steven@qubix.UUCP (Steven Maurer) (10/31/84)
A few weeks ago, I sent out a review on the net of RuneQuest 3.
Before I did so, I gave the review to Steve Perrin, one of the
designers of the game, for him to look over. The following is
his rebuttal. My response to his response, will follow shortly.
Steven Maurer
{sun,ihnp4,decwrl,ucscc}!qubix!steven
CHAOSIUM INC.
Box 6302
Albany, CA 94706
October 12, 1984
Steve Maurer
440 N. Winchester
Santa Clara, CA 95050
Dear Steve,
Thanks for the copy of the writeup on RuneQuest. For the
most part you make a lot of unwarranted assumptions as to our
motives for doing things, but since we didn't express our
movtives in the rules, you have to make whatever assumptions you
can, assuming that motives have any bearing on the quality of the
game. Motives obviously mean a lot to you.
To clarify some things...
High damage weapons were not given low starting chances because
they are high damage, but because they are complex to use. Using
a greatsword or halberd or naginata properly is an art that takes
practice.
Lamentably, the Cormac example of the chase and the Climb
roll is erroneous. Oh well. I didn't write it and it was put in
because someone wanted an example of fatigue loss and
misunderstood the rules. For your information, every game played
with fatigue has worked just fine. It is an excellent game
mechanic.
Think of fatigue as the panalty to your skills for wearing
lots of Encumbering armor.
Have you ever fought in closed-in areas with no ventilation?
I guarantee your fatigue goes down a lot faster.
Actually, I didn't like the subtraction of ENC on magic use
either, but I didn't write the magic section. It's a minor rule,
and can be ignored easily. However, the fatigue penalty to magic
use stays.
Defense went away to huzzahs from Steve Henderson (Sir
Steven MacEanruig, one-time king of the West) one of the original
co-authors who fought its original inclusions tooth-and-nail as
not realistic. Dodge was added to give the fantasy-reality of
Errol Flynn-style swashbucklers. It works. I doubt you were truly
dodgeing when you tried using the Greatswords and dodging. As I
mentioned before, Greatsword is an art form.
Oh yes, you can't carry a horse and not get fatigued
because, after all, you don't have the STR to pick up the SIZ of
the horse.
Glad you liked the fire rules. They were written by Greg and
Lynn, neither of whom has ever read the Champions rules. Another
conclusion jumped at by the master. Sometimes great minds just
work in the same gutter.
You have some good points on species maximum, though I am
not totally offended by a STR 24 halfling. Assume a half-again
limit or STR-CON-SIZ limit, whichever is lower. This may even get
into the errata.
Mostly we are trying to mirror fantasy reality, but
sometimes we stray too far into real reality and sometimes we get
too fantastical. In the final analysis, the game works, to an
almost universal chorus of huzzahs from old-time players. You are
far and away the exception according to all the feedback we have
received.
I don't think there is too much difference between writing
game rules and software after all, if the testimony of all my
computer hacker friends who talk about some professional software
being a pile of crap is taken into account.
This is only a superficial response, but your survey was
fairly superficial in itself, since you started from the
supposition that the new game was bad, and looked only for what
you could damn properly. I suggest you go over your review and
look for silly exaggerations like the carrying the horse number
and excise them before you publish it though the net. Otherwise,
publish away. Aside from your jumping to conclusions as to our
motives, we have no problems with your problems. They are, after
all, your problems.
Best,
Steve Perrin