g33k

So, I've heard of "13th Age in Glorantha" (and applaud it, but the d20 family is not my mechanic of choice), and apparently there's also this thing called "The Gloranthan Sourcebook" -- all setting, no significant game-mechanics. So, Heroquest rules, any BRP variant, etc. Heck even a "Fate" engine, or "Glorantha Powered by the Apocalypse". Whatever... I think it's AMAZINGLY cool that Glorantha has so many live, active gamesystems driving play in that world, and I'd surely applaud more (e.g. the "joking" references above). My own system-of-choice is BRP, and probably (courtesy of the fully-funded-and-still-Stretching Kickstarter) RQ2/RQC; but whatever, YMMV & more power to ya if it does! HOWEVER... I'm having a hard time tracking down any hard data on this "Sourcebook:" thingamajig. There's a (very cursory!) outline on the KS page. There doesn't seem to be ANYTHING about it on the 13AiG website(!), or MoonDesign. Have I just rolled a "00" on my Skill:Google?

I plan to play it (emphatically so!). I already have one of the "Gloranthan Classics" (Griffin Mountain) & plan to get at least a couple more (and may get the 4th just for anal-retentive completionism), plus the unlocked "Apple Lane" & "Snakepipe Hollow" and maybe other stuff. I'm gonna play as much of the collected RQ2 Goodness as my group will tolerate, in all that. We also play other games, and we tend to vote on "next system / next gaming arc" -- usually switching up relatively often, sometimes because a GM says "Got this great idea I want to run..." sometimes because GM-burnout forces another person to run, sometimes because one player advocates strongly for a particular game-world or genre, etc etc etc.

Yeah. What it says in the Title: which of the YouTube vids RE the Guide shows it off to best advantage? Which is the best "persuader" RE the expense (since a re-print is apparently coming), if one has to "persuade" someone RE the expense...

I hope you've hidden the body(ies) well, my friend, because admitting to the crime before-the-fact plays REALLY poorly in front of juries...

Where do we best direct queries about the details of this KS and the stretch-goals? Stuff like the query from Falconer, above, RE "art-printed-onto-hardcover" vs "dustjacket-over-cloth"? Is it good here? Should we ask on G+? Glorantha.com? Or...?

waitwaitWHAT? I thought this was coming out under the "Chaosium" lable? But it's MD instead? I mean, I realize the whole Chaosium/MoonDesign/DesignMechanism triumvirate is becoming so convoluted and intertwined as to be closer to a single entity... but...

Well, there's this whole "New School" of dramatist/narrativist RPGs, usually giving large amounts of "auctorial control" (via "Plot Points" or similar mechanic) to the players; they are, IMHO, a sufficiently apples-and-oranges sort of thing to not be directly comparable to the "game-world-simulationist" RPGs such as RQ; some just prefer apples to oranges, or vice versa, or it depends on their mood... So, I don't feel the need to try to pick one kind as "better than" the other. I wrote my gaming group about the new RQ2-reprint:

But in terms of hours of work per dollar of return, some of their back catalog is a MUCH better bet (the the sense of ROI) than many/most "new title" options; I suspect tthis new "RQ Classic" (and a few others) will be such bets, and that they will only prioritize the "best bet" parts of the back catalog in the coming year or two, alongside a comparable number of new titles; then some other OOP titles dribbling out over the course of a few years, in conjunction with mostly-new stuff, and some of the old titles probably languishing without ever getting a single man-hour, PDF-ism, or POD offering...

Huh... if so, the stunting of all those newborns carries echoes of the Trollkin curse... WTF? Who/what did THAT?!? Maybe they're just progressing much slower (rather than not at all), and/or sometimes experiencing "one step forward, two steps back" incarnations, being reborn into a lesser state due to mistakes made in the prior hatching? As noted by M Helsdon, True Dragons seem to care (a lot!) about Dragonewts... OTOH, understanding the motivations of the still-trying-to-overcome-mortal-limitations Dragonewts is tough-to-impossible, so maybe the REAL moftivation behind the Dragonkill event wasn't Dragonewt survival, but something that would seem unrelated or incomprehensible... if anyone could get a genuine answer out of the Dragons...

Thank you! I think that I had indeed read the post, but didn't recall the detail (my bad). So,,, about the same time as RQ II/Classic, then,.. <rubs hands in acquisitive glee> A shame they aren't in time for the holiday gift-giving season, though!

@jajagappa - Thanks! Having failed to even SEE the GtG Kickstarter until far too late, I missed out ... on 1st printing ... but I'm given to understand a new printing is under consideration ... any comments/info @Rick Meints???

I loved me some RQ back in the day, but didn't get many of the sourcebooks... given the resugence we're seeing, what are the best available sources of info on Dragonewts? Many thanks for any info/pointers!

Ummmm... what about "chaosium.com" ??? Shouldn't this news be visible -- hell, prominent -- over there? I just looked, and didn't find it anywhere. Now, maybe that was my own inadequate search skill, but I'd think this merits front-page placement. Or is there worry about distracting from the CoC7 launch?

Awww, man! Sorry! Didn't mean to rain on th' parade you were (already!) bringing us with my loathly phrasing (or would that have been for CoC?); I thought the standard internet'ism was just kinda funny in this context. But, thanks for that!

}:^D> Pix or it didn't happen ... That is to say: can we have a glimpse of what the screen looks like? Either the player-facing image(s), or the GM-facing charts (or both)?

Thank you! Next questions: might we hope to see this in our FLGS... or only if we order it through them... or "should" we order it direct from Chaosium? Are you taking orders yet? Do you have any date(s) in mind for milestones/deadlines, and/or final availability? In other words... WHEN CAN I GET MY HANDS ON THE PRODUCT?!!?!

Hmm. So, what IS in the appendices now???

Someone, over the years, managed to make off with my copy. This is *SO* gonna be mine.

Also note that EVERY class has built-in feat-like features to choose amongst. 2 types of Barbarian, 3 (I think) types of Paladin, 2 types of Sorceror, etc. Overall, there's a bit less options to vary/customize than compared with Pathfineder & all the 3.5/PF class/race/etc splatbooks, but I presume those options will come in time.

I wish I had more time to contribute... especially since my primary suggestion here is a time-intensive one!!! When looking at a choice like this, I think the best way to answer is with a demonstration... get folks to design according to the "one generic system" method, with the intent to break the system -- to demonstrate its flaws. Find as many "broken" cases as possible: more = better, here! Then, looking at the broken cases, decide if the best solution is to fix/revise the base system, or create alternate system(s). One hybrid case might be to have small "modifier" rulesets -- the big generic rules... with a sidebar or one-page, or the like, explaining the diff's when designing personal gear and/or augments, vs the base rules for vehicles.

I knew about "griselda.org.uk" -- it's one of the places for Glorantha fiction that I like to point people to, who ask versions of the "Glorantha: WTF?!?" query! Didn't know of the PDF, though... thank you!

@hkokko - Thanks! I'm not really asking for advice about "how to get into Glorantha" -- I got introduced to in back in 1980 -- but about "how to help others, who want to get into Glorantha". That is, a reference document (or small set of them) that can get pointed-to as a quick overview/entre. Your links are really quite good; in fact, the "Another View" one is actually rather close to what I had in mind! As noted in that essay (and my original post), this question really keeps coming up over and over in general-gaming environments... occasionally even RQ/Glorantha/HQ places! I'm wanting n00b-support for individual campaigns / individual players who are just getting started... or or who WANT to get started, but can't find their way in... I'm also wanting some vaguely official-seeming place (such as the "Glorantha" board at BRP Central ;-) that can host such a document as a standalone item. "Glorantha.com" would seem like another likely spot, but I'm a bit leery of any site with a commercial interest: the possibility of the "Glorantha" IP being sold, or a falling-out amongst site-owners (with copyright being contested, tied-up in court), etc... all these could render it unavailable. The Wikipedia entry on Glorantha seems very good in this respect (as it's (presumably) 100% CreativeCommons licensed); unfortunately, Wikipedia discourages "fan enthusiasm" and encourages NPOV... the entry is stunningly dry/boring, if you know Glorantha at all! ;-) So I don't like to point n00bs there... But, the "reputation" or "appearance" of the hosting site (that it at least APPEAR "authoritative" or "official") can sometimes be as important as the content being presented. @Vile - yeeeeah. Right. Thanks for those suggestions. Glorantha-n00bs everywhere have been sorted now... BTW, I see on Amazon that a new copy of "The Collected Griselda" (the only new copy available) is being sold for over $500. - Steve, the g33k

I'm sure many of you -- maybe even most -- have (like me) seen repeated queries that are some variant of "so, what the !&?^%# is this thing called Glorantha, and how can I get a handle on it... hopefully, without investing the next seven years of my life, and hundreds of dollars..." Sometimes the query features some particularly-notable feature, e.g. RQ-vs-HQ (and soon, I guess, 13th Age?) or Broo's, or Ducks... Whatever forum/list/etc it gets posted on, there usually follows a fairly predictable set of answers. There are some inarticulate but well-meaning folk, some detractors, some reasonably well-spoken proponents. Eventually -- after pages and pages (and pages and pages) of replies, one can get a sense of the thing... sort of. And really, only a very vague sense; and if the OP was unlucky, one of the inarticulate ones, or unreasonable detractors, or just a random troll (of the non-Uz variety) has managed to render the entire thread useless... Now that we have the "Guide to Glorantha," I suppose that can serve as a definitive point of reference... but doesn't really help folks posting something within the original constraints. I usually try to chime in with some pointers to good fiction & other resource sites (including BRPCentral). But really, it seems like there should be -- likely here -- a clear and concise reply (or maybe a small suite of replies) that could handle 90% of the various OPs and their not-so-varied wants. Does something like this exist ... ? Thanks!

Oh, yeah. People have been RP'ing Pern online since before "the web" -- BBS'es, forums, etc. Mostly, there's no "mechanics" behind the RPG system -- it's freeform RP. I believe those all fit the "no mechanics" mold... Apparently, though, Anne McCaffrey came to regret being so permissive with various MUD/MUSH/MOO's, as later inquiries by other media revealed that the control of the Intellectual Property was so muddied and so diluted as to be virtually worthless. Her novels were salable, but no derivative (commercial) works were viable. Hence, no RPG's, movies, etc.

I know that there's been no "official" rpg for McCaffrey's Pern (except "computer RPG's" which I -- ever the elitist snob -- simply don't count as RPG's). Not even Steve Jackson Games -- who seems to get a license for EVERY fictional world (that isn't otherwise licensed) hasn't got anything! Does anyone know of ANY version (presumably fan-made) for ANY game-system? Obviously -- since I'm asking here -- I am most-interested in some d100/BRPfamily version. I think it looks pretty easy to DIY... humans are pretty much normal. No magic, no "powers," just... human. Dragonriders get a little bit of telepathy, but it doesn't seem to generalize much to non-dragons, or unwilling/unaware beings. It's just like talking privately, only "cooler." (I do recall that Lessa seemed able to very-slightly cause a "don't notice me" psychic effect, but she seemed to be at the limits of human psionic ability). Dragons seem to be more plot-device than PC: both so outsized in physical power, yet so dominated by their rider and by the gold queen of the weyr, that they don't seem very PC'able.. Looks to me like any game in the BRPfamily would be a straight-up implementation, not needing much work at all. Still, if anyone knows of such a project already done... I wouldn't mind not doing the work... lazy, that's me! Thanks! - Steve, the g33k