A Slower Pace of Rune Magic

[Austin]

One of the big things that really charmed me about RuneQuest as a whole, when I started playing it instead of Pathfinder, is the slow, granular pace of character progression. I feel like RQG reduces that somewhat with its high initial character skills and with the new Rune points system. While I do really like Rune points and rolling on your Rune affinities and all that, I've been thinking of ways to house rule the game back down to a bit of a slower pace.

The main one I've been considering is that each time an adventurer sacrifices POW for Rune points, he may gain one point of a stackable spell, instead of gaining variable access. I'm drawing sort of on RQ3 for this (although I've played a sorcerer, not a theist). I'm not thinking the points need to be increasing to get increased spell strengths. So just sacrificing one POW lets you go from Flight 3 to Flight 4, and gives you one additional Rune point, but you couldn't cast a Flight greater than Flight 4 from your Rune point pool. There's still the flexibility of the RP pool, but a slower growth to being able to do crazy things. Plus, cults with less Rune magic still get to be making choices for a time longer.

I figure spells which cost multiple RP probably would need multiple POW sacrificed to buy, but I'm a bit unhappy about that.

Common spells are a bit trickier. I'm thinking maybe I'd rule that adventurers automatically gain access to one point of their cult common spells (or basic access for common spells which cost more than 1RP like Command Cult Spirit), but have to choose to add to those spells to go further. So, you'd need to sacrifice a total of 4 POW to get Extension 5.

Another thing I've been thinking about is ruling that when inspired by a Rune, the adventurer can only cast spells with that Rune, or else lose the inspiration. Sometimes this won't be a big deal since spells with the Magic Rune can be used by any Rune--so your Orlanthi inspired by the Air Rune could still cast Heal Wound--but once in a while it'll be a real nuisance. "Do I give up my inspiration to cast X spell from my associate cult?"

This really is just kind of brainstorming around, but I feel like this would be a fun way to play the game. Of course, I'm sure there's consequences on playstyle and how the world appears, but that's what you're all here for, isn't it?  I'm generally awful at figuring those out, and would love some feedback and general thoughts.

Edited October 9, 2018 by Crel
wrote "Heal Body" instead of "Heal Wound"

[Joerg]

That approach is quite similar to what I came up with in response to the Runepower suggestions that flooded the Daily or Digest around 1995 - all rune points were directed to a specific spell, and the maximum stacking limit was the number of POW sacrificed to that spell. On the other hand, I was cool with having multiple castings of that spell rather than that other spell which had produced those extra rune points.

But that was for a world where magic was somewhat less common than Glorantha, and where it followed slightly different rules.

[styopa]

Absolutely agree that incrementalizing Rune Spell access is IMO going to make for a more interesting game for the players.

I was initially charmed by the Rune Point system (and still would like to figure out a way to implement it that encourages use of the sort of utility spells that nobody ever bothered sacrificing for.  (Personally, I think the key is to address the utility spells themselves for being too generally worthless....D&D5 recognized this in their talent points, making them MORE scarce but individually much more powerful, giving players difficult choices of significant stat gain vs compelling talents.)

Not to mention, some of the Rune Spells as written in RQG don't seem entirely fully-baked, if you know what I mean.

[Austin]

15 hours ago, styopa said:

Absolutely agree that incrementalizing Rune Spell access is IMO going to make for a more interesting game for the players.

I was initially charmed by the Rune Point system (and still would like to figure out a way to implement it that encourages use of the sort of utility spells that nobody ever bothered sacrificing for.  (Personally, I think the key is to address the utility spells themselves for being too generally worthless....D&D5 recognized this in their talent points, making them MORE scarce but individually much more powerful, giving players difficult choices of significant stat gain vs compelling talents.)

Not to mention, some of the Rune Spells as written in RQG don't seem entirely fully-baked, if you know what I mean.

Yeah, that was sort of my line of thought. Too many decisions can absolutely be bad (looking at you 4E, GURPS) but I feel like in general an initiate with 5-7RP from any given cult is going to feel like each other initiate. Which, I dunno, isn't bad, but it's not really exciting to me either. So incremental spells add a bit more specialization (and also pulls down the power level because it's harder to just drop a Lightning 7 and see what happens).

What sorts of utility spells would you have in mind? Functions, more than rules texts. The first example which pops to my mind is bridge of noble passage, from Petersen's RQ Tekumel, and all the cool, flexible harden air and arms of air effects in Wheel of Time d20 (which were cool, but horribly overpowered when creative).

[PhilHibbs]

I like this idea, but I would decouple the acquisition of Rune Points from the acquisition of spells. You get a spell when you get a Rune Point, but you should be able to get spells without POW sacrifice as well.

For example: at any worship ceremony, there may be a group of members who undergo a minor quest to acquire a rune spell. Several such groups may be active at the same time, particularly at larger and more major ceremonies. The number that can take part is limited, and priority is given to those who are sacrificing POW to gain a Rune Point at the same time. If there are spare places, then other members (in order of cult standing and reputation) can participate and acquire the spell without sacrificing POW. If the spell is variable and they already have it, they can gain the ability to cast it 1 point higher.

So it's up to the GM to decide on, or the character to earn, the availability of additional spells like this. Eventually you might end up with several Orlanthi all looking the same, able to cast the same variety of big variable spells, but it will take a while.

Edited October 10, 2018 by PhilHibbs