The Hanging Garden, Issue No.4

Howdy dear readers. (Yes, I know I'm late.) The fourth issue of my supposedly bimonthly 'zine, The Hanging Garden, is available for your perusal and enjoyment.

Issue No.4 is a single-themed issue as it is 100% devoted to the description of the city of Swenstown in the mythical world of Glorantha. It features a kind of mini-sandbox with random tables, enabling the referee to use the city for 'urbancrawl' adventures, or as a base for your adventurers whilst they explore Sartar and/or Prax. The 'zine also includes a short scenario set in Swenstown and appropriately titled Swenstown's Sour Secrets. It is quite dark and adult and, as a result, may not be to everyone's taste. I GM'd it twice for two different gaming groups, and it was well-received both times, despite some unsavoury elements.

I have tried and kept the rules-y parts to a minimum. Whatever stats are present are for RuneQuest: Adventures in Glorantha, and they can be easily converted to other D100-based FRP games or even to other Old School systems.

Well, anyway. Feedback and comments are welcome, as usual. Cheers!

Classic RuneQuest Reprint

As revealed at The Kraken, Chaosium is going to re-publish the classic 2nd edition of RuneQuest as a hardback in 2016, to celebrate Glorantha's 50th anniversary. The first images have been leaked to the G+ RQ2 community:

And, for an old grognard like me, it is a dream come true!

Random Dragon Pass Wilderness Generator

This Random Dragon Pass Wilderness Generator is a hack of Éric Nieudan's own more generic classic fantasy random wilderness generator.

What you need:
 - A standard 52-card deck with French suits (♠♥♦♣); remove the jokers and the 2's.
 - Dice.

1. Draw cards to make a 7×7 grid; leave centre of grid empty. The centre is your main point of interest (city, dungeon, whatever) and is up to you — see picture below:

2. Terrain the remaining 48 areas according to card suit; face cards mean there is a steading. See tables below:

Terrain
♦ plains or plateau
♣ woods or swamp
♥ hills or dunes
♠ mountains or canyons

Steadings
Jack: village, hamlet or camp
Queen: temple, shrine, other holy place
King: tower, keep or fortress
Ace: town or trading post

3. Encounters and events. For each card, roll d20 and compare to card value (Jack = 11, Queen = 12,  King = 13, Ace = 14) on the main table below. Choose or draw another card for subtypes.

Variant: Use a d12 for step 3; use a different type of die in the light grey rectangle around the centre of the grid, see above; e.g., if the centre is a city (civilised) then use a d10 in the light grey area; if it is a dungeon (wild) then use a d20.

Die	Civilised Encounters Die roll < card value	Events Die roll = card value	Wild Encounters Die roll > card value
1	Farmers ♦travelling ♣foraging ♥poaching ♠fleeing
2	Fishermen ♦working ♣mending nets ♥famished ♠building a dam
3	Merchants ♦caravan ♣lost ♥being robbed ♠loaded with gold	Ambush or trap
4	Acolytes ♦preaching ♣looking for help ♥begging ♠on a pilgrimage	Impromptu market	Aldryami ♦elves ♣dryad ♥pixies ♠runners
5	Men-at-arms ♦mercenaries ♣soldiers at war ♥militia ♠recruiting	Freak weather	Dwarves ♦industrious ♣wise ♥hungry ♠curious
6	Ducks ♦assassins ♣traders ♥confidence artists ♠family	Blocked roads	Newtlings ♦scared ♣hostile ♥friendly ♠on a pilgrimage
7	Wizards ♦master & retainers ♣illusionists ♥necromancer ♠witch	Fire	Animals ♦herbivores ♣wolves ♥ pterodactyls ♠mountain lions
8	Adventurers ♦bruised & beaten ♣hostile ♥friendly ♠richly equipped	Flood	Monster ♦dinosaur ♣manticore ♥jack o'bear ♠minotaur
9	Barbarians♦in battle ♣on a heroquest ♥raiding ♠hiding from foe	Battle	Nomads ♦Grazelanders ♣Pol Joni ♥Praxians ♠Morokanths
10	Trolls ♦merchants ♣patrol ♥messengers ♠raiding	Ghosts	Spiders ♦hive ♣parasites with hosts ♥giant ♠sentient
11	Bandits ♦river raiders ♣on the run ♥hiding ♠carrying plunder	Country fair	Trolls ♦slavers ♣Zorak Zorani ♥Tusk raiders ♠cave trolls
12	Thieves ♦street thugs ♣running from the law ♥spies ♠burglars	Chaos nest	Bandits ♦pirates ♣folk heroes ♥highwaymen ♠mercenaries
13	Dragonewts ♦ambassadors ♣warband ♥mercs ♠travelling	Siege	Humanoids ♦baboons ♣centaurs ♥satyrs ♠wind children
14		Plague	Thanes ♦visiting ♣prisoners ♥at a wedding ♠travelling
15			Undead ♦wraiths ♣vampires ♥zombies ♠ghouls
16			Chaotic ♦broo ♣dragon snail ♥ogres ♠scorpion men
17			Lycanthropes ♦Elurae ♣tusk brothers ♥wolfbrothers ♠tiger sons
18			Abomination ♦gargoyle ♣basilisk ♥walktapus ♠cockatrice
19			Elemental ♦gnome ♣salamander ♥undine ♠sylph
20			Special ♦cultists ♣demon ♥magical sheep ♠sky bulls

As always, I welcome any feedback for improvement.