[Glorantha] Demigod magic

I snipped a lot of good ideas on the daughter of Yinkin, but I chose a slower, less front-loaded approach in my most recent game. A player wanted to play a demigoddess, so I let her add "Demigoddess 17" to the character sheet. So far, the ability has mostly been used for augmentation. I don't like the thought of adding a 10w3 ability to a starting PC, and I think that's yet another poorly thought out rule in HQ. I'm using the whole divine parentage thing as a detail, not a game statistic. I also think that one player having a super-powered PC will irritate some of the other players, even if they won't admit this (or maybe even realize this).

We didn't know which entity was the parent at first, but we figured out during the first session that the PC's mother was a local river. Now that we know the parent's identity, we have plenty of kin (other waterways, including great-grandfather Magasta) to interact with (the PC has been able to cross rivers easily and invoke mists to hide in), and adventure seeds (the Lunars are always looking for semi-divine beings to add to their "stable"). The other PCs aren't overshadowed by the semi-divine being in their midst, and they have their own equally interesting and powerful special abilities.

I also allow the demigoddess PC to add extra appropriate abilities as though they are in-play. So far, she has chosen to have animated hair that flows in air as if underwater water, and she has Attractive at something mastery one. The PC may develop into a goddess eventually, but it will be the same power curve as any other PC. She may even become a new river some day. (Another PC is so far intent on becoming a wolf, maybe a Telmori or some sort of god-wolf thing; another is pursuing a triple initiation between OA and Issaries subcults, so the other PCs have equally interesting things to pursue.)

On the other hand, there is a Yinkini PC in one of my other games who has through roleplay, play, and heroquesting almost become a daughter of Tol. The PC didn't start with such a relationship, but every action has been for the glory of her god, and she is on her way to becoming a Hero and/or demigoddess daughter of Yinkin. (And I don't think that any character in that game has broken the w3 barrier.)

Another thing that I didn't state explicitly above is that in the games I've been running, once a PC becomes a thing (wolf, demigod, etc.), they've been that thing all along (unless the transformation is the important story element).

Thanks,
Andy Received on Mon 19 Jun 2006 - 15:35:31 EEST