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From pitt!cadre!pt.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!rutgers!apple!vsi1!steve Tue Mar 7 14:29:48 EST 1989 Article 9814 of rec.games.frp: Path: pitt!cadre!pt.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!rutgers!apple!vsi1!steve >From: steve@vicom.COM (Steve Maurer) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp Subject: Heroquest Rules -- a RQ variant (part 1 of 2) Summary: First part of my personalized high level RQ system.... Message-ID: <1530@vicom.COM> Date: 5 Mar 89 10:43:09 GMT Reply-To: steve@vicom.COM (Steve Maurer) Followup-To: rec.games.frp Organization: Vicom Systems Inc. San Jose, Cal. Lines: 540 References: Back in December, I made the mistake of promising to post my rules for Heroquest. Someone sent me a nice gentle reminder. Appealed to my ego, and all that. Errrg. I hate being manipulated.... :-) Anyway, here they are (or at least, here is part 1). Any comments, flames, suggestions, exclaimations of utter joy can be directed to the address below. Steve Maurer steve@vicom.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - HEROQUEST rules for Variant RQ.... Author: Steve Maurer Copyright(C) 1989 Steve Maurer (permission to copy for personal non-profit use is hereby granted, as long as this copyright notice is included in the text. All other rights reserved.) NOTE: THIS IS NOT A CERTIFIED VERSION OF GLORONTHA. I HAVE NO RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CHAOSIUM, OR ANY OF IT'S STAFF. Foreword Having suffered through 4 convention games of "Heroquest playtest", I came to the conclusion that the official Heroquest was still as far off from completion now, as it was back in 1976. The Chaosium remains one of the best "gameworld material" producing companies around, but their ability to design working rules systems has deteriorated dramatically since their heyday in the late 70's. In addition, since Heroquest is a uniquely Gloronthan game, it can never be completed until Greg Stafford decides to put in the effort to fill in his world more completely. In short, I decided that if Heroquest was ever going to come out, someone else would have to do it. Thus, this rules set. In the convention games I ran, I was amazed at how positive their reception was ( unanimously compared favorably to every 'official' Heroquest!). So much so that I decided to put in the effort to write them down. Even so, this rough draft cannot provide all the necessary background for Heroquesting. This you must do yourself. For me, I used the various legends from the "old-Glorontha" found in Wyrms Footnotes, and used hints and hooks from other Gloronthan sources, and used them as a basis of the games. It seemed to work reasonably well. As a final note. Heroquest, in whatever form, is not for everyone. There are limited number of RQ players, only a subset of those have adventures in Glorontha, and even fewer have PCs at a high enough level to really have a chance on the Hero Plane. Finally, since they are usually rather dangerous, even powerful PCs will tend to go on such quests rarely. Perhaps it is for marketing reasons that the Chaosium has never persued Heroquest. Steve Maurer - - - - - - - - The Heroquest System is simply a way to deal with high powered Runequest characters. "Heroquesting" is the uniquely Gloronthan ritual of passing through the veils of the goddess Time, to enter God-time so that you may fundimentally alter the nature of the (Gloronthan) universe (usually for the base purpose of accumulating personal power, but sometimes for other things). These rules cover both aspects of Heroquesting. This article is written with the assumption that you are not only an intelligent and experienced RPG player, but that you are already very familiar with the RQ system. These are essentially short "game designer" notes. They are terse, but do explain the entire system. HEROQUEST SYSTEM RULES The Heroquest system is a Variant of Runequest. Some Runequest rules are altered under Heroquest. The following is a list of the RQ rules which are modified under Heroquest. Where possible the changes are markes wtih a star (*). Success Levels Success Level Chart (as basis of character's skill "<%>" ) Type Level from.... to.... unless its...... Fumble (-1) 95 + <%>/20 any Miss 0 above <%> 94 + <%>/20 above 94 + <%>/20 Hit 1 above <%>/5 <%> above 94 + <%>/100 * Special 2 above <%>/20 <%>/5 above 94 + <%>/400 * Critical 3 above <%>/100 <%>/20 above 94 + <%>/1000 * * Supercrit 4 above <%>/400 <%>/100 etc.... * * Hypercrit 5 above <%>/1000 <%>/400 etc.... All fractions are rounded down, except in the "unless its" column which are all rounded up. A "00" automatically decrements the Success Level by 1. Text explanation: RQ has the concept of a "level of success". Roll less than your skill percentage and you succeed, roll less than 1/5th your percentage and you "Special". Heroquest expands on this, defining extra levels of success, beyond "mere" specials and criticals. Heroquest also redefines the "automatic miss". When you roll a 95-00, you used to automatically miss. In Heroquest this "missing" percentage is decreased just like fumbles are when you are below 100%. Any roll that beats: 95 + <%>/100 to hit will (at least) hit, even if the actual die roll is from 95-00. Thus, a 200% fighter will miss only on a 97-00. Example: A hero with a 210% skill level achieves a success level by rolling the following numbers: Roll Level Type 00 (-1) Fumble (a "Miss" -1 level) 98-99 0 Miss 43-97 1 Hit 11-42 2 Special 02-10 3 Critical 01 4 Supercrit when he reaches 500%, he will have Roll Level Type 00 0 Miss (a "Hit" -1 level) 96-99 1 Hit 26-95 2 Special 05-25 3 Critical 02-05 4 Supercrit 01 5 Hypercrit On the Hero Plane, a level 1 success (a "hit") is such a common everyday occurrance, that it really isn't anything special. The dangers are so enormous, the opponents so powerful, that just making your roll doesn't usually work. To really succeed, you must "Special" your skill roll. Because the Hero Plane is so tough, "Hits" are, for all intents and purposes, effectively misses. When you "miss" against a danger from the hero plane, you've REALLY blown it -- much like a Fumble. Thus in Heroquest, percentages are refered to by their chance to Special, not their chance to Hit. If you encounter the vast flowing rapids of one of the primal rivers, a simple Swim roll will not get you past it. In fact, you may very well drown unless you Special. A Runelord beginner on the Hero plane with only a 120% chance to hit, has a 24% chance to Special. He is a starting character -- likely to be killed if he opposes all but the weakest opponents. Success Level Results Heroquest redefines the method of applying skills above 100% vs each other. You may NOT subtract your skill percentage above 100% from your opponents skill. Instead, if you Special and your opponent merely makes his roll, then the result is exactly as if you made your roll and he missed. This is codified by the Success Level Result (or "SLR"). To obtain this value, perform the following calculation: Attacker Success Level(+) - Defender's Success Level(+) (+) in combat, a Fumble is just a SL of 0 with other problems. The SLR can be positive or negative, depending on who did better. Weapon Success Level Results In RQ, depending on the weapons used, various results happen from relitive success levels (examples are: Ignoring Armor, "Impaling" rules, weapon damage, etc). Heroquest extends these results, and and modifies them slightly. The following is a condensed table. Note the change in slashing/crushing. Attacker's Weapon type SLR Cutting Thrusting Crushing Natural Pole Arm +5 OVRCRT OVRCRT OVRCRT OVRCRT (as type) +4 2CRIT 2CRIT+IMP 2SMASH+CRIT DSRM+2CRIT " +3 CRIT CRIT+IMP 2SMASH DSRM+CRIT " +2 SMASH* IMP SMASH* NWD+DSRM* " +1 NWD NWD NWD NWD " 0 WDVP NE WDVP NE NE SLR Defender's Weapon type ('dodge') -1 PWD NE/(PND)(+) PWD NE NE -2 CRIT+PWD PWD/(IMP) PND NE NE -3 CRIT+PND PND/(CRIT+IMP) 2PND DSRM PWD -4 DSRM CRIT+PND/(2CRIT) 2PND+CRIT DSRM+DMG PND -5 OVRCRT DSRM/(OVRCRT) OVRCRT OVRCRT CRIT+PND (+) Parenthsized Impale results are used when parrying natural weapons. Pole Arms are treated as Pole Arms, unless it says "(as type)", in which case they revert to the "head" of the weapon. Key: CRIT - Bypass normal armor (defensively this removes weapon armor) 2CRIT - Bypass critical resistant armor IMP - RQ Impale rules (weapon damage + max + damage bonus) NWD - Normal Weapon Damage (roll damage vs opponent's armor) WDVP - Weapon Damage vs Parrying (vs opponent's weapon or shield) PWD - Parry Weapon Damage; weapon damage (w/o damage bonus) vs opponent's weapon or natural weapon hit location. PND - Parry Normal Damage, weapon + damage bonus. 2PND - 2x Parry Normal Damage SMASH - Double Weapon Damage or Damage Bonus (your choice) 2SMASH - Double Weapon Damage + Double Damage Bonus DSRM - Parrying or Attacking weapon/shield rendered ineffective DMG - Defender does rolled damage to an attackers hit location OVRCRT - Over Critical: whatever you want to happen, does. There can be further modifiers to the combat SLR: +1 SLR if attacker is taking victim completely by surprise <OR> if attacker can see and defender can't <OR> if defender is held immobile or unconscious .... these are non-cumulative bonuses -1 SLR to choose hit location after you roll. Example: A +2 ("Crit" result vs a missed parry) may be turned into a +1 "Special" vs a hit location of the attacker's choice. Certain weapons have special results on the SLR table. For instance a "Sword Biter" does a "DSRM" (disarm) on a -2 and -3 SLR. In all other respects it acts like a Cutting weapon. Other Combat Mechanics There are a number of other Heroquest combat mechanics which deserve mention. Strike Ranks -- are a measure of how effectively you can get in an effective blow. The higher your attack percentage, the more quickly you may do this. For every 100% in your weapon, your SR drops by one. This value may never go below your Weapon SR, but keep track of the extra "SRs" at the lowest SR you can reach. The combatant with the highest number of extra unused SRs is the one to move first on that Segment (barring exotic magic). Multiple Attacks -- You may split ANY attack vs an opponent, or several opponents. The opponent does, however get full parry and defense vs all attacks you make. Dodge -- For RQ3 fans, "Dodge" is redefined. "Dodge" is simply a "natural weapon parry". You may attempt a "dodge" whether you have a weapon or not, but under most situations doing so is worse than a weapon or shield parry. On full defensive, you may "Dodge" and "Parry", just like you may parry with weapon and shield. Weapon Difficulty Modifiers -- Though it makes little difference at the level Heroquest is usually played at, Weapon Attack difficulty is changed. (Weapon Base Percentage - 20%) is the weapon's attack/exp difficulty modifier. A Greatsword, for instance, has a -15 difficulty modifier. This means that every attack is made with such a weapon as if it was -15%. Because of conversion problems, we assume that weapon skill levels of existing characters are actually at a level which offsets these negatives (i.e. a PC with a Greatsword % of 130%, is actually 145% - 15% difficulty). Rolls for experience are made at the true skill level. Example Combat: Grunnik, a Rune Lord of Zorak Zoran, is running about the Hero Plane Bezerk, reveling in the power and glory of true release. Normally he only has a 30% chance to special, but while Berzerk he has a 45% (60% vs Chaos). For this, he always "misses" his parry (he doesn't even try). Grunnik comes upon a lesser demon -- about the level of a standard Cacodemon summoning). The demon has a 30% chance to special with 2 claws, coated with venom. Grunnik luckily has the chance to go first, since he has the reach on the demon. First round: Grunnik rolls a 87%. Bad Luck. Only a hit. The demon makes it's parry, but this doesn't matter as a -1 SLR on "natural weapons" doesn't do anything. However it is now the demon's turn. The demon rolls a 38%, and a 14%. Things look bad for Grunnik. He took not just a hit, but a special - a +1 and +2 SLR result for the demon. The demon's natural weapons (Claws), would disarm Grunnik if he had been parrying, but since he wasn't, he doesn't loose his Maul. The demon does 21 and 19 pts of damage to Grunnik against his armor, which merely staggers him in his berzerk state. Second round: Grunnik rolls a 13%. A Critical. Good blow. Even better, the demon rolled a 97, barely missing it's parry. (it parries on a 96-). This is a combined SLR of +3 for Grunnik. A Maul is a Pole Arm, but in this case, it refers to Crushing damage. Grunnik does a 2SMASH vs the demon. For Grunnik, this becomes 4d8 + 4d6 (+ 4d6 for his Crush spell) against the demon's armor. Grunnik rolls just slightly below average: 45 pts, which is still enough to remove the rolled hit location -- a 4 (one of the demon's 5 legs). The combat continues..... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE HERO PLANE (The God-Time) The God Time is a very wierd place, even for a Gloronthan. It is both the history of Glorontha, and yet also runs somewhat concurrently with time within Time. You can think of Heroquesting as a very magical, and very wierd form of time-travel. In this text, Hero plane, God Plane, and God-time and the are used interchangibly. However there is a subtle distinction between them. The Hero Plane is everywhere beyond Time. The God-Plane is the place in the Hero Plane where the various gods reside (their respective domains); these are called the Heavens (or Hells -- for gods you don't like). The God-Time is the furthest 'back' the Hero plane goes, the mythical time before wars or Chaos invaded; to enter the God-Time, a Hero must fight through both the Lesser and Greater Darkness, and the Chaos wars. The Child Time Time is the god(dess) who now orders the universe. The power of time is such that even the gods cannot individually oppose him/her. Time is also called Comprimise, or "The Comprimise". Time's function is fourfold: First (and foremost) Time prevents Gods from fighting. Gods, even eternal enemies, may only act in accordance to the rules set forth when Time was born. The rules are set in God-tounge, and thus not understandable by mortals, but they can be roughly translated to: o No direct fighting. o No cursing or harming those who do not worship you (but you may send a minor curse on those who spurn you). o No claiming the souls of spirits that are not yours. o No helping worshippers unless called upon. The more you are called upon, the more you can help. But even when you can help, you may only help your worshipper, not harm another. This is the basis of RuneSpells. It is perfectly alright for a god to "help his/her worshipper" by giving the worshipper a part of the god's abilities -- even if these abilities are used to hurt others. In fact, this practice was common even before the child Time came into existence. Time's second function is to order the universe, to make sure that events happen in sequential fashion. To allow only cause and effect, and outlaw effect-and-cause. Thus all augury magic is useless in Glorontha, except for the occasional glimpses that Arachne Solara (Time's mother) may give. Time's third function is to insure that the powers and curses which were in effect at Time's birth are still in effect, and to give each of the great powers places in Glorontha all their own. In simpler terms, this means that Time is responsible for all "natural processes": the seasons, the process of birth, growth, and death, that weakness and death results if mortals do not eat (even if they do not exert themselves), that creatures decended from the gods conquered by the air gods must breathe air or die, that those descended from gods who were killed must always meet inevitable death. All these "processes" Time enforces. Note that "natural processes", are sanctioned by Time. They are not, under the rules of The Comprimise, a direct interference. If a creature foolishly challenges one of Valind's blizzards during the time allotted to that god, then Valind is not responsible for any harm which comes to the creature. Note also, that even these "natural processes" may be opposed, by those strong enough to oppose them. Time, like all gods, is not immune to change. Time's final function is to provide a direct communication between the gods and the world within time. With a few exceptions, a worshipper may ask for divine aid, no matter where he is. The Absence of Time The reason why it is important to know the rules of Time is that Time does not exist on the Hero Plane. NONE of the Laws of Time work on the Hero Plane automatically. Each must be specifically invoked. This means: o If you personally meet a god, and the god doesn't like you, the god can smunch you into tiny little bits. (Or do other things that are much worse). o "Natural Processes" do not occur, unless someone specifically wills it. You can be smunched into tiny litlle bits, but you will not die unless Death is specifically applied to you (or you will Death upon yourself). By passing beyond Time, you pass before Death (Death knows this, and often tries to block the paths of which he is aware). Your need to breathe, eat, and sleep is diminished to almost nothing. Fire does not burn (unless it wants to), ice does not freeze you (unless it wants to). All natural powers/events still may occur (and many of them do), but only because someone (or thing) invokes them against you. Many deserts, for instance, are a part of the realm of the god of Thirst -- so in them thirst will incapacitate you. o You cannot ask for Divine Intervention, unless you are actually at the feet of your "present" god (who knows you). On the other hand, your God isn't restricted from giving you all the help you need. o You do not regain Temporary POW ("Magic Points") naturally. This is another "natural process", Time is responsible for. Luckily, it is reletively easy to regain Temporary POW. o All magic you have in effect before you go onto the Hero Plane usually disappears in the ritual which sneaks by Time. If it doesn't, then it only lasts only for it's subjective time. o All magic with a Duration, that is actually cast on the Hero plane remains in effect permanently (until you exit). o Any Rune Magic that you use on the Hero plane is gone permanently. Time does counts the spell as being uncast, and your god (once you get back onto the normal plane) is not allowed to replenish it. (If you manage to meet your god on the Hero Plane, you can get all your Rune Magic back). o The one exception to the loss of Rune Magic, is that magic which is stored in Truestone while inside Time, may be regained inside Time. The spell may be cast on the Hero Plane. This is one of the many reasons why Truestone is so valuable (in addition to it's holy significance to most cults). o You do not have to (nor can you, unless you concentrate on it) strictly obey the laws of causality. If a group of Heros on the Hero Plane split up and then rejoin, it is expected that each group will remember different subjective time than others (much like reletivity, actually). Typical Heroquests take many years of subjective time (sometimes hundreds). o Because causality doesn't always exist, you may run across "earlier versions" of Gods, Heros, or other creatures. The god that you worship may not recognize you unless you go to his final resting place ( basically where the god is "now" ). In general, the further back in God-Time it is, the harder it is to get there. o You may eat portions of the enemies you defeat, not only deriving sustenence, but gaining a portion of their power. The more you try to eat however, the more difficult it is to "digest" the power. In addition, if you eat too much, you may become more like what you just ate, than what you are yourself. This can happen even to the gods ( Lodril is a classic example ). This form of power aquisition is shunned by most (except for creatures of Darkness and of Chaos). o Time actively works to prevent those who would contravene the comprimise from entering the world. When attempting to exit the Hero Plane, Time will extract a toll. For every heroic ability, you must spend temporary-POW points (ranging from 50-temp points for a small ability, on up into the thousands). You need not supply these temp-POW points yourself. Worshippers may supply them for you. o The track that you take through the Hero Plane is never washed away by time. Paths not only travel between PLACES, but also travel between particular EVENTS. You may follow a path made by another, and it will follow to all events that person found (including ambushes, treasures, etc.) However see the caveat on this below.... Rules Before Time Even before Time, the Universe enforced a few rules which not even the gods had the power to change. The most important is that an event cannot happen more than once (can't be reversed). What happens happens. This has several effects: o You can never meet yourself. o You can't change the history of the gods. For example, you may not go back and try to jump in front of Orlanth's killing blow against Yelm. What happens if you do, is that you find an echo of the original event, and "become" one of the players in it. This, Sorcerers call a "re-enactment", or a "shadow" of the event. If you in the course of the re-enactment, you DO manage to change bad "history" then you do not suffer the curse associated with the act; if you re-enact a triumph, then you get some echo of what the originator of the path recieved. Following the various gods this way is called "walking in a gods footsteps", and is one of the most common forms of Heroquest. Many cults make a big mystic thing out of this, saying you BECOME your god. But as any Sorcerer or Shaman will tell you, that's simply wrong. The Universe doesn't prevent people who don't worship a god from following the god's path, but as matter of practicality, only the god's cultists do. Not only are they the only ones who know their god's paths and it's dangers, but often the rewards are something that would be prized only by a cultist of that god. It is VERY dangerous to walk an unknown path, for not only do many lead to certain destruction, but many others lead to rewards you do not want. (The God Learners resolved to discover the paths of various Gods and Heros, and abused them -- earning the emnity of nearly everyone). o If you make your own path, you will not become part of any re-enactment. This is far far more dangerous than following a known path, but can also lead to greater rewards. o If something bad happens to you on the Hero plane, you can't later try to stop it from happening (not even a god can do that). The BEST you can do, is try to repair what has been done, but again this usually requires another Heroquest to find a cure. It is usually beyond the scope of the gods. ( Hero Plane curses and blessings are usually permanent. ) o Even in their present state, the Gods are not immune to change. If you decide to go where the god is "now", and take him or her on in one-on-one combat (and you win -ha-ha-) then you may injure the god (and perhaps derive some benifit). You may persuade a god to do something, or may teach a god some new craft. This is the way to become a "hero of the cult". Gods, in general are far more tolerant of Heros than they are of any other cultist. Simply meeting your god is often a way of freeing yourself of a god's minor restrictions (not curses!). o If you are destroyed by some forms of Chaos on the Hero Plane, even the memory of you may be removed from the world. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ coming up next week -- Hero/God Plane Magic and the force of Will ] Steve Maurer steve@vicom.com