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Within Glorantha, many societies perform sacrifices as part of their worship rituals. Presently the rules on RQG p316 cover the idea of sacrifice, but they only provide a small bonus to a priest's chances of a successful worship roll. This doesn't seem sufficient imo, especially given that the priest can pre-boost their roll by 10% per 2 magic points they use. Given that magic points are replenished daily, why would anyone ever sacrifice 300L worth of animals or goods for a benefit that amounts to 4MP? Most adventuring parties would be very happy to receive 300L as their payout for an adventure, and the notion that they would spend this for a minor bonus on a worship skill roll seems like spending a small fortune for a wholly inadequate return, especially as a decently skilled priest likely doesn't need the skill boost at all. We are also not getting a sense of the role that such sacrifices perform in the life of the clans and tribes, which should be substantial. I don't know if the upcoming Game Master's Book for RQG is going to have rules that cover this in more detail, and it may be considered an unpleasant topic for some people, but these forms of worship were and still are performed by many cultures irl, and RQG is incorporating these ideas to some degree within the game, not actually harming animals. Personally I would like to talk about creating a more in-depth system that incorporates systems of sacrifice into RQG in a balanced fashion, producing larger results. I suspect that sacrifices and special worship ceremonies may be very important for the life of a clan, a tribe, and each of the individuals within them. I like the idea that the sacrifice creates powerful magical energies that might be channeled into powering a Wyter, or preparing for a hero quest, or creating generalized magical effects that the tribe can call upon on a daily basis as a result of their efforts. I also like to suppose that if an individual shows particular piety by offering a large sacrifice, that they stand to be rewarded with more than a bonus to their worship skill. On the other hand, how do we balance such things? What do people think? What systems are like-minded GMs presently using?

Well, reading throught the last Runequest core rulebook I came across an interesting fact about the cult of Maran Gor: Every male child born to the God Talker must be sacrificed. That small line reminded me that (and correct me if I am wrong) human sacrifice is still present in Orlanthi society to a certain extent, even if it seems rather reduced. My questions are: How are Orlanthi human sacrifices carried out? Which Orlanthi gods accept human sacrifices? Is it something universal or only present in some clans? As a side note, i really, really like the presence of this kind of stuff, and hope that Gods of Glorantha can give us more detail about it. Maybe is a bit unconventional or dark, but honestly, this really reafirm the bronze age feel arround the Orlanthi.