From: owner-runequest-rules@ (RuneQuest-Rules-Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.MPGN.COM Subject: RuneQuest-Rules-Digest V1 #21 Reply-To: runequest-rules@mpgn.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@ Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@ Precedence: bulk RuneQuest-Rules-Digest Wednesday, February 25 1998 Volume 01 : Number 021 RuneQuest is a trademark of Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS RE: [RQ-RULES] Earth Spells Re: [RQ-RULES] Learning Spirit Spells [RQ-RULES] Liches (the final word?) Re: [RQ-RULES] Earth Spells Re: [RQ-RULES] Learning Spirit Spells Re: [RQ-RULES] Liches (the final word?) Re: [RQ-RULES] Mass Replies - Hello, Earth Re: [RQ-RULES] Annihilate, Spellteaching, Liches Re: [RQ-RULES] Wisperblow, Elemental Spells Re: [RQ-RULES] Wisperblow, Elemental Spells [RQ-RULES] RE: Annihilate, Earth, Others [RQ-RULES] Re: RuneQuest-Rules-Digest V1 #20 [RQ-RULES] RE: RedShield [RQ-RULES] Annihilate Addendum RULES OF THE ROAD 1. Do not include large sections of a message in your reply. Especially not to add "Yeah, I agree" or "No, I disagree." Or be excoriated. If someone writes something good and you want to say "good show" please do. But don't include the whole message you praise. 2. Use an appropriate Subject line. 3. Learn the art of paraphrasing: Don't just quote and comment on a point-by-point basis. 4. No anonymous posting, please. Don't say something unless you're ready to stand by it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 15:10:30 -0600 From: "Michael A. Pastorello" Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] Earth Spells At 03:15 PM 2/24/98 -0500, you wrote: >What about combat spells affecting the earth i.e. an earthquake spell to >open a split in the ground (trapping the target or damaging man-made >structures)? While fire may be an element that "directly" attacks, >slower moving earth may be more subtle. > -- Burton What about making the ground different consistency's also..like quicksand. Trap an opponent and the ground again goes solid and he is helpless. Also depending on how many points the spell is determines what the consistancy of the ground will change to. Just a thought. Mike *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 17:37:04 EST From: David Weihe Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Learning Spirit Spells > JULIAKIR@aol.com wrote: > > But how do you determine how big of a spirit shows up? What is > > there to prevent the initiate from asking for a Protection 8? Spirit magic that high level should come from a shaman, or a heroquest, not from the usual set of angels (in the original sense) that a cult can easily access. The cult's spell spirits were the ones that could be bound and controlled, or joined willingly for protection from Spirit Plane predators (whether high-powered shamen or enemy spirits), not insipient godlings. Also, cults do not specialize in spirits, but in the more costly but more dependable Divine spells. > From: Tal Meta > Well, there's several ways to answer this question. IMG, first off, I > limit the points in a spell that a member of a cult can learn to the > number of runes the god in question posesses plus one. For example, a > Sword of Humakt (Death/Truth/Death) could only learn up to Bladesharp 4 > from his own cult, But an Orlanthi Wind Lord (Motion/Air/Air/Mastery) > could learn Bladesharp 5. And Kargan Tor, the originator of the rune, could only give bladesharp 3? It sounds backwards to me. I would expect that since Orlanth has no Death rune he can only give a little of it (say, RQ2's limit of 4) while a Death Rune cult can give it up to 1.5 or 2 times the limit (thus Babeestor Gor grants up to 6 or 8), and the Rune Holder god (Humakt, in this case) can give 1.5 or 2 times as high as that (thus a limit of from 9 to 16). I would go with the lower limit, myself, but a high powered campaign could use the higher. I will not try to decide how high the Rune originator can grant, as UlEria is the only one left, and is already the subject of too many juvenile speculations :-) . OTOH, Humakt gets Healing 6 for hysterical raisins (every published Sword already has it unless blocked by the appropriate geas, after all) and some mythological excuse like getting it from Arroin before he lost all HIS healing magic, or something like that. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 22:54:41 GMT From: "Nikk Effingham" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Liches (the final word?) Tal: >> sentient species, then commit ritual suicide and suceed in a >> successful ceremony roll. > >One assumes they succeed in the Ceremony roll BEFORE the suicide. :) No : ) If you want to become a Liche make sure you've got a REALLY high Ceremony score. This is more to dissuade PCs from doing it. >> Sorcery Notes: I favour the rule that upon becoming a Liche they >> gain a Vow of Lichehood. This adds their old POW as Presence. It >is >> lost if they ever attempt to stop being a Liche. > >Unthought if, but much agreed with. I think this Vow would work quite well. Looking at Gundas the Guilty, her selection of non-standard Vows got me thinking... > But how does one stop being >undead (and benefit from it?) Another story in and of itself....? HeroQuest. And HQ only I suppose..... >Any plans on reposting this on the GD? Probably not, but I will webpage it soon, the next batch of additions, including a heap of extra advantages and disadvantages for my character generation sdystem,. will be up in the next week. Nikk E. Nikk Effingham eng7nje@leeds.ac.uk http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/7556/ "If absolute power corrupts absolutely Where does that leave God?" -- George Daacon *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 15:19:04 -0800 (PST) From: allen wallace Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Earth Spells IMG Earth temples have access to good defense spells, but the only thing that counts as a good offence is some impressive strength effects. Allen *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 15:39:17 -0800 (PST) From: allen wallace Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Learning Spirit Spells I've stopped using the standard RQ spellteaching. Cults have temple spirits and you gain spells with Viking's and Land of Ninja style spirit communication. These spirits will know set spells, and a particular temple might not even have a temple spirit with a spell at the level you want. Even if the spirit does, you have to still make 8 consecutive successes toget that protection 8, if you blow it, you have to wait until the next ceremony summoning and venerating Dogan Ironskin (or whoever) which may not be until next year. Allen *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 15:42:05 -0800 (PST) From: allen wallace Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Liches (the final word?) Almost the final word, Re the liche becoming non-undead, what does a resurrection spell do to a liche? Allen *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 21:22:22 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Mass Replies - Hello, Earth Choinski, Burt wrote: > > Greetings all...it's been a while since I was on the RQ list > (jeez, easily as long back as Andrew's and Henk's lists). Welcome! Your name seems quite familiar... I suspect I've borrowed ideas of yours on occasion. Hibbs, Philip wrote: > > I'm tempted not to do any major combat spells associated with the > element of Earth, because of its life/healing associations. Of > course, those are Gloranthan associations, not RuneQuest ones. > Opinions? Babeester Gor, penultimate Glorantha Earthy Warrior, gets plenty of combat spells; her (sibling?) Maran Gor gets some pretty violent spells too. So even Glorantha has its precedents for 'negative' Earth connections. I do still find the whole Earth - Axe relationship strange, but I guess I lack the underlying mythology that explains it. I would think more towards scythes (harvest/reaping/death/burial), flails (harvest, etc.), various blunt instruments (seeing as how the earth is 'hard' and 'unyeilding'). But that's a question for another list. Michael A. Pastorello wrote: re: whisperblow > why not add something like when the either blow lands the > spell also cushions the sounds so anyone nearby will have to roll > a crit listen in order for them to hear the combat...would be very > effective if trying to infiltrate anything. Just my thoughts. Up to Leon, of course, but I think it's a great idea. Most of the spells we've done thusfar have kept to that concept pretty well, I think. Actually, I think I have the seeds of an earth-based weapon spell percolating now... *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 22:26:28 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Annihilate, Spellteaching, Liches Hibbs, Philip wrote: > Annihilate - 6 points, touch, passive, temporal Ack! Tragic Pistol! I'd make this spell deal tha damage directly to the total hit points, as even with an average POW, most of the potential damage will be wasted, unless you're using the '3x to sever' rule. Michael A. Pastorello wrote: > Question...does armor protect as normal..i would say no but > magical protection and countermagic would protect? How does that > sound? I'd let magical protections work, but let it slip past armor. David Weihe wrote: > > And Kargan Tor, the originator of the rune, could only give > bladesharp 3? It sounds backwards to me. I would expect that > since Orlanth has no Death rune he can only give a little of it > (say, RQ2's limit of 4) while a Death Rune cult can give it up to > 1.5 or 2 times the limit (thus Babeestor Gor grants up to 6 or 8), I never said it was perfect. Perhaps a more perfect system would tie each spell to a rune, and whatnot, but even the authors of the game haven't attempted that much integration. Where it really falls down is divine cults granting spirit magic; those really have very little clear runic associations. Nikk Effingham wrote: > >One assumes they succeed in the Ceremony roll BEFORE the suicide. :) > > No : ) If you want to become a Liche make sure you've got a > REALLY high Ceremony score. This is more to dissuade PCs from > doing it. Er, how high a Ceremony skill do you need to perform one as a corpse? Perhaps i should have said that the suicide be the climax of the Ceremony, not the anticlimax. > I think this Vow would work quite well. Looking at Gundas the > Guilty, her selection of non-standard Vows got me thinking... Yes, I took quite a look at Gunda's selection of abilities, too. Some admittedly sailed right past me, but others definitely gave me things to think about. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 21:40:38 EST From: JULIAKIR@aol.com Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Wisperblow, Elemental Spells In a message dated 98-02-24 21:31:18 EST, you write: << > why not add something like when the either blow lands the > spell also cushions the sounds so anyone nearby will have to roll > a crit listen in order for them to hear the combat...would be very > effective if trying to infiltrate anything. Just my thoughts. Up to Leon, of course, but I think it's a great idea. Most of the spells we've done thusfar have kept to that concept pretty well, I think. >> I do not think that a spell like this would be able to muffle the sounds of combat. What you are asking here is IMO at least two different spells, one to improve damage and the other to silence the attack. A bit too much for a 4pt Spirit spell. In general when I was making these spells up, I tried to maintain the flavor of Fireblade. That is, to increase the damage of a weapon by an average of about 5pt and at the same time keep them distinct from each other and from Fireblade. What I did not want is different elemental spells doing the exact same thing but looking different. Leon *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 00:24:53 -0600 From: "Michael A. Pastorello" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Wisperblow, Elemental Spells At 09:40 PM 2/24/98 EST, you wrote: >I do not think that a spell like this would be able to muffle the sounds of >combat. What you are asking here is IMO at least two different spells, one to >improve damage and the other to silence the attack. A bit too much for a 4pt >Spirit spell. > >In general when I was making these spells up, I tried to maintain the flavor >of Fireblade. That is, to increase the damage of a weapon by an average of >about 5pt and at the same time keep them distinct from each other and from >Fireblade. What I did not want is different elemental spells doing the exact >same thing but looking different. > I see what you were doing...what about making the spell cost more then. To me some of the weaknesses with spirit magic is that there are no multiple spell effects. A sorceror has this ability and also a priest using their spells which makes the shaman or spirit spell using pc at a huge disadvantage. IMO as a result of this, in direct combat the spirit magic user would be at a huge disadvantage cause he has to cast all spells as combat is starting or else they won't be there. I think that all in all the 3 types of magic should have some balance. To this end I have started making multiple effect spirit magic spells. I will post as I get them to points I like. But what if spell was 5 or 6 points for the multiple spell actions. As to being able to do it..well is why termed magic..if air changes into a blade to do damage, why couldn't it also be changed to muffle sounds or become less permeable to sound waves. Again just my thoughts. Mike *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 08:52:59 -0000 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: [RQ-RULES] RE: Annihilate, Earth, Others Michael A. Pastorello: >>Annihilate - 6 points, touch, passive, temporal >>... deals the caster's POW in damage to the location struck... >Question...does armor protect as normal..i would say no but magical >protection and countermagic would protect? How does that sound? Oh, I'd say armour protects, the spell is quite nasty enough already. Burt Choinski: >While fire may be an element that "directly" attacks, >slower moving earth may be more subtle. Well, so far we've just covered weapon magics, but I suppose we could broaden the scope. I suggest we stick to weapon spells now, and move on to another category when we've got a decent set. Come to think of it, we're getting close. We've got 2 for Darkness, 2 for Red Moon, 2 for Water, 1 for Air and 1 for Blue Moon. We could do with another Air spell, and maybe one or two for Earth. Think, dammit, think. philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk or phibbs@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/phibbs +--------------+ | Philip Hibbs +---------------------------------------------+ | What immortal hand or eye dare frame thy perfect symmetry? | +------------------------------------------------------------+ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 09:38:06 +0000 From: "David Boatright" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Re: RuneQuest-Rules-Digest V1 #20 >I'm tempted not to do any major combat spells associated with the >element of Earth, because of its life/healing associations. Of course, >those are Gloranthan associations, not RuneQuest ones. Opinions? Maran Gor and Babester Gor are hardly nice friendly life\healing cults. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 15:48:18 -0000 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: [RQ-RULES] RE: RedShield >On those rounds when the shield barely glimmers >(new, empty), it's armor points are halved. How about different effects on the in-between rounds? philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk or phibbs@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/phibbs +--------------+ | Philip Hibbs +---------------------------------------------+ | What immortal hand or eye dare frame thy perfect symmetry? | +------------------------------------------------------------+ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 17:18:56 -0000 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Annihilate Addendum Annihilate - 6 points etc. If cast on an arrow, the head must be silver. If cast on a crossbow bolt, the last inch of the bolt must be silver. The spell only affects fast projectiles, not thrown weapons, unless the thrown weapon has Speedart cast upon it, but in this case the Annihilate cancels the effect of the Speedsrt. philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk or phibbs@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/phibbs +--------------+ | Philip Hibbs +---------------------------------------------+ | What immortal hand or eye dare frame thy perfect symmetry? | +------------------------------------------------------------+ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of RuneQuest-Rules-Digest V1 #21 ************************************ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. 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