Psullie

55 minutes ago, Oracle said:

According to the Guide to Glorantha, p. 9, Animism is just another term for Spirit Magic.

The fourth magic form missing here is Mysticism (aka draconic magic or illumination).

yep, I always trip on that

34 minutes ago, kaydet said:

Could someone explain the Gloranthan mechanics for spirit magic and how those are replicated in the rules?

What I have always pictured is a personal relationship (friendly or otherwise) with a spirit housed in a charm or object (such as a sword). The spirit provides aid and guidance to its owner. e.g., "Strike here, move there. Now block..."

1. Spirit Magic (aka Battle Magic) is common place low powered magic that most sentient beings are capable of. They require sacrifice of your personal energies (Magic Points, a daily renewable source) to bring into effect. When opposed they require the caster to overcome the targets presence (POW) with your own.

2. Spirits are commonplace entities that can represent almost anything, there are disease spirits, spell spirits, passion spirits, water spirits etc. Mostly they do not interact with the mortal world (called the Middle World), however a shaman can attempt to engage with them and if they can over come the spirit bind it to an object where they can then use that spirits magic. Some malevolent spirits, such as disease spirits, can initiate an attack. Sometimes knowledge of rare magic can only be learned by locating a suitable spirit and defeating it in spirit combat.

Note: there are other forms of magic in Glorantha, Sorcery, Rune Magic (aka Divine Magic) and Animism. 

"Fortunately, we've solved it. Now during chargen, your character starts with three special rune spells from your cult (and subcult if relevant): one for each Rune point you have. If you spent points of POW to acquire additional Rune points, you get to pick another spell for each additional point spent."

Jeff, this sounds really great, captures the feel of RQ2 while being more playable and reinforces the importance of choosing your cult 

36 minutes ago, David Scott said:

1000 in Sartar, 6000 in the Wastes. 

They all have to have a pool of at least 3pts, it's only 160m range and needs pow vs pow success. The opposition are likely to have magic up as well. As soon as Humakti are rumoured to be present, magical defenders are likely to be bolstered.

this suggests that the only limiting factors are Rune Points and the casters Rune affinity - initiates generally having lower values in each, but have the potential to cast any Rune Spell known to the cult. The QS says that initial Rune Points are sacrificed POW then replenished by worship, so one has to have sacrificed 4 POW at some point in the past to have a pool of four rune points. For me this would be the game balancer, and I hope that the cult write-ups reflect this, i.e. most casual initiates having only 1 Rune Point.

Then again the concept of a 'rune arms race' comes to mind as both sides of a conflict max out on power charging their priests before battle could be interesting   

4 hours ago, Darius West said:

If you want to get very sticky with the rules, what happens when you have a character who achieves mastery 90%+ in defense?  Can they train others in it?  How much can they charge?  My RQ circle had to confront this problem when Dugg the Axe, who was by then a Son of Pavis achieved Defense Mastery in ST1618.  We decided on the following Price breakdown for training 05-25%=4000L, 30-50%=8000L, 55-75%=16000L, 75%+=Unavailable.  This made it ridiculously expensive, almost as bad as learning General Knowledge, with the added issue that finding someone who was actually a master being next to impossible.

 

IIRC Defence cannot be taught, the only way to improve is by INT% experience checks or adjusting the relevant Characteristic. 

1 hour ago, GianniVacca said:

Well, Rune points are only replenished once per season. That's really not often, especially if, like myself, you are refereeing a mega-dungeon game in which the adventurers are doing multiple forays into the dungeon per season.

A Rune spell will save your butt and, yes, it is way overpowered compared to battle magic (can't get myself to use 'spirit magic') -- however it's just something that will happen really rarely and be the talk of the party for seasons to come so I'm 100% OK with the approach. For me, it sort of replaces the hero points in HQ: a magical feat that saves your butt once in a while.

Yep I'm happy with the mechanic, and that Rune Points can only be replenished by religious observance etc. 

It's more about as Sayerson put it: the 'keys to the arsenal' - I liked how RQ2 suggested that Rune Spells would be taught for specific reasons, especially to non-priests. It just seem odd that initiates would have so much knowledge.

I can see how as a character progresses through their spiritual journey they learn the prayers and ways of the cult. Initiation ceremonies etc provide opportunity to acquire cult canon by way of spell knowledge - just that the examples in the QS seem overly initiated. 

If the approach is rare feats codified as 'spells' then I can see how that would work too

10 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Nope. What I didn't put in that essay is that you can create bronze out of an alloy of tin and copper. Which makes mythological sense if you think about it. So bronze comes in either a pure form (pretty common in Dragon Pass, Kethaela, etc.) or as an alloy (more common in much of Peloria, as "pure" bronze is very rare north of Alkoth).

That's great thanks

2 hours ago, Jeff said:

Gloranthan bronze CAN be mined directly but it is MORE commonly created by mixing copper with tin. 

Hi Jeff

Is this at odds with the Guide, in particular Bones of the Gods p. 16

2 minutes ago, styopa said:

Except Glorantha is bronze age CULTURALLY, not metallurgically.  And even then, only limited parts of it are.  

I mean, if the mechanic works for you, that's fine but I think the RQ3 model felt much better, and people didn't have to tow a cartload of 'backup weapons' to every adventure.

Absolutely, Gloranthan 'bronze' is mined directly and has little relationship to the copper/tin alloy. However Iron is rare, mined only by the dwarves and is known to be more resistant than 'bronze'. Also even by our middle ages, steel weapons broke quite frequently due to poor smelting and impurities in the metals.

24 minutes ago, Paid a bod yn dwp said:

The brittleness of weapons feels right for a Bronze Age game, with the use of softer metals. It also feels in keeping with the grittiness of RQ combat. I could see some interesting/unexpected situations in combat because of it.

Trying to parry a great trolls club attack could result in a dramatic scramble, as parrying shield and sword are both smashed as they try to repel the monstrous blows.

Having thought about it, taking a flat 1hp damage to a successful parrying weapon or shield regardless of rolled damage  could actually help speed up play, being less numbers to keep keep track of 

Yep! My mind went to Rune Lords with Iron Weapons, I imagine these having significantly higher AP's

Having run the QS on Saturday and had time now to start digesting what little bit of the new RQ on offer. I realise something about the new approach to Rune Magic. 

First off all of the adventurers have on average 20 different Rune Magic spells to choose from, and only 3 or 4 Spirit Magic spells. Admittedly each character has 12 or so Magic Points for Spirit Magic and only 3-4 Rune Magic points so it is likely that they will cast only one or two Rune Spells during the game. I'm happy with the overall mechanic. 

Where I have issue is that for initiates to know that many Cult secrets really diminishes the value of the Rune Spell. Fine if you were a high priest, but for example would you expect an Orlanthi initiate to know the way of Flight. Both RQ2 & RQ3 had gaining a Rune Spell as something special, perhaps too special so I see need to open it up. But this also places Spirt Magic (the mainstay of RuneQuest adventures) somewhat in the backseat. I fear that this approach will turn everyone into Clerics

Perhaps it's just that for space reasons they just listed a bunch of common Cult Runes Spells in each character sheet knowing that during the game they'll only cast one or two, and there is another mechanic that places more reverence on the availability of Rune Magic for beginning characters

my 2c

'High rolling wins' benefits higher skill values - assuming that both get equal levels of success, even with the 1/2 success. It's just a way to break a tie while giving the advantage to the character with greater skill, while still giving the underdog a chance to win. 

5 hours ago, Mel Riffe said:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Pendragon2

Apologies for the OT reply, but I thought it funny that I first read/heard of Pendragon from this post, yesterday, and _then_ learning that Bundle of Holding is offering it for sale (or at least a version of it).

:-D

 

 

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/KAP2017

this is what you want, and I cannot recommend Pendragon highly enough

19 hours ago, styopa said:

As I see it, your choices are

1) roll up an RQ2 character, and just GIVE them a distribution of runes/passions that are comparable to the ones the current PCs have, or

2) simply write one up that's comparable to the current ones, winging it with the numbers.

Nobody but Chaosium has chargen info.

Yep #1 seem the way to go, I'm tempted to run the Borderlands campaign but with a veneer of the QS, my only concern is teasing apart Rune Magic - also I think it fair to say that initiates need passions & Runes at 60%+ in relevant areas for membership

I get what you're saying

Would you prefer - make as many attacks as SR (melee the same as missile) or limit to one attack unless 100% + (missile as melee). 

having the same mechanic regardless does seem more BRP - interested to hear others view on this...

1 hour ago, styopa said:

But doesn't really address why missile weapons are so astonishingly more lethal, ie 2x the strikes (or more) in the span of a round, all else being equal. (Firing into or during melee is sort of a canard, needlessly complicating the basic question.)

I'm not trying to change your mind, you and I simply differ on this.

This goes waaaaaay back when the old school consensus was bows fire twice per round. 

Now melee combat in RuneQuest has always taken the view that the dice roll was the culmination of feints, ducks and lunges. SR was an abstraction which allowed in some cases to give faster, longer reach weapons an advantage. When not actively trying to stay alive knocking off two or three arrows in 12 seconds is feasible if trained.

Swords and such have 10 - 12 AP but will break automatically if the rolled damage exceeds the AP. So I imagine weapon smiths doing a fine trade in Sartar

RQ2 had additional mechanics for hafted weapons, spears, axes etc. perhaps this will be included

I can see the Spirit Magic spell Repair becoming a soldiers favourite

10 minutes ago, Paid a bod yn dwp said:

Ah yes, I thought i had read a hint of that somewhere in the Quick-start. Its in the example on p7 "Multiple Activities outside of Melee". It certainly indicates that multiple Missile fire is possible without having over 100% skill. Sounds similar to RQ2. 

Thanks - thats interesting I hadn't remembered the specifics of RQ2 missile fire.

Paid a bod yn dwp you made me question myself - so I dug out my RQ2 book and check, perhaps this was a house rule after all, the original rules just state (for bows) S/MR which means as many attack as SR allowed. As it takes 5 SR to 'reload' with a DEX of 15+ you would fire on a 1, 6 & 11 at no penalty!

I think what hasn't been covered yet is that Passions, Runes etc (I imagine) are subject to experience checks. So each time you pass your Hate (Lunars) roll there is a risk that it will increase. So relying too much on raw energy could slowly spell doom for your character as traits over 80% are subject to Mandatory rolls. Which by the way was a sweet part of Pendragon and which really fits with the epic myth of Glorantha

The RQ2 model allows multiple attacks as long as no attack is less than 50% and all attacks can be preformed within 12 SR. So if you had high enough SIZ & DEX and armed with a Pole Axe for example your SR could be as low as 1, at even above average SIZ & DEX your SR would be 3 and therefore get an attack at 3, 6, 9 & 12 if their skill was high enough. At 125% you would have two at 63%, needing 150% to get three attacks and so forth. 

The same counts for bow attacks except that you were allowed two missile attacks to start with at normal chance, if your missile skill was above 100% you would get 1 extra attack (assuming SR available) but all three attacks are at half value.

6 minutes ago, ajtheronin said:

The QSR mentioned a Shaman in Chaosium website but I can't find it.

This will available July 1st

had a blast! Played one session, with a mix of players none had much RPG's experience. 

I thought the character backgrounds were great, I used to their Power Runes to describe their personality which really helped. 

From the start we had steady use of Spirt Magic to assist, Farsee for example to examine the corpse from a distance then scan the area for enemies. Only issue here was that apart form Vostor, they all had pretty poor Scan (this is used a lot in the game especially in the first scene)

As a GM I enjoyed playing the Carthalo, really went to town on the mad Man-Friday gig! I felt Lannike's appears was great - rising storm, lightening with Vasana dancing an Orlanthi war circle and Yanioth singing earth songs - very atmospheric. (note Orlanthi prefer funeral pyres, as she was to be buried I suggested that Lannike was an initiate of Ernalda). A nice touch with my group was Sorala turning tor Harmast and telling him to back off when the Greydog ghost appeared before he had a chance to say anything!

Back at Carthalo's was a chance to offer essential back story but because to he madness the players were sufficiently sceptical. Vostor was very wary of the hermits cooking, without a cooking skill (or any remotely suitable) the player asked if First Aid would be applicable to see if the food was safe to drink! We all agreed that it was a long shot but when he rolled a 01 I immediately felt that obviously his time in Lunar Army camps had given him a keen culinary sense.

The next morning they were off. I tweaked the Rock Lizard encounter to place the poor bull at the centre of a large depression at the end of his chase. Initially only 3 lizards were visible (as knowing their type was irrelevant and no-one asked I didn't bother with the roll). The heavy hitters closed to engage in melee (I felt that charging the lizards with a bison would as likely stampede already exhausted bull) while the others provided missile support which was when 2 more 'rocks' became lizards much to their surprise. As time was limited I cut the encounter to just 5 and I felt that the purpose of this encounter was to simply demonstrate combat.

They saved the bull thanks to Yanioth's aid on the bull. Again Vostor's scan ability pays off and the start to notice the menhirs. Sorala starts to investigate and translates the carvings. The players getting more intrigued. Which presently brought them to the ruins. This is where the game really geared up.

Harmast, always looking to find the diplomatic solution (and not looking forward to fighting four Grey Dogs with the advantage of terrain, tried to open parley. With no response forthcoming Vasana stood up on her bison and began tracing a wide circle began chanting an Orlanthi flight poem. The wind picked up and with a sharp intake of breath was aloft. With the advantage of height she quickly located the herd and then aimed for the open topped tower. 

The others ran up the approach road to quickly give support. Once inside the tower Vasana witnessed the deadly scene and spied Danakos trying to hide. She swooped down slashing her sword, and managed to deliver a nasty leg wound to the Grey Dog. His reply however was much worse forcing the Oranthi to back off just with a crippled leg, fortunately the wind was still with her and she was able to stay back. 

Harmast and Vostor were quick then to gain access and after a brutal and exchange Harmast was nursing a badly wounded sword arm but the Grey Dod was dead. (got to love RuneQuest for it's short sharp sword fights). But thats when She awoke.

At this stage Sorala's investigations paid off as she received divine inspiration about the nature of the Stone Woman. Yanioth was at hand to speak the earth tounge and mange to strike the deal for half the heard. As they left the watchful Sprul-Pa made it clear they made the right choice. They never met Varanik who probably still ramble about the old ruins!

Overall.

A lotto get through in the 4 hours I had available so pacing was important. The storm and build-up of clues worked create a sense of fear of the Goddess. The scenario does however have a slight Call of Cthulhu feeling to it but it worked. 

The augments, Passions, and Runes all worked really well with my group and made logical sense.

I do feel that if you had no RuneQuest knowledge you'd find a lot of missing pieces, range of a bow for example, but as a taster it asks a to of interesting questions

More to come...

Thanks MOB, Jeff & Jason for the errata

On 6/16/2017 at 5:28 PM, g33k said:

😞

Sure would be nice if the Cult GM's had this to offer our players tomorrow ...

 

Yes, but I think there's more than enough for an afternoons gaming, roll on Saturday!

1 hour ago, styopa said:

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

Excellent and thanks!

26 minutes ago, GamingGlen said:

I'd rather cut down on the amount of dice rolling and keep the math simple (one fraction, not 3, and 50% is the simplest: divide by 2).

Fair enough, on a related issue...

I read those as add 20, 30 or 50 percentiles - a skill of 35 would become 55, 65 or 85; and not 50% of the original skill, but it did give me pause to consider.