Re: knights; Ranged Combat

From: David Dunham <david_at_...>
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2001 10:32:04 -0700

Nick joins me and Peter:

> > Possibly incorrectly -- I can't find the reference now to how
> > knights have risen through all the castes, but I could have sworn
> > he needed to have been a wizard (as a modern Hrestoli lord does).
>
> If this was in your Jrusteli game, I suppose you might have been
> using my Old Seshnelan Chivalric Knights and not the modern New
> Hrestoli Idealist ones (cf. www.etyries.com/malkioni/chivalry.htm).

Yes, it was Imperial Age Jrustela.

> The former would certainly be users of sorcery; the latter aren't
> (they're on the way to learning it). They aren't really all that
> comparable. See Peter's article on all the different things "Knight"
> could mean to a Malkioni, at www.etyries.com/malkioni/knights.htm

Hmm, I think I pretty much was inspired by his first paragraph (although I have a suspicion he wrote this after I ran my campaign); it seemed to me that the best way of "combining the powers and attributes of the four traditional castes" was to rise through them, like Hrestoli Idealism. Anyway, it's a useful article -- thanks for the pointer.

BTW (partly for Peter's benefit, since his article didn't go into details), Umathela is said to practice some form of Idealism as well (Gods of Glorantha Cults Book, p.47). Sadly, this work uses the term "knight" where "soldier" would be more precise. (It's also the case that there is really no dominant form of Malkionism in Umathela, Sedalpism being only the most common.)

Wulf

> I wasn't concerned with the problem of how to USE Ranged
> Combat, just the cost to improve it, and how 'broad' an Ability it
> was. There is little if any similarity in the technique of Archery and
> Sling, why do the two rise with one 'payment?

Because:

1. Hero Wars isn't a simulation of physics and psychology. If all a dramatic hero has to hand atop the castle wall is a javelin, he will hurl it at the fleeing enemy.
2. Being able to estimate wind and range, and adjusting for a moving target, is common to all forms of Ranged Combat.

gamartin (Gareth?)

> > ... One might argue that fencing is, if not entirely outside the
> > domain of "close combat", then certainly, pushing the envelope.
>
> Huh? If its not a form odf close combat, what is it?

A martial sport. The three fencing weapons I'm familiar with all have special rules that seem only loosely connected to actually killing someone and surviving the experience.

David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_...>
Glorantha/HW/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein