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.