Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RQ: Divine intervention
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 02:46:22 -0600

In a message of <19 Nov 92  10:12:26>, Y. Tremblay (1:282/31.0) writes:

 YT> Anybody around here plays Runequest ?

Sometimes I wonder...

 YT> I am in need of some help and a third party/more experienced
 YT> opinion.  I just started playing it a month ago and I am looking for
 YT> opinions about divine intervention.  First some general questions.
 YT> Sorry for the length.
 YT> 1:  When can you ask for a divine intervention ?

Absolutly anytime.  For example, you might ask for divine intervention to raise
a STR stat from 15 to 16 (by asking to be stronger, of course.) You can ask one
question per round.  A question asked and failed, may never be asked again
without still failing.

 YT> Do you need to be in a deseperate situation.  At the edge of death
 YT> or can you ask it in any risky situation.  I know the cost can be
 YT> high if one asks it anytime but _CAN_ he if he is willing to pay the
 YT> POW cost.

We usually allow 1 divine intervention check right when a character would
otherwise die.

 YT> 2:  How long does it take.  (mechanics)

That is for the god to decide.  :O)    <-- Stormbull

 YT> In a melee situation, how long does it take to ask for the help of
 YT> your god.  Can you keep fighting (dodge, attack, parry, spell ? )
 YT> while asking for divine intervention.

We say yes, you can ask for one divine intervention per round in addition to any
other actions normally allowed.

 YT> 3:  Effect of magic items
 YT>
 YT> If the character (or NPC ?) asking for divine intervention owns an
 YT> item posseding POW points and wich he can normally use the magic
 YT> points.  Does the POW of that item can be add to the one of the
 YT> character to ask for divine intervention ?

Nope.

 YT> And if yes (?!) are the lost POW from the character or the item first
 YT> ?  (an elf bow for example? any MP matrix ?)

Something like a familiar, for instance, could ask for its own divine
intervention.

 YT> 4:  Can you ask more than once in a given situation/time If you were
 YT> in a situation allowed in 1: (hopeless fight for example) asked
 YT> and failed to roll <= your POW.  I understand it means your God
 YT> didn't hear you (or didn't bother :-).

If you roll = to your POW then you are taken directly to your god to serve him. 
(The luckiest of all rolls...  unless, of course, you still wanted to play that
character for a while.)

 YT> Can a character try again during the samefight ?  Next round ?!?

One question per round.  The questions may not ask for the same thing or they
will also fail.

 YT> If not, the if a priest/initiate is captive for months and wants to
 YT> try to flee using divine intervention?  Can he try only once ? each
 YT> days/week/months/years ?

Only once will the god consider it.  He can continue to ask for other divine
intervention if the plea is not just a repeat.

 YT> 5:  What is a reasonable effect of a divine intervention ?
 YT> In the book they give three examples:  teleport up to ten human-
 YT> sized creatures, raise one stat, resurrect (sp?) a dead.  Can it be
 YT> offensive ?
 YT> ex: kill the five ones that are attacking me, (low powered one: make
 YT> them fall inconcious (I'll be able to finish the job *grin*))  Very
 YT> dependant of the deity :  the earth deity could open a hole in wich
 YT> the foes would fall but the sea/forest deity could do nothing if you
 YT> are not in sea/forest ?

One god will not typically interfer with another god's worshipers directly. He
might send you aid... but not direct intervention.

 YT> 6:  What about non-beleivers in the party ?
 YT>
 YT> Deities and priests are known for hating sorcerer.  If an initiate
 YT> wished to be teleported to a safe place with his friends/party, would
 YT> the god accept totally ? refuse totally cause there is non-beleivers
?
 YT> or simply teleport only the believers and leave the rest of the party
 YT> there ?

This is up to you to decide - I would typically honor the request totally if the
PC took this into account when he worded the divine intervention -"Teleport me
and my party away from this chaos-spawn so that we may hunt them down and emerge
victorious."  Would teleport whoever the PC
considered a party member...  ;^)

 YT> I have an opinion about most of these questions the problem is that
 YT> the players don't agree with me.  So I am looking for some more
 YT> opinion since we may all be biaised.  FYI the rules I have are RQ
 YT> Deluxe edition and using Glorantha Gods.

You should tell them stright out what guidelines you will use in judging the
effectivness of a call for divine intervention.  This knowledge/wisdom would
certainly be passed on from generation to generation and might be fun to
roleplay...

 YT> I may post later a description of the situation that lead to the
 YT> argument but I would like some general answers beforehand.

Might be interesting to talk about.
 -Barry
 P.S. Remember these are just opinions - after seeing (hopefuly) some of
      the other responses, I might change my mind on how I do it.

 * Origin: * The Boarding House (1:292/49.100)