From: owner-runequest-rules@ (RuneQuest Rules Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.MPGN.COM Subject: RuneQuest Rules Digest V2 #41 Reply-To: runequest-rules@mpgn.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@ Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@ Precedence: bulk RuneQuest Rules Digest Monday, March 1 1999 Volume 02 : Number 041 RuneQuest is a trademark of Hasbro/Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS Re: [RQ-RULES] Paul Reilly's sorcery system meets the Ressurection spell [RQ-RULES] RE: RuneQuest Rules Digest V2 #40 [RQ-RULES] the *(^&)(* rules and Byzantines RE: [RQ-RULES] Paul Reilly's sorcery system meets the Ressurection spell [RQ-RULES] Campaign styles [RQ-RULES] Campaign styles... [RQ-RULES] Another sorcery question: Spellbooks? Re: [RQ-RULES] Another sorcery question: Spellbooks? RE: [RQ-RULES] Another sorcery question: Spellbooks? Re: [RQ-RULES] Another sorcery question: Spellbooks? RE: [RQ-RULES] Campaign styles... 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, 26 Feb 1999 14:07:08 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Paul Reilly's sorcery system meets the Ressurection spell Nikk Effingham wrote: > > I assume most people have a coopy, or can lay their hands on one. If > not, should I repost my version to the rq rules digest if, indeed, > anyone sees fit to discuss it. Well, I'll own up to having whacked at the system myself, awhile back. I called them Vrachi, to differentiate them from sorcerers. All pretty much the same as Mr. Reilley's work, though. > Personally I would replace the POW sacrificing system to increase > the power of the Vessel with something different. Perhaps individual > for each culture, so that a Vadeli can increase their Vessel by > sacirificing people to it (ditto for Vivamorti), or perhaps a variant Hmmm.... I might have to add that to -something-, anyway. :) > This was, of course, the heart of the sytem and the idea of a vessel > as a whole. This bit I liked. Somewhat. Firstly, it is VERY costly. > To permanently maintain a simple Damage Boost 5 costs 5 POW, > permanently gone, the equivalent of 5 strengthening enchantments... It never says you have to sacrifice the POW, only that you need to 'devote' POW. I read that to mean that POW maintaining a spell was unavailable for other uses, but if the maintained spell were ended, could be reused elsewhere. - -- 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: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 14:47:38 -0500 From: "Loren Miller" Subject: [RQ-RULES] RE: RuneQuest Rules Digest V2 #40 simonh@msi-uk.com (Simon Hibbs) replies to > Paul Stolar : > >2. I see a lot of differences in maps, nations moving around > etc. Is there > >an 'official' map. > > Look at any two middle ages maps. The ones of the Young Kingdoms > are practicaly identical in comparrison. If you want to do more > detailed maps for your own campaign, bring it on! One way to do this is > to give the characters a magical map, perhaps it's actualy a bound demon > who's need is to have an extra geographic detail added once per week? This is good. Even better. The demon has a need to have people from new places sacrificed to it. When their blood covers the map, then it gets absorbed into the map leaving new details in the area around where the sacrifice came from. - -- +++++++++++++++++++++++23 Loren Miller "If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they will surely become worms." --Henry Miller, _The Colossus of Maroussi_ *************************************************************************** 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, 26 Feb 1999 14:21:25 -0600 From: Steve Lieb Subject: [RQ-RULES] the *(^&)(* rules and Byzantines >> Is anyone (who is not currently using Sandy's rules) playing or GMing a >>game with sorcerers? If so, how did they become adepts? Was it a fudge of >>the char gen rules? Did you just add a bunch more years to the starting >>age? These are the answers I'm looking for. > >Mainly, I ignore those restrictions with cripple MGF. I think the 90% >restriction is one of them. If apprentices want to suck up to their masters >90% of the time, that's fine, but IMG they usually have the freedom to get >extended sabbaticals whence they eschew the benefits of apprenticeship. I deal with it similarly. For example, the 90% time thing is like real life - I'm an unsupervised contractor, so as long as my employers *feel* that they're getting 100% results, what I do with my time is my own. If the master is getting the results he/she/it wants, and the effort ~should~ be a little onerus, then it's cool. On the other rulesy stuff, like cult requirements for X% in a skill, I play it out. Frex, if they need 90% sword attack, then part of the initiation ritual involves something like this: "You step into the practice arena clad only in your ritual garb, but bearing your handy sword. The windows are covered, and the sandy center is lit only by the fitful flames of an incense-laden brazier in the center. From the shadows step ten acolytes, each wearing masks to represent the Ten Enemies of Arshuma [the founder of this temple. :ed]. They begin to slowly circle around you. The scene is surreal; a chime rings softly but insistently in the darkness to your right, while the overpowering incense makes you lightheaded. Nevertheless, you take a combat stance, aware that any moement they will be upon you. A sharp clap from your left draws your attention, and they simultaneously launch themselves into a swirling dance, sweeping their ritual weapons at and around your head. You know these are your friends; you've barracked with them for weeks, but that is forgotten for the moment - you are part of the dance. You reach for one, and touch him with your sword. His role is complete, he collapses feigning death on the floor. The next seven follow quickly, and you are completely caught up in your role as the Destroyer. But the last two - you think you know who these fellows are, but you cannot be certain - they are good. They dance madly, the last ones standing. They caper and prance across their fallen comrades who litter the practice ground. You think you have one, but he leaps beyond your reach as the other sweeps at your eyes with his painted club. The one you missed laughs gleefully and hops to the side. He is safe - you have missed him, and he can then stand aside, only to distract you with jeers and taunts. But the last makes a mistake. As his partner leaps from the ring, his eyes leave you for an instant, and you slash a quick blow across his thigh. Torches flare as he dramatically staggers about the arena, and then falls to the sand. You see now that the place is ringed with initiates and laity, and nearest you stands the Priest, smiling. He steps forward and gives you the sign of peace. Your shoulders slump and the sword almost drops from your grasp; you can relax. You have passed the First Test." It's a little more interesting than "do you have 90%? ok, he signs you up." Plus, it offers a little variation. If passing the "90% test" means you simply have to succeed 9 of 10 tries, it's possible you could be awesome, but unlucky and you don't get in. Conversely, if you're lucky, you can get in with a significantly lower skill than 90%. I had a player make it into the Black Fang with 50%-level skills, but he was a lucky bastard. Especially since the consequences of failure in that circumstance were rather severe. :) _____________________________________ On another topic: >As for using "Byzantine" to describe the Malkioni, "Byzantine" was for >nearly 1000 years, and it was nowhere near as stagnant as Latinist >propaganda has had us believe. Read JJNorwich's Byzantium series (3 books, running from about 300 to 1500). Awesome, truly great books. I didn't know jack about the culture and now, while I still know very little, I at least realize how much I *don't* know. - -Steve Lieb styopa@iname.com steve@necadon.com http://surf.to/styopa *************************************************************************** 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, 26 Feb 1999 16:50:52 -0600 From: "Rich Allen" Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] Paul Reilly's sorcery system meets the Ressurection spell > Whilst this might not be the best time for starting a discussion (I'm > not here this weekend) I will anyhow. I'm quite willing to discuss > Paul's alternative sorcery system, even if it hasn't been looked at > in nigh over 6 years... Cool! I really prefer the vessel concept over the Vows system... read on. > I assume most people have a coopy, or can lay their hands on one. If > not, should I repost my version to the rq rules digest if, indeed, > anyone sees fit to discuss it. Can you throw your version up on your web site? > THE VESSEL > > I always wondered about this - the major device of Pauls system. It > seemed very "fetch like" to have the power of a sorceror to reside > mainly in another item. Especially in the way that POW was devoted to > it. And why is this a bad thing? The way I see it, Shamans, Priests and Sorcerers all tap into the same source of magic, they just use it in very different ways. Shamans use spirits to change their environment, Priests use divine blessings, and Sorcerers use their willpower. All of them use MP's though, so why should a Sorcerer be able to have something similar to a Shaman? Or a Priest and his holy symbol, for that matter? The difference comes into the way these items are used, and to what affect. Items of power have been very much a part of sorcerery in myth and popular fiction; look at the Athame, the wizards staff, etc. I intend to only allow Vessels in the form of items or familiars, but I'm changing the role of familiars a bit too, in that any sorcerer can Create a familiar, but it doesn't HAVE to be a Vessel. Familiars that aren't Vessels can communicate and share senses with the sorcerer, but can't provide extra POW, INT or Spell storage to the sorcerer. I intend to require one Vessel POW per point of spell to maintain the spell. This includes ALL manipulation points in the spell. Duration can only be used for spells held by the vessel, all other spells have a duration of ten minutes unless they are instants. This means that a Damage Resist 9 with a Duration of 5 will require 15 free Vessel POW to maintain it. I've also revised the Duration Table as given by Reilly: Duration one is 1 hour, 2 is 12 hours, it doubles from there. This still provides quite a bit of duration (duration 6 provide 8 days) and so is open to changes. Vessels are empowered with the sorcerer's POW by sacrificing the POW into it via rituals. Sorcerers can have more than one Vessel, and can transfer all POW (but no held spells) to another (new or existing) Vessel. The one exception to this is the familiar; once a familiar becomes a Vessel, it has to maintain at least one Vessel POW or the animal looses the Vessel enchantments AND the Create Familiar affects, reverting back to a normal animal. These are just a few quick notes on the rules I'm writing up. Any and all comments are welcome. I hope to have the first rough draft up on my web page early next week, if not this weekend. Rich 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: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 16:58:56 -0500 From: Andrew Barton Subject: [RQ-RULES] Campaign styles > Who was teaching him while he was out adventuring? The local guilds - but in a Celtic society these were very differently organised from what he was used to. Produced some interesting culture clashes, and of course he had to pay a lot more for training than when he was learning from his master at home (who happened to be has father). Andrew *************************************************************************** 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, 27 Feb 1999 16:40:21 -0500 From: "Jim Bickmeyer" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Campaign styles... Rich Allen >Does anyone think it's a good idea to allow experience checks for the various Lores and the sorcery skills? I do. Most of the time, it is a situation where I will say to myself, "Jim, I think they might have learned something of the world, having traveled a good deal and seeing some different places, and been with deferent people around the camp fires. Yup, everyone gets a world lore check." Mostly a PC must be doing or experience something specific to that Lore that will give them a chance to learn. This is a judgement call. However, that said. Most Lores must be taught. They can be from a library or verbal, but they are things that must be taught, for Humans. Other races, well that depends on how you run them. Maybe Elves get a natural Plant Lore from ancestry memory. Then Dwarves get Mineral Lore Jim *************************************************************************** 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, 28 Feb 1999 15:25:40 -0600 From: "Rich Allen" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Another sorcery question: Spellbooks? My gaming group really wants to see rules for using spellbooks to store sorcery spells. I can't find any rules so far, although I've only looked at a few sources. We have come up with some quick guidelines, and I'd like everyone's opinion... Spellbooks are used to store knowledge of sorcerery spells, and sorcery versions of rituals, only. A sorcerer can write down a spell he has memorized if he's successful in a Read/Write Language roll in the language he's writing the spell down in. The higher the skill% in the spell is, the more pages it takes to write it down, and the time required increases as well. Roughly, %/5 equals pages required, and %/10 equals hours needed to write it down. This means a spell known at 75% requires 15 pages, and 7 1/2 hours to write down. The exact percentage of the spell when written must be noted. A sorcerer can forget a spell to make room for others (as usual) but if the spell is written in a spell book he can re-memorize the spell with a successfull Read Language roll. He loses (20 - Magic skill modifier) percentiles in that spell when re-memorizing it. This cannot be lower than 1%. Special and critical Read rolls have no affect. If a sorcerer comes upon a spellbook not written by him, he can use the book to learn the spells in it if he can make a read language roll. Study time is as per the rule book. The percentage the spell was written down as can aid the learner; add %/10 to the starting percentage of the spell, and %/5 is added to the chance needed to succeed in the research roll (i.e. INTx3 + %/5 on a d% to succeed). Rich 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: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 17:54:08 EST From: IssariesGT@aol.com Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Another sorcery question: Spellbooks? In a message dated 2/28/99 4:40:05 PM Eastern Standard Time, rico@mindspring.com writes: << Spellbooks are used to store knowledge of sorcerery spells, and sorcery versions of rituals, only. A sorcerer can write down a spell he has memorized if he's successful in a Read/Write Language roll in the language he's writing the spell down in. >> I believe this is covered in Sandy's Sorcery Rules, if I remember correctly one must have 90% to correctly write the spell down. keith *************************************************************************** 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, 28 Feb 1999 18:37:56 -0600 From: "Rich Allen" Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] Another sorcery question: Spellbooks? > A sorcerer can write down a spell he has memorized if he's > successful in a > Read/Write Language roll in the language he's writing the spell > down in. >> > I believe this is covered in Sandy's Sorcery Rules, if I remember > correctly > one must have 90% to correctly write the spell down. I must have an old version of Sandy's rules then, there's no mention of writing down spells at all in the copy I have. I'll have to go looking for a newer version. Rich 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: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 20:41:24 EST From: IssariesGT@aol.com Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Another sorcery question: Spellbooks? In a message dated 2/28/99 7:49:51 PM Eastern Standard Time, rico@mindspring.com writes: << I must have an old version of Sandy's rules then, there's no mention of writing down spells at all in the copy I have. I'll have to go looking for a newer version. Rich Allen >> Rich: from David Dunham's page: Sorcery "Spell Inscription anyone who knows a spell at 90+ can inscribe it via a successful Write. If a matrix of the spell is enchanted into the scroll or book, the matrix's skill bonus is added to the student's chance of learning the spell. " kes *************************************************************************** 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, 1 Mar 1999 10:14:26 GMT From: simonh@msi-uk.com (Simon Hibbs) Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] Campaign styles... Rich Allen : >> In my current game several of the characters are rune level. It's > > > If you don't mind me asking, how does a typical night's session go in your >campaign? Are all of your players sitting at the table every session, >twiddling their thumbs while you take care of each character one at a time, >or do they as a group put individual duties aside while they concentrate on >just one character's goals? From your description, it seems like none of >the characters actually "hang out" together, and I'm curious as to how you >handle this. Most of the character's goals are group goals, but with primary responsibility in the hands of one or two characters. For example one goal is to scout out the city's defenses, military preparedness and ability to withstand a siege. That's the primary responsibility of Tim's character, the Yanafal Tarnils runelord. However the other characters can still feed him information, or help him out on scouting missions (One of the characters is a scout). Alana the temple dancer is also cultivating a friendship with the captain of the city guard. The action generaly revolves around one or two goals per session in which the players co-operate. In the second to last session their home was attacked by sartarite ruffians, who came in throguht the sewer. They were motivated by an enemy of one of the character, but obviously the fight and it's repercussions involved everyone. All the character are very interested in helping out the trader as he controlls the purse strings. How well he does directly affects everyone else's finances. Side plots or action involving a single character can either be sorted out during a break (take one of the characters through to the kitchen to 'help me make the tea' for example). Alternatively we can deal with some activities between sessions via email. Finaly, not all the characters can make every session, so if I only have three of the party I can focus on their character's interests. This happened yesterday. The other two characters were in another part of the city together and I'm going to resolve their activities via email. I'm going to see one of them tonight as we're both in another game. Simon Hibbs *************************************************************************** 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 #41 ************************************ *************************************************************************** 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.