Marc

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

On 8/10/2019 at 4:19 AM, soltakss said:

Funnily enough, we have never used POW vs POW as resistance, we always have NPCs being the Active party and actively overcoming POW.

When someone is under the effect of a spell, we use the Resistance Table to see if they can throw off the effect, for example someone stuck in a Giant Spider's Web can try using STR to overcome the Web's Glue, but that is an active thing.

Does anyone actually say "The Lunar is casting a spell at you, roll on the Resistance Table to see if you resist"? 

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.

2 hours ago, Joerg said:

Vostor's Moon rune covers all of the Young Elementals (i.e. Darkness, Water, Earth or Fire as small elementals).

In addition to "summon cult spirit" the caster also needs "command cult spirit" to make the elemental do anything.

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.

On 2/16/2017 at 3:34 AM, Yelm's Light said:

I always loved the bar fight in Apple Lane...reminds me of my favorite brawling game of all time, Swashbuckler.  Alas, it's also lost in time...Swashbuckler, not Apple Lane.

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

1 hour ago, EpicureanDM said:

Wait, so if the focus is tattooed on the character's body rather than on the weapon, then couldn't take advantage of this rule, whether it's for melee or missile weapons? That sounds like an interpretation based in a previous edition's rules, not RQG.

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.

33 minutes ago, Psullie said:

I like to keep it simple and use 3m hexes. Each round a character can move 8-ENC penalty hexes. If you move more than half MOV then that's all you can do for the round. Those that move half or less can interact with other combatants with a +1 SR penalty per hex moved. If the PC is starting from stationary  they start to move on their DEX SR.

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. 

1 hour ago, PhilHibbs said:

Forcing the use of an augment? I'd never do that. I think it's a terrible idea.

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.

On 12/21/2018 at 3:05 PM, Kloster said:

As it is written "None of the spells cast on the protective circle can have a higher strength" and only sorcery spells have strength, I read it only sorcery spells can be cast on the circle, even if it is not explicitely stated.

Kloster

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!

1 hour ago, styopa said:

Great explanation of the realistic consequences of acid, certainly. 

Absolutely I recognize this isn't real-world acid behavior, but we're also postulating creatures that spit/spray/exude/excrete acid as part of their offensive/defensive arsenal.  Acid - as it acts in the real world - is nearly pointless in this role.  I believe the only animal that actively uses acid in any way like this would be ants (formic acid, which is more or less a low-grade toxin more than an acid unless at really high concentrations).  In most other cases, it's more like a capsaicin-like reaction than anything.

"That horrifying black dragon lurches into view, inhales and spits ...something that's really not that much different from water.  You're almost entirely unbothered by it, it might make your eyes sting a little if you had them open...." - not particularly fearsome, IMO.

Of course, what "RPG monster" acid is like is more imagined to be akin to Alien(1979) blood:

Finally, in a game-mechanic sense it's useful to have something that is particularly damaging to equipment.  (Without resorting to the even-more-kludgier Rust Monster...)

 

Why apologize?  It was a good question, and I think the discussion is interesting.  

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.  

3 hours ago, soltakss said:

Also, please treat the rules as guidelines rather than things that must be slavishly followed.

In my games, Strike Ranks go something like this:

GM: Ok, so we have had the Statement of Intent, lets get to combat.

GM: Strike Rank One, Two, Three, Four

Player 1: Oh, I'm on Strike Rank 3 ...

GM: [Does the combat]

GM: Strike rank Four, Five, the NPCs attack [Does the Combat]

GM: Strike Rank Six, Seven. Eight

Player 2: When does my Befuddle go off? 

GM: What's your DEX SR?

Player 2: What's that?

GM: It's on your character sheet and you've been playing RQ for 20 years

Player 2: Oh, right, it's 3

 

 

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.

I've done a bit of searching, and found a couple of options for comparing 2 pdf files. I'll give them a try, and see if I can generate some kind of change log. Not sure how it will work out, but worth a try.

I knew Chaosium was a small company, but I didn't realize how small. Frankly,given their manpower availability, I'd rather have them working on new supplements, and answering rules questions( thanks @Jason Durall!) than trying to come up with a change log after the fact.

Is there any chance of getting some kind of change log for the updated PDF's? Even a list of the pages changed would be helpful.