RE: Magic systems and the nature of Glorantha

From: Light Castle <light_castle_at_...>
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2005 10:44:21 -0400

On Fri, 2005-29-07 at 10:55 +0100, Silburn, Luke wrote:
>
> It is *possible* under Gloranthan cosmology that powers derived from what the game calls
> Common Magic can match or surpass powers derived from the Otherworlds; similarly it is *possible*
> for an individual to transcend their birth culture and pick up a huge mish-mash of tricks,
> initiations and relationships in a wide-ranging heroic career; it is *possible* that a shaman has
> only bound spirits that are at the upper reaches of the guideline power levels for their practise.

> I don't think these things are especially probable however and the absence of the tables and
> crunchy detail that you get in a traditional RPG has removed one of the main routes by which GMs
> build up a sense of the power curve of a setting - which makes it hard for new-to-Glorantha GMs
> to make productive 'Yes, but' calls and assign reasonable consequences to player initiated actions in the game.

I agree here. I'm not a huge fan of crunchy bits, but making judgement calls as a GM requires working from something. But to defend the book some, I think the book tries to give you enough to run a "workable Glorantha", not "Generally Accepted Glorantha". So they erred on the side of giving the GM more options to stick power at whatever they want.

> Now a large part of being a Hero is precisely that you are able to realise and achieve those
> possibilities where ten thousand others have failed and, since HQ is a game about Heroes,
> it makes sense that the written rules shouldn't put too many obstacles in the way of the characters and
> that the game should be encouraging of an expansive, 'say Yes' playstyle that fosters player empowerment
> and a 'just make it up' attitude to the crunchy stuff.

> What would have been nice was some bits in the GM's section which laid out indicators as to what sort of things
> were everyday and routine, what was a out of the ordinary, what was really unusual and what was the stuff of new legends.
> You can build up a sense of these things over time by reading the setting and scenario books,
> but this stuff is partial and scattered in the core rules.

All too true. With QuestWorlds coming out, which would cover the generic use of the system, I would almost appreciate a more "Glorantha-centric" HQ rule book, that really focused on how these things worked in Glorantha, rather than Glorantha being tucked into the corners of the book.

LC