Subject: Lifestyles of the Runelords and Priests, Volume 4, Number 6
First Distribution: April 23, 1990
This issue:
Tales of the Reaching Moon (David Gadbois)
Comments on the RQ Digest (Eric Jablow)
Ed's note: I've been very busy, and thus have put the Digest on the back
burner. In so doing, I have forgotten whether I sent this issue out
before. (I've now fixed my sendout program so it records when I send
something out, but a little too late for this...) If I did send it,
I have edited it and removed an article of mine in favor of a very
similar (but more informative) one by David Gadbois. I have more
issues, and I will try to make time to get them all out before
the middle of May, which should hopefully be in time for all you people
who may be losing access at the end of the spring semester. (If not,
e-mail me and I'll send the raw form.)
---
From:
Subject: Tales of the Reaching Moon
Tales of the Reaching Moon is an excellent Gloranthan RuneQuest fanzine
published by David Hall in Britain. Issue three is due out in June.
The last word I have on the contents is:
Cult of Geo, by Greg Stafford
Ancestor Quest, a scenario by Jon Quaife
Serious Money, a Griselda Story by Oliver Dickinson
Adari Cameo, by Oliver Dickinson
Jaxarte Whyded's Great Gazetteer of Prax, by Michael O'Brian
Beggars, by Michael O'Brian
Horns of the Bull, a Practice HeorQuest run, by David Hall
Future issues will include a number of cult writeups by Greg Stafford.
Gagarth the Wild Hunter (the outlaw cult of Prax) and Maran Gor (the
Earthshaker Cult) will be in issue four, and issue five looks like it
will be a special issue on Humakt.
Hall has asked me to be the U.S. distributor for the 'zine. Current
pricing is $4.00 per issue, but I'll only guarantee it for the next two
issues until I figure out how much it costs me to mail everything out.
I shall gratefully accept obscure Gloranthan material instead of money.
I am looking into getting copies of issues one and two. If you are
interested, please respond via email or write me at
2600 Rio Grande
Austin, Texas, 78705
If you would like to contact Hall directly, his (new) address is:
21, Stephenson Court
Osborne Street
Slough
Bershire
SL1 1TN
England
He would be happy to get submissions for the zine, too.
Disclaimer: I am not going to be making any money off this, though I do
hope to save some on currency exchange and postage.
[Ed's note: English RQ Digest subscribers can apparently see the mag at:
R.S. games, Cheltenham
Spirit Games, Burton on Trent and Croydon
Leisure Games, Finchley]
********************
Some stuff from Hall's last letter:
There is a French RQ fanzine called Broos. Hall mentioned articles
about the Cult of the Bloody Tusk, Yuthuppa, a campaign set in the Lunar
Empire, and a sorcery system. For information, contact:
Association Broos
Mr. F. Weil
19 rue Dume'ril
75013 Paris
I plan to try to get some issues in the hope that I can con someone into
translating it for me. If there are any French speakers out there who
are interested, please let me know.
Other fanzines: Hall favorably mentioned "Alarums and Excursions" and
"White Wolf Magazine." Does any one have addresses for these?
Hall was quite irate about the artwork situation with the Avalon Hill RQ
product (I am, too). He wrote:
"You may or may not know that the artwork that appears in the Avalon
Hill RuneQuest supllements is not under the control of Chaosium.
After seeing the interior artwork of Troll Gods (especially the
"friendly dark elvels" and the Zorak Zoran Breakdancers) our
Australian friends are writing to Avalon Hill to complain about its
quality. From the one letter I've seen in reply Avalon Hill are
very complacent and dismissive about the whole thing. Their latest
letter apparently snidely comments that all the protests are only
coming from Australia. Therefore if you want decent artwork then
please write to Avalon Hill as soon as possible and express your
views.
There is a wider issue here of the amount of influence Chaosium has
with Avalon Hill, at present zilch. It's up to us, the consumers,
to make Avalon Hill realise the error of their ways before it's too
late for RuneQuest.
By the way I'd appreciate it if any letters you send are personal
and do not mention Tales...."
--David Gadbois
---
From: jablow@pilot.njin.net (Eric Jablow)
Subject: Comments on the RQ Digest
I have some comments on the RQDigest, volume 4, number 3.
>From: Jeff Okamoto
>
>Subject: Re: RQ digest 4#2
>
>>From: kenm@ni700.natinst.com
>>
>>I find that the rules regarding spirit plane encounters for shamans are
>>unclear. For example, what happens to a shaman on the spirit plane who
>>is reduced to zero magic points by a spirit? Is his body possessed?
>
>Yes, the body is possessed.
I agree. I suppose that the shaman's spirit gets pushed
back into his body, with the possessing spirit following,
and taking it over. One problem, though--what about the
shaman's fetch? Now, you have three spirits inhabiting the
same body!
Perhaps the fetch gets a last ditch attempt to drive off the
possessing spirit. If the fetch is defeated, the body is
taken over. If the fetch wins, the spirit goes back to the
Spirit Plane.
Some spirits will give up first; I don't envision a Healing
Spirit bothering to fight off the losing shaman's fetch. I
would allow a Spell Spirit to attack; it's mindless anyway,
and it wouldn't know any better. A Soul Waste Spirit
doesn't have to bother; it may attack if it wants, but the
Shaman automatically suffers Soul Waste anyway. An
Elemental has two choices; it may manifest around the
Shaman's body, evading all protections around the area.
Some shamans sleep in a Warding field, for example. Others
enchant their tepees, or carpets, or wagons to cast various
spells whenever an enemy shows up. The Elemental makes it
through the Warding without the possibility of taking damage
from it, as it enters the mundane world at the site of the
Shaman's body. If this is impractical, because the Element
is not present, the Elemental may attack the Fetch in Spirit Combat
even though it would not usually do so. If the Elemental
wins, it possesses the body, and the body is catatonic.
Perhaps I'm talking through my hat here. A more interesting solution
might be for the Shaman's spirit to be lost on the Spirit plane in the
same way that a forcibly discoporated adventurer's spirit would be
lost. Then, the victorous spirit automatically possesses the shaman's
body. The fetch doesn't cooperate with this, and so things do get
somewhat tense for the shaman and his fetch. The fetch cannot expel
the possessor; perhaps it can Mindspeak a companion, or perhaps a
companion will figure out the situation. If the shaman's friends
manage to exorcise the possessing spirit, then they can try to recover
him. Some exotic magics can help. For example, someone can cast
Summon Ancestor; if the summoned ancestor is a relative of the shaman,
he will have an affinity to the shaman's spirit. He can be sent to
recover him. Another Shaman may try to find him. It helps if he and
the Fetch go into a Mindlink. The lost spirit may wander into a safe
area of the spirit plane after it recovers; perhaps it meets a
friendly cult spirit, or a friendly shaman.
>>What if a shaman binds a ghost or magic spirit which has rune magic?
>>Is this rune magic reusable? How does the spirit regain it?
>>Most spirits don't have Rune magic, except for cult special spirits
>that are HARD to find. Assuming that the Rune spell was compatible
>with your own cult affiliations (remember, some shamans are priests
>as well!) it COULD be reusable. I think an overwhelming majority
>would be one-use. As for the spirit, who knows? Why not ask one?-)
In order for a spirit to have reusable Rune Magic, it would have to be
associated to an appropriate cult, and the cult's eschatology must be
appropriate to. If the cult of kyger Litor's eschatology is that dead
troll's spirits are eventually reborn as trolls, insects, or other
(food) creatures, then a shaman would have to find the spirit before it
reincarnates. This won't be easy. Suppose the shaman does control the
spirit. The Spirit must cast its spells once for the shaman, but
regaining them would be a problem. The spirit must be at a Kyger Litor
temple, and he must be released from his magic item (thus requiring a
Command spell). The trolls there probably won't be too happy!
What if it's a troll shaman controlling a troll ghost. Things become
somewhat easier. If the shaman and the ghost are cooperating, then it
becomes a matter of temple politics. Perhaps the shaman will have the
ghost ally with a new Kaarg's Son. Perhaps this is how shaman-oriented
cults get their temple spirits.
---
Also, on the recent articles on magic items, one of the glaring
omissions in RQ3 is the lack of Alchemy and other temporary enchantment
rules. RQ2 had its Alchemy rules, but these are barely adequate. How
does a shaman make a medicine bundle? Permanent items all require the
sacrifice of POW, but what about one-use items? Elder Secrets
introduces the new Mostali spell of Store Sorcery, requiring a
sacrifice of 1 POW for to store a sorcery spell in an object. But,
what do we do for Shamans and Priests? What do we do for Alchemists?
Any suggestions?
Eric Jablow jablow@pilot.njin.net
William Paterson College Well, it has been a quiet week
Wayne, NJ at Lake Parsippany, my home town...
---
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