Rune Magic Spells

[berry04]

Hello,

I've recently purchased most RQ products and am interested in starting a campaign. However, I am a bit concerned by the relative lack of Rune Magic Spells currently available. As far as I can tell, the are few spells available for each Rune (or in some cases none at all). Is this the intended effect of the system or are a significant number of additional spells available in another product?

 

[Rurik]

There are two Spirit related Rune Spells in the Companion, and a few in the latest (#39) Signs & Portents RPG magazine (free monthly Mongoose PDF mag available for download from main website). To the best of my knowledge that is it - though I don't have Legendary Heroes or Arms & Equipment so I don't know if they have any (I seriously doubt the later does).

There may be a few in the upcomming errata for Cults of Glorantha 1, as some are mentioned in cult descriptions but not in the book.

My copy of Magic of Glorantha is not in but my understanding is that it has Dragon Magic and Sorcery, so it probably does not have many.

Some people have gotten their pre-orders of Cults 2 so maybe they can chime in on whether that has any.

EDIT: Welcome to the board btw!

 

[Voriof]

There may be a few in the upcomming errata for Cults of Glorantha 1, as some are mentioned in cult descriptions but not in the book.

I suspect these are in CoG2. If they are, the errata will say 'see page XX in CoG2." If not, something else will be arranged.

Jeff

 

[weasel_fierce]

I think its fairly intentional, in that each rune gives a couple of tricks, both through its power and the few spells tied to it.

Of course, it could easily be expanded

 

[Quintus]

I like the Rune - but each rune ought to have just one spell, and it ought not to have to be learned by some who-knows-who. Who is gona advertise that they know Rune X? Its suicide to do so. Think about it...Rune cannot be used unless it's attuned, and can't attune if it belongs to someone else. Yikes. I'm gona change that and make each rune do one spell only, that the players must learn on their own as part of the integration process. Force of will to release the energy from the rune to do X. No spellcasting, just a focus/concentration activity, but still have the spell effects as listed in the book and all that. Magnitude will be a function of usage...or time - not sure which yet. Ohh...and Burnout - definately Burnout...

Q...

 

[Voriof]

Could someone translate this?

 

[gamesmeister]

I think he's just been hit with a Babel spell

 

[soltakss]

One spell per Rune just wouldn't work.

You would lose out on the many different legacy spells and many of the spells in RQM. Also, something like the Death Rune can have many different effects.

In my game, I have completely seveered rthe close connection between spells and Runes. People can collect and attune runes and they can learn spells associated with those runes, but they don't learn a spell or gain a power automatically when gaining a rune. Also, some spells can be cast with different runes.

Restricting spell use by the one spell per rune will make magic virtually unusable, in my opinion.

 

[EvilGinger]

I would go back to the RQ1 method and disconnect these spells from the runes since I still can’t get it out of my head that rune magic is divine magic. I do like the idea of runes and the add to the game but to tie them quite so closely to learning spells doesn’t work for me. I would also limit the knowledge of common spells according to the characters intelligence. The old rule was the cumulative number of power levels of common spells (what is now rune magic) could not exceed the characters Intelligence. You also have to remember that rune magic is very common in Glorantha with every adult knowing some spells useful to their trade.

 

[weasel_fierce]

there was a thing floating around that for Glorantha, you could learn the spells of any rune that your cult is tied to.

But I dont know if that became an actual rule or not

 

[Voriof]

there was a thing floating around that for Glorantha, you could learn the spells of any rune that your cult is tied to.

But I dont know if that became an actual rule or not

Not yet.

Jeff

 

[weasel_fierce]

ahh

Its likely to become such in my game,in any event

 

[Coleoptra]

One spell per Rune just wouldn't work.

You would lose out on the many different legacy spells and many of the spells in RQM. Also, something like the Death Rune can have many different effects.

In my game, I have completely seveered rthe close connection between spells and Runes. People can collect and attune runes and they can learn spells associated with those runes, but they don't learn a spell or gain a power automatically when gaining a rune. Also, some spells can be cast with different runes.

Restricting spell use by the one spell per rune will make magic virtually unusable, in my opinion.

Very good idea. Keep some benefits for attuning runes, but drop the spell association. A step back to the spirit magic of old. Just wondering how the shaman rules will turn out. Anyone with a copy of Cults 2 who know?

Trif.

 

[Itto]

there was a thing floating around that for Glorantha, you could learn the spells of any rune that your cult is tied to.

But I dont know if that became an actual rule or not

Not yet.

Jeff

I sort of use this rule, but not spells tied to the gods runes but the spells that the cult teaches. As they are not linked. Many of the warrior cults get bladesharp, but obviously none have metal as a rune (I don't think it was a previously published Gloranthan rune).

I let initiates learn any of the cult spells upto mag 2 (as per the rules anyway) an use to cast the spell use their Lore (Specific Cult). This way initiates have access to Runemagic but can't do anything major (ie spell beyond mag 2) with it unless they find a rune. Then they would have to learn higher Mags but use the Runecasting (rune name) skill rather than the cult skill.

The first game I ran I had great fun running the Rune of Chaos, but now I have a character with a chaos rune and I have moved them from "Gernerica" to Glorantha, so the other players are a very sus about the character with a Chaos Rune. The very marvolus Runic Powers PDF has a nice description of a Praxian Shaman who uses a Chaos Rune so I figure that maybe a Chaos Rune is just likely to corrupt people who use it in the long term rather than corrupts them just because they have intergrated with it. Maybe when some more Rune spells come out with that are tied the chaos rune they will be corrupting in the effects. Maybe chaos gets skybolt 'cause they where lots of Chaos Gods fighting Storm Gods and they learned some lightning magic.

Up until I got Magic of Glorantha I thought skybolt was overpowered. Now its the only rune magic thats almost level with the God Learners and the EWF dragon magic.

I am looking foward to when my players first get into a scuffle with God Learner or EWF npc mage.

 

[Banned Beetle]

One spell per Rune just wouldn't work.

You would lose out on the many different legacy spells and many of the spells in RQM. Also, something like the Death Rune can have many different effects.

In my game, I have completely seveered rthe close connection between spells and Runes. People can collect and attune runes and they can learn spells associated with those runes, but they don't learn a spell or gain a power automatically when gaining a rune. Also, some spells can be cast with different runes.

Restricting spell use by the one spell per rune will make magic virtually unusable, in my opinion.

Very good idea. Keep some benefits for attuning runes, but drop the spell association. A step back to the spirit magic of old. Just wondering how the shaman rules will turn out. Anyone with a copy of Cults 2 who know?

Trif.

Nobody with a copy of Cults 2? It's being sold on eBay allready!

Okey, better preorder an see for myself then...

Trifle.

 

[indrodar]

Nobody with a copy of Cults 2? It's being sold on eBay allready!

Okey, better preorder an see for myself then...

Trifle.

Yeah - on ebay like the MoG I won before release date that turned up a few days after it.

Grrr, pesky e-bayers.

 

[Banned Beetle]

Hehehehe!

That's a mean trick! I'll stay clear of eBay for this one and preorder from Mongoose.

Trifle.

 

[indrodar]

I obviously can't verify that's what he was up to, but the same guy has CoG2 and Lankhmar on ebay at the moment (auction finishes on 24th Dec). Now he may have these books, like I say, but the one thing I can tell you - his "seller's standard rate" for postage was £7!!

 

[Banned Beetle]

I obviously can't verify that's what he was up to, but the same guy has CoG2 and Lankhmar on ebay at the moment (auction finishes on 24th Dec). Now he may have these books, like I say, but the one thing I can tell you - his "seller's standard rate" for postage was £7!!

Click!!!! :shock:

 

[duncan_disorderly]

I obviously can't verify that's what he was up to, but the same guy has CoG2 and Lankhmar on ebay at the moment (auction finishes on 24th Dec). Now he may have these books, like I say, but the one thing I can tell you - his "seller's standard rate" for postage was £7!!

Which, at the risk of sounding like a cracked record, is (one reason) why I wish Mongoose would handle their release dates "properly". It might be difficult, but other companies seem to manage it (which means everyone will now give me examples of companies that don't). AEG used to release L5R RPG releases in the USA and Europe with a single release date - dodgy distributors, particularly in the USA meant some people sometimes picked books up a week early, or couldn't get hold of them for a couple of weeks, but on the whole it worked. If a book was announced by AEG as being released "This Week" I could be 99% certain I could pick it up in my FLGS on a Friday, and equally no one was ever posting that they had got hold of books two months before the release date...