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Date: Thu, 24 Jun 93 17:15:15 +0200
Message-Id: <9306241515.AA02427@glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM>
From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RQ Digest Maintainer)
To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (RuneQuest Daily)
Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Thu, 24 Jun 1993, part 1
Precedence: junk
Status: OR
The RuneQuest Daily and RuneQuest Digest deal with the subjects of
Avalon Hill's RPG and Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha.
Send submissions and followup to "RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM",
they will automatically be included in a next issue. Try to change the
Subject: line from the default Re: RuneQuest Daily... on replying.
Selected articles may also appear in a regular Digest. If you
want to submit articles to the Digest only, contact the editor at
RuneQuest-Digest-Editor@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM.
Send enquiries and Subscription Requests to the editor:
RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (Henk Langeveld)
---------------------
From: s.phillips@gla.uk.ac
Subject: HANDY HOUSEHOLD SPELLS etc
Message-ID: <23_Jun_93_16:53:35_A10D6F@UK.AC.GLA.VME>
Date: 23 Jun 93 15:53:35 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1157
--------------------------------
Sam Phillips, Glasgow, Scotland.
--------------------------------
Hello all.
Thanks to SteveG & Greg Fried for answering my questions
on the Gloranthan year and Centaur plumbing.
Is adding two weeks to each season the only answer?..
CENTAURS:-
----------
Actually I used to play a centaur (in the days before we
realised how uncivilised they are). Many a jape was had
trying to squeeze him into the pub. I assumed his diet to
be a vegetarian, high fibre version of normal human food.
We now stick to almost totally human PC's and avoid such
problems although you do meat some funny looking people
in the pub.!.
Now on to today's topic:-
(While desperately trying not to sound sexist..)
DOMESTIC SPELLS:-
-----------------
It has always troubled me that magic has always revolved
around the battlefield. I know that spirit magic was
always meant to be Battle Magic and used to be called
just that, but in the increasing realism that has swept
through RuneQuest no real attempt has been made to de
-militarise common magic. Divine spells have had this
treatment (to a limited extent) and there have been a few
spells added to add spice to new cultures/ races
(Peaceful Cut).
But I would welcome a whole load of little everyday
spells for everyday people to do those things nobody
likes doing - especially cleaning. Unstick Burnt Pot,
Footeze, Hide unpleasant odour, Find Shoe, Remove crease,
Egg-Time, Repel Insect, Liquidise, CoolBox, Remove Itch,
Prevent Curdle, Find lost Button, Churn, Gleem, Amuse
Baby, DeHumidify, Kill-all-known-Germs,...etc.
-- Are any of these more daft than most of the common
Spirit Magic spells when you step back and look at them?
I mean, Technology appears as magic to those of a less
advanced society. Most of our technology revolves around
two things - WAR and HOME. We have all the war spells -
what about the home spells that make more time for the
fun things - like going to war! Is an Antiseptic spell
less likely than a healing spell? A cleaning spell less
useful than a Repair or Glue spell?
I don't want to go down the road of accusing and waving
fingers at sexist attitudes - I don't think it really
applies - are women gamers more concerned about these
issues? I hope not! But I'm an insomniac and I worry
about these things in the wee small hours.
(So would you if you were about to be consumed by a
teetering tower of sentient, angry crockery and a shoal
of angry sock-sharks collecting in a feeding frenzy,
waiting to bite my little toes... "If only I could find
that shoe I could cross the carpet and make it to the
kitchen to confront the Crockery-Beast"). I need these
kind of spells and I have technology - I'm just not that
good at using it..)
But in an historical context most of the above spells
would be of use to women rather than men. Or housekeepers
rather than Warmongers. Actually many would be good for
shopkeepers, beekeepers, etc. But you get my point. Not
yer average adventurer but probably everyone else.
Which brings me to..
MORE GENERALLY ABOUT FEMALE CHARACTERS:-
----------------------------------------
When I briefly ran a Vikings game I spent a while working
on the profession of Housewife - arguably the *MOST*
important Vikings occupation. The list of skills when
fully compiled was huge! It seemed to dwarf those handed
out to the average male character... But then Viking
women were left for half the year to do everything - The
rest of the time they had to do everything AND wait on
their malefolk...I'm sure this is all relevant to
Glorantha as most Gloranthan cultures seem to roughly
follow the 'traditional' western male/female role
pattern. (Trolls being a notable exception). Female PC's,
if they have to accept lower STR/SIZ stats, should be
compensated by a higher skill base or perhaps they should
have their own set of handy spells (passed from Mother to
Daughter!?)...
CHEERS!
SAM. X.
---------------------
From: T.S.Baguley@open.ac.uk (Thom Baguley)
Subject: Lunar delicacies
Message-ID: <9306231613.AA28599@Sun.COM>
Date: 23 Jun 93 18:11:36 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1158
>I was planning
>on some sort of quasi-mediterranean meal (more North African and Turkish, than
>Italian), but would love any additional suggestions.
Try and get hold of some squid/kalamaris and serve it up as 'chaos tentacles in
a seafood sauce' ;-)
Thom
---------------------
From: tzunder@cix.compulink.co.uk (Tom Zunder)
Subject: Playtest Solo
Message-ID:
Date: 23 Jun 93 19:58:53 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1159
I need 4 playtesters to playtest a solo I'm writing.
I need petty minded but literate players who'll rip it apart and help me
put it back together again.
Anyone want to volunteer?
EMAIL me
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Orlanth Rex! tzunder@cix.compulink.co.uk
--------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------
From: davidc@cs.uwa.edu.au (David Cake)
Subject: Re: Hunger/Undead
Message-ID: <9306240512.AA01776@cs.uwa.edu.au>
Date: 24 Jun 93 05:14:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1160
This has been mentioned on the Digest/Daily before, but some new comers
seem to have missed it. In personal communication to me from both Greg and
Sandy (some administrative problem at Chaosium meant I got two answers to one
letter) they said the following about the runes in RQ3, as far as I know the
most recent word from them on the subject of specific runes.
The Rune formerly known as Undead is now known as Hunger. It represents
not natural hunger (so KL, ZZ, and other gods big on eating don't have
it) but chaotic, unnatural (presumably unsatisfiable) hunger. It belongs
to most Undead anyway, because most have this hunger (vampires being the
obvious example). A non-undead cult with the rune that is documented is
Krarsht, a diety well-associated with hunger. Some undocumented cults
might include Gloomshark and Daga. Undead that don't hunger for life
energy (like ZZ zombies) are not associated with the Hunger Rune.
The funny little up-arrow rune for Pamalt is the Pamalt Rune, the grid
thing for Godunya and Path of Immanent Mastery is the Dragon Rune. Both
are God-Learner inventions (Kralorelans and Doraddi have their own
Runis systems).
The Rune that looks like a darkness rune with a line through it (also
known as the 'Subway' rune :-) is the rune of Shadow, representing
Darkness without cold. It is also associated with ignorance. It belongs
to Moorgarki (in Troll gods) and others.
Cheers
Dave Cake
---------------------
From: gal502@huxley.anu.edu.au (Graeme Lindsell)
Subject: Sorcery vs Lunar Magic in RQIV
Message-ID: <9306240702.AA16788@cscgpo.anu.edu.au>
Date: 24 Jun 93 11:04:57 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1161
Nick Brooke and MOB are both voting for replacing sorcery with Lunar
magic in the base RQ4 package. I think it would be unwise to do this
because:
i) There is no reason to believe a new version of lunar magic would
be any less buggy than sorcery, and the old version of lunar magic in
GoG is a particularly dull structure IMO. Dull because it is useful
almost exclusively for killing people, and that's because spirit magic
seems primarily useful for killing people, with some exceptions like
glue, farsee and the detect spells. If we decide to introduce new
Lunar magic into the book now, with less than a year to run, the
playtesting will be just as difficult as introducing new sorcery rules
now.
ii) Lunar magic is used by only a very small total number of people
Glorantha-wide, and they are all found in the Lunar Empire. Even if
RQIV is supposed to be based around Prax, Sartar, the Holy Country and
the Lunars I believe it would be unwise to devote a large section of
the RQIV basic rulebook to a form of magic that is very geographically
restricted. I would rather see Lunar magic in a Lunar pack: very few
PC's will ever have become Lunar magicians as they have to be
illuminated first, and I haven't seen any Lunar magician NPC's in any
of the published adventures. Sorcery has a much wider geographical
range than Lunar magic as a technique: most regions of Glorantha have
at least some sorcerers present. Sartar and Prax are exceptions
rather than the rule, IMHO.
iii) I agree with a previous poster who estimated that there are
probably at least as many sorcerers in the lunar empire as there are
lunar magicians.Those who know some sorcery will probably be even
more common: the Lunar empire is civilized, and according to RQIII
character generation 50% of civilized characters are taught sorcery.
I know this is meant to apply mainly to whole civilizations not
to just inside one culture but I still think that the Lunar Empire
will have a fair percentage of its citizens knowing sorcery, apart
from just the Carmanians.
This would not be unaligned sorcery per se: I see the Lunar
sorcerers as being related to the philosophical schools of Greece, the
Stoics, Cynics, Epicureans etc. These were all concerned with "right
living" more than the existance of divine entities, and I think that
the sorcererous emphasis on natural laws would attract philosophers.
As long as the philosophers accepted the supremacy of the Red Goddess
they would be tolerated.
I think this is in keeping with the Greco-Roman themes I see in the
description of the Lunar empire (though I also feel there is a
strong Byzantine influence as well). These philosophies were mainly
attractive to the educated, who I see as the main users of sorcery in
a society; I think in some parts of the empire it would be considered
"progressive" for an Irripi Ontor to know some sorcery, and be
conversant with these philosophies (much to the horror of the
traditionalists, of course). They might be fairly common in Dara
Happa amongst those unfortunate enough not to be able to trace their
ancestry to Yelm. Using the Stoics et al is handy for the GM too,
since there is a lot of history and philosophy he can adapt to a Lunar
campaign.
iv) I think the statement that sorcery won't work without a social
context is untrue: the social context of spirit and divine magic as
presented in my copy of the RQIII rules (GW hardbound) are pretty
scant, and they work OK. Sorcery just needs a set of rules that
aren't broken IMHO. RQIII presents the three types of magicians
usually seen in myth (and in history): the tribal shaman, the priest
and the sorcerer. To say that the first two can be described by
generic rules, with specific data for each culture, but the last has
to have new rules for each separate culture seems a bit stange to
me, and might inspire new players that they are in for the kind of
"whole new rules in every supplement" treatment that I see in White
Wolf's Vampire stuff. IMO The base rule book has to include the generic
rules for all three type of magician plus a specific cult write-up for
all three.
v) I'm puzzled as to why Chaosium decided to invent a whole new set
of rules for Lunar magicians. The Lunar magicians seem to fit the
description and origin of sorcerers pretty well (civilized origin,
educated, lot of training needed). If we had an unbroken sorcery
system I'd make the lunar magicians another school of sorcery, with
an emphasis on mental and illusion powers, unique chaos sorcery that
derives from Illumination, and having the same lunar cyclical effects
as lunar rune magic. Thus inside the Glowline all these sorcerers would
have spells twice the intensity of normal sorcery.
If we were to leave sorcery out of RQIV I would use the space for an
expanded list for spirit magic, to give it less of that combat only
feel (where, for example are the spells that induce mental states
other than fear, confusion or anger?), or for some more expanded cult
write-ups, rather than for a form of magic used almost exclusively by
NPC's in a limited, if important area of Glorantha.
Graeme
PS: I think RQIII is actually as deficient in its treatment of
tribal/animistic cultures as it is of sorcerers: all tribes have the
same generic full range of spirit magic, they are only distinguished by
the rune magic they all seem to have, not by their spirit magic. The
pure shaman is just as dull as the pure sorcerer. I think all the
animist cultures should have some spells forbidden ("the darkness
spirits are enemies of the tribe"), most available as per usual, and
some available for free or even without needing the INT to memorize
them: "Due to the pact made by Wozden the Founder, we are allied to
the fire spirits of the land" ->members of the tribe Ignite, Extinguish,
Firearrow and Fireblade at half the normal cost in INT to memorize,
though the MP cost is the same.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Graeme Lindsell Email: gal502@huxley.anu.edu.au
---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------
From: venturi@cs.unibo.it (Mirko Venturi)
Subject: SUBMISSION!!!!
Message-ID: <199306241007.AA04089@jago.cs.unibo.it>
Date: 24 Jun 93 14:07:28 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1162
My name is Finelli Michele, Bologna,ITALIA.
How can I get RQ Digest ?
Here in Italia we are HUNGRY ( and ANGRY ) , because it seems that here anybody plays or knows RQ .
Help us and you will have the never-ending bless of the True Twin Orc Gods HUzuvk and Kazuck. ( Question for the future : why not orcs in Glorantha? and don`t say that Stafford saifd no because for what we know we may well discover that Orlanth ,after all
was anOgre !!!, I have wrote something, who cares, and how can I send it to you?).
Us you may have seen I don` t know neither English nor the use of Nets, so be patient in Arachne Solara name.