Martial Arts Combat Maneuvers for Mongoose Runequest 2

One of the recognized shortcomings of MRQ2 is that there isn't really a good way to reflect unarmed Martial Arts. Here's one idea, to allow a special set of combat maneuvers to those who are trained in a Martial Arts combat style. I'd be grateful for any comments or critiques.

Break Neck (Critical Only) – On a successful attack to the head only, the attacker may undertake an opposed test of Brawn skills with the defender. If successful, the attacker immediately inflicts a Major Wound on the defender’s head [Note – this is a devastating attack, and hence is difficult to inflict – the attacker must get a critical hit, hit the head and win a brawn v brawn opposed test]

Choke – in the event of an attacker establishing a grapple to the head or chest (see p.92), the attacker may choose this combat maneuver to attempt to asphyxiate the defender. The defender must make an opposed Resilience roll against the original attack roll or start to asphyxiate (see p. 54). The defender must continue to make resilience checks every round against the original attack roll or take damage, until they slip free or the attacker drops the grapple.

Jump Kick – using this combat maneuver the attacker may roll 1d10+10 for hit location rather than 1d20. No grapple may be established. EDIT: In addition to damage inflicted, the attack also counts as a Leaping Attack (p.91) but may affect targets up to the attacker's SIZx2. The Opposed Test is the defender's Evade vs. the original attack roll.

Slam Tackle – this combat maneuver is a variant of Bash useable only on an unarmed charge. The effects are as Bash except as follows: the defender must make a difficult Athletics skill test to avoid falling prone (hard if knocked into an object), and if the defender does fall, the attacker falls with them unless they succeed in an Acrobatics check. The attacker may establish a grapple, as usual.

Spin Kick – using this combat maneuver, the attacker delivers a devastating kick attack. The attacker may roll 2d3 plus Damage Modifier for damage. No grapple may be established.

Throw (attack and defense) – a combatant may use this Combat Maneuver to throw an opponent in a powerslam, judo throw or other such maneuver. The combatant defending against the maneuver must succeed in a test of Brawn against the original successful attack or parry or be thrown 1d3m, taking falling damage if appropriate. The thrown party will be prone unless they succeed in an Acrobatics test.

Found Items

The Golden Rhino of Mapungubwe - could easily be a Found Item!

Found Items were a curious form of random additional "treasure" found in early Runequest scenarios. In each room description, there was a percentage chance of a Found Item that could be revealed by a Spot Hidden roll in a full search of the room. Some of the items were useless, some powerful, but all intriguing.

For instance, two of the Found Items from Snakepipe Hollow show how the flavor of the typical table:

"4. An arm of a small statue. The arm is 30 cm long, magical and made of copper. The arm is very old and is heavily tarnished so that it is totally green. If the arm touches the bare skin of a person with a disease, it will cure him. The arm can only cure 1 disease per week and after curing 4 more diseases, it will have used up all its power and it will fall to pieces."

"15. A shredded leather jerkin, covered with old blood."

Each of the Found Items could be an adventure seed or plot item in its own right. Do the Chalanna Arroy Sisters revere the statue arm? What statue did it come from? If it can be identified, would restoring the arm to the original statue have extra magical effects? Who did the jerkin belong to? What happened to him? Is it a warning? And so on.

So here is a table of Found Items for Openquest, designated as Open Game Content under the Open Game License, reproduced below under the break.

1. A rusted and pitted iron sword blade. It radiates faint magic. This was once a magic sword like the Holy Sword of Zunder, but it has been buried and ill-treated long enough that the magic has worn off. If it is cleaned and given a hilt, it will act as a brittle long sword, doing 1d8-2 damage and has a 25% chance of breaking on a successful parry. It will, however, store up to 4 magic points if filled.
2. A bag of beans. If cooked and eaten, they are exceptionally tasty. If planted, they will grow into Kuragu plants, sacred to healing cults. The leaves of the Kuragu plant will automatically stop bleeding when used with the Healing skill.
3. A pamphlet written in an obscure dialect of a local language that describes some interesting techniques for unarmed combat. Anyone studying it for a week uninterrupted can add +10% to their Unarmed Combat skill.
4. A well-folded, magnificent, silken woman's dress, of the latest style, worth at least 1000SP. It has a small cut in the back that could have been made with a knife, but there is no blood, nor any sign of whoever was wearing it.
5. Three tiny gold figurines - a rhino, a stag and a polar bear. They appear to be worth 100SP for the set, but a critical Trade roll will reveal them to be of exceptional interest to a collector who, if she can be found, will pay 10,000SP for them.
6. An ornate-looking bronze helmet with a horsehair plume. The helmet is strongly reinforced, giving +1 Armor Points to any armor suit.
7. Half a bronze breastplate, obviously from the same armor set as the helmet in 6, but cut in half by a remarkably clean blow.
8. A map of the surrounding area, in great detail, but about a hundred years out of date.
9. What looks like the fossilized remains of a large octopus, wrapped around an impossibly old harpoon.
10. A strange wooden bat, actually an implement used in an Elvish game not unlike cricket.
11. A human finger, clearly bitten off.
12. Two brass coins, each worth a quarter of a Copper Piece.
13. Seventy-five marks carved into the wall, as if counting the passage of time.
14. A skeletal hand protruding from the earthen floor. Digging deeply enough will reveal a full skeleton reaching out of the ground. It is unclear, except perhaps to a critical Natural Lore roll, whether the skeleton was buried like this or whether it was trying to dig its way out.
15. A terracotta pot, sealed with a set of a magical symbols. If opened, there is a rushing sound, but all it contains is a bunch of rocks.
16. A set of very heavy shackles and chains. All the shackles are locked. There is no key.
17. A wolfskin cape.
18. A velvet pouch in poor condition. Inside are what looks like pulverized gemstones.
19. A note written on human skin. It discusses a plot to assassinate someone who has the same name as one of the party.
20. Inside a broken statue head is a gold-plated tongue. If used to replace the tongue of someone who has lost theirs, it will allow them to speak again. The recipient can speak 1d3 additional languages but may no longer speak the words of sorcery spells.

Rules Framework: The Making of the Storm Tribe Heroquest

Image from King of Dragon Pass: Buy it!

As indicated in the previous post, for each station the Orlanth substitute must make a choice of which of the three main Orlanthi tenets to follow: NCMYDA (No one can make you do anything), VIAAO (Violence is always an option) or TIAAW (There is always another way).  To successfully complete the Heroquest, the player must succeed in demonstrating each of these tenets at least once.

I allowed other PCs to accompany the main quester as disembodied "spiritual advisers."  They could augment the quester's skills with their critical range of the appropriate skill and cast magic where appropriate (sorcery at a -20% disadvantage owing to this being a divine quest.)

FMTSE = Failure means try something else (ie choose another option).  In the event of failing all three options, the quester falls out of the Heroquest and suffers the Backlash indicated.  Backlash effects are permanent until erased by a successful Orlanthi heroquest.

I ran this myth under MRQ1 rules.  I'd put the Mythic Resonance at 60% to reflect the 6 stages, but it could be upped by the addition of more stages for more powerful questers.  Each additional stage should reflect having to convince another skeptical god.  Whenever a roll needs to be opposed, used 60% as the resistance, therefore, or more if you have added more stages.

Shallek-za-Kuza’an

When the Outsiders came to Ehlaar, they brought with them seedlings of Kuza’an-ne-Qarzenn, the “tree-that-is-the-sinews-of-the-Infinite.”  These seedlings grew into trees, heavily guarded in the courtyards that form the holy places of the church of the Infinite.  From branches of the trees are carved the Shallek-za-Kuza’an, which the Natives style “wands.”  Without a wand, a follower of the Infinite can use the Infinite’s power only in its raw form, as an immediate burst of power.  In game terms, a sorcerer cannot use the Manipulation skill without a wand in his or her hand.  This practically restricts the magician to the use of one-handed weapons if they wish to use magic in combat.

Wands range in size from the standard size of about a foot to great staffs wielded by the Zilaths and Pa-Zilaths of the cult/empire.  The Qarmezinn-Pa-Zilath, the “Grand Theosophist” of the Outsider Empire, bore one carved from the wood of the Kuza’an-ne-Qarzenn itself.  In game terms, larger wands give bonuses to the Manipulation skill.

A follower of the Infinite is traditionally given a wand at initiation.  However, the number of wands is decreasing since the fall of the Outsider Empire.  Sometimes a new initiate may be required to find a wand as a condition of initiation.  The Queendom of Gla and various other jurisdictions despise Outsiders so much that they ritually burn wands when they find them.  On the other hand, the Caravan Lords may have started stockpiling them, knowing that they can extract Outsider gold for them.