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, Mon, 12 Sep 1994, part 1 Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM Content-Return: Prohibited Precedence: junk X-RQ-ID: Intro This is the RuneQuest Daily Bulletin, a mailing list on the subjects of Avalon Hill's RPG and Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha. It is sent out once per day in digest format. More details on the RuneQuest Daily and Digest can be found after the last message in this digest. X-RQ-ID: index 6156: = - If you don't ask you don't get 6157: = - Fill your blank Truestone 6158: = - Newt News 6159: = - The Blue Wizard is not GRAY... 6160: = - scenario for free 6161: = - Greetings and Scenario 6162: = - RUNEQUEST DAI 6163: = - Basmol --------------------- From: 100102.3001@compuserve.com (Peter J. Whitelaw) Subject: If you don't ask you don't get Message-ID: <940911112741_100102.3001_BHJ20-1@CompuServe.COM> Date: 11 Sep 94 11:27:42 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6156 Hi all, MOB kindly says, >The sort of hardworking GM we'd all like to have! Only when the alternative is decorating and my wife isn't around... >Make me one of the three. Sadly MOB, you're the only one :-( >>Although if you tell me 1/2 way through some long post on the finer points of >>GRoY then I probably won't see it ;-) > >Me neither... Despite pleas for GRoY stuff to go off-line with occasional summaries or conclusions being made available to the (largely) disinterested masses it seems that they persist. I suppose we shouldn't begrudge anyone, though, who makes the effort to post material whatever its nature. Actually, the most useful post to come out of all of it, IMHO, was Pam Carlson's Y(K)ELMAL(IO) a couple of days back. >What a wonderful thing it is to own *too many* RQ books so that you can >forget you've got information on something and have to make it up yourself! Scatterbrained, more like. >(Now that I've let the (shadow)cat out of the bag, what do people think of >another book of adventures in and around Sun County? Book might also >feature a brief run-down of the Elmal/Yelmalio business too. I have a >number of scenarios worth running with, including one set in the Count's >recently-opened halite mines at Pent Ridge out in Vulture's Country. But, hey, >I gotta finish SotRM first!) Go for it! Hard-pressed GM's need scenarios to run when they can't find the time to create their own. Certainly, more material to support that which is already in print should be well received by the gaming masses, whose spending habits directly affect which lines get pushed by Games companies and which don't. If RQ (or whatever it may become) is to thrive it has to compete with some very well supported products. We all laughed and jeered at the kiddy stuff that got auctioned off at Convulsion but it is sickening to know that in the short time Shadowrun has been around FASA have produced far more material for it than we have seen for RQIII. I guess that's partly why Shadowrun stuff just a year old was being flogged for a couple of quid whilst ten year old RQ supplements were being bid up to the heavens. To some extent, it must be possible to create demand for a product (I'm no economist, just a banker ;-)) in that if the slavering horder see a shelf in their hobby store replete with well-produced RQ scenario books then they are going to gravitate towards them? Anyway, Sun County was a great pack and I'd like to see more of it. All the best, Peter --------------------- From: QFF00036@niftyserve.or.jp (QFF00036@niftyse) Subject: Fill your blank Truestone Message-ID: <199409111131.UAA27057@inetnif.niftyserve.or.jp> Date: 11 Sep 94 11:29:00 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6157 Hellow everyone. I have a question about Blank Truestone. A priest who cast all his rune spells into the trunestone (A) cannot regain them and he must resacrifice to the spell. or (B) can regain them when he pray in his temple as usual. which is true? Regards. // Kuri (QFF00036@niftyserve.or.jp) // --------------------- From: f6ri@midway.uchicago.edu (charles gregory fried) Subject: scenario for free Message-ID:Date: 11 Sep 94 22:46:39 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6160 Greg Fried here. Peter: I for one would welcome your WMFTM here on the Daily. Send it in! Ian: Please send me your cults. Henk: The use of tables-of-contents for the Daily is MUCH appreciated! Bryan: I am no expert on the Orlanth pantheon or Sartar culture (at elast in comparison with others on this list!), but I thought your Vinga write-up was great! Many very nice touches. No criticisms, constructive or otherwise, but thanks for posting it. I plan to use it, if my campaign even gets to Sartar! Martin: Your treatise on greetings was fun and plausible. Here are some more, based on my East Isles campaign: East Islanders are as open and friendly (on average) as Genertelans are suspicious and vicious. A typical Islander greeting in the morning is "Dawn's blessing to you!" or "Good Dawn!" or "Good day!" An afternoon greeting is "Good day" and a good-bye is "May Theya guide you!" A dusk or night-time greeting is "Good Eve!", and a night-time good-bye is "May your night be short!" or "Dream well!" Of course, there are thousands of variants and alternatives, on the thousands of islands. Some Islanders use an interesting gesture of greeting: the --------------------- From: f6ri@midway.uchicago.edu (charles gregory fried) Subject: Greetings and Scenario Message-ID: Date: 11 Sep 94 22:54:44 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6161 Oops. Cut off. Greg Fried again. As I was saying, some Islanders use an interesting gesture of greeting: they clasp right and left hands together, interlocking the fingers, and then rotate the clasped hands 90 degrees up and out to the person they are greeting, causing the fingers to form the stylized image of a net -- this is Theya's Greeting, and represents her Net. - A Scenario Since it has been a while, I offer again for anyone who wishes it, my scenario "Atek's Ghost" which is set in the East Isles. I will send it by email. It includes an adventure, plus background information. Send me mail at my address (f6ri@midway.uchicago.edu) and I will send it back to you. The scenaio is in the "sticks and shamanism" style -- emphasizing local culture and low-tech adventuring. It is intended for beginning players as an introduction to RQ roleplaying. Greg Fried out. --------------------- From: guy.hoyle@chrysalis.org Subject: RUNEQUEST DAI Message-ID: <9409111954.0RZBD01@chrysalis.org> Date: 11 Sep 94 17:54:52 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6162 Alas, while I was out of town for the weekend, my BBS apparently had some kind of malfunction, and I lost the Runequest Dailies and the Digest from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Can someone take pity on me and Email these to me? GUY (guy.hoyle@chrysalis.org) aka Fido Two-Big-Clubs * RM 1.3 * Eval Day 13 * RoboMail -- The next generation QWK compatible reader! --------------------- From: jacobus@sonata.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney) Subject: Basmol Message-ID: <9409120632.AA06878@yelm.Holland.Sun.COM> Date: 12 Sep 94 07:32:19 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6163 You are different from the others, child, so I will tell you a tale that the others don't get. You are different from your fathers. You are different from your mothers. You are different from your littermates. You are different child, so I will tell you a tale that the others don't get. You have seen me dance Basmol's Perfect Dance, haven't you, boy? You have seen me don Basmol's Fleeting Skin, haven't you, boy? You have seen me eat with his teeth, run with his claws, haven't you, boy? I'll tell you this, boy--it's all a lie. I do not wear Basmol's Skin. I do not show Basmol's Claws. I do not wield Basmol's Teeth. It is all a lie. Sit down and shut up, boy. Sit down and listen, boy. Sit down or you will never know, boy. The Skin I wear is a corpse's. The Claws I show are a corpse's. The Teeth I wield are a corpse's. In the days when Basmol lived, his coat was bright. In the days when Basmol lived, his fangs were great. In the days when Basmol lived, his claws were long. The sky was his hunting ground. Now, boy, we scratch the earth like old women for our food. In the old times, we leapt like the birds. In the old times, we clawed like the hawk. In the old times, we danced with the sun. Now, boy, we scratch the earth like old women for our food. Remember these things, for you are different. Remember that Basmol's limbs are not Basmol's limbs. Remember that Basmol's teeth are not Basmol's teeth. Remember that Basmol's skin is not Basmol's skin. Curse the ones who shortened our claws. Curse the ones who turned our teeth in. Curse the ones who stole our wings. --------------------- From: 100270.337@compuserve.com (Nick Brooke) Subject: Newt News Message-ID: <940911181250_100270.337_BHL55-1@CompuServe.COM> Date: 11 Sep 94 18:12:51 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6158 _____ Alex: > I'm sure you know your own tribe, Nick (said in a wary, if not skeptical > tone), but are Humakti really booted out of the clan? During play, we "booted Corwen out" when he became a Sword of Humakt. We held his funeral/wake, drank too much Auld Mutz, and told stories about how sad it was that he was now Dead. Mind you, he had big personal reasons for not wanting to be one of us any more: embarrassing household problems like those between Humakt and Orlanth (his brother had killed a Yelmalion guest at a reconciliation dinner hosted by Fazzur Wideread). So maybe he went a bit further than most Swords would go. Before that, when Corwen was just a well-'ard Humakti Sword wannabe, he was still "one of us". (I'd agree with you that, in general, Lismelder Humakti initiates are integrated into the everyday life of their clan; I don't see why an Indrodar cultist shouldn't stay that way forever). Afterwards, he went off to join the tribe's Humakti, and they sent him back to serve as a Sword-thane under our Chieftain. So now there's this foreign guy, called Corwen, who still hangs around with us, joins us on our distant journeys, and has a place in the weapontakes and clan moots, but he's not one of us any more. Our brother/cousin/friend Corwen is Truly Dead. To make my position clear: outside the limits of our own campaign game, I do not think that all Humakti in all Orlanthi societies everywhere have to leave their clan, divorce their wives, or anything else like that, whether upon initiation, Sword-making (forging?), or whatever. That's just the way it's worked for us, once. I was there. I saw it happen. Anyway, we don't want people who wave big swords and embody Death to take part in the Spawning Pools Ritual of the Great Newt. Might hurt somebody. Re: "Argrath's Saga" -- I meant "Arkat's Saga". ________ Peter M: AF>> Couldn't disagree more. The rituals, for most purposes, _are_ the AF>> religion, not a PR bolt-on. PM> Hmm, we'll have a lot harder time trying to get regional variation PM> that way. I don't follow this at all. In the same post you've postulated three local traditions, involving dancing, bull-sacrifice and meditation, to obtain the same spell-effect (I presume). Looks like instant regional variation to me. Why not read something like "Patterns in Comparative Religion" (Mircea Eliade), "The Destiny of the Warrior" (Georges Dumezil) or "The Golden Bough" (James Frazer) to get a feel for how far mythological images or aspects can diverge across cultures with time? (Please don't bother answering that all Gloranthans are Sim-Gloranthan robots whose mythical-cum-religious experience cannot be compared to anything which arose in the real world. We've had that thread before, and it never gets us anywhere.) > Call the Moon Oria and you have a good indication of what I suspect... Nice idea. Wrong, but nice. FYI, I've learned from Greg that in his view, Feminine cycles =/= Moon cycles; pregnancy and menstruation etc. are not connected to the Moon, except insofar as the Moon is perceived as female. ______________ David Cowling: > Does anyone have a cult work up, or information on Yelornans? I have a > new player to play a female in a Prax campaign, and thought that cult > would be best. Are there Babeester Gor in Prax? Yelorna was detailed in "Big Rubble", back in the Golden Age of player- friendly kitchen-sink cult write-ups. Maybe someone has a copy handy, and time enough to retype the salient points. It wasn't very cultural, IMHO. I'd be surprised if there were no temple guardians at the Paps, but (like the Paps religion as a whole) they'd likely be sedentary full-timers, not roving nomadic player-character types. IMO, Babeester Gor cultists are very very dangerous and violent influences on a campaign; I've only once given one out as a PC, and that was for a campaign which revolved around avenging a theft from an Esrolite shrine. Freely-roaming BGs scare me shitless. > Do Humakti HeroQuest (I know Arkat did). If so, is it a shadow of Humakt > that they face as well. Yes, and Yes. Most of the recorded Staffordian HeroQuests were primarily Humakti affairs (Six Stones, Alebard's Quest). And Humakti must always be prepared to face Death. That doesn't mean they have to let it kill them. Everyone who worships, HeroQuests. > Other than the obligatory die rolls in the Cults book, what do you do if > a PC is qualified for Rune Lord status ... I am making a near Rune Level > Humakti undertake two LARGE missions for the temple as cult service. If > he is succesfsful in both should this be enough? I kinda wanted to ask > some deep, cult-morality type questions as well. Opinions?? Sounds good to me. I'd rather keep your version, and waive the "obligatory die rolls" while fudging the numbers of 90%+ skills required. Becoming an initiate, Rune Lord, priest, thane, sacred milkman, or bartender at Gimpy's is a Major Campaign Event, not something to brush off as a wee mechanical hiatus. OTOH, if your group enjoys a far-ranging campaign with low-level social ties and no fixed abodes, maybe the mechanical way is easiest. _______ Martin: > I'm really only quoting the above because I've caught the never-let- > anyone-else-get-the-last-word bug. I'll be repeating this ad nauseam... Am I unique in paying my own $$$ to read this list? Be sociable, guys! ________ Peter W: > The file is about 11895 bytes in ASCII format so would be about 1/2 a > 'part' of the Daily. I appreciate that some of you might not want that > much of the Daily to be taken up by one post. > If three people tell me they want it, by private post or on the Daily > then I'll post it. I'd love to see your WMFTM, as a post to the Daily. Might prompt me to dig up my old Esrolite WMMTM as a response. Let's open a new can-o'worms... ____ MOB: > Now that I've let the (shadow)cat out of the bag, what do people think > of another book of adventures in and around Sun County? Book might also > feature a brief run-down of the Elmal/Yelmalio business too. Can't have too much of a good thing. I say, go for it! ____ Pam: > Can Basmol be considered to be a part of the solar scene? ... There are > other similarities: lions are yellow, have halo-like manes, and live in > very patriarchal societies. The sabre-toothed god identified on the Gods Wall (Sakkar, God of Fear, Hunter of Men) was always an Enemy to the Dara Happans. They identify with birds; the Eagle is their Big Solar Animal. But you'll be pleased to know that the Carmanian Padishahs of the tenth and eleventh centuries were known as the Golden Lion Shahs, and were for most of that time close allies (and relatives) of the Dara Happan Emperors. So there's a whole bunch of 'solar' lion imagery in lands of the old Carmanian Empire. Some artwork of this period combines Eagles, Lions, and Hounds to represent the brother-kingdoms of Dara Happa, Carmania and Saird. It's one of the strongest symbols of the era. After the Dragonkill, the Carmanians went over to Bull worship; most of the Lion warriors had been killed, and a bunch of barbarian usurpers took over. They weren't related or friendly to Dara Happa after that, so everything diverged again (mythologically, symbolically, politically, etc.). Look at Assyria for some Real Fun Stuff. _______________ Paul Honigmann: > I am currently running a campaign where the PCs are interacting with > members of the Kalikos Icebreaker cult. Can anyone tell me where info. > on this cult can be found? or has anyone got any ideas about it, > particularly why and how this cult is so good at dealing with ice > demons .... that is, why they are better than other cults which have > fire magic for example. No bulky published info is available: if you've heard of her, and know a star is named for her, you know more or less all that's in the public domain. The Gloranthan Encyclopaedia had a version of her story, written about fifteen years ago, which Greg had forgotten about completely when he brought her back in more recent (draft/ unpublished) work as a figure from early Pentan mythology. Her Lunar connection remains obscure. Chris Gidlow is writing another Lunar semi-freeform (sequel to the Tarsh War) called "The Hunt for Red Storm Season" about a defecting icebreaker; I'll know more after we've been through that game. Current ideas are very much tied up with the naval and strategic aspects, trireme-cum-submarine puns (Lodril totem-torpedoes, anyone?), and those good old fashioned Lunar Soviet parallels. Surely no coincidence that the Evil Red Empire sends (Lenin-class?) Icebreakers out across the frozen sea... (Well, actually it was: we surprised Greg with this after Convulsion. Must be serendipity striking again.) ____________ Simon Jones: > How do the initiates see in the Vivamort temples? ... My theory is that > owing to the large amount of time spent as initiates, before achieving > immortality, they spend their time growing accustomed to the dark... All your suggestions sound right to me. Though in a game I'd be tempted to have enough lighting for PCs to be able to see the terrifying rituals that are going on, so as to create MGF. Until I really want to scare them by having the lights go out... ____________ Simon Hibbs: > Go right ahead, Pete. I think your ideas are interesting and reflect a > different view of heroquesting from mine. You seem to believe in an > underlying mythological truth, where I believe in a continuous mytho- > logical process. That's ok. I'll second this statement, and the whole preceding post. ==== Nick ====