Back from Bacharach

So this is my traditional “Back from Bacharach” post. Honestly I don’t know how useful this post will be for readers of this blog because every year the Eternal Convention becomes more like a gathering of old friends and less like a place where one may gather industry-related news (not that I’d complain...)

Also I crushed my smartphone just before travelling to Bacharach, meaning (almost) no photographs this year.

FRIDAY 2 JUNE, afternoon

Came in quite early this year and could catch Jason Durall playtesting the adventure from this year’s Free RPG Day RQ QuickStart booklet for early conventiongoers. The booklet really has everything needed to get you play the new RuneQuest except the chargen rules (it uses pregens): combat, Battle Magic, Rune Magic, skills, passions...
Then I got to chat with Jason about the new RQ and about the latest behind-the-scenes secrets at Chaosium...

FRIDAY 2 JUNE, 19:00, Grand Opening Ceremony

This year Charlotte was late so Franziska was our only host. The ceremony was shorter than usual because, as I’ve pointed out, everybody already knows the rules! (and was probably eager to fetch a beer [given the atrocious heat] and catch up with old friends)

FRIDAY 2 JUNE, late evening, First Chaosium Panel with Jeff Richard and Jason Durall

Here are my notes:

Rick Meints is preparing the PDF rewards for the remaining RuneQuest Classic Edition KS stretch goals (Trollpak, Pavis, Big Rubble...)

The 13th Age in Glorantha Sourcebook is at final layout; it contains:

• Expanded pantheons from Greg Stafford’s notes from 40 years ago with FULL-COLOUR ILLUSTRATIONS!
• A history of Dragon Pass with an emphasis on Tarsh at the time of the Hero Wars
• A history of the Lunar Empire (remember those serialised articles in Heroes magazine?)

RuneQuest 4: Jason is the lead editor. Still heavily working on editing. Sarah Newton and Lynne Hardy have been brought aboard to help with their external eyes; they are providing lots of feedback.
The first two books are the rulebook and the bestiary. Both should be available for Christmas 2017. Then there is a book of scenarios called the RQ “GM Pack”.
And then obviously this year’s Free RPG Day RQ QuickStart booklet, which has kept everybody very busy.
For those who haven’t followed the latest developments, here is a presentation of RQ4 in a nutshell.
RQ4 is not generic; it is set in Glorantha in 1625.
The rules are an elaboration of the RQ Classic Edition rules, but add:
- Runes, see this post from one year ago, except that the mechanism has been further polished and refined.
- Passions, which also work as augments.
Note: both Runes and Passions work like Skills, with a %age value. Runes are also the basic skills on which Rune Magic depends in terms of succeeding at casting a Rune Magic spell.
- Rune Points, used to fuel the casting of Rune Magic spells. They work like Magic Points except that are replenished during worship ceremonies that take place once a season. How many points you top up also depends on whether your PC is an initiate or a Rune-level character. You do not have to ‘learn’ Rune Magic spells: when you cast a Rune Magic spell, you are channelling your god’s power. I’ll provide an example later on.
- CharGen: characters are much more integrated into the fabric of society; however, there also will be a QuickGen system for people who are in a hurry/do not want to go through the fully-fledged system.
- Shamanism & Spirit combat: completely rewritten (this was arguably the worst part of RQ2) by Chris Klug and Ken Rolston, who have put an emphasis on communicating with spirits rather than fighting them.
- CHA as a characteristic is much more useful and important than it used to be; in particular an 18 CHA is needed to become a Rune Lord.
- Reputation (as a %age), which is different from CHA: it is more like the PC’s renown
- Sorcery. Not the final, fully-fledged rules, but enough to play in Dragon Pass, for NPCs, and for Lhankorings. BTW the Lhankor Mhy cult is the one that has received most tweaks.
- 14 or 15 cults in the core rulebook.
- Culturally, the core rulebook is centred around Dragon Pass/the Holy Country/Prax.
- Non-human characters: none in the core rulebook but rules to create non-human PCs are in the bestiary.
- Alchemy as in RQ2 is mostly gone, replaced with a skill-based system, much more consistent.

Friday ended with drinking beer and eating salty liquorice with Dutch friends. Quite a pleasant combination.

SATURDAY 3 JUNE, morning

Played HeroQuest auf deutsch, again with Robin Mitra like last year. Exceedingly interesting scenario that started at dawn on Friday, 13 October 1307 when King Philip IV ordered the arrest of the Knights Templar. Our characters were entrusted with one third of the treasure of the Templars which we had to bring to Prester John. Except no fucking body knew where his kingdom was. ‘Nach Osten’. Right. With no idea how to get there. A very challenging scenario, with a very open-ended finale (the group who played the same scenario on Sunday did everything in a completely different way!)

picture by Heini

SATURDAY 3 JUNE, afternoon

Played Monkey 2nd edition with Dan Barker as the referee. We played the original companions of Tripitaka, and I got to be Monkey himself! A very zany scenario that will probably appear in a free Monkey QuickStart free PDF. Very recommended.

SATURDAY 3 JUNE, evening

Playtested my historical/civilisational boardgame Siebenbürgen. It is for four players who each represent one of the historical nations vying for supremacy over Transylvania (‘Siebenbürgen’ in German, hence the title): the Hungarians, the Vlachs, the Saxons, and the Szeklers. The game starts at the fall of the Roman Empire and ends at the fall of the Soviet Union. It is a card-driven game, but there is also an actual board (a map of Transylvania and of the surrounding lands) on which the players move the counters representing their peoples and where they may build cities, churches, fortifications, etc.
The game is now almost one year old, and I am very satisfied with how it runs. We played it in about 2.5 hours, which I think is excellent for such a game. Really excited!

Had (again!) a long chat with Jason about the new RQ.

SATURDAY 3 JUNE, late

We played the boardgame Mafia de Cuba but were exaggeratedly deep in the roles of the various characters. Great fun... this is what happens when RPGers play boardgames :-)

A cold morning before a hot day

SUNDAY 4 JUNE, morning

The traditional Trollball game was held under a cold sun (probably makes sense... Chern Durel, anyone?). This was followed by yet another chat with Jeff & Jason with regards to the new RuneQuest. My Parisian friends and I secured a copy of the manuscript to turn our current RQ2 campaign into an RQ4 playtest campaign!

SUNDAY 4 JUNE, afternoon

Playtested the adventure from this year’s Free RPG Day RQ QuickStart booklet with Jason as the referee and a group of RQ grognards as the players. Here are my impressions from an actual gaming session as to what the most salient differences are, compared with RuneQuest Classic Edition:
- Battle Magic does not succeed automatically any longer (you have to roll under POW×5 – not sure I like this)
- Runes, Passions, used as augments (see above). Loved it.
- Rune Magic. Lots of new kewl spells, which depend on your Runes and not your god. Also you do not have to choose which spell you memorise/sacrifice for beforehand since the act of casting a Rune Magic spell is tantamount to your channelling your god’s power. And gods do not memorise spells... In the game, I cast a 3-point Rune spell early on in the adventure, expending my entire capital of Rune points (which I knew I would not be able to replenish). I had to roll under my Truth Rune for success. But I got to choose the spell from a list available to my god; it wasn’t a spell the PC had memorised.
- Magic Skills, and especially Spirit Combat
- Combat: the Defence skill IS GONE (auggggh) replaced with Dodge (nooooooo).
Great refereeing by Jason; we were all completely and hopelessly in the sombre mood of kinstrife, of wergeld, and of the past coming back to haunt the present... That is when I realised that Chaosium hadn’t treated us to new Gloranthan RQ adventures since the RQ Renaissance in the 90s!

SUNDAY 4 JUNE, evening, Third Chaosium Panel with Jeff and Jason

Note: I missed the 2nd panel on Saturday; I’m told it was mostly about HeroQuest (and it seems not much is going on at that side...)
The 3rd panel consisted in an open Q&A session. Everybody spoke quickly and in a noisy atmosphere, so I apologise for the incomplete notes.

HEROQUESTING & ILLUMINATION
Q: Tell us more about heroquesting and how that ties with Illumination.
A: Illumination is a mystical epiphany where you realise the nature of All. In a heroquest, you interact with the God Time. The more you deal with the God Time from different perspectives (i.e., you are not always re-enacting the same heroquest) the more likely it is that you get that epiphany.
Think about the famous tale of the blind men each touching a different part of an elephant; the more you touch different parts of the elephant, the more you can understand its true shape.

Q: That’s what the God Learners were doing...
A: The big difference is that the God Learners had an intellectual approach, not a mystical one.
Logic is a very useful tool but it is also very limited when we are talking about things that are beyond comprehension, e.g., eternity.

Q: Is it possible to train someone to be better prepared to Illumination?
A: Yes, it’s exactly what happens in some real-world religions.

Q: What is the definition of a heroquest?
A: It is a procedure to bring back a part of the God Time into our world.

THE EAST
Q: Why doesn’t Godunya do anything against Can Shu?
A: Ignorance is part of the balance of the universe. And at least it’s controlled where it is [in Chern Durel]. If Can Shu were to be crushed, who knows where Ignorance would re-surface... maybe in Kralorela itself?

Q: What is the procedure to find a new emperor?
A: Who knows? There isn’t anybody left around from the last time this happened!

Q: I want to know more about Orathorn.
A: It will be in the 13th Age in Glorantha Sourcebook.

SUNDAY 4 JUNE, late evening

Played ‘Return to Apple Lane’ (probably from the upcoming RQ4 GM Pack) with Jeff as the referee. A fantastic moment of Gloranthan fun, and a surprising twist/follow-up to a beloved adventure. I won’t say more so as not to spoil anybody’s fun when this is out.

[T&T] Adjudicating SR Levels

I have stolen this from Thessaly Chance's FB roll. Very useful to any Tunnels & Trolls referee.

RuneQuest 4 Quick-Start Rules Available Soon

The RuneQuest 4 quick-start rules will be available for the 2017 Free RPG Day, accompanied by a scenario by Jason Durall. Can't wait to put my grubby hands on this — even though no French FLGS is usually participating :-(

New RuneQuest - Roadmap & News

Lots of news with regard to the ‘New’ RuneQuest, a.k.a. RuneQuest 4, from Chaosium. There are so many news I am almost going to copy them verbatim from their web-site.

First and foremost, RQ4 is not going to be kickstarted (and that’s an excellent piece of news: I consider crowdfunding campaigns should be restricted to amateur publications, or to very special operations [like extra art or crazy miniatures] when used by established companies). The RQ4 books will go through a ‘normal’ process of being sold via PDF first by Chaosium, and then in dead tree format both by Chaosium and by gaming shops. The current schedule is: RuneQuest and the RuneQuest Bestiary will be available for purchase by Christmas 2017. That’s in physical form purchased from the Chaosium web-site— and the PDFs will be available some months before. The books will then be in our FLGS in Q1 of 2018.

In addition, and still targeting Christmas 2017, Chaosium should be releasing the GM’s Screen and Pack, which will include a scenario, a GM screen, cult information sheets for the players (very helpful in choosing which Rune Spells to cast), maps, and a Gloranthan calendar.

After that, the next book will be a collection of stand-alone scenarios, with Gloranthan luminaries such as Steve Perrin, Ken Rolston and Chris Klug amongst the writers. Scheduled for Q1 2018.

Next will be the RuneQuest Gamemaster Book. This will include lots of GM-oriented rules (battle rules, magic items, etc.), materials on running games for RQ set in Glorantha, plus fully statted-up and described encounters that will enable sandbox play in Dragon Pass.

After that comes the Cults of the Lightbringers, the Hero’s Book, an organised RQ Play campaign, and the Dragon Pass Campaign.

Num num!

[zine] Issue No.1 of Chromatic Soup is Out!

I am happy to announce that issue No.1 of the collective OSR dead-tree zine Chromatic Soup is available on lulu for a mere €4.88.

The zine started as a jocular idea on G+ by artist Cédric Plante (whose fantastic art graces the cover and the interior of the zine) and eventually developed into a 179-page zine that describes a fully-fledged weird and marshy setting known as ‘the Biting Marshes’.

The setting features a lot of crazy but extremely inspirational ideas in a ‘pointcrawl’ kind of presentation, with three beautiful maps. I would like to highlight the following:

Duke Arqueballast's scheming — This chapter alone could very well form the backbone of a complete sandbox campaign. Duke Arqueballast rules from a fortress barge towed by a hundred yoked crocodiles. If this is not OSR at its best, then I don't know what is.

Log-Jaws — The ecology of an Alien-like plant monster that can be tamed by the music of the Log-Jaws Pipers.

Stewpot Witches —This is probably my favourite. This chapter describes a cult of  witches who master a weird and very old form of magic native to the Biting Marshes. Each Stewport Witch has a familiar that looks like a walking iron pot with a huge face in the middle of the pot (like in the illo above). The witches may create magical meals within the iron pots. By the way this iron is called ‘bog iron’ and has peculiar properties.

Bobcatmen — A new race. They live in the northern part of the Biting Marshes as bandits of slavers. Their human thralls wear bobcat-like masks.

The Order of the Merchant-Knights — A quasi-religious order of merchants who ply their trade east of the Biting Marshes. They are actually quite similar to the cult of Issaries, but with a more military bent.

Last but not least, there is a ‘RuneQuest conversions’ appendix at the end of the zine to enable you to use all of the above with the RuneQuest Classic Edition rules.

Link to the free PDF version.

13th Age in Glorantha - Some New Art

The Hanging Garden, Issue No.6

Heil og sæl, dear readers! The sixth issue of my free e-zine, The Hanging Garden, is available for your perusal and enjoyment from the usual page.

Issue No.6 is a special “Norsemen”-themed issue (actually the first of two such issues); it contains a complete deluxe Tunnels & Trolls solo adventure by Thomas Pugh, with 284 (!) paragraphs. This is as good as one of the published solo adventures.


An appendix at the end of the solo adventure (don’t miss it) presents the various kindreds, creatures, etc. from the solo adventure, should a gamemaster want to use them in their GM scenarios set in the Frozen Lands (the Viking-like setting of the solo adventure).


As always, feedback and comments are welcome. Cheers!

13th Age in Glorantha - Draft Cover and Publication Schedule

The draft cover of the upcoming 13th Age in Glorantha book has been revealed and my is it a beauty.

click to enlarge

It is exceedingly evocative, and it confirms the heavy emphasis on the 'Let's go and fight Chaos' atmosphere at the centre of this new Gloranthan role-playing game, which is set much closer to the Hero Wars [1627] than the previous Gloranthan games (RuneQuest [1620-1625] or HeroQuest [1618-1623]), which emphasised the Lunar-Orlanthi rivalry. As the saying goes, you can't judge a book by its cover but in this particular case it is very tempting to do so :-)

The publication schedule, however, has slipped yet again. The books are still scheduled for a 2017 publication, but after GenCon.

2017 Eternal Con – Registration is Open!

The registration page for the 2017 Eternal Con that will take place from 2 to 5 June at Schloss Stahleck in Bacharach, Rhineland-Palatinate, has opened today.

Given how rapidly it usually gets fully booked, I strongly advise you to act quickly! (Me, I've already registered.)

Quick-ish RuneQuest Classic Edition Char Gen

Mike Hill over at G+ has suggested the following:

These are the set-up rules we use to quickly replace a character in play or when we don’t have the energy for the full-blown experience.

Quick Adventurers

Here’s a solution for the creation of new adventurers in a hurry; it’s not scientific but it produces a playable character that’s fairly close to the original training rules without taking half an hour.

1. Roll the dice to create your character and calculate the skill modifiers, strike rank, damage bonus etc.

2. Take 12 skill advances in accordance with the provisos below.

3. Take one weapon, including a shield, for each weapon skill that received one or more advance.

4. Select items of armour totalling no more than 3 encumbrance points.

5. Record one adventurer’s pack (2 ENC points), if they’re in use.

6. Select two 1-point battle magic spells or one 1-point spell and two Detect spells.

7. Accept 3,100 L in training debt, less 5% per point of CHA over 12.

8. If the adventurer has background funds they may be spent on additional gear now.

Skill AdvancesEach skill advance increases the base skill level by 5 points; the base level is the value printed on the character sheet plus (or minus) the skill category modifier (attack, knowledge, stealth etc.).

However skill advances may only bring the net skill level up to 25 points unless the base skill level is already 25 or greater, in which case a single advance is permitted.

For standard weapons, a single advance increases both attack and parry; an advance in a missile weapon or a shield increases only the attack or parry skill respectively. The referee may rule that weapons outside the cultural norm start with a base of 5 plus modifier rather than the value stated in the rules.

Pamaltelan Inspiration

Revolution D100 Cover Revealed!

It’s been announced (to backers) that the Revolution D100 core manual is being sent to the printer. If you live in the UK, you may want to know that Revolution D100 will debut at Dragonmeet on 3/12/2016 at the booth labelled “RPG Meeting / Wild Boar”.

Short News From Crowdfunded Projects

I am sharing some short news about two crowdfunded projects I’ve backed: Revolution D100 (on the French Ulule crowdfunding platform) and 13th Age in Glorantha (on Kickstarter). Both are running late, so the news are extremely welcome.

Revolution D100
The core text is at the final proofreading stage; it will be followed by the proofreading of the text of the extra settings/universes.

13th Age in Glorantha
The latest update e-mail to backers has explained us that both the pre-layout manuscript of the 13th Age in Glorantha core book and the one of the systemless Glorantha Sourcebook are ready. As proof that this was no mere boasting, we backers have received the text-only PDFs of both the 13G rules and the 1627 sourcebook. The latter is of particular interest to us Gloranthaphiles because (unless I’m mistaken) I believe it is the very first time a canonic game reference book is set so late in Gloranthan history.

THE KRAKEN 2016 Report

Schloss Neuhausen
Neuhofer Straße 20
19348 Berge, OT Neuhausen

AND THEN THERE WILL BE CAKE

The theory was that there would be a “gaming vacation”-type of Kraken on even years, and a shorter “gaming retreat”-type of Kraken on odd years. However, we’ve now had two “gaming retreat” Krakens two years in a row, and I am under the impression that it is going to remain like this... because apparently those who work in the industry find it convenient to have a “gaming retreat” the week-end preceding the Essen game fair. The biggest beef I have with this is that we’re all sort of used to the older version of the Kraken (which was longer), and we all get there with three or four RPG adventures that we’ve prepared, or piles of board games we want to try out with our friends, and, inevitably, we end up not being able to do everything we’ve planned. I feel this has particularly been true this year.

Anyway, I’ll stop ranting – here’s my report. Since there was so much to see and to do at the same time, I have written the report using both my notes and my friends’ – so thank you Éric Vanel and Runeblogger of the Runeblog for sharing your notes with me.

As always, the bad-looking pictures below are by yours truly, whereas the nice-looking ones are by friends, and in particular by Aliénor and Toumy, photographers extraordinaire!


FRIDAY 7 OCTOBER, late afternoon

We arrive at the Schloss after a stop and a good night’s rest in Nimeguen at Louis Kolkman’s place where we have retrieved he and his wife’s impressive Operation Market Garden giant wargame (see past posts about it). We receive our Krakeneers’ kits (less beautifully crafted than the earlier years) and accommodation keys.

Disorder.

Order.

FRIDAY 7 OCTOBER, evening

21:00 – Opening Ceremony. This year is a slightly special edition of the Kraken:

• It is the 5th Kraken,
• We are celebrating 30 years of Call of Cthulhu in German,
• 50 years of Glorantha,
• and 500 years of Reinheitsgebot!

50 yrs of Glorantha!

I tell Fabi he shouldn’t advertise the Kraken as a “gaming retreat” — but as a “gaming gourmet gathering”! The food is superb, and this year we have a choice of going full vegan! (so three different options at each meal: standard, vegetarian, and vegan). And, of course, the beer is free.

I watch people play a demo game of Khan of Khans run by Chaosium’s Michael O’Brien (aka MOB); the game is going to be launched at Essen. It is a nice and fast little family card game (it plays 2 to 5) in which each player is a Praxian khan who raids Dragon Pass for cattle; whoever has raided most cattle at the end of the game wins. A game lasts about 10 minutes. Most people are enthusiastic about it (Éric certainly is) but I have the impression that it is really a game designed for kids [note that I didn’t play — I just watched people playing]. Anyway, the illustrations are fantastic and perfectly Gloranthan-themed. More on Khan of Khans later.

Khan of Khans demo game

Sandy Petersen is also demoing his new boardgame: Planet Apocalypse. This time it’s not set in one of Chaosium’s licensed universes but in our own world, invaded by demons. Also contrary to both Cthulhu Wars and Gods’ War, it is a co-operative game. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try it at all, so this is pretty much all the information I have at the moment. Based on how the pieces and the gaming aids look like, I believe the game is still in its early design phases.

Planet Apocalypse

Everyone had been expecting that Volume One of the Coming Storm by Ian Cooper would be available for sale at the Kraken... Unfortunately it is not. Still, I can peruse a physical copy of the book. It is a sturdy, full-colour, 148-page beauteous hardback book. (More about its physical aspect later.) In a nutshell, the book contains the following:

• Clan description
• Red Cow clan PC creation
• Important clan NPCs (loads of them!)
• Gazetteer of the Cinsina lands
• Other Cinsina clans

Beateous Hardback

It's real, it's not been photoshopped!

Just like last year, I take advantage of the Kraken to playtest my board game, Gloranthan Realms, outside of my usual group of Parisian playtesters. I run two demo games leading to v3.4 of the rules, which streamlines the turn sequence and (hopefully) makes the game less frustrating for unlucky people who never draw the rune or the card they need. Also I run a game with seven players, which I’d never managed to do in Paris (maximum I ever got was six).

Gloranthan Realms cards

SATURDAY 8 OCTOBER, morning and noon

I referee several times in a row Odile and Louis’s ginormous wargame, Operation Market Garden. It’s really nigh-impossible for the Allied player to win. Now I understand why it took me so many games last year to eventually manage to capture Arnhem!

As a result of my refereeing the Operation Market Garden giant wargame, I miss the “Quo Vadis, Chaosium?” panel. Luckily the Runeblogger attended it and took notes that he’s shared with me; plus I watched the video recording on _THE_KRAKEN_’s YouTube channel.

The Chaosium: Neil, Jeff, Rick and MOB

So here’s the gist of the panel:

MOB & Rick: what is in the pipeline?

CoC pipeline

For Christmas 2016, two books for children: HP Lovecraft for Young Readers, and a Cthulhu colouring book. I think this is good news – there’s never enough Lovecraft and Cthulhu, and the sooner kids learn about the Great Old Ones, the better.

The upcoming gaming supplements are:

Doors to Darkness – 5 scenarios, full-colour layout.

Pulp Cthulhu (15 years in the making!)

A set of four Keeper decks (originally for the KS backers only; now generally available)

• NPCs
• Weapons and artefacts
• Phobias
• Miscellaneous (events, twists…)

Glorantha pipeline

The Coming Storm (Volume One) – This will feature the new look of all the future Gloranthan books: hardcover, bronzey feeling, colour layout, and the Chaosium logo on the cover!
The Coming Storm (Volume Two) is currently “in layout”.

The Guide to Glorantha is being re-printed, with a ‘50th anniversary’ slipcase, and will be sold to non-backers. It should be available in about three weeks’ time.

The next RuneQuest (definitely called RQ4 now) won’t be out this year (even though the rules are nearing completion) — Chaosium don’t want to have a rules book out without any supporting material, so the idea is to have 4 to 5 books out simultaneously: the rules, a bestiary, a GM’s pack, etc.

First RQ4 book (the rules): we can have a look at the Playtest book, which is really THICK (see the photograph below).
The book is 95% finished (only the examples of play are missing; Jason is working on them, the idea is to build a Rurik-like saga).
Art is being commissioned.

RQ4 rules...

Second book: Bestiary (also PHAT), set to look like the Petersen’s Guide to Cthulhu Monsters; will have rules for monsters as PCs.

Third book: GM’s book; rules on Chaos, rules on Illumination, some Lunar cults (Red Goddess priestesses as allies or as enemies), material on heroquesting, battle rules, a collection of statted encounters set in Dragon Pass...

A policy that Chaosium now want to enforce is: no more rulebooks without scenarios, so this is what they’re working on now: a fourth book, the Dragon Pass Campaign, which will span a year and a half of in-game time, starting just after the Dragonrise, and done as seasonal adventures. Some of it is straight from what Greg Stafford was working on before he eventually switched to working on Pendragon.

Secrets of future RQ supplements!

Mythic Iceland second edition; the book is stand-alone (no separate rules – the BRP line is dead), new magic (shamanic), rune magic re-worked, new scenarios…
It will also have a companion book, hence starting its own product line, with forthcoming scenario and setting books (like Vinland).

Board Games!

Khan of Khans, a Gloranthan family card game by Reiner Knizia (see above); will be KS’ed (5 tribes in the original box) with an expansion (5 more tribes).
Set in the plains of Prax.
Very cute art.
Doesn’t take much time to play.
Hopefully it will be a gateway to more complex Gloranthan games.

Khan of Khans prototype next to an iPhone - small game!

The new edition of Credo is still being worked on; the aim is to have shorter games.

Chris Klug is still working on the new Dragon Pass game; aim: being able to play the game in 2 hours but with the same strategic and diplomatic satisfaction as the original game from the 70s.
The hex map has been abandoned, it will be replaced by an area movement system (personal note: I am not surprised… the early prototype version I’ve playtested was 3+ hours to play, and that was the shortest scenario!).

Fiction Line

The fiction anthology Cassilda’s Song has been named as a finalist for two World Fantasy Awards, for the anthology itself, and for one of the stories in the book, The Neurastheniac.

Neil talks about fulfilment: European customers will now be able to order from the UK; all the products will be stocked in the UK. Also, Chaosium has joined the Brick & Mortar Initiative, see my earlier post.

Next European conventions Chaosium are going to attend:

• Essen (13-16 Oct 2016)
• Dragonmeet (3 Dec 2016)
• UK Games Expo (2-4 June 2017)

Jeff talks about 13th Age in Glorantha:
It will be a very big book. Single biggest book that Rob & Jonathan will ever have written. Hence lots of art, by several talented authors.
The (system-neutral) Gloranthan sourcebook is going through layout & art; it’s sort of a shorter version of the Guide, with a major focus on mythology and with an updated timeline of the Lunar Empire. It also has MAPS!

Q&A session

Q: Are the battle rules in RQ4 going to be based on the ones in Pendragon?
A: No. Pendragon emphasises knight combat, whereas we wanted to take into account all kinds of characters, and especially those that use magic.

Q: How are you going to make your games appeal to Joe Average RPGers?
A: We are aiming at having games that don’t only appeal to grognards but also, for instance, women. We think the new RQ should appeal more to people who are bored with combat.
We are going to continue setting up ‘Organised Play’ (like we did for Call of Cthulhu) also for RQ4.
Also looking to have introductory scenarios, like the one Andrew Bean ran at the Kraken.

Q: Product schedule for the RQ Classic kickstarter?
A: We will resume working on the PDFs when we’re back from Essen…


11:00 – Horror Lottery. For the first time since I have been going to the Kraken, my name has been drawn! I play in Robin D Laws’ game on Sunday – which also means I won’t be able to play in Éric Vanel’s…

Rick and Fabi

Just before lunch, I manage to squeeze in a Gloranthan Realms playtest game again, with the new sequence of play. It works really great!

Fabi with a present from my daughter

Lunch is home-baked pizza. The vegan one is so good the non-vegan Krakeneers are stealing our slices!


SATURDAY 8 OCTOBER, afternoon

The usual perk of attending cons— I play a game of the French dark fantasy RPG Les Chroniques des Féals refereed by one of the designers herself: Camille Chiverne Guirou! The universe (which I didn’t know at all, nor did the other players) is quite rich and absolutely not your run-of-the-mill fantasy setting. The system is easy to grasp and plays nicely. It leaves us wanting to discover more.

Chroniques des Féals game

As explained in the introduction, the gaming sessions just override each other because there are so many; I have to cancel my Call of Cthulhu game. I’ll probably run it at the Eternal Con.

19:00 – Excellent and abundant Chaosium BBQ dinner. I chat with MOB. Fans of Tales of Mythic Adventure do not despair: he has seven episodes in the pipe.

Hillfolk game

SATURDAY 8 OCTOBER, evening

I play in the secret playtest session of a brand new game by a French game designer well-known for his unconventional ideas. Sorry, super-secret, I can’t add much, except that I have had a blast and I can’t wait for the next playtest session!

During that time, Éric participates in the playtesting session of a future supplement for the Coming Storm. The adventure (DragonRise) should be one of several in said supplement. Lots of feedback for Ian from the players.

Just before going to sleep, I peruse the printout of the new Conan RPG by Modiphius. It just oozes love for RE Howard’s work from each page.


SUNDAY 9 OCTOBER, morning and noon

Sunday morning, lots of people are testing prototypes of new games, or trying out recently published KS’d games. The Runeblogger, for instance, playtests Planet Apocalypse.

Trollball prototype

Trollball prototype

Gods' War

Food

Well, I do the same: I am refereeing for the very first time The Motherland Calls! my new role-playing game set on the Eastern Front during WWII. The idea is to have a fully realistic, non-supernatural game set in a period of time that, apparently, has attracted writers of fiction, designers of war games and board games, but not of role-playing games [yes, I know of Night Witches, but it’s focused on a particular type of missions]! My players are very nice to me (and to the imperfections of this early draft) and I have a great time. I will definitely develop it further and publish it in The Hanging Garden when it’s ready.


SUNDAY 9 OCTOBER, afternoon

New RuneQuest Seminar with Jeff Richard: Spirit Magic in the Upcoming RuneQuest
Focus on the shaman/spirit world/combat rules and their implications on the party (keep everybody adventuring together).
Chris Klug is basically rewriting the whole section to avoid the pitfalls from past editions.


Conan seminar with Jason Durall and yours truly.
We take advantage of the nifty audio/video facility in one of the large rooms of the Schloss. We show “Conan: The Rise of a Fantasy Legend”, a featurette from my Conan the Barbarian: Special Edition DVD set. It’s a nice 20-minute documentary about the life and times of RE Howard, and about the impact that Conan has had on the Sword & Sorcery genre. Jason (who is a bigtime RE Howard and Conan fan and amateur scholar) then comments the short film and tells a few anecdotes about RE Howard and Conan of his own. Since the projector is connected to the internet, we subsequently show an excerpt from The Whole Wide World, a 1996 biopic about Robert E Howard adapted from Novalyne Price Ellis’s autobiography. She was a close friend of RE Howard’s and she acted as an advisor for the film, although she was in her late eighties!

Conan/REH seminar

The problem with the Conan stories is that they were published in a haphazard order by pulp magazines, so we ask Jason which edition we should look at for a definitive text. Jason thinks the authoritative edition is the Del Rey one in 3 hardbacks, edited by Patrice Louinet — who is also an advisor to the Modiphius RPG, which is BTW at its final layout phase; it should be at the printers by the end of October.

All in all, a fantastic panel; I really feel elated. Unfortunately there aren’t many people attending because almost everyone is a player in the traditional Gloranthan freeform taking place outside; this year it is the one called “White Bear and Red Moon”. I am told they have barely stopped Chaos from entering Gloranthan reality (again).


SUNDAY 9 OCTOBER, late afternoon

Finnish pancakes galore by the incredible Risto “Lätyt” Welling. He has brought all kinds of Finnish seasonings but the best one is definitely the home-made cloudberry jam.

Advanced Gaming Lore seminar with Robin D Laws.
Highlights:

• Suggests alternating core scenes with alternative scenes
• Ask your players what your bad GM habits are, and try to avoid them in the future
• Plus mucho specific HQ-related advice (e.g., the economy of Hero Points…)

Dinner: stuffed capsicums and rote Grütze. Rote Grütze is a northern German dessert that apparently stemmed from an experiment to have the highest-possible carbohydrate content per cubic centimetre in the world. After a small serving, I feel I have to drink a gallon of water. Yet some Krakeneers manage to eat several in a row. I know RPGers have a different metabolism to normal humans but still— wow!

SUNDAY 9 OCTOBER, evening

Since we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Glorantha, Fabi sets up a Skype conversation with Greg Stafford (who is in California) in the audio/video room. Greg tells us many anecdotes from the early days of Gloranthan gaming, especially about the Dragon Pass/White Bear Red Moon board game, and then we have a short Q&A session.
Scoop: Conan was the inspiration for Harrek the Berserk – which ties in nicely with the earlier seminar.

You could buy some 'forgotten' Dragon Pass counters

Robin D Laws HeroQuest game: The Secret of the Egg. The funny thing is that the game is the sequel of the game that Robin has refereed the previous day but using his Hillfolk system. Anyway, both games are set in the Dragon Pass area a few generations after the Dragonkill, and involve tough choices that will shape the future of the clan for generations to come. The best thing as always with Robin is his incredible skill as a referee and his versatility in impersonating NPCs… The adventure itself is a rough ride, the clan has to face impossible choices, but I guess that’s what clan-based adventures are all about. The interesting thing is that, out of 5 players, only 2 (Fabi and yours truly) are Gloranthaphiles, and yet everybody quickly captures the essence of living in a world where the gods are real and can be met in the hero plane, and in which you just don’t kill a dragon— you have to heroquest to find something to defend yourself against it. Kudos to Janet who played a very trickster-ey Eurmali character.

Robin and yours truly

During this time, Éric referees his Welcome to the Grazelands HeroQuest game. The PCs stop the ice demons who have appeared in the Grazelands during the Great Winter.

Late at night, I ran yet another playtesting session of Gloranthan Realms, again with the new turn sequence.


MONDAY 10 OCTOBER, morning

10:30 – Closing Ceremony (amidst much sorrow).

Yours truly in front of the Schloss

See you next year!

13G Bison Rider

I love Rich Longmore's art. I usually prefer his black-and-white illustrations, but the following piece (that I received via the 13th Age in Glorantha kickstarter mailing list) is simply superb:

(it's the cover of the latest issue of 13th Age Monthly)

RPG Review - Issue No.31

I have already blogged about the RPG Review, a most excellent free on-line Australian webzine devoted to role-playing games, with a good mix of game reviews, industry news, interviews, historical articles about our hobby, and short gaming aids.

The latest issue is an OSR special issue, and as such I believe it is of interest to readers of this blog.

I would particularly like to point out the following articles:

• An interview of Ken Saint-André, the creator of Tunnels & Trolls and Stormbringer,
• A long Tunnels & Trolls bestiary; unfortunately it is for the 5.5 ed.– I am sure the use of spite dice would have improved on the various special attacks of the monsters,
• A RQ2 variant to add granularity to the results of skill checks,
• A sneak peek on the upcoming John Carter role-playing game by Modiphius Entertainment.

Enjoy!

Chaosium joins Bits and Mortar

Chaosium has joined the Brick & Mortar Initiative — you may read the full press release here. In a nutshell, this means that whenever you buy a Chaosium product from one of the participating game shops, you get the corresponding PDF for free.

Here is the list of the participating game shops across Continental Europe:

Belgium
Autre Monde (Liège)

Czech Republic
Mephit (Prague)

Denmark
Dragons Lair (Odense)
Fantask (Copenhagen)

France
Philibert (Strasbourg)
Trollune (Lyons)

Germany
Atlantis (Hamburg)
Brave New World (Cologne)
Fantasywelt Tabletopshop (Eckernförde)
Otherland Buchhandlung (Berlin)
Trollheim Medienvertrieb (Herzogenrath)

Greece
Papercut Cybercafé, Comics & Games (Heraklion)

Netherlands
Labyrinth (Utrecht)

Sweden
Alphaspel (Hägersten)
Collectors Point (Umeå)

For the UK and overseas, please check the online retail store locator.

RuneQuest Classic - Premium Rewards

This was in the electronic in-box today:

Ohmygosh I can't wait!

MoonQuest – A Teaser

I was intrigued (to say the least) when I saw the following announcement by Kyrinn S. Eis of Urutsk and Porphyry fame over at Google+:

“Using RuneQuest Classic, MoonQuest brings an alternate understanding of the canon of Glorantha while retaining its mythic relativism and unique flavour.
MoonQuest is a campaign add-on, a behind the veil look at the amazing and chaotic world so many have loved for decades. While usable as a stand alone setting, the more one knows Glorantha, the more this ... peculiar take will shake the established world view of the reader, and hopefully bring delight and excitement to the players.”

Despite my ugliest threats, Kyrinn wouldn't tell me more about MoonQuest, but  I have managed to have her answer a few questions for Timinits & Trolls:

Q: Kyrinn, I have stumbled upon your mysterious announcement on G+... “Using RuneQuest Classic, MoonQuest brings an alternate understanding of the canon of Glorantha while retaining its mythic relativism and unique flavour.”
A: Not really a question, but I suppose you want me to say more about this: I'll end up addressing each of these by answering your questions, but I will remain tight-lipped regarding the specifics, as it is too soon to show my hand; Glorantha was revealed incrementally in play, and tantalisingly few details were provided when the rulebook was released. If MoonQuest is taken on those same merits, it will have to be read in whole when it becomes available.

Q: “MoonQuest is a campaign add-on, a behind the veil look at the amazing and chaotic world so many have loved for decades. While usable as a stand alone setting, the more one knows Glorantha, the more this ... peculiar take will shake the established world view of the reader, and hopefully bring delight and excitement to the players.”
A: MoonQuest will, if I am successful, provide a new scope of adventure while still preserving the majestic sweep of Stafford's canon.

Q: Now, knowing your past work on science fantasy settings such as Urutsk and Porphyry, the first question that has sprung to my mind is: Is this some kind of science fantasy version of Glorantha? with space travel?
A: It is still RuneQuest in the Third Age, and all of the characters and creatures which have been created by Stafford (et al.) still exist as described from the given perspective of the Mortal realm regarding the Mythic powers as described in the RQC book. In later works, more information about the world opens up regarding how Glorantha functions, still (always) described to the PoV of mortals in their realm. The realms beyond the lozenge exist, but mortals cannot understand them without treading the Hero's path towards apotheosis. MoonQuest sheds light on this aspect.

Q: Are you just using Gloranthan tropes to give flavour to a setting out of your imagination, or are you really expanding on our beloved Lozenge, e.g., by adding a whole universe, with planets etc. or are you imaging something in the future of Glorantha (a 5th or 6th age?)
A: Glorantha isn't mine to create a 5th or 6th age. I am simply providing a different way of understanding the official canon; altering the mortal perspective to provide one way of understanding why we see places on a map mortals cannot access, granting an understanding of how both spells and chaos function, etc.

Q: Lastly, since this is an RPG, we all want to know about the ruleset you are going to use, and any modifications you are going to add to it.
A: RQC as just recently re-published via the Kickstarter; the very hardback I received in the mail not but a few weeks ago. As far as modifications: I hope to alter the flow of presentation regarding guilds and prior experience, so that they don't function as afterthoughts in the appendix, in other words, integrating them into standard character generation and training. Any additions will be clearly marked, as per the grey text boxes in the RQC edition. Existing characters and creatures will not be mechanically affected by MoonQuest, but their premise very well may be altered by the light shone upon the setting through this lens.

I think it is important to remind readers that the setting, history, and everything else mean different things to different cultures and each perspective, even while seeming paradoxical, are all equally true from the perspective of their holders: The Lunar Empire are terrible destroyers and subjugators of older cultures, but they are also peace-bringers and civilisers, etc.

MoonQuest is yet another, alternate, understanding to the established canon of the Third Age.

Thank you Kyrinn!

Note— If some of my questions sound completely stupid, it is because I sent all 5 questions before getting any of Kyrinn's answers!

RuneQuest 4 - News From Chaosium

The latest news from Chaosium about the new RuneQuest are quite astounding. You may read them here.

For those of you who are lazy, in a hurry, busy– or who do not like to click links– or who are in a TL;DR mood, I have summarised them here in a nutshell:

1. Experienced game designer Jason Durall (he of the ‘Big Gold Book’ fame) has joined the new RuneQuest team to re-read the draft RQ4 rules and add “story of Rurik”-like game examples throughout the rules.

2. The new RuneQuest rules will be divided between three books:

• The first book (the one whose draft Jason is reviewing) will contain the core rules, and in particular character generation and background, runes, passions, rune magic and cults (with almost 20 cult write-ups), battle magic, spirit combat, new shamanism rules, new sorcery rules (incl. notes on Malkionism, Aeolianism, and Lhankor Mhy sorcery)!
• The second book is going to be a Gloranthan bestiary that will double as a sourcebook for nonhuman characters.
• The third book is going to focus on rules for the referee such as heroquesting, Chaos, Illumination, Lunar magic, magic items, and on rules for advanced characters — in particular Heroes. It will also feature a few encounters, and three or four fully-fledged Gloranthan scenarios.

All in all, excellent news.

RuneQuest Classic Edition Char Gen

RuneQuest 2 (henceforth referred to as RuneQuest Classic Edition) is my all-time favourite fantasy role-playing game. Its age, however, shows in some of its aspects, and in particular in how unorganised and convoluted character creation is compared to modern games: you have to go back and forth between several chapters to “get character creation right”, and some information useful at character generation is hidden within the sections about character improvement.

Also, we’ve been used to using “professions” and “cultural backgrounds” from later incarnations of the game and from its sister publications, and forgotten (at least it was my case) how deeply “Old School” the RQ2 char-gen was, with its focus on adventurers’ organisations and on repaying back debt by looting dungeons...

Anyway, I present you here for your enjoyment (and, hopefully, for actual use) a summarised RuneQuest Classic Edition Character Generation primer, perfected with the help of the jolly RQ2 G+ community.

STEP 1 – Characteristics

Roll the character’s seven characteristics according to their race (roll 3D6 for each characteristic for a human character; see Chapter VIII of RuneQuest Classic Edition for other races):

• STR ⓘ
• CON ⓘ
• SIZ
• INT
• POW
• DEX ⓘ
• CHA

ⓘ: can be increased by training, see step 7 below.

STEP 2 – Abilities and other Derived Characteristics

STEP 2a – Abilities
Compute abilities according to section A of the Classic Handouts.

• Attack (skill category bonus)
• Parry (skill category bonus)
• Defence
• Hit Points (Total HPs + Hit Points per Location using the table in section A of the Classic Handouts)
• Damage Bonus
• Perception (skill category bonus)
• Stealth (skill category bonus)
• Manipulation (skill category bonus)
• Knowledge (skill category bonus)

Note 1: the Oratory skill does not fall in any of the previous categories.
Note 2: Should any of the character’s characteristics be increased by training, please do not forget to re-calculate the character’s abilities.

STEP 2b – Other Derived Characteristics

• Movement (always equal to 8 for humans; see Chapter VIII of RuneQuest Classic Edition for other races)
• Maximum Encumbrance, average of STR and CON, but capped by the character’s STR
• Strike Rank Modifier, per the table in section A of the Classic Handouts.

STEP 3 – Starting Money

Roll according to section A of the Classic Handouts.

SPECIAL – Creating a Shaman Character
Becoming a shaman is so time-consuming that the character cannot undergo any other training (i.e., skip Steps 4 to 7). Please refer to pages 44 to 46 of RuneQuest Classic Edition.

STEP 4 – Compute Combat Skills

STEP 4a – Starting Combat Skills
The basic chance of all weapon skills is 5%, except when indicated otherwise (see section A of the Classic Handouts).

STEP 4b – Get Credit
These skill increases may be bought using the character’s starting money. However, since this amount is usually very low (and thus insufficient), a character may obtain credit from the various guilds; the credit is equal to STR × 100L.

STEP 4c – Increase Combat Skills
See tables on p26, p30 and p31 of RuneQuest Classic Edition.

STEP 5 – Compute Non-Combat Skills

STEP 5a – Starting Non-Combat Skills
The basic chance of each skill is indicated in the various tables in section D of the Classic Handouts.
Note that alchemical skills are not expressed in percentages.

STEP 5b – Get Credit
A character may obtain credit from the Thieves Association; the credit is equal to DEX × 100L. This credit may only be used to purchase thieving skills. Other guilds/crafts do not offer credit, and require apprenticeship in order to receive credit for training during character generation (see Appendix H of Chapter X of RuneQuest Classic Edition for more details on this).

STEP 5c – Increase Non-Combat Skills
See section D of the Classic Handouts.
Contrary to combat skills, non-combat skills are only taught by some guilds, which may have special requirements:

• Becoming an associate member of the Alchemists Guild costs 5,000L. This is a pre-requisite to learning any of the alchemical skills.
• Becoming an associate member of the Armourers Guild costs 5,000L. This is a pre-requisite to learning any of the armourers’ skills.

Other guilds do offer training for pay to learn their skills but all payment is required in advance: the Free Sages, Players and Minstrels, Foresters, Maritime Brotherhood, and the Horsemasters’ Guild. Each of these guilds offers training in a different sets of skills, consult Chapter VI for more details.

STEP 6 – Purchase Battle Magic

Credit from cults for Battle Magic spell purchases = POW × 100L.
See section H of the Classic Handouts.

STEP 7 – Increase Characteristics by Training

STR may be increased by spending 1,000L per STR point.
CON may be increased by spending 2,000L per CON point.
Neither STR nor CON may be raised above the highest of STR, CON, SIZ before any modifications are applied.
DEX may be increased by spending 1,000L per DEX point.
DEX can be raised up to the racial maximum.

STEP 8 – Equipment

Starting equipment depends on the background rolled at Step 3.
What the character may purchase depends on the amount of money rolled at Step 3, and whatever credit money they have left from Steps 4 and 5.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE – Appendix H of Chapter X of RuneQuest Classic Edition presents an optional system of previous experience for player characters.