Herbs again

From: Jane Williams <janewill_at_mail.nildram.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 15:57:59 +0000


After a bit of discussion and reading, I think I may have the start of a useable system: but I also think I need some help.

What can herbs do? in game terms rather than Gloranthan ones, that is.

  1. Fight a specific disease
  2. Fight all diseases that affect a particular stat.
  3. Fight all diseases that affect a particular part of the body (e.g. the lungs) d) Fight all diseases that include a particular symptom (reduces fever, dulls pain) e) Fight all diseases (by boosting CON?)
  4. Enhance a particular stat temporarily (note overlap with (e))
  5. Enhance a particular sense temporarily
  6. Aid healing to a particular part of the body (e.g. skin)

No doubt there are more. To turn this into a system, we need to make sure it fits the current system for disease (and just by listing the possible effects like that, I think it does). Then we need to look at why each herb has these effects.

Each herb has its own spirit, and that spirit has its own likes, dislikes, and motivations. Most healing herbs want to be used for their particular type of healing, and will go out of their way to make themselves easy to spot and recognise for healers. Herbs with non-healing effects may be more awkward to deal with, and some may be positively hostile.

Each herb has associations with some of the five elements, either positive or negative. To work out the associations, look at what the herb does. Some old notes of Greg's give hints:

The five (main) organs:
- - FIRE/LIGHT; Brain; thinking

The five perceptions:
- - FIRE/LIGHT; See

The five fleshes:
- - FIRE/LIGHT; Sinew

So a herb that improved vision (perception: see) but had a side-effect of making breathing difficult (organs: lungs) would have a positive association with Light and a negative one with Air.

What I can't sort out yet is associations between the five elements and the 7 stats. Some can be sorted out from the list above, others I'm stuck on - perhaps we need more elements? 

STR - often associated with Earth, though from above muscle=Air
CON - "surviving" = lungs = Air
SIZ - ?
INT - Brain: thinking: Light
POW - ? Spirit rune?
DEX - ?

APP - ? Given that the disease system classifies diseases by stat, we need to be able to classify treatment by stat as well, so I definitely need to get this sorted out. And quickly, before anyone invents too many more stats!

Apart from associations with elements (and the corresponding uses for balancing thosre elements in an individual), some herbs are associated with certain deities or spirits, and perhaps get runic associations from them. A herb sacred to Issaries for instance would not have elemental links but might improve communication. Perhaps using the full set of runes, rather than just the elements, would make a better system? 

Jane Williams                     jane_at_williams.nildram.co.uk
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/index.shtml

End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #189

WWW at http://rider.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html

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