[Glorantha] Re: Rune Magic

[Donald R. Oddy]

In message <448D8CA5.1050406 at mindspring.com> Kevin McDonald writes:

>Is HQ common magic really all that cult related, though? To me, it 
>appears to fall more into the "communal knowledge" area. "Uncle Fred 
>showed me that if I say a quick prayer and toss some bread in the river 
>then the river's spirit will tell its children to support me as I swim 
>across."

That's certainly my understanding of the majority of common magic
in HQ. There are cults based around common magic but they're the
exception rather than the rule. Also I don't think it is any sort
of coherent system, there are umpteen bits of magic for crossing 
rivers all with different requirements and they work better or 
worse with different rivers.

>As for the rarity of magic issue, I am not sure "Battle Magic" was all 
>*that* common in the old versions of RQ. It cost money to learn, and the 
>vast majority of individuals are fairly poor. Perhaps the book prices 
>were inflated for adventurers, but it still looked relatively expensive. 
>How much excess capital would your typical farmer have on any given day? 
>Without looking at the numbers, I would say that magic in RQ was a perk 
>of relatively well-to-do commoners - a case of the rich getting richer. 
>Those living hand-to-mouth might never have any personal magic. They 
>might occasionally scrape together enough to pay a more prosperous 
>neighbor to cast a spell or two for them, though.

Well RQ was firmly based in a monetary economy and it's clear much
of Glorantha doesn't actually have such an economy. There was also
an emphasis on fighting magic which a farmer wouldn't be very
interested in. I see the farmer learning a spell to protect the
blade of his plough before one to sharpen his spear. And he'd 
probably pay for the spell by giving his teacher a share of his
next few harvests rather than paying silver. Even in RQII there 
were indications that prices could be reduced in return for 
favours and other payment in kind.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/