Demons in RG:GB

[Manu]

When I look at the 'demons' in RQ:GB, I'm not 100% sure they are spirits.

 

Are they? Do they attack with Spirit Combat? Are they discorporated?

[Lordabdul]

They're in the "Spirits" chapter so I assume they are spirits, yes. They're Underworld spirits, to be exact. They also have the ability to materialize and engage in physical combat at will (3rd bullet point in their description), so I think they can engage in both types of combat, depending on the situation.

[Austin]

4 hours ago, Manu said:

When I look at the 'demons' in RQ:GB, I'm not 100% sure they are spirits.

 

Are they? Do they attack with Spirit Combat? Are they discorporated?

I don't treat them as discorporate. I think that they could be kept in a binding enchantment or crystal, but that would probably require something funky in the summoning. I think they do have Spirit Combat skill and are used to doing so, but that they don't typically do so when in the Middle World. Instead, I see demon spirit combat being focused on when someone discorporates and goes down to the Underworld to poke and bother spooky fellas down there.

IMHO the best way to handle demons is probably to use the GB stats as vague guidelines, and instead to try developing each demon as a unique entity. Obviously this isn't necessarily viable for an active GM with unpredictable players...

[Joerg]

Underworld entities often have bodies similar to those of Shades (darkness elementals), semi-tangible, or tangible on demand (which also means you can hit them with weapons, though not necessarily with as satisfying results as mangling up a body made of flesh and blood). Dehori can attack you in multiple ways, with fists of shadow, "swallowing" you (for the fearshock attack of a Shade, or possibly for digesting you and your equipment corrosively), or sending magic your way.

There are underworld entities that manifest in flesh and blood - like Ethilrist's "horses" and the Hound. But that manifestation needn't be their only one. Look at the vampires and their mist form for typical demon behavior.

There are denizens in the underworld with other powers than Darkness - Heat, Water, Earth. Dead Light, too. There is an entire class of underworld denizens that might be called Chthonic. (But then connaisceurs of the Chthulhu mythos don't associate this with pleasant forms, either...)

Umath is somewhere in the Underworld, shattered or at least tattered, but sufficiently coherent to have impregnated the White Moon so that it became the Red Moon in the Golden Age. (It is ironic that the Lunars have a myth to visit shattered Umath, whereas the Orlanthi and other storm worshipers tend not to go there. Is this a "Where is Alesia" situation, in itself apparently a spoof of "what is Waterloo"?)

Parts of the Underworld are vibrantly alive, though that vibrant life isn't always pleasant to the eye (touch, ear, whatever) for a surface dweller. Varchulanga is a denizen half of the Underworld, half of the Deep - a benthic sea entity, you might say. Her children are demons in every aspect but their habitat.

Trolls and Adpara races are demons by one definition of the term - beings originating in the Underworld. So is the Shadzoring form of old Alkothi families. The Luatha are as much demonic as they are celestial in origin.

In that sense, the Veldang humans (Artmali, Zaranistangi) have a demonic origin, too.

[Videopete]

Don't forget Granny Keeneye

[Gallowglass]

19 hours ago, Manu said:

Are they? Do they attack with Spirit Combat? Are they discorporated?

I used a demon in our game that my players ended up fighting (and defeating). I decided it could not use spirit combat as long as it had a corporeal form, but it could also discorporate and re-form its body at will. 

My reasoning was mainly that there’s a Rune spell for using spirit combat in the physical world (Attack Soul). Giving demons that ability for free without the book saying so seemed unfair. 

[soltakss]

Wyrms Footnotes had the Sembraki, a form of Fire Demon. I saw a Chaos demon written up somewhere as well, maybe also in Wyrms Footnotes. These were embodied Demons, so they manifested as Physical Demons, in the same way that Elementals manifest Physically.

One of our RQ2 GMs write a program in Fortran that allowed him to generate Chaos Demons. He showed us the inch-thick wide-paper printout and a few of the Demons and we banned him from running RQ games.

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

Wyrms Footnotes had the Sembraki, a form of Fire Demon.

Which WF was that in? Sounds familiar, but can't recall if I have it or not.

[M Helsdon]

1 minute ago, jajagappa said:

Which WF was that in? Sounds familiar, but can't recall if I have it or not.

WF#11.

[Bill the barbarian]

3 hours ago, soltakss said:

Wyrms Footnotes had the Sembraki, a form of Fire Demon. I saw a Chaos demon written up somewhere as well, maybe also in Wyrms Footnotes. These were embodied Demons, so they manifested as Physical Demons, in the same way that Elementals manifest Physically.

 

 White Dwarf had a section o demons in RQ, might it have been there.

[Godlearner]

On 1/4/2020 at 5:34 PM, M Helsdon said:

WF#11.

pages 29 -30. The stats are for RQ1.

[Ludo Bagman]

On 1/5/2020 at 1:05 AM, Bill the barbarian said:

 White Dwarf had a section o demons in RQ, might it have been there.

Three part series "Dealing with Demons" by Dave Morris in WD 44-46, also reprinted in a Best Of Volume: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/games-workshop/white-dwarf-014/