Jason D

Every comment was reviewed and evaluated. Most were addressed. A new version was created Tuesday of this week. I'm not sure when it went live. 

On 12/21/2021 at 3:29 PM, Yinkin said:

I was looking at the mercenary contracts on page 48, which suggested that standard pay is 5L per week for a mercenary soldier. This comes up to 200L per year (not counting Sacred Time), which is quite a lot more than the 60L suggested base yearly income of a warrior in the core rule book. Is this on purpose?

As mentioned elsewhere, for a mercenary to receive that much they would need a fulltime contract lasting a year, which is not that common. Most mercenaries have down-time between campaigns, and return to their farms/homes between contracts. 

Nice! 

On 12/18/2021 at 12:37 AM, Glyph said:

Just spotted another worrying omission - the Philosopher occupation in the rulebook has a small portable platform as part of the starting equipment, but it doesn't seem to be mentioned in in Weapons & Equipment...

Worrying? 

On 12/11/2021 at 1:14 PM, Akhôrahil said:

Several of the Land Improvements (p. 100) make no sense economically by the rules. A +5% bonus to the Income roll or Farming roll for a Hide of land will typically be worth less than 3L yearly on an 80 L-producing hide. This means that improvements like Irrigation, Road (on non-rolling terrain), Shop and Stable/Barn, with a higher maintenance cost than this, will be a net cost even after the initial investment.

A Standing Stone is good, though!

I think you're interpreting these values incorrectly. They are not to the amount of income, but to the % of the skill roll to determine income. 

Harmast, as a noble, determines his yearly income based on his Manage Household or Orate skill, per hide he owns. He has added some land improvements. These improvements don't add to the income specifically, just the chance he will succeed or get a better-than-average success in that income roll. 

See page 422 of the core book. The difference between failing that roll and succeeding is half his income per hide, a significant amount. So he's going to spend what he can to improve his odds, carefully choosing improvements that maximize his wealth while minimizing his upkeep. 

Of course, at some huge macro-level with thousands of people rolling thousands of times these values average out, but that's not the experience of a single adventurer, in this case, Harmast. 

If Harmast has spent so much on improvements that the upkeep cost is more than he can afford, then he's bad at business. 
 

On 12/11/2021 at 12:30 PM, jongjom said:

Into the Troll Lands - what are you referring to here? 

The upcoming Into the Troll Lands book. 

As a note, I'm going through this thread and doing strike-through on the error reports as they're being fixed. A new updated .pdf will be available soon. 

Some I need to think about, so don't worry if yours hasn't been fixed yet. 

8 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

Please also take another look at my previous feedback re: shield combat rules in the soloquest.

All edits will be fixed in the .pdfs, wikis, and the online soloquest. 

Thanks for all the feedback!

I am going through this list and making careful note of all comments/corrections/suggestions.

Before too long - it's very fiddly work so it takes a bit of time - I'll have updated the .pdfs for download, and will provide an errata document for this thread (and download on Chaosium's site). I'll probably hide the comments here so you can just look at the corrections document for any changes. 

9 minutes ago, Simon Wigley said:

Dear all,

I had a query about using Charisma and Glamour together, which would also apply to Bear's Strength and Strength.

If you have, say, a CHA of 16, and cast Glamour, it goes up to 24.

If you cast Charisma in the next round, does CHA double to 48? Or does it only double the base stat, making 40? Or does Charisma just supplant Glamour, making 32?

It seems like something that could have been clarified in the Red Book of Magic, possibly in a futre edition with a short paragraph.

The correct use is to improve the base attribute, not the magical addition to it. 

That said, the difference between the results is not huge, and if you'd like to make your Rune magic that much more powerful, by all means do so. 

As for putting clarifications into the RBoM,... we did what we could, but if we tried to cover every single example of a potential combo of spell effects, the book would be triple the size. 

15 hours ago, OSRFan said:

I also ordered a copy.  Wasn't sure if I should wait after seeing the corrections thread but I like RQ quite a bit so I purchased it.  I do wish we'd get a free coupon code for DtRPG just to make it easier for knowing about updates.

We'll be updating the .pdfs and I will be posting a corrections page. Nothing game-breaking. 

On 11/7/2021 at 6:10 PM, Atgxtg said:

Stormbinger has a few things like that tucked away, such as adding half Juggle skill to any thrown weapon skill.

I remember that rule.

So many buried little bits that make me go "Hey, wait a minute!" 

On 11/5/2021 at 8:20 PM, Atgxtg said:

About the only change I'd want to make to them would be to incorporate Stormbinrger's  existing rules for master quality weapons. The one where you can get an extra weapon die. It's a very old rule. 

I don't have access to my copies of SB at the moment. Which edition was that rule in? 

On 10/28/2021 at 5:03 PM, Atgxtg said:

Oh, and since Jason didn't mention it' I'd incorporate his rules for exceptional gear from his Slaves of Fate conversion. 

I had utterly forgotten about those rules! 

I've been a bit under the weather the last weeks but am thrilled to see such a wonderful discussion here! 

NOTE: This is in NO WAY to be taken as anything official and does not represent any future plans or anything in development. 

I was just at The Kraken, a retreat also known as "the most comfortable and best-fed four days in gaming", and ran a session of old-school Stormbringer 1st edition, straight out of the book, all dice rolls open and no fudging.

Miraculously, all of the characters survived (mostly by avoiding combat) but it did serve as an excellent reminder of the paradigm shift of what players find acceptable in gameplay. 

After the game, one of the players asked me "As the editor of RuneQuest, if you were redesigning Stormbringer now, what would you do?" 

So here's my answer about how I'd redesign character generation. 

First off, I love the randomness and would probably keep many of the random elements of character generation as the preferred method, but would allow for "roll on the following table, or pick a desired result" just to keep the influence of Chaos present.  

If it isn't mentioned down here below, it's not something I feel strongly about changing. I am a big fan of random armor values, for example, as I think they fit the setting and solve the problem of using light weapons vs. heavily armored foes. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

• Include a pregenerated spread method of assigning characteristics. 
• Scaling back homeland characteristic bonuses (probably by half).  
• Getting rid of the skill category bonuses entirely and improving base chances for skills across the board. 
• Giving player characters their starting language skills (Speak at INTx5) automatically. 
• Rather than random skills (1d6+2 skills at 1d100/2), players just get X skills with standardized bonuses (five skills at +20%, for example). 
• Rebalance classes so nobles are not the end-all of character creation, assassins are not better than dedicated warriors, and make craftsmen more of a well-rounded artisan class than the wild card that they are.
• Probably add a few interesting missing classes such as Performer, Nomad, Healer, Scholar, Trader, etc. 
• Maybe add a sidebar with suggested options for characters from others of the Million Spheres, stranded in the Young Kingdoms.  
• Add RQ-style Passions (Hate, Fear, Devotion, Love, Honor, etc.). 
• Add RQ-style augments for skill rolls. 
• Remove some of the less useful skills (Ambush, Scent, Taste, Memorize), rename some others, and add some more useful missing ones.
• Adding something about background - either some background generation or some means of giving the character some initial trajectory. Something to both tie the character to their homeland and past, but also give them some pathos, including some skill bonuses and some initial Passions. 
• Cut a few of those weird exception-based rules that are buried in the text. 
• Replace Elan with Allegiance (from Elric!). 
• Add Distinctive Features (from Elric!). 
• Use the updated damage bonus chart.
• Add a Renown or Reputation value.  
• For the "lucky" few that begin with magic, make sure that they begin with a pact of service already in place, either hereditary (such as the folk of Melnibone) or a bargain they've made prior to the beginning of gameplay 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Magic... that would be a page 1 rewrite. While I think the 1st edition demon/elemental summoning worked best so far, IMO there's never been a magic system that really got the flavor of the fiction. 

Gods and cults... I'm not convinced that there are elemental cults as described in SB1, and I'm not a fan of many of the additions made to flesh out the Lords of Law. My gut feeling is that most worship in the Young Kingdoms is at the "lay member" level, versus being particularly fervent. 

And yes, I know some of the subsystems named above are from games earlier than the current edition of RQ or Elric!, but for shorthand, I'm using those as the most direct references. (You don't need to point this out to me. Don't be like that.) 

I am sure that we're doing that, but you can always email our customer service (customerservice@chaosium.com) and ask. The Gen Con release was a bit of a last-minute surge, as it was still making its way through the warehouse. 

It's nearing it's way through layout. 

The downloads section of this site include a variety of resources for you to play heroic fantasy settings using BRP, Elric!, or Magic World rules. 

For example, long long ago I adapted the Hyborian Age for use with Elric! 

here's the character creation system and a character sheet: 

https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/64-conan-character-sheet/

7 minutes ago, Exsteel said:

If a Giant were to cast the Bear's strength rune spell would it double their strength, even if the Giants' strength is higher than a bears?

 

Yes. Why would anyone teach a giant that spell, though? 

The easiest way to go is to decide what the desired race is, what they can do, and build a package of abilities and potential drawbacks for that race using the superpowers or mutations. 

If you want some classic fantasy races, try the Glorantha Bestiary for RuneQuest.

On 5/29/2021 at 8:26 PM, Kargzant said:

Hey, all. I finished running The Broken Tower for my family today, and I was wondering something about creating subcults or cults for gods not in the RCG core book. Our group chose to appease Idrima in return for protection from Chaos, and I was wondering if anyone who played the adventure ever dealt with Idrima as a cult or subcult afterwards. The adventure recommends using her as a subcult of Maran Gor, which no one in our group really worships. I could see her teaching some skills like Earthspeech or Spirit Combat in return for cows. Would it make sense for someone in our group to become an honorary priest of Idrima for their part in reviving tribute to her if they're alright with the Earth Rune? And would that come with any powers or restrictions? I imagine that she's not going to be as strong a deity as Ernalda or others, but she probably has something to offer for payment.

I hope my questions make sense. I'm trying to make a fun adventure for my family, and I think giving them rewards and opportunities for their actions would help them become invested in the game I'm running.

All of the suggestions and answers above in this thread are excellent ones, but... 

...the jump from "not a worshipper, never heard of her" to "honorary priest" is a pretty huge one.

My suggestion is that the adventurer would first have to:

• Sacrifice at least 1 POW to become an Initiate
• Take a Passion of Devotion (Idrima) at 60%+, and maybe Loyalty (Broken Tower/temple) 60%
• Start new Worship (Idrima) and Cult Lore (Idrima) skills

Once all of those are underway, then see if they qualify to be a Priest using qualifications similar to those of any priest (RQ, page 276), but also looking at Maran Gor (RQ, page 299).

I would substitute Climb for Herd, Animal Lore for Throw, and might rethink the qualifications for God-talker (eunuch) or Priestesshood (celibate). She's a lot more into blood sacrifice and fertility, so maybe making her followers non-fertile is not the ideal match. 

You might consider creating "Animate Sprul-pa" as a special Rune spell (seems a 2-pointer, to me).  

53 minutes ago, Heroic_latte said:

Are you telling me I have to generate like 20 names by myself just to get started with a group of adventurers?

You also don't really need to generate any names for them unless you feel the need.

They can just be "Grandmother" and "Father" until you decide that they need names, or until your gamemaster requests it.  

23 minutes ago, Hendrik said:

I was just wondering how much overlap there is in these two publications. If I buy the guide, is there any point also getting the source book as well or am I better to get other supplements?

The Guide is an encyclopedic reference to everything Glorantha, in that format. 

The Sourcebook is more a series of essays and short informative pieces. 

Ultimately, the question is what you want to do with it. If you're reading about Glorantha or wanting a great intro to it, the Sourcebook is the way to go. If you're writing material for the Jonstown Compendium or want to research a topic deeply, the Guide is the best bet. 

23 minutes ago, Hendrik said:

Also, anyone know if White Bull is coming back to you tube? I miss that badly.

No idea! They're on a short hiatus for various reasons but I know they're planning to continue soon. 

On 3/18/2021 at 7:12 PM, TRose said:

 What to people think of the Idea of running a Classic Runequest  Sorcerer as a Mastermind Villain in a Superworld game? I feel one would be versatile in what he/she could do, but would not be very combat oriented ( Thats what minions are for) But Im not going to even try to point out the cost though.

You might use the magic rules from the BRP book in that case. They're a lot closer to Superworld and require even less work to create.