RuneQuest 6 Previews

Loz knows we're mad at him for being late on RQ6, and so he's trying to appease us through these previews... But no sir, it won't work! We want the real McCoy!
[just joking, Loz... keep honing the game to perfection...]

I especially like the Magic preview; it gives me the impression that Magic in RQ6 will be heavy in tone and cultural immersion rather than in game mechanics (the older I get, the more bare game mechanics bore me).

An Interview with the Trollgod

Grognardia features a lengthy interview with the Trollgod himself. Always an interesting reading.

Of particular interest is the fact that Ken has always been first and foremost a fan of the swords & sorcery genre — no wonder then that my system of choice for swords & sorcery role-playing has always been T&T: HeroQuest is great for Campbellian explorations in mythology; RuneQuest for gritty adventuring, the Basic Role-Playing System for historical immersion, but when it comes to one vs many the pleasure of having lots of 6s showing up on the gaming table is hard to match :)

The interview is also interesting for yet more insight about the early days of our hobby and its giants: Greg Stafford, Steve Perrin, and Rudy Kraft.

A Malki Monastery in the Wilderness

The Monastery of Lofty Exploration was founded in the early days of Malki Umathela by the Order of Otherworld Exploration. At its peak, it housed hundreds of Malki monks tasked with exploring the Otherside, especially with regards to Olodo and Umathing myth pillaging.

After the big purge of Malkioneran orders in the past century, the monastery fell in disuse. Paradoxically enough, it has been revived after the breakup of the Umathelan Coalition, more as a place for retiring God Learners than anything else. Although it only numbers tens rather than hundreds of monks nowadays, the monastery is quite rich because of the donations it receives from wealthy Malki families. Rather than exploring the Otherside, the monks today are involved in the very mundane task of brokering Byzantine alliances between the powerful Malki families who are constantly struggling to gain the upper hand in the feudal anarchy of western Umathela.

The monastery is perched high atop the cliffs of the Tarmo Mountains and is only accessible through a rudimentary lift. This enables the monks to control who is present within the monastery at all times, and explains why the monastery is so sought after a place for organising secret meetings, in spite of its location deep in hostile wilderness.

The Monastery as seen from the north

A Malki Fort in the Wilderness

Despite the demise of the Middle Sea Empire, the Malki cities of the Umathelan Coalition try to retain their grip on the land. Whilst this is quite true in eastern Umathela (Cerngoth is firmly under Malki rule), western Umathela is mostly in a state of feudal anarchy where each Malki city controls but a tiny stretch of arable land in its vicinity. Varanswal, as both the largest and the most landlocked Malki city in western Umathela, still retains delusions of grandeur and devotes much income and manpower to try and maintain control over what it perceives as its rightful fief.

Above: a Varanswal fort located in the upper course of the River Quarni.

(art stolen from A Wizard in a bottle)

RQ6 News

From Loz:

Thought I'd share with you a little of where RQ6 is at.

First, several chapters are now in layout. Some artwork is still to come in, but the design and structure of the book is taking shape. Others chapters are still being edited, and the final chapters are in the hands of the playtest crews, but we're nearing the home straight.

What this means, in terms of publication, is clearly not the 'Early 2012' we'd promised. Real Life intervened for both Pete and I which slowed some things down. What we're now looking at is 'Early Summer' - and the vague goal I've set is for RQ6 to be available, in print, for GenCon (which I'll be attending), if not a little before. So we're still shying away from specifying a particular release date, because a whole mountain of things could happen to cause it to slip: but I am hoping that June/July is reasonable. It should be. A great deal of work is being done and we want to make the best book possible, which will mean detailed proofing and final error-trapping before I send finals off to the printers.

We will open pre-ordering before publication. Once the book is fully laid-out we'll know its complete size, and can therefore price it accurately. How pre-ordering will work is dependent on a few background factors, one of which is how well the e-commerce facilities from our Site Provider work. They have new tools that I've yet to test, and it could be that we plug into Moon Design's e-commerce facilities instead. But rest assured you'll be able to order RQ6 from us, in advance, using a variety of payment methods.

So we're chugging along nicely. I know its frustrating waiting for is to say 'Guys, it'll be out on X of N, send us yer money...' but it will be worth the wait. We said from the start that we wanted to deliver the most complete and best edition of RQ that we can, and we're sticking to that goal.

But we do appreciate your patience and are looking forward to rewarding it. We will post some layout previews soon.

Loz is scheduled to attend the Eternal Con at the end of May. I'll try to get you more news!

Art for Umathela (3)

Ivan Bilibin (Иван Яковлевич Билибин) is yet another Russian artist whose works have fascinated me for a very long time, actually since high schol. Here are a few inspiring pictures:

Nontraya

A Malki Knight and a Brown Elf

A Fonritan Visitor

Art for Umathela (2)

I have already mentioned that I feel myself greatly inspired by (faux) Slavic mythological paintings for my Umathelan campaign.

Viktor Vasnetsov (Виктор Михайлович Васнецов) was a brilliant Russian painter who specialised in mythological subjects. Here are a few paintings, along with my own Gloranthised comments.

A Malki Knight at a Crossroads

Nontraya wooing Ernamola

Riding through the Elf Forest

Zistorite on Horseclaw

My Glorantha Varies — but then Greg said it was OK.

Races and Creatures of Umathela

Some of the many races and creatures of Umathela have already been mentioned on this blog:

• Iqari
• Lascerdans
• Plant-Men (Dryads, True Elves, Black Elves [Voralans], and Red Elves [Slorifings])

Other sentient races:

• Dwarfs. Umathelan Dwarfs are vegetarian.
• Grey Giants.
• Timinits (several sub-species); they are allied with the Westerners.
• Trolls (Dark Trolls and Trollkin) in the Tarmo Mountains. Hot Trolls do not live in Umathela but further south in the jungles.

Animals:

• Boars and hogs; both domestic and wild. And sheep. Swine and sheep are almost the only domesticated meat animals of Umathela. Fowl/poultry are uncommon; cattle non-existent.
• Horses are not native to Pamaltela and hence extremely rare. Only Westerners own horses, which are exclusively used as mounts, and never as beasts of burden.
• The Middle Sea Empire tried to introduce mules, but for some reason they all died out in Pamaltela.
• Draught animals: the standard Umathelan draught animal is the giant hog used to haul carts. In other parts of Pamaltela, wagons are simply dragged by teams of men.
• Although Theyalan in origin, Umathings do not keep alynxes as companions but dogs (that are similar to  the Catahoula cur).
• Wolves of various sizes and types. Large wolves may be used as mounts by some monsters.
• It is rumoured that the Zistorites have managed to domesticate large flightless birds called horseclaws, which they mount much in the same fashion as the Dragonewts mount the (larger) demi-birds.

Monsters:

• Giant arthropods.
• Giant insects. Trolls raise and breed all kinds of giant insects.
• Undead.

From the Gloranthan Bestiary:

• Charnjibber; a highly chaotic predator whose size and shape are constantly changing. Greatly feared throughout Pamaltela.
• Gargoyle; lives in the mountains.
• Grue (large chaotic monster; bipedal, huge deformed head; their blood is corrosive); lives in eastern Umathela near rivers
• Mountain Trolls (low intelligence)
• Sabre-toothed Cat
• Skybull
• Succubus
• Titanothere

Mottled Condies

From Trotsky's site:

Animals

• Vangono's Horror (a kind of larger hyaenodon created by Vangono, the Pamaltelan God of War)
• Uintal (the only pachyderm living in cool Umathela)
• Mottled Condy (the most common herd animal of Umathela)
• Manatee (in the Dashomo and Jorkar Seas)
• the Umathelan crocodile, small and swift
• Pteranodon
• Green Mamba, deadly venomous tree snake

Monsters

• Fright (a degenerate, trollish ape-like creature).
• Hoon (again, a degenerate, trollish bat-like large monster); lives in the mountains.
• Shadowstalker (darkness-related, wiry ape-like creature with a long neck); lives in forests.
• Watchwere (hulking ape-like chaotic horror); have the ability to see through any object as if it were transparent.

T&T: New French-Language Edition - More Impressions

(still reading T&T 8th ed)

There is a large section devoted to advice for the GM, and another large section that explains when to award experience points, and in what amount.

This latter section is really detailed and provides many many examples. I believe it should be really useful for anybody using the rules as written — which is not my case: I tend to award a set amount of experience points at the end of each session so that the players can improve their PCs by the time the next gaming session starts.

T&T: New French-Language Edition - First Impressions

OK, after having perused the new French-language edition of Tunnels & Trolls, I must agree that calling it "8th edition" is somewhat of an exaggeration. What Patrice Geille has done beyond translating the rules is mostly re-organising them in a more logical, structured way (7th ed was such a mess!).

Combat is the part that has received the most in-depth treatment, and indeed I can see a rule that I don't remember having seen in other editions (but then I'm not a big T&T expert): any damage inflicted through spells and/or missile weapons at the beginning of an encounter is added to the rolled damage total of the first round of combat, which is actually tantamount of keeping track of said damage twice. Now the rules say this is to reflect the 'shock' value of that damage; however, I don't think I'll apply that rule.

There is also quite an extensive part dedicated to poisons and their various effects, which I don't recall having already noticed in previous incarnations of the rules (possibly as an extra in the 30th anniversary CD).

More in future posts as I continue reading the rules and writing down small notes.

Voralans in Timinits & Trolls

The following is almost a direct rip-off of Scott's Mushroom People but hey, Scott said it was OK :)

Pamaltela is notorious for its dangerous forests and its death-filled jungles. Many delvers have tried to explore them, few have ever returned, and usually to die a horrible death as plants would burst out of their ears and eyes.
Unbeknownst to most adventurers, deciduous trees and evergreens are not the only perilous plants in Pamaltela — there are fungi of all sizes too! And just like True Elves are basically sentient trees, Voralans are sentient fungi.

Although smaller than True Elves and misshapen, and despite their being loth to combat, Voralans can be just as dangerous opponents as True Elves because of their mastery of noxious spore-based attacks. Whether these attacks are "biological", as claimed by the God Learners, or magical, as assumed by sane people, is beyond our knowledge. Whatever the truth, these spore attacks are destructive and unpredictable.

Voralans
STR×1, CON×0.75, INT×1, POW×3, DEX×1, CHR×1.5, KNW×0.75, PER×1.5, SPD×1, LK×1.5

Average SIZ: 1.35m

Special Rules:

• Voralans thrive in the night, so during the day (between dawn and dusk) any SR level is increased by 1.
• While Voralans are able to use any kind of spell, they are forbidden by their culture to use anything other than metabolic magic, which costs 1 fewer POW per spell level than in the spellbook. Other magic types cost an extra 2 POW per spell level.
• Voralans are able to take an hour of uninterrupted meditation to heal 1D6 CON on themselves or one other person.
• Voralans may not wear helmets. They simply won't fit over their mushroom head.

T&T: New French-Language Edition Available (cont'd)

T&T 8th ed. is at last in my grubby hands! I've only had time to quickly skim through the book. It has 137 pages, a very clear lay-out, numbered paragraphs, and a real character sheet. And of course new illustrations by Liz Danforth on top of the classic ones. What it is still lacking is an index.

T&T: New French-Language Edition Available

T&T 8th edition (in French!) is available on Lulu at last, apparently in dead tree only, for £17.21. More on this much-expected product as soon as I can lay my grubby hands on it.

Here's the blurb of the French edition of T&T:

Tunnels & Trolls 8e édition
La présente édition française du livre de règles pour le jeu de rôle Tunnels & Trolls est basée sur la 7e édition de langue anglaise. Toutefois, certaines lacunes et incohérences de la version originale ont été corrigées après consultation de l'auteur, Ken St André. De plus, nous avons ajouté certains passages de la 5e édition du jeu qui nous ont semblé utiles, voire indispensables. Cerise sur le gâteau : l'édition française comporte de nouvelles illustrations de la mythique Liz Danforth...

And here's the foreword, by Ken St André himself:

Plant-Men

As implied by their name, Plant-Men are sentient plant beings. While some may appear to be of very human-looking appearance, most feature completely vegetable traits. Some may have leaves or vines for hair, or a greenish hue to their skin, others are covered in bark or have non-animal twists to their limbs. Their eyes have neither white nor pupil. This latter trait renders their gaze particularly alien and unsettling to other humanoids. Cool sap circulates through the body of a Plant-Man, not warm blood. Plant-Man religion is likewise alien to other sentient races; Plant-Men hold animistic beliefs yet a number of named deities are known to outsiders. This is has proved extremely puzzling to the ever-cataloguing God Learners.

Plant-Men are called Wort-Men by the Umathings, and Elves by the Westerners with a further, finer distinction based on colour, as there are several types of Plant-Men. Three of these sub-species (brown, green, and yellow) are called True Elves by the Westerners. Plant-Men obviously do not use these exonyms but refer to themselves with a variety of different endonyms that depend on their plant association (see names in green below).
Plant-men have almost disappeared from Umathela proper, but are quite numerous in the forested lands around it.

Embyli by Dario Corallo

As mentioned above, Plant-Men come in an array of forms and sexes:

Dryads
Dryads are the female Nymphs of the woods, and are far more magical than other Plant-Men. Each Dryad is the protective spirit of a given grove of trees, which she may control under certain circumstances. The role of Dryads in the reproductive cycle of Plant-Men is often of paramount importance.

• Green Elves don't rely on them for reproduction, as they have their own females. When a Green Elf mates with a Dryad, no offspring results.
• Brown elves sometimes rely on them, sometimes not.
• Yellow Elves completely rely on them as they are all males.

Pregnant Dryads give birth to a large seed, not to a living being. The seed is planted, and it grows into a shrub. After two years, the shrub bears a fruit, which contains the child.

Brown Elves [Mreli]
They are associated with deciduous forests, and with trees such as aspen, birch, and oak.
They hibernate in the Dark Season, looking for a hollow tree or a comfortable hole in the ground in which to remain comatose until the Storm Season.
Brown Elves are both male and female, and also interbreed with Dryads, who hold important positions in brown elf society.

Yellow Elves [Embyli]
They are associated with rainforests, jungle evergreens, and palm groves.
They are wholly male and breed with Dryads for procreation.
They are quite aggressive vis-à-vis humans, especially Westerners. In Pamaltela, Embyli are organised in Dryad-ruled queendoms that resist the encroaching human civilisation. These bellicose Yellow Elves are particularly present in the lands to the east of Umathela, where they have fought many deadly wars against the Middle Sea Empire.

Green Elves [Vronkali]
Of the three races of true elves, the Green Elves are the most human-like, having for instance a similar sleeping pattern to the humans', and living in village-like communities with males and females. Vronkali are taller and stronger than any of the other Plant-Man species.
They are associated with coniferous forests, with trees such as fir, pine, and spruce.

Black Elves or Voralans
Hermaphrodite, diminutive squat humanoids with grey skin, and swollen limbs or heads, who inhabit the rare toadstool forests. They are shy, keep to themselves, and avoid combat. However, they can be formidable opponents because of their strange spore-based biological weapons to which they are immune.

Red Elves
Also called called Slorifings by the Umathings, and Goblins by the Westerners. They are small and stunted Plant-Men who inhabit the great swamps to the west and to the south-west of Umathela, thus far from human civilisation. They are associated with ferns and mosses rather than with trees.
Goblins are known to eat humans and to obey a cruel Sorceress Queen. All Slorifings are male, and need diminutive vile-looking Dryads called Olarians to mate.

The Lascerdans

The Lascerdans are a mysterious race of sentient reptiles from the ancient past of Glorantha. As with most little-known elder races, information about Lascerdans is scant.

What little information I have managed to scavenge is as follows. Lascerdans inhabited Umathela before and in the Dawn Age, when they were exterminated by the elves of Pamaltela. Lascerdans descended from the pel-mre of the distant, mythical past of Pamaltela, reptilian life created by Pamalt and Balumbasta. That would have made them distant relatives of the Slarges.

Physically, Lascerdans looked like muscular lizard-men with a gaping mouth. One description mentions their having the head of a basiliscus. Although Pamaltelan humans remember them as coming "from the mountains", Lascerdans were at least semi-aquatic, preferring river-bottoms and swamps.

The Lascerdans dammed the rivers to make shallow lakes and swamps, which destroyed forest land, though it did create some mangrove forests. However, the elves of the woods at the time were mostly green elves, and could not survive in mangroves.
The Lascerdans farmed and fed on pens of freshwater manatees (and probably other aquatic livestock), and their infamous slash-and-burn practices were not true slash-and-burn. Rather, the Lascerdans chopped out huge tracts of forest, burnt the wood, and hauled the greenage back to the rivers to use as cheap and fast manatee fodder. They recognised that they got more useful fodder from cleared areas than from the huge tree-covered portions, so they became tree-enemies. That might explain why the elves fought a genocidal war against them. The last Lascerdans were exterminated along the Palau River in 475

It is believed that the Lascerdans worshipped a fire god (a volcano god like the Olodo?), the Mother of Manatees (a herd goddess), and, more importantly, the River Gods of Umathela. They left some mysterious ruins in the forests of Umathela, called Lascerdan Stones.

Canonical sources mention the Lascerdans as being 'extinct' in Second Age Pamaltela but, hey!, my Gloratha varies...

The Iqari

The Iqari are mentioned, en passant, in The Abiding Book, a Mongoose supplement for MRQII. They are not really part of the Gloranthan canon, as they are a race originally developed for Gwenthia and added to Second Age Glorantha by Pete and Loz, who are involved as developers in both gaming worlds. The following has been communicated by Loz:

Back when Pete was working on the Mongoose Races books he asked Greg if there were any rules about creating new sapient races and Greg said, I believe, that Pete could invent new ones if he wanted to.

They were originally created for our Gwenthia book and are a particular favourite of ours, so we threw them into a few places.

They're part human, part raptor. Quite ferocious, but also with a developed civilisation.

According to The Abiding Book, Iqari are found in the upper peaks of Jrustela, and as an allied colony in the God Learner city of Arstranwal, which has been built in the high crags overlooking the Umathelan plain. There is little more information about the Iqari in the Mongoose supplements, so I shall copy the description found on the Gwenthia wiki:

With human bodies and the head and wings of an eagle, Iqari are formidable hunters, possessing the keen sight and instincts of raptors, and the strength and size of humans.

Iqari are social amongst their own kind, but are antagonistic towards most other species, and any who venture too close to their mountain colonies. Certainly they are intelligent, with tool-making and building skills. No one has yet been able to venture successfully into the mountainous reaches they inhabit to view first-hand what kind of settlements they occupy, but the common view is of great collections of nest-like structures that form crude versions of cities, high in the mountain peaks.

Iqari can fly far and wide, but seem to prefer the areas around their home mountains. Iqari hunting flocks regularly attack the settlements clustered in the fertile lower reaches of the hills and mountains, taking livestock and the occasional human victim - either as prey or simply for the joy of the kill.

Iqari communicate through a complex series of beak-clicks, sqwawks, feather-ruffles, head-tilts and hand signals. Some have noted that they can understand certain languages but lack the ability to speak them. As yet, negotiation with Iqari has been futile: they are unwilling to communicate openly or offer any respite from their attacks.

As well as their natural hunting abilities, Iqari employ long, barbed spears when hunting or attacking. These two-metre long weapons are dreadful in use, being either hurled from on-high or used as lances in the feared Iqari death-plunge.

Edit: The Iqari have both arms and wings, so the picture above does not correspond to how they actually look like.

RuneQuest 6 Latest News

The following was posted by Loz two days ago:

Here's the progress so far.

Playtesting
Our stalwart playtesting crews have worked they way through character creation, skills, equipment and combat chapters putting each to the test, suggesting revisions, identifying problem areas and highlighting what's worked very well for them. The input has been great and Pete and I spent time during the recent Petecon to address each point and challenge and integrate them, where necessary into the rules fabric.

The above chapters, along with Creatures, are nearing completion and will soon be sent for editing after we've completed some minor additional revisions.

Magic
RQ6 will have five very different magic systems: Folk Magic (Common Magic as was), Animism (spirit magic), Mysticism (brand new), Theism (Divine) and Sorcery. Initial writing is complete on three fifths of these and will form the next round of playtesting.

Folk Magic is a radical revision of old Common/Battle Magic. We've de-emphasised the combat aspects and vastly increased the more utilitarian spells. Old favourites are still there, but every spell has undergone a substantial degree of revision. Mysticism is completely new and aims to allow characters to replicate all manner of wuxia, martial arts, ki, and other powers that focus on self-realisation and potential. Its not a spell-based system, but it does have a very wide range of different effects/talents to offer considerable flexibility. Animism is a complete overhaul of the old spirit magic rules to clarify, expand and explain the system in detail. Theism and Sorcery are next up and these will, again, be overhauled with an eye on flexibility.

Creatures
A huge chapter, there's a wide range of beasties and mythical monsters along with playable races - each with character creation guidelines. Old favourites are in there (but no specifically Gloranthan critters) along with some new additions. We've tried to give each creature or race a unique spin making for more rounded creatures than simply things to butcher and steal from. Expect extensive rules for how creatures react and fight, along with guidelines for creating your own.

Art and Layout
Art is commissioned and we have a team of three very talented artists working on illustrating the book. Having seen some of the sample art, I'm very impressed and once we're in a position to share some of it I'll post samples on the DM website. But work is still underway, so patience please!

We have also commissioned a professional layout guru to work on the book's presentation. Clean, readable and easy on the eye is the overall theme. There'll be no intrusive borders, good use of white space, consistent and recognisable design elements, and a book that should look good in dead tree and PDF versions that remain printer-friendly.

So a lot has been happening and RQ6 has taken several bounds towards realisation. There has been some project slippage due to personal lives and Real Life intrusions, but nothing that has significantly delayed our progress.

Thanks for bearing with us.

Some more information from the Design Mechanism forum:

    So, with some of the sting taken out of Folk Magic will another magic system carry the weight of combat-focused spellcraft? Will we see Bladesharp, Speedart, Disruption, Multimissile shifted to another magic system? Or will they remain "Folk Magic" with a more limited effect?

Some of them remain in watered down version. The more potent effects will achieve apotheosis to a higher level of magic. A lot of the problems I saw in long running RQ2/3 campaigns was the out of control magic inflation which eventually rendered weapons and armour superfluous. So we're reining that in a bit.

For those that are worried about Glorantha backwards compatibility we will undoubtedly make a Battle Magic supplement/conversion available for free download.

Art for Umathela (1)

For some reason I am inspired by Russian fantasy for all things Umathelan. I have found many illustrations and paintings on line. I will give all the links on the blog.

This page is dedicated to Andrei Guselnikov's (Андрей Валерьевич Гусельников) art depicting ancient Slavic deities. The pictures are absolutely amazing.

Time-Line of the Campaign

Now leaning towards ca.950ST. The Umathelan Coalition has driven off the Middle Sea Empire but hasn't experienced the utter destruction it will undergo in the 11th century yet.
Rumours of the Closing are reaching Umathela. It's going to be several terrifying years of incoming doom for coastal people who rely on the sea, not helped by the dragonship attacks.

Eastern Umathela is more or less reunited under the leadership of the local God Learners, centred in Cerngorth. Is their leader in the 10th century already called the 'Lord of the World's Knowledge'?

Western Umathela is much more of a very loose coalition of city-states, which don't have any control whatsoever on the interior. And altough a noted Jrusteli scholar has written a book in 950 proving that the elves of Enkloso are extinct, the latter are in reality quietly plotting the Reconquista of Western Umathela.

The Olodo

The Olodo are another people that were brought to Umathela, before the Umathings. My understanding is that they were Old Wayers who lost some civil war on Jrustela. They were transported to Pamaltela by the Waertagi.
They retreated to the inhospitable areas of Umathela. In my opinion they somehow went "wild" and I hence intend to depict them as woodwoses.

There is little information on the religion of the Old Wayers. They are supposed to practise a mix of theism, shamanism, and even Invisible God worship. Yet some Olodo worshipped the volcano god Aurelion when on Jrustela. Even though it is unknown what happened to those particular Olodo when the Seshnegi settlers arrived, I find it cool to think that some of them where amongst the colonists transported by the Waertagi, and that they have hence had an influence on Pamaltelan Olodo religion, because I want to have at least one active volcano in the interior of Umathela, and I want to use the Olodo as antagonists to the PCs. And I'm sure antagonists with fire magic are going to kick arse.

The Order of Cerberus

MRQII is dead and Mongoose has lost the licence, but the Italian version of MRQII by Asterion Press (with way better quality and nicer art, especially for the Monster Coliseum) is still alive... Such are the intricacies of game licences.

A community site dedicated to the Italian version of MRQII has been created. It is called the Order of Cerberus and features news about products and cons in Italy, a free introductory scenario, and several gaming aids such as new creatures, magical items...

T&T: New French-Language Edition

Because of my intolerance to the recent "buzz" about a 5th edition of D&D, I had recently jokingly posted about an 8th edition of T&T.

Well, believe it or not, there is going to be an 8th edition of T&T: it will be based upon the rule book and the magic book of the 7th edition published by Fiery Dragon, but with a different, improved presentation (I agree 7th ed. was horribly presented... what a mess!). Some excerpts from Flying Buffalo's 5.5 ed., and which were not included in Fiery Dragon's, will also be incorporated, again for clarity's sake, plus some bonus stuff like firearms, poisons, a glossary of arms and armour... Ken St. André himself will add some more bonus stuff. And it will only be available in French, at least at the moment.



Much of the art will be from the 5th ed. by Flying Buffalo, and Liz Danforth is adding some new art. You might even have a say in what she will be drawing — more on her blog.

T&T 8th ed., in French, expected at the end of February 2012. Yippee!

Zak S GM survey

Reposted from Playing D&D with Porn Stars:

GM Questionnaire
Repost and answer. Or, if you don't have a blog, answer in the comments. Or be a big rebel and do neither [OK, I did both].

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?
That would be when I ad-libbed an entire session when in high school. At the time, following one's notes or a pre-published module was the gospel.

2. When was the last time you GMed?
June 2011.

3. When was the last time you played?
Two weeks ago.

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.
You're cornered and there's no way out except through the ghost town.

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?
Fix myself a tea/coffee.

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?
Fruit or weird Chinese snacks.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?
Yes.

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?
Crashing through a well-defended fortress through the front gate on a berserk elephant.

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?
I've had this kind of issues running CoC, I guess because the players know they're supposed to be serious and so they're not. This is why I don't run CoC any longer. What I do is I run weird fantasy. The players aren't expecting mind boggling monsters so when there's one they're all panicky.

10. What do you do with goblins?
Er, no goblins in my games.

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?
A photograph of an incredible vertical shaft in China.

12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?
Back in university-- I was running a Star Wars game and the players were about to shoot down an Imperial ship. One of the players shouted 'You're crazy... There could be gold on it!'

13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?
LotFP Tutorial book. Playing the solo adventure.

14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?
Dario Corallo.

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?
See No.9.

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)
Honestly I think I've always enjoyed my adventures more than pre-written ones.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
A castle.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?
T&T and LotFP?

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
Hongkong action movies and Central/Eastern European mythology.

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?
Players looking for role-playing and immersion.

21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?
Exploring a cave complex in Southern France.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?
Yeah, there was... so I wrote it!

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk abotu RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?
I had a colleague who played boardgames but not role-playing games. He just kept saying 'Yeah, I'll have to try' but never did.

Teleos Crazy Idea

OK... I'm reading Carcosa. I am also a playtester for the upcoming Harreksaga by Moon Design, and our party is currently fleeing a gang of lily white-skinned cannibals on the secluded island of Teleos. Why me... I've always hated cannibal holocaust movies!

Anyway, since I'm reading Carcosa and recovering from the last game session at the same time, I have these weird ideas materialising in my feverish brain about using Carcosa for a Second Age weird fantasy campaign at the centre of Glorantha. Right... Carcosa = Teleos. The size of the map is right. The dinosaurs are right. The cannibals are right.

Here are the correspondences that have popped up in my head:

• Carcosa  = (Second Age) Teleos
• Dinosaurs = Dinosaurs
• Snake-Men = Dragonewts
• Aliens = God Learners
• Alien technology = Zistorite technology
• 13 different coloured human tribes = either decide that there used to be 13 tribes in the Second Age before their number was reduced to 7 in the Third Age; OR make the 6 extra tribes sub-tribes of the 7 canonical ones... Obviously the Bone Men from Carcosa are the White Men from Teleos.
• Sorcery = God Learner sorcery
• Old Ones = this is the only correspondence I'm struggling with... Maybe some forgotten myths unearthed by the God Learners?

T&T 8th edition announced!

Just kidding.

Too Many Good News! Part Two: The Design Mechanism To Launch Free Magazine!

The Design Mechanism will be launching a free PDF magazine available from their web-site. The magazine will focus on RuneQuest 6th ed. and other games based on the Basic Role-Playing system. Issue No.1 should be available at the end of January and is rumoured to provide a few little snippets from the upcoming RuneQuest 6 rule book!

At the moment it appears that the as-yet-unnamed magazine might also feature Gloranthan content, thanks to the partnership between The Design Mechanism and Moon Design.

Stay tuned for more information...

Too Many Good News! Part One: Wyrms Footnotes Returns!

Despite all the gloomy articles and interviews I've been reading about the state of the rpg industry, I am of the opinion that our hobby hasn't been in a better shape for decades. But then industry ≠ hobby. Oh, well.

Moon Design have just announced the come-back of the Gloranthan magazine Wyrms Footnotes, after a hiatus of 30 years (!). I am particularly pleased with their decision of labelling the new issue as issue No.15 and not as No.1. This is a good "continuity" message for us fans, and also (IMHO) a sign that this magazine will bridge the gap between old- and new-school gaming. Hooray!

Real Gloranthan fans will have noticed that the artist of the cover is none other than Jennell Allyn Jaquays who (as Paul Alan Jaquays) was extremely influent, both as a writer and as an artist, at the time of the original RuneQuest 2.

Here's the original piece of news: Wyrms Footnotes Returns!

Steve Perrin Interview

Because of the very recent (and almost simultaneous!) news about the RuneQuest 6 and AEON cover arts, both of them very much inspired by Louise Perrin's classic RuneQuest cover art, my mind has been drifting around the Perrin name lately and, as a consequence, I have also thought about Steve Perrin (possibly my favourite game designer ever).

This spurred me to look for the Perrin Conventions online again. Wow... great stuff. I'll certainly be using them a lot for Timinits & Trolls. Googling Steve's name on the internet also brought up an interview from about one year ago, which I had completely missed at the time. Definitely an interesting read, which I recommend.

Cover Art for RuneQuest 6

Here is the accompanying text from the Design Mechanism web-site:

We're delighted to share with you the stunning cover art for RuneQuest Sixth Edition.
By Pascal Quidalt, the picture is, of course, an updated version of the iconic original RQ cover (originally painted by Luise Perrin). Pascal, who has done some outstanding covers for roleplaying games, has taken that original and created a beautiful and unique take on the imagery.
The artwork depicts Anathaym, a Meerish warrior of the Cult of Theera, under ambush by a cunning, predatory, Slargr (pronounced SLAR-guh) when she mistakenly wanders into its hunting territories. The hulking creature tears away her shield - a typical slargr tactic - leaving the shocked Anathaym to rely on her spear and its Bladesharp matrix.
Will she survive? The RuneQuest rules, using Anathaym as our example heroine, will give you the answer...

RQ6 will be setting-agnostic, hence the funny names, but the obvious Gloranthan imagery is a Lunar/a Templar lost in the Pamaltelan jungle... which is pretty evocative in light of which Gloranthan locales this blog usually likes to explore...

The Jack-of-all-trades

The Jack-of-all-trades is the 'default' character class for my game. It fits in well with the Gloranthan model of an adventurer that has access to combat, magic, and a wide array of skills, depending on the player's desires in terms of character advancement/improvement, rather than on arbitrary rules-imposed limitations.

The Jack-of-all-trades corresponds to what is called a rogue in the original T&T rules. The issue I have with that term is that whilst it originally fit in well with the idea I have of the 'default' adventurer (the Grey Mouser is the seminal rogue, and he is as capable in spell-casting as in combat as in thievery), the term itself has gradually become synonymous with thief over the years in the context of fantasy rpg's.

I believe that the author of the recent fantasy rpg Lamentations of the Flame Princess, which has marvellously bridged the gap between old school and new school gaming, has hit the same problem: in LotFP, the rogue class has been renamed Specialist. Whilst I agree with the renaming of the class, and with its description, I am not overly satisfied with the term— because it reminds me too much of the Specialist Mage.

Here's the deescription of the Specialist character class from LotFP (I reproduce it because it's freely available on its web-site):

Fighters are adventurers because they are so inured to death that they cannot settle down to a normal life. Magic-Users are those that have pursued the dark arts and are no longer welcome in society. Clerics are charged by their god to go forth and perform their special duties.

Specialists? They do it because they want to. Whether inspired by greed, boredom, or idle curiosity, Specialists are professional explorers risking life and limb simply because a less active life is distasteful to them. In some ways this makes them the only sane and normal adventuring characters, but in other ways it makes them the most unusual.

The Specialist is unique because the character class has no special abilities of its own. Instead, a Specialist is better at certain activities that all characters are able to do at a basic level.

I fully endorse the above for the Jack-of-all-trades of my Umathelan campaign!

My Game

As already written, I'll be using a variation of the 7th edition T&T rules for my forthcoming Second Age campaign game.

I am currently working on the rules, which are based on a set of house rules successfully used with the kids. The idea is to have a set of rules that are simple, "old school" but still Gloranthan in taste. I will be posting the first draft soon.

At the moment I can reveal the following:

• player characters are defined by 10 characteristics
• the game mechanics emphasise the use of Talents
  
• there are nine character classes: Jack-of-all-trades (really the T&T rogue renamed), Journeyman (citizen), Soldier (warrior), Wizard, Alchemist, Herbalist, Minstrel, Sage, and Thief. The latter are based on Adapting Arduin Characters to Tunnels & Trolls, an article written by Ken St André in issue 11 of the Sorcerer's Apprentice.
• there are 4 kinds of magic: Hedge Magic (freeform, low intensity, corresponding to Gloranthan Battle Magic), Wizardry (corresponding to standard T&T magic, and used by Malkioni Wizards), Spirit Magic (still to be developed), and Cult Magic (based on the priestly magic devised by Dorothy V. March in Mirabile Dictu! Priests as Characters in T&T, in issue 17 of the Sorcerer's Apprentice).
• PCs can join cults and thus have access to Cult Magic irrespective of their class.

Yet Another Edition of RuneQuest in the Works!

After Mongoose's recession of their contract with Issaries, and the announcement that they were discontinuing the Glorantha Second Age books and wouldn't use the name RuneQuest any longer for their d100-based publications (see my previous post), morale was pretty low amongst RuneQuest fans.

True, Moon Design are producing Gloranthan supplements of the highest quality, but they are meant to be used with the HeroQuest system, and they are set in Third Age Glorantha.


But an excellent piece of news has hit the "d100-sphere" today: renowned MRQII authors Lawrence Whitaker and Pete Nash are teaming up again to produce a new edition of RuneQuest and supporting supplements. This new edition of RuneQuest should hit the shelves in 2012. It will be the 6th one after two editions by the Chaosium, one by Avalon Hill, and two by Mongoose. Apparently (information is scarce at the moment), the new RuneQuest will cover both Second and Third Age Glorantha.

Loz and Pete have created an ad hoc company for their endeavour called Design Mechanism, but they will closely co-operate with Moon Design.

More information can be found at the following links:

• Loz Witters
• Design Mechanism RuneQuest page

EDIT: Loz has posted the following on the rpg.net forum boards today:

[Answer to a question re: RQ6 v MRQII] Rules and mechanics cannot be copyrighted, so our work will build on MRQII although the words will obviously be completely new. Plus, the system will got fully reviewed, revised, tweaked and the few broken-ish bits fixed.

[Answer to a question re: RQ6 v Glorantha] The RQ6 core rules won't be set in Glorantha at all. They'll support Gloranthan adventuring, but they'll not specifically use the setting. One of the beauties of our partnership with Moon Design is that we can bring RuneQuest back to Third Age Glorantha, which couldn't have happened under the Mongoose licence, so you can expect to see some Third Age RuneQuest books again in the future, as well as some Second Age. We haven't battened-down a Glorantha plan yet - there are other priorities - but rest assured that Glorantha is on the radar.

Introduction to the Umathing Campaign Game

As written in the previous post, I intend to portray the Umathings as a conservative, isolated lot. I have also decided that, since they have been magically transferred to Umathela from a far-away place, and since they have little interaction with foreigners, their language has kept many archaisms from Slontos. As a consequence, I have decided to use Anglish as a source of inspiration for the Umathings' dialect. Here's a first sampler.

They call it the Imperial Age, but we call it the Forlorn Tide.

It did start well, though. The Empire was good at the time. Imperial ships† took us from the barren lands of our forefathers and brought us to our new home. Imperial settlers helped us clear the woods and drain the marshes. This also drove out the wort-men who lived here before we did.

We grew and we throve on this new land of ours with rolling hills and open fields. The Imperials lived in their great towns on the shore, we lived in our steads and townlets and kept to ourselves. But soon the Empire grew wicked and slanderous. Our elders had to bow down to their aldermen; our warriors were taken far away to fight wars which weren’t our wars. Many did not return. Worse of all, however, was the weightiness that the Imperial wizards took. They built their lore halls were they would grow in uncouth spellcraft-lore and dwimmer-lore, and whence fearsome gear-beings stepped out. They brought in bug-men from their home island. This was too much. We got together, swore oaths of help and brotherhood, and set upon the evil that the Empire had become. The strout was long and harsh but in the end we won.

Life is tough, though. Trade hasn’t borne well our newfound asideness. The great towns on the shore yold to us but kept many of their wizards who may still plot against us. Leftovers of their eerie checkouts are still there; fearsome fiends dwell in forsaken wrecks. Yet young daredevils set out to delve into those stows. This game is about their undertakings.

†Note: The magical transfer from Slontos to Umathela was such a shock that the Umathings have collectively suppressed it from memory and now sincerely believe that they have come by ship.

Umathings

I want to portray the Umathings as a conservative, paranoid lot who live out in the sticks, and who are actually content with their situation because they want to have as little interaction with outsiders as possible.

Remember— These Slontan Orlanth worshippers didn't voluntarily come to Umathela as settlers by ship; they were magically transplanted from Slontos to Umathela by the God Learners! This is the kind of traumatic experience whose victims are bound to suffer some kind of mental relapse later on...

What is the Umathings' world view? City dwellers are sorcerous madmen. Elves and goblins are evil wort-men. Timinits are yet eviller bug-men. Anything else is just monsters. So basically far from home = danger and monsters. As a consequence, the Umathings lead simple and secluded lives. They have their steads, they practise slash-and-burn agriculture, and they raise their animals. They worship their storm and agricultural gods, which are completely unrelated to their neighbours'. I also assume that their language has kept some archaisms from Slontos; I will try to make that apparent in my posts.

However, despite this heavy conservatism and general isolationism, some Umathings are born with an urge to discover what lays past yonder hills... these people are the stuff adventurers are made of.

I have chosen

OK, I have made further decisions as regards the Umathelan setting for my 2nd Age T&T game. The players will be Umathings. Time-wise, the campaign will be set after the revolt of the Umathelan Coalition in 901 (and possibly also later than 908, the canonical year of the Mongoose source books) but before the Lightbringers Quest that the Umathings are supposed to perform in the 10th century.

Some useful links/suggested resources:

• David's Umathela page (Third Age page, but it does include a lot of useful information on Umathings)
• Tradetalk #14, Umathela, also by David Dunham
  
• Umathela on the Glorantha Wiki
• Umathela, from the defunct Gloranthan reference library
• Map of Second Age Glorantha: Umathela is in the bottom left corner
  

Bargain sale!

Logically enough, after yesterday's announcement Mongoose's RuneQuest II products are now on deep discount on DriveThruRPG.

MRQII is Dead

OK... This blog has never been particularly active, but after yesterday's announcement by Mongoose that they were receding their contract with Issaries and hence discontinuing the Gloranthan 2nd Age books, I guess it's going to become even worse!

You won't see any MRQII-related news on this blog any longer. If I manage to get my Tunnels & Trolls-based Pamaltelan campaign going, however, you might see background information. Stay tuned...

A detailed map of Prax in the Second Age

from Mongoose's web-site.

My Glorantha Does Vary

I have started a 2nd Age campaign set in Umathela using... the 30th Anniversary Tunnels & Trolls rules.

The reason is quite simple: the campaign game that I have started is for the kids (ages 11 and 13) meaning I need an easy-to-use set of rules, flexible, with little to learn/memorise. I also own the 5th edition of T&T in French, and the differences are minimal.

The first session today went very well. I'll explain in another post how I have "HeroQuest-ised" the T&T rules to render them more compatible with the style of play typical of Glorantha.

Players' Primer

As part of the much better MRQII material, Mongoose have made available a free Gloranthan Players' Primer on their web-site. I recommend it.

RPG Review - Issue No.6

The RPG Review is a most excellent free on-line Australian webzine devoted to role-games. The latest issue is a Gloranthan special issue. Go download it!

MRQ II Preview

Right here, right now: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/home/detail.php?qsID=1755

Mongoose RuneQuest Second Edition (MRQ II)

A four-page discussion of all the upcoming modifications in MRQ II is available in the latest issue of Signs & Portents by genius designers Loz and Pete Nash.
Here are a few interesting highlights:

• a complete overhaul of the (lousy) MRQ rules
• the most excellent rules from Loz' Guilds, Factions and Cults are one of the cornerstones of MRQ II
• re-written magic rules

For more detail, I definitely encourage you to read pages 28 to 31 of S&P issue No.75.

[campagne - 055] la trollesse

Un instant de silence, puis une grosse tête de trollesse émerge de l'obscurité, en face de vous. Elle doit être en train de voler puisque la voix venait d'en-dessous de la corniche, tout à l'heure. Avec la lumière, vous pouvez constater que le sol est jonché d'ossements blanchis.
La tête de la trollesse a un air à la fois fâché et effrayé. Son visage est assez émacié, et pâle, même pour une trollesse. Ses yeux sont rougis, et paraissent supporter difficilement la lumière de la torche. Elle ne sent pas très bon...

La trollesse s'approche encore de vous, puis se pose sur la corniche. Elle vous scrute, toujours de cet air mêlé de colère et d'effroi.

[campagne - 054] dans la grotte

Les héros discutent de savoir ce qui est plus dangereux : rencontrer les trolls dans la plaine ou dans les grottes. Et le fait d'avoir des vêtements yelmites ne doit pas aider... Milka dit :

Oui, vous avez raison, ce ne sera pas très sûr... Nous n'avons pas de vêtements de rechange... cela ne me dit rien de me faire hacher menu et boulotter toute crue... Essayons plutôt les grottes, mais attention, ils n'ont pas besoin de lumiere... on sera vite repéré !

Les héros entrent donc dans la grotte. On n'y voit goutte, mais une torche faisait partie de l'équipement, qui est vite allumée. Au fur et à mesure que vous avancez, vous entendez plein de bruits bizarres : des rires, des pleurs, des lamentations, des chuchotements, mais qui semblent tous émis par la même voix !

[campagne - 053] un paysage étrange

Vous suivez le chemin et parvenez assez vite en haut d'une colline. De l'autre côté de la colline, le paysage change très soudainement et du tout au tout : ce ne sont que landes désolées, bruyères grises, terrains jonchés de roches coupantes. Le ciel est sombre, sans nuage, et pourtant sans soleil.

De la colline, le chemin redescend vers une plaine morne située au centre d'une cuvette dont les bords sont constitués de montagnes nues et très rocheuses. De nombreuses grottes ou cavernes s'ouvrent sur les flancs de ces montagnes.