Re: Venn Diagram - Magic <> Culture from David Cake on 2012-10-19 (World of Glorantha)

From: David Cake <dave_at_...>
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2012 06:19:36 -0400

On 12/10/2012, at 3:54 PM, Kevin McDonald wrote:

> Oops! I didn't read Dave's post before sending mine.
>
> On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 2:52 PM, David Cake <dave_at_...> wrote:
>

>> Personally, I think that in RuneQuest rules terms, Lunar Magic is best
>> modelled by combining Mysticism with other forms of Magic. Lunar Mysticism
>> doesn't do the showy stuff like mystic martial arts, but tends towards
>> mystic enhancement of magical abilities that sits on top of other magical
>> abilities.

>
>
> This is probably a good idea. The importance of remembering the fundamental
> difference between Lunar sorcery/divine/spirit magic and "real" versions of
> such magic is that spells/whatever that would normally defend against it
> won't because it isn't what it appears to be.

	I'm not sure that this is true. Lunar Magic may be 'fake' sorcery/spirits/miracles, but I think it is a good fake that generally is not easily distinguishable. 
	If anything, Lunar Glamours often weaker, not more powerful - I don't think Lunar magic lets them cut through defences in this manner.  A ward vs spirits should still stop a Lune, a protection against sorcery spell should still stop Lunar sorcery, etc. A Sevened Lunar Magician can probably use the deeper nature of Lunar magic to perform some such tricks, but I don't think it is normal.

> Likewise, limitations that
> are normally in place for regular magic systems are looser for Lunar
> magicians. A Lunar sorcerer *can* occasionally get away with boiling
> someone's blood using a Lunar Boil Water spell. A Lunar magician using
> Divine magic doesn't have to worry quite as much about angering his/her
> deity because the magic doesn't really come from one. Likewise for spirit
> negotiations. The farther along the Lunar Way that the magician is
> the easier it is to do this.

	That is true - Lunar Magic starts out, if anything, more limited than its equivalent (eg Lunar Divine magicians don't get access to feats in HQ2). But as they learn more, they gradually compensate for this limitation with more and more flexibility, and a fully Sevened Lunar magician has a lot of potential tricks up their sleeve. 
	Cheers

		David