Jason Farrell

On 4/25/2024 at 2:53 AM, Brian Duguid said:

I played Died in the Wool, a scenario by the late Braeden Harpool...

Late?  Oh, that's sad.  😞 

That's a charming little scenario, and it only came out a year or two ago...

Congrats on the release, Simon, and thanks for continuing to share your passion for RQ!

2 hours ago, g33k said:

There has been; just not a big all-social-media push.

Basically:  "Shipping problems.  We're not sure how long before they clear up, so we are not announcing a new ETA."

I think it's that "not sure how long... so not announcing" element, that makes Chaosium not feel like a big all-social-media push is the thing to do.

(honestly, I disagree with that final element -- I think they should have made a big a-s-m push; we are seeing this sort of sentiment in pretty much every social media venue)

Have they said ANY of that on Twitter/X?  Their feed is a bit too busy for me to check, but perhaps you follow them and recall.  As far as I know, their response has consisted of a couple of informal replies on this forum.

Edit: they did mention the delay on X back on 4/11.   Someone on the Discord helpfully tracked that down.

7 hours ago, soltakss said:

Thanks for posting this. The Book of Drastic Resolutions series of supplements is notoriously difficult to get hold of and almost certainly won't see print again, but it is worth mentioning. I refer to it all of the time.

I've never found the Chaos one, but have the others.  Maybe someday.

8 hours ago, smiorgan said:

Man, it's a gamebook. It's beautiful, it's artsy, it's a lot of fun, it's for the game we all love and take very seriously, but still ... It is a freaking gamebook we buy with our spare cash! It's not food trucks for refugees!

 

I hate replies like this.  I guarantee that at some point in your life, probably at many points, you've been anxious for/curious or impatient about something that didn't contribute to your survival.  Stop being holier than thou.

8 hours ago, Wheel Shield said:

I don't expect this post to change anything. It was just cathartic and self-clarifying. Plus, I like to define myself and/or not be mischaracterized. I tried my best not to make it personal or be overly sarcastic. I ask the same in return.

 

It probably won't surprise you to hear that I agree with all of this.   I'm fairly sure that your reference to lecturing people as a forum helper includes lecturing me. 🙂 

I have trouble being as diplomatic and thorough in covering bases as you were here, so I'm glad you said it for me in way that should only rankle particularly sensitive or defensive folks. 

The only other thing I'll say, with sincerity and regret, is that Chaosium's way of doing things has turned me off to the degree that I've deleted most of my bookmarks and try not to think about it or them these days, as it only raises my blood pressure.  I've been a fan of RQ for 35+ years.  I've also been a fan of TTRPGs for that long, and I've never seen a company this (in my opinion) mismanaged.

23 hours ago, AndreJarosch said:

The time and effort to spend on markteting (for emails, blogposts, forum postings, other Social Media, digital flyers, etc.) would be doubbled, but the sales wouldn´t. 

The PDF first and book later concept will work for REALLY important publications, but not for any single book. 

Of course it works.  Almost every RPG company does it that way.

3 hours ago, metcalph said:

I'm just happy at this point that Chaosium isn't taking your advice.  

That's extremely disingenuous considering that is one of three solutions Soccercalle wrote. 

3 hours ago, Mankcam said:

Looks lovely, but it would be great to know what the major additions are, given that many of us already have the original edition which we thought was current.

There are no major additions, but there's another thread on this forum that bullets the changes that were made.

1 hour ago, Darius West said:

What is coming after the Lunar Way?

I am hoping Chaos.

Solar.  Already mentioned.  And then Darkness.  No Chaos for a while.   Who knows about dates for any of it, really.  They are obviously in no hurry.

On 3/24/2024 at 2:03 PM, Runeblogger said:

Like this?

Where do you find your maps?  I quite like this one.

23 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Perhaps because they are just getting Arkham out the door??? It's not their only product line.

What does that have to do with shops having a date but not announcing one for direct customers?  Quoting only part of my post doesn't make the rest of it disappear.

17 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Actually, I think they've become quite good at providing the non-fuzzy Upcoming Release Date - at the point when they are ready. The trigger for that is I believe is when they've finished printing the books and have dispatched them to the warehouses. Only at that point do they have solid timeframes for shipping to, arrival at and stocking the warehouses. That seems to be when they are comfortable in preparing their marketing campaign and saying the release is expected in XXXX.

I find it hard to believe that bulk buyers (game/book stores) don't have an actual date at this point.  But for some reason, it's almost March and they haven't deigned to share it with the rest of us.

I've looked for reviews that address this, but haven't found any.  How does this edition compare to the previous edition?  My assumption at present is that it is largely the same material (down to the same exact writing), and as such don't plan to get the book.  I would love to hear that I'm wrong about that.  Anyone have both who could offer a brief comparison?

19 minutes ago, Techpriest said:

It has been released though? It's on the Well of Daliath. 

That's a rather obscure spot for the average fan.  It's not just there.  It's also in a blog entry from December, and was shown on Facebook.

21 minutes ago, metcalph said:

The only thing that makes me pause is that the cover piccie of the Lunar Book has not been released yet... 

The cover image was released in December.

Stunningly illustrated book, brimming with Gloranthan goodness.  Ideas per square inch ratio, as always with Austin's books, is very high. 

It would actually start at 30% + 5% (for her POW), but that is a lot lower than 60%.  Still seems the most likely.

Or it's a +1 to a characteristic point and thus fairly invisible. 

Or they just forgot to give her one.

Nice to see you back on the JC, Simon!

More complicated perhaps than some would want, but I don't think I've seen anything either in this thread or in the rules that make it harder or easier to detect Chaos depending on the concentration of said Chaos.  And that could be a thing for a house rule.

For example, the use of that ability could be penalized when trying to detect a single Chaos being (obviously a single Broo would be detectable by anyone, for other reasons, but not, say, a single Ogre who looks human).  It could also receive a bonus if you had a large number of Chaos creatures within the area.  Chaos cultists would need to be cautious about when and where they gathered together, which seems very logical and natural to me, but they wouldn't run nearly as much risk of being detected when they were alone. 

9 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

I'm not sure how that could work? The books definitely complement each other, but I don't see how DriveThru could handle a multi-author bundle.

 

DriveThru does a lot of multi-author bundles.   There are quite a few for Miskatonic Repository books.  I have no idea how one goes about it, but I do know it's possible.

On 2/3/2024 at 10:18 AM, M Helsdon said:

It would be enormously useful to me for you to share your review on the FaceBook Runequest group, or, if you are not a member, allow me to do so. I know Mark has several commissions ahead of mine in his work queue, so I won't be posting there about Ships & Shores for a week or three.

Please feel free.

I don't think the achievement that this book is can be overstated.  It is THE most impressive Runequest/Glorantha related book that has come out at least since the Guide to Glorantha.  And yes, I'm including any Chaosium publication (I would put Nochet by Harald Smith ahead of most of those as well).

Mark Smylie is one of the best suited artists ever for portraying the everyday people of Glorantha, and Katrin Dirim is one of the most apt at portraying the mythological aspects.  Both of them have dozens of pieces in this book, making it perhaps the best illustrated Gloranthan book.   I'm a fan of the author's Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass, but that isn't for everyone.  Packed with information, but a bit dry and technical in many places, not really a book to be read cover to cover.  This book is a detailed reference work as well, but also packed full with colorful narratives and personality, useful both as a reference and as entertainment. 

If you have any interest in Glorantha, owning a copy should be a priority. 

If you're not picking up this series, you have to ask yourself a question: do you even Runequest?

Argan Argar sounds appropriate to me!