From: owner-rq-rules-digest To: rq-rules-digest@hops.wharton.upenn.edu Subject: RQ Rules Digest: V1 #26 Reply-To: rq-rules Errors-To: owner-rq-rules-digest Precedence: bulk Content-Return: Prohibited Return-Path: owner-rq-rules-digest RQ Rules Digest: Wednesday, 23 November 1994 Volume 01 : Number 026 RULES OF THE ROAD 1. Do not include large sections of a message in your reply. Especially not to say "Yeah, I agree." Those who do will be lynched. 2. Use an appropriate Subject line. RQR: will be prepended to it. 3. Do not engage in a point-by-point analysis or rebuttal of another person's message. It is too confusing for others to follow, qualifies as nit-picking, and it usually leads to flame wars. 4. There is no number 4. TABLE OF CONTENTS Hugh Foster RQR: Mounted combat & Enchantments Malcolm Cohen RQR: Realism and Wounds (actually Healshar Michelle Ringo Re[2]: RQR: Realism and Wounds (actually H Malcolm Cohen RQR: Realism and Wounds (actually Healshar Brent Michael Krupp RQR: Realism and Wounds (actually Healshar Bruce Lionel Mason RQR: Realism and Wounds (a variant system) Hugh Foster RQR: CC Rules Loren Miller RQR: list owner going on vacation Bryan J. Maloney RQR: Healing, 100% Non-Gloranthan approach ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Hugh Foster <100326.446@compuserve.com> Date: 22 Nov 94 03:09:10 EST Subject: RQR: Mounted combat & Enchantments >>And can yo string a bow while riding (right now, only on a stopped horse).<< Now, then, there's a good idea for a nice, useful, impressive but not world-breaking spell, giving flavour to your hose nomads. My Yench could do with it - thanks! Just OTH: String Bow 1 point This spell allows a mounted rider to string a bow whilst riding a horse. The subject must be normally able to use a bow. In its basic form, the spell allows a short bow to be strung at a canter. If the bow is bigger, or the horse is moving faster, or the mount is a camel etc, the spell must be boosted. If it's boosted for extra speed, the effects of boosting for bow and mount type are also gained. Suggested break points: gallop, charge; Camel, elephant, flying steed; composite bow, long bow, dai-kyu. So a horse nomad moving to the attack accelerates to the gallop and strings his composite bow; spell costs 2 points. Not an immense combat edge but adds to the flavour ? Comments please but be gentle - it's a purely OTH idea. >>I had a non-moving mounted fight (one guy was trapped against a stream) and combatant A) got his horse speared, but critted his jump - there was an empty horse next to him so I rule he jumped to the back of other horse. Complete crap ...<< No, just good heroic roleplaying. A character added to his legend and I bet the players remember it... I always say that if I find my players telling yarns about an evening's game events to non-players, it's been a successful game. Anyway, thanks for the explanation; it sounds like a good game setting. Have fun! >>[Enchantment Usage Restrictions] Has anyone had any thoughts on the matter? If not, I'll outline my own ideas in the next couple of digests. << I've had thoughts; mainly "Nuts, there's no guidelines". I'd be delighted to see some well-thought bits on this. ------------------------------ From: Malcolm Cohen Date: Tue, 22 Nov 94 9:34:18 WET Subject: Re: RQR: Realism and Wounds (actually Healsharp playtesting) > (Speaking of the old arguments, has anyone done more playtesting of > the "Healsharp" and "Dispel Damage" variants of Heal?) Yes, I am currently running "Healsharp" (called Healing); plus reducing the effect of First Aid to 1HP/d3HP/3HP from d3HP/2d3HP/d3+3HP. This I have found very effective, I have noted the following points: + getting wounded in combat is now a potentially serious matter and not just a temporary minor irritation. + the Heal change does not affect survivability to any great degree because the "monsters" are equally affected by this change. - leg hits are a real killer if your side is not going to win the fight; [this is only a minus point if you like your major baddies running away to fight another day, as it makes it much more likely that they will be downed and taken out instead]. I *definitely* recommend going to the RQAiG location table which reduces the chances of a leg hit from 40% to 30%. I also allow one attempt to be "heroic" (CON*1% roll) per round, and rule that if your leg has taken less than twice HP (i.e. not down to -HP or lower) it can be used heroically or that one can "hobble" away using a support of some kind (e.g. a spear as a crutch). [i.e. this minus point can be worked around and in a possibly more entertaining than the tired old "the baddie suddenly gets up and runs away".] + the First Aid change plus enforcement of the one Heal per wound rule makes it more likely that the PC's will need to take a couple of weeks out after a close fight to let their wounds heal. o the First Aid change should actually be to 1HP/2HP/3HP (simpler, makes the "Special" result guaranteed better than "Normal"). - if a scenario involves a series of fights, the overall reduction in healing makes it more likely that the PC's will make a break for recuperation after one of the intermediate fights instead of pressing on. [This is only a minus point when running scenarios designed with easy healing in mind!] So overall I am pretty happy with both of these changes. - -- ...........................Malcolm Cohen, NAG Ltd., Oxford, U.K. (malcolm@nag.co.uk) ------------------------------ From: "Michelle Ringo" Date: Tue, 22 Nov 94 09:21:36 EST Subject: Re[2]: RQR: Realism and Wounds (actually Healsharp playtesting) With regards to your use of Healing, I have one additional comment. We play that once you have used magical healing then you cannot use First Aid. We have not reduced the effectiveness of First Aid, but it is rarely used since magical healing is used instead. Are you playing that way as well or can people use both First Aid and Healing? ------------------------------ From: Malcolm Cohen Date: Tue, 22 Nov 94 14:52:20 WET Subject: Re: RQR: Realism and Wounds (actually Healsharp playtesting) Michelle Ringo asked about First Aid and Healing (in the context of "Healsharp"): The "Healsharp" version of healing is a First Aid helper spell, thus it *must* be used in conjunction with First Aid. The procedure is: cast Heal N (we still call the spell Heal or Healing), then attempt First Aid. Each point of Heal cast increases First Aid chance by 5% and damage healed by 1 point (mirroring Bladesharp, thus the "Healsharp" terminology). [So FA does 1/2/3, FA+HealN does 1+N/2+N/3+N]. The way I run it, the new form of "Heal" is an active spell, thus either the caster must do the First Aid themselves or they must watch someone else doing it. To get the extra damage healed by this spell the First Aid must be completed within the usual spell duration (not normally a problem since FA only takes 5 rounds). The spell ends as soon as the FA is complete, i.e. it is only good for one wound; however, unsuccessful FA attempts do not use the spell up, so you can keep on trying (within the duration limit). I also allow it to be done afterwards; if a wound is First Aided without the use of the Heal spell (e.g. in the heat of battle) it may later on be First Aided again, this time with the aid of the Heal. The second FA does not itself heal any further damage, but the spell does. [i.e. FA 1/2/3 in battle, FA+HealN afterwards for N, spec and crit inapplicable]. - -- ...........................Malcolm Cohen, NAG Ltd., Oxford, U.K. (malcolm@nag.co.uk) ------------------------------ From: Brent Michael Krupp Date: Tue, 22 Nov 1994 09:35:42 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: RQR: Realism and Wounds (actually Healsharp playtesting) On Tue, 22 Nov 1994, Malcolm Cohen wrote: > Yes, I am currently running "Healsharp" (called Healing); plus reducing the > effect of First Aid to 1HP/d3HP/3HP from d3HP/2d3HP/d3+3HP. This I have found > very effective, I have noted the following points: An additional point that occurs to me: Healing potions (assuming you allow their existence ala RQ2 and they're expensive) become *much* more appealing, and thus an excellent way to part characters from their loot. My players tend to be money-grubbers, so anything that encourages them to be poor without explicitly robbing them is fine by me. Brent Krupp (fletcher@u.washington.edu) ------------------------------ From: Bruce Lionel Mason Date: Tue, 22 Nov 1994 15:01:47 -0330 Subject: Re: RQR: Realism and Wounds (a variant system) I like the idea of healsharp now I've seen it. To add some new ideas I've typed up the healing/damage system I've been running for the last few years. It's not neccessarily `more realistic' but it does change the dynamics of healing quite a lot. This is a variant system I've been using for damage and healing for a very long campaign. It is somewhat clunky but it appears to mostly work. The basic motivation was to cut down on all the instant healing and allow for things like gradual weakening. Also it is intended to be used with RQ3 rules without changing any statistics. I'm not pretending it's perfect. It does certainly have an effect on how players react to their characters taking damage. 1) Every character has LifePoints (LPs) equal to average of CON & SIZ.[1] 1a) Locational HPs are same as in RQ3. 1b) Every character has a personal healing rate equal to LP/20 in d3s, round fractions down. Eg someone with 27LPs has a heal rate of 2D3. 2) Assessing damage. 2a) HP damage. Any physical damage is expressed in terms of HPs lost in a location as per RQ3. Change however the severing rules to requiring the loss of 2*HPs+6 in a location in one blow with a slashing weapon to severe location eg average human with 4HP legs requires 14 damage in one go. 2b) LP damage. LPs can be lost directly through various forms of damage that do not do HP damage as such, eg asphyxiation, poisoning, diseases, certain spells.[2] 2bi) LPs can also be lost as the side effect of HP damage. Whenever a location is reduced to below zero HPs each point of damage thereafter is taken off LPs as well as HPs. EXAMPLE Cormac has 4HPs in each leg and 11LPs. He takes 2points to his right leg reducing it to 2pts but does not suffer any LP damage. Shortly after he takes another 5 points damage to his same leg reducing it to - -3HPs and consequently loses 3LPs. If he then took 3pts of damage to his other leg he would not lose any LPs because that leg would stil be on positive LPs. 2bii) Certain exceptional damage causes instant loss of all LPs as per RQ3. Severing a limb causes double the normal LP loss. 2biii) Bleeding damage comes directly off LPs and does not affect the HPs in the location. 3) Effect of loss of LPs. 3a) Being reduced to less than half of your normal LPs reduces all skills by 1/2.[3] 3b) Being reduced to 3LPs or less puts the character in the ``death zone'' and causes unconsciousness. Heroic roll lets character continue for a short while but no experience is gained.[4] 4) Healing. 4a) Natural healing according to a character's heal rate. Eg someone with a heal rate of 1d3 LPs and 1d3 HPs/injured location per week of total rest. 4ai) Moderate activity subtracts 1 from each die roll of healing. 4aii) Intense activity, exposure to disease, taking further damage and other stressful situations subtracts 2 from each die roll. 4b) A character who is below half their LPs has their heal rate reduced by 1die. (A heal rate 1d3 person then becomes a 1 heal rate person).[5] 4bi) A character in the death zone (1-3LPs) does not naturally heal. 4c) Incidental LP healing. Certain spells can cure injured locations by taking them from negative to positive HPs, in this case the patient recovers 1LP only. 5) Healing skills. 5a) First Aid is the skill of emergency care. It acts just like RQ3 except that first aid can not take a location from zero ornegative HPs to positive HPs. Eg Cormac's leg is at -1HP and Signy manages a 2pt first aid, this only takes Cormac's leg to zero HPs, not +1HP. Consequently there is no way for first aid to regain LPs.[6] 5b) Craft/chirugy. This is the skill of long term care. A successful chirugy roll requires a week of constant attendance and allows a patient in the death zone to recover 1LP. In any other cases adds one die to the patient's heal rate.[7] 6) Healing Spells Unlike first aid, heal spells can cure locations completely, however they generally have a lesser effect on LPs as described above. Some spells are exceptions. Heal Body recovers all lost LPs and HPs. Some other spells may exist as well. For example in my campaign the blessing of St. Xemela costs 5POW to attain and allows the healer to sacrifice 1POW for a HealBody effect. 7) Other notes. Shaman's and probably others have access to healing spirits with an ability to possess a body and then attend to it with an effective chirugy rating of 100%. 8) Effects on game play. This all leads to quite a radically different interpretation of what healing looks like. Essentially healing spells stop bleeding and knit togther torn and bruised flesh but you may often be left still weakened by the experience and the wound may be vulnerable to breaking open and weeping occasionally, ie you're still down a few LPs. What we've found is that PCs are less vulnerable to short term combat damage but over a period of time long-term LP damage tends to mount up. I also have this ad-hoc death zone ruling which is basically that anyone in the death zone can be asked by the GM, whensoever seems appropriate, to make a POW*5 roll or die. So no more of this saving the dying peasant with a quick Heal2 business :-) Footnotes - --------- [1] This is just a change in nomenclature. Suggested by John T. Sapienza in an issue of _Heroes_. [2] I tend to play that most diseases cause LP loss with a potential characteristic loss as a side effect if the patient survives. Generally the stat loss is something like 1d3-1 for each level of severity. so if some one recovers from a minor case of Creeping chills (CON*5) they lose d3-1 CON, if they manage to recover from a terminal case (CON*1) then they lose 5d3-5. This has however never been thoroughly playtested. [3] This rule has been played around with a lot. Basically the more complex you want your rules to be the more complex you can make this. [4] A more complex rule might be LP/5 as the unconsciousness threshold. [5] Another rule that's changed a lot. One variant is 1/2 LPs or less subtracts 1 from each die roll for heal rate. [6] This came about because I was tired of PCs fixing broken legs with first aid. [7] Again the precise effect of this has varied. The concept is of long-term bed care allowing patients to recover from serious wounds. -----------oooooooo------------ Bruce Mason, Folklore Dept., M.U.N., St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. Day ph. (709) 737 8403 home ph. (709) 576 3110 also bmason@europa.cs.mun.ca bmason@morgan.ucs.mun.ca -----------oooooooo------------ ------------------------------ From: Hugh Foster <100326.446@compuserve.com> Date: 22 Nov 94 14:36:00 EST Subject: RQR: CC Rules >>All critical results are complete crap--so long as they're fun crap, they're okay.<< I think this sums up my whole approach to gaming...! ------------------------------ From: Loren Miller Date: Tue, 22 Nov 1994 17:50:58 -0500 (EST) Subject: RQR: list owner going on vacation Hi Folks, I'm going on vacation for about a week and a half starting tomorrow. Most things will continue to function automatically, including the mailing lists, subscriptions and unsubscriptions, digestification, archives, and so on. However, oversized messages and non-standard subscriptions will be delayed until I get back to tend them. Be good while I'm gone. - -- +++++++++++++++++++++++23 Loren Miller "I don't have to practice what I preach 'cause I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to!" The Book of The Subgenius ------------------------------ From: jacobus@sonata.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney) Date: Tue, 22 Nov 94 18:49:55 -0500 Subject: RQR: Healing, 100% Non-Gloranthan approach. I have one character who is a credible healer in my campaign. Grannie Grizzie does not know any healing spells, but she knows Alchemy Lore and Craft Potions. In my campaign, I have thrown out the 95,000 different "craft potion" skills and replaced them with the following mechanism: The Craft Potion skill roll is the chance that a character has any kind of "common" potion on their person at any given time. I then reduce this for the rarity of a given potion. When you fail that roll, you have run out and have to spend time getting ingredients and making more. This is a rather expensive and time-consuming proposition. An ordinary failure means that only that particular kind of potion is gone. A critical failure means that that class of potions is gone. The specific types, classes, and frequencies of potions is currently being worked out, but the above gives the basic gist of things. ------------------------------ End of RQ Rules Digest: V1 #26 ****************************** This is the bottom of the RuneQuest Rules Digest. RuneQuest is a trademark of Avalon Hill, and Glorantha is a trademark of Chaosium. With the exception of previously copyrighted material, unless specified otherwise all text in this digest is copyright by the author or authors, with rights granted to copy for personal use, to excerpt in reviews and replies, and to archive unchanged for electronic retrieval. Send electronic mail to Majordomo@hops.wharton.upenn.edu with "help" in the body of the message for subscription information on this and other mailing lists.