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M Helsdon

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Posts posted by M Helsdon

  1. 4 hours ago, TavBehemoth said:

    One of the players posted an image (from Arms and Equipment Guide I think?) depicting five rows of Gloranthan warriors. Some I recognize (good doggie!), many are still unfamiliar (wasp rider and levitating guy?).

    Those are probably, as Nick notes, from Armies & Enemies of Dragon Pass. The antelope rider is a member of the Headhunters regiment of the Sartar Free Army; the wasp rider is a Wasp Rider; the levitating man is a Stormwalker. There are more details in the book.

  2. On 4/21/2024 at 1:04 PM, Garrik said:

    But I think you're right that Lyksos-Engizi is a bad fit for a farmer. It would make my character perhaps uniquely special, and require a lot of soul-searching and myth-spinning. Which would be great, but our game is on the more mundane, traditional-RQ side of the spectrum.

    One thing to bear in mind is that farmers exploit everything they can to support their community, and that includes activities off the land (my ancestors two centuries ago were farmer-fishermen and sailors). Farming work is often seasonal, with sowing in Earth Season and harvest at the end of Fire Season, and although there are tasks to perform between those times, utlising other resources is essential. So fishing, whether in a river, or the bay, would provide another source of food and income, and of course the rivers are conduits for moving agricultural produce and perhaps irrigation. So a farmer venerating, say, Barntar, and Lyksos would not be unlikely.

    • Like 2
  3. Purely for my own amusement, I've created this map based on maps shared on the Well of Daliath by Jeff. The island names may no longer be current canon, as some of the maps looked to be fairly old, but this may be useful for anyone travelling across Choralinthor Bay.


    The map is from the Argan Argar Atlas, with additions.

    Islands of Choralinthor.png

    • Like 1
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  4. 16 hours ago, Joerg said:

    The coastal division of the lesser land goddesses in Ships and Shores makes sense, but further inland the regional land goddesses will claim the entirety of the river basins. (Which is beyond the scope of that book, but a mythical map of inland Heortland may have the goddesses in quite different distributions than viewed from the coastline.)

    The Heortland Land Goddesses and their inland territory as described in Ships & Shores are derived from the information kindly provided by Harald Smith, from his forthcoming Chaosium Heortland supplement. Their territory lies primarily between the rivers of the plateau.

  5. 2 hours ago, Garrik said:

    Question: is the coordination mainly social, among humans/mortals (husband and wife, village, priests of different gods)? Or are there examples of locally allied rain/water/earth cults that bring something extra to this marriage/technology of rain, water and growth?

    I recall reading somewhere (it may have been one of Jeff's posts) that when the God King redirected the Engizi via the New River he 'married' Esrola as the local Land Goddess to Engizi. I can't recall the source.

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  6. 7 minutes ago, g33k said:

    NOT SO FAST, ME BOY-O!

    You've got that poster version of that 2-page Mirrorsea spread, yet to produce...

    That's reliant upon sales. I have a number in mind, and when that is reached, I will generate the poster.

    • Like 2
  7. 1 hour ago, svensson said:

    Please let me know when you're done re-proofing. I'd like to order the POD version, but there's no sense in ordering if it needs to be corrected.

    I intend to 'finish' in the next week or two. There will always be typos, especially in a book of this size, but it is nearing the '95% complete' stage where the last 5% is almost impossible to finish, as you enter the realms of diminishing returns for effort expended. Then the generation of a POD can commence! Laughs manically and runs off into the distance gibbering and meeping.  

    • Like 5
  8. 3 minutes ago, svensson said:

    @M Helsdon

    I just want to THANK YOU for your efforts in 'Ships and Shores'.

    You are welcome.

    3 minutes ago, svensson said:

    I'm running a 'faux Atlantis' campaign for my nieces and the work you've put into ancient ships, the effect of magic, and the practicalities of shipboard life in the Bronze Age has been a great help as well as a wonderful read.

    I bought the book as a pdf upon release and it is one of my absolute favorite RQ products by anybody, ever. It ranks just below Trollpak [both versions equally] for the way that it shows seagoing culture and the homogenizing process that life at sea has on those who leave the shore.

    I'm pleased that it is useful.

    I'm now implementing corrections to the typos identified by my valiant proofreaders.

    • Like 2
  9. 10 hours ago, Crel said:

    I'm putting together a RuneQuest campaign playing the Wolf Pirates during the circumnavigation of the Homeward Ocean. Do you have any general advice/pointers for playing the Wolf Pirates pre-Dragonrise? I've wandered through the Guide, the Glorantha Sourcebook, and the Ygg cult in the Lightbringers book, so I do own a fair bit of the published information. I admire the attention to detail in your work, which is why I wanted to ask if you had any quick tips.

    Please don't feel I'm asking you to share large chunks of what's in your book about the Wolf Pirates or anything like that—I can't really afford new gaming stuff right now but once I can Ships & Shores is pretty much at the top of my wishlist. Your writing & research is awesome and I don't want to devalue your work.

    Harald and Nick have provided valuable information.

    In the 1621 Harrek meets Argrath at sea, and most of his fleet will consist of Wolf Pirate penteconter uniremes and biremes, supplemented by merchant round ships and tubs to carry supplies and plunder. I imagine that at that time he will command about forty or fifty ships, and about two and a half thousand men and women. There will be a hierarchy of captains, some commanding only their own ship, others a squadron of three or more..... Of course not all the pirates will perform the circumnavigation - some will still be based on the Three Step Islands, both to defend and supply it by raiding and exacting tribute along the coast. At this time, Harrek's crews are likely to be mostly Yggites and Orlanthi from the Manirian coast. Dormal will be worshipped as well. 

    The ships will probably sail in groups. A penteconter can only carry enough food and water for two or three days - most stowage is under the rower's benches, so coordinating with the cargo ships is essential - and the captains of those ships are mostly likely to have previously sailed the southern seas and be familiar with the currents, weather, location of islands and harbours. Most of the pirates will want to have at least one sailor aboard familiar with the southern waters.

    My books don't detail the south - it would have made the book too large - but if you do buy Ships & Shores, the details on logistics and navigation will be useful. Harrek will be sailing out of sight of land, something most of his pirates have rarely done, save in the Neliomi where conditions are very different. Navigating using the stars will be important, as the fleet may be scattered by winds and waves, and have to have plans to find each other. Plenty of scope to encounter weather, monsters, and even unmapped islands, and the uncertainties of sailing the open sea - lack of water, and even threats of mutiny. 

    Your best Chaosium source for the appearance of Wolf Ships is in RuneQuest: Glorantha, page 402.
     

    Screenshot 2024-04-16 080615.png

    • Like 3
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  10. 8 hours ago, jajagappa said:

    Although I can't tell for sure, it looks like there's a slight cutoff of text at the bottom of your text box.

    It looks okay in the 'full-sized' version. I create these screenshots from an image at 50%. Word seems to adjust the content for some reason when you change the page display size.

    8 hours ago, jajagappa said:

    I do like the reformatted version with the single text box.

    Thank you. I liked the earlier version but on reflection it was messy.

    Screenshot 2024-03-21 091750.png

  11. A Panorama of the Mirrorsea
     
    An Air God’s view…
     
    Choralinthor Bay is the birthplace of all modern ship- building in southern Genertela and the location of many hazards also found along the coast.
    The shallow waters and gentle winds here are accounted to be placid, lending him the epithet of the Mirrorsea, but his topography and the shifting tides can make him a challenging place to sail when they turn.
     
    The last piece of art has been added to Ships & Shores - a fabulous panorama of the Holy Country centered on the Mirrorsea by Mark Smylie. Version 15 has just been uploaded.
     
    I will create a poster of this picture when sales reach a certain level. Work on the POD may commence in a month or so.
     
    A Vision of Myth is also available - just one off gaining Copper.....

    Screenshot 2024-03-18 181715.png

    • Like 1
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  12. 5 hours ago, Diadochoi said:

    Will any of the art be made available through Redbubble (or equivalent), in particular the everyday life scenes?

    Katrin has sold prints of some of her illustrations at conventions, but they don't appear to be on her sales site or Redbubble at present.

  13. 1 hour ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

    Seems to me that Nochet plus Ships and Shores make a natural combination for a great RQ campaign - I purchased both for that exact reason.  Any way they can be marketed or bundled together on DTRPG with some minor savings or extra goodies?

    I'm not sure how that could work? The books definitely complement each other, but I don't see how DriveThru could handle a multi-author bundle.

    We can certainly market them together.

    • Like 2
  14. 14 hours ago, Jason Farrell said:

    I don't think the achievement that this book is can be overstated.  It is THE most impressive Runequest/Glorantha related book that has come out at least since the Guide to Glorantha.  And yes, I'm including any Chaosium publication (I would put Nochet by Harald Smith ahead of most of those as well).

    Hi Jason, thank you for your comments and your review.

    There are five pieces of art outstanding, not previewed in the current Work in Progress, though Mark has sent me preliminary sketches. Four are roughly half-pagers, and one is likely to be a double-page spread.

    It would be enormously useful to me for you to share your review on the FaceBook Runequest group, or, if you are not a member, allow me to do so. I know Mark has several commissions ahead of mine in his work queue, so I won't be posting there about Ships & Shores for a week or three.

    • Like 3
  15. Ships & Shores has been updated to version 13.

    https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/452062/Ships--Shores-of-Southern-Genertela

    Minor text changes and I have modified the character pictures by Mark Smylie to remove the borders so they are all now a little larger.

    Another beautiful picture by Mark: the shipwright Korrand of Sklar shows a model of a trireme to the lady Awétynna of House Chorlanaeo whilst her handmaiden makes the final adjustments to her hair. The ornate and ostentatious hairstyles of Esrolian noblewomen demonstrates their status and wealth. Awétynna is an Initiate of Choralinthor.

    [The dress style is heavily influenced by Bronze Age Mediterranean costume, apparent from Sardinia to the Levant and Egypt, and best known from Crete.]

    Screenshot 2024-01-26 085455.png

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