Ley Lines in Runequest

[Utgardloki]

I have not seen Ley Lines mentioned in any role playing game, but was wondering if anybody has implemented ley lines in a Runequest game setting.

I was just watching Smallville and decided that there definitely have to be ley lines in Runequest Modern. My thinking is that a line may be associated with one or more effects, and thas this also be connected with astrology ("As above, so below"). This also implies that ley lines exist in outer space (probably as ley planes, which appear as lines as they intersect a planet's surface), and each planet has its own ley line constellation.

I haven't yet figured out any rules for ley lines. Perhaps spell effects can be increased 50% when in a line and 100% when in a zone. Each line affects a certain set of effects. Where a planetary alignment intersects with a ley line node, spectacular effects could happen.

 

[weasel_fierce]

I'd definately throw in something like that. Or maybe let anyone casting a spell draw half the magic points from the "resonance" in the area

 

[Loz]

I could see the God Learners creating ley lines that invisibly map parts of the Hero Plane, just for the sheer 'Coz we Can' factor. Where lines intersect, you have a major nexus of mythical power, and, perhaps, a gateway into the Hero Plane.

 

[philreed]

I have not seen Ley Lines mentioned in any role playing game, but was wondering if anybody has implemented ley lines in a Runequest game setting.

Rifts uses Ley Lines.

Bad Axe Games' Elf books presents Ley Lines for d20.

I know there are other books/games but I can't think of them right now.

 

[Dead Blue Clown]

I have not seen Ley Lines mentioned in any role playing game, but was wondering if anybody has implemented ley lines in a Runequest game setting.

Rifts uses Ley Lines.

Bad Axe Games' Elf books presents Ley Lines for d20.

I know there are other books/games but I can't think of them right now.

Vampire: the Masquerade.

 

[Voriof]

I have not seen Ley Lines mentioned in any role playing game, but was wondering if anybody has implemented ley lines in a Runequest game setting.

Rifts uses Ley Lines.

Bad Axe Games' Elf books presents Ley Lines for d20.

I know there are other books/games but I can't think of them right now.

Vampire: the Masquerade.

Mage: The Awakening uses them extensively. Especially "Secrets of the Ruined Temple"

Ley Lines, also known as Dragonewt Roads, are common in Glorantha from as far back as the days of RQ I and "Apple Lane" but most ordinary people have no idea how to use them other than to tap them for a temporary boost of magic. It's a pretty dangerous trick though as you may knock a traveller off the road with no way to get back. Makes them fairly cranky.

Travel on most of them requires visiting a Dragonnewt settlement... though I seem to recall there are other networks as well. Most of these date from the God Time and it is the rare magician who can build new ones (The Daughter's Road built by the Lunar Empire is about the only one that springs to mind).

I suspect that the extensive network of Dragonewt Roads in Dragon Pass is only partially related to the EWF. The Pass region has always been a focus of Draconic power. I am still unsure of the cause/effect relationship.

Jeff

 

[jadrax]

There very important to magic in Castle Falkenstein too.

 

[Rurik]

Ley Lines are also very important to magic in Pendragon, particularly at intersections.

 

[Voriof]

Ley Lines are also very important to magic in Pendragon, particularly at intersections.

Now that I think of it, a few scenarios in Call of Cthulhu use them as well. Especially those which deal with the Llorgior.

Jeff

 

[soltakss]

Ley Lines, also known as Dragonewt Roads, are common in Glorantha from as far back as the days of RQ I and "Apple Lane" but most ordinary people have no idea how to use them other than to tap them for a temporary boost of magic. It's a pretty dangerous trick though as you may knock a traveller off the road with no way to get back. Makes them fairly cranky.

From memory, you sit at a Dragonewt Plinth, lay hands on it for an hour and get 1D6 MPs. Easy peasy, until a dragonewt spots you and makes you the target of his reincarnating wrath.

I suspect that the extensive network of Dragonewt Roads in Dragon Pass is only partially related to the EWF. The Pass region has always been a focus of Draconic power. I am still unsure of the cause/effect relationship.

Personally, I'd have thought that they predated the EWF. Weren't the Dragonewt Cities there before Time? The EWF set up in Dragon Pass because of the dragons and dragonewts there, not vice versa.

Also, many (or all) of the Oases and settlements in Prax are on Ley Lines, but what they mean and how you use them is beyond me.

 

[Voriof]

Personally, I'd have thought that they predated the EWF. Weren't the Dragonewt Cities there before Time? The EWF set up in Dragon Pass because of the dragons and dragonewts there, not vice versa.

Yes. I did say they dated mostly from the God-Time didn't I? However, I am willing, in the interests of Maximum Game Fun, to have some new ones being built by the EWF as a part of the Great Dragon's nervous system/proto-soul.

Also, many (or all) of the Oases and settlements in Prax are on Ley Lines, but what they mean and how you use them is beyond me.

Are you sure? There's no mention of that in any official Gloranthan publication that I can recall, sorry. However, I can see them being at interesections of weak ley lines which gives the oaises the bare minium of magical power they require to prosper in that dreadful land.

Jeff

 

[Utgardloki]

Has anybody made a map of ley lines on the Planet Earth?

I can probably make such a map by drawing lines between select places such as Stonehenge, also adding other places important to my own campaign, such as Platteville Wisconsin. But I was wondering if anybody had already done the bulk of this work for me.

 

[JohnLokiBeard]

I assumed that Mongoose's very own Slaine RPG would have a host of info on ley lines [IIRC Slaine occasionally used a "leyser" beam weapon, a ley energy powered firearm] but a search on the Judge Dredd & Slaine forums for "ley" came up blank. Might be worth posting over there?

 

[soltakss]

Most real world leylines are local phenomena. I doubt if there are leylines that can be found globally, due to the earth not being flat and the distances involved - if the scale is large then any line drawn between two points becomes meaningless.

So, if you want leylines for different local landscapes, then they have been done for many different areas. Alternatively, photocopy a map, get a ruler, try to line up things like ancient monuments, ruins, churches, castles and draw a line through them. That's a leyline.

It helps if you are not very accurate and include things that are just off the line, or if you use a thick pencil to draw the line, or if you have a shaky hand or accept that things can be thousands of years apart and still be part of the same sacred landscape.

It's probably as accurate as any "official" leyline, anyway.

For a fantasy roleplaying setting, though, leylines are important, accurate and can be tapped. You're better off doing your own as you can include things that shouldn't be there, add new places and so on, reinforcing the leylines and emphasising their junctions. So what if there is nothing at a junction, in a game setting you can put an old graveyard there, or a cross, a standing stone or anything useful.

Just don't have druids guarding them with golden sickles.

 

[Loz]

I assumed that Mongoose's very own Slaine RPG would have a host of info on ley lines [IIRC Slaine occasionally used a "leyser" beam weapon, a ley energy powered firearm] but a search on the Judge Dredd & Slaine forums for "ley" came up blank. Might be worth posting over there?

I remember the 'leyser' vividly. I thought it was stupid then, and still think it's stupid now!

 

[Dead Blue Clown]

Leyzers are only in the crap Slaine stories. I read Slaine the King, The Horned God and the new Invasion stuff without seeing them mentioned once. I think they are in Time Killer, or whatever that nonsense was called. They do not get a mention in the RPG as far as I recall...

 

[Licheking]

Try Beyond the Supernatural by Palladium games, they did extensive work on leylines and their effects, especially in a modern setting.

There is a Runequest Fansite which also deals with Gloranthan leylines and Earthnodes (intersecting Leylines). But basically, you regain 1d4MP per hour whilst on an Earthnode, and 1 an hour on leylines i think, but i will check that when i get home.

 

[Quire]

Leyzers are only in the crap Slaine stories. I read Slaine the King, The Horned God and the new Invasion stuff without seeing them mentioned once. I think they are in Time Killer, or whatever that nonsense was called. They do not get a mention in the RPG as far as I recall...

Was that the one where it went all Fighting Fantasy on us? I cringe, even now.

- Q

 

[grymlocke]

hmmm,
leylines could be manifistations of hero plane versions of tectonic plate juctions...a kind of magical fault line?

i'll have to think on this somemore........

 

[homerjsinnott]

I assumed that Mongoose's very own Slaine RPG would have a host of info on ley lines [IIRC Slaine occasionally used a "leyser" beam weapon, a ley energy powered firearm] but a search on the Judge Dredd & Slaine forums for "ley" came up blank. Might be worth posting over there?

I remember the 'leyser' vividly. I thought it was stupid then, and still think it's stupid now!

The person who thought that dross up needs a really, really, good kicking.