From: David Cheng (drcheng@sales.stern.nyu.edu)
Date: Wed 07 Jul 1993 - 22:04:56 EEST
I have read (skimmed) the sorcery discussion for weeks. I can hold
my opinions to myself no longer...
Tidbits about Magic I have picked up over the years:
DRAGON EMPEROR WORSHIP
The Dragon Emperor (currently Godyuna) is a focus of worship for
the whole populace. The Exarchs are his high priests (DC's
terminology).
The people worship Godyuna, and he becomes more magically
powerful. There are inefficiencies, however, so in RQ terms,
perhaps he only gets 1 POW per 100 worshippers, or per 1000;
whatever. Still, he gets a buttload of power, leading to the quote
(paraphrase) that he is the most magically powerful human in
Glorantha.
Now, Godyuna has all this magical energy to play with. As a good
ruler must, he delegates a good bit of his "magical responsibility" to
the Exarchs. He shares some of the magical power he's
accumulated.
By using the magic Godyuna shares with them, they keep the
magical irrigation systems working, the magical bridges suspended,
etc.
(Aside: I think that in Dragon Pass terms, each Exarch ought to have
a 10-20 Magic Factor; quite a bit in a game where 6 is very tough, and
the Red Emperor has 12, if my memory serves me correctly.)
Kralorelan magic always struck me as awkward. Not the Emperor
worship thing: the magic where everyone can spend POW for
sorcerous effects. I would strongly be in favor of coming up with
something different, which better captured the "magic of the East."
RUNE MAGIC
JRUSTELI MAGICAL PHILOSOPHY
Loren's comment today is not God Learner, it's anti-God Learner. It
>From what OJ has told me:
I guess this also means that there are as many magic systems are
* BUT *
The idea of one magic system instead of three is so heretical that I
A worshipper invokes rune magic. For that instant, he _becomes_
the god. That is what allows him to do it in the first place.
Without
the initiate-link to his god, he can't hope to pull this off.
By my understanding, Curtis Shenton and Loren Miller are both
correct. There are not only three magic systems, there are more.
But, there is only one magical meta-system.
is the GLs who originally classified all the things they found into
neat, tidy categories. Mostali sorcery is not the same as Kralorelan
magic, but because they operate on principals more in common
with each other than with Spirit or Divine Magic, they are classified
together.
There is one meta-magic. The individual practitioner learns to
manipulate it in a certain way. However, in doing so, he loses the
magical sensitivity to do magic in other ways. That is why Sorcerers
can't be good Shamen.
there are individual practitioners...
I for one do not want to see a meta-magic system. I am a God
Learner Sympathizer, and I am perfectly comfortable having Spirit
Magic, Divine Magic and Sorcery. I like calling them separate things
and identifying their differences concretely.
think the game it appeared in might not be RQ any more. Couple
this with changing the skill resolution and weapon damage systems
too much, and you've got a completely different game.
This might not be such a bad idea. I might play such a game, but I
might not. I don't know right now. But, I would buy it if it were a
Gloranthan game.
0,,
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