Re: Re: Common religions and concentrating magic

From: L.Castellucci <lightcastle_at_...>
Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2007 18:23:52 -0400


On September 9, 2007 04:57 pm, Roderick and Ellen Robertson wrote:
> >> Personally, I'd make Concentration focus on a single entity, rather than
> >> a
> >> form or magic or a pantheon

> > Except you already do that to Devote. How is this different?
>
> Because currently you can Concentrate without devoting or becoming a
> shaman. I'd remove the "Concentrate on Theism" or even "Concentrate on the
> Storm Tribe" and replace it with "Concentrate on <Otherworld being>", which
> in the case of Theism, is not the same as Devoting, as you could still be a
> "Concentrated Initiate". However, there is no equivalent in Sorcery as it
> stands, nor in Animism except for Shamans.

Intriguing.
What would it give you? The Hero Point discount, the ability to do feats for half the improv modifier... would you still have it remove the alien world modifier, or would you tweak that?

Would Practicioners concentrate on their Majestic Spirit (or their Practice?). (Same for Shamans, in the end.)

Orderlies can concentrate on their Saint, of course. Liturgists on God. Would Adepts concentrate on their schools or their Grimoire?

And for everyone other than theist, what do they get for concentrating? The HP discount, possible the alien world penalty and... what?

> Also, it
>
> > specifically violates one of the things that Shamans have going for them,
> > the
> > ability to get spirits from various places. I'm not even sure what the
> > effect
> > would be on the Malkioni. Limit to one School or Order, I suppose?
>
> Shamans can have special rules - they're wierd enough already. I can see
> the Fetch allowing capture/diplomacy with "foreign" spirits.

Fair enough. That's pretty much how it works now.

> >> This would allow much more leeway in "mixing" the magic of pantheons. So
> >> you worship a God and he worships a Spirit and she worships a Saint -
> >> they
> >> are all in the same pantheon, you're all friendly towards each other (at
> >> least as friendly as any family/clan/tribe is), you share rites and holy
> >> days with each other, You band together against "them heathen
> >> furriners", etc.
> >
> > Why can't you do that now? Isn't that what people do now?
>
> The only two pantheons that have really had really good overviews are
> pretty monolithic in their magic systems - Heortling are pretty solidly
> Theist (yes, I know all about Sedresdosa, Kolat, Odayala and Renvald
> Meldikbane, that's hardly a significant proportion of Heortlins) and the
> Lunars (All Lunar, all the Time).

I don't argue with that, I just don't see how your solution allows people to interact in a mixed system any more easily. I suppose it removes the hand-waving that comes from saying "participating in Heortling rites doesn't count as breaking concentration if you are a Heortling", and that's something.

> We have not seen a truely "Mixed"
> pantheon in any depth. Also, the rules specifically (absolutely wrongly, in
> my opinion) that "Specialised Religions concentrate on one type of magic to
> the exclusion of all others." (top of page 105). The first truely mixed
> "pantheon" we've seen is in BoG. (and about time, too!).

Yup. Which is why "common religion" = "mixed religion" in the book, to the vast confusion of lots of people. I also think the 105 text is wrong in terms of describing Glorantha in terms of how we've seen Glorantha presented over time (even just the short time I've been here). For instance, page 105 is fairly explicit that common magic other than talents originate with Otherworld Entities native to the Mortal World. (Although I am not sure what that means.)

I really do need to pick up BoG now that I've finished my move. It would be nice to see a detailed mixed religion.

LC

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