Spellbook. Whats the verdict ?

[weasel_fierce]

For those who have had the spellbook for a while now, and, ideally, has had a chance to put it to play, whats the verdict on it ?

 

[elgrin]

For me it's worth it if only for the index, but the additional spells keep the players on their toes. Though a few of the spells don't fit into my Gloranth and so have been house-ruled out.

elgrin

 

[Exubae]

Its a bit of a mixed bag - not too bad for non-glorantha, with some intereseting ideas, though its a struggle to get full use in the gloranthan setting.
Some of the spells can seem pretty pointless, like Cadaver eternal (other than for funeral rites) but they can be adapted to other uses - like players using it to keep meat fresh while at sea.
I've only really integrated the rune spells into the campaign as the spread of spells per rune is pretty thin on the ground. The biggest niggle with the rune spells is the rune requirements feel inconsistent or contrived. I've ended up including new Runes (lightning, disease, Unequal Exchange to name a few) to compensate and change some of the runic requirements.
Also ended up adding Rune Strength (in line with the rules from Gms Guide) requirements for certain spells to restrict their ownership.

I've not really used the Sorcery or Divine magic from the book in a live game, but seem a wee bit unbalanced.

 

[reverend keith]

For those who have had the spellbook for a while now, and, ideally, has had a chance to put it to play, whats the verdict on it ?

I use it for my non-Glorantha campaign, and it's proven to be very useful. I have no doubts that there are some broken spells in there, but I haven't had a problem with it yet.

 

[calle]

For those who have had the spellbook for a while now, and, ideally, has had a chance to put it to play, whats the verdict on it ?

The index dont show the runes connected to the spell. So if your character has some particular runes and want to find a spell that is suitable you cant use the index! (ie still a manual search through several volumes).

Maybe Mongoose could have an online index here on your excellent website ?!

Then we users/customers can sort and search on different criterias.

/Calle

 

[TRose]

I do use and like the book , although you at times have to be careful about introducing some of the more powerful spells into a game as to not upset balance.
I think an index that would let you know which spell you can learn by rune would be nice as its a pain for a character to go through the book and try to find out which spells he can now learn now he has a say cold rune.

 

[Osentalka]

I would have liked notes on which spell fits into which gloranthan cult, and which spells don´t fit into glorantha at all.
Same with Elric.
But the book as it is, a generic RQ spellbook, is great.

 

[Loz]

I would have liked notes on which spell fits into which gloranthan cult, and which spells don´t fit into glorantha at all.
Same with Elric.
But the book as it is, a generic RQ spellbook, is great.

'Cults of the Young Kingdoms' attributes Runes to each cult, plus details any other relevant magic a cult has. Not sure of CotYK's release date yet, but it has what you're after.

 

[Lakritsploppen]

I like the spellbook the only problem i have encounted is spells and their rune associations.

 

[Exubae]

only problem i have encounted is spells and their rune associations.

I agree with this sentiment if taken from the older Glorantha perspective some of the runes don't gel, in particular Chaos and Law,
Law is no longer the force maintaining the Cosmos, and Chaos the force attempt erode it back into the void; Electrical (effects) are for some reason all bound to the Rune of Chaos, and alot of the effects better suited to disorder are also tied to Chaos.
However saying that in a home brew campaign or from an Eternal Champion/Moorcockian view of Chaos the runic assignments fit far better.

The most irritating thing about the Rune spells is the requirement of a target Rune (man , plant , beast or chaos rune) on some spells but not on others as being inconsistent - and from the point of view of Glorantha I don't like the idea of having to integrate a Chaos rune to effect a broo with a spell. This is however a niggle that runs across the publications to date not just the spell book.

On the Whole though the spell book is worth a read and increases the rune spells for spell poor runes.