Rune magic in Glorantha

[Yoda300]

Would you reestablish the need to sacrifice a point of POW to establish the link with the deity ?

Personally, no. I don't see any need for it.

It gives players a strong sense of commitment, and gives a clue to the GM what the players feel important.

 

[frogspawner]

Not much commitment: 1 POW can be replaced fairly easily.

In RQ2 Spirits of Reprisal enforced commitment, by inflicting various curses on members who don't keep up to the cult's standards.
RQ3 didn't give enough detail on each cult for that, so maybe the POW sacrifice was meant to make members want to protect their investment by staying in their cult.

The MRQ system is better (potentially, if the proposed approach is used), as anyone who drops out of their cult will lose the link to the runes they need to cast their spells...

 

[telsor]

A few suggestions, inspired by what I've read.

Initiates ( or higher ) gain access to the rune spells of the cult, as if they were attuned to the runes. ( I'd assume they'd need some kind of focus to replace the rune ).

The skill for casting these spells is the appropriate theological lore + appropriate runecasting skill.

Also, you can add your theological lore to your chances of attuning to a cult rune as you're already somewhat attuned.

I'd think that sacrificing a point of power to join the cult would be required to gain these benefits, although YGMV.

 

[frogspawner]

Sounds good to me.

I reckon lay members should get access to their cult's spells, and initiates can get those of associated cults too.