Re: Illusion

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 12:46:45 -0700

:
> Roderick:
> << As I noted below, I think the main problem comes from the terminology,
and
> the definitions implicit from other games that don't hold true for
> Glorantha. A Gloranthan Illusion can't be disbelieved, is apparant to
*all*
> senses, etc. >>
>
> I am not sure the *all* senses bit has been discussed. Or did I miss it.
To
> me, an illusionary cow could be just the appearance of the cow (it is like
a
> hologram), the substance of a cow, the sound of a cow (moo) or any and all
> other sense recognition versions of a cow. The point being that the in the
> case of vision, the hologram, everyone who could see the cow sees the cow,
> even if they know it is an illusion and has (in this case) no substance. A

And that's my point - in Glorantha/HW/HQ/Greg's mind "Illusion" means "the whole shebang" as opposed to "only an aspect of a thing". Sure, you could probably *cripple* your illusion so that it only "covers" one sense, but a default "Illusion" is solid, 3 dimensional, smells right, sounds right, echoes right, changes air temperature etc., because it *is* right. An Illusionary cow will detect as "cow" to any sense (mundane or magical) that you want to apply to it - at least until it goes "poof" when the duration runs out...

Is this dangerous? You bet! It is a magic held by the insane (Eurmal ain't exactly the poster child for mental health) and that is a good thing, because in the hands of a *sane* man the world would be totally screwed!

Personally, I think it may be a bad choice of words to call such a thing an "Illusion", but that's what we have to play with (until greg changes his mind...).

RR