Heaven-sent spells

From: Erik Sieurin <BV9521_at_utb.hb.se>
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 11:58:34 +0100

Martin Laurie:
> Psychology in combat is perhaps more important than skill IMO.
Agree absolutely. However, skill can be used to frighten people. When the guy you and your pals are overpowering has made three sweeps with his sword so far, and killed or crippled a guy with each sweep, then you run. Oh, and most PC's run after the second goy being gruesomely eviscerated/beheaded/having his arms cut off. Or, from an old CoC campaign:

1. PC panics and shoots Evil But Suave Cult Leader in the head.
2. EBSCL (calm and curious): "Ah, it appears you want to kill me."
3. PC: "GUCK!!"

> But now I wonder why on the lozenge should the cult battle spells be the same as
> the primitive ones if they are of a different origin.
Question: Why should the game effects be different? The way of using magic will surely be different, and that _might_ have to be reflected in learning mechanics, or casting mechanics. But (IMHO) do not put game mechanic differences there because you want to simply make things different, act out differently instead.

 [Heresy]
>
> One possible idea: cult non-runic magic is similar to Sandy's sorcery,
> with heavy restrictions in the vows one can take (see Nick's write-up of
> St. Orlanth). And all Initiates are _forced_ to be specialists in SS
> terms. This ties magic efficiency to behavior, allows for power, but
> only in spells that are actually related to your god's domain. This is
> more satisfactory than the "spirit magic taught by the cult" limitation,
> which is always circumvented in actual game play (there is always an
> associate lightbringer who teaches that spell). But it would require
> reworking almost everything our games!
Yes. In my current "Argrath!" project (Elric! rules for Glorantha, with a seasoning of, uh, Pendragon and Nephilim - VERY light seasoning) I had the following idea:

The max points you can point into a Divinely gained Spell depends on your link with it's source (god, goddess, big spirit, pool of slime...). The numbers are more or less random, but something like: Associated Guy or Doll (Issarite casting Orlanthi magic) POW/10, Initiate POW/8, Acolyte/Godi POW/6, Full Priest/Rune Lord POW/4. For fixed spells, if you cannot cast spells with enough MP in it to meet the minimum limit, you cannot cast the spell.

How it is learnt? By contacting someone who knows it (granma, priest, spirit servant of the deity) and simply learn from them. Just like the big ceremonies ("lay members just see a drama, initiates meet their gods") , if you are not initiated in some way the phrases, gestures and stuff won't mean a thing. You can learn them by rote, but not use them.

"The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea, in a beautiful pea-green boat..."
>From "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear

Erik Sieurin
bv9521_at_utb.hb.se
Bodagatan 39, 2 tr
50742 Boras
Sweden
033/141731

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