HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: loren@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu (Loren Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RQ: King of Sartar and the Yelmalio Cult
Keywords: RuneQuest, Glorantha
Date: 6 Jan 93 21:50:59 GMT
Organization: Wharton Marketing

In article <1993Jan6.164711.11504@infonode.ingr.com> beykema@infonode.ingr.com (Maurice Beyke) writes:
> I can't believe how little discussion there has been this week,
> what with the _King of Sartar_ and _River of Cradles_ both just
> out.  Well, I'll try to kick in my share here.

I think we've all been stunned by the ponderous prose... :)

>    pp50,54).  So, is Elmal still a part of the Orlanth pantheon,
>    and the Yelmalio cult just a schism, albeit larger than the main
>    branch now?  Or has Elmal been replaced in the rituals by some
>    other solar deity?

IMHO, Elmal is still in the Orlanthi myths, though not reachable through the 
standard rituals. So the Orlanthi replaced him ritually with the other storm
thanes with solar names, who are probably heroes of some sort. The yelmalio 
cult is now dissociated from Orlanth, and closer to Yelm (and more 
importantly) to the invading pelorian yelmites who are Lunar auxiliaries.

The sun dome temple, and the Sun Dome Templars, were founded as followers of 
Elmal within an Orlanthi nation, but when the Yelmalio conversion was done 
they got rid of their Orlanthi ties and probably had to drive out all the 
local Orlanthi at the same time.

My question would be different. How widely is the Yelmalio cult spread? I'd 
be surprised if it had spread beyond Dragon Pass and the nearby areas, and 
I'd be especially surprised if there were any significant concentrations of 
them anywhere except in sun dome county. For instance, I doubt if most 
Pelorian Yelmites think that Yelmalio is anything other than a crippled 9th 
son of the emperor Yelm, and I bet 20 wheels that they make fun of the sun 
county crowd behind their backs.

>  for point 1; I'm just curious whether it would be valid to, say,
>  have some Sartarite Elmal cultists show up in Pavis, and how they
>  would respond to the Sun Dome Templars and vice versa.

IMHO it would be valid to have Elmal cultists visit Pavis from some other 
Orlanthi area, but Elmal has been completely eclipsed (can I turn a phrase 
or what?) by Yelmalio within Sartar, and probably within Tarsh, the 
Balazarings, the Holy Country, Prax, and the Wastes as well.
--
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller              LOREN@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu
Time am I, wreaker of the world's destruction, matured, grimly
resolved here to swallow up the worlds.             -- Krishna
From: mauht@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Mr A Jones)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: What do you look for in a magic system?
Date: 11 Jan 1993 01:09:57 -0000
Organization: Computing Services, University of Warwick, UK
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: borage.csv.warwick.ac.uk


|> >This is an informal survey concerning what role-players like in a
|> >RPG magic system.  (I am currently working on my own system--aren't
|> >we all--and would greatly appreciate you opinions.)
|> 
|> I want something powerful, flexible, and creative.
|> I want a system which would lay down basic rules for magical
|> casting, and then let the player mages decide how they want to
|> apply these rules.

Personally, I don't. As I see it magic involves dealing with powerful, poorly
understood forces: much like mathematics. You may think that there are a lot of
powerful techniques kicking around, but firstly, only a few people know much
about more than a few of them, and secondly, boy! is there a lot of unknown stuff
out there! The main difference is that making a mistake when doing maths is
generally a lot less catastrophic than making a mistake when casting a spell :-)

Essentially, magic need not be totally logical (just because I can solve this
differential equation is no reason why I can solve another very similar but not
identical), but it should be the same for everybody, so that what you can achieve
depends on what has been discovered, by you or by someone who was willing to tell
you about their discoveries [aside: the bloke who discovered a method of solving
cubic equations was not at all happy when the bloke who he'd let in on the secret
went and published...].

I'm currently thinking about a campaign where the characters end up bumping off a
somewhat powerful mage (due to the setting they'll have an interestingly limited
variety of high-ish tech and magical equipment at their 'disposal', although if
they do 'dispose' of any of it they'll be _highly_ unpopular), and then discover
his collection of books. Now, the characters will be magical novices, if that,
whereas these books will contain some pretty high powered stuff. It will be like
giving primary school kids access to degree level books... As I said, this mage is
just slightly powerful. [Too powerful to be defeated? There are quite a few
easily posed problems which are either rather difficult to solve or haven't been.]

Having said all this, I should add that customizable powers are very appropriate
for super-powers, etc, as I see these as 'internal' abilities: extraordinary
developements of mind and body.
-- 
*****************************************************************
*Alexander Lewis "Second and Special" Jones - the terminal sloth*
*****************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: Petri.Wessman@hut.fi (Petri Wessman)
Subject: Re: RMCVI
Reply-To: Petri.Wessman@hut.fi
Organization: La Gata Encantada
	<2119@rztsun.rz.tu-harburg.de> <20236.2b4af8b2@ul.ie>
	<davidc.726466103@melomys>
Date: 9 Jan 93 03:10:18

On Fri, 8 Jan 1993 04:08:23 GMT, davidc@cs.uwa.oz.au (David Cake) said:

David> 	I know the guy who wrote Role Master Companion VI, so if
David> anyone has any questions, I could relay them to him.
David> Alternatively, we could get him on the net, maybe. I'll talk to
David> him about it.

Yow! Great! [runs off into the distance to find game session notes]

Here's a question for starters, about the new skill system:
Has he handled two-weapon development (a la Two-Weapon Combo) in any
way? It's only a matter of time until one of my players decides he
wants two weapons at a time...

Some more tomorrow, gotta grab some sleep first.

//Petri

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: brian@garfield.cs.mun.ca (Brian Paquet)
Subject: Re: Skaven Names
Organization: CS Dept., Memorial University of Newfoundland
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 07:17:22 GMT

sl7sg@cc.usu.edu writes:

>			A friend of mine has no internet access, and wanted to
>		reply to this, so;      (oh, yeah, the usual disclaimers apply)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>In article <1993Jan7.230001.4375@cs.mun.ca>, brian@garfield.cs.mun.ca (Brian Paquet) writes:

Dislikeinf of typical name names in bloodbowl problem deleted

>	I definitley agree with you, Goreflem rotvomit tends to be a chaos
>name. How about : Skreeeth Warplicker 
>                  Snikr Bonecruncher
>		  Vyrrilp Doomsmeller
>		  Keerth Plaguebringer
>		  Thyruk Dungluv


> 	Just a few ideas, try reading white dwarf a little, for more names, it
>is great reference.  I'm a gameshop owner, if you want, write me >>SNAILMAIL<<
>with any ideas you have on fantasy roleplay, fantasy battle, or 40k!

Well I am not much into snailmail [adress of poster deleted] but I might
as well respond publicly. It's been of help, the first names at least
the second names sound too much like nicknames to me, [The Gorflem name
is from an orc]. I find that makes a lot of names rather useless as
inspiration. Thing is with elves Dwarves and orcs a bit of general
fantasy knowledge goes a long way, but Skaven seems confined
to white dork mag [to which I used to read when they puched BB]
Those first names I will pass onto the player. 

BTW does anyone out ther eplay Bloodbowl? I would ask in the Board games area
but considering it's links with the roleplaying world [ask the manager
of Carnage inc the 0-2 Orc team  Mongor greenskin about roleplaying]
I think it belongs.

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: dvandom@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Dave Van Domelen)
Subject: Re: Yet more killing attacks
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 04:26:46 GMT

In article <1993Jan11.153815.14776@rdg.dec.com> boyes@forty2.enet.dec.com (Mark
 Boyes) writes:
>Even the biggest, fastest, pointiest bullet can cause a flesh wound?

Yep.  If a Howitzer blows off your pinky and nothing else, it won't cause much 
more damage than a .25 blowing off your pinky.  It might even hurt less, if it 
weren't for the shockwave as it passes.  A projectile has to hit a fleshy bit 
before hydrostatic shock becomes a factor, and actually fast pointy bullets 
don't do much unless they hit a really vital part.  It's slow blunt bullets 
that fragment inside you that do the real damage...but again if all it does is 
blow off your pinky it won't really matter.
     Dave Van Domelen, has no desire to lose any of his fingers to test this, 
however.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: cluther@morticia.cnns.unt.edu (Clay Luther)
Subject: Re: RQ: The Relation of the Red Goddess and Orlanth
Keywords: runequest,rq,gods
Organization: University of North Texas
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 20:37:51 GMT

loren@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu (Loren Miller) writes:


>5. Because she is allied with Chaos, as proven by the Crimson Bat, the 
>Scarlet Wave, the Black Horse Troop, the vampire legion, her Gbaji 
>tricksters, and by that red glowing moon that just sits up in the sky, 
>unmoving, all the time. She hides her horrible self behind a pretty face, 
>but she is just as horrible as any other face of the devil.

A related question then, on the moral position of the Lunar Empire and how it is
interpreted by various GMs.

Realizing that not everything in Glorantha is uncluttered black and white, do
you play the LE as

1) The source of all evil, corrupting and destructive.
2) A source of civilization, but still evil.
3) A source of civilization, but just misunderstood by the primitive people
it tries to enlighten.
4) A decadent civilization that is neither good nor evil, but only hungry
for land and energy to propel its obese government.
5) A force for change for the better.
6) A force for change for the worse.
7) A force for change that is neither better nor worse, just different.

These are all my opinions of twhat the LE could be.  Discussion is 
appreciated.

-- 
Clay Luther
cluther@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
From: tratclif@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (Tracy Ratcliff)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RQ: illusions
Date: 8 Jan 93 17:59:55 GMT
Organization: Ohio University CS Dept,. Athens

While I've followed RQ from the beginning, I've never run an RQ3 campaign :-(,
but I'm not going let that stop me from imposing my opinion on you ...

It's already been mentioned that the only way to cast a really high inenstity
spell is with a magical item.

If you look at the illusion spells for the Trickster in  _Gods of Glorantha_,
divine illusion spells with limited effects are much less expensive than the
duplicating them with the generic illusion spells from the Magic Book (hmmph,
can't find the Magic Book).  For example Create Wine is a 1 pt spell which
would be about 6 points with the generic spells. 

The point I'm trying to make is both the divine and sorcery _generic_ illusion
spells are extremely flexible and extremely powerful, and may not be too bad
costwise.  Suggestions for cost reductions for _limited_ illusions in RQ4 
would be nice.
From: atmpas@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Ars Magica Question
Date: 12 Jan 93 10:14:53 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <tkelly.726751582@unix2.tcd.ie>, tkelly@unix2.tcd.ie (Mithrandir) writes:
> 
>     Is it true that House Merecere get absolutely no magic at all, yet
> are considered Magi?
> 
>    Seems a bit of a raw deal to me.
> 
> --
>  Haggis: Haggis is a black pudding eaten by the Scots and considered not
> only a delicacy, but fit for human consumtion.The minced heart, liver
> and lungs of a sheep are mixed with oatmeal and boiled in the sheep's
> stomach before ...Excuse me a minute... [Mithrandir/tkelly@unix2.tcd.ie]

	The House Mercere template is a bit of an oddity.  Before the current
edition, members of House Mercere who were non-magical were generated as
companions with the +4 virtue 'redcap'; they counted as Magi for Hermetic
purposes (having sigils and being protected under the code, although usually
refraining from voting at tribunal) but being companions rather than wizards.
Being considered a magus in this way is purely an advantage, and the House will
brew you a longevity potion and - if you do well - probably provide you with a
few magic items, or at least potions.  Being a messenger is also an advantage,
in that you get an enormous amount of information.


	If you want to use the House Mercere template, it is a Redcap with a
lot of magic items provided by the House, and is comparable in power to a
beginning magus.  As a result, it takes up a magus slot.  It won't advance in
power quickly, but it could still use vis to buy magic items from House
Verditius.  

	There are also magical members of House Mercere (wizards with
'redcap', which is a +3 virtue for them).  They get the information and a
certain amount of House support, but are expected to occasionally serve as
messengers and to provide local redcaps with any magical support they need.

			- Paul
From: P.C.Steele@newcastle.ac.uk (P. Steele)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SII: Physical Adepts
Date: 8 Jan 93 14:32:06 GMT
Organization: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, NE1 7RU
Originator: n1z6g@tuda


In article <C0HxCL.B13@visix.com>, gray@visix.com (Gray Jones) writes:
> Wow, SRII sure did knock those crazy physical adepts down a peg or two....
> 
> I just want to double check, are there any misprints in the physical adept
> section of the SRII book?

Well I don't know if any misprints were made on that section but I would guess
that they weren't as I've heard a few people say that SII hammers Phys Ads. In
my opinion I think you'd be better sticking with the first rules though if you
don't like auto succeses you can always drop those.

Using the first rules to get the same initiative as the Sam you described you
need to spend 4 points on quickness (+2 reaction) and 2 points on increased
reactions (+2 reaction +2 initiative dice) or 2 points on quickness (+1 reaction)
and 4 points on increased reactions (+3 reaction +3 initiative die).

Admittedly this second option will make the Phys Ad faster than the sam but not
better. I think you are forgetting that the sam still has 3 points of esscence
left to play with. Slap in the cybereyes, the smartgun link, the dermal plating,
spurs and Mr Sam is ready to kick the phys ad's ass. Not only that but the sam
can also then start filling up with bioware (which could be very quickly 
depending what sort of game you play) which won't effect his esscence unlike the
phys ad.

Compare this to the Phys Ad and he really has to work to get his improvements. Ok
so he can get the equivalent of cybereyes and increased strength etc but he has
to spend a hell of a lot of karma to do so.
-- 
Phillip Steele

P.C.Steele@uk.ac.ncl
From: CX6L@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA (CX6L)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: RE: GURPS: A question about an Enchantment
Date: 7 Jan 93 18:56:05 GMT
Organization: McGill University

In article <5194@equinox.unr.edu> hodges@unssun.nevada.edu (Marcus Hodges) writes:

>In GURPS Magic, the Fast Draw enchantment says that any weapon with this
>enchantment will leap to the weilder's hand, and be ready, at their mental
>command.  The question is, what about missile weapons?  The exact statement
>in the description is that the weapon "leaps to the wielders hand", but
>would this enchantment actually cause an arrow to be knocked and ready
>to fire, thus removing a Fast Draw roll and an action to ready the bow?
>If the enchantment just puts the arrow in the wielders hand, I think
>that 2000 energy for the enchantment is way out of line.  How is anyone
>else handling this?

Here's how I see it:
     If the enchantment is on a quiver or bag of missiles (arrows,
crossbow bolts, sling or prodd stones), then whenever the owner
needs a projectile, *bang* one appears in his hand from the quiver
or bag.
     If the enchanment is on the missile weapon (bow, sling, gun,
crossbow), then when the owner is walking around empty-handed, and
needs the weapon, then *bang* it appears in his hand.
     In neither case does the spell description imply that it can
actually draw a bow, cock a crossbow or take the safety off of a
gun: the spell is Quick *Draw*, not "Quick Ready".
     Obviously, the spell is intended for hand weapons, to allow
the user to ready his weapon in no time. The real benefits of this
spell are:

-it allows one to Fast Draw weapons that cannot normally be
 Fast Drawn (eg - maces, whips, lassoes, nets . . .).
-it allows one to gain one's weapon, without a roll, whenever
 the weapon is within reach: even if dropped, or in close-
 combat.
-it makes unbalanced weapons (halberds, maces, mauls . . .)
 balanced.

     It was never intended to be really useful for missile
weapons, I think. Still, a Quick-Draw quiver of arrows is
not a bad item: get the arrow you want, when and where you
want it, no matter what -- no rolls required.
     For related info, see GURPS Magic Items (I & II), where
they have special enchanted items, with their own spells, to
speed missile fire (eg - Repeating Crossbow). Also, the soon
to be released (right...) Grimoire supplement has a slew of
new weapons enchantments, including some missile weapon ones,
and a realated spell to Quick-Draw: "Graceful Axe".
-Kromm.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Subject: Re: What do you look for in a magic system?
Originator: jmkaraka@c00031-118dan.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 18:29:13 GMT


> I would prefer comments like, "I demand a magic system be..." as opposed
> to "I like GURPS magic." 


	Logical structure.  The whole system should tie together, rather
than be a hodge-podge of ideas and 'levels'.  Ars Magica has a great system
for this with their 'forms' and 'effects'.  Every spell there has both a
form (that it can act on) and effect (what it does to the form object).

	The ability to improvise.

	Being able to improve on individual spells.  Some people will
be better at fireball than others.  GURPS is good for this because
every spell is a skill that can be practiced and improved independently.

	Spell points, fatigue, or something similar.  The whole AD&D
concept of 'memorizing' spells is hideously inappropriate.  Off-hand, I
can think of only ONE fantasy world that uses anything even remotely
similar.  (In case you're wondering, it's the Amber series.  Merlin
would 'construct', NOT memorize, spells before hand to use later.)
TORG does this in an interesting fashion.  Some spells are too long to
be cast on the spur of the moment, so they are pre-cast and 'impressed'
on an item (or person).  Other spells are short enough to be cast as
required, but the backlash from the universe could tire (or kill!) the
mage.

	Magic integrated with the rest of the combat system.

	-john-
From: by670@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Marc-Eivind Cruz Evensen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Killing Attacks
Date: 10 Jan 1993 07:14:22 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


    I relaize I'm jumping into the middle of this, but on a discussion of
Killing Attacks in HERO System, I think that using a standard multiplier
is a poor idea. The whole idea behind killing attacks is that they do BODY.
The minor part of the attack is that they so stun, this is reflected in ther
fact that rolling a d6-1 removes the "assuarance" of stunning someone. If
you want to be "sure" to do stun, use a normal attack, if you want to blow
some poor enemy away, go for the killing.

-- Marc
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII: Physical Adepts
From: wintermute@otago.ac.nz
Date: 11 Jan 93 17:09:41 +1300
Organization: University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Hi, I'm a long time SR fan/GM and I've been following the SR2 PA debate with
some interest and have decided to put in my 2c worth. (As this relates to half
a dozen posts I won't be directly quoting them)

1) Somebody asked if there were any typo's in the rules:
   I suspect there is one in the initiative dice costs: they give them as
   1:4:6, I suspect 1:3:6 would be more internally consistent.

2) I feel that the reaction advantage of the Sam. is significant, as in my
   experience, going off first is the single most importent factor in a fight
   (as it means that if you do any damage you increase your opponent's target
   numbers, often drasticly degrading his ability to do damage back to you).
   IMHO, all characters who will be engaging in combat need to have the ability
   to do more than put the wounded out of their misery. If they don't then
   their players will start to lose interest.

3) Somebody said that although the PA isn't as good as the Sam in a firefight,
   they are better in Armed combat.
   Unfortunately, in my experience, firefights tend to dominate over armed
   combat in the damage done, the fact you don't need to be next to the target
   to damage him and the fact that you don't risk getting damaged yourself if
   your opponent gets more successes than you. I suspect that a modern ninja
   would use a silenced pistol instead of shurikens and ninja-to.
   
Tim Makinson.
From: porterg@gems.vcu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Killing attacks
Date: 11 Jan 93 10:12:29 -0400
Organization: Medical College of Virginia

On the subject of killing damage, we basically say that stun multiples for
STUN are *before* defenses, and those for BODY are *after* defenses.  This
means that even bricks can be felled by minor killing attacks that get
lucky (2d6K to the head for 50+ STUN for instance), but keeps lesser armored
heros from getting blown away by the BODY.

Greg Porter
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: vanguard@midnight.bellcore.com (Mark Schlagenhauf)
Subject: Re: Harpoon help
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Reply-To: vanguard@midnight.bellcore.com (Mark Schlagenhauf)
Organization: Bell Communications Research
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 21:31:24 GMT

In article <upmrj.726443089@mcl>, upmrj@mcl.ucsb.edu (Peter M Jazmin) writes:
|> I purchased the Harpoon RPG over the holidays and I was wondering
|> if there are any FTP sites for the game.
|> 
|> Peter Jazmin
|> upmrj@mcl.ucsb.edu
|> 


Harpoon: the role-playing game? What the heck is that?  (I haven't played
Harpoon in quite awhile, so maybe this is a suprise to no one but me.)

Mark Schlagenhauf
vanguard@midnight.bellcore.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy