Bell Digest v930702p1

(Message rqd:2)
Return-Path: 
Received: from Holland.Sun.COM (sunnl) by homeland.Holland.Sun.COM (4.1/SMI-4.1)
	id AA05148; Fri, 2 Jul 93 17:16:18 +0200
Received: from glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM by Holland.Sun.COM (4.1/SMI-4.1e)
	id AA27532; Fri, 2 Jul 93 17:16:01 +0200
Received: by glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM (4.1/SMI-4.1)
	id AA11988; Fri, 2 Jul 93 17:15:20 +0200
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 93 17:15:20 +0200
Message-Id: <9307021515.AA11988@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, Fri, 02 Jul 1993, part 1
Precedence: junk
Status: O

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: a902430@tiuk.ti.com (Bob Luckin)
Subject: God Learners - where are they now ?
Message-ID: <9307011706.AA16415@ibrox.tiuk.ti.com>
Date: 1 Jul 93 17:06:06 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1196

We've recently seen some speculation that the God Learners might actually
have escaped complete destruction and be waiting to come back...

In an unrelated post a little while ago, David Hall said "Every mention of the
God Learners also cites their destruction."

Now it seems to me this is the best evidence we have that they weren't really
destroyed.  All these repetetive statements in the literature and myths to
the effect that Glorantha collectively finally got fed up with them and wiped
them out should make any intelligent Lhankor Mhy sage (or conspiracy theorist)
extremely suspicious.  It's like someone has a vested interest in making
everybody believe they are really gone...

I think the God Learners engineered their own "downfall"; the majority of them
"went away", while a relatively small number of their less effective brethren
allowed themselves to be sacrificed for the good of the rest.  (Or perhaps
they were set up by the smart ones...)

[Actually, now I think about it, this would be similar to what Asimov's
Second Foundation did (although I wouldn't claim the God Learners were or
are as altruistic as Hari Seldon's mob).]

And if they are still around somewhere/somehow, then they are probably still
interfering in the World.  And they almost certainly won't be maquerading as
Issaries or Lhankor Mhy cultists (it's too obvious); they are probably 
happy that some barbarians talk of "Issaries God Learners", as this helps
divert attention from their real method of influence...

Cheers, Bob Luckin   (voly@tiuk.ti.com)

                      A man, a plan, a canal - Puzzle !

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

From: grendel@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (John Castellucci)
Subject: Alarums & Excursions
Message-ID: <9307011510.AA01779@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu>
Date: 1 Jul 93 01:10:52 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1197


Greg Stafford is looking for an article that appeared in a recent issue
of A&E.  The piece is by Greg Costikyan (sp?).  If anybody knows anything
about this article, let me know and I will pass it on to GS.

John   (grendel@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu)



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

From: paul@phyast.pitt.edu (Paul Reilly)
Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Thu, 01 Jul 1993, part 1
Message-ID: <9307011629.AA14787@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu>
Date: 1 Jul 93 16:29:27 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1198

  Paul R. here.  Jim Flammangsays:

>Also, does anybody else have any interesting or unusual way of doing
>Divinations?

  Let's see... Things we have used in our campaign:

  Seven Mothers/ Red Goddess: Lunar Tarot

  Lokarnos:  Always use a Wheel.  For yes/no questions, Divination allows 
up to seven flips per spell.  For the question "Where" the priest blindly 
tosses the coin onto a map of the area (one toss per spell).  Etc.

  Yelmalio:  Divination by the flight of birds or staring into the sun (the
latter produces a vision.)

  Various Darkness deities: Orgy of food, etc. followed by deep sleep and
dreams.

  Voria:  The child priestess may just "know" things, or she may 'talk' with
a stuffed animal, etc.

  Hunter Gods, Waha the Butcher:  Haruspicy on animals (divination by looking
at the liver)

  Babeester Gor, Maran Gor, Ty Kora Tek:  Haruspicy on animals or people
(like men caught looking at the secret rites of the Earth cult)

  Irripi Ontor: Complicated mechanisms (like the Wheel of Ramon Lull)

  Mostal: Very complicated mechanisms (like a Babbage engine)

  Krarsht:  Communication with K-Kids.  Questions are encoded (often by telling
the question to a sacrifice) and fed to a Kid.  Answers are very difficult to
interpret but may actually give hints about the future.  Is this a sign that
she really is somehow on the scale of Arachne Solara (who also may hint the
future) or that as a Chaos deity she cares little about violating the
Compromise?

  Orlanth:  Many methods.  A favorite when setting out on an adventure is
to throw a handful of dust (if questing to aid Ernalda) or other appropriate
substance (e.g. yellow Feathers if looking for Yelm-types for ritual combat) 
into the air and see which way the wind takes it.

  Red Emperor Cult:  Fill out the appropriate form and send your question to
Glamour.  May have to wait a while for the answer.

  Many Cults (including some above, Lodril, Annilla and others):  
Priestess inhales fumes or whatever and speaks with the voice of the god.
(This may be the most common single method)

  Dayzatar:  Study the sky for messages of import to those on earth.
Other such scholarly methods.  Sometimes direct inspiration (with no question)
Dayzatar Divination is very powerful as he owns the Truth rune.

  Well, I could give many other examples but you get the picture.  Oh, Third
Eye Blue: Molybdomancy.

  More later,
	Paul
_______________
PS:
  Paul responds to Dustin:
> BTW, the remarks critical of homosexuality reflect Viking homophobia,

  Note that "Viking homophobia" really was degradation of those who
practiced _ergi_, i.e., being penetrated.  Penetrators were looked upon as
manly men.  Only a man who "took the woman's part" lost face; taking the "male"
role in homosexual behavior simply affirmed that you were stronger and 
tougher than the other guy and could force him into the degradation of
_ergi_.

- p

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

From: f6ri@midway.uchicago.edu (charles gregory fried)
Subject: RuneCards
Message-ID: 
Date: 1 Jul 93 17:35:56 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1199

Greg Fried here.

Thanks, all, for the thoughts on a RQ tarot!  Sam, if you can dig up your old
notes, do clue me in to the gist of them.  James Flammang -- good idea on
using the deck as a method of Divination.  If I do any more work on this,
I'll post my thoughts.  I'd be fun to print a real RuneDeck, but I have no
idea of how to go about such a task, so I suppose whatever deck I come up
with will be one of a kind.
-------------
David,
I for one took your advice and wrote to the Pres of Avalon Hill about RQ
availability.  I live in Chicago, and the stuff is hard to find, and if it's
like that here in such a big city, that implies a real problem.  I spoke with
the RPG dealer of one of the larger game store chains in the area, and he
said they don't stock it cause it doesn't sell.  This is bad news!  We don't
want the RQ Renaissance to die in the crib!  I mentioned all this (and that
salesperson's name, which he volunteered to pass on) in my letter to AH.  If
they can't capture a loyal new audience now, the game is in deep doodoo.  I
agree with others who have posted here that what is needed is a steady stream
of fairly inexpensive supplements that an audience for the game can come to
rely on to bolster their own campaigns.  TSR (horrors!) has succeeded in
achieving such a flow of materials -- not that I think RQ should do exactly
the same, simply approach it.  I think that the QUALITY  of the recent RQ
materials (River of Cradles, Sun Coutry, Borderlands) has been EXCELLENT. 
The problem is that they are also expensive, and may fail to attract that
audience of new GMs and players how want material to experiment with the
game.  I think a lot more smaller, inexpensive packs like Apple Lane and
Snakepipe Hollow are needed to seduce this new generation of RQ customers --
the ones who are going to save the game we love from financial ruin.  So,
simply in terms of a marketing strategy, I would tend to nix Lunar Pack,
Sartar Pack, etc, in favor of smaller scenarios which will immediately draw
new players into the game.  Those big Culture Packs cost a lot to produce,
and however greedily I might await them as a loyal fan of the game and of
Glorantha, I doubt they will succeed in capturing a broader market for RQ --
they're just too specialized.  I agree with others that the great strength of
RQ is Glorantha (not the anemic Gateway), but my guess is that new players
(i.e. potentially loyal purchasers of future products!) get drwawn in by
exciting adventures, grounded in GLoranthan lore, not the massive background
supplements we old-time devotees drool for.  It's now or never, folks!

GF out.  (Sorry about the many typos above!)

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

From: ccwf@cns.caltech.edu (Charles Fu)
Subject: Re: Runic sculpture (was Runes)
Message-ID: <9307011855.AA04190@buddha.cns.caltech.edu>
Date: 1 Jul 93 18:55:49 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1200

Yes, I'm sure there would be people interested (not myself at the  
moment, however). In fact, I picked up a pewter sword pendant/necklace  
with the death, disorder, and chaos runes on it at a con a number of  
years back. I forget who the manufacturer was, but they were just a few  
bucks each (but, of course, they were pewter and not bronze). It may  
even have been at the Chaosium booth, although I don't think so.

Anyways, the point of this is that I don't know if runes can be  
copyrighted/trademarked, but it might be a good idea to check with  
Chaosium before selling runic sculptures commercially.

-ccwf

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

From: runei@ifi.uio.no (Rune Andre Isene)
Subject: Dorastor
Message-ID: 
Date: 2 Jul 93 01:43:35 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1201

i havent had the chance to look over the new dorastor pack..
id really want some opinions on it!!!

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

From: CROUCH@hfrd.dsto.gov.au
Subject: Re: Rune Cards
Message-ID: <930702103348.16d2f@hfrd.dsto.gov.au>
Date: 2 Jul 93 20:21:48 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1202

% ====== RFC 822 headers potentially mangled by stupid mail11 gateway ======
% From: Chris Crouch 
% To: runequest@glorantha.holland.sun.com
% Cc: crouch@hfrd.dsto.gov.au

Hi to everyone!

  I would have thought, for the simple use of playing card games, the
Gloranthan Minor Arcana would correspond to the Gloranthan year in the
same way that a mundane pack of cards corresponds to our year. This
gives 5 suits (corresponding to the seasons) each with 8 cards
(corresponding to the weeks), plus (optionally) two cards for the
Sacred Time. Each card would be marked with two runes to identify it
(except the last two - would they have Mastery or Magic or Infinity?).

  Gloranthan poker would be difficult - each cult would have a
different ordering of the cards :-)

Chris


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

From: John_Morgan@mindlink.bc.ca (John Morgan)
Subject: RE: Of interest to people
Message-ID: 
Date: 1 Jul 93 23:37:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1203

To: awr0@aberystwyth.ac.uk

I would definately be interested in getting this file.  How can we set this
up.

I am new to RQ and am looking for any material I can get my hands on. :)

Ciao Ciao
    J

--
######################################################################
#                        #                   ARMY                    #
#  John Morgan           #              Another fine game            #
#  a345@mindlink.uucp    #              By Milton Bradley            #
#                        #                 Ages 17 & up              #
########################################


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

From: awr0@aberystwyth.ac.uk
Subject: Ok dudes
Message-ID: <9307021118.AA24423@uk.ac.aber.fronta>
Date: 2 Jul 93 13:18:10 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1204

Somebody questioned the 'Frozen' comment. Reason is that it is the way lhar/lha 
compresses material. I chose lharc because it was simple. I've mailed shannon
to see about putting this material onto his ftp site. I presume I could 
tar the file, but I really don't have the time at the mo. People have been 
asking for individual files. Sorry can't do....will mail all of the section.
(Section is defined by the Directory)

Adam

Hopefully this material will be on one site soon.


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

From: venturi@cs.unibo.it (Mirko Venturi)
Subject: Only two questions..
Message-ID: <199307021158.AA04405@desdemona.cs.unibo.it>
Date: 2 Jul 93 15:58:07 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 1205

Here Finelli,
	I dont know English very well, and so two questions:

-IMHO = in my opinion ?
-BTW  = by the way ?
-Xians = christians ?

I read in the Digest a beautiful article from David Cheng, about Rune Power.
Listen that ( P=Player, K=Keeper, we use CoC terminology)
K> Hey man you are cute, really. You are the first of the group that becomes
	a Priest.
P> Thanks Boss.
K> Surely, you played well, TOO well, infact the other PC are still far from
	even becoming anything, priest, shaman or lord.
P> Thank again boss.
K> But, there is a but, you know that you must give 90% of your time to the 
	temple and so you can not adventuring if not on cult mission, and not
	everything is a cult mission, so I think you must semi retire your
	character.
P> But boss, this is Rune Quest, I have quested for Rune magic and now I am
	a priest, I should be rewarded not punished.
K> I Know, but the rules are rules and your life now is of the God...

See the point ? My house rules says that you can give 90% of your time or of 
your money, so you can go on adventuring even if you attained Rune level status.
Now there is the problem of game balance , but this is another question.

Here Finelli, buongiorno a tutti, ciao.