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If you�ve come to my site, chances are you�re an experienced RuneQuest player so I�m going to throw you into the deep end! First off, I�m going to rethink about how some of the weapons do damage. Before you disappear whilst thinking �What�s wrong with the old way!?� I just want you to give these concepts a go (ie: they havent been play-tested!).
(1)
Shortswords, Broadswords, Scimitars, Bastard Swords and Greatswords all do 1d8+1 damage on a thrusting attack, they retain their existing damage for cutting attacks. (Rationale: They all have roughly the same amount of blade cross section, I don�t really believe that the weight of the blade makes all that much difference between a Shortsword and a Broadsword. Please note that there is plenty of historical evidence showing thrusting attacks with Bastard Swords and Greatswords, in fact, execution swords were bastard swords made with a rounded, blunt tip because they never had to be used for thrusting.)
(2)
All spears do 1d8+1 damage. (Rationale: It�s not the size that counts or so they say! The difference between spears is the length and the lower strike rank that it conveys. The Pike or the even longer Sarrissa were all designed to kill your opponent at a distance, denying him the ability to get in a hit.)
Okay, now we�ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater, but the above changes are designed to go hand in hand with the following rules changes.
(1)
Any Two Handed Weapon uses the next higher Damage Bonus. (Rationale: If you�re holding a shield out in front of you, you won�t be able to get the same leverage as if you were using both your shoulders.)
(2)
At Negative Fatigue Points the next lower Damage Bonus is used. (Rationale: After wearing your Chubb Safety Gear for six rounds and swinging a bar of bronze about, you�re not going to be able to pack in the same Ooomph that you can in a T-Shirt fresh after a nice rest.)
Okay, you�re looking at me in a angry manner and yelling �This doesn�t change anything!� Well, not in a big way, but it does make weapon selection a little more balanced. If your PC�s are after big damage to kill that Scorpionman with Carapace up, they can dump the shield and swing their broadsword around their heads two handed for a big blow. Also, they all start buying Endurance like it�s going out of style! (Priests should ensure that is compatible with their cults!)
Now, another change to clear up an irregularity.
Pilums are Javelins that have 15AP, but cannot be used as melee weapons. Pilums have a long bronze shank with a wooden haft that only makes up half of the weapon. The Pilum had a twofold use, firstly it was a Javelin and designed to kill, secondly it had either a soft shank or a lead/wooden plug holding the haft to the shank. When it hit a shield it bent or the plug broke, making it useless (so it couldn�t be thrown back) but the long metal shank stuck in the shield, rendering it useless. Now the Pilum thrower comes up against a man with only a sword and he's still got his shield . . .
Special Attacks:
Impales are a great thing, they really give you something to look forward to! (Unless you�re on the receiving end) RQ2 had Impales (for Stabbing weapons), Slashes (for Chopping weapons) and Crushes (for err . . Crushing weapons). An Impale did maximum damage plus rolled damage, a Slash did rolled damage rolled twice and a Crush did your damage bonus rolled twice (in addition to the normal rolled damage of course). Now, if that�s a Great Troll using a Maul (2H) we�re looking at formidable dice! I can really see a case for bringing these back.
Now, let's add a new one.
Binds:
A Special with a parrying item is a Bind (to loan a fencing term), this restricts the parried weapon/member until the begining of the next round, stopping the opponent using the item or moving. Now slower fighters have a chance of winning for a change and it goes someway to negating the advantage that Two Handed weapons are given by my earlier rule.
Shields
There are three 'weights' for shields:
Light = 10 AP
Average = 14 AP
Heavy = 18 AP
and three sizes :
Small = Buckler
Medium = Targe or Heater
Large = Kite, Viking or Hoplite
Small shields provide missile protection for the shield arm and one other location specified by the player, medium shields protect the shield arm and two contiguous locations while a large shields protect the shield arm and three contiguous locations.
Thus, the final shield table is :
Small Medium Large
Light = 1.0 enc 2.0 enc 3.0enc
Average = 1.5enc 3.0enc 4.5enc
Heavy = 4.0enc 5.0enc 7.0enc
All shields are APx2 vs projected weapons, but projected weapons may no longer be dodged.
Armour
(I make armour, and the armour lists don't look right to me. I can make maille, plate, leather or brigandine in any scale of protection needed, so giving them a set value looks just wrong. Plate came in several varieties during the Middle Ages, 'demi-parve' was pistolproof and 'parve' was carbine proof, these armours were very heavy.)
Two of the most important technological breakthroughs in the ancient world were the introduction of the stirrup and horse collar. Unfortunately, they both came very late in the period and are not really suitable for the classic bronze age setting.
The Stirrup
While it has been established now that the stirrup may not have been quite the wonder weapon it has always assumed to be, due to investigation of the design of some Roman saddles, it still made the cavalryman supreme on the battlefield until Pike and Shot were introduced in the late middle ages. I personally feel that the stirrup has little place in the Lunar Empire (except Carmania), Maniria and the Wastes. It definitely is the basis for the Knightly classes supremacy in the west and is probably optional in Kralorela
What this means, is that a horsman operating without a stirrup can not use his mounts damage bonus when attacking with a lance. He can still control the mount with his knees however.
The Horse Collar
A vital piece of technology, a horse has difficulty pulling loads unless it has a rigid collar to push against. But these weren't invented in the East until 500AD, pretty well out of the classic setting, and it was the development of the horse collar that allowed the agricultural revolution of the Middle Ages. The Romans had a law protecting horses stating that they were not permitted to pull loads in excess of about 500kg, something a draft horse can accomplish with ease in a horse collar.
The ramifications of this simple devise are huge. Oxen are now required to pull loads because they can use the Yoke, and oxen are slow and have soft feet which means they should not be worked for more than five hours at a stretch. Their feet were not shoed (at the time) so they could not move quickly but they could pull vast loads compared to horses and mules. An ox team pulling a load has a ground speed of about 2mph (3.2kp/h), but don't require complicated harnesses. Just a yoke, whip and goad.
Horses can only pull light vehicles because a breast-harness (the only harness really available) squeezes their chest and 'cuts the wind'. Thus horses are not going to tow any load much bigger than a chariot. For details on pack mules, go to the Creatures page.
It's probably worth noting that getting better than 1mph on ancient roads (but not Roman roads) was considered pretty good at the time! If you're going up a hill, you'd better have a lot of willing 'pushers' though, especially in the mud.
What is good about oxen though, is that two of them can haul a load of about 6500kg + the weight of the wagon and a carter! That's a huge hauling capacity for the time.
While the �Greek Trader� and the �Large Cog� are very useful, intermediate ships are needed as well, these two have been extrapolated from the above two ships to maintain game balance.
Greek Trader Small Cog Medium Cog Large Cog
Seaworthiness 18 21 23 28
Length 14m 16.5m 19m 24m
Freeboard 0.5m 1.5m 2m 4m
Hull Quality 2d6 (2/12) 2d6+1 (3/13) 2d6+2 (4/14) 2d6+4 (6/16)
Structure 30 36 55 80
Cargo Capacity 7 tons 23 tons 40 tons 75 tons
Crew 2 8 14 25
Beam 4m 4.75m 5.5m 7m
Draft 2.5m 2.75m 3m 3.5m