davecake

It is - specific means specifying an effect or target, not naming the spell. Explicitly in the Dispel Magic description.

If you are going to try to sort them out with a single spirit magic spell, why not Demoralise or Befuddle so they don’t hit you at all, then disarm them by other means? It’s a cool trick to play occasionally, but over rated. Just stopping them from parrying isn’t a sure takedown, and they already are very restricted in what magic they can cast. Good trick for the ZZer big troll to play though - the Humakti thinks it’s going to be fun until he realises his SR is higher.

Guessing the spell is fine, clearly in the spell description. ‘The spell that is making him hit so well’ or even ‘the spell that has him in a trance obsessed with his Sword’ is fine. Of course they could guess wrong, and try to dispel the magic on his sword or something. But it’s unlikely to happen if the spell is pushed up to huge levels, and is moderately well known, IMO.

Well, if he somehow managed to find a part of the city where no one had any magic whatsoever. Because if he went anywhere else, all it would take is one person with access to common divine magic and a single rune point to say I want to Dismiss the magic making him hit people, and then he would just be standing around embarrassed at having wasted all those magic points. Presuming no one had Dispel Magic 2, of course, so they wouldn’t need to use rune magic, obviously. So most starting PCs would be able to shut them down by Dismissing the spell three times each, by SR 1 of the next round. Please stop with these ridiculous scenarios.

I’m not sure - the spell descriptions are unclear, I think I would allow it? But you would have to do it by casting a more powerful spell, not ‘stacking’ MPs. Eg to cast 30 mps worth of Dispel Magic, you would need to know Dispel Magic 30. And yes, excess would be wasted. You could get the same effect from a Dismiss Magic 15 using 15 rune points. And some issue - if there are not the equivalent of 30 points of spirit magic, excess is wasted.

You are confused because you read the spell wrong. It is cast on the weapon - and you can dispel the spell - but not the effects of the spell. Once the damage is inflicted, it’s unsealable except the long way. (maybe a DI could make it healable? No other normal magic, though) It is a spell for both the Bloody Tusk, and Zorak Zoran, but no, Humakt etc do not have access to it. Humans can join those cults though - rare for a human to join Bloody Tusk for any reason other than to avoid being killed by Tusk Riders (and that option is only available if the beat a Tusker with their bare hands), but humans can join Zorak Zoran, and it happens a bit in a few places. You aren’t missing anything apart from that. Sometimes there is Magic only the bad guys have. And even when ZZ is a PC/on your side, they are still the bad guys.

The Humakti that have never had a real fight against a Zorak Zoran Death Lord are so cute 😁

You’d be creating an entirely new mechanic, resistance to dispelling. Hoo boy, you want to think about this one. You want to make sure you can Dispel/Dismiss his Seal Wound, probably more than you want to keep that Truesword. Truesword can ruin your whole day. But Seal Wound can ruin your whole season.

If you think Sword/Axe Trance gives you much chance against Argrath, let alone Jar-Eel, you probably lack imagination, and are easily impressed by big numbers. Argrath is not just an experienced heroquester, but the leader of a group of experienced heroquesters, so he has a really wide range of magic effects that might get used against you - sorcery, hero quest magic, powerful wyters and other spirits. Trickster magic, perhaps even dragon magic. And it’s a 1 point spell, that will be Dispelled in a round. There are multiple ways to keep people out of melee range for a round (Argrath is an Orlanthi Rune Lord-Priest type and can totally fly and has air elementals, for example). Hell, using the revised Trance spells, he might just stay out of melee range and Disrupt or missile weapon you to death, because it’s funny to watch someone with that much magic get really frustrated because their one trick doesn’t work (you don’t get to Dispel him, of course - you are in a trance). And lots of ways for him to take you out before you get close. The chance of anyone who is in a Trance, and so unable to cast other magic, getting close to one of them is very, very low. Jar-Eel, for example is probably well over 100% at Sense Assassin herself, Argrath just has bodyguards who are (like almost everyone of that level - even Sor- Eel, a much less significant figure, has a bodyguard of 50 Yanafals cultists and at least a couple of Yanafals rune lords, for example. Fazzur similarly has a dozen or so. Plus sorcerous detection and Defense spells spells, guardian spirits, etc). And imagine that Jar-Eel has Sword Trance herself - and will have a spirit casting it on her as she closes, kicking in just so she gets one good blow against an opponent, because she assumes it gets dispelled after 1 round by anyone serious, but that’s worth it if attacking someone at her level. Anything you can do, they likely can do better - and much more besides. its not going to take down Argrath that easy, or even a high Lunar noble that has been preparing for Dart Competition their whole life, but someone like Temertain? Sure, maybe - if no one nearby can muster a decent Dispel or Dismiss Magic to get rid of that 1 point spell in time to stop them. Oh, wait - practically everyone can muster a good Dismiss Magic - it’s common Rune magic. And that’s if they don’t, say.. hit them with arrows that they can’t Heal, get elemental to take them down, hit them with serious magic, disable them with a Mindblast or Madness. And less powerful opponents generally have access to some subset of these tactics, just not as many options, not as powerful, not as fast. Trance is a powerful tactic, for sure. But it’s one tactic, and quite defeatable. Why bother with Extension when they will probably be be dead in under 5 minutes? Again - they could hack people up, until they ran into a few people with a bit of decent magic.

Ludoch generally hate the malasp. The malasps thinking ludoch and their dolphin and other cetacean friends are delicious and nutritious makes this unlikely to change. Ludoch make good allies, and make good PCs too if not that ‘walking around on land’ thing. I have some of them use small elementals as ‘wheelchairs’, called Waves That Walk.

And that is a whole dialogue and theme in the East, reflected in the Black Sun, the disputes between Dream magicians, the Emperor Mika day, Avanapdur, the anti-gods generally, etc. but it’s way off topic. There is Truth and Illusion, and there is wisdom and lies. But way off topic, if anyone wants to keep talking let’s make a new thread (or not)

Or just fails their parry sometimes. Though at that level people who have full armour and defensive magic up often have allied spirits healing any attack immediately, so any location that doesn’t take out a location just reduces stored magic points. It could be long and dull. I’ve certainly seen it go a long time - and come down to who fails their parry first, which is a bit too random for my taste. A Sword of Humakt fighting Count Julan (both too honourable to allow others to interfere even in a vital climactic battle) was a memorable example - the players didn’t mind it, but a bit too random for me. In RQG you can certainly get a shield pretty smashed up over the course of a fight - and parrying weapons/shields can take a lot of damage parrying a special, often enough to render them useless. So even without the over 100% rule, you are unlikely to have the ‘hit parry rinse repeat’ cycle go as long as in RQ3 - and I don’t think RQG encourages the idea of Iron shields and such, either. Iron plate and Shield 4 plus Protection 4 (and your obligatory 1 point of padding) is 22 points, that bounces a lot... ok, so iron plate is extreme, but bronze plate plus the rest is still 19 points. A lot of the time little enough gets through that your ally can Heal it before the next hit.

Yes, Ancestors are part of the community, at least as long as they are summonable and have not moved on to some inaccessible afterlife (and they probably need to be accessible within the wyters range or summoned by magic at least - probably usually this means their remains/tombs in the community lands?) The Humakt cult may sometimes Bind Ghosts to a place. Usually this is voluntary, worshippers may ask for their ghost to be bound to continue to serve beyond death to protect a temple or other place very important to them (and Humakt don't consider this undeath, a ghost is thoroughly dead it just still has some business to do). They would definitely be still considered members of that community (and probably work with the temple wyter to defend it). Its unclear if ghosts can be bound to a moveable object rather than a place - if they can, I'm sure most regimental banners etc have ghosts bound to them as well.

I kind of hated that Sartar Companion write up. I thought it was far too extreme. I certainly associated BG with the Sekhmet story, but I do not find Sekhmet to be loveless either. I never really accepted it for my Glorantha, so the entirely loveless version of Babeester Gor is one way my Glorantha has differed. It just seemed so psychologically implausible, there would be virtually none of them - let alone enough to be a major war cult in Esrolia. I think the RQG version of Babeester Gor is going to be more like Humakt - renouncing love and life ritually and formally, but not always practically. They do not marry, they avoid showing affection, they embrace death - but in private they may behave as soldiers always have, often with a great deal of beer involved, and should that awkwardly result in the occasional pregnancy they give it up to the temple at birth. They certainly aren't all man haters or lesbians (though the incidence of both is way higher than the general population I'm sure). What they are is fanatic haters of oath-breakers - quite literally in the rules, a Rune Lord has to have Hate(Oathbreakers) 90%+ - and that includes women as well. The BGs have chopped more than a few treachorous Esrolian Queens to pieces over the years I am sure. Of course a Rune Lord of Babeester Gor isn't going to be a well balanced person - they are, after all, a worshipper of one of the most violent and effective Death gods.

More than? If you think having separate emotions or awareness means they aren’t Illusions, you might be lacking draconic insight. It’s alll illusion.... Sure it could. But Heortling mythology specifically blames Eurmal, entirely up to you how seriously you take it. Definitely a good trick, though.

The wyter ability to add extra targets for extra POW is limited to community members by default. And that’s what you should expect for a standard wyter - it’s a powerful ability, it at a huge cost (that’s points of POW not rune points), so it’s a thing you do in extremes. Running down the wyters POW weakens the community. But an individual wyter can have abilities that go far beyond that (such as the massive Madness blasts of the Lunar wyter in the bestiary, that only take magic points). It is normal for wyter to gain abilities, several if its for a community with a long history or is empowered by heroquests type magic. its pretty unusual for wyters that aren’t created by a group of combat magicians to have wyter magic to do mass combat blasts like that though (and pretty usual for ones that are, but that’s mostly either the Lunar College of Magic or Argraths Sartar Magical Union in the broader Dragon Pass area). If you think it’s overpowered, don’t give your players control over a wyter with that sort of ability, easy*. * well, unless you are laying through the Red Cow campaign using RuneQuest characters which gives PCs access to one, but that’s still constrained enough to be reasonable for most games.

I was involved in the play test, I actively participated in discussions. It was definitely a more complex set of rules, some changes worked some did not. I adopted a few rules for my campaign that started as RQ3, but ignored many others - on the whole it was pretty workable, and we had a taste for complexity back in those days, but not astonishing. It certainly would have been different had it made it to publication, but relationships between Greg and AH may have doomed it before it started. And the project was definitely one that came out of Glorantha fandom, so it was it was a bit tragic (and was probably doomed before the unfortunate issues that finally killed it).

Exactly. Illuminates are not psychopaths or sociopaths. They are people who are not enslaved to their culture, their emotions, their religion, their prejudices. Though they may choose to accept any of them. And there is no single reference to understand what they are like, or their morality, or how it interacts with their magic, or their worldview. The best way to understand mystics if you are not familiar with mysticism is to become a bit more familiar with mysticism, not try to understand them in terms of abnormal psychology (frankly, could be seen as a bit insulting to the spiritual systems of a large proportion of the world) Read the Bhavagad Gita or something. Learn a bit about Buddhism (especially the Tibettan kind).

Considering Dream-Dragons are Illusions, I don't think Dragons are inimical to it as a power - rather, it is natural to them and intrinsic to their nature. Eurmal was intrinsic to the EWF. Who do you think came up with that hilarious brain splitting gag?

The Dragonnewt Rune in Eleven Lights is due to later EWF contact with Tanian revealing his Inner Dragon. Almost everyone has a Dragonnewt rune if you ask the EWF. Orlanth? Dragon. Ernalda? Dragon, Yelm? Dragon. But then, that is the only way the Orlanthi ever really contacted him, so he has a Dragonnewt rune for them. The God Learners used different methods.

Yep. Though I think that attitude is more common in the East, to the point that it is considered unremarkable there.

But, as I said, thats just like, your opinion, man. That amounts to saying "what matters isn't whether they committed horrifying atrocities when they felt it necessary, what really matters is whether they cried about it afterwards." Well, you can think whatever you think about their personal morality. But does it really matter?

I am definitely of the opposite opinion. That Implies Heroes are more common than Illuminates. I think there are a LOT of Illuminates in the Lunar Empire. Not as a percentage of the population, but if 1 person in 10,000 in the Lunar Empire is Illumination (which I think is pessimistic by at least an order of magnitude, maybe two) then there are still getting close over 800 Illuminates, and I don't think there are over 800 Heroes in the Lunar Empire. We know there are whole classes of people in the Empire that must be Illuminated. All members of the Red Goddess cult. All Major Class magicians are required to be Illuminated, and each of the Major Class units has two hundred magicians, so that is 400 Illuminates just there (and also gives you an idea about how they compare to Heroes - in Dragon Pass, each of those two units of 200 magicians is roughly the equivalent of a single Hero). All Yelm Imperator who occupy the hereditary nobility of Dara Happa are required to be Illuminated under the current :Lunar rule. And that is just the important ones. We know there are several different schools of Illumination, and more than one institution devoted to regulating Illumination (it is among the duties of both the Examiners of the Red Goddess cult, and the court of Great Sister, to name two). We know that it seems very strongly encouraged for every Lunar Priest or Lord to try to set themselves on the path to Illumination, and even if only 1 in 10 manages it (which seems low) that would be in the 10s of thousands of people at least. And that is just the important notable ones we know about. I think a great many Illuminates find that it is a life changing event, but not one that sets people on the path to Hero. Quite the opposite. There are people throughout the Empire who are good Lunar citizen and try to be good Lunar worshippers, and pay attention to the scriptures and so on, and may end up experiencing Illumination - even if they aren't so hard core as to try a direct route like Sevening, rather musing over Nysaloran philosophy every Godsday. But sometimes it works, they have a big 'whoaHH' moment of enlightenment and understanding. But are they then going to go off and get all powergamy? Quite the opposite - plenty of people are going to experience Illumination, and then decide to quit their job and go and sit under a tree in an ashram. And the Empire approves. The Great Sister will find a use for such people, even if that use is just talking to people who walk by their tree and so helping to raise the consciousness of the Empire. But even talking about the road to Illuminated Herodom - I think Illumination is just an early step on that road, far from the destination. Most Illuminates don't learn all the powers of Illumination and the most powerful abilities are the least common and seldom learnt at the first moment of Illumination. Most Lunar Illuminates who have the ability to hide if they are Chaotic do not, in fact, join any Chaotic cults besides the Lunar cults, and may never use any Chaos magic. The minority of Illuminated Lunars who are immune to spirits of retribution still are unlikely to join any cults that are not Lunar or Solar cults. So while there are definitely a lot of Lunars who might be accused of going all munchkin, that doesn't mean they are Bad Lunars, quote the opposite, they are doing exactly what the Goddess and the Empire want them to do. You can join the cult of the Red Goddess (who has her own special cool magic that requires much further study), you can join multiple Lunar cults, even stuff that requires opposing Runes - hey join both Deezola and Yanafals and have both Life magic and Death magic, investigate minor Lunar gods like Orogeria, if you are a Danfive Xaron criminal you are declared healed and can move on, you can even decide to become a shaman as well and join Jakaleel. If you have a decade or two to spare, there is Lunar Sorcery to investigate. If you are a Yelm/Sun worshipper you suddenly realise the One is the Many (maybe you finally understand all those commoners rites and join Lodril!), or realise the Light of the Sun and the Illuminating light of the Moon have much in common. What I'm saying is there are a lot of steps on the road to being an Illuminated Hero, and they are definitely real, and potentially powerful, and they take a lot of effort and a long time, and really need not concern anyone not a member of the Lunar/Solar cults involved (all of whom have been taught that this is all Good). Being able to cast both Truesword and Heal Body is cool, but it doesn't make you a Hero.

Yes, who are you going to trust, some scholar who spends hardly any time in the real world? Or some foreign traveller who spends too much time learning about the world outside Sartar in weird places like the some alleged Eastern Islands? Both equally untrustworthy. And I hear some of them are <narrows eyes> God Learners. And the less said about the vile slurs on the noble race of ducks spread by that metcalph fellow the better. Who are you going to believe, some kind of Sage, or the words of the noble duck people?

I find Dune as a great inspiration for the warring houses, more so than the game of thrones houses. They already have the houses employing lots of weird specialists, and following weird mystic traditions, with a distant scheming Emperor, etc. And a tradition of assasinations that is innovative and draws on all sorts of weird tactics from all sorts of sources, and so is more like Dart Competitions seem to be. They even have a case of a breeding program to produce the Next Inspiration of the goddess. Always thought about a game that starts with the premise that due to losing a political battle, your PCs noble house (or at least your part of it) has lost their nice prime heartland satrapy land, and instead been given land on the Eastern edge of Empire just next door to possibly raging Pentans, and has another rival house trying to take you down while you are weak. Maybe more fun to have it later in the timeline, so your PCs will be around when Sheng comes back. Maybe one of your PCs will be a candidate to replace this corrupt Red Emperor?