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RuneQuest Digest Compilation Edition.
Volume 1, issues 10-12
edited by: Andrew Bell
transfered to CIS by: Janet Naylor 72727,574
Copyright, Andrew Bell
*************************************************************************
Subject: The AreQueue Digest, Volume 1, Number 10
This issue:
GURPS weapons (Elliot Wilen [Thanks!])
RQ Size (Steven A. Schrader)
Height versus weight (Andrew Bell)
---
From: 8hum190@violet.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: GURPS weapons
Although they're getting a bit inconsistent about it, here's how
GURPS weapons work.
Depending on your strength, you have a basic damage for thrusted and
swung weapons. The latter is higher, because of the lever effect.
Each weapon has a damage listing (or two, if it can be used to
attack in more than one way). E.g.: broadsword does swung+1. Heavier
weapons and those with their weight concentrated at the end do more
damage, so a small mace does swung+2. (This is compensated by having such
unbalanced weapons require time to ready in between blows.) Since
armor absorbs in GURPS, this set-up allows your maces and axes
to penetrate armor more easily. But that's not all. Edged weapons
get a 1/2 bonus to damage which actually makes it through armor.
Pointed weapons get a full bonus. Also, chain mail absorbs
less against pointed weapons.
So let's take a classic case: Guy de Troyes is fighting off a Viking
raid when he gets hit by Viking triplets, each with a strength
of 11, and wielding a small mace, broadsword, and spear, respectively.
Each one rolls a 4 on his damage roll. The first one is doing
d6+1 damage (swung), +2 for the small mace, for 7 points of damage.
Subtract 4 for Guy's chainmail and he takes 3 points. The second one
does d6+1 (swung), +1 for the broadsword. Subtract 4 for the chainmail,
which leaves 2 points, but multiply this by 1.5 to get 3 points of
actual damage. The third does d6-1 damage (thrust), +2 for the spear.
Subtract 2 for the chainmail, and multiply by 2 to get 6 points of
damage. (Guy collapses at this point, obviously.)
Now, suppose Guy was dumb enough to go into battle without
armor. He's got zero absorption, and consequently takes
7 points from the mace, 9 from the sword, and 10 from the spear.
But suppose it's five hundred years later and he's fighting
Englishmen while wearing light plate armor (absorbs 6). He
now takes 1 point from the mace, *nothing* from the sword,
and *nothing* from the spear.
I actually tried an approach like this for RQ a long time ago--before
I got RQ III. Back then, I decided that the method (damage multiplication
of 1.5 for edged, 2 for pointed weapons) would work if you increased
everyone's hit points by a 1-1/2 or 2 times. However, it only makes
sense if you make sure that crushing weapons do more basic damage,
before absorption and multiplication. I don't think this is the case
(generally) with the present damage tables, so they'd need to be
rewritten a bit. Quick fix: give all club-type weapons an extra +1.
This only works to a point, though (no pun intended). The damages
seem to have been devised originally with both the weight and the
sharpness considerations in mind. (But obviously without
the ability to represent the full nuances of different effects vs.
different types of armor.)
The real solution (in my opinion) might just be to adopt the GURPS
damage/armor values, then work from there. Unbalanced weapons
could be treated as in GURPS, or else take a SR penalty.
--Elliot
[My only comment here is that you should do better damage with a weapon that
is sized appropriately, so the independence of the weapon damage and the
damage bonus is not that undesirable. I would like to see differing sizes of
various weapons where a person is best with a properly sized (and balanced)
weapon. This is, of course, getting into advanced rules. Assuming we ever
get to the point of writing up a modified rules set for RuneQuest, I will
probably break certain sections down based on how detailed the person wants to
get.
I would also like to see size be more of a factor than constitution in a
person's hit points, so you might consider 2xsize + con as the hit point
determiner...
Does GURPS use hit locations? You didn't mention any in your example, but
in RQ it's usually the damage per hit that's important, as opposed to the total
damage.]
---
From: S9S%PSUVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Steven A. Schrader)
Subject: BITNET mail follows (RQ Size)
Decimeters Meters Feet Inches Mixed SR
---------- ------ ---- ------ ----- --
1 0.1 0.32808 3.9370 0'3" 3
2 0.2 0.65616 7.8739 0'7" 3
3 0.3 0.98424 11.811 0'11" 3
4 0.4 1.3123 15.748 1'3" 3
5 0.5 1.6404 19.685 1'7" 3
6 0.6 1.9685 23.622 1'11" 3
7 0.7 2.2966 27.559 2'3" 3
8 0.8 2.6246 31.495 2'7" 3
9 0.9 2.9527 35.432 2'11" 3
10 1.0 3.2808 39.370 3'3" 2
11 1.1 3.6089 43.307 3'7" 2
12 1.2 3.9370 47.244 3'11" 2
13 1.3 4.2650 51.180 4'3" 2
14 1.4 4.5931 55.117 4'7" 2
15 1.5 4.9212 59.054 4'11" 2
16 1.6 5.2493 62.992 5'2" 2
17 1.7 5.5774 66.929 5'6" 2
18 1.8 5.9054 70.865 5'10" 2
19 1.9 6.2335 74.802 6'2" 2
20 2.0 6.5616 78.739 6'6" 2
21 2.1 6.8897 82.676 6'10" 2
22 2.2 7.2178 86.614 7'2" 2
23 2.3 7.5458 90.550 7'6" 2
24 2.4 7.8739 94.487 7'10" 2
25 2.5 8.2020 98.424 8'2" 2
26 2.6 8.5301 102.36 8'6" 2
27 2.7 8.8582 106.30 8'10" 2
28 2.8 9.1862 110.23 9'2" 2
29 2.9 9.5143 114.17 9'6" 2
30 3.0 9.8424 118.11 9'10" 2
31 3.1 10.170 122.04 10'2" 2
32 3.2 10.499 125.99 10'5" 2
33 3.3 10.827 129.92 10'9" 2
34 3.4 11.155 133.86 11'1" 2
35 3.5 11.483 137.80 11'5" 2
36 3.6 11.811 141.73 11'9" 1
Since how heavy a person is makes no difference to how fast a person can
hit a target, I reasoned that the authors must have been refering to a
persons reach when making a strike rank modifier for size. I added a
characteristic to a character called Height(HIT). Hit is in decimeters
or tenths of a meter. The HIT strike rank is figured by 1/3 of the
persons HIT and indexed on the weapon length chart, if a creature has a
reach. I have broken down the strike ranks above. As for HIT's of
certain creatures, below are the following suggestions:
All creatues that strike with their bodies have HSR of 3
Creatures using weapons use their reach. Some sample HIT's of humanoids
are as follows:
Name HIT
Broo 1D6+15
Centaur 1D3+18
Dragon Use whatever HIT you feel they would be
Note John Redden's dragon does a good indication
of size. The rest can be done on my chart
Duck 2D3+10
Dwarf 2D3+9
Elementals In elemental form up to GM, in other from use that
form
Elf 2D3+13
Fachan 32
Giant 10D6
Halfling 1D3+8
Human Man 2D3+14
Human Female 2D3+13
Minotaur 2D6+17
Nymph 2D3+13
Ogre 2D4+20
Orc 2D3+13
Satyr 2D3+15
Skeleton As Form previosly
Cave Troll 2D4+25
Dark Troll 1D4+18
Zombie As Form Previously
The other system of dealing with height/weight split is not bad, but I
think separating them is in order. Who has not seen or read about the
fat bartender or the skinny mage(muscles atrophy?). Also I would allow
people to diet, or gain wait. If they diet, maybe a roll under
something to see if they accomplished it? I have not thought out the
rules yet. Something Like the ...(his he going to mention it) ... AD&D
(ohhhh, he did) Wisdom. Something that the characters can not control,
much as real life. Also perhaps The HIT roll can be added into the
skills of Agility and stealth. Also I do not beleive that HIT has
anything to do with damage inflicted. Perhaps mass can be explained as
momentum? Well I should sign off now
-------
ELECTRIC AVENUE: S9S@PSUVM
---
From: acb@duke.cs.duke.edu (Yours truly)
Subject: Height versus weight
I disagree that complete separation is the way to go. Weight is in large part
a function of height, so taller people should be heaver. Perhaps the best
way to create PC humans is to use height as the basic measure, determine a
weight from that, and use an average when both stats are important. Height
should be less variable than RQ size, otherwise we'll often have people more
than twice the height of others. We can then use that height to generate a
weight size, and from there roll a build factor to get fat or thin people.
I prefer bell-shaped attribute distributions for height, as opposed to the
linear form you proposed last ish. We'd want such to average around 5' 10"
for males, 5' 5" for females (human, of course, different races would have
different numbers). Perhaps from that roll 4d8, subtract 18, and add that
number of inches to 5' 10". This gives a minimum male height of 4' 8" and max
of 7' 2", use different dice if the extremes are too big or too small for
your taste.
Based on the height, we then generate a basic weight related to almost the
cube of the height. I will try to come up with one and put it in a later
issue.
I allow PCs to pick their size anyway, but such a system is good for
generating NPCs.
Small suggested rules mod: remove strength from the manipulation modifier.
Picking locks, playing instruments, concealing objects, and palming things
just isn't strength dependent.
Another rules mod: make throw an attack skill.
Yet another: Take strength over 10 as a modifer to range for thrown weapons
and things such as "strength" bows. Thus an 18 strength gives you 1.8 times
the range, which is fairly reasonable. I would also extend the short range
and the like.
The RuneQuest(tm) mailing list is a courtesy of Andrew Bell.
All opinions and material above are the responsibility of the originator, and
copyrights are held by them.
RuneQuest is a trademark of either Chaosium or Avalon Hill.
*************************************************************************
*** 11 rebnuN ,1 emuloV tsegiD QR ehT
This issue:
Knockback (Andrew Bell)
Gurps combat (Elliot Wilen)
Things I would like to see (Thomas E. Young)
Two-handed Weapon use (Steven A. Schrader)
--
From: acb@duke.cs.duke.edu (The Ed)
Subject: Knockback
It seems to me that the weapon you're using should have a lot to do with what
amount of knockback you do. A shield used for attack, for example, should
do almost no damage (with the exception of spike shields). Instead, it
should be able to stagger an opponent. Likewise, a mace or other impact
weapon should do more knockback than an edged weapon or an impaling weapon.
Does anyone know of a system that differentiates well in this respect, that
could be used in an RQ system? The critical charts from Rolemaster deal with
this sort of differentiation, but not in a way that can be easily stolen.
---
From: 8hum190@violet.Berkeley.EDU (Elliot Wilen)
Subject: Gurps combat (clarification/elaboration)
In answer to a couple questions raised by our illustrious editor:
1. GURPS does use hit locations, but they're optional. If you don't use them
you're basically assumed to always get hit on the torso, and so you use
a single armor value with no special effects. When your HP drop to
3, your movement (and dodge) is cut in half. Whey you've only
got 0 HP, you have to roll each round (against your Health, i.e.
Con) to stay conscious. Below 0, you fall immediately.
With hit locations, hitting a certain area has a special effect. Blows
to the cranium and impaling attacks on the abdomen do greater damage.
Damage over HT/2 to a leg or arm cripples it. Damage over HT/3 to
a foot or hand cripples it. Damage over HT/3 to the cranium stuns; over
HT/2 knocks out. (For other areas, exceeding HT/2 is needed to stun.)
Finally, if a crushing blow strikes the cranium or abdomen, there
is a chance of knocking out the victim if the blow does any
damage, or misses doing damage by 1 point.
There are a few ambiguities, in my opinion, but that seems to be how things
work. One thing I don't like is the way that crushing blows get special
treatment for knocking a person out--it doesn't matter whether you're
being hit by a sword or a cudgel if the force of a blow on your helmet
is the same. There's also a rule which gives the cranium a certain
amount of protection because of the skull, but it seems to ignore the
(extremely dangerous) effects of sword slash across the scalp, even if
it doesn't crease the skull.
One more thing about the way GURPS HL's work--you *must* aim to
hit a special location. Each location has a penalty to hit which
is subtracted when aiming for that area. If you don't take a penalty,
your blows will hit the torso, for no special effect. [I think they're
going about things in the wrong way, and I'm telling them so right now
(on the SJG BBS).]
Oh, incidentally (this will make a difference in your evaluation), the
human average for Health (HT), which is the value used for hit points,
is 10. Because of the way the costs/benefits work out, PC Healths
probably fit a bell curve centering around 11.
2. Re: having a weapon weighted properly for your strength--whether you
use the Damage Bonus (as in RQ or D&D) or base weapon
damages on the user's strength, this factor is either ignored or
it's assumed that people always get the appropriate weapon to
maximize use of their strength. However, GURPS does distinguish
between a small mace (swing+2, minimum ST to use 11) and a regular
mace (swing+3, min ST 12). In a way, this creates a breakpoint at
11/12, but one should keep in mind that there is a real difference
between these two weapons in weight and cost, no just damage, so
a stronger person might still use a small mace. Also, a person
who doesn't have the minimum ST for a weapon may still use
it at a penalty to hit (-1 per point lacking), but not damage.
--Elliot
---
From: young@tahoe.unr.edu (Thomas E. Young)
Subject: Things I would like to see:
A poll taken on the various levels of ability of characters in other campaigns.
Example: Our group has about 6 regular players in it. Our combat ability
ranges from ~45% - 75% to hit with each characters primary weapon. Their
secondary weapon ~30% - 55%. We also have *no* magic weapons or items at
all, and very few magic spells ( only one person has heal and two people
have disruption).
Does anyone else experience the dreaded 'parry gap'. The majority of our
characters have an attack about 3-7% higher than their parry ( although
I have seen it as high as 16%).
[It gets worse, since only Humakti have a spell that seriously affects
parrying skill, and that only for people who have Cults of Prax. Many people
have bladesharp, ironhand/claw/beak/psuedopod, bludgeon, and/or several
divine spells that raise their attack skill. Thus this difference becomes even
more pronounced when magic is accounted for.]
Something else I would very much like to see is the stats on other player's
characters. It would be nice if every one could post their characters, but
most people probably wouldn't respond due to the time involved. I have
found that other players characters are excellent for NPC incounters.
Thats all for now. See ya,
Tom
---
From: "Steven A. Schrader 237 - 8196" <S9S%PSUVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Two-Handed Weapon use
Upon thinking about twohanded weapon use, I found several reasoning errors.
Conceivably the reason one can attack AND parry in the same round is that
the person has two hands that they can do things with. THAT makes sense.
Why then can a person using a two-handed weapon do the same thing? To
correct this I came up with the following: One can attack, Offensively Dodge,
Defensively Dodge, or Parry with each hand. When using a two-handed weapon,
both hands act as one so one can only do one.
An Offensive Dodge is a dodge in which the person can Attack that same round,
but 1 Sr AFTER the other combatant swings or +1 Sr , whichever is greater. (one
must time these things ya know %) )
A Defensive Dodge is a dodge that in which the person can not attack that
round, but can move out of range of the opponent(Similiar to disengaging).
The Dodge moves the person 4 M distant from the other combatant.
An Defensive dodge can be used after an offensive dodge to move the person out
of a combat situation unscathed. If any Dodge is Failed, then the person has
NOT moved and therefore could not have disengaged.
'Nother thing to help out two handed weapon use. Give a Bonus for damage.
Haven't figured out what yet, but I was thinking of using Str+Siz for
One-Handed use and Str*1.5+Siz for two-handed use.
-------
-- Steven A. Schrader
---
The RuneQuest(tm) mailing list is a courtesy of Andrew Bell.
All opinions and material above are the responsibility of the originator, and
copyrights are held by them.
RuneQuest is a trademark of Chaosium, Inc.
*************************************************************************
*** RQ Undigestables, Volume 1, Number 12
This issue:
A new race for fantasy worlds (Elliot Wilen)
Jack-of-all-trades characters (Andrew Bell)
---
From: 8hum190@violet.berkeley.edu (Elliot Wilen)
Subject: A new race for fantasy worlds
Here's a race from my campaign, a low-entropy world with emphasis on
cultures and politics. Magic is relatively rare.
Copyright (C) 1988 Elliot Wilen, all rights reserved.
This material may be freely copied and distributed for non-commercial
use, provided this notice is included in all copies. References,
derivations, and fixes to this material must contain proper
attribution. Any other use, without written permission from
the author, is prohibited.
Runequest is a trademark of Chaosium, Inc.
GURPS is a trademark of Steve Jackson Games.
[Sorry about that, folks, but this is near and dear to me.]
[Ed's note: the above wasn't an Ed's note. This is, however. :-)]
Ralgethae, also known as Fuzzies
The Ralgethae are quite a bit shorter than men. Furry hair covers them
from head to toe, even on their faces. If you want a really good idea of
what a Fuzzy (as they're sometimes called by men) looks like, find a
photo of someone with lycanthropy. (I'm not kidding. This is a real
condition.) Ralgethae wear clothes like humans.
The Ralgethae come from the marshes and and estuaries where the river
Rusorlod empties into the sea. They also may be found in small
settlements to the southwest, in the rolling meadows and woodlands of
Owyr and the hills of Obergia. A few have taken up life in the city of
Bednor, a major port of the Carian empire, which is even further to the
south. Within their homeland, the Ralgethae live in floating houses, huts
on stilts, and treehouses. (One advantage of a floating house,
incidentally, is that it's easy to move if you can't stand your
neighbors.) Elsewhere, they live more or less like humans. Each
settlement typically has a headman, a non-hereditary leader chosen by
popular acclamation. Above the clan-settlement, there is no overarching
authority among the Ralgethae; however, they're usually too busy eking
out an existence and protecting themselves against the nastier swamp
horrors to engage in much fighting among themselves.
The Ralgethae speak a language akin to Penkwari, the mannish tongue
spoken in Owyr. (In fact, no one can say whether the Ralgethae learned
speach from the Penkwari, or if it was the other way round.) Like
Penkwari, Ralgethae is not generally written, except in runes on the
occasional landmark or crafted item. The law of the Ralgethae is simple,
customary, and informal; unlike the Penkwari, they do not need to rely on
bards to memorize vast stores of esoteric legal and cultural knowledge.
RUNEQUEST STATS
Characteristics Average
STR 2d6+1 8 Move 3
CON 2d6+6 13 Hit Points 10
SIZ 3d3 6 Fatigue 21
INT 2d6+6 13
POW 3d6 10-11
DEX 2d6+8 15
APP 3d6 10-11
_____________________________________________________________
Hit Location Melee(D20) Missile (D20) Points
R Leg 01-04 01-03 0/4
L Leg 05-08 04-06 0/4
Abdomen 09-11 07-10 0/4
Chest 12 11-15 0/5
R Arm 13-15 16-17 0/3
L Arm 16-18 18-19 0/3
Head 19-20 20 0/4
______________________________________________________________
Weapon SR Attack % Damage Parry % PTS
Short sword 8 25+7 1d6+1 25+8 10
or
Hatchet 8 25+7 1d6+1 25+8 6
Short spear 8 20+7 1d8+1 20+8 10
(1h)
Buckler - - - 25+8 8
Sling 3 25+7 1d8 - -
Skills: Agility +8: Boat 25, Dodge 15, Ride 00, Swim 25; Communication
+5; Knowledge +3; Manipulation +7; Perception +6: Listen 30;
Stealth +8: Hide 15, Sneak 20.
Armor: May wear any.
CREATING A FUZZY ADVENTURER
Because I'm a nice guy, I give players 70+4d6 points to distribute to
characteristics if they're playing human characters. If you use this
system, a player gets 70+3d6 points to distribute among his Ralgethae
character's characteristics. No characteristic may be outside the range
possible given the above dice rolls. The Deliberate and Combined methods
(Player's Book, p. 12) can also be used, of course, if you want PC's to
be more average people. For the Deliberate method, you might want to
allow just 78 points, but it's probably not worth the trouble.
Occupations
Roll d100
01-05 Crafter
06 Entertainer
07-11 Farmer
12-51 Fisher
52 Healer
53-62 Herder
63-82 Hunter
83-85 Merchant
86 Priest
87-89 Sailor
90-92 Scribe
93 Shaman
94 Soldier
95-99 Thief
00 Sorcerer
All Ralgethae occupations give the same skills as the equivalent
Civilized human, with the exceptions listed below.
Ralgethae Crafter as per human Civilized Crafter except the experience
for Spear goes to Short sword. Possesses Boat x2 and Swim x2.
Ralgethae Fisher possesses Boat x5, Climb x2, Sing x1, Swim x3, Throw x2,
Search x2, First Aid x1, Animal Lore x3, Plant Lore x1, World Lore x3,
Devise x3, Scan x3, Sneak x1, Hide x1, 1H Spear x2, Parry or Dodge x2.
Ralgethae Herder as per human Civilized Herder except also possesses Hide
x1 and Sneak x1.
Ralgethae Hunter as per human Barbarian Hunter except lacks Ride.
Possesses Hide x2, Sneak x2, Listen x1, and Swim x1.
Ralgethae Merchant as per human Civilized Merchant except also possesses
Boat x1 and Swim x1.
Ralgethae Priest as per human Civilized Priest except lacks Ride.
Ralgethae Shaman as per human Barbarian Shaman except also possesses
Boating x2 and Swim x2.
Ralgethae Soldier as per human Civilized Soldier except possesses Hide x2
and Sneak x2. Must choose Missile Weapon x4. 1H Weapon Attack is x3 and
Shield Parry is x3.
GURPS STATS
Ralgethae 5 points
A Fuzzy gets +1 on HT, +1 on DX, and -2 to ST. He is 1 foot shorter than
a human of his ST.
Advantages: Acute Hearing Level 2. Also, treat Stealth as a Physical/Easy
skill for Ralgethae.
Friends and Enemies: none. However, humans unfamiliar with the Ralgethae
will sometimes react at a -1 due to their appearance. This will generally
apply only outside of the regions which adjoin the Ralgethae homeland.
Likes and Dislikes: Due to their environment, Ralgethae are naturally
wary. They prefer to err on the side of caution--thus, Miserliness is a
more common Disadvantage among the Ralgethae than Overconfidence. (Common
Sense is often found among the Ralgethae.) Ralgethae are industrious
folk; they apply themselves seriously to their livelihood, whatever it
may be.
Miscellaneous: As a people, the Ralgethae are not accustomed to horses.
Except for those Ralgethae who have taken up residence in Bednor and
entered Carian society, few if any learn Riding. By contrast, any
Ralgethae from the marshes will certainly have at least fair ability in
Boating and Swimming.
-Elliot Wilen
---
From: acb@romeo.cs.duke.edu (Andrew Bell)
Subject: Jack-of-all-trades characters
When the longest running RuneQuest campaign around here degenerated, it
seemed that the main problem was that the major (most powerful) characters had
little or no reason to run together. Lower power characters had little to
offer the higher power ones, and would get killed participating in adventures
that were (combat-wise) a challenge to the higher power ones.
The main reason for this was that the major characters were
jacks-of-all-trades. Despite the supposed specific nature of their cults,
all were adept at healing, at weapons, and making themselves magic
resistant. Each had enough spirit block that spirits generally weren't a
problem. (The Big Three were all Runelord-Priests.)
Granted, these three were all of widely different backgrounds, and had
widely varying goals. But even if they had been more closely aligned, they
really had few unique talents to offer each other.
Have any of you folks noticed this "problem"?
For us, the causes were:
1) By far the most useful class to be is a fighter of some sort. Sorcerors
are not exactly encouraged to mingle with divine and spirit magic users,
and the game really encourages people to join cults. And the magic of a
novice sorceror's apprentice is not much more powerful than the spells
obtainable by cult members. In RQ II, the sorcery option doesn't even
exist.
2) In RQ II, and to a slightly lesser extent RQ III, Power is such an
important characteristic that not having offensive magic would put a
character at a major disadvantage. Thus characters were/are oriented
towards offensive magic in RQ II, as opposed to any thoughts of merely
specializing in weapons. In RQ III the cult you join determines what
offensive magic you can get, so characters gravitate towards those cults
with offensive spells.
3) In RQ III, they merged many of the thiefly skills, so it takes even less
training to become good at thieving-type activities. Sneaking up behind
someone and backstabbing them isn't that much better than their failing to
parry, so asassin-style attacks aren't particularly important either.
A form of this latter seems to be a problem in many game systems, not just
RQ. For example, translate this situation into any RPG:
In the feeble light of the waxing moon, Harquin examined the lock in
front of him. "Foolish, foolish," he muttered. "The darn fool's got about
the easiest lock to pick on this door. One would think he wanted me to steal
his precious medallion. I'm certainly willing to oblige him, at any rate."
His hands worked quickly, manipulating slivers of metal inside the
keyhole. Within a few seconds, his efforts were rewarded with an audible
click.
"Ah, now to see what's behind here..."
"I wouldn't move, if I were you," came a voice from behind him.
"Otherwise, I might have to put a bolt through your chest. Now turn around,
slowly. No, don't stand up; on your knees will do nicely."
Harquin turned as instructed. In front of him stood Colman, the Captain
of the Guards. His heavy crossbow was aimed quite clearly at the little
thief's chest. Colman spoke: "My dear Harquin, just as I expected. I
had a feeling you couldn't resist the temptation to try again. I'm afraid,
however, that task will be much more difficult from his Lordship's dungeons."
"I think my friend behind you would rather you didn't put me there."
replied Harquin, his eyes apparently moving to something behind and to the
left of his foe's shoulder.
"Really, you don't expect me to fall for that old trick, do you? I..."
Colman never got to finish his thought, as there was an audible thump
at which point he fell to the ground. The figure behind him moved out of the
shadows, still holding his heavy mace.
"Ah, Irvin," stated the thief."You always did have impeccable timing."
He then gave an expression of injured innocence. "I did tell him you were
there, why didn't he believe me? You know, I don't think the captain likes
me very much."
In RQ, the crossbow would have been intimidating to a leather-armored thief
with little magic because of its high damage range. A bow, on the other hand,
would be less fearsome; it's very unlikely that the thief would have been
disabled by a single shot. Had Colman had a chance to shoot, he also
probably would have hit Harquin in a limb. Likewise, it is very unlikely that
Irvin could have felled the captain in a single blow like he did. It seems
rules like the following would help:
Movement rates:
(Man-sized) humanoid on all fours: 1/2 meter per strike rank
Humanoid prone or on knees : 1/4 meter per strike rank
Time to do things:
Humanoid: prone to standing : 3 strike ranks
Humanoid: prone to on knees : 2 strike ranks
Humanoid: on knees to standing : 2 strike ranks
Combat:
You can choose your hit location if the foe you are attacking is kneeling or
prone, or defenseless with a movement rate of 1 meter/sr or less, and if you
are fully mobile and undistracted.
Anyway, back to the problems:
4) Allied spirits are so powerful that they significantly alter the game
balance. Characters without Allied Spirits are substantially less powerful
than their rune-level friends.
Have the rest of you had problems like these in your campaigns? Have you or
your GMs done anything about problems of this sort?
-Andrew
acb@romeo.cs.duke.edu
---
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