Elfs, FormSet, Chaos, PC Races, Toast

From: Philip Hibbs <PHibbs_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 14:04:18 -0500

>30% of elves join the army. The remainder do things >like tending dryads

"Tending"? That's a new word for it! Phoo-arr!

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>In Sandy Peterson's Sorcery system and several other Sorcery revisions
>I've seen many improvements were made, but in all cases the Form/Set
>(substance) spell has been eliminated.

The RQ4 Sorcery Playtest Draft v1 had Form/Set, but was restricted thus:

>The form is only temporary and rough. When the spell ends, the laws of
>nature hold sway again, and the substance attempts to revert to its
>original form, often with only partial success.

I agree, this limitation, or the entire removal of the spell, is a bit of a problem, especially for converting sorcerors who have used this spell in the past. I'll add the spell description back in to my modifications to Sandy's Sorcery.

>In combat, a one-point
>Form/Set Bronze can mold an enemy's helm into an unremovable
>sphere-with-a-hole-for-the-neck which blocks the enemy's sight completely.
>Way too nasty for one point and no resistance.

Possible fixes to this problem:

1. It's a moving target, I would give a Dex vs Dex roll to target it.
2. The helmet is actually four pieces welded together, you need Multispell.
3. Allow a MP vs MP resistance roll. After all, "Tap" doesn't say it needs a resistance roll, whereas other spells do say so, so do you allow that?

>Worse, however, is that you
>can use it to mass-produce metal implements, thus achieving 20th century
>production methods in a nominally ancient-tech world.

Only if you want untempered, brittle metal impliments.

Alternatively, just tell 'em "You can't do it on someone else's kit, and you can't mass-produce with it". Nothing wrong with that. If your players want to rewrite the world by Form/Setting it into a banana shape, they are probably not very suited to playing in Glorantha, and this spell will be the least of your worries.

>Form/Set Flesh

Not a 'proper' substance.

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>There is a marked difference between Gloranthan Chaos and
>Mandlebrot Screen Savers insofar as prolonged exposure to the
>latter has not caused the end of the world as we know it.

Actually, the world was a utopia of love and plenty before Mandelbrot, but his reintroduction of Chaos irrevocably and retrospectively corrupted the entire fabric of reality, introducing plagues, famines, and the worldwide trade deficit.

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>Best choices: (for PC races)
>Newtlings

Never seen that one done - have you got any Occupation Experience charts for them?

>Difficult but possible PC choices:
>Superior Trollkin

Seen it done a couple of times. Pretty fun. Look up the Cult of Naghul (can't remember where I found it, it's on the web somewhere, else Email me), cult of Scroungers and Down-and-Outs.

Other races I've seen are Grotarons, Pixies, Baboons, Great Trolls, and a Cauliflower-headed Broo. None of them worked out too well.

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>Would anybody like some toast?

Good idea, I've got some bacon. Do you want to pop round?

PHIBBS_at_compuserve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PHibbs Tamworth, UK

+----------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
|                | If you add up all the balance of trade figures for all |
| Phil Fenderson | the countries in the world, there is a net deficit.    |
|                | It's the aliens!                                       |
+----------------+--------------------------------------------------------+

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