In RW QM, electrons can be in multiple states at once, but when you observe them - they are in just one - the one you saw and they are then stuck there (assuming you didn't destroy it in the act of observing). I would go futher with the Gloranthan analogy and suggest that when you 'observe' (which is synonymous with interact with) a God - - - you tend to see it (or filter it perhaps) so that it looks more like what you expected (subconsciously or otherwise). The analogy breaks down in that others may 'observe' the same God differently. The breakdown is not complete because your changes _do_ affect the result for other people after you.
[Aside: I should point out for the benefit of the users of the throw
away lines regarding Wave/particle duality that 'particles' are always
waves. They are just very compact ones, so that when you look on a
large enough scale they look like particles. In fact they are
physically very similar to those solitary deep ocean waves that
travel all the way around the world (often as a result of earthquakes
and so on).]
Free Willy
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If worship and influence constrain a god, what does its lack do?
[Readers of Terry Pratchett's "Small Gods" take note]. If people stop
worshipping the great turtle god, he not only loses power but also the
desire to rule consistently from on high (i.e. be constrained by the
compromise or othercultly equivalent). IMG (or yours) he should then
be much freer to manifest and attempt to garner worshippers more
directly (with vastly reduced powers). Unfortunately for gods such as
the Polar Bear god, you might just run into Harrek and get bound.
Rants and Rave Reviews
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My other point is that though I really like Glorantha, I have very little time to come up with scenarios and so pre-packaged adventures are very appealing. In fact I spend more time than I should reading the digest. Unlike the more irredeemable G'philes, my experience isn't such that I can rattle off stats for anybody with reasonable accuracy. It's embarrassing when an experienced player says that some character I plucked from the available source material is an order of magnitude not tough enough (though IMHO, Elder Secrets beasties are too Cthuluesquely tough for my taste). I would love to get hold of some of the older stuff (including actually, a copy of RQ2), but it just isn't available AFAIK. To go out on a limb, I would say that digest readers/contributors are more sophisticated and dedicated than your average gamer and there is nothing wrong with pandering to the mass market (me!) with copius prepackaged adventures, full of stats, small scale maps and even (gasp!) dungeon maps.
James Wadsley.
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