tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post3345013808630494810..comments2024-03-19T07:16:47.924-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Musings on RuneQuest SkillsJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-10114821817493240252010-04-18T13:05:09.158-04:002010-04-18T13:05:09.158-04:00Mysticmuskox, I would be very interested in your T...Mysticmuskox, I would be very interested in your Tekumel rules! If you wouldn't mind adding me to your contact list, maybe you could let me know when it's done?<br />Thanks so much,<br />Baron.Greystone@Gmail.comBaron Greystonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00308709526041513401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-85986712436364738762010-04-08T16:20:08.102-04:002010-04-08T16:20:08.102-04:00I believe there is significance to that fact.
In w...<i>I believe there is significance to that fact.</i><br /><br>In what way?James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-71455443634079216092010-04-08T16:19:13.155-04:002010-04-08T16:19:13.155-04:00By contrast, Call of Cthulhu's skill list is, ...<i>By contrast, Call of Cthulhu's skill list is, I think, just a wee bit too large (although if you ask me "which skills would you pare back", I'm not sure I could give a good answer: the expansion over RQ's list has a lot to do with the expected character roles).</i><br /><br>No argument from me. The main flaw I find in CoC after all these years is its overly specific skills.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-8021955422196226142010-04-08T16:18:09.403-04:002010-04-08T16:18:09.403-04:00As for Runequest and the OSR, I've found more ...<i>As for Runequest and the OSR, I've found more that people dismiss RQ as being new school and not old school than what you described. Due to the skill system, no classes, detailed settings, detailed combat and the like. In other words, not D&D.</i><br /><br>Anyone who does that has such a narrow definition of "old school," both historically and conceptually, that I'll personally kick them out of the clubhouse for saying such nonsense.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-4486934364997326392010-04-07T17:11:16.759-04:002010-04-07T17:11:16.759-04:00How interesting. Aside from the lack of lore-skill...How interesting. Aside from the lack of lore-skills like Arcana or History, it's quite similar to D&D 4e's skill list.<br /><br />I believe there is significance to that fact.Rachel Ghoulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04765944479141792643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-8596966264313350312010-04-07T13:43:36.751-04:002010-04-07T13:43:36.751-04:00I'm going to be interested in seeing your ongo...I'm going to be interested in seeing your ongoing comments on <i>Runequest</i> James. I'm as interested in supporting <i>Gore</i> as I am the <i>D&D</i> retro-clones as I'm more interested in RQ in general.Pulp Herbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02486803457210325703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-31070264507591849382010-04-07T08:57:41.972-04:002010-04-07T08:57:41.972-04:00One of the things I like about RQIII versus RQII i...One of the things I <i>like</i> about RQIII versus RQII is the more generalized and even skill system. In all my gaming experience, the mix of skills available in RQIII is perhaps my gold-standard for what a skill-based rolegame should contain (with perhaps the James Bond game as a close second-place).<br /><br />All the skills are genre appropriate, nicely spread across a wide array of "things characters might want to do" without getting too specific, and (most important) not too numerous in number.<br /><br />By contrast, Call of Cthulhu's skill list is, I think, just a wee bit too large (although if you ask me "which skills would you pare back", I'm not sure I could give a good answer: the expansion over RQ's list has a lot to do with the expected character roles).<br /><br />RQII's skill list is also nice, but is also (as you point out) a bit un-even in its activity coverage), and I feel also a bit unruly. This may have some old-school charm, but there are times when a bit of regularity can be a good thing in my experience, and RQIII's skill regularity is one of those things.Viktorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04867648528753994863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-32280072956406154192010-04-07T04:51:43.770-04:002010-04-07T04:51:43.770-04:00Hi,
Re the comment by Gibbering Ghoul above, I...Hi,<br /><br />Re the comment by Gibbering Ghoul above, I'll mention that I'm working on an updated version of Sandy's RQ Tekumel rules (with his knowledge I should add!), trying to incorporate the missing elements e.g. spells, creatures, skills, items (eyes, amulets, books etc). When Sandy wrote his rules it was for a specific campaign, so he only detailed the bits he needed. It's taken a bit longer than I thought it would, with real life getting in the way, but I'm getting there, currently it's about 120 A4 pages plus.<br /><br />Once it's done it'll go somewhere for free download, and then I'll find out about all the bits that I've got wrong!<br /><br />cheers,<br /><br />MarkMarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04409904855518312412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-86116074983404774212010-04-07T00:52:53.505-04:002010-04-07T00:52:53.505-04:00FWIW, Sandy Petersen released his adaptation of RQ...FWIW, Sandy Petersen released his adaptation of RQIII for Tekumel. It's online at http://www.tekumel.com/gaming_unofficialrules.html<br /><br />Direct download http://www.tekumel.com/downloads/RQtekumel.pdf<br /><br />It's not 100% complete, but still very playable and provides an alternate magic system for RQ and some more critters. I'm very tempted to use it for running Tekumel along with a few choice bits from MRQ's SRD and Openquest.<br /><br />As for Runequest and the OSR, I've found more that people dismiss RQ as being new school and not old school than what you described. Due to the skill system, no classes, detailed settings, detailed combat and the like. In other words, not D&D.<br /><br />Personally I don't give a flip what "school" it is in or out of. I like it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-6945846929671988062010-04-07T00:14:27.960-04:002010-04-07T00:14:27.960-04:00The common skills in Mongoose's Runequest II, ...The common skills in Mongoose's Runequest II, is even more general:<br /><br />- Athletics<br />- Brawn<br />- Culture (Own)<br />- Dance<br />- Drive<br />- Evade<br />- Evaluate<br />- First Aid<br />- Influence<br />- Insight<br />- Lore (Regional)<br />- Perception<br />- Persistence<br />- Resilience<br />- Ride<br />- Sing<br />- Sleight<br />- Stealth<br />- Swim<br />- UnarmedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-48936905507117748472010-04-06T23:28:39.291-04:002010-04-06T23:28:39.291-04:00Which is probably why my D&D campaign has &quo...Which is probably why my D&D campaign has "evolved" to only having three classes, those being the Warrior (who specialises in fighting), Sorcerer (who specialises in magic), and Adventurer (who specialises in something else).<br /><br />[Although I do have a much more relaxed policy towards multi-classing.]Reverance Pavanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01217657347160811310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-65783232360701495732010-04-06T19:56:40.486-04:002010-04-06T19:56:40.486-04:00If i designed a skill system it would have no spec...If i designed a skill system it would have no specific skills just sets, like Burglar that would covers picking locks, spoting hidden items, evaluating treasure, climbing, ect. <br /><br />Every charachter just picks two skill sets(or rolls on the secondary skill list) and you're set. <br /><br />or maybe just add a bunch of fun random table for things like swiming, reading, musical instruments, other languages ect <br />1-7 no musical talent<br />8-9 play an instrument (roll on sub table)<br />10 great singing voice.sevenbastardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11961009160456478009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-82313766068292671522010-04-06T19:31:46.889-04:002010-04-06T19:31:46.889-04:00How very different than the Swords and Glory rules...How very different than the Swords and Glory rules for Tekumel - not sure how the original EPT rules addressed this point. Made up a character the other day with some skill in music and art.Rob Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15010160743074297211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-70400103967960641022010-04-06T18:28:05.874-04:002010-04-06T18:28:05.874-04:00"... the skills are those I'd associate w..."... the skills are those I'd associate with D&D's Thief class"<br /><br />That's one way to look at it, James. I think it's also valid to say they are skills that every non-specialized adventurer could find useful. <br />From that point of view, with no skill system and 3 specialized arch-typical classes in OD&D, the appearance of the "thief" class to fill in the gaps become an inevitability.Captain Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10682678777940123469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-65841224662503469952010-04-06T18:21:29.490-04:002010-04-06T18:21:29.490-04:00I believe that you are over thinking it. The reas...I believe that you are over thinking it. The reason you see so many "thief" skills in an RPG at this time is because, after combat, stealth is the simplest thing to give a concrete, formal set of rules for. It is much simpler than social abilities or crafting. And, at the time theses rules came out, it often provided much richer gameplay than straight combat. <br /><br />Indeed, if you look at modern video games, stealth games are on par with shooters. That is because you can make a fairly complex, compelling system that even a computer can understand.<br /><br />Social skills are typically lacking because it is hard to design such a system that complements role playing rather than hinders it. And crafting is really difficult because it leads to all sorts of economic instabilities in the game (and resource economics is the lynchpin of all formal rule systems).Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14039652384328042542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-55808572605844287592010-04-06T17:57:18.271-04:002010-04-06T17:57:18.271-04:00Evaluate treasure reminds me of one of the two RQ ...Evaluate treasure reminds me of one of the two RQ characters I remember. "Thersamanbehinu" was my Dragonnewt, and he went from a fairly low Evaluate all the way up to around a 90% after a year of play. I can only assume he retired to start a money-changer business or pawnshop.<br /><br />The other character I remember was "Scotty Macquack," a character I came up with because I had a duck miniature with a kilt and a longword. I made him a bagpiper, but the other characters kept cutting his bag.<br /><br />Runequest (first edition) was only a part of my gaming life for a couple years, but we played the hell out of it during that time. Then Call of Cthulhu and and Champions became my alternates when we wanted a break from D&D.<br /><br />WV: "Duccias" - sounds like a good Runequest name.Kevin Machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14122665488285424578noreply@blogger.com