This is a bit rulesy in approach. Why not look at RW animist big annual rituals (like say the Sun Dance) and see what they aim to do?
> But then I was thinking that theists kind of do this. They dress up
> in fancy clothes and go re-enact the whole "beat up the bad guy"
> ritual during sacred time or whatever.
And just because theists do this, means that animists can't? There is a Daka Fal ritual in Cults of Prax which has the Baboons dressing up and imitating the Baboon Founder and Daka Fal.
> Since animism is about
> personal relationships, and the big evil spirits are so much bigger
> than people, animists can't really intimidate Black Eater or Wildfire
> in advance.
If they were confronting the full power of the big evil spirits then they can't but they are not, just as the theists are not.
> Instead, what they do is ask for the blessings of the good spirits in
> advance.
As does everybody else as far as I know.
> So, my final thought was that the rituals make worshippers more
> suitable to great spirits. We all know that spirits are picky. After
> all, taboos are mainly about not doing the things that offend the
> spirits. So, maybe these rituals give you a little Lingering Benefit
> in your interactions with the spirits of the tradition. But the
> problem with that is one of game balance: if you got a +9 Lingering
> Benefit most years from making sure you got the annual ritual right,
> that just seems over the top.
It also has the major flaw in that it reduces the great spirits primarily to actions *through* the worshipper whereas the worshipper is being nice to the great spirit in the hope that he *does* something good in return.
If you really want a personal relationships angle, it might be best to have the Big Annual Ritual as making the good spirits *happy* (potluck, singing, dancing, banjo duels) so they make good things happen around you. As for the bad spirits, some can simply be frightened off (mass chest beating and hooting), others have to beaten up so you can exhort promises from them that they won't make bad things happen around you in the coming year. And then there are the truly bad ones where you simply cast concealment magic so in the hope they won't see you.
--Peter Metcalfe
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