>* In Glorantha, the placebo effects may be more pronounced. A
>charlatan comes to the stead and says "Give me ten pigskins for my
>ritual and I'll make the drought end." The steaders fall for it--but
>now you have an entire steadful of people who *believe* that Big
>Magic is going to end the drought. That belief alone might be enough
>to have an effect.
>
>
I can't imagine any possible Gloranthan mechanism by which this could
work, though. To do magic, you need spells/charms/whatever - as far as
I'm aware, belief alone is worth squat. That's really the whole point of
saying that charlatans like this exist; because believing something is
so is *not* enough to make it so (except to the extent that placebos
work in the real world, of course). I would categorically say this is
impossible in my Glorantha, and I'd guess that mine's a lot more
flexible in this sort of respect than the intended default. YGWV, of course.
>* (Related) The charlatan may be getting magical power from the
>people he's fooled. He tells them that they're worshipping Big Juju,
>but there is no Big Juju--instead, all that magical worship energy
>is going to the charlatan himself. And maybe he can use that energy
>to do some magic--heal the sick, smite the unbeliever, that kind of
>thing--and thus perpetuate the scam.
>
This, on the other hand, is quite possible. For instance, the charlatan
could promise that, by giving him your magical energy (etc.) you too
will be able to gain these powers for yourself... you'll just have to be
very patient. And, of course, they never materialise, because that's not
what's going on. Or, alternatively, he claims that the powers are far
more potent than they actually are - preferably in a way that you can't
actually check. Most Gloranthans, after all, don't expect to gain Cool
Powers from worship; they expect good crops, or the continued existence
of justice in the universe, or things of that sort - a good charlatan
can convince people that this is happening, even when it isn't. And
that's even if he *hasn't* specifically got some sort of
illusionary/trickery magic...
-- Trotsky Gamer and Skeptic ------------------------------------------------------ Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
Powered by hypermail