From: owner-runequest-rules@ (RuneQuest-Rules-Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.MPGN.COM Subject: RuneQuest-Rules-Digest V1 #49 Reply-To: runequest-rules@mpgn.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@ Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@ Precedence: bulk RuneQuest-Rules-Digest Monday, March 23 1998 Volume 01 : Number 049 RuneQuest is a trademark of Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS [RQ-RULES] Young Heroes [RQ-RULES] Young Heroes [RQ-RULES] Young Heroes [RQ-RULES] POW Increase [RQ-RULES] POW Increase Re: [RQ-RULES] POW Increase RE: [RQ-RULES] POW Increase [RQ-RULES] Re: Sorcery varients [RQ-RULES] Re: Sorcery varients Re: [RQ-RULES] Sorcery/Chefs [RQ-RULES] Gamer Database 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: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 16:07:44 +0000 From: "Simon Phipp" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Young Heroes Bob Stancliff/Jane Williams commented on Jar-Eel and child Heroes. > > This same kind of skewed training is appearant with several > > legendary characters like JarEel, who leads an armed invasion over > > a mountain at age 14. [snip] > > I can only speculate that without the need to work to survive, > A very important distinction, and the reason it doesn't happen too > often. Heroes such as these gained much of their skill/powers magically. Obviously they would have had some physical training, but the Household of Death took many terrible Geases in order to boost their power. Young Heroes would perform HeroQuests and gain powerful skills and spells quickly but with more effort. Simon ____________________________________________ Simon Phipp Walsh Western Technologies Business Unit Tel: 01 4050887 Fax: 01 4050802 Mobile: 086 815460 Email: simon.phipp@walshwestern.com ____________________________________________ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 16:09:16 +0000 From: "Simon Phipp" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Young Heroes Bob Stancliff/Jane Williams commented on Jar-Eel and child Heroes. > > This same kind of skewed training is appearant with several > > legendary characters like JarEel, who leads an armed invasion over > > a mountain at age 14. [snip] > > I can only speculate that without the need to work to survive, > A very important distinction, and the reason it doesn't happen too > often. Heroes such as these gained much of their skill/powers magically. Obviously they would have had some physical training, but the Household of Death took many terrible Geases in order to boost their power. Young Heroes would perform HeroQuests and gain powerful skills and spells quickly but with more effort. Simon ____________________________________________ Simon Phipp Walsh Western Technologies Business Unit Tel: 01 4050887 Fax: 01 4050802 Mobile: 086 815460 Email: simon.phipp@walshwestern.com ____________________________________________ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 16:09:16 +0000 From: "Simon Phipp" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Young Heroes Bob Stancliff/Jane Williams commented on Jar-Eel and child Heroes. > > This same kind of skewed training is appearant with several > > legendary characters like JarEel, who leads an armed invasion over > > a mountain at age 14. [snip] > > I can only speculate that without the need to work to survive, > A very important distinction, and the reason it doesn't happen too > often. Heroes such as these gained much of their skill/powers magically. Obviously they would have had some physical training, but the Household of Death took many terrible Geases in order to boost their power. Young Heroes would perform HeroQuests and gain powerful skills and spells quickly but with more effort. Simon ____________________________________________ Simon Phipp Walsh Western Technologies Business Unit Tel: 01 4050887 Fax: 01 4050802 Mobile: 086 815460 Email: simon.phipp@walshwestern.com ____________________________________________ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 11:26:30 -0500 (EST) From: Peter Maranci Subject: [RQ-RULES] POW Increase This may have already been covered, but has anyone else considered giving a POW check for successfully *resisting* spells cast by an equal-or-greater-than POW? It feels logical somehow. -->Pete - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Maranci pmaranci@tiac.net Malden, MA Editor, Interregnum RPG/Science Fiction APA/magazine -- email for info. Interregnum WWW home page: http://www.tiac.net/users/maranci/index.html FRP adventures, art and more: http://www.tiac.net/users/maranci/rq.htm *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 12:57:52 -0500 From: stancliff@commnections.com Subject: [RQ-RULES] POW Increase RU>This may have already been covered, but has anyone else considered RU>giving a POW check for successfully *resisting* spells cast by an RU>equal-or-greater-than POW? It feels logical somehow. I thought about it three or four years ago. It makes some sense, but I was worried that such regular Pow checks would cause game imbalances farther down the road. I play that Pow checks are an Aggressive/Active result of imposing your will just like creating a magic item. Resisting an attack is a Defensive/Passive action; it might be justification for a Spirit Combat check (RQ4), but not a Pow check. Rember that Pow is equated to force of will, luck and strength of soul. This is not a strong counter-argument, it is just justification for a rule. The characters want a Pow check every week just like their other survival skills. They will find trouble, face chaos, even summon spirits to get that check. I try not to make it too easy... I don't want to give freebee's. Bob Stancliff (Stancliff@commnections.com) (http://commnections.com/upgrades) *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 11:14:12 PST From: "Leon Kirshtein" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] POW Increase > This is not a strong counter-argument, it is just justification for a >rule. The characters want a Pow check every week just like their other >survival skills. They will find trouble, face chaos, even summon >spirits to get that check. I try not to make it too easy... I don't >want to give freebee's. >Bob I agree with you Bob. The only adjustment to this, IMO, is if a character rolls a critical success with his spell casting. This gives a chance for a power gain roll to characters who have no access to spells which overcome power. Leon Kirshtein ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 19:18:59 -0000 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] POW Increase >This may have already been covered, but has anyone else considered >giving a POW check for successfully *resisting* spells cast by >an equal-or-greater-than POW? It feels logical somehow. Uh - don't you get this in the rules? I've always played that you do. 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 fearful 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: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 23:47:46 -0600 (CST) From: Kevin Rose Subject: [RQ-RULES] Re: Sorcery varients Bob Stancliff wrote: > This is a valid point which was addressed in RQ4 by limiting >manipulation to (least skill / 10 ??) as Sandy appearantly did. Another >question is whether this manipulation should be limited or should very >skilled Magi have manipulations greater than 20 or 25. RQ4 made it essentially impossible to cast a sorcery spell with significant manipulation because they chose to limit sorcerers by both the skill in the manipulation art and the spell. As the Arts were skills that cannot be increased by experiance . . . The interpretation of my players was that the gang of four either had not play-tested these rules or just wanted sorcery to be very weak. Sandy choose to make the Arts all or nothing for most sorcerers, making sorcery useful. > Under RQ4 or Sandy's rules students can't throw a one week spell >without a manipulated spell matrix. Even at (skill% / 5) for >manipulation, the duration could barely reach a week. This means that a >student can only afford time to maintain his own spells. Uh, have you carefully read Sandy's rules? There is no Duration art. Spells that are not instant last until you stop maintaining them. Then they disipate and free up your presence to allow you to cast more spells. A student can only maintain a very limited number of spells, but that does make sense, right? Kevin *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 12:30:18 -0500 From: stancliff@commnections.com Subject: [RQ-RULES] Re: Sorcery varients RU>RQ4 made it essentially impossible to cast a sorcery spell with RU>significant manipulation because they chose to limit sorcerers by RU>both the skill in the manipulation art and the spell. As the Arts were RU>skills that cannot be increased by experiance . . . The interpretation of RU>my players was that the gang of four either had not play-tested RU>these rules or just wanted sorcery to be very weak. Sandy choose RU>to make the Arts all or nothing for most sorcerers, making sorcery RU>useful. I suspect they did not have time to play test; RQ4 was being written and diseminated on the web to play-testers almost immediately, and then the feedback was used for changes. All manipulation and other skills could be learned by research and training, this guaranteed that sorcerers would spend nearly all of their time learning their craft. This effect was reduced slightly by introducing skill difficulty levels, several spells were easy and some skills were medium. The skill%/10 was a mistake IMO. To allow experts to cast meaningful spells, the value should be skill%/5. The whole purpose of modifying sorcery was to make students weak, tying their power to their skills, so that skill improvement would have a visible effect. RU>> Under RQ4 or Sandy's rules students can't throw a one week spell RU>>without a manipulated spell matrix. Even at (skill% / 5) for RU>Uh, have you carefully read Sandy's rules? There is no Duration art. This was a bad mistake on my part to combine Sandy with RQ4 here, the lack of Duration and the introduction of Vows for Presence are the primary difference between them. I have glanced through Sandy's rules recently and I am reluctant to make such a drastic shift. I would rather make some small changes to RQ4 and get something that plays well but that doesn't destroy the old system. Getting rid of free INT is bad enough although I noticed that Sandy brought it back in through a Vow. I am playing a Prax/Pavis campaign and only one player has sorcery: an Apprentice who has run away before becoming an Adept. I don't need schools and sects of sorcery, and as I said previously, I prefer a different cultural definition for the West. There is no god but the Invisible god, and Malkion is his prophet! Beware, the Kingdom of War is in Jihad! Bob Stancliff (stancliff@commnections.com) (http://commnections.com/upgrades) *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 22:49:31 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Sorcery/Chefs Nikk Effingham wrote: > > First, the Chef was cool! More! More!!! Hmmm. Thannies have torture chambers, right? (Although I was thinking of maybe coming up with a recipe of Rotted Head Soup to post...) > Now onto Sorcery: > I STONGLY disagree. Firstly, most of the sorcerors I have seen in > published RQIII supplements are, basically, exactly the same. > Little variation. This is probably more due to the limited number > of sorcery spells in RQIII than anything else. Secondly, I think > that it is the responsbility of any decent rules system to aid the > game. It should be more than a vehicle, it should actively craft > the game you play. Not that we have a big selection of published sorcerers to work from. There are... five? (1 from MonCol, 1 from GriffIsle, 3 in SiP)? I never really saw a big similarity in them, but I'll be the first to admit I wasn't looking for any. (I'll further admit that the one most folks hate the most, I really, really liked ). Even before I started skimming spells off of the net, I'd added almost a dozen new ones on my own/from other sources. Sandy's system added several whole new layers of detail for me; I've personalized it some, as I don't agree with everything, but on the whole, it's pretty much intact. - - *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 00:57:05 EST From: Delecti Subject: [RQ-RULES] Gamer Database Sorry for the intrusion but.. Take a look at this, while not rule stuff, these things help support the games we love by linking the ones who play them together. Please add yourself and your web pages. Delecti Subj: Gamer Database Date: 98-03-22 22:08:14 EST From: cthulhu@accessdenied.net (Cthulhu) Reply-to: cthulhu@accessdenied.net We're looking for more people to sign up in the gamer database at http://www.accessdenied.net If you have a web page dedicated to some game, you can also put up a link to your web page. DATABASE AND OPPONENT FINDER For the gamer database go to GAMER DATABASE and fill out the ADD form or just use the query/profile features to see the people who have signed in. AccessDenied has a database of online gamers for PBEM, Boardgames, Network, and RPG games. Over 300 games and you can add any that are not listed. You can use it to find local and remote players of specific games. And when you add your entry, you can easily add new games to the database. With an advanced query engine you can restrict searches to: - - available times - - specific skill levels - - location Overall a good place for finding opponents, whether local or on the net for email/Network games. Also there is a field in your profile so you can enter your ICQ #, it will turn up on the query results page. DATABASE OF GAMES (and add your own links) Another feature is RELATED LINKS for all the various multi-player games. Simply go to the LINKS page and click on 'Links By Game'. Feel free to use the forms provided within that section to add your own web page for a specific game that is in the database. If you have a miscellaneous or general type site we would be willing to do a link exchange. CHALLENGE BOARD Click on CHALLENGE and you will be given a list of challenge boards with challenges posted. Or post your own challenge for any computer network game (typically those that support TCP/IP but don't have an on-line server like Total Annihilation and Seven Kingdoms). You can provide a contact identity of IP, email or ICQ #. The powerful CGI used also ties in to the Gamer Database so you can quickly fill out the form by entering your database name/id and hitting a button. FREE GAME PAGE HOSTING Click on LEAGUES to see the instructions on how to get a free web page hosted for whatever game-related topic. Maybe you want to run a PBEM RPG or a league or even a tournament. FEATURES - - latest and best game demos - - freely add your game home page link for the games in the database - - challenge board - - gamer database and search engine - - free game page hosting DATABASE QUICK LINKING We're trying to get the database built up to a large size to be more useful - adding your profile only takes a few minutes. You also get a URL to put on a sig or home page which links to your database entry. Here are some tips: If you want to put a quick link to your profile: http://www.accessdenied.net/cgi-bin/main.cgi?newuser=profile&userid=15 (where '15' is your userid) Quickly linking to list all players of a certain game http://www.accessdenied.net/cgi-bin/query.cgi?game=INCUBATION (lists everyone in the database registered a player of that PBEM) Similarly for the registered RPG, Boardgame and Network games. Quickly linking to a challenge board http://www.accessdenied.net/cgi-bin/challenge.cgi?game=SEVEN+KINGDOMS Quickly linking to the registered links for a specific game http://www.accessdenied.net/cgi-bin/related.cgi?game=TOTAL+ANNIHILATION Thanks, and sorry for bothering you Cthulhu http://www.accessdenied.net PS: If you have an appropriate game or gaming site and are interested in a link exchange, please email me! Also if you sign up in the database we do not use or sell your e-mail. However, the e-mail you supply shows up in your profile (as well as your web page) so people can contact you when they are looking for opponents. *************************************************************************** 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 #49 ************************************ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. RuneQuest is a Trademark of Avalon Hill Games. With the exception of previously copyrighted material, unless specified otherwise all text in this digest is copyright by the author or authors, with rights granted to copy for personal use, to excerpt in reviews and replies, and to archive unchanged for electronic retrieval.