Re: Runes & personalities

From: ttrotsky2 <TTrotsky_at_...>
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 14:10:20 -0000

Replying to my own musing:

>
> Although I do wonder whether the "over 10,000" figure is for
> Gloranthans in general (some of whom can, for instance, have opposed
> power runes, so long as the third one is Chaos or Moon) or
> specifically for Heortlings. If it's the latter, there must be a heck
> of a lot of "minor" runes in the Sartar Book... in fact, there must be
> quite a lot even if it's just the former. Interesting, either way.

Re-reading the blog entry just now, it seems the actual statement is "three picks from 22 Core Runes produce over ten thousand combinations". However, this is only true if:

1. You can pick the same rune twice (e.g. Air/Air/Death is allowable)
2. The order you pick the runes in is relevant (e.g. Earth/Life/Motion is different from Earth/Motion/Life)

Removing a) cuts the options down to 22x21x20=9,240 Removing both a) and b) cuts the options down to 3,080

So, in total, there are only "over 10,000 combinations" if we include the non-core runes - although it turns out you only need one such rune to push the number of options so high. Unless, of course, a) and b) are both true - is this the case?

And, of course, it's now clear that that quote does mean in general, not Heortlings in particular. Even so, its interesting, IMO, to see how many options there are for Heortlings. Assuming:

1. You can't pick the same rune twice
2. The order you pick the runes in makes no difference
3. You cannot have more than one elemental rune
4. You cannot have opposing power runes
5. The Chaos and Moon runes aren't available
6. All other combinations are possible

...then I calculate 908 combinations of core runes. Still, especially once you add in the minor runes (like Trade and Hunting), that's a heck of a lot - certainly higher than the number of sub-cults in HQ1! So it *is* more flexible than HQ1, which, IMO, is a Good Thing and much to be praised.

-- 
Trotsky
Gamer and Skeptic

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Not a Dead Communist: http://jrevell.blogspot.com/