styopa

Unfortunately, I've plotted the days between posts. 1 2 2 3 3 15 4 59 5 3 6 24 7 19 8 5 9 8 10 59 11 139 By that measure, and using excel's series-extrapolation algorithm, we won't see subsequent posts until: 12: March 11 13: May 29 14: Sept 9

Thank god we don't all subscribe to such silliness. If nothing else, Glorantha's been largely free of the "oh we can't do that because it's icky" rationalizations, and I fee this is one of them.

The only hitch I've found in conversions (I do a lot, and it's a big one, IMO) is that none of these adventures conceptualize the immanence of spirits as Glorantha does. And, I've always been troubled by spirits as I've found them rather a brittle thing: a party slightly underprepared can get ANNIHILATED by even a moderate spirit opponent, while a minimally prepared party can largely ignore them unless they're overwhelmingly tough. So adding them can be touchy and perhaps the most contextually delicate process.

That's sort of where I fall too. IMO I've never understood the "bows get to fire faster than anything else" idea, except insofar as the logic was ported from D&D (where bows, of all missile weapons but darts, get to fire multiple times per round IIRC). Who knows how EGG justified it. IIRC RQ2 was at least more logically consistent than RQ3 in this sense (you'll rarely hear me say that) in that most missile weapons got to fire 1/SR (ie, multiply if your DEX SR was low enough). I disagree wholeheartedly with the idea for the reasons Pentallion stated above. Yes, conceptually and anecdotally, archers of many cultures from Mongols, to the Bashkorts mentioned above, to the Yabusame all had techniques for *very* rapid shooting. But in the SAME SENSE, if I were to stand whacking a pell with a sword, I could hit it a TON of times in that same span as well...yet we don't really allow melee combatants to do this unless they have extraordinary skill (for various handwavy reasons). Nope, after some consideration I give archers and missile weapon firers the (basically) same sort of strike rank calculations that anyone in melee gets: They get an initiative, and can fire when their turn comes. Obviously, they don't have to close distance, and if they (in roleplaying) started the round with an arrow nocked and drawn, they can release at the start of the first round, then initiative each round thereafter, so they still have an advantage in that case (as they should). But no, no multiple shots unless they have skill > 100% like any other combat skill.

I don't really have a dog in this fight, but I'd argue that "morocanth slavers all have X" isn't synonymous with "all morocanth have X". I rather believe that harmonize is a damned useful spell for any slaver be they morocanth, durulz, or human.

I don't see much/any reference to Harmonize: RQ2 says spells: Healing 2, Ironhand, Countermagic, Mobility. RQ3 (AH) Gloranthan Bestiary "Their favorite spells are Countermagic, Heal, Ironhand, Mobility, and Protection" ?

1) I'd prefer a flat -%, because then you're logically consistent with the "hitting a small target" rule in RQ3, where it was a flat % IIRC per point smaller than SIZ5(?) Take that flat %, double it for the innate difficulty of hitting it moving, etc and maybe not getting an opening, and that's the flat %. Plus, should it really be harder to 'called shot head' on a massive creature whose head is SIZ6+ (assuming you can reach it)? 2) We count through SR, and when the character has a chance to hit, they can say "ok called shot X", then their strike happens d6+3 SR later...if it goes past the end of the round, they never got an opening. NOTE: we also allow PCs and significant NPCs to sacrifice quanta of 25% of to-hit for a 1SR bonus to strike. 146%+ to hit? Generally (if you don't mind losing the spec/crit advantage) you'll go 2SR faster, without hurting your chance to hit. Sort of the equivalent of 'hip shooting'. 3) we used to do SoI at the start of each round (stated in ascending-INT order), and then if someone changed their action midround, there was a change-of-action penalty of d6 SR. Lately, we've just been using "go when your SR says, and do what you want to at that moment" because it seemed to so greatly speed up combat.

The thing that originally 'triggered' me on the predictability of the RAW SR system was called shots, honestly. RAW is that called shots are at the end of the round at half %. i) it made no sense to me that a Quincy Quicksword (normal melee SR 3) would be so much more penalized than Chloe Clodhopper (SR9). (Likewise the half-skill penalty similarly overpenalizes better-skilled toons, but that's another story) ii) knowing that she will ALWAYS strike second, there's a much lower disincentive for the slower toon to always do called shots. Called shots aside, if a SR4 is slugging it out with an SR3, that counterintuitively *completely* frees the SR4 to do all sorts of SR-wasting things in a round...they KNOW that the 3 will (generally) go first, so no reason not to burn another SR screwing around swinging from chandeliers. The slower toon gets more tactical freedom of action? Huh? It goes back to the darn predictability of it, PARTICULARLY if you're requiring 'statement of intent' before the round executes.

Personally, I'd say no. Insofar as cults are related or cooperative, they ALREADY explicitly offer certain spells etc to associated cults. It's simple: If you want runelevel power from a God, they get your undivided commitment. For both in-game context reasons and preventing-powergaming meta reasons.

I think someone engineering one of those would be a TERRIFIC Rune-Level adventure hook for players...most of the gods, including Arachne Solara herself, if need be, would cheerfully encourage their earthly minions to urgently hunt down and destroy something so obviously dangerous to the Compromise. While Chaos gods - hell, even Ralzakark for kicks and giggles - would actively work to protect the (likely naive) inventor. Or, if one's a particularly sadistic DM, one could have the players approached by the subject that 'invents' it (or better, even hired by a Chaotic agent) to protect them from this sudden rash of assassins, destroying his/her work, even kidnapping his/her family to give them the invention, etc....and let the players rescue him/her a few times, only for it to eventually dawn on them that they're ADVANCING CHAOS & fighting their own 'people' so to speak. Then let them twist hard on the moral dilemma of what they do with the pathetic person that's totally dependent on them for their safety now, who *refuses* to give up their device (or if they steal it, promises to build another). Muhahahah

0.o you can be Rune Level to more than one cult? Aside from unique circumstances like Illumination, it's never even occurred to me that someone could be a Wind Lord of Orlanth AND a Storm Khan. Seems like that level of involvement would be, necessarily, exclusive. I could see someone being a Rune Lord of X, and initiate of other, associated cults, in which case I guess I'd rationalize the 10% tithe as 1/10 of the Rune Lord's remaining income, after they take care of #1.

Unless you've a skill in it of course. There are certainly whole Mostali legions of heavily-armored Nidan Mountain Hobilars equipped with glaives (essentially: axes that can serve as spears) and *particularly* smooth-faced, razor-edged shields, trained to execute perfectly-timed and synchronized surprise charges using the steep snowy slopes. They are famed for the 'Soren Slaughter' when 20-30 elite NMH soldiers routed a force of Halikiv Uz nearly ten times their size (discounting trollkin, of course) with no casualties of their own. The Halikiv regiment had been able to (they believed) 'trap' the Nidan expeditionary force deep in the Rockwoods, in the high approaches to Mount Soren. Not widely discussed by either side (Uz didn't want to admit it, and the Mostali are always secretive about their tactics), a wedge-charge of a half-dozen NMH veterans shattered the ascending Uz formation/mob and threw it into bloody confusion, while a following pincer assault by thrice that number trapped & killed the Uz leaders, turning it into a rout - easy pickings for the remounted Mostali to cut down as the trolls floundered clumsily in the deep snowpack. This event is commemorated by a treasured mosaic on the south wall of the 14th Grand Hall, 2nd Drift, Nida. Particularly noteworthy is the initial charge, the Mostali warriors audaciously standing on their shields as they carve great arcs through the Uz ranks, the snow spray represented in tiny, glittering diamonds while a deep blue lapis Mount Soren looms in the background.

There's a fair amount of RQ stuff in old White Dwarf magazines before they became the house organ for WH. http://wiki.oldhammer.org.uk/v/Runequest/White_Dwarf_Index

We're playing this evening - stop by! OK, maybe you're not conveniently close to Minneapolis. But you'd still be welcome. We're doing the WFRP Shadows over Bogenhafen adventure, morphed into a town in Western Loskalm and with a few Gloranthan twists.

Using the RQ3 rules, IIRC if a 2h weapon wielder attacked a dual-wielding defender: If the dual wielder had a lower SR (and had on her action declared "I'll attack when they do") I'd allow the dual wielder to parry offhand, and attack main hand simultaneously...meaning the 2h user cannot parry on that same SR. I think that would be a fairly clever tactic, but of course concedes the initiative to the attacker which might have its own consequences. Sure, verisimilitude might dictate that doing both in the same SR would involve some other penalty, but that's getting down in the weeds a bit IMO.

Absolutely yes; what I'm talking about are the perfect bound softcovers, ala RQ6 (or RQ2, if you prefer that comparison). Hardcovers remain a different market. However, I'd point out that I believe (?) D&D5 was hardcover but was also perfect-bound (ie glued-in pages) and had product-quality issues because of it. Despite public perception, hardcovers don't ipso facto mean quality books. For perfect-bound, it's all about the glue quality and assembly quality, both of which are being ever-more standardized into the all-book printing units to a pretty high default standard. I'd rather have a durable, well-bound perfect-bound book than a pretty hardcover with the pages falling out. IMO softcovers are generally easier to use for gaming, but probably are not as durable as a good hardcover.

FWIW, the publishing market is undergoing an absolute sea-change right now. Economies of scale are almost going the way of the dodo. The power and capabilities of high speed inkjet printers are really shattering market standards; every year, they're not just incrementally but substantially more capable than the previous year. There is so much growth, the companies involved simply cannot keep up with it, and I've seen some astonishing behavior between ostensible direct-competitors "I simply can't cover this job, I'm going to tell this customer to call you"... Moreover, the big publishers, with massive capital investment are way behind the curve when it comes to adopting and implementing these things. Small, local printshops that used to be sort of bottom feeders for b&w print jobs too small or inconsistent for the big guys to chase are - for what they paid for a B&W printer 5 years ago - able to buy into color technology and compete pricewise with firms 10x their size. I think what we're going to see for the RPG market like this is that the sorts of quality books that formerly used to come only from the largest publishers with deep pockets, will now be MUCH more doable by even smaller firms. For those of us who want a dead-tree version of the rules (pdfs are super useful for searching for something, but not so much for browsing or just reading for pleasure), this is pure good news.

Oh I don't disagree with you. I don't believe however that any company or individual has the power to conclusively determine what - colloquially - something will be called eventually by the community. They can insist all they like, and the less rational/useful their insistence is, the more likely the vernacular will make its own ruling. (shrug). Personally, as I mentioned, I believe this will be "Runequest" as long as its current. If, in some distant future there's another version that comes out after this reinvigorates the market, spawns a record number of supplements, and eventually is adapted into the first truly VR-based gaming world, this rule set will almost certainly retroactively be called RQ7. Sadly, I have higher confidence in your prediction than Chaosium's. No plan survives contact with publishing.

I recognize the point you're trying to make and ultimately one could get down into the epistemological weeds but I'd simply call that a different edition of RQ3. Likewise, I'd disagree with the list above in formally naming RQ4, as it was never actually published...but it's a thing, the draft versions are out there (and I quite liked some of their ideas), and it does therefore need a name... For me, the new version is probably simply going to be 'Runequest' as it's the CURRENT iteration; former versions will have more specific monikers like RQ3, MRQ2, RQ6.

I'd rephrase that. They're all called "Runequest" on the cover. So insisting the new one is 'called' Runequest is being a touch pedantic. Colloquially, no matter how hard Chaosium insists 'it's just Runequest' (factually, they're absolutely right), that's claddistically (not to say idiomatically) nearly useless. People need clear vernacular to understand what version people happen to be talking about RQ2, MRQ, RQ6, etc. Personally, I suspect it'll end up being RQ7 just because it's the 7th iteration of the rules marketed as RUNEQUEST disregarding fussy details about who worked on what, or who had what license, etc. Chaosium discussions will likely call the new product just 'Runequest", saving iteration-numbers for historical reference only. But hey, we can all pick whatever windmills we choose to tilt at.

Isn't the Rulebook we hold - defining everything in its mechanical relationship to each other - *essentially* the God Learner book of Glorantha? If anything, Jeff himself - by writing these rules, and the previous Guide - is the Demiurge of the God Learners. He has pinned the facts of the world forever in a book like a butterfly. Of course to do that to a butterfly, you have to kill it first. (Greg avoided this by constantly retconning himself, *proving* that the written word couldn't keep up with the changing nature of reality.)

Maybe it's just the homonymic adjacency of Quickstart and Kickstart in my head, but I'm a little confused. So RQ QUICKstart is ETA June-ish. RQ KICKstart will be done after GenCon (ie mid Aug) But the RQ books will be 'done' before the kickstart - "done" meaning "completed in composition and editing, ready to be printed" I assume? Considering they're going to be done before it even starts, it's not really a Kickstart, is it? More like using the Kickstart engine to serve a pre-order mechanism? (EDIT: my point was that I was going to ask if we could put in pre-orders, etc, but if that's the point of the kickstart, it would be a dumb question) Or am I just totally misunderstanding? Thanks!

I'd like the CoT cover as poster art better, if it was available without text?

May your cattle be fat, may your rede be wise, May you always detect Eurmal's asinine lies; May Ernalda bring you a bountiful Spring, and hope Uleria grants the same to your thing; May the Great Darkness always remain far from your door, and may Orlanth's fire warm you right to the core. Happy Sacred Time to all!