From: Carl Fink (carlf@panix.com)
Date: Sat 22 Jan 1994 - 05:50:47 EET
Loren Miller comments on RQ4:
Loren, a note -- I don't see a CC: to Oliver here. He handles
playtester comments, and also he doesn't have time to read this list in
detail. If you're going to make detailed comments like this, please
send a copy to Oliver as jovanovic@columbia.edu.
If you think the list would be interested, please *do* post them here,
too.
I'll forward your two postings to Oliver.
M>Battle Magic (117)
> This belongs in its own chapter, and if we're taking votes I
>think it should be called Spirit Magic. [A spirit magic chapter
>exists, but it describes shamans and is thus misnamed.]
What we were trying to do here was point out that a common mechanic
M>Duties of Initiates, Priests, Acolytes, Rune Lords, etc...
God Learner! Loren's a God Learner!...ahem. That isn't how we see
(Battle Magic) applied to spells learned in two different ways -- from
shamans (Spirit Magic) and from priests (Cult Magic). A worshipper
likely doesn't think of his Humakti Bladesharp as coming from a "spirit"
-- he thinks of it as coming from Humakt.
> 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.
things -- duties are duties.
M>Rune Lords
> 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.
"Rune Lord" is too established to simply remove, and we're trying to
reemphasize Runes anyway.
M>Shamanic Extended Duration
> 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.
Um, Loren -- there are *lots* of shamanic abilities we don't list in
M>Lunar Sorcery
the manuscript. We're deliberately leaving something for GMs to invent,
and for future supplements.
> Please include descriptions of all the Lunar Schools of
We can't.
M>Darkness Sorcery
> Where are the sorcery schools for Trolls, especially the
>Stygian and Blue Moon schools?
We have space limitations.
Thanks for taking the time and thought to compose these comments,
Loren.
Belief in the precognitive powers of an Asian pastry is really no wackier
than belief in ESP, subluxation, or astrology, but you just don't hear
anyone preaching Scientific Cookie-ism. --Penn and Teller
Carl Fink carlf@panix.com CARL.FINK (GEnie)
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