Runequest Thursday #8: A New Sorcery (Part 6/The End)
Over the last several installments, we have gone over all of the necessaries for A New Sorcery. Last time, after giving you some ideas for Cabals and specialty spells, I mentioned that next time I would talk more about Runes and Sorcery, Rune Mastery, and give you some heroic abilities for Sorcerers.
I have previously defined a Rune as a cosmic manifestation of a core element of existence. When I say element, I don’t mean only fire, water, earth or air, although those are elements,and runes. I am referring to a principle of the universe, as perceived by Glorantha and Gloranthans. So we have runes for the four basic elements, but we also have runes for Darkness, Light, Mastery, Disorder, Chaos, and a bunch more. You can read about all of the Gloranthan runes elsewhere. Right now, I just need you to be familiar with the concept of a rune and how it relates to Sorcery.
Each sorcery spell has at least one rune associated with it. This is the dominant rune, the single one that the sorcerer has to ‘get right’ in order to cast the spell. There may be other runes that play a lesser part, but they are subordinate to the primary rune for that manifestation of power – that spell. For example, the Mastery Rune is a common rune used in a lot of sorcery, because it aids in the sorcerer harnessing the power for the spell. But it is often subordinate to a rune that is central to a particular spell – Say ‘Fire’ for conjuring a fire elemental]. Some spells have more than one rune associated, because they can be approached form more than one direction magically, if you get my meaning.
Before I go on, I need to clarify the difference between Mastery of a Rune, and the Rune ‘Mastery’. Mastery of a Rune is a process. The Mastery Rune is a Rune, which can be mastered itself - granting 'Rune Mastery - Mastery', or something. If this were all my show, I would probably have chosen different terms, but these are concepts and terms that go back decades in writings about Runequest and Glorantha, so we are stuck with them. Anyway, how hard is it to keep straight really. No English speaker has trouble parsing the different usages and definitions of words like ‘order’ or ‘light’ or ‘like’. Other languages do it too.
Moving on.
OK, before moving on - it should also be noted that Rune Mastery is not limited to sorcery or sorcerers. Anyone has the potential to Master a Rune. How this is accomplished by cultists and others is not the subject of this article, but Rune Lords and Priests are considered to be Rune Masters of at least one of the Runes associated with their god.
First I will talk about what Mastering a Rune does for someone, then we can go into how to Master a Rune.
Mastering a Rune:
Mastery of a Rune allows sorcerers greater control over spells that have that Runic association. So, someone who mastered the Beast rune would have greater control over spells that have that Runic association – in the core spell list those spells are Change and Heal/ Wound. Mastery of a Rune confers the following with respect to that rune:
- A bonus of +1 to the Manipulation Limit of that sorcerer for spells with the appropriate runic association.
- Raises their effective level of spell with that runic association by 1.
- Grants a +20% bonus to Sorcery checks regarding that Rune, including spellcasting.
This does a number of things.
- It allows the sorcerer to learn additional level[s] of spells whose runes he has mastered.
- It allows the sorcerer greater manipulation of those spells.
- It grants the ability to manipulate the Rune in minor ways without spending POW. Such as lighting campfires with the Fire rune, Sensing a friend's mood with Mind, moving small objects with Air or Telekinesis, etc. Nothing involving overcoming another's POW is possible in this way.
- It allows a sorcerer access to Heroic Abilities with those Runic associations.
Example: Sangor masters the Fire Rune. His Manipulation Limit is normally 6, because Sangor has a 17 INT. He has Conjure/ Dismiss Salamander 5 at 83%, and Fire/ Frost 4 at 71%. His mastery of the Fire Rune ups his Manipulation to 7 for spells with the Fire Association. Thus his effective levels with Conjure/ Dismiss Salamander and Fire/ Frost are each one higher, and he is 20% more proficient when casting those spells [With Fire/ Frost, this only applies to the Fire version]. In addition, if Sangor learns Blast, which he currently does not know, his effective level of Blast will also be one higher, and his starting casting percentage 20% higher. ‘Effective’ level does not raise the cost or time required to study or learn new spell levels, so learning the first level of Blast will cost Sangor 500 Lunars, just like anyone else.
Mastering a Rune:
There are two parts to Mastering a Rune:
Part One – Access to a Runic Icon:
A Runic Icon is a location or object that is a metaphysical and physical manifestation of the Rune, probably because of something that happened in the God-Time or from some massive infusion of the thing in question with the power of that Rune. Such places and things are rare, and sometimes the focus of a cult or other social, military, and/ or religious organization. The Wooden Sword is a Death Rune Icon, and is also a traveling altar and temple to Humakt, the God of Death. Similarly, the abandoned temple on Yelmalio Hill in Old Pavis has an Icon of the Fire Rune. In order to Master a Rune, the sorcerer must be in the presence of the Runic Icon.
Part Two – The Ritual of Mastery:
The sorcerer must undertake a ritual to understand, and control the Rune present in the Icon. This is an arduous procedure and not without cost, and risk, to the sorcerer. At a minimum, successful Master costs the sorcerer 10 Hero Points, in addition to any other losses or consequences as detailed below.
The sorcerer can decide the details of the ritual, but they should include items and procedures that reflect the Rune to be Mastered, and will require an uninterrupted period of at least 3d4+4 Hours to perform [with fatigue rolls every 3 Hours], during which the sorcerer must empty himself of his personal POW, casting it into the Icon. At the end of the ritual, if it is successful, the sorcerer will have much of his POW returned to him, along with mastery of the Rune. For each appropriate aspect, which may be an item, an act performed, or similar] that the sorcerer incorporates into his ritual, up to his Manipulation Limit, the Sorcerer may add +1d6% to his final Sorcery Check for Mastery. Aspects must be approved by the GM to be considered appropriate.
Example: At the end of the Ritual, the sorcerer makes a Sorcery check, as follows:
- Sorcery Skill – 50%, modified by the aspects of his ritual.
Example: Sangor has snuck into the temple at Yelmalio Hill, stationed a number of guards to protect himself, and now busies himself with his ritual. He has prepared several items and ritual elements as aspects to increase his odd of success. He has a pot of still burning embers from a fire set by a salamander [1 aspect], a ritually prepared brazier of the sky metal – gold – in which to burn them [1 aspect], and he has a gold ring into which he has bound a the salamander that was responsible for the embers [1 aspect].
He chooses to begin the ritual at dawn [1 aspect], as the Sun, source of all fire, rises, by re-igniting the embers to full flame as he drops the ring into the flames and summons forth the salamander [1 aspect]. Sangor has 5 aspects. The GM, being a kind and benevolent GM, allows him to count the consumption of the ring and brazier as another aspect, giving Sangor the maximum he can manage, as determined by his Manipulation Limit of 6. Sangor roll his Sorcery Skill [88%] – 50% [the difficulty of the ritual] + 6d6% [Sangor rolls 24% for these dice], So he has a 62% chance of success. Rolling for duration, Sangor has 10 Hours to get through, as well as 3 Fatigue rolls. If he makes it to the end of the ritual conscious, he may attempt the Mastery Check.
Result of Mastery Check:
- Success – the roll is below the modified Sorcery Skill. The Sorcerer has Mastered the Rune, immediately regaining all his POW lost in the ritual, minus 1d6 Permanent POW, which was consumed in the process.
- Special Success – the roll is one fifth of the modified Sorcery Skill. The Sorcerer has Mastered the Rune as for a normal success, but loses only 1d4 Permanent POW.
- Critical Success – the roll is one twentieth of the modified Sorcery Skill. The sorcerer has Mastered the Rune, as for a normal Success, but loses 1 Permanent POW in the process.
- Failure – the roll is above the modified Sorcery Skill. The ritual has failed, the sorcerer is exhausted, and his expended POWer must replenish over time as normal. In addition, the sorcerer loses 1 Permanent POW in the process.
- Critical Failure – the roll is one twentieth of the failure chance of the Sorcery Skill [a Fumble]. The ritual has failed catastrophically, the sorcerer is exhausted, unconscious and must roll POW x1 each hour to wake. For each hour he spends in this magical sleep, he loses 1 Permanent POW. This occurs regardless of his physical location, and no common healing magic can revive him. Only Rune Magic, from a source other than the sorcerer, can do so.
The Runemark:
If the Rune is successfully Mastered, the sorcerer is Marked by a manifestation of the Rune somewhere on his body. The sorcerer may choose details such as appearance and location of the Mark, but the manifestation is significant and should be thematically appropriate to the Rune Mastered.
Mastering Multiple Runes:
Other than risk and opportunity, there is nothing preventing someone [sorcerer or not] from Mastering more than one Rune. The process and benefit of Rune Mastery for non-sorcerers is beyond the scope of this article.
Effect of Mastery on the Runic Icon:
The power of a Runic Icon is such that the Mastery acquired by mortals through a ritual such as the above is inconsequential to its existence. However, it is possible that through some other agency, a Runic Icon could be depleted permanently, even altered. This is the means by which the Lunar Temple of the Reaching Moon extends the area of the Red Moon, by consuming or corrupting the Runic Icons associated with existing temples. The Praxian Temple at Moonbroth is currently undergoing this process.
Heroic Abilities for Sorcery Rune Masters:
I did promise some of these. Obviously, by the time a sorcerer is able to find and Master a Runic Icon, she will probably be pretty close to the level of play where she might Heroquest for Heroic Abilities. And a sorcerer who has Mastered a Rune has a few options that other Heroquesters, even other sorcerous Heroquesters, don’t. Of course, you can make up your own Heroic Abilities to add to this list.
These abilities work just as Heroic Abilities in the Legend RPG.
Sense Rune [6 Hero Points]
Requirements: Rune Mastery, POW 16, Sorcery 90%.
Duration: Permanent
You can sense the presence of the rune you have mastered in an area around you, and the basics of how it is present. Roll on your Sorcery Skill -10% for each 100 yards between you and the rune. Thus, if you have Mastery of the Fire Rune, you may sense, torches, campfire, spells or effects that includes the rune, etc;
Example: Sivastri, has recently Mastered the Mind Rune and Sense Rune. With a success on her Sorcery roll she might sense those with non-beast level intellect, the nearby baboon Daka Fal priest who has Mastered that Rune, and the Fanaticism spell that his ally has cast. She would also get at least the direction and general idea of the range to each.
Runic Affinity [12 Hero Points]
Requirements: Rune Mastery, POW 18, Sorcery 90%, one or more spells with the Runic Association corresponding to the Mastered Rune.
Duration: Permanent
Your Rune Mastery grants you one automatic Degree of Success when casting spells with the same Runic Association as your Rune Mastery. This is added to Degrees of Success you might gain from your Sorcery Roll. You may choose from the Magical Special Maneuvers table.
Example: Sangor’s Fire Mastery and Runic Affinity – Fire, benefit him when he conjures a Salamander. On a normal success, Sangor is considered to have one Degree of Success. Consulting the table of Magical Special Maneuvers, Sangor selects ‘Increase the Level of Effect by 1d2’. He rolls a 2. This, along with his Fire Mastery would allow him to Conjure at an effective level of 8 for his Salamander [Conjure/ Dismiss Salamander 5 +1 Effective Level from Fire Mastery +2 for the Magical Maneuver he chose]. Unfortunately, Sangor is still bound by his Manipulation Limit of 6, which with Fire spells, is raised to 7. So he can only manage a level 7 spell.
Manifest Runemark [15 Hero Points]
Requirements: Rune Mastery, POW 18, Sorcery 90%, one or more spells with the Runic Association corresponding to the Mastered Rune.
Duration: Effective Manipulation Limit in Rounds.
You can manifest your Runemark as a limited Runic Icon in the air around you for a brief period. This gives you absolute control over common spells or effects with the same Runic Association, unless those spells are cast or manifested by something with Rune Mastery of the appropriate Rune. In such a circumstance, you may wrest control away by succeeding at a POW vs. POW check. This gives you control of the effect just as if you had cast it, including determining how you Manipulate the spell.
Example: Sangor, master of the Fire Rune, has gained the Heroic Ability: Manifest Runemark. When fighting a band of Yelmalian mercenaries, several of whom have cast Firearrow or Fireblade, he decides to invoke Manifest Runemark. His Fire Runemark appears as a fiercely burning sigil surrounding him, spinning slowly. He decides to suppress the Firearrow and Fireblade spells of the Yelmalians. The blades and arrows of the initiates immediately lose their flames as the spell is suppressed. However, the Yelmalian Priest, has Mastery of the Fire Rune through his devotion to his god. Sangor rolls POW vs. POW to overcome the priest’s POW and seize control of the cleric's Salamander. Sangor succeeds and now may command the elemental of his foe as though it were his own.
The Priest does not have Manifest Runemark and cannot do anything directly to stop Sangor’s desecration of the sacred Fire. Instead, he casts his Rune Spell – Sunspear, thinking it appropriate that the heathen should be consumed by the power he hoped to command. As this is a Rune Spell, Sangor cannot control it through his Manifest Runemark ability. If the Priest overcomes his POW, Sangor will take 4d6 damage to his CON.
This brings me to the end of A New Sorcery. I hope you like it. Take it, use it, change it. Get back to me if you like it, or if you don’t.
