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, Mon, 30 May 1994, part 2
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From: lindsell@rschp1.anu.edu.au (Graeme Lindsell)
Subject: Dogs and other animals
Message-ID: <9405290657.AA26460@Sun.COM>
Date: 29 May 94 21:56:00 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4241
Pam Carlson writes:
>THERE SHOULD BE MORE DOGS IN RQ!
Again, I'm not much of a dog person. However, Glorantha (not necessarily RQ)
seems to have a lot more domesticated and domesticatable animals than Earth,
presumably for magical and mythic reasons. Prax is full of tribes that
succeed without the horse, another animal many earthly cultures found
essential.
I suspect that amongst the Orlanthi alynxes peform most if not all of
the roles that dogs do/did in earthly societies. The only mention of dogs
in KoS is the "Bad Dogs" episode, though this implies that there may be
"good dogs" as well. Perhaps Orlanthi dogs are given the same role as cats in
Earthly society, more chosen because people like them than for practical
reasons. The Orlanthi preference for dogs may also be associated with their
enmity to the Telmori: Dorastor mentions a "cat people" of Dragon Pass,
but doesn't say whether these are Husnchen or the Orlanthi. A lot of
domesticated animals may have originated when Husnchen tribes became more
civilized, which could be how the alynx became an Orlanthi animal.
What other predators could be given a Gloranthan role? Somehow, the idea
of a domesticated species of fox seems appealing, perhaps for Fronela,
where I believe there are fox hsunchen. A Loskalmi squire could ride out
hunting hounds with his clever foxes by his side...
Domesticated bears anyone?
Joerg Baumgartner writes:
>Speaking of which: what visible and audible effects does magic have in
>your campaign? There has been a long and fruitless debate about this in
>RQ4-list a few months ago.
I've recently tried to divide spells up into three groups: Bright, Visible
and Invisible:
Bright: the effect is immediate and obvious (Thunderbolt, Multimissile).
Visible: you can tell a spell is working with a sucuessful
Scan roll, or automatically if you have Second Sight/Mystic Vision
/Soul Sight running. These are generally spells that have some physical
effect, like Bladesharp and Protection, but don't necessarily do it in
such a way that it's obvious.
Invisible: only a critical Scan will tell you a spell is
working, and you need a success at Scan if you have Second
Sight etc running (Mindspeech, Emotion spells, Dominate. Illusions are in
this category: though the effects are visible/audible/tangible etc, the
fact that it's caused by a spell isn't)
I don't like the idea from the Heroes of the King prospectus posted
here recenly, that magic cannot be done secretly. Takes too much of the
fun out of it IMO. I'd like to think that Mindspeechs are flying thick
and fast in any Gloranthan meeting.
As for what the visible and auible effects are, I like them to vary.
Except for Bright spells, I don't think many Gloranthans can tell what
spells are just from their visual effects.
Sandy Petersen writes:
> In any case, the "wide open oppressed" rule only needs to
>apply to Safelster itself. The Orlanthi to the North and East aren't
>particularly oppressed.
Whereupon we get _another_ load of freedom loving Orlanthi fighting
evil oppressive foreigners. I'd also like to have at least one major group
of Malkioni who aren't portrayed as essentially oppressive (I don't
think fanatics like the Loskalmi are very tolerant to non-Hrestoli in
their midst), perhaps nobly battling the truely barbaric Orlanth of the
North and East.
It sin't to say I don't like the original idea, but I really wouldn't like
this to be true of all or even most of Salfester.
--
Graeme Lindsell a.k.a lindsell@rschp1.anu.edu.au
Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra.
"I was 17 miles from Greybridge before I was caught by the school leopard"
Ripping Yarns - Tomkinson's Schooldays.
---------------------
From: ddunham@radiomail.net (David Dunham)
Subject: Orlanthi economy
Message-ID: <199405290749.AA29856@radiomail.net>
Date: 29 May 94 07:48:59 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4242
To the person who was looking for good introductory scenarios: Griffin
Island is non-Gloranthan, and is a setting not a scenario, but nothing
beats starting new players as neolithic Votanki. (Actually, starting them
as wild, Celtic Orlanthi in Ralios seems pretty good too, but that's my
campaign.) Also not really Gloranthan, but quite good for beginners, is
Greg Fried's scenario Atek's Ghost.
Sandy answered me
>>I thought the Orlanthi are herders because they live in
>>comparatively poor upland areas.
> Really? I've always thought of them as farmers, myself. I
>realize they do some herding, and that some clans subsist almost
>entire on herding, but my picture of the basic Orlanthi is that of a
>yeoman farmer with plow, ox, and maybe some pigs out back.
I wasn't too clear -- I didn't mean to claim that most Orlanthi are
herders. I think everywhere they live (except perhaps Brolia), the Orlanthi
both herd and farm. In Dragon Pass, it's clear that farming usually takes
precedence. King of Sartar (in the indispensable-to-quote Report on th
Orlanthi) says that the relative importance of the "Four Providers"
(farmer, hunter, herder, fisherman) varies by locale.
One such locale is mentioned in your supplement The Haunted Ruins: the
Aranwyth tribe are "semi-nomadic, dependent on sheep and horses."
>I guess it's Petersen/Dunham culture clash. I know the
>Orlanthi brew beer and wine, so obviously they have grain and grapes.
I don't think we have to clash. You're right as far as most of Dragon Pass.
My claim is for other, perhaps hillier or less densely-populated, areas
(such as the East Wilds, parts of which you describe as "near-desert" in
Gloranthan Bestiary). It's possible to terrace and grow crops on hillsides,
but it's also a lot of work, and if you can raise cattle, you'll probably
work less for more protein. And maybe in sparsely-populated areas, you
can't get enough Cloud Calls to push farming over the top in productivity.
>You must be from some lush rainy place like Washington state,
>Dave. Come visit Utah some day, and you'll see that "comparatively
>poor upland areas" are able to grow some crops, too. The land in Utah
>that is considered only suitable for cattle and sheep is REALLY bad
>-- more like Prax than Sartar. I figure Dragon Pass is more like
>Scotland or Wales. You can farm there, can't you? (Sam?)
I'm actually from lush, rainy New York state, but I never have been to
Utah. Does Utah irrigate? Clouds don't always equal rain, haven't most of
the Utah clouds lost their moisture content crossing the Rocky Mountains?
Again, Dragon Pass is not the question, it's other parts of the Barbarian
Belt. I'm also basing some of this on Pagan Shore (the Pendragon
supplement), which claims much of Ireland isn't arable. I don't know if
that's based on Iron Age technology.
---------------------
From: gec127@cent1.lancs.ac.uk (b hillesland)
Subject: pilgrimages
Message-ID: <14574.9405291502@cent1.lancs.ac.uk>
Date: 29 May 94 17:02:52 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4243
PILGRIMAGES: What place do they have in the religions of Glorantha?
Obviously the Animal Nomads have their Praxian pilgrimages to the Paps, but
what about the Orlanthi? The Non-humans? Do the Malkioni travel in groups
to places where saints have been seen? What about saintly relics?
Are there magical benefits in going on a pilgrimage (outside of any
healing or social/hierarchal benefits)? Any religions which demand that
priests lead initiates to certain spots? I can imagine a good adventure
for a Rune Lord: leading a flock of pathetic initiates to some kind of holy
spot.
Just Curious, Bernt.
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From: Henk.Langeveld@Sun.COM (RuneQuest Digest Editor)
Subject: Announcing RuneQuest-Digest volume 10, issue 9
Message-ID: <9405291545.AA12931@yelm.Holland.Sun.COM>
Date: 29 May 94 16:45:28 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4244
The following announcement has been sent to all
regular subscribers of the RuneQuest Daily and
RuneQuest Digest, with the exception of those
people who already indicated having no interest
in this mailing.
If you did not receive the announcement, but
still want to receive issue 9, drop me a line...
Henk Langeveld
==========================================
ANNOUNCEMENT
Volume 10, Issue 9 of the RuneQuest Digest
A monumental effort by Stephen Martin: A huge index of
Gloranthan source material in ten parts.
Parts one and two give a global listing of published
scenarios, maps, articles, stories (Griselda), cults
and cult outlines.
This list concludes with a chronological list of all
sources and a short summary of known (published)
heroquests.
These are followed by an alphabetical index of
locations in parts three through ten. Part ten
concludes with a list of tribes/races and individuals,
features of the night sky, battles, campaigns, and
events...
==========================================
---------------------
From: Argrath@aol.com
Subject: Another "practical" piece
Message-ID: <9405291400.tn599162@aol.com>
Date: 29 May 94 18:00:14 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4245
MOROCANTH THUMBS: THE QUEST
by Martin Crim
Permission granted to copy for non-commercial use as long as
credit is given
DESCRIPTION
Hairy black or grey thumb-shaped lumps of flesh. Usually
found in pairs, and usually on a Morocanth's paws.
ORIGIN
The Morocanth, alone among beasts, won Waha's contest to
keep their intelligence. They had a disadvantage because of
their lack of thumbs. Eiritha took pity on them, and showed them
how to get thumbs.
KNOWLEDGE
All Praxians know that Morocanth can get thumbs, and that
only about 1% of them do. Morocanth know that the priestesses of
Eiritha keep the knowledge of how to go about getting thumbs.
They will tell the secret to any Morocanth whom they like and
whom they believe can survive the quest. Morocanth also know
that they can take the thumbs off a dead Morocanth with a proper
prayer to Eiritha.
POWERS
With the thumbs, a Morocanth gets normal base chances in all
Manipulation and non-missile weapon skills. He or she gets a 5%
base in all missile weapons (except those with a base of 00% for
humans) and in Throw. He or she gains 5% in all current weapon
skills except natural weapons and Dodge, to a maximum of 100%,
and can use melee weapons without the special adaptations for
Morocanth paws. A Morocanth with thumbs does not have the normal species
maximums in manipulation and weapon skills.
PROCEDURE
The priestesses tell the quester that he or she will relive
the survival covenant contests. The quester must compete without any tools.
(Naturally, since this is Prax, cheating is expected. There is no penalty
for cheating unless the priestesses catch the quester at it. The priestesses
won't go out of their way to detect cheating, but cannot ignore blatant acts
in their
presence. The spirit-judge described below will actively watch
for cheating.)
First, the quester must live off the land for a week. This
represents the time before Waha's pact when all the people of
Prax were hungry. The quester must live apart from his or her
clan, without any herd men. This portion of the quest tests such
skills as Plant Lore, Animal Lore, World Lore, Tracking, Scout
Plains, Hide, Sneak, Run, and weapon attacks. Smart questers
make water the first priority: roll World Lore, with a bonus for
wet seasons and location. (Obviously, no roll is necessary if
the quester is on the banks of a river.) Finding food takes
Plant Lore or, in most times and places, the other skills listed
above. (Morocanth like to hunt from ambush, but can run down
prey by wearing it out.) Lack of adequate food or water
subtracts from the Morocanth's FP (or decreases fatigue level). Ideally, the
Morocanth is hungry but not to the extent of losing FP.
The priestesses then summon a Waha spirit to possess a male
Morocanth and act as spirit-judge. (The Morocanth host must be
willing, and it is the quester's job to find someone who agrees
to it. This is one reason the ritual is rare.) The spirit-judge goes and
finds the quester, bringing with him a man. If the spirit-judge sees either
person cheating, he will declare the other the winner of that contest.
The human opponent must be a warrior or hunter. In most
cases, the human is a recently captured man, but when captives
are scarce the quester pays an outsider to do the ritual. The
priestesses of Eiritha handle the transaction.
While the quester has been fending for himself, the man has
eaten the best food, exercised and practiced with weapons, and
not done any chores. (The Morocanth once tried using an old,
tired slave, but the quest failed.) The idea for a scenario here
is that the man is a PC, captured by or sold to the Morocanth.
The contests begin shortly after the spirit-judge finds the
quester, at the next following dawn or dusk. From the time the
spirit-judge finds the quester till the end of the contests, the
Morocanth and man must neither eat nor drink.
The Waha spirit-judge orders the quester and the human to
stand beside each other before him. The spirit-judge stands on a
rock or hillock. He declaims Waha's famous Call to Survival, and
then announces the terms of the contests. After that, the
spirit-judge does and says nothing except watch for cheating,
declare the winner of each contest, and cast Dispel Magic at the
end of the Magic Contest.
There are five contests in the ritual: the Race, the
Throwing Contest, the Firemaking, the Magic Battle, and the
Fight. The Morocanth almost always wins the Race and loses the
Throwing Contest. The Morocanth usually loses the Firemaking,
too. The winner of the ritual is the person who wins three
contests. It is possible there will be no winner.
The Race is a sprint of about 500 meters. The contestants
need to avoid getting too fatigued. The man can make the
Morocanth work for his victory, or hang back and save his own
wind.
The Throwing Contest begins immediately after the race ends.
Each contestant goes to a five meter wide circle traced in the
dirt. The circles are about ten meters apart. Then the man
throws rocks at the quester. Morocanth have no Throw skill, so
the quester cannot Throw back, but may Dodge (at the usual 1/2
skill). This contest ends when the man injures the Morocanth
(this requires a critical hit or a man with a 1d6 damage bonus)
or runs out of rocks. There are usually 5d10 usable rocks in the
ring. If the man did not injure the Morocanth, this part is a
draw, and neither side gets to count it as a victory.
The Firemaking starts immediately after the Throwing Contest
ends. The winner is the first person to start a fire. The
Ignite spell is a good way to win. If neither person has the
spell, and both try to light a fire the hard way, use DEX x 3 for
the human and DEX x 1 for the Morocanth. Roll after three melee
rounds, and each round after that. If both succeed in the same
round, the one with the lower DEX SR succeeds first; ties in DEX
SR go to the human.
The Magic Contest starts next, again with no pause. The
quester and the man cast spells at each other until one of them
cannot continue. This usually occurs when one or the other
succeeds with a Demoralize or Befuddle spell. If each falls to 1
or 0 MP without affecting the other, the contest is a draw, and
counts as a victory for neither.
The Waha spirit-judge Dispels the Demoralize or Befuddle,
and the Fight begins immediately. Both sides get to use weapons,
but do not have to. The spirit-judge lets the man pick up his
usual weapons and strap on a shield, but he gets no armor. The
winner is the person who can still stand after the fight. (The
Morocanth can stand on three legs, or even just the hind legs,
but cannot balance on one hind leg and fewer than two forelegs.)
If a contestant stays on the ground more than five melee rounds,
he or she automatically loses. (It is possible that this part
will also end in a draw.) Weapon magic, Healing, and the like
are allowed, but offensive magic is against the rules.
If the man wins three contests, the Waha spirit-judge sets
him free and gives him a herd animal. (If the man was already
free, he gets whatever the Eiritha priestesses promised to give
him.) If the Morocanth wins three contests, he can sacrifice two
points of POW and, if he makes a Ceremony roll, a thumb grows on
each paw. For one point of POW, the Morocanth gets one thumb, on
a paw of his or her choice.
ALTERNATE PROCEDURE:
A Morocanth can also take thumbs off a Morocanth who has
been dead less than ten minutes. The Morocanth sacrifices a
point of POW per thumb, makes a Ceremony roll, and, if he or she
is successful, the thumbs graft onto his or her paws. If the
roll fails, the thumbs are useless.
[end]
---------------------
From: f6ri@midway.uchicago.edu (charles gregory fried)
Subject: our gang
Message-ID:
Date: 30 May 94 05:27:03 GMT
X-RQ-ID: 4246
Greg Fried here.
Did someone mention Chicago RQers? I'll have you know I am one! Put those
new to Chi-town in with me and I'll do what I can.
----
My players once saw a true dragon -- only it was so huge, that when I
described its features in the landscape, they did not realize what it was!
They just thought it was a really eerie locale and moved on.
----
Boris and Martin,
Thanks for the suggestions for what might happen if the PCs in my campaign
received hero-worship while still alive. (And thanks to all those who wrote
to me privately -- many good ideas!)
I thought some of you might enjoy two of my PCs responses in my on-going
e-mail campaign. Some background: the PCs have been carried across a glacial
lake to a new shrine being consacrated to the goddess Gadra, the spirit of
the lake (she combine elements of Fire and Water). This is the shrine at
which the PCs would/will receive worship, since a critical part of their
heroquest was to defend Gadra against the approaching glacier-god, Hrelk.
The priestess to Gadra is named Eliarna. The people who inhabit this
volcanic region are (in my campaign) Agimori.
The two PCs who here contribute are Bardagas, a tribal ancestor worshiper,
and Perkanina, from Bardagas' clan, and a follower of the sea-storm goddess
Varla (also of my campaign -- goddess of the ocean squall). Here goes:
Date: Fri, 27 May 94 09:41:40 EDT
From: Gabor Bartha
Subject: re: departing Firehome
At Gadra's Altar
----------------
After Halogen and Perkinina, Bardagas steps up and says,
"Blessed indeed was our meeting with Gadra. In that time
I quickly developed a deep respect and love for the Goddess.
For her honor and your memory, I have three things for the Altar.
First, here is the staff (it is 6 feet long and has two concentric red
circles near the top) which I used to aid in our quest for volcano
worshippers (Bardagas gives this to Eliarna).
Second, here is a pot of ceremonial red pigment, the color of fire, used
by my people and third, to this pot I will add my blood (Bardagas draws
his dagger and sits. Then he makes a cut on his left arm and lets a few
drops of blood fall into the pot. He stands and goes on to say).
Some day I hope to show that this blood comes from true brethren of the Agimori.
And may the Goddesses and Gods send a sign when I do so."
(Bardagas then gives the pot to Eliarna)
Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 12:10:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: "edward justin d'arms"
To: Runesters
Perkanina takes out a long, thin package wrapped in sealskin. She unwinds
the skin to reveal a longsword made of bone. She lays out the skin as a
bed and rests the sword on top of it, singing a quiet prayer to Varla
in Sea Speech. Then she returns to the barge.
When the barge goes back across the lake, (on the assumption that the
people are still waiting by the bank), Perkanina steps forward and says
to the assembled crowd
"I have left a sword in the new temple across the lake..
This sword is called Cuisinart. It is holy to my mistress Varla, goddess of
the Storm and Sea. When I was sixteen years old, I battled a great fish
among the waves. I took this sword from him, in homage to Varla who took
her sword in such a way when the world was young, and used it to fight
Chaos. This sword too has drawn chaos blood. I leave it here so that you
will honor Varla's glory when you remember me.
And to the women among you, I charge you thus:
Do not suppose that men are the only or the mightiest warriors, whatever
they might tell you..
Though you do honorable work here, never think that the tasks these
Agimori men allot to you reflect your limits. If
you are brave and strong, there is honor for you in battle. Cross the
lake to worship Varla on Windsday - she will show you the way, as she has
shown it to me. And when one of you is ready to lead men into battle for her
honor and yours, take up my sword - it longs to bite chaos again."
This is certainly the most any Agimori have heard from Perky since she
arrived in Firehome.
----
GF out!
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