I ran a Grazer game several years ago, and decided that players could keep their characters (aged 10 years, in part to explain any differences between the two game systems). Loren had run a shaman, and decided to write him up in the form of a summoning chant (I've annotated it, and will explain below).
Shadow Dancer [darkness spirit]
Ground Shaker [earth spirit]
Dragons Render [flaw: enemies]
Basmoli Tamer [flaw: enemies]
Khan Spicer [magic item: head of a khan]
Zebra Zealoter [goal]
Sabler Fabler [flaw: enemies]
Horse Healer [spirit]
Yara Aranis Reelers [a zebra]
Flatnose Friender [ally: Flatnose the Centaur]
Barz!
Uz Amuser [Speak Uz]
Ptasyen Leafpaler(?) [ally: Ptasyen, an aldyrami shaman]
Talafon Pleedger [ally: Zebra Tribe shaman]
Oread Gambler [not determined yet]
Thumb-rock Holder [magic item: a rock with a thumbprint, cracked by the oread]
Elemental Boulder [spirit]
Water Boiler [spirit]
Fire Quencher [spirit]
Field Parcher [cloudchaser spirit]
Sky Drainer [rain spirit]
Barz!
Wind Breaker [anti-Heortling passion spirit]
Ghost Chainer [spirit, helps against ghosts]
Matrix Enchanter [probably relates to his fetish-making]
Sourgrapes Wraither [wraith, bound into a fetish]
Power Tapper [magic item: provides AP]
Planes Mapper [spirit: mapping of otherworld, can augment Spirit Travel]
Discorporate Battler [spirit: can augment Spirit Combat]
Spirit Trapper [not determined yet, or else maybe redundant]
Passion Passer [+1 bonus with passion spirits]
Disease Cleanser [spirit]
Barz!
Bone Shaper [Craft Bone ability]
Intellect Scrapper [+1 bonus with intellect spirits]
Spell Prancer [teaching]
Plague Banisher [Cure Disease ability]
Morokanth Rider [Ride Morokanth ability]
Blade Flamer [combat spirit]
Body Disrupter [combat spirit]
Flesh Armorer [he has magic tattoos which are ^1]
Brain Befuddler [spirit]
River Muddler [anti-water spirit]
Barz!
Cheetah Freezer [slow talent(?)]
Turtle Speeder [haste talent(?)]
Rampart Stander [Steadfast in Battle ability]
Walktapi Dicer [magic item: Sword, useful against Chaos]
Rife Splicer [Heortling Diplomacy, can be improvised to speak Heortling]
Post Taker [magic item: enchanted gate post from Esrolia]
Lunar Elucidator [Speak New Pelorian]
Arrow Replicator [combat spirit]
Drum Beater [shaman keyword]
Skyswallow Awaker [his fetch]
Treasure Hills Starcatcher [Relationship: Clan] Barz Walo Raving Avenger! [personality: Crazed]
When I first saw this, I thought it was a list of all his spirits (he had a large number on his character sheet from the previous campaign). It turned out that this was supposed to be some sort of chant about his character (whose name was Barz Walo), and you had to remember the history of the campaign to decode it. Two examples (from my campaign log):
Storm/3 An oread came out of the night, and wagered with Eshdarin and Barz. She won both bets.
Sea/42 At the moment of sunset, they saw a beautiful woman standing on a hilltop. That night, Eshdarin was lured up the hill by eerie music and dancing lights. He danced with the woman until he showed her the thumbprint stone he'd gotten near Sacred Top. Angered, she cracked the stone and disappeared. Shortly afterwards, a rockslide hit their camp, seriously wounding two of the horses. [Barz kept the rock.]
It's 100 words (give or take -- I always let the clan be specified for free), and since each couplet is a single thing, isn't this just a list of 50 abilities and therefore illegal [HW.18]? If you want to be a stickler, yes, but how could I say no to such creativity? Besides, all of these start at 13, which isn't massively powerful.
And shamans have a lot of spirits anyway (I'm still uncertain as to how many a starting shaman should have, and this character isn't supposed to be a beginning shaman, even if I'm starting everyone at the Medium power level). If I let him have a bunch already integrated, it's not that big a deal, because I'd probably have to give him some anyway. (And this is actually far fewer than are on his RQ character sheet.) In fact, he probably still has a bunch of fetishes with spirits in 'em.
I do think I need to tighten the definition of some of the spirits. I don't want them to act as affinities. I think I may leave them undefined until they're actually used (e.g. in the first episode, Barz used River Muddler to cross a river, so that will define its power).
David Dunham dunham_at_...
Glorantha/HW/RQ page: http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html
Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
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