jajagappa

1 hour ago, Jason Farrell said:

But for some reason, it's almost March and they haven't deigned to share it with the rest of us.

Perhaps because they are just getting Arkham out the door??? It's not their only product line.

17 hours ago, GothmogIV said:

Does the company do gaming conventions? Or maybe just the big ones?

As noted above, Chaosium Con is coming up in Ann Arbor in April (or for those Down Under, there's a Chaosium Con there in June).

They were at both Origins and GenCon for big conventions last year, and presumably this year as well.

They were just at Genghis Con in Denver: Genghis Con kicks off in Denver tomorrow - Chaosium's Jeff Richard, David Larkins and Rick Meints will be there - Chaosium Inc.

They were at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia back in Dec: We're at PAX Unplugged in Philiadelphia PA this weekend, Dec 1-2 2023 - Chaosium Inc.

And were at Dragonmeet in London that same month: Chaosium will be at Dragonmeet 2023 - Chaosium Inc.

Usually if you want updates on where they are going to be, I suggest either:

• subscribing to their newsletter (listed at bottom of their website page)
• subscribing to one of their social media feeds noted here: Forums & Social (chaosium.com)

To this point (and referencing Nick's handy catalog) there has not been any JC adventures for the Mirrorsea. I think you could reasonably pull some useful information and encounters out of Martin's Ships and Shores. 

Bog Struggles is probably the closest - a newtling based adventure which you could set at a river mouth somewhere around the Mirrorsea. 

You might be able to transplant the old Pavis scenario, Temple of Feroda, to somewhere around the Mirrorsea too (perhaps Lylket ruins). 

There's always the cursed/plague ship trope you could encounter floating at sea. 

On 2/23/2024 at 9:45 AM, svensson said:

Oh, I'm WELL aware that Chaosium is allergic to an 'Upcoming Release Date' listing and has always been on the fuzzy side of vague when estimating due dates. Tradition and all that... 😁

Actually, I think they've become quite good at providing the non-fuzzy Upcoming Release Date - at the point when they are ready. The trigger for that is I believe is when they've finished printing the books and have dispatched them to the warehouses. Only at that point do they have solid timeframes for shipping to, arrival at and stocking the warehouses. That seems to be when they are comfortable in preparing their marketing campaign and saying the release is expected in XXXX.

The Chaosium blog entry with cover pic is here: Coming in March: Cults of the Lunar Way

12 hours ago, svensson said:

Yes, I'm aware of the announcement, but I'm wondering if there are any delays in the last couple months.

Given that they had similarly announced the Call of Cthulhu Arkham book with a February release date, and that just went on sale yesterday, there does not appear to be any reason why you'd expect a delay?

I don't believe they make the announcements until the books are printed and they have reasonable confidence of when the books will reach the warehouses. They won't set a final release date until all the warehouses have stock in hand - expect that about 1-2 weeks before release.

2 hours ago, Godlearner said:

I am surprised to hear that. My assumption was he wanted a Rules Lighter version which, imo at least got us to RQG.

As I believe later said similar about HQ and RQG, it's quite likely that the comment re: RQ3 was from a very specific point-in-time.

23 minutes ago, borbetomagnus said:

I recall that there is at least one book on the Jonstown Compedium that offers an alternate character creation timeline which begins earlier than the one in the core RQG book. But I can't find it via any searches on the site. Does anyone know the title of this PDF? I keep failing my Lhankor Mhy search in the Great Jonstown Library Compendium!

You probably mean this one: Early Family History

Depending on where you are campaigning, though there are a number of other works that offer character backgrounds that go back earlier including:

My Nochet: Adventurer's Guide (Esrolian and Nochet characters)

Tales of the Sun County Militia: vol 1 (Sun County characters)

I think the new Dorastor: Risklands book includes character generation, and my Edge of Empire book for Imther does (though both specialized parts of the Lunar Empire).

7 minutes ago, Malin said:

there is a Lhankhor Mhy trying to desperately fund their next research expedition...

Easy to get there!  Not so easy to get back with the results... 

2 hours ago, alakoring said:

I’m about to run an Imperial Age scenario in Maslo, and sadly the Mother of Monsters wasn’t there at the time. She’s a side effect of the Opening (see GtG p.604).

If you went by Sandy's The Gods War game, then the Mother of Monsters is one of the Chaos Monsters that can appear to terrorize areas. Which might suggest she was a God Time phenomenon who was banished and then later returned (perhaps simply out at sea or trudging around some isolated area during the Closing), and then came to Maslo with the Opening. 

But no reason you couldn't have her as a presence in the Imperial Age who the God Learners are trying to banish.

This would be similar to the Crimson Bat flying around in First Age Genertela, but without a cult to feed it.

2 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

I know some people in Florida with orange skin but where in Glorantha?

Teleos.

10 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

Is Dorinstead located correctly in the blue box in the clips below as it shows in a RQA 04 map in about that location.

A name made up presumably for RQA 4 and not used anywhere else. (I.e. you will never see it any official publication since it was created in a fanzine.) On my map, the blue box is the village of Foxhead.

2 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

is there a "best map" of the woods - wooded areas along the Heortland Plateau?

At the moment, the Argan Argar atlas map that you included above is the "best map".

See the map of northern Sartar from the Starter Set. Silent Trade Landing is along the River and not the same as Trade Think Market.

Great to see more content for Arkham coming!

 (How close I am to Innsmouth and Arkham, though! 🤔 And my favorite beach is right outside Innsmouth, too! 🫠)

3 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

Samastina ousting Hendira as Queen of Esrolia/Nochet

I finally had a revelation on this a week or so ago beyond just "Samastina went on a HeroQuest, was able to awaken/incarnate Ernalda and help end the Great Winter, and Hendira could not."

Clearly Hendira was trying to invoke & awaken Ernalda, and attempted particular rituals, but failed. As the governor of Esrolia in 1614 and 1616, she was automatically pulled into the Tournaments of Luck and Death, so it's not that she doesn't understand quests. But she followed traditional ritual paths.

(And by extension, Samastina clearly did not, and that made a difference.) 

One unknown is whether Samastina crossed paths with Argrath between the time of her exile (which I place in later 1620 when GS notes Fazzur was busy negotiating with Hendira) and the Cradle adventure (Cradle comes down river in Harmonyweek, Seaseason, 1621, and Argrath was already helping with the effort to aid its passage). My inclination is to say "no" - Argrath isn't the only source of information/inspiration on questing - but perhaps Samastina traveled to Pavis from Nochet and sought out the LM temple there. Prince of Sartar hints at Samastina wanting to visit Cragspider, and Samastina's Saga in HQG shows her meeting Cragspider. So, that's where I place Samastina getting her insights to help end the Great Winter.

2 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

My PCs may be involved in the events leading to Samastina ousting Hendira as Queen of Esrolia/Nochet in 1622. Where can I find more information about the events and what happened?  I own the Nochet book.

In the supplement I'm working on as a Gold Bonus... 🙂 

(Note: you can infer some of the events of the Great Winter from the character background events from the Nochet: Adventurer's Guide. But I am putting the events of 1620-22 into a bit more straight textual form and intending to include a map of pre-riot Moontown with it.)

49 minutes ago, g33k said:

Is there anything of note on the coastline by Orani's Mistake?  That looks to be the shortest/fastest route to the Block, but they may have to pay extra for such an otherwise-pointless stop...

Mosquito infested swamps, high (nearly impassable) cliffs, and then once atop the cliffs, the barren wastes of Orani's Mistake. There are reasons there are no coastal towns between Refuge and Corflu.

If the Block is your destination, the fastest route is Refuge - Bandori Valley - Barbarian Town - Block.

The Holiest route for your Storm Bulls though would be up the Bullflood (the river is Storm Bull's child, after all) - Durengard (sacred Storm Bull temple on temple hill with great view of Stormwalk Mountain) - continue up the Bullflood to the town of same name (another holy Storm Bull temple) - then continue upriver to the mountain trail and stop at the Low Temple at the base of Stormwalk - and then continue on into Prax to Barbarian Town. It's a trek up-and-over the Storm Mountain range, though, so travel time highly variable depending on the season. 

43 minutes ago, g33k said:

Possibly to the God Forgot region (debarking at Refuge?  Though I think it swampy there, and may not accept the keel of most boats)
Maybe Durengard?  But honestly, that leaves several deep-cut rivers in the plateau, that it looks like they'll have to find a way across.

If their goal is Prax (e.g. Barbarian Town), take the boat to Refuge, then find a caravan heading north up the Bandori Valley and into Prax. 

Or go up the Bullflood to Durengard, take the Heortland Road south to Duchamp (on another largely non-navigable river) and Mount Passant, and then the road to the Bandori Valley.

But unless you're looking for trade opportunities enroute (in which case you want to go to Durengard), going by boat to Refuge will be the fastest. (Just don't get on the bad side of the Brithini ruler there.) If you go to Refuge, you could always stop off at Casino Town for a little gambling too. 

1 hour ago, Erol of Backford said:

One runs from Jansholm, through Backford and south of the Footprint over Stormwalk.

I suspect that's the only place you'll find a map suggesting that as feasible.

1 hour ago, Erol of Backford said:

Seems like a boat from Nochet to Backford, run with the Syphon's current upriver to Backford would be the fastest route into the Plateau.

Fastest routes up onto the Heortland Plateau are:

1) boat to Karse, the road to Smithstone, and then onto the Heortland Road running south through Jansholm, Backford, and Durengard.

2) boat to Leskos, then either shallow draft boat to Durengard or the merchant's road to Durengard, and again you're at the Heortland Road.

Generally, I don't consider the Syphon to Backford as navigable for boats of any draft due to rocky inlet and dangerous undercurrents. Might make it in a small fishing boat (if using the Fish Road), or perhaps you'll be carried past and into the Footprint.

1 hour ago, Erol of Backford said:

From Backford to Bullflood, then up the mountain to the Stormbull Shrine and on the Barbarian Town... easy enough.

Durengard to Bullflood is much simpler as it's just the one river, and craft with minimal draft can navigate to Durengard. It's why Durengard is the main city of Heortland. 

14 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

p51 of the Magic book does have in the middle of the second paragraph of the Tap (Characteristic) spells, "..., and no characteristic can be Tapped below one point." - as @PhilHibbs has said.

But, personally, I can't see why not

They were probably trying to avoid sadistic GM's having NPC sorcerers tap PC's to 0 and killing them outright.

2 hours ago, Techpriest said:

there's the Pol-Joni and the clans that neighbor them. They have long histories of interacting with the Praxian tribes for both good and ill, and it lets you ease in on the 'weird' of Prax for your players.

This is why I recommended the Valley of Plenty above as it has some great ways to ease into the setting. (And it's not like you can't pull ideas from the Pavis books to use there too. The Pavis County folk are culturally Sartarites, so aside from Pavis-specific points, much should be transferable.)

5 hours ago, Super Thunder Bros. said:

And this is where i'm stuck, somewhere between Orlanthi and Prax in terms of flavour. I would run a Praxian game, but don't really understand how I'd run a nomadic community, and REALLY wanna go all in on bronze armor and Bronze age/classical era buildings and settlements (I'm pulling on the Rome HBO series and the Conan movie)

I could give up on the plains and go more Heortling/Sartarite, but mountains really don't excite me (I'm Welsh funnily enough). And although I like how much Heortling lore there is, I don't like how segmented it is between Orlanth and Ernalda, and would rather a game of players out there roping exotic beasts. (Thinking about it I also really like Esrolian Matriarchy too)

So thats my rambling done! if anyone has any suggestions (I've asked before in other places but just get lore/canon thrown at me) on how I could do settled plains cultures and make my game pop, or if one of the other paths seems like an easier time. Happy with any suggestions from a worldbuilding/gameplay perspective, thanks for reading!

I'd suggest you check out the Jonstown Compendium supplement: Valley of Plenty

While it was written for the QuestWorlds RPG vs. RuneQuest, it is set in this exact borderland between Sartar and Prax, and I think the setting is almost exactly what you are looking for (and the authors had their own ideas on the gods that included more emphasis on sun worshipers than typical canon). You'd need to do a bit of work converting over to RQG, but there are those of us here who have run both systems and could give you some guidance on that.

And @radmonger has plenty of additional thoughts above that I'd concur with to help get going. 

8 minutes ago, ChrisWentWhere said:

I didn't know that they couldn't use Hide while moving - if someone is creeping up on someone I get them to roll vs Hide. Perhaps with a modifier.

If you're trying to move while hiding (creeping up on a foe), you have to roll for Move Quietly and augment with Hide. (If your focus is more on hiding and move quietly to stay out of sight, do the reverse, roll on Hide and augment with Move Quietly).