The Barntar scratch plow breaks the surface of the earth and does not even leave furrows. Recall the story of Orlanth Wooing Ernalda. Orlanth tears up the surface of the earth, which later results in Life. Orlanth's deeds are reflected in the deeds of Barntar.
The Lod-plow digs deep into the earth, leaving furrows. Lodril exists within the Earth, living deep underground and is Lord of Below. Most importantly, every story about Lodril emphasizes that Lodril lives within the Earth, that he cannot reach the celestial realm.
> I have to consciously remember that when Orlanth worship was
> forbidden, the Orlanthi "hid" withing Barntar's worship, because both
> Orlanth and Barntar have the Air rune. I just re-read the original
> Cult of Lodril description (which gives him the runes of fire and
> disorder), and I remembered the fire associations (spear, volcano,
> wildfire), etc. much more than the farming associations.
OK, that is probably because your associations with Lodril stem back to his few little blurbs in RQ2 and RQ3. Glorious Reascent of Yelm defines Lodril far more completely.
> I'm just grousing and frustrated right now, and ultimately it's not
> going to affect me because I don't think I'll even have the
> opportunity to run a HQ Glorontha game. I just wonder how newbies take
> to this kind of thing.
My experience is that they find this far more intuitive. But I do run the new rules system for gaming groups that are mostly newbies to Glorantha (and folk who know nothing about RQ2 or RQ3). I also get feedback from other GMs who are running the game for newbies who love how intuitive the system is and how easy it is to get newbies over the immense learning threshold that has been barrier to Gloranthan gaming.
Jeff
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