[Glorantha] Re: Rune Magic

In message <448D8CA5.1050406@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/