New to RuneQuest-Glorantha

[Kloster]

3 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Play by Post (aka Play by Forum).  One of the alternatives for those of us without a nearby gaming group.

Thanks for the explanation.

Kloster

[Oracle]

5 hours ago, Scout said:

Always been intrigued by pbp. How well does it work, what are the differences?

I'm a player in 2 of @jajagappa's PBP/PBF games (one HeroQuest Glorantha, one RuneQuest:Adventuring in Glorantha), and basically it's the same experience as running a game with several people sitting at the same table. But as you may expect, there are some differences:

• a game session takes much longer in PBP than on the table. A session, which would be run during an evening on the table for 3-4 hours may need several weeks or even months played via an online forum. This depends heavily on  the frequency, that the players are able to add their responses.

This seems to be an obvious drawback (e.g. because of loosing gamers during a session, when Real Live matters are striking), but on the other hand it can also become an advantage:

• because you have more time, it is much easier to adapt your responses to the current situation in a more satisfying way. For example I have seen poems or vision descriptions (from GM and players alike), which were quite outstanding, and which probably wouldn't have appeared in this form, if played on a table.

Another obvious advantage:

• You play with gamers, which you probably would never meet for playing on the same table, because they are located all over the world. (Ok, it's mainly USA and UK, but I'm for example from Germany, and I've also seen people from France or other European countries.)

And as always it depends a lot on the Game Master and the player, but so far I was very lucky to be a part of these games ...

[jajagappa]

5 hours ago, Scout said:

Always been intrigued by pbp. How well does it work, what are the differences?

I've been running an HQG campaign for 4.5 years, and my RQG one for 1.5 years, so in my case it works very well.  

The pace is the most noticeable difference.  Everyone's got real-life activities, so maybe everyone gets a post in on a given day, or maybe things stretch over a couple days.  In face-to-face games, if you're in combat, you roll, the GM rolls, others roll, GM rolls more.  It's resolved in some period of time.  The same rolls occur in PbP, but it's now spread out so you have to hold your anticipation of what may happen next.  A session in face-to-face is an afternoon or an evening (or maybe two such).  In PbP it's likely 3-6 months spread out.

For me as GM, the plus is that I have time to think and weave in narrative details or backstory that I'd likely forget or not have time to work in.  And the players can do the same.

As a shorter example, my Broken Tower session is here: RuneQuest Broken Tower session

[jajagappa]

10 minutes ago, Oracle said:

because of loosing gamers during a session, when Real Live matters are striking

Losing players is always a challenge in either case.  But the plus side in PbP is that the prior narratives are available so new players willing to pick up existing characters can get a much better feel for how those characters were being developed and move them forward in a more consistent way.

[Scout]

Very interesting, thanks both

I have participated in a wargame which took part via snail mail. It only lasted a few weeks but it was really cool. Different requirements though as a wargame seems to be more structured. 

[Scout]

I'm having some trouble keeping straight in my head, all the different ways Runes interact with a character's personality.

For example, on page 229 the 'Casual Use of Runes', it explains the roll, and this is practically the same as that written under 'Personality Disputes' on page 231. The only difference is you roll once for 'Casual' rolling but twice in the latter. 

 

[jajagappa]

5 hours ago, Scout said:

I'm having some trouble keeping straight in my head, all the different ways Runes interact with a character's personality.

When starting out, keep it simple.  You use Runes for inspiration/augments, and you use them to cast Rune magic.  Then add in the tests for personality disputes - does your desire to move forward in the quest (Movement Rune) overcome your Loyalty to Prince Kallyr?  Casual use comes into play when you just aren't sure what your character would do.  In that case, roll on one of the highest runes - if you succeed, they act based on that runic pattern, if not, then they do something opposite.

[soltakss]

22 hours ago, Scout said:

I'm having some trouble keeping straight in my head, all the different ways Runes interact with a character's personality.

Personally, I treat runes as a resource, like everything else.

They can be used to augment skills, just as anything else can be used to augment skills. They can be used as the main skill, for other skills to augment, depending on the circumstance. They can even be used to augment some Personality stuff, if the situation fits. But, I do not have Runes affecting personality, in the same way I don't have a cult affecting someone's personality.

So, a PC could belong to Storm Bull and have the Air/Storm,  Beast and Death runes. That means he can call on those runes, but those runes don;t change his personality. He is probably a kill-crazy nut-job, otherwise he'd have picked a saner cult, but being in Storm Bull doesn't make him worse, in the same way that the Air/Storm rune doesn't make him more violent.

This might not be the way the rules are going at the moment, but is the way I have played RQ for a long time.

[womble]

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

Personally, I treat runes as a resource, like everything else.

They can be used to augment skills, just as anything else can be used to augment skills. They can be used as the main skill, for other skills to augment, depending on the circumstance. They can even be used to augment some Personality stuff, if the situation fits. But, I do not have Runes affecting personality, in the same way I don't have a cult affecting someone's personality.

So, a PC could belong to Storm Bull and have the Air/Storm,  Beast and Death runes. That means he can call on those runes, but those runes don;t change his personality. He is probably a kill-crazy nut-job, otherwise he'd have picked a saner cult, but being in Storm Bull doesn't make him worse, in the same way that the Air/Storm rune doesn't make him more violent.

This might not be the way the rules are going at the moment, but is the way I have played RQ for a long time.

The Runes don't make him more violent, they're a reflection of the violence inherent in his system. Getting more violent should generally be accompanied by an increase in the Storm/Disorder Runes; getting less violent would often merit a decrease.

However, all these things are interrelated and it's perhaps difficult to separate cause and effect sometimes. If the game's systems notch those stormy, disorderly Runes higher, the character is becoming more attuned to those Runes, and the Cosmology tends to suggest that the characteristics of those Runes would become more vividly expressed in the personality: the 'rules' reflect the 'world', and make it at the same time.

It's entirely likely that you're playing with people who actually just do what the world would naturally have them do, because they're good, experienced, competent Roleplayers, but if your Storm Bully starts making friends rather than killing enemies and calming down or talking their way out of fights, the rules give you a mechanic to reflect that: their Storm and or Disorder Runes can go down and calling on the magic of their fractious God becomes harder. And it's never really an issue if they don't want high Rune scores that are 'meant', RAW, to constrain their behaviour in some way.

Runes and Passions are similar mechanics: if you, the player, want the advantage of being able to reliably get some Inspiration out of one of them, the 'downside' of the 'free' character advantage is that there are some limitations on your behaviour: freedom is given up for power, as a Priest gives up their time and money for their status in Society and with their God.