Ian A. Thomson

The Coders and Barran are now successfully recovered, proofed and corrected from the OCR pdfs of the original. (Including all images recovered). Thanks to 7tigers & Nick Brooke for the huge assists, and to Bill the Barbarian for marvellous general support If anyone is open to volunteer to do the basic layout that would be awesome, and save me a whole heap of time (looks like my house move is happening in a month so I'd be glad to have the time freed up to get back into the Pavis & Big Rubble Companion rerelease work before then). Plus you will have the lofty reward of having your name added into the credits in the Recovery Team project line :) (It's a great feeling to be able to be part of assisting getting this incredibly high-quality product back out there!) Chaosium have a basic template to work with, so it's not even complex work, just a bit time-consuming OK, back into proofing and correcting Arlaten :) Edit - Hah, I just remembered that one time when I ran the Arlaten scenario (I have run it at least 3x) was in a campaign at UNI where one of the players actually had a sorcerer character. I think that was the only time I ever had a sorcerer PC in one of my campaigns. I am just recalling how cool that was, because the PC and Arlaten actually established a comradely relationship. Admittedly Arlaten might have looked down on the PC if they'd met back in his old culture. But here in the Big Rubble, Arlaten was starved for someone other than Mikos to chat to, so I had the PC become part of the inner wizard circle, and all the other PCs remain as lowly mercenaries (with a minor exception for the Captain of the mercs and leader of the PCs who was at least recognised as a skilled professional). It set up some great contrast in PC status, with the others climbing out of their bunks in the stable, and the sorcerer PC emerging from the private room he'd been given as a valued guest. Plus breakfasting with Arlaten and Mikos rather than chewing on zebra jerky in the courtyard. Hah. Fun times.

Interesting Would you be open to write up a little heroquest outline about that proving of Wahaness? :) Bearing in mind that I am definitely going with the majority of men worshipping Joraz, since this is one of the pieces Greg assisted me to write Also, if men typically worship Joraz, with a minority also initiates of Orlanth, Stormbull and Odayla, my sense is that a lot of women would also be in the same boat, since they are a martial people. However, yes a significant chunk of the women might also worship a female deity. Would there be a weird problem to have a load of women worshipping Eiritha, and very few men worshipping Waha?

And I just got the go ahead to incorporate all the RQ corrections :)

This is what we are going with :)

I will totally check this out in case there's anything cool I can incorporate into the write-up. I have found the notes I co-wrote with Greg and am writing them up now. With the additional info that someone can be worshipped while they are still alive, this now makes complete sense and is fitting in nicely.

I added a qualifier. No sir, everyone has been very tactful and polite so far. That was an aside comment, now updated.

First choice, but sadly (not for him) too busy. He is doing one new internal pic for me, and I hope down the track some of the foreground figures on at least one cover

The plan is also to have very different prominent figures in each one So they should look substantially different Obviously the backdrop is a big part of it, but so are the foreground figures :) The idea is definitely not that they will look the same and I guess prompted by your comments a BIG title and prominent Vol Number, which will be different for each one of course

Hello there Before I get into Fiverr or something I'm wondering if there is anyone out there that can be recommended or who sees this that is interested in a cover commission I have an idea for cost saving but also for awesomeness To feature the same Pavis City street scene as the cover on each volume But to have it vary each time across the ages First two (circa 894ST) formal and informal city scenes Third volume image sometime during the early nomad invasions with slight ruins and also nomads etc etc Welcoming all recommendations :)

Probably a 'Doh!' answer to this question, but I have to ask. :) Who do the Zebra Cavalry of Pavis City worship while Joraz Kyrem is still alive? I may even have answered this in my own writings somewhere, but can't currently locate that? In my Glorantha once he has apostetized they immediately start a cult to worship him, that is a combination of whatever their original worship form was with Pavis religious edges I have a feeling that Greg answered this by saying the Firehorse or something, but sadly have no record of that particular conversation

Hi Folks Quick clarification. I've had a couple of people mention that there are things I talk about enthusiastically doing that it turns out aren't allowed or wanted for some reason Please don't misinterpret the raw emotionless text of postings as indicating that I am some kind of headstrong character who does what the fk he wants and ignores the rules, then gets p*ssed off if told to do something different In other contexts I can absolutely do that, but it wouldn't be appropriate here or respectful. This is a game with an official company at the head of it, and I have no problems with that. I'm a little sad that certain canon (or close to canon) things have changed since my day, but this is a small thing since YGWV has always been the case. It also gives me creative freedom since nothing now that I write is a spoiler anymore, so practically speaking as an author this is actually better for me Anyway, when it comes to established practicalities, I am more than happy for people to let me know: 'Errr, Ian, you sound like super-excited about 'X' idea, but we actually totally don't want that to happen.' Or 'It's totally not allowed on Jonstown.' etc I totally am in a learning space here, and completely happy to follow whatever guidelines Chaosium set. I may sometimes just not yet have completely grasped what they are, so it might initially sound as if I am willfully disregarding them. Definitely not the case. I consider it helpful rather than annoying if someone lets me know I'm barking up the wrong tree, and receive such corrections that way rather than with any ill-will I may sometimes also have personal preferences for those guidelines to be different, but that is NOT indicative of anything other than personal preference. IE I don't feel that my personal preference is 'more right' than what has been established Across the years there have been some 'strong characters' in the creative Gloranthan field, and some disputes which to me seemed unnecessary. And that they could have been avoided with just an ounce more politeness and communication. My goal here is to be collaborative and helpful not to further my own ego Yes I have strong opinions and ideas, but genuinely ZERO problems with anyone if I become informed that some of what I am considering is simply not possible due to current rules and official preferences. Honestly, absolutely ZERO Let me know. Just please be polite is all I ask :) [As indeed everyone is being.]

It's a good point, but as a writer I know there are workarounds to more or less anything If Arlaten is a boon to the city, and PCs are all Pavis worshippers then as a City Cult that wouldn't be a problem. Remember that Pavis embraced difference and found unity where non existed before Maybe more of a problem for non Pavis worshippers in the new system, but for Pavis worshippers all we have to write in to a new version is that Arlaten respects the city and is happy to obey its laws, and just wants the right to research some of the old mysticism/sorcery of the city, and the Pavis Cult suddenly has no problem with him In my game all PCs were Pavis initiates even if their main cult was something else

I can of course abbreviate them to be conversion notes, although that would be a shame as they are so good Hmm, another idea might be for Chaosium to release SiP exactly as is, and then provide a free or small charge supplement of conversion material that was also a Chaosium product. I might start recommending that idea now as it seems to solve a bunch of potential crimps in the process of getting SiP back out there again in a timely fashion

These can absolutely go into the new P&BR Companion series. I will have notes in there about how to adapt Arlaten and Coders into the campaign (which will be RQG rules) 🙂 Awesome work!! [Edit: Although now I am aware that no full conversions are permitted in fan-work, it might be better to create a full conversion document and submit that to Chaosium to see if they would release it as an optional extra with the original republication of SiP]

OK, the original will be reproduced faithfully. I hope you will change your mind and avail yourself of our willing talents to also produce an RQG adaptation. Here we are eager and willing to provide you with both :) But yes, as requested will provide you with a faithful reproduction. Also only found a couple of typos so far anyway

Yes, no worries. I will add conversion notes into the Companion series if Ch. don't want them. Nothing will be done now that doesn't have a home. The simple sorcery conversion we are working on will go into the P&BR series if it doesn't get added to a new SiP. Thanks for the headsup though

Printing of such high quality (and 7Tigers OCRing of said printing also such high quality) that only about 5% of text has any errors in I just use my patented reformatting search and replace method for dealing with paragraph breaks that I developed recovering the P&BR Companion stuff, and off we go :) Obviously headers and sub-headers need redoing, but that will be a doddle as part of layout

Exactly This is my thinking in a gentle persistent pushing for us just to get Strangers in Prax back out there asap By the end of today I will have completed reclaiming, reformatting and correcting ALL of the text. 7tigers has already OCR'd it, including epic work getting all the illustrations. Nick is taking a look at tidying the RQ stats bits (I didn't focus on making sure they were properly reformatted as they need to be converted anyway) So basically all that is needed now is: * A volunteer to convert the basic RQ stats to RQG (with a focus on simplicity and playability). We don't need the massive detail of SiP, though absolutely must keep some for the main personalities. * A volunteer to create believable, rules-functional, and simple versions of the sorcerers. There is ZERO need to know how they do what they do. Only 'what it looks like when they do it', 'what effect it has', 'how it can be resisted, or not', and how often they can do it'. Then we just include a note saying RQG sorcery rules will be expanded and extended in future, and this document _may_ be updated to reflect that. In the meantime, sit back relax, and play the stories out with the fun and fascination they was always their primary awesomeness * Layout in whatever style Chaosium want. (I can do that myself in Word if they have a Word template for the house style) I would be more than happy to keep hammering into this completely for the love of it, just so Chaosium can re-release this product asap. Nice to get a credit in the acknowledgments somewhere, along with other volunteers, but that's all

Awesome :) The only thing not done is tidying up the RQ stats and of course the header sizes Since the stats could be done as new stats are created (not a job I am suited for). Though you will make someone's job easier if you sort them out first And the header sizes during layout (which I would happily do myself if it was part of a request to get it ready for release) :) Sending Coders now

Roger that. Machine sounds begin :) That's my morning well-spent. Lunar Coders now all present as a Word doc done except for a final check through and tidying the RQ3 stats. Any volunteers?

Yes, definitely recall that they don't return to Pavis. I was more imagining that they might in the few years after (and before the above events) be sent on at least a couple of other missions in or around the Empire before they disband, or even separately. I seem to remember Eslas goes on a mission to the Redlands for instance. And hoping that this will presumably fit the new timeline for RQG, by at least a couple of years overlap?

Oh heck yes. I'm three weeks of full-time work into doing all that with the old Pavis & Big Rubble Companions now. And I am happy to add SiP into the middle of that cruel machine of soulless productivity!

Yes, but its simpler than that :) I'm not offering a choice to use my energy for something else RQG. I'm very busy and not interested enough in other things enough to offer my time. (There is undeniable self interest here. The Coders and Arlaten are among the best adventures I've ever seen, and if I can be part of making them available again, I'd love to.) Nothing else that is still out of print grabs me by the vibrants as it were So the choice here is: Are Chaosium interested in me getting the proofed text and salvaged images for Strangers in Prax, and potentially then getting it updated and laid out, so that i can eventually just hand them a product to publish Or are they not interested in that, in which case I continue using my energies elsewhere in projects not related to publishing anything new for RQG at all. :)

Untrue. This guy is a proofing machine!!! :)

I reckon it would be relatively (maybe even 'extremely') easy to provide a description of how the sorcery-using NPCs interact in the world, in the sense of making an amazingly fun and awesome, internally believable and congruent gameplay With a note to say that these details will be updated in the future when the new sorcery rules are finished and when time allows I could absolutely see that as being a problem if Arlaten and Maculus were PCs. But they are NPCs. All a GM needs to know is: * how the NPC acts when casting * what the effects of the spell are * how a spell might be resisted * how often a spell can be cast