As a diversion while we all settle down, how about a round of "What excited me about Glorantha in the first place?"
I know that for me, it was largely the magic. More specifically, that everyone had some. That was almost unique to me at the time (except for super hero games like Champions), and I think it is still uncommon amongst role playing games. Most games try to re-create an earth history type setting, which requires that magic be rare, and to keep it from becoming too powerful they usually pile on rules to weaken those who have it. Curiously, one of the other games in which everyone has magic is Vampire, which has been one of the more successful games in the past decade or so from what I can tell.
I chalk it up to "everyone wants to be special" and magic is usually the flashiest and most special part of a game. For example, my first RQ3 character rolled up as a sorcery using thief. Despite the limitation of sorcery, using "form/set bronze" and "reduce size" he was capable of feats no thief I'd played in any other system could manage, and for that reason I remember him far better than characters that I played far more in other systems.
Of course, the "for most people, magic just augments mundane abilities" feature of HW/HQ detracts from this a bit, but at least you still have MAGIC!
So, in the manner of the blind men describing the elephant, I'd say "If you want to sell the game, talk about how everyone has magic!"
Regards;
Bryan
PS. As to why discussion like this happen on this list, I'm sure I'm
not the only one who has never signed up to the digest for one reason
or another. In my case because I don't like large discussion
arriving in my inbox, I like the yahoo feature of being able to visit
the group when you want to.
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