Thread: Questions from a rookie

Hi all,

I played my first RuneQuest game last night and enjoyed it quite a bit. Still there some things that are unclear to me... I played the MRQ2 version of the game.

1. If my character impales a target with his long spear, what does happen if he doesn't remove the spear from the impaled body ? Can he attack again with the spear by simply twisting the blade and shaft inside the wound ? Des he have to remove the spear first to attack again ? Does the -10% per size range maneuver modificator apply only to the target or to the attacker too ?

2. Where are the tarifications for transportation ? I found the price of a boat, but not how much I pay for being ferried from one place to another.

3. Can I charge a creature that is 20 m away from me if I am a human being wearin soft leather armour ?

4. Does an escape defensive maneuver throw the defender to the ground ?

5. Is there a place/book where a player can find information that is picturing common knowledge of the people of Glorantha ? I found the game slow to the point of being TOO slow because the game master had to depict everything on the way, as places and people where too different for us to infere their demeanour and behave accordingly... I have the same question about maps.

Best regards.

MRQ2 is just about the only BRP-game that I don't own, or have owned. That said:

1. If you impale with your spear, you can yank it out on your next action(doing additional damage). Until the spear is removed, it will not be available to you as a weapon, but it will still severely hamper the opponent( based on Legend/RQ6)

2. The boatman will charge whatever the GM determines, or what the PC can haggle. I base the price on the number of feet. Some charge extra for ears.

3. Yes, but if wearing soft leather, it might not be the best idea.

4. Moon Design Publications, the masters of everything Gloranthan has some info. RQ6's Design Mechanism have released PDF's of all the race-books of MRQ2(and other nifty things) for a song. Lastly, maranci.net has lots of allsorts.

Oops.
No.4: No, the Escape-manuevre allows you to escape a grapple or pin. It does not effect the opponent( again, based on Legend/RQ6).

Thanks for your answers.

Originally Posted by Baragei

Oops.
No.4: No, the Escape-manuevre allows you to escape a grapple or pin. It does not effect the opponent( again, based on Legend/RQ6).

I was not clear. Does a creature succeeding in an evade move fall on the ground ?

No, Evading only loses you your next offensive action, it won't leave you prone in a normal situation.
Of course, there might be a difference between running in cicles around a sluggish thug and dodging a giant's club.

Evade will leave you prone in RQ6, however.

Originally Posted by Baragei

No, Evading only loses you your next offensive action, it won't leave you prone in a normal situation.
Of course, there might be a difference between running in cicles around a sluggish thug and dodging a giant's club.

Evade will leave you prone in RQ6, however.

Okay, that's cristal clear.

By the way, I can answer my own question about the cost of transportation : the prices are on page 81 of the core rules book...

I have another set of questions.

How do I find out which combat manoeuvres my charcter can perform with a weapon ? I cannot find a place where the rules give the available combat manoeuvres. And yet, my game master gave me the impression that only a few of them were available to my character. For example, I was not given "choose location" for my long spear but only : impale (fair enough), bypass parry and stun location (this one seems inappropriate). Is it normal ? Is there a limit to the number of combat manoeuvres one can master ?

What is the skill lore (tactics) about ? It is given for a mercenary background, but it doesn't come with a description of what it does...

Do weapons emcumbrance factors modify the striking rank of my character ? It seems, from what I've read, that only the armour impacts the strinking rank. Yet my game master sent my an excel file where the encumbrance of the shield and the weapons is substracted from the ranks. Is it a houserule ?

Originally Posted by Tymophil

Hi all,

I played my first RuneQuest game last night and enjoyed it quite a bit. Still there some things that are unclear to me... I played the MRQ2 version of the game.

1. If my character impales a target with his long spear, what does happen if he doesn't remove the spear from the impaled body ? Can he attack again with the spear by simply twisting the blade and shaft inside the wound ? Des he have to remove the spear first to attack again ? Does the -10% per size range maneuver modificator apply only to the target or to the attacker too ?

2. Where are the tarifications for transportation ? I found the price of a boat, but not how much I pay for being ferried from one place to another.

3. Can I charge a creature that is 20 m away from me if I am a human being wearin soft leather armour ?

4. Does an escape defensive maneuver throw the defender to the ground ?

5. Is there a place/book where a player can find information that is picturing common knowledge of the people of Glorantha ? I found the game slow to the point of being TOO slow because the game master had to depict everything on the way, as places and people where too different for us to infere their demeanour and behave accordingly... I have the same question about maps.

Best regards.

1) Impale details p88. If you deal damage then you can pull out the spear (Brawn check) or leaave it in. Leaving it in -20% to all impaled enemies checks. Pulling the weapon out cause damage as the weapon without the DM.
2) You've answered that.
3) Charge has nothing to do with the armour you're wearing.
4) There is no Escape defensive manoeuvre. Slip Free is just that, escaping from a being Gripped. Maybe a house rule.
5) The MRQII book 'Glorantha, the Second Age - Core rulebook' is the one with all the information about Glorantha. Cults of Glorantha has the information about the cults and there are other books covering other aspects of Second Age Glorantha.

The table on page 70 et al has the information about which Combat Manoeuvres weapons have. The column with this information clarifies which counts as a 'Cutting weapon' for Bleed, as a 'Entangling weapon' for Entangle, as a 'Thrusting weapon' for Impale, as a 2-handed weapon for 'Sunder', and as a 'Bludgeoning weapon for 'Stun Location'. All other Combat Manoeuvres can be done by all weapons. A longspear can only Impale out of these effects.

What is the skill lore (tactics) about ? It is given for a mercenary background, but it doesn't come with a description of what it does...

Do weapons emcumbrance factors modify the striking rank of my character ? It seems, from what I've read, that only the armour impacts the strinking rank. Yet my game master sent my an excel file where the encumbrance of the shield and the weapons is substracted from the ranks. Is it a houserule ?

There are a lot of Skill () skills and they are used when the GM decides they are used. If you have a situation where an ambush is planned the GM may give a bonus to the surprise if the Skill (Tactics) roll is made.

ENCumberance modifies the SR. All your equipment has a ENC rating that is totalled for the reduction in SR. It's just that armour does the most to reduce SR.

Originally Posted by nclarke

3) Charge has nothing to do with the armour you're wearing.

The problem was not the armour per se, but the distance. The monster was 20 m away from my character. Could I charge, sprinting, this distance in a single combat action ? Does it require one combat action to move to the monster (sprinting), and another one for attacking ? It seems unlikely, but what do I know ?

Originally Posted by nclarke

4) There is no Escape defensive manoeuvre. Slip Free is just that, escaping from a being Gripped. Maybe a house rule.

I made a mistake, I was thinking about "evade".

Originally Posted by nclarke

5) The MRQII book 'Glorantha, the Second Age - Core rulebook' is the one with all the information about Glorantha. Cults of Glorantha has the information about the cults and there are other books covering other aspects of Second Age Glorantha.

Is this information for players ? I don't want to spoil my own fun...

Originally Posted by nclarke

The table on page 70 et al has the information about which Combat Manoeuvres weapons have. The column with this information clarifies which counts as a 'Cutting weapon' for Bleed, as a 'Entangling weapon' for Entangle, as a 'Thrusting weapon' for Impale, as a 2-handed weapon for 'Sunder', and as a 'Bludgeoning weapon for 'Stun Location'. All other Combat Manoeuvres can be done by all weapons. A longspear can only Impale out of these effects.

Okay that makes plain sense. Thanks. My search is over on this topic.

Originally Posted by nclarke

There are a lot of Skill () skills and they are used when the GM decides they are used. If you have a situation where an ambush is planned the GM may give a bonus to the surprise if the Skill (Tactics) roll is made.

That doesn't make that much sense... Why mention a specific skill within the system with no guideline on how to use it ? Is there anything on this skill anywhere ?

I would agree that an obscure skill such as cyptography would need some extra ruling from the game master, but it seems unlikely with a skill given to several characters by the system (mercenaries, warriors and soldiers get this skill).

Originally Posted by nclarke

ENCumberance modifies the SR. All your equipment has a ENC rating that is totalled for the reduction in SR. It's just that armour does the most to reduce SR.

This makes sense, but why not simply state it in the rules where Striking Ranks are calculated (Core Rules p. 11) ? In the combat chapter, where initiative is described, there is no mention of encumbrance either (see p.83), only armour is mentioned... In the examples, (see p.84) there is no mention of encumbrance, only the armour is mentionned. The weapons of Edric, Liliana and Thrace are not taken into account at any level... Nor are the weapons of the Trollkins...

May I ask where you got your information from ? Is there an errata on this topic I am not aware of ?

Anyway, thanks for the interest you took in my newbie questions.

OK, Let's look at your problem areas.

The problem was not the armour per se, but the distance. The monster was 20 m away from my character. Could I charge, sprinting, this distance in a single combat action ? Does it require one combat action to move to the monster (sprinting), and another one for attacking ? It seems unlikely, but what do I know ?

Move 8m per combat round p11, Sprinting p63 Base movement (8), multiply by 5 (40). deduct Armour Penalty (hard leather in 5 locations is 10 divide by 5 for an Armour Penalty of 2) -2 for a total charge/sprint move of 38 m. in 3 CAs. Unlike Legend (MRQII rewritten excluding Glorantha) there is no detail concerning how far you can move per CA but 38m in 3CA is roughly 13M per CA.

Next up, Evade has no connection with getting out of contact except as diving for cover or throwing yourself away from a charge so yes you usually end up on the floor.

The Glorantha Core rulebook is likely to have some information that your GM may not want you to know.Ask your GM if he doesn't want you to read it.

Lore skills are designed to fill in information on a variety of subjects and generally don't specify exact details. An example is used of tactics being useful in cattle raids. It's up to the GM to determine the benefit for a successful Lore skill use. As an example the rules would be more than 5 times larger if they had to explain Lore (Minerals) or Lore (Heraldry) for example

ENCumberance has always been made up of things that you carry and I have always known that a system that uses encumberance adds up the weight/volume of stuff you carry/wear and puts it towards a reduction in capability. Thirty plus years of gaming have ingrained that into my psyche. A person might infer that as weapons and shields have an ENCumberance value as armour does it might be necessary to include those. Your GM should explain stuff you don't realise if he's using it.

I think there is some MRQII errata about, check the downloads section here.