[Glorantha] Field College power level

 [Graham Robinson]
>> Page 21 - Powerful. What that means in your campaign really depends on
>> the levels your PCs are at.

[Mikko]
> That, I'm afraid, is an ansver I have very little time for. The world is
>not just a subjective stage for the Player Characters.

No, it's not. But the sorts of people they are likely to encounter will - in most people's games - be tailored to their abilities somewhat. There is after all, no real point in setting them up to be in direct conflict with a group who could and would smear them across the landscape by blinking, unless you have suddenly got bored with GMing that particular game. Likewise, if your PCs were insanely powerful, after a while, no one but similarly tough adversaries would care to face off with them.

> The training and power level of the Imperial Field Colleges don't change
> to fit the level of the player characters I happen to currently have in
> my game.

Perhaps not, but in any college, army or other organisation, you will have an imbalance between the different parts of it, and the individuals therein. There may be an average, but that's no guarantee it's meaningful (remember, the definition of a statistician is someone who would drown wading across a river that is on average 3 feet* deep).

If the field colleges are known to be "powerful", that still gives a lot of leeway to GMs to decide how powerful the group are that the PCs run into on a particular occasion. It's not (in my opinion) the sort of cop out you are implying, to opt not to tie them down to specific stats. And even if the book did give numbers, so what? YGMV!

If we were talking about a named individual at a specific point in time, I'd agree completely, but a little vagueness here is, I think, excusable.

Cheers -

Malk.

• Just under a metre if you prefer Robespierre's method.