Marc

Interesting Jeff. But the rules state( pp. 313-314 ) : An adventurer gains access to cult special or associated cult Rune spells at the same time they sacrifice POW for Rune points. For each point of POW sacrificed, the adventurer acquires the right to cast an additional cult special Rune magic spell. So, I'm somewhat confused. I can see the rationale for the donation, but, unless there's something else somewhere else in the book, I don't see that the rules require it. Am I missing something?

How do you add mastered Runes and Techniques for Sorcery? I thought I had seen it once, but can't find it now.

Actually, yes. I generally let the player roll resistance rolls. I've never really gotten hung up on active vs. passive. Say character A (POW 18) casts Befuddle on character B(POW 14). If A rolls, there is a 70% chance of overcoming B's resistance. Or, put another way, a 30% chance that A fails to overcome B's resistance. If B rolls there's a 30% chance of resisting the spell. Or, put another way, a 70% chance of not resisting the spell. Either way, A has a 70% chance of Befuddling B. So, its a difference that makes no difference, which, IIRC, Spock would say is no difference.

I knew about the need for the command cult spirit spell. Where is the use of the Moon time for this documented in the rules?

So, I'm getting ready to run a scenario at my FNSLGS( Friendly, Not So Local Game store, its about 100 miles away, and is the closest! ), and as I was putting together character sheets for the pre-gen characters, I ran into a couple of puzzling items. First, fairly minor, why would Harmast have Passage without Lock? You can't use Passage without Lock, so it seems a bit odd to take it. The second one is a bit more serious. Vostor has Summon Fire Elemental from Seven Mothers. Having the spell is not a problem, but the description of Summon Elemental(Type) says that the Rune used varies depending on the elemental being summoned. I always assumed that meant Earth Rune for an Earth Elemental, Air Rune for an Air Elemental, etc. But Vostor has 0 for the Fire Rune. So, he has taken a Rune Spell that he has no chance of casting? Or is this a Lunar thing, cause Lunars break rules all the time, and he can use his Moon Rune for the spell?

I like what you have done, mostly. My issue with it, and with the RAW, is that the amount of time you need to train/research is the same, regardless of your skill level. In the RAW, you need a whole season to train your Track skill of 5%, or your Broadsword skill of 70%. Just doesn't make sense to me. I'm playing a character in a game on Roll20 that has a 5% Track skill. With RAW it just doesn't make sense to me to train that skill. Both RQ2 and RQ3 had the current skill level factored into how much time you had to spend training to get an increase. In RQ2 it was handled by a different cost depending on your skill level, and a set rate( 100L/week ) for paying for training. So, training your Broadsword up from 40% cost you 500L, and took 5 weeks. That was for training for 2 hours/day. RQ3 made it simpler( although with more bookkeeping ), at a number of hours equal to your current skill level. I'm planning on something similar to RQ3, with 50 hours per week if you do nothing but training, and 10 hours per week if you are engaged in your Occupation. Subject to change, once I see how it works out.

The group I played with in the early '80s loved that game. We usually did a free-for-all, with a chest of gold upstairs, and the two that got out with it won.

I liked your Combat 101 document. A couple of comments: Statement of Intent. I have always done the statements in INT order(lowest to highest ) That gives the players with characters that have higher INT a bit more info to base their actions on. Movement/attacks. You can only attack twice with a melee weapon if your skill is 100% or higher, AND you have enough strike ranks. And each attack is at 1/2 your base attack skill. I have played that spells cast on the weapon( ie Bladesharp ) have their modifiers added AFTER splitting, while spells cast on the person( ie Sword Trance ) have their modifiers added BEFORE splitting. Its the skill before splitting that has to be 100% or higher. One exception to needing 100% or higher is missile weapons with a Rate of S/MR. With those, you use your full skill for every attack, and can attack as many times as you have strike ranks for. More below In your Action/Strike Ranks table, one error is that missile weapons don't have a strike rank, so those attacks are on the character's DEX SR. Shooting a weapon with a rate of S/MR, and a low enough DEX SR, you can attack multiple times per round. So DEX SR 2, Weapon ready to fire at the start of the round( arrow knocked ) First round, First shot at SR 2 Load weapon, ready to go at SR 7( +5 SR ) Second shot at SR 9. No time to reload this round Second round, weapon loaded at SR 5 First shot at SR 7 Weapon reloaded at SR 12 (+5 SR) DEX SR 1, Weapon ready to fire at the start of the round First shot SR 1. Load weapon, ready to go at SR 6 Second shot at SR 7 Load weapon, ready to go at SR 12 DEX SR 1, Weapon not ready to fire at the start of the round Load, ready to go at SR 5 First shot, SR 6 Load, ready to go at SR 11 Second shot, SR 12 With a DEX SR of 0, it works out basically the same as a DEX SR of 1, except that, if you're ready at the start of the round, you can get 3 shots off in the first round.

I'd LOVE to join the Cult of Chaos and offer to run a game at my local store, if I HAD a local store.

I should spend more time thinking about posts. Yeah, I wouldn't make a player pay the SR penalty if the focus was tattooed. Basically, it depends on how hard it would be to get to the focus. Actually, this thread has reminded me of something I should tell the players in my current game. When I was running an RQ2 game, I required players to write down where they had the focus for each spell. So we would be able to tell if the focus was damaged, destroyed, or unavailable for some other reason.

They are working on a Gamemaster Sourcebook. I've actually been hoping that the reason Justin hasn't been responding on the core rules thread is that he's been busily working away on the GM book.😊

I've always played that if the focus you need to cast the spell is on the weapon, then you don't have to pay the 5 SR penalty. If it's not, then usually you have to pay the penalty.

Hey, I've got a player that has asked to run a Centaur, which I agreed to once I saw there was a "Creating an Adventurer" section for Centaurs. Then, I read further down and found that they all worship Arachne Solara. And there is little info on her(?) anywhere in the rules. Not sure what I should allow for Rune and Spirit spells, and cult skills. Is there some resouce I can look in? I've got the Glorantha Sourcebook, but that didn't seem to have much that would help with this. I've thought about invoking YGMV, and saying they worship some other god(s), but haven't gotten as far as deciding which one(s).

I wouldn't say it's an error from an older edition. My copy of RQ2 indicates that movement in melee was 3m/MOV unit( 24 meters for humans ), and running( actual term used was Flight/Chase/Unhampered movement ) was double that. It may be that they considered the melee rate to be running, but I never did. I can say that, back when I was young and foolish, I was a fighter in the SCA, and fought in a few tournaments wearing armor, with sword and shield. I never ran during those fights! In any case, I'm going with the 24 meters in melee, 48 for running, and leave it at that.

That's exactly what I have always done. I also interpret the "Movement of non-engaged characters" to mean those characters not currently in any combat(missile or melee ), and not targeted for any combat by the current statements of intent. So, if a character is moving, but someone has said they're going to shoot him with a composite bow on SR x, we figure out how far the target could move by SR x, and determine if the shot is still possible.

Jason has recently posted some answers on the Core Rules thread that confused me. Rather than pollute that thread, which is supposed to be where we get official Chaosium answers to rules questions, with a discussion on this, I thought I'd start a new thread. The first post I noticed from Jason was this one: I replied to that, saying that I'd always thought the text on page 54 was a mistake, and the the word "meters" should be "MOV units", and referenced the text on page 82: Movement is rated in movement units (MOV), each unit equaling 3 meters. All human adventurer can move 8 movement units in a melee round (up to 24 meters), unless stated otherwise. Jason quickly replied to that: Which really surprised me( the answer, not that he replied quickly ). When I played RQ2, I had always gone with 8 MOV meant you could move 24 meters in a melee round, and RQ2 also explictly stated that the running speed for bipeds was MOVx2, which implies to me that the melee move of 24 meters was walking. So, I'm curious how others have interpreted this.

I have to agree. Given the possibility of the negative consequences of a failed( or fumbled! ) augment attempt, there is no way the GM should require a player to attempt an augment.

Well, as I said, I'm not sure what I would do for a house rule. I would like to see training time be dependent, somehow, on current skill level. It seems to me that taking a full season, doing nothing else is a bit extreme to be able to improve a skill that is currently at 25%. As I said, I've got ideas, but with a lot of holes. One is how any how rule should interact with the other rules for skill improvement from the "Between Adventures" chapter. I'm sure, if I continue with this, I'll find more. That's the problem with house rules, making sure there are a minimal number of unintended consequences!

I've never really been happy with how training is handled in RQ:G. Needing to spend an entire season to train a skill seems a bit much. Particularly when it seems to me the amount of time you spend should be dependent, at least in part, on how good you are to begin with. In both RQ2 and RQ3, the time you spent was dependent on your current skill level. In RQ2, you had to pay more for training at the higher skill levels, and you could only spend 100L/week on training a skill. RQ3 was simpler yet, you needed to spend a number of hours equal to your current skill to get a chance for it to increase. So, I'm curious what other people think. Does it make sense to have to spend a whole season to get to add 1d6-1 to your 23% Track skill? Should the time it takes to earn the roll be based in part on how good you are to start with? Right now, not sure what I would do for a house rule to change this. I've got ideas, but they have a bunch of holes in them. Would love to hear what ideas, if any, others have on this.

I asked if Rune or Spirit spells could be cast on a Protective Circle in the Core Rules Questions thread. Jason responded that he thought so, but would check with Jeff. That was about a month ago, haven't noticed anything else since

Same here!

I agree, don't apologize. In fact, I've been thinking recently tha TOO many people have been answering questions on the core rules questions thread. I thought it was intended for official Chaosium answers. With people other than Jason, Jeff, and Rick answering, it becomes harder to figure out the "official" answer. Having a separate thread for a rule discussion is a Good Thing.

Really enjoying reading this. I'm about to run that scenario myself, and reading this is very helpful. One question, where did you get the paper miniatures?

Thanks for putting that together @Rick Meints, I really appreciate it.

At this point ( since you said the player had been playing RuneQuest for a long time), I would say: GM: Hmm, well, you must have been distracted this melee round, and you do nothing Or, if I was feeling generous: GM: Well, apparently, you decided to delay the spell, and it goes off now, at SR 8. For a new player, I'd be more forgiving. If someone has been playing for a while, I expect them to know the rules.