Ian A. Thomson

Hi Folks

Preparing the P&BR Director's Cut re-releases has hit upon a technical challenge or two with Word

Using the Chaosium template is fantastic. Whoever thought of that and prepared it has my immense gratitude

Two issues though

1) I am utterly unable, despite 2-3 hrs of fkng about with it, unable to find a way to hide the page number '0' on the front page

2) I want to shift the margins a little to make it easy to print and bind (basically add 'middle of book gutters') Everytime I try to do that it messes up the awesome background and imposes some irregular whitespace into the edges. There MUST be some settings somewhere to sort that out

Hoping somebody can assist

Thanks very much

Just confirming that the only parts remaining of this project are the final error checkings and then it will be ready to go back to Chaosium. Everyone, including me (house move interstate ahoy!) is super busy, so this final part of the project could take some weeks. But it's 97% done :)

53 minutes ago, Nick Brooke said:

I don’t think anything more than basic formatting (like the final file I sent you for the Coders) is necessary. Rick will be happy to receive a clean Word document and drop it into InDesign, you don’t need to put it into some Chaosium template or try to imitate the look and feel of… I’m not sure what, exactly.

Clean text, basic header styles, and he can do the rest. It’ll probably be easier if we don’t mess it around first.

Well, that's a big 'can do'. Just the final reviews to go then :)

I've got about a half hour only left of the conversion of Arlaten into a basically formatted and proofed Word document, and then all Coders text will be recovered and reconverted back to Word. Have been pushing on all evening, but getting bleary-eyed now and so am off to bed, and reconvene on the project in the morning

I have also had my house move finalised today. We got an offer and accepted and so are moving into the closing weeks before a massive shift interstate

So I would be super grateful if anyone is able to assist with the last stages of this project, which is reformatting one or more of the scenarios into the Chaosium template

I'll definitely be able to do it myself, but possibly not for some weeks now

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.

6 minutes ago, soltakss said:

They might still worship some of the Pure Horse deities or Heroes.

Alternatively, once he creates the Pure Horse Tribe and integrates it into Prax, women could worship Eiritha. Men can only worship Waha if they are descended from Waha, so Joraz Kyrem might have to HeroQuest to prove that he is a descendant of Waha, otherwise that cult is closed to them.

 

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?

On 3/27/2022 at 7:42 PM, David Scott said:

Some of you may have missed the errata for Strangers in Prax and likewise the Pendragon Pass personality traits:

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/wp-content/uploads/mrmob/errata.html

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

57 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

There could potentially be a hero cult of him while alive?

This is what we are going with :)

7 hours ago, Joerg said:

One possibility: The Zebra Founder, of which Joraz is the avatar. David Scott went into a little bit of detail on this in episode 9 of the God Learners podcast.

Again, listen to David Scott's insights.

https://godlearners.com/episode-9-nomad-gods-part-1/

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.

3 minutes ago, Nick Brooke said:

Have you asked Dario Corallo? He's brilliant, not expensive, and knows exactly what Pavis looks like.

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.]

2 hours ago, EMH said:

The premise of the Arlaten storyline requires the adventurers to make themselves social pariahs by entering the service of a godless meldek for an extended period.

It's an uncomfortable enough situation in RQ3, but in RQ:G, this is effectively negating all their Loyalty (Clan/Tribe), Love (Family) and Devotion (Deity) passions. That's a lot bridges to burn!

In view of the amount of pressure this would place on the beliefs and attitudes of an adventurer from a theistic or shamanistic culture (the vast majority of PCs!), I'm not certain how a writer could make this scenario work in the current version.

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

On 3/27/2022 at 9:14 AM, g33k said:

n.b. those do NOT appear to be eligible for publication via the JC, as they are "full statblock" versions of RQ3 content, rather than "conversion notes" for the relevant NPCs.

Unless I have misunderstood the restrictions, @Nick Brooke?

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]

4 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

As I said earlier in this thread, "No updates to any of the contents, please. (other than obvious typos)."

If the updates are something someone feels compelled to do anyway, please do it as a separate document for personal use only.

I don't know what we will be doing with the files in terms of a reprint, at least not just yet.

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

17 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

Before you get carried away…

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

7 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Sounds like you have no need for my assistances at all there Ian.

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

10 hours ago, Paid a bod yn dwp said:

Good point. The more I thought about the more small things you could get hung up about in a conversion .  It really doesn’t matter that much in running the game. Broad brush stokes - it’s close enough.

I guess there’s an argument for a full conversion if you’re trying to remove potential barriers for newcomers to the game. 

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

6 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

I would very much like to get a proofed ms word file of the text for SiP. No updates to any of the contents, please. (other than obvious typos).

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?

16 minutes ago, MOB said:

None of the Coders ever probably return to Prax again after they are recalled following the Cradle episode; their involvement in that debacle I outline in this other thread, along with what happens to all of them in the years afterwards up to the current RQG timeline.

(TL/DR: After being cleared in the recriminations that followed the Cradle, Count Julan is later promoted to higher office in the Citadel of Halfway; Princess Anderida withdraws to the Red Moon; Maculus finally retires to do his 'sorcerer in a tower' thing in his own purpose-built retreat near Eneal in Aggar; Nose Ring is said to be captaining one of the fabled Black Galleys in the Underworld, seeking the Giant baby; and Eslas defects from the Empire to serve the returned Sheng Seleris).

But, in the shattered times after the Dragonrise, Princess Anderida's daughter Johana forms a new cadre of Lunar Coders, so who knows where they might appear!

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?