From: owner-runequest-rules@ (RuneQuest Rules Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.MPGN.COM Subject: RuneQuest Rules Digest V1 #57 Reply-To: runequest-rules@mpgn.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@ Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@ Precedence: bulk RuneQuest Rules Digest Friday, April 3 1998 Volume 01 : Number 057 RuneQuest is a trademark of Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS Re: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules RE: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules Re: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules Re: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules [RQ-RULES] Hey! Re: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules [RQ-RULES] MonCon's Dart War Scenario [RQ-RULES] MonCon's Dart War Scenario Re: [RQ-RULES] MonCon's Dart War Scenario Re: [RQ-RULES] MonCon's Dart War Scenario 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: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 12:05:02 -0800 (PST) From: jarold davis Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules At 12:11 PM 4/2/98 +0100, Alain RAMEAU wrote: > I am sorry to come back on Sorcery rules, but I have just subscribe to > the list and I have read a few of the former digests (the very first > ones) dealing with Sorcery. I really like seeing House Rules on Sorcery, especially since there seem to be so many ways people use it their campaigns. As I've stated before, there's a lot I don't like about RQ3 Sorcery, and there's a lot I don't care for in Sandy's Sorcery. I hope to cobble together my own sorcery house rules into printable form to post to the digest. Thanks Alain. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 21:09:47 +0100 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules >I really like seeing House Rules on Sorcery, especially since there >seem to be so many ways people use it their campaigns. As I've stated >before, there's a lot I don't like about RQ3 Sorcery, and there's a lot I >don't care for in Sandy's Sorcery. I hope to cobble together my own >sorcery house rules into printable form to post to the digest. Thanks Alain. I agree. If anyone has any House Sorcery Rules, let's see them. Mine are on my web page. philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk or phibbs@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/phibbs A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths, a statistic *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 21:14:14 -0600 From: Marc Robertson Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules Since people hve asked about Sorcery rules, here are mine:

The roll for learning a spell via instruction is changed to be INT*3 + instructors INT
Rationale:The better the instruction, the better the chance of learning 

Intensity, Duration, Range, and Multispell are no longer skills( with a success chance ). Instead, they are Arts, which you either know, or don't know. To learn a new art requires 200 hours of instruction, and the same roll required for learning a new spell
Rationale:Make things simpler, by making it easier to calculate spell success chance

The maximum amount of manipulation that can be done to a spell, is limited to the caster's skill/10, rounded up(Note: This is the base chance to cast the spell, uneffected by Ceremony or other magical enhancements. Also, this replaces the Free INT limit ). For example, a sorcerer with Damage Resist at 35%, could cast Damage Resist 5( + 4 intensity ), or Damage Resist 1 with a duration of 160( + 0 intensity, + 4 duration ), etc. However, see the next item. Sorcerers can choose to specialize in an area. If they do so, spells in their specialty can be maniuplated at up to skill/5, outside their specialty up to skill/20 Rationale:With the possibilty of massive amounts of Ceremony( see next item also on that ), it is possible for a beginning sorcerer to cast extremely powerful spells. Limiting the maximum amount of manipulation adds more value to increasing the spell casting ability.

The Ceremony skill can now be used for one of two purposes. Either to increase the chance to cast a spell successfully( at a flat +5% per round, up to a maximum modifier of the caster's base chance, or Ceremony skill, whichever is less ), or to increase the number of manipulations that can be done to the spell( at 1 per round, up to the base limit for the caster ). If used to allow further manipulations of the spell, the magic points that are spent to do the spell manipulation are spent during the Ceremony.
Rationale: Simplfies the process of improving casting chance, and allows the sorcerer a chance of more manipulations if needed, while still not letting it get too far out of control. It should be noted that the magic points for the extra manipulation are spent during the Ceremony, and thus are lost, regardless of the spell's success or failure

Sorcerers may use POW to create any familiar attribute. However, it takes 2 POW to replace 1 SIZ or INT.
Rationale:This makes familiar creation less painful( but still expensive!)
 

I can't say I liked what I read about Sandy's variant very much.  All that stuff about Vows, and Presence seemed to complicate things alot.  I have come to agree( dispite some of my previous comments on this list ) that the sorcery rules can be abused, and needed some modification.  I took some of these from a fellow gamer, and modified them somewhat.  They HAVEN'T been playtested yet, and so are definately subject to change ;-)

=====================================================================
Marc Robertson                email:
Principal Analyst               robertson@acm.org
DST Systems
Kansas City, MO  USA
=====================================================================
  *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 22:17:58 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules Most of my sorcery modifications bear pretty close to Sandy's system. The only major revisions I made were to the art of Permanence (instead of expending a point of POW to create a permanent effect, I require that the spell be tied to an active POW source (the caster, the target, a bound spirit, etc.) that simply ceases to regenerate a number of MP equal to the Permanence of the spell (i.e. if you cast a Resist Magic 6 Permanence 6 and tie it to a bound POW spirit (POW 12), it loses 6 MP and will not regenerate them while the spell is in effect). I'm toying with adding a Maintain art (while keeping Presence). Spells that are not cast with Maintain are not supported by the caster's presence, and are either instant or have a duration of 10 minutes. In my last campaign, the sorcerer sat behind ceremony boosted damage resists and was almost untoucheable (and stuff that did have a decent chance of hurting him would have killed him if it did!). Adding Maintain would, umm, well, it'd cut the intensities of such spells back to manageable levels. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 22:29:58 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: [RQ-RULES] Hey! Where'd everybody go, anyway? Last week we were jammin'... this week it's like a morgue. :) *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 23:05:21 -0600 From: Jim Gould Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules And the mysterious "other gamer" strikes again. C'est moi! Most of my abridgements are direct steals either from Sandy's system, from Marc, or other people with good ideas. My goal was to patch the existing rules rather than do a complete substitution or rewrite, so I'm not using the Vows/Presence system. No claims of real playability are asserted, but my players seem to like the mods, and I like the flavor of the game when my player-sorcerers have lots of options. "Dammit" Jim Gould My Sorcery Modifications No percentages are assigned to the Arts of Intensity, Range, Duration, or Multispell. These skills are either known or not known. Each Art requires 200 hours of instruction from an Adept sorcerer. Sorcerers normally teach Arts beyond Intensity only to their apprentices. Total manipulation of any sorcery spell is limited to the caster's skill in that spell divided by 10, rounded up. This replaces the Free INT limit. Example: Slick the Apprentice has a 38% skill in Damage Resistance. He knows all the Arts. He can apply up to 4 points of manipulation to the spell. He could use 4 points of extra Intensity, or 4 points of Duration, or 2 points of each, or any other combination that totalled up to 4 or less. Apprentices and Adepts may declare a field of specialization. Spells within the field chosen may be manipulated up to casting % / 5. Spells outside the field are limited to casting % / 20. Ceremony now has the following effects: for each round of ceremonial ritual, the casting percentage of the following spell is raised by 10%, up to the caster's Ceremony skill level. Ceremony can never more than double a caster's success percentage. Sorcery spells with effects similar spirit spells do not add; the greater effect takes place. For instance, if a PC casts Bladesharp 4 and Damage Boosting 6, the caster would be at +20% to hit and +6 damage. Comments: This modification reduces the immediate abusable power of apprentice sorcerers and provides a smoother power curve, as well as providing an incentive to improve casting skills. It also reduces the complexity of calculating spell percentages when using several Arts. As a side benefit, it frees sorcerers to have a greater variety of spells. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 23:51:18 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: [RQ-RULES] MonCon's Dart War Scenario What follows is the handout I'll be giving out for my RQ tournament at MonCon this Saturday. I'm not aiming at being Glorantha-correct, just wanted a (hopefully) fun, fast-paced introduction to RQ gaming. Scenario writeup so far: You are all members of the House Zuatha, a minor noble house of Carmania, in the Lunar Empire. For the last seventeen winters, House Zuatha has been at war with House Rual, which lies to the southwest, in a town by the same name. At the command of Fazzir Ha'Zuath, your leigelord, you have journeyed to Rual this winter to continue the vendetta against his most hated enemies. But this year, rather than the obligatory clash of militia forces used in the past, you Lord has decided upon a new strategy. You see, Rualtown lies on the border of a land known as Doraster, reputed to be rife with Chaos. This year, for reasons unknown, the outskirts of the city are being harrassed by broos (goat headed chaos-spawn who rape and kill for sport). So, the majority of Rual's strength is out beating the bushes for the elusive broo, instead of guarding his manorhouse. So, you have been selected to carry out a Dart War against House Rual. A Dart War is a war of assassins, rather than one of soldiers. It is an ancient custom in Carmania, one couched in nearly a thousand years of tradition. Each participant in a Dart War is issued a brace of three darts, fletched with the colors of the House they originate from. The poison used on the darts precludes resurrection magics; if the poison kills its target, they will remain dead. The customs of a Dart War dictate that only the immediate family of the offending House are subject to this kind of death, not their servants or more distant kin. Anyone else who stands in your way must be removed by more conventional means. Victory in this war will greatly increase your status in the House; failure will likely mean your deaths, at the very least you will be reduced to the status of outlaws if you fail and somehow survive. Your Fazzir has the greatest faith in your abilities. Good Luck! (A further recap of exactly where things go from here will hopefully get posted Sunday when I get back from the con...) *************************************************************************** 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, 3 Apr 1998 09:50:06 -0500 From: stancliff@commnections.com Subject: [RQ-RULES] MonCon's Dart War Scenario RU>What follows is the handout I'll be giving out for my RQ tournament at RU>MonCon this Saturday. I'm not aiming at being Glorantha-correct, just RU>wanted a (hopefully) fun, fast-paced introduction to RQ gaming. Scenario RU>writeup so far: RU>So, you have been selected to carry out a Dart War against House RU>Rual. RU>A Dart War is a war of assassins, rather than one of soldiers. It is RU>an ancient custom in Carmania, one couched in nearly a thousand RU>years of tradition. Each participant in a Dart War is issued a brace RU>of three darts, fletched with the colors of the House they originate RU>from. The poison used on the darts precludes resurrection magics; if RU>the poison kills its target, they will remain dead. This is an interesting story hook even though I don't recommend players having non-good characters. It casts a bad light on the gaming hobby to admit that players are committing evil actions like assassination. Claiming it is an ancient custom does not justify the action, it only clouds the responsibility for the evil. I assume that your admission this was non-Gloranthan had to do with the true nature of a Dart Competition. All of the mentions I have seen would suggest that they are small private wars or raids between elite troops of conflicting houses, the name Dart is a euphemism. My personal opinion is that this would have been a better story hook for your scenario: a retaliatory strike against an enemy house after they raided yours. Politics in the Lunar Empire are based on the 'Fall of the Roman Empire' just during or after the time of Christ: noble houses are degenerating and infighting, debauches are at least monthly, and in some places weekly. The arenas have become death duels, and freak shows and perverted circuses are entertainments. Soon the mountain barbarians will begin to pillage and destroy the border provinces, and the empire will begin to come apart at the seams. Weakened by internal rot and corruption the defenses will appear strong, but be erratic, and often poorly led and planned. A few good leaders will try to hold the provinces, until the corruption gets so bad that the best leaders are replaced by toadys and family members with no talent. These are the Hero Wars described in King of Sartar and referred to in other sources. *************************************************************************** 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, 03 Apr 1998 11:24:34 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] MonCon's Dart War Scenario stancliff@commnections.com wrote: > This is an interesting story hook even though I don't recommend > players having non-good characters. It casts a bad light on the > gaming hobby to admit that players are committing evil actions > like assassination. Given the actual storyline I have in mind, well, I don't want to say more than what I SAY it's about in the handouts and what actually transpires is a whole different matter. :) > Claiming it is an ancient custom does not justify the > action, it only clouds the responsibility for the evil. I don't really want to rehash the whole good/evil debate. I know that I, for one, got my start in RPGs violating tombs, and snuffing folk who were too poor to make a living besides banditry, etc., it all depends on your point of view. > I assume that your admission this was non-Gloranthan had to do > with the true nature of a Dart Competition. All of the mentions I > have seen would suggest that they are small private wars or raids > between elite troops of conflicting houses, the name Dart is a > euphemism. More to do with my sketchy information concerning them; I took the core idea from someone else's writeup of a "Dart War", but with my own background and spin. In the end it has alot less to do with say, Hamlet, than it does with another of Mr. Bill's plays. > My personal opinion is that this would have been a better story > hook for your scenario: a retaliatory strike against an enemy > house after they raided yours. Technically, they've been raiding each other for 17 years, even by the original information given. But, it's not too late for new ideas (that's one of the reasons I posted it - I haven't made up all the copies yet). > These are the Hero Wars described in King of Sartar and > referred to in other sources. Well, not to bring the current OOP debate over here, but I lack for KoS and several other sources myself. However, I do try and make do with what IS available. *************************************************************************** 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, 03 Apr 1998 14:57:44 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] MonCon's Dart War Scenario David Weihe wrote: > Dart Wars are usually fought between houses of Yelmic nobility, > rather than the Carmanians (who have their own vicious little > interncine fights, but no cute name for them) (just "feuds", > probably). No doubt. However, my original intent when I named the event last year was to run the Dart War! scenario I'd found on the 'net, but on further reflection decided that I wanted something a bit different. That scenario is clearly centered in Carmania, which gave me the impression they were a Carmanian tradition. The rest of my background is gleaned from Loren's House Zemady campaign, which is also set in Carmania. (One of the main reservations I had about the event I ran last year (John Chamberlin's Test of the Bear) was that a couple of the "younger" players were not very enthusiastic about running barbarian youths with nearly no magic and mediocre combat skills. A "civilized" setting allows alot more variations in profession than hunter/warrior.) > The Dart comes from one of the early examples in the Lunar Empire, > where the victim really did die from a claimed very bad throw in > an otherwise friendly game of darts. For the scenario, poisoned darts are the 'weapon of choice". None of the pregen characters I put together are better than say, 65% with thrown darts, and most are worse. (I've only got 4 hours, and at least half an hour always gets wasted waiting for players, explaining the system, buying pouches, etc.). > In any case, there are no "formal" "rules", like only using darts, > or only x darts. Poison, troll assassins, teleporting Orlanthi > mercenaries, or cursed shirts are all legal. This much I know; but as I said, it's a four hour event; best to limit the number of darts (you missed? what a shame!) the power level (current pregens log in at 4 soldiers, 2 sorcerers, 2 priests, a thief and a merchant, all age 30, generated "by the book" with approx 14 points of magic each, of varying usefulness) and the complexity. If I were building a full campaign around it, I'd certainly consider all of the above. > OTOH, if you were running a LARP, using "guaranteed-safe" darts as > an abstraction of the actual combat would be perfectly acceptable. It's a small convention, at a local University; maybe next year when we spring for hotel space we'll have the room to do LARPs. :) Current re-write of the presentation, based on what feedback I've received thusfar... Scenario: You are all members of the House Zuatha, a minor noble house of Carmania, in the Lunar Empire. More than just your leigelord, Fazzir Barjan Ha'Zuath is your friend and patron. For the last seventeen winters, House Zuatha has been at war with House Rual, which lies to the southwest, in a town by the same name. You set out from your homes the day before the Solstice, so as to reach Zuathtown in time for your yearly service, but an early blizzard slowed your progress, delaying you three days. But House Rual used the storm as cover, and struck early this year, not with the traditional clash of militia troops, but with a band of assassins... a Dart War! A band of ruffians entered the Fazzir's manor and took the lives of his wife, his youngest son, and a dozen guards before finally being brought down, and the Fazzir's heir, Rabban Ha'Zuath, is still missing! When you arrived, the Fazzir was beside himself with grief, but his cousin, Nardone Ro'Zuath greeted you and made you aware of the events of the past few days. Several facts point to why the Rual have changed their tactics after so long. House Rual lies on the border of a land known as Doraster, reputed to be rife with Chaos. This year, for reasons unknown, the outskirts of their town is being harrassed by broos (goat headed chaos-spawn who rape and kill for sport). So, the majority of Rual's strength is out beating the bushes for the elusive broo, instead of being fielded against their more traditional enemies. Secondly, they must have seduced someone inside the great House to their cause, permitting the villians to gain access; and though it hurts him deeply to even think it; young Rabban and his father had not been getting along lately... would the son have betrayed the father? For what purpose? Nardone outfits you with horses, and bids you to ride; ride to Rualtown, and avenge Lady Claire and little Franz. And if you should find Rabban, bring him back to his father, to answer some very pointed questions. He gives each of you a brace of darts, as well... of the Rual want to fight their battles in this fashion, then so be it! *************************************************************************** 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 #57 ************************************ *************************************************************************** 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.