soltakss

On 9/18/2018 at 9:36 AM, RosenMcStern said:

Revolution D100 uses the Legend (MRQ2) combat model, in which you do not choose the desired effects before rolling, but after. If your roll is eligible for a called shot (any hit in melee, a critical from afar) then you can opt to choose the location instead of doing extra damage or other nasty things against the target. Otherwise you roll random. There is no situation in which you "miss completely because you were going for a specific body part", which frankly does not make much sense but is present in many game systems.

I allow a Hero Point to be spent to allow you to choose a Combat Effect before the rolls are made, so you can spend a Hero point to choose a location. Not in the rules, but it's how I play it.

23 minutes ago, Joerg said:

Three replies so far, three different outcomes.

Does the Countermagic of a Warding inside a Market stack?

Yes. All Countermagic effects from Runespells stack with themselves and Countermagic.

So, someone with Countermagic,  Shield and Berserker inside a Warding inside a Market spell gains the effects of all the Countermagics.

The RQ3 ship rules should be usable with RQ2/RQG.

They appear, with some variations, in Elric/Stormbringer, BRP and Legend.

There were detailed Alchemy Rules in RQ2/RQ Classic, but they disappeared from RQ3.

As they were a distinct set of subrules, they didn't fit in to the "Roll beneath your skill to get an effect" RQ Rule.

My thought would be to keep the types of Alchemical Potion as things an Alchemist can make, but not have the Alchemical Potion Levels, by which I mean that a PC wouldn't learn Spider Venom Antidote 15 as a skill, but would have Alchemy as a skill and would be able to make Spider Venom Antidote using that skill.

On 9/19/2018 at 12:19 AM, Brootse said:

Does every city dwelling butcher perform the rites of the Peaceful cut, or do they just butcher the animal with a craft skill? And if so, and they later wanted to start using the Peaceful cut, how much would they get to the skill from their butcher skill?

No, butchers would use a Craft (Butchery) skill.

Peaceful Cut is used by Waha cultists, Hunter cultists and maybe Pentians, to send the souls of the creatures killed back to their source. It also sanctifies the meat somewhat.

I can see it as similar to Halal or Kosher in the real world, you kill the creature in a sacred way to make the meat blessed. After all, if you were Praxian, would you eat meat from a Praxian Herd Beast whose soul had not been sent back to Eiritha?

On 9/20/2018 at 5:37 PM, Runeblogger said:

My advice is: ignore Pavis as a sorcery cult and keep it as a deity.

Yes, do this. Use the RQ2/3/Classic writeup for Pavis and use those Runespells. 

If you want the sorcery flavour, then have the cult provide Grimoires for Pavic Sorcerers, as additional magic.

On 9/19/2018 at 12:42 AM, jajagappa said:

Many gods like cows?

Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett, had the same kind of idea. The best sacrifice for gods was bacon and sausages, as the smell of them frying wafted even unto heaven and pleased the gods mightily. It also allowed the priests to have a good fry up.

On 9/20/2018 at 4:36 PM, Zozotroll said:

For you old farts, here is a supplement I have waited for since wyrms footnotes #6, yea many years ago

 

"the X-rated supplement.  this is slowly coming along but Isaac still needs more articles submitted......Its contents may be offensive to some, but I know many of you have been in or run occasional adventures comparable to the trollkin S&M bar run by the checkered Demon" 

 

I have been waiting for this lo these many years.  Maybe Jeff can resurrect this one, then people will actually have something to be offended about.

It appeared in TradeTalk, in a revised format. However, it was never repeated.

On 9/17/2018 at 9:46 PM, d(sqrt(-1)) said:

As I say, I'd be tempted to take in a big art book of classical nudes to read, or maybe the office could do with a nice renaissance piece of art like this to appreciate http://www.mheu.org/en/timeline/gabrielle-estrees.htm

Please do not follow this advice, especially if you have had a warning over this kind of thing. Employers do not have a sense of humour where this kind of thing is concerned. Do you want to lose your job on a point of principle of reading a RPG book at work?

On 9/17/2018 at 3:58 PM, jongjom said:

Excluding Jeff of course. 

Umm, no, still accursed lawyers ...

On 9/17/2018 at 1:40 PM, Mechashef said:

Ok, so some background.

I posted this after getting to work today and finding an email stating that I had to answer a claim of reading pornography at work.  I.e. I had been reported because of the content of the RQG PDF.  

After going through mediation and checking each page it was decided not to take it further as the material was considered borderline.  The agreement was that an official complaint would not be made if I agreed not to read it at work again.

Ironically the page the person complained about wasn't one of the "worst offenders"

For the record, it was decided that the unsuitable pages were:

12, 22, 51, 83, 99, 268, 272, 289, 302, 364, 424.

I later heard the person has a long history of making similar complaints.

And suddenly the thread becomes far more serious and important.

My answer would be not to read any games material at work.

Seriously, if I bring a PDF for a games night on a tablet, then I would not dream of reading it at work.

Better safe than sorry, in my opinion.

Also, sorry about your particular situation, it must be a very difficult situation to be in.

So, we have an illustration in an official, canonical supplement and that is still not good enough? What is wrong with you people?

Clearly, barding is a thing in Glorantha and is used.

Now, Pentians might use different types of horse armour than western knights, but I'd guess they would use cuirboilli or leather armour, at least, maybe scale or ring armour.

20 minutes ago, Leingod said:

No, the scythed chariot was actually a historical thing

Thanks! I can now use them with the greatest of pleasure.

6 hours ago, Joerg said:

More complications: Warding.

Each point of Warding provides 2 points of (presumably Shield- or Berserk-like) Countermagic effect towards spells cast on anyone inside the Warding (i.e. blocking exactly that amount of magic points in an offensive spell, letting anything above through, and remaining in effect). 

So our player character stands there ready to take the enemy charge. He has Shield 2 and Countermagic 4. A helpful supporter provides a Warding 3 for the 20m long frontline of the shieldwall, with 3 m occupied by the waiting warriors and 2 m before them, to weaken the enemies as they approach.

 

Do the Countermagic effects stack, do they interfere with one another, or are they sequential obstacles? Will they whittle down MP used for boosting, or will the boost carry through the entire magical attack?

Shield Countermagic stacks, so we always played that Warding Countermagic also stacked.

So, the example would have a Countermagic 14 effect, 4 from the Shield, 6 from the Warding and 4 from the Countermagic. A 10 point spell would bounce, a 14 point spell would bounce and blow down the Countermagic 4, leaving Countermagic 10 and a 120 point spell would blow through the Countermagic, have an effect and would leave the Countermagic 10 effect running.

It's a shame if that is the case. Cthulhu Invictus was backed as a KickStarter and looks pretty nice. I would guess the same people would back a Cthulhu Dark Ages Kickstarter. I would and I don't like CoC at all.

The HeroQuesting Principle: HeroQuests are not just for the magically powerful or the elite. Anyone can take part in a HeroQuest for any reason. Not every HeroQuest is a world-breaking one. Most HeroQuests support cattle raids, chaos-killing raids, troll-slaying raids, peace-making attempts and so on. Want to marry your childhood sweetheart but can't because people from your clan can't marry people from her clan? Use a HeroQuest. Want to break into an impregnable fortress? Use a HeroQuest.

5 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Never used 'em.

I did, they are really useful, both as an aid to generate Treasure Hoards and as a way of working out how strong an NPC Party is.

3 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

Not really: they are a bigger target than someone flying by themselves or on a mount... About the only advantage they'd have would be the capability to carry more quivers of javelins.

And a wall of armour covering the lower part of the body (leggs and abdomen).

And height advantage against horse riders.

And big scythes on the wheels to cut people down (Cinematic of course, not historical).

On 9/21/2018 at 10:03 AM, David Scott said:

Here's Greg's answer as to who is Baroshi (from 1998!):

https://web.archive.org/web/20000518224236/http://www.glorantha.com:80/greg/q-and-a/baroshi.html

 

In our old RQ Campaign, the PCs freed Baroshi and he gained a cult. As he gained more worshippers, they gained the secret of his Thunderstone Sword, so gained a spell that was like the Bless Thunderstone seplll from RQ3, but allowed the worshipper to bless a Thunderstone sword, giving it Thunderstone powers for 15 minutes. He also gained the Great Parry spell from Babeester Gor. In fact, a lot of Babeester Gor worshippers joined Baroshi as a subcult, for his skill at fighting Chaos. I think I also gave him Face Chaos, as he never retreated from Chaos.

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

I never sat down to do the math, but here's something to think about:

Thanks Joerg, that saves me a long post!

Generally, creatures with big Damage Bonuses, lots of armour or multiple attacks are more dangerous than normal oppnents. Skill isn't that important, unless it is vastly higher than 100%, an opponent at 60% is not much worse than one at 80%, in my opinion. Having magic makes an opponent much stronger, depending on the magic. Having an NPC:PC ratio of more than 2:1 makes the NPC Party dangerous, but anything less than that isn't really much of a problem.

By the way, sorry about the multiple posts. I don't generally check the forum until Saturday and then read through the threads, posting replies.

13 hours ago, Crel said:

Challenge Rating. I know it from D&D 3.5E and later Pathfinder. Ideally, a creature of CR X (or multiple creatures, adding up by some arcane bullshit to an Encounter Level of X) is a good average-difficulty encounter for four characters of level X.

Thanks.

Treasure factors in RQ2 work in a similar way, I suppose.

14 hours ago, Stephen said:

Much of what you say I agree with.  One of Runequest's strengths is that it discourages attrition combat and encourages thinking and roleplaying.  Similarly, its exciting that combats can swing on one fumble or crit, and makes them dangerous even when you have an advantage. 

Saying that RuneQuest is not a game about combat is false, in my opinion. I know that you aren't saying that, but replying to that kind of view, but I am replying to you in this case ...

Back in my RQ2 days, we regularly had combats that involved a hundred NPCs and 10 high level PCs, including setting up the combat and then cursing and removing the 5 Invisible Until Attacks NPCs. Sometimes a single combat would last for two sessions and we'd have to draw the combat onto a sheet of A4 to put it back again next time. I can tell you that such combats were not balanced.

But why do CR ratings have to be a threat to that system?   Why do you feel that having such ratings somehow makes the game into, as you say, a "scenario is designed that the party should be able to fight their way to success against a series of level and class appropriate foes"?  

By the way, what are CR Ratings? Are they like the Treasure Factors mentioned in the OP?

I generally like the idea that a scenario says that it is for low-level, mid-level or hi8gh-level PCs, as that makes it easier for me to judge how many changes I need to make to the NPCs.

But, in RuneQuest, the addition of even 1 PC makes the party a lot stronger. A party of 6 PCs is a lot, lot stringer than a party of 3 PCs and encounters should be judged accordingly.

You said "if your plucky but outnumbered band of rebels decide to take on that patrol of professional soldiers who are nearly as competent as them..."  Your words clearly shows you have the ability to gauge competency vs. numbers at least to some extent and translate it into comparative balance, and it further suggests that your players need that skill set as well if they hope to survive.  I believe that both you and the game designers (not sure if you are one of them, pardon that) can look over a character sheet, monster stats, or an NPC write-up and get a rather good idea of comparative challenge.  Why not share such guidelines and translate it into some kind of numbers, whether it be CR or something else?  Why not make the game more accessible for those that don't have your experience?  

Yes, an NPC party with roughly the same skill levels will be comparable. However, RQG uses skills that have a lot of variability, so you just cannot use straight combat skill to work out how good an NPC is. A highly skilled Elf warrior with a 0 Damage Bonus would not be as dangerous as a low-skilled Giant with a 4D6 Damage Bonus, for example. 

RQ2 Had Treasure Factors, which actually did this in a reasonable and simple way. I have used them to guage the strength of NPC Parties for years. Of course, as I am a tinkerer, I have changed how my TFs work, mainly to cope with high level PCs.

Much has also been said about the difficulty of translating RQ stats and other factors into CR ratings.  I would suggest that perhaps the reason is more based on bias toward eschewing "balance" than it is on the actual difficulty of providing some sort of CRs. 

Don't know what CRs are, so cannot comment.

In the end I wonder if perhaps many of you have been involved with Runequest so long that you have lost perspective on how incredibly difficult it is for a new DM and players to create adventures or make reasonable decisions in Runequest without CRs or something similar. 

Perhaps that is true. I haven't been a beginning GM for a very long time.

Or how difficult it is for new players/GMs to look at some stats and get any reasonable idea of what they translate to in a fight.  And providing such numbers doesn't have to change what the game is about or threaten it's core principles - it merely would make the game more accessible.

Here's a radical opinion - It doesn't matter how strong the NPCs are.

Seriously.

If the NPCs are too strong, you realise and run away.

If the NPCs are too weak, you steamroll over them.

If the NPCs are very strong, you might be able to just about defeat them, which is a great feeling for players.

I have had examples, in my recently finished RQ campaign and in a previous RQ campaign, where I have joked that I am happy that a high level NPC lasted more than a round in combat with the PCs. No matter how hard I made them, no matter what abilities they had, the PCs would chew through them. I am talking about monsters with 100 APs and 50 HPs in the head, for example, so how balanced is that?

16 hours ago, Stephen said:

My apologies - my built up angst re this issue in Runequest over 30 years got the better of me.  Allow me to elaborate:  All previous RQ systems have failed to provide such guidelines.  Then RQG player book is then released, along w/the Bestiary, and still no such guidelines.   Whenever balance and combat is bought up in these forums, it seems that everyone is quick to jump on the "we don't need combat encounter balance" bandwagon.  

Generally, as a RQ GM for over 30 years, I don't really balance combat.

I have found that a seemingly simple combat has been pretty deadly, with criticals and impales, combined with missed parries and fumbles, taking out most of the party, with the party only surviving because of a couple of lucky blows by the remaining standing PCs. I have also found a vastly overwhelming party of NPCs being taken out by a set of lucky blows. So, balancing combat is difficult.

As I have just mentioned, in another post, I like to self-balance by not having all the NPCs fighting at one, having some of them hanging back, some fighting in pairs or alone and so on, which gives the PCs an edge, If the PCs are doing very well, I call in the reserves, if they are doing particularly badly, I get NPCs to tie them up or restrain those who have fallen, just to take the NPCs out of combat. For me, Demoralised NPCs hang around at the back, but Demoralised PCs take part in the combat, even that gioves the PCs an edge. If the NPC Party takes more than 50% csualties, it will probably fall back or just plain run away.

Balance is always interesting, as I have found that a PC Party can kill a Big Bad Boss NPC fairly easily, but someone else warns against using Big Bad Bosses as they can wipe out a party. I suppose different people have different views on what makes a balanced encounter.

Back in my RQ2 days, I used to pride myself on a high level group of PCs finishing a Clearing Out a Chaos Temple scenario by using the last few Magic Points. Balancing a whole scenario is a lot harder than balancing a single encounter.

On 9/20/2018 at 9:51 PM, OrlanthR said:

Any advice on a way to balance opposition  for PCs in combat? I’ve been using the Treasure Factor calculator from RQ2, but I wasn’t sure if there was anything more nuanced out there.

Treasure Factors is a useful way of doing this.

However, my rules of thumb are:

• A PC Party can usually defeat an NPC party of similar skill level/numbers
• A PC Party often defeats an NPC Party of similar skill and slightly higher numbers
• A PC Party often defeats an NPC Party of higher skill and similar numbers
• A PC Party sometimes defeats an NPC Party of similar skill and much higher numbers
• A PC Party usually defeats a single NPC of higher skill 

Making the NPCs tougher, by making them trolls, giving them better armour, just increases their effective skill. 

I generally self-balance by making the NPC party not as disciplined/organised as the PC Party, so they use sub-optimal tactics. That really gets pressed home when the PCs meet a well-organised, disciplined NPC Party with good tactics, then the PCs wil probably struggle.

Don't forget that, in RuneQuest, running away is always a good option. PCs don't always have to fight to the last PC, better to run away, lick your wounds and come back again at a later date.

Also, I want to generate some high level npc opponents, Lunar Sorcerers etc. Any pointers on where to find examples for someone relatively new to Glorantha?

Old supplements, I am afraid.

RQ Glorantha (RQG) doesn't yet have a back catalogue of supplements with examples of such NPCs.

Stangrers in Prax has The Coders, a high level group of Lunars. Dorastor and Lords of Terror have examples of high level Chaos NPCs. RuneMasters has some high level Rune Lords, Rune Priests and Rune Lord Priests. Griffin Island has some high level NPCs, they might also be in the Gloranthan Classics Borderlands supplement. All are fairly compatible with RQG and RuneMasters is still available, I think.

Many thanks, free scenarios are always appreciated.