The current rules for ritual magic leave a lot to be desired, IMO. Primarily, the ability to duplicate what is described in the literature. For instance, in the recent adventure write up from the Seattle Farmers Commune (SFC for short), their characters' clan did the "Summons of Evil" ritual from KoS to bring some nasty broos to them. I don't know how they did this in their game, but I would have to resort to handwaving in mine. The rules as written imply that each ceremony would require a specific spell be known to do it. This is definitely the case with summon and command spells, which require a different spell for each type of thing summoned or commanded. So, would a "Summons of Evil Ritual" spell need to be known by someone in VarmandiClan? If a different spell is needed for each ritual, then how would a community ever attempt a new heroquest? Something could be specified clearly in myth, but if none of them know the divine spell, they can't do it. Nor can they sacrifice for "A spell that let's us do Myth X", unless they first go to a priest that knows "Myth X Ritual".
I suppose it could be patterned instead after the Binding Enchantment spells, that allow a binding for any type of critter be made with the same spell, altering the casting each time an enchantment is done. Thus the "Summons of Evil", being myth of Orlanth, could be done as a variation of the Worship Orlanth Ritual spell. This fleshes out the Worship spells nicely, making them quite useful to have, but potentially makes them too powerful. I'm not sure I like this solution either.
So, would anyone from SFC like to comment on how they did it,
mechanics wise? Or did you even worry about it?
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Boris
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