Loot in RQ6 compared to RQ2

[Jrandom]

As I remember in RQ2, magic item items, like Power Crystals were common. Moving on to uncommon would be bronze armor or weapons with enchantments or Jrusteli gear. The rare category were things like iron weapons & armor, or bits of Truestone.

What are peoples’ idea on loot in RQ6?

[Michael Hitchens]

Do you mean what it is or what it should be?

[Jrandom]

Well, I am sure that is jaded by Game Master preference, but all things considered, in your opinion, what is it currently in RQ6 and what do you personally think it should be?

[Chlodoweg]

RQ6 doesn’t really address loot as that’s so setting dependent. RQ2 was strongly tied to Glorantha with a particular magical economy in mind but RQ6 doesn’t do that. I think you have to work out what’s appropriate in your game for yourself really.

[Jrandom]

Quote:

Quote from Chlodoweg on May 2, 2014, 14:26
RQ6 doesn’t really address loot as that’s so setting dependent. RQ2 was strongly tied to Glorantha with a particular magical economy in mind but RQ6 doesn’t do that. I think you have to work out what’s appropriate in your game for yourself really.

Or you could share your personal opinion. I’ll promise to be a big boy and not have it shape my role-playing reality too much.

[Chlodoweg]

Quote:

Or you could share your personal opinion. I’ll promise to be a big boy and not have it shape my role-playing reality too much.

Ok, in my Glorantha magic items are very rare and typically do one small thing. Magic point regeneration is moderately slow so something to store magic points like old RQ2 crystals would be a big thing and definitely change the dynamic some. It’ll be a long time before they see anything like that.

The only difference to the above is items enchanted by sorcerers. This group of characters hasn’t run across any yet but they could be quite powerful. The sorcery enchant spell can take any sorcery spell and put it in/on an item. The sorcerer can remove the enchant whenever he wants but if he dies with it in place then I’ve ruled that the enchantment lasts. So theoretically there could be fairly powerful sorcery items around.

[Barry Blatt]

I also make most magic items small and low power. In Balazar you find a lot of spirit fetishes, which are pretty much one use items and possibly dangerous unless wielded by a shaman himself, though they can give access to spirits outside the Balazar tradition. In Sartar the items are a little more powerful, but all unique and tied to local clan legends and heroes, originally obtained by heroquesting. Heroquesting yourself can get you some very nice things from the otherworlds, but you sure as hell have to work for it.

In my game the party also picked up some elf magic items (seeds, fungi, leaves) that they never quite had the guts to chew on, and some dwarf items that they never quite fathomed out the function of – this IMO is how it should be, humans ought to have great problems with such magic and being leery of it is a good idea.

[Jrandom]

Does anyone plan on running their players through Old Pavis, The Clanking City, or other locals that are rich in magical loot?

[Simon Phipp]

Magic items can be as rare as the GM wants, but as soon as they end up in the hands of NPCs who are opposed to the PCs, they will end up in PC hands.

So, POW Crystals could be rare, with one being held by every 10 encounters requiring combat. After 100 such encounters, the PCs, if they have the sensible idea of checking the pockets of the fallen, will end up with 10 POW Crystals. That makes them common and mundane for the PCs.

For this reason, in extended campaigns, I do not make any rulings as to how rare magic items are.

In my old campaigns, everyone had magical items, the more the merrier. In my current campaign, magic items are quite rare, as the PC have other things they can collect. Both work well.

[Jrandom]

My RQ2 game master was pretty generous, but he had lots of methods of removing items from the game (Regrow Limb cost 1 item, per limb; Resurrection was 3 items per casting). With the old crit and impale rules, the Chalanna Arroy cult were wealthy indeed.

[Evilroddy]

I take the position that the PC’s are part of a community and any loot they manage to recover goes to the community of which they are a part. Once they turn over the swag they get a share of the wealth and, depending on the difficulty of the procurement, a magic item or two. I tend to make the vast majority of magic items weak, and make powerful magic items more of a curse than a benefit by having predatory NPC’s chasing after them whenever possible.

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