creativehum

10 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

Runes magic, definitely yes (with the exception of using Multispell).

Thank you for the answer.... but the portion of the post you quoted contained two questions. 

Is your answer about Rune Magic referring to:

1) Do spells work as Melee Attacks, with only on spell per round?

Or:

2) Is a character able to cast as many spells as he or she can squeeze into the round?

1 hour ago, womble said:

if you don't have hostiles waving pointy sticks in your face.

I think this is the nub of the issue... and definitely one of the stitches I dropped a couple of times as I've read and re-read the rules.

My guess is, at this time, if you you are engage in melee combat you can only get one spell off.

If you are at ranged (that is, not engage in melee combat, as if you were firing arrows), you can get off as many spells as you can within the 12 SRs.

The issue is one you are engaged in melee combat your focus and actions are much more limited as you do the do-see-do of bobbing, weaving and striking. Staying out of melee allows you more flexibility with actions.

8 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

Source book?

https://www.chaosium.com/the-glorantha-sourcebook-pdf/

Yesterday, running my first game of RQG I used wooden, 1"x1" chits with Runes drawn on them representing the adventurers, the rock lizards they fought and so on. We played on a hex battle mat.

So, no miniatures, but we counted out measurement for movement, range of spells, positioning of who was engaged with who and so on.

Miniatures are great! But costly, time intensive, and limited (a troll is a troll is a troll.) I've decided using removable stickers on wooden chits for maneuvering and combat will be the way to go for me.

Played my first game of RQG yesterday (all of us never having played RQ before). We had a great time, but had a few questions that left us flipping through the book searching for answers on the fly. One of them stuck with me and I want to ask the group here if we got this right.

MELEE ATTACKS WITH ONE WEAPON

If an adventurer is NOT splitting an attack, it seems as if the adventurer only gets one melee attack per round. The rules (as far as I can tell) never state this, but looking at several passages in the book (specifically the way Splitting Attacks works on p. 202, which suggests that splitting attacks is how one makes multiple attacks with a single weapon in one round) and interpolating the texts, it seems as if even if a character had the SR for several Melee attacks, he or she could not make more than one attack. (The exception to this is Duel Wielding or Split Attacks.) We came to this conclusion yesterday, but I want to check.

MISSLIE WEAPON ATTACKS

As opposed to Melee Attacks, the user of a missile weapon gets to fire as many times last he weapon's Rate allows. This seems clear, but I'm bringing it up in contrast to Melee Attacks to make sure I'm getting it right. 

SPELL ATTACKS

Up until yesterday, I would have assumed that an adventurer could cast as many spells as his SRs allowed with in the firm limit of 12 SRs. Now I'm not so sure. Do spells work as Melee Attacks, with only on spell per round? Or is a character able to cast as many spells as he or she can squeeze into the round?

Further, is there any distinction between the kinds of spells that impose limits. That is: maybe an adventurer can cast only one combat spell of some kind per round, but multiple spells per round the are not combat? Honestly don't know but trying to sort this out.

Thanks for any help on this!

9 hours ago, BWP said:

Where would you derive that understanding from?  You might well be correct, but I don't know that there's ever been a poll taken?

That's a fair point. The statement was made from reading several posts from people on this forum who stated quite firmly they don't use the SRs as written, and basically only use the SRs for DEX, SIZ, and Weapon. Or people who are adamant that they avoid concerns about facing at any cost. But that's hardly a poll or any kind of study. 

10 hours ago, BWP said:

It's increasingly clear to me that any time there's a question of mechanics (as opposed to character background info, world building, etc.) -- or, if you like, "hard" vs. "soft", or "how" vs. "why" -- then the RQG rules should at best only be used as suggestions.  Or, to put it another way ... if you think a situation deserves some sort of special penalty or bonus, don't look for an answer in the RQG rules -- just go with whatever "feels right" to the people at the table.  As long as you do it in a consistent fashion, there should be no cause for complaint.

I hear you.

The thing that is confusing me is that the RQG SR system depends on movement limits and disengagement rules. If one is not using specific positing (as found in a miniatures game) I'm note sure what some of the rules are doing in the game.

I undestand many (if most) people don't play RQ with tracking of positioning and movement. (We are told you can move half-MP and engage, or full MP if not engaging, or only move 1 meter if engaged... so somehow this stuff is supposed to matter.) But I also know a lot of those people dump the SR rules as written and come up with a new system.

I'm trying to figure out the game as it is written... and as written it sure seems like the use of tokens or miniatures of some kind would allow all the rules of combat to be employed clearly. If not a lot of them are going to be quickly handwaved away, dropped, or ignored.

That's my take at least. I can see not tracking movement and positioning. But that means ignoring several elements of the combat rules as they stand. And at that point you're heading toward a static combat where each PC does pretty much the same thing most rounds, on the same SR every round... and that would be boring, right?

Hi, 

First, thanks for looking into that. I appreciate it.

Second, I was familiar with that rule. But I'm not confused about the sneaking part.

What I'm curious about is when you know there's an enemy who has come up behind you. There's a swarm of enemies, you and your comrades are fighting... and then enemy reinforcements arrive from behind. There's no sneaking. But they are at your back.

Are you allowed to split your attack between two opponents to either side of you?

Are you allowed to parry attacks coming from two opponents to either side of you?

Are you left undefended from a rear attack if already engaged with someone else? (That is, do you need to disengage and maneuver to put your opponents in a forward arc?)

These are the questions I'm curious about.

A weird question, perhaps

I've been pouring over the RQG rules for a while now, and it suddenly occurred to me I have no idea if facing or positioning matters during combat?

Does it? I don't remember coming across this at any point. But there are so many rules I've been soaking in I might have missed it!

And, specifically, if I'm engaged with Enemy A, and Enemy B comes up behind me, am I allowed to turn and parry against Enemy B?

Does engagement "fix" facing to some degree?

Are there limits on how much one can turn (or turn to parry) when engaged?

6 hours ago, DreadDomain said:

I did not think of that but this is actually quite true. I've seen player vs player fights where they would lock eyes and shout and taunt one another while shaking their dice, daring each other to roll them.

Well, I did not think of that... But I hope it happens tomorrow when I run the QuickStart.

I read a trick somewhere that the players for both the attacker and the defender make their respective skill rolls at the same time.

Not only does this speed up play a little bit, it creates the sense immediate conflict as one rolls to attack the other defend. 

Since how the defender rolls directly impacts the results of that attack roll it makes sense to roll the Defense at the same time. You really don't know what happened with an attack if someone is defending until the parry/dodge roll is made. 

Which is all to say, "Yeah, you have to commit to the defense before the attack is made."

I was finally sent an email telling me that because I used copyrighted material the files have been hidden.

Further, I should wait for the GM Pack because what I need will be available then.

While I completely understand this from a legal standing, I'm disappointed for a great number of reasons.

No one form the Forum has taken the time to contract me, but these files seem to have been removed.

Huh. I was able to download it. (But maybe because I uploaded it? Or maybe I screwed something up when I uploaded it as a new version last time?)

Anyway, as a test, I've uploaded the file again. See if this one works.

https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/650-rqg-charts-tables/

Updated version of my Charts & Tables for RQG. (1.2)

I've added more information about damage, added healing and spirit combat info.

The last page is a couple of notes about rules with blank space to add more info as I find rules I think I want on hand.

https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/649-rqg-gm-cheat-sheets/

At this point the charts and tables covers what I need to run the RQG QuickStart as efficiently as possible. So there's nothing about Holy Day rituals to recover Rune Points or end of season experience and such. If I end up getting a game running I'll sort that stuff out later!

Good to know. However, one of the points of the project is to bring all the elements for given rules from across the book into one unified list or page. So the sorcery rules are out for now since, again, I don't have time to dig in and figure those out.

I'm currently adding tables covering damage, rules for healing (forgot those!), spirit combat, and religious ceremonies.

Thanks for the replies!

First, in terms of Sorcery, the SR notation about Sorcery is straight off the SR table found on page 193 of RQG. Here's the thing: I haven't read the sorcery rules yet. Simply digesting the rules for skills, combat, spirit magic, rune magic, with all the flipping back and forth to get a grasp on the mechanics has kept me busy enough. There will be no sorcerers when we play in a couple of weeks. (We're playing the QuickStart, and while Sorala is given sorcery spells in the core rules, I'm keeping her sorcery-less as she is in the QuickStart.)

So reading Phil's comment all I can think is "I have no idea what this means." The fact that he seems to be saying something that contradicts what is in the SR table leads to me think it isn't something I want to get caught in and have to sort out at this time. So I might simply leave the Sorcery notation off the table and either a) add the details to the SR table later; or (and more likely) b) build a separate Sorcery Page at a later date, since it sounds like there might be some ground to cover and I can use the space to fill it out.

(If a simply set of notation lines for Sorcery SRs can be agreed upon by others I'd happily put it in the table. But I'm not dealing with it myself right now.)

2 hours ago, jajagappa said:

moving the Attack/Parry results & Attack/Dodge results immediately after the Ability Success table since its common to have to regularly check the success level, then the attack results.

I haven't finalized the page order yet. (My own inclination is going to be to print several copies of the pages double-sided (for example, Attack/Parry & Attack/Dodge double sided) and laminate them so they can be picked up and referenced by anyone at the table as needed. But I will be moving the pages around when I'm done.

2 hours ago, jajagappa said:

the damage modifiers & results would be a useful addition (e.g. result of an impale, smash, …; and what happens when a hit location goes to 0, gets 2X damage, …)

I believe the results of specific weapon types are listed under the Dodge Results Table. Let me know if you are thinking of something else! I might have missed it. (There's a lot of little rules in this game.

Adding the damage effects is something I wanted to add, but it seemed daunting to simplify the text. But you're right, it should be there. I think I'll move the specific weapon types damage info to a new page add put the damage effects on the same page as that. Or I might try to slip it under the specific weapon type damage under the Dodge Table. 

2 hours ago, jajagappa said:

spell casting bonuses for sacrifices, location, date would be helpful

That's something I definitely want to add. But since I don't need it for the game next weekend, it wasn't on the to-do list in front of me. But it will be slapped together at some point.

Finally, I did make one alteration: I flip the axis of the Attack/Dodge table so that the Attacker is on the left column, as he is in the Attack/Parry table. (In my view, the two tables should match the positions of Attacker and Defender.) Flipping the text boxes was more confusing work than I thought it would be, so if there any mistakes, it's probably there. 

I'm running RQG in a couple of weekends for some friends, so I pulled some charts together of the charts and notes I think I'll need to keep the game running smoothly. I've uploaded the pages.

https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/649-rqg-gm-cheat-sheets/

Every person has their own thoughts on what tables and notes are most important for running any game. Here's my take on that for RQG.

If this is helpful to you, great!

If you look it over and find any errors or anything you think I missed that might be helpful please feel free to make a comment!

Thanks!

Thanks!

The latest, and final, versions of the QuickStart Pregen Booklets are now available in the download section.

I understand the PDF is being updated with corrections over time.

Is it Chaosium's policy to publish a list of errata for the printed version so I could go mark it up if I wanted to? (Rather than constantly having to compare the book against the current PDF when reading the book.)

I also fixed the changes created between the Quickstart and the core rules.

The latest and for now final drafts (1.2) can all be found here on my blog. I'll get around to uploading them here at the Chaosium site later.

The texts I've read in Glorantha material about what "Initiate" means has always been less than clear.

But as far as I can tell there are kinds of Initiate in Orlanthi culture.

The first kind is an initiation into adulthood and the Orlanthi religion. Everyone does this. The initiate learns the secrets of gods, of the Storm pantheon and so on.

But there is another initiation that can take place: A complete initiation and commitment to a specific god. It is this second type that I believe gains Rune Magic and Rune Points.

Here is an essay by Stafford on Orlanthi initiation Rites.

After describing the general initiation into adult and the religion, this passage shows up near the end: "At this time individuals often choose the specific deity that they wish to worship, and afterwards undergo complete initiation and commitment to that entity."

Now, I may be misreading this. But this is how I've made my peace with this issue. I read it this way in part because my sensibilities line up with Narl: I'd like Rune Magic to be more special affair, for those who have dedicated their lives to a god and cult in ways most people don't.

17 hours ago, Crel said:

But that level of detail which is cool to me because at soul I'm a dusty academic is going to be a barrier to new players, especially new players of RPGs.

I have a weird thought about this: 

I've read statements like this from many people over many years. I honestly don't know if it is true.

The notion that there are supposed to be "training wheels" or something for RPGs is not something I've ever seen needed in practice.

Some people will want deep, detailed background to hook their characters into. Others will want the characters to be treasure-seeking vagabonds exploring lands they know nothing about -- that part of the pleasure is that their characters travelled to places they know nothing about. Different games and settings will cater to different tastes.

But this has nothing to do with new players or experienced. It has to do with taste. And tastes can shift. We like to try new things. I've been running a really wild ride of a B/X D&D game for a while now. I'm looking to RQG to shift gears. 

I honestly think people worry too much about new players. RQG is what it is. If someone is looking for a deep dive setting its there for them -- new player or old hand.

All right. 

I've changed up the list of Rune Magic spells to match the spells found in the RQG Core Book. I've also altered the spell notion terms from those found in the Quickstart to those found in the Core Book (so, now a spell might have the notion, [1, Touch, Instant, Nonstackable], as opposed to the notion from the quickstart).

I hope this is useful for people. I'm still plowing through the rules. But I've found that making tools like this lets me get a grasp on new rules. And I believe it will help my players in a couple of weeks have a quick reference for both rules and some of the texture of Glorantha as they sink into the setting and the game for the first time.

https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/647-rqg-vasana-quickstart-11pdf/

https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/648-rqg-vostor-quickstart-11pdf/

https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/644-rqg-harmast-quickstart-11pdf/

https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/645-rqg-yanioth-quickstart-11pdf/

https://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/646-rqg-sorala-quickstart-11pdf/