My Game at Dragonmeet 2012

Dragonmeet 2012. Kensington Town Hall, London.
Saturday 1st December 2012
http://dragonmeet.co.uk/


 This is the game I'll be running at Dragonmeet 2012. A Gloranthan game set in Second Age Ralios using RuneQuest 6e as the game system.
 

Back to RuneQuest.

Back in 1981 I was introduced to role-playing games by my elder brother Russell and his friend.
At the time I was drawing maps of ancient Greece as I had been going on a Hellenic mythological binge, so I was well up for a good fantasy game.

The game was RuneQuest (Games Workshop 2nd edition box set) and the setting was Glorantha. First scenario was 'Rainbow Mounds' and my character was a Blackfang Assassin as I wasn't keen on Orlanth or Kygor Litor (the only other options for cults).
From that moment I was hooked!

Every Sunday afternoon was a RuneQuest afternoon. We explored Glorantha, making most of it up as we went along, and I went through a new character every other week as I had a habit of killing off my PCs. Russell at the time had his character, Barefoot Bulltamer, living on an epic nine years of real time gaming. Barefoot went everywhere. Tarsh, Sartar, Prax, Pavis, Sanctuary (Thieves World) then onto Pamatela where he discovered that Basmol the Lion was really the Deity trapped under the Block in Prax.

We also explored the Young Kingdoms with 'Stormbringer', Known Space with 'RingWorld', the Mythos with 'Call of Cthulhu', lead an Elf Tribe with 'ElfQuest', and were even knights of Camelot with 'Pendragon'. We always stuck to Chaosium games and we returned to RuneQuest and Glorantha.

Then in 2000 at the Convulsion convention in Leicester we were introduced to 'Hero Wars' (later to known as HeroQuest). This way of gaming in Glorantha, with a more narrative structure, suited us as our games were heading in that direction anyway. There was a paradigm shift with the mechanics of the game system but we soon got over that.

I used HeroQuest with other settings and genres such as Firefly, Dad's Army, Supernatural, Heroes, and The Shield. My con games went fairly well, played over fifteen games per year, but there was always a backlash against them. Some people on the UK con scene would bad-mouth my games, spread their discontent about them and even rip down my sign-up sheets!
So I have abandoned that game system and gone back to an old favourite.

So now I return to RuneQuest.

I have the latest edition from Mongoose, written by Lawrence Whittaker and Pete Nash, and I have a Glorantha 2nd Age campaign planned. I have playtested some of the scenarios with my home group so I now have a scenario ready to run at Continuum 2012. Just some prep work to finish off like artwork, maps and the player characters to generate.

At some point I will swap over to Design Mechanism's RuneQuest 6e once I have the rules under my belt.

I have made up a RuneQuest character sheet in Microsoft Excel that calculates all the base skills, hit points, modifiers, etc.

RuneQuest Character Sheet PDF

RuneQuest Character Sheet xls

RuneQuest Character Sheet xlsx

'Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes' preview

Here is a small Youtube presentation of the 'Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes'.

Midweek Character - Furnit Many-Feather

This is one of my player characters when I took part in a HeroQuest playtest last year.
No 100 words but rather a quick character generation system that allows the players to get into play straight away.

He is a Sartarite Hunter in Pavis - set in Glorantha and a worshipper of the lightning aspect of Orlanth.

No a bad character actually and I had fun playing him even though I am not keen on being a player as I would rather GM.



Furnit Many-Feather
Sartarite Hunter – Zavor initiate Rubble explorer and Gorp killer/fryer.

Keywords
Sartarite 13
Hunter 13
Zavor Initiate 17

Goal
Fry Gorp

Flaws
Can’t kill anything but Gorp 5M
Big Bar Tab 13

Interviewed for a special scroll on Gorps by Gorgoria [PC]

Abilities
Burning Lighting 5M
Married to Doug & Dinsdale’s Sister 14
Hates Grita Many-Need [wife] Golden Arches 14
Lightning Bow of Gorp Kill 18
Flirts with Yolanta 14
Shiny Metal Armour 13
Light Darkness 19

The new HeroQuest Core Rules are now available!

Posted from the Moon Design Development Blog, .


Moon Design is proud to announce that the HeroQuest Core Rules are now available for sale from www.glorantha.com or www.heroquest-rpg.com!

You can directly order copies of the new HeroQuest Core Rules book and download pdfs from the website. We regret to inform you that our current eCommerce vendors do not support bundles of books and pdfs. We are exploring options to fix that in the future but until then, comfort yourself with the knowledge that the money will be going to make sure we have more money to pay for art and writers!

BTW, we are still working out the kinks with Plimus (our PDF vendor). If it takes a little while for you to get an email with the download link - be patient. They are still checking to make sure that we aren't some sort of nefarious international outfit! The first dozen or so PDF downloaders are likely to get some initial weirdness (for example, you may get a phone call from Plimus just to make sure that you really ordered the PDF). Just be patient and we will make sure that you will get your PDF!

But without any further ado:

Anything you can imagine, you can play…

HeroQuest is the innovative, dynamic, and flexible rules engine by Robin Laws, suitable for play in any genre or setting. It present a simple and flexible system that allows Game Masters to make decisions the way authors and screenwriters do when creating novels, TV episodes and movies. HeroQuest encourages creative input from your players, resulting in an exciting, unpredictable narrative created through group collaboration. Its resolution methods and scalable character levels make it equally suited for any genre, from epic fantasy to satirical soap opera. Whether your next game idea draws on horror, war, westerns, martial arts, pulps, cyberpunk, cliff-hangers, giant robots, super-powered heroes, space opera, cop action, corporate intrigue, furry animals, swashbuckling adventure, Greek tragedy or even drawing room comedy, HeroQuest can handle it! You can even use HeroQuest to emulate a musical – although it won’t do the singing or dancing for you.

Completely rewritten by the Robin Laws, this new edition opens and details running the core system for any genre.

What’s in this book?

This book contains everything needed for play:

• Character Creation – describe your character and get playing in minutes.
• Overcoming Obstacles – handling conflict, be it with swords, words, magic, superpowers, guns or armies.
• Playing Stories – how to vividly run your adventures in engaging and creative ways.
• Narrating - the secrets for balancing the give and take between narrators and players.
• Followers and Support – how your sidekick, followers, horde, army or community help you.
• Creating Genres – details for creating and detailing your game world.
• Gaming in Glorantha - a separate section on applying this system to Glorantha.
• Quick Reference – so you don’t have to hunt for the information you really need.

However, the new HeroQuest Core Rules are not the only new thing for sale on the new and upgraded glorantha.com website! We will have much of the Stafford Library up and for sale in both book form and as downloadable pdfs, including:

• Glorious Reascent of Yelm - THE Dara Happan background book
• Arcane Lore - Greg's notes on the development of his thoughts concerning heroquesting and Gloranthan magic
• The Middle Sea Empire - THE background book for the God Learners and the Jrusteli Empire
• History of the Heortling Peoples - THE background book for the Orlanthi of Sartar and Heortland, as well as the Arkat Wars, Harmast and the EWF

We will also have a number of older books back in print and for sale in both book form and as downloadable pdfs, including:

• Dragon Pass: Gazetteer of Kerofinela
  
• Imperial Lunar Handbook, volumes 1 and 2
  
• Blood Over Gold
  
• Men of the Sea
  
• Masters of Luck and Death
  

With the exception of Dragon Pass: Gazetteer of Kerofinela (which is statless), these books were written for First Edition HeroQuest but can easily be retrofitted for the new HeroQuest Core Rules.

Check out the website and maybe buy yourself a book or download. Or two. Or three (or four, five, six or more!)

[WIP] 3D map of Dragon Lands of Glorantha. Part 2

I have done some work on this map having done the western hills and finished off the mountains.
I am working on a few samples of the swamp that I'll post up soon.


 

 
Dragon Lands of Glorantha - isometric sketch-02
 

Dragon Lands of Glorantha - isometric sketch-02 Thmbnail

 

[HeroQuest 2] Publication News!

This has just been announced by Rick Meints of Moon Design.

Some good news!

Quote:

HeroQuest 2009: We're back!!! Hello all, To begin, thank you all for your patience as Moon Design got through its quiet phase, mainly due to the trying economic times that face many of us. Work and travel overseas took its toll on my schedule, but that is largely all sorted now. Production is gearing back up and many things are getting back on track. My first announcement deals with an addition to the Moon Design Team. Jeff Richard is now my partner with the specific task of developing all Gloranthan HeroQuest products. He is the single point of contact for all authors. As for publications, here is the latest on what is in the works: -------------------------------------------------------------------- HeroQuest: Core Rules (2nd Edition). The long awaited book is finally here! This is Robin Laws' innovative, dynamic and flexible rules engine suitable for play in any genre or setting. It presents a simple and flexible system that allows Game Masters to make decisions the way authors and screenwriters do when creating novels, TV episodes and movies. HeroQuest encourages creative input from your players, resulting in an exciting, unpredictable narrative created through group collaboration. Its resolution methods and scalable character levels make it equally suitable to any genre, from epic fantasy to satirical soap opera. Whether your next game idea draws on horror, war, westerns, martial arts, pulps, cyberpunk, cliff-hangers, giant robots, super-powered heroes, space opera, cop action, corporate intrigue, furry animals, swashbuckling adventure, Greek tragedy or drawing room comedy, HeroQuest can resolve its scenes of conflict, both big and small. You could even use HeroQuest to emulate a musical—although it won’t do any of the singing or dancing for you. Completely rewritten by the original designer, this new edition opens and details running the core system for any genre. 160 pages. Available in June 2009 (including the Tentacles convention). The Sartar Book. In progress since 1980 (!), The Sartar Book is the largest Gloranthan sourcebook ever published and contains in one BIG volume (nearly 400 pages!) everything you need to run a Gloranthan campaign set amongst the storm-worshipping tribes of the Kingdom of Sartar; how to create Sartarite characters and clans, magic and religion of the Sartarites (including new HQ writeups of the cults of Orlanth, Ernalda, Humakt, Chalana Arroy, Issaries, Lhankor Mhy, Elmal, Urox and Yinkin), Orlanthi heroquesting, background information about Sartar and its people, an an epic campaign arc with love, vengeance, and mythic adventure - including adventures in the Upland Marsh and a major Heroquest through the Underworld. Tons of new material that has never been printed before - this is a hefty load of pure Gloranthan Gold. Most importantly, your heroes are the center of this saga! Although we are still working on final edits, art and maps, a special limited edition pre-release version will be available at Tentacles. Next up: -------------------------- The Pavis Book. The first supplement to the Sartar Book, the Pavis Book is an update of the classic Pavis and Big Rubble setting, revised for the HeroQuest rules. But this is not a reprint of the old material - the Pavis Book contains new adventures, new information, and insights into some of the secrets of the ancient Walled City. Contains writeups of the cult of Pavis, Yelmalio, the Seven Mothers and others. Whitewall: the Last Rebel King. Yep, you heard right, we are going to put your heroes right in the middle of the great battles of Whitewall and Iceland.Contains background on the Hendriking, Volsaxing and Heortland, as well as astory arc that puts your heroes in the middle of the action. Other manuscripts are still in the production pipeline, including Ian Cooper's Coming Storm Campaign, Distant Shores, the Aldryami Book, and Heroes of Malkion. More on their publication dates will be announced later this summer. Rick Meints Publisher, Moon Design

3D map of Dragon Lands of Glorantha

So here is a map I did a while back.
It is of the Dragon Lands of Dragon Pass in Glorantha and is the setting for my HeroQuest campaign.

I was fairly happy with it but it still unfinished and doesn't quite convey the combination of flat lands, swamp, peaks and craggy hills.




Dragon Lands of Glorantha

I have sketched out an isometric grid and drawn some of the new map already.

So here is the pencil sketch I have done so far.
I am trying to get an isometric view of the landscape showing the hills, mountains and flatlands.




Dragon Lands of Glorantha - isometric sketch -01



Dragon Lands of Glorantha - isometric sketch -01 Thumbnail.

The labels are just temporary at the moment just to give an idea for comparison of the two maps.

I still have quite a bit to do to finish it off.

One thing I may struggle with is doing the large swamp as I haven't got a clue how to represent it.
Any ideas?

Cut-away Orlanthi Steadhouse

Here is an Orlanthi steadhouse in cut-away form that I have been working on. The Orlanthi are the barbarian culture in Glorantha.

This one is a small farm house type structure with half the stead given over to animal stalls with a stone water trough. The younger family members sleep in the 'attic' above the animals while the more important family members sleep in the rooms at the back on beds. The main living room has a central fire pit for cooking, a large communal table and the walls are adorned with weapons and winter survival gear.

Hand drawn with ink in an isometric view.


The Orlanthi Steadhouse


The cut-away of the Orlanthi Steadhouse


More to follow.

[Actual Play] Getting my wife to play role-playing games.

I couple of years ago, after much convincing and demonstration, I got my wife Jenny to play in one of my role-playing games. She had expressed her displeasure about role-playing games before but on seeing that my friends from my hobby were more reliable and were ‘better’ friends than other acquaintances I have she relented. I did write this report at the time but didn’t post it anywhere as I didn’t have my blog up and running at the time.
Unfortunately the group at the time finished due to illness so that was the last session. When I restarted the campaign with a new group, Jenny was a little bit reluctant to join in from the start but for the last session she has now rejoined.

 

From September 2007

I had planned that HeroQuest session at the time, to take place with my home group, to be a skirmish-type game based on the Battle Of Dwarf Ford. However, my wife Jenny expressed an interest in taking part, something she had normally refused to do in the past. On the few occasions I had asked her to play or even if she was interested in learning what it was all about, she had said no. I hadn’t really pushed the issue; she had come with me to a few RPG conventions but looked on them as a trip away rather than joining in with the hobby itself. I had a smaller group for this session so Jenny did feel a little more comfortable with that for her first time. Jenny joined the other two players, my brother Russell and our friend Mick, people that she knew very well.

 

 

I spoke with her about what kind of character she wanted. She didn’t want anything from any of the HQ books as she hadn’t read up on them and thought that she would be at a disadvantage. She preferred just to come up with the name of her character and make the rest up as the game went along.
The as-you-go-method, perfect!

Her character was ‘Tristina the Mystic’, a woman with ‘hidden powers’. I quickly cobbled together a ‘Mystic’ keyword for her and allotted her thirty points to spend on nine more abilities, skills, followers, or items.

So instead of the skirmish scenario I had planned for the session I decided to go with a less-martial episode instead. I had the player characters escorting one of the Earth-priestesses to an inter-tribal Spring Festival that included a scared ceremony to awaken Voria and end the winter. Each of the local tribes put forth a candidate to participate in several contests to win the honour of becoming the ‘Maiden of the Flowers’ and hopefully successfully conclude the ceremony and end the icy grip of winter for another year. As this was going to be a big meeting with a festival atmosphere it was also hoped that the heroes could pin down some of the tribal leaders and get them to commit to help with the up coming battle with the Lunars.

They travelled to the site in the Colymar lands without any problems, picking up a fellow traveller, Thargan who helped them learn the finer points of Colymar treachery. Jenny seemed fine talking to this character played by me as her character, though she did talk in the third person. It was at her invitation that Thargan joined them on the journey though it was the other players that pointed out that he might not be trustworthy so to keep a watch on him.

They arrived without incident at the site of the ceremony, a large meadow located on a small hill near Apple Lane. They set up camp in the last available spot, next to the Balmyr tribe and the Colymar tribe. The other local tribes’ camps where situated around the edge of the meadow, only the contestants were allowed to set foot on the meadow during the festival. What shocked the heroes were the presence of not only the Telmori, the wolf runners but also a small delegation of Lunars! They had a small enclosure, heavily guarded, next to the Colymari camp. The Colymar and the Lunars had made a temporary peace treaty and as hosts to the festival had invited the Lunars to join in. This had obviously caused some resentment within the other visiting tribes, so much so that some of the northern tribes were noted for their absence. Those that did attend cast dark looks towards the Lunar camp; the mood was ugly.

However the festival was started by a small blessing ceremony by the Colymari hosts. Once this ‘Time of the Blessing’ commenced no blood could be spilt on the ground. Everyone at the festival was bound by this blessing while at the sacred site. If any blood was to fall upon the earth then not only would the spring ceremony fail but everybody’s’ land would stay in the icy grip of winter.

The following day each of the contestants was presented to the ensemble, each of the tribes had one ‘champion’ each. Though the heroes had escorted the Ilmori’s contender, Tristina also decided to enter the contest to be ‘Maiden of the Flowers’. Jenny didn’t need asking if she could enter her character in the contest, she just thought it would be a good thing to do.

The local champion of the Colymari, and the one tipped to win the contest, was Apple Blossom. The other major contenders were Snow Drop from the Malani Tribe, Wolf Thistle from the Telmori, Sunflower from the Alda-Churi, Wild Thorn of the Culbrea, Dark Flower of the Torkani, Wind Bloom from the Balmyr, and Blue Bell from the PCs clan, the Ilmori. To keep the ‘flower’ theme going in the names Tristina went with the name Mystic Rose.

Of course things turned bad when the Lunars showed up and camped on the site as well - apparently at the invitation of the Colymari hosts [remember that this is set in 1565, way before the lunar invasion of Sartar]. They also put in a contender, called Moon Orchid, into the competition.
Now Jenny was aware that the Lunars are the 'bad guys' of the campaign and also that one of the reasons of the trip down to the festival was to get help for the battle against the Lunars. She was a little bit shocked that they had turned up and was also beginning to be a bit wary of the Colymari.

The rest of the game dealt with the three days of contests, one contest per day. The first contest is singing, the second dance and the third is beauty. One of the other player characters, Russell's Edgewed, was chosen to be one of the judges so he was fairly busy and Mick's character Stefan, was looking into the plots and schemes of the Colymar, the Lunars and the rest of the tribes.

In the end the contest had three main contenders at the end: Mystic Rose, Blue Bell and Sunflower. Apple Blossom and Moon Orchid were cast out of the competition due to cheating as uncovered by the PCs.

Jenny decided to help Blue Bell, who was from her own tribe, instead of taking the crown for herself. That meant the final ceremony went very well and spring returned with a vengeance. Voria appeared and blessed the lands of the Ilmori and the other tribes that still had contestants in the contest.
Also the PCs were able to get many of the tribes on their side after meeting the leaders in a secret summit so the session ended well.

 

 

 

Jenny did seem to play well though did need some prompting to contribute to the story. She later told me she wasn't sure whether she could interrupt me or the others while they were talking. She was happy to play her role and was content to take part in the decision-making parts of the story.

With the change of the campaign and the restart of it she wasn't confident in joining the game. But now I have my kid sister, Amy join in on the new campaign my wife Jenny has also joined in the game again. 

Midweek Character - Maroof Levelhead

This is another of the players characters from the game from Convulsion 2002. Again this is one that was based in the village of Hellbreak while many of the other PCs were from a feuding clan.
While quite marshall this character had his duty to his clan and had to help the other PCs even though they were considered the enemy.
This character was very ably played by Dr Moose. He did so well we invited him to be a regular in our group.


Maroof Levelhead with his Spear of Destiny and Brightshield. © Darran Sims

Maroof Levelhead's Story

“The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child.”

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the sky, and the truth.”

Weaponthane and ‘Protector of Hellbreak’, Maroof Levelhead is staunch and resolute in his duties including the maintenance and construction of the high watchtower and fortifications.

Maroof knows the local area, organising the tula patrols and leads the elite Sun-Fire Squad; drilling them in defensive tactics, horsemanship and riding.

When he was younger Maroof was not obligated to home; he wandered Dragon Pass like Elmal and met the DeathLords, the Stonemen and the Wild-Twins. He outmanoeuvred the Sun-Domers and cunningly overcomes the Redcloaks.

Bearer of Spear of Destiny and Brightshield, he is awe-inspiring in any conflict especially skirmishes and shieldwall fighting.

100 words

 

KeyWords

Heortling 13

Weaponthane 5M

Elmal Devotee 1M

 

Flaws

Duty-Bound 14M

Obligated to Home 1M

Not Young Anymore 19

Wanderer 18

 

Personality

Awe-Inspiring 19

Cunning 14

Levelheaded 5M

Resolute 17

Staunch 17

 

Relationships

ANCESTORS 13

BLOODLINE [Solni] 18

CLAN [Hruling] 13

CHIEF [Eldon] 13

Elmal Temple 5M

Protector of Community 1M

DeathLords [Contact] 19

Stonemen [Contact] 2M

Wild-Twins [Contact] 1M

Sun-Fire Squad 14M

Redcloaks [Adversary] 2M

Sun-Domers [Adversary] 2M

 

RUNE AFFINITIES

LIGHT 19

Dazzling Flash, Illuminate Surroundings, Resist Darkness, See in Darkness, Unquenchable Light.

DEFENCE 18

Defend Wall, Endure Wound, Hold Breach, Reflective Shield, Stand Fast.

SUN 19

Blazing Spear, Brilliant Shield, Clear Clouds, Comforting Glow, Unfaltering Defence.

 

Abilities

1H Spear/Shield Fighting 10M

Bearer of Mighty Weapons 1M

Construct Fortifications 1M

Defend Tula 5M

Drill Elite 5M

Horsemanship 2M

Inspiring In Any Conflict 19

Knows Dragon Pass 17

Knows Local Area 17

Lead Sun-Fire Squad 14M

Maintain Defensive Fortifications 1M

Organise Patrols 5M

Outmanoeuvre 19

Overcome Enemy 2M

Ride Horse 6M

Shieldwall Fighting 5M

Skirmish Tactics 1M

Use Watchtower 19

 

Special Abilities

Spear of Destiny 3M

Brightshield 1M

 

Midweek Character - The Tarsh Twins

Here are the Tarsh Twins, some NPCs that appear in my 'Dark Heart of the Dragon Lands' scenario. They are annoying to the PCs though they may prove useful in passing messages.
They do bear a resemblance to some advertising icons though that is by shear coincidence, honest!




The Tarsh Twins' Story

"It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness."

The Tarsh Twins have always been inseparable; whatever they do they must do it together. They look so alike with their Tarshite style black moustaches and their long, shaggy, black hair. When one speaks up the other.. .. finishes the sentence. Both are long-legged and fast runners with strong fortitude and everlasting stamina. They can endure any weather to trek over vale and dale and trudge any trail always side-by-side.

They are a little imperceptive with people especially when it deals with clandestine shenanigans but when they have made that intuitive leap they shout in concert, “We've got your number!”

100 words

KeyWords

Tarshsite

Runners

Twins

Mastakos Devotees

Flaws

Imperceptive

Inseparable Twins

Useless With Clandestine Shenanigans

Personality

Intuitive Leap

Obtuse

RUNE AFFINITIES

MOVEMENT

STORM

ENDURANCE

Abilities

Black Moustaches

Endure Weather

Everlasting Stamina

Fast

Long-Legged

Long Shaggy Black Hair

Look Alike

Must Do It Together

One Speaks Up

Other Finishes

Shout

Strong Fortitude

Trek Over Vale and Dale

Trudge Trail

“We’ve Got Your Number!”

Midweek Character - Erminda Steadfast

Here is another player character, this one is from one of my old Gloranthan games. Erminda Steadfast was a character I came up with for a scenario I was running at Convulsion 2002.
Playing a character that worships Ernalda, the Earth Goddess, is a fairly hard to play as they are not really good for adventure. They are more capable at the hearth and stead and being sensible about life. Who in their right mind would go out adventuring?
I think I did well with Erminda as she has some important reasons to sort out what is wrong with her own clan and helping the other PCs to sort out the issue.
 


Erminda Steadfast ready to defend the Hellbreak settlement. © Darran Sims


Erminda Steadfast's Story

“Doubts and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination, which the steadfast heart will conquer, and the large mind transcend.”

“The greatest honour history can bestow is that of peacemaker.”

Erminda Steadfast is one of the seven ring members and the Hearthmistress of the Solni Bloodline based at Hellbreak.

Strong and with a meaningful glare she gets things done and persuades and encourages everyone to keep working. However she is respected and revered by her community and she is fiercely protective of it.

Articulate, blunt and forthright she aspires for peace and intransigence.

Erminda fears the Predark but she perseveres bravely due to the espousal of her personal circle.

Erminda has helped and aided many Tarsh Rebels especially at the Battle of Karnge Farm and has gained the Jade-Glow Armring.

100 words

 

KeyWords

Heortling 13

Hearthmistress 7M

Enferalda Devotee 14M

 

Flaws

Blunt 17

Fears the Predark 1M

Fiercely Protective 19

Wants Intransigence 14M

 

Personality

Aspires for Peace 17

Forthright 17

Perseverance 1M

Revered 19

Steadfast 14M

 

Relationships

ANCESTORS 13

BLOODLINE [Solni] 18

CLAN [Hruling] 13

CHIEF [Eldon] 13

Ernaldan Temple 17

Espousal of her Personal Circle [Followers] 5M

Respected by Community 1M

Tarsh Rebels [Contact] 19

Karnge Farm Veterans 19

Predark [Adversary] 2M

 

RUNE AFFINITIES

ENDURANCE 18

Bear Heavy Burden, Ignore pain, Go Without Sleep, Remain Standing, Survive Battle.

HEAL PEOPLE 18

Diminish Injury, Ease Pain, Make Less Tired, Prevent Dying, Remove Hurt.

HEAL RELATIONSHIPS 18

Boost Confidence, Kiss and Make up, Prevent Anger, Reach Consensus, Sting Pride, Stop Argument.

 

Abilities

1H Spear Fighting 18

Articulate 17

Encourage Others 14M

Gets Things Done 16

Give Aid 19

Help Others 17

Keep Working 18
Know Hellbreak Settlement 4M

Meaningful Glare 18

Persuasive 2M

Strong 20

 

Personal Circle

ENARIN - Erantha Gor Initiate 2M

- Warrior 6M, Big Axe 13.

FALEENA - Nevala Initiate 2M

- Shepherd 6M, Know Area 13.

WEGINA - Mahome Devotee 6M

- Steadwife 2M, Know Darklore 16.

RIBENEA - Enferalda Initiate 2M

- Steadwife 6M, Loud Voice 13.

 

Special Abilities

Jade-Glow Armring 3M

 

Back in the Saddle

I have just undergone a small crisis recently with some players of my group not happy with the game system I am running. Now I must admit that I do *really* like HeroQuest, and the new version of the rules for the most part have improved the game to me no end.
I did go through a bit of self examination but by the end of it I was still happy with what I am doing though I have taken some steps to see if I can improve my GMing techniques. I think that I have to be a bit harsher and put the PCs at risk a lot more.

The best thing for me was to run another good game - I did that yesterday and not only did I have a good time but my players were very happy.

 

I ran my 'Winter Warriors' HeroQuest 2.0 playtest game for my brother, my sister and even my wife joined in.
I usually get the players to create their own characters for this game as art of the playtest but as our time was a little bit limited I allowed them to pick from the characters already created in previous playtests. Most of them are excellent characters and offer great opportunity for role-playing.
They picked their characters and got playing, enjoying the setting of the Fimblewinter and stepping up to be the BIG heroes.
It went very well as all the players were trying to work out what was going on and my wife got quite blood-thirsty attacking the Lunar Sorcerer with gusto!

So I am feeling much better about myself and my games and look forward to running a new Firefly game at Dragonmeet 2008 and getting a load of games ready for Conception 2009.

Mega HeroQuest Game last Saturday

So a busy game on Saturday.
It looked at one point to be eight players plus me but unfortunately two of the players couldn't make it. Still I had six players I had to cram into my little attic room. Also a wide catchment area for the players as one came from Leeds, two from Stoke-on-Trent, one from Long Eaton and only my two siblings were from Derby.

It ended up being ran in two long sittings but it went very well. Epic and silly at the same time.
Many laughs were had, especially at the GM's expense.
A new Gloranthan metal has discovered though, Me-Lead!

So a good game and expect the podcast to go up by the end of this month.


Dave, Rob, Mark, Simon and Russell



Dave, Russell, Amy and Jenny the spectator

Here is some background for the campaign:
http://dnd.meetup.com/700/pages/Glorantha_HeroQuest/

http://dnd.meetup.com/700/pages/The_White_Rams_Clan/

http://dnd.meetup.com/700/pages/The_Imore_tribe/

http://dnd.meetup.com/700/pages/Time_Line/

http://dnd.meetup.com/700/pages/Settlem ... Rams_Clan/

Orlanthi Village.

Here is the home settlement of the White Rams Clan, called Swiny, the player characters home base.



It is quite unusual, as it has round houses based of the Storm Rune instead of the common square or rectangle long-houses the Orlanthi normally have. Only the Loom House, the main domain of the clan's women is built the more common way.
The large roundhouse is the chief's hall and in the centre is a local spring, the main source of water for the settlement.
The defences are the cliff on the western side, eight foot high dry stone walls, a steep walkway, gate tower and watch tower. Earthworks are raised further out from the settlement in two rings, the inner ring protects the settlement itself and the outer ring protects the farmland and is topped by a palisade wall.

Painting Gloranthan Peoples

So I have set myself a little art project to do.

Produce colour pictures of the different people in the setting of Glorantha in the style of the Osprey Soldier type paintings.

This one is my first, a Yelmalion warrior in Dragon Pass.

Based on a Greek hoplite with Sun and Yelmalio runes on his armour and shield. Out of the people in Dragon Pass the Yelmalions as a group are going to be the most heavily armed and armoured.

The painting itself was coloured in Adobe Photoshop but I am not quite happy with it. I I may do it again with ArtRage once I get more time after Continuum.
This is in the SOLAR Book that will be sold at Continuum 2008.

The next one?

Probably the player characters in my home game so Orlanthi or Yinkini.

Dark Troll in ArtRage 2.5

So I have been playing around with ArtRage 2.5, an excellent paint and art style programme that allows you to use actual painting and drawing techniques instead of point and click as other programmes do.

Also its price is pretty fantastic; Corel painter costs about £269.00 and Adobe PhotoShop costs £3242384931284901834918 so at $25.00 ArtRage is a very good buy.

It works with layers, its interface is simple but intuitive and the artwork looks and feels like the real thing [but without the mess and the setting up]. I have played about with the paint, chalk, airbrush, and palette knife; scribbling around like a three-year old kid.

So I had an old sketch of a Gloranthan Dark Troll I had laying about so I scanned it in and did some work on it. Just using the pencil and palette knife tools it has come out nicely with a graded shading across the whole body. There are a few parts I am not happy with but it is a bit of a learning curve. The results are below:

The next stage is to use the sketch to do a painting of the troll and maybe add armour and more details.
This sketch is also in the first edition of 'Hearts in Glorantha'.

Cover of 'Hearts In Glorantha' Issue 1.

So this is the cover I have done for Newt for the first issue of 'Hearts In Glorantha'.

I am pleased with it, especially the letters in the main title as they are my own design from many years ago. I hope to make them into a proper font once I have found a font making software package for the mac.



I am by the way the un-official Art Director for HiG so I will be producing more artwork and trying to source new artists for the future issues.

Contributions sought for Continuum 2008 Programme Book?

0 Continuum 2008. John Foster Hall [also known as New Hall], Leicester University. UK.
Friday 1st - Monday 4th August 2008.
http://www.continuum.uk.net

Continuum 2008 is a three day convention for 250+ attendees held in a modern conference centre at the University of Leicester Halls of Residence, Oadby, Leicester, UK.
Call of Cthulhu, HeroQuest, RuneQuest, BRP, Savage Worlds, Indie games, and plenty of other game systems will be played at this convention.

A colour Convention Book will be produced and given free to all attendees on arrival.
As well as information on the convention, venue and games programmes there will be articles on gaming and role-playing.

We are looking for contributions for this year's Convention Book, whether it is artwork, maps, articles, non-player characters, scenarios, encounters, gaming or GMing advice, settings, stories or anything else you can think of.

We can not pay you but all contributors will receive the heartfelt thanks from the Continuum Committee, the joy of seeing their work in print and a free copy of the Con Book.

All copyright of any material we use in the book remains the authors or artists, so you can use it again elsewhere.

If you can send all submissions to darransims AT googlemail DOT com.

Thank you for your time.