From: owner-runequest-rules@ (RuneQuest Rules Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.MPGN.COM Subject: RuneQuest Rules Digest V1 #61 Reply-To: runequest-rules@mpgn.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@ Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@ Precedence: bulk RuneQuest Rules Digest Saturday, April 11 1998 Volume 01 : Number 061 RuneQuest is a trademark of Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS Re: [RQ-RULES] Fwd: House rules for shields RE: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules RE: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules RE: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules Re: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules [RQ-RULES] Thanatar's Temple - Entries? [RQ-RULES] Anyone doin' enchantments in their game?? Re: [RQ-RULES] Anyone doin' enchantments in their game?? 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: Wed, 8 Apr 1998 23:57:01 EDT From: Kennjewlz Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Fwd: House rules for shields Hey gang, Here's my 2cents concerning shields. Its a little info culled from an article in an old issue of the now long OOP AH magazine "Heroes" that dealt with different types of shields. Its possibly a little warped from the original ,but still pretty close. I've been using it for 10 or 12 years now,and it seems to work fairly well.Hide and Wood are prettymuch obvious.Metal is,IIRC,a layer of Bronze over a wooden shield.I suppose an Iron shield'd have the usual +1/2 AP. Type Dmg. STR/DEX Enc AP P Buckler-hide 1D4 -/7 .5 2 20 wood " -/9 1. 4 40 metal " -/9 1. 8 120 Target/Heater- hide 1D6 7/- 1. 3 40 wood " 9/- 2. 6 60 metal " 9/- 3. 12 80 Hoplite-hide 1D6 10/- 2. 5 40 wood " 11/- 5. 9 100 metal " 12/- 7. 18 150 Kite-hide 1D6 9/- 2. 4 40 wood " 10/- 3.5 8 80 metal " 11/- 5. 16 120 VikingRound- hide 1D6 7/5 1. 3 50 wood " 8/7 3. 5 80 metal " 9/7 4. 10 120 *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 21:09:47 +0100 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules >I really like seeing House Rules on Sorcery, especially since there >seem to be so many ways people use it their campaigns. As I've stated >before, there's a lot I don't like about RQ3 Sorcery, and there's a lot I >don't care for in Sandy's Sorcery. I hope to cobble together my own >sorcery house rules into printable form to post to the digest. Thanks Alain. I agree. If anyone has any House Sorcery Rules, let's see them. Mine are on my web page. philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk or phibbs@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/phibbs A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths, a statistic *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 21:09:47 +0100 From: "Hibbs, Philip" Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules >I really like seeing House Rules on Sorcery, especially since there >seem to be so many ways people use it their campaigns. As I've stated >before, there's a lot I don't like about RQ3 Sorcery, and there's a lot I >don't care for in Sandy's Sorcery. I hope to cobble together my own >sorcery house rules into printable form to post to the digest. Thanks Alain. I agree. If anyone has any House Sorcery Rules, let's see them. Mine are on my web page. philip.hibbs@tnt.co.uk or phibbs@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/phibbs A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths, a statistic *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 16:22:02 -0700 (PDT) From: allen wallace Subject: RE: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules The house Sorcery request is still around so I'll dip my oars into the water. I've recently added a version of presence to the system, I stole some of Sandy's other new Arts when I saw them. The were cleaner than what I had come up with. Note that presence is an option not a requirement, and it is not the limiter of manipulation. For Gloranthans the additional spell runes would be gained through heroquesting or special linked enchantments. Onward Sorcery Sorcery in Shehallalecyn is based on the formation and manipulation of magical patterns known as Spell Runes. Sorcerers must be literate, able to read and write, initiation of non-literate individuals will never be to the Sorcery tradition. Sorcerers recognize that they are mastering often impersonal and deadly magical forces. Some choose to initiate into religious orders and find great physical and spiritual support. Many chose to remain unattached. Sorcerers who study music find useful correspondences with the playing of multistringed harmonic instruments. Some masters of these instruments have discovered methods of enhancing their magic with their music. Spell Runes Only non-ritual sorcery spells have spell runes. A sorcerer that has learned a sorcery spell can then create a spell rune. This requires a successful enchantment roll. A spell rune must be tied to the intellect of a sentient creature or spirit, or be fully enchanted as any other enchantment. A being can only hold a number of spell runes equaling their INT statistic. Special initiations can affix additional spell runes to a sorcerers spirit beyond this limit. This is important as these personal spell runes enable the enhancement of the basic spell effect, this enhancement is known as manipulation. While it is possible for a sorcerer to have several spell runes for the same spell held, doing so causes serious negative effects when manipulation is attempted, due to feedback and negative harmonics. Presence The sorcery ability of presence is gained through a special tertiary initiation ritual. The ritual requires a sacrifice of one point of personal POW. Presence allows the caster to maintain a total manipulated value of temporal spells equal to his POW. These spells require no use of the Duration Art, and will last until the sorcerer withdraws presence or the spells are dispelled. There are known to be methods of increasing a sorcerers presence beyond the sorcerers POW statistic. Acquiring presence modifies the sorcerers spirit, making it impossible to use spirit magic or to awaken his astral spirit. Presence does not interfere with the sorcerers ability to gain and use divine magic. Many spirit mages consider Presence a twisted and evil magic, damaging if not damning to the soul of the sorcerer. Not all sorcerers choose to gain presence. Manipulation There are several different Arts of Manipulation, four primary Arts and several secondary ones. Some of these Arts require the sorcerer to acquire "presence", the ability to maintain temporal spells without the use of the duration art. With the exception of ease, all forms of manipulation have an MP cost of one per level. With the exception of speed all forms of manipulation increase the casting time of the spell by one count per level. A sorcerer is limited to a total level of manipulation equal to the number of separate personal "memorized" spell runes he possesses. Thus he is limited by his intelligence statistic plus any spell runes affixed to his spirit through magical initiation. A sorcerer can have any number of spell runes held by bound or allied spirits or familiars, but only those spell runes held by himself, personally, count toward manipulation. Arts Duration Each level of duration doubles the basic duration of a temporal spell, which is 10 minutes. Any spell using duration requires a physical focus, commonly called a charm. This focus requires minor enchantment and can be reused. Intensity Intensity is the physical force of the spell, the exact effect of increased intensity varies with the spell cast, but in general it allows for stronger effects, greater chances of overcoming defensive magic, and greater resistance versus dispelling. An intensity zero spell has no effect other than practice. Multispell Multispell allows the casting of multiple spells simultaneously. Each level of multispell allows the casting of one additional spell with identical levels of manipulation. If the additional spell cannot be so manipulated, as in range on a self or touch spell or duration on an instant, those levels of manipulation are lost. Range Each level of range doubles the basic range of a ranged spell. Basic range is 10 meters. Accuracy Each level of accuracy allows the sorcerer to alter random targeting rolls, generally hit location, by one. Ease Each level of ease reduces the casting cost of a spell by one MP. No spell cost can be reduced below one. Force Each level of force increases the effective intensity of the spell by two for the purposes of overcoming defensive magic or resisting dispelling. Hold (presence) Levels of hold must equal the highest level of any other manipulation of the spell. The effect is to hold the spell in presence just prior to completion. The spell can be completed with no count delay. Minimize (presence) Each level of minimize reduces the effective levels of manipulation by one, to a maximum reduction of half of the manipulation total of the other Arts used. Speed Each level of speed reduces the casting time of the spell by one count. This ability can reduce the delay zero. Some of these may seem grosser than Sandy's, but in the tests I've run the balance OK. Note that each type of manipulation is effectively limited to one tenth of the total of that manipulation skill plus ceremony skill. I might as well add my version of spirit magic as well. (My fetches have no INT statistic) If anyone is interested I'll post my adept rules as well. It is possible to practice both spirit magic and sorcery, but it takes some major mojo to get there. Spirit magic Spirit Tradition Magicians perform magic by creating and maintaining mystical channels to magically powerful spirits. These channels are known as spirit spells. In casting a spirit spell the spirit mage sends magic points through the channel and the spirit returns the magical effect. Some forms of spells have variable levels of effect. With these spells the mage will be limited to how many points of that spell his channel can carry. For example, a mage having the spell Heal 6 can cast heal at any level from 1 through 6. Even if the spirit the mage has a channel to is capable of greater levels of healing the mage only has a channel established strong enough to pass 6 points at a time. A spirit spells channel must be linked to a sentient beings POW, or fully enchanted as per ritual enchantments. Each point of spirit magic takes up one point of POW, Thus a spirit mage with a POW statistic of 16 can hold up to 16 points of spirit magic. Many spirit mages attempt to awaken their Astral Spirit through a dangerous initiatory ritual. An awakened astral spirit gives several advantages. The mages awareness is both in the astral and material worlds. (the As-sense skill becomes automatic) The MP of the astral spirit is added to the spirit mages for defensive purposes. The astral spirits Power can be used to hold additional spirit spells, and the astral spirit can additionally be used to bind lesser spirits to the spirit mage. (any with MP less than the astral spirits MP) The use of these spirits depends on the type of spirit held. Spirit mages who have successfully awakened their astral spirit are known as shamans or mediums depending on their culture and focus. Many spirit mages further initiate into the mysteries of religious orders, and use only magic provided by the spirits of those orders. Spirit mages with musical interests find that mastery of wind instruments provides them useful insight into spirit magic. It is said that some spirit mages are able to use the music of flutes, pipes and such to enhance their magical abilities. Well, that was probably more than anyone wanted to read. Allen *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 11:31:12 -0400 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] House Sorcery Rules I've been tinkering on and off with a new Sorcerous Art, but I'm at a loss as to what to name it. Current thoughts range from Strike to Oomph. Basically, what this art would do is increase randomly rolled damage by a certain amount, up to the maximum damage permitted by the spell's Intensity. i.e. of Fred Parker casts Evoke Lightning 8, Oomph 5, the spell's damage would be a minimum of 5 points, to a maximum of 8 points. I've considered making this a 'meta-spell', that could be multispelled with the various damagiung spells, or cast on a sword to increase it's minimum damage, etc., but I'm still not sure which way I want to go on this. Comments? Better names? *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 12:06:06 -0400 From: Tal Meta Subject: [RQ-RULES] Thanatar's Temple - Entries? Anyone else got an entries for the Thanatari Temple? (NPCs, room descriptions, etc.?) If not, I'm going to try and start knitting the parts we do have so far into actual floorplans (the upper works will likely be extensively ruined, but then, that's the idea). If you do have anything else, let's see it! *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 08:54:46 -0500 From: Thomas Cooper Subject: [RQ-RULES] Anyone doin' enchantments in their game?? OK, guys; is ANYONE running a RQ game(any version) where their nonchaotic, nonbroo RLPs , player characters ACTUALLY take time out to learn up their ceremony/enchant ritual skills and actually MAKE some magical items. Or do you have your NPCs do this and the PCs pay(through the nose for their services?). I'm just trying to decide how much time/energy I should spend on explaining this aspect of the game to my newbie(to RQ that is) players. I' SO tempted to just run them WITHOUT the sorcery rules and tell them that sorcery is some mystical magic from the Utter East which they MAY encounter in the future, and just focus on the spirit magic and possibly ritual side of magic. How have yo'all run this. BTW, I REALLY appreciate the input I've got from everyone on my questions; and if I stray too far from the subject let me know. My general impression is that this is the forum for people actually PLAYING the game and how they're doing it-which is what I really need, not to spend endless hours debating esoteric question which are highly unlikely to ever occur in a game. Sorry if I stepped on toes with that remark, but I've been told I'm ruthlessly practical before, and I'm interested in stuff I can USE to confound my PCs and make the game more fun for all. I'm glad this forum exist... Take Care, thomas *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 12:00:08 -0400 From: Tal Meta Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Anyone doin' enchantments in their game?? Thomas Cooper wrote: > > OK, guys; is ANYONE running a RQ game(any version) where their nonchaotic, > nonbroo RLPs , player characters ACTUALLY take time out to learn up > their ceremony/enchant ritual skills and actually MAKE some magical items. Most certainly! My group consisted of... A Klingon (soldier type), a Duck (Psionicist), a Half-Elf (Psionicist), A Gashta (H.Beam Piper, anyone?)(Shaman), and a Human (Sorcerer). Klingon later replaced by an Elven Priest, duck later died and replaced by a Human soldier type. Of the above, only the Klingon and the Human soldier never attempted enchantments. My group was very skill conscious. > Or do you have your NPCs do this and the PCs pay(through the nose for > their services?). I did this too, but made it ridiculously expensive, and as one of their major opponents was a sorcerer (who seemed to have apprentices everywhere) they soon learned that it was often safer for them to do it themselves. > I' SO tempted to just run them WITHOUT the sorcery rules and tell them > that sorcery is some mystical magic from the Utter East which they MAY > encounter in the future, and just focus on the spirit magic and possibly > ritual side of magic. How have yo'all run this. We has a sorc in the game, so that was out. What most of them REALLY wanted was AD&D style magic items, which were also available, but hideously expensive. > BTW, I REALLY appreciate the input I've got from everyone on my questions; > and if I stray too far from the subject let me know. My general impression > is that this is the forum for people actually PLAYING the game and how > they're doing it-which is what I really need, not to spend endless hours > debating esoteric question which are highly unlikely to ever occur in a > game. Sorry if I stepped on toes with that remark, but I've been told I'm > ruthlessly practical before, and I'm interested in stuff I can USE to > confound my PCs and make the game more fun for all. I'm glad this forum > exist... 'tis what we're here for. I expect that we can get esoteric at times too, but thusfar its all been (hopefully) useful esoterica. There are some home-brewed items back in the earlier digests that several of us contributed, as well as various elemental spirit spells, and the currently winding down Thanatari NPCs. New threads are always welcome, though. :) - -- talmeta@bellatlantic.net - I *am* one of the Chosen Few! At once one with the conspiracy, as well as it's DEADLIEST foe! / Do I look like someone who cares what GOD thinks?! I have no webpage. / I mean, if this was a cartoon, which character would YOU want to smash into a pulp, huh?!?!? Will work for cash. / Insert Nifty ASCII graphic here. Give me Slack, or give me Food (or kill me). TANJ Lives! *************************************************************************** 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 #61 ************************************ *************************************************************************** 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. 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