Re: Re: HQ Beginner - Character Generation questions

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 10:56:52 -0700

>> It's powergaming. The player has a pre-concieved idea of where he wants
>> the character to go. In Glorantha, a child would have been taught
>> whatever the family/clan/whatever knows, which is much more likely
> to be
>> a mix of different styles in the common magic.
>> Flesh Man is different in that he only teaches Talents. Most other
>> Common Magic is a mixture of styles.
>
> I think now that it's not necessarily powergaming. It depends on the
> details of the player's concept of the character. If the character's
> goal has long since been that of becoming a shaman, and she even shows
> certain signs that she's "destined" to become one, it is totally
> reasonable that her common magic would stem from the spirit world as
> well. Maybe not exclusively, but I wouldn't consider it powergaming if
> most of her Common Magic abilities were charms under this aspect.

Within Glorantha, a young person wouldn't really have the werewithal to cherrypick his (or her) common magic. You learn what the family (or entities in the surrounding land) know. If there is a mix of Spells, Charms, Feats and Traits around, then that's most likely what the young person would have. Only when you step back and begin to plan out your character's life does the mix resolve itself - "Oh, I'd better get just Charms, because I want her to grow up to be a shaman". The Powergaming comes from having (relatively) complete control over the character's background and future.

Very few people actually follow through with their childhood ambitions - my mother "always" knew she wanted to be a doctor and became one, but I wanted to be a Fireman. or a Cowboy. So sure, you cna claim that "my charctar always knew she was going to be a shaman so she only picked up Charms", but that gets tired after the third, or fourth, or fifteenth character uses it.

> But then, PCs are just that. Uncommon and not everyday. Right? I
> imagine you'd have to step in if a player tries to equip a char with
> all sorts of superpowers, but as long as it's few reasonable ones...?
> Might be a bit too influenced by Mike now, who seems to propose that
> Natural Magic is free-for-all and take as much as you like. Mike, if
> that's reading your intentions wrongly, please tell me so.

Yes, Player heroes are unusual, but there is a simple pleasure in playing a farmer :-).

I can only point out that *in Glorantha* ( I don't care about Mike's own personal world), Natural magic is very rare. How you deal with the fact that your player heroes have *many* more natural magic abilities than anyone else anyone knows is up to you. But I will also point out that in an Orlanthi society, having that many "Natural magics" is a sign of one of two things - either the hero is a Child of a God, or Chaotic, and there aren't many Children of the Gods around...

But, of course, YGWV. If you want to run a campaign similar to "Jason and the Argonauts" (where even common rowers are Demigods), then that is a perfectly reasonable approach - as long as you're aware that's what you're doing.

RR
He was born with the gift of laughter and the sense that the world was mad R. Sabatini, Scaramouche