Cloud64

At the table I often just quickly draw the scene out on a sheet of paper to provide an easy ref.; it provides a bit of clarity for everyone. Online, we couldn't be bothered with anything fancy and just held a scrawled page-sized whiteboard to the camera to give an idea of the scene. It's not fancy, but it provides a bit of clarity and gives folks enough to work with. You can use round magnets labelled with a dry-wipe pen, assuming your whiteboard takes them. Might not be flash, but imagination overcomes all.

This. It can be painful with some players. As a player I prefer to roll all my dice at the start of the round, once I know I'm attacking, then when it gets to me the sums are all done and I know where on the results table I'm looking. If anything changes before my action, it's simple enough to rejig/reroll/recalc as necessary. Tricky as GM of course, but rolling all dice together helps. All I need to do now is get my players to do the same and combat will whizz along – OK, not exactly whizz, but at least be considerably more efficient. Only disadantage is it can confuse GMs – they aren't used to players doing this and, on occasion, they can be distrustful if they don't see you roll. Me, I assume my players are trustworthy.

Thanks for the hi-res image. I won't say it's encouraged me to buy as this is already very high on my shopping list when it becomes available. Lovely, finally Arkham done justice. But OK, I'll bite: unless there's been a Mandela Effect event since I last looked*, Unvisited Isle is in the wrong place. It should be between the West St. and Garrison St. bridges, not between the West St. and rail bridges. * Checked the Arkham maps in my books, there doesn't appear to have been.

It's easy enough, if a little fiddly. A quick google will turn up a transparent hex grid png. Use an image editor to put it in as a layer and tweak the size till the hexes are the size you desire, then you may have to tile the grid to get full coverage. Once done and exported as a flat image the resizing problem that @soltkass mentioned goes away, and the scale doesn't disappear off screen when you zoom in.

Which, for those of us who work in Imperial, is 1 mile to the cm. 1.6 km = 1 mile. That suits me as I prefer to work in miles when in Glorantha. Kilometres I find too modern and a bit jarring, and being a Brit it's easier for me and my players to use miles as that's what we're attuned to. We use the starter set map, over which I've put a 3 mile hex grid to make estimates even easier; crossing 1 hex takes approx. 1 hr on foot, 6 hexes travelled per day. I'm not averse to using km and switch happily between most metric and imperial measures, and use km for my sport. That said, when driving in Europe I still find reducing km distances to 2/3 to give me approx. miles easier as all my estimates for time taken and fuel used are attuned to miles.

To my mind, the only thing 'tidy' and 'trolls' have in common is the letter T. Trollpak, IIRC, will tell you that the olfactory sense is the trolls' favourite. Cleanliness would be a barren environment for a troll, much as an overly minimalist environment seems unstimulating to most of us modern humans. Troll art is based on the orchestration of odour to delight the nose. Smellscapes are their thing, something squalor provides in abundance. I suspect that, as creatures of darkness averse to light, trolls would find the human penchant for colourful displays of art, draperies and furnishings to be as unpleasant as humans would find the stench of their squalor.

If there's no change in written content, I shall wait for the new artwork to appear in the oversize coffee-table collection of all the fantastic art in the various RQG books. C'mon, gotta be on the cards in a few years time – this quality of illustration deserves a large format that will really do it justice 🙂

Indeed, it does sound like there's an issue. It was worth posting here to find that out. I shall email Dustin on the morrow. Edit: Now raised with Dustin via Chaosium website form.202310191741BST

A question regarding distribution of these two volumes in the UK. I pre-ordered these from my FLGS on 17 Aug, release date. They are yet to arrive in store. The Prosopaedia and Mythology have arrived. The store orders these through Asmodee (nee Esdevium) who seem to be distributors for most things gaming in the UK these days. I note that even a couple of the big box shifters in the UK that I tend to use, e.g Gameslore, haven't had them. Leisure games, who specialise in RPGs, did get them, but it took a long while. My question is: what's going on with UK distribution? If I order on release day it's not unreasonable to expect to have a copy in my hands within two months. I appreciate the issue may not lie with you, but if you could shed some light I'd be grateful.

I can't address someone running it who doesn't know the books as I know them well. I'd say get the first book and read it - it's a page turner, so won't take long and will demonstrate the tone that suits the game. I've run it for players who weren't familiar with the books, a mixed group in that respect. It didn't pose any problems. It's set in the modern world, so there's no lore standing in the way, except perhaps the methods of UK policing (watch some of our many excellent cop shows to get a feel for it). It can give a nice simulation of the first book where the main characters first learn of the magical world. I'd suggest the players who aren't familiar are given, or create, everyday characters who know no magic. Those familiar can have characters with magic who are in the know.

Dear Santa, I have been a good boy this year and really really really deserve this, honest. I admit I have said nasty things about the government using lots of naughty words, but now you have to apply for a visa to enter UK airspace I'm sure you understand. Please can I have this for Christmas… Trunab tabletop RPG Adventurer's Bag

I echo Jeri, as I am – at the moment at least - planning to run this in May. And as the PCs have recently completed Dragon of Thunder Hills, I too would be interested in any useful dream content. Similarly, if anyone has fleshed out Treya's story, or has suggestions as to what it might be – anything gratefully received. I'm almost put off running it given the issues, but I get the impression that it's worth the effort so will take on board what's been said as I do my prep. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say. One thing that would really help is an idea of how long it takes to run. I will effectively have 16 hours of play (a club slot where we have eight sessions of two and half hours). Will that be adequate? I get the impression it can be made so, but I do need to fit in a couple of other threads in from our campaign that my players are keen to follow up – the fact that they involve travel is in part what drew me to this scenario as I can slot them in as encounters on the way. I suspect I will be hacking it around somewhat, but needs must I guess.

Now, I'm not going to be a grognard about this, honest. I will certainly be getting all the books, and the fact that the cost is going to be spread over a good few months will make the expense slip by with less wallet pain. One of my players has just msged me, having noticed the announcement (rather backing up Jeff's comment about the interest it's generated) and had a couple of things to say. (See' I'm not being the grognard, it's my player.) They wondered if being ten books to get all the cult info would be off-putting to newbies, if they feel they need to get all of them to have everything they need. Yes, we know there are good arguments that that is not the case, but newbies won't know those. They said they wouldn't be sure about buying a whole book just to get the info for their PC's cult. They also opined (they GM as well) that players don't buy stuff anyway. That said, 3 of my players have bought the core rules, another seriously considering it. So, here's a couple of thoughts. How about PDF only releases of each cult? Then a player only has a small expense to get the info they want. Might bring in more sales from those who wouldn't otherwise buy. i.e., players. Maybe a volume that includes the core cults that we all know and love, and that all the lovely pre-gens have, and some of those that will likely be encountered. Something that could be marketed to a newbie as 'all the cults you need to get started'. OK, might dent sales of more complete pantheon books, but won't be off-putting. Anyway, I intend that as a constructive feedback and very much look forward to getting the first three volumes this later this year. Edit: My player has just learnt what a prosopaedia is. Marketing truly can work miracles. Interestingly, that appeals to them.

What I can tell you is that Gooseberry Sprig, resident chef at Apple Lane's Tin Inn is not amused by requests for plum sauce with a meal. He's heard the joke a thousand times, it's not original to him and be thankful that his professional pride is the only thing stopping him from p**sing in your stew, that and the fact the PCs had just done the hamlet a big favour. Yes, it was inevitable that my players would go there.

You might indeed, and thank you for a lot of creative ideas. I shall shamelessly nick them. I know the player will enjoy such shenanigans.