textfiles/rpg/rqv1a.dig

RuneQuest Digest Compilation Edition.
Volume 1, issues 1-3.

edited by: Andrew Bell
transfered to CIS by: Janet Naylor 72727,574

Copyright, Andrew Bell

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*** RQ Digest,  Volume 1, Number 1

From: abbott@dean.berkeley.edu  (Mark Abbott)
Subject: RQ Martial Arts

Here's a home grown system for running martial artists.  This assumes RQIII
but could easily be modified to work with RQII.  It's developed from my
experience studying the Korean art of Hapkido, with a bit of other stuff
thrown in for the fun of it.  For instance, we most definitely do not
practice parrying missiles but I really liked that on the old Kung Fu
TV shows so it's in here. 

The belt progression shown is a nice easy one to compute.  It's not really
accurate compared to the real world but it's fine for game terms.  In
reality, 4th dan (4th degree black) is considered mastery but with this
belt system RQ-defined mastery comes right at 1st Kub or 1st dan black belt.

Using these skills, you can easily simulate a variety of arts.  Hapkido 
emphasizes both throwing and striking techniques but many arts do not.  To
set up another art, just change the emphasis on the different sets of skills,
or drop some out entirely.   

By the way, this does not use the RQIII martial arts skill which doubles
damage.  This replaces it.  

The skills are mostly obvious but:  Kicking is just that, Strike/Block is
all hand strikes and parrying with the hands/arms.  Normal RQIII rules apply
as to which weapons will damage the parrying object.  Joint locks are the
joint breaking holds and twists which are characteristic of jujitsu and 
aikido. Throws are what is normally associated with jujitsu and judo.  
Falling is exactly that, the ability to fall safely.  Dodge is the RQIII 
skill.  Missile parry is the ability to parry missile weapons.  

In our local games these skills are all used by specialized groups which
restricts their availability.  Also, these groups all frown on the use
of armor which further limits the power of these skills.  In practice,
the martial artist is a weaker but somewhat more versatile fighter than
the run of the mill.  His lack of armor keeps him from being really 
tough.  However, if armor is uncommon then the martial artist
will really shine.  


MARTIAL ARTIST SKILLS

SKILL 	     	SR	BASIC  DAMAGE	          NOTES
Kicking		3	15%	d8	Specials do automatic knockback, flying
					kicks do automatic knockback but use
					both actions for that round, ie you 
					cannot dodge/block/do another attack.

Strike/Block	3	15%	d4	Specials do automatic knockback

Joint Locks	3	00%	2d4	Armor absorbs damage.  Assume arms to be
					the target under normal circumstances.
					Occasionally the target will be neck or
					legs. 
					Come-alongs fall in this category.  If 
					the skill is successfully used and the 
					damage rolled is enough to incapacitate 
					the limb, the player may opt for a 
					come-along with the damage inflicted 
					if the opponent attempts to escape.
					Joint locks may be executed using a
					short stick or staff at the weapon
					percentage or the joint locking 
					percentage, whichever is lower.

Throwing	3	00%	1/4 Size of target	

					Successful use gives a resistance roll 
					of STR+AGI+(Throwing skill/5) vs.
					SIZE+AGI.  Both the skill roll and 
					resistance roll are necessary for a 
					completed throw.  A succesful throw 
					gives the thrower one extra attack that
					round at +20%.

Falling		-	15%	-	Negates 1/4 Size +d6 falling damage, 
					+2d6 for specials and +3d6 for criticals

Missile Parry	-	00%	-	Allows the user to stop missile weapons.
					Success indicates that the missile was
					deflected, a special that it was caught,
					a critical that it may be thrown back.
					One use constitutes one of the PC's 
					actions that round.  May be used twice
					in the same round.	
					Shafted/hafted missiles may be parried 
					with the hands.  Other missiles must
					be parried with a weapon or object.  
					Arrows/javelins/hatchets are shafted/
					hafted, sling bullets are not.
					Ability to parry with a weapon is based
					missile parry or weapon parry, whichever
					is lower.  	

Dodge		-	05%	-	If used at 1/2 percentage the martial 
					artist need not count Dodging as one of 
					his two actions in a round.  This option
					may only be taken once per round.





A Martial Artist attacking the same opponent more than once in the same 
round may not use the same attack skill more than once in that round.  In 
other words, he may not kick the same opponent twice in the same round although 
he could first throw and then kick.  This rule applies to all attacks
except Strikes-an opponent may be punched twice in the same round.



For Hapkido belt progression use this formula.  N=Average of all 8 skills
(Kick, Strike, Block, Throw, Joint Locks, Fall, Missile Parry, Dodge) or 
lowest skill +20%, whichever is lower. 
 Kub # = 10- (N/10).  Drop fractions.  Negative numbers are degrees of Black.

Kub #  	    10,9       8,7      6,5,4        3,2,1      0 and lower

Belt       White      Yellow     Blue        Brown       Black

   -Mark Abbott
abbott@dean.berkeley.edu

The RuneQuest(tm) Digest is a courtesy of Andrew Bell.
All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator,  and
copyrights are held by them.

RuneQuest is a trademark of Chaosium, Inc.

*****************************************************************

*** RQ Mailing list,  Volume 1, Number 2

From: 8hum190@violet.Berkeley.edu (Elliot Wilen)
Subject: Potions for RuneQuest

They ain't perfect, I'm sure, but everybody would change them anyway.
--Elliot Wilen

Here they are:

These rules are intended to re-introduce man-made poisons 
and potions to the RQ III system. For the most part, they 
amount to an update and extension of the RQ II rules. I'll be 
the first to admit that they aren't, strictly speaking, 
'realistic'. Real poisons do not improve in potency according 
to the skill of their maker--they are simply manufactured 
according to recipe, and they have a more-or-less constant 
effect. But I'm presenting these rules anyway since they do 
integrate well with the overall RuneQuest system, and people 
may find some or all of them useful. 

Disclaimer: these rules have not been playtested. They may 
be sketchy in places. Suggestions for improvement, especially 
after playtest, are welcome.

Throughout the text, I've indicated notes by using a 
number inside of square brackets [ ] .


Alchemical Skills

Poison, as described in the Player's Book, usually causes 
damage to total hit points. However, other types of drugs, 
breathed, injected, ingested, poured into an ear, or 
contacted by the skin, do exist. Some alternatives to simple 
damage-causing poison are: acid, drugs which cause sleep,
drugs which cause paralysis, and mind-altering drugs which
cause hallucinations, changes in behavior, or loss of 
willpower. Healing potions and salves may also exist. There 
are also antidotes to the various kinds of poisons. Finally, 
certain types of magic spells may be stored in a potion. (At 
GM discretion, not all 'potions' need necessarily be in liquid 
form: cakes, pills, and powders are okay, too.)


Making Potions

Each type of potion, poison, drug, or acid requires a different 
skill to manufacture. We can classify all of these skills under 
the general rubric of Alchemical skills, just as Play 
Instrument and Craft are also sets of skills. Alchemy skills 
are Knowledge skills with base chance of 00% and no 
experience check box. This means that they cannot be 
learned or increased through experience, only through 
training and research, though they may be 
trained/researched up to 100%.[1]

Use of Alchemy is somewhat different from the usual 
application of a skill percentage.[2] The maximum potency of 
a specific item which a character is capable of making is 1/5 
of the character's skill, rounded up. Thus the highest possible 
potency is 20.[3] Success is guaranteed unless the player 
fumbles. If this happens, roll again against the skill 
percentage. A normal success on this roll indicates that the 
character realized his mistake; otherwise the faulty product 
will not be detected until it is used. A fumble on this roll 
would mean something especially bad happened: not only is 
the potion weakened/useless/having unintended effect, but the 
alchemist accidentally imbibed/ingested/inhaled (etc.) some of 
it! (In this case, it may take normal effect the important 
point is that something happened to the poor guy.)


Cost of Manufacture and Prices

The cost of manufacturing a potion depends on its type and 
POT. Since people will inevitably set their own prices, I've 
made no effort to set precise costs. Instead, I've extrapolated 
prices from RQ II and multiplied them by a semi-arbitrary 
factor of 10 to convert from Lunars to pennies. The cost of 
purchase would be roughly ten times the cost of 
manufacture. These prices should be considered to apply for a 
small city. Adjust as appropriate for other locations of 
manufacture/sale.

One dose is approx. 100 ml. = 1 U.S. gill = 4 fluid oz. = 1/2 
cup

General Type	Cost of Ingredients per Dose (per point of 
POT)

Acid	50p
Poison	40p (should be increased considerably for
	special poisons, such as slow-acting or
	contact)
Drug	200p minimum; cost varies highly depending
	on effect
Antidote	As Cost of Countered Agent
Healing	200p (if used)
Magic	400p (POT=maximum MP which may go
	into it)


Effect of Potions

Acid--A full dose causes its POT in damage to whatever it 
contacts. Adjust damage for contact with less than a full 
dose. (Keep in mind that if acid is splattered on someone, 
he's likely not to be hit by all of it.) Effects on objects will 
vary according to construction, POT, and length of contact. 
Armor and weapons will be damaged or even rendered 
completely useless by powerful acids--one way to handle this 
would be to roll on the resistance table for each round of 
contact, having the POT of the acid attack the armor points 
of the weapon or armor. Each success results in the loss of 
one armor point.

Poison--This works exactly as described in the Player's Book, 
page 83. Note that the 'typical' man-made poison is ingested 
and takes effect very quickly. Blade venoms (for application 
to weapons), contact poison, slow-acting poison, poison gas, 
and other special types will cost more to manufacture--twice 
as much or higher.

Drugs--Most drugs will need to overcome the CON of their 
target to take effect. If they do not successfully overcome 
the CON, partial effects may still apply. Typical effects of 
drugs include sleep, paralysis while retaining consciousness, 
hallucinations, and loss of willpower. Partial effects might 
include temporary loss of STR, DEX, INT, or maximum 
fatigue points. The effects of a drug typically last 2*POT 
hours.

Antidote--According to GM discretion (and possibly only after 
research by characters), each drug or poison may be 
counteracted by an antidote. Antidotes may be taken in 
advance of contact with a harmful agent, in which case the 
substance has its POT reduced by the POT of the antidote 
before being applied. Antidotes last for 1/2 hour after being 
taken. Alternatively, an antidote may be administered after 
the harmful substance has been introduced into the system 
of its victim. Poison antidotes will counter an amount of 
poison damage already received equal to 1/2 POT. The POT of 
a drug antidote must attack the POT of the drug on the 
resistance table; success indicates that the drug has been 
successfully counteracted. Note that multiple doses of an 
antidote of a given POT will *not* have a greater effect than 
a single dose, but a greater POT antidote will supersede a 
previously-administered antidote of lower POT. (Note also 
that the GM should devise prices for the antidotes of natural 
poisons such as snake venom, since they have no price of 
their own.)

Healing--If it is desired to include non-magical healing 
potions and healing salves in your campaign, you may allow 
them to heal their POT in hit points of damage. Since these 
rules would make it possible to create potions which heal 20 
or more points of damage, you might want to increase the 
ratio of skill percentage:POT for healing potions (say, 1:10). 
On the other hand, such potions really don't make a whole 
lot of sense, and non-magical healing is already handled by 
the First Aid skill.

Magic Potions

Only Sorcery and Spirit Magic spells may be put into 
potions.[4]

The effect of a magic potion is exactly as if the spell had 
been cast on the person who drank the potion; it does not 
give the person the ability to cast the spell. Thus a potion of 
disruption disrupts the drinker, a befuddle potion befuddles 
him, and a heal potion heals him. On the other hand, an 
extinguish potion is meaningless, as is a wish potion, because 
extinguish cast on a human has no effect, and a wish is not 
cast on anyone at all.

In general, making a magic potion involves storing a spell 
and magic points in liquid form. Of course, special (costly) 
substances are needed to brew the liquid which stores the 
magic. Since a potion is good for only one use, the magician 
does not lose permanent power. Instead, he expends the 
normal MP cost of the spell. The spell may be manipulated 
by sorcery skills and/or boosted, as long as the cost is paid 
and the potion has the requisite POT.

Manufacture of the magic potion is treated exactly as for 
other potions: roll versus Alchemy skill and assume success 
unless a fumble occurs, etc. However, if the spell is being 
manipulated, use the lowest skill involved (out of Alchemy 
and the relevent Sorcery skills). When the potion is drunk, 
it automatically takes effect unless it is resisted.

------------------------------------------------
Notes

1]Or higher, given the standard rules on training. However, 
since the highest skill level attainable (for a Knowledge skill) 
through research is 111%, then if one assumes that teachers 
cannot teach people of higher skill than they, and that all 
knowledge of Alchemy was originally gained through 
research, then the highest possible POT is 23. Alternatively, 
the maximum could simply be set at 100%.

2]Though it may be appropriate to apply a similar system to 
Craft and some other skills.

3]Usually. See note 1.

4]The main reason I said this is because I had a hard time 
fitting in Divine Magic. In general, I'm much less certain 
about these magic potion rules than about the others.


    -Elliot

The RuneQuest(tm) mailing list is a courtesy of Andrew Bell.
All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the 
originator,  and copyrights are held by them.

RuneQuest is a trademark of either Chaosium or Avalon Hill.

***********************************************************

*** RQ Digest,  Volume 1,  Number 3

From: John Redden <redden@ttidca.tti.com>
Subject: PC Dragon variant


                   S T R O H L      D R A G O N S

Dragon   1-5            5-10           10-20          20-50     50-100 100+
   Age   yrs.           yrs.           yrs.           yrs.      yrs.   yrs.
         very young     adolescent     young adult    adult     old    ancient

Power    3-6            7-10           11-14          15-18     19-22  23-26

Scale
Arm pts  1-2            2-3            3-4            5-6       6-7    7-8
(note: armor pts = POW / 3)

INT = 10+D10       DEX = 3D6      APP = 10 + D8 (to dragon of its own culture)

old D&D size       SIZ and  SIZ and  CON  CON  tail bash/  bite breath    breath
description        STR      STR max       max  claw base   base diameter  damage

halfling/ducksize  D6+6     12       2D6  12   D3          D4   1m        D2
human/orc/elf size 2D6+6    18       3D6  18   D4          D6   1.5m      D3
ogre/troll size    3D6+6    24       3D6  18   D6          2D4  2m        D4
hill giant size    3D6+12   30 (3D6/2)+8  18   D6          2D4  2.5m      D6
stone giant size   4D6+12   36 (4D6/2)+8  20   D6          2D6  3m        D6+1
frost giant size   5D6+12   42 (5D6/2)+8  23   D6          2D6  3.5m      D8+1
fire giant size    5D6+18   48 (5D6/2)+11 26   D6          3D4  4m        2D6
cloud giant size   6D6+18   54 (6D6/2)+11 29   D6          3D6  4.5m      2D8
storm giant size   7D6+18   60 (7D6/2)+11 32   D6          3D6  5m        3D6
titan size         7D6+24   66 (7D6/2)+14 35   D6         4D4+2 5.5m      3D8
(elemental dragons)    ..   ..        ..  ..   ..           ..  ..        ..

Add damage mod to bash, claw or bite.  Breath weapon range is meters in POW.
D6 fatigue pts are lost per breath as per RQ III Creatures Book.  The dragon
can have a breath or bite and a claw or bash per melee round.  If the dragon
gains 100%+ in an attack skill then it may split it for multiple attacks.

Draconic skills vary with local culture, but almost all healthy dragons have
fly at 80% by the time they are adolescent.

Common draconic spell: (spirit magic version) STIFFWING    1 Pt
Duration: 25min * dragons current POW. Stackable. Reusable.
This spell enables the dragon to magically enhance its aerodynamic shape.
The wings assume a soaring position and the dragon is able to double the flying
move base in calm weather.  Typically the dragon will fly above bad weather and
travel intercontinental distances.  No fatigue pts are lost during stiffwing
flying.  Divine and sourcerous versions of stiffwing exist.

A dragons breath depends on its color (yes, I get to dig out all those old
D&D dragon types and use them).  Physical breaths conform to belching damage.
For magical breaths a POW vrs. POW must be made for all those in the area of
effect (these breaths would be befuddle breath, illusion breath).

For STROHL dragons POW increases are difficult.  They are limited by age.
They have a common reincarnation cycle so their religions tend to be similar.
The common reincarnation cycle does not translate into a common draconic
culture.  There are three distinct draconic cultures known by the characters
in the STROHL game.

Toranian Dragons

The first group has a central population in a land  about the summed size of
England, Scotland and Ireland.  The dragons associate closely with city dwelling
humanoids.  This culture is like a "Pernese" type.  People ride them (a separate
skill) and they become the "airforce" for this land.  They do their hatching
near the main site of a city state.  Humanoids are attached to the young dragons
and will care for them once they leave th nest.  Humanoids are not allowed into
the inner parts of the draconic caves where the eggs are laid.  Older dragons
always present the young to the humanoids during certain rituals.  The humanoid
then helps care and train the young dragon in the ways of the Toranians.  The
color of Toranian dragons varies from neutral colors (gray, brown, off-white)
to metalic (iron, mercury, gold, tin).

Exotican Dragons

Exotica is a land about the size of Australia.  A somewhat obscure but well
organized group of dragons dwell here.  They are oldest group.  The humans that
have met them say they know the most about the early history of STROHL.  Much
of the culture is shrouded in prophecies and the effect their draconic culture
will have on pivitol events.  Other humans who have contacts with Exotican
cultures tell stories a fourth group in in draconic lore.  These stories speak
of elemental dragons from the dim time.  Most dismiss these tales a delusions.
The Exotican dragons have dealings with centaur clans and griffon prides.
The dragons often will mitigate between the two constantly fighting groups for
favors.  Much of what is known about draconic culture in Exotica comes from the
centaurs, so some say that it is tainted with their viewpoint.  The Toranian
dragons say their Exotican relatives have been through so many reincarnations
that they suffer from pointless mysticism.  The Exotican dragons are crystalline
in color (topaz, quartz, ruby).

Scarletian Dragons

This group of dragons is dangerous.  They have discovered some of the ancient
technology on STROHL to complement their sorcery and magic.  Their draconic
leader commmands them from a large aircraft in the shape of a flying wing.
Somehow the Scarletians learned how to make things like guns (better than the
mostali), energy weapons, attack craft and then the wing.  They base themselves
on the edge of the known world in the Lands of Night.  The scarletians have
a large army at their command consisting of humans, orcs, renegade mostali, and
others.  They are at war with the Twilonian Empire and have successfully
defeated their western army.  The scarletians are chromatic dragons.

//A RQIII houserule in our game.  Strike rank has always been bothersome to me.
However timed actions do add a sense of strategy to th game.  What I use
instead is "Melee Round DEX".  Each characters MRD starts at current natural
DEX but then is reduced by SIZ and weapon length to give a new MRD for that
weapon.  Actions reduce the MRD further.  So do variable pt spells.  MRD can
go negative but the character still gets to their basic actions (they may go off
last).  Multiple spells and missiles can be done as long as MRD isn't negative
(again the character gets a least one missile action).  The effect is identical
to strike rank and I find it more comfortable.


The RuneQuest(tm) mailing list is a courtesy of Andrew Bell.
All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator,  and
copyrights are held by them.

RuneQuest is a trademark of either Chaosium or Avalon Hill.

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