For those of you still flicking through your books in random delight I would point out that misapplied worship is now just a religion in which you cannot concentrate your magic (your looking towards the wrong otherworld) lesser magics.
At first glance the consequences seem the same. (Double Hero Point expenditure and inability to get all of the cool stuff that those other guys get.) But the difference comes in the detail.
To step back a bit and explain my original concerns: I had no problem with some people paying double for things when they were clearly following strange gods in the periphery of a pantheon. My problem came in the instances where deities were stated as being Theistic / Animistic in one culture leading to major negative effects elsewhere in the world.
The example in my campaign is Pelaskos the Fisherman. He is clearly marked out as theistic in Storm Tribe, because he fits neatly into the pantheon as a minor deity. However in my campaign, set in the Rightarm Islands (inspired by the excellent work of Simon Bray & Martin Hawley) Pelaskos is the cultural founder of an animist tradition. I tried to ignore Storm Tribe, but the rule kept nagging at me like a blister on a hike. I felt that the rule was at fault not my interpretation, and the more I discovered through play the more it didn't work. My solution was to make Pelaskos a cultural hero who taught the people how to live in the right arm islands but who was rarely contacted directly. His main lessons on how to live were granted via the Soul Bird Tradition and as such the pantheon was composed of spirits and overseen by Pelaskos. But this made little sense as fishermen need him and I didn't want all fishermen to be theistic or to suffer the penalties. (I know they are not aware of the penalties but this is a world modelling problem.)
Now here is where the HeroQuest rules make things easier; certain
deities are identified as common magic and are neither Theistc,
Animist or Wizardry based but a mixture of all three. Donandar is
listed in this context, and this was one of those deities that just
didn't fit the old system. I am now able to make the statement in
my
game that Pelaskos is one of these "common" religions along
with Diros
the Boatman, as they are widely worshipped in Glorantha as minor
deities who taught their skills. Now we have a common core religion
for the Rightarm Islands that does not have to be specifically
animist, one which is contactable and useful without being somehow
wrong behind the scenes, and also sits more comfortably in the centre
of an animist pantheon.
You may ask what the difference is, and you would have a point, but to my way of thinking it means that the pieces of the jigsaw now fit where before they were forced.
This whole debate, and I have to apologise to Greg and Martin for bending their ears on the matter, leads me to look across the deities of Glorantha and wonder which others could more easily fit with common magic, and how many of those listed as exceptions to the misapplied worship rule (Kigor Litor, Storm Bull) could not be smoothed away with a bit of work and polish.
Jamie
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