MOB

There is a Glorantha G+ page too! https://plus.google.com/u/1/communities/102577244714186267235?cfem=1

...and yesterday Jason became the 3000th member of the Chaosium G+ community! Feel free to join us there if you haven't already: https://plus.google.com/u/1/communities/101471607162118095665?cfem=1

Set the wrong tone for RQ3 supplements from the go-get. Because they were so over-priced, remaindered supplements 1 & 2 still frequently appear in auctions "mint" and "in the shrink", most recently at this con: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-XIxCePUUKF4/V7nhQ4YkeRI/AAAAAAAADpg/TlCCqOTYqXAk1CLFbPZ9N6zt6burgNEDwCL0B/w827-h465-no/16%2B-%2B1

Munchkin Land prints and plays The Gods War. "It's like RISK with Gods" is a good summary of their reactions...

It remains an impressive feat what RQ2 managed to rather elegantly present in just 120 odd pages...

Yep, that will go into the Holy Country campaign book we're putting together. I think we mentioned in the podcast that the Nochet stuff grew so big, it will be a book of its own to start with. Background and scenarios.

In fact, Lindybeige, the guy who created the video above has an entertainingly eclectic Youtube channel, with lots of practical stuff about ancient and medieval warfare. Well worth a look! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pgQfOXRsp4UKrI8q0zjXQ

This video is instructive:

There is a variety of writers involved, so no doubt there will be a variety of styles. Editorially, I don't think we'll be going back to the 'passive voice' style of RQ2 though. They key is we intend to have lots of new and exciting ready-to-play scenario material available from the go-get, including one-shots and campaigns. Whether RQ3 was liked or not, most people here seem to agree that was an important factor in the commercial failure of the RuneQuest 3 line.

Ah, which I note was done in the very next reply in the thread. Then the material from RQ3 would need to be licensed, but as noted, we're happy to do that. It's up to the other authors if they want their stuff to still come out as MW material.

Yes Yes. Chaosium will continue selling MW releases that have already been published including the core rules etc, until they sell out (which will not be any time soon). We just won't be releasing anything else new for the line. But, as noted in the announcement, we are fine with stuff coming out as a fan work or under license by another publisher if there is such interest. Sorry, I don't know off-hand. As noted, we have written to the various authors we are aware were working on speculative MW material advising them what the state of play is. I'm sure someone here will be able to point out who the author is.

Let this tempt you further, good news about European shipping: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816687860/the-gods-war/posts/1658135

Sorry, we won't be bringing out any more Magic World stuff under the Chaosium logo. But, as we have noted, we have no problem with the Chronicler Companion material or other MW stuff that was in the works coming out under license, whether as a fan work or by another publisher. We have written to the various authors we are aware were working on speculative MW material advising them about this.

Note, Ben was brought on to help manage the Hayward office/warehouse, not as line editor for MW. While he happily took on the mantle of BRP/MW editor while he was there, 99% of his and the rest of the team’s energy was focused on sorting out the kickstarters, office problems, finances, and the warehouse. After the Hayward warehouse was closed we were happy for Ben to stay involved with Chaosium, but no one could argue a MW-led recovery would save the company. (In fact MW sales were actually not enough even to pay for the minimal costs the old Chaosium invested in the line - although we know the setting has its passionate fans, that passion never translated into sales figures.) We teed up with Sandy for Ben to be the editor of the new "Tales of Sandy Petersen" line of books for Call of Cthulhu ("The Derelict" etc) if Ben was interested. However Ben said he had other non-Chaosium stuff he wanted to go on to and declined the offer (and so Mike Mason is now looking after that project.)

Now a blog post on Chaosium.com: http://www.chaosium.com/blog/mythic-iceland-2nd-edition-manuscript-completed/

We are still working on a new fan policy for Chaosium, along with submissions and licensing guidelines. They will be similar to the policies Moon Design had on glorantha.com, which seemed to work well for everyone.

While cognizant of its flaws, I have a particular fondness for RQ3 given that my own material (Sun County, etc) was first published under those rules, and I recall the creative collaboration at the time with Ken Rolston etc with great affection. To understand why RQ was a commercial failure, you cannot simply disregard what were clearly released as the first two RQ3 "supplements" (they're even numbered that way). Fan reaction to them was highly negative to the point of incredulity - not only were they incredibly expensive, they followed on from the rules themselves which had not been well-received due to the premium cost and poor physical production quality. People were hanging out for the next Pavis or Borderlands; all they got was a succession of boxes with a pad in them. Stunts like this set a tone of mistrust and apprehension in the fan base which never went away and was compounded by the succession of reprints instead of new material. Again, AH might have produced a whole lot of product in that period, but to belabour the point I was making, if you wanted to play scenarios in Glorantha there was nothing new for eight years. Yes, I like to think that too. But they came out too late to save RQ3. Imagine if this sequence had appeared in the previous eight years? Greg has spoken many times of the remorse of getting into bed with Avalon Hill, almost from the go-get. Avalon Hill brazenly failed to live up to their end of the licensing arrangement, which is well-documented. AH's marketing and production "expertise" was supposed to boost RuneQuest's stocks even higher, but the commercial failure of RQ almost brought down Chaosium as a company. Greg regrets not walking when the proofs of the new rules came out without the authors' names on the cover (as stipulated in the contract). AH told him suck it up or walk, and the relationship only got worse. Well, I clearly haven't made a case that convinces you. But objectively RuneQuest in 2016 isn't spoken of in the same breath as DnD is it? Which returns full circle to my original comment, that we seek to ensure the new edition of RQ will have plenty of new Gloranthan scenario material for people to play from the go-get, instead of having to wait eight years as happened with RQ3.

All I said was that it took Avalon Hill eight years to get round to producing any new Glorantha scenario material for RuneQuest, when they published my supplement Sun County. Yes, some of the scenario material they produced in the interim (e.g. Vikings, Land of Ninja) was excellent, it just wasn't Gloranthan. I disagree and am comfortable with the assertion Avalon Hill's stewardship of RuneQuest almost "killed the game". Remember, before they took it on RuneQuest was riding high crtically and commercially, second only DnD in sales. The Avalon Hill edition however was a commercial failure. The reasons why were cogently outlined in a memo to Avalon Hill itself long, long ago. This report ultimately helped spur the so-called "RuneQuest Renaissance" under Ken Rolston, which arrested the decline for a short while. The memo was later summarized into an article for Tales of the Reaching Moon, which if anyone is interested can be read here: http://rpgreview.net/mob/ruinedquest.html

I'm currently writing an introductory RQ scenario with Ken Rolston. Neither of us have ever written for HeroQuest.

It was me. And I stand by that. That was the point being made. No new scenarios - actual stuff to play in Glorantha - until Sun County came out eight years after RQ3 was released.

Yes, we are conscious that the game needs actual material to play. As mentioned in the Gen Con seminar, a big problem with RQ3 was that the first scenario material for Glorantha that wasn't a reprint did not appear for some eight years after the release of the new edition (Sun County, 1992). We will have new scenarios from the go-get for new RQ.

Unfortunately, a MW-led recovery was not going to save Chaosium, and we had to divert our attention and resources to our core lines (Call of Cthulhu, Glorantha) to get the company back on its feet. But, as noted in the announcement, we'll keeping selling the existing MW stuff on chaosium.com and are happy to see licensed or fan MW material coming out.

Unfortunately, a MW-led recovery was not going to save Chaosium, and we had to divert our attention and resources to our core lines (Call of Cthulhu, Glorantha) to get the company back on its feet. But, as noted in the announcement, we'll keeping selling the existing MW stuff on chaosium.com and are happy to see licensed or fan MW material coming out. (Although he wouldn't have been working on MW, last September after the Hayward warehouse was closed we teed up with Sandy for Ben to be the editor of the new "Tales of Sandy Petersen" line of books for Call of Cthulhu ("The Derelict" etc) if he was interested. However Ben said he had other non-Chaosium stuff he wanted to go on to, and so Mike Mason is now looking after that project.)

Geekdad.com reviews The Gods War: "a brilliant and immersive strategy game with a rich and textured lore... given the look and feel of the Cthulhu Wars miniatures these will be well worth the price of the game." https://geekdad.com/2016/08/glorantha-the-gods-war

The Gods War Kickstarter finally went live earlier today and funded within the hour! Check it out here: http://bit.ly/godswarks