Re: Glorantha digest, Vol 9 #111 - 8 msgs

From: Trotsky <TTrotsky_at_blueyonder.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 08 Jun 2002 11:53:50 +0100


Greg:

> >Which begs the question : what would one call a Gloranthan magician
> >who used mind tricks/hypnosis/hallucination/Light powers/Smoke
> >and Mirrors/whatever to create false and unreal things that disappeared
> >with a wave of the hand, a gust of wind, etc ?
> Prestidigitator? Entertainer?

I'm decidedly lukewarm about these terms, since prestidigitator is specifically somebody who uses sleight of hand (which hypnotism and hallucination aren't examples of) and not all employers of 'mind tricks' will be entertainers, either. I suspect more specific terms will have to be used - for example 'hypnotist' for somebody who uses hypnosis.

Andrew Barton:

> We (as players and narrators) should call him something other than an
> illusionist because 'Illusion' is one of those words that has a different=
>
> meaning in Glorantha from the one we're used to using in our world and
> other game systems. If we were starting from scratch, a better name for
> the Illusion rune would be Creation.

I disagree - especially because there's a Creation rune already. Not only would it be confusing to have two runes with the same name, but (and more to the point of what you're actually suggesting) it would be decidedly unclear what the difference between them was: if Illusion is the ability to literally create stuff, what is Creation the ability to do?

> > But there are * some * Runic limitations to what you can and can't do ...
> > can't create Illusory Primal Chaos (a logical fallacy). Trying to create
> > an Illusory Boggle would be an inherently self-contradictory magical act.
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by 'Primal' here. But, any chaotic being, or
> any boggle, is a thing with existence in Glorantha. Therefore, it was
> created by Illusion - because EVERYTHING was. Therefore, someone with
> Illusion powers can create another one.

Sure (hypothetically - it would require huge levels of power IMO), but it wouldn't be an 'illusory' boggle, because boggles *are* illusory, so the distinction is meaningless. Whereas there is, IMO, a distinction between an illusory spoon and a 'real' one created through, say, Creation magic.

-- 
Trotsky
Gamer and Skeptic

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Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

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