> Under HW we get rules for Barntar at last, and - so I'm given to
>understand - rather more detailed and interesting magics than 'Bless
>Crops'.
Uh, not exactly. In the version I've seen you get Orlanth the farmer, who is associated with Barntar. But Barntar is not shown. I also find that the way magic is shown in hero wars is very boring. You get the phrase 'bless crops' without any description of how it works or what the mechanics are (either game mechanics or how the spell is cast from the character POV). Nothing is given, not even the description from RQ.
In general this seems to be weakness of the system. Unless the GM is willing and able to make up the entire magic system there really isn't much there. You get a word or two with no idea of how it is supposed to work in a game. <sarcasm> "I attack with 25 SPs of combat magic" is just so much improved in roleplay and storytelling over "I hit him with a sunspear." </sarcasm>
Now, as a Glorantha player you can make it up. But that is not exactly the target audience. Admitidly things are not done, but there seems to be something of a lack of flavor. An obvious example is that there is no indication of how names in Sartar are constructed. Hopefully the facts and myths book for Sartar (which I have not seen) will remedy these issues.
Kevin
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