From: David Dunham (ddunham@radiomail.net)
Date: Wed 25 May 1994 - 23:51:50 EEST
Devin Cutler says
>David Dunham writes"We always spent a lot of time training. You can bring
>some element of play
>into this unplayed time by using the catchup tables in RQ Cities (those are
>my tables, even if Midkemia forgot to give me credit)."
>
>Really? I like this supplement a lot, and use it for PC's who retire out of
>the campaign for a while (due to real life considerations)
Midkemia came up with the original concept, but I sold them a revised version which was about three times the size of the original.
Mike Dickison asked about trading.
Some of my fondest gaming was running my Issaries character in caravans to
Balazar [old-timer reminiscence alert: out of print supplement about to be
mentioned]. I confess part of the joy might have been the ease of making
money, since the Balazar price lists in Griffin Mountain were quite
different from the standard RuneQuest lists. Unfortunately, they provided
no guidelines for the GM, who did eventually decide our caravans were
saturating the market.
>How do you handle ordinary meat-and-potatoes
>non-Biturian trading?
My anthro/archeology is rusty, but I do know that trade in luxury goods (feathers, shells, rare furs, gold, amber) and obsidian (in the New World at least) was quite common and extensive in ancient times. So one answer is, you _don't_. Biturian Varosh [for those who don't have Cults of Prax, he was the Issaries trader whose travels form the narrative] is accurate. And in any case, PCs are going to be Trader Prince subcult, not Garzeen.
BTW, in Roman times, it was usually cheaper to ship by water than by land. Britain exported grain to Rome! (This may be an exception to my earlier statement, but I think Rome is also an exceptional case.)
>A table of the common trade goods in my area, with centres of
>origin and common destinations
I'd love to see this. Here are a couple sections from my East Ralios background:
Trade
Most clans are self-sufficient in everything except salt and raw metals.
Markets are rare, in most clans happening about once a season. Trade is
dominated by the Doskior and Argan Argar cults, though occasionally an
Issaries caravan from Vesmonstran shows up. The tribal rings provide
protection to guests in exchange for certain trading rights, such as first
choice of the items sold.
Imports: weapons and armor, salt, cloth, metal, glass items, shells, luxury goods.
Exports: leather goods, furs, feathers, wood, gems.
Internal trade: beer, wheat, soapstone, jewelry.
Money
The Orlanthi don't mint coins. Safelstran danars are sometimes used, but
most often trade is by barter or reciprocal gift-giving. Items are valued
in terms of dairy cows.
>archive the result in soda.berkeley
Why would you want to hide the results away so those of us without Internet access can't get at them?
Graeme Lindsell noticed
> In River of Cradles I noticed that the requirements to become a Storm
>Priest have increased significantly: the Storm Priest now needs 90% in 3
>skills. In fact, there isn't a single rune level in any of the RoC write-up
>that deosn't need at least one skill at 90% (I include the shamans of Daka
>Fal, as only a fool would wan't to try to create a fetch without 90%+
>Summon). Is this part of a deliberate move to make rune levels harder
>to attain, or is it only a change in Orlanth? In Dorastor: Land of Player
>Character Disposal Services Dorasta and Telmor still have the old 50% in
>5 skills for priesthood or acolyte status.
I welcome the change (I think), as it seemed that becoming an acolyte (almost all religions that have this status have the same requirements as for priests without as many restrictions, so most players would take this road to reusable rune magic) was too easy, being mostly a matter of time (50% skill is easy, 10 surplus POW is relatively easy). Though I think the new Storm Voice requirements might be too tough.
River of Cradles still doesn't have as much detail as I'd like on the Herald Goodword subcult. Do they have priests (and if so, what 90% skill?) Do they have special magic (like the spell used by Queen Leika's Speaking Companion on KoS.214, which makes an old story seem new)?
>From: WALLMAN@VAX2.Winona.MSUS.EDU (Close friend of Little Elvis)
>Is there a deity in Glorantha dedicated to crafters and artisans?
Gustbran is God of Smiths, Minlinster is God of Brewers
Mike Dawson asked
>One of the recurring complaints about past books is that
> they are too expensive.
True, I know people who didn't buy Strangers in Prax because it seemed quite expensive relative to its size. If had been the $12 you claim for 96-page products (or even $14), I know you'd have sold more copies.
Around here, people tend to share books around (I buy everything but I'm just like that).
While I dislike the idea of having to pay $22 for the complete Red Moon stuff, it's probably better that you have more products out there, at a reasonable price. I don't know if $10 seems reasonable for something as small as 32 pages, however. Especially as the new Soldiers of the Red Moon is basic background you want everyone to have a copy of.
Enough for today, tomorrow I'll post my East Ralios initiation report.
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