Nick Brooke

A Rough Guide to Glamour came out a week ago: in that time it's won a Silver Best Seller medal, was #1 Bestselling Title on all of DriveThruRPG for a couple of days, and has remained #1 Hottest Community Content (across all systems, settings and publishers) since shortly after its release. There are eight 5-star top ratings on DriveThruRPG (and we've had a rave review from Andrew Logan Montgomery). Chaosium kindly agreed to sell our best piece of art via RedBubble, and I can confirm that the print quality is absolutely gorgeous. The book has had two minor enhancements since launch in response to feedback: we added PDF Bookmarks for greater ease of navigation, and a separate PDF with higher-resolution Landscape-format versions of all the maps. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, here's a link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/309765/A-Rough-Guide-to-Glamour?affiliate_id=392988 If you've already bought our sourcebook, please consider leaving a rating (and possibly a review) to help other prospective customers. If you haven't yet, what are you waiting for? It's only $14.95, and all right-thinking citizens of the Lunar Empire say that it's double-plus-good.

A Rough Guide to Glamour came out a week ago: in that time it's won a Silver Best Seller medal, was #1 Bestselling Title on all of DriveThruRPG for a couple of days, and has remained #1 Hottest Community Content (across all systems, settings and publishers) since shortly after its release. There are eight 5-star top ratings on DriveThruRPG (and we've had a rave review from Andrew Logan Montgomery). Chaosium kindly agreed to sell our best piece of art via RedBubble, and I can confirm that the print quality is absolutely gorgeous. The book has had two minor enhancements since launch in response to feedback: we added PDF Bookmarks for greater ease of navigation, and a separate PDF with higher-resolution Landscape-format versions of all the maps. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, here's a link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/309765/A-Rough-Guide-to-Glamour?affiliate_id=392988 If you've already bought our sourcebook, please consider leaving a rating (and possibly a review) to help other prospective customers. If you haven't yet, what are you waiting for? It's only $14.95, and all right-thinking citizens of the Lunar Empire say that it's double-plus-good.

Review roundup: my scenario The Duel at Dangerford currently has thirteen 5-star top ratings on DriveThruRPG! It was the #1 Hottest Community Content across all systems, settings and publishers for a week after release, and rose to 6th Bestselling Title on the world's largest RPG download store. I'll let the RuneQuest Glorantha fans speak for themselves: “This is wonderful. The absolute love for the setting hits you straight in the mouth.” -- Michael Kirkbride, Concept Artist & Writer for Morrowind, via Facebook, 26 March 2020 “It’s an idiosyncratic mishmash with a strong authorial voice* and I love it. especially footnotes.” -- Dr Andrew Cowie (@dracowie), via Twitter, 16 April 2020 “The first scenario which really fullfils the ‘take one’s place in the Hero Wars’ promise of Classic RuneQuest… we got to take part in and influence a key turning point in the history of Sartar in true epic style, meeting famous characters and appearing in the Dragon Pass board game. A cast of thousands and never a dull moment… Read Nick’s asides and footnotes, explaining his ancient and pop-culture sources and inspirations, how he ran Chaosium published scenarios in the same epic idiom and, to cap it all, a genuine epic poem.” -- Chris Gidlow (playtester), review on DriveThruRPG “The level of quality of the Jonstown Compendium products is just astounding and this one does not disapoint… It is not ‘only’ a scenario, it is also a sourcebook as it gives background on the area and critical NPCs for the region and Hero Wars… A scenario where players get to get involved in something bigger than them, to be players of the change in Dragon Pass. Highly recommended.” -- Cédric C., review on DriveThruRPG “I totally agree with the previous comments about quality. They feel like they sit with the new RuneQuest releases. I loved reading this and preparing to play. Sometimes it is just nice to enjoy a product. It is well written with a great amount of background detail - and there is help too if you are new to RuneQuest and Glorantha or if you are just getting on a bit (like me) and have forgotten some of it.” -- Darren P., review on DriveThruRPG Link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/307504/The-Duel-at-Dangerford?affiliate_id=392988

-50% to Broadsword, -1D10% to your Air/Storm Rune rating, and Psychic Turmoil on top of that (which probably forces you to avoid feats of strength, violence, shouting and sword use for a while). The effects of augmenting using an appropriate Rune as your inspiration are the same as for any other augment, pass or fail: RQG p.145.

The best explanation is in the Cults of Terror Cosmology, one of the foundational texts for understanding Glorantha. Fortunately, I have a link handy. Enjoy! https://www.glorantha.com/docs/cot-cosmology/

If that’s so, I’m sorry. Our book, like the freeform it supported, is above all meant to make certain aspects of Glorantha comprehensible, accessible, playable, memorable and enjoyable. These things are games, after all: we play them to amuse ourselves and our friends. You’ll find a lot of dense internal referencing between different elements of the Rough Guide. Its playful, at times whimsical presentation shouldn’t detract from the fact that this material was written by masters of Gloranthan lore at the top of their game, constantly sparking off each others’ ideas: people capable of going toe to toe with Greg Stafford in debates about the Lunar Empire and occasionally even illuminating him. You are welcome! Pull up a comfy seat and join the happy buzz of conversation. The Lunar Way is all about making converts, after all. We are all Us.

The “Coast of Coromandel” features in the nonsense verse of Edward Lear (specifically, The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo), which - coincidentally, I assure you - my great-grandfather Leslie Brooke illustrated. Older readers may remember the “creature whose initials are Y.B.B.” that haunts the fringes of the Kingdom of Ignorance in the Orange Box from the eighties (Glorantha: Genertela, Crucible of the Hero Wars).

All the main cults of the Lunar religion will get official writeups in the forthcoming Gods of Glorantha books (or whatever they end up being called) for RuneQuest. Chaosium would simply love to bring out a “serious” Lunar sourcebook. And Jeff Richard hasn’t said the Rough Guide to Glamour is 95% official - he’s said it’s 95% “how he sees it.” Which aren’t the same thing at all. I linked to Andrew Logan Montgomery's review of our book up-thread, which could have warned you exactly what you were getting yourself into before the book went on sale. The cover has a picture of Elvis front and centre, and I made sure Jeff’s foreword was part of the public preview on DriveThruRPG: “The Glamour presented here is illuminated with shifting beams of Moonlight. There might be a stray reflection from the pop culture of lost Cool Britannia here and there, bouncing off the glitter of a New Wave discotheque or off the chrome of Telly Savalas’ pate. But that is what happens when you explore the City of Dreams. We aren’t living in the real world here – we are in Glamour, where gods and goddesses walk with men, and where nightmares and fantasies are made flesh. “ If you saw that and still expected a “serious” sourcebook, I’m not sure what else I can say. We are proud of our work, it was literally 25 years in the making, and coming back to it this year has been a source of ceaseless delight for everyone involved in the project. We are happy to share the fruits of our labours with you. But if fun and games are not your thing, there’s still everything in the Guide to Glorantha, the Glorantha Sourcebook, the forthcoming Gods books, the deprecated HeroQuest handbooks, the wargames, the websites... there’s plenty more Lunar stuff out there, if you want the foundations for your own take on the setting.

I didn’t do it for @Rodney Dangerduck. I did it for any customers with special accessibility needs who’d find PDF bookmarks useful. You may not be aware that the book is dedicated to a friend who died of Motor Neurone Disease. Rodney’s “request” was rude, and he apologised for the tone of it, but it brought to mind a valid consideration that we (amateur fan publishers producing our first book, please remember) had previously overlooked. if that puts you off buying my book, I can’t help you. .

By special agreement, the beautiful Mucha Blondie Glamour artwork by Antonia Doncheva from our new edition of A Rough Guide to Glamour is now available to purchase in a whole raft of formats -- including t-shirts, phone cases, posters & art prints -- from Chaosium Inc's RedBubble store. (Scroll down and click on "Available in +57 products" to see the whole range) https://www.redbubble.com/i/art-print/The-Goddess-Glamour-from-The-Rough-Guide-to-Glamour-by-Chaosium/46847318.1G4ZT#&gid=1&pid=3 And just to clarify: this had to be "by special agreement" because nothing in the Jonstown Compendium Ts & Cs either allows or obliges Chaosium to use art from its products or sell related merchandise from their company store. We commissioned this art, knowing Antonia would knock it out of the park, and then we assigned "second use" rights to Chaosium, so they could sell (and we could buy) these beautiful printed products via RedBubble.

By special agreement, the beautiful Mucha Blondie Glamour artwork by Antonia Doncheva from our new edition of A Rough Guide to Glamour is now available to purchase in a whole raft of formats -- including t-shirts, phone cases, posters & art prints -- from Chaosium Inc's RedBubble store. (Scroll down and click on "Available in +57 products" to see the whole range) https://www.redbubble.com/i/art-print/The-Goddess-Glamour-from-The-Rough-Guide-to-Glamour-by-Chaosium/46847318.1G4ZT#&gid=1&pid=3 And just to clarify: this had to be "by special agreement" because nothing in the Jonstown Compendium Ts & Cs either allows or obliges Chaosium to use art from its products or sell related merchandise from their company store. We commissioned this art, knowing Antonia would knock it out of the park, and then we assigned "second use" rights to Chaosium, so they could sell (and we could buy) these beautiful printed products via RedBubble.

I've seen some strangely counterproductive behaviours from other GMs at the RPG club I frequent, where they seemingly set out to drive players away from their favourite settings by punishing them for not knowing enough... it's a very seventies, "Dungeon Master vs. Players" mindset that I would have expected to have died out long ago. Which is why I replied. Good luck when you do, and I look forward to hearing what happened. If you want any helpful advice, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Following a helpful suggestion from @Joerg, I've added a Glamour Map Pack to the bundle, containing all the maps from the book in a higher-resolution, printable format. If you log in to DriveThruRPG, you'll find it alongside the Rough Guide in your Library.* *NB: this only works if you've bought the Rough Guide to Glamour.

Thanks, @Dragonsnail! Following a helpful suggestion from @Joerg, I've added a Glamour Map Pack to the bundle, containing all the maps from the book in a higher-resolution, printable format. If you log in to DriveThruRPG, you'll find it alongside the Rough Guide in your Library.* *NB: this only works if you've bought the Rough Guide to Glamour.

Briefly seriously: if you create barriers to your players' enjoyment of Glorantha, they won't enjoy playing in Glorantha so much. I try to collaborate with my players to make our Gloranthan games cool and exciting and interesting, and it pays dividends. Expecting them to know everything and put in all the effort while you smirk behind your GM screen is a heavy burden, especially if you're the most Gloranthaphile person at the table. So if there's a scene where you think your players might have problems working out what to do, help them brainstorm through it. Think in terms of ritual magic, or coming up with verbal / somatic / material components, or how summoning looks in a cartoon series they enjoy, whatever model you understand best. They're doing something worship-like, they know the name of the god Humakt, he likes swords (so get yours out and wave it around), it's got something to do with a marked duelling-ground and issuing a challenge to your enemy: now improvise!

You’re part of the “group of Glorantha fans,” you’re allowed to help them out!

The way I see it - he’s usually not there, but when you start doing Humakti-interest stuff on his patch of holy ground he manifests from the Other Side (probably from the “Hero Plane,” if you care about Gloranthan mythological topology more than I do). I assume any group of Glorantha fans can improvise a Humakti ritual on the fly, but if not - mark out the border of a duelling space (probably by drawing a line on the ground with your sword-point), make some kind of sacrifice, invoke the deity. You’ve just created a patch of sacred ground, and Skall the Arkating is now very interested in what happens next. I would allow this without spending magic points on worship or Rune points to Sanctify a space. Making rolls vs. Worship Humakt, Devotion to Humakt, Death or Truth Runes is always an option. He has a physical body once he manifests, but he’s using heroquest cheat codes, which is where my Matrix analogy comes into its own - nobody but another hero is going to be able to lay a finger on him, and he’s scarily lethal.

Thank you for saying so! If you liked my scenario, please remember to leave a rating and/or a review at DriveThruRPG (there’s a 24-hour wait before you can do that, because reasons); and if you’re planning on running it and have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch (here, Facebook, or via email to nick[at]etyries[dot]com )

That's not what happened. Cheers, Nick

I would like to know more about crossing the Dead Place in the Praxian midwinter. Was that just about getting to the Winter Ruins, or was there some evasion / counter-surveillance thing going on (to avoid magical Lunar scrutiny, perhaps)?

That is brilliant, David. Thank you for sharing. As far as I'm concerned, this is canonical, and I'll be leveraging it for my own games and scenarios.

I'll float something that might work for some discerning GMs in my Moonbroth Oasis sourcebook, but obviously you do you. (My sourcebook will be exactly as careful with chronology as my scenario was, because I think people need to learn not to let that shit hobble their ideas)

Wouldn't it be cooler if there was a non-obvious reason for the second Sable Betrayal?

If you picked up our new book A Rough Guide to Glamour yesterday, you should be able to leave a rating and/or a review today. (There's a short delay built into the process by DriveThruRPG to make sure you have time to look at whatever it was you've just purchased before rating it). We'd really appreciate constructive comments and, of course, accurate ratings. Here's the link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/309765/A-Rough-Guide-to-Glamour?affiliate_id=392988

If you picked up our new book A Rough Guide to Glamour yesterday, you should be able to leave a rating and/or a review today. (There's a short delay built into the process by DriveThruRPG to make sure you have time to look at whatever it was you've just purchased before rating it). We'd really appreciate constructive comments and, of course, accurate ratings. Here's the link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/309765/A-Rough-Guide-to-Glamour?affiliate_id=392988