Re: Glorantha Digest V4 #302

From: Paolo Guccione <teigupa_at_tss.tei.ericsson.se>
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 15:10:24 +0100


SIX postings out of nine about elves in the last digest. Chris, my eternal thanks. I faver uz over aldryami, but though we had plenty of typical troll individual/clan description in published articles and/or the digest, we had (or at least _I_ had) a poor concept of what a typical Mreli/Vronkali was doing all the day, what he carried, when he was supposed to go to war, etc. Definitely better now.

Ending the port-a-temple topic

- ------------------------------

Two replies to my posting about not being able to renew Runespells at unsuitable spots/Sanctified ground. My final considerations, then I stop rambling about this, since it is rather a matter of GM judgement.

  1. I could keep arguing about Mistress the Last, but never mind. It is clearly stated by the rules (either in the temple size section of the Magic Book or in the GoG Cult Book, cannot remember) that at a shrine only one spell is available "for both learning and renewing". Furthermore, in the last appendix of Troll Gods it is suggested that Troll Priests have to travel a lot to _renew_ their spells; are troll priests too STUPID to learn Sanctify? I also suspect that Extension does not work with rituals and that Sanctify lasts till the rituals stop, not just 15 min, or else Extension would be needed even to cast Worship.I do not have my rulesbooks at hand so if I am misquoting please correct me.
  2. However, this is just flogging the dead horse. The truth is that the current rules are clearly ambiguous and unsatisfactory, whatever the right interpretation is. Runepower solves 90% of this trouble, but not everyone is content with it. So what? Sorry for starting the argument, I should have known the only answer is "However it is, it need be revised soon".

Elf races

There is absolutely no taxonomical unit with a name sounding like "mrel" or "vronkal" or "embyl". There is also no taxonomical unit including
"jungle plants". The elf racial diversification is ecological, not
taxonomical:

Mreli		deciduous forest
Vronkali	conifer forest, taiga, pioneers for deciduous forest 		
		(hence the sharing of territory)
Embyli		jungle
Goblins		swamp vegetation (ferns but not only)
Runners		underbrush (coexists with all forests but taiga)


Elf writing

Again, I do not have the sources at hand, but do elves write at all? I remember it was stated that they don't, as many tribal cultures. Some shamans (not trolls) believe they would even lose their powers if they learned writing.

Elf weaponry:

Yes! The buckler can be used while you are aiming a bow. I think this is another reason why they use this kind of shield while they could craft larger ones. This means an aldryami warrior can drop his bow and be immediately able to parry - no need to have his spear ready. Maybe I should revise my ideas about elven weaponry.

Dwarf weaponry

_Telescopic_ swords, guys. They have foldable _hammers_ and _telescopic_ swords.

And about patents, in fact gobblers and gremlins as described in Gloranthan Bestiary are copyright/patent enforcers. Hmm. Is Chaosium going to unleash some of them after us if we forget to include the
"Compulsory Gloranthan Copyright"?

			http://www.geco.it/~guccione

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End of Glorantha Digest V4 #303


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