Otherworlds And Applicability to Fantasy Worlds

[soru]

Only to the extent that is true for any aspect of a fantasy world designed to be used in a RPG.

It's a bit like Tradetalk, the semi-universal simple language - it seems more interesting to me to imagine a world where a gameplay convenience like that 'exists', rather than the double-indirection of first imaging a world where it doesn't, and then pretending it does for the sake of gameplay.

It's a fine distinction, but I would expect Glorantha-set fiction to contain the heroplane and Tradetalk, and perhaps in-character discussion of them, but not numeric action points, hero points, or other pure game mechanics constructs.

Incidentally, one pretty good fantasy novel series that has this type of metaphysics is Bujold's Curse of Charion/Paladin of Souls/Hallowed Hunt. In that, characters with magical ability see things that others dont, what they see is consistent and discussable, and changes made in that shared vision-space affect the real world. That magic is closely entwined with the dominant culture and religion of the setting, but, at least in the third book, it is made clear other cultures see things differently.

[Mike Holmes]

Took me a couple of readthroughs to get that. I think I see what you're saying.

This is a similar problem to the others we've been working through, then, I think. Basically this sort of thing is not in most game worlds in any form, really. But maybe ought to be, if one is to functionally support the rest of the otherworld concept from HQ that we're proposing overlaying already.

I'm still not convinced, however. What I'm not seeing is what you can't do with the other otherworlds that you can do with the hero plane. Why can't we see the same things sometimes, and different things other times? Because it doesn't mesh with the view of the otherworlds as different sorts of headspaces?

Mike

[epweissengruber]

A bit of a digression:

The gloranthan types of magic provide paradigms for the use of non-fantastic or non-magical abilities.

Frex:

An affinity is a broad category from which feats may be improvised
Affinity < Feats
< Feat 1
<Feat 2
I do my Martial Arts Chi powers as Feats, with the "style" or "path" of the martial art functioning as an Affinity

"Sprits" provide rapid boosts of TN or AP numbers, or AP
[ ] I haven't used these yet, but fabulous technogies like "cloud of nanobots" or "psychic shield" could be mechanized this way.

The Spells of a Grimoire represent a narrow application of a set of magical powers.
I did my fabulous Kung-Fu moves as spells within a grimoire
Short Strike: Fist of the smashing stone = a very specific effect (a stone-hard blow) with a specific vector (a punch).  Sorcerous spells seemed the best way to treat and intense and specific manipulation of the physical world

Blessings: An inspirational Police Seargeant's speech could be modeled as a Blessing

Formularies and Talismans: A kung-fu warrior visits a temple and the priest passes on a Zen Koan that serves as a Formulary Spell in a time of need.  It needs to be refreshed by further visits to the priest.  Or a cop gets a special legal document from a judge.  Same deal.

"Blessings" pr

[Mike Holmes]

Did you get cut off? I'm wondering where your tangent is going.

Mike

[epweissengruber]

I was just throwing out some examples of how magics derived from specificaly Gloranthan Otherworlds can be used in non-Gloranthan and non-fantastic settings.

I should have offered a conclusion:

- You don't have to do everything on the Affinity/Feat model
- The mechanics for Spiritists (charmes, fetishes, fetches), Sorcerors (grimoires, spells, formularies, talismans, blessings/curses), Theists (feats, affinities, secrets, heroforming), and even the old Mystics rules all provide interesting paths to resolving conflicts or performing tasks.
- Creative mechanics for heropoints can provide mechanical backing to a creative agenda
(i.e. the theme of trust in my Mountain Witch-derived game was well served by players donating hero points to each other)