Thanks for the information about Everway, because of your comments I went out and bought it (not my usual reaction to WotC stuff!). I was very interested in the contents, although whether I will actually play the game is another matter. I have been toying with simple, runic based/biased systems with an eye to heroquesting for some time now. Now that people are focussing on this area I will present some of my views for comment.
Basically, the idea of runes affecting things is nothing new (SMs HQ frex) but it would be nice to have a simple Gloranthan system which incorporated runic affilliation for heroquest storytelling. Note that I am not a super-RQ type and I would prefer any heroquesting to be more mythic story-telling than rule-intensive dice-rolling.
So what ideas do I have? Well why not start with runes tied to Stats and skills.
Elements:
Darkness --> SIZ Water --> INT as in intuition rather than intelligence (see below). Earth --> CON Fire --> DEX Storm --> STR Moon --> APP (see below)
IMHO it is very difficult to roleplay intelligence which is markedly different from your own, especially when it is higher! I personally play INT = intuition as this is easier to both roleplay and GM. Intuition fits the concept of Idea rolls (to get a clue about what is going on) better than intelligence and is a far better abstract statistic for RPGs. Imagine determining strike rank on who shouted/reacted first (assuming you still use them...).
I have chosen to include the Moon as an element, but note they only get the appearance stat (very appropriate for the types who advocate the widespread use of the glamour spell!).
I have left of the POW stat and if forced to ally it to an element I would couple it to Chaos! IMO the high level of magic in Glorantha is a direct result of the proximity between it and the void (aka raw Chaos). Remember that Truestone captures and stabilizes magic and can be used to penetrate magical protections.
It is also possible to couple skills to runes (although this is even more a matter of personal judgement) and for example:
Darkness --> hearing, stealth & tracking Water --> taste/smell, evaluate & swim Earth --> touch, devise & force of will Fire --> sight, riding & dancing Storm --> athletics & oratory (you might include smell here) Moon --> ESP, battlecraft, administration & teaching
Weapon skills are easy.
Other runes can be treated in a similar manner, but at this point there is a big divergence in views. One path leads to 6 (or 7) suits and the other leads to each rune being an entity in its own right. Thus for now I will end this post here as it is long enough already. I just hope my server does not lose it as I have type it straight in to the mailer and the server is playing up...
Cheers
Lewis
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