From: owner-runequest-rules@ (RuneQuest Rules Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.MPGN.COM Subject: RuneQuest Rules Digest V2 #6 Reply-To: runequest-rules@mpgn.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@ Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@ Precedence: bulk RuneQuest Rules Digest Thursday, January 14 1999 Volume 02 : Number 006 RuneQuest is a trademark of Hasbro/Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS [RQ-RULES] Spirit Cults RE: [RQ-RULES] Spirit Cults [RQ-RULES] extraneous magic points Re: [RQ-RULES] Spirit Cults Re: [RQ-RULES] extraneous magic points Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence 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, 14 Jan 1999 07:34:30 PST From: dabick@excite.com Subject: [RQ-RULES] Spirit Cults I have some questions and would like some opinions. If a spirit cult provides a Divine spell, can only the Shaman receive it, or is it available to all members of the spirit cult? I am thinking that it is available to all members. If it is available to all, is reusable or one use for non-shamans? In holding with the precedent set by the god cults; reusable spells are one-use to non-shamans and one-use are available only to non-shamans. Of course, this would only be a general rule. A spirit might give only one-use to all worshippers. Is there an official or unofficial write up on spirit cults roles on the internet, and if so where? Finally; does any one have a listing of sites with spirit cult write ups? Jim Bickmeyer _______________________________________________________ Get your free, private email at http://mail.excite.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: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 16:24:52 -0000 From: Ashley Munday Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] Spirit Cults Your choice old son! According to Gods of Glorantha, Gloranthan spirit cults tend to dish out reusable spells to the shaman and one use to other people. In Vikings, leaders in a "spirit communication" session get one use spells, worshippers get no divine magic at all. So, it looks like it's whatever's appropriate for your game world. Ash PS: If you adventure in Glorantha, you might find the Tales of the Reaching Moon (the issues escape me) useful for Praxian spirit cults. -----Original Message----- From: dabick@excite.com [mailto:dabick@excite.com] Sent: Thursday, January 14, 1999 3:35 PM To: runequest-rules@MPGN.COM Subject: [RQ-RULES] Spirit Cults I have some questions and would like some opinions. If a spirit cult provides a Divine spell, can only the Shaman receive it, or is it available to all members of the spirit cult? I am thinking that it is available to all members. If it is available to all, is reusable or one use for non-shamans? In holding with the precedent set by the god cults; reusable spells are one-use to non-shamans and one-use are available only to non-shamans. Of course, this would only be a general rule. A spirit might give only one-use to all worshippers. Is there an official or unofficial write up on spirit cults roles on the internet, and if so where? Finally; does any one have a listing of sites with spirit cult write ups? Jim Bickmeyer *************************************************************************** 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, 14 Jan 1999 13:56:33 -0500 From: Richard Ohlson Subject: [RQ-RULES] extraneous magic points For barbarians, getting pow-spirits is very easy. You pop out to the shaman or your priest, he summons a bugger up, you beat it up and stick it in a box. In my campaign, the tradition is that a priest that runs a temple or a shaman is going to go out of his way to make a combined "summon power spirit-bind power spirit" matrix. Typically, they charge 1500-3000 to summon up to three spirits. Now, if the customer takes the first or second spirit, then the deal is over. And if they screw up and get possesed, the shaman will kick the spirit out. (unless, of course, they REALLY screw up and get a 100 pow spirit...) However, it is more difficult for Sorcerers. It is my understanding that Sorcerers don't deal with spirits. So, even if they do get their hands onto a pow-spirit matrix, they really don't know how to fill it. And to be honest, NORMAL sorcerers would find the whole idea of binding a spirit into an object has a horrid abomination. (And yet another reason to hate/fear barbarians.) But, on the other hand, there have been a zillion sorcerers over the years, and they have probably all created one or two MP storage matrixies. That's a lot floating around. Even a typical knight is going to want to have extra magic points. Yes, casting out of personals doesn't affect their spell casting, but it does change their resistance. So, they will want to have something that they can cast their damage resist or damage boost or heal from. Of course, magi can make familiars and tap the life out of the peasants.... Priests have even more options to get magic points. Allied spirits are an obvious example. Also, if they happen to have a 20 Pow sylph stuck in a box, they can mind link with the sylph and suck out the mp's. Heck, they can mind link with friends also. Heh, they can even whack a couple of stinkin' sorcerers and get storage matrixies... I expect that anybody that's willing to cause trouble in glorantha is going to have non-personal magic points available. Just like PC's, bad guys are going to be trying to get that disrupt or demoralize in, they're going to want to have prot or bladesharp or countermagic up, and they're going to want to be able to heal themselves. Of course, the PC's are going to get the stuff when the bad guys are dead... Now, there are a couple of ways to limit the amount of MP's players have. One way is to encourage the costs of conditions on storage matrixies. Stuff like, "only used by the Red Shield Clan" or similar PC excluding stuff. Yes, it's kinda expensive, but if clans constantly raid each other, then perhaps they also send the Issaries out once a year to swap clan stuff. Another way is to have matrixies built into tattoos, which I HIGHLY encourage people to personalize. "only can be used by ME." (To keep people from cutting tattoos off while you're asleep... Another way that I have seen is by adding a stat called "Charisma" Basically, it's how famous or noteworthy you are. Pretty much it can go up the same way power does, (21-stat x5) after doing something important, flashy, etc. The number of spirits you can control equals your Charisma divided by two. However, one of the perks of being a shaman (IMC) is that a shaman's number of spirits equals his Charisma. Rich Ohlson *************************************************************************** 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, 14 Jan 1999 15:13:36 -0500 From: "Bob Stancliff" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Spirit Cults > Jim Bickmeyer wrote > If a spirit cult provides a Divine spell, can only the Shaman receive it, or > is it available to all members of the spirit cult? Shamen get any spells like a priest for the spirit cult. They get the spell as written and other followers get reusable as one-use and one-use are forbidden. > In holding with the precedent set by the god cults; reusable spells are > one-use to non-shamans and one-use are available only to non-shamans. Of > course, this would only be a general rule. A spirit might give only one-use > to all worshippers. Priests get all spells reusable or one-use as listed, Initiates and Rune Lords get reusable spells as one-use and one-use spells are forbidden. There are several variants re: Rune Lords. > Is there an official or unofficial write up on spirit cults roles on the > internet, and if so where? > Finally; does any one have a listing of sites with spirit cult write ups? There is a write-up on spirit cults in Gods of Glorantha:Cults Book. There is some additional info in TrollPak:Troll Gods. I am not aware of anything on the net. Bob Stancliff (stanclif@ufl.edu) 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: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 15:40:22 -0500 From: "Bob Stancliff" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] extraneous magic points > However, it is more difficult for Sorcerers. It is my understanding > that Sorcerers don't deal with spirits. So, even if they do get their > hands onto a pow-spirit matrix, they really don't know how to fill it. > And to be honest, NORMAL sorcerers would find the whole idea of binding > a spirit into an object has a horrid abomination. (And yet another > reason to hate/fear barbarians.) Actually, this is very incorrect. To paraphrase the Magic Book: spirit magicians honor and respect all spirits, no matter how small or large. Divine followers worship one or more large spirits that are able to give divine spells, but they ignore, avoid, or disdain lesser spirits. Sorcery students learn to treat the world as a collection of objects and powers to be dominated and forced to their will. For them spirits are tools to be manipulated as needed. It is, in fact, easier for a sorcerer to get a spirit into a bind since Dominate is easier to get and more predictable than either Control<> or Command<>. Control spells are very hard to get unless you have a shaman friend to teach you, then you have to completely defeat the spirit to cast the spell. Command spells for various spirits are almost always limited to Command. If you play that Magic, Spell, INT, and POW spirits are always cult spirits, then these are pretty easy to get, otherwise only a tiny number of cults will have them as cult spirits. Notice that in 'Strangers in Prax' Arleten the mage has a bound Magic spirit and a familiar made from a Magic spirit. Both have been twisted in form and appearance to the will of the sorcerer. Both have been taught spells and are now quite skilled at casting them. Bob Stancliff (stanclif@ufl.edu) 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: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 17:25:12 -0600 From: "Rich Allen" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence > The errata for MultiSpell is in 'Stranger in Prax'. The new effect is to > reduce the MP cost to that required by the largest spell + 1MP / Multi. > Basically it takes all of the time of all of the spells but only costs one > spell's MP's plus the duplication cost. What could possibly justify that errata??? It doesn't make any sense that casting spells at the same time makes all but one of them all but free. Why change the original rule?? Rich *************************************************************************** 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, 14 Jan 1999 17:09:25 -0600 From: "Rich Allen" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence > Actually, it doesn't require that much. Create a POW spirit binding > enchantment (cost 1 POW). It can hold as big of a POW spirit you can place > in there. Also, it regenerates on its own. So how do you convince the shaman to help you bind a POW spirit? Surely you don't mean your sorcerer has spent enough time away from his sorcerous studies to learn how to summon spirits?!?! Hey, like I said, it's all in how you feel the game should be played. We don't feel that this much power should be in the hands of any single person, unique evil bad guys excepted, MAYBE. Rich *************************************************************************** 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, 14 Jan 1999 17:01:17 -0600 From: "Rich Allen" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence > need one 10 Pow storage crystal and you cast one or two spells a day. It > is easy to pay a few peasants to put a couple of MP's each into your > crystal. We rule that MP's stored in a crystal (or any other magic point matrix item) can only be used by the individual that put them there, and only one person's MP's can be in an MPMatrix at a time. If you find a storage crystal (something that would never happen in my game, you must earn these babies), you must attune yourself to the crystal in order to be able to use it. The process of attuning (a simple POW roll against the potential storage of the crystal) empties it of any stored MP's it may have had. Different stroke for different folks I guess, but we just don't find walking engines of destruction very fun to play. Rich *************************************************************************** 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, 14 Jan 1999 21:50:17 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence Rich Allen wrote: > > So how do you convince the shaman to help you bind a POW > spirit? Surely you don't mean your sorcerer has spent enough time > away from his sorcerous studies to learn how to summon spirits?!?! I've had sorcerers who specialized in spirit bindings - that whole "the multiverse exists to serve me" mentality. One guy was heavilly into dogs - - his character background was that his father had been the King's Houndsmaster, and he had a half dozen mastiffs that he kept "juiced up" via sorcery when the group was adventuring. Different strokes for different folks, I'd guess. > Hey, like I said, it's all in how you feel the game should be > played. We don't feel that this much power should be in the hands > of any single person, unique evil bad guys excepted, MAYBE. > Depends on your game's power level, I guess. - -- 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: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 21:28:22 -0600 From: "Rich Allen" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence > I've had sorcerers who specialized in spirit bindings - that whole "the > multiverse exists to serve me" mentality. I don't allow sorcerers (or priests) to summon spirits with the Summon(creature) spell. If you allow that, there's really no need for the Shaman as a player character. But even allowing that, how do you (and anyone else) find and learn all of these spells? As far as I know, there are no rules for spell books or spell scrolls in RQ3. That means you have to learn a new spell from another sorcerer, something that should be very expensive to begin with, and nearly impossible if you're looking for spells that could be used against the teacher at a later date. Beginning characters, with an average age of 21, will have 6 plus 1d3 _common_ sorcery spells, with 56 points to spread among them. Are you saying that a starting character would have Summon (POW spirit), Dominate (POW spirit) and Binding (POW spirit) Enchantment, in addition to a few offensive and defensive spells? Hmm, I might just roll up a character to see how this would work out. Oh, and I just read in the Magic rule book that it takes one point of Binding spell per point of the characteristic of the spirit being bound. So a POW spirit with 10 POW would require ten points of Binding Enchantment. Along with the costs of the summon and dominate spells, it wouldn't seem possible for a beginning (or even a moderately experienced) sorcerer to be able to perform this ritual. Kind of a catch-22 going on here! Do your characters spend lots and lots of game time sitting at home learning spells while your buddies go out pillaging? I'm just not understanding I guess. Must be my thick, warrior skull again. Rich *************************************************************************** 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, 14 Jan 1999 23:28:08 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Hold vs. Presence Rich Allen wrote: > > I don't allow sorcerers (or priests) to summon spirits with the > Summon(creature) spell. If you allow that, there's really no need > for the Shaman as a player character. Well, IMC, there are alot of reasons for shamans, especially in uncivilized/humanoid lands. No sane southerner is going to teach a Frost Barbarian sorcery in the first place, even if said barbarian were willing to sit and listen long enough to be taught! > But even allowing that, how do you (and anyone else) find and > learn all of these spells? As far as I know, there are no rules for > spell books or spell scrolls in RQ3. That means you have to learn > a new spell from another sorcerer, something that should be very > expensive to begin with, and nearly impossible if you're looking for > spells that could be used against the teacher at a later date. Sandy's Sorcery aside (which details spell book/scroll creation and the spell learning process), any campaign that has lands where sorcerers are common is going to have house rules to deal with them. Mine has a variety of both theist and non-theist enclaves where suitable candidates (read: folks who have either paid well in gold or services) can learn any spell the people who run the place choose to dole out. That plus raids against other sorcery-users creates a steady flow of new (albeit often encrypted or just plain silly) spells into the campaign. (My players were not amused by the Foolstaff - containing matricies for seeming useless spells like "Inhibit Swimming" or "Shapechange Walrus to Duck".) > Beginning characters, with an average age of 21, will have 6 > plus 1d3 _common_ sorcery spells, with 56 points to spread > among them. Are you saying that a starting character would have > Summon (POW spirit), Dominate (POW spirit) and Binding (POW > spirit) Enchantment, in addition to a few offensive and defensive > spells? Hmm, I might just roll up a character to see how this > would work out. Depends on what is "common" for your campaign, as well. IMC, POW spirit related spells would qualify as either common or rare, depending on the region the sorcerer is from, and whether he's a theist or independant. > Oh, and I just read in the Magic rule book that it takes one > point of Binding spell per point of the characteristic of the spirit > being bound. So a POW spirit with 10 POW would require ten > points of Binding Enchantment. Along with the costs of the > summon and dominate spells, it wouldn't seem possible for a > beginning (or even a moderately experienced) sorcerer to be able to > perform this ritual. Kind of a catch-22 going on here! Actually, it says 1 point per TYPE of characteristic; a POW spirit (possessing only POW) would require 1 point, while a Magic spirit (INT+POW) would require 2 points. The value of the characteristic does not matter, only the number of characteristics involved. > not understanding I guess. Must be my thick, warrior skull again. > Could be. :) - -- 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. ------------------------------ End of RuneQuest Rules Digest V2 #6 *********************************** *************************************************************************** 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. 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