How to handle what adventurers learn while traveling? That’s one challenge to the Wolf Pirates’ Circumnavigation campaign I’ve been running.
Logically, it makes sense that if you spend weeks, seasons, or even years visiting a foreign Homeland, you’re bound to learn something. Rules as written, RuneQuest requires adventurers to use training time if they want to improve Homeland Lore, Elder Race Lore, or similar skills. Likewise, improving a skill from its base percentage can be tiresome when striving for experience checks alone.
I’ve addressed this in two ways:
- Providing free experience
- Tweaking occupational experience
So far, I’ve found that these house rules improve our fun because they make it easier to become a “novice” at a skill, rather than wholly inexperienced.
Gaining Bonus Experience
After some adventuring activities, I allow each adventurer to gain an automatic +1D6% in a related skill. As the gamemaster, I specify what skill(s) can gain experience this way. However, players often have good alternative ideas, so I try to keep an open mind.
For example, after spending a day at a grove of yellow Aldryami in the Fever Trees jungle, the players gained +1D6% in an elf-related skill of their choice. Because the interaction was peaceful, they could select from Elder Race Lore (Aldryami), Insight (Aldryami), or Understand Language (Aldryami).
In Conrad’s Glorantha, the elves communicate via both verbal and non-verbal language (like the rustling of leaves or manipulating bark-lines on one’s body). Consequently, “Understand Aldryami” is a starting point which can later become “Speak Aldryami.” The language is sufficiently alien that humans will need to improve their percentage further before they can attempt to speak it.
For another example, the Survival skill is very important during these jungle expeditions. There are plenty of opportunities to roll Survival, but the adventurers also gain skill in it after each expedition (approximately once per in-game week). Even if an adventurer isn’t actively leading the way or making camp, they’re still learning rapidly from exposure to a new situation.
Bonus experience does not replace ticks gained from successfully using a skill. An adventurer can gain this automatic experience, and also roll for experience during downtime. Bonus experience is always added prior to making the experience rolls.
Another important limit is that an adventurer can’t exceed 30% in a skill via bonus experience. This is loosely based on an adventurer’s starting percentage in Homeland Lore. If you grew up in Sartar, but have Homeland Lore (Sartar) 30% at 21, that rating feels like a good baseline for “familiar, but not an expert.”
The 30% limit means that adventurers will still differentiate themselves based on the skills they actually use. Gaining experience this way reflects the adventurers’ immersion in a new environment. It’s also handy for demonstrating how new experiences—like meeting Aldryami for the first time—broaden the adventurer’s horizons.
Occupational Experience in Lore Skills
This second house rule I’ve used for a long time—years, at this point. Basically, any time an adventurer gains occupational experience, they can check Lore skills. This also applies to other skills which lack an experience box (although there are occasional exceptions, like Illumination).
Here’s the logic. When a healer rolls Plant Lore during an adventure, we’re rolling 1D100 to discover whether or not they recognize the plant. It’s basically a binary “yes/no” query if the adventurer knows anything. Even if they possess the knowledge, they haven’t applied it in a way which results in experience. In this case, application of a healing herb would probably be First Aid or Treat Disease.
Checks marked as part of occupational experience don’t have that same “single test” element. Instead, they’re reflecting days, weeks, or even a full season’s engagement in the activity. A healer won’t gain Plant Lore experience from recognizing a single plant during their adventures—but herb-gathering and identifying for weeks will surely but slowly improve their skill.
Another way to think about it is like on-the-job training. As a writer, I do a lot of research. My Weird Trivia skill goes up as part of my occupation. I’m not intentionally training it—I don’t check trivia books out of the library—but if someone asks “What the hell’s this HCPCS code on my doctor bill?” I can explain it. I’ve made a Weird Trivia roll, but in that moment I didn’t gain experience.
There’s no limit to how high occupational experience checks can get a Lore skill. Of course, they work the same as other experience checks. The higher your skill, the harder for you to improve. And of course, you can’t double up on occupational experience and adventuring experience in the same skill!
My groups have found this house rule especially useful for characters who rely on training-only skills, but don’t have sufficient downtime to engage in training. For example, shamans improving their Spirit Lore through “off-screen” explorations of the Spirit World, and sages improving their Homeland Lore, Mineral Lore, etc. by engaging in research for their library’s patrons.
In the Circumnavigation campaign, I’ve provided a Wolf Pirate occupation based on the Sailor occupation in Martin Helsdon’s Ships & Shores of Southern Genertela. When the adventurers take downtime, they’re currently marking experience for this occupation. (As usual, they can put occupation experience in their cult skills too.) This gives players a chance to improve basic skills like Swim or Speak Other Language (Wolf Pirate Creole) which will be handy when the fleet eventually embarks for Pamaltela.
Shifting occupation like this is handy for gaining experience in different skills even if you’re not planning on roaming the whole Lozenge! An adventurer probably needs to have a rating of 50% or greater in one or two key skills before they can make income from an occupation. However, the occupation’s secondary skills may still be handy to practice on-the-job.
For example, Sorala’s Broadsword 70%, Sling 45%, Thrown Axe 65%, and Battle 50% means she’s probably qualified to work as a bodyguard or scout, if necessary. It might not be her favorite work, but if Vasana & Co. spend some time away from Sartar and Esrolia, wherever they’re staying might not have much demand for a scribe. Using the light warrior occupation, Sorala could gain occupational experience in Hide, First Aid, Move Quietly, or Survival—useful skills for an adventurer!
Overall, the goal of these house rules is not to make it easier to improve an adventurer’s skills. Instead, my objective is for RuneQuest to be more fun due to adventurers being able to tackle a variety of situations. It feels pretty awful when the group’s highest rating in an important skill is 15%, or when you can’t find a trainer or training time to improve that last no-experience skill needed to achieve your Rune Priest requirements.
I’ve observed that these rules facilitate continued growth by adventurers, but don’t accelerate it dramatically. They give players greater ability to interact with Glorantha through the game. Better yet, since I started handing out bonus experience, I’m pretty sure my players’ decision-making has changed. It’s a concrete incentive for seeking new experiences—players love seeing “number go up” on their adventurer sheets.
Have you tinkered with RuneQuest’s experience rules? Whether your own or trying out these house rules, I’d love to hear your experiences!
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