From: owner-rq-rules-digest To: rq-rules-digest@hops.wharton.upenn.edu Subject: RQ Rules Digest: V1 #180 Reply-To: rq-rules Errors-To: owner-rq-rules-digest Precedence: bulk Content-Return: Prohibited Return-Path: owner-rq-rules-digest RQ Rules Digest: Tuesday, 4 April 1995 Volume 01 : Number 180 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 mdouglas_at_AIGWHQ@mailhost. runelore take 2, vol 1 Bryan J. Maloney Rules for morale Bryan J. Maloney Serious injuries in SCA combat SPerrin@aol.com Death and disability. Gregory C. Walsh hitting arms crits vs. magic ANDOVER@delphi.com Fumbles Kevin Rose Economic model of manor SPerrin@aol.com Serious injuries in SCA c... SPerrin@aol.com runelore ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: mdouglas_at_AIGWHQ@mailhost.aig.com Date: Mon, 03 Apr 95 13:51:27 cst Subject: runelore take 2, vol 1 Well, sorry about that...take two. Again, disreguard any copyright stuff herein, I am the sole author and copyright holder...I now re-dub this work publicus domainicus... And yet also again...sorry about the format probs, cheap Word Processor, on a Commodore 64, not too great on the translation, take from it what you will. Alchemy How did he make that? Avatars A step above and beyond Baolin A small town with few surprises The Battle of Ainen A humakti trial of faith Broos Bookoos of the bad guys Courts Legalities can be lethal The Fair Combat & competition in the open air Fist The eastern vindicator Gambling Games of chance in the land of Prax Mass Combat System Armies clash & the GM needs help Professionals Assassins, cults & tools of the trade RuneQuest Revisions A few minor changes to an RPG titan Was that an impale? Skills to a higher degree Play Sheets Campaign cataloging goodies Credits:Creation, Design & Art:-Mike Douglas Playtesters:-Tony Bingham -John Gibson -Matt Merits - -Ray Sevits Rune Lore is copyright 1992 by Jontunheim Games Company, all rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced for any reason, save gameplay, in whole or in part without the expressed written consent of Jontunheim Games Company. RuneQuest is Chaosium Inc's trademark for its fantasy roleplaying game.This trademark is not used by permission of Chaosium Inc nor is the material contained within this book approved by Chaosium Inc in anyway. This tome published by:Jontunheim Games Company 911 Crown Drive Edmond, Oklahoma 73034 Forward Rune lore is exactly that, a compendium or collection of RuneQuest lore and gaming material. this is a selection of rewritten excerpts from the almighty black folder and my own ongoing campaign. Inside these covers you will find a wide variety of campaign goodiescreated for use with Chaosium Inc's fantasy roleplaying game, RuneQuest. This is a tome created for the beleaguered game master, and is INTendedfor his eyes only. knowledge of the specifics contained within articlesand modules by a player, previous to gameplay, might damage or ruinthe playabilty, surprise and fun of this book.A word to the game master, read the material contained herein and noteit for suitability before INTroducing INTo your campaign. several aspectsof this book are of a "high-powered" nature and might need to be alteredbefore being used as part of your world, r more simply, not used atall.There are no specific locations given in this book, save that it ismeant for the world of Glorantha. The reason for this is for playabilityin any campaign and the possible sudden INTroduction of the contentsto the players no matter where they are adventuring at the time.In conclusion i would like to thank Greg Stafford and all the guys atChaosium for the creation of RuneQuest, Avalon hill for making it famous and all the guys for their support and help in developing my materi ------------------------------ From: jacobus@sonata.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney) Date: Mon, 3 Apr 95 14:20:15 -0500 Subject: Rules for morale I think the best rules for morale would be NON-numerical and NON-dice based. Instead, they should have the GM evaluate WHY a particular group of monsters or NPCs is in a fight and the personalities of same. I've run two large combats in my current Pavis campaign. The first was an assault by a gang of baboons intent on robbing the PCs of their animals and goods. The baboons first attacked by throwing a few spells. This took one PC out of the fight for a while (befuddle AND demoralize). Then the baboons attacked with about the same number as the PCs. Once the PCs were engaged one PC to one baboon, the SECOND wave of baboons attacked, concentrating on the PCs who appeared to be the toughest. Only THEN did the baboon shaman show his face. He released a "war spirit" to occupy one PC and then started casting spells to harass others. It was at this moment that Dirchiris Sunspiris, Yelm the Warrior adherent, snapped to attention and stated "And in that day there was great clamor for foul creatures spread upon the land. And the justice of the world was offended, and the holy Fire did purify." The shaman was hit with a Sunspear 4 (which was 2/3 of the PC's divine magic, the other two points being in Ripen). All of a sudden, the shaman badass, who planned the whole battle, was a screaming torch--dead within a round. Okay, so he wasn't a badass as far as shamans go, but he was a badass so far as the baboons were concerned. Furthermore, the PCs were requiting themselves fairly well in the melee. Those baboons who saw the Sunspear's results and could still move took off at top speed. I rolled no dice for this decision, I just got into the baboon's heads. They were bandits, in it for profit. They had nothing to defend except their own lives. They suffered a setback. They ran. The other big fight was on the uninhabited of the Twin Hills in the Rubble. The PCs had entered the ruined walls and were attacked by broo. The broo warriors fought to the death. Their shaman only stayed around long enough to cast "Inflict Brain Rot" and "Inflict Soul Waste", then skedaddled with the help of a beneficial Chaos Trait--That particular broo's image is not attached to him all the time. He can remove his image and leave it in place. However, he has to recover it within a few days or start to suffer from the equivalent of Soul Rot. So the broo shaman peeled himself away from his image (after taking a very public stand) and trotted off. These broo are defending a nest. Furthermore, they are broo. Thus, they fought harder. However, their leader abandoned the troops because he felt no real loyalty to them. He also had more important things to do, especially when the first fight turned out not to be a walkover for the broo. That is how I handle morale. ------------------------------ From: jacobus@sonata.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney) Date: Mon, 3 Apr 95 14:36:49 -0500 Subject: Serious injuries in SCA combat This is a catalog of all serious injuries I have even heard rumors about in SCA combat since 1984 to the present day: Broken forearm suffered by fool who tried a Karate parry during one of his early practice sessions. It was then that he learned that a full-strength blow is not to be simply knocked away with an arm. (He was wearing only cloth padding on the arm--no more than one layer.) Broken shoulderblade suffered by a Tuchuk who leaped upon somebody down an incline. The target stepped out of the way. Badly cut and smashed hand when a "sword" made its way around a shield and contacted a lightly-armored (leather glove, not hockey) hand holding a metal handle. The hand had to be stitched and set, but no permanent injury. The cut came from the metal handle. (This was an unofficial "demo" so SCA Inc. had no corporate or liability involvement.) Legs rendered too stiff to move by virtue of a massive bruise and pressure cut. This developed about a week after the actual injury ("sword" blow to a leg with cuirboilli armor) was inflicted. A week of physical therapy with a sports doctor cleared up the problem--the fighter in question now wears padding under his leg armor. Numerous cases of heat stroke ranging from mild to life-threatening. Heat stroke is the most common injury, far outnumbering ANYTHING else. The weapons in SCA can inflict real damage, as Steve will attest, however, a blunt, light weapon will certainly be fairly low in penetration. I can absorb full-strength blows to my torso with a simple coat of plates over sufficient padding. A well-build AND PROPERLY PADDED helm will let you take the hardest blows with a rattan staff with no more than a slight ringing in the ears. You're more prone to hurting yourself by tripping over badly-designed leg armor. ------------------------------ From: SPerrin@aol.com Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 16:33:46 -0400 Subject: Re: Death and disability. I said: >What if Bladesharp just acted to negate armor (a d8 sword with Bladesharp 3 cuts >through 3 points of armor before determining what the d8 does. and Graeme Lindsell asked: >What does Protection do in this case? Add to armour or reduce Bladesharp?< I think that if Protection adds to armor, then it essentially reduces Bladesharp without having to have a special qualification to do so. And, pertaining to my original post, the Protection would still work against a no-armor critical. Steve Perrin ------------------------------ From: "Gregory C. Walsh" Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 17:40:26 -0400 Subject: RE: hitting arms RE: crits vs. magic It was posited that arms get hit too often according to the melee chart. I disagree. Arms are moving about and generally are at great(er) risk during HTH combat. However, as noted in the crit discussion, realism doesn't nesc. make for good gaming. I say this out of my experiences in stick fighting and other weapon simulation-type experiences. For what ever that is worth. As far as crits versus magic. In my last world I used the "magic protects vs. Crits" rule. I discovered that this was fine until the characters got to Rune level. At Rune level, they were more willing to expend Divine magic (where as before they would hoard it.). I had to use the "initial encounter" trick to exaust their magic, or to make them more careful. This would be fine except that combats take so long in RQ. Even short skirmishes where the enemies ends up running away. In the new campaign I am runnning, I am trying out a comprimise. I have crits work against Divine magic (which is a 4x advatage over battle magic, (spirit magic), since it gives both countermagic, protection, and doesn't get blown down, and is Stackable.). But not against anything else. Access to Spirit magic higher than 4 points is strictly controlled. That is, you can forget getting it. I have a different rule for Damage resistance. Oh, and they way I am running Spirit magic, your spirit magic spells can't be multiply cast until the spell is finished, *and* enemies can steal your spells. Greg Walsh ------------------------------ From: ANDOVER@delphi.com Date: Mon, 03 Apr 1995 17:55:07 -0500 (EST) Subject: Fumbles As a (rahher strong) defender of criticals, I am less enamored of fumbles in their present form. They should be less gross, because people really don't chop off their own heads or arms too often! On the other hand, hitting a friend is not uncommon, and falling down, spraining a limb, etc. is quite common! I would not reduce the frequency, but think about what they are. The kind of fumble that leaves you open to an enemy blow , rather than hitting yourself, should be the most dangerous kind! And that kind of fumble is NOT uncommon! Jim Chapin ------------------------------ From: Kevin Rose Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 17:35:05 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Re: Economic model of manor Paul: The was a several page article publshed by the Harn people about this. Seemed pretty good. Of course I think it was buried in the middle of some out of print sup. of theirs. Columbia Games in SW Canada is the Publisher, but I have no idea when it was published, other than several years ago.. I think it was part of the Encyclopedia Harnica, or some such name. This was a bunch of little pamphlets that had a set of small atricles on their world. Quite well done, actually. Good luck. ------------------------------ From: SPerrin@aol.com Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 19:25:53 -0400 Subject: Re: Serious injuries in SCA c... Some more additions to Bryan Maloney's catalog of SCA injuries. One concussion when the wearer (Sir Jamie Oakenshield) of an early helm that did not cover the back of the head got hit there by a quarterstaff user in an exhibition. Some severe head cuts to the forehead of Sir Jeanne de la Grand Anse when a good blow to his makeshift helmet pushed the rivets holding on his faceplate into him. Took a couple of stitches. Several other people (including your correspondent) have learned the hard way that the hand holding the shield needs protection. A full body check as part of a melee stunned me momentarily. Some of the most forceful blows people have taken were self-inflicted by running into the edge of a shield in the middle of a charge. Again, a definite stun reaction. You'll note that Bryan said that a "club" blow is noticeable against his coat of plates but not stunning. This can be very different with chain mail, which doesn't spread a blow as well as plate(s). One reason that you wear a lot of padding under chain... Oh well, this is starting to sound like an SCA list instead of a RQ list. Steve Perrin ------------------------------ From: SPerrin@aol.com Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 19:35:14 -0400 Subject: Re: runelore Mike, So far, we've gotten your Table of Contents and your Introduction. Is anything else coming? ------------------------------ End of RQ Rules Digest: V1 #180 ******************************* This is the bottom of the RuneQuest Rules Digest. 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