Markdoc

quote: >>>Here in Copenhagen one of our gaming buddies works for the national museum - her speciality is pre-industrial agriculture. A relatively small town like Copenhagen in the 12th century - it was not the capital or even a very large town then - imported roughly 500 tons of meat a month, much of which was paid for in coin.<<<< >>>Well that can't be right.<<< Funnily enough, that was exactly my reaction when I read the book that quoted the figures That's why I asked Bettina. >>>It didn't receive any fortifications until Bishop Absalon, in 1167.<<< That's what we used to think. But during the metro excavations in and around Kongens Nytorv, they found not only city wall faced in brick from just after/around Absalom's time, but the remains of older walls under it. We now know that he re-fortified it rather than fortifying it. (There's a nice book put out by Ørestadsselkabet, detailing the excavations with lots of photos, but it's only in Danish) >>>And it didn't receive a municipal charter until the 13th Century. In the 12th century the population was, what 1000? Certainly not much more than that.<<< A few thousand, but yeah, not very large. That was kinda my point. If a city of a few thouand had a trade network stretchingover thousands of square kilometers, how much larger the networks of richer, larger cities like Bremen, Lübeck, Hamberg, etc etc. We do know farms in Southern Jylland supplied food to Lübeck, which was a couple of hundred kilometers away... >>>That would mean every person in Copenhagen would have to be eating 17 kilos of meat a day.<<< Making them fat and happy, yes? Seriously though, it is assumed that a) people ate a LOT of meat (the old moat was completely filled in with tons and tons of discarded bones) and a fair deal of it was destined to be salted, pickled and shipped elsewhere. But that's also part of my point - a commercial network which stretches as far away as Jutland, organised enough to bring thousands of head of cattle and sheep to a large market, then transship the meat across the Baltic requires literate, moneyed merchants. You don't buy 500 head of cattle from Slagelse by barter. It is now clear that in this peripheral area of Europe, coin-using merchants and farmers had set up an extensive trade network. In Andalusia earlier this year, my wife and I walked along a broad road carved over the mountains behind Zuheros (you could still drive a car along it if you really wanted) which had been built in gothic times to allow farmers to drive large herds to market. This, again, was (and to some extent still is) an economic backwater compared to much of Spain. So the idea of peasants staying at home eating gruel simply does not match the enormous effort that was made to facilitate the movement of meat. You don't make a 10 metre wide road, 450 km through the mountains to take 6 goats to the next village..... Sure, people ate gruel - hell, a lot of Danes eat it today. And in bad times (which could come frequently, in some places) many peasants would be happy to get gruel. But that's only part of the story. A good analogy would be the southern part of Ethiopia where I work a fair amount and which has not changed that much in the last 1000 years. Most of the time people live fairly well: most smallholders have a plot of false banana, a small herd of cattle and grain fields. A fair number own a horse or two - most own a donkey or three. Nobody's fat but they eat and live reasonably well (by their standards, not ours). But every now and then the weather plays up - and then things go to crap when the rains don't come. When all the false banana is eaten up and you can't plant grain, you eat your cattle and then that's it. Generally, farmers have a little extra food to sell for tools, cash or clothes. Most farmers can survive one bad year - but two can mean disaster. That's a pretty good picture of how things used to be, I think. quote: Coin hoards are routinely found on even quite small farms. So many/most peasants used coins, even if their daily business was carried out by barter. >>>The question is what kind of farms are these found on? I think you find that they are from the farm of a freeman, a descendant of Karl, to follow the mythology. I personally can't recall any that have been found in a village of serfs, the descendants of Thrall to follow the mythology. <<< At this period in history, there was no such thing as a village of serfs - or indeed a farm of serfs, or even serfs at all. But thralls were close enough, though thralldom was almost extinct in Sjælland by the time we are discussing. Landowners were, by definition freemen. So by a small farm, I mean precisely that: holding one extended family with perhaps 2 or 3 families of associated servants/workers. The coin hoards in question are definately not viking loot - the age of the vikings had been over for 100 years by this point and many of the coins were minted in Copenhagen or Roskilde. And these things were not rare - they are literally piled up in the museums around here by the thousand: and these of course are just those hat were lost and then found again - a tiny fraction of those that were minted. I know that the general picture of Europe in the dark ages/Feudal period is one of poverty, illiteracy and peasants staying close to home. That's what I was taught in University too, and you still find that image in much popular non-fiction. But it really does not appear to hold true for Europe as a whole and it certainly does not apply to say contemporary West Africa, China, Korea or Japan, either. It DOES apply to some areas - the Eastern Baltic, Northern Scotland and the boundaries of Eastern Europe, southern Africa and the Pacific, much of the Americas. But such "frontier" areas - though typical sites for adventuring - are not representative of mature economies of the time. Cheers, Mark

The whole point with a skill based system is that the GM makes up the spells and the players buy the appropriate skills. So a player couldn't (or shouldn't) be able to just decide to the increase the power of a spell any more than a fighter can decide to increase the damage of a normal longsword. In other words, the mage needs to find a new, better spell and pay the cost to learn it. cheers, Mark

>>>I was actually referring to how "commoners" can either be sentimentalised respectable yeomen or demonised murderous fiends, depending on their degree of submission to their "betters"<<< Ah. OK, got it. And to Bazza, no, I won't be watching the final. Not that I'm bitter or anything cheers, Mark

>>>Absolutely, also (and this is one reason for the presence of "exotic" coins in obscure locations) coins were not "money" in the way we think of it; instead, they were an aspect of the barter economy and relly had no more fixed value than anything else someone might be tying to trade.<<< That's actually a really good point - although coins usually did a have a fixed value in the area where they were issued, which wasn't necessarily related to their metal content. Once you got outside that area though... One of my favoured GM tricks for parting playes from their cash is to send them somewhere else where their coins are not recognized, forcing them to trade them away at a low rate. That's not being unfair - historically, it happened a lot. Also odd and difficult to dispose of items like statues of precious metal are normally bought by merchants "under the table", no questions asked, for a fraction of their value. After all, most of my players strenuously objected to declaring and paying tax on things they had dragged out of evil temples and the like, but I have yet to see a ruler who didn't want to tax anything valuable that was being moved about. cheers, Mark

Several quick points: Bartman's "No currency and eating gruel" peasant is a common view but is based on outdated ideas of history. It really only holds for impoverished areas. Here in Copenhagen one of our gaming student works for the national museum - her speciality is pre-industrial agriculture. A relatively small town like Copenhagen in the 12th century - it was not the capital or even a very large town then - imported roughly 500 tons of meat a month, much of which was paid for in coin. Coin hoards are routinely found on even quite small farms. So many/most peasants used coins, even if their daily business was carried out by barter. And this was in a small city or large town on the edge of Europe. Business was far better evolved in France, Germany, Italy - even Spain and Britain - at the time. Also not all cities were small - at the same time, Palermo and Constaninople had populations in the hundreds of thousands, with trade netrworks stretching from Africa to China (indeed, indian and chinese coins have turned up in the hoards from some small scandinavian farms....) So... the easiest thing to do is decide what your specific area looks like - squalid poverty and widespread barter (Say, Ireland in the 14th Century), a moneyed, literate mercantile and noble class built on a large, relatively affluent peasantry (Say, England in the 15th century) or a sophisticated society with widespread literacy, a preponderance of cash transactions and continent spanning travel and trade (Augustan Rome or Han China) and then base your currency system off that, with appropriate tweaks. Cheers, Mark

Yeah, one of the differences between Europe and the US: here in Copenhagen, Hero ran in 4 large cinemas when it was first released and then moved onto the smaller arthouse circuit after that. In total, I guess it played for about 3-4 months. Dark Water (Japanese horror movie) also opened recently in a couple of big mainstream theatres alongside (for example) Finding Nemo. If you love film (and I do) it's great. Copenhagen (population about 1 million) has maybe twice as many independant cinemas as the San Francisco Bay area and the Washington/Baltimore area combined. And the filmhouse (the equivalent of the American Film Institute) shows maybe 60 different movies a month from old silent films to new releases. The only drag is that anime movies are not well represented in the shops: I get most of mine via the net or on blowouts when travelling (I bought 30 assorted DVDs /VCDs on a trip to san Francisco about a month and half ago - yay Amoeba and Rasputins!) I would have bought a lot more except that DVDs are so expensive in the US (yeah, I know, bitch, bitch) cheers, Mark

I've run an on-again/off-again WH40K game - usually short one or two evening games or pick up games at Cons. It's very well suited for Con games: take a bunch of marines - send them into a ship filled with Orks/Necrons/Genestealers: finish by congratulating any survivors :-) Anyway, the weapons and gear conversions are listed here: http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/markdoc/Inquisitor/inquistor_index.htm Warning: I tried to stay as close to the feel and relative power of WH40K, so some of the weaponry is just ridiculously lethal. As for source material, if you are planning on running games in the WH40K universe, I'd recommend the inquisitor rulesbook. It's for their large scale skirmish wargame and as usual for GW has some nifty art, plenty of background fluff and a smattering of badly-thought-out rules. But it's a perfect starting place for a Hero system game since it gives background and motivation for really diverse characters. cheers, Mark

I can't really see much connection between Tolkein's hobbits and Machen's "under the hill" folk, apart from the fact that they both live underground. Hobbits are basically english yeomanry made small (in the initial stories) to appeal to a childish audience. Machen's dark folk were the remnants of the pre-celtic races and therefore indubitably human, if a bit twisted. Likewise goblins, which in english folklore can be small enough to hide in mouseholes, large enough to carry horses, cunning and tricksy or thick as two short planks, seductivley beautiful or just...ugh. Nothing much to do with hobbits - and only slightly more to do with Tolkien's goblins, which draw more on earlier works of modern fantasy. Some people have suggested that Hobbit is related to hob (an old english word meaning a haunt or goblin) which later became a taunt for someone who was bit crazy, but Tolkein himself denied this (and indeed he uses Hob in the Hobbit as a taunt, so he was clearly aware of the word's normal use). Tolkein also states that Hobbit came first, then the concept of the characters and finally the "real name" Hobytla, that he uses, was consciously created to provide a root-word. There's nothing about goblins there. Where do people get these ideas from? puzzledly, Mark

I assumed he meant Hero - Zhang Yimou's biggie from last year. I figured Nu Soard knows what's what with regard to titles I also have a VCD of A Man Called Hero but that's also been out for ages: I picked it up in Hong Kong about a year ago. It's OK - one of these wuxia/america crossovers. I don't really care for them that much. cheers, Mark

Seen Hero yet? Are you kidding, it's been out for a year I liked it, although it falls at the artsy end of the spectrum for those who like their wuxia fast, violent, and silly. But for me, the first fight sequence was worth the price of admission alone. If they had cut the extended water-ballet sequence it would have been almost perfect. I've got it on DVD, but would recommend seeing it in a cinema - with a really big screen - first, if possible. cheers, Mark

While most GM's don't use KNB, for FH I do, just in a toned down version (I simply add an extra dice to all attacks, so you roll 3d6 for normal atacks, 4d6 for killing). That has the effect of reducing (or all but eliminating) much KNB from human-sized attacks, while still allowing a huge giant to swat attackers halfway down the street with appropriate extra damage. I do this primarily for dramatic effect - it adds something to the game (for me at least) when players are fighting on a high narrow bridge and they are acutely aware that a solid wallop can send them over the edge. It's not *totally* unrealistic either: at both SCA meets and martial arts fights I have seen people slammed right off their feet and at least a couple of meters backwards. A 7 metre giant with a treetrunk could do much better than that. The unrealistic part, of course, is that any recipient who recieved a blow capable of sending them 10 metres down the street is likley to be a floppy mass of meat at the end. But then fantasy in general tends to be fairly forgiving of physical injury So I don't mind those creatures with KNBR: if it bugs you just drop the points from their total, or (my preferred approach) use it against knockdown. cheers, Mark

>> the difference between a Hobbit and a Goblin is that a Hobbit pays tax<<< I LOVE that. As to Narnia, it would be a great setting for a GM with a good group of players who wanted to tell a story. My blood runs cold at the thought of agroup of hak-n-slashers being let loose in Narnia. cheers, Mark

And on a not-totally unrelated tangent those of you who follow the financial papers may have noticed all the recent headlines on "Convictions in Elf corruption case" Gah! Dabbling in the forbidden arts obviously has reaped the deserved penalty! cheers, Mark

Rather than the regeneration, why not use a triggered summon (exact duplicate, with the hostile limitation). How to define the trigger is up to you, but major loss of body parts or blood should do it. Note - it doesn't matter how much was left - just that majory injury occurred That would explain the multiple Tomies - she loses an arm in an accident and a new one grows out of it (damn, that's an icky thought). I suggested major loss of blood or body parts since I doubt that just a few cells would be enough - otherwise thousands of Tomies would start sprouting in the sewer every time she uses the toilet (and if you thought suggestion number 1 was icky...) One last idea: I'd probably reduce the transformation, but make it cumulative. That way she would not make someone insane in one hit (although her mind control could make them behave irrationally when she was around) - but over time she would drive them nuts. It's a great idea anyway: I'll steal it if you don't mind! cheers, Mark

Bad Pattern Ghost! Spelling flames are uncool (OK, I did it too, so that makes me bad as well I admit it) But seriously Galadorn, ya can't expect people to take your posts seriously if that's your approach. To explain away a weakness in your argument by pretending to apply psychological analysis to Merlin in this situation is simply laughable. In La Morte D'Arthur Merlin is a symbol - just as the whole story of the fight with Pellinore is an allegory on pride. We're not discussing Jane Austen here - applying historographical analysis to say, Third Highest in The Deluding of Gylfi is even less useful than arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin - that at least is a philosophical approach to the concept of infinity. If you can't take anything said by the characters at face value, nor anything described by the author, then you have essentially cut the legs off your argument that you can extract material from classical myths to apply to your writing/gaming. As an aside, in the alternative fantasy thread you were in Marketing: are you studying literary criticism and marketing? It would be nice to see characters advertising cereal with a bit more real depth to their personalities and backstory. cheers, Mark

Hah! No master villain worth his handlebar mustachios would let himself be thwarted so easily. Since the tracker has wandered off by herself, she's the obvious target of a kidnapping plot. A letter to the rest of the group should bring them to a place where the tables can be turned - or if that's too improbable - a none too subtle clue of another kind. This has several advantages: if the rest of the players come to her rescue, (and it's pretty likely) then it bonds the group for later adventures and solves the wander-off problem. It's easy to set up (all you need is a lair with an improvised prison and some cheap, easily hired goons). The ad-hoc nature of the whole thing makes it easier for the plot to fail without making the villain seem like a buffoon. It establishes the chief villain as the sort PCs love to hate (mess with us, will you?) and gives him a good reason to have a hate-on for them, too. You can embellish this - if the tracker hates being the passive rescue object for a session, give her a chance to escape at some point (this means you'll have to run her seperate from, but at the same time as the main group, but with only 4 players this should not be too much of a problem). Cheers, Mark

Kagar - my Troll PC in an ongoing Runequest game - also refers to humans as "pinkies". Dwarves are "stunties" or "crunchies" (for the sound they make when you bite them). Elves are "veggies" (good for when ya's watching ya weight, har,har). cheers, Mark

>>>"that he myght ryde and goo," not that he may do the olympics, and win the 20 meter race, but only that me might ride and go. <<< Ummm - "goo" in this context does not mean go - but walk (from the danish gå) - this meaning was standard in many english dialect and commonplace in Northern English into the 20th century. In general, any medieval english that uses a double vowel like this (goo, gaard, etc) has a danish or norwegian root, the double being used to identify long vowel sounds that don't exist in English: being a danish speaker has some advantages in interpreting these, obviously . It was from this phrase that I plucked the partial healing bit since after 3 days Arthurs was well enough to ride eand walk (implying he was not previously) - but also implying he wasn't up to another bout with Pellinore. Anyway, since in the previous chapter Merlin pleads with the hermit to save Arthurs life, to me going from "about to die " to fit enough to ride cross-country is pretty miraculous: but then no-one reads Arthurian myth for realism. Maybe the old hermit is just a hell of a herbalist. I doubt it though - all the hermits in arthurian myth seem to have magical powers - they tell fortunes, know knight's names and quests without being told, can sense sin, have their heads chopped off without harm, etc. Salves, powders and strange animals hanging about the house were all as obviously magical to the mindset of the day as the Robe of the Archmagi. Anyway, I have to admit this discussion has gone so far off the rails (From Low Fantasy to Danish vowel sounds! Gotta love the Hero boards) that I suggest we drop it here. cheers, Mark

Hmm. I don't really want to indulge in a grail literature debate, but anyone who says " No, the grail, according to the concensus of historians and literary experts, represents the salvation of the British people...period." doesn't know diddly squat about the subject. The Ethiopians have their own grail legends, as do the French, Germans and Italians. None of them have anything to do with british people - indeed there's a fairish number of references to the grail which predate the founding of the kingdom of Britain. I'll quote just a tiny chunk from the authorised catholic encyclopedia - specifically the bit discussing adoption of French Grail legends by later English writers. I've put it at the end, where those interested can read it, because it's really a bit beside the point (I have no love of those endless debates where people clip chunks from previous posts and misconstrue them). The point is simply that there are a lot of well read people on the Hero boards with useful things to say. You don't have to listen to them, but there's no need to be dismissive. Fine, so you know little or nothing about arthurian myth, but that's OK. There are plenty of topics where I know little or nothing. But it doesn't help to pretend to expertise - if you disagree with a post, just say so. Your opinion is as valid as any other. OK, enough huffle - the quote: "Of the first class is the "Conte del Graal" of Chrestien de Troyes and his continuators, a vast poetic compilation of some 60,000 verses, composed between 1180 qnd 1240, and the Middle High German epic poem "Parzival" of Wolfram von Eschenbach, written between 1205 and 1215, and based, according to Wolfram's statement, on the French poem of a certain Kyot (Guiot) of Provence, which, however, is not extant and the very existence of which is doubtful. To these may be added the Welsh folk-tales or "Mabinogion" known to us only from manuscripts of the thirteenth century, though the material is certainly older, and the English poem "Sir Percyvelle," of the fifteenth century. Of the Early History versions the oldest is the metrical trilogy of Robert de Boron, composed between 1170 and 1212, of which only the first part, the "Joseph d'Arimathie," and a portion of the second, the "Merlin," are extant. We have, however, a complete prose version, preserved in the so-called Didot manuscript. The most detailed history of the Grail is in the "Grand St. Graal," a bulky French prose romance of the first half of the thirteenth century, where we are told that Christ Himself presented to a pious hermit the book concerning this history. Besides these versions we have three French prose romances, also from the thirteenth century, which, though concerned chiefly with the quest, give also an account of the history of the sacred vessel. Of these the most notable is the "Queste del St. Graal," well known to English readers because it was enbodied almost entire in Malory's "Morte d' Arthur." The others are the so-called "Didot Perceval" or "La petite queste" and the lengthy and prolix "Perceval le Gallois," also known as "Perlesvaus." "A word as to the attitude of the Church towards the legend. It would seem that a legend so distinctively Christian would find favour with the Church. Yet this was not the case. Generally, clerical writers do not mention the Grail, and the Church ignored the legend completely. After all, the legend contained the elements of which the Church could not approve. Its sources are in apocryphal, not in canonical, scripture, and the claims of sanctity made for the Grail were refuted by their very extravagance. Moreover, the legend claimed for the Church in Britain an origin well nigh as illustrious as that of the Church of Rome, and independent of Rome. It was thus calculated to encourage and to foster any separatist tendencies that might exist in Britain. As we have seen, the whole tradition concerning the Grail is of late origin and on many points at variance with historical truth." Since this material is used directly in catholic schools for instruction - and is also a recommended text for religious studies at secular universities, I think that should answer the charge that: >>>Which is patently untrue. I suppose you know better then historians. Culture criticism mister former seminarian, cultural criticism.<<< I was quoting not my own opinion but mainstream historical analysis. The defence rests, m'lud Likeiwse as for challenging me to "site" (sic.) the source of the wounding of Arthur by Pellinore it is one of the most famous incidents in Arthur's carreer since it occurrs immediately before Arthur gets Excalibur and is repeated in all of the english variants of the story that follow Malory. If you had read Le Mort d*Arthur you would certainly know it, but out of the goodness of my heart here it is reproduced: >>Capitulum xxv Ryghte so the kyng and he departed & wente vn tyl an ermyte that was a good man and a grete leche Soo the heremyte serched all his woundys & gaf hym good salues so the kyng was there thre dayes & thenne were his woundes wel amendyd that he myght ryde and goo & so departed<< Happy now? cheers, Mark

>>>That's because of the curse on the land, not because of Arthur's physical infirmity, but because of Arthur's spiritual infirmity. If you understood Catholic theology better, you would understand the symbolism of the grail, and the kind of life and healing that the grail gives to Arthur, and through Arthur - the king (ala divine right) - to his kingdom.<<< Actually, it has nothing to do with the curse on the land, You’re confusing the Arthur of the mythologies with the Arthur of recent fantasy literature and movies like Excalibur where he has been conflated with the Fisher king (the actual grail king). Arthur’s wounds in this instance have more to do with being stuck with a big pointy bit of metal and the point of the story of his clash with Pellinore is an allegory on pride: It is set early in Arthur’s story, while he is still young and healthy, before he received Excalibur, is apparently based on earlier myths and has not the slightest thing to do with the land or the grail. Not meaning to be picky, but I’d avoid using phrases like “if you understood Catholic theology better…†*. Even if you don’t mean it to be so, it comes across as patronizing, and being patronizing when you yourself are clearly not versed in the subject – well, let’s just say it doesn’t make a good impression. *side note – I studied catholic theology part time for 6 years and served in Church, although I decided to go to medical school rather than become a priest. I’m well aware that the Grail has had many meaning in catholic and christian mythology, few of which have much to do with Arthur outside English post-romance literature. I’d suggest starting with reading “De Civitate Deiâ€. The description there of the Grail as symbolic of the “true†church which holds the sacred blood of the saviour dominated grail symbology for many centuries. >>>These are only three mythologies. What about....Greek, Roman, Norse, Chinese, Japanese, Summarian, Babylonian, Egyptian, etc.? In the totality of mythologies, it happens rarely. In fantasy books, it happens almost never. <<< In Norse mythology one can find many, many examples. The binding of Fenris is a one (Tyr is healed, but only partly – presumably the healer did not have the “replaces lost limbs†adder , the otter’s ransom is another. I suspect it would be easy enough to find examples in other mythologies as well – it certainly occurs in Chinese cinema, for example, so the concept is hardly foreign to them. A swift look through my fantasy library turns up healing which is only partially effective or which merely serves to slow the course of disease or injury in multiple books. I am sure there are books in which this is not the case but I wouldn’t assume that they are the vast majority – indeed they appear not to be. In the end, it comes down to personal preference. If in your own writings and gaming you prefer an all or nothing approach, it is easy enough to make it so. If you prefer not, that is also easy enough – and certainly precedent is easy to find. cheers, Mark

>>>Hypothetically how would an already insane character work? Though for the most part they would likely be NPC but just curious how they would work in<<< Well, in one long-ago CoC game a player convinced the GM to let him roleplay his crazed character, who decided that "the cultists" were everywhere and basically turned into a movie slasher. It was actually pretty funny in a macabre sort of way as the rest of the characters chased Larry's psycho from crime scene to crime scene, both trying to end his murderous rampage (and losing SAN along the way ) and also to cover up their own involvement. It was funny because the characters caught up with Larry several times, but just like a movie slasher, he refused to stay dead, escaping into the dark and lurching off leaking blood from an increasing variety of holes to commit more depravities. All good things have to end, of course and eventually they got him, but by then several other investigators were on the verge cheers, Mark

>>> That would be Phillip K. Dick. <<< Yeah - dat's da man! It must be 20 years since I read it and my memory is getting a bit flaky with age But I remember being disappointed since I am/was a fan of both authors (although Zelazny in particular has written a few books that were obviously inspired by a desire to cover the rent rather than tell a story). Still, its all useful source material. On a more useful note, the flavour is very different from what you describe, but Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun has a ton of ideas easily grafted onto a post-apoc setting - in his case it's a colony ship where the inhabitants have regressed. cheers, Mark

Actually, partial healing happens a lot in Fantasy - both the mythological version and the modern version. To use arthurian myth as an example, after Arthur fought Pellinore, he was dying from his wounds (technically, below 0 BOD, I guess). The Hermit of the chapel healed his wounds, so that he did not die, but Arthur was too ill to continue his quest for some time. In other words, the Hermit said to Merlin "OK, I've healed him up above 0 BOD, so he won't die, but that's all I can manage with two crummy dice of healing. He'll have to heal up some more before getting in any fights". This healed, but only partly, effect crops up multiple times in Arthurian myth (the quest of Lamorak's sons also springs to mind). Cuchulain's wounding was also only partially healed after the battle at the ford. And that good old chestnut LOTR has the same thing where Eowyn is healed by Aragorn - but only partly. So I have no problem with it in gaming. I have more of a problem with the "Poof! Good as new!" style of healing. While it certainly occurs in fantasy, it is normally associated with holy relics, great quests, etc. Not only is it a problem with regard to game balance, it just seems (apart from exceptional cases as mentioned above) a bit "unfantasy" to me. Personal taste, I guess. It goes along for my liking for low fantasy. cheers, Mark

I have used the "bonus to MR" effect to be built into temples, shrines, lovingly crafted magical casting rooms etc. Under the old rules it was bought as an immobile focus, but I like the change environment way of doing it. As an aside, what about transfer versus MR? That would be handy if you had a bunch of apprentices standing around. Drain their puny MRs to boost your own! It'd cost more to make it combat effective, but what a great weapon against spellcasters! cheers, Mark

It's actually a pretty crappy book, but Roger Zelazny (and someone else) wrote a book called Deus Irae (the god of wrath and a pun on the classical name for the apocalypse). In that book he had a kind of warped Christian church that worshipped the God of Wrath - personified as the US Air Force commander who started the nuclear war. If civilisation has been wiped out by some kind of cataclysm, you would kind of expect that to have an effect on people's beliefs. A Christian church might adopt to the idea that the day of judgement had finally arrived - that the people left on earth were the abandoned sinners, with one last chance to make good - or they could go the other way saying that the evil had been judged and the blessed had now inherited the earth (meaning everyone else has to leave). You might have churches that say either thing, leading to some nice heretic burnings You've already got a few survivalist wackos prowling the woods in the States, some of whom are white supremacist with quasi-viking leanings. I can just see them lurking about in their camo-painted Chainmail considering themselves the chosen who have survived Ragnarok and carving the occasional blood-eagle on those christians they could catch. Make up a couple of religions based on "making sure the bad thing never happens again" by propitiating the god or gods responsible (I'd file the serial numbers off the Aztec gods and use them - they seem sufficiently bloodthirsty) and you should be good to go. You can always add more obscure cults as you go along, once you have mapped out the main religions. Cheers, Mark