Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 17:45:49 +0200 Message-Id: <9308121545.AA28097@glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM> From: RuneQuest-Request@glorantha.holland.sun.com (RQ Digest Maintainer) To: RuneQuest@glorantha.holland.sun.com (Daily automated RQ-Digest) Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Thu, 12 Aug 1993, part 1 Reply-To: RuneQuest@glorantha.holland.sun.com (RuneQuest Daily) Sender: RuneQuest-Request@glorantha.holland.sun.com Precedence: junk Resent-To: appel@soda.berkeley.edu Resent-Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1993 21:15:13 -0700 Resent-From: Eric RoweStatus: 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: kenrolston@aol.com Subject: RuneQuest Daily Submission from Ken Rolston Message-ID: <9308092043.tn31599@aol.com> Date: 10 Aug 93 00:43:31 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1370 Semi-Formal Announcement to the RQ Daily from Ken Rolston, RuneCzar I am now a freelance RuneCzar. AH and I have a tentative agreement to continue publishing RQ supplements according to our original schedule. I will continue as an out-of-house developer, editor, and production coordinator. Strangers in Prax is scheduled for release in November 93, Cults of Dorastor in January 93. The schedule after that depends, but I'm likely to choose two out of four projects that have promising prospects. First choice is Soldiers of the Reaching Moon by Mike O'Brien. I very much want to arrange a contract for this project. Prax Companion (by Reaching Moon Megacorp), Tower of Night (vampires in Talastar by Pat Elwer), and Lismelder Pak are all plausible contenders. One major alteration in our current publishing scheme is that all art -- maps, interior illos, and cover -- will be done in house by Matt Pumphrey and Steve Langmead. It saddens me to lose Roger Raupp and John Snyder in particular, but it keeps productions costs down to a point where AH is comfortable continuing to publish supplements. I am confident of their fine art and illustration skills -- this is not a repeat of the Dobyski illustration debacle. It also gives me spectacular control over the schedule of completion and details of the art -- and may even permit me to increase the number of releases, since each will be more modestly budgeted. My only worry is that AH might carelessly limit the amount of time the artists are given to complete their assignments. My strategy in the short term is to narrowly limit and focus the art assignments -- and worry about them. The major change in this arrangement is that I will not be doing the extensive writing, design, rewriting, development, and general fussing I have been doing on past products. The manuscripts I receive will be far cleaner, more completely developed, than any in the past -- or this isn't going to work. This suits me just fine. I spent far too much time writing for River of Cradles, Shadows on the Borderland, and Dorastor. I will also be arranging for out-of-house developers by contract wherever practical. Mike Dawson's development of Strangers in Prax (which is coming along splendidly, I might add) is a good model. A further benefit of this new regime is that I will consider writing original designs for RuneQuest, or developing my old designs for RQIII, or collaborating on original designs with other RQ writers. In the final analysis, I am a designer by preference, and would much rather design than edit and develop. The prospects for a new edition of RQ in the near future are uncertain. I would cheerfully entertain the prospect of adding another project to the schedule -- a RuneQuest Rules Companion. This would include one or two RuneQuest Lite schemes and the most promising and acclaimed-by-consensus aspects of the RQIV project. I personally am most interested in an RQ Lite, and will be working on a proposal for that myself. Advocates for RQIV in its various incarnations should consider making proposals to me on this project. In conclusion, I suspect that the new arrangement is in many ways promising. There is a real chance that I will be able to release even more supplements per year, since the basic design and production costs are now significantly reduced, and since we now have about got the major production routines ironed out. The four new RQ Renaissance products represent a standard that Avalon Hill intends to maintain. I have guarded optimism about the in-house art provisions. Langmead and Pumphrey are desperately sensitive to the need for first-class art, and eager to achieve to the standards of recent publications. I've seen their work, and am most satified. They both acknowledge that the crucial element will be in our preparing detailed art orders, complete with ample visuals references. As for RuneQuest and Glorantha, my fate is now tragically linked with their survival -- and their potential for renaissance. My love for both has been sorely tested by my trials with the past four supplements, but now things look pretty good to me. The basic challenges of development and production are whipped. A steady stream of first-class manuscripts are available. Greg is back in the Gloranthan saddle. RuneQuestCon looks lovely, and the live roleplaying Home of the Bold looks splendid. (Wouldn't that be a great supplement?) And a hard core of RQ Glorantha fans and writers have formed a print-and-electronic network to support and enliven RQ dialogue. I think a slow but steady renewal of RQ Glorantha's prospects is assured. Me, I'm looking forward to a producing a bunch of stupid games celebrating senseless violence and soul-crushing gaiety. Ken Rolston --------------------- From: f6ri@midway.uchicago.edu (charles gregory fried) Subject: Another cult.... Message-ID: Date: 10 Aug 93 08:08:49 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1371 Greg Fried here. Hey, great news from the RuneCzar, eh?! If they can maintain a steady pace of publications, with the quality evidenced in the recent materials, the Renaissance may just well survive its birth pangs. We all owe thanks to Ken for what sounds like an arduous task. And now I have a cult for your delectation! Or expectoration, as the case may be.... Let me know of your reactions! Marlok Lord of the Darkforge I. MYTHOS AND HISTORY In the Godtime, Marlok was a spirit of the Darkness. Like so many of his ilk, before the coming of the Sun, he rejoiced in the realm of gloom. But unlike so many of his brethren, Marlok was not so much given to riot and rampage; his mind was keen, and he explored the secrets of the shadows. He discovered lead, the sacred ore, but knew not then what to do with it, other than chew its softness. When the Sun came, Marlok was aghast, like all his kin. The Surface was no longer hospitable, and he, with many others, retreated to the ancestral pits of Hell. When Zorak Zoran gained possession of the Sword of Death, Marlok became fascinated with this instrument and its secrets. He followed Zorak Zoran about, marvelling at his deeds with the Weapon. Marlok begged Zorak Zoran to let him see, to let him touch, the Sword, but Zorak Zoran cut Marlok across the face and chased him away. When the Sun was killed, Marlok, along with his brethren, was forced back to the surface world. But along the way, Marlok noticed that some of the lead he had once observed had become red hot with the Sun's passage. He found a way to gather this molten material and bring it with him to the surface, and thus Marlok stole some of the Sun's ebbing power. Crafty Marlok also discovered ways to nurture the fire in the lead, and in this fire, he learned to fashion the lead itself. First he designed an instrument like the Sword of Death, but it was blunt and crude -- the first mace! Marlok gave many such instruments to his brethren, to conquer a hostile world. But they were suspicious of his powers over fire and his strange ways. Insulted by his kin's lack of gratitude, Marlok made his own way in the world. He was dissatisfied with his first attempt to replicate the weapon of Death he had seen, and as his skills improved, he tried many other forms, gaining expertise in copying the many weapons he came across, becoming obsessed with the many varying interpretations of the instrument of Death. Marlok plundered the secrets of other gods who were left vulnerable in the mayhem of the Great Darkness and the GodsU War, learning how to work with other metals and building a vast collection of weapons. With others, he bargained his skills to learn their lores. When Chaos and the Devil came, seeking tools to torment and destroy the cosmos, Marlok hid his vast store of weapons in a pocket of Darkness. In the last, great combat against Chaos, before the Dawn, Marlok opened this store to all those who would fight against the common enemy. II. CULT ECOLOGY Marlok's runes are Darkness, Fire and Death. His holy days are on Fireday; the seasonal holy week is Death Week, and the high holy day falls in Darkness season. As the Darkforge, Marlok fulfills an important role in the cosmos. It was he who allowed the denizens of Darkness to first make use of the crafts of matalurgy, without which they would have been mortally vulnerable in a cosmos sundered by Death. But Marlok is eager to equip all those who are as fascinated as he by the instruments of mortality. III. THE CULT IN THE WORLD Marlok worshipers are mostly weaponsmiths. Troll weapon crafters often worship this god, but his worship is not limited to the Darkfolk. Human smiths, especially those without many scruples about whom they serve, and those working to supply large armies, occasionally worship this god. Some thieves and assassins also are devoted to Marlok. Obsessive weapon collectors sometimes worship Marlok. The cult ritual weapon is a lead mace, but worshipers are permitted to use any weapon. IV. INITIATE MEMBERSHIP Skills checked: weapon skill and smith's and weaponcrafter's skills. Cult advancement follows standard parameters. This cult can teach fire spirit magic, as well as Glue, Detect (Metals), Bludgeon and Repair. The cult teaches two special spirit magic spells; the spell Molten Lead is only taught to initiates: Molten Lead. Variable, touch, instant, passive. For every point of this spell, the caster can cause one ENC of lead to become red-hot. Such lead will retain its form unless hammered, or delivered a blow in combat, in which case it absorbs only one half its normal AP value. Lead weapons treated with this spell do an additional d6 burn damage. Lead sling bullets treated with this spell will adhere to their target, doing a d4 in the round after they hit, and d3 in the round after that, possibly burning through armor. If cast at an enemy's lead armor, the caster must touch the armor to be affected, overcome the enemy's POW in a resistance roll, and employ enough points of the spell to affect the armor's ENC. Lead armor affected by this spell takes three rounds to heat up, and then delivers a d3 damage per round until taken off. Strengthen Metal. Variable, touch, temporal, passive. Each point of this spell adds two points to the AP of a metal weapon or object for the duration of the spell. V. CULT DIVINE MAGIC The cult has access to all common divine magic, and can summon both shades and salamanders. The cult also provides access to the following special divine spells: Duplicate Weapon (2 points, Ritual, Reusable). By use of this spell, the caster may copy any weapon he has seen, so long as he has the appropriate materials, and succeeds in a Ceremony and a Craft Weapon roll. The production time is normal. If the weapon is one he has only examined briefly, the caster produces a serviceable exemplar; if the weapon is of a type already familiar to the caster (i.e., he has already normally crafted such a weapon), then he makes a copy that very closely resembles the original. Magical qualities in the original are not duplicated. Mold Metal (Variable, Stackable, Ranged, Reusable). This spell allows the caster to shape metal. The spell must be stacked at the proportion of one point per point of ENC of the metal. The spell only confers the general shape desired by the caster; the caster must use his craft to complete more delicate work. Hence, the spell can only make the crudest weapons immediately: maces, mauls and the like. If cast on a metal weapon in an enemy's possession, the caster must overcome the opponent's POW; edged weapons are permanently blunted (that is, until sharpened), doing 1/2 damage and losing any capacity to impale. The spell has no deleterious effect on blunt weapons, other than changing their form somewhat. If cast on metal joined with other objects, not in the possession of an opponent, such as metal casings on a door, the caster must overcome with his POW the total hit points of the object. If cast on magically enchanted metal, the caster must overcome, with his POW, the hit points of the object, plus the points of magic in the object (double for rune or special magic); if the caster loses this resistance roll, he loses the Mold Metal as a reusable spell (and, if this magical object is in the possession of an enemy, he must overcome that opponent's POW first, too). Summon Weapon (Variable, Ritual, Special). This spell summons to hand a weapon that the caster has placed in Marlok's Shadowpocket. To place the weapon in the Shadowpocket, the caster must sacrifice one permanent point of POW for each ENC point of the weapon (round up fractions) and successfully complete a Ceremony. The weapon then disappears into the Shadowpocket, to be retrieved whenever the cultist casts the Summon Weapon spell. At the end of the spell duration, the weapon returns to the Shadowpocket. If the weapon is broken in use, the spell must be sacrificed for and cast again. If the caster dies, any weapons still in the Shadowpocket go into the great store of Marlok, and he may at times make gifts of such weapons to his worshipers. VI. SPIRIT OF RETRIBUTION Any worshiper who offends Marlok will be seized by the spirit, Weaponlust. Any time he sees, or even hears of, any unusual, valuable or exceptional weapon, he will be attacked by Weaponlust, who fights for three rounds. Weaponlust will only return POW taken if the apostate gains possession of the weapon in question. Weaponlust has POW 3d6+3 when attacking initiates and 3d6+6 when attacking acolytes, lords and priests. OK, that's it. Do the runes seem right? With all the emphasis on metals, should Marlok own Earth instead of Fire? GF out. --------------------- From: gadbois@cs.utexas.edu (David Gadbois) Subject: Re: ToTRM 10 Message-ID: <9308101652.AA26604@earth.cs.utexas.edu> Date: 10 Aug 93 06:52:45 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1372 From: jacobus@sonata.cc.purdue.edu Date: 9 Aug 93 08:05:24 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1369 HELP! Has ANYONE out there actually seen Tales of the Reaching Moon #10, or further? Issue 10 was delayed due to computer problems. It is now out in the Europe and will be mailed to North American and Israeli subscribers in a few days. (I delayed the mailing so I could include the RQ Con pre-reg booklet.) South Pacific subbers will have to wait a bit longer. --David Gadbois --------------------- From: curtiss@netcom.com (Curtis Shenton) Subject: Now what? Message-ID: <9308101956.AA11872@netcom3.netcom.com> Date: 10 Aug 93 19:56:45 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1373 While I've been quite impressed with the RQ products coming out under Ken 4 products a year just isn't enough to bring RQ back to life. AH needs to really push RQ and spend some money on advertising, something they aren't likely to do. And RQIII is a lousy game system, unless it's revised I don't think w'ere going to see RQ grow in popularity. Which means that to me things look kinda bleak. Now here are my ideas for how to solve these problems. First of all why can't AH and Chaosium work out a deal to allow Chaosium to also put out RQ material? Right now you have companies like Atlas Games which do supplements for other systems, heck even bigger companies like SJG who just put out GURPS vampire, are doing this. It could only help AH's sales by giving RQ a bigger presence on the shelf. As for RQIV I'd really like to see a RQLite come out. It wouldn't need to be a large boxed set like RQIII was. I'd like to see something along the lines of Elric! Quick and dirty character creation and combat sections, a new sorcery system, and then lots of Glorantha background. And speaking of Elric! I'm curious if anyone else has given much thought to adapting it to Glorantha. I think by just dropping the magic system(I like it alot but it's not Glorantha of course) and lowering the skill numbers in character creation would be enough. And then just bring over the old RQ magic rules of course. One trick I'd definetly use from Elric is the bonus for not taking spells. Since Greg seems to be implying that magic isn't quite as common as RQ leads us to beleive an option that allows characters who don't take spells to get some sort of skill or stat bonus would be nice. -- Curtis Shenton curtiss@netcom.com internet & 4@3091 WWIVnet Currently designing a fantasy setting for WotC. If you are interested in baroque steampunk technology in a fantasy setting and want to playtest email me and I'll give you the info on joining the mailing list. --------------------- From: runei@ifi.uio.no (Rune Andre Isene) Subject: Glorantha the LPMud Message-ID: Date: 12 Aug 93 00:34:13 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1374 I mentioned this project in earlier digests (read your backlogs!) I have now been able to find a site. Anyone interested in either coding, comming with ideas or just wanna hang around, mail me NOW Currently we are not open to the public, need to talk to Greg first and listen to how he feels about this. So, mail me and i might just invite you over -Jan --------------------- From: henkl@glorantha (Henk Langeveld - Sun Nederland) Subject: Experimental gateway: RQ-daily -> rec.games.frp.misc Message-ID: <9308112303.AA17612@glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM> Date: 12 Aug 93 03:03:09 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1375 This is the first issue of the Daily that should be copied to the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.frp.misc. Loren, David, can you send an ack when this shows up out there? -- Henk | Henk.Langeveld@Sun.COM - Disclaimer: I don't speak for Sun. oK[] | RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM --------------------- From: Ola.Knutsson@ina.hv.se (Ola Knutsson) Subject: sub runequest Ola Knutsson Message-ID: <930812.100213.366@macpost.hv.se> Date: 12 Aug 93 11:02:13 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1376 Hello I'm sorry if this mail is sent to the wrong place. I tried to subscribe to the runequest digest on glorantha and presumed I should mail to LISTSERV@Glorantha. This mail bounces back with the message 'No such mailaccount'. What am I doing wrong? Ola Knutsson V{xj| University, SWEDEN email: Ola.Knutsson@ina.hv.se --------------------- From: james@vortex1.exeter.ac.uk (James Andrews) Subject: ToRM 10 Message-ID: <15256.9308120806@euclid.vortex1.exeter.ac.uk> Date: 12 Aug 93 08:06:31 GMT X-RQ-ID: 1377 I think its a good job that the God Learners did die out, if the gross stuff in ToRM ten thats all at sea is a small indication of what they were like. Perhaps the God Learners played D&D and that was their secret. -- James Andrews, Computer Development Officer, Exeter University Maths Dept