From: owner-rq-rules-digest To: rq-rules-digest@hops.wharton.upenn.edu Subject: RQ Rules Digest: V1 #43 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, 21 December 1994 Volume 01 : Number 043 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 David Dunham via RadioMail RQR: shamans (netrunners) Staffan Tjernstrom RQR: Long live RQ2, spell criticals and fu Loren Miller RQR: shamans (netrunners) Bryan J. Maloney RQR: Fumbles and Criticals--pooey! Loren Miller RQR: Fumbles and Criticals--pooey! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David Dunham (via RadioMail) Date: Mon, 19 Dec 1994 21:25:13 -0800 Subject: RQR: Re: shamans (netrunners) >From: Loren Miller >R. Andrew Bean makes a good point when he says that the answer to the >shadowrun netrunner syndrome may not be to prevent netrunning, but to >allow the netrunner (shaman actually, but my metaphor is stretched all >to hell already, no need to muss it further) to take helpers along >with him, and to allow them to have a helpful role to play. When I ran a cyberpunk (lower case, I used Pendragon rules) game, the netrunner could always make phone calls to the other players. No such option is available in RQ (I _don't_ think the shaman's fetch should be able to speak to the others). >1. It must be easy, perhaps trivially easy, for a shaman to bring >willing people along to the other side. I don't think it should be easy. It takes an hour-long ritual for the shaman himself to discorporate, so to bring untrained people should be much harder. ------------------------------ From: Staffan Tjernstrom <100303.141@compuserve.com> Date: 20 Dec 94 05:03:15 EST Subject: RQR: Long live RQ2, spell criticals and fumbles By request of the other referee (sadly not on-line) of our joint G campaign, are his extensions to the battle (spirit) magic rules.... Jon Tarry: Variant RUNEQUEST Magic Rules I have always been confused as to why in both 2nd and 3rd edition Runequest, there exists a system for both Critical and Fumble results for mundane skills, but not for Magic. Given that Spirit/Battle Magic is tightly controlled by the restraints placed upon the Spirit/the controls exercised by the mundane 'Heroquest' associated with learning the spell. This may go some way to explaining the discrepancy. However, I enjoy a 'random' element asociated with spell use (particularly as Spirit Magic is prevalent, and encouraged, in my campaign!). The following rules are what myself, and my co- referee came up with to achieve what we felt was a more consistent approach to Magic and the Mundane Skill structure. In line with skills, Spirit magic spells succeed AUTOMATICALLY on a dice roll of 05 or less. They also fail AUTOMATICALLY on a roll of 96 on more. A roll of less than 20% of that required (a 'special' success), will result in maximum effect occurring. For example, a 'special' result while casting a Disruption spell will cause 3HP of damage to the relevant location (assuming the target's POW has been succesfully overcome in the usual way.) A roll of less than 5% of that required (a 'critical' success), again works AUTOMATICALLY. In addition a random beneficial effect from the following Table occurs: CRITICAL EFFECTS Roll 1D10 1 Half Magic Point (MP) cost. Round up. 2 +25% to resistance roll. If none associated then No effect. 3 Spell acts as if 5MP put behind it when cast. (ie need 6Pts of Countermagic to negate the spell.) 4 Double Range, OR Duration, OR Intensity. (Choose ONE)b 5 Double effect. 6 Zero MP cost to cast. 7 Affect TWO targets for the cost of one spell. 8 Spell ignores Magical defenses. (eg Countermagic, Shield Countermagic, Protection, Reflection, Absorption, Chaos Feature.) 9 Next spell works AUTOMATICALLY. No need for POW vs POW. 10 At DM's discretion Spell acts as though Matrix Creation had been cast as well. Care needs to be exercised with this as it may create powerful matrices! The converse situation involves a 'fumble' result on the dice roll: FUMBLE EFFECTS Roll 1D10 1 Spell fails AUTOMATICALLY, no other effect (normal MP cost.) 2 Next spell cast has minimum effect. DM's discretion. 3 Next spell cast, has HALF Range, OR Duration, OR Intensity. (DM's choice). 4 -25% Resistance roll for next Attack spell. (either Cast or Hit By.) 5 x2 MP Cost 6 Caster suffers the effects of a Befuddle spell. 7 x3 MP Cost 8 Spell Works, REVERSE on self, OR Hit nearest friend 9 Spell lost from Memory for 1D3 weeks! 10 x4 MP Cost The above Tables are of course only Guidelines. Feel free to make any amendments or ignore anything you feel is inappropriate to your game. Thanks go to Staffan Tjernstrom for help with development of the above as well as to our regular players for their help and comments. Any thoughts or comments on this subject appreciated. JONATHAN TARRY. ------------------------------ From: Loren Miller Date: Tue, 20 Dec 1994 11:19:37 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: RQR: Re: shamans (netrunners) David Dunham replies to me > >1. It must be easy, perhaps trivially easy, for a shaman to bring > >willing people along to the other side. > > I don't think it should be easy. It takes an hour-long ritual for the > shaman himself to discorporate, so to bring untrained people should be much > harder. Why not have it easy? Maybe the difficulty is in opening the passage to the spirit world, not in stretching the living spirit's bonds with the body. If this were the case, then it would be easy for the shaman to pop a few companions in his pocket when he goes into the spirit world. - -- +++++++++++++++++++++++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, 20 Dec 94 11:23:29 -0500 Subject: RQR: Fumbles and Criticals--pooey! I've eliminated fumbles and criticals, for the most part, from my current non-Glorantha RuneQuest. Why? One out of 100 for a fumble? I don't think so. One out of 100 for a critical? I don't think so. Remember, the combat critical was obviously invented as a stopgap measure for leaping powergaming in original RuneQuest, otherwise, you wouldn't be able to penetrate the implausible armor values that can turn up. (Yes, I know that criticals aren't automatically an 01 and fumbles not automatically a 00, but the skill levels of my campaign come out so that it is effectively the case for all characters in most of their skills.) Anyway, it's simply too absurd for my tastes. Thus, I've made fumbles and criticals much rarer. I'll post my method when I have my notes at a terminal. ------------------------------ From: Loren Miller Date: Tue, 20 Dec 1994 11:29:04 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: RQR: Fumbles and Criticals--pooey! My opinion on fumbles and criticals is that they are too interesting to be dictated by the dice. I'd throw out all the fumble and critical rules, and say that in some dramatic situations any success will be a critical and any failure will be a fumble. That makes the drama flow with the story more than the other way, where the story is at the mercy of the damn dice. - -- +++++++++++++++++++++++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 ------------------------------ End of RQ Rules Digest: V1 #43 ****************************** 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.