Good point on the RL vs. 10 men -- I guess what I was thinking is that in a "fair" fight, the RL would have to be outnumbered by non-RLs-- if he brings his retinue along, it's no longer a "fair" fight, it's a massacre. And if there are RLs on the battlefield, then it's clash of the titans time, and the rank and file (hopefully) aren't drawn in.
>> it takes less morale to hurk a rock at a Storm Kahn
>> than it does to walk up and hit him with your sword
>True, but you still draw his attention (as I tried to indicate in my
>parody).
True. That's what all those Trollkin slingers are for. You point to 'em
and say, "It waz dem, mister moon man! I not do nuthin', you betcha! Bad.
bad trollkin!" <Smack trollkin with mace.> Trollkin: the eternal
scapegoat. ;)
But David Dunham also slanders the trollish cavalry:
>> [trolls have] some of the finest cavalry on the plane
>Huh? They ride giant bugs, for Genert's sake! And bug riders aren't that
>common -- according to my copy of Trollpak, the largest Gorakiki subcult
>(Beetle) doesn't ride (to say nothing of the fact that most trolls don't
>belong to Gorakiki). And many of the flying riders are Trollkin.
Hey! Where were you when they handed out Trollpak! Who said anything about _bugs_?
Go directly to page _Book of Uz_, page 42 (2nd edition), 2nd column, 3rd paragraph down. "Giant Spider, Tarantula." Note in cross reference _Into Uzdom_ page 27, stats, "Tarantula Mounts." Aranea, not Gorakiki, is the cult in question.
Sorry, but I refuse to believe Grazers, Pentians or Carmanians are the equal of a troll on tarantula back -- the spider is _sentient_ (so you don't have to worry about your ride skill as much), has grossly high power (_and_ can sacrifice for its own runemagic -- a smart one might become a priest, with that starting av. POW of 19), has natural armor better than plate (plus you can add barding, presumably, and armoring enchantments), higher DEX (so you can manuever around stuff the way a horse-rider can only dream of -- IMG, a common troll tactic is to ram stakes in front of the army. The spiders are nimble to step around them, the horses are not.), etc. etc. Stack that up against yer ponies, and double it. Then compare spidy's natural attack with a horse's, and triple it. Then note the reference to poison, and quadruple it.
Fond as I am of the TAF, it's a MGF schtick with some vague plausibility. Tarantulas are expressly written up in the game rules, nasty, and very, very deadly. They are also very, very rare in comparison to horses. I dispute not that they are rare: nowhere have I written, "finest and most plentiful cavalry." Trolls, for once, win out on quality vs. quantity. The other bug types complement them: wolf/lynx spiders (dumb, but IMO cheap, and useful), giant mantises, and whatever else you can ride that wriggles. And the aircav take over some of cavalry's normal functions (like scouting), freeing spidy up for mayhem.
BTW, in terms of "strategic mobility" -- I'm refering here to the fact that trolls don't _need_ supply lines. They can survive off what they can loot without needing to disperse -- which few organized human armies can. A nifty little trick, thanks to their magical tummies. (Elves might pull the same stunt by growing what they need as they march, and Mostali might just wheel along a canning machine and stuff whatever they find in the thing. But not as sure about those.)
:But the PC moved the Darkwall to always cover their eyes, so that:they :were never able to see the PCs. The guards charged anyway, trying to :smash into the PCs with limited success.I'm a little unsure here -- did the player actually state, "I move the wall to cover their eyes," eg changing the shape of the wall to cover each guard's face/eyeballs? Or were they just keeping the wall between them and the guards in a rough line?
The former sounds a bit loopy, and is _certainly_ micro-manipulation to a degree I find implausible. The second would seem legal, if difficult.
:Since the PC can't see through the Darkwall, can he simply :move the wall to cover his enemies' eyes as soon as they get past the :wall?
I'd rule that it takes at least a SR delay to move the wall (you don't know what the bad guy's gonna do until you see it), and probably require some sort of concentration roll.
Maybe allow the micro-management, but require a INTx3 for each strike-rank (since it's an active spell, and the player is having to ASAP react to unexpected actions by the enemy, compounded by not being able to see the enemy until their face pops thourgh the wall.) That should promptly put paid to such attempts.
: If Darkwall was as powerful as all that, I'd think that the Uz
:would rule the world.
Well, we _used_ to. On our tarantulas, dammit!
James Frusetta
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #263
WWW at http://rider.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/Rolegame/glorantha.faq.html
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