Nick Brooke

Decades ago, we used to chat about the 7MQ and the RGQ (Seven Mothers’ Quest; Red Goddess’s Quest) on various RuneQuest and Chaosium Dailies and Digests: those might be useful search terms. My good friend Chris Gidlow ran a freeform called “The Hunt for Red Storm Season” back in the nineties, which was ostensibly about the military-industrial complex’s version of the Kalikos Icebreaker HeroQuest (you can see the amateur version in that gorgeous Guide illustration). The player characters were the rulers of the Lunar Empire. And our 50-player freeform “Reaching Moon Megacorp’s Life of Moonson” was all about the Lunar New Year Ritual and/or the heroquest undertaken by each Red Emperor, depending on your perspective. Loads more on my website, link in profile (I hope).

Related: Chris Gidlow's Prophecy of the Dark Emperor, also from Life of Moonson (by way of Argrath's Saga). This was at the heart of a hunt-the-baby plot which involved several of the freeform's characters including Yolanela and Jar-eel. (Us freeform authors believed that Nurture > Nature when it comes to raising Antichrists, but were willing to go with the flow if the players came up with anything sufficiently hilarious) Cheers, Nick

That's a brilliant double-entendre. Congratulations!

When I had Yolanela musing, "And not the first time a spurned lover has found her husband in the North. I wonder how Moonson will greet my children, when they come to claim their birthright..." I was actually thinking of Thed and Ragnaglar, whose child was Wakboth the Devil. "The Greater Darkness" myth in King of Sartar reads (p.66 of the current edition): While I'm thinking about her, here's Yolanela's character sheet from Life of Moonson - it's as cheesy as anything, but you might like her sidebar on the Witch Cult of Spol. http://etyries.albionsoft.com/etyries.com/moonson/yolanela.html (One of my career highlights as a website owner was when someone complained, "You've published the wrong character sheet: that's not Yolanela.") Cheers, Nick

BTW, the Oronin Valley writeup in Tales #16 should be pretty much identical to this version from my website: http://etyries.albionsoft.com/etyries.com/carmania/oronin.html Cheers, Nick

"The Fall of Whitewall" is a reference to issue #4 of John Castellucci's RuneQuest Adventures fanzine.

Oh, it would probably make sense to attach Ian Thomson's scenario as well. Here's the version he made freely available via his ancient website: I don't own the Pavis Companions any more (they found a good home!), so I can't compare against the printed version. Cheers, Nick glamour.rtf

In the scenario, Duke Raus is travelling to Prax House: But to get there, he starts by filling in paperwork at the Temple of Intriplicatos: The main public areas he'll have to pass through are: That should cover the essentials. Ian either describes other locations in detail or else includes them as throwaway references that aren't key to the scenario. All these descriptions were by Mike Hagen and Chris Gidlow from the "Gazeteer of Glamour," a nine-page article at the heart of the Rough Guide to Glamour, our 40-page background booklet for players in Reaching Moon Megacorp's fifty-player freeform, Life of Moonson. Cheers, Nick

Some text is referenced in Ian's scenario. Here's the first two paragraphs on p.3 of the Rough Guide to Glamour, by Chris Gidlow, from his article Glamour: The First Inspiration of Moonson: Here's the left-hand column from p.4: And here is the whole description of the City of Dreams, from p.5:

Here are the Map and View of Glamour by Julie Hudson Gidlow, scanned from our Rough Guide to Glamour. The location numbers on Ian's scenario should match up. These days, Jeff and I think the City of Dreams is more likely to be a circular area within the city of Glamour, rather than the "other half" of a circular Moon Rune: see crude attached sketch. (IP = Imperial Palace; CoD = City of Dreams; HW = Citadel of Halfway; OG = Outer Glamour; 4B = Gate of Four Beasts)

Hi, Puckohue: I can't help with copies (try eBay?), but is there anything else you'd like to know about the "Rough Guide to Glamour"? Cheers, Nick

Typo: my original submitted text read “... and big nets hanging up everywhere.” Cheers, Nick

“Glimpses”? ITYM “careful parsing.” Greg shared his early Mss. with me. I used whatever I could.

If you're interested in the shift from gold to silver coinage between Constantine and Charlemagne, you could check out Henri Pirenne, "Mohammed and Charlemagne" (1935). Pirenne makes a pretty solid case that following the collapse of the Western Empire and the rise of Islam, gold supplies dried up, gold stocks languished in royal and church treasuries, and the introduction of reliable minted silver coinage under Charlemagne was what kickstarted the mediaeval economy: these were coins everyday folk could actually use, rather than massive economic status-symbols mostly used for transfers between treasuries. An economy based on silver coinage that's in circulation is healthier than an economy based on stagnant, scarce gold. (Recovering Dark Age historian, apologies for the non-Gloranthan content)

I've posted quite a long personal note on Facebook: I hope this link works for you.

Collaborating with Greg was always a crazy creative fermentation process. You'd think you had something nailed down, and then "whoosh!" something you didn't predict would come fizzing up where you least expected it. But the flavours! Oh, boy, they made the whole painful process worth while. He was generous to a fault, and I will miss him more than I can say. Shamans tell us stories about what happens in other worlds, and - through sympathetic knowledge, and perhaps a little sleight of hand - they help to cure us of our ills. Greg was a true Shaman.

I'd suggest adding Rune Fixes (or any more up to date FAQ/errata document) and a one-page printable version of the Apple Lane map on p.70-71 of the Adventure Book as separate downloads in this bundle.

Clearwine Map (separate download): a typo corrected in the book is still present in the downloaded version ("17. Hero's Trial" s/be "Trail"), and the numbering is wrong in both versions.

Adventure Book, page 41: now you've personalised the boss's mount's name, you should call the mounts on this page "Demi-bird One" & "Demi-bird Two," to match their riders "Beaked Dragonewt One" & "Beaked Dragonewt Two". (They are currently numbered "Two" and "Three").

Adventure Book, map of Clearwine p.32-33: the numbering scheme doesn't match the text on pages 34-36, which is very confusing. Either rearrange the text or else renumber the map, please. If you'd like me to set out in detail what's wrong, please advise.

Adventure Book, p.21 - both Kolmhy and Kangharl are shown as Tribal King (1615-1625) on the same row of the chart. For Kolmhy, this is an error: he isn't in the Colymar Kings List on pages 11-12. Also, Kallai's father is shown as Kolmhy the Priest on p.21 but named as "Korlmhy the Priest" (twice) on p.12. Stick to one version of the name. Also, it's very likely that Kangharl's brother was named after his grandfather, the famous Korlmhy the Priest, and should therefore also be a Korlmhy.

For various reasons I was chatting about the Young Elementals with Greg Stafford many moons ago (back when HeroQuest 1st ed was the cool new game in town), and we posited that to make them weird, a Lunar elementalist would probably be able to work pretty much interchangeably with elementals of spirit, divine and sorcerous origin (and this was when those were all strange distinct species, for some nonsensical Three Worlds related reason that nobody bothers with any more). So I'd go with Rune spells, and if anyone tells you that's wrong, poke them in the eye with a sharp stick.

Per "Wyrms Footnotes," the sewers of Furthest are an appropriate venue for Gloranthan dungeon-bashing, as seen in Chris Gidlow's "Young Thrax" freeform and the Unspoken Word's "Tarsh in Flames" fanzine. Here are some background notes I cobbled together. THE SEWERS OF FURTHEST History The City of Furthest’s sewer network began as a canal which drained the marshlands of the Oslir on which the planned Lunar city was built; as the city grew, this filled with waste from the growing population making the city increasingly unwholesome. Eventually, in the reign of King Phargentes, the canal was dug deeper and bricked over to prevent foul Air from rendering the city uninhabitable, and the modern sewers of Furthest were born: a grandiose civil engineering feat which serves to drain the marsh, tame storm-water surges, and keep the city and its streets clean and fresh. Construction The main construction material is the ubiquitous red bricks, sun-baked or fire-hardened, formed from the clays of Tarsh; building techniques are modelled on those of Dara Happan cities, benefiting from Carmanian and Sylilan innovations and the planned nature of Lunar Furthest. The principal channel of the Furthest sewer system is the Cloaca Maxima, a barrel-vaulted (ie: semi-cylindrical) storm sewer about ten feet across, fed by smaller branching side channels. It runs beneath the central east-west street of the city, and empties into the Oslir River; when Rockwood Mountains’ snowcaps melt each Sea Season and the river rises, a backwash of fresh river water flows into the Cloaca (this is celebrated as the Holy Day of the Cleansing Oslira cult). The most obvious “official” entrances to the sewer system are the Temple of Cleansing Oslira in the centre of Furthest, and the outflow into the reinforced Oslir embankment. There are, of course, others: private, secret and accidental. Side channels can be accessed from streets or basements, and occasionally interconnect with other underground features such as the catacombs, sangueducts, basements of the Royal Palace, etc. The Cloaca Maxima has a walkway either side of the main channel high enough for a man to walk upright. To traverse any of the side channels, you would have to wade in foul water: this can be knee-high in Fire or Earth Season, but is usually waist-high from Dark Season through Sea Season, with dangerous surges when Orlanth rages overhead in Storm Season or the mighty Oslir floods each Sea Season. (The Cult of the Seven Mothers asserts that both storms and floods have abated since the construction of the Reaching Moon Temple, now that Lunar Tarsh benefits from the stability and balance of the Glowline; pre-Lunar records are patchy, but give some credence to these tales). [INSERT NIFTY CROSS-SECTION DIAGRAM] Function The sewer system is fed by streams (both above-ground and underground, some of them diverted), by waste-water from the public bath-houses, and by storm-water drains in the city streets: Lunar Tarsh has few of the aqueducts seen in the Empire’s heartlands, and there are no Mostali hydraulic pumps or other such anachronisms. Sewage enters via steeply sloping or vertical terracotta pipes (mass-produced locally), which connect the latrines found in the more luxurious private homes and public insula blocks to the system. These pipes are flushed by emptying water into them from rooftop rainwater tanks or pails filled from street fountains. Solid waste falls into cesspools, usually ten feet deep, where several pipes debouch: these are periodically excavated by the Earth cults for use as a rich fertiliser (usually in early Earth Season, when the water level is lowest), and reinforced lest they collapse. Liquid waste is washed away through the channels of the sewer system, eventually flowing (untreated, obviously) into the Cloaca Maxima and thence, the Oslir. Dangers and Traps There are few vents from the sewer system, so pockets of foul air and gases can build up over time as solid waste ferments in the cesspools, with occasionally nauseating or dangerous consequences. Sometimes pockets of stinking, unbreathable air belch upwards into buildings connected to the sewer system – a noble palace, perhaps, or a poorly-constructed apartment block. Those who travel the sewers of Furthest can recognise the foul stench of Orlanth’s Evil. From time to time, poorly maintained cesspools collapse, sucking in unwary citizens as the ground below their feet gives way and drags them down to a vile death. Thus do the treacherous Dark Earth Goddesses of the Oslir Marshes claim their hideous revenge on civilisation. Treasures It’s a sewer system, not a Royal Vault (in all fairness, it’s a sewer system connected to a Royal Vault), but nevertheless… from time to time, valuable items are dropped into the cesspools, or flushed down the storm-drains from the city streets above: this can happen inadvertently, or through the richness of noble cuisine (banquets may contain exotic spice-seeds, gold leaf, pearls, or other indigestible rarities which in due course are ejected into the cesspits), but sometimes the sewers are seen as an easy way to hide or dispose of unwanted items (cursed treasures, inconvenient corpses, or things too recognisable to be sold). Also, underworld figures can move freely through the sewers avoiding patrols in the streets above, and these thieves and fences of Furthest may well carry valuables with them. Inhabitants The sewers have few permanent inhabitants other than vermin (eg: marsh-snakes, swamp-rats and rubble-runners), criminals and renegades, and the albino sewer monsters of urban legend (cannibal pigs, crocodiles, and the rumoured Block Cess Monster). Occasional unhappy Native Furthese militia patrols can be encountered, on punishment detail or special assignment, guided by representatives of the Union of Sanitation Engineers, a specialist guild of professional civil dungeoneers. Elite Royal Palace Guards clad in their crimson and gold panoply bar the entrance to the palace cellars; ghosts and the undead preserve the dubious sanctity of their catacombs, shrines and sangueducts; fugitives and other desperadoes generally prefer not to be disturbed as they go about their furtive business. Holy Places The only prominent cult associated with the sewers of Furthest is the Cult of Cleansing Oslira, an offshoot of the River Goddess’s Cult, whose gleaming, porcelain-tiled shrine in the city centre is built atop the main entrance to the Cloaca Maxima. Side channels connect the sewer system to at least one basement shrine maintained by White Moonie heretics, and a rumoured Blue Moon assassins’ death-cult temple (no such facility is officially supported by the Empire or the Royal House). Some sources consulted: http://www.sewerhistory.org/chronos/early_roots.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_water_supply_and_sanitation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitation_of_the_Indus_Valley_Civilisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitation_in_ancient_Rome Peter Connolly, “The Ancient City” NB: this is mostly based on descriptions of Mesopotamian, Indus Valley and Roman sewer systems. Historically interesting: the reason for covering over drainage ditches running down the middle of the streets to create closed sewers was to hold back the stench of the malodorous waste-water: that is, defeating evil Air. You can see why Tarsh King Phargentes would be keen on taming this, after his victory over Palashee Longaxe and the Orlanthi rebels (whose descendents are today’s Tarsh Exiles). ADDED: my frequent collaborator Chris Gidlow suggested adding more chrome from Minoan Knossos: the palace complex sewers are also a monster-infested maze under the city, where the King keeps ferocious creatures imprisoned? He also noted that we are in a Foucault's Pendulum world of Lunar paranoia: "who knows for what sinister reason the Lunars have ordered every single house in Furthest to be connected to a vast subterranean labyrinth?" (And if anyone ever says, "Calm down, it’s just a sewer system" - well, that's exactly what They want you to think...) Cheers, Nick

The Lunar Phases are fully described in RQG p.139, where they're clearly localised to Dragon Pass, and it seems reasonable to assume anyone buying this Pack will have the core rules already. Also - hurrah! - on the Calendar they are shown turning the right way. (It's amazing how much hassle a simple font error can cause). BTW, you're obviously meant to read the picture on p.139 from bottom to top: that's an easier fix than all the left-handers shown in other flipped artwork.

Yes, because you learn one of your cult's special or associated Rune spells each time you sacrifice 1 POW for another Rune point. (You don't need to learn common rune magic, but other spells are learned individually). See RQG p.313f.