New players abound now so - collected very basic rule questions?

[Austin]

17 hours ago, klecser said:

I like the idea of a Sartar character learning the Moon Rune secretly so as to "know thy enemy." Lots of conflict possibilities there!

There is a rationale there, but my take on an adventurer's Rune affinities--and especially for the Elemental Runes--is that they're more descriptive than something one learns. They mechanically describe an adventurer's personality. So adventurers with a high Darkness rating tend to be more ambitious, adventurers with a high Air rating tend to be more violent and passionate, etc. Which leads into the personalities of the deities, and adventurers eventually assuming the roles of their god in the Middle World. It's one of the things I quite like about RQG, honestly; I feel like there's this very natural cause & effect cycle which goes on involving adventurer personality and mechanical capacity.

Doesn't mean there aren't potential issues, but it is a feature I like.

21 hours ago, klecser said:

Next question: Picking Runes. Clearly there is some "back planning" that is involved with this, right? I picked "Moon" for one of my high-level runes and I'm not finding many Moon focused Rune spells for Sartar/Orlanth. I have Air, which seemed obvious, and I picked Movement as one of the 75s. But it looks like Moon isn't going to really do anything for me. So, the actual question/realization is: Characters should be picking Runes that are aligned with their culture and deity so that they can actually use them. Correct? 

My process when I walked my players through adventurer creation is to ask them to think a bit about what sort of personality they want to play, which led to choosing their initial Rune ratings. From a minmax perspective, Moon's a great primary or secondary Elemental Rune because of the bonus to POW. It's also a great choice for players wanting to play a "magician" focused adventurer, because it can be used to augment rolls related to magic--most importantly, rolls on the resistance table to overcome POW! Of the Elemental Runes, I think Moon is the trickiest to roleplay because playing "passionate!" or "ambitious!" or "generous!" is to my mind a simple concept, but playing "mystic!" or "detached!" is more like a compound idea. If you're looking to optimize your Elemental Runes affinities, it can make a lot of sense to rely on your Power/Form Rune affinities for your strong cult runes. This may impact your best spell choices, but having at least one high cult rune is all you need for consistent access to common rune spells. Don't forget that you get bonus points (50, I think?) to spend across the board on your affinities--15 points can bump that Movement 75% up to 90%. This lends quick access to Heal Wound, etc. and you've still got 35 points to spend.

Another piece of info to keep in mind is that, RAW, any time you have a Rune or Passion over 80%, the GM can dictate your actions, or otherwise reduce your rating. (I don't think I've ever seen someone on here say they actually plan to play that strictly.) In order to become a Rune Lord, you must have one of your cult Runes at 90%!

Now, how much you want to attach to a cultural Rune depends on your god. Again from an optimization standpoint, the Air Rune is mostly important if you worship Orlanth or another Air deity. If you're worshiping his fellow Lightbringers, that Air Rune does not matter. But, worshiping Orlanth, you probably do want to include the Air Rune as a major Rune because a lot of his spells roll on it--just the Movement Rune loses you access to some of his better spells, like Lightning and Shield. Some other gods you can skimp on one Rune, or the cult doesn't even care about the Elemental Runes, giving you free reign. For example, IMHO Daka Fal only really cares about the Man Rune, which lets you do whatever you want for the other choices (Moon's really good here, because a shaman detached from the cares of the world is a concept which works pretty simply, IMHO. Plus the shaman abilities are crazy.)

[jajagappa]

3 hours ago, Crel said:

There is a rationale there, but my take on an adventurer's Rune affinities--and especially for the Elemental Runes--is that they're more descriptive than something one learns. They mechanically describe an adventurer's personality.

My take is that they represent the "DNA" of the individual's soul - their personality. That can be altered by the prevalent "exercise" of that part of the personality. But they can also be changed by exposure to certain magical forces: a holy fire can burn away your Darkness; shadows can creep into your soul; meditation upon balance may encourage the growth of your Moon; etc. They are definitely descriptive (and mechanical), but also reflect something about the world that you can draw upon within yourself, like innate talents.

3 hours ago, Crel said:

My process when I walked my players through adventurer creation is to ask them to think a bit about what sort of personality they want to play, which led to choosing their initial Rune ratings.

Definitely the culture and prevalence of deities comes into play.  If you want to be part of Orlanth, you'll need Movement or Air. A low level on either will definitely restrict the ability to initiate, cast Rune magic, etc. But I like to encourage variation in personality too.  

[jajagappa]

On 4/13/2019 at 9:03 AM, klecser said:

Next question: Picking Runes. Clearly there is some "back planning" that is involved with this, right? I picked "Moon" for one of my high-level runes and I'm not finding many Moon focused Rune spells for Sartar/Orlanth. I have Air, which seemed obvious, and I picked Movement as one of the 75s. But it looks like Moon isn't going to really do anything for me. So, the actual question/realization is: Characters should be picking Runes that are aligned with their culture and deity so that they can actually use them. Correct? 

Yes, important to talk about the implications of particular Rune choices in relation to the gods and the cultures. The primary element and the top 2 power Runes most commonly should align with preferred cult.  The secondary element serves more as a bonus for characteristics and as a means for inspiration for certain skills/magics. There's a natural antipathy between Air and Moon, or Darkness and Fire, or Water and Fire, etc. Moon will not be useful for Orlanth's magic. But it can inspire you in Magic skills (e.g. Worship, Meditation). And it's personality comes out in someone who seeks balance within their self.

[Bill the barbarian]

6 hours ago, Crel said:

Another piece of info to keep in mind is that, RAW, any time you have a Rune or Passion over 80%, the GM can dictate your actions, or otherwise reduce your rating. (I don't think I've ever seen someone on here say they actually plan to play that strictly.) In order to become a Rune Lord, you must have one of your cult Runes at 90%!

 

I certainly do plan to, but with many caveats.

A warning to the player that the 80% will make augmenting and casting spells easier but it will also have influence in their life. So, the choice of 80% or above is on them. When they do decide to buck their inclinations I will again warn them (actually give them a choice) that they while they can go against hard felt passions in their runic choices their might be ramifications. Again their choice.

Cheers

[klecser]

If, in the family history section, the rolls advise you to "add X Passion," but you already have it, what is the outcome? +20% to that passion?

[sladesy]

On page 29 

 

"If the event indicates that your adventurer gains a Passion (Love, Hate, Loyalty, Fear, Devotion, Honor, etc.) that Passion starts at 60%, unless indicated otherwise. If your adventurer already has the Passion, increase it by +10%, unless indicated otherwise."

Edited April 14, 2019 by sladesy

[womble]

On 4/13/2019 at 2:11 PM, svensson said:

Oh and about those pre-gen characters...

My first reaction to them was 'Damn! Why aren't half of these 'toons Rune Priests already?'

In previous editions you'd be lucky if your main weapon attack was 60% at age 21, but in RQG you can easily generate a Rune Lord in character generation if you knew what to focus on.

In RQ2 and RQ3, there was a certain pacing to an adventurer's life. You generated as an Initiate, usually with low-ish skill levels. You then adventured until you made it to Rune Lord. At that time the cult's time and monetary demands would seriously erode your time. When you adventured at that point it was usually for cult goals, not your own. By the time you hit Rune Priest or Rune Lord-Priest, the cult requirements were such that it was just about retirement time. RQG has flipped that pacing on its head and I'd need to play a character to the point of reaching the upper tiers to see the effects of that on a given career.

The pregen characters have some pretty handy stat rolls, but otherwise aren't very exceptional. It's not that easy to produce a Rune Master level character at start: the first hurdle to Rune Priest level is the 18 POW plus 5 Rune Points (meaning you have to generate a 20POW character and sac 2 points for RP). You have to get lucky if your GM wants any randomness in stat rolls. Rune Lords are pretty hard. 5 relevant skills at 90 is, I think, pretty much impossible at-start and then you have to have CHA 18 as well. And  for most cults you have to have been an Initiate for more years than your character has been an Initiate at game-start.

You can get very close, though, and the starting level for PCs in RQG is much more like 'acolyte' level in RQ3, intentionally: the Hero Wars are upon us, after all, and the intent is for the PCs to be Hero-candidates, at least.