Kingdoms of Kalamar: Ask the Emperor!

[Mark Plemmons]

I would have thought it would be because some of the evil religions focus specifically on spreading disease, famine, and other "mass killers" rather than the relatively benign "kidnap and sacrifice" which, while nasty for the person involved, usually doesn't stop population growth in a village, much less wipe it out to the last person.

Yes, that's another possibility.

 

[Cazador]

I have a friend that's playing a cleric of the Risk in my campaign and the other day he ask me why his religion have people listed as friends that think they're enemies. I couldn't find an answer that made me happy, so I'm asking if you could clarify this for us.
Here's the example given, I know same happend with other gods IIRC:

Campaign Setting book p212 under the description of the Risk
- Friends/Allies: 1) The Confuser of Ways, 2) the Temple of Strife, the Order of the Passionate One, 3) the Parish of the Prolific Coin

1) Campaign Setting book p222 under the description of the Confuser of Ways
- Friends/Allies: The Temple of Strife. No other church trusts them enough to call them allies.
2) Campaign Setting book p223 under the description of the Temple of Strife
- Foes/Enemies: The Church of Chance (The Risk church).
3) Campaign Setting book p208 under the description of the Parish of the Prolific Coin
- Foes/Enemies: The Church of Chance (The Risk church).

I really cannot explain this point of view from the Church of Chance seeing others religion that think they're their enemies as friends, also I know those Allies/Foes doesn't mean they jump to attack each other if they encounter in the street but at least it means you don't want to help them or do anything that makes your listed enemy stronger.

Thanks in advance
Cazador

PS: I also post this same message on the Kenzer boards to see if I can get the point of view of other KoKers but will really like an official answer on this matter.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

PS: I also post this same message on the Kenzer boards to see if I can get the point of view of other KoKers but will really like an official answer on this matter.

Since you already got some good replies on the KoK forums, I think the simplest thing to do is for me to say that I agree with Trepelano's post as quoted below. I've bolded what I think is the most important point.

=========
"As for the first example - perhaps the best way to explain that is that the term friends/allies is a bit misleading in this case. The Church of Chance admires the followers of the Confuser of Ways for their obvious risks. However, there is no official relationship between the two. Consider that the Church of Chance would admire someone who managed to break in and steal from their temple, but they would still kill anyone they caught trying. Probably a very similiar mindset for the followers of the Confuser.

Likewise, not all faiths that list each other as foe/enemies attack each other on sight. Sometimes it can mean that they oppose each other, but two clerics of these faiths can coexist - though they will tend to argue and be very competetive with each other. I once had a cleric of The Old Man and a cleric of Battle Rager in the same party. These two faiths are listed as enemies, and they do frequently fight each other. However, its not a given that they attack each other on sight. In the case of the party, they just competed fiercely to demonstrate which one had the better ideas about how to conduct combat. "
=========

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need anything else!

 

[Darklone]

Bump.

 

[MerakSpielman]

What does "Bet" mean in Kalamaran?

 

[Cazador]

What does "Bet" mean in Kalamaran?

"Bet" Means "Capital Of" if I recall it right.

Cazador

 

[Cazador]

My answers to the player was something like that, trying to explain how the friends/foes section it's more of a guide on how the churchs and not the clerics see the others churchs and their goals.
So the Church of Chance like the way the Parish of the Prolific Coin encourage people to get rich so the Risk clerics could take those valuables later.
But the problem comes with the Temple of Strife since this church sacrifice "a sentient being once per month, usually one who has been extremely lucky or fortunate." Also one of their sayings is: "Sometimes misfortune has nothing to do with chance", this church I think it was an error to list them as friends on the Church of Chance section. The only thing that the Risk clerics could like about this church it's the fact they could bring chaos to an entire city and in the middle of the chaos it's a good oportunity to aquire things that don't belong to you

Thanks for the answers; please if the Religion book see the light someday (crossing fingers here) could Kenzer clarify this friends/foes sections explaining why the church think that of the other?
Cazador

 

[NewJeffCT]

First off, I'd say that it's because it's only been about 1,000 years since the humans first began to spread. True, they breed and expand faster than most humanoids, but that's still not much time in the grand scheme of things.

Also, I personally don't think magical healing should really be that prominent. Oh, there are good clerics that handle that kind of thing, but they stay pretty busy spreading their religion while fighting their opposition evil religions. So except for the religion that really focuses on healing the sick, they don't go out and cure every farmer who gets gored by a bull.

First - thanks for the response & the correction. I was the one on the Kenzer board that was surprised when somebody there said Kalamar was only about the size of Western Europe. I had remembered in 2E days, taking out the hex overlay that came with the Kalamar boxed set and measuring a journey by ship out as being 30 days long. So, I was a bit confused by the 1000 by 750 scale thinking back to that old Kalamar campaign in 1998-99.

Second - I don't mean that clerics go out & heal every farmer who stubs his toe, either. But, I would imagine that if the Black Death came around Brandobia and started infecting every fourth person, some clerics would at least try to do something about it. At least some of the clerics of goodly gods. Of course, you could also say that's balanced out by evil clerics trying to spread the disease.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

What does "Bet" mean in Kalamaran?

"Bet" Means "Capital Of" if I recall it right.

That's right. Anytime you see a city with the word "Bet" in front of it (Bet Dodera, Bet Kalamar, and so on), you know two things. First, it's a capital city. Second, it's in a Kalamaran (or formerly Kalamaran) nation.

Capital cities from other lands do not use "Bet," which is a Kalamaran word.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Thanks for the answers; please if the Religion book see the light someday (crossing fingers here) could Kenzer clarify this friends/foes sections explaining why the church think that of the other?

I think we had freelance writer problems on that one, but if it comes out I'll do my best to make sure it's all clear.