WeAreAllUs: download 'The Rattling Wind' for RuneQuest, released in memory of Greg Stafford

[MOB]

To mark the first anniversary of the passing of Chaosium founder Greg Stafford, we're encouraging Chaosium fans and gamers in general to play a tabletop game in his memory from October 10 to October 31.

The world of Glorantha was Greg's creation in 1966; and is now one of the oldest, most detailed, and most influential roleplaying settings ever published. The Rattling Wind is a brand new RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha adventure by Helena Nash, suitable for four-to-six new or moderately experienced adventurers. It is a preview chapter from The Pegasus Plateau & Other Stories, a forthcoming adventures anthology.

Download The Rattling Wind:

• The Rattling Wind

What better way to honor his legacy than getting your friends together and playing a tabletop game in remembrance of Greg! 

#weareallus

 

Edited October 11, 2019 by MOB

[Bill the barbarian]

1 hour ago, MOB said:

Download The Rattling Wind:

•  

Many thanks MOB, Greg, and the rest of you at chaosium. I hope I can organize a game twixt not and all hallow’s eve. I wish you all good gaming!

<a little later> Ooh, terrifying guys, now I got to get a all hallow’s game going, thanks again all.

Cheer!

Edited October 11, 2019 by Bill the barbarian
pur speln

[Oracle]

In the text the name of the hamlet is always Farfield, on all the maps it's Fairfield.

What's the correct name?
(I guess, it's Farfield, but I wanted to be sure ...)

[Belgath]

I’ll be running this on Saturday. Great new adventure.

[seneschal]

6 hours ago, Oracle said:

In the text the name of the hamlet is always Farfield, on all the maps it's Fairfield.

What's the correct name?
(I guess, it's Farfield, but I wanted to be sure ...)

And is the hamlet far afield of Fairfield?  GPS service was much sketchier in the Bronze Age.  😄

[Psullie]

I love the duck pic on page 16!

[Black Wolf]

I have a question about the adventure.
It says that the rattling wind acts during full black moon on each Clayday on page 5, but for me this isn't making sense.  On page 8 it says: "As the night falls, the adventurers spot the full moon through the clearing clouds" and "The flames shed some small patches of insufficient light here and there whilst leaving other areas lit only by the moon." In the cover the moon is full red...
So does the black moon emits light? Shouldn't the attack be each Wildday, since full red moon happens this day on Dragon Pass?

[Akhôrahil]

5 minutes ago, Black Wolf said:

So does the black moon emits light? Shouldn't the attack be each Wildday, since full red moon happens this day on Dragon Pass?

And don't forget that Heortlings count the day from dusk til dusk, so Wildday night would be the night after Fireday daytime.

[Marc]

On 10/11/2019 at 2:45 AM, Oracle said:

In the text the name of the hamlet is always Farfield, on all the maps it's Fairfield.

What's the correct name?
(I guess, it's Farfield, but I wanted to be sure ...)

Curious what maps you're referring to.  Looking at the Dragon Pass map from the GM Pack, I don't see anything where this village is supposed to be.  The map in the scenario indicates that Boldhome is to the northeast, and HighWyrm is to the northwest.  I'm assuming that Farfield( or Fairfield, whichever is correct ), is west of Roundstone, and north of the river that runs through Roundstone

Edited October 12, 2019 by Marc

[Oracle]

5 hours ago, Marc said:

Curious what maps you're referring to.  Looking at the Dragon Pass map from the GM Pack, I don't see anything where this village is supposed to be.  The map in the scenario indicates that Boldhome is to the northeast, and HighWyrm is to the northwest.  I'm assuming that Farfield( or Fairfield, whichever is correct ), is west of Roundstone, and north of the river that runs through Roundstone

I'm referring to the maps in the adventure module ...

Edited October 12, 2019 by Oracle

[Bill the barbarian]

If you are looking for errrata, the HP seem a little high. Perhaps 12..?

Edited October 13, 2019 by Bill the barbarian

[smiorgan]

Epic! Thank you Chaosium for this scenario!

[dougiepunk]

I’m very confused by this scenario. For a start, I really don’t get the Black Moon thing. Surely this is when the moon is at its weakest and most diminished?

And post-Dragonrise why is everyone so cagey about the “murder”. As a foreigner, Belros was clearly outside Orlanthi law, and therefore perfectly fair game anyway. And as a despicable chaos loving Lunar invader, killing him was a patriotic act of resistance that imo everyone involved would boast about from the rooftops now that its safe to do so. So what am I missing?

Edited October 16, 2019 by dougiepunk

[10baseT]

Really liking the scenario, thank you... and we got it free, hot damn, i wont complain. Will be running it very soon. Looking forward to many more and ready to spend some guilders and sovereigns, no lunars here!

[Joerg]

5 hours ago, dougiepunk said:

I’m very confused by this scenario. For a start, I really don’t get the Black Moon thing. Surely this is when the moon is at its weakest and most diminished?

I get the impression that the author got that mixed up, regarding the black as the most magical time. Also the phrase "a full black moon rising" raised the suspicion that the author is new to Glorantha.

It might be excused that this is when a full week's worth of moonglow has been stored by the Rattling Wind. For the final publication, this should be amended.

 

5 hours ago, dougiepunk said:

And post-Dragonrise why is everyone so cagey about the “murder”. As a foreigner, Belros was clearly outside Orlanthi law, and therefore perfectly fair game anyway. And as a despicable chaos loving Lunar invader, killing him was a patriotic act of resistance that imo everyone involved would boast about from the rooftops now that its safe to do so. So what am I missing?

It was secret murder. In Orlanthi culture there is nothing wrong with a manslaughter if you own up to your deed, but secret murder is a different issue. Yes, even if the three perpretators had gone into voluntary exile, the people inhabiting hamlet would have been slain or enslaved, and the rest of the clan would have suffered badly, too, but that doesn't change the fact that the trio acted dishonorably.

For a modern parallel, it is like a hit and run after causing a lethal traffic accident.

[dougiepunk]

Hmm. I’m pretty certain secret murder only applies to those covered by Orlanthi law. Not foreigners. And since the entire village helped drown the evidence, it was hardly kept secret from the community anyway. Which is what matters under Orlanthi law.

I completely fail to see how killing a foreign invader is murder at all (let alone a secret one since the whole community knows about it), or how it is in any way dishonourable. Killing and enemy Rune Lord would be something to be very proud of!

Of course they had to hide the evidence from the enemy invaders for practical reasons, but what does that matter to either Orlanthi Law or honour?

And now the invaders are gone...

Edited October 17, 2019 by dougiepunk

[Joerg]

2 hours ago, dougiepunk said:

Hmm. I’m pretty certain secret murder only applies to those covered by Orlanthi law. Not foreigners. And since the entire village helped drown the evidence, it was hardly kept secret from the community anyway. Which is what matters under Orlanthi law.

Was the killing declared to the kin of the slain? If not, it is secret murder.

The charioteer and rider belonging to the Seven Mothers suggests that they were Provincials, too - in other words, Orlanthi.

 

2 hours ago, dougiepunk said:

I completely fail to see how killing a foreign invader is murder at all (let alone a secret one since the whole community knows about it), or how it is in any way dishonourable. Killing and enemy Rune Lord would be something to be very proud of!

As long as you declare the slaying to the cult or kin of the deceased, it is honorable. Failing to do so is the Ipharan way, and stay away from those daughters of Vadrus.

Whether poisoning two men and then pommeling them to death is something to be proud of (for anybody but a Trickster) is a different question, one I would answer in the negative.

2 hours ago, dougiepunk said:

Of course they had to hide the evidence from the enemy invaders for practical reasons, but what does that matter to either Orlanthi Law or honour?

A lot, as far as my part time Orlanthi Lawspeaking experience tells me. You kill someone, you declare your deed, and rush off into exile or become a rebel bandit - fine.

HIding the evidence (including the bodies, except for the plunder) and the deed is not honorable.

2 hours ago, dougiepunk said:

And now the invaders are gone...

Unlike the stain on the honor of the perps. Giving the bodies a non-burial more or less was a surefire way to awaken a vengeful ghost.

[dougiepunk]

So if Sartarite rebels ambush a Lunar army unit, do they need to inform the relatives of the slain soldiers?

Sorry, I don’t believe a Lunar solder and Seven Mother’s Rune Lord falls under the auspices of Sartarite law and Heortling custom. 

Ok. Not at all convinced, so this is just going to have to be a case of MGWV. But given that this scenario will appear in an official product it make me worry about the quality of that product. IMO the premise of this scenario is deeply flawed. Mixed up maps and deep confusion about how Lunar phases work can be fixed, by imo this can’t. MGWV :).
 

 

Edited October 17, 2019 by dougiepunk

[dougiepunk]

And as for not being honourable, how else are a bunch of  lowly and sorely abused villagers supposed to take out an enemy Rune Lord? These are hardly proud warriors, and I don't think Heortlings have any real problem with being sneaky when needs must anyway!

[Joerg]

1 hour ago, dougiepunk said:

So if Sartarite rebels ambush a Lunar army unit, do they need to inform the relatives of the slain soldiers?

They'd surely leave a memento for the Lunar army to find. It doesn't matter whether you notify the kin or the chosen leaders of a slain enemy.

There is no known case of Sartarite rebels annihilating a Lunar army unit without leaving any trace of them to be found. And the army would have gone after an AWOL unit, if nothing else then for disciplinary reasons.

 

1 hour ago, dougiepunk said:

Sorry, I don’t believe a Lunar solder and Seven Mother’s Rune Lord falls under the auspices of Sartarite law and Heortling custom. 

It is arguable whether the deed was a breach of hospitality. Feeding someone in your own house implies some acceptance of hospitality duties. Any breach of hospitality is a major anathema unto the High Gods of Glorantha.

On the other hand, quite likely no oaths of hospitality were exchanged.

 

1 hour ago, dougiepunk said:

Ok. Not at all convinced, so this is just going to have to be a case of MGWV. But given that this scenario will appear in an official product it make me worry about the quality of that product. IMO the premise of this scenario is deeply flawed. Mixed up maps and deep confusion about how Lunar phases work can be fixed, by imo this can’t. MGWV :).

The vengeful ghost doesn't require any guilt of the perps. Making it a single entity is a weird design choice, and even weirder is the hit location table of the resulting antagonist. Not unprecedented (Cwim had a similarly useless hit location table in Elder Secrets), but counter-intuitive, especially when there are chariot rules in the rules.

I ran the scenario and found it to provoke a situation with high TPK probability, which is a different issue. As written, it is afternoon when the party arrives, and as soon as it gets dark, the antagonist will come again. The player characters are as uninformed about the threat as the third victim, and are as likely to end up in the third victim's condition. Other than the three previous victims were badly mangled, the player characters have not a single clue about the nature of the attacker. That's fine for the horror genre, especially if you have no great attachment to the protagonists yet, and letting a few of them die just sets the atmosphere for the rest of the bunch. Doing this to Glorantha characters may be consequent, but a bit unusual - people entering Snake Pipe Hollow have a rough idea where they are going. An Antorling hamlet doesn't call deathtrap.

 

53 minutes ago, dougiepunk said:

And as for not being honourable, how else are a bunch of  lowly and sorely abused villagers supposed to take out an enemy Rune Lord? These are hardly proud warriors, and I don't think Heortlings have any real problem with being sneaky when needs must anyway!

Sneaky is one thing. Going against hospitality - even forcibly acquired hospitality - is going against the inner workings of Orlanthi society the same way as kinslaying. Hospitality laws are one of the universal constants of Glorantha. Once you feed a foreigner in your house (or even your enclosed area), you have accepted the role of the host.

Sure, the "guest" had obeyed the laws of hospitality mostly in the breach, too, but that is not an excuse - compare the story of Arangorf's visit at Orlanth's stead (in King of Sartar) for how a host properly deals with a guest overreaching their welcome.

Did the villagers have an urgent need to kill the rune lord while he was a guest, however un-welcome?

[Lordabdul]

Thanks for the free scenario Chaosium! It's pretty cool, and I love the ducks on p16

I was confused about the full moon/black moon thing too. I assume there's still some editing to be done here and the final version of the scenario will have the killings happen on full moons (Wild Day).

As for the original murders, my take is that the villagers kept it secret mostly from fear of reprisal from the Lunars, at first. Since Orlanthi are generally proud people who own up to their actions, there was probably shame coming later into the equation, along with a potentially disproportionate response to the Lunars' violence (see below)... so after the Dragonrise, which probably made Lunars (and their reprisal) less likely to show up in Farfield, they probably decided to keep the secret anyway. But I agree this is a weak spot in the scenario and should be cleared up in the final version. Maybe moving the scenario back a few seasons so that Lunar occupation is still active would also help.

4 hours ago, Joerg said:

Sure, the "guest" had obeyed the laws of hospitality mostly in the breach, too, but that is not an excuse - compare the story of Arangorf's visit at Orlanth's stead (in King of Sartar) for how a host properly deals with a guest overreaching their welcome.

In my Glorantha, the Orlanthi would probably have no problem hitting back if a guest forgets their place. If the guest burns someone's face and cripples someone's leg, I think they would be justified to burn the guest's face and cripple his leg, and then escort him to the edge of the clan's lands to send him on his way with a strong kick in the rear. Killing the guest would, however, be potentially frowned upon unless the guest actually killed someone in the clan... but like I said, when the guest in question is a Lunar officer during Lunar occupation, things get more complicated...

In the story with Orlanth, Arangorf didn't do nearly as much damage as Beleros, since Arangorf only did material damage and was generally rude. My guess is that Orlanth kept his composure in this case because he also had some important political agenda (establishing a truce between his people and the dragons).

 

Edited October 17, 2019 by lordabdul

[Gene M.]

Running this on Oct 30th. Looking forward it!

[dougiepunk]

15 hours ago, lordabdul said:

Maybe moving the scenario back a few seasons so that Lunar occupation is still active would also help.

Yes. That would help considerably. Great idea! 

[PhilHibbs]

On 10/17/2019 at 10:53 AM, dougiepunk said:

So if Sartarite rebels ambush a Lunar army unit, do they need to inform the relatives of the slain soldiers?

Clearly not. The Viking tradition that I always assumed that this was based on was, if I recall correctly, that you had to report the killing at one of the first three houses that you walk past after the deed, so with foreigners it is more about admitting it to your community (who might bear the consequences of revenge killings) than to the relatives of the deceased.

Of course the custom doubtless varied and was subject to interpretation, and is muddied by fictional presentations, but there's enough flexibility on what counts as "secret murder" to create a narrative that supports the scenario.

Edited October 18, 2019 by PhilHibbs

[Greville]

Thanks for this free adventure. I'll have fun inserting it into my campaign as the player characters are all ducks