[Glorantha] Re: ILH2

[Trotsky]

Roger McCarthy:

>However my biggest disappointment was the rather cursory treatment of the
>Seven Mothers and lack of more than a couple of sub-cults.
>  
>
I treat a number of the full cults described in the book as if they are 
sub-cults of the ones we know to be really important, and there does 
seem to be some support for this approach, when you look at their 
affinities. For example, Yanafal Vestara clearly is a sub-cult of 
Yanafal Tarnils, IMO, even if he gets his own full-sized entry, because 
two out of three of his affinities are identical. In my campaign Urangar 
Vorderos is also a sub-cult of YT, because that simple makes sense to 
me. But, certainly. if any of this was the intent (and it may well not 
be), it's not very clear from a reading of the book.

>If space was the issue I suspect most of us could have carried on quite
>happily without ever having heard of Felkenna the Faultless Wife, 
>  
>
Personally, I liked Felkanna and Asyrex. They tell me what the great 
bulk of Lunars that aren't adventurer types have as abilities, which is 
quite useful in the kind of games I run. Granted, its Narrator 
information, rather than aimed at players, but it's still something I 
like to see. /Heroes of Malkion/ will have stuff like this, too - but 
don't worry, there's a bunch of warrior cults, healers, etc. to go with 
them!

>However to illustrate the new lunar 'mixed magic without misapplied worship
>penalties' paradigm YT now has an affinity, a formulary and a bunch of
>spirits,  
>  
>
In my campaign, the YT followers down Tarsh way have the old three 
affinities, and its only the sophisticates up north that do things the 
ILH-2 way. IMG at least, both exist.#

>More to the point, if anyone is already running a YT, Deezola or IO
>character created using the keywords in HQ and the Hero's Book are they now
>suddenly supposed to convert their affinities to formularies and spirits
>(and presumably in an Orwellian touch pretend that they have 'always' been
>formularies and spirits) with all the hassle that implies game mechanically?
>
I don't know about 'supposed to', but I didn't. YGWV and all that.

>One of the key problems many newbies have with HQ is the multiple
>otherworlds and magical systems and the 80 pages of rules he has to plough
>through to understand them - but at least we used to be able to say - 'well
>that really doesn't matter right now as most of the wizards are way out out
>west and shamans are pretty rare around here  so you won't encounter them
>often and we'll deal with those chapters of the book when we do'.
>
>As written ILH2 effectively kills that option, contradicts previous HQ
>publications and steeply ramps up the learning curve for anyone wanting to
>run lunar characters.
>  
>
That seems a valid criticism, I agree.

Graham Robinson:

>>would an 'imperial university graduate' or 'lunar college of magic' keyword
>>really have been that difficult to include space-wise
>>    
>>
>
>Do we need one? I mean, do Lunar scholars have a different skill set than, say, a Lhankor Mhy scholar in Nochet? 
>  
>
He may mean a magic keyword, in which case, the answer to your question 
is clearly 'yes'. I agree that the mundane skills are unlikely to be 
much different.

-- 
Trotsky
Gamer and Skeptic

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Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/