Intro
For me back in the day the ubiquity of battle magic was something that made RQ and Glorantha significantly different and better than the other games of the time, and to keep the same look and feel to the world it needs to keep its prominence, and see a world where magic is as common a response to a problem as technology is our world.
Keeping spirit/battle/folk magic front and centre needs to be key to any Gloranthan system, and this needs to be the case in the WOD storyteller mash up.
There has to my knowledge never been any link between spirit magic and runes within the game mechanic, there is a linkage between runes and spirit magic in the game world and it would be good if the game mechanic would reflect it.
I am aiming for a system where characters with high traits in runes associated with a particular spirit magic spell find it easier to cast and their spells are more potent when they do. Where characters without associated runes can still use the sprit magic spells but their magic less powerful.
Base Spirit Magic Mechanic
The premise of the system is this
- All characters have variable points in various runes( usually 1 to 5)
- All characters have variable point in various battle magic spells (usually 1 to 5)
- All spirit magic spells have a native rune associated with them
- Casing any spirit magic spell costs a single quinessence point.
When casting a spirit magic spell the caster can choose to
- Amplify his battle magic spell through a rune of his choice.
- Use his knowledge of the spell only
If a character chooses to amplify his spell through the use of his runes, the following mechanic kicks in
- A players dice pool is the sum of the traits in battle magic and the traits in the particular spell
- The target difficulty of the roll for the spells effect is set by relevance of the rune chosen to the spell and the target effect or situation.
- Difficulty 5 – Native rune
- Difficulty 6 – High relevance
- Difficulty 7 – Slight relevance
- Difficulty 8 – Tenuous relevance
- Difficulty 9 – No relevance
- Difficulty 10 – Opposing Rune
If the character chooses not amplify the battle magic spell
- The dice pool is the character trait level in the spell
- The difficulty will be a standard 6
As with all WOD storyteller systems the number of dice rolled over the difficulty is the number of success on the test.
For Example Jema the Chalana Arroy Healer has a trait of 3 in the spell heal and 2 in the life rune. If she choose not to amplify the spell with her Rune she would roll 3 dice with target numbers of 6, so a 2, 4, and 8 rolled mean she has one success.
However if she were to amplify the spell with her rune she would roll 5 dice with a target number of 5, meaning a 3,5,7,5,8 would give her 4 successes.
Ricca the Ernelda priestess has Heal 3 and Earth 4, if she were to amplify with her earth rune by channelling the healing power of the earth into her target she would have a dice pool of 7 and difficulty of 6 as it is a highly relevant rune in an appropriate situation.
Alric the shaman has Heal 2 and Spirit 5, he can amplify his heal through his spirit but it is only slightly relevant so he will have a dice pool of 7 but a difficulty of 7.
Shoga the Deathlord has Heal 2 and Death 5, if he was to try to amplify the heal spell through a death rune, the difficulty would be 10 due to opposing nature and he is as likely to damage his target as heal him.
Runes and Relevancy
The spell descriptions listed below all list native runes and runes with high relevance, however some guidance on other runes.
- Elemental runes – Elemental runes are either native, highly relevant but only become relevant if the physical element is present and could be manipulated to the effect desired. More often they are neutral, but sometimes are opposed when opposing spells native to other elements.
- Power Runes – Power runes are brought into play when associated to the effect being sought and tend to be highly relevant or opposing runes,
- Form Runes – Form runes usually become slightly relevant when the target of the spell relates to the form.
- Condition Runes – Condition Runes slightly relevant to lots of situations especially spirit, magic, infinity, luck and fate which can be used in most situations.
However these decisions should be taken by the storyteller in game time.
Effects of Spirit Spells
Spirit Magic in Glorantha has traditionally worked with one of work with one of three game mechanics;
- Buff – Bonuses are given to various skill checks and combat actions
- Opposed Roll – An effect takes place on a third party if an opposed roll is won
- Instant effect – Things just happen.
These three mechanics need to be considered in the new system.
Buffs
- One spirit magic buff can be cast a round in addition to a characters main action.
- A character maybe affected by different buffs at the same time, but not of similar types (defensive, offensive, anti magic, movement, stealth, communication, etc).
- Each success made will be added to all rolls of a certain type for the duration of the scene.
- The dice roll affected will be determined by the spell and can be found in the spell table.
Opposed Roll
- These spells take an action to cast.
- Opposed rolls are made when casting spells over targets who wish to resist. The Target will almost always resist with their willpower at a target of 6.
- If a spell succeeds the amount successes of the caster over the defender determine the strength or length of the effect of the spell.
Instant Effect
- These spells take an action to cast.
- One success is enough for an complete success, extra success dive more detailed information
Hopefully this creates a spirit magic system that reflects the best of old Gloranthan RQ, works in the storytellers system and gives runes more an prominence in the system.
| Spell | Type | Native Rune | Associated Runes | Effect & Notes |
| Abacus | Eff | Truth | Mastery, Law | Count of Items |
| Smith’s Boon | Buff | Fire | Earth | Extra dice to craft skill roles all for metal working |
| Babel | Res | Illusion | Disorder, Man, Chaos | Confuses targets language for round per success |
| Bandit’s Cloak | Buff | Illusion | Darkness, Moon | Extra dice to stealth rolls |
| Bearing Witness | Buff | Truth | Mastery, Man | Extra dice to questioning skills rolls |
| Beast Call | Res | Beast | Communication, Mastery | Summons target animal |
| Becalm | Eff | Harmony | Man, Illusion, Life | Allows subject to sleep peacefully, calms out all other mental effects one per success |
| Befuddle | Res | Illusion | Illusion, Disorder, Moon, Chaos | Confuses Subject for one round per success |
| Boon of last night | Eff | Darkness | Illusion | Creates circle of darkness |
| Bladesharp | Buff | Death | Air, Movement | Extra attack dice on slashing and impaling weapon rolls |
| Bludgeon | Buff | Death | Darkness, Disorder, Earth | Extra damage dice on crushing weapons |
| Cauterise | Buff | Fire | Life, Harmony | Extra dice for healing skill rolls |
| Chill | Eff | Air | Darkness, Undead | Cools items and or people |
| Clear Path | Eff | Plant | Movement, Fire | Allows free movement through all undergrowth |
| Co-ordination | Buff | Movement | Man, Air, Mastery, | Extra dice on all dexterity based checks |
| Countermagic | Buff | Magic | Spirit, Luck, Fate, Infinity | Extra dice on WP resist again spells |
| Darkwall | Eff | Darkness | Earth, Moon, Illusion | Magical Darkness in a wall |
| Demoralise | Res | Man | Man, Darkness, Disorder, Moon | Reduces target dice poll by 1 per success on offensive actions |
| Detect X | Eff | Truth | Magic , Spirit, Life, Man, law | Detects stuff, one extra substance per level |
| Disruption | Eff | Disorder | Death, Chaos, Air, Fire | Damage equal to number of successes, no armour on rolls |
| Dispel Magic | Eff | Magic | Spirit, Luck, Fate, Infinity, Disorder | Removes on point of on-going magic effect per success |
| Dragon’s Breath | Eff | Dragon | Dragonewt, Fire | Fire attack of damage equal to success aggravated damage |
| Dullblade | Res | Harmony | Disorder, Darkness | Increase difficulty on target weapon wounding by one per success |
| Endurance | Buff | Man | Earth, Life, Beast | Extra dice on all non combat endurance checks |
| Entertainer’s Smile | Buff | Communication | Man, Harmony, Illusion | Extra dice on performance checks |
| Extinguish | Eff | Darkness | Air, Earth | Extinguishes fire |
| Fanaticism | Buff | Beast | Man, Air, Disorder, Chaos | Loose parry action, each success adds dice to weapon attack and parry |
| Farsee | Buff | Light | Beast, Air, Man | Increased vision and extra dice on visual perception |
| Fate | Buff | Fate | Luck | Boost or reduce next dice pool by number of successes |
| Firearrow | Buff | Fire | Death, Disorder, Chaos | First point makes damage aggravated, all others add one damage |
| Fireblade | Buff | Fire | Death, Disorder, Chaos | First point makes damage aggravated, all others add one damage |
| Glamour | Buff | Communication | Man, Illusion | Extra dice on all charisma rolls |
| Glue | Eff | Stasis | Earth | Fixed item in place, each point give 3 dice in resistance strength |
| Golden Tongue | Buff | Communication | Man, Harmony | Extra dice on all communication rolls |
| Heal | Buff | Life | Man, Harmony | Each success heals a health level |
| Ignite | Eff | Fire | Air | Sets something on fire |
| Iron hand | Buff | Beast | Man, Death, Disorder, Chaos | Extra dice on natural weapon attacks |
| Light | Eff | Light | Fire | Light |
| Lightwall | Eff | Light | Fire | Light wall |
| Lucky | Buff | Luck | Reroll one dice per success on next failed test | |
| Mason’s Boon | Buff | Earth | Stasis | Extra dice on all masonry craft skills |
| Mindspeech | Eff | Communication | Truth, Air, Man | Communicates with one person per success |
| Mobility | Buff | Movement | Air, Beast | Increases movement rate by var |
| Parry | Buff | Stasis | Air, Death | Extra dice on all parry roles |
| Pierce | Buff | Death | Fire, Air | Extra damage dice on all damage roles for impaling weapons |
| Protection | Buff | Stasis | Earth | Extra soak dice for each success |
| Push/Pull | Effect | Movement | Air | Moves stuff |
| Repair | Effect | Stasis | Harmony | fixes broken item |
| Second Sight | Effect | Spirit | Spirit, Law | magical aura of all creatures and items, allows invisible creatures to be seen |
| Shimmer | Buff | Air | Illusion, Movement | extra dice on all dodge and avoidance roles |
| Slow | Res | Stasis | Man | decreases movement of target |
| Speedart | Buff | Air | death, Light, Fire | extra to hit dice on missile rolls |
| Strength | Buff | Man | Beast, Earth, Life | extra dice on all strength rolls |
| Spirit Bane | Buff | Spirit | Mastery | Creates circle of protection from hostile spirits, success increases radius |
| Thunder’s Voice | Buff | Mastery | Air, Communication | Increases voice volume and extra dice to intimidation and leadership rolls per success |
| Understanding | Buff | Communication | Man | Extra dice on all language roles |
| Vigour | Buff | Earth | Man, Life, Stasis, Beast | Extra dice for stamina rolls |
| Warmth | Effect | Fire | Fire, Light, man | Keeps caster warm each magnitude adds extra person |
| Water Breath | Effect | Air | Water, Life, Man | Allows target to breath Under water |
Hi.
I like the idea, but I think it gets a little away from RQ’s original rules and ideas that fights are tough, and magic is handy – but common magic won’t always be enough.
How about – Rune and Spell levels do still help increase dice pool, but each spell costs quintessence to the amount of points being used to power the spell (as per RQ rules – a 3 pt Bladesharp still costs 3 points). Only a single success is needed (unless you implement a rule that for a Bladesharp 3, you need 3 successes). If we take the additional rule, then it make the following change more playable – for each success over the required number, you deduct the amount of quintessence lost (minimum of 1).
I’d also stick in some limitations – Healing doesn’t affect aggravated wounds (mirroring the way that in RQ it doesn’t heal severed limbs, etc) – unless you have Heal or Harmony/Life at 4 dots.
Battle Magic Lore (or Common Magic Lore) skill could be an additional skill for spells for which the character doesn’t have an associated Rune… but if you have the rune, the quintessence cost is reduced, and you can use extra successes in different ways. Eg, if you haven’t associated to the Life rune, you can still use Battle Magic Lore and the Heal dots to cast Heal 3. If successful, it costs 3 quintessence points, and heals instantly. (if it was a duration effect, it would last 5 minutes). If you have the associated Rune, and decide to use the Runic casting, then extra successes can lower the quintessence cost of the spell, or extend the duration, etc.
This mechanic then allows for Sorcery to become usable. Retain the standard Manipulation skills – Intensity, Duration, Distance, Target. Each manipulation dot (plus the spell dots) adds to the dice pool if being used (yes, this does mean some HUGE dice pools for super-experienced sorcerers). For each manipulation being used, a success is required (plus the 1 for the base spell). Maximum number of manipulations equals the dots in that manipulation. So, if trying to cast Venom (3 dots) with Intensity (4 dots), and Targets (2 dots), the dice pool would be 3+4+2=9 dice. If 4 successes are rolled, then 1 goes to the spell, and 3 are left over to decide whether to use for increased Intensity or increased Targets. Each manipulation (successful or not) costs 1 quintessence – meaning that it costs power to add to the dice pool!
Manipulation effects should probably be exponential… so, 1 dot in Targets is 1 extra target, but 2 dots would be 4 targets, 3 dots is 9 targets etc. For Duration, might need tweaking – otherwise, you’d never hit the 20+ years from the first version of RQ sorcery rules :p
Probably also needs a Sorcery Lore skill – number of dots is the maximum dots for both Spells and Manipulations.. so, Sorcery Lore 2 means only 2 dots in each spell and manipulation.
Other limits could also be imposed – such as maximum number of Manipulations equal to dots in the spell… so, Venom 1 could only have 1 Manipulation effect, while Venom 3 could have 3 manipulation effects… showing the level of mastery of the spell learned).
If you take the above, then you have a fairly good reflection of RQ’s systems (I’ll go comment on Divine Magic).
Thoughts?
BE well!
This mechanic also means that you don’t max out variable spells by buying only the first point of it 🙁
Heal 1 should only heal 1 health level – regardless of your ability to cast it.
We’re not all Lunars in a Glowline, you know! :p
OK lots to comment on here, sorry about the wait for a reply as well;
OK on Power/Quintessence cost it costs the level of the spell, not the spell plus rune. So strong runic associations gives you magic longevity as well as power.
Effect is based on number of successes, so with boosting spells adding the number of spell success to the dice pool of the relevant skills.
I had thought of mixing in the old sorcery system for using success for extra duration or range as well as successes.
“Effect is based on number of successes, so with boosting spells adding the number of spell success to the dice pool of the relevant skills.”
That sort of makes variable spells… not so variable any more. In as much as, a Heal 1 (or Bladesharp, or Protection, or any other) reliant on the dice roll, rather than the spell purchased. Personally, I liked the idea of having to know different levels.
Also, if that’s the case – how do you determine level of the spell, and then the cost of it?? If success = spell power, then every spell would have variable quintessence costs on each casting – depending on how well you roll.
As I said, if you allow successes to equal bonuses to the stack, it’s making it the same as Lunar magic and Sorcery…
They are still variable but its not all or nothing role any more.
So a warrior with death 4 and Bladesharp 4 roles 8 dice for spell.
Giving an average of 4 a successes, but a range of results from none to 8, that is much more variable. I think that is a more believable outcome than failing or a 4 points boost.
Magic points/Quintessence are spent on the spell portion only, so in above case the warrior would use 4 magic points for the role, not magic point dependent on the result of the role.
This means characters with high Runes can conserve Magic points/Quintessence and still use effective battle magic.
Also, Mongoose RQ required characters to “integrate” a rune before they could learn to cast spells associated with it, and also used a skill based off the rune, not a general casting skill.
I, personally, didn’t like that idea (since it cost 1Pow per attempt) although I did like the Rune-Touched powers that came with it.
So, in your system, how does one acquire a rune?
Spend the xp and justify it in game terms. New runes will require some exposure to make it make sense.
I’m curious as to how you would ‘justify’ the runes – that’s all. In the first few RQ editions, they were either not there, or you had to go on a Heroquest to integrate.
Sorry for the late reply…
Runes have been part of Heroquest for a number of years and are integral to the latest version of RQG. The belief amongst most Glorantha fans is that they have been implicit within the setting from the start.
The way WOD: Glorantha differs from RQG is that Runes define many aspects of you character in WOD:Glorantha they are fundamental to magic, but don’t effect skills and stats outside that scope.