1. Wounds

Rule 11.2 (2nd ed.) states that a character "must remove an active action chit from play and turn it face down to show it is a wound." Presumably a fatigued chit is not active, so cannot be wounded. (Opinions differ on magic chits converted to color.) On the other hand, Rule 11.7 says that "when all a character's chits are wounded, he is killed. When all of a character's chits are fatigued and/or wounded, he can do only the rest activity."

So the question is what happens when a character receives a wound when all his unwounded chits are fatigued? The fatigued chits can't be wounded according to 11.2, but all the chits are not wounded so the character isn't killed yet according to 11.7. (Also, can magic chits converted to color be wounded?)

The accepted interpretation is that a character dies when he receives a wound after all his chits are either wounded, fatigued, or converted to color. This is certainly reasonable and provides an incentive for characters to rest their fatigue frequently. It also increases character's vulnerability which is reduced when playing the "serious wound" optional rule. But it seems like there may have been an intent for something else to happen since there the rules provide for a character to do rest phases if all his chits are fatigued and/or wounded.

This is the only question that, as far as I can tell, can't be resolved by a single-word correction of the rules, and I'd appreciate your ideas on the subject.

Answer

You have hit upon something that has two answers, which requires a bit of explanation. When I was writing the second edition rules, length became a serious consideration. In several cases I wrote a rule one way, and then to save space either I or some editor rewrote the rule to save space. In some cases, the rewrite corrupted some part of the rule. This is such a case.

My original intent was to say: When you get a wound, you must wound one(unwounded) chit. It must be an active chit, if possible; you cannot wound a fatigued or enchanted chit until all of your active chits have been wounded. If you get a wound when all of your active chits have already been wounded, you can wound a fatigued or enchanted chit. When all of your chits are wounded, you die.

That was my original intent, but then the rules were shortened and published. Once a rulebook has been published I feel obliged to follow the published rules, so I now say that you have it right: if you get a wound when you have no active (unfatigued, unenchanted) chits, you die.

That is what the rules as published mean to imply.

2. Dwarf's Capabilities when Following

Rule 27.7 says that "notice that by following a guide who has extra phases, followers can do more activities and can move farther than they could move on their own." On the other hand, in the description of the Dwarf's Short Legs, it states "The Dwarf can never use 'sunlight' phases--he is always limited to two phases per day (plus any extra phases due to his belongings or spells.)" So, can the Dwarf follow the Amazon and move, for example, five clearings?

The interpretation that I favor is that the Dwarf is only doing one thing, following the Amazon, and that 27.7 specifically says he can move more clearings by following. The description of the Dwarf could be read that "The Dwarf can never [record] sunlight phases..." This "put the little fellow in the rucksack and go" interpretation encourages inter-player diplomacy, which always improves the game.

I also recall playing Magic Realm in Northern Virginia with Jim Stahler in 1979 or 1980 and discussing the advantage for the Dwarf of hiring a native leader to follow. (And the Dwarf can use the advantage, heaven knows!)

Complicating the question is a ruling attributed to the General magazine that the Dwarf can use at most one sunlight phase while following. This doesn't make anyone very happy because it requires the leader to specify which are sunlight phases and which are basic phases, and the rules aren't very specific what happens to a follower when he doesn't do the guide's activity (except when he stops following.)

Any light (no pun intended) you can give on this would be useful.

Answer

You are correct--the Dwarf's sunlight limitation applies only to the phases he can record, not those he can do while following. To be explicit: When a Dwarf follows, he can do any sunlight activities his leader does (picture him hurrying along clumsily behind everyone else, grumbling continuously and creatively). Someone else made that ruling, long after I was no longer responsible for answering MR questions. When I learned of it, I told them to correct it, but I don't think they ever did. In my opinion, they were and are very wrong! Being unable to keep up with a group is a very serious flaw in the game.

Incidentally, I remember Jim telling me about your discussion. Glad to hear from you!

3. Casting a Spell on Yourself While Hidden

In the 2nd edition, Rule 41.3/2 says: "When the spellcaster specifies a character or denizen as his target, he and his target are instantly unhidden; if he specifies anything else as his target, he remains hidden. He can specify a hidden target only if he found "Hidden Enemies" that day."

I had always assumed that there was an implied "another" in the rule, as in the first edition rules: "When the spellcaster specifies [another] character...". Clearly the idea that a hidden character would have to have found Hidden Enemies to cast a spell on himself is silly.

Nevertheless, for a number of players, the spellcaster is a character (and the target), so he should become unhidden when casting a spell on himself. This is most often used with the Ambush optional rule, so the character must pass a hide roll to remain hidden when he casts a spell on himself (despite the fact that he is also the target, and so should become unhidden for that reason.)

I would be interested in knowing if the dropping of the "another" between the 1st and 2nd edition rules was deliberate or an oversight.

Answer

It was deliberate, after much thought. You have been misled by a different error in the rules. There is a sentence missing at the end of 41.3/2. The sentence:

"Of course, a hidden character can specify himself as target whether he has found hidden enemies or not, but if does so he becomes unhidden." This sentence was another casualty of the shortening frenzy. I distinctly remember being told that "it's obvious you can always pick yourself as target, and you already say that you become unhidden". I disagreed then (to no avail), and I disagree now. The sentence belongs in there, and I must say I am delighted to hear from someone who (presumably) agrees with me.

As to why I changed this from the first edition: I disliked having the spellcaster jump out in the clearing to cast a spell on himself, but I also disliked having him hide behind a bush while he chants and gestures, and then call up magic with its associated light, sound, and other manifestations, all in perfect privacy. I greatly prefer using the AMBUSH rule, to make things unpredictable.

4. Flowers of Rest (1)

I don't know if you have seen the debate on the Magic Realm list-serve about the Flowers of Rest, what one person calls the "most questionable item."

I'm not sure I should call it a debate because nearly everyone is in agreement except me. But I thought that I should talk to an expert to see what another reasoned response would be.

The question involves the effect of the Flowers of Rest on:
1) A character with the Wither Curse
2) A transmorphized character who also has a fatigued chit.

In the case of the Wither curse, there are those who believe that the Flowers don't put the character to sleep since the chits can't be rested, those who say that the character sleeps and his chits are rested (but the curse isn't broken), and then there's me. I subscribe to the "bad mattress" theory. I think that the character sleeps, because the first effect of the Flowers is to put to sleep any character with fatigued chits, but because of the curse, the chits aren't rested. The character wakes up at Sunset with a "not quite rested" feeling, like he slept on a bad mattress and then falls asleep the next day (unless he runs out of the clearing).

Answer

In the case you post, the character cannot rest, so the flowers of rest do not affect him.

Generally, I mean the rules to be taken exactly as they are written. No exception stating that the flowers of rest breaks the wither curse, so it does not. The explanation of the Flowers of Rest on page 70 (section 7) states that it is the resting of the asterisk chit that puts him to sleep. Thus, no rest, so no sleep.

Generally I find rules-niggling distasteful, but in the second Magic Realm rulebook I tried to make my language as precise as possible in the very very very vain hope of diminishing the questions. Sigh. Of course, I also tried to make the rules intuitive, but that hope was even vainer, especially in a fantasy game where everybody is imagining their own reality.

5. Flowers of Rest (2)

If someone falls asleep and misses their turn, they can't block or be blocked. But do they attract monsters? Some have suggested that they attract monsters only if they have completed at least one phase before falling asleep. The description does say that if they haven't moved, the "skip their turn." Again, I'm in the minority here. I think they had a turn even if they didn't have a chance to do anything.

Answer

When a player is put asleep by the Flowers of Rest, he loses the rest of his turn, including the finishing of his turn. Thus, he does not cause any chits to turn up, he does not cause monsters to appear in his tile, and he does not cause monsters to move to his clearing.

In a sense, he is One With the Daisies. He is not really there, until Sunset.

I will resist the temptation to comment on all the implications for play, and just ask: Does that answer your question?

Hope so.

6. Stacking Order of Native Items (1)

Rule 35.7 says, "When an unhired leader is killed, his groups belongings are abandoned in the clearing, in the same order they are stacked in the group's box."
The problem is there is no agreement on the order in which they should be stacked in the box.

8. Stacking Order of Native Items (3)

Comparing with the previous rule P1.3/3 where it describes the Large and Small treasures, it says: "Put the small Treasures and large Treasure in the boxes where they are listed. Put the small Treasures in the box first, so the large Treasures are on the top." Note the order: those on the bottom are listed first.

On this basis, this would say that the Small Treasures are on the bottom, then the weapons, then armor, with the horses on top. This is exactly opposite what most e-mail game masters are doing now.

There are actually two other arguments for this order as well.

a) If you are playing on a board, it is almost impossible to balance the treasures on top of a pile of horses, weapon, and armor. (Something like balancing a mattress on top of a Coke bottle.) The treasures go much easier underneath with the armor, weapons, and horse counters on top.

b) The average gold value of the 44 Small Treasures is 6.1
The average gold value of the 13 weapons is 6.5.
The average gold value of the 14 pieces of armor is 7.9
The average gold value of the 15 horses is 13.7
So putting the Treasures on the bottom, then the weapons, then the armor, with the horses on top puts the most valuable things on the top and the least on the bottom, making the more valuable stuff harder to get.

Teresa Michelsen pointed out that if you follow the order as printed in the boxes on the setup card, you get an even more ergonomic arrangement: treasures on bottom, followed by horses, armor, and weapons in order of counter size.

Answer

It is not inactive, it is just unusable. It remains on the set-up card, radiating color magic into some unknown dimension, until a new leader for that group pops up.

You've put your finger on a hole in the game, not just a hole in the rules. My problem was that I didn't want the players to hire a native group just so they could send it off and then loot its home base, so I wanted the group's belongings to move with its leader. However, I also did not want the players to hire a native leader just to take him out and kill him for his group's treasures (e.g. "hey, native leader, go and kill that Tremendous Octopus for me"). So I am stuck with this rule, and this hole in the game.

Of course, the caching rule (Advanced Rule 1) would solve the problem adequately by leaving the goods behind (with a new rule or two to cover all of the variations), but I was unwilling to add another complex rule to the game, particularly in the early encounters. In fact, this is a perfect example of how the game changed because of breaking the rules into encounters.

If you'd like a rationalization of the rule as it is, imagine the hired leader hiding his group's goods in the woods as he travels. While he lives he keeps an eye on them, and scares off any bears or squirrels that might try to carry them off. When he dies, the squirrels carry off his group's goods, and only his successor as leader is determined enough to comb the woods to get back what is rightfully his (stubborn folk, these natives).

14. Running Away from Transformed Monsters (2)

We always played that the bird (or frog) keeps trying to attack until it is killed (or combat ends due to two rounds without wounds or fatigue, etc.)
It makes the Transform spell useful (although risky) as an offensive spell to transform monsters into (hopefully) less dangerous ones.
My guideline to transmorphize questions is Rule 46.1 which says that characters/denizens behave like they were untransmorphized with the limited exceptions listed in the rules. Would you like to cast some light?

19. Do Followers Attract Monsters? (2)

This is what happens, according to 27.5, when a follower stops following in the middle of a turn: "Each time the guide starts an activity, each follower has the option to stop following. If he stops following then he does not do the activity, his turn ends and he is put in the guide's on the map; when the guide finishes the phase the game pieces in the ex-follower's tile summon denizens in the normal manner, and the ex-follower can block and be blocked normally."

Example 1: The Amazon follows the Berserker who does M / M / S / R* / M. At the beginning of the Search phase, the Amazon stops following. At the end of the Berserker's Search phase, the Amazon's turn ends. She draws monsters to the clearing who block her and her former guide, the Berserker.

Example 2: The Amazon follows the Druid. At the end of the Druid's turn, the tile chits are turned face down again and don't attract monsters. Then his follower, the Amazon, is put back on the board. Her turn ends, the chits are turned face up again and monsters come to the clearing to block her and the Druid.

Example 3: Amazon follows Berserker. Dragons are prowling. When Berserker ends turn in BL1, he turns up the Lair chit and a Dragon appears in at the Lair in BL3. Then the Amazon finishes her turn and is put back on the map. She attracts denizens normally at the end of her turn, so the Dragon at the Lair moves to BL3 and blocks her and the Berserker.

Answer

Quite right. Each follower has his own end of turn.
I will comment (in example 2) that I tried to design the Druid as the sort of character who could go off alone in peace, not as a tour guide for an army.

I am of the opinion that regardless of whether the monster is tracking its prey by sight, sound, or smell, he would find a crowd quicker than an individual, so the rule specifies that the followers summon monsters when they stop following.
At this point let's clarify exactly what is at stake. The point is whether a monster called from the SET UP CARD ends up in the clearing specified by the site chit, or the clearing containing the group. The followers do NOT summon any additional monsters to that tile that turn--each chit can summon only one box of monsters per turn.

Case 1: One intruder steps softly into the clearing. The monster at the site wakes up and says "What's That?!". He gets up and looks out at the other clearings in the distance, sniffs the air, and listens, but he sees, hears, and smells nothing more, so he stays at his site, looking around suspiciously.

Case 2: A group steps softly into the clearing, many times. The monster at the site wakes up and says "Wheee! A party!" And, of course, he doesn't want to miss the party, so he goes looking for it. Speaking versimilitudinously, the demons pinpoint the clearing due to the increased number of bodies they can see, smell, and/or hear. It certainly works that way with deer--you can sneak up on a deer when you're alone, but I've never seen or heard of a crowd doing it. (I don't hunt, but I do walk the woods.)

In any case, the rules say the followers do summon the monsters to their clearing. The added safety [of following] is due to having more people with which to fight the monsters.

20. Harm greater than Tremendous

Is there Harm Greater than Tremendous? The 2nd Edition rules do not seem to have any provision for harm that exceeds Tremendous; at least Rule 23.1 does not list any such harm. The Maximum damage in the First Edition is gone.
Red-side-up monsters that hit just kill automatically without harming armor or horses.

Ordinarily there is no need to consider harm greater than Tremendous, but when playing the "Serious Wounds" advanced rule, Tremendous harm does not kill the Berserker when he has played his Berserk chit. The way I read the rules, a T* blow from a Guard Great Swordsman or a M** + 3 level hit from the Medium Bow can only create Tremendous harm, which only gives the Berserker a serious wound. So the berserk Scandinavian is invulnerable to a single-hit kill!

This may be an oversight in the rules, but it does seem to read that way.

Answer

Yup, it's an oversight--I missed the interaction of Advanced rule 4.5 and the Berserk chit. The rule does work the way it is, but it makes the Berserker too powerful.
I suggest adding a "Special:" rule to Advanced rule 4.5: When damage exceeding Tremendous is inflicted on a Tremendous target, the target is killed.