From: Jonas Schiott (jonas.schiott@vinga.hum.gu.se)
Date: Tue 19 Apr 1994 - 01:06:14 EEST
Chris Cooke wonders:
>In GoG it states Trickster initiates are also Acolytes and as such recieve
>reusable divine magic BUT it doesn't list which. Is it just common divine?
>only Trickster divine spells? do they have to get other divine spells by
>initiating into other Cults(possibly associated only)? but have those
>reusable? (wouldn't that surpise other cult members?) Any clarification of
>the Trickster would be a big help. Also, what would his skills limitations
>be? dex x 3 (x5?) ?
I'd say they only get Trickster magic, i.e. _no_ common divine at all. What
priest in his right mind would let a trickster join his cult? But no, if a
trickster was a multiple initiate he would only get the Trickster spells as
reusable ones. Skill limitations? For people who live solely on their wits
and reflexes? Are you serious?
>Also, it says Tricksters are not subject to (or protected by) the law. How
>would the general populace of Prax and Sartar view a "discovered" Trickster?
>Hunted? Ignored? Bounty Hunt?
There are many depictions of tricksters fitting into daily Sartarite life
without too many complications (in many orlanthi lands, a trickster is
required to complete a Lightbringer's Circle). The bit about their outlaw
status often seems to be a mere formality (if actions against you can't be
punished, this makes your own 'immunity' pretty pointless). Travelling
outside orlanthi lands (like to Prax), removes _anyone_ from the
jurisdiction of orlanthi law.
>Is it true that in order for your skills % to exceed 100% you must be a Rune
>Lord or similar?
In RQ2 it was. But back then, the benefits of going over 100% were much
greater. Personally, I'm an RQ2 nostalgic. What did they have to go and
change things for? :-)?
Joerg Baumgartner:
>For Theyalans, Eurmal is the logical successor of Ratslaff, so his Runes
>would be a double disorder, and maybe a single Illusion. The logical choice
>for the double Illusion rune (accompanied by harmony) would be Donandar,
>whose puppeteer followers tellingly are quoted in RQ2 as wielders of this
>Rune.
Now this is interesting. Of course, some elements of mythology have been
changed since RQ2; I don't think there was any clear distinction between
tricksters/jesters and entertainers back then. Witness the puppeteer troupe
in that boardgame, for instance.
I'd say that Eurmal definitely has both Disorder and Illusion. Maybe the
reason for stressing Illusion in Genertela is connected to the fact that
Eurmal tricksters seem to fit into society better than Bolongo ones.
And on the subject of Disorder: on rereading the RQ2 descriptions of the
Runes, I realized that this is where my relativism comes from. I mean all
that stuff about different cults claiming their own Rune as the First
(later depictions are much less 'chaotic'). I'd say Disorder has one of the
strongest arguments - it was obviously the first stage in the development
from Chaos. Which strengthens my point about Trickster's preeminence.
>I'd phrase it like this: "Hmm, Eurmal tricked them to believe his name was
><choose any>."
I'll go along with that.
>If Illusion was his main Rune, Eurmal would have a great illusionary
>cult hierarchy with lots of pompous offices.
He does - it's called the Lunar Empire. :-), I think.
Curtis Shenton:
> I'm curious to know hom many people use Illumination in their
>games. How many campaigns have had PC illuminates? And has anyone
>developed any Illuminate philosophies?
Not PCs, but several NPCs. In fact, in one scenario that I have in
electronic form (it was originally written for a convention), the main NPC
is a Riddler who explains his philosophy at some length. I'm too lazy to
rewrite it all from memory here and now, but if I juggle some floppies back
and forth and do some cutting/pasting, I can probably post it in a couple
of days. Why not just send it to Curtis? Well, everybody seems to be
agreeing with me about tricksters, and I'm determined to start _some_ sort
of controversy. (Is the ":-)" really necessary for this one?)
Jonas
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