From: owner-runequest-rules@lists.imagiconline.com (RuneQuest Rules Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.imagiconline.com Subject: RuneQuest Rules Digest V3 #16 Reply-To: runequest-rules@lists.imagiconline.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@lists.imagiconline.com Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@lists.imagiconline.com Precedence: bulk RuneQuest Rules Digest Monday, January 31 2000 Volume 03 : Number 016 RuneQuest is a trademark of Hasbro/Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS [RQ-RULES] Lunar Boats [RQ-RULES] illumination and the nature of Glorantha [RQ-RULES] illumination and the nature of Glorantha [RQ-RULES] RuneQuest and Tolkien MiddleEarth [RQ-RULES] Campaign Logs Re: [RQ-RULES] RuneQuest and Tolkien MiddleEarth [RQ-RULES] Kerofinela Re: [RQ-RULES] Kerofinela [RQ-RULES] Economics 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, 27 Jan 2000 18:56:07 +0100 From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Germ=E1n_Cantabrana_Gonz=E1lez?=" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Lunar Boats Have anybody play stats or any information of the Lunar flying Boats? German *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 13:33:53 -0500 (EST) From: simon_hibbs@lycosmail.com Subject: [RQ-RULES] illumination and the nature of Glorantha Bob Stancliff > The vast majority of illuminates have never heard of 'transcendence' >since it is an advanced concept and is also culturally restricted to >certain parts of the world. Most don't have a clue whether the 'fabric of >the world' is merely illusionary. All that they know is that their >concepts of RIGHT and WRONG have violently changed. They may no longer >trust everything they were taught as children, but that is the only >description of the world that they possess until they find new teachers. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of illuminates are in the Lunar Empire and are members of one of the various schools of illumination, principaly the ancient Nysalorian schools and the more recent Sedenyic tradition. They most certainly have heard of transcendence. Accidental illumination sometimes occurs in foreign cultures exposed to illuminated ideas. These people may not have heard of transcendence and may not have the philosophical grounding to cope with their illumination, but such people are not typical illuminates. Nevertheless their new insights into the nature of the universe may well set them of the road to true enlightenment. > Insanity is a cultural definition of 'someone who does not act like we >think they should'. Move a Praxian antelope rider to Vormain and he'd have zero chance of 'acting the way people think he should', so does that make him insane? I don't think so. He is still prefectly capable of dealign meaningfully and rationaly with other people, just not the people around him at the time. He's not insane, just irredeemably foreign. An illuminate in a culture without a tradition of illumination is simply contaminated with mad-seeming foreign ideas. I think some people who are accidentaly (or even deliberatley) illuminated do go clinicaly insane, to the extent that they are completely incapable of functioning successfuly in any culture. I think there's a difference between the two. > .... If that person acts totally amoral, they will soon >break a capital law and be subject to punishment. Their illumination >status has nothing to do with it and the only choice is to run away. Just because someone is immoral does not mean that they must necesserily act in an immoral way. It doesn't make them stupid. Criminals are immoral, but they generaly try to conceal their immorality, I imagine illuminates would do the same - if they chose to act in an immoral way. Illuminates can still have goals and aspirations. These might be furthered through moral behaviour. Thus an illuminates behaviour can be impecably moral (Sedenyic priestesses), or obscenely debauched (The current incarnation of the Emperor) depending on their goals. > There has been several statements on the Glorantha list about 'detect' >spells picking up feelings, intents, beliefs, or guilt of the target. In >this sense it matters greatly, since your belief that you can be detected >may make you be detected. Indeed, I agree completely. Illuminates are not detected as being apostate, or even being chaotic if they would otherwise be. Illuminates believe that they are not apostate because the gods have no moral right to judge them, and that chaos is a meaningless term. They have perceived truths about the nature of the cosmos that prove this to them. > I would prefer to consider these spells to draw on the rune of the light >of TRUTH, possibly as interpreted by your culture's laws, so that some >trick of hypnosis will not negate them. An illuminate is not bound by the limitations of culture, because they know that culture is merely a temporary set of arbitrary behaviours. Thus for the purposes of this analysis, they have no culture. They are outsiders. Yet I think truth still has meaning for them, they know their beliefs are true. I understand what you mean, I think, but I don't know precisely how to phrase it in away that would be unambiguous to everyone. An illuminate who commits a murder would still show up on a 'detect murderer' spell. An illuminate who knowlingly lies on a matter of fact (were you in Boldhome last Windsday?) will still detect as a liar. Hypnosis does not change who you are, only how you behave. It might be argued that a hypnotised person who blasphemes may not becoem apostate, because they are not moraly responsible for their actions, the hypnotist is. Simon Hibbs *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 15:16:37 -0500 From: "Bob Stancliff" Subject: [RQ-RULES] illumination and the nature of Glorantha > I'm pretty sure the vast majority of illuminates are in the Lunar > Empire and are members of one of the various schools of > illumination, principaly the ancient Nysalorian schools and the > more recent Sedenyic tradition. They most certainly have heard > of transcendence. I strongly disagree that the majority are in the empire. Even though the Lunars encourage Illumination, the percent of the population illuminated is quite small. Compared to the population of Glorantha, as a whole, the lunars are grossly outnumbered. I certainly seem to consider the number of natural or prompted illuminates in barbarian or primitive regions to be much higher than you do. Especially with wandering riddlers and other natural forms of illumination. I know the lunars encourage illumination, but not all illuminates would be students of groups teaching transcendence. I expect all of the eastern mystic areas to tolerate illumination and most will train transcendence. I can't remember the position of the Malkioni, I expect you know. Also are there any regions in the south that are known for encouraging illumination? The number of illuminates in all tolerant regions may well be slightly over one half of all illuminates, but I do not believe that all of those regions train transcendence, or at least not to all illuminates. So I estimate that the percent of illuminates that are striving for transcendence may be as low as 30% to 40%. > Move a Praxian antelope rider to Vormain and he'd have zero > chance of 'acting the way people think he should', so does that > make him insane? When he starts drinking animal blood to keep going, someone is going to ask "Is he crazy?" Several other nomad traits may elicit the same response. Many people that we consider to be crazy can actually cope on a day to day basic, but are still very unstable, or even dangerous, so that is not a valid criterion either. More importantly, since ancient cultures are less tolerant of differences, the charge of insanity against anyone who will not learn to mimic and fit in is going to be much higher. > Just because someone is immoral does not mean that they must > necessarily act in an immoral way. The example cited was a person with an amorality disorder. Their insanity was already a given, but would they trigger the god's awareness when their insanity prompted them to commit a crime against their cult. I merely proposed that a Gloranthan with amorality disorder might actually already be illuminated and insane as a result. They certainly have an altered world concept. Stancliff *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 12:17:20 -0500 (EST) From: simon_hibbs@lycosmail.com Subject: [RQ-RULES] RuneQuest and Tolkien MiddleEarth Antonio Manghisi : >Has anyone ever wrote something to play adventures in Tolkien's >MiddleEarth with RuneQuest rules? There was a group at a games club I used to go to occasionaly that played a Middle Earth campaign using RQ rules, but I never actualy played in the game. RQ3 is well suited to such a game right out of the box, with the main exception of the magic system. Discounting magic, you could easily generate human Tolkienesque characters with only a few minor modifications. The Bestiary even has Orcs as monsters. I'd advise you to write up your own guidelines for character generation, based on the RQ3 previous experience templates. It's not hard, and it would give you a lot of controll over the feel of the game. You can use the stats for RQ elves as Green Elves, but will need to write up your own stats and character templates for the Noldor and other elven bloodlines. You also need stats for Tolkienesque Trolls. I'd make these much tougher than Gloranthan dark Trolls, probably more like Great Trolls or Cave Trolls but with thicker skin armour. Magic is a difficult question. You need to remember that Gandalf and the other wizards are not human. The Nazgul were human once, but aren't any more. All the magic wielded by humans in the stories are magic items, possibly including the Nazgul as their powers come from their rings, hence the term Ringwraiths. Even for non-humans, most magical powers seem to come in limited forms. For example : Magical Senses Magician character can sense the presence of enchantments, other magicians and attempts to magicaly spy on them. I'd make this a skill, perhaps requiring a magic point to activate for a period of time. You might call it something like 'Insight'. It is also possible to create a communications link similar to Mindspeech, or even Mindlink using this ability. Most communication is nonverbal (sight and emotions) except for highly skilled magicians. Shape Shifting e.g. Luthien and Beren disguising themselves to sneak into Angband, Sauron turning himself into a wolf to fight Huan, some Maiar turning themselves into Balrogs, or even Dragons. Shape Shifting can become permanent, and permanent changes of shape are more powerful than temporary ones. Common, familiar shapes are easier than made up ones and creating new shapes takes a lot of time and effort. Psychic Domination Magicians can attempt to dominate others through force of will. They need to establish some kind of psychic contact first, but even direct eye contact can suffice. Contact through magic items can achieve this, such as two people contacting each other through the palantiri, or Sauron controlling the Ringwraiths through the rings he gave them. You could use the Spirit Combat system for this. Items of Power Magicians can use Craft skills to create magic items, but only great masters of the crafts can do this, such as Galadriel and Feanor. These items enhance magical abilities, or confer magical abilities on those not normaly talented. An item might give the user the magical ability to view remote locations, such as galadriel's mirror. This increases the user's skills at magical sensing, or allows ordinary people to use magical senses normaly unavailable to them. Items can be imbued with emotions too, like the sword Orcrist which is enchanted with a hatred of Orcs. Costs of magic Using an ability as a one-off effect doesn't seem to cost permanent magical potential, but making it permanent makes it more powerfull, but at a permanent cost. Temporarily enchanting a sword to fight Goblins might take a handfull of MPs. Making the same sword a permanent item might cost a similar amount of POW. Simon Hibbs *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 21:49:25 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: [RQ-RULES] Campaign Logs In case anyone is interested, I have updates to my campaign at: http://members.xoom.com/talmeta/runequest/campaign/logs/index.html - -- talmeta@cybercomm.net - Heretic, Dilettante, & God-Machine ICQ - 12594453 AIM - talmeta Homepage - *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 12:04:53 +0100 From: Antonio Manghisi Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] RuneQuest and Tolkien MiddleEarth simon_hibbs@lycosmail.com wrote: > RQ3 is well suited to such a game right out of the box, with the > main exception of the magic system. Discounting magic, you could > easily generate human Tolkienesque characters with only a few minor > modifications. The Bestiary even has Orcs as monsters. > Thanks for the suggestions. That's exsactly what I had in mind, but a ready-to-use stuff would have been of great help! ;-) Best regards, Toni *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 20:41:47 +0100 From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Germ=E1n_Cantabrana_Gonz=E1lez?=" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Kerofinela One of my friends found a reference to Kerofinela, one country where live swan-maidens. He thinks that could be part of Kralorela. Do you know anything about that country? German *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 00:22:54 +0000 From: Michael Cule Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Kerofinela In message <003001bf6a91$787503c0$f02304d5@roberto>, =?iso-8859-1?Q?Germ =E1n_Cantabrana_Gonz=E1lez?= writes >One of my friends found a reference to Kerofinela, one country where live >swan-maidens. He thinks that could be part of Kralorela. Do you know >anything about that country? Well, this really for the Glorantha Digest rather than here but Kerofinela is the land in the shade of Kero Fin Mountain. That is, in other words, Dragon Pass. - -- Michael Cule *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 20:42:10 +0800 From: GAZZA Subject: [RQ-RULES] Economics Anyone got any cool rules for Stead Economics or a similar scale? I've got something by David Dunham that was sent here a LONG time ago (although it was for Pendragon Pass rules, I converted it). But it doesn't go into detail for things like mining or smithing. Any ideas? - -- GAZZA "To know others is wisdom. To know one's self is enlightenment." *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of RuneQuest Rules Digest V3 #16 ************************************ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.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.