From: Loren J. Miller (MILLERL@wharton.upenn.edu)
Date: Fri 21 Jan 1994 - 08:41:51 EET
Comments on _RuneQuest: Adventures in Glorantha_ manuscript after
a first reading.
by Loren Miller
Part II of II
ECONOMICS
THE WORLD OF MAGIC
Apparent Effects of Magic (109-111)
Magic Items and Enchantments and so on
Could this have a less forbidding name? How about "Money and How
to Spend It"? I have yet to find an indifference curve in this
chapter, but from the name I suspect it's in here somewhere. :-)
By the way, the price tables with the availability column are new
and very useful and deserve a mention.
I'm not sure about the title of this chapter either. How about
"Magic Overview" instead, or something else that communicates
that this chapter presents universal mechanics for use with all
the magic systems in Glorantha? This chapter should also be
broken up into a number of smaller chapters, as described below.
Excellent! This is the single greatest innovation in the
magic rules, and it is even usable outside of Glorantha.
These belong in their own chapter, which should follow all
the magic systems. By the way, is there any description of finely
made weapons somewhere? This sort of chapter would be a good
place for such a description.
DIVINE MAGIC
Duties of Initiates, Priests, Acolytes, Rune Lords, etc...
This has changed little from previous versions, except for
thumbnail descriptions of a bunch of cults. I like it a lot.
I would like to see a distinction between those duties that
are required by the god and those that are required by the flock
and the cult hierarchy. Those duties assigned by the god must be
followed on pain of falling into inactivity or sacrilege. Those
duties assigned by the hierarchy must be followed on pain of
being called to account by cult superiors. Attendance at High
Holy Days would be an example of the first sort of duty, as would
be Not-Initiating-into-Enemy-Cults. Tithes would be an example of
the second sort of duty. Furthermore with tithes, especially with
rune-levels, either you tithe a percentage of your time to a cult
or a percentage of your income, but not both. Otherwise it gets
to where a rune level is tithing 99% of all his time/money.
Rune Lords
Religions (134-143)
The name Rune Lord reflects a RQ2-style emphasis of runes
over deities. How about calling them Masters instead? The rune-
fans will like it because it echoes the Mastery rune which
"runelords" embody, and I like it because it implies the major
distinction between Priests and Masters, that the Priest lives
mythically by repeating the god's actions in ritual and the
Master lives mythically by perfecting those abilities taught by
the god.
You list the pantheons common to Maniria and Peloria in
thumbnail format. Excellent! If you're taking votes, I vote that
you add Yara Aranis (the Reaching Moon) to the thumbnails of the
Lunar pantheon. She's an important enemy god for all those who
oppose Lunar expansion, and especially for anybody who rides a
horse (e.g. Pentans and Grazelanders). Yes, I just played a
Grazelands scenario where seven of us ran up against *one* of
those Reaching Moon witches, and she was bad news! Also,
shouldn't Horned Man and/or Daka Fal be part of the Praxian
pantheon? I want my ancestor worship! [Okay, I found Daka Fal in
the shamanism chapter, but at least you should point it out here.
Plus the summon ancestor spells are missing.]
Extension spell (146)
SPIRIT MAGIC
Shamanic Abilities
Shamanic Extended Duration
SORCERY
Extension and extended spells cannot be regained until they
expire. Good call.
Spirit Magic should have its own chapter, but this chapter is all
about Shamans, not about Spirit Magic. Call the chapter SHAMANS
instead. Take the sections of this chapter that describe spirit
magic and put it in a spirit magic chapter, and put the shaman
stuff in the shaman chapter.
I appreciate the way that this differentiates between
different types of shamans. But the tables and the "Level" system
(there's that damn L-word) to gain those abilities smack of game-
balance (and they "feel" like D&D). Please, let's keep RQ free of
new rules systems. For instance, limit the shamanic abilities by
shamanic tradition as done currently, and make each shaman
ability a "shamanic skill" where the skill rating dictates the
effectiveness of the ability (just like sorcerous/wizardly
manipulations). You could even make fetch POW a bonus for
shamanic skills, and it would be pretty close to the present
system. I'm not just trying to get away from the L-word, I'm
trying to keep the system RQ-like.
So far both Divine magicians and Sorcerors, er Wizards, can
extend the duration of their spells, but Shamans can't. This
isn't fair. Sheng Seleris should be able to cast a long-duration
spell without using his unique Hero abilities. I suggest that
there be an additional Shamanic ability that ties a trapped
spirit to a spell for a long period of time, and that a spirit
thus used should still occupy its space in the fetch's spirit
traps until the shaman frees it from its task.
Consider changing the name of this chapter and the name of the
magic system with it. Why? It has become increasingly apparent to
me that Gloranthan speakers (and those in the real world, for
that matter) use "Sorcery" to identify any form of inimical or
outlandish magic. If a Loskalmi farmer had been attacked by an
Orlanthi Wind Voice he would identify the priest as a "sorceror"
and his magic as "sorcery." Conversely, the village wonder-worker
is known locally as a "wise one" or "wizard," and his/her good
works as "lawful magic" or "wizardry" or something more along
those lines. To maintain and grow the trend which changed the
name of battle magic to spirit magic I recommend that we change
the name of sorcery to something that is not an epithet for all
evil magic. In order, I'd prefer:
(1) Wizardry (to reflect the native title of the typical user of
this magic) (one problem is it could be read as a sexist
name and we want to attract women to play RQ)
(2) Lawful Magic (to reflect this magic's close association with
the Law Rune)
(3) Wisdom Magic (to reflect the nature of this magic, where
accumulated skill is all-important)
(4) Western Magic (to reflect the part of Genertela in which
this magic is most apparent)
Apprentices
A corrected version of the last sentence would be: "A
wizard's apprenticeship traditionally lasts about 7 years." 7
years isn't the minimum, it's the average.
Adepts
Duration Table
Atheistic Sorcery
In traditional magical literature written in English the
Adept is the highest grade of magician possible. An Adept should
be superior to a Magus, Wizard, or whatever. I don't expect the
terminology to change in RQ but it makes me wince every time I
see it. Most neo-pagans who've read RQ have the same reaction.
It's stuffed. Zzzabur's feats would be impossible using this
system. Same with the Range table. Since duration has always been
the game-balance-buster (e.g. Halcyon var Enkorth) and on occasion
I will admit that game-balance isn't completely evil let's use
the same fix we used for Divine Extension, which could stuff
game-balance as effectively as Duration (e.g. Platewalker). MP
used to power a wizardry spell do not begin to regenerate until
the spell has expired. In addition MP borrowed from a crystal or
MP storage device or spirit or whatever cannot be recharged until
the spell they powered has expired. This ban on magic point
regeneration while the spell remains should be true, not only for
sorcery, ahem wizardry, but for all magic systems, a meta-rule of
magic if you will, and could go into the Magic Overview chapter
along with the other meta-rules.
Conceptually, such a rules discovery would imply that long
duration spells are similar to a Tap. I think this similarity
sounds "true," and it could possibly throw light on the workings
of the world. In short, I think it's a fortunate rules discovery
that is as good as Reusable Divine magic for initiates (bravo!).
Bring back the RQ3 tables for Duration and Range. They
aren't all bad, they just need a limit.
Include the Mostali school of sorcery, just so GMs can use
Mostali sorcerors, er wizards, when necessary for the scenario.
Lunar Sorcery
Darkness Sorcery
Please include descriptions of all the Lunar Schools of
Sorcery, uh I mean Wizardry, not just the Dark and Dying moons.
Where are the sorcery schools for Trolls, especially the
Stygian and Blue Moon schools?
CREATURES
Madness Spirits (193)
Fixed Hit Location Table
whoah,
I realize that this chapter is incomplete. It's still very good.
Consider including a few more Emotion/Madness spirits such
as Sloth, Greed, Cannibalism, Sexual Frenzy, Depression,
Hallucinations, Hunger, Thirst, Satiety (the victim won't eat),
Murderousness, Suicidal Tendencies, and the whole modern catalog
of psychiatric disorders explained as possessing spirits. I'd
also like to see spirits/demons that can make people into
Lycanthropes, Vampires, Berserkers, dogs into Barghests, corpses
into Ghouls, and so on. For instance, we know from RQ3 that Ghoul
spirits possess dead bodies to create Ghouls, but we've never
seen a description of such a spirit or what happens if one of
those spirits possesses a living body.
I like it.
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller internet: MILLERL@wharton.upenn.edu
"Enough sound bites. Let's get to work." -- Ross Perot sound bite
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