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Rick thought you might like to see the RuneQuest Classic titles that will be back in print, very, very soon... All will be available, print-on-demand, at Chaosium.com, very soon...

Jack O'Bears have been a part of my Gloranthan gaming experience from almost the very beginning. They were in the RQ 1st ed. rulebook (page 79) in 1978. I did not meet them in play until late 1981 when they were featured in Griffin Mountain, out in the Elder Wilds north of Balazar. They almost killed me then, despite Gondo Holst's best efforts... I should have heeded the earlier warning displayed a few months prior on the cover of Wyrm's Footnotes #11 (Spring 1981) when I saw the cover of that magazine in a local game store (but wouldn't pay $2.25 to buy it). I had no idea that Jack O'Bea

A relic from The Chaosium archives... Rick came across the original layout board for page 134 of 1990's 'Cthulhu Casebook'. The Star Elder Sign – which first appeared as the 'Arcane Symbol' in Call of Cthulhu 2nd edition (1983) – is literally cut and pasted in, with glue. Kids, that's how layout was done back in those days...

Will just leave this here...

A friend of mine had a very interesting experience in Africa. He was visiting an animist village and was introduced to his guide, who happened to be have a very "Old testament" name while no one else had such name in the village. So he asked about his choice and the guy answered that when he was young he was given the snake as a totem. But later, one of his uncle had cooked some snake inadvertently making him eat his totem, an absolute taboo. So in order to avoid the rightful wrath of snake, the family run to the nearest mission, which happened to be Protestant, and had him baptized to get him

The new revised map of Furthest is almost complete, I’m just making some changes to bring it in line with the original article in Tarsh in Flames. I’m also presently working with another writer to bring to life Copper Town. One factor that delayed this work was some of the comments made on this forum. Thank to those who defended my position. At the time I was Unwell for over six months and struggle to draw. Jeff saw the new map two days ago and approved if it. My aim would be to create an expanded gazetteer and notes to publish on JC. For now I’ll post a shot of several bl

Here are some Unicode symbols for the most popular runes. I mostly chose the symbols that I think look best in Chrome on Windows 10. I've seen that some of the alternate symbols look better in Notepad on Windows 10. To avoid any confusion about what does and doesn't represent a rune, I excluded Latin characters. To keep a consistent look, I excluded emojis. There are some astrological symbols such as ♉︎ that look good in some renderings (in Chrome), but bad in others - including the way this forum renders them on the final page that you read. So I've excluded thos

Hello! I’ve been encouraged to post my Hiording clan work for my young campaign. The attached files are part of what I shared with the players at the beginning of the campaign. There is much additional information that they don't know (yet), but I don’t want to put spoilers that my players might see so if you want more details on any situation/person, just ask. And I'm happy to explain how any of the many oddities came about, if you are curious. And the topic title is misleading, this was fun and not work. I love world-building! A few notes on the information in the attached files: 1

Been a while since the last one. I found the lack of imagery on Gagarth to be lacking. Maybe he has not got a lead breastplate and maybe his skull is an actual skull and not a helmet, but hey.

Here's the canonical list of significant rebellions and other events: 1602 – Boldhome is sacked by Lunar Empire, its temple profaned, and its people slaughtered. The last known heirs of Sartar are slain or driven away. 1603 – Conflict between Telmori and other tribes. 1605 – A major thrust by the Lunar army to invade the Holy Country, striking at heavily populated Esrolia. Countering with magical strength, the god-king Belintar stopped the Lunars by inflicting a decisive and humiliating defeat. At the same time, a minor thrust of the Lunar army reached the city of Karse and laid

Some of you on here probably know I enjoy some of the parallels I make with Armenian culture and Glorantha. I think of them as happy accidents. TIL there is a Castle Blue in Armenian pre-Christian Mythology. The oldest version of her story is in the Sasna Cṙer or "Troublemakers of Sasun" (yes, like Vidal Sassoun"), but the story dates back to Hittite times 2500 years before. Berd Kapotin, or Castle Blue, was the sacred home of the goddess Covinar (Tsaw-vih-NUHR - that's c is how Armenianists romanise ts, and the accent is always on the last syllable in Armenian), whose name is roughl

The new edition of the Great Pendragon Campaign is expanding into a multi-volume set, so there will be lots more detail on all the Periods. More stuff on the Silchester Rebellion, the Roman War, the Grail...lots of exciting work already under way. The default start time for Sixth Edition is moving back to Boy King, and the initial focus for the line will be on Arthur's reign, but we have some projects in the pipeline for the pre-Arthurian eras as well (yes, even going back to Vortigern...). We're also in the early stages of planning new regional sourcebooks, which I'm planning to include

Here's what will be appearing in the Cults Book: REQUIREMENTS TO BELONG Initiates of Babeester Gor have all normal requirements and restrictions and receive all the usual benefits. Initiates are sworn to slay despoilers of the earth whenever met, and aid Axe Maidens in whatever is required. Initiates may not marry and must give any offspring to their local Earth Temple.

A free download on itch.io! – THE WHISPERING RUINS by Jason Durall and Jeff Richard is a RuneQuest:Roleplaying in Glorantha encounter location for your adventurers, or could be fleshed out as the setting of an entire adventure. https://chaosium.itch.io/the-whispering-ruins For this, and plenty of other interesting Chaosium content, check our itch.io https://chaosium.itch.io

I see you have some spare copies of RuneQuest... when I built up my RQ2 collection a couple years ago, I came across some damaged spare copies of boxes (some of which a seller just sent me as free extras because he wasn't going to do anything with them besides throw them away... they were unsellable, being incomplete or empty in addition to being damaged). Anyway, fast-forward to last week-end, when I figured I would turn these boxes into nice frames to put up on the staircase going down to my man-cave: Now the only thing is that I have spare pieces of those boxes, which I'm

Afraid the Pamaltela project is being shelved, based on advice received (which I entirely understand), so this is the only remnant. Needs a little more work... I need to think up another project.

Another one. Next I will have to do the crews, though am not certain I have enough 'seed' material for Pamaltela to fill a book. [The box isn't a 'fighting turret' but the enclosure for a chair - these creatures weren't massive.] There is an error in this picture - the trunk shouldn't be able to fit between the lower tusks. Will have to amend...

A quick snapshot? The West is the realm of the humanists, who view the world as a natural process understandable, conquerable, and usable by conscious manipulation by mortals. That conscious manipulation is sorcery, which does not rely on god or spirit for its effectiveness. A part of that world-view is that human society itself should be logically organised (think Plato's "Republic" or "Laws" or the discussions of what the castes are supposed to do in the Mahabharata) - most Westerners have concluded that a system of castes is the only rational means to organize human society. The so-cal

Secrets of HeroQuesting is live at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/326489/Secrets-of-HeroQuesting?affiliate_id=66807 All you wanted to know about HeroQuesting but were afraid to ask. No acid, poison or nastiness in this one. Well, minimal acid, one mention for the Baths of Nelat.

Hi, thanks to a sleep-deprived but still incredibly efficient Nick Brooke, the Lysang clan/Arfritha Vale Sourcebook, In a Merry Green Vale is now available on DriveThruRPG as a JC product. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/330010/In-a-Merry-Green-Vale?src=newest_community I hope you will enjoy it! Best,

Here's my travelling in the spirit world example from a previous post that contains a spirit combat: Vishi Dunn is going to travel to the Sky World to contact the Twinstars to follow up on some troubling information. The obvious place to begin his journey would be in the Monkey Ruins, where the Fireground is close by. This would mean setting up a camp in baboon territory and hoping that the group is either not spotted and if so can hold off an attack. This is very risky, so he plans to do it from within his home camp. Before sunrise on Fireday, his assistants prepare the sacred

You mean like this?

>Last post was from 2008 This isn't just normal thread necromancy, this is a full LBQ resurrection

We don't need a license to do the Avalon Hill era RQ3 supplements. Chaosium retained the copyright, especially on all the Gloranthan supplements. Greg got all that as his part of the split of Chaosium's assets when he left the company in 1998, and Moon Design bought it all from him in 2013. Many of the RQ3 supplements that were RQ2 updates, like Apple Lane, Snake Pipe Hollow, the Gloranthan Bestiary, and TrollPak aren't worth reprinting (at least beyond the TrollPak map). They aren't different enough. The Monster Coliseum and Griffin Island boxed sets, RQ Cities are too generic. Daughters of D

I'm sorry to continuously disappoint and underwhelm you. I'm sorry we can't compete with late 70s and early 80s prices. I'm sorry we won't be reprinting or creating more RQ1 material. Please do not hesitate to let me know how I can further disappoint you going forward. I would point out that the poster maps are actually better than the originals and don't come folded, but I suspect you would miss the folded versions like in the good old days. And I've added a smiley so it's all ok. 🙂

The Arcane Symbol (as it is referred to in the 2nd ed. rules) was drawn by the legendary Gene Day in 1982. It's a subtle detail on the page, but I didn't notice that the word "Handouts" in the header next to the page number had been pasted over the previous header of "Insta-Plots". I had forgotten about this one page diagram which is on page 133. The Insta-Plots diagram allowed you to construct an adventure idea. Of course the irony for me is that when I constructed my first plot it read as "You found something weird which opens a gate to Detroit", and in an instant I was basically home a

There is a lot to be said for this. Painting eyes on the ship so that it looks like another seagoing creature, for instance.

Behind this door - labelled "Non Muslims" - at my local supermarket in Abu Dhabi was a veritable pork wonderland! That's my mate (and fellow pork/Glorantha enthusiast) Peter Tracy. Sorry the camera lens was fogged up - it was the middle of the Arabian Gulf summer, and a very humid day, and we had just been to see... ...the Sun Dome Temple, which I could see across the water from my house. That's Pete giving the traditional Yelmalio greeting "YO".

If you mean any one ITEM (sorry for the reflection on the glass) it's probably the original Jaquays painting used for the Griffin Mountain cover. It's labelled as "Harmony at Twilight" and it hangs on my office wall:

Many years ago there was a Games Convention in Burton-on-Trent and a couple of my friends (Stuart Hunt and Andrew "Tom" Taylor) went along (I couldn’t as I was working or otherwise engaged). Even though I was not there, the tale has been related to me on so many occasions that I could retell it word for word. As the session was so good (Stuart and Tom say that it was one of the best they have ever played in) I thought I would share it with other people. After half an hour of wandering around the Convention looking at figures etc. they came across a RuneQuest game being set up. They got

Etyries is sometimes treated as an associated cult, sometimes as a subculture of Issaries. She is acknowledged as Issaries' daughter. Note that the cult's famed neutrality tends to keep it neutral in conflicts between Sartar and the Lunar Empire. PARTICULAR LIKES AND DISLIKES The cult generally attempts to maintain a stance of neutrality between contending parties, preferring to profit from both if possible. They generally shun war. However, they are skilled at fighting, and once decided will keep to their way. Many among the Goldentongue cult are especially adroit at neutrality

You requested it so many times, and we listened. Refractions of Glasston, the ENnie Award winning scenario written by Taylor University students, is now available in a print on demand softcover. Like the PDF, this is free + the cost of printing and shipping. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/297601/Refractions-of-Glasston

Hi, I've been reading my way through my copy of "the Guide to Glorantha" for a few weeks. A lot of it seems great and I'm amazed over how fresh and original a lot of it seems despite how many years ago it was first written. However, I have a few questions and I figured that I should just ask them since I haven't been able to find any clear answers. Since some of these might be quite basic I thought it would be better for me to put them all into one post rather than doing a post per question. I'm well aware that "your Glorantha may vary" but I still want to know if something has been sai

Secrets of HeroQuesting is live at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/326489/Secrets-of-HeroQuesting?affiliate_id=66807 All you wanted to know about HeroQuesting but were afraid to ask. No acid, poison or nastiness in this one. Well, minimal acid, one mention for the Baths of Nelat.

There are too many good points to quote. For me, Babeester Gor represents the difference between a normal worshipper and a fanatic. Most Babeester Gor cultists are happy to work as Temple Guards or to guard grain caravans. Sometimes they go off to hunt down raiders, bandits and so on. They are part of the Maiden/Mother/Crone trilogies of Voria/Ernalda/Asrelia or babeester Gor/Maran Gor/Ty Kora Tek. In fact, many Babeester Gori take a time in that cult and then join Ernalda to become mothers, putting down their axes. However, some are fanatics. They revel in the myth about being

Thunder Rebels (p.42) had a list of "body fines": If the wound be not serious, there is no need for justice. If a high priestess be slain in her words, or a chieftain in his rites, a noble, a serdrodosi in her fits, a white woman, a kolating in his leaps, a juror in her pledging, or a champion by cowardice, one hundred cows be the price, or outlawry, or both; if they be maimed, then fifty cows. And ten cows to the gods in either case, and two white bulls for cleansing. If a thane be slain, or a hearthmistress, or one of the Ring, then fifty cows be the price, and five hands o

Wergild isn't just about pure economics and value lost; it's a way of sublimating the impulse to take revenge to keep feuds from happening. If one of "your own" has been hurt, you as an Orlanthi are obligated to seek redress and restitution, whether that be from violence or from legal recourse. Heortling society is a "revenge society," which means the primary means of discouraging wrongdoing is the knowledge that if you hurt someone, their kin are not only expected but required to seek you out and try to get even. Accepting a pittance in wergild because "he wasn't hurt that bad!/he got be

And here's her Prosopaedia entry: BABEESTER GOR EARTH DEATH (BAH-bees-ter GORE) Elf and Orlanth pantheons – ­the avenging daughter and sacred guardian When the Gods War perverted the world, Earnalda brought forth her own grim defender. Babeester Gor was born from Ernalda's corpse, axes in hand, body ritually scarred to carry deadly magic. She destroyed all kin-slayers, all oath-breakers who swore by her mother, and everything which desecrated the sacred places of the earth. She was merciless and cruel. Once she slew so many defenseless residents of Healing Valley that

No no that's not proper God-learner-ism. We perform a heroquest to prove they're the same and combine them, y'see! Then we get both phenomenal art direction and already-released Heroquesting rules!

Miskatonic Repository Con is a two-day virtual convention, organised by fans, celebrating the Miskatonic Repository, Chaosium's community content platform for Call of Cthulhu on DriveThruRPG. With Miskatonic Repository creators hailing from all parts of the world, the Convention is scheduled to run around the clock throughout the weekend of October 17-18. Chaosium’s global community of players have a chance to see the best that Chaosium’s community creators have to offer. Keepers from the Cult of Chaos will be running gaming sessions, and Repository creators themselves can playtest t

You would have thought that getting a decent ship design, a decent crew and sacrificing to the Sea gods would have been the first thing people tried after the closing...

Pigs are religiously unclean to Muslims period, signed, a Muslim. Nobody's wearing pigskin shoes. On the other hand, pigs aren't bad or evil; they are taboo. That means we avoid them because God said "no", not because there's anything wrong with them. That's what a taboo is. Goats in Orlanthi culture, on the other hand, have a patron god in Ragnaglar! (Elsewhere there's other goat deities not attached to Chaos, though.) Not sure about the Muslim countries bit, though. Christian Arabs eat a lot of bacon and ribs in the Levant.

Fioracitta hard cover proof arrived today, and looks magnificent. This will be on sale in POD and PDF pretty soon, in both hard and soft covers. Watch this space - or better still, our Newsletter (http://thedesignmechanism.com/Design-Mechanics-Newsletter.php) - for more details.

Yes, that sounds right to me. If you remember my Facebook post last month re: Orlanth worship in occupied Sartar (attached below), the Lunars initially worked to stop large armed mobs of Orlanthi gathering together at tribal mustering points to spread sedition. They couldn't care less what happens at clan level: clans are easy to enough to squish if they get out of line. (You can even get a friendly tribe to do it for you, with a bit of pressure applied in the right places) I used to speculate that joining the Seven Mothers might protect converts from the spirits of reprisal of

It's been a larger update of the forum software. It has chopped the banners, it's too bright and the layout is not optimal, but I'll try to improve and tweak that during the weekend.

Lokarnos was a sun once in his native land reasonably well equipped to contend for the crown of heaven. He was a chariot god before they broke him. There were others.

"It's always the '90s somewhere in Glorantha fandom. It's just unevenly distributed." Your original question was very helpful to me personally in terms of figuring out how Orlanth works in the southern corner, so far from Dara Happan chauvinism and the suns northerners know. When they think of an Evil Emperor, they think of someone different. Thanks.

In my HQ rules - I'm reversing the position of runes and skills - instead of the Rune Augmenting the skill - the Skill augments the Rune - EG fighting using a broadsword is a test of ones Air rune (or Death rune, or even Movement rune, depending on narration and goal), if you want to augment that then you can use your Broadsword skill (or possibly other skill if narrated). One roll of the air rune is all that is used - from which the players and I can narrate the outcome using opposed rolls. Using the same rune over and over will be penalized just the same way as multiple parries in a round

Although I am sure everyone knows this, Storm Tribe is not particularly canonical or even influential on the RuneQuest line. It was not a source for the Cults Book (in fact, I deliberately did not even look at it, preferring to rely directly on Greg's notes and our discussions), and I do not encourage it as a reference for those writing for us. You can do with it as you want, but I want to be clear that it is not a foundation for any new published material going forward.

Oh, I am delighted to hear of successful Argan Argar adventurers making unexpected friends! To speak directly to the original question, regarding potential tokens or signs of friendship: there is a historical precedent for pacts between elves and trolls, connected to Argan Argar. How much do you know about the Kingdom of Night, and Ezkankekko? The Shanasee Tree of Tarndisi's Grove has stood there since before the Dawn, and before the Dawn the peoples of Dragon Pass and Esrolia were united by the rule of Ezkankekko, the Only Old One, the demigod son of Argan Argar and Esrola, Ern