Subject: I Woulda Made a Great Rune Lord, Volume 4, Number 12 First Distribution: June 3, 1990 This issue: RQ II vs. III and re: Sorcerous Familiars (Jeff Okamoto) New Sorcery (Paul Reilly) Ed's note: From now on, I promise to spell "sorcerer" correctly... Does anyone out there have a copy of the "Dragons in the Dark" supplement? I apparently mention it in the back issue index, but have no copy of it anywhere any more. --- From: Jeff OkamotoSubject: RQ II vs. III and re: Sorcerous Familiars >Subject: Spell Trading for Erotocomatose Lucidity, Volume 4, Number 10 >From: oshaughj@project4.computer-science.manchester.ac.uk > >Subject: RuneQuest 2, RuneQuest 3 and Glorantha > >The old RQ (2) was a system based around a world, Glorantha. >I believe that RQ3 is an inferior game (note the word game, not >system) to RQ2. Other people have expressed similar opinions on RQ3. Without starting up a flame-fest, in my opinion as a playtester of RQ3, the game system is better than RQ2 in some ways, and slightly worse in others. RQ3 evolved for two reasons. One was to fix the rules. It may or may not have succeeded in that role. The second was to remove Glorantha from the game system. RQ1 and RQ2 were VERY heavily tied to/with Glorantha. RQ3 was intended to be more universal. >From: gharris@unc.BITNET > >Subject: Sorcerous Familiars > >[I believe there is a comment in Into the Troll Realms that implies all >subservient spirits have a 5% chance of increasing their power if they >succeed in an overcoming roll, although that begs the question: do >they have no upper limit? If they do, what is that limit? I believe there is no upper limit. But then again, how often does a normal, unbound spirit floating on the spirit plane get a POW check?-) >Furthermore, power is not the only problem. Suppose a person with an >allied spirit knows some sorcery. What is the allied spirit's casting >chance, and what is its chance of increasing its skill if it >successfully casts that spell? Good question. Have you tried contacting the Chaosium to find out? [Every time I sit down to write such a letter, I forget the questions that I've come up with... --ACB] > Moreover, can an Allied Spirit or other bound spirit learn sorcery >skills like Intensity, or can an allied spirit bound into a creature >train in skills? If so, does it follow the normal research rules? Can >it be trained? --ACB] Another good question. >From: jablow@pilot.njin.net (Eric Jablow) > >Subject: Re: Losing shamans, possessing spirits, and thrown fetches >This should provide the road back to the >mundane plane that the Shaman takes to travel back. I believe it is mentioned in the rules that a shaman, provided he/she is not already in spirit combat can simply pop back to his/her body. This, however, ends the ritual of going out on the spirit plane. Then again, it may have been only a house rule. Jeff --- From: paul@bondi.phyast.pitt.edu (Paul Reilly) Subject: New Sorcery In our continuing quest for more interesting campaigns, we have come across some changes to Sorcery and some new spells. The first spell to be discussed is the grossest (sorcery) spell: Damage Boosting This spell was discovered to be just too gross in extensive playtesting. We changed it to: Damage Boosting "stores" an amount of Death Rune Magic in something which already contains an aspect of the Death Rune. (I.e., a weapon, fist, etc. - not a Farmer's Almanac, but perhaps a WWII Diary...) This Death magic goes into the target along with the "regular" Death carried by the weapon and the spell is used up. Any number of Damage Boosts may be stored in a single weapon, but they "come out" one at a time, starting with the Boost of greatest Intensity. Even with this much, much weaker version, players still wanted the spell as one of their first spells - hence the old Damage Boost was way out of line with the other sorcery spells. New Spells: Set Phase to A (Ranged; Temporal, Passive) This spell sets the phase of an object to Phase A. This has little effect on the object except that while the spell is in effect, it is completely intangible to objects of Phase B. (I have not yet decided whether the objects out of phase with each other are "unreal" to each other - i.e. can't be seen, sensed, or possibly affected by magic. Probably just intangible - consider the case of sound waves.) Each point of intensity allow the object to cover one SIZ point of an object. The Object must be a single object, but may be a "symbolic" object - e.g. a doorway painted on a stone wall counts as the weight of the stone making up the area demarked by the doorway. A single flagstone in a floor can count as a single object - useful in disposing of unwanted visitors. A person with all carried equipment would count as a single object, but if he dropped one thing he was carrying, the "object" would be "broken" and the spell would end. If cast on an unwilling target, the sorcerer must overcome the target's magic points with his own. Set Phase to B Exactly like Set Phase to A except that the phase is set to B. Objects in phase B are intangible to objects in Phase A and vice-versa. Phase A and B are individual to a given sorcerer as there is a freedom corresponding to O(2) in phases. Sorcerers in Mindlink or similar contact can coordinate their phases. To keep track, one could call a second sorcerer's Phases C and D, for example. Note on Set Phase Spells: These unusual spells can be quite powerful if used creatively. In my campaign, they are Exotic. They were invented by the God Learners, and in the Third Age have been largely forgotten except by the Arkati. A few Nysalori sorcerers know these spells, mostly in Carmania. The occasional library might have one of these spells, largely useless by itself. The Arkati in my campaign use this spell to access secret underground halls with no physical entranceway. Sympathetic Targeting (Ritual Ceremony; Ranged, Instant) This spell must be used in a Multispell with another to have an effect on the target. It allows a sorcerer to cast a spell on a target he has never seen if he has appropriate materials or symbols relating to the target. The Targeting spell is cast while in contact with something connected to the Target by association. The better the connection is, the less Intensity is needed to target the spell. In addition to the requisite Intensity, both the Sympathetic Targeting spell and any spells "carried" with it in a Multispell must have sufficient Range to reach the target. The gamemaster must carefully gauge the relatedness of the sympathetic object to the spell's target in order to figure out the required Intensity. A sample table follows; feel free to adjust up or down according to the flavor and game balance requirements of your own campaign. Procedure for Use: The Intensity of the Targeting spell must overcome a special Resistance to Targeting. "Standard" Resistance is 40 points. This is used when you can identify a particular target but lack further sympathetic linkages. An example would be an NYPD sorcerer attempting to assassinate The Big Boss of a drug running gang with no further information. This spell has not yet been playtested, so feel free to make numerical changes in required intensity. If the spell's Intensity fails to overcome the Targeting Resistance three things can happen: 1. On a normal failure, the spell can go off into the blue, with no known effect. The magic points in all the spells Multispelled together are lost. The sorcerer does not know the Targeting failed without checking. 2. On a fumble: If the targeting information is ambiguous, the spell may go to the wrong target. Example: An IRA sorcerer gets hold of a glass used at a state dinner by Margaret Thatcher. He targets a Venom through the glass, using Margaret's public name. Sadly, the dishwasher who handled it after the PM was also named Margaret and she dies in her bed. If you want to be cruel, let the sorcerer spend only one magic point and "know" that he had a critical success - up to about 5% of the time on a fumble. 3. On a fumble, if you don't have another good Target, the spell can rebound on the caster. On a critical success, the Targeting works, and only one magic point is spent. The sorcerer knows that the spell worked. Sample Resistance to Intensity Modifiers True Name of Target -20 Public Name of Target -10, or -2 in addition to Secret or True Names Secret Name -15, or -3 in addition to True Name Permanent Body Part (Blood, Toe, etc.) -20 if fresh, losing 1/month to -10 Temporary Body Part (Hair, Nails, etc.) -10 if fresh, losing 1/month to -5 Additional parts: -2 for first, -1 each for more. Phlegm& Other ejecta -8 if fresh, down to -3 Well-used Clothing, Spectacles, etc.: -6 if fresh, losing 1/month to -2 Once-used Clothing, Etc. -5 if fresh, losing 1/day to -1 Powerful contact item (sword which wounded someone, lover, etc.) -8, losing 1/month down to -4 Personal Possession Varies with emotional investment, usually -1 to -5 (a favorite much-read paperback might be -6, a ten-year car -8) Relative -20 for identical twin, -10 for parent/sibling, -5 for uncles, aunts, etc.) Picture or Doll -3 for a normal Craft success, -6 for a special, -12 for a critical (normally incorporating hair, clothing, etc, so only one chance.) Example: Dufus the mage has an arch-rival, Fufur. Dufus wounds Fufur with an arrow and recovers the arrow after the battle. He constructs a Targeting doll, incorporating the arrow sticking into the doll's chest. This is within a week after the battle, and Dufus writes both "Fufur" and Fufur's childhood name, "Snookums", on the doll. He makes a regular success on his Sculpt Wax Roll. He is within 10 kilometers of Fufur's fortress (Range 10) and can Multispell several attack spells with the Targeting spell. Resistance to Targeting: Standard +40 Secret Name -15 Fresh Blood -20 Public Name -2 Arrow -8 Total -5 Thus Dufus must overcome a difficulty of -5 to Target his spells. To make sure, he casts an Intensity 5 Range 10 Sympathetic Targeting multispelled with a Venom 8, Venom 7, Palsy 6, Neutralize Magic 4 (on spell defenses), and Smother 3, each with Range 10, for a total of 93 magic points*. * House Ruling on Multispell is that each additional spell has 1 less free INT available to use on it than the last one. Example 2: Using a Public Name, a wax doll with hair and nails, a little shirt made out of an old shirt of the target, and a cigarette butt discarded by the target for the doll's mouth. The doll is crafted with a normal success. Standard +40 Name -10 2-month Old Shirt -4 Cigarette Butt -4 (Includes a little saliva) Hair -10 Nails -2 Total +10 Thus the Intensity of the Targeting must overcome a Resistance of 10. Note: The most common spell to Multispell with Sympathetic Targeting is (Sense) Projection. Once you get the Projection up, you can cast another spell "through" it, or another Projection now that you've seen the place. - Paul A. Reilly paul@bondi.phyast.pitt.edu --- The RuneQuest(tm) mailing list is a courtesy of Andrew Bell. All opinions and material above are the responsibility of the originator, and copyrights are held by them. RuneQuest is a trademark of Chaosium, Inc. Send submissions, mailing list changes, requests for old article lists, etc. to: bell@cs.unc.edu ...!mcnc!unc!bell Request old articles by volume number and issue number.