From: David Cake (davidc@cs.uwa.edu.au)
Date: Wed 01 Sep 1993 - 12:05:24 EEST
>
> > rules, fairly weak combat rules. The point is that they should have enough in
> > the RQ Lite rules for you to pick up a module for RQ Normal (or should that
> > be RQ Hevy?) and play it straight away. I think that knowing what Divine
> magic
> > is and the basics of how it works (if not every obscure spell) is essential.
>
> Wasn't this the idea behind the RQ Basic set, which resulted in 4 pages
> at the start of each package about how to use it with RQ Basic?
The Basic Set (I thought it was 'Standard Edition', but who cares what it was
called, it was a waste of time) was perhaps an attempt at something similar to
RQ Lite, and a bad one. That is why I am so wary of RQ Lite in general.
I do think that RQ4 is possible if done carefully however. I think that
the things that should be left out are simply those things that do not come up
often in the middle of an adventure, or that only come up if you have the
appropriate sort of character. I think that means that we can leave out
enchanting, summoning, virtually all other ritual magic (well, except Warding),
most of shamanism (its mostly only important if your character is a shaman),
how to create familiars.
But I sympathise with you exactly - RQ Lite must not require rubbish
at the beginning of every module like the Standard set did. If a RQ Lite
design does require this sort of stuff, then to me that is admitting that the
RQ Lite idea is not practical for Glorantha.
>
> I don't think "less complex" = "weak" as you seem to. To me, the most
> important things about RQ Lite rules are that the be a) short and b) produce
> similar results to the full RQ4 rules. It's no good producing a system
> that when used is much more lethal tha the full combat rules.
I actually used the term "weak" in a depiberately vague way, and certainly did
not mean to implay that combat would be less dangerous (or more). I actually
think that RQ rules should be less complex, and also less complete, in that
parts of the gane system that are only relevent to particular specialised
characters would be removed.
>
> > To set up RQ Lite otherwise is a very bad publishing move - you now
> > have two (very similar) games to support, one that only 'newbies' play, so
> >no one wants to write for it. RQ Lite will only work if it is compatible with
> > supplements.
>
> Which means that the RQ Lite rules have to be slim enough that stats for
> RQ Lite characters can be included in a module without taking up to
I think that this could almost not be necesary with a well designed RQ Lite,
> much space. The comment "no-one wants to write for" seemed to be what
just ignore the spells that mean little to you (like Enchanting spells, and
Bless Crops), and you do not need the hit location chart, just use the HP total,
maybe one or two lines of simply calculated stats.
> happened to RQ Basic set: there was never a single publication that
> only needed the rules in the basic set. I don't know why: a basic set
> module would have been very easily adapted by a deluxe set GM, and a
> good plot would work in both systems.
Partly it was a vicious circle, no one owned it, so no one wrote for it,
so no one bought it. I think just everyone who played RQ bought the Deluxe set,
and ignored the standard. I don't think that if something had been written for
the Standard rules that anyone would have cared. I would find designing for the
Standard rules very irritating, as I would find the restrictions of spells
simply annoying.
>
> > RQ Lite might involve reprinting parts of GoG, and it might not. It
> > certainly should involve divine magic, in a weak form if it must be.
>
> What I think it has to contain is some cults. Cults show a new player
> how people behave in the world, instead of acting like "generic fighter".
> Whether you can include cults without divine magic is the question. If
> you don't include priests I think you can, since initiates almost
> never use divine magic anyway
I think that RQ Lite without cults is so non-Gloranthan as to be not worth the
trouble (but people like Loren have very different publishing ideas in mind
than I do). I think that cults without Divine magic will seem very odd (not to
mention pointless).
>
>
{bits deleted}
>
> > that many of the RQ Lite proposals look strongly like recipes for publishing
> > disaster to me, propelled by a sort of fervour about RQ Lite that the more
> > we can remove from it and still have it playable the better. It has to not
> only
> > be playable, but recognisably RQ as well, and with sufficent rules to run a
> > simple Glorantha based adventure. Otherwise what is the point?
> >
> The fervour is from fanatics who want to resurrect a dead RPG. That's
> the point. It doesn't seem like the "RQ Renaissance" has done anything
> except sell a few more products to converts. The other discussion
> (which has been folded into the RQ Lite debate) concerns simpler combat
> systems, which is mainly what I post about
I don't think RQ is anything like dead, its just not that healthy. While RQ
is not selling by the ton, its not the worst selling game either. And up until
about a month ago, the 'RQ Renaissance' was one new product, and one product
of reprints/updates with a long (and only average quality) scenario added in.
Lets see how Dorastor etc. sells, and see if general gaming community interest
can be rekindled. AH are just not actively recruiting for the scenarios that
are to be released many months (and several releases) in the future.
Just AH are having doubts, and not as confident as they once were. Personally,
I thought that Ken said that RQ4 was 'in limbo', not dead, and that that it
could well appear in some form, such as a companion. I am personally more
interested in better game systems that just simpler ones, and that was what I
thought the RQ4 effort was about.
Many games companys live from supplement to supplement, like Steve
Jackson Games, AH and Chaosium are both doing better than that. Glorantha is
definately not about to disappear, and I strongly doubt that RQ is going to
either. The worst that can happen is for AH to not renew their RQ license, and
give it back to Chaosium.
>
> Cheers
> > Dave Cake
> >
> >
ditto
0,,
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