Ian A. Thomson

On 8/22/2023 at 8:28 AM, Erol of Backford said:

A few other Pavis questions, what year is the Shadows of Pavis based 1613?

Can you be more specific? I think the original campaign began around 1617. But which activities are you asking about? The troll contests would likely have been 1622/3

On 8/22/2023 at 8:28 AM, Erol of Backford said:

What year was "old" Pavis actually completed, guessing like 850 or 855? Twenty or so years would seem normal/minimal to finish such a massive project?

The Rough Guide will reappear down the track in this series. Pauses to check. 831-850 is known as 'The Construction Phase'

On 8/22/2023 at 8:28 AM, Erol of Backford said:

Additionally are there will there be scenarios that link us or take one north and west of Pavis, say Where the Rock Speaks or Indagos possibly?

Indagos definitely. Desolation Hills definitely

On 8/22/2023 at 8:28 AM, Erol of Backford said:

Lastly the first release is at electrum now. Is there any update on when it might be POD?

We are waiting for the proof copy. Can apparently take a few weeks. Then we need to check it simply for any major formatting errors, so as long as its all good, it can be released as soon as we check it. Thanks to Fabian for doing that, and to Nick for creating the POD version

On 8/22/2023 at 8:28 AM, Erol of Backford said:

Thank you Mr. Thomson!

I'm just glad people like the work!! I loved writing and playing it

Please leave us a rating on Drivethru if you have the time :)

On 8/19/2023 at 4:09 PM, Khaghan said:

 My working assumption is that they were the lands closest in around the city of New Pavis, but I haven't found that nailed down anywhere.

That makes sense to me

On 8/19/2023 at 4:09 PM, Khaghan said:

Also, and relatedly, the Patroma family of Lunar carpetbaggers are mentioned to "rule most of the former holdings of the zebra people", which I assume would have been the lands given to Olgkarth of the Pavis Survivors by Dorasar.  Is this just Zebraside in the Big Rubble, or would there have been another chunk of Pavis County under their rule before the Lunar occupation?  Not a huge deal if I have to sketch those details in myself, but if they're actually laid out somewhere and somebody could point me in their direction, that would be appreciated.

Hmm. I would imagine that it was some grazing land close to the city and any 'holdings' were just temporary camps. So the Patroma took these lands over and started settlements on them. Violating the ancient decree that they were grazing lands

I would say not Zebraside, as this belongs to the Old City, not to the zebra people

The Zebra Tribe now have new lands right on the edge of the county

Pavis & the Big Rubble: The Good, the Bad & the Rowdy (1620 ST)

Vol. 04 is taking shape a little faster than previous volumes due to a lesser percentage of new material to be written, reducing speculated workload from many many weeks, to just many weeks :)

HUGE gratitude once again to the volunteer/collaborators who have stepped up to assist what would otherwise be an impossible task!!! :)

If you read this and might have an hour or two to spare for some basic proofing/reviewing work from an 'interested/informed reader' perspective please drop me a line. All supporters will be credited in the book on which they help, and anyone with time to do a bunch of support work can of course have a free copy when it's done

On 8/12/2023 at 2:55 PM, Martin Dick said:

Hasn't this been already done for Strangers in Prax by Ian Thomson and co? (

)

Yup, all done last year. Full text recovery and editing, all images salvaged, even cover (and even errata incorporated!)

Labour of love, and one I was happy to spend time on and co-ordinate other fine folk doing the same

Still hoping it leads to a re-release as pdf

As an addendum, we are also still happy to complete the job and recreate the product exactly as it was (or with the addition of an appendix of some notes on running the sorcerer characters as GMCs without needing sorcery rules). I'd prefer the latter, but am happy with the former if thats the preference from the folk in charge

If a go ahead is granted, probably could have it done in a month

Just as soon as someone official says Yes

If such a Yes was forthcoming, I'd be happy to put equal efforts into reclaiming Shadows on the Borderlands too. (Just in case anyone at Chaosium HQ wants to jump on this offer!) :)

Great summary by Nick, so I will post it here:

Pavis County & Beyond: Secrets of the Borderlands,The third volume of Pavis & Big Rubble Companion material to be revised and reissued on the Jonstown Compendium covers adventurer creation (inc. family history and local cults) for natives of rural Pavis County and the Zebra Tribe. Four full scenarios follow – The Corflu Connection, Problems with Neighbours, Crimson Shadows Over Prax and Echoes of Evil – with a smattering of ideas for how to link them into your campaign. Next are maps and gazetteers for eight prominent settlements in the Zola Fel Valley: Old Fort, Indagos, Garhound, Ronegarth, Weis, Horn Gate, Sun Dome (Town, not Temple) and Corflu. The book wraps up with twenty pages of room-by-room notes on how the author ran and expanded the classic Borderlands campaign; the Adventures section has more suggestions for how to merge that with a Pavis-based campaign, in which the adventurers become wide-ranging troubleshooters for Duke Raus of Rone. ($18.00 for 254 pages)

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/448641/Pavis-County--Beyond-Secrets-of-the-Borderlands-RuneQuest?src=newest_community

5 hours ago, AlHazred said:

Pardon the question, but would there be any QuestWorlds addendums being produced? Like a conversion document? I rather expect the answer will be "No," but it never hurts to ask!

Nothing is impossible

I'd be happy to give full access to the original material if anyone wanted to help with that particular project

The main issue would be the amount of time it needed, as the rest of the series takes priority

But lots of the old stats already exist, so it might only take a few hrs for someone to put together if they were keen

I'd just want to make sure it was overseen and presented in the congruent style

UPDATE: NEW PDFS COMPLETED & SENT

Vol. 01 - Updated final version of the PDF sent to Fabian just now. He's a busy fellow, but I imagine it will go up on Drivethru in the next few days. (Change notes: "A few final minor corrections and additions, noticed and fixed as a result of the POD preparation process." Including one error on the main Rubble maps!! Glad I caught that one here at the last hurdle!) The POD Nick prepared has been approved by Drivethru, so we now have to wait until the print version is ready, order one, and check it before it can be released.

Vol. 02 - Updated version also just sent to Fabian. Change notes: "An additional small piece on Pavic Philosophy has been added at the end of the book. Plus a few minor corrections and clarifications."

Vol. 03 - Finished the last piece yesterday afternoon, the last section of editing last night, and entered the last proof corrections from one of the awesome contributor/volunteers this morning. Some hours of double-checking and redoing the cover later it has now been sent off to Fabian. So again (don't hassle him, he's a busy fellow!), it will appear on Drivethru sometime in the very near future. I'll do the announcement when I'm back in 9 days, but am glad to get it done and dusted now before I go away! :)

Vol. 04 - Most of the content done, but lots of formatting and proofing needed. I can start working on that again when I'm back.

UPDATE:

Vol. 01 - POD version is in preparation thanks to Nick Brooke wrestling with the conversion. [Edit 1: Converted and approved at this end. Edit 2: POD-ready file approved also now by Drivethru.]

Vol. 02 - Additional article on Pavic Philosophy being added, so a new version of the pdf will be available very soon (and this time should be the final ever version). Was going to put this piece in Vol. 03, but it fits logically WAY better in Vol. 02 and also if this book reaches POD state I just learned that it actually needs 3 more pages to balance for the printing requirements. 

Vol. 03 - Nearly finished the final scenario (likely today), after which there's just one more piece that requires checking and adjusting. Almost all of the proofing is also done already, so while we will probably miss the July release date, not by much. :) 

Vol. 04 - Most of the content done, but lots of formatting and proofing needed

** Author sought for 800word article *** [EDIT: Found and done!] :)

As Vol. 03 is nearly finished I am putting the articles in order for Vols. 04 & 05 (so I can see what gaps need to be filled and start to prepare)

Very much related to the comment above, I need a one-page (about 800 words) article summarising information from official sources about a certain region

What I would do is gather all the official info in one place, order it into sections and then obviously rewrite in my own words. 

Obviously I could do this, but it would be a couple of hours better spent on aspects of the work that someone else can't do, or that nobody else is available to do

Anyone who has some experience with writing for publication (doesn't have to be a lot, but enough to know basic editing, grammar and flow) and is also open to do a little basic proofing, the reward would be a free copy of whatever zine it is in (either 4 or 5)

On 7/22/2023 at 6:45 PM, Tyrian Telbenj said:

I just downloaded and looked at the update...really useful. Great job Ian

Thanks.

Insane amounts of work going on with all this, so it's great to hear when people find it interesting/useful :)

Volume One has been updated on Drivethru! :)

New expanded cover - finally enhanced to match the original image that had to be restricted due to initial finances. (This is not yet visible on the sample seen on the Drivethru page, but is absolutely present on the new pdf itself!)

Various corrections and minor enhancements since the last update.

Several large new professional illustrations from Roy Duffy and Matthew Cole.

And an entire new final section of maps/plans and room/building descriptions for: 

* The Pavis Temple in New Pavis
* Gimpy’s Tavern (including both sets of secret tunnels!)
* Geo’s Inn
* Badside (built on the ruins of Thieves Town)
* Bob’s Bisonburger Emporium

Vol. 02 has also been updated with a few corrections and clarifications. However, I also just learned about one oversight today that I have fixed by adding a new boxed section about Yelorna into Vol. 02. This will appear in another update, which I will ask Fabian to do when we upload Vol. 03 (hopefully in a week or so).

Volume One has been updated on Drivethru! :)

New expanded cover - finally enhanced to match the original image that had to be restricted due to initial finances. (This is not yet visible on the sample seen on the Drivethru page, but is absolutely present on the new pdf itself!)

Various corrections and minor enhancements since the last update.

Several large new professional illustrations from Roy Duffy and Matthew Cole.

And an entire new final section of maps/plans and room/building descriptions for: 

* The Pavis Temple in New Pavis
* Gimpy’s Tavern (including both sets of secret tunnels!)
* Geo’s Inn
* Badside (built on the ruins of Thieves Town)
* Bob’s Bisonburger Emporium

Vol. 02 has also been updated with a few corrections and clarifications. However, I also just learned about one oversight today that I have fixed by adding a new boxed section about Yelorna into Vol. 02. This will appear in another update, which I will ask Fabian to do when we upload Vol. 03 (hopefully in a week or so).

The fully revised pdf of Vol. 01 has just been sent to Fabian to upload. Sometimes he is busy and can't do it for a little while, but it's been sent, so is on its way! :)

It has an enhanced cover (now back to what I had originally envisaged). Plus a brand new final chapter entitled 'Iconic Locations' which covers interior maps, bird's eye views, and room indices of places as diverse as Bob's Bisonburger Emporium and the New Pavis 'Pavis Temple'.

Much gratitude to Matthew Cole & Roy Duffy for some awesome new illustrations also added in from their forthcoming works! :)

Next task: to fumble around with the pdfs and try to get it all of sufficient quality to serve as the content to convert for the POD version!

EDIT: Revised pdf of Vol. 02 also just now sent to Fabian. A handful of small and large corrections and clarifications. This may be the final changes also to Vol. 02 as well

Hi folks. Are there any published descriptions of Haymon's Gate or Trueword in Sun County? They are both on the SC book map, and HG is elsewhere as well I think.

Hey folks. Where can I find an index to this publication?

IMMINENT UPDATES (final stages)

Vol. 01:

Adjusted cover nearly finished for the revised and expanded version for pdf and POD

Also waiting for one final image.

Vol. 02

A bunch of small corrections and clarifications for an updated pdf release. [Complete]

Vol. 03

One large rewrite/expansion of a scenario (currently underway)

One minor rewrite of a scenario still to do next (which will be final task of all of this)

Among the incredible volunteers are three fantastic illustrators of different kinds. Each of these fine folk are in the process of completing one final element of the revised and expanded version of Vol. 01.

These are the last three pieces needed for that updated pdf to be ready to re-release on drivethru, and also sent on for processing for the POD version

The expansion will definitely be worth the wait, as once it goes to POD it won't be edited or changed again. And it now has an additional new final section covering several iconic New Pavis landmarks with full-color overhead map views and gazetteers. I am proud for instance to finally present Bob's Bisonburger Emporium as it has never been seen before! :)

As mentioned earlier, there will be a price increase on the pdf to reflect these additions, but not by a massive amount. Nonetheless, those who are poised to buy and want to save those few $ by leaping in before the update, the earliest I can see me being able to present the pdf to Fabian would be in about 10 days, as I am also pushing to finish Vol. 03 at the same time.

Nothing new left to write for Vol. 03. Just one scenario to finish that will likely only take 2 or 3 hrs, one other scenario to expand that could take a day or two, and some minor bits of editing/formatting. Technically it should be finished within the week.

Mutter, grumble...

Putting the extra material I wrote for Borderlands into the upcoming Vol. 03. Most of it was originally in Beyond Pavis, but I wrote a lot of that in a rush from simple notes.

This time around I feel impelled to expand and correct that material for the new release, and its taken a few days of work.

Totally worth it of course to upgrade the material and nearly done now, but anyway, mutter, grumble

[Big plus - still have volunteers helping with things like proofing and stats, which keeps me going!] :)

On 5/8/2023 at 7:41 PM, Qizilbashwoman said:

this i don't know, but if tiktok has taught me anything, it's that cows LOVE music

Is that the same as 'playing' with his food? Playing at his food?

On a more serious note, writing some Praxian bits and pieces today I answered a question I have had for many years, which may or may not be a common assumption already.

I was writing about Waha trails that go from oasis to oasis, and came to the conclusion that this is why (Doh!) the Praxians don't destroy the oases, and limit their predations to bad treatment and looting of food. They need the oasis people to keep doing what they do. Because if the oasis people failed as a race then ALL of the oases would fail, and the Waha Trails shamanic magic would then cease to work. So the people of Waha and their beasts would lose one of their primary survival mechanisms.

EDIT: Maybe not primary, but highly advantageous if the health of all oases are linked to the health of the oasis folk culture (which is hanging on by a thread anyway). I mention this not as an attempt at 'canon' ideas, but as potentially 'game interesting' ideas.

As mentioned before, we seem on track for the end of July jamboree:

Vol. 03 pdf release, Vol. 01 pdf final update and (hopefully) Vol. 01 POD release

As part of that, it looks highly likely that Vol. 01 is going to get an additional final section added that covers some commonly used New Pavis landmarks (map & index for each). A small price increase will accompany this (probably from 18.50 to 19.75)

So if anyone is poised to buy Vol. 01, you can take advantage of the small saving by buying it in the next couple of weeks, as it will take a minimum of 3 weeks before this all happens

As mentioned before, we seem on track for the end of July jamboree:

Vol. 03 pdf release, Vol. 01 pdf final update and (hopefully) Vol. 01 POD release

As part of that, it looks highly likely that Vol. 01 is going to get an additional final section added that covers some commonly used New Pavis landmarks (map & index for each). A small price increase will accompany this (probably from 18.50 to 19.75)

So if anyone is poised to buy Vol. 01, you can take advantage of the small saving by buying it in the next couple of weeks, as it will take a minimum of 3 weeks before this all happens

12 hours ago, John Biles said:

And I acted as editor to help clean it up!  It's a great read.

 

Yes indeed. Many thanks!! :)