RQ - The Gateway Bestiary, Wizard's Images

The Gateway Bestiary was published by Chaosium in 1980. It was  designed for use with RuneQuest. It beasrs the Gateway name though  to indicate that it is not tied directly with Glorantha. This  allowed the inclusion of entries that would not be appropriate for  a campaign using Glorantha as the setting. I am not sure why this  was deemed necessary but I am sure it was important.

The Bestiary includes what the advertising says is 99 new monsters  for the GM to use in their campaign. I counted the list but did  not come up with that exact number but I am sure there are  variations and a few not on the list. Each of the entries has  statistics that the GM will need to run the creatures that are  described. The entries except in a few instances do not have any  images though. The book says complete with illustrations but they  are used very sparingly. The ones used vary in quality but in  some cases are nicely done. For me the cover has always been one  that I liked and it evoked a a gaming feel more than some other  covers I have seen.

The creatures provided are broken down into seven different  categories. Some of these will be more useful than others as some  are very specific in the niche that they fill. Legendary beings  are a very much Greek/Roman in flavor and the Celtic Horrors will  best fit into a campaign using that type of setting. The most  specific will the the H.P. Lovecraft Creations entries. They avoid  the big baddies but still have some nasty very specific in flavor  entries included. The full list of sections is:

Giant Anthropods
Legendary Beings
Celtic Horrors
H.P. Lovecraft Creations
Natural Animals
Dinosaurs
Miscellaneous Types

In the end the book was a nice addition at its time. I am not sure  how many of it's entries have been adopted to later editions  through out the years though. I have seen this go for a fair  amount at times so it might take some waiting or luck to find it  cheap enough to warrant purchasing by the non collector. I would  still suggest at least find a copy to at least look over if you  can at some point.

From the back of the book:

Expand the horizons of your RuneQuest campaign with the exotic  creatures in this book. All new, they can be used to create  numerous interesting encounters.This book contains 99 new monsters  from a variety of sources, presented in the clear and concise  format of RuneQuest, complete with illustrations. This is the  first of our Gateway products, which are designed to aid the  referee who desires to run a RuneQuest campaign without the  restrictions of the limited flora and fauna of Glorantha.

GIANT ANTHROPODS - This section includes your favorite insects in  human size forms such as giant ants, spiders, or wasps capable of  carrying a rider.

LEGENDARY BEINGS - Provides monsters from terrestrial mythos, such  as the hydra, gorgon, lamia, or sphinx.

CELTIC HORRORS - Contains terrifying creations of the Gaelic mind.  These include kelpies, voughs, and more.

H. P. LOVECRAFT CREATIONS - These are the otherworld nightmares of  Lovecraftian mythos such as the rmi-go, nightgaunt, or shoggoth.

NATURAL ANIMALS - This section fills the more obvious omissions of  the original RuneQuest rules by including stats on frightening  carnivores like lions or bears, and the smaller animals useful as  familiars, such as owls or monkeys.

DINOSAURS - Here are the giant prehistoric creatures... from the  bulky sauropods that are likely to crush an adventuring party by  accident to the terrifying carnosaurs which should make any batch  of Rune level characters turn and run.

MISCELLANEOUS TYPES - These include the whimsical creations of  Lewis Carroll to the fatal anthropophage from a well-known science  fiction movie.

Complete statistics are provided, just roll them up and see the  players try to figure out what they're up against!


Spell:

Wizard's Images

Level: Third
Range: 3"
Duration: Special
Ares of Effect: One Item
Components: V,S
Casting Time: One Round
Saving Throw: None

When this spell is cat the magic user will cause the selected item  the spell is being cast on to vanish. At the same time a lifelike  image of the item will appear on the caster's body. The image will  appear where the caster desires so it may or may not be visible.

The image that appears will be the actual item that vanished. The  energies of the spell have converted the item to an image that  will allow the caster to carry items with them that they might not  normally have been able to carry. The item must be non living and  can also not be undead.

The item that can be copies will need to be one that would  normally be considered a single item. A raging bonfire or the  corpse of a fallen comrade could be copied but a pile of gold  coins or a dragons hoard could not. The image of the item copied  to the casters body can be increased or decreased in size by a  factor of up to ten. This will not affect the item's size when it  is restored. The caster can restore an item at will simply by  willing the item to be restored.

Items copied in this manner can remain on the body of the caster  for an extended period of time. There is a limit on the magics  involved though. There is a five percent cumulative chance per  week after one initial week that the magic will fail and the item  will become locked on the casters body. The caster may also only  have one item per every two levels, up to a maximum of eight, on  their body at any given time. Items which have become locked onto  the caster will count against these.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the  write ups last, were all written up or conceived of back in the  80's so the terminology may not appropriate for anything other  than 1e and depending on how well I did back then it may be  slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of  spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :)  Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on  me. If anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please  let me know in advance and all I ask is proper credit.

Booty List - Judges Guild, Mass Reincarnation

With Judges Guild items the easiest way to tell the various printings of  items is too look at the Booty List that is printed in the item. Items  appears to be for the most part numbered sequentially as they were released.  This makes it wast to identify when it was released.

Somewhere along the lines I got stack of Booty Lists that were not printed in  an item and are there own free standing product. I suspect these may have come  with the catalogs that were sent out but this is just a guess. Using the same  deductive principle though this would look to have been released in 1977.  There are two items that support this. The last item on the list is Modron  which was released in 1977. This is less conclusive but it also talks about  Dragons #1 - #5 being out of print. Issue #6 was released in 1977.

I have not been able to find any information on the Booty List being  described as an individual product. I am going to go under the assumption  that they were sent with the catalogs but again this is merely an assumption.  Regardless these are a great peek into the way things progressed with Judges  Guild. It would not be out of line to say that D&D, RuneQuest and Traveller  might not be what they are today and what the were if it had not been for the  products provided through Judges Guild for them.

If anyone knows anything about the free standing Booty List please let me  know.



Spell: 

Mass Reincarnation
Level: Eighth
Range: 6"
Duration: Permanent
Ares Effect: Upto 6 Creatures
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 2 Turns
Saving Throw: None

This spell except for ability to affect multiple creatures, the higher spell  level and increased casting times will in all other ways be identicle to the  sixth level Magic User Reincarnation spell. The spell allows the caster to  select up to six creatures that will be affected by the spell. The caster  will not need to specifically touch them but can specify them as desired.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups  last, were all written up or conceived of back in the 80's so the terminology  may not appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I  did back then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any  duplication of spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :)  Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If  anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please let me know in  advance and all I ask is proper credit.

Cults of Prax - RuneQuest, Transfer Spell Potential

Cults of Prax is a sourcebook released by Chaosium in 1979. It was written by Steve Perrin and Greg Stafford. The book describes fifteen cults that exist in the RuneQuest world and gives the GM enough information so that they  could create their own as needed.

The book begins with an explanation of the Gloranthan calendar which mirrors ours being based on seasons. There are something about it that make it  different and some that I am not sure make sense in a real world comparison.  The calendar breaks down as 1 year = 5 Season (plus sacred time) = 42 weeks =  294 days. Each season is exactly the same length and the sacred time is  fourteen days. At the end of the book is a list of the various Cult holy  days.

The next section describes the format that will be used to describe each cult.  It gives the same format as the general write ups but with a specific  explanation of what each area is for. There is then a summary cult outline. A  copy of this outline follows.

I. Mythos and History
    A. Before Time
    B. Since Time Began
    C. Life and Death
    D. Runic Associations

II. Nature of the Cult
    A. Reason for Continued Existence
    B. Social/Political Position and Power
    C. Particular Like and Dislikes

III. Organization
    A. Inter-Cult Organization
    B. Intra-Temple Organization
    C. Center of Power, Holy Places
    D. Holy Days and High Holy Days

IV. Lay Membership
    A. Requirements to Join
    B. Requirements to Belong
    C. Mundane Benefits
    D. Skills
    E. Battle Magic

V. Initiate Membership
    A. Requirements for Initiation
    B. Requirements to Remain Initiated
    C. Mundane Benefits
    D. Skills
    E. Spells

VI. Rune Lord Membership
    A. General Statement
    B. Requirements for Acceptance
    C. Restrictions
    D. Benefits

VII. Rune Priesthood
    A. General Statement
    B. Requirements for Acceptance
    C. Restrictions
    D. Benefits
    E. Rune Spell Compatibility
    F. Cult Special Rune Spells

VIII. Subservient Cults
    A. Spirit of Reprisal
    B. Other

IX. Associated Cults
    A. Listed Singularly

X. Miscellaneous Notes

From this point we head into the descriptions of the various cults. The book  adds a set of side notes that take the form of a travel journal of Biturian Varosh. The notes tell of his experience amongst each of the cults.There is  even a map of his travels and the dates he was at the location for each cult.  This adds something to the book and this was used by other companies in other  products after this was used here.

The Cults themselves are broken down into one of four different groups. These  groups are The Barbarian Gods, Invader Deities, Lightbringers and Non-Human  Gods. The breakdown of these are as follows.

The Barbarian Gods:
Daka Fal  (ancestor worship)
Storm Bull (berserker god)
Waha (nomad chieftan deity)
Eiritha (herd mother)

Invader Deities:
Humakt (war god)
The Seven Mothers (the lunar cult)
Pavis (city god)
Yelmailo (mercenary god of light)

Lightbringers:
Issaries (trader god)
Chalana Arroy (healer)
Lhankor Mhy (knowledge lord)
Orlanth (god of adventures)

Non-Human Gods:
Kyger Litor (troll ancestress)
Zorak Zoran (troll war god)
Aldyra (elf goddess)

The final section of the book is composed of all the appendices. These cover different topics such as the relationship between the different cults, the various holy days, new rune magics and a chronology of Glorantha. The full list of appendices is:

Cult Compatibility
Nomad Weapons and Magic
Cult Membership by Tribe
New Weapons Data
Calendar of Holy Days
New Skills
New Battle Magics
Truestones
New Rune Magics
Slave Bracelets
Weapons Use
Other Glorantha Material
Biturian Departs Prax

This book should have served as and still should as how the various religions in a role playing game should be described. After reading this you almost feel as if you read over a 101 level class text on comparative religions in Glorantha. There is more than one version of this and the one I have described is the first printing. The second I think may have some additional information but I do not have a copy to confirm that. If you want to create a  pantheon and describe it this would be a great format to use.

Spell:

Transfer Spell Potential

Level: Fourth
Range: Touch
Duration: Special
Ares Effect: One Creature
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 1 Round
Saving Throw: None

When this spell is cast the magic user imbues the target with the ability to cast a specific spell from their currently available spells. The recipient will then be able to cast that one spell and only that spell. They can transfer a spell of no higher than third level.

The recipient will be able to cast that specific spell just as if they were the caster who granted them the ability. This ability will remain with the individual until such time as the caster dispels the ability.

The recipient can there for cast the spell once per day. Until such time as the caster dispels the ability they will have lost the ability to cast one spell of the level of the one given. This means that if a caster could normally cast three third level spells per day and they have used this spell for one of them until they cancel it they can now only cast two per day. The caster can have this spell on no more than one individual per level they have over seventh.

The caster can revoke this ability at any time regardless of range. When the spell is revoked the spell is lost to the caster until such time as the caster memorizes spells again regardless of if it had been cast or not. If the recipient of the spell should die while the transfer is in effect then the caster will lose 1d4 points of intelligence and the ability to cast that spell for two to seven days. 

The material component of this spell is a copy of the spell just as if it were one written in the caster spell book. The copy is given to the recipient and then spell then vanishes from the page. The page remains intact and can be used again if desired.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups last, were all written up or conceived of back in the 80's so the terminology may not appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I did back then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :) Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please let me know in advance and all I ask is proper credit. 

Plunder - RuneQuest, Cassandra's Carpet Trap VI

Plunder for those not familiar with it is best compared to the treasure portion of the TSR's Monster & Treasure Assortment. The product was intended to provide random treasure tables for the RuneQuest game. This is a nice product even for those not using it with RuneQuest and the breakdown of the coinage is easy enough to adapt to any gaming system.

Plunder was released in 1980 by Chaosium. The book was written by Rudy Kraft and is forty-eight pages long. The book consists of two sections. The first is the actual charts for the determination of treasure. The second is a list of forty-three magical items.

The first occupies the bulk of the book. It is a set of random treasure tables. These are called Treasure Factors in the book. The Treasure Factors will have numbers of coins and then if there are any gems or jewelry and then if there are any special items. The table break down is a little different through. It consists of ten eight by eights sets of tables. The GM will rolls percentile dice (or a D10) and then two eight sided dice. The first set determines the table and then the others specify which cell on the grid is used. The cell will consist of any or all of the list below this. There will then be lists to randomly determine the gems/jewelry and then for the special items. 

Clacks (Copper)
Lunars (Silver)
Wheels (Gold)
Gems/Jewelry
Special Items

The second section is for the description of of exotic magic items from the world of Glorantha. There are a total of forty-three items described. Each item description will contain some or all of the following areas:

Description - An actual description of the item
Cults - Factions in RuneQuest the item is associated with
Knowledge - How well known the item is - chance a character would know about it
History - History of the item. Mostly origin though more in some cases.
Process - If the item can be recreated how to do so.
Powers - The special abilities or effects the item imparts.
Value - Estimated value on the open market if item were to be sold

For a RuneQuest GM or fan this is a nice book to have. There are probably random generators out on the Internet that will do the treasure portion. The section on the exotic magical items was nice and could be adapted to other games. Plunder is again more than just the book it was originally made to be. It is a look back at the early days of the role playing industry and a reminder that back in the day GMs really did have to walk ten miles to school uphill both ways (create everything by hand) so things like this were huge time savers.

Spell:

Cassandra's Carpet Trap VI

Level: Eighth
Range: 6"
Duration: Special
Ares Effect: Special
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: One Turn
Saving Throw: Special

When this spell is cast the magic user brings into being a carpet that is  magical in nature. The nature of the carpet can very based on the caster's  desire and the level of the spell.

By default the carpet will be of ornate and of exceptional quality. The  caster can specify a different appearance if desired though it will always  appear to have been a carpet of some quality at one time.

The carpet created will have a maximum size equal to ten square feet per  level of the caster. It will by default fill the space it is cast in though  the caster can specify any shape and size.

The carpet will remain until such time as the effect it is intended to have  is triggered. The triggering effect can be anything that the caster desires.  It can be a timed effect such as one day from now or a specialized event such  as the first thief to walk on it or if a spell is cast by someone while  standing on it. Until such time as the trigger effect occurs the carpet is  nothing more than a carpet. The carpet can be moved with no impact to the  trigger effect unless moving was part of it.

With this level of the spell there are two types of carpets that can be  created. It is important to note that higher level of the spell can also  create all versions of carpets that previous version could create.

Carpet of Death

When the trigger event for this carpet occurs all on it at that time must  make a saving throw versus Death Magic. When the trigger occurs a double  Death Spell effect will occur within the space of the carpet. This can affect  a maximum of sixty-four experience levels.

Those on the carpet who make their save will be unaffected. Those who fail  will be affected on an ascending level until the sixty-four levels are reach.  If there are not enough levels to affect the next character then there is no  effect. This spell will only affect beings that would normally be affected by  a Death spell.

Carpet of Disintegration

When the trigger event for this carpet occurs all on it must make a saving  throw versus Spells. Those who fail will be affected as if they were the  victim of a Disintegration spell.

This will also affected non-living matter as well. Every non-living item on  the area of the carpet will need to make a saving throw or be affected. This  includes items in the possession of characters who made their save.

The material component of this spell is a small woven rug of exceptional  quality. This carpet will cost no less than 100 gp per level of the Carpet  Trap. The rug transforms into the carpet with the casting and is used up. The  appearance of the actual carpet will be whatever the caster desires though it  will always appear to have been so high quality at some point.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups  last, were all written up back in the 80's so the terminology may not  appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I did back  then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of  spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :) Please feel  free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If anyone wishes to  use these in anything they print please let me know in advance and all I ask  is proper credit.