From: Argrath@aol.com
Date: Sat 28 May 1994 - 05:14:20 EEST
Re: What kind of game?
I haven't GMed RQ in some years. When I did, it was a decidedly heroic game, with much heroquesting and Grand Events. The main character was a troll who once killed several thousand humans in a matter of minutes--but it was for their own good. They had been led astray by a false messiah, who was actually a minion of the Devil. He had caused Genert's Waste to blossom and grow lush, so they were quite impressed and followed him out to a spot near the Tunnelled Hills. The troll heroine figured out what was going on by the simple expedient of talking to the Messiah and getting converted to believing in him through his powerful chaotic magic. However, another PC managed to rescue her, and she went to where most of the Messiah's followers were camped out and there activated a heroquest magic of her own, a drum which caused an area-effect Fearshock. This killed quite a few people outright, and many more were trampled in the stampede. (She got the drum as a reward for recreating Kyger Litor's "Skinning of Thed" by skinning 100 broos and stretching their skins over a drum made from a giant redwood.)
The only game I'm in right now is much lower-powered, but still in the heroic tradition. My character is almost qualified to be a Wind Voice. In our most recent games, we ran the Troubled Waters scenario.
New topic: Talking Funny
One problem that I've come across in better games is my not
knowing how to address an important personage. This is more than
not knowing what the proper term of address is, whether it's
"your grace," "your holiness," or "your blueness," for example.
(Hmm, maybe the Vadeli were Blue Meanies?) It's also the proper
form of abasement or haughtiness. Both can be given as
information to the player with a Custom (People) roll. If the
character doesn't know, he can fall back on an analogous
situation he is familiar with. But how many GMs tell you, for
example, that the proper way to talk to a Storm Khan is by not
taking any crap, being extremely blustery, etc., while the proper
way to talk to a Waha Khan is to be very deferential, self-
deprecating, and supplicating. (I'm making these examples up).
The only examples of this we have are with trolls: the greeting ritual (here, eat this instead of me), the conciliation prayers, and the posture.
I think it's important to know how to address people of different stations in life. In America, at least, this is not something that's a big deal, and the differences are not consciously thought about and are, in fact, taboo to talk about. Someone will probably write in to the Daily to tell me that we're all middle class here and have no terms of address or different ways of talking to people based on their status. (That's why reporters are rude to the President.)
Anyway, I'd like to see more of this. Obviously, sophisticated cultures like the Lunars and Malkioni have lots of status-based ways of talking to people. Courtly manners and language have their place in those cultures. But what about the Orlanthi? Does a Sartarite freeholder talk differently to his tribal king than to a thrall? I'd say the difference was pretty subtle, not only because the Sartarites are a freedom-loving bunch, but also for maximum culture shock with the Lunars.
I don't think any Gloranthan cultures are as hide-bound as the Tsolyanu of Tekumel, with their 23 (or however many) forms of the second person singular pronoun. Feel free to disagree.
Re: human eats chaotic bunny
I'd say nothing happens ... usually. A rare chaotic feature is
"taints eater with chaos." Among some folks, like trolls, eating
your foes is de rigueur.
Re: Orlanthi dealing with thief in their midst
Ooh! Ooh! Legal questions! I love this. And it even gets the Classic Legal Answer: "it depends."
If the clan guy stole from some visiting merchants or fellow Orlanthi, and the clan chief wants the merchants/Orlanthi to come back again, he'd make his clansman return the stolen property and pay a penalty in goods or services (since coins are pretty rare). If the chief doesn't care about the merchants, he'd do nothing. The merchants, if they know Orlanthi justice, might invoke the process described in KoS (q.v.).
If the clan guy stole from some random stranger, the chief will want his share. If the stranger was an enemy, like a Lunar, then the chief might praise the clansman and otherwise do right by him--but he'll still want his share of the loot.
Re: Orlanthi taxes to support non-farmers
The poor work for a living, it's just a bad living.
Housecarls in Sartar do some farming, and take largesse from
their chief, who gets it from the farmers as taxes. The smith
Re: Doggies
Quite agree. Why don't you write some of these up?
Something along the lines of:
Sartarite Sheepdog: SIZ 4-5; white or gray; built for long- distance running. Loyal, hard-working, easy to train, and very demanding in time and energy to keep. The average Sartarite shepherd keeps 3 dogs, and feeds them on ... [this is where I run out of steam, being more of a cat person than a dog person].
Re: Scholar/Gamer
Much as I'd like to reply to Devin's last round of comments, and especially his "who, me? I didn't call anybody a scholar" pose, I think we've exhausted this subject and so I will restrain myself.
Re: Immanence and Transcendence
Unlike Paul, I see both the Hrestoli and the Rokari leaning
towards transcendence, along with the Brithini, Sedalpists, and
Vadeli. Here are some of the corollaries of this belief: the
world is the creation of the IG, and therefore inferior to Him.
The world is a thing made with a purpose, which is to take us
beyond it, to Solace. Making is good, in imitation of the IG.
The Hrestoli see the caste progression as a way toward perfection
and thus departure to the right afterlife. The Rokari see strict
caste obedience as the way to achieve this. All these sects
stress gnosis over experience. They see the world as the
interaction of impersonal forces, which the individual must face
to achieve his goals. Individuals must restrain their impulses
and direct themselves toward a lofty goal. These sects teach
that there is a universal truth to be learned, and the modern
sects believe they ought to proselytize it. Both the Hrestoli
The Carmanians are also probably ones who stress the IG's immanence (when they think about him at all), but I defer to Nick's superior sources and enormous investment of time in that sect.
Anyway, I'd much rather discuss this on the Daily than some other topics going on (all right, I'm not coy: than initiation, for starters).
--Martin
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