BigJackBrass

That's helpful, thank you. 1920s is my period of choice.

Are the scenarios all 1920s? The description covers each adventure but doesn't seem to mention the setting at all.

“That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with PDFs even the dead may rise.”

Personally I'd say Demolition, with Electrical Repair being an alternative only if the explosive has an electrical trigger. I've always considered demolition skills in RPGs to be about knowing precisely where to place a charge, as well as how to set it off without being caught in the explosion. If the person setting up the explosive has no demolition skill then, depending on the circumstances, I might make the damage caused less than would be the case with someone who understands what they are doing.

As much as I'm tempted by deluxe editions, in this case I'll be going for the regular hardback: that cover art is too good to miss.

I do love Jason's maps. If anything, his cartoon style makes the horror seem even more awful.

Ideally for me it would be the other way around; I'm not likely to rush to buy something full of statblocks. HQ is the game which finally got me interested in Glorantha, thirty-odd years after I first played RuneQuest, and at this point in my life I'm not likely to start buying yet another game and starting over. But of course RuneQuest is the bigger game and the shift was inevitable. Indeed, from a business point of view it would be strange if they hadn't done it. For me personally it's a pity and makes the products far less appealing, but the company isn't run for me.

When running CHILL I simply set it in a sort of pseudo-1980s, a combination of my memories and the way things looked in many films and TV series of the time. Bringing it up to date (the game was published in 1984) somehow strips it of its charm.

All over the place. I suppose that Britain tends to be our default for adventures we write, but otherwise we play published stuff and rarely shift the setting to a different one (even the Falklands for one memorable game). Our PCs have no set base of operations because we usually roll up new ones appropriate to the campaign.

According to Mark Evanier's blog, Larry DiTillio was 71 not 79.

I've run The Fortress of Doors, the first scenario from the collection Gloranthan Adventures 1: New Beginnings mentioned above by Steve, a couple of times, with groups largely or entirely new to both HeroQuest and Glorantha, and it's been a hit. It's not only a fairly unusual adventure in itself, it also does a good job of presenting different sorts of situations and challenges, very instructive when it comes to showing how HeroQuest gets everyone involved. The clearest example came when one group tried to argue their case in front of the clan council and gain some support: the eloquent character failed; the logical, intellectual character failed; the bruiser, standing at the back and growing increasingly frustrated by all the talking, strode forwards, slammed his axe into the table (bisecting it neatly) and made a few short remarks to the crowd. From being on the verge of failure and exile one minute the group suddenly found their names being chanted and the council reluctantly backing their plan in the face of overwhelming popular support; and that was the moment the players really grasped just what the system could let them do.

That would certainly be handy, since I can pull the audio from YouTube (I'm still baffled as to why these inherently verbal games are increasingly being put out on visual media instead of as podcasts). Good to see new projects like this appear, even if I'll almost certainly never see an episode, but it's a shame that an equivalent or resurrection of Tales of Mythic Adventure hasn't materialised instead.

I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I am that this is not an announcement of a Bill & Ted book for HeroQuest.

If you don't mind spending the money you can find all of those die types and more for sale these days. Some dice roller apps allow you to configure the number of sides, too. Your method is cheaper 😊

Looking forward to trying this when the Android version launches; MetaArcade have done an excellent job with the Tunnels and Trolls Adventures game.

Congratulations to, uh, "Scott Forward" on the nomination 😄

There was a book called The Adventurer's Handbook by Bob Albrecht, published around 1984, that contained the text of the BRP pamphlet; I believe it was the complete thing, but unfortunately my copy is currently in storage so I can't check. The book was an introduction to RPGs, one of several such titles produced between roughly 1980 and 1985 when D&D was hitting the mainstream, and particularly focused on Chaosium's rules.

It's certainly helpful to have the underlying rules system identified, as a guide for potential buyers if nothing else. For example, if I see something that uses Fudge or HeroQuest then I'll probably have a look at it, whereas anything using the Apocalypse World or DramaSystem rules definitely isn't for me.

Don't overlook the phenomenal popularity of pamphlets, alongside the sturdy volumes. They grew from the mid-1500s to become a very important medium for transmission of new ideas and philosophical debates. A quick search for "pamphlet wars" should turn up some useful background and examples.

Very much enjoying the interviews and looking forward to the rest of the month. One thing did leap out in Rick Meints' introduction to the list of interviewees, though: "We also published the first RPG by a female designer, Hawkmoon, written by Kerie Campbell" Without wishing to brush aside Kerie Campbell's impressive contributions to gaming, doesn't this claim ignore the important work done by Lee Gold, who wrote Land of the Rising Sun in 1980 and Lands of Adventure in 1983? Unless I'm misunderstanding the criteria these seem to qualify.

Good call. I'd certainly be interested.

Delighted that this has arrived in good time for the upcoming UK Games Expo. My convention trade hall visits are turning into a regular itinerary of heading straight to Chaosium for a HeroQuest book and then trotting along to visit Lamentations of the Flame Princess

It's by Bill Barton, who was a Sherlockian even before he was into Lovecraft and I believe was involved in the Baker Street Irregulars, so at the very least the author was highly knowledgeable and a great fan of the character.

I'll be honest, I think you're asking for trouble if the abbreviation of your system name is CRP...

A book offering a selection of different genres and settings for HQ could be wonderful. Personally, I wouldn't suggest making it entirely generic since there are umpteen such games out there and I think it needs a stronger selling point. I would love to see chapters based on existing or previous Chaosium games, for example a Superworld section alongside one for Astounding Adventures and Call of Cthulhu. A short adventure for each, setting information, advice on adapting other material to HeroQuest... it could be done concisely and complement other Chaosium products rather than compete with them.