Hero Wars is a completely new system, and does not resemble RQ in the
slightest. In my opinion it is impossible to do a "conversion" from one
system to the other, except in a very general way. The characters
resemble RQ PCs less than does a T&T delver.=20
Jeff Erwin asks two reasonable questions
>If the gods are apparent and mundane (i.e. not miraculous as Hume has
it), religion is an obvious route; -but- here's where I=20
>have trouble. Religion in whatever culture in Earth is a faith/belief
structure, sometimes incorporating a systemic attempt to=20
>explain the world and sometimes being more a philosophy.
Well, speaking as a religious Earthling, I can only say that the
"mystery" inherent in religion is only a very small part of my =
religious
concerns and/or practices. If religion was only about philosophy and
explaining the world, I don't think it would have the near-universal
hold on mankind's imagination that it does.=20
I believe that religion is about other things -- how to live,
how to be happy, how to raise a family, how to deal with friends, how =
to
deal with enemies. It is about mores, ethics, culture, and, of course,
eschatology comes in there somewhere.=20
Gloranthans have just as much need to live & be happy as
Earthlings (or at least they would if they were real). Also, the gods
are not as apparent and mundane as all that. What evidence does the
average Gloranthan have that Orlanth exists? None at all, unless you
live in Orlanthi territory. When you are in Orlanthi country, the =
priest
does magic and looks all impressive and says its from Orlanth, but you
don't necessarily _see_ anything more than in a voodoo or spiritualist
ceremony -- possibly less. After all, magic is available from sources
besides the gods. The existence of spirits & sorcery actually mitigates
_against_ the existence of gods, after all.=20
>Magic in Glorantha is very available. Yet Gloranthan society is still
in our sense primitive. Assumptions, tacitly, have been >made that the
average person is poor and that lifespans are short. This is a =
carryover
from the Bronze age milieu, but is this >accurate for such a magically
adept society? Why shouldn't the average farmer or city prole be as
convenience-wealthy as >Western poor (TVs, toilets, sanitary water,
etc.)?
- Because magic is not exclusively a force for good. There is
healing magic, but also disease spirits. There is fertilizing magic, =
and
there is a Goddess of Drought. There is the handy Kill Rats spell =
(i.e.,
Disrupt), but there are also occasional rats with full human
intelligence (try to imagine how much that would suck). Who would argue
that because modern soldiers have tanks and airplanes that the
experience of modern war is somehow "better" than a hundred years ago?
If anything, your chances of survival are much less.=20
- Because the existence of magic has impeded the invention of
certain things that real bronze-agers used to improve their lifestyle.
One simple example, though dozens spring to mind: the Pure Horse people
are obscure and marginal everywhere they exist. Why? Because they try =
to
rely on breeding horses for food. They cannot do otherwise -- their god
& magic demand it. But it's not particularly efficient. They can't
switch now. They're trapped in a magico-cultural dead end.=20
- Because magic leads to occasional disasters on a nuclear
holocaust sort of scale that greatly hinder development. These are
pretty severe setbacks both culturally and physically. Think of the
worst disasters of Earth: the Black Death, Tamurlane's invasion of
India, the million-death typhoon of Bangla Desh. Bad as these are,
Glorantha has worse on a fairly regular basis. Example: the Ban, the
Closing, the Gbaji Wars, the end of the Second Age, etc.=20
- Even when used properly, magic is not that much of an
advantage over not having magic. Think of your everyday life. Now,
imagine that you had your INT worth of spirit magic. What would you
pick? Assuming an INT of 18 for the average Digester (why not?), I'd
personally go for Heal 6, Disrupt (to kill annoying small animals),
Detect Car Keys, Countermagic 4 (if the other Digesters have magic, =
I'll
_need_ this), Mobility 3, Ignite, & Extinguish 2. Well, that fills up =
my
brain. Now, how often would I use these spells to improve my life,
taking the last week as a sample
Heal 6 -- I wouldn't have used it at all last week. No one was
injured to the point of needing it.
Countermagic 4 -- unused
Detect Car Keys - despite the obvious utility of this spell, I
have not needed it recently, thank the lord.=20
Ignite - I wouldn't need matches to light my stove. A small, but
measurable, pleasure.=20
Extinguish 2 -- just in case. I'd have used it exactly once
during my entire marriage. And when I _would_ have, 2 points probably
wouldn't have been enough. Good thing there was a fire extinguisher
handy.=20
Disrupt -- I would have killed one (1) cockroach over the week
with this. I killed it anyway, but had to get up from my chair.=20
Mobility 3 -- hmm. Not this last week, but the previous I'd have
needed it.=20
I have to admit, magic would not have made that much difference in my
recent life. Still, it would have been a comfort.=20
- In Gloranthan terms, we _have_ magic on Earth. We can psyche
ourselves up for feats of sport or derring-do, in a way that would
require a Gloranthan to cast a spell. We can concentrate and ignore the
pain. We can feel the pain of a loved one over a distance. Etc. etc.=20