From: owner-rq-rules-digest To: rq-rules-digest@hops.wharton.upenn.edu Subject: RQ Rules Digest: V1 #126 Reply-To: rq-rules Errors-To: owner-rq-rules-digest Precedence: bulk Content-Return: Prohibited Return-Path: owner-rq-rules-digest RQ Rules Digest: Monday, 6 March 1995 Volume 01 : Number 126 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. 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 Martin Glassborow Reusable initiate rune magic Alex Ferguson Reusable initiate rune magic Mike Cule More sorcery idiocy: Shapeshifting SPerrin@aol.com More sorcery idiocy: Shap... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Martin Glassborow Date: Sun, 5 Mar 1995 15:31:10 +0000 Subject: Re: Reusable initiate rune magic On Sat, 4 Mar 1995 SPerrin@aol.com wrote: > Martin Glassborow opins: > > >>I've not used the Runepower rules yet, although I am very tempted to. But > if I did I would tend to use the same ruling that I use already, divine > spells gained from different cults cannot be stacked together. << > > This is a classic Glorantha solution to the problem, where, as someone > said earlier, every cult is an exclusive mystery cult. A true pantheist such > as a mainline Hindu, or monotheist like a Catholic, might sacrifice POW to any > number of gods/saints, but it would all go into a common "Pool" that all the > associated deities/whatever draw from and the sacrificer would have access to > all the spells associated with the entire group. Determining exactly what > happens when the conquered Ptolemeic Egyptian sacrifices to both Demeter and > Isis is an interesting question... > Although currently, I'm only running Gloranthan RuneQuest, I'm building a campaign around Micheal Scott Rohan's Spiral universe. I'm working on the mechanics for Voodoo at the moment and I was going down the mystery cult route, however Steve's comments have made me think again (I hate having to think, especially again) but whether someone should have access to all the spells, I don't know. *ponder* Martin - -- Martin Glassborow I whispered, 'I am too young,' And then, 'I am old enough'; Wherefore I threw a penny To find out if I might love. ------------------------------ From: Alex Ferguson Date: Sun, 5 Mar 95 16:50:21 GMT Subject: Re: Reusable initiate rune magic Joerg: > > Let's assume an initiate of both Orlanth and Mastakos, having 1 point of > > Runepower left from Orlanth, and 2 from Mastakos. Could this guy use > > Teleport if he knew it from both cults? Martin Glassborow: > I've not used the Runepower rules yet, although I am very tempted to. But > if I did I would tend to use the same ruling that I use already, divine > spells gained from different cults cannot be stacked together. But in this case, it's the _same_ spell, from (ultimately) the same cult, Mastakos, from whom Orlanth gets the spell as an associate. So if the question were "stacking" two Teleports under the current rules, I'd say yes, no problem. But then, the distinction about "how" you got the spell is pretty thin in this case. I'd say that if you allow RPP from a "main" cult to be used for "associate" magic spells, then you could reasonably allow the above form of stacking. If you insist that an initiate of Orlanth (only) must, in order to use a Mastakos associate spell, sack for them individually, or have a separate RRP for Mastakos (ammounting to much the same thing, really), then you logically should not. Alex. ------------------------------ From: Mike Cule Date: Sun, 05 Mar 1995 19:25:00 GMT Subject: More sorcery idiocy: Shapeshifting This has probably been mentioned before but, assuming that large parts of the current sorcery system will be reused in RQ4, it's definitely in our interests to point out the idiocies now to prevent things that no-one else has thought about being reinserted in later versions. The idiocy I want to rant about today is the Shapeshifting spell. Or rather spells. And therein lies my point. Let us imagine that Nicholas Erd, magician at large, is wandering through the forest and is attacked by a large troll. Thinking of what he has read in his master's grimoires he decides to kill two birds with one stone and turn the Troll into a rabbit, thus providing lunch. (Query: does this count as cannibalism if the spell duration ends before the meal is completely digested?) He happens to have a Shapechange Troll to Rabbit spell. It works. Result: Happiness and lunch! A short while later he encounters a large wolf. He reaches for his shapechange spell and... Well of course he isn't going to have every possible combination is he? And the wolf eats the magician. Who in their right mind is going to clutter up their minds with spells of such limited utility? Even assuming that we loose the Free Int rules in RQ4 there is still the question of time invested in training or money and POW invested in matrixes. Let me propose that Shapchanging specifies only the 'target' shape and can be used on any living thing. However transformations should be easier for subjects that are nearer the target. Shapechanging a man into a troll is easy. A man into a rabbit is medium difficulty. A man into a tree is very hard. The finer details of this proposal I leave to lesser minds... - -- Mike Cule ------------------------------ From: SPerrin@aol.com Date: Sun, 5 Mar 1995 17:31:46 -0500 Subject: Re: More sorcery idiocy: Shap... MIke Cule's comments on shapeshifting are right on target. Too many piddlin' differences and distinctions spoil the MGF! Steve Perrin ------------------------------ End of RQ Rules Digest: V1 #126 ******************************* 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.