From: owner-runequest-rules@ (RuneQuest Rules Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.MPGN.COM Subject: RuneQuest Rules Digest V1 #146 Reply-To: runequest-rules@mpgn.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@ Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@ Precedence: bulk RuneQuest Rules Digest Tuesday, August 25 1998 Volume 01 : Number 146 RuneQuest is a trademark of Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS [RQ-RULES] Web page update Re: [RQ-RULES] Active Spell Re: [RQ-RULES] skill modifiers Re: [RQ-RULES] skill modifiers [RQ-RULES] Languages [RQ-RULES] Language Re: [RQ-RULES] Language [RQ-RULES] A few Sorcery Revisions Re: [RQ-RULES] Language Re: [RQ-RULES] A few Sorcery Revisions 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, 25 Aug 1998 14:38:41 +0100 From: Nikk Effingham Subject: [RQ-RULES] Web page update Ahh, it's that time of year again when boredom sets in and my webpage is updated. This time round I've added: * The Lead Cross HeroQuest * A fully revised description of Otkorion * Chaos in Otkorion * Things you should know about Otkorion * Hazards on the HeroPlane (no, NOT random encounter tables...) * Arkat Peacemaker * Nick Davison's campaign notes * A link to an AD&D campaign I play in (no, really, it is an excellent campaign and I think you should all check it out... : ) Visit soon, Nikk E. _______________________________________________________ Nikk Effingham E-mail: nikk@MailAndNews.com WWW: 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, 25 Aug 1998 13:47:56 -0500 From: stancliff@commnections.com Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Active Spell RU>> When a spellcaster must pay attention to an Active spell, is the spellcast RU>> allowed to pass control (e.g. with perhaps a successful INTx3 roll) of tha RU>> Active spell to another creature (e.g. Familiar or Allied Spirit) which is RU>> in Mindlink with the spellcaster? RU>No, because this would essentially turn the Active spell into a Passive one. RU>So, No, except for some competent RuneMasters, who are variously allowed to RU>this to some degree. Only sorcery and spirit magic have active spells (as I recall). Concentration must be continuous by the caster (with the exception of Dark/Light-wall). RU>But you can acheive this feat with an Enchantment. (Very costly, and usually RU>worth it.) Not likely, for the reason above. RU>Also, most users of Rune Magic do actually pass control of their spells to RU>another being, ie their god. Once a passive spell is cast, the mana retains coherence until the duration is ended, so no one has control of a passive spell. Bob Stancliff (Stancliff@commnections.com) (http://commnections.com/upgrades) *************************************************************************** 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, 25 Aug 1998 12:38:01 -0500 From: Marc Robertson Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] skill modifiers Leon Kirshtein wrote: > >From: "Paul Bestwick" > > >How do you work it with negative skill modifiers (usually stealth), in > that > >after actually trying and succeeding in a skill you could get worse > >immediately. > > Until the skill + modifier > skill I do not use the modifier at all. > I assume you mean skill + modifier > base skill, because if you don't, that means you are ignoring negative modifers! You would still have the skill go down at a certain point. For example, a skill with a 25% base chance, and a -5 modifier. When the characters chance reaches 31, you apply the modifer, which reduces it to 26. Doesn't make sense to me. I always played that if your modified skill was less than 1, you had no chance of success, and had to train to overcome your natural disadvantage. Training was handled the same as those skills with a base chance of 0 > Leon Kirshtein > - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------- All opinions expressed are my own Marc Robertson email:robertson@acm.org Staff Consultant online page:http://wwp.mirabilis.com/11350250 DST Technologies email page:11350250@pager.mirabilis.com Kansas City, MO USA icq:11350250 *************************************************************************** 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, 25 Aug 1998 11:08:01 PDT From: "Leon Kirshtein" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] skill modifiers >I assume you mean skill + modifier > base skill, because if you don't, that >means you are ignoring negative modifers! You would still have the skill go >down at a certain point. For example, a skill with a 25% base chance, and a -5 >modifier. When the characters chance reaches 31, you apply the modifer, which >reduces it to 26. Yes, that is what I meant. Doesn't make sense to me. I always played that if your >modified skill was less than 1, you had no chance of success, and had to train >to overcome your natural disadvantage. Training was handled the same as those >skills with a base chance of 0 That is fine. You can play it this way, but an 01 is always a success. Leon Kirshtein ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com *************************************************************************** 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, 25 Aug 1998 13:18:22 -0500 From: "Guy Hoyle" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Languages When people are talking about raising the base skill for a language, are you then discarding the practice of adding together the speaker's % to the listener's %? - -- What the heck is Guy Hoyle up to at http://www.uncommonsolutions.com/ & http://members.aol.com/hawkwoodgg/hawkwood.htm ? *************************************************************************** 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, 25 Aug 1998 16:04:50 -0500 From: stancliff@commnections.com Subject: [RQ-RULES] Language RU>> AF>It does raise the question of how similar different langauges from RU>> >the same "family" are supposed to be in Glorantha. What degree RU>> >of relatedness are "1/2 chance", "1/3 chance", "1/5 chance" or RU>> >"1/10 chance" supposed to equate to in terrestrial terms? RU>> 1/2 is a barely comprehensible dialect. RU>> 1/3 is an incomprehensible dialect. RU>> 1/5 is a language within the same subfamily RU>> 1/10 is a language within the same family It would be much better to think of this in terms of the number of shared or borrowed words in the two languages being refereed to as well as the similarity of sentence structure and other points of grammar and pronunciation. The 'Romance' languages include Latin, Italian, Spanish, and French. I would consider Latin, Italian and Spanish to be 1/2 languages since they share so much. Some language drift will have changed the meaning of certain words, but the structure and the gist of understanding are still there. French, which has undergone more and stronger changes, would be a 1/3 language. English or American, which are stew pots of different language sources including 'romance' and 'Germanic', might be considered a 1/5 language (or possibly 1/10). Those of you who live in Europe, might consider me too generous with these ratings and move them down one level. Perhaps the example of 1/2 languages might be Spanish and Portuguese, Spanish and Italian would be 1/3, Spanish and French would be 1/5, while Spanish and American would be 1/10. Some small portion of this conversion factor might be the intentional use of foreign words for jokes, stories, or to sound 'educated'. We pick up many words and phrases in day-to-day life without studying the source language. RU>This is another one of those RuneQuest Rules balls-ups. It is of course RU>ludicrous to have postulated that natives speak their own language at RU>30%. The new french edition of BRP has an 80% basic skill for your own RU>language. *Slightly* more realistic, don't you think? (But I think it RU>ought to be 90%) Barely comprehensible dialects are, then, understood at RU>40% (+ Comm bonus or not, depending on how crappy you think this idea RU>is), and languages within the same family at 4% (with the addition of RU>your Comm bonus for use of sign language, natural skill, etc.. unless RU>it's crap.) according to Gloranthan BRP. It is important to relate these numbers to the intent of the game. 15% is baby talk, nouns, some verbs, tourist book jargon ("donde es el baQo?"). 30% is rudimentary conversational level with restricted vocabulary and common grammatical errors. 45%, 60%, 75% and 90% are each marked by improved vocabulary, grammar, diction, knowledge of dialects, and command of accents. Knowledge beyond mastery is advanced study in the relations of parent languages, their changes over time, and the sources of obscure words. By this level you do know the parent languages at a rudimentary level with many source words and some grammar. The base of 30% for speak own represented an unschooled teenage peasant with no advanced command of language. The category modifier was expected to be positive and to raise this several percent. RQ4 came back and said that this was too strict and changed it to INT x 4... a smart peasant might naturally know the language much better than his associates (this is very debatable). The experience tables gave more 'Speak Own' to groups that were considered educated. You are a highly educated speaker of your native tongue, having spent 12 or more years studying and trying to master it. Don't make the mistake of applying your experience to a Bronze Age teenager. The starting skills in RQ (with cultural proficiencies) are supposed to be the base knowledge of a 15 year old in his culture. I consider the values to be more correct for an 8 - 12 year old. In the past, I have used the starting values to begin training a 12 year old up to game age... it worked much better. The base skills also should have been more slanted to the interests of an adolescent and concentrated more on the teaching their parents would give them. The mistake of the tables was that they only gave 33 points per year when the number should be two to three times that. In my game, I have changed this to 40 - 45 experience checks per year (based on the number of skills you allow and play in your game) so that improvement will be fast for beginners and taper off for experts. The process is tedious, but the results are very satisfying and quite believable! RuneQuest never paid enough attention to skill modifiers, they stated that some were possible, gave a few examples, and changed the subject. It was stated that for normal conversation, a x2 modifier was appropriate since both people were restricting themselves to a smaller, common vocabulary and simple concepts. I suggest thinking of all skill uses with the following conceptual modifiers: x2 everyday actions with trivial difficulty such as climbing a 30 deg slope x1.5 common actions with mild risk such as climbing a 60 deg slope x1 difficult actions with possible severe consequences such as climbing an 80 deg slope with plenty of holds and rest points 1/2, 1/3, 1/5 very hard actions with great risk such as climbing walls and vertical cliffs Taking plenty of extra time, as appropriate to the skill, or using good support material or equipment should move the modifier back up the chart one level, or sometimes two. RU>> Personally I think the idea of adding the communication bonus onto RU>> the reduced language skill is a load of crap. All of the category modifiers are appropriate, including communication. We all know people who showed an affinity for a particular group of activities. Natural linguists occur in the same fashion. They identify borrow words faster and remember them better, they grasp the grammar intuitively, and they become conversational in half the time as other people. It is important as a referee to penalize a person who has never had exposure to a certain foreign language. The game starts the skill at 0% and the bonus is not added in until the person starts to study the language. When the new language is a parent language or closely related, adding the bonus is simply a reflection of their natural linguistic ability and their sensitivity to the similarities and differences of the related language. After all, a Sartarite knows that his ancestors came from Esrolia or Hendrikiland, he will be looking for the similarities and differences as he tries to communicate and he will restrict himself to simple words and concepts until he is more confident. Bob Stancliff (Stancliff@commnections.com) (http://commnections.com/upgrades) to: INT:runequest-rules@MPGN.COM cc: INT:lackey@gator.net INT:afn50803@afn.org *************************************************************************** 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, 25 Aug 1998 16:11:14 -0500 From: stancliff@commnections.com Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Language RU>A house rule which we use is: no skill bonus to skills which are at RU>base percentage even if the base percentage is high such as for Jump or RU>Own Language. This rule will also cover things like using a scimitar at RU>2/3 (or 1/2) of your broad sword skill. For example: Bonuses are the natural affinity at a skill, and the base skill is anyone's ability to use the object as a weapon, therefore it is only right for a person with an affinity to be better than the person without. Bob Stancliff (Stancliff@commnections.com) (http://commnections.com/upgrades) *************************************************************************** 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, 25 Aug 1998 20:41:23 +0100 From: Michael Cule Subject: [RQ-RULES] A few Sorcery Revisions The following are spell revisions for my new campaign. Nothing terribly startling but I'd appreciate any comments. I've abolished FREE INT and made Sorcery Duration and Range Linear but added my own version of the Maintain Skill. I'm also using the revised fatigue rules from RQ4. CREATE FAMILIAR Now only POW is needed to create a familiar. The following is the cost of a single point of improved characteristic in POW. STR 1 CON 2 SIZ 2 INT 3 POW 1 DEX 2 A familiar whose master dies has until the spell fades to find a new master who must give him a boost to one of his characteristics to restart the Familiar spell. A dying wizard will often hand on his Familiars to a chosen successor. (This affects the speed of electing Bishops quite a bit.) When a familiar dies the Master will find his CON attacked by a magical Venom attack equal to the familiar's HP. A good reason for choosing a small familier.... DRAIN Ranged Instant Causes the target to make a Fatigue test. For each point of Intensity,, the target's roll is reduced by 5%. REGENERATE LIMB With the change to linear duration this spell must now be Maintained by the casting Wizard until all the damage is completely restored.. Letting the spell drop before it is all done will leave the regeneration partial and mean that the job can never be finished. The restriction about taking a week to regrow 1 HP/Intensity if cast within 10 MR and a month afterwards still applies. TAP Tap now yields only MPs but if TAP POW is multispelled with an Enchant Spell the Tapper can transfer the Tapee's POW to power the Enchantment. This is a vile and disgusting practice and utterly forbidden by all right-thinking sorcerers. TREAT WOUNDS Touch, Temporal. Passive. Each Intensity adds 5% to the target's First Aid skill. Every 5 points of Intensity or Part thereof adds 1 to the damage healed per wound. - -- Michael Cule *************************************************************************** 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, 25 Aug 1998 13:56:52 PDT From: "Leon Kirshtein" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] Language Leon Kirshtein: >RU>A house rule which we use is: no skill bonus to skills which are at >RU>base percentage even if the base percentage is high such as for Jump or >RU>Own Language. This rule will also cover things like using a scimitar at >RU>2/3 (or 1/2) of your broad sword skill. For example: >Bob Stancliff : > Bonuses are the natural affinity at a skill, and the base skill is >anyone's ability to use the object as a weapon, therefore it is only >right for a person with an affinity to be better than the person >without. The affinity you talking about only come with a degree of familiarity and that is the reason I require at least some experiance gain. After this minimum gain the person with affinity will be better than the person without it. Leon Kirshtein ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com *************************************************************************** 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, 25 Aug 1998 14:29:40 PDT From: "Leon Kirshtein" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] A few Sorcery Revisions >The following are spell revisions for my new campaign. Nothing terribly >startling but I'd appreciate any comments. > >TAP > >Tap now yields only MPs but if TAP POW is multispelled with an Enchant >Spell the Tapper can transfer the Tapee's POW to power the Enchantment. >This is a vile and disgusting practice and utterly forbidden by all >right-thinking sorcerers. Enchantments with no power loss? This is way too powerful. I think you are asking for troble here. Leon Kirshtein ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com *************************************************************************** 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 #146 ************************************* *************************************************************************** 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.