MOB

We discuss how writing for the Jonstown Compendium is a way to "get your foot in the RPG industry door", in this PAX Online panel coming up later this month...

We discuss how writing for the Jonstown Compendium is a way to "get your foot in the RPG industry door", in this PAX Online panel coming up later this month...

Want to write for roleplaying games? Now is the perfect time to get your foot in the industry door with community content programs on DriveThruRPG. The DM’s Guild (Dungeons & Dragons), Miskatonic Repository (Call of Cthulhu), Jonstown Compendium (RuneQuest), Explorers’ Society (7th Sea), and other community content programs are an ideal proving ground for you to hone your writing and creating skills, publish your work, and build an audience. And come to the attention of major publishers like Wizards of the Coast and Chaosium! Wednesday September 16th - 19:30 AEST / 11:30 CEST / 02:30 PDT Watch on PAX 3 Twitch. In this workshop, bestselling DM’s Guild writer M.T. Black @MTBlack2567, DM’s Guild brand manager Lysa Penrose @lysapenrose, and Chaosium vice president Michael O’Brien @Chaosium_Inc take you through the process of creating and publishing community content on DriveThruRPG, and how this led to M.T. Black writing for WotC itself (Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus). https://online.paxsite.com/schedule/panel/get-a-foot-in-the-rpg-industry-door-with-community-content

https://online.paxsite.com/schedule/panel/chaosium-creators-series-runequest Join a cast of brand new players as they explore RuneQuest for the first time! The perfect actual play to learn more about the mythic setting of RuneQuest, and the unique (and brutal!) game mechanics. Tuesday September 15th - 19:45 AEST / 11:45 CEST / 02:45 PDT Watch on PAX Twitch2. Chaosium's director of organised play Todd Gardiner is Gamemaster for Noura Ibrahim @nouralogical, Panda TV @PandaTVoce, Becca Scott @thebeccascott, and Brian Holland @BWHolland.

https://online.paxsite.com/schedule/panel/chaosium-creators-series-call-of-cthulhu Chaosium’s James Coquillat takes our intrepid investigators through a story of horror and mystery in a scenario called Dead Light at PAX Online. Taking place on a rural road in 1920s Arkham, they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when are the dark and lonesome backwoods of Massachusetts ever the right place? Saturday September 19th - 18:00 AEST / 10:00 CEST / 01:00 PDT Watch on PAX Twitch. With Investigators B. Dave Walters @BDaveWalters, Becca Scott @thebeccascott, Noura Ibrahim @nouralogical, and Holly Conrad @HollyConrad. James Coquillat @robopelican is Keeper of Arcane Secrets.

Whoah... that needs to go in @scott-martin's Your Dumbest Theory thread. You no doubt get by now that I'm saying this as a compliment.

A relic from The Chaosium archives... Rick came across the original layout board for page 134 of 1990's 'Cthulhu Casebook'. The Star Elder Sign – which first appeared as the 'Arcane Symbol' in Call of Cthulhu 2nd edition (1983) – is literally cut and pasted in, with glue. Kids, that's how layout was done back in those days...

https://online.paxsite.com/schedule/panel/chaosium-creators-series-7th-sea Learn to play a games of swashbuckling adventure on the high seas at PAX Online! Meet malicious villains, daring heroes, and a bakery. The I Speak Giant crew is run through the rules by the game’s creator, John Wick! Friday September 18th - 19:15 AEST / 11:15 CEST / 02:15 PDT Watch on PAX Twitch. With John Wick, and I Speak Giant's Zac Naoum, Joel Rennie, Felicia Anne, Elyssa Grant, and Luke Lancaster

Thanks Nick. The exception to the "ask first" rule about the maps is the Argan Argar Atlas. That has been made available for free, and Jonstown Compendium creators can use and modify those maps (e.g. add new locations, or a trail, or X marks the spot or whatever) in their own creations without further permission needed.

Kudos to @Nick Brooke for bringing this almost 30 year old map back to glorious, radiant light! And kudos to the much maligned (including by me) Dave Dobyski for the original cartography. It was his misfortune to have been hired as a graphic artist - something his work in Sun County and other products shows he was perfectly capable at - but then forced by Avalon Hill to do the interior art for a lot of the RQ3 books, which he demonstrably was not. Fortunately, by showing off some Gloranthan concept art by actually competent artists, particularly Mark Baldwin, I got an assurance from Avalon Hill that Dave D would be kept well away from doing any actual art in Sun County. And then, even better, Ken Rolston came on board as Rune Czar, agreed 100%, and made sure that happened. [As Mark B's concept art didn't end up in Avalon Hill's final published version of Sun County, it's a delight that his illustrations now grace in the newest iteration of Sun County adventures, Jonathan Webb's 'Sandheart' series - please do take a look over in the Jonstown Compendium.]

Title of thread changed to something less tendentious. Chaosium editors are active and responsive on these forums.

Some advice posted in the Jonstown Compendium Creator's Group, and worth reiterating here too: Folks, please acquaint yourself with the Jonstown Compendium Guidelines before publishing your project. In particular, the section on what is and is not permitted. Creators can reference information in the approved rulebooks and products. But please refrain from copying directly (an exception to this is monster stats). In general, rather than quote at length from a published work, refer the reader to that work with the appropriate page number (that way we get to sell some books too😎). Note that work-in-progress or drafts that Chaosium team members share on Facebook or in forums are *not* covered here. They haven't been published yet. If you want to use or reference such material you need to ask first. Just like you would need to ask anyone else about using their original material. Jonstown Compendium creators may freely use the maps in the Argan Argar Atlas. If you want to use maps from elsewhere (or art), ensure that you have clear permission to do so and credit the artist or source. https://support.drivethrurpg.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036896591-Jonstown-Compendium-Content-Guidelines

Back in 2013 I joined @Andrew Bean on one of his "international man of mystery" trips to Lebanon, and we travelled high up into the Mount Lebanon Range to see the last remaining cedars at the Cedars of God Reserve, a World Heritage site. These trees have been harvested by everyone from the Phoenicians through to the Ottoman Turks. The stone wall surrounding the reserve was paid for by Queen Victoria, and is designed to keep goats out. Although this thread is in danger of turning into MOB's Middle Eastern travelogue, I am going to share another pic: From a trip to Jordan in 2012, this is the family at Umm Qays, checking out the ruins of ancient Gadara (of "My name is Legion" Gadarene swine fame, c.f. Matthew 8:28). Someone was eating bacon at the time, given Jesus apparently drove out evil spirits into a herd of two thousand of them, which handily happened to be on a nearby hillside. The pigs then went and drowned in the Sea Galilee, which you can see in the distance.

Miskatonic Repository Con is a two-day virtual convention, organised by fans, celebrating the Miskatonic Repository, Chaosium's community content platform for Call of Cthulhu on DriveThruRPG. With Miskatonic Repository creators hailing from all parts of the world, the Convention is scheduled to run around the clock throughout the weekend of October 17-18. Chaosium’s global community of players have a chance to see the best that Chaosium’s community creators have to offer. Keepers from the Cult of Chaos will be running gaming sessions, and Repository creators themselves can playtest their own scenarios.The Convention will also feature panels discussing writing and publishing on the Miskatonic Repository. Featured panels include Publishing on the Miskatonic Repository and Writing for the Miskatonic Repository, with Chaosium's Mike Mason and Michael O'Brien, and Miskatonic Repository authors Jon Hook and Marek Golonka. Submissions to run events at the convention are being accepted now (closes September 27). Player sign-ups open at the end of September. For more information about the event, check out the Miskatonic Repository Con Facebook page, or contact the organisers by email: MiskatonicRepositoryCon@gmail.com.

Yep, that's exactly what Tin Compasses point to, as described in Plunder. (Edit: Checking my copy of Plunder, tin compasses actually point away from the centre of the world, but the effect is the same. Mytho-metallurgy is a real science in Glorantha.)

Check out "The Oceans" chapter of the Guide, especially the Ships of Glorantha section (p.466-67, Vol 2). The Holy Country's navy is famed for its triremes, but since the Opening their most common merchant ship is a flat-bottomed tub with square sails. With those sailors from Nochet go everywhere, even as far as Garguna.

Behind this door - labelled "Non Muslims" - at my local supermarket in Abu Dhabi was a veritable pork wonderland! That's my mate (and fellow pork/Glorantha enthusiast) Peter Tracy. Sorry the camera lens was fogged up - it was the middle of the Arabian Gulf summer, and a very humid day, and we had just been to see... ...the Sun Dome Temple, which I could see across the water from my house. That's Pete giving the traditional Yelmalio greeting "YO".

Here's Rick, showing off the printer's proofs of the new MALLEUS MONSTRORUM on video:

Like the Ingareens, the neighboring Esvularing tribe were once sorcerous atheists too, actively supporting the construction of the Machine God Zistor. But for them, the spectacular fall of the Clanking City led to a henotheistic revelation. Rather than take on the Brithini way, the Esvularings embraced the Aeolian variation of Malkionism, which holds that the Orlanthi gods are but emanations of the Invisible God.

As stated earlier in the thread: The Mirrorsea, also known as Choralinthor Sea, has been renowned since legendary times for its tranquility. It is broad, relatively shallow (10-30 meters), well-lit and warm, abundant with marine life. The boats that ply the Mirrorsea are generally flat-bottomed and powered by oars, for the air above the Mirrorsea is remarkably stable too, quite unsuitable for sail. Though the barge captains may bemoan the necessity and expense of oarsmen, they are also grateful that only in the Storm season, when the Orlanth winds whip down from the Stormwalk mountains and churn the waves, is the Mirrorsea Bay hazardous to boat travel. For the rest of the year they may ply it in safety.

Rick got the printer's proofs for the Malleus Monstrorum slipcase set today. They look **so good**, we're going to share a closer look in a video soon... [And remember, if you get the Malleus Monstrorum in PDF now you get the full cost of the PDF off the physical slipcase set in October...]

Yes. - printed in the USA.

The Mirrorsea was open, yes.

As I said over on a thread about the Port of Nochet: The Holy Country is a collection of littoral cultures (per Colin McEvedy*) co-existing around a vast, calm, and easily-traversed bay. Despite the Closing, which effectively cut off open ocean travel further afield, Belintar's peace turned the Choralinthor Sea into a thriving eco-sphere built around the ease of moving things by water. * he has a fascinating discussion about this concept in his Penguin Atlas of Ancient History

You may have caught Becca Scott in the Keeper's chair earlier this month, playing a scenario from 'Doors to Darkness' with the Good Time Society [https://bit.ly/34Fgkix]. Here she is giving an overview of how the Call of Cthulhu rules work - over to you Becca....