Firstly, Divine Intervention (my apologies to those of you who are sick of this thread). There have been so many comments on this, I'll try to paraphrase them rather than quote extensively.
What DI can do - I personally find it hard to see how the gods could do just about anything with DI. They're not omnipotent and are _defined_ at least partially by what they can do. Let's face it, Humakt isn't known for growing crops - why should he (or would he?) be able to do so just because it's a DI?
Sure, IMO most gods can heal... their own worshippers. After all, the god has a personal link with the worshipper, and may find it 'easier' (more appropriate?) to use powers that are not its speciality on the worshipper. IMO only healing/fertility deities could (or even would) heal non-initiates- what does Orlanth really know about healing? He may be able to _reinvigorate_ his worshippers with his energy (having RQ system effects like restoring HP/FP/MP) but IMO that's not the same as what Chalana Arroy does at all when she heals.
Similarly, I don't think CA can teleport - maybe only by asking Orlanth through her 'Lightbringer link', and it's his charioteer who does most of it anyway, surely? In the (now-classic) CA example, I would (example off the top of my head) probably have a feeling of peace descend upon the area for a few minutes, ceasing the violence and perhaps allowing the party and the kidnapped girl to escape. This is I feel mythically correct and has much the same RQ game effect as a massive sleep effect... many gloranthan adventurers would probably try to kill the sleepers so CA may avoid doing it if possible (after all, she's probably seen it so many times before).
The real problem is that DI, like several other parts of RQ, is just a game device to try and represent the will of a deity. I feel very strongly that any presentation of DI as being a separate phenomenon from Rune Magic is seriously flawed. 'Rune Spells' are just divine energy granted to a worshipper for his/her/its devotion that AS A RQ RULES EFFECT seems to be evoked and take effect in the same way every time. DI is a spontaneous call to ones god that AS A RQ RULES EFFECT has a random percentage chance of working and has a big effect on the game, often acting like a large one-shot divine spell.
IMHO it's not really like this... I don't see Rune Magic (or any form of magic apart from sorcery and _some_ spirit magic) as being 'spells' at all... it's hard for me to explain this but Greg did it well at Convulsion with the example that an Orlanthi priest didn't cast 'Cloud Call' when he wanted it to rain, instead he just called the rain... I'm sure most of you will get my drift and I'll try to think of some more examples for those of you who don't. (BTW, this is as far as I know roughly how the magic system of the new Glorantha game will work/feel)
That would make DI, which remember is (IMO at least) just a game construct, merely a more desperate and less-prepared form of calling on one's deity. But desperate wishes are not always granted!!! I happen to think rolling for it is also a bad idea, but I've yet to find anothe rway of doing it that I'm entirely happy with.
As to Spirit/Battle Magic, I see this as being mainly the expression of the 'casters' will, the personality of the strong-willed manipulating the magical energies of Glorantha to produce a 'magical' effect. I really don't think that anywhere in Glorantha except maybe the most 'civilised' areas maybe would you _ever_ hear of someone paying to learn 'Bladesharp', let alone 'Bladesharp 6'!!! But an experienced hunter may know a tribal secret that stills the flight of his prey, and the secrets the elves whisper to their arrows seem to make them fly true. And so on.
Cease diatribe... on to some individual replies:-
Frederic Moulin:-
>My point is not that Humakt cannot resurrect: I am sure he could do it if
>he ever could think of it. But the concept of refusing death is so alien
>for the Death God that he cannot even think of it.
I strongly disagree! I think Humakt knows _exactly_ about the concept of refusing death is about.. it would cheapen him if he didn't. He wasn't always death you know.... oh, but he wouldn't resurrect, no way... althoug (and this is an interesting slant on things) he might hold back on somebody who has recently (RULES DEFINITION) 'died' to allow them to complete a task... of course they would die in the attempt, but probably learn a lot about death on the way. More on that later if anybody's interested.
JD Covert:-
>Long ago (RQ2 era) we actually had a GM who allowed us to use tattoos
>as rune matrices. I doubt that would still be legal, but it was an
>interesting 'perk' to our game.
This happens all the time - tribal caste markings etc would often be matrices if available. This is mythically very appropriate. It's not all jollies though - I'll note that (in RQ terms, because it's dealt with quite well there) if your arm (or wherever the tattoo is) is seriously wounded, the matrix can/will be destroyed until the arm is repaired and POW sacrificed in the proper ceremony to restore it. And you may find enemies hunting you for your body parts if you're not careful....
James Frusetta:-
>Hmm... I always considered matrices to be "hard-wired" -- you puts the
>magic points in and get your result. Doesn't seem improbably that could
>make a "set" matrix of some sort that gives you set knowledge... but
>I'm less optimistic about getting to use a very large data-source
(goe son to talk about languages being hard to put in a matrix for this reason)
!!!!!! This assumes that magic follows principles akin to those of technology in both cases, which I strongly dispute! I'm all for magical objects doing all sorts of things... it's more mystical. I really think we shouldn't limit Glorantha by game constructs... it's awfully disrespectful! ;-)
David Dunham:-
>Of course, by the scaling principle, 1 point of DI should not give the
>effects of many points of teleportation.
I don't really care about how much POW is lost in most cases... I prefer the concept of other ways of paying for your god's favour (quests etc) - there's more flavour to that, although a quick POW drop does stop DIs being casually called on I suppose - IF you're playing RQ, of course ;-)
I'm tired of typing now. Thanks for listening!
Paul
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