Bell Digest v940121p1

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, 21 Jan 1994, part 1
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X-RQ-ID: Intro

This is the RuneQuest Daily Bulletin, a mailing list on
the subjects of Avalon Hill's RPG and Greg Stafford's 
world of Glorantha.  It is sent out once per day in digest
format.

More details on the RuneQuest Daily and Digest can be found
after the last message in this digest.


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From: OJovanovic_at_BC-LEHMAN@SMTPLink.Barnard.Columbia.edu
Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Thu, 20 Jan 1994, part 3
Message-ID: <9400207591.AA759132750@SMTPLink.Barnard.Columbia.edu>
Date: 21 Jan 94 03:12:30 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2854


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From: RuneQuest-Request@glorantha.holland.sun.com (RQ Digest Maintainer)
To: RuneQuest@glorantha.holland.sun.com (Daily automated RQ-Digest)
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Subject: RuneQuest Daily, Thu, 20 Jan 1994, part 3
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From: R.A.Inglis@bra0801.wins.icl.co.uk
Subject: Greg's Heroquest Tidbits
Message-ID: <_372*_I=RA_S=Inglis_OU=bra0801_O=icl_PRMD=icl_ADMD=gold_400_C=GB__@M
HS>
Date: 19 Jan 94 14:30:46 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2831







Shannon D. Appel wrote:
> To be a hero, you need to be close to your cult's ideals.  For some
> cults, like Orlanth, this is very easy to do.  It's a much harder task
> for others, like Humakti, however.  Greg spoke of how close Humakti
> are to death, but mentioned that he had never seen a Humakt who was
> _really_ willing to undergo a HeroQuest that simply involved dying.
> Yet, what would be a better way to meet the ideals of your God?

The Humakt example has me very puzzled. I don't remember anywhere in the Myths
where Humakt dies. Surely his role is to deliver death to others rather than
on himself. I would agree that a Humakt should not be afraid of death. Can 
anyone add anything more of what Greg said to help me understand what he was
trying to say.

Thank-you everyone for sharing your RQ-con experiences. Did anyone make a diary
of what happened in Home of the Bold that they would be willing to post? It 
would be very interesting to hear the full story about what went on. 

Ross

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ross Inglis                       ! Disclaimer: My opinions are my own,
R.A.Inglis@bra0801.wins.icl.co.uk !     I do not speak for my employer.


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From: forester@mozart.srl.ford.com (Brian Forester)
Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Wed, 19 Jan 1994, part 1
Message-ID: 
Date: 19 Jan 94 04:58:32 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2832



On Wed, 19 Jan 1994, RQ Digest Maintainer wrote:

> 
> First of all, I think we all owe a mountain of thanks to David Cheng. 

 I would like to second the fact the David Cheng did a 
wonderful job.  From my point of view, the few problems that existed 
were minor and quickly worked out.  

> SUPPORT ON HEROQUESTS
> 
> Support is very important on HeroQuests.  Not only does it help you
> (as when a feather which denoted Orlanth's support revived him from
> death upon the LightBringer's Quest), but it also can help the
> community that provides the support.  If you do well on a HeroQuest,
> the community that supports you will benefit.  Likewise, if you do
> poorly, they will get the bad result as well.  HeroQuests which
> actually benefit the community are much more powerful than HeroQuests
> meant to help only an individual.  While a Hero may gain a +100% for
> himself in Sword from a Quest, for as long as he lives, he may be able
> to give an entire community a +10% forever and ever (at least as long
> as they retain some sacred item that he brought back).  It was stated
> that only those people who help their communities are _True_ Heroes.

 For the curious, the example that Greg used was if on a HeroQuest
"Joe" meets Humakti and ONLY gets his hands cut off.  The sacred item
that Joe brings back is his severed hand holding a sword.  So whenever
the community wants that +10 percent to sword they observe the rituals
with the sacred hand that Joe told them about.  They will always remember Joe
whenever they enact that ritual.

> 
> ENEMIES IN THE HERO PLANE
> 
> Once you've HeroQuested a few times, you'll probably gain an enemy
> there, someone who knows you because you've opposed him in the past on
> the Hero Plane.  After you've HeroQuested, you'll learn the
> unfortunate fact that you can be pulled into a HeroQuest through no
> choice of your own, due to your enemy waiting until you are weak, and
> then conducting certain rituals to create a HeroQuest which you are
> required to participate in.
>

 Its quite possible that the enemy you have made is from the
mundane plane and is on his own heroquest.  

> THE PHAROAH
> 
> The final fate of the Pharoah was revealed.  Apparently, he was
> begining a regular HeroQuest at the start of the MoLaD tournament.
> The Lunar Empire was, of course, aware of this HeroQuest, since it
> occurred regularly, and so Jar-eel was sent to ambush his spirit in
> the Hero Plane.  She took the place of one of the Red Guards in the
> Hero Plane (the Pharoah had never known who the Red Guards were
> before, or why they were there), and easily defeated the Pharoah.
> Assumedly, Pharoah was then dragged off to the Lunar Hell where Sheng
> Solaris was hidden.
> 
 While the pharoah was definately defeated by the Jar-eel (the
Red Guard) it is not clear at all the he was drug off to a Lunar Hell.
I prefer that he escaped.  

 I don't remember all the details but the other theory that was
expounded (by Nick Brook, I think) is that one of the rituals that the
pharoah needs to participate is to go out into the fields and do the
fertility thing with an (earth?) priestess.  Well, its Jar-eel who
manages to slip into the role of the earth priestess.  Perhaps someone
else can fill in the details or perhaps correct me if I've misrembered.


> 
> Home of the Bold: Glorious Incompetence and Magnificent Decadence
> 
> No, I don't mean David Hall and Kevin Jacklyn, when I say incompetent.
> I mean MOB and the rest of us running the Lunar High Command. We did 
> have some flashes of brilliance, such as the great poll tax/vote-rigging 
> scam of MOB's and Susan's and mine.
> 
> But we also had some real wonders, such as General Lergius Cassius 
> ( played by = ? ) deciding to not buy the 300 weapons he had shipped 
> to Boldhome. Where did he think they'd go? Back to Esrolia?

 The Lunars had at least two chances to win near the end of the
game.  The first one was if the lunar army commanders could of stomped
on the rebellion before it had a chance to get organized.  The rebellion
had to centers of the focus when it started, Geo's Inn and the Humakti temple.
The Lunar army commanders could of defeated those separately.  Instead they
apparently divided their forces and allowed a whole lunar regiment to
get slaughtered in the area of Geo's.  
 I think another possibility is if certain outlying elements (alda-chur?)
had marched onto Boldhome.
 There was actually a third possibility that I hesitate to mention
because I don't want to spoil next years game.
 
> Also, twice, I had to spend 15 minutes to get an XO@#! Arrest Warrant. 
> That felt perfect. ( At least I got to have Stafford arrested, and got to 
> torture him in exchange. Later I got to have him assassinated, but there 
> was no paper work for that. )

 To me, the ironic thing is Montague (the Royal Librarian played by Greg Stafford
)
managed to implicate loyal lunar citizens (i.e.  King Blackmoor) for sedition.  
I was very easy to arrest because by that time I was spending all of my time
around the Lunar Headquarters anyway.  It seems that every Stormbull in town
was gunning for me. 
 
 As a final note, I am really looking for to reading the "Home of the Bold"
history when it gets printed.  Should we send our stories to David Cheng?



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From: henkl@yelm (Henk Langeveld - Sun Nederland)
Subject: Re: RQ/Tekumel [monsters coming up]
Message-ID: <9401191609.AA20792@yelm.Holland.Sun.COM>
Date: 19 Jan 94 18:09:45 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2833

___________________________________________
MILLERL@wharton.upenn.edu (Loren J. Miller):

>> What do you do about monsters?  I know the Tekumel Bestiary is in 
>> print, so presumably it can be adapted with a bit of initiative.

>This question I'll leave mostly to Sandy. But when I used a monster
>very like the S'su in my Entelechy campaign (OK, I stole the S'su
>outright, and even called them the Enemies of Mankind) I just decided
>it was a tall humanoid with extra arms, a tough integument, and all
>sorts of weird hypnotic and/or mystical abilities. You pretty much
>have to reinvent monsters when running RQ/Tekumel.

I've received Sandy's Tekumel Monster descriptions:

 underworld creatures 23k
 outdoor monsters  9k
 intelligent races 20k

This will be sent out under the same provisions
as the previous seven files.

-- 
Henk | Henk.Langeveld@Sun.COM - Disclaimer: I don't speak for Sun.
oK[] | My first law of computing: "NEVER make assumptions"

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From: ROBERTSON@delphi.intel.com (Roderick Robertson, SC1-5, x52936)
Subject: How I won the Battle of Boldhome
Message-ID: <355F73F7E00262BD@delphi.intel.com>
Date: 19 Jan 94 17:23:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2835

Greg Fried Writes:

>My favorite: table top minis!  Now, not many will sympathize with me
>on this one, but then this was the first time I had EVER played
>miniatures wargaming!  I really enjoyed it (maybe because my side's
>armies won each time!).  I play one Tekumel battle, but the one that
>particularly caught my attention was the battle played with the rules
>being developed by Rory Robertson.   Rory has converted RQ rules for
>table top battles, and has done a most impressive job. Rory posted his
>rules here many months ago, but has since polished and improved them.
>The result is a game with that "Gloranthan" feel, which is easy to
>learn and which plays fluidly and realistically.  The beauty of it is
>that it forms a bridge between the ultra detail of RQ roleplay rules
>and the abstraction and large scale perspective of war games like
>RBWM/Dragon Pass and Nomad Gods.  I think this has a real future.  Go
>for it, Rory!

   Thanks Greg, That's what I'm trying to do. When I get the rules 
better polished, I'll offer them again to the list. 


>My one idea for next time: If we decide on the Battle of Moonbroth for
>the LARP for next year's Con, how about this: use the LARP for all the
>pre-battle intrigue and diplomacy, then use Rory's RQ war game rules
>to play out the actual battle after all the diplomacy and intrigue is
>done?!  What say you all?!  Rory?

   Aieeee!  Let's see, that's a table approx. 10' on a side, if you go 
for 12 figures per unit, times the number of units involved, and most 
praxian riders don't exist in miniature (John Medway, how are your 
sables coming, I forgot to ask). and 50 players all doing one unit... 
*Shudder*


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Loren States:
>"I believe in three gods, the Invisible God who created the universe of
>all that is and all that could be, his daughter the Red Goddess, and her
>child Orlanth the Healed, who is her breath, subtle and invisible."


   No No, I believe in ONE God, who created all things, visible and 
invisible. 

I've got the Emperor and Magister Magillus, one Patriarch, and a whole 
slew of Bishops...

   I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet Loren or Oliver (I did see 
Oliver wandering around, just didn't get the chance to talk to him. 
Never did see Loren).

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And now, How I won the battle of Boldhome, and saved those silly 
Sartarites.

   I played Subatei of the Silken Tongue, Ambassador of the 
Grazelands. Besides having to deal with Nick's silly Prince Tamertaine, 
and MOB's Provost, I managed to save the revolution from ignominious 
defeat, and get good terms for the Grazelands in the bargain. I was 
surrounded by underlings with their own agendas (but then who isn't?), 
and approached by all sorts of devious types who wanted my men. The 
funny thing was that they didn't want the 3,000 men for campaigning in 
the next few seasons, they wanted the 150 that I had with me. When the 
revolution came, the Grazers sealed the Embassy and watched (and 
called derision to the silly Elmalians and Yelmalians who joined the 
Lunars). We were in just the right place to intercept the Ambassador 
of Tarsh escorting the Prince and his Mistress away, and managed to 
latch on to the Mistress, allowing her to re-join her Cavalry Trooper 
lover, and denying her un-born babe to the Tarshites. In addition, the 
Daughter of the Lunar Provost asked for, and recieved, Sanctuary among 
our hardy band. Not bad so far, but the real fun was when we stormed 
the Sartarite palace from the back door, and, finding it deserted, 
raised our horse-tail banner over the ramparts. (The Sartatites in the 
streets mistook it for the anciant Sartarite Banner, and were 
heartened). We lost not a single man in the expedition, almost got 
paid an exorbitant amount of money (Tamera Three-slice, our contact, 
thought I meant 3 or 5 lunars PER PERSON for my men, instead of per 
Unit. Would have been the Mercenary Contract of all times if she 
hadn't talked to someone who put her right. Sigh)

   All in all, a wonderful time (how many people managed to keep 
their money away from the Imperial tax collector when she accosted 
them?) was had by all. In addition to Dave Cheng and Dave Hall, thanks 
has to go to Ken Rolston, Brandon B. and the other Dragonnewts, who 
made sure that events happened in a friendly and fun manner, instead 
of degenerating. They were running around like Walktapi with their 
heads cut off, and probably regret having volunteered, but it wouldn't 
have been the same without them.

Roderick Robertson

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From: ABEAN@GEEL.DWT.CSIRO.AU (Andrew Bean)
Subject: MOB in America
Message-ID: <940120050231.2060324a@GEEL.DWT.CSIRO.AU>
Date: 20 Jan 94 16:02:31 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2836

If anyone over there is going to see MOB before he returns to sunny 
Australia could they please pass on the message that I would like to beg 
him to pick up a copy of CODEX #1 for me and any other goodies that are 
still floating around from RQ-Con and I will handsomely reimburse him and 
be forever grateful on his return. Also ask him when he is going to run 
HotB for us poor deprived Aussies :-).

If he can't be stuffed that is okay as we are not that well acquainted. 

Always the optimist,
Andrew Bean


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From: C442196@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (Newton Hughes)
Subject: color magic and herdmen
Message-ID: <9401200314.AA13993@Sun.COM>
Date: 20 Jan 94 03:08:21 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2837

I thought the Borderlands books implied that all the Praxian tribes,
not only Morocanth, kept and ate herdmen.  Outsiders visiting a nomad
camp would naturally mistake the herdmen for slaves.  (If they visited
at lunchtime, they would naturally mistake the nomads for ogres.)

About Vormainian color magic:  Jack Vance wrote a short story called
"Green Magic" where he refers to different kinds of magic by color.  There's
some resemblance between Chun (the monster in Vance's "Loom of Darkness"
story from The Dying Earth) and one of the Vormainian gods whose name I
can't recall.  In both beings eyeballs and hooks feature prominently, at
least.

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From: gadbois@cs.utexas.edu (David Gadbois)
Subject: Home of the Bold II booklets
Message-ID: <19940120040008.9.GADBOIS@CLIO.MCC.COM>
Date: 19 Jan 94 16:00:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2838

I will be putting together a book of stories written by the folks who
played in HotB II.  If you played in the game and would like to get your
story in the book, please get them to me by February 15.

I am looking for good stories written "in character" -- either first
person by the character or referring to the character in the third
person as if he/she were real.  The stories should be readable not only
by other players in the game who are just trying to find out what was
really going on but also by anyone interested in Glorantha.

Please try to keep the stories under five pages or so unless you can
come up with something insanely great.  I would also like to see art as
well as collections of very pieces short ala Notes from Nochet or
quotable quotes.

If you want to pre-order a copy, let me know.  Assuming the booklet
turns out to be 60 pages, cost+postage will probably be about US$6.00 in
North America, US$7.00 overseas.

--David Gadbois

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From: prharmaty@aol.com
Subject: RQ Con - Ravings
Message-ID: <9401192301.tn186540@aol.com>
Date: 20 Jan 94 04:01:08 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 2839

Report on RQ Con.
LOADS OF FUN!  
If you missed this one, be there next year (in California).
What was so much fun?
#1. Accessibility! Greg Stafford (and the puppet master / Nick Brooke), Sandy
Peterson, Michael O'Brien, Dave Gadbois, David Hall, Kevin Jacklin, et al
were there to be spoken to. Not a stuffed shirt in the lot, outstanding gents
one and all. Not enough self importance among them to make a good politician.
#2. Home of the Bold. This was a gas! It frustrated me for the first two or
three hours but then things really took off. There should be some tee shirts
making the rounds in Sartar with the say
ing "I was at Boldhome when we kicked the Lunars' out."
#3. The Glorantha Lore auction (Greg answered any Glorantha question for a
buck).
This was way more fun than it should have been. Lots of humor, groans and
knowing nods. I wish I had taken notes. ... I'll leave it to others to file a
more complete report. This is pure emotion, but no less valid than any in depth
critique.

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