From: owner-runequest-rules@ (RuneQuest Rules Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.MPGN.COM Subject: RuneQuest Rules Digest V1 #80 Reply-To: runequest-rules@mpgn.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@ Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@ Precedence: bulk RuneQuest Rules Digest Monday, April 20 1998 Volume 01 : Number 080 RuneQuest is a trademark of Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS [RQ-RULES] Spirit plane RE: [RQ-RULES] Spell Fumbles [RQ-RULES] Gods,Spirits,Chaos Features RE: [RQ-RULES] Magic spirits, Dodge [RQ-RULES] RQ4 character sheets [RQ-RULES] Shamans [RQ-RULES] RQ4 character sheets Re: [RQ-RULES] Re: Ghosts Re: [RQ-RULES] Where is Humakt cult writeup? Re: [RQ-RULES] Spirit plane Re: [RQ-RULES] Spirit plane 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: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 07:11:50 -0500 From: stancliff@commnections.com Subject: [RQ-RULES] Spirit plane RU>plane. I tend to describe it as a misty wolrd where spitits float RU>around. One can recognize spirits as different types if you have a RU>trained eye, and a spirit is bigger the more power it has. I also use RU>that if you move 100 meters on the spirit plane, then cast RU>Visibility, then you would pop out 100 meters away on the Mudane RU>plane too. I`m not shure if I`m too happy with that. The books describe the spirits as combinations of geometric shapes: rather abstracted. Types are recognizable with practice. The frontier region is supposed to contact the mundane world at all points so the movement is basically true. Moving to the outer region and then to the inner region moves you closed to the underworld and possibly the god time as well. RU>I have also thought about changing the Disemobodyment rite. In stead RU>of the shaman and fetch switching places, why not let the fetch RU>loose, and run around on the Spirit plane? I think that would make RU>more sense. But at the same time the shaman would have to stay in RU>some sort of trnace, to keep guiding the fetch, Someone suggested this about a month ago, and I like it a lot better. It also implies that the fetch cannot leave the body without discorporation, which I agree with. Since the fetch and the shaman are two sides of the same person, it is simpler and better for the fetch, which lives on the spirit plane anyway, to do all of the traveling. 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: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 12:16:55 +0100 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] Spell Fumbles >I never did like Spell Fumbles, it was never as if the bonuses for a >Crit were anything too nifty. I've seen fumble tables (from Heroes, I think) that are really horrible, and I would not use that. I do like the idea of an interesting fumble tables, not always bad for the sorceror, just random happenings that are almost as likely to be good as to be bad. Have you looked at my table? philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk or phibbs@compuserve.com http://members.tripod.com/~PhilHibbs/ A single death is a tragedy a million deaths are a statistic Josef Stalin *************************************************************************** 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, 20 Apr 1998 07:36:16 -0500 From: stancliff@commnections.com Subject: [RQ-RULES] Gods,Spirits,Chaos Features RU>> I am relatively certain that I could kill Quim with about 100 Bison RU>> riders with Dosge, Ride, Lasso, and Lance skills at 75%. 30 - 50% RU>> of the men would die in the process and it would take several weeks RU>> to track him down repeatedly for another attack. RU>Unfortunately, the first thing that Cwim does is cast Shimmer 18 RU>(using his ability to cast up to INT in ANY Spirit Magic Spell) and RU>the Bison Riders can lasso all they like at 5% chance. Then he RU>cartwheels through them like a mincing machine. All he needs to do is Direct frontal attack is stupid, the only way to beat him is attrition. Every time he spits a monster or throws a gorp you kill that and drag the spit monsters away so that he can't reabsorb them. Eventually he will lose enough size that he becomes attackable or starves. The dodge is to keep from getting hit directly, the ride is to keep out of his way, the lasso is to drag spit monsters you have lanced. RU>>> Sorry, you can only split your attack if there are two or more RU>>>opponents to hit, not the same one twice. RU>According to the RULES perhaps. But, I found the rules lacking here RU>and could see no reason as to why this was the case. RQ4 and certain RU>versions of RQ3 had special weapons tactics such as Flurry which I RU>found unsatisfying and were redundant once I allowed splitting RU>against the same target. A small change but it makes a high skill RU>level important in combat once more. I don't necessarily disagree with this, but I haven't made it a house rule yet. RU>For a long while, I played this, using POW and Intellect Spirits, but RU>then I thought "why not have RQ2 bound spirits as another type of RU>spirits?". I could not think of a valid reason, so I reintroduced RU>them. A house rule, of course, but one based on RQ2 (when everything RU>was rosy). I believe that INT spirits were made so small and magic spirits were introduced to get away from this type of bind. RU>One PC in our campaign, before I joined the campaign, was a Duck RU>called Pektok. When in SnakePipe Hollow he received a Chaos feature RU>of +12 STR and thought it was a Gift from Humakt. He took ages RU>training his CON to 21 then found out that he had a Chaos Feature, RU>when a Storm Bull attacked him. He asked Humakt to remove the Chaos RU>Feature then trained his STR to species max. Lucky for him. Cute, but once your character starts, raised stats, gifts, and chaos features do not change your trainable limits. RU>Regarding spirits having to use Second Sight etc. to target spells, I RU>always thought this was silly and play that spirits may see through RU>the senses of anyone they are in aura contact with. Basically, this RU>is the person they are bound to, or the person holding or wearing the RU>object they are bound to. This rule was intended to reduce the ability of bound spirits. It forced free Int to be assigned for targeting spells. RU>I don't allow Fetches to cast spells but do allow shamans to initiate RU>spirit combat with nearby spirits (nearby is a vague term) without RU>being discorporate. Fetches have at least as much autonomy as allied spirits, even if they have different powers. They should be able to cast spells on the shaman. 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: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 13:37:33 +0100 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] Magic spirits, Dodge >But is the fact that it is bound in a matrix enough for it to >cast it on physical things? Because I email from work, I never have my rules to hand, and have tripped up in the past, so appologies in advance, but I'm not sure that a bound spirit is "in" the binding, could it be interpreted as biunding the spirit "to" the item? That would get past the necessity to control the spirit, release it, get it to cast the spell, then tell it to get back in again. Personally, I'd allow direct casting by bound spirits on the holder of the item, but no-one else. I'm thinking of only allowing this for Spell Spirits, but nobody has ever done this in a game of mine anyway, so it's never been that important. Regarding skill training, the rules say that Dodge can be trained, but they do not say it explicitly. Obviously it depends on trainers being available - I'd say Dodge can be trained, but only alongside attack skills. philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk or phibbs@compuserve.com http://members.tripod.com/~PhilHibbs/ A single death is a tragedy a million deaths are a statistic Josef Stalin *************************************************************************** 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, 20 Apr 1998 10:06:15 -0500 From: "Loren Miller" Subject: [RQ-RULES] RQ4 character sheets FYI, I put my old RQ4 character sheet up on the web and you're welcome to grab it. PostScript and Excel source of Loren's RQ/AIG Character Sheet Note that I simplified one of the RQ4 rules. RQ4 included levels of difficulty for skills... Easy, Medium, Hard, and Very Hard, and had a lot of complicated rules for determining how quickly they could be raised. I simplified the roolz so that the difference between the skills was in how many skill-use checkmarks you needed before you got an experience roll and d6 increase. Easy needed 1, Medium 2, Hard 3, and Very Hard 4. Likewise, you needed 1 training/research period for Easy, 2 for Medium, 3 for Hard, and 4 for Very Hard. The reason I mention this is that the sheet has between 1 and four boxes next to each skill, and otherwise this might be confusing. Cheers! Loren - -- +++++++++++++++++++++++23 Loren Miller Applying computer technology is as easy as finding the right wrench to hammer in the right screw. *************************************************************************** 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, 20 Apr 1998 15:13:26 +0000 From: "Simon Phipp" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Shamans Terje Tollisen: > I would like to know how people play the Spirit plane. Why not look at my Website on http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/1481 and see all my rules on Spirits, the Spirit Plane and Shamans. > I tend to describe it as a misty wolrd where spitits float > around. Only for discorporate non-shamans or people using Spirit Senses or funny mushrooms. Shamans and other-world creatures see the terrain like the normal terrain, but beter, as you have it below. > One can recognize spirits as different types if you have a > trained eye, and a spirit is bigger the more power it has. Sounds Ok, I play that Spirits appear to have SIZ = POW so you can spot a big spirit fairly easily. > I also > use that if you move 100 meters on the spirit plane, then cast > Visibility, then you would pop out 100 meters away on the Mudane > plane too. I`m not shure if I`m too happy with that. Sounds OK too. > I have thought > of letting the Spirit plane reflect the Mudane plane, so that the > terrain is , if not the same, at least is of the same type. If you > enter the Spirit plane while in a mountain, you would enter a > mountain terrain on the Spirit plane too. > I have also thought about > changing the Disemobodyment rite. In stead of the shaman and fetch > switching places, why not let the fetch loose, and run around on the > Spirit plane? I think that would make more sense. But at the same > time the shaman would have to stay in some sort of trnace, to keep > guiding the fetch, or to keep sending out a beacon to the fetch so > it knows which way is home. Indeed it would. > He could be able to cast spells on the > Mudane plane, but not really do anything physicly, to keep the idea > that he is quite diffencless while dissemboddied. I play that he can do nothing while discorporate except keep his fetch going. If his concentration is broken then the Discorporation stops. > How do you play it? Pretty much how you do. Simon Phipp *************************************************************************** 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, 20 Apr 1998 11:43:32 -0500 From: stancliff@commnections.com Subject: [RQ-RULES] RQ4 character sheets RU>Note that I simplified one of the RQ4 rules. RQ4 included levels of RU>difficulty for skills... Easy, Medium, Hard, and Very Hard, and had a lot RU>of complicated rules for determining how quickly they could be raised. I ... RU>Loren I simplified things even farther... All skills require one check, but an Easy skill gets 1d6+2, a Medium skill gets 1d6, a Hard skill gets 1d3, and a Very Hard skill get 1d3-1. The same rolls apply to Research, Training, and Experience. 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: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 17:03:21 GMT From: "Nikk Effingham" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Re: Ghosts > For sorcery using ghosts I use a INT + POW - 20 as a presence. I would > possibly give them a bonus depending if they still remembered any skills at > 90% (i.e. mastery vow). Which would be their Magic Bonus anyhow, assuming they only had Itensity (ergo had only the High Vow) as as they lack DEX this isn't calculated into the Modifier. At lesat, IMHO. Nikk 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: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 17:08:06 GMT From: "Nikk Effingham" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Where is Humakt cult writeup? > > Does anybody know where I can get a more detailed writeup of the cult of > >Humakt? I think I read somewhere there was one in Tales of the Reaching > >Moon-is there an archive file of that article? One of my PCs has expressed > >an interest in Humakt, & I want as much RQ3 edition info as possible. There is a write up in both Cults of Prax and Tales of the Reaching Moon Issue 5. As these are both difficult to lay your hands on I wouldn't hold your breath. However, Sandy did circulate a Net copy of his cult description, which is EXACTLY the same as the official version, except with different gits and geases. You could try asking on the Glorantha Digest for it rather than here, someone promised to put it up on their webpage, but I don't think they got round to it (I could be mistaken). Alternatively, you could always check out MY St. Humakt write up Nikk 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: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 15:52:52 -0700 (PDT) From: allen wallace Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Spirit plane In my game, the spirit plane mirrors the material plane, though often in symbolic ways, as long as you remain close to the edge of the material world. As you get further away things get more strange. There is also a navigation skill for the spirit world, very useful in finding your way to the same place twice. Spirits will often have animal symbolism, but that is due more to local cosmology than anything else, animal spirits are drawn to there counterparts on the material. Actually most summonable spirits are often drawn to different material world sites or events. Power spirits are drawn to magically active areas, combat spell spirits are drawn to battlegrounds, etc. hope this is of some use 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: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 18:59:55 -0400 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Spirit plane Terje Tollisen wrote: > > I would like to know how people play the Spirit plane. I have a > shaman in my group now, and of course he wentures out on the Spirit > plane. I tend to describe it as a misty wolrd where spitits float > around. One can recognize spirits as different types if you have a > trained eye, and a spirit is bigger the more power it has. I also use > that if you move 100 meters on the spirit plane, then cast > Visibility, then you would pop out 100 meters away on the Mudane > plane too. I`m not shure if I`m too happy with that. > I have thought of letting the Spirit plane reflect the Mudane plane, > so that the terrain is , if not the same, at least is of the same > type. If you enter the Spirit plane while in a mountain, you would > enter a mountain terrain on the Spirit plane too. > What do you think? How do you play it? I think I've been playing it much as you have, taking alot of references from the "Ethereal Plane" of another game system. Objects on the mundane plane are mirrored on the spirit plane, but distances are often more allegorical than literal (i.e. you can cover alot of ground on the spirit plane, relative to the mundane, if you're pulling the discorporate shaman becomes visible stunt). Spirits often are symbolic in appearance; ghosts look like people (how much they resemble their former selves is relative to how long they've been dead, their mental state, and if they're from a culture where dead ancestors are looked after), magic spirits might resemble anything, and cult spirits often resemble "angels" (if applicable to the religion, of course) or demons. *************************************************************************** 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 #80 ************************************ *************************************************************************** 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. 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