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, 15 Sep 1994, part 3 Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM Content-Return: Prohibited Precedence: junk --------------------- From: henkl@aft-ms (Henk Langeveld - Sun Nederland) Subject: Re: missing dailies... Message-ID: <9409150630.AA04654@yelm.Holland.Sun.COM> Date: 15 Sep 94 07:30:41 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6220 As Bob Luckin's experience shows, you may experience a time warp with the Daily. As I typically get complaints about the Friday issues, I suggest we change the "for 24h." to "until after the week-end." ----- Begin Included Message ----- From Bob.Luckin@tiuk.ti.com Wed Sep 14 21:08 MET 1994 Well, I eventually got 3 parts. But two of them arrived after Saturday's and Sunday's Dailies. The same thing happened the week before; I got someone to forward the missing parts to me and the genuine ones showed up later. > If this happens to you, please abide by this > short checklist: > > - first wait for 24h. > - check on ftp.csua.berkeley.edu > - ask me Good checklist, but based on my experience 24 hours is probably too short. Hope it reduces the hassle you may be getting from disappointed subscribers, though. :-) Cheers, Bob ----- End Included Message ----- --------------------- From: Lynne.Clayton@bhein.rel.co.uk (Clayton, Lynne) Subject: Convulsion '94; Lunars; Soldiers of the Red Moon Message-ID: <9408147795.AA779581391@reedel1.bhein.rel.co.uk> Date: 14 Sep 94 13:23:11 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6202 From: Paul Honigmann, Oxford, UK ============== I don't have direct access to the Net, so I tend to put together large documents of accumulated like this over a period of a month or so, then ask a friend to put it onto the Digest. This starts way back at Convulsion! Also, I've been having trouble getting large files onto the Daily - this is the 3rd time I've sent these comments. This time, I've split the file into several chunks of <8kB. CONVULSION ========== Once again the organisers put together an excellent convention. I'll leave discussion of the convention itself at that, no doubt others will dissect it at length, but I wish to convey a couple of impressions I gathered. Firstly, RQ players seem much less rules-oriented this year. Whether everyone is exhausted by the RQ4 trauma, or have simply become resigned to constant changes (so why bother) I'm not sure, but it seemed much less of a train-spotters' event. People had questions for the Chaosium staff about rules, sure, but far more about Glorantha and mythology. This seemed much healthier to me, as if the RQ Community had reached a sort of inner balance - 'The Game's The Thing, not The Rules'. Secondly, items like Greg's original notes on obscure Gloranthiana at the auction went for much less than last year. This could be because people are no longer prepared to pay for something which may have been gospel in 1974 but is three revisions out of date now. You'll have already gathered that all the Changes generated a peculiar atmosphere among the players there. Perhaps the words Resigned and Exhausted I used above should be 'a sense of wry humour'. One theory is that Greg is deliberately changing things because if everything is set in stone, Glorantha will go stale: he has often admitted it was inspired by his experiences in life, and he is always reinterpreting its history as he gets older and his perspective shifts. He is trying to subtly teach his 'disciples' more about Life and Themselves by shifting things whenever they get too complacent! Perspective changes and his conviction that there is more to life than what's in front of your eyes was a large part of Greg's main address. He even mentioned that RPG's could be the means that some people use to interact with what they are normally blind to. 'I don't think I'll ever bring out HQ,' he said, 'because it is up to *you* to develop a system that's what *you* need. Once you've travelled that path, you'll have learnt a lot about yourself and your relationship with the Invisible World.' There was very little dissent about this - by now, most of us 30+ year olds have tried Heroquesting and understand it's more about interacting with myths and your people (cult / tribe / country) than powergaming. It's strange writing about mystical / meaningful things like this on an open Net of sceptics. Normally we discuss things on the Daily which are accepted as tongue-in-cheek, 'what if...' off-the-wall ideas and we expect to give and receive loads of abuse in the spirit of fun. Perhaps there will be some mud-flinging at the above. But consider this: Greg was trying to tell us *something*, and it was pretty moving to those who heard it, so think about it first. GLORANTHAN SNIPPETS =================== And now more in the RQ Daily tradition, I'd like to touch on some issues of a more ideological and controversial nature, to wit, Lunars. I shamelessly pumped Sandy Peterson, Greg etc for further info on the Empire (thought I'd just drop in a few Names there) and Mike Dawson on the forthcoming Soldiers of the Red Moon. They wish it to be made plain that none of what follows is official, it's their current feelings on these matters and they may well change their minds before publication of material. But it should help those of us running Lunar campaigns & characters. What is a Tax Demon? SP: A tax demon is a horrible spiky flaming monster. The point about these is they don't attack a mere peasant for not stumping up his dues. The Emperor sends them to get the King / Governer etc of a *province* which has fallen behind in sending him its taxes. This is one of the Big 'Secrets' of the Empire, SP says. The Emperor doesn't care *what* goes on in a province, as long as he still gets his taxes and the Lunar pantheon is still worshipped. So you can get an incredibly oppressive regime right next to a liberal one, and the Emperor won't lift a finger to help the oppressed. However, neither will he help a tyrant whose people rise up & depose him: but if a new government is installed, they'd better be sure to keep those taxes coming... Tax demons are backed up by a (cult?) called the Furies. This is a female warrior organisation in the Heartlands. What are we likely to see in the forthcoming Soldiers of the Red Moon? MD: SotRM is intended to allow players to play soldiers / mercenaries in any of a number of Lunar cults, in the Southern reaches of the Empire. The Lunar fighting cults are generally considered to be Yanafil Tarnils, 7 Mothers, Hwarin Dalthippa, Hon-Eel, Yara Aranis, perhaps the Furies... Note this list does NOT include Danfive Xaron, which is not considered primarily a *fighting* cult (though he agreed with my description of them as a Foreign Legion type force). SP: Don't forget that a lot of Lunar soldiers are not full-time and are in Dee'Zola or Lodril. Those are also decent fighting cults if pressed. What can you tell us about Yanafil Tarnils? MD / SP: The initiates can take a gift / geas if they wish. These are not as gross / debilitating as Humakt's, for example, Lunars aren't prejudiced so there's no 'double damage vs. trolls' gift. The rune magic includes one-use Sever Spirit, and reusable Morale, True Scimitar etc. YT Lords can resurrect themselves, too, using a presacrificed one-use rune spell of 6 or 10 points (why not use DI?) and, as many are Illumined, often have access to the Red Goddess' magic and / or sorcery. ...Dee'Zola? SP: Mainly a healing goddess, the Earth aspects are left to Hon-Eel (the grain goddess who introduced Maize). Rune spells include Prehealing, where you cast the Magic Points required *before* you get wounded (I assume this lasts for longer than 15 minutes or it's pretty useless - PH) and a Resist (Disease) one where you sacrifice points of POW which are permanently added to your CON for purposes of resisting one specific disease. Irippi Ontor? SP: Whereas Humaktis have a really intense dislike of Yanafil Tarnils because YT is so obviously a copy of Humakt, IO gets on OK with Lankhor Mhy because their approaches are quite different. I can't recall further details. ...Teelo Norri? SP: TN is not really a cult, it's more a charity like the Salvation Army. The 'priestesses' of TN actually get their magic from other Lunar cults. ...She Who Waits? SP: No-one really knows anything about her. In ceremonies, her part is taken by someone wearing a mask. *************** CONTINUED, hopefully below *************** --------------------- From: sandyp@idcube.idsoftware.com (Sandy Petersen) Subject: Re: RuneQuest Daily, Wed, 14 Sep 1994 Message-ID: <9409141832.AA19395@idcube.idsoftware.com> Date: 14 Sep 94 06:32:54 GMT X-RQ-ID: 6206 Pam >Our little RQ group here was once captured, tied up, and forced to >play Shadowrun for five tortuous sessions. There's worse systems. Twilight 2000, for one. I'll admit, tho, that the VERY WORST live action game I ever played in was based on Shadowrun. It seems to stimulate bad GMing. Guy Hoyle: >Since we know what tactics the Morokanth use (thanks, Sandy!), how >about some tactics to use AGAINST them?? The tactics that would amuse me the most include (but are not limited to) the following: 1) Diguise yourselves as herd men and hope the Morocanth take you in. 2) Dig a tunnel to the herd men corral and spirit 'em out. 3) Ask _very_ politely for your mate back. Offer to give up your weapons as proof of your sincerity. 4) Offer to fight the Morocanth champion, bare-knuckled, winner take all. Thanks to Marc Paterno, I'm pumping in more details about Praxian herd beasts: HIGH LLAMAS High llamas prefer open woodlands and dry savannah. Scattered tree growth is best for these guys, for obvious reasons, but they are able to subsist, if not thrive, on dry grass. In general, high llamas congregate near rivers during the dry season, and spread out into deciduous woodland during the rainy. High llamas are mainly active during the evening and early morning, and rest during the heat of the day. It usually sleeps standing up, but sometimes lies down. A high llama can lope for immense distances without tiring. No horse can keep up with one. For long-distance running, they are the best of all animals on the plains. Unfortunately, despite their feet's large size, they get bogged down in wet terrain, so must avoid marshes, and rivers present significant barriers to their movement. High llamas are able to go without water for months at a time -- they are commonly found near rivers not for the water, but for the tree growth. High llamas are both solitary and herding -- the herds can be up to a hundred animals, or may be as small as 2-10. Young males live in bachelor herds, but become increasing solitary as they age. Most wild high llamas of the plains are solitary, as when herds are spotted, the high llama riders devote much effort to capturing them. Females give birth about every two years, normally at the height of the dry season, though some mating activity does go on year-round. The gestation period lasts 15 months. The calf can stand up 20 minutes after birth and is ready to roll from then on. High llama mothers are not particularly affectionate, much less so than bison or sable, and are occasionally known to abandon their young when pursued hotly. At birth, the young weigh 45-70 kg (100-150 lbs). The calf nurses for about a year, and remains with the mother another 2-5 months after weaning. Females reach sexual maturity in 3.5 years, males in 4.5 years. Females reach full size in 5 years, males in 7 years. A female is able to calve until she is at least 20 years, and these animals can live up to 50 years or even more. Yes, high llamas can "spit". This is actually the contents of the animal's stomach, ejected from its mouth at a reasonably high velocity in an attempt to express displeasure. When forced by hunger, high llamas are known to eat fish, bones, or skin. They require more salt in their diet than most other Praxian beasts, and get this from salt-bearing plants (common in the Wastes). High llama riders tend to be aloof and snotty, much like their male mounts. Their bachelor gangs are small, last year-round, and are not formally organized. When the high llamas see enemies, they can always escape. When they see prey, they can always catch up. The other tribes have been forced to adopt a number of interesting strategems to deal with the "high llama problem". Fortunately for the other tribes, the high llamas breed the most slowly of all the large tribal animals, and the high llama riders themselves generally group in small bands, often no more than 40 or so riders in a sept. RHNO Breeding occurs year-round, and the gestation period is a year and a half. The calf weighs 40-65 kg (90-150 lbs) and is wobbly for 2-3 days. When alarmed, the calf runs _ahead_ of its mother, unlike most other herd beasts, which follow their mothers. Weaning commenses at only 2 months, but nursing continues sporadically for over a year. Females give birth every 2-3 years, and drive off their latest calf just before they give birth. Sexual maturity comes at 4-5 years, but females won't have their first calf till they're 7 or so, and most males won't mate till they're at least 10-12. They live up to 40-50 years, and females remain fertile almost till they die. Rhinos are, of course, not particularly herd-oriented, though they'll temporarily band together in groups of a dozen or more, with smaller, permanent units as well. Bulls are usually solitary, they patrol their territory and try to prevent estrous females from leaving. Bulls engage in mild lackadaisical fights when their boundaries are violated, but when they're fighting over an estrous female, there's some real action (head-on-charges, ramming, etc.), which is regarded as high entertainment by the bison folk. Several females and their calves often associate together. Subadults (driven away by their mother with the arrival of their next sibling) will join up with one another. Sometimes several will join up with an adult female (who's not about to give birth) and accompany her. Praxian rhinos need four things to thrive: flat ground, thick bush cover, short grass (for eating), and water for drinking and wallowing. They are almost entirely grazers, specializing in short grasses. Wallowing in the mud is actually pretty important -- not only does it help the rhino maintain an appropriate temperature, but rids the animal of pests, to which it is more subject than most Praxian fauna. Generally it takes 1.5 to 2 square km to support an adult rhino. Vision is crappy, but senses of hearing and smell are good. The rhinos depend heavily on their riders in combat. Rhino riders tend to live in open groups. A clan will normally graze over an immense area, the rhinos scattered thinly. The only real requirement is that any given rider must be able to see the next rider over -- perhaps a mile or more away (rhino riders often tie flags to their lances to help in this). One reason the rhino riders can get away with this is because their herd is practically immune to most predation. Coyotes, hyenas, even broos generally think twice before messing with a rhino. When human enemies are spotted, the riders signal one another and rapidly band together into an unstoppable mass. A typical rhino rider has one bull and a few cows with calves. Not really enough to support a family, but combined with gathering and some hunting, the rhino riders make do. "Poor as a rhino rider" is a saying in Prax. MOROCANTH Morocanth, in some ways, resemble the earthly tapir. But in other ways they are, of course, unique. No doubt if they hadn't cheated at Waha's Contest, they'd make a fine herd beast for some human tribe. Short, bristly hairs are scattered thinly over a morocanth's thick hide. The general form of the morocanth is narrow in front, and thick and rounded behind. This is an excellent design for crashing through brush, and a morocanth on the run through dense vegetation can't even be caught by a rhino (other herd animals are slowed down too much to be considered). Morocanth ears are thick, erect, and not particularly mobile. They have three thick "claws" on their front feet, perhaps better termed "hooves". Their wrists are very mobile, and they can wrap their hoof around objects to take a crude grip on it. They have a very short, hairless, useless tail.