- Appreciated Dave's spirit list in V1 #8. I did something like this and
sent it in - but succeeded in writing the wrong address, so it
bounced...Since Dave's list was better, it does not matter. Some comments
on the term "spirit combat". This is a way of gamemechanically express a
competition between two spirits, a contest. Although it seems like a duel
in game terms it may not seem like that within the context of Glorantha. A
Humakti wanting to learn some spirit magic may perceive the event as a
duel - a duel with a silent stranger he never has seen before, that seems
to go on forever, time looses it meaning, and the pain of his blows...it
is a CLEAN pain, not like any pain the Humakti has felt in any mundane
duel. And at the end, when the stranger falls, seemingly unable to fight,
he speaks for the first time. "Take my shield" he wispers. Dazed, the
initiate obeys - and is shaken up to reality. The Sword presses a
shield-shaped amulet in his hand..the focus for his Protection-3. An
"Asrelia" initiate in my version of Esrolia may feel it quite differently.
She has just resently succeeded in becoming part of the Esrolian version
of Rotary... she boldly asks the priestess to be able to learn some magic,
and she nods, takes the fee while the initiate, following custom, explains
that this is too small a fee for such a great service, but subtlely
indicating the opposite. Well, they go together into the shrine, and the
initiate is dumped in an antechamber, told to wait while the priestess
speaks to the Earth Mother. After a period of listless waiting, while the
priestess is first chanting, then talking normally, almost chatting, in
Earthspeech (which the poor initiate does no, altogether not too well),
the drapery to the antechamber is drawn aside and a small wrinkled woman,
looking more than anything else like a shrunken troll-hag, enters. She
stares down on the initiate and asks if she is the one who wants magic.
When the initiate stutters "yes", she starts to speak about prices, the
initiate replies she has already paid. "Not to Us" the hag replies, and
states a ridculous sum. And the two start haggling. Like most Esrolian
bargaining, it consists to 90% of Avoidng The Subject, speaking about
grandchildren, the prospective harvest, the political situation, etc. The
initiate gets more and more exited, at least when she finds herself in the
position that it seems like she will be able to convince the little lady
that she already has paid for that magic to the priestess and finally get
out of this mess. She struggles, she does all she can, but the tides
turn. Finally, the little hag rises, dusts off her dress, and says:
"Thinking more closely of it, I have another business to attend to.
Goodbye" and leaves. The initiates slumps, dazed... and when she is
awkened by the priestess, she is politely told that she has
failed....better return another time. Consider, at last, a merry young
Orlanthian lad from up that country above Esrolia, where all good guys
come from :-), who has a hard time getting any girl to pay any attention
to him, since they do not seem to understand that beauty is on the inside.
Well, he hears someone talking about this wee magic that makes a man
beautiful, and having ensured that it has nothing to do with the
Trickster, but with Drogarsi (hope'm getting the name right here), God of
Wardances, who taught a similar trick to King Orlanth in Godtime, he goes
on to ask his Storm Voice about he would like such a spell. The Voice
frowns and says that is really for lawspeakers and chieftains and other
thanes, not for farming boys who does not even think of bringing something
to their priest who spends their precious time explaining ancient lore to
mentioned farming boys. The lad turns scarlet and adds that actually there
was that calve he received as a gift from his uncle on his initiation -it
has just begun to give milk and it is such great milk, and he had just
forgot that his mother sent a cheese of that milk to the Storm Voice's
wife, and will he not taste it? The priest brightens, asks the lad to
produce the cheese and asks his wife to get some bread and apples to go
with it. Now, the lad fumbles on stating that he thought of giving that
cow to his mother-in-law when he gets one, but currently it seems like he
will have no wife, so why not use the cow as a gift of forgiveness to the
priest? The Storm Voice does justice to his name and laughs aloud. "The
cow is almost too much, but I would not mind its first offspring - and
some cheese now and then. When I think of it, there is this godi named
Tylle the Red among those folk up the vale - yes, I know they sometimes
steal our sheep, but they never hurts the shepherd likes those damned
Rangvars. He may tell you how to get the spell - say hallo from me, and
you better show him any godi-gift at once." After much painstaking
negotiation he succeeds in entering the neighbours lands and presents the
godi with a sheep: "with compliments from Asjon the shepherd for his
preserved skull". The godi keeps the lad occupied by talking sheeps until
he feel he is tender enough to slink out of his presence, and goes to the
temple. A little sooner, when the lad is eating his porridge-gift (no
meat in the house at the moment) and nervously wonderng whether this Tylle
will cheat him,the godi puts in his head and says "Come here, young man.
There is a sound my old ears cannot quite hear" When the lad gets to the
door he thinks the godi must be deaf if he cannot hear the sound of
bagpipes from the forest. "Get to that piper, lad. There is magic there,
of the kind you wnat". The lad goes out in the forest, and soon finds the
piper, a warrior fully armed who stops playing when he sees the lad. "Aha,
you want to dance? Come, my brother, someone wants to dance you out of
this forest!" He laughs, and a young man with a evil grin, only wearing
warrior's woad, comes out of the forest. "Like to jig with me? he says,
and our lad grimly nods. And they begin to jig. The lad has never got much
training in dancing (guess why) but puts his whole self into it, and
somehow succeeds to reduce the dancing imp to a panting heap. "Well done!"
the brother says and stops piping. "Remember the tune you danced to! It is
magic indeed." And after that, the lad knows Glamour-4 - the focus is no
physical tune, but he must sing, play or whistle that tune to cast his
spell (and, short gamespeak break, succeed in the skill used).
Mechanism for all this: normal spirit combat, but you may want to keep
track of how it goes yourself, even if the player may want to roll dice
for himself. To make the combat fit the method, the skill (or skills)
important may support this like suggested in RQ4 (add 1/5 skill to the
chance of winning a turn of spirit combat).
Will be back soon with words about what female players thought of "my"
Esrolia......
Cheers,
Erik
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #10