Hi Mike,
FWIW, I don't think the official approach has anything to do with avoiding powergaming. It is a natural consequence of having magic immanent in daily life and a set of distinct otherworlds. The world of Glorantha is one in which syncretic merging of very different religions doesn't happen by cultural creep, the way it did and does in the RW. There it needs massive heroquesting or even more worldaltering events (like the Birth of the Goddess) to happen, precisely because it has to drag religions and deities from one otherworld to another or else find some way of melding them.
You say:
> I'm talking about Romans
> who worshipped the Roman pantheon by day,
> and who were in the hip new
> Christian cult by night.
Do you think it might have made a difference if Jupiter actually started chucking lightning at you if you did this? There are basic precepts about Glorantha which are different from the RW, and the singificance of a soul/spirit/etc/'s link with an otherworld is a part of that.
Now, whether it's a good thing or bad is up to you (it's one of the reasons why there are no separate otherworlds in Mythic Russia, because syncresis and the worship of multiple, diferent belief systems is a key aspect of the cultural backdrop), but it was chosen for HQ as accurately reflecting Greg's vision of Glorantha.
All the best
Mark
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