[Glorantha] Re: Mongoose's Rune Magic

[Julian Lord]

Ian :

Rune Magic is something new, because it does not come from individuals but
> from the possession of artefacts. While the magical abilities might be
> reminiscent of 'folk magic' the magic comes from a different source - the
> blood of the gods.
>
> If the objective is just to create gameplay around picking up these
> artefacts then my problem is that it does not feel very Gloranthan. For me
> one key aspect of Glorantha is that magic flows from belonging to a
> community. One constant has been that people who had folk magic without any
> cult ties were rare or exceptional. For example, in HeroQuest most common
> magic is associated with a community even though it doesn't have to be. That
> seems to be lost here as the suggestion seems to be that an artefact without
> community approach is common.


YGWV, but IMO --- while HeroQuest did away with a lot of the paraphernalia
attached to PC character sheets, the concept that physical foci and other
pieces of material magic are necessary for most magic use is a very old rule
in Glorantha --- it's just one that has been consistently downplayed in
the other post-RQ2 material for gameplay' sake...

Also, whilst it's certainly true that the Community is a strong source of
magic, it's certainly NOT the only one, and strong magic can come from a
Dragon, from a personal connection with some Power or other, from Within, or
from any other Source that may make sense in the game...

There also seems to be an issue of scale, with RuneQuest focussing squarely
on the individual level, so that all that pertains to the individual is
highly important ; whereas HeroQuest is more concerned with large-scale
events, so that Communities, world-shattering Events, and et cetera are so
important that writing down how many spell foci you have in your possession
would just be a waste of energy and a bad shift of focus.

In fact any one of these Runes in the new rules would in HQ terms be just
another +1 to an ability on your character sheet ... ;-)

Julian Lord