From: owner-runequest-rules@ (RuneQuest Rules Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.MPGN.COM Subject: RuneQuest Rules Digest V2 #2 Reply-To: runequest-rules@mpgn.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@ Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@ Precedence: bulk RuneQuest Rules Digest Sunday, January 10 1999 Volume 02 : Number 002 RuneQuest is a trademark of Hasbro/Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS [RQ-RULES] Weapon Skills Re: [RQ-RULES] hellions [RQ-RULES] Suspears etc... Re: [RQ-RULES] Weapon Skills [RQ-RULES] Useless missile weapons Re: [RQ-RULES] Sunspears etc... Re: [RQ-RULES] Sunspears etc... [RQ-RULES] Sandy's Sorcery Question RE: [RQ-RULES] Sandy's Sorcery Question Re: [RQ-RULES] Sandy's Sorcery Question [RQ-RULES] Magic System question 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, 4 Jan 1999 16:23:48 -0000 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Weapon Skills IIRC, different weapons within the same category increase in parallel with each other, with the base chance being the only difference between them. For example, if my broadsword skill goes up, then so does my scimitar skill, and my 1h bastard sword. If I have a high base chance in broadsword due to being from the Barbarian Belt, 30% according to the pink book in the Genertela box, but a low base chance in Scimitar (say 10%), then it is much more efficient for me to train in scimitar attack (if I can find a tutor) as it takes 20 less hours to do. This is doubly so for research, as I have a much better chance of learning. Also, using quick experience to get scimitar up to 75% gives a 95% broadsword skill. Nikk's point-based system works out cheaper, too. This can be solved by saying that improving a lower skill will not increase a higher skill, it just reduces the gap between them, whereas training in a high skill does increase any lower skills. Just thought I'd bring this potential abuse to your attention. philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk http://www.snark.freeserve.co.uk/ Failure is not an option, it's integral to the o/s. *************************************************************************** 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, 04 Jan 1999 16:17:19 +0000 From: Nikk Effingham Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] hellions At 10:46 04/01/99 -0500, you wrote: >Do any of you use encounters of Hellions? >How do you reconcile the Fatigue? Hellions are one of the most ridiculous creatures in RuneQuest ever just because they are so devastating. I refuse to use a creature that is so deadly. One hellion can hover above a party (out of melee range) with a Resist Damage cast (and we all know how useless missile weapons are in RuneQuest) so unless you can fly it's basically impossible to kill (and with armour equal to it's magic points, even if you can fly). It drains the party (obviously one hellion will have a hard time taking down a large number of people) and then Taps/Venoms/Evokes their unconsious forms. Of course, few wandering Hellions will kill you once they've drained you, unless under orders, and one hellion will not have the mp's to take down an entire party. However, a hellion as part of a larger attack force is just as deadly (or even a swarm of hellions) as each hellion is basically going to take down one foe with very little that they can do about it. The moral of this story, Hellions can be hazardous to your health. As for fatigue, even though I don't use the fatigue rules much, only for caclculating the effects of ENC (they are not lost in combat etc...) I'd still use them as they stand for hellions. All IMHO, Nikk E. _______________________________________________________ Nikk Effingham E-mail: nikk@MailAndNews.com WWW: 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, 04 Jan 1999 16:39:29 +0000 From: Nikk Effingham Subject: [RQ-RULES] Suspears etc... I have a question to raise - just how useless if the Sunspear spell? For a three point spell it is not at all what it should be - consider other 3 pt spells such as Sever Spirit, or Thunderbolt which does less damage than a sunspear but through armour (the countermagic can be overcome by boosting the Thunderbolt with magic points, so not much of a problem). But a Sunspear does only 4d6 dmg and lowest armour protects. Looking at the description, the area effect is almost useless (being only 1m in diameter). At 4d6 dmg then when your Yelm Rune Lords are slogging it out with the Zorak Zorani and Humakti thry will barely penetrate (except for the unfortunate Humakti with no armour on one location... : ) because the average person will have between 10-12 points of physical armour, a protection 6 and a few points of Shield. Even without the Shield, even a high damage roll will only chip a toenail. It seems that it is possible to read the description as being only lowest physical armour protects, which may make it useful. But then what counts as physical armour? Armouring enchantments? Even then I would question it's position as a three point rune spell. A Thunderbolt or Sever Spirit could seriously damage or even kill a creature such as a crocidilian, a Behemoth or a Dragon whereas the Sunspear slides off. Basically the same problem applies to Moonspear (ToTRM#16)and more so to Heatblast (ToTRM#7) which for some reason is exactly the same pointage and description except more stringent conditions for casting and only a mere 3d6 dmg! This obviously matters more to high level gaming. But that's where it counts - sure a Sunspear can disintegrate a broo in bezainted so that there's nothing left but when you become a priest and suddenly find that your 3 point reusable spell just isn't hacking it anymore (or worse still, a High Priest of Yelmalio finding that the new spell he has access to is virtually useless) what are to do? Sure, you can blow away low level creatures, but any man and his bladesharp can do that - by the time you get to rune level you don't NEED a sunspear to get rid of such people, just hit them until they stop writhing. I suggest making Sunspear a stackable spell (but not Thunderbolt), and modify Moonspear and Heatblast in some other way. Sunspear would then inflict 4d6 dmg to lowest physical armour plus only 2d6 (or 1d8) dmg for every Sunspear stacked with it. Heatblast is changed to inflict Salamander-style damage, the 3d6 is resisted on the resistance table against the armour (inc. protective spells) of the target - if they fail they take full damage, if they succeed they take only half. I think Moonspear should have it's damage changed for the moon phases, at full moon I think Lunar magic should always seem grossly unfair because I think that Lunar Magic IS grossly unfair. I suggest changing damage to Full Moon: 6d6, Half Moon: 3d6, Crescent: 1d6 and Dark Moon: Cannot be cast. Any other suggestions? Ideas? Comments? All IMHO, Nikk _______________________________________________________ Nikk Effingham E-mail: nikk@MailAndNews.com WWW: 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, 04 Jan 1999 16:58:42 +0000 From: Nikk Effingham Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Weapon Skills >If I have a high base chance in broadsword due to being from the Barbarian >Belt, 30% according to the pink book in the Genertela box, but a low base >chance in Scimitar (say 10%), then it is much more efficient for me to train >in scimitar attack (if I can find a tutor) as it takes 20 less hours to do. >This is doubly so for research, as I have a much better chance of learning. >Also, using quick experience to get scimitar up to 75% gives a 95% >broadsword skill. Nikk's point-based system works out cheaper, too. > >This can be solved by saying that improving a lower skill will not increase >a higher skill, it just reduces the gap between them, whereas training in a >high skill does increase any lower skills. Something I have thought about, but never attended to because it's never been a problem. A character who fights with a broadsword is never likely to fight with a scimitar, they just aren't as likely to find one (well, not in my game at least...). But of course that is a cop out option. On Deluxe RuneQuest p.53 it talks of modifiers for using weapons you are not familiar with, but I think this is more of a short term penalty while you get used to it's weight distribution than anything else. You could, if you felt it was needed, apply it as a penalty (say about -20% for using a scimitar when you only know broadsword) until you get about 100 hours of training in to teach yourself how to use it properly. But I don't think it is that much of a problem, I won't lose sleep over a character using a scimitar at the same percentage as a broadsword, or a gladius like a kukri, or a knife like a dagger. So where it says in Cultural Weapons Broadsword I would just read it to say "all 1H Swords". One exception I must make is the Quarterstaff, which I would rule is in a class of it's own as oppossed to 2H Maul - especially as I give it all sorts of benefits under my House Rules. As for abuse of my system, two new players have joined and have demonstrated a number of very notable flaws in my system design that will be rectified in a future revision. All IMO, Nikk _______________________________________________________ Nikk Effingham E-mail: nikk@MailAndNews.com WWW: 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, 05 Jan 1999 01:24:03 +0100 From: Dario Corallo Subject: [RQ-RULES] Useless missile weapons Hi all Nikk Effingham wrote: > (and we all know how useless missile weapons are in > RuneQuest) I use a Point Blank rule (half DEX in meters - double attack %) to boost up bows in RQ. In my game a Odayla hunter is becoming a monster killer, he fire 2 arrows x MR at 140%! This untill he will have arrows, or a enemy will really close on him. Ciao Dario *************************************************************************** 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, 5 Jan 1999 08:55:12 -0500 From: "Bob Stancliff" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Sunspears etc... > I have a question to raise - just how useless if the Sunspear spell? For a > three point spell it is not at all what it should be - consider other 3 pt > spells such as Sever Spirit, or Thunderbolt which does less damage than a > sunspear but through armour (the countermagic can be overcome by boosting > the Thunderbolt with magic points, so not much of a problem). But a > Sunspear does only 4d6 dmg and lowest armour protects. Looking at the > description, the area effect is almost useless (being only 1m in diameter). Your analysis is basically correct. The spell is useless against my PC's and is usually useless against their foes. We have done a few points of damage against some nomads, but hardly use the spell since it will not usually penetrate. It should probably be made a 1pt restackable spell doing 2d6 / pt. This is a little strong since one point will drop a weak scrub and 2 points will drop a guy with modest defense, but that isn't unreasonable for divine magic. To keep things in proportion, Disrupt should be better than 1d3, but that will require reviewing all of the damage 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: Tue, 05 Jan 1999 07:50:51 PST From: "Leon Kirshtein" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Sunspears etc... > It should probably be made a 1pt restackable spell doing 2d6 / pt. This >is a little strong since one point will drop a weak scrub and 2 points will >drop a guy with modest defense, but that isn't unreasonable for divine >magic. I like this idea but I do not think it represents the true flavor of the Sunspear. (Granted this is highly subjective.) Therefore, i propose a setup similar to the spell of Firespear, that is 2d6 for the first point and +1d6 for each additional stacking of the spell. 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: Mon, 4 Jan 1999 20:41:55 +0000 From: Mark Buckley Subject: [RQ-RULES] Sandy's Sorcery Question Hi, Just revitalising my RQ/Elric/non-Glorantha campaign, and I'm using Sandy's Sorcery rules. There are now 2 beginning journeyman sorcerers in the party, so I thought I'd better read up on the rules again! I'm not sure that my understanding of Hold is correct. On an initial reading I assumed that you could only have ONE held spell at any one time; however on re-reading it seems that you can in fact have any number, with each one taking up 1 Presence. Does this mean that sorcerers generally will stack up several meaty spells to zap people with instantly and only do the wavy-arm stuff if they really have to? I assume that a sorcerer still has to have enough free Presence to 'unfold' the spell into, else he can't release it properly. How does this sit with Multispell? If I have 90% Palsy, then it seems that I can make an Intensity 3, Multispell 3, Hold 3 spell, which takes up 1 Presence, and costs me 9 MPs to cast. I can fire this at DEX SR! If I have say 5 or 6 of these (for 5 or 6 Presence), look out! Can you use Multispell in this way, or would the above count as 3 held spells? Mark (who is thinking that sorcerers aren't the wimps he thought they were) - -- Mark Buckley *************************************************************************** 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, 5 Jan 1999 18:47:20 -0000 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] Sandy's Sorcery Question >On an initial reading I assumed that you could >only have ONE held spell at any one time; however >on re-reading it seems that you can in fact have any >number, with each one taking up 1 Presence. Hmmm, you appear to be correct. >If I have 90% Palsy, then it seems that I can make an Intensity 3, >Multispell 3, Hold 3 spell, which takes up 1 Presence, and costs >me 9 MPs to cast. I can fire this at DEX SR! Yup. If your barrage of spells doesn't work, though, you're in trouble. It takes ages to do things the hard way. Personally, I'd prefer to see MP expenditure and the skill roll done at time of spell activation. I don't like the idea of a character being able to guarantee that they can instantly teleport away regardless of MP loss, fatigue loss, or encumberance. I know this breaks the 1MP=1SR rule, but that's tough. I never was a slave to that rule anyway. philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk http://www.snark.freeserve.co.uk/ Failure is not an option, it's integral to the o/s. *************************************************************************** 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, 05 Jan 1999 16:12:47 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Sandy's Sorcery Question Mark Buckley wrote: > > Hi, > I'm not sure that my understanding of Hold is correct. On an initial > reading I assumed that you could only have ONE held spell at any one > time; however on re-reading it seems that you can in fact have any > number, with each one taking up 1 Presence. Does this mean that > sorcerers generally will stack up several meaty spells to zap people > with instantly and only do the wavy-arm stuff if they really have to? > I assume that a sorcerer still has to have enough free Presence to > 'unfold' the spell into, else he can't release it properly. In an earlier incarnation, you could only have 1 Held spell, and it took up 1 presence. The lastest(?) version I have allows multiple Held spells, but they all consume the normal amount of presence (i.e. a 5 point spell takes up 5 presence). > How does this sit with Multispell? If I have 90% Palsy, then it seems > that I can make an Intensity 3, Multispell 3, Hold 3 spell, which takes > up 1 Presence, and costs me 9 MPs to cast. I can fire this at DEX SR! If > I have say 5 or 6 of these (for 5 or 6 Presence), look out! Can you use > Multispell in this way, or would the above count as 3 held spells? In the latest rules, this would consume 9 presence. - -- talmeta@bellatlantic.net - Heretic & Dilettante ICQ - 12594453 AIM - talmeta1 Homepage - *************************************************************************** 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, 10 Jan 1999 16:58:43 -0600 From: "Paul Stolar" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Magic System question I will be running an Elric campaign soon. I was wonder if anyone used SP's sorcery system instead of the one published and how it worked. *************************************************************************** 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 V2 #2 *********************************** *************************************************************************** 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 Hasbro/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.