,
making it hard to round up the numbers for a proper shrine, even.  On the
face of it.

> Noruma trains and teaches [shamans]. He has spells and  
> skills useful to shamans and other magic-type people.

#include "obvious.q";

> 	Pointing out lapses and horrors in various religions does not  
> remove the fact that everyone who believes in the Bible believes that  
> murder, theft, adultery, lying, and cheating are Wrong.

This is quite evidently only true if we knot-tie "believes in the Bible"
to mean "doesn't kill, steal, commit adultery, lie, or cheat".  If the
World were rational, your statement would unquestionably be true.

> > [Mastakos's] billing as one of the Major Gods of Glorantha takes some
> > swallowing, though.

David Dunham:
> He owns the Motion rune, that's why he's "Major."

Yes, but that's begging the question, isn't it?  He's not the only Major
God with a dubious claim, though, IMHO: I think some runes have had their
Source effectively fragmented, so that two or more deities have a more-or-
less co-equal (possibly even joint) stake.

> I'd be interested to see
> your subcult ideas, since Mastakos is going to be more prominent in my
> chariot-riding Ralios.

Thoroughgoingly embrionic.  Off the top of my head, I'd suggest stuff like
Precision Lash (or Sure Whip, or whatever);  Accellerate;  Hold Corner
(also known as High Energy Turn, Handbrake Turn, etc); the lack of a Brake
spell is oft bemoaned by recently pranged acolytes, but is held to be a
key cultic principle by the priestly hierarchy.

> (According to KoS, he's no longer a Runner...)

Recall he gets Healed, on the very same page, and then proceeds to cross
half of Genertela in eight steps.  I'd say he was a Runner again.  Or at
least, a helluva Walker, or Hop, Step and Jump-er.

> Remember that if Mastakos only has shrines, there can't be more spells.

That's not true, shrines to a sub-cult could offer a different single spell.
After all, GoG does note that different shrines to M. offer different spells,
and other such cases exist.

If all else fails, one can resort to the Hero Cult excuse.

> * (Since in most fonts an apostrophe is straight, accent grave looks really
> silly as a left apostrophe.)

Marginally less silly than using a close-inverted-comma at the beginning
of a phrase, in fonts in which they're symmetric.  (Like most X-Windows
fonts: hey, this list _is_ distributed by Sun. )

You know, in the default miniWRITER font, ` and ' almost balance.  

I only use `es as apostrophes on Bad Typo days.

Aelx Fresugon.