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The implication of the question is probably melee attacks, but I believe you CAN have multiple attacks a round with below 100% skill if you're using a missile weapon and have enough SR, yes? QS doesn't have it, but I believe RQG is duplicating the structure from RQ2 where - aside from staff slings, xbows, and javelins(oddly?) - missile weapons fire as many times as you can squeeze into 12 SR. (?) So it would be: DEX SR (release first shot) + 5* (I think it was 3 in RQ2, I could be wrong) to ready next shot - RQG says this is the 'ready' penalty for any weapon, but that seems long for simple reload? + DEX SR to release next shot. So even someone with a relatively Average DEX SR of 3 could shoot at 3 and again at 11 (if the 'ready' for an arrow is 5) or if the reload is only 3, a Dex SR 2 toon could fire thrice a round at 2, 7, and 12.

Started around 4pm, picking characters, introductions, rules explanations and general questions took about an hour, finished around 8, so with 5 players the scenario took about 3 hours to run. 5 players: 1 old RQ hand, hadn't played since RQ3, 2 very experienced gamers but only generally familiar with RQ, 2 young people (16? 17?) who'd never heard of RQ ever. The first three were friends of mine, and very much let the two young players lead the party, which was really a great dynamic. They understood the meta-concept of the demo scenario and recognized it was intended to be a little railroad-y, so for example when the young folks wanted to split up, with the riders racing ahead to cut off the herd, the older gamers sort of 'encouraged' the party to stay together. My group really internalized the 'pursuit' element of the scenario, recognizing that with party of hardy adventurers (some on foot), they would be easily able to catch up to a party of 6 herding 60 cattle with only a half day lead. No dawdling across the countryside for 3 days for these guys! 12km to the campsite at a strong pace is barely 2 hours across open country, so they reached the first camp early in the afternoon - I had to seriously compress the order of events to cope with the scale on the map. At the campsite, they spotted Carthalo skulking about right away. His evident fears of the stomping around 'stone woman' only heightened their motivation to not screw around and wait, dark or not, storm or not (I moved the threatening storm up too). Nevertheless, they recognized the woman had been mistreated, and a detect spirit identified that she was still 'hanging around'. They feared she was going to become a ghost, so they actually asked HIM to help put her to rest before he could suggest it. They left him to physically deal with her body properly once the ritual hour had completed and she'd faded back away. They dashed north after the cattle herd but diverted when they heard the rock lizards mauling the steer in a nearby copse where its horns had become entangled. This combat went great. Sorala, Yanioth, and Harmast all hung back with sling, javelin, and bow while Vasana and Vostor charged ahead. Vostor tanked the first two, while Vasana lanced the closest to her, annihilating it. Missileers killed the second about to attack Vasana before it could close. Vasana lanced a third, annihilating it, while Vostor killed a fourth. Missile fire killed the other 2 before they could close, and Vostor and Harmast (now out of javelins) killed the last. Crazy number of specials rolled by the party in this combat, probably 1/2 of their attacks and parries were specials. The young woman playing Vasana was absolutely tickled with being able to charge and be so effective. The young man playing Vostor made many comments about how much he really liked the initiative system, how much sense it made. Note: rock lizards have no dodge indicated? I gave them 20% just to make it slightly interesting. The fact that the encounter took place at about 20m distance (the lowest I could realistically rationalize in broken scrub) meant with their 'ponderous' 4m move (2m in combat) even seven rock lizards weren't much challenge to a party with ample missile weapons. Following the track north, Harmast - thinking about Carthalo's fear of the stone woman - made clear and overt placation to the menhirs as they found them, even the broken ones. Considering she was watching them occasionally through at least some of them, this contributed later to what happened in the ruins. Party left the bison, and the zebras tethered when they finally were within sight of the wall of the tower complex (about 50y out). Given their pace and the distances on the map, it was really only 5-6 hours after they'd started, so still quite a way from getting dark. They spotted the person that spotted them approach, but couldn't identify more. They 'snuck' up to the wall at the broken bit about 7 o'clock, helping each other over the wall. Once they were about halfway between the wall and tower, they heard the cattle & decided that it was time to dump MP and rune points for the likely conflict only a few minutes ahead. Find Enemy immediately pinpointed the location of Varanik (Danakos didn't know they were there, so not deliberately meaning them harm; further, with the constant respectful treatment of the menhirs, I deemed the Sprul-pa weren't actually hostile either), while Sorala used Detect Life and moved laterally to pinpoint where he was hiding. Here was their first sense that the Spul-Pa were lurking, as her Detect Life would occasionally re-orient on a Sprul-Pa circling close to her underground, like sharks. The entire party was quite creeped out. When she'd maneuvered to where she could see him, a Mind Read gave Sorala a solid picture of his crazed mindset, and what he was crazy about (increased by ANOTHER person in his mind, from his point of view). From his description from Lannike, she figured it was Varanik, so boldly stepped toward him and called him out. A timely CRITICAL orate, calling him by name, claiming she was the avatar of the Stone Woman (I should really have made her roll against her Truth Rune on that, but I forgot), repeating the very words echoing in his head I ruled pretty much unhinged him and he dropped prostrate, weeping, begging her to spare him. She played the part completely, and ended up disarming him and tying him up with promises that this is what the Stone Woman wanted. While this was happening, Harmast blew his 3 rune points on fly, getting the full layout of the place. Vasana cast mobility on everyone, so Harmast's move of 24 let him scout the whole ruins easily. He didn't spot Danakos hiding in the tower. The only evident threat (Varanik) dealt with, the party closed on the tower. Entering the tower, the party easily spotted Danakos hiding between the altar and the statue (he fumbled his HIDE, nice timing). Nevertheless, Vostor approached too closely when trying to call him out, and was within range of buffed (bladesharp, protection, cast as the party approached the door without stealth) Danakos' jumping to the attack shouting 'blood sacrifices for Idrima!' . Vostor parried his attack and specialed Danakos to the chest, killing him in one rather anticlimactic blow. :| At Danakos' attack she began to stir. A little bit freaked, Vasana and Vostor attacked her for minor damage, while Harmast flew down, cut his own hand and dripped blood on her altar telling her they didn't mean to disturb her, only punish thieves and only show her respect and honor (which was convincing, given his previous conduct). A bit of a mixed message, so to sort of 'clear' the room she stomped and raised 2 Sprul-Pa on either side of the door, knocking everyone (but Harmast, obviously) to the ground. Vasana finally listened to the others in the party, and stopped attacking while Vostor leapt to his feet to continue, doing some decent damage. So she grabbed Vostor and pulled him to her chest, about to crush him to death, while asking the others "What blood sacrifice have you brought me? Is this one a sacrifice?" They all pleaded with her to let him go, and asked what would be a fair sacrifice, she replied "The animals outside". They countered her by offering 35 cattle (assuming 100p for each cow, and totalling the party's own ransoms). Not knowing that she would have automatically accepted this, Harmast kicked in the Bargain, augmented by his Harmony rune and Sorala's Truth rune (I ruled that in this case, it would be applicable to let them both augment) and she accepted. They traded Varanik to her to release Vostor, and basically the scenario was done. They forgot about Lannike's stone, until they got back to the village; then they volunteered to go back (with a cow paid for from their own rewards as sacrifice just in case she needed one to talk) and executed it by Danakos' bloodless corpse in the altar room, finishing the story. All in all it went pretty well. Players all had fun, I had fun running it. All the players, including the old hands said that it ran smoother & faster than they remembered. When they got the rules in their loot bags, some asked where the cardstock standups I'd used in the game were (oops, sorry, didn't mean to raise expectations). I've emailed them to them. If you're going to do that at all, I'd add the ones I forgot: Varanik, a bison, 2 zebras. Players liked that the 'fight at the end' expected ...wasn't. The "mob, mob, mob, lieutenant, BBEG" kill-them-all-to-win-the-prize trope is so ingrained from video games and D&D retail, it was very refreshing and interesting to negotiate to the end of the scenario (and that it was pretty clear that combat was not just not required, but the WRONG choice). Other notes: The 'character basically incapacitated when limb takes 2x' - so basically any place on the body that takes 2x hp means the toon is out of combat until healed - is a nasty rule, particularly for animals and things that don't have healing. The (functional) lethality increase of that single rule I'm not quite sure is justified? I ruled it did NOT apply to rock lizard tails. The ban on shooting while moving doesn't make sense for hand axes and javelins. Personally, I'd say that runes and passions need some scarcity; they can currently be used too frequently. I'd take away the penalty for simple failure, and make them "you can use each rune only once between worships" just to make them feel a little more like a valuable trump card to play, and not so much a regular crutch for everything they do. Same with passions, per "adventure" basically. I'd also suggest that a limit of one runic/passion augment be in place at a time; ie. one couldn't have a runic augment on their dodge and a passion augment on their attack at the same time. Spell casting chance augments seem a little unbalanced. Meditation (for example) gives +10% for 2 rounds for a success. Dancing for 2 rounds on a simple success is TWICE as effective (+20%), and has a chance to be much better? Is that what's intended? As mentioned above, trying augments with a skill below 50% are not worth rolling, I'd say that should be explicitly mentioned in the rules. It makes a sort of sense; you have to be meaningfully good/motivated/connected to a rune for it to really matter.

Maybe I'm not communicating effectively? I understand the concept of augments. They make sense. The problem (as I see it) is that there are basically 2 mechanical methods to augments. They have the same benefits, but the latter have far worse potential negative consequences. So why ever use the latter? To use a concrete example: If I want to augment a resistance roll with a rune, why would I ever use the runic augment method? Jajagappa explained that the main difference is duration, which is credible...except there's no constraint that I see on how often a character can use the former mechanism augments (that I see?). So let's say Rurik is fighting a clan enemy. He can use 'Hate(Enemy' to try to augment basically every attack roll individually(using the first augment method) OR he can use the Passion Augment that would last for the whole battle. Except, mathematically, he's FAR better off doing the former. If he has a high Hate(enemy) passion, the more rolls he makes the more he'll end up with a result distribution that reflects his Hate(enemy) percent. A single roll for the combat using the Passion table (even setting aside the catastrophically worse potential results of failure for a second) is a MUCH WORSE choice. If he has a low Hate(enemy) passion, then the likelihood of a bad roll is that much higher, so he should preferentially choose the table whose negative consequences are less impactful, (if he uses it at all; mathematically it makes no sense to roll for ANY augment with a skill below 49, as the average result is negative...)

For those still checking before their game tomorrow, here's 1) a quick-reference chart with the crit/spec/fumble values for skills, all the various augment types, combat round order of events, SR table, common combat mods, aimed shot rule, hit locs, attack vs dodge and attack vs parry results chart (wow, some of those text explanations are NOT clear!), damage results by location, and rune relationships/associations list. If there's anything I screwed up transposing, let me know, I'll still be around until around noon CST tomorrow. 2) for those who want to use figures but aren't ambitious enough to buy/paint them, here are standups you can cut out and use on a battlemat. (for the base, we use little alligator paperclips , clip them on the bottom, and remove the arms - voila, a standup figure with decently-weighted base. All as docx and pdf for easy printing/editing. RQG QR Sheet.docx Standups.pdf Standups.docx RQG QR Sheet.pdf

That's precisely my question. RQ2 said it did still affect the hp of the character, which didn't make much sense that you could ultimately kill someone by continually stabbing their arm enough times. Thus why in RQ3, damage beyond the 2x threshold didn't affect body hp - the limb was too mangled for more damage to matter.

p18: "Damage Equals or Exceeds Double Location Hit Points: A character cannot take more than twice the possible points of damage in an arm or leg from a single blow: the rest have no effect. Further blows to that limb affect the hit points of the character" I presume there's a "don't" missing in there? Ie Further blows to that limb DON'T affect the hit points of the character.(?)

I have a big question regarding augments? p3 talks about Augmenting Abilities: "Where appropriate, abilities—whether Runes, skills, or passions— may be combined to augment one another, using one ability in support of another." (later it explains it can also be used for the Resistance Table as well) p8 talks about Runic Augments as something distinct "Runes may be used as inspiration to augment skills or increase the chance of success on a resistance roll. What can be augmented depends on the specific Rune: an Elemental Rune may be used to augment a single non-combat skill within its skills category, with a sense associated with the Rune, or with an elemental weapon, and a Power or Form Rune may be used by character to augment any skill being used in accordance with that Rune" Finally, p11 talks about Passion Inspirations: (basically like Runic Augments) Sorry if I'm just not getting it, but considering the benefits are identical, and only the negative consequences vary (they're potentially far worse on the Runic Augment/Passion Inspiration charts) why would anyone use a Runic Augment/Passion Inspiration? Further, the first suggests that one can use *any* of the Runes, Skills OR Passions for it, while the latter seem to be constrained to Runes & Passions, respectively. (Also note: passions table talks about ABILITIES being increased by X%, which is misleading - the description states that you can augment skills only? ie you couldn't increase your STR by +50%)

I think the point being most of us are hoping we have strong interest and in that case an extra player spot would be nice to have.

Ooh, available already somewhere?

1) Basically, you get one rune/passion augment per situation, as I read it. If you try to use it to help in a circumstance, that's your one try. The applicability/breadth of that (when does one 'situation' end and allow you to try again?) is likely a DM call. 2) I simply wouldn't allow such cascades, not sure if the rules will be explicit on that. Likewise, I think DM's will have to arbitrate on how widely other characters' augments can apply - everyone in a group searching the horizon for the lost cow can help; not sure more than one (or even one) person can help you pick a lock. 3) I'd assume so, in the sense that Dance or Sing can sometimes help rituals? IMO DM's and groups will relatively quickly come to some sort of common understanding about the APPLICABILITY of such situations, and which can go with which. I can see this varying a LOT between groups, because it is so subjective. My opinion only, of course.

In case anyone finds them useful, I've created some various docs, mainly to put on my DM screen: - Locations (RQG hit locations) - The Runes - Lightbringers and some Friends - RQ-evocative images, including a small map of the scenario surroundings from the AA atlas. Also made a RQ:G character sheet in excel, pdf versions. Meant to customize one each for the game toons, but simply won't have the time to do it...includes a second page with full Rune spell list and abbreviated/simplified descriptions. The Runes.pdf Evocative.pdf Lightbringers and Friends.pdf Locations.pdf RQ-G Character sheet_blank.xlsx RQ-G Character sheet_blank.pdf

Fair point, thanks for the explanation.

Sorry, but since we no longer have limited-use Rune spells, I'm not sure I understand how this mechanically works? Spell description says "Allows the caster to trade one use of any Rune magic (except this one!) in exchange for one use of any Rune spell known by another priest of any cult." If the Issaries trades away "one use" of a spell, what does that mean? If she trades away Extension 1, does that mean she can't use extension 1 ever, until the traded spell is cast, or when? Can she still cast Extension 2? Does she spend the rune points for the spell she's trading away, and in exchange "get" one (free) casting of the spell she's trading for?

Then in a practical sense the 'must be cast on a path or road to be traveled by the caster' doesn't matter?

Leap spell listed as 1 point, actually variable. Mist Cloud listed as 1 point, actually variable. Does Multispell really have a range, or is it Self? Does the caster have to overcome the target POW for Soul Sight? Teleport is listed as 3 points, but is actually variable, so would this be 3+?

In Rune Spell Descriptions, in the RUNE column, there are a few spells listed with "ANY" (extension, for example) Does that mean that if someone is casting extension, they can literally choose ANY runic affinity for the roll? So if I was casting extension on an Earth spell, I could use my Air value or even Death? Thanks!

Consistent typo: the character sheets have R Leg 01-04, L Leg 05-09, Abd 09-11 Unless you can get hit in the left leg simultaneously with the abdomen, that L Leg should probably be 05-08? Same on all toons, Danakos, Sprul Pa, Varanik, Carthalo.

If it's the old rules, you could either use a shield in a round to parry (ie a blow) _or_ use it to block missiles. The only way to block missiles was to declare locations you were warding with the shield. If the incoming missile hit that location, it hit the shield instead. This was the key advantage to parrying with a shield instead of a weapon - weapons couldn't block locations like shields could. I think it was only my houserule that we DID allow shields to parry hand-thrown weapons.

There actually was one listed in the the White Dwarf article Dealing with Demons. Part II Don't remember if they had stats, and book is to far away to easily get. "Nightmare Large black demon horses who travel at a speed of 30 km/ hour. They require a pint of the summoner's blood. "

I took it as implied (both by the text, and by the sense that we should be keeping these games playably short) that 'tracking' Danako is perfunctory - they might fail some rolls here and there, but 'tracking ' a herd of cattle is nearly automatic. As far as that bit's concerned, the adventure is more or less on rails as long as they choose to follow them.

What precisely would differentiate a D&D(tm) Nightmare from a Gloranthan (tm) Nightmare? If that doesn't work, why not just make your own? STR: demonic, as horse +6 CON: demonic, as horse +6 SIZ: about the same as a large horse, call it horse +3 INT: smart as a person, certainly, say 2d6+6 POW: demonic, I'd say 4d6+6 DEX: as horse, maybe +3 Runs 1.5x as fast as horse, flies as fast as horse runs. Of course, your Nightmare May Vary. Of course it is. The BDMoM *is* a conversion of D&D creatures to RQ stats.

Maybe they didn't skip leg day?

First, HUGE thanks for your replies. Much appreciated. There are some really helpful answers in there. Meditation: on p21 it says "the sole purpose of this meditation is the casting of the spell, and does not yield additional magic points" - so NOT the same as the first kind? Earthpower: so the caster gets a point of POW for 15 mins... I didn't realize the duration limit, thanks. Obviously this point of POW shouldn't be sacrificeable for rune points.

This is one of the clever mechanics of the opposed roll, actually. If we have a contest, your skill is 40 while mine is 20, if we both roll a "normal success", my possible rolls are 05-20, while yours are 09-40, meaning even if we both nominally "succeed", it's much more likely your normal success was better (higher) than mine, because of your intrinsically higher skill. This was a clever way to implement a "better" result within a "same" success category that didn't involve mathy subtraction to figure who had the better differential vs their skill....same result, MUCH simpler, albeit a little counter intuitive until you get it. Jason, as far as movement, my point was in the "the melee round" description that lists the order of events: Statement of intent Movement of UNENGAGED characters Resolution of melee, missiles and spells Bookkeeping ...ie engaged toons never get to move?

As much as the nitpicking HAS to annoy MOB and Jeff and Jason to some degree, I'd only submit that the opposite - a cricket-chirping of no response at all - would be a far, far worse thing generally.