Ok, shall we give the copyright question a break. I for one trust Greg and Issaries. Having met Greg over a few pints at Convulsion, I really can't see him as a money-grabbing yankee trader type.
But on to the topic:
Is the idea still that the magic systems are ranged from primitive to sophisticated, and that the ultimate powerlevels of the magicians are connected to this?
In the RQ era there was some speculation (and evidense of this), and reading the HQ books, I see shades of the same.
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Animism gives quick access to some useful power, but the power level is capped pretty soon. I started thinking about this since broo and scoprion men seem to be compleatly animistic these days, and this makes their magic pretty weak. The Dark Gods just aren't that scary anymore.
(What's he talking about?)
What I mean is that the spirits awailable from most practises seem to have a power range around 10 - 10w1. There's not much the animist can do about that, is there? 10w is quite useful, but it's not really earth-shattering heroic magic, now is it.
Then again, all animists have at least some spirits at their disposal.
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Theism is pretty much the standard for most of our games. The feats can get very powerful, and Heroquesting is the order of the day.
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Wizardry may not seem all that powerful when one looks at the rules, but by the history of Glorantha, it seems to be responsible for some of the most impressive magical phenomenon in history. The rules seem to stress the hierarchial nature of wizardly communities (most people don't really get individually-useful magic) and the long commitment needed to gain real power.
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And at the far end we seem to have mysticism. So esoteric and specialized that most people even in the lands of the mystics don't really have anything to do with it. The mystic spends a _lot_ of time before learning any magic (three abilities to two masteries) and doesn't really gain much immediate power even then. But...
This is the place that gives us Sheng Seleris. Possibly the most individually powerful (once)mortal in the history of Glorantha.
So what do people think? Am I reading this right, and are the animists intentionally so weak. It really seems like a proper hero (player character, that is. Small h) doesn't need to fear the magic of chaotics, or other primitives. Civilization is what brings power to magic.
-Adept
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