> One of the things that I have always missed discussing in Gloranthan
> context is the vast body of beliefs and practices like those, many of
> which are meaningless, with no real effect. But in fact, I am certain
> they exist extensively.
I've thought about this a lot. Here's what I've come up with on it.
There is a lot of mythic detritus left over from the Gods' War. There were entities that were killed, or dismembered, or disembodied; there were entire peoples who were exterminated. At the Dawn, almost all of the mythic entities came back to life, but many of them no longer had followers capable of worshipping them or their followers are still hiding. They were barely remembered, and form the basis of fairy tales, tall tales, legends, superstitions, and the like. There are many other stories that are just made up, about them or about people that never existed. And there are strange stories about foreigners and that foreigners tell. It is hard to tell the difference, because you don't know the way to them on the Hero Plane regardless of which category they are really in.
And there is a half-way house: common magic and propitiatory worship. Many of the left-over entities are so small that they will accept worship in any form from anyone. Often this is propitiatory worship to handle the little inconveiences that these small spirits are behind. Sometimes, these entities get included in a pantheon's common magic. You still don't know their paths on the Hero Planes, but you might be able to figure them out more easily. Here are a couple of examples I wrote up for Prax:
Many Burrs
Many Burrs is the spirit of the Praxian long-burred grass. Since the Golden Age, he has been at war with the rabbits, for reasons unknown to the Dedra. Propitiating Many Burrs helps keep burrs out of clothing and beasts’ fur. The ritual only requires practitioners to say “I hate rabbits” whenever their eyes water from the smoke of a fire over which a rabbit is roasting. This will last for half a season, so it is subconscious behavior for most Dedra.
Bad Gopher
Bad Gopher is one of Sesevus’s children. His people decided to live beneath the ground where it was cooler. When the first bison herds returned to his grasslands, the noise on his roof made Bad Gopher mad. Since then, his people have hidden holes throughout the grasslands that are just the right size to break a bison’s leg. Propitiating Bad Gopher helps keep riding beasts from tripping in these holes. The ritual is simple: drop a piece of edible plant (preferable a root) down a gopher hole with a short prayer of thanks. Leftovers are acceptable.
Here comes the MGF part: When ages change, people re-discover forgotten things. So, that fairy tale turns out to be true; the tall tale turns up the magic weapon; the legend comes back to life; the superstition grants magical powers. But not all of them! Maybe Bad Gopher turns out to be something bigger than anyone thought. Maybe Many Burrs' enemies turn out to be significant.
And there can be a shock value: Imagine running downstairs after hearing a noise on Christmas Eve, only to be faced with Santa actually delivering presents. Or hearing a scream from your kid's room, only to find the tooth fairy apologizing for waking your child.
And there are decisions that the player might have to make. They know that their own pantheon does not have an answer they need, and there are half a dozen stories that a successful World Lore-equivalent skill roll tells them about. Which one do they investigate, knowing how dangerous it is to stray from known paths on the Hero Plane? And, added to that, the ridicule of their clan when they say that they think the Tooth Fairy has the answer (ensuring that they get no community support).
As a narrator, you can lay down all these stories without fear. If the players later need a solution, maybe they can find one in what you already provided. If you don't like their solution, it was just a false story. You don't have to decide ahead of time! Just pick up a book of fairy tales, tall tales, etc. and adapt freely. Picking ones that are totally foreign to my background works well for me. I have half a dozen books on Native American stories. They are great stories because they involve entities I have never heard of, so (if I adapted them for a campaign) I would be much in the same positions as the characters: unsure of the mythic importance of the parts of the story.
All true in my Glorantha.
Chris Lemens
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