Introducing the Jonstown Compendium: community creator program for Glorantha (RuneQuest/HeroQuest Glorantha)

[MOB]

Exciting news: later this month we're going to be launching the Jonstown Compendium on DriveThruRPG.

Here is a preview of what it is all about:

The JONSTOWN COMPENDIUM is an official online collection of user-made content, allowing creators to sell their own original RuneQuest and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds) material set in Greg Stafford's mythic universe of Glorantha. Creators can make money from their published community content, or make it freely available – it is entirely up to the creator.

• Jonstown Compendium content can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, stats for NPCs and monsters, and your own versions of handouts for official RuneQuest and HeroQuest Glorantha campaigns. Material must be set in Greg Stafford’s World of Glorantha – although YGWV ("Your Glorantha Will Vary") applies, and nothing published in the Jonstown Compendium should be regarded as "canon".

• Jonstown Compendium creations must be in English. We may add other languages later.

• Your content can use any any rules and setting materials from the books and materials published by Chaosium including RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha, RuneQuest Classic (RQ2), and HeroQuest Glorantha or the forthcoming QuestWorlds SRD. We hope to be able to include 13th Age Glorantha in the Jonstown Compendium at a later date. Rules from the Mongoose or Design Mechanism editions of RuneQuest, or other variant d100 rulesets (e.g. Mythras, OpenQuest, Revolution D100, etc) are not permitted. Other prohibited content includes comics or fiction (unless short vignettes in roleplaying game materials), software or apps, crowd-funded content, or products that infringe on the intellectual property of others (obviously). 

• Creator resources include Word and Indesign templates will be made available for Jonstown Compendium creators.

• The program is very similar to our existing Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu and Explorer's Society for 7th Sea.

BRP Central folks: If you are interested in contributing to the Jonstown Compendium, and would like your creation to feature on launch or soon after, contact me at mob@chaosium.com and I can forward you the User Guidelines and templates etc so you can get started. nb we're not posting this material publicly yet in case we or DTRPG/OneBookShelf need to make any alterations. 

Edited September 9, 2019 by MOB

[Jane]

So, copying over my question from Facebook:

"Looks interesting. I don't use any of the rules systems mentioned, but presumably statless scenarios would work. Fiction? How about simply adding resources that already exist online to this central collection?"

Now let's see if notifications of answers actually work....

[MOB]

1 minute ago, Jane said:

So, copying over my question from Facebook:

"Looks interesting. I don't use any of the rules systems mentioned, but presumably statless scenarios would work.

The JC is for RQG, RQ Classic and HQ but as long your creation could conceivably be used by players of these games, and doesn't reference any other rule system, fine.

1 minute ago, Jane said:

Fiction?

Prohibited content includes comics or fiction (unless short vignettes in roleplaying game materials).

3 minutes ago, Jane said:

How about simply adding resources that already exist online to this central collection?"

A fundamental stipulation of all community content on DTRP is you can't offer what's there elsewhere, so no, not what the JC is for.

[Code Ronin]

As someone new to RQ and dying for material, I'm glad to see this happening.

[Jane]

So no, no, and no, for almost anything I have to offer, but thanks for the detailed explanation.
And in good news, not only did I get a notification that there was an answer, but the notification told me what the answer was!

Though.... I wonder.... 

39 minutes ago, MOB said:

A fundamental stipulation of all community content on DTRP is you can't offer what's there elsewhere....

So if I picked something that's currently on my website, took it off there, and offered it to the more central location...? There's a systemless scenario I wrote that I think would work rather well for other people, but it's currently hidden down the bottom of a link tree and I can barely find it myself, never mind expecting other people to.

[MOB]

9 minutes ago, Jane said:

So if I picked something that's currently on my website, took it off there, and offered it to the more central location...? There's a systemless scenario I wrote that I think would work rather well for other people, but it's currently hidden down the bottom of a link tree and I can barely find it myself, never mind expecting other people to.

If you took it down from your website once it was on the JC that would be fine. You could put a link on your website to the product at DTRPG.

Edited September 9, 2019 by MOB

[Jane]

Just now, MOB said:

If removed it from your website once it was on the JC that would be fine. You could put a link on your website to the product at DTRPG.

Perfect! This is what I'm thinking of
http://www.jane-williams.me.uk/glorantha/marshedge/marshhaggis.cfm

There's also quite a lot of myths around, mainly either Humakti or Vingan, but they'll need a bit more work to be presentable.

Now, me not being one of the "BRP Central folks", do you want to send me info on how to present it? Or do I wait until you're out of beta-testing?

[MOB]

3 minutes ago, Jane said:

Now, me not being one of the "BRP Central folks", do you want to send me info on how to present it? Or do I wait until you're out of beta-testing?

By virtue of being here, you are now one of the BRP Central folk. If you want to start on it now, send me an email as noted above and I'll send you the files.

[Dan Z]

Can this include character sheets that do autocalulations?  I'm not sure if that counts as software or not, I mean I'd say not since you need to have Acrobat (or functional equivalent) for it to work. 

Also what about maps?  I'd guess those could be considered handouts?

[MOB]

25 minutes ago, Dan Z said:

Can this include character sheets that do autocalulations?  I'm not sure if that counts as software or not, I mean I'd say not since you need to have Acrobat (or functional equivalent) for it to work. 

Should be fine.

25 minutes ago, Dan Z said:

Also what about maps?  I'd guess those could be considered handouts?

Yes. We are also making the Argan Argar Atlas available to Jonstown Compendium creators. You will have permission to excerpt and overlay maps with trails, locations etc.

[Rojo]

Let’s say this has made my week a really good one.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Rojo
Too political to be comfortable with the original.

[Lordabdul]

What about conversions of old RQ2 adventures for RQG?  (converted NPC stats, general notes and remarks, etc.)

[g33k]

3 hours ago, lordabdul said:

What about conversions of old RQ2 adventures for RQG?  (converted NPC stats, general notes and remarks, etc.)

Yeah... this!

THIS is the material I've been hoping would be on the DTRPG fan-content channel for RQ/Glorantha, ever since the idea was mooted.  RQG-ified stats/etc for Borderlands, Pavis, Griffin Mountain, etc... Not excluding the "little" projects like the SoloQuest Collection, Fangs, Plunder, the OSRP, etc.  Basically, the whole RQClassic KS project!   Honestly, I'm a bit surprised they haven't been done up "officially" by Chaosium and offered as free/cheap products to go alongside that Classic Goodness they afe bringing back to print...  😍 🤗     Seems like an obvious sales-booster for the older line !

Yes, yes, yes... I know it's "easy" to do this myself.  It's just a time-consuming process that I haven't yet had time to process... noting that if I haven't found this (relatively-modest) time YET (i.e. since getting the 1st printing of RQG in the first wave of orders)... I'm not likely to have the time any time soon.

 

[Jane]

4 hours ago, lordabdul said:

What about conversions of old RQ2 adventures for RQG?  (converted NPC stats, general notes and remarks, etc.)

Third time of trying to type this, and I hate the phone interface! What about conversions of the HW/HQ scenarios? I'm told RQ2/3 conversion to RQG is pretty straightforward, but this wouldn't be. Not that I plan on doing it myself, they're already in my preferred format, but that's a lot of good material.

[Rojo]

I would love the converted stats from The Red Cow and The Eleven Lights.

[Pentallion]

A question:  What about stuff I wrote for Hearts In Glorantha?  Strange Broos were initially part of a larger campaign I'd like to put up on JC and the campaign wouldn't be the same without them.

[g33k]

19 minutes ago, Pentallion said:

A question:  What about stuff I wrote for Hearts In Glorantha?  Strange Broos were initially part of a larger campaign I'd like to put up on JC and the campaign wouldn't be the same without them.

Is the "exclusivity" clause materially the same across all these DTRPG fan channels, such as DM'sGuild?  Or is this one (and the MR for CoC content) its own thing?

One implies you'd want to talk to DTRPG, the other implies you want to talk to Chaosium; needing an OK from both is very possible! Either way, don't forget to check in with d101Games!

N.B. -- I represent non of the parties above, and thus could be wildly off-base... when the sport is hang-gliding instead of baseball!  I'm just trying to figure it out myself!

[Jane]

17 hours ago, Jane said:

Perfect! This is what I'm thinking of
http://www.jane-williams.me.uk/glorantha/marshedge/marshhaggis.cfm

Drat. I knew one of the fanzines had it, was going to chase it down and grab the artwork. It's in Rule One issue 7. Electronic not dead tree, so still available. Will rethink.

[David Scott]

Looking at DTRPG, it generally talks about creating new stuff. So if you have something that you've previously written and update it to RQG, give it a new cover add some more value to it with some of your art, change it's name you're probably okay. Personally I would then add the "portions of this product were published in XXX in (date)" for clarity.

As @MOB said

On 9/9/2019 at 7:34 AM, MOB said:

The program is very similar to our existing Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu and Explorer's Society for 7th Sea.

Have a look through those to see what kind of stuff they have (links above)

As for conversions to a new version, DTRPG says:

Quote

Can I convert old content from earlier editions to the current edition and publish it in the Community Content Program?

Yes, so long as you follow the program's Content Guidelines.

Remember that most programs do not allow you to re-use artwork from official titles and do not allow you to republish large sections of text lifted from official titles.

It is often better to write a conversion guide which helps fans who have an earlier edition supplement bring the supplement up to the current edition.

It's the lifting of large sections of text which are likely to cause the problem.

Aside from the Guidelines of the JC, DTRPG have their own helpful pages:

https://support.drivethrurpg.com/hc/en-us/categories/201257283-Community-Content-Programs

[Szwagier]

Exciting stuff!!

[Prinz Slasar]

I like the clause that only new stuff is wanted, so we don't get the old stuff recycled again and again.
The Jonstown Compendium is the best way to keep the RQG-momentum and the boat afloat.

Awesome times for Glorantha-Fans!

Edited September 10, 2019 by prinz.slasar

[PhilHibbs]

So the rules are basically DTRPG's rules, rather than Chaosium's? Nice to know. It didn't make sense to me that Chaosium specifically didn't want obscure existing material to be made available.

On 9/9/2019 at 1:44 PM, MOB said:

A fundamental stipulation of all community content on DTRP is you can't offer what's there elsewhere, so no, not what the JC is for.

To me, it seems that material which has been published elsewhere in a fanzine or on a web site, but which is not currently "available elsewhere", is probably ok. I doubt that anyone at DTRPG is going to bring down a hammer especially if it's a free product and has been substantially overhauled and smartened up for a Drivethru download.

Artwork is always a challenge with projects like this. The Miskatonic Repository has an easy option as there's a lot of out-of-copyright Victorian images out there that can be cribbed. And while we have loads of talented artists in the Gloranthan community, it's never easy to ask someone who's trying to make their living as an artist to give their work away for nothing.

[Jane]

Right, I'm taking the combination of this and the "play a game in October" thing as a personal challenge. I haven't run a F2F game in far too long. Lost my nerve when I had that breakdown, but if I can stand up and deliver a talk to an audience, I can do this. Playtest as the F2F thing (assuming I can get players), then the scenario to go out here. It'll probably be pretty much systemless (it was when I ran it at Continuum a while back), but if I haven't thrown "In Pavis Fair City" at you by Xmas, feel free to nag.

[Psullie]

Cool stuff, I have a few ideas that would do very nicely.

[Dan Z]

7 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

And while we have loads of talented artists in the Gloranthan community, it's never easy to ask someone who's trying to make their living as an artist to give their work away for nothing.

And that's why I'm going to have my kids do all the illustrations for me.