soltakss

On 9/20/2016 at 9:07 AM, Iskallor said:

I dont think there would a novice in sight if a Humakti rune lord turned up holding a spoon. They would surrender or leg it.

Because it hurts more ...

On 9/24/2016 at 3:52 AM, Darius West said:

Orlanth and Ernalda seem to have a pretty open relationship. Perhaps it would be more pertinent to ask which Gods are not Ernalda's husbands?  Goddess gets... around...

The Husband Protectors were usually when Orlanth was away, or before Orlanth and Ernalda married, so were marriages of convenience until Orlanth came back.

Anyone who offered protection against particular enemies would probably have been contenders.

On 9/19/2016 at 2:07 PM, Jwfortune said:

I had a player create a character and set his shooting skill to 100%.  Does the rule book allow this?  Any thoughts on how to handle this?

Same thing in a campaign I know about, but at 200%! The rules probably allowed it, but it makes a very limited PC. The GM allowed it for a laugh, as CoC PCs generally don't last long anyway, so it didn't make much difference.

Thanks for the link - He must have had a sore throat!

He's a bit later than Land of Ice and Stone, Late Neolithic/Early Copper Age, but still interesting.

My take is that Paleolithic Homo Sapiens were pretty much the same as we are, perhaps more robust due to the harsh climate, but essentially the same. So, they would have sounded and looked like us. Neanderthals might have sounded different, but not that different. I am firmly in the "Similar branches of the same tree" camp, inj the same way as in the Earth's Children series of books.

On 9/17/2016 at 6:32 AM, Iskallor said:

So i have a unicorn rider who has had children. What does she ride?

Until she has the Repurification Ritual she is stuck with zebras or horses, probably. After the Ritual she counts as a virgin and can ride a unicorn again. I normally play that a Unicorn rider must quest for a new unicorn.

Orlanthi marriage is consensual and follows the Orlanth-Ernalda model.

However, there are other ways to marry:

• Orlanth took many concubines on HeroQuests and these can be gained by HeroQuesting, perhaps to legitimise otherwise taboo relationships
• Wives can be taken from other clans by force, HeroQuesting can be used to legitimise the act, in the same way that Vadrus and Gagrath did
• Heort married a daughter of Tada, I can't remember of this is the Foreigner's Marriage, but this certainly allows non-Orlanthi to be brought into the clan as wives
• Heler joined the Storm Tribe through marriage and this is a way for a man to join the clan through marriage

On 9/23/2016 at 8:20 PM, M Helsdon said:

The Dragons ate the curse aimed at the dragonewts and negated it. The trolls weren't so lucky.

The dragonewts were enslaved by Nyslaor as a result of this, I think, but were only released when the Inhuman King performed Utuma, unless I am remembering things wrongly. So, the Dragonewt Curse had some effect, just not the same as the trolls.

Imagine a Llama with a long, thick neck, not as long as a giraffe's but not far off. The picture above has one right in the middle.

In my experience of using Special Effects, they slow the game down in two ways:

Player Unfamiliarity - having to look up what each Special Effect does each time they are used slows down the game

Too many choices - Whenever our players have choices, they take ages weighing up the things to be chosen

So, they can slow the game down, but I would expect that a group of players who are used to Special Effects and know which ones they like to use, combat should be faster and easier.

On 9/23/2016 at 0:43 PM, David Scott said:

He's turned Yara Aranis to be an ally! She has the runes of Earth Moon and Death (GTG p151). I think it's likely that her phase has shifted from Dying Moon to Crescent Come as part of her transformation and She's now able to access Full Storm through this phase (HQG p181).

It might be that Yara Aranis hates Sheng Seleris more than Argrath, after all she was created to fight Sheng Seleris.

When Argrath and Sheng Seleris part ways, Sheng Seleris kills the Red Emperor and become Emperor himself and becomes even worse than the Red Emperor. At this point, Yara Aranis would probably be a bit annoyed at Sheng Seleris, who has just killed her father and ruling god, so it would make it easier to recruit her against Sheng Seleris.

However, turning the Glowline into the Reaching Storm is a major HeroQuest as it changes the very nature of Yara Aranis.

On 9/21/2016 at 5:17 PM, RosenMcStern said:

However, you can confirm that the "hold several arrows in hand" trick was actually used historically, do you? Not ten, but more than one.

The Bashkorts had the "Three Arrow Trick", whereby their archers pulled out three arrows, held two in their mouth and fired the third, thus allowing the second and third arrow to be fired more quickly, as mouth to draw is faster than quiver to draw. I have seen paintings of this and it is a staple part of descriptions of batyrs, so I have no doubt that it happened.

On 9/21/2016 at 3:09 PM, MJ Sadique said:

I give an advice about Viking's book because it's a common theme when a viking jump off a roof (3 meters height) with two axes and simultaneous strike a monster. What will RuneQuest Rules treat this attack if a player want to to this ? (Viking's axe SR = 4) Everyone will say first attack SR4, second attack SR4+3 = 7... but the second attack will be 3,6 seconds latter.

Yes, that is right. It is very difficult to swing two axes at the same opponent at the same time, an axe swing requires a lot of balance and swinging two effectively simultaneously is very difficult.

The first axe hits when the viking falls, the second hits when the viking swings the second arm.

That's how I would play it.

On 9/21/2016 at 3:09 PM, MJ Sadique said:

My cunning player will said : "How can my second strike be much latter, almost the time for an object to fall from 50 meters height ! I didn't know i was bron in tchernobyl !"
Another (Mr fumble, Captain of the obvious) will add : "If the monster in an archer that strike at SR6, I will be killed because is arrow will flew between my too simultaneous attacks"

The problem is that the player is trying to make two simultaneous attacks and the rules don't normally allow this.

If it makes a difference in your game then house rule it or give a special ability that allows the PC to make two simultaneous attacks without a strike rank delay.

The way I normally do it in BRP-style rules is to apply a penalty to the shot (Hard/Very hard) - Success means disarmed. I don't have a STR vs STR roll as it is the shock/impact that disarms.

I play that everything is a keyword. It just makes more sense to me.

In our last RQ session, the PCs took a drink from the Well of Wisdom. One player argued that he could get a Species Max INT increase attempt, as gaining Wisdom relates to a possible INT gain. I agreed and we normally charge 3 Hero Points for the attempt and the chance is (Species Max - Current) x 5%, giving him a 25% chance of succeeding. now, we allor Hero Points to be spent on rerolling rolls/Flipping digits/making it when just failed (within 10% of the target number), so in theory he effectively had a 28% chance of success but would succeed on rolls such as 61, 82 and so on.

It took him 11 Hero Points to succeed!

he rolled 87, then 76, then 58, then 97 and so on, getting more and more determined on each roll,eventually becoming exasperated when he couldn't roll either dice below 50. I advised him to stop after 5 rerolls, but he was not to be denied. 

Eventually, he succeeded by rolling 50 and flipping to 05, a Special, which we play allows 2D3 to be rolled, choosing the best. He rolled 3 and said it was worth it as his PC was now cleverer. Everyone else questioned how clever the PC really was to blow 14 Hero Points in a single characteristic increase.

By the way, they had just finished a HeroQuest to unite all the World's Waters, turned the Syphon backwards to flow properly, banished the Gloomshark and Krarsht, so I had given them a 2D6+6 Hero Point gain and I think he rolled 15, so his net gain was 1 Hero Point.

It doesn't really advance the discussion, but we laughed so much I thought I'd share it ...

On 9/5/2016 at 0:02 PM, davecake said:

The difference is that the POW gain mechanic gives players a strong incentive to *decrease* their personal power. The optimal strategy to become powerful in the long term is to voluntarily decrease your personal POW, keep it relatively low by sacrificing it for Rune Magic (or use it for Enchantments, etc), and thus get much higher POW gain rolls. This is what I call a perverse incentive - the 'right thing to do' known to the player is different to that understood by the character. 

Its not a big game breaking deal for me. But I suspect I'll have some sort of workaround house rule for POW gain, perhaps involving Runes or passions or something. Maybe get a point of POW every time your Rune Affinity hits a certain level or something. 

What we tend to do is allow Species Max POW to increase by doing certain things, for example by participating in a HeroQuest. Over a period of time, Species Max POW crawls up, allowing a PC to have a higher POW and have a good chance of increasing it.

On 9/7/2016 at 6:47 AM, hkokko said:

You can pry my copies off my cold dead fingers

I do hope that isn't a challenge! 

On 9/5/2016 at 9:08 PM, g33k said:

... unless there is.

Seriously:  why couldn't Foundchild have learned/grown, discovered new mysteries to reveal to his followers?

 

That's what Heroes are for.

Heroes reveal truth about their deities through HeroQuesting.

If you want to reveal a secret about Foundchild, then learn his secrets and HeroQuest. You will probably start a subcult of Foundchild with yourself at the head, but it would be a Foundchild secret.

On a tie, nobody wins. So, a PC sneaks badly but the guard isn't paying attention, doesn't hear and the PC gets away with it. An NPC sneaks badly and the PC doesn't hear, so the NPC gets away with it.

As for PCs, they get enough breaks anyway and they should pay a Hero Point/Fate Point/Luck Point/Whatever to get a better roll.

2 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

As far as in terms of game play goes, I  can see your point but don't entirely agree with you. What skill improve depend on what skills the PC use. If most PCs end up with a fairly similar skill set then it is because they are most all doing the same things. And so the similar skill set makes sense. If they are all climbing trees and sniping trollkin, they should all get better at climb and missile weapons.  Once again, I don't see how assigning Improvement rolls stops this. With fewer improvment rolls per sessions, PCs are going to be ever more tightly focuses with an ever more similar skill set. Let's face it, Sword, Spot and Shield, are far more important in most adventures than evaluate, plant lore or Craft. 

When everyone tries the same things, they end up with the same skills. It isn't something I particularly like. I remember the RuneMasters supplement, where everyone had 90% Riding, Jumping, Climbing, Spot Hidden, Spot Trap and so on, which reflected our RQ2 characters at the time, but everyone was the same. I prefer some variation in skills.

2 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

The whole spamming skill rolls thing is more of a GM issue. If it isn't a stressful situation, no check. So spamming shouldn't work. And yet again, I don't see how assigning Improvement rolls fixes that. Since most IP systems say that a player has to use a skill to be able to spend IPs in it, PCsare still going to run arround spamming skills so they can improve in the one they want. 

If a party is walking through an area and the GM asks everyone to make a Perception roll, to spot an approaching lion,how is that not stressful? Everyone has a chance to succeed, which increases the chance of success. Or are you saying that only one person should make the skill in order to get a tick?

In the case of picking a lock, I can see that subsequent rolls might be harder, but they should be able to be attempted.

Are these spamming? I honestly don't think so.

2 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

For those who allow PCs to improve skills without using them, you wind up with D&D type silliness where a guy who climbs up in a tree and shoots goblins with a crossbow fails to improve at climbing or crossbow, but instead becomes a better wizard!

A wizard is a wizard whatever he does in the scenario. Does he stop doing wizardy things, just because he hasn't stated that he does so? Of course not, when camping he'll be reading his books and practising spell casting. When riding through a wilderness, he'll be recalling spells, reciting rituals, reading books and so on. All of that allows the wizard to take an experience roll, in my opinion.

There is another kind of RQ silliness where someone could use a skill 12 times and end up a master (12x6=72, plus starting skill/bonus of 18).

2 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

As far as POW gain through disruption goes, I blame the game designers. They made POW so crucial to the the magicians and then give only one way to improve it, and it is basically an "optional" process to engage in spirit combat. If you took the fights out of the adventures, and made all the opposition reasonable and willing to negotiate with the PCs, you find the warrior PCs becoming more belligerent so that they can get weapon skill checks. The other abilities don't require a successful roll on the resistance table to improve. I think it would be much better if the POW vs POW bit were dropped and POW improvement rolls triggered with a special success on a casting. 

I have no problem with this at all.

Personally, I like the POW economy, it makes things simple and means that PCs can spend their POW how they want.

I would expect that PCs should get a POW gain roll every session.

In a game it's fine.Brendan the Navigator encountered icebergs and frozen water, so wasn't too far from Greenland. He seems to have landed on the American continent, so Greenland isn't too far-fetched. Mael Duin also seems to have seen an iceberg.

Celtic monks seem to have been to the Faroes and Iceland, so Greenland is not too much of a stretch.

I have used an Experience Spend system for a long time and it works in our game.

• Players spend Hero points (We merged Experience Points and Hero points very quickly, to be similar to HeroQuest) to get an increase in a skill
• If the player succeeds in an experience roll in the skill the skill improves by 1D6 (Treat 1 as 2), otherwise the skill improves by 1
• Players can spend Hero Points to reroll/flip the Experience Roll on a failure, as it is just a roll
• There is no need to have used the skill in the session/scenario

As for the endless arguments, what's the point? Find a way that suits you and use it. There's no point in saying that someone else's way is wrong as it is right for their game.

16 hours ago, CitizenK2 said:

1) If the defender parries successfully and the attacker fails the attack roll, is the damage suffered by the attacker's weapon based on the attacker's damage roll? Or does the defender roll damage as if they struck?

We have always played the Defender's Damage Bonus is used, as he is striking the attacker's weapon. The only place we use Attacker's Damage Bonus is when setting a spear.

2) The Two Weapon Use section says an adventurer using two weapons can make 2 attacks, 2 parries, or 1 attack and 1 parry. However, in the rules examples of combat, Rurik is only wielding one weapon, and is making an attack and a parry with it. So I'm not certain how that last use for two-weapon fighting could be seen as an improvement...

From memory, two-handed weapons can be used to both attack and parry, so if Rurik had a 2-handed long spear then that would make sense.

It is not an improvement, just something you can do. It does, however, allow flexibility, as a 2-handed weapon can only be used to attack and parry, but 2 weapons can have 2 attacks one round, 2 parries another round and an attack and a parry a third round.

3) Does a non-parried critical hit bypass armour AND do double damage? The screen seems to suggest so, but the definition of critical damage in the book only mentions doubled damage for parrying.

Are you talking RuneQuest Classic Edition (RQ2) or RQ3?

I remember that a Critical Hit in RQ2 ignores armour, or does double damage if the opponent wears no armour. I cannot remember double damage against parrying weapons, but that might be because we never used that rule.

4) Can a piece of armour absorb it's full rating of damage from multiple hits to the same location?

Yes, absolutely.

If the armour is damaged on one Strike Rank and loses some armour points then later hits use the reduced armour points, but the armour protects against all blows.

Borderlands and Beyond is probably easier to run as it has a series of interconnected adventures.

Griffin Mountain is an excellent sandbox but might be a bit harder to run.

If you got Pavis & Big Rubble as well, you could do Borderlands, then do the Cradle, then go to Griffin Mountain through Gonn Orta's Pass, then return to Prax when things had quietened down a bit and finish with the Rubble Scenarios.

You are trying to get me to part with all of my money - Back Foul Fiend!