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Nick Brooke

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Everything posted by Nick Brooke

  1. Index updated: The unproduced script of a 1989 adaptation by hack author Preston Shrader of the rediscovered Greek tragedy Boldhome (which bears a remarkable similarity to a RuneQuest scenario: go figure!). Name-dropping asides throughout the supporting material give new insights into the history of 20th century dramas (theatrical, filmed and televisual) inspired by Gloranthan sources found in the Vatican Apostolic Archive and elsewhere. The original stage play concerns a reunion and doomed romance between two members of the Orlanthi resistance; this adaptation is a police procedural focusing instead on the bungling Boldhome City Guard. The critics say: "Makes Six Seasons in Sartar look like an epic." (70 pages for $5.95) And I’ll hide this bit behind a spoiler warning, so please don’t read it unless you’re already thinking of buying the scenario as it’ll take away some of the joy of discovery through play: Cheers, Nick
  2. Here in the UK, retail prices have increased by about 160% since Sun County came out back in 1992. It was $18.95 back then, so it'd probably set you back $50 or so nowadays, and that's before any premium for scarcity value. Just putting things in context. There is no need for anyone to "helm a project" or "organise people to do layout." The Chaosium moves at its own ineluctable speed.
  3. Updated again: Boldhome Blues: The Scripts of Preston Shrader, by Roy Duffy. The unproduced script of a 1989 adaptation by hack author Preston Shrader of the rediscovered Greek tragedy Boldhome (which bears a remarkable similarity to a RuneQuest scenario: go figure!). Name-dropping asides throughout the supporting material give new insights into the history of 20th century dramas (theatrical, filmed and televisual) inspired by Gloranthan sources found in the Vatican Apostolic Archive and elsewhere. The original stage play concerns a reunion and doomed romance between two members of the Orlanthi resistance; this adaptation is a police procedural focusing instead on the bungling Boldhome City Guard. The critics say: "Makes Six Seasons in Sartar look like an epic." (70 pages for $5.95)
  4. Or, of course, this handy little thing: Tables of Contents - Pavis, Big Rubble & River of Cradles
  5. Here are the Jonstown Compendium “Pavis & Big Rubble Companion” books to date: New Pavis - City on the Edge of Forever Old Pavis - The City that Time Forgot Pavis County & Beyond - Secrets of the Borderlands Old Pavis II - The Good, the Bad and the Rowdy They are all available in hardcover print-on-demand and digital formats. I understand the imminent next release is a “Strangers in Prax Companion”, and @Ian A. Thomson has talked about various future planned volumes inc. stuff set back in the Second Age, further up the Zola Fel river, advancing the big Plot, etc.
  6. We’re heading way off the reservation, lads: please start a new thread if you want to gawp at boobies.
  7. Updated again with news of two new print releases: Harald Smith’s Nochet: Adventurer’s Guide and Ian Thomson’s Pavis & Big Rubble Companion, Volume 4: The Good, the Bad and the Rowdy. Plus a bunch of other recent stuff, inc. Vrok Eye Views 2, Skeletons, The Bully Bird and more. The best-seller charts at the back have been updated to cover the last three months’ sales figures, from 16 December 2023 to 15 March 2024.
  8. So in case anyone’s interested, I made the individual map sections by adding a dozen or so opaque white masking layers on top of the original map in Photoshop, naming each for a quarter of the city (or whatever), and having only one of them set to be visible (at less than 100% opacity, so the map below shows through) at any time. Each section was then made by “erasing” the white bits from part of a layer, letting selected bits of the map underneath show through. At the edge of the mask, limited use of transparency meant the map edges “faded away” onto the page. When each layer was done, I cranked its opacity back up to 100%. It was pretty obvious, worked well, and meant Simon could make late changes to the underlying map without me needing to redraw all of the extracts every time (because the shapes of the masks stayed the same: it’s just some of the details showing through them that might change).
  9. @Crel is correct: the poster maps of Furthest and Tarsh came first, and the book followed after because -- as @blackyinkin is well aware -- maps don't sell. So, unsurprisingly, we would recommend GMs invest in the Poster Maps from Simon Bray's Redbubble store before running a campaign set in Furthest or Lunar Tarsh. If that's not an option (because you play on a VTT?), the digital edition comes bundled with a 300 DPI high-resolution PDF map pack that you can download and zoom in on to your heart's content, or print out at home (perhaps tiled?) at absurd sizes. If you're after a poster print, do note that versions available from RedBubble will be better quality: the original map they're created from is crazy big, over half a gigabyte and 7,156 x 10,120 pixels! The Furthest Map Pack contains the maps of Furthest and its Sewers, Tarsh and its Districts & Clans, the New Market, and the sample city block, and weighs in at 54 MB (the book itself is 83 MB). Tech specs: the digital edition is produced at the standard digital resolution, 144 DPI; the print edition is 300 DPI throughout, inc. back cover map (one page, always premium quality) and the two-page spreads inside the book (which could be printed in standard or premium colour, depending which version you bought). Premium colour print is, unsurprisingly, crisper than (cheap) standard colour, but standard colour is perfectly serviceable. There isn't likely to be a future edition (or large format / easy reading reprint), so I suggest you keep your magnifying glass handy, buy a poster map, or pick up the digital edition as a companion. The POD editions of some Chaosium RuneQuest Classics have the same "issue" in spades (the poster maps from the boxed sets have been reduced to fit onto US Letter pages; you can buy separate poster prints from RedBubble if you want more legible, attractive versions). So I think we're in good company.
  10. And there are RQ stats for Jar-eel plus a memorable encounter in Drew Montgomery's The Seven Tailed Wolf. Highly recommended, and currently 20% off in the GM's Day Sale at DriveThruRPG!
  11. She's a playable character in Crimson King, just putting that out there.
  12. Rivers of London is simplest. Call of Cthulhu is more complex, with some neat tricks that you won’t find in BRP itself. BRP is a massive pick-and-mix buffet you can use to roll your own RPG. Jason Durall, who wrote BRP, has a good post on this site explaining why he didn’t bring various CoC 7e innovations into that system. That’ll help you understand the differences. One minute, I’ll try to find it for you…
  13. It’s phenomenal, Rick. I’m amazed at how much information you’ve crammed into it. (And to be honest, sometimes I think I might stop cataloguing the Jonstown Compendium stuff in the hope it would force you to step up.)
  14. An interesting mythic nuance: those Storm Age migrations/invasions usually swooped along the lines of mountain ranges, as Orlanthi armies and gods back then used to fly around smiting their foes. Migrations since Time began generally follow more traditional routes on foot, e.g. travelling around mountains or crossing them at passes (but not always: see Alakoring Dragonbreaker or the First Age wars in Fronela for counter-examples). And this, O Best Beloved, is why we find Storm-worshipping barbarians on either side of the Rockwood Mountains.
  15. If I understand it correctly, the question is: “Why don’t Friendly Local Game Stores share perfect information about when their distributors will be able to order and deliver product from Chaosium’s warehouses, when the Chaosium itself doesn’t yet know when those products will reach those warehouses?” But that’s obviously a silly question, so I must be missing some nuance. FLGSs and online retailers make up release dates all the time. They’re often bollocks. You can believe them or not - it’s a free country - but they definitely didn’t come from Chaosium.
  16. Why so many Klingon Battlecruiser variants?
  17. I've reviewed your book (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐), and added it to the Jonstown Compendium Index: A second collection of plunder for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. All of these treasures originated in the fabled Second Age, being creations of the sorcerous Middle Sea Empire, the draconic Empire of the Wyrms Friends, or stranger powers yet: a handful even come from distant Pamaltela. An opening chapter has rules allowing any adventurer to swear mighty vows and gain powerful boons, effectively creating their own gifts and geases or heroquest rewards. After that are thirty new magic items, each described using the classic Plunder format. Every item is woven into Gloranthan myth and history: many are unique (e.g. Alakoring’s sword Dragonbreaker; Tolat’s Red Sword of Victory), some are more common (potions of Liquid Hate, brewed from distilled tears; Mythographic Wheels, running permutations of mythology as they spin), others can vary in power (did you merely inhale the breath of a True Dragon, or the greater Inner Breath of Arangorf?), and most bring as many potential complications as advantages to their users. Reading this collection provides many valuable insights into the wonders of the lost Second Age, the abuses of the God Learners and the perils of Draconic self-mutilation. The book is beautifully illustrated throughout, comparable to Chaosium’s own publications; one picture of the Machine God Zistor is a work in progress sketch, and I can’t wait to see it finished!
  18. Updated again: Treasures of Glorantha, Volume Two: Relics of the Second Age, by Austin Conrad & Friends. A second collection of plunder for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. All of these treasures originated in the fabled Second Age, being creations of the sorcerous Middle Sea Empire, the draconic Empire of the Wyrms Friends, or stranger powers yet: a handful even come from distant Pamaltela. An opening chapter has rules allowing any adventurer to swear mighty vows and gain powerful boons, effectively creating their own gifts and geases or heroquest rewards. After that are thirty new magic items, each described using the classic Plunder format. Every item is woven into Gloranthan myth and history: many are unique (e.g. Alakoring’s sword Dragonbreaker; Tolat’s Red Sword of Victory), some are more common (potions of Liquid Hate, brewed from distilled tears; Mythographic Wheels, running permutations of mythology as they spin), others can vary in power (did you merely inhale the breath of a True Dragon, or the greater Inner Breath of Arangorf?), and most bring as many potential complications as advantages to their users. Reading this collection provides many valuable insights into the wonders of the lost Second Age, the abuses of the God Learners and the perils of Draconic self-mutilation. The book is beautifully illustrated throughout, comparable to Chaosium’s own publications; one picture of the Machine God Zistor is a work in progress sketch, and I can’t wait to see it finished! 71 pages for $19.95 (PDF).
  19. Black stars, darker than the surrounding Darkness.
  20. Greg used to call this “heroforming,” didn’t he? Great Khans do it, Masks of Moonson do it, and I’m sure there are plenty of others.
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