From: Sandy Petersen (sandyp@idgecko.idsoftware.com)
Date: Tue 20 Aug 1996 - 02:16:00 EEST
Tim
>OK, I'm delurking again because I could use a little reenergizing on
>my Kralorelan project. The campaign is now becoming more like a real
>campaign. The main PCs immediate quest is to discover, through
>meditative episodes similar to heroquesting, the mystic power of his
>particular martial art form. He has a longer range goal of creating
>his own form.
>I was wondering if there is any Kralorelan source material published
>besides GoG and Glorantha (boxed set).
Not much.
>Nils or Sandy or anyone else in the know on Kralorelan mysticism ...
>would a one-use mystical poem be imbued with specific mystic effects
>or simply allow the user to concentrate more mystic energy to create
>greater effects with his/her own mystic talents?
The poem creates the effect. The poem _is_ the effect. It is
like a spell, but more powerful.
>my ultra-civilized Kralorelan citizens use mysticism instead of
>sorcery, altho there are also sorcerors found in all the cities and
>the outlying villages have their share of village elders (wise
>men/women) who practice a form of spirit magic instead (based on the
>kami of shinto religious belief).
I have begun to play that the sorcerers (who are in every
city) also practice Mysticism, but of arcane subjects. Mysticism, in
my rules, consists of magic enhancements of ordinary skills. A boxer
would have devoted much time and meditation to his Martial Arts, and
thus would have remarkable abilities here. An elderly and wise farmer
would have semi-magic Plant Lore and Craft Wood. Etc. But a sorcerer
would have grown wise in the ways of a magic skill, like Summon, or
Dark Lore, or something along those lines.
There is some spirit magic in Kralorela, but mysticism fills
most of their needs.
>I've introduced my PC to hsunchen, barbarians from the Bliss of
>Ignorance, a rebel band hiding/running from the army and bullying
>helpless villages, assassins, soldiers, miscellaneous citizens,
>street burlies, undead, spirits, a tiger, and a troll. I would
>expect most of Kralorela to be short on "monsters" except by the
>action of the intelligent races. I would also expect chaos to be
>very uncommon.
>Does this sound accurate?
Kind of. Kralorela actually has quite a bit of non-human
action going around, but it is incorporated into the society and
culture.
Examples: Dragonewts; Dragons; Uz (in the Kingdom of
Ignorance); Hsunchen (the Hsunchen of Kralorela are relatively more
monstrous than further west) -- thus, a Tiger Man may often have a
striped skin or fangs, as another example, Wind Children are
considered Hsunchen; undead (of course); hostile Zabdamar mermen
sorcerers; a huge variety of didactic demons; etc. Also, some groups
of humans are so alien that they act kind of as monsters. Examples:
the dragon warriors, who as they reincarnate gradually turn into
man/dragonewet halfbreeds; the amazons; the sacred criminals; etc.
Chaos is not so much uncommon as highly subtle and secretive.
Huan Tos do not raven around and eat people. Instead they lurk at the
fringes of the village and are known only as a soft and melodious
voice, requesting most reasonable favors in return for mighty rewards
(think of the Phantom of the Opera). The four main chaos influences
in Kralorela are:
Huan Tos
Undead (the Kralori have more varieties of undead than the
rest of the world combined)
The Amethyst Dragon of Greater Chaos (and its minions).
Human chaos worshipers (especially Thanatar and Krarsht).
Most Kralori monsters represent some kind of moral lesson. Here
follow descriptions of two Kralori monsters.
DUOCANTH -- The amphibious duocanth is vaguely reptilian, its body
covered with huge spiny scales. Atop a mottled body is a
crescent-shaped head, eyes spaced evenly around the outer curve of
the crescent. The beast's curved mouth is on the crescent's
underside. From the base of the body sprout six boneless limbs. By
tradition, three are termed "tentacles". These are long, muscular,
and ridged for gripping. The other three are termed "tails". These
are shorter, stouter, with a cluster of spikes near the end, plus a
stinger-tip.
Duocanths are creatures of the water. Each has its own lake,
pool, river, or bay to which it is tied. When within its body of
water, it has all the full strength and powers listed below, but the
further it roams, the weaker it becomes. In general, smaller
duocanths can roam further. Thus, a STR 6d6 duocanth can travel
several kilometers from home with few adverse effects, while a STR
15d6 duocanth is only able to wander a few dozen meters. There are
legends of even more powerful duocanths, even more restricted.
Duocanths are capable of any type of magic. Normally they use
Kralori mysticism, specializing in water magic.
To generate a random duocanth, roll 1d10+5 for the number of
STR and SIZ dice to roll.
characteristic average
STR (6-15)d6 21-53 Move 2/6 swimming
CON 4d6+6 20 Hit Points 21-37
SIZ (6-15)d6 21-53 Fatigue 41-73
INT 1d6+12 15-16
POW 3d6+12 22-23
DEX 3d6+6 16-17
hit location (d20) pts
tentacle 1 01-02 6/7 to 6/13 (.33)
tail 1 03-04 6/6 to 6/10 (.25)
tentacle 2 05-06 6/7 to 6/13 (.33)
tail 2 07-08 6/6 to 6/10 (.25)
tentacle 3 09-10 6/7 to 6/13 (.33)
tail 3 11-12 6/6 to 6/10 (.25)
body 13-18 9/11 to 9/19 (.50)
head 19-20 9/7 to 9/13 (.33)
Weapon SR Attk Damage
Bite 5 35+17 to 23 1d6+1d6 to 3d6
Tail smash 5 50+17 to 23 3d6 + 2d6 to 6d6
Sting 5 15 + 17 to 23 1d6 + 2d6 to 6d6 + poison
Tentacle 3 50 + 17-23 2d6 to 6d6
NOTE: the bite receives half its damage bonus.
Each round, the duocanth can use its tails for either a smash
with the spikes, or a sting, but not both. A successful sting injects
poison with a POT equal to CON.
The tentacles do damage equal to the duocanth's damage bonus.
Once a tentacle hits, the duocanth can choose to hang on, doing no
further damage with that tentacle until a second tentacle also lands
a blow and clings. At that point, the duocanth can begin to constrict
the victim with both tentacles, just like a walktapus, doing normal
rolled damage to each location, with armor only counting until it is
broken through.
DEFENSES: A duocanth's thick, fluted scales act as swordbreakers -- a
weapon that hits the duocanth's torso and does not get a special or
critical hit is automatically caught in the scales and follows normal
swordcatcher rules. The duocanth can only "grab" one weapon at a
time, and if more than one weapon are potentially caught, it must
select which one it is actively using its dermal muscles to restrain.
*******************
NANDI -- The Nandi are originally from the Kingdom of Ignorance. When
first born, a nandi is just another insensate monster. Its most
salient feature is its alarming ability to ingest the memories and
knowledge of anyone it eats. As it devours beings more intelligent
than itself, it gains their wisdom. It must eat the entire body of a
victim to gain such knowledge, which makes the animals rather
selfish. The great danger is that a nandi sometimes manages to kill
and eat an intelligent being, which makes the _nandi_ sentient, too.
It even gains the victim's spells! In essence, the nandi's INT,
skills, and spells are equal to the highest of anyone it's eaten.
The weak point of the nandi stems directly from its unnatural
power. Naturally enough, the most favored prey of a nandi is another,
older, nandi, since by devouring such, the beast can gain all the
knowledge which the older nandi had consumed in _its_ lifetime. And
if the eaten nandi had in turn devoured _another_ nandi, well ... The
most fearsome foe of a nandi is its own child. Naturally enough,
nandis prefer a solitary existence.
A nandi's mouth is not made for speaking, but of course any
nandi who has eaten a human can understand all the languages with
which its prey was familiar.
Nandis are large four-legged mammals with a shoulder hump and
a low-slung long-snouted head. They are large, with skulls a meter
long, and mouth split back to the eyes. Their fur is mangy, and hangs
in strips. The more knowledge and wisdom they attain, the more lumpy
and hairless their shoulder hump becomes. Eventually the lumps on the
shoulder hump become horns, thrusting every which way.
characteristic average
STR 2d6+12 19 Move 5
CON 1d6+12 15-16 Hit Points 19
SIZ 3d6+12 22-23 Fatigue 35
INT varies --
POW 4d6+12 26
DEX 1d6+6 9-10
hit location (as per 4-legged beast)
rh leg 4/5
lh leg 4/5
hind q 4/8
fore q ?/8 (note: forequarters armor is equal to 4 plus the number
of spells the nandi knows.)
rf leg 4/5
lf leg 4/5
head 4/7
Weapon SR Attk Damage
Bite 7 40+5 1d10+2d6
Spell 4+ -- varies
NOTE: a nandi can cast a spell simultaneously with biting. It can
only cast 1 spell per round.
MAGIC: may know any or all spells, from mysticism to Rune magic, to
shamanry (complete with fetches).
------------------------------
End of Glorantha Digest V3 #132
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