From: Geoff Gunner (eosgg@raesp-farn.mod.uk)
Date: Wed 01 Dec 1993 - 21:39:16 EET
Sandy says that: if someone had a spell cast on them from behind, then they'd
know which direction the spell came from.
Why ? If you're hit by a thrown rock from behind, you could at best identify which quater it came from. If it missed and you saw it travelling past, then maybe you'd have a better idea. But unless your spatial sense was very good, when you wheeled round to look you'd add a lot of error to your initial estimate (we're not good at identifying rotational movement).
And that assumes that the spell is a 'zap' type. And that implies, like missile fire, that a missed spell has a chance of hitting someone behind / a friend / etc. So you'd have to roll to see if you cast the spell, if (and who) you hit, and if you overcame their MP's.
Too much trouble, IMHO. Just treat your spells as 'bucket-of-water-over-the- head' effects - so no chance of determining where a failed spell came from.
More (interesting) points related - When do you know if a spell's been aimed at you ? If you have countermagic up, which blocks the spell, do you know ? Or if you have reflection ? Any justification for players knowing that a MP vs MP roll has actually been made ? (Although I'd never _not_ tell them).
re: Carl Fink and 'gorp have no INT' - yes, but even an amoeba knows enough to go away from uncomfortable stimuli. In a way, this could be the answer to Graeme's question on how to knobble it - light a LONG line of fires across it's path, and it won't go across them (You need INT to overcome instinct, so a gorp must be one of the easiest creatures to shepherd about). Okay, so it's not dead but at least you've got rid of the bugger. ... time passes .. G. Fried's idea is delicious. Hate to think of the mess at the base of the slope, though.
re: Colin Watson's model of God-time as perpendicular planes - Not So !
If your model was true, then you could only enter god-time at one point.
But you can enter it on any point. So the model only holds if there is 'time'
in god-time. Which there ain't. So god-time is more like the page that you've
drawn your vector of time on. No matter how long the vector, still only one
page. Anyway, you can't compare the two as they aren't of similar qualities.
Time travel - bah humbug.
And this business about 'time _TRAVEL_' - travel implies movement though a
medium. If you want to travel spatially, you have to move through the spatial
dimensions (even if you jump). So why shouldn't the same be true for time
travel ? So imagine the consequences - travel forward and you'd be like a
statue for the next n years to all curious bystander. Back would be a bit of
a problem as you could't enter the spatial area where you started your journey
from, because you would occupy it up to the moment when your journey started.
Bah mint humbug. So it's looking at things too technically. Well, why not. Where do you draw the line ? Saying 'it's magic so there's no explanation' is godawful for a player. If there's no explanation you can't predict, so you can't plan, so you'll do as well by rolling dice to determine your characters actions. If the mechanics are kept as close to earth-normal as possible, then the players can use their real world experience in understanding Glorantha. If it's magic, it's not understandable. Which is reverse-engineering the problem - magic was assumed to be because there were things not understandable (which ties in with Clarke's rule of advanced technology).
Bah mint humbug in a sticky paper bag.
On spell names - anyone play Tunnels and Trolls ? Now there they KNEW how to name spells - 'poor baby' a typical example. Ahh, how the harsh knife of sophistication flays away our early pleasures.
Illumination - surely like the Zen realisation of the true nature of the world ?
re: Carl-Johan Lundell's Storm Bull with a chaos feature - looks like you've
got some prime role-playing material there. Thing of the agonies of indecision,
'I SHOULD kill myself, but I'm tainted by chaos so The Bull won't let me into
paradise, what should I do, I'm an outcast, unclean ...'. Questing to get rid
of the taint IMHO is his most likely course of action. I don't think his cult
bonds would be broken, but can you imagine the response at the next holy
day ceremony when he walks in, reeking of chaos ? And I'd also doubt if SB
would respond to Divine Intervention. And why should your storm bull character
suddenly turn to chaos, when he's been fighting it all his life ? Unless he's
gone completely fruit-loop, in which case he's now a NPC. Fun, anyway you play
it. Keep him alive, hiding his guilt secret from the next bunch of characters.
Enough humbug. Ta Ta For Now; Geoff.
'A stitch in time stops the players heroquesting'.
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