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Illuminate Me


Richard S.

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Well, there are the two riddles noted here: https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/7475-nochet-pronunciation/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-121768

Both have the same question "What is the point of Ducks?"  One response "Duck Point" might be the answer to the Craft: Mapmaking question. The other "Orange Sauce" may be to the Craft: Cook question.  Of course, you have to hope you are answering the right question! 😉

There's another here: https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/5521-what-happens-when-youre-dead/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-81529

"I was dead, but now I'm not, but I was never resurrected" - might fit into any number of weapon categories or even the Prepare Corpse ritual.

Also try this old forum post: https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/glorantha-nysalor-riddles.587230/

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There are a couple in old books. The Nysalor cult writeup from the Cult Compendium (and I assume Cults of Terror before that, but I only have the reprint compilation) gives this as an example:

Q: "What is the difference between a Silent Movement?"

A: "The sound of a man dying"

And then "The Devil's Playground" scenario in The Big Rubble has these four questions, with discussions about what "acceptable" answers are:

Q: "It is like getting a man out of a thousand-span deep well without a scrap of rope."

A: The answer is "death", which removes the man from the well surely enough.

Q: "What is in my pocket?"

A: The answer is simply to reach inside his pocket and look. Nothing is in his pocket; therefore an enlightened answer would be "Nothing yet, or anymore" or "The same thing that is in your mind, master"

Q: "How may one retrieve a stone from the depths of the sea without getting his sleeve wet?"

A: "Come back when the sea is gone" is the best answer, but also acceptable is "take off the shirt"

Q: "Where does the fire go when I put it out?"

A: "Into my hands and mind where I store it for tomorrow" or "it goes to rest in its bed, the wood"

 

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54 minutes ago, Unferth said:

There are a couple in old books. The Nysalor cult writeup from the Cult Compendium (and I assume Cults of Terror before that, but I only have the reprint compilation) gives this as an example:

Q: "What is the difference between a Silent Movement?"

A: "The sound of a man dying"

I've a feeling that should have been "What is the difference between Silence and Movement?"  The original question makes no sense. 

My favourite is "What is the difference between a Virtuous thought and a Virtuous Action?"  The Answerer clench fist on chest and say "Power".   

 

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25 minutes ago, metcalph said:

My favourite is "What is the difference between a Virtuous thought and a Virtuous Action?"  The Answerer clench fist on chest and say "Power".  

That's also my favorite, and I originally came here to post it, but then I noticed that it is in fact the HQ:G example that the OP referred to.

For further inspiration, in addition to the usually mentioned koans I also like Nasrudin stories, though they're not generally formed as questions so they take a little more work if you want to adapt them to that format:

Quote

 

Nasrudin, suffering from some eye irritation, went to see a doctor.

The doctor took a look at him and said, "Your eyes are very red."

"Do they also ache?" asked Nasrudin.

 

(It's folklore so there are many variations and collections; that particular one I got from http://www.rodneyohebsion.com/mulla-nasrudin.htm).

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5 hours ago, metcalph said:

I've a feeling that should have been "What is the difference between Silence and Movement?"  The original question makes no sense. 

It is the Nysalor Riddle for Move Silently, just a play on the order of words.

"When is a door not a door? ...", but I am not sure which riddle that would be.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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22 hours ago, soltakss said:

It is the Nysalor Riddle for Move Silently, just a play on the order of words.

Given the RW inspiration for the Nysaloran Riddle, I doubt that very much.

22 hours ago, soltakss said:

"When is a door not a door? ...", but I am not sure which riddle that would be.

That is a grammatical question.  "What is the difference between a silent movement?" is not because "between" implies the existence of a comparison between two objects (ie "and X" should follow movement" whereas only one is given in the so-called riddle.   Given Chaosium's quality control at the time (e.g. a disorder rune was repeatedly used in the place of a chaos rune), I fail to see why we should maintain the Emperor has clothes in this particular case. 

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On 1/17/2019 at 9:26 AM, metcalph said:

That is a grammatical question.  "What is the difference between a silent movement?" is not because "between" implies the existence of a comparison between two objects (ie "and X" should follow movement" whereas only one is given in the so-called riddle.   Given Chaosium's quality control at the time (e.g. a disorder rune was repeatedly used in the place of a chaos rune), I fail to see why we should maintain the Emperor has clothes in this particular case. 

I think that the premise for riddles has changed over the game's history.

When I first read them in RQ2 books they were very much of the anti-joke format ('What's the difference between a rabbit? One of its ears are both the same' style of thing) and were usually 'What's the difference between a <insert RQ skill name here>?'

Somewhen along the line that has changed to be a format of there being a genuine answer and lateral thinking is encouraged.

Personally, I'd happily play in a game which used either format. Showing how groovy, liberal-minded and open to illumination I am.

But I'd be grumpy if I wasn't told which format was to be used and was expected to know instinctively what the GM thought was the obvious and correct approach. Showing that I'm really not that open to illumination at all.

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Rule Zero: Don't be on fire

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