The Cult Trait (RuneClaw)

"Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?

It's been a while but I thought I might actually try writing some more blog articles. No promises on the theming of them. Some will be from MyD&D game and some will be from other games. No idea when or how many new articles will happen, as it depends on my health, which has not been very good. With all these disclaimers in place.

My Old Runequest Game

I had a long running Runequest game, mainly using RQ2 as its basis. However there were several ways that my game wasn't canon (YGMV). Firstly it was set in the early Iron Age rather than the Bronze Age. The main reason for this was the equipment list in RQ2 was definitely more appropriate for this period. I mean, bronze chain mail? Really? Let alone things like arbalests! Since Iron was commonplace the Dwarven Secret that was stolen was the secret of Steel (shadows of Conan the Movie). One of the consequences of this was I actually forgot that iron was valuable at a RQCon. Embarrassing!

Anyway, in 2000 issaries published Hero Wars Now whilst I do have most of Robin's games, and find some of the ideas interesting, my group generally finds them unplayable with rules as written (and given reports of Robin's convention sessions I suspect he does as well). In particular I detested the narartive difficulty system that he used (something he was playing with in his "drama beats" games. For much the same reason I detest narrative time in movies. My RQ players were simulationists. This wouldn't do!

At about the same time I got a copy of ironclaw (the original edition), which I really liked as a game system (and the setting was quite good too). Unfortunately it was an anthropomorphic game, and many of my players had a Thing about Furries for some reason. Considering they had almost certainly never encountered any, it was probably purely by reputation. Anyway, this provided an opportunity. I could convert my RQ campaign to Ironclaw, including a lot of the ideas from Hero Wars. In doing so I could also make the changes that ensured that my players didn't confuse mt game with a canon RQ game. Mostly be renaming the gods. For example Humakt became Huma Grim.

But Ironclaw had a Species trait for racial characteristics. What to do about that?

The Cult Trait

The solution was to replace this with a Cult trait. This represented the character's understanding of the inner Mysteries of the cult. It could be used directly in rolls applicable to such knowledge, but it also provided it's bonus to four specific skllls related to the cult. Whilst there was a default set of skills for each cult, it could vary slightly according to what heroes were honoured by the local shrine. For example the Cult of Orlan Adventerous generally provided the skills of Boast, Sword, Jump, and Dodge. However if a particular shrine honoured the hero Drogarsi (The Skald) then Boast could be replaced by Sing.

One change from the normal rules were that these are considered "magical" skills. They represent the minor chants and blessings that are a normal part of doing something in Glorantha. For example every housewife with the Cooking cult skill would almost certainly know a charm to help the bread rise. This was what was covered in the Cooking skill when making bread. One direct consequence of this is that the Cult trait doesn't work in a Dead Place. This is in addition to the d12 alien world penalty for being in a place where magic doesn't exist. How discomforting!

The other thing is that these skills replaced the battle magic of RQ2. Normally skills are only used in the skill test (naturally enough). However by taking a round and expending a Magic Point they could use the dice in the effect roll as well. For example spending a MP on Sword would add the die to the damage roll of the aword as well (this would be the equivalent of casting Bladesharp in RQ). Use with other skills would create similar magical effects. Such as Cooking very nourishing bread. However the effects generally only lasted for the scene.

Players could actually gain extra dice in this column, generally as cult rewards. For example a priest might teach you the secrets of Drogasi's Sing magic directly. This is treated as a normal skill advancement, but is only availan;e from a priest at a shrine with this ability. And the Cukt trait is usally a limit to these extra spells. It is considered inner knowledge of the greater cult, so if you ever lose the Cult trait tied to that skill you lose the magic as well.

Originally the Cult trait was treated in the game system as a nortmal trait. When I introduced Gifts (from Usagi Yojimbo), the cult gifts automatically gave you the appropriate Cult trait. These gifts were the Gift of Worship (d4/Lay Member), the Gift of Initiation (d6/Initiate), the Gift of Devotion (d8/Acolyte/Godi), the Gift of Ordination (d10/Rune Priest) and the Gift of Disciplehood (d12/Rune Lord). They usually had specific benefits and limitations to obtaining them as well. One of which was that anyone with the Gift of Initiation gained a specific initiation gift. For example initiates in the Cult of Orlan Adventurous gain the ability of weather Sense. They may use their Cult trait in any situation where knowing what the weather is like would affect things. This includes Augury to determine when the next holy day will actually be (or if anything is magically wrong with the weather), Farming, and even Sailing (however using Air magic at Sea is likely to provoke a violent response from below).