Secrets of Melanda Part 1: Runescience

"From my old website Dedicated to turning Melanda into a Herogames type game."

The following is an except from a Role Playing Game called Melanda. It defined a standard of
roleplaying for me and my friends. Ive played it successfully at cons and run it at home over the years.

Exact info: Melanda: land of mystery (c) 1991 John Corradin and Lee McCormic. If you find any info on Melanda on the web, strytelr@home.com, and thanks.

These rules dont have a Fantasy Hero (tm) equivalent. You will need to look through these rules and the Summoning Rules and come up with a Fantasy hero equivalent
 

Magic!

Basic Rune Science

One of the most common science practiced by beginning players is BASIC RUNE SCIENCE.

Rune science is not magic. It is based on the science of the world. In our world we have power, lighting and cars, way too many cars, but in Melanda, the physical science also include Runes.  This is why we don't call it Rune magic. Simple enough

Everything has a rune. Every one is considered to have a rune or two. It's not as secretive as magic, but it does require training.  The rules them selves are pretty common, but they require a special sort of power training to activate. This is why the average person only knows a handful. That person usually only uses his rune in his occupation.  In a story telling heroic style game like Melanda, players are special and as such they can learn to excel at runescience.


Since it is a science, similar to the way biologists classify species and families, Runescience practioners name Runes.   Type name is important, (e.g. "tree".). Specific names enhance the power of such, (e.g."oak tree"). In a nutshell Rune science(RS) is the study of symbols and how combining them thru the power of names can cause the magical effect.

Course of study:

Runescience as with other skills in Melanda, are purchased as years of study.  You have a certain number slots you can fill during your years of study, and those study subjects are cleverly converted to STATS by your Game master  carefully guard behind a screen so as not to give away the secret of stat creation.  I ll get to that later on in the blog.

1st year: During this year of servitude the rune scholar is introduced to the basic precepts of rune magic.  Included is general information regard the systematic use of runes to alter reality. 25% success base. 1-6 runes

2nd year: This year is spend int serious study in which the student concentrates on becoming one with
himelf and the world. This is neccessary in order to tap the aurathat surrounds all and allows its  incorporation into a rune. 35% success base. 2-12 runes.


3rd year: Rune development and use highlight the 3rd and final year of study. It is here that the actual construction of runes is taught. 45% success base. 4 to 24 runes.

Use of Runes:  

Non combat situations

Player should indicate which runes, in what order, for what purpose, length of preparation, and any past successful experiences.

Combat situations

In the intention phase the rune scholar need only declare that he is going to attempt to apply his science and which runes he is going to use. Later, when the magical manifestation phase arrives he must announce the order in which he placed the runes, the intended purpose, the length of preparation and any previous successful experiences.

The character must visually display the runes used and he must concentrate on the runes, thinking about the stated manifestations intended. This must include at least a noun and a verb read from left to right.

CAUTION: The use of more than one verb or some other patterns of arrangement should not be attempted for it may prove disastrous.

Nouns

human	dwarf	elf	forest	elf	water	elf
animal	plant	flower	tree	spirit	earth	water
future	past	present	liquid	hand	sun	moon
star	life	death	wood	stone	flood	atir
fire	friend	enemy	oil	weapon	pain	disease
disunity	box	book	horse	house	road	apparel
rider	rock	river	mountain	shield	rain	bird
blood	sea	fish	beast

Verbs
abort	alter	animate	begin	bind	counter	construct
decay	cure	disappear	drop	embody	encircle	enchant
enlarge	locate	forget	deter	ignite	cause	open
repel	remember	release	remove	strike	summon	entangle
reduce	transmute	destry	hasten	understand	close	purify
dissipate	change	disrupt	am	have	can(could)	will(would)
shall (should)	move	run	walk	diminish	know	discover
relate

Modifiers
male	female	hot	cold	hard	soft	sharp
small	tall	short	first	last	black	white
beautiful	hideous	strong	quickly	slowly	here	there
back	front	silent	noisy	now	blue	red
yellow	quietly	immediately	large	weak	unknown	dull

Transitional Words
and	above	below	besides	between	up	down
for	from	to	on	at	with	across
before	after	except	in	by	of	also
either	or	neither	nor	*pluralize

Runscience in action

A sea captain with 3 years of runscience study finds his vessel under attack by a vicious viper fish. He
announces his intention to apply his science using the following runs:
REDUCE, LARGE, FISH

His 3 years of study give him a 55% success base plus 15% for 3 years as a practitioner plus 5 pecent for
5% of preparation. The gm awards a 10% bonus because he has used this combination before.

We will cover summoning in the next blog.