Re: RuneQuest Daily, Sat, 25 Jun 1994, part 6

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From: DevinC@aol.com
Date: Sun 26 Jun 1994 - 12:47:30 EEST


Devin Cutler here:

Graeme writes:

"Devin Cutler Spirits of Prax: all quite nice, and rather useful given
the very few spirit cults we've been given. Please take care not to give shamans to full a range of rune magic, though."

I worried about this as well, although I felt that Divination should somehow be available for Praxian Shamans.

How does one stop shamans from getting a full range of Runespells given the following:

  1. A hell of alot of spirits (worthy of Horned God type worship) are wandering around Prax (given the fact that many of these were probably earth deities that had their links to the land severed with the death of Genert and never managed to be preserved by Eiritha at the Paps), and probably a lot around Sartar and any other area as well.

So many spirits means tons of Divine Magic, most of it unique (I suppose)

2) Divine Magic seems to be about the obly thing these spirits give worshippers.

I imagine that most wandering spirits that are tied to an element tend to give access to Bind/Summon/Command that elemental and little else (e.g. like Amanstan). The ones specifically mentioned in NG were, I presumed, the big ones who had their own unique Divine Magics (remnants of when they were subcults or actual gods and goddesses before the destruction of Genert.

Sandy writes:

" I find statements like this to be one of the most interesting
insights into the difference between the British and American RPG fan psyche. In the old RQ2 days, we at Chaosium were accused again and again by American players of making the Lunars out to be bad guys.
"Why can't we play Lunars?" they'd plaintively ask. It was a huge
culture shock to go to England and learn that many (if not most) British players did NOT see the Lunars as villainous. "

Perhaps (I hope this does nto become too controversial ;-) ) it is also attributable to the fact that Americans tend to value freedom (you know... I'll keep my guns in my house, untouched by the government, or go down shootin...) in ways that UKers do not (as much) , and therefore they tend to identify with the Orlanthi as patriots. Anyways, I saw parallels between Sartar under Lunar occupation and the US in pre-Independence days.

Frankly, even as an American (and I believe that you share my view), I always liked the Lunar Empire. It is the society under which I would most want to live if I dwelt in Glorantha (forget barbarians and there wars, I'll take the Lunar Heartland Sultanates (oops... Satrapies) any day!

Martin writes:

"Re: Mistress Clam

     I thought that was Molakka. Or are you a Spinal Tap devotee, Devin? :-)"

I am afraid I do not get the reference to Spinal Tap ( I saw it a while ago and I was, let's say, entirely unsober).

On GoG in the Prospaedia, you will find that it is Molanni, Yelm Pantheon, daughter of Vadrus and mother of the dreaded Daga.

"Forgive me if I pop your balloon, but the Praxian spirit
cults exist in unpublished format. "

Well, my balloon remains unpopped until such time as the unpublished material (I presume from Prax Pak) becomes published...or, until some kind soul decides to preview it to us lucky folks on the net (hint hint whomever has the info) :-)

"Re: location of Zoria

     Joerg is right about the Fronelan Zoria, but the Uleria write-up from Different Worlds says that there are four cities by that name. Home of the Zorian bikini team."

Is Zoria supposed to be the Gloranthan Tanelorn (from Michael Moorcock's books)?

"Re: historical development of atheism

     According to _Without God, Without Creed_, Spinoza (1632- 1677) was the first atheist. (This is from memory, so go check it if you care.) Before that, it was unthinkable. "

Weren't there a few Romans, esp nobility (or patricians) who were aetheists, though not openly? It seems to me many of them cared little about the gods and paid lip service only because it was expected of them. This seems kind of like Atheism to me.

Paul Reilly writes:

"and other sources (leftout some examples)
had much more emphasis on the correct perfomance of rituals and/or promises of sacrifices than on 'faith' and 'devoutness'. Even ancient Judaism matches this description. "

Somewhat, but Judiasm (which has remained decently (although not completely...look at the sacrificing of animals that took place and having many wives) similar), places great importance on ritual in the Torah, but places much more emphasis on devotion in the Oral Tradition. This can be observed every Yom Kippur, when in the Viduy, Jews are told that they must ask forgiveness for sins of thought and for not being fully devoted.

Regarding Jesper's speech regarding how the RQ rules shoudl live up to Glorantha the world, I agree completely (surprise surprise!)

Joe asks:

"How common are adventurers that live longer than two or three seasons
in your worlds? "

Fairly common, but then my players have come, through long adn hard experience, to avoid combat whenever possible, and to be very careful when it must happen. I find that once you get lucky and find a few adventurers who do survive a while, they become powerful enough to help out the newbies.

Also, if you really want to have PCs to survive for a while, convince one of them to play a Chalanna Arroy (she can then plead with the Priestesses for priority on Resurrections, and she can, every 3 POW she gains, get one for party use.

Pam writes:

"I loved all the Prax spirits - particularly Hyena (one of my fav critters).

Devin, have you considered making Hyena female? Earthly Hyenas are highly matriarchal,"

Thank you for the kind words. I really didn't think of Hyena as a particular gender. I must confess that when I am writing, I fall back on the use of masculine pronouns as a default and even masculine forms of names (like god instead of god(dess)) as a convenience..sorry).

If Hyena society is matriarchal, then you are very likely correct. I will look this up in my encyclopedia.

"and the female hyenas are bigger than the males."

In more ways than one (you get this if you know about a certain portion of a female hyena's anatomy that is often quite large ;-) )

"Brother Dog's spells are good.
I suggest you add "body postures" to the list of ways to communicate using the "Speak with Dogs" spell. (I'd love to see a Storm Khan hopping up and down and growling....)"

Damn! I actually meant to put that in and forgot it. Thanks for reminding me.

H. Smith writes:

"I thought that some like Evening Star were overly powered).
On your second post I liked the title "Mistress Clam"--sounds like a new spirit for Defender's Shore. ;-)"

I cannot claim credit for the title Mistress Calm, it was from Nomad Gods.  Regarding Evening Star, Nomad Gods explicitly mentions that she is a very powerful entity and was especially powerful against darkness. This is why I gave her intentionally powerful magic.

I wrote to Sandy regarding Resurrection:

"However, I note that it may be that your death rate for Gloranthans is a bit
low."

I meant to say that Sandy's death rate may be too high.

Regards,

Devin Cutler
devinc@aol.com

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