Subject: RuneQuest Digest Volume 8, no 4 Comments: Revision @(#)v8n04 1.2 92/09/22 An interesting article by David Cheng. This was also posted to rec.games.frp.misc, but what I found there had a couple of typos/transmission errors. If you want to discuss David's proposals, send your comments to RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM -------------------- From: David ChengDate: Fri, 28 Aug 92 22:54:08 EDT Subject: Variant Rune Magic RUNE POWER BLASPHEMY Variant Rules for Divine Magic by David Cheng ------------------------------------------------------- Emma, a Sartarite woman, is an initiate of Ernalda. Because the omens for the next planting season are bad, she goes to her temple and sacrifices three points of characteristic power for three uses of Bless Crops. Emma is also a wife and mother. It is her duty to protect her home and children when a party of trolls raids the family stead one night. Nobody said it would be a fair fight. While the other members of the household are fighting outside, a fanatic Zorak Zorani crashes through the door. Emma does her best to defend the children, but she is quickly overcome. Battered into unconsciousness, she feels her life slipping away. (In game terms, Emma is at one total hit point, and losing blood from wounds.) Emma knows that unless she gets some serious healing, her beloved children will soon follow her into the afterlife. Ernalda, her patron, is able to grant the divine spell Heal Body. Emma has recently sacrificed three points of power to Ernalda. But, because it was for the wrong spell, Emma's life slips away... ------------------------------------------------------- Why does Emma have to die? Why do the current rules say that Ernalda cannot intervene to save her faithful worshipper without a full divine intervention? Emma has sacrificed for three points of rune magic, right? Why is it that Ernalda can't exercise some judgement in how that rune magic is granted? THE PROPOSED VARIANT Instead of sacrificing for specific spells, worshippers (initiates and up) should just sacrifice for divine points, or rune points (I'll use these terms interchangeably). These divine points would be "spent" for divine magic, upon demand, from the appropriate deity. Divine points can be spent on any divine spell offered by the deity. The player decides what spell he wants at the time of casting, not at the time of sacrifice. Initiates get their divine points non-reusably, just like current divine magic sacrifices. Acolytes, priests, and lords get their points back through prayer, just like the current system. Unless, of course, they call for spells which are listed as non-reusable. As with the current system, initiates do not have access to spells that are defined as non-reusable for priests. -------------------------------------------------- Paraeus the initiate begins an adventure in Pavis with four Humakt divine points, having previously sacrificed four points of characteristic power at his temple. Early on, Paraeus suspects that a certain "Swifty" is trying to sell him and his buddies a bogus map. He decides he needs some magical perception, and so asks Humakt for a Detect Truth spell. He is now down to three divine points. Later, as they are wandering in the Rubble, he and his party are attacked by trolls. Never one to shirk a good fight, he calls for a Truesword, and Humakt gladly obliges. Seeing that Paraeus is such a tough opponent, the troll shaman sends a ghost to attack him in spirit combat. This is one foe he cannot parry, so Paraeus feels the need to call upon Humakt for a point of Spirit Block (a common divine spell), and again is answered. Paraeus' group goes on to win the fight, collect a small sum of loot, and stumble back to New Pavis, only to be taxed heavily upon their re-entry... ------------------------------------------------------ Note how Paraeus was able to call for any spell Humakt is able to grant, as the situation warranted. Not that he got off easy, however. Over the course of one short adventure, he spent three POW worth of divine magic. It will probably take Paraeus at least a year to gain that amount of POW back, whether he plans on sacrificing for more divine points or not. A DIFFERENT WAY OF RATIONALIZING DIVINE MAGIC As currently written, the RQ rules portray divine magic as kind of a "holy hand grenade." A divine spell is powerful magic your deity "gives" you. Once the god hands it over, he or she has no control over how or when you actually use the spell. You "pay" for it by sacrificing characteristic power. By adopting this variant, I suggest you view divine magic not as a holy hand grenade, but instead as a "divine favor," kind of like a limited divine intervention. The deity, and thus the gamemaster, retains some ownership. The character still controls what spell he asks for. The gods are not omniscient, and their attention is usually not on the inner world (the physical plane), even when a worshipper calls for divine magic. The god "trusts" that the worshipper is asking for an appropriate spell. Note: as gamemaster, you might want to intercede at this point. By going with this philosophy, the flexibility, and responsibility, is there for you to control the game if you need to. Because the character has a magical relationship with his god, and because he previously sacrificed some POW, he can "call the favor." This favor is answered in the form of a predictable, magical effect: a divine spell. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GREAT COMPROMISE? The divine point concept fits within the restrictions of the Great Compromise. Yes, a worshipper has more flexibility with the magic he can call for. But, he is still constrained to the divine spells offered by the god. The flexibility allowed is totally within the scope of the god. Worshippers can not create new spells just by spending divine points - such an act would violate the Compromise. Let's look at two fanatical Orlanthi priests. Hakon Cloudson spends all his POW on Cloud Call. Borali Thunderfist spends all his POW on Thunderbolt. Both have 20 points of their favorite spell, and practically no other rune spells. Does either of these priests violate the Great Compromise when they cast all their points in one big spell? No. By adopting the divine point variant, a character is free to wander between these two extremes, but gains no "new" powers. POINTS TO PONDER Below are some observations on how the divine point concept will affect your game, and some suggestions on how to work out potential rules glitches. WILL THIS MAKE RUNE MAGIC OVERPOWERED? In the campaigns I have been involved with, rune magic, even reusable rune magic, was a very precious thing. The characters struggled for months of real time to get POW increases, so they could spare a point or two to sacrifice for a spell. Those spells were only used when things really got bad. Half the reason I developed this idea comes from my belief that divine magic is underpowered, especially for initiates. I think having magic from a god should make a character tough! The character is sacrificing some of his spiritual essence, his soul, for the benefit of a magical effect - often for only one use. Let it be worth it! Acolytes, Priests, and Lords: Yes, they will be much tougher, because their divine points are reusable. These people are Rune Masters; they should stand far above the average person. They should be magically imposing! Why are these people running around adventuring? They have full-time duties. Most of their divine points will go to pedestrian spells like Spellteaching and Divination - and not Divinations for personal use either! The flock that supports the priest with tithes expects to be spiritually supported. Just as the craftsman makes things for the community, the priest "makes magic" for the community, (assisted by acolytes). Acolytes are expected to give 50% of their time to the temple, priests and lords must give 90%. Remember, a priest's 10% free time is probably more like one hour per ten, not one week per ten. Make the player characters feel the burden of responsibility. Consider insisting they semi-retire the character, except for when there is a threat to the community so great that it warrants "calling up" the Rune Masters. Of course, some people prefer high-power, Rune Master-dominated campaigns. See "Game Balance" below, for some different suggestions. MAJOR AND MINOR GODS You will notice that the powerful deities have longer divine spell lists than the minor deities. Thus, worshippers of major gods will have a wider selection of magic to call upon. This makes sense: worshippers of major gods should be more magically powerful than worshippers of minor gods. BEING AN INITIATE OF MORE THAN ONE CULT Characters that belong to more than one cult should maintain separate divine point tallies. Of course, divine points held from one god cannot be used to get divine magic from another god. -------------------------------------------------- Paraeus is an initiate of both Humakt and Orlanth. After the Pavis Rubble adventure, his character sheet might say "Humakt divine points = 1, Orlanth divine points = 2." Paraeus can only spend his Orlanth points on divine spells that Orlanth himself offers. -------------------------------------------------- CASTING RUNE MAGIC AGAINST A WORSHIPPER OF THE SAME RELIGION A god will not grant a Divine Intervention against one of his own worshippers. Thus, when viewing rune magic as a "limited Divine Intervention," I suggest that a deity should not provide an offensive rune spell against one of his own; no feuding Yelmies Sunspear-ing each other, etc. Of course, if the god had a reason to strongly favor one worshipper over another, he might consent. Perhaps Orlanth is a bit angry with his Colymar followers for embracing the Red Moon, and would favor any tribes who are fighting the Colymar... DIVINE MAGIC FROM ASSOCIATE DEITIES Back in the Godtime, the gods shared magical secrets with their friends, and stole powers from their enemies. Because of this, they can still grant their worshippers those powers, in the form of associate divine spells. To cast associate divine magic, a character just spends divine points normally. Of course, the worshipper is restricted to only the spell or two that his deity has access to. Back in the Godtime, Issaries showed Orlanth a magical way to keep his belongings safe. From this act Orlanth now knows the spell Lock. That is why an Orlanth worshipper can spend Orlanth rune points to cast Lock. He doesn't need to sacrifice to Issaries. However, Lock is the only Issaries divine spell that the worshipper can get from Orlanth. RUNE MAGIC FROM SUB-CULTS A character can only call for the rune spells of sub-cults he belongs to. For example, a foreign Humakti could not get the Indrodar Greydog spell Release Zombie (as seen in Tales #5). Release Zombie is only available to Humakti in the Lismelder tribe of Sartar, and only to those Humakti who have actually joined the sub-cult. ISSARIES SPELL TRADING During the Spell Trading ritual, each participant actually casts their spell. The ritual serves to capture the spells before they take effect, and deliver them to the respective trading partners. So, each trader spends the divine points to cast the appropriate spell normally. THANATARI HEAD STEALING The Create Head ritual enslaves the victim's spirit. The Thanatari can then force the bound spirit to use its rune points to cast spells. As the current write-up states, minor heads provide only one-use rune points. Major heads can get rune points squeezed out of them reusably, if the Thanatari sacrifices his own POW to do so. I believe this is compatible with the idea of rune points. Think of it this way: the bound Rune Master has an especially strong tie to the runes of his god (remember, only a head that has reusable rune points to begin with can grant reusable points to its Thanatari master). The Create Major Head ritual allows the Thanatari to manipulate that victim's runic ties, and to get those runic powers reusably. Perhaps this is why Thanatari are so hated, feared, and persecuted! TRUESTONE The holder of the truestone spends divine points to cast a specific spell. That spell is held in the stone, to be released later. I do not think that truestone should be allowed to hold "raw" divine points. But, if you like the idea of raw divine points, I would suggest that only worshippers of that deity could use them to call for divine magic. A non-worshipper lacks the runic ties to be able to call for divine magic. Perhaps non-worshippers could use the raw divine points to summon elementals (i.e. Storm god divine points are good for summoning sylphs, Sea god points to summon undines, etc.)? GAME BALANCE Obviously, adopting the rune point system will make your rune magic-using characters more powerful. They will be able to call upon most of the spells their deity offers, as the situation warrants. It will be harder to design adventures because of this new player character flexibility. Rune magic-using NPC's will also get tougher. What steps can be taken to prevent characters from becoming unreasonably powerful? Below are some optional suggestions to keep the rune point concept reasonable. Mix and match them as you see fit. (Hint: even if you don't adopt the rune point idea, many of these suggestions could apply to regular rune magic too.) MAKE IT TOUGHER TO GET DIVINE POINTS Too many players think having some excess POW obliges them to sacrifice it for divine magic. There is a ritual involved, officiated by your priest. What have you done for the temple lately, for the priest lately, that he would allow you to sacrifice that POW? Let's also look at the common "adventurer on the road" situation. Perhaps Paraeus is in a foreign temple, where nobody knows him. Will his host spend a precious Divination to ask Humakt about Paraeus' standing in the cult? What has Paraeus done for this temple, that he should be allowed to sacrifice for more divine points? The gamemaster should be willing add some roleplay to the ritual of divine sacrifice. This gives the gamemaster more control over the divine magic in the campaign. A word of caution: do not overlook the responsibility of making decisions like this. The GM should not arbitrarily deny a request for new magic, or the players might feel betrayed. If the character has not been a good temple citizen lately, let the player know that the chances of getting new divine points are slim. This is an excellent springboard for adventures. In exchange for the "privilege" of sacrificing, the characters might have to perform some favor (big or small) for the priest. This is part of the roleplay behind the initiate's 10% time requirement. Another way to limit the availability of divine points is to say a character can only sacrifice during a cult seasonal holy day. This is easy to rationalize: the donation of spiritual essence (POW) can only take place when the god is closer to the world, during the suspension of Time that accompanies a worship ceremony. MAKE IT TOUGHER TO RENEW DIVINE POINTS Again, I suggest adding some role play to the renewal of rune magic. Normally, the character spends- one-day-in-prayer-for-each-point-to-recover. Pure rules. What is happening during that day of prayer? The character is giving his god information. Because of the Great Compromise, the gods find it difficult to do anything new. This includes learning things on their own. Worshippers have to provide the gods with new knowledge, through prayer. How about a dialogue with the god? Perhaps the deity insists that you tell him what you did with that rune magic you cast, before he agrees to renew it. As game master, perhaps you think the deity might disapprove of how those rune points were spent. Did a Sword of Humakt cast Shield just so he could retreat from a combat? Maybe Humakt punishes the cowardice by not renewing those points until the Sword goes back and slays the foe that drove him off. Perhaps Kyger Litor is offended that her priestess traded away some rune magic to an untrustworthy Issaries Goldentongue, and refuses to renew the points until atonement is made. Remember, your god will know if you try to lie... A word of caution: don't punish characters because they beat up your monsters too efficiently. Punish them for acting in a way the god would not approve of. Another restriction could be to say Rune Masters can only renew rune points on seasonal holy days. This can be pretty severe, but if you feel that there is too much reusable rune magic flying around your campaign, this will definitely put a damper on things. If you take this approach, I would remind you again about temple duties. How many rune points will a priest spend tending his NPC flock each season? What effect will this have on his rune point tally for an adventure, especially as he gets further from the last holy day/renewal? Casting rune spells is part of a priest's everyday duty; try telling the worshippers "sorry, I'm saving up for an adventure on my day off." MAKE IT TOUGHER TO BECOME AN ACOLYTE/PRIEST/LORD An obvious one: don't just have the player make a few skill rolls to qualify for Rune Master. Have adventures where the candidate proves his worthiness, maybe he won't survive! My personal favorite is to add a new skill requirement: Cult Lore. Doesn't it make sense that to move up in the temple hierarchy, an initiate must show a good knowledge of the cult legends? Perhaps a minimum of 50% to qualify for acolyte, 80% for priests and lords. I also think the importance of the Ceremony skill is underplayed. Certainly a priest should be well versed in cult rituals? Would you want the priest bungling your baptism, or wedding, or burial? In a magical world like Glorantha, think of the consequences... Again, acolytes might need at least 50% in Ceremony, 80% for priests and lords. To make it even tougher, impose minimums for Enchant and Summon too. LIMIT, OR EVEN DO AWAY WITH, ACOLYTES I have a theory that acolytes are a rules construct, to allow player characters reusable divine magic without the burden of full priesthood. Too many of these pesky guys around, throwing all that reusable divine magic? Do away with them! We got along without them just fine in RQ2... A more moderate stance would be to limit the number of acolytes in any temple hierarchy. A priest can only have so many helpers around, and the community can only support so many. If the gamemaster doesn't want a character becoming an acolyte (or even a priest), tell the player there are no vacancies. It's your world. INITIATES AND ACOLYTES STILL SACRIFICE FOR SPECIFIC SPELLS A deity will obviously favor his priests and lords above all other worshippers. Perhaps this "special bond" is necessary for the use of rune points. Initiates and acolytes are not yet ready for the fuller power of the god, and thus can only be trusted with specific spells. Of course, a mission of great importance, or a heroquest, might prove to the god that a special initiate or acolyte is trustworthy enough to handle the flexibility of rune points. A more generous gamemaster might allow acolytes rune points, but keep the restriction on initiates. WATCH OUT FOR THOSE TRICKSTERS! Thanks go out to George Harris for noticing that Tricksters will be unmanageably gross if you give them reusable divine points. Imagine all those nasty magical pranks, totally at the trickster's beck and call! Three solutions come to mind: 1) Tricksters are an exception. The character must travel to a shrine to "learn" the spell available at that shrine. From then on, however, the trickster can call upon that spell using divine points, as normal. 2) All trickster spells become one-use. They retain the ability to call upon any spell, though. Tricksters will still have an incredible variety to draw upon, but will only be able to use it sparingly. 3) Impose a Disorder penalty. Recently, Stafford mentioned that "all tricksters are fools. Half the time, their pranks backfire." Perhaps you could impose a significant (50%?) chance of a spell fumbling (which could be great fun for the gamemaster and other players). Most of the resistance to the rune point concept comes from what it will do to game balance. Yes, game balance will find a new equilibrium point. Rune points, admittedly, are more of a philosophy-of-magic idea than a game balance idea. The catalyst for the rune point concept comes from my questioning why the gods are arbitrarily restricted in the magic they give to worshipper. This just smacks too much of D&D. I see rune magic more as a miracle granted, and not an effect pre-packaged and handed over. The gods are intelligent entities. They are responsible for the well being of their worshippers. Why shouldn't they be able to grant any "miracle" within their scope of abilities? What is the justification for having to sacrifice for a particular spell beforehand? One of the great things about RuneQuest is that many of the rules "make sense" (as much as a fantasy game can, that is). It makes sense to me that rune magic, being the miraculous event that it is, should have a bit more flexibility than it currently is written with. Thanks go to: Steven Barnes, David Hall, George Harris, Oliver Jovanovic, Rob Mace, Mike McGloin, Charles Morehouse, Erich Schmidt, Ross Stites, and James Wadsley, for their help in the development of this idea. BOXED INSERT: MORE BLASPHEMY - LIMITS ON DIVINE INTERVENTION While we're thrashing the traditions of rune magic, why not also take a look at the other way gods interact directly with the world - Divine Intervention. In Wyrms Footnotes #12, Greg Stafford shares his views on DI in the article "Divination and Divine Intervention." Stafford addresses what he sees as game abuses of DI, things like silly multiple attempts, teleporting out of danger, and restoring the dead to life. I would like to suggest a different take on the question "what is the limitation of a god?". Much like the rune power variant, I think that the gamemaster should take significantly more responsibility to roleplay the way a deity answers a call for DI. Many players, and gamemasters alike, see Divine Intervention as a miraculous cure-all. It can teleport you out of trouble, it can raise the dead, it can increase stats, et cetera. I ask "How?". How did Ernalda get the ability to Teleport her worshippers? How does Magasta restore life to a dead Orlanthi? A god's runic association, his "theme" if you will, determines the kind of divine magic that god can grant. I think the runes should also constrain the Divine Interventions allowed. Much as rune magic might be seen as a "limited DI," Divine Intervention might be said to be "super rune magic." The basic idea: take the god's spell lists (both divine and spirit) as a rough guide to the possible effects from DI. Escaping Danger For example, I think that only Orlanth and Mastakos should be able to Teleport their worshippers out of danger (or anywhere for that matter, using DI). This is because only these two deities have the rune spell Teleport. Other Mobility-rune gods might bestow a similar benefit. Perhaps worshippers of Issaries, Etyries and Lokarnos might pray and be granted a super- mobility spell, to outrun their enemies. Looking at spirit magic spell provided, I might suggest that any god who can teach the spell Mobility might be able to grant such a miracle. What if the character doesn't worship a Mobility god? Look at the runes. Look at the rune magic and spirit magic lists. Use your imagination! I might suggest variations on elementals. Ernalda could have the earth "swallow up" her worshipper, to be borne to safety underground by a gnome. Not necessarily far away, as Ernalda is not a Mobility goddess; just to safety. Air gods could have sylphs carry an unconscious initiate away. Sea gods could have an undine knock foes down, and "wash" the worshipper away to safety. But, don't be afraid to limit DI; the gods are not omnipotent! If the Magastan is in the middle of the Wastes, there can be no undines coming to his rescue. It's his fault he is too far away for his god to reach. Magasta will have to think of something else... Resurrection & Healing I think a deity should only be able to restore life to one of his or her own followers. The god has no mystical link to other souls, and thus cannot pull them from the path of the dead (An obvious exception would be any Healing deities, who have special spells to do just this sort of thing). A related miracle is healing, usually in the middle of a battle. An argument could be made that a god who has no healing magic, spirit or divine, can't do it! Admittedly, this could be pretty severe in a game. But, I'm not advocating game balance. My intent is to keep the gods within their spheres of influence, bound by the Great Compromise. As an example, Wachaza doesn't offer his worshippers any healing magic. But, to help a worshipper through a combat, he might bestow several points of Seastrength, Bladesharp, Coordination, and Mobility. If the praying Wachazan is already unconscious, then maybe he doesn't deserve the patronage of Wachaza, and is better off dead. Roleplay the Deity This is the underlying theme. As gamemaster, you have to decide what the deity thinks about this prayer for intervention, and how to respond. In a DI situation, the god turns his attention toward the worshipper. Note the contrast to what was said earlier about calling for divine magic. The god is not omniscient, so he probably only knows what is in the mind of the praying worshipper, and any other worshippers in the immediate area. Using this information only, the god, as played by the gamemaster, decides how to intervene. The player can make a specific request, but the ultimate authority about what happens rests with the gamemaster. Don't grant Interventions that don't fit the image of the god. Humakti or Storm Bulls who ask aid to escape from a combat should be laughed at, whether they make the DI roll or not! Humakti and Storm Bulls who DI to be better fighters have the right idea, and should be answered appropriately, if the roll is made of course. Other, less violent gods are more prone to protect and shelter worshippers in need. Just how they do this is up to you as well. = END =