From: owner-runequest-rules@ (RuneQuest-Rules-Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.MPGN.COM Subject: RuneQuest-Rules-Digest V1 #10 Reply-To: runequest-rules@mpgn.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@ Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@ Precedence: bulk RuneQuest-Rules-Digest Tuesday, February 3 1998 Volume 01 : Number 010 RuneQuest is a trademark of Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS [RQ-RULES] Shades [RQ-RULES] RE: Sorcerous Initiation [RQ-RULES] Vows/Illumination Re: [RQ-RULES] Vows/Illumination Re: [RQ-RULES] RE: Sorcerous Initiation Re: [RQ-RULES] Shades [RQ-RULES] House Rule: Fetch Spirit Holding [RQ-RULES] NPC: Varn Damocles RULES OF THE ROAD 1. Do not include large sections of a message in your reply. Especially not to add "Yeah, I agree" or "No, I disagree." Or be excoriated. If someone writes something good and you want to say "good show" please do. But don't include the whole message you praise. 2. Use an appropriate Subject line. 3. Learn the art of paraphrasing: Don't just quote and comment on a point-by-point basis. 4. No anonymous posting, please. Don't say something unless you're ready to stand by it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 18:07:12 -0000 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Shades How powerful should shades be? In RQ2, they absolutely kick arse, but in RQ3 they are little more than annoying little shadows that most people can safely ignore. This problem arose this week-end when attempting to convert an RQ2 shaman-priest to RQ3, his Summon Large Shade (RunePower 3) translated into either a long ritual that can only be done out of combat, or a binding enchantment, neither of which were much use because the shade is now a complete wimp. We also had quite a hard time justifying how he had a fetch with soch a large POW, because in RQ2 you get 3d6 for free. Ideas? philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk or phibbs@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/phibbs +--------------+ | Philip Hibbs +---------------------------------------------+ | What immortal hand or eye dare frame thy perfect symmetry? | +------------------------------------------------------------+ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 18:36:24 -0000 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: [RQ-RULES] RE: Sorcerous Initiation >If you see something you don't >like, let me know, Interesting ideas, but expensive. I actually don't much like the idea of spending points of POW directly for benefits like this. I don't know why, it just doesn't feel right to me. Spending POW should be a difficult thing, requiring ritual, preparation, and precautions. I suppose it could be thought of as praying to your Dark Side for immediate assistance - hey, how about giving the Twin a POW gain roll each time it is invoked? philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk or phibbs@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/phibbs +--------------+ | Philip Hibbs +---------------------------------------------+ | What immortal hand or eye dare frame thy perfect symmetry? | +------------------------------------------------------------+ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 19:24:36 GMT From: "Nikk Effingham" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Vows/Illumination Haha! Finally! Good to see the rq digest ressurected again, and cheers to Tal for all his help, and kudos for being the list moderator. This is a question I posted on the Glorantha Digest a while back, but I feel that it is more fitting to be posted here. It refers to Sandy Petersen's sorcery rules (which I assume can be freely discussed here). I'm working on the idea that it might be possible for there to be a new Illumination power that exists that makes you capable of ignoring Vows and their constrictions. I don't believe that most, many or even a sizeable portion of Illuminates possess this power, but I think that it might exist. Comments? Ramifications? Ideas? Anyone? Nikk E. Nikk Effingham eng7nje@leeds.ac.uk http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/7556/ "If absolute power corrupts absolutely Where does that leave God?" -- George Daacon *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 19:21:11 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Vows/Illumination Nikk Effingham wrote: > > Haha! Finally! Good to see the rq digest ressurected again, and > cheers to Tal for all his help, and kudos for being the list > moderator. > This is a question I posted on the Glorantha Digest a while back, > but I feel that it is more fitting to be posted here. It refers to > Sandy Petersen's sorcery rules (which I assume can be freely > discussed here). Barring Sandy himself showing up and bidding us to stop, anyway . > I'm working on the idea that it might be possible for there to > be a new Illumination power that exists that makes you capable of > ignoring Vows and their constrictions. I don't believe that most, > many or even a sizeable portion of Illuminates possess this power, > but I think that it might exist. I've been under the impression (from Sandy's rules, leastwise) that Illuminates can break CERTAIN vows, but not all of them, or even in the same ways. My gut says that while Illumination is a mentally transforming level of consciousness, it shouldn't be the equivalent of a 'carte blanche' to do anything and everything. Illumination won't let you breahte water, afterall... But that's just me . The powergamer in me would love it, but as a GM it'd make me shudder. (I had a shaman in my last campaign who was on the road to Illumination.. missed the roll by 1 once). - -- talmeta@cybercomm.net - Former sysop / netgod, now 'net bum. Do I look like someone who cares what GOD thinks?! / I have no webpage. / Curiosity killed the cat... Loathesome rituals BROUGHT IT BACK! / Will work for cash. / Insert Nifty ASCII graphic here. / Give me Slack, or give me Food. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 19:32:46 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] RE: Sorcerous Initiation Hibbs, Philip wrote: > Interesting ideas, but expensive. I actually don't much like the > idea of spending points of POW directly for benefits like this. I > don't know why, it just doesn't feel right to me. Spending POW > should be a difficult thing, requiring ritual, preparation, and > precautions. Well, I freely admit that my system is basically Sandy's previous Saints system, with the religious overtones stripped away (and in most cases, even smaller POW costs to get the same effects). > I suppose it could be thought of as praying to your Dark Side for > immediate assistance - hey, how about giving the Twin a POW gain > roll each time it is invoked? That's evil. I like it! I do believe I'll factor that in somewhere. - -- talmeta@cybercomm.net - Former sysop / netgod, now 'net bum. Do I look like someone who cares what GOD thinks?! / I have no webpage. / Curiosity killed the cat... Loathesome rituals BROUGHT IT BACK! / Will work for cash. / Insert Nifty ASCII graphic here. / Give me Slack, or give me Food. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 19:53:53 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Shades Hibbs, Philip wrote: > > How powerful should shades be? In RQ2, they absolutely kick arse, > but in RQ3 they are little more than annoying little shadows that > most people can safely ignore. This problem arose this week-end > when attempting to convert an RQ2 shaman-priest to RQ3, his Summon > Large Shade (RunePower 3) translated into either a long ritual > that can only be done out of combat, or a binding enchantment, > neither of which were much use because the shade is now a complete > wimp. We also had quite a hard time justifying how he had a fetch > with soch a large POW, because in RQ2 you get 3d6 for free. > Ideas? You know, I had to go look this up, but you're right... Shades did get the short end in their translation. At a glance, I'd say there's no reason why they couldn't get the same bludgeoning attack the old RQ2 shades got (i.e. 1d6 + db). In addition, the house rule I always used was that when engulfed, EVERY hit location took 1 hp of freezing damage per round, no armor. (And an average 7 hp of damage per round for a human is nothing to sneeze at). I'm going to put my shamanic fetch rule later tonight, I think. - -- talmeta@cybercomm.net - Former sysop / netgod, now 'net bum. Do I look like someone who cares what GOD thinks?! / I have no webpage. / Curiosity killed the cat... Loathesome rituals BROUGHT IT BACK! / Will work for cash. / Insert Nifty ASCII graphic here. / Give me Slack, or give me Food. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 20:26:53 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: [RQ-RULES] House Rule: Fetch Spirit Holding I've never played RQ2, but I always felt that shamans got a pretty slim deal with RQ3's spirit holding rules. By the time a shaman had a fetch that could hold a decent number of spirits (or at least, spirits worth holding on to period) he had a fetch with a POW of 40 or so. Not relishing facing or GM ing shamans of that caliber, my group and I came up with the following compromise: The Fetch: The POW of the fetch allows it to maintain permanent contact with spirits on the spirit plane -- the shaman's familiars, allies, and friends who aid his magic. The number of spirits a fetch can remain in contact with is directly related to the Free INT & POW of the fetch; it can hold a number of spirits equal to it's Free INT, but no spirit can have a POW greater than the fetch's. [Example: Fred Parker has a fetch with an INT of 8 and a POW of 10. Four points of the fetch's INT are being used to hold spells for Fred, so it has a Free INT of 4. It could control 4 spirits with individual POWs of up to 10, but no spirit with a POW of 11 or higher.] The fetch must maintain magic points equal to the number of spirits held, or they will depart, beginning with the most powerful first. A fetch reduced to zero magic points does not die or disappear. This allows a reasonably sized fetch hold either spells or spirits, but not alot of either, and gives the player the choice of which he wants to have on hand. - -- talmeta@cybercomm.net - Former sysop / netgod, now 'net bum. Do I look like someone who cares what GOD thinks?! / I have no webpage. / Curiosity killed the cat... Loathesome rituals BROUGHT IT BACK! / Will work for cash. / Insert Nifty ASCII graphic here. / Give me Slack, or give me Food. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 22:37:25 -0500 From: Tal Meta Subject: [RQ-RULES] NPC: Varn Damocles What follows was originally a PC I ran in an AD&D campaign, converted over to RQ and used as an NPC guide when the group started plane-hopping. Varn has had a long and varied history; and as such has elements from Sandy Petersen's sorcery system, my psionics system and sorcerous initiation system, and John Schulz's Magica rules for accomidating AD&D style magic . If you want to use him, feel free to discard anything about him you don't feel a need for. (Lords know he's got enough stuff!) Varn Damocles Human, Age 742 STR: 20 CON: 15 SIZ 15 INT 15 POW 17 DEX 19 (27) APP: 17 Dmg Bonus: 1d6 Move: 8 PRE: 43 ASP: 53 HP: 18 Selected Skills: Climb 109, Dodge 98, Jump 70, Ride 81, Swim 67, Throw 94, Fast Talk 106, Speak Toreen 84, Speak Elven 73 Animal Lore 84, Craft Courtesan 98, Evaluate 97, First Aid 94, Human Lore 94, Magic Lore 101, Mineral Lore 54, Plant Lore 61, R/W Toreen 60, World Lore (Selar) 75, World Lore (Toree) 94, World Lore (YK) 55, Conceal 109, Devise 99, Sleight 155, Juggling 114, Sword Swallowing 88, Listen 101, Scan 92, Search 103, Track 59, Disguise 74, Hide 81, Sneak 86, Ceremony 98, Enchant 74, Summon 89, 1H Sword 122/146, Main Gauche 127/164, Thrown Dagger 154, Submachinegun 95. Sorcery Arts Known Intensity, Range, Multispell, Accuracy, Ease, Force, Hold, Permanence, Reinforce, Speed Sorcery Spell Skills: Animate Wood 41, Animate Stone 72, Animate Iron 39, Attract Missiles 57, Block Pagan 91, Boost Damage 77, Boost STR 89, Boost DEX 76, Boost Agility 56, Boost Attack 80, Boost Stealth 45, Bridge 93, Call Bonded Object 49, Call Horse 45, Call Pegasi 49, Castback 70, Cloak Vision 85, Disguise 78, Dominate Horse 76, Dominate Dog 42, Evoke Fire 99, Evoke Wind 59, Hex of Desire 91, Neutralize Damage 92, Neutralize Magic 64, Night Eyes 68, Resist Damage 72, Resist Magic 46, Reverse Missile 68, Stupefy 75, Suppress Sorcery 49, Teleport 59. Ritual Spells Known: Bond Object, Homing Circle, Immortality, Spell Matrix, Warp Enchantment Initiate 4th Grade: Twin's POW: 11 Injunctions Known: Intensity, Multiplicity, Hold Magica Skills: Magery 83, Abate 51 Magica Spells: 1Magic Missile 89, 1Shocking Grasp 63, 1Mount 73, 2Improved Magic Missile 86, 2Snilloc's Snowball Swarm 58, 2Wizard Lock 56, 3Fireball 99, 3Maladweomer 98, 3Tenser's Deadly Strike 86, 4Stoneskin 93 4Conjure Cabinet 90, 4Fireshield 72, 5Cone of Cold 72, 5Azure Flame 98, 5Wall of Force 81, 6Protection from Magic 78. Commonly maintained spells: Castback 7 Per7, Resist Magic 10, Reverse Missile 7 Per7, Boost Attack 6 Per6, Resist Damage 8 Per8, Boost Damage 6 Ms2 Per6, Boost DEX 16, Night Eyes 7 Per7, Immortality 15 Per15, (Stoneskin). Commonly Held spells: Evoke Fire 7 Rng 2 Frc 4 H7 Evoke Fire 5 Rng 2 Frc 3 H5 Ms5 Call Object 4 Rng 2 H4 (Sword of Damocles) Neutralize Magic 7 H7 Psionic Devotions : Detect Psionics, Intertial Barrier +3, Body Equalibrium, Combat Mind +3, Mental Sheild +4, Synaptic Wall +2 Psionic Disciplines: Precognition, Psychometry, Energy Control +2, Telekinesis, Body Control, Physical Boost, Plane Travel, Cerebral Castle, Invasive Id, Neural Lash, Telepathy +2. Psionic Skills: PsiCombat 66, Gestalt 75. Special Items: Sword of Damocles The Sword of Damocles was actually created for Varn by another mage, but has acquired a variety of abilities thru further enchantments, heroquesting, etc., over the years. It is a crystalline longsword, with the following properties/powers: Can double the DEX of the weilder for 15 minutes each day (which in conjunction with my initiative rules makes it killer!), when used in a weapon display (a ritualized type of 'sword dance' used to demonstrate one's skill) the crystal of the blade will leave behind a hypnotic afterimage that will enthrall onlookers if they fail to make a resistance roll vs. a POT of 24. When used in a 'defensive spin' (a type of flashy weapon display for defensive purposes) anyone trying to attack the weilder takes damage equal to half the POW of the weilder to a random hit location (armor applies) and must also make a Resistance roll against the sword's enthrall power as above. When used in an 'offensive spin', the resistance roll against the sword's enthrall power is vs a POT of 30. On top of all the above, the sword has been enchanted to have a strike rank modifier of -3, so if you had a melee SRM of 4 and weilded this sword, you'd attack on SR 1. varn also commonly maintains Damage Boost 6 on this weapon and on one of his daggers. History, the Short Form: Varn was the son of a minor nobleman and the household scullery maid; tolerated, but not in line to inherit any of his father's wealth. Left home at the age of 16 to join a travelling circus, where he became adept at such skills as sword swallowing, knife throwing, sword dancing, and other martial displays. Later joined up with a band of adventurers while performing solo at a local Emporer's palace (rumors of a certain nobleman's wife being linked to the dashing young performer were never proven). Varn somehow came to the attention of the Goddess of magic, who for reasons of her own sought him out as a consort and a temporary vessel for her power (when SHE wanted, not when HE wanted, mind you). Several years of generic world saving and world-hopping followed, and eventually this band of heroes achived their goals (and Varn got a much desired divorce!). (At this juncture, Varn was a 27th level Bard (Blade)). Begin translation to RQ. Varn was not happy retiring at age 38, so he resumed his travels from world to world. Unknown to him, he is still protected by his ex-wife's aura, thus he maintains a useless Immortality spell on himself thinking it's necessary. He is aware that he's still immune to fire-based magic. One one of the worlds he visited, he studied the powers of psionics, and on yet another, sorcery. Wherever he goes, if he remains for any length of time, he eventually sets up a House (of courtesans) and delves into politics, using 'pillowtalk' gleaned by his girls to his advantage. The Man: Varn Damocles is 6', 220 lbs, dark of hair and eyes. Generally wears a neatly trimmed beard, dark clothing, and a cloak the color of clotted blood. He is painfully direct; he never prevaricates, and is never afraid to say exactly what's on his mind or to ask for what he feels he deserves. He has a deep appreciation of pleasure, tempered with a fine business sense (his Houses are always successful... even if he doesn't "personally train" his artists, he has an eye for talent, and it shows. (On worlds where Uleria is known, he's a devout member). In combat, the showman he was in his youth shines through, as he parries for several rounds before launching his final assaults, after having taken the time to explain to his opponent exactly how and when they will die. In magic... he is a demon. He casts spells carefully, with an eye towards balance, and with a cold calculation as to when and where the fewest mps will do the greatest good. He's aware of the spells he is immune to, and is unafraid to stand at the center of such spells and watch the world cook around him. (After seeing Sandy's post on Gunda the Guilty, and going thru the trouble of typing all this in, I can't help but wonder how they'd get along... ). - -- talmeta@cybercomm.net - Former sysop / netgod, now 'net bum. Do I look like someone who cares what GOD thinks?! / I have no webpage. / Curiosity killed the cat... Loathesome rituals BROUGHT IT BACK! / Will work for cash. / Insert Nifty ASCII graphic here. / Give me Slack, or give me Food. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of RuneQuest-Rules-Digest V1 #10 ************************************ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. RuneQuest is a Trademark of Avalon Hill Games. With the exception of previously copyrighted material, unless specified otherwise all text in this digest is copyright by the author or authors, with rights granted to copy for personal use, to excerpt in reviews and replies, and to archive unchanged for electronic retrieval.