So, I'm kind of leery of interpreting too much into Mathilde's attitude towards children. Because my life is very different from hers, but I have pretty much the same attitude. To the point I had to pause and think "is this something I know she thinks, or do I just believe it myself". The above post originally was a little longer, adding that children are annoying and kind of dumb but at least they have the excuse of being children, so Mathilde doesn't hold it against them. And I assume Mathilde thinks that, but I don't know so it got deleted. But I do think that, and it kind of got mixed in there.
Point is, Mathilde's opinion on children can just exist completely independent of other stuff, and it doesn't have to mean more than that she just doesn't like children all that much.
Aw yes. Everything that is not Warhammer 40k is not Warhammer 40k enough. Fuck off, GW. And take that fake Ghal Maraz bullshit with you, while you are at it.
Ironically, I think the quote is mistaken in saying the Empire isn't innovative; it's discussing advancement, instead. The Dwarfs have a lot of neat stuff not becuase they develop it faster but because they've had millennia longer to develop it.
I don't think we need to dig all that deep.
Theres so much to unpack from that parentification post that I don't know where to begin.
If instead we make a venn diagram of everything Mathilde likes and of everything child related, wheres the overlap. Is there a reason we would expect Mathilde to like children except for an assumed default that she should like them?
I don't think we need to dig all that deep.
Theres so much to unpack from that parentification post that I don't know where to begin.
If instead we make a venn diagram of everything Mathilde likes and of everything child related, wheres the overlap. Is there a reason we would expect Mathilde to like children except for an assumed default that she should like them?
I don't think we need to dig all that deep.
Theres so much to unpack from that parentification post that I don't know where to begin.
If instead we make a venn diagram of everything Mathilde likes and of everything child related, wheres the overlap. Is there a reason we would expect Mathilde to like children except for an assumed default that she should like them?
I do think that there's a danger in seeing a woman who doesn't like (or, as often IRL, want) children and defaulting to a narrative of 'Female not conforming to traditional maternal caregiving role? Something Must Be Wrong With Her!'. In Mathilde's case specifically we've seen her go through some horrifying and traumatic stuff at way too young an age and I don't think that it's unreasonable to draw connections between that and her present behaviour and mentalities but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be careful not to unintentionally adopt or reinforce those damaging gendered stereotypes in our framing, myself included.
And Cython would likely have been a lot more straightforward than most would think, possibly more so than any of the traditional romance options, as it has sufficient power to be a simple soul. If presented with an option, it would have evaluated whether it wants to explore that option, and then if it decided it did want to, it would have.
"I've decided I'm going to try this. Wait a month for me to go badger some Cathayans on how to turn into a human form though, it'll be far more convenient than me changing the spatial dimensions of every building we want to go into together."
Aw yes. Everything that is not Warhammer 40k is not Warhammer 40k enough. Fuck off, GW. And take that fake Ghal Maraz bullshit with you, while you are at it.
It was fine in the 1st edition RPG lore. And could have been good taken as a seed for a adventure written with modern lore in mind. But instead they took 1st ed adventure and reprinted it with no adjustment and some paper thin rectons to cover the inconsistencies.
So clearly we need a way for Mathilde to be able to base jump from the Gyrocarriage. Smoke and Mirrors can get her down to the ground, of course, but it doesn't get her down stylishly
A basic level of understanding is covered by her rather high Martial. Indeed, she understands them almost as well as she does Imperial troops, since she also lacks a specific bonus on those (she's very slightly ahead at 1 out of 3 advancement, but it's very slight). As others note, her even greater bonuses against Skaven and Undead are based on the Liber Mortis (a book most notable for being easily understood and its lessons applied easily), and she has not experienced or read anything properly equivalent for Orcs.
I do think that there's a danger in seeing a woman who doesn't like (or, as often IRL, want) children and defaulting to a narrative of 'Female not conforming to traditional maternal caregiving role? Something Must Be Wrong With Her!'. In Mathilde's case specifically we've seen her go through some horrifying and traumatic stuff at way too young an age and I don't think that it's unreasonable to draw connections between that and her present behaviour and mentalities but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be careful not to unintentionally adopt or reinforce those damaging gendered stereotypes in our framing, myself included.
Theres drawing direct connections between things that are evidenced.
Then there is supposing further hypothetical trauma in order to explain things that can be explained without the need to invoke deeper meanings.
I mean we do agree that there are real humans who both do not like children and also did not have traumatic childhoods?
People who dislike children because they tend to be noisy, or they tend to need a lot of attention, or they haven't learned common social cues and behaviours, or they can only garble half sentences whereas your fur baby speaks fluent magic and can hunt for themselves?
This doesn't mean the trauma theory is wrong... it just means that occams razor tends to cut them out before we assume that Mat just doesn't like kids because.
I liked reading the earlier "take on the thread" from @Morrowlark and wanted to contribute my own, because this story is something I've reread a few times and evangelized to several friends, but I've never really expressed my appreciation here. @Boney Divided Loyalties opened my eyes to a new kind of storytelling and you in particular have done an amazing job showing what can be done with the genre, and it's been part of the inspiration for my own writing.
A few years ago I started immersing myself in web fiction of all kinds. I read some of the big stories, got pointed here and loved the quest. I very genuinely rank it as a top contender in all of web fiction. I shared this quest with my partner, we read it aloud together and now we wait to read any new updates until we can find the time to do it together.
At some point in my general reading journey I started writing. That's the wonder of the web serial, it no longer feels so impossible to start doing on your own as a hobby the way it does for published books. I wrote an isekai LitRPG that started as a web serial and is now published. It's doing pretty well. I'm taking a break between writing books 5 & 6 of that story and have started my own quest as a bit of a palate cleanser, and it's a blast.
It's fair to say I've been bitten by the writing bug, and this quest shares some of the praise/blame for that because of two unique things it does extremely well. Both of which contribute to the feeling of verisimilitude that permeates this story and gives it a ton of charm and weight. These are things I've spent some effort thinking about because I want to learn how to achieve the same effects in my own writing.
The first is the way the dice are integrated into the story to create an emergent narrative. In almost every other story everything happens for a reason. Things don't "just happen." But in Questing, they do - and the writing of Divided Loyalties is really quite excellent in that regard. The example off the top of my head is during the early K8P when the goblins from the forest of gloom were a legitimate danger that was completely nullified by a set of dice rolls that resulted in a very amusing and totally reasonable outcome of all of the goblins getting eaten by spiders. And then when Mathilde tried to capitalize on that for more dwarf rep with a permanently enchanted horn she rolled atrociously and wasted the opportunity in a similarly hilarious matter. Sometimes shit happens, and it's not always maximally dramatic or meaningful. But that makes the good shit land better by contrast.
Because - as you mentioned, big accomplishments need to feel earned. When Mathilde deleted a Waaagh with a single spell, that victory was earned. Not only did the preparation take work, but the process was written out in great detail and double 6's were rolled for rewards of that work. And then a divine intervention roll was won. The whole process made the triumph feel even better, even more earned. Repeat for the other great victories - they all make total sense, they all feel earned and it's easy to imagine any of them going a different way, from Drakenhof to Karak Vlag to "All Eight." This isn't a story where I can imagine no other outcome than the protagonist's victory, and that's powerful - and sometimes Mathilde loses due to circumstances inside or outside of her control. That's life, and it makes for an engaging story.
The second thing that makes Divided Loyalties special is just how much it's a living, breathing world. I'm a scientist in my day job and I include a lot of that in my stories. It's one of the strong points of my writing. I don't know what Boney's background is, but it's the perfect blend of historian, etymologist, theologist, and economist for fantasy writing. There's a blogger named Bret Devereaux who has a ton of amazing posts on fantasy worldbuilding that I recommend to everybody who wants to write fantasy, and all I can say is that Boney doesn't need them. Everything from the intricacies of coinage to the emergence of a new patois, the aforementioned slowness of army travel and dependence on logistics, trade driving so much of politics and diplomacy. It all contributes to contextualize the story and make victories feel more impactful because you see the effects radiate outwards along previously established systems. The occasional Boney post explaining the setting OOC also helps. I'm always here to hear about the pragmatic reasons you'd want professionals rowing your galleys over slaves.
But none of this is free. All of it comes with a lot of effort and thought, and that's ultimately the thing that brings everything together to make Divided Loyalties shine. Things have been thought through, and that's a high bar for a fantasy world. (Especially one where it's kind of clear that some of the people who originally made it didn't put in that level of thought.)
Anyways. That was longer than I meant it to be, and now I've gotta go write my own quest update. But cheers for the story!
I'm very sure that there have been writers at GW who are very dedicated and knowledgeable and brought that to the setting when they worked on it. Warhammer Fantasy has been around for 40 years, it's seen a lot of writers.
While obviously a lot of the quest has been Boney's own invention, you'd be surprised how much groundwork had already been done. Particularly from Roleplay.
I'm very sure that there have been writers at GW who are very dedicated and knowledgeable and brought that to the setting when they worked on it. Warhammer Fantasy has been around for 40 years, it's seen a lot of writers.
While obviously a lot of the quest has been Boney's own invention, you'd be surprised how much groundwork had already been done. Particularly from Roleplay.
That's very fair, and I shouldn't disparage it overmuch. I'm not super-familiar with the background of Warhammer Fantasy, and it would be impossible for them to not contradict themselves a lot with that many writers. But in my exposure to the setting, a lot of what's out there tends to wave away practicalities in favor of drama and grimdark.
I'd also like to put in my two cents, because I've said it before but I love how amazingly grounded this quest has managed to make magic while still making it undeniably magic. Over and over we get to see how a concept entirely foreign to real life manages to define and change a setting and empire so deeply human. How fast does magic move? How do you command a legion of easily controlled but tactically slow undead? How can you feel the touch of a god? How do a people of magic define its workings, and how do a people opposed to magic think of it as a force to grapple with? How do entities born of mortal fear and thought think, what are their drives, their desires, their fundamental natures as beings made of magic? While maybe its comprehensibility has led to it losing a bit of its canon danger and unreliability over time, I think this quest has really made the setting its own in fascinating ways I can never really stop thinking about.
Chapter 5 of the Dwarf Player's Guide, the runesmithing chapter.
Pages 121 and 122 cover some of the reasons for the gradual loss of runesmithing knowledge among the dwarves.
Dwarf runesmithing is a waning practice. As more Dwarfs die without passing on their knowledge, said knowledge is being lost to the next generations. [...]
Runesmiths do not share the knowledge of their craft even between other Dwarfs, with the only exception being their apprentices of the craft. They share the secrets of runecraft by word of mouth alone.
Apprentices
Runesmiths are duty-bound to seek out apprentices to enable them to pass on knowledge of the runes. Some Runesmith craft guilds only admit those who can trace their clan ancestry back to Thungni's apprentices, though some break with tradition and, controversially, simply seek those with the right mix of talent and dedication. Such practices have become more common in recent decades, with some Runesmiths grumbling that the old ways are precisely why there are so few apprentices, and why so much knowledge has been lost.
I wonder where Thorek falls under here. Canon presents him as the conservative's conservative, but he also has a buttload of apprentices that's usually the mark of a progressive. Continuing on with the knowledge loss...
All influential craft guilds are subject to often bitter disagreements, and the Guild of Runesmiths is no different. Arguments between different Runesmith clans, and with other guilds, is common. There is often also heated debate on whether or not a particular candidate would make a suitable apprentice and, more rarely and more bitterly, whether a particular Runesmith would make an acceptable master. These disagreements and feuds are another contributing factor to the slow loss of knowledge that afflicts the Guild, but, like many Dwarfs, most Runesmiths are stubborn, and so this obvious and existential threat goes unremedied.
You do not share runecraft with peers ever, you do not write things down, tradition limits the number of people who can learn rune magic, and factionalism further interferes with the taking of apprentices.
Despite that one quote from Kragg saying that temporary runes aren't a thing, page 122 gives us different standards for giving away items based on if they've got permanent or temporary runes.
There are strict laws about the creation and possession of runic items, although they can differ from hold to hold. Items inscribed with permanent runes may not be sold to or created for any Dwarf without a Runelord's permission. Creating an item for a non-Dwarf must also have the authority of the leader of the hold.
This information on the owner of an item is recorded in the records of the guild, and some guilds record the deeds of the item. Many holds retain notional ownership of all items created there, deeding them to the owner for a certain number of years or, occasionally, generations.
This has led to friction with certain noble houses, who were angered to find a Dwarf emissary on their door demanding the return of what, to them, was a hallowed family heirloom.
Items with temporary runes have less restriction. Although Runesmiths are charged to create even these lesser items only for proven friends of the Dwarfs, the definition of 'friend' is sometimes interpreted quite widely, particularly in the Empire.
I think now we have another clear demarcation line between master rune and normal rune: normal runes don't need Anvils of Doom to make.
Next we get this bit of culture:
Runesmiths see the anvil as representing the mind of the hold, and the forge its heart. This is not a view that everyone agrees with, particularly the other craft guilds who, though they may hold their tongue in public, sometimes see Runesmiths as an arrogant and self-aggrandising lot. This tension occasionally turns to barroom violence between rival apprentices. Recently, a senior jewel smith grandmaster at Karak Azul was chastised for encouraging attacks on Runesmith apprentices in response to an insult he had received.
Good, nerds need to be bullied or else they forget their place.
Page 123 gets us this little bit of politics.
The most senior Runesmiths have their own workshops. The entrances are guarded by Dwarfs sworn to the guild, and only members and escorted guests are allowed to enter. Some holds allow the rulers of the hold to enter unescorted, but not all, and this is usually an indication of a tense relationship.
The page then gives us this interesting new bit of detail on runesmith workshops.
A SEAL UNBROKEN
Unknown to outsiders, and even to most Runesmiths who do not hold the title of Runelord, forges used for runesmithing must sometimes be dismantled, their every stone sealed away deep beneath the craft guild. This occurs when a forge becomes corrupted by the touch of chaos — a rare event, and one which seems to trouble only the oldest forges. Some suspect this is because the practice of runesmithing imposes order on chaotic magic, and the essence of corruption this expels slowly builds up over millennia, often leading to strange occurrences.
We've also got some information on Anvils of Doom that paints a little bit of a picture.
These large anvils are said to have been created by the Runelord Kurgaz and his descendants, under Thunder Mountain, using the energy of the volcano's heart to forge the rare metal gromnil into shape. Each Anvil was inscribed with numerous runes, many of which are long forgotten. The Anvils were spread amongst the holds and given to the Runesmith craft guilds to guard, although many now say that their craft guild owns them.
Anvils of Doom aren't a relic from the time of the Ancestor Gods; they were invented by a random runelord during the Empire's lifetime, as gromril - which is needed to make them - was only discovered in 657 IC. (How did they make master runes before that?) The wiki says Kragg struck his first rune in 892 IC, so might be he still knows how to make them. The reason why many holds have Anvils of Doom isn't because of family tree descendance, it's because they were given away for other people to guard.
Imperial Dwarf access to Anvils of Doom is fairly dire.
Those craft guilds that claim ownership (temporarily or not) of an anvil strictly control access to them. Outsiders to the clan must petition the senior members of the clan. Access is rarely refused outright, but the times are restricted or not given for months or years. While some of this reflects the use of a limited resource, the clan allocate based on relationship to the clan, the honour it will bring, the need for the item, or hold politics; with Dwarfs of the Empire always feeling like the poor cousins.
[...]
The anvil of Karak Drazh was lost at the battle of Red Water shortly before the hold fell, and its use on that day is now a byword for foolishness. Rumours circulate that this relic is now in the hands of Imperial Dwarfs living in the Empire, hidden because of their frustration at the lack of easy access to other anvils.
Page 124 has something that sounds a bit like DL's Dwarf Favour.
Simply asking a Runesmith to create an item is unlikely to work, and the process of gaining their cooperation is rarely straightforward. Runesmiths see their craft as a blessing from the Ancestor Gods, and so coin alone will not suffice as payment. Characters may be asked to do some service for the Dwarf or their hold and will need to prove why they are worthy to carry such an item.
Many magisters and Witch Hunters have tried to make the case that it is an unlicensed magical art and should be outlawed. Few have enough experience of the practice to recognise that it is less dangerous than most magical practices, and would likely not care even if they did. However, most of the Empire's ruling class recognise that it would be politically ruinous to challenge this ancient Dwarf custom, especially when so many of the Empire's own symbols of office and magical weapons — the vaunted Runefangs of the Elector Counts among them — are the product of this craft.
Christ. You know it's bad when the nobles are the voice of reason.
Page 125
If you don't have your own Workshop, you can work in your mentor's forge, or request access to a peer's Workshop as a Minor Favour (WFRP Core Rulebook).
Sharing workshops is done, but it's something done as a favour.
Rule of Three
No runic item can be inscribed with more than three runes. Unless the crafter is possessed of a once-in-a-generation talent, all Tests to inscribe a fourth rune onto an item automatically fail.
Looks like four-rune items can exist, it just requires a once-in-a-generation talent, so there's maybe what, three, four such runesmiths that can be alive at any one time?
Turns out there's a radical youth culture runesmith secret society.
THE SILENT SIBLING
When Thungni handed down the secrets of the runes to his apprentices, they left to form the original Runesmith Clans and craft guilds. One apprentice was lost to history, and some speculate that this is because of a deliberate effort some time in the past to obscure their fate. The lost apprentice became known as the Silent Sibling, although it is not clear why. Rumours of this Runesmith run through the centuries, telling of secret knowledge, forbidden cults, or a refined and more powerful form of Runesmithing.
The Silent Sibling is often evoked by those who want to lend legitimacy to actions outside of mainstream Dwarf culture. Groups of failed apprentices, believing themselves deprived of their birthright by haughty Runelords, sometimes meet in secret. These groups style themselves as apprenticed to the Silent Sibling, and put to use what little they do know in crafting runes and items of uncertain power. They are ever in search of more knowledge about their craft, though any Runemaster in good standing would know enough to keep well enough away from such desperate Dwarfs.
You can add runes to an item that already has runes, provided that the other rules are followed.
There's also rules for bending the Rule of Form.
Runesmiths seldom experiment with new uses for their craft, but if a Character wants to bend the Rule of Form slightly — e.g. affixing a weapon rune to a spear, a talismanic rune to a cloak, or an engineering rune to a flame cannon — the GM may allow them to proceed with a negative modifier on their Runesmithing Tests.
And now we get to something silly, the Rule of Pride.
Outside of their apprenticeship, Runesmiths do not like to repeat their work, or imitate the works of others. If a runic item is within 100 yards of another runic item bearing the same combination of runes — including items that both bear the same single rune — then only the oldest runic item continues to function. All other imitators are rendered inert, deactivating their runes until the duplicate runic item is at least 100 yards away.
This was a mechanic in the wargame for gameplay reasons, it's not good as an in-universe restriction. The Rule of Jealousy has the same problem, where identical master runes don't work if they're within 100 yards of each other.
Pages 127-132 are a list of runes you can smith. There's a bunch of new ones that aren't in Realms of Sorcery or Dwarfs in 8e, though unlike the ones in Dwarfs, there's no pictures to go along with them. I'll post the new ones from each category, one of the ones from Dwarfs to compare them to at the top of each category*, and other runes I think are interesting. The formatting is a mixed back. The book organises the runes first by category and then by normal vs master, which is better than Realms of Sorcery's strictly alphabetical, but then the book fails to add alphabetical order as a third layer. I'll be organising the runes as the book does to make it easier to reference.
*For some context, the Runesmithing Test to make normal runes is Challenging (+0), while for master runes it's Hard (-20).
Rune of Cleaving
SLs Required: 10
The weapon inflicts +1 Damage for each Rune of Cleaving.
Rune of Retribution
SLs Required: 12
Any Critical Wounds inflicted by this weapon may add +20 to rolls on a Critical Wound table for each Rune of Retribution.
Rune of Cutting
SLs Required: 10
When attacking with this weapon, you may ignore 2 APs of armour per Rune of Cutting on successful hits.
Rune of Daunting
SLs Required: 14
Whilst this weapon is drawn, you gain the Fear Creature Trait (WFRP Core Rulebook). Your Fear Rating is equal to the number of Runes of Daunting. If you already have a Fear Rating, increase by +1 for each Rune of Daunting.
Rune of Fire
SLs Required: 16
Once drawn, the weapon's blade bursts into flames, providing 20 yards of illumination, and inflicting 1 Ablaze Condition on enemies it inflicts damage upon. A weapon with two or three Runes of Fire can be used to make ranged attacks using Ballistic Skill, with a Range equal to the wielder's Willpower Bonus, and the Blast 4 Quality. This attack deals no Damage, but inflicts 1 Ablaze Condition for each Rune of Fire.
Master Rune of Alaric the Mad
SLs Required: 30
Any attacks made by this weapon ignore the target's AP, the target's armour Qualities, and any other benefits provided by the target's armour.
-The Rune of Dismay from Dwarfs isn't in this book. Dismay functions identically to Daunting at the first rune, but has different effects on the second and third runes: Terror on the second, Leadership debuff on the third.
-The Rune of Fire is actually good in this book simply because of how fire works differently in the two game systems; in the wargame it just stops regeneration, while in the DPG it actually sets your targets on fire, which is a big advantage.
-The Master Rune of Alaric the Mad got a glowup. It doesn't just ignore armour, it also ignores all other benefits of that armour, so armour-based magical protection is ineffective too. Interestingly, and annoyingly, it emulates how the rune is different in Dwarfs and The Empire; the DPG's version doesn't ignore Toughness Bonus, while the runefang in the Altdorf book does (and specifically says it's because it bears the Master Rune of Alaric the Mad).
Here's something from the description of armour runes.
Armour runes can only be forged upon a Gromril Suit (page 95).
There's no gromril restriction for weapons, it's just for armour. Does this mean that armour runes didn't exist before 657 IC or was it a new rule introduced since then? Or maybe it's just an artefact from an earlier edition of Warhammer that doesn't really fit anymore.
Rune of Stone
SLs Required: 10
The armour gains +1 AP for each Rune of Stone. Suits with one or more Runes of Stone, and no other runes, are exempt from the Rule of Pride — they continue to function even if identical suits of runic armour enters 100 yards.
Rune of Force
SLs Required: 14
Whilst wearing this armour, if you make a successful Melee attack as part of a Charge, you inflict bonus Damage for each Rune of Impact equal to the APs of your most armoured location.
Rune of Fortitude
SLs Required: 14
Whilst wearing this armour, you increase your Toughness by +10 for each Rune of Fortitude. Rumours that armour bearing a Rune of Fortitude eventually become sentient are purely speculative.
Rune of Resistance
SLs Required: 12
Whilst wearing this armour, you gain +10 for each Rune of Resistance on Tests to Oppose an incoming Melee attack.
Rune of Iron
SLs Required: 12
Whilst wearing this armour, you gain +2 Wounds for each Rune of Iron. These Wounds are lost when the armour is removed, which can trigger a Critical Wound for a severely injured Character.
Master Rune of Steel
SLs Required: 20
Whilst wearing this armour, you can only suffer a maximum of 10 Wounds from any instance when Damage is inflicted.
-The Rune of Force is similar to Dwarfs' Rune of Impact in that it's a bonus to charging, and I'm honestly not sure what the difference is.
-The Rune of Fortitude is still rumoured to develop an AI. I'm not sure why that rumour exists or how it'd develop an AI.
-The Rune of Iron doesn't provide regen at three runes like in Dwarfs, and the idea of getting wounded by taking off your armour - potentially to death - is funny.
Rune of Warding
SLs Required: 15
Whilst wearing this talisman, you may impose a -10 penalty for each Rune of Warding on attack Tests or spellcasting Tests targeting you.
Rune of Clear Sight
SLs Required: 8
When the talisman is pressed to your eye, you negate any penalties imposed by fog, mist, smoke, or other clouding, non-magical vapours. Two Runes of Clear Seeing also penetrate magical vapours. Three Runes of Clear Seeing allow you to see clearly even in total darkness.
Rune of Truth
SLs Required: 8
The talisman glows brightly if pressed into contact with an item that has been faked, forged, counterfeited, or deliberately degraded in value. Two Runes of Disclosure also identify magical illusions or duplicates. Three Runes of Disclosure reveal the precise method of deception to the bearer.
Rune of Far Sight
SLs Required: 10
When the talisman is pressed to the user's eye, their vision is magnified, allowing them to clearly see events up to a mile away. Two Runes of Farseeing extend vision up to two miles. Three Runes of Farseeing extend vision up to four miles.
Rune of Restoration
SLs Required: 10
After a good night's sleep whilst wearing this talisman, the bearer regains their Toughness Bonus in Wounds for each Rune of Restoration.
Rune of Spellbreaking
SLs Required: 10
Whilst wearing this talisman you may attempt to dispel any spell targeting you or a point you can see within Willpower yards. You oppose the Casting Test by making an Opposed Runesmithing Test. If you win the Opposed Test, you dispel the incoming spell; if you lose, the spell uses the SL of the Opposed Test to determine whether the casting was successful as normal. You can activate each Rune of Spellbreaking once per combat.
Rune of Spelleating
SLs Required: 10
If you successfully dispel a spell using the Rune of Spellbreaking whilst wearing this talisman, the spellcaster cannot attempt the spell again for your Willpower Bonus in Rounds. Two Runes of Spelleating extend this effect to your Willpower Bonus in hours. Three Runes of Spelleating extend this effect to your Willpower Bonus in weeks.
Master Rune of Industry
SLs Required: 20
Whilst wearing this talisman, you may take an extra Endeavour between adventures.
-The Rune of Spelleating is an interesting one. It does nothing by itself; it needs to be used in concert with the Rune of Spellbreaking. That it's got a three-rune effect implicitly requires you to use two different talismans for the job. The Dwarfs version of the Rune of Spellbreaking dispels at one rune and stops casting on the second, like a combination of this book's Spellbreaking and Spelleating.
-Do we have anything we could bribe Boney with to allow the Master Rune of Industry?
Next is protection runes, which aren't called such in Dwarfs. There they're called banner runes and can only be inscribed on banners, but they can be inscribed on other stuff in the DPG. Protection runes have an AoE effect of 6 yards, but if you put them on a banner, the range is 12 yards. Their description gives us some culture lore.
Protection runes can only be forged upon items of communal significance, such as religious icons, ale kegs, war banners, or permanent installations (sculptures, gatehouses, etc.). Their creation blurs the line between craft and ceremony, and is often undertaken by a priest of the Ancestor Gods.
Master Rune of Grungni
SLs Required: 22
You may Reverse any enemy spellcasting Tests made against affected allies.
Rune of Alarm
SLs Required: 8
The runic item emits a loud, blaring noise if any creature of Size Small or larger enters its range of effect. Two Runes of Alarm may instead bellow a pre-recorded sentence. Three Runes of Alarm may instead transmit a pre-recorded telepathic message to the crafter or their closest living descendant, over any distance.
Rune of Discovery
SLs Required: 8
For each Rune of Discovery the runic item has, the crafter may choose a specific metal or gem (e.g. gold, diamond, gromril, iron ore, obsinite, ithilmar, brightstone). The runic item glows brightly if the specified material appears within its range of effect.
Rune of Enemy Detection
SLs Required: 8
For each rune, describe a type of creature — a general creature type (Skaven, obvious Chaos worshippers), or a more specific description (one-eyed women with red hair). When a creature that clearly matches the description enters the range of effect, the rune glows a violent crimson.
Rune of Locking
SLs Required: 6
Any locks within the runic item's range of effect are immune to being picked or forced except by magic or the corresponding key. Two Runes of Locking also protect from magical effects. Three Runes of Locking are proof against the lock's corresponding key — only the crafter, or their closest living descendant, can open the lock at will. A lock may still be bypassed by smashing through the chest or door they protect.
Rune of Purification
SLs Required: 10
Affected allies gain +20 for each Rune of Purification on Tests to resist toxins in air and water.
Rune of Retribution
SLs Required: 8
If a creature violates the sanctity of dead bodies within the runic item's range of effect (e.g. stealing from the dead, casting a necromantic spell), they immediately gain 1 Ablaze Condition for each Rune of Retribution.
Rune of Verminkill
SLs Required: 10
Rodents, Skaven, and rat-based abominations like Rat Ogres lose 2 Wounds for each Rune of Verminkill (ignoring Toughness Bonus and Armour Points) when they enter the runic item's range of effect, or start their Turn within it.
Master Rune of Expel Chaos
SLs Required: 20
Affected allies may Reverse any Test to resist corrupting influences, Tests to avoid mutation from Corruption, and rolls on the Physical and Mental Corruption Tables. In addition, when an affected ally is engaged with a Daemonic enemy that has the Unstable Trait, they count as having +2 Advantage when calculating Wounds lost for being Unstable.
Master Rune of Grimnir
SLs Required: 22
You may Reverse enemy Ranged attack Tests made against affected allies.
Next up we have engineering runes. They can only be put on simple artillery, not handguns, organ guns, or crossbows. No runes can be put on infantry-scale ranged weapons, which is disappointing.
Rune of Burning
SLs Required: 16
A target struck by this weapon gains 1 Ablaze Condition per Rune of Burning.
Rune of Reloading
SLs Required: 12
The weapon reduces its Reload Rating by 2 for each Rune of Reloading. If this would reduce the Rating to 0 or below, the weapon loses the Reload Flaw. Weapons with the Salvo Quality cannot be reduced below Reload Rating 1.
Rune of Seeking
SLs Required: 10
When this weapon attacks a flying enemy, you gain +20 to hit for each Rune of Seeking.
Rune of the Valiant
SLs Required: 10
Dwarfs gain +10 Willpower for each Rune of the Valiant whilst crewing this weapon.
Master Rune of Defence
SLs Required: 20
The weapon's crew always count as being in hard cover, imposing a -30 modifier on Ranged attacks against them.
Master Rune of Disguise
SLs Required: 20
The weapon is invisible to all enemies until it fires, at which point it becomes visible for the rest of the combat. The weapon's crew remain visible as normal, and moving the machine still causes noise.
Master Rune of Skewering
SLs Required: 22
When making a Ranged attack with the weapon, you may activate this rune to count as rolling 01. If the attack succeeds, it also counts as a Critical, and may strike any location you choose. You may activate this rune once per adventure, and must decide to activate it before you roll.
-The Dwarfs version of the Rune of Seeking is called Flakkson's Rune of Seeking, which had the pun.
-I have no clue why the Rune of the Valiant is here. It looks pointless. Maybe it's from some earlier edition army book the author wanted to port over?
-The Master Rune of Disguise is certainly interesting, though a bit finicky; I'm wondering what kinds of circumstances it'd be useful.
Finally there's the doom runes, which is the DPG name for the runes struck on Anvils of Doom in battle (their category is unnamed in Dwarfs). They work basically the same as in Dwarfs.
Overall, the new runes are pretty good! There's a bunch of civiliany/utility runes that you wouldn't get from a wargame, which is exactly the kind of thing you want to see in the TTRPG version of Warhammer.
There's one final thing at the end of the chapter I'd like to quote.
Very occasionally, a sufficiently skilled Runesmith may create a brand new rune. Like all Dwarf institutions, the Runesmith clans view this deviation from ancestral practices with suspicion. All of the great Runelords with master runes named after them had to defy tradition to create their masterworks.
The named master runes aren't merely rediscoveries, they're new creations, as new as any newfangled engineering nonsense. Both vaunted runesmith arch-traditionalists, Kragg and Thorek, have decided to break tradition in their craft.
The chapter to come, chapter 6, will be about dwarf religion. Only 12 pages left, then the book is done.
-The Rune of Fire is actually good in this book simply because of how fire works differently in the two game systems; in the wargame it just stops regeneration, while in the DPG it actually sets your targets on fire, which is a big advantage.
The illumination is also a great prize for a character.
It's a mundane factor, but not being able to see is oppressive. You can barely walk in true darkness, much less fight anything. Torches and lanterns can help, but they're fragile and temporary.
A magical sword that does nothing but glow would be worthwhile because it would pay the price of entry for doing battle against the forces of darkness.
The illumination is also a great prize for a character.
It's a mundane factor, but not being able to see is oppressive. You can barely walk in true darkness, much less fight anything. Torches and lanterns can help, but they're fragile and temporary.
A magical sword that does nothing but glow would be worthwhile because it would pay the price of entry for doing battle against the forces of darkness.
And it's still also a permanently magical sword, so it's by default better than a regular one for bonking ghosts and daemons, even if its magical effect has nothing to do with hitting things.
On the tabletop, flaming attacks also cause fear in a bunch of things (war beasts, cavalry and chariots) and does extra damage against flammable things like mummies and trees. Also, is more dangerous to troops occupying buildings.
