In the beginning there was the Word.
And the Word had Power.
Many laypersons believe that arcane sigils are a language which describe power. But true wizards know that the symbols are the power. Wizards know full well the dangers of unleashing such runes in the open tablets of their minds, but they also know the great advantage of it and are willing to wrestle with the words for possession of their own sanity.
This is the great art of the scroll-writers: To trap primeval energy, ethereal spirits, and astral constructs in the ancient bonds of ink and parchment. If one were to carelessly copy such writings — to treat them like any scribbling to be trivially transcribed — one would be fortunate to merely waste their time. Far worse would be to mimic rites without perfecting them; to attract spirits without binding them.
Photo by Henrik Sendelbach.
Runes must be streamlined, according to ancient wisdom: if it’s not baroque, don’t fix it!
I once had a dwarf with a rune axe; he runed a lot of orcs’ days.
Dwarves are experts in revenge. “You’ll rune the day we met” means it’ll go in the Book of Grudges.
If you have Invisibility, Bull’s Strength, Stoneskin, Immolate, and (something stretchy) you could craft the Super Scroll.
(Groans accepted here.)