Re: Man Rune

From: Jeff Richard <richaje_at_...>
Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 09:15:19 -0000

> But then that means that runes are a lot more important to theists
> than animists and westerners - which is something that has been denied
> lately by... you? Or maybe it was David, or Greg, I'm not sure.
> Then that's something I don't like. At all. I don't want runes being
> central to divine magic and not to other types, being the "bricks" of
> Creation and all of that. My Glorantha Will Really Vary here.

I must not have been clear. Runes are central to all Gloranthan magic. But how you interact with the runes depends on your approach to magic. At the risk of repeating previous posts, there are three basic approaches to Glorantha magic:

Divine Magic. A rune affinity is something you are. Having the particular rune strongly affects your behavior as you try to personally embody the rune (through your god). Spirit Magic. You strike deals with spirits—entities resident in animals, plants, simple objects, and features of the natural world. A spirit is something you have. You need to satisfy your spirits in order for them to work for you. The spirit embodies the rune so that you don't have to. Wizardry. You cast highly specific spells learned from the esoteric study of magical texts, manipulating abstract magical forces. A rune spell is something you intellectually know.

Again, how you interact with the runes will depend on which type of magic you are casting.

BTW, the Gloranthan appendix in the new HeroQuest rules explains this all quite succinctly and clearly. And the new book is off to the printer later today. If you want to see the new front and back cover, check out vingkot.livejournal.com

Jeff