General Guidelines for the Jonstown Compendium, community content site for Glorantha on DriveThruRPG (to be launched soon)

[MOB]

GUIDELINES

Welcome to the Jonstown Compendium! We’re excited to read and experience the mythic adventures you’re about to share with us.

Reading these guidelines will prepare you for making, preparing, and publishing your Jonstown Compendium content.

What is it?

The Jonstown Compendium is a way to publish and distribute RuneQuest and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds) content you have written, including original scenarios, background material, cults, and more.

You create content, format it to our design template, and then upload the PDF to the site. Your work becomes part of the Jonstown Compendium content on DriveThruRPG – able to be accessed by the community and, optionally, providing a financial return to you.

Chaosium has created easy to use style templates (in both MS Word and Adobe InDesign) specifically created for the Jonstown Compendium to help you create your own content.

Can I sell the content I create?

Yes, creators can make money from their published community content – or make it freely available (it is entirely up to you). Any retail sales are split between the creator (i.e. you), OneBookShelf (DriveThru's parent company), and Chaosium. As creator, you get 50% of the sale. For example, if your product retails on the site for USD $10.00, this is how the split of revenue is made:

• $5.00 to the creator
• $3.00 to DTRPG
• $2.00 to Chaosium

You set the price. Which could be free or otherwise. The financial process is fully automated, requiring no additional administration from the creator. You can read DriveThru’s notes about this at: https://support.drivethrurpg.com/hc/en-us/categories/201257283-Community-Content-Programs).

Note: you may be familiar with the existing community content for D&D, ours follows the same model in terms of revenue split and general rules.

What rules can I use in my product for the Jonstown Compendium?

Your work can use any rules and setting materials from the books and materials published by Chaosium

• RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha
• RuneQuest Classic
• HeroQuest Glorantha
• QuestWorlds SRD

What can’t I use in my Jonstown Compendium product?

• Rules from the Moongoose or Design Mechanism editions of RuneQuest, or other variant d100 rulesets (e.g. Mythras, OpenQuest, Revolution D100, etc)
• Rules from 13^th Age Glorantha (note: we hope to be able to include 13^th Age Glorantha in the Jonstown Compendium at a later date).

Note: we may permit content in other languages at a later time, but for now all Jonstown Compendium materials must be in English.

How can I use Jonstown Compendium art?

The Jonstown Compendium art is licensed for use in content submitted to our community content program. That’s it. What you write for the program is the only place you can use those materials, and you must properly attribute the artists of any program art materials you use. Stock art and templates from Chaosium will be available for your use via OneBookShelf. Any other art from official Chaosium material cannot be used for the Jonstown Compendium products, but you can commission art for use in your product. Responsibility for sourcing art that is available for commercial use is that of Jonstown Compendium product creators.

What kind of products are welcome in the Jonstown Compendium?

Original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, stats for NPCs and monsters. Material published in the Jonstown Compendium must be set in Greg Stafford’s World of Glorantha – but note “Your Glorantha Will Vary” below.

You may also create your own version of handouts for official RuneQuest and HeroQuest Glorantha campaigns (but remember that handouts for Chaosium scenarios bear our copyrighted text, so ensure you properly credit Chaosium: see the notes on credits and copyright below).

YGWV (“Your Glorantha Will Vary”) and how this applies to the Jonstown Compendium

“Your Glorantha Will Vary” is long-established principle in Gloranthan fandom. First espoused by the creator of the setting himself, Greg Stafford, in a nutshell what it means is you are free and welcome to take what you want from the incredibly rich tapestry of myth, magic, history and wonder of Glorantha for use in your own creations.

The “official” canon for the world is found in material published by Chaosium/Moon Design Publications, with what is presented in The Guide to Glorantha and The Glorantha Sourcebook as definitive. However, canon only matters for official publications – for that which published by Chaosium Inc and its licensees. For your Jonstown Compendium creations, Your Glorantha Will Vary. We strive to ensure that official publications stick to canon: however, that is a restriction on our interpretations of Glorantha, not yours. Your Glorantha can vary as much or as little as you want for what you create for the Jonstown Compendium.

Note: We may extend the Jonstown Compendium to cover alternative RuneQuest and HeroQuest settings such as “Fantasy Earth” in future, but for now the focus is on gaming in Glorantha.

What types of content are prohibited?

• Conversions of content from other roleplaying games or other copyrighted media into RuneQuest, HeroQuest Glorantha,or QuestWorlds rules.
• Rules from the Moongoose or Design Mechanism editions of RuneQuest, or other variant d100 rulesets (e.g. Mythras, OpenQuest, Revolution D100, etc)
• Rules from 13^th Age Glorantha (note: we hope to be able to include 13^th Age Glorantha in the Jonstown Compendium at a later date).
• Comics, fiction (unless short vignettes in roleplaying game materials)
• Software or apps.
• Products that infringe on the intellectual property of others.
• Crowd-funded content.

In addition

• Your Work does not contain material that a reasonable person would consider libelous, defamatory, racist, homophobic, or discriminatory; that violates the copyrights or trademarks of another party; or that violates the law.
• Your Work does not contain material that the general public would classify as extreme adult content, such as pornography or extreme violence.

Can I create and sell content for previous editions of the RuneQuest or HeroQuest Roleplaying Games?

The Jonstown Compendium accepts content designed for RuneQuest Roleplaying in Glorantha, RuneQuest Classic (RuneQuest 2^nd Edition), HeroQuest Glorantha, and QuestWorlds. If you have created something yourself for a different edition that you want to use with a Jonstown Compendium product, you must update it to one of these approved rulesets.

The Jonstown Compendium does not permit creators to update or convert scenarios, cults, or stat blocks from works published by Chaosium – we advise you to email us about such things as a pitch via the Chaosium submisions page. However, a sequel (or even a prequel) would be possible, provided it has more original content than content referenced.

Can I copy information from current rulebooks and products into my creation?

You can reference information in the approved rulebooks and products, but please refrain from copying directly from the books whenever possible. An exception to this is monster statistics taken from the RuneQuest Gloranthan Bestiary, RQ3 Creatures Book, and creatures chapter from RuneQuest Classic, which you may reproduce in material for the Jonstown Compendium.

Who owns material in the Jonstown Compendium?

You retain the copyright of any original IP you create for the Compendium. Moon Design/Chaosium owns the IP it provides for use including rules, settings, characters, concepts, plots, storylines etc.

How does credits and copyright work?

Our template [will add link when it is up on DTRPG] features the trademark and licensing language you must include on the Credits Page of your work. This acknowledges RuneQuest, HeroQuest, QuestWorlds, and Glorantha are trademarks of Moon Design/Chaosium Inc. and is used with permission.

You should also include a copyright notice of your own – [title of work] [©date] [name of authors]

If you use any art from our Art Packs, simply follow the crediting guidelines from that pack.

If you intend to use art from elsewhere, ensure that you have clear permission to do so and credit the artist or source.

I already have a Chaosium license, how does this affect that?

The Jonstown Compendium is a separate element from our licensing structure and does not supersede your existing license – it essentially works separately in parallel, if you choose to contribute to the program.

How do I prepare the PDF of my title for sale?

There’s a few steps here to walk you through if you’re a creator using DriveThruRPG for the first time. There’s also an additional step for you as a community content creator. After creating your content, go to your account page and look in the "My Content" section. You can use the "Add a new title" link after you agree to the Community Content Agreement.

Create - If you want to lay out your Digital PDF from scratch

• TUTORIALS - Tutorials for new publishers, to help you use Adobe Acrobat software to make better downloadable PDFs.
• QUICK SPECS (PDF) - To get you started.
• QUICK CHECK LIST (PDF) - To be sure you don't miss anything.
• EPUB & MOBI EXPORT TUTORIAL - FROM INDESIGN (PDF) - To show you how to prepare your InDesign file for export to the ePub format, and how to use Calibre to convert your ePub file to the Mobi format.
• EPUB & MOBI EXPORT TUTORIAL - FROM MICROSOFT WORD (PDF) - To show you how to prepare your Microsoft Word file for export to the ePub format, and how to use Calibre to convert your ePub file to the Mobi format.

Prep - You've already created your PDF and just need to see if it is all set to upload

• QUICK SPECS (PDF) - To get you started.
• QUICK CHECK LIST (PDF) - To be sure you don't miss anything.

Enhance - You've already created your PDF and want to add enhancements

• VIDEO TUTORIALS - To enhance your PDF.

Ready - Once your print files are ready to upload

Please ensure the Jonstown Compendium logo is present and clearly visible somewhere on the cover of your work, and on the preview image uploaded on your title’s product page.

UPLOAD - Will show you where and how to upload your files for digital download.

Once content is published, it can be found in the Jonstown Compendium.

After your product is for sale, your account will begin to accrue a 50% royalty every time your title sells. You can withdraw your accumulated royalties via PayPal by going to the My Money section of the Account page. Note that the My Money section of your Account page will not display until you have a balance accrued.

FURTHER GUIDELINES FOR CREATING JONSTOWN COMPENDIUM CONTENT

Style Guides

• Know the ruleset you are writing for and its terminology (for example, RQG has adventurers and a gamemaster, the use of Runes and passions, and the availability of magic to all adventurers.
• The RuneQuest Style Guide and RuneQuest Submissions Guide at the Chaosium website contain helpful guidance for writing and formatting your Jonstown Compedium content. You are not obliged to follow all these requirements, but doing so will improve the quality of your creation.
• For Gloranthan Runes, use the Gloranthan Core Runes font:
• http://www.glorantha.com/docs/glorantha-core-rune-font

Scenario Design Tips

• When writing material set in Glorantha, familiarise yourself with the Glorantha setting (as described in the Guide to Glorantha, Glorantha Sourcebook, RuneQuest Bestiary, and King of Sartar). While you the Author needs to the know setting, the gamemaster and players should not be assumed to know anything more about the setting beyond what is the core rules. Help them explore this rich setting through the scenario.
• Always remember that combat in RuneQuest is dangerous for the adventurers - hack-and-slash scenarios tend to result in total-party-kills or boredom (or both!). Scenarios should be resolvable through means other than just combat - social skills, stealth, or magic should be at least as important as combat, if not more. Concentrate on mystery, investigation, exploration, social conflict, and intrigue - combat is always an option, but there should always be another way.
• Always indicate where passions or Runes should, or could, be used and possible effects of successful or failed rolls. Avoid basing absolute success in a scenario upon a single die roll for any ability.
• Do not be afraid to present difficult episodes which can be successfully completed only after successive visits.
• Remember, the adventurers all belong to communities. They have families, belong to clans, temples, tribes or cities. Many adventurers owe personal loyalty to a king, war-leader, etc. Stories that threaten (or at least involve) the adventurers’ community have greater emotional resonance for the players.

Setting

• While creations for the Jonstown Compendium can be set in any Gloranthan time period or any place, Chaosium’s preferred setting for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha adventures is after the Dragonrise of 1625. Sartar is no longer occupied by the Lunar Empire and Argrath either is Prince of Sartar (1627 on) or is manoeuvring to become Prince. This is a time of adventure, change, and war.
• For most scenarios in Chaosium’s preferred setting, it should not matter when precisely it is set - and when possible, make the precise year of your scenario as timeless as possible. However, the location does typically matter. Pick a location for where your scenario takes place.

Mythic flavour

• A good Gloranthan adventure should have some mythic resonance. Even straightforward scenarios such as raiding trolls or killing broo has a mythic dimension, if only the conflict between Light and Darkness, or the struggle against Chaos. Here are some examples:
• Many adventures follow, at least superficially, the Hero’s Journey of Joseph Campbell even if they are not heroquests.
• Conflicts of the Gods Age are endlessly repeated, and the cycles of mortal time repeat the mythic conflicts of the gods.
• At many times in history, men have cooperated with the Elder Races, the dragons, giants, and even broos. Great empires have been founded with the secrets learned from non-humans. But the curse of knowledge is that once you learn something new you endanger the certainty of old truths.
• The dangers of arrogance and pride. The rise and fall of the Broken Council, the God Learners, the Empire of the Wyrms Friends, and even the Lunar Empire are examples of this theme. Great empires rise in Glorantha, determined to change the world forever, only to fall into ruin.
• The price of success is new conflict. The seeds of the next war are planted in how we ended the last war. Success always comes at a price, and that bill always eventually comes due.
• The paradox of the Hero. The Hero is endowed with exceptional powers and uses those gifts to battle against enemies who would endanger the peace and wellbeing of the community. And yet, the Hero is not bound by the rules and restrictions of the civilization they defend, and is rarely at home in the civilized world.

Tone

• While, in the main, the Jonstown Compendium has a PG-13 rating in terms of violence and sexual content, darker and adult themes may be explored and the content and tone written to fit a more mature audience. If your product for Jonstown Compendium is going to deal with mature themes, revisit our content guidelines for what limitations there are on how mature themes can be represented. Remember to flag that content early in the content itself and in the product description.

Technical Tips

• Proofread your content before putting it up on DriveThruRPG. If at all possible, ask a friend (or several friends) to help you pin down any errors. That covers grammar, spelling, punctuation, or logic errors in the scenario itself. Common problems to look out for:
• Passive voice: using an active voice makes your writing more exciting to read. Don’t say “The adventurers will see the iron bracelet in the casket.” Instead, use “The adventurers see the iron bracelet in the casket.”
• Spaces: only use one space between sentences.
• Numbers: for numbers one through nine, spell them out. For anything higher or lower, use digits instead.
• Use a font that doesn't cause considerable eye strain to read. By using our templates, a number of design issues you could encounter can be side-stepped, allowing you to focus more on your content.
• More is not better when it comes to length. Don't feel like you need to offer essays to gamemasters covering hundreds of years of backstory, or multipage prose descriptions of artifacts. Keep things short and simple, which gives GMs the time and room to put their own stamp on a scenario for their players.

Art

We want to supply more art to creators in the future; your needs are likely go beyond what we're offering right now. While you can hire artists or purchase a license for art assets, there's also art that is free to use online, much of which is in the public domain. These are a few directories and image search tools to get you started. Be mindful about checking the use rights, as not all the images in these directories and search widgets will be for commercial use.

US Library of Congress Prints and Photograph Online Catalog

The US Library of Congress's Prints and Photograph Online Catalog is vast! It contains various collections of images which could be of interest to Jonstown Compendium creators. For example, the Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection showcases cultural anthropology and geography in the early years of the twentieth century; and the Historic American Buildings Survey has thousands of images going back to Pre-Columbian times.

Images from before 1923 are considered in the public domain, as are certain images after that date. This the Library of Congress's advice about using images from its Prints and Photographs collection. You should review the status of any image you intend to use with these guidelines, and reference the source in your credits page.

The New York Public Library Digital Collections

The New York Public Library Digital Collections has over three quarters of a million items featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts and more. It is possible to search only the public domain materials in the collection, making it a useful and easy resource for Jonstown Compendium creators. The site also has an in-built feature enabling you to properly attribute anything you use.

The British Library on Flickr Commons

The British Library has released over 1 million images onto Flickr Commons for anyone to use, remix and repurpose. The images cover a diverse range of topics many of which may be of interest to Jonstown Compendium creators, such as anthropology, mythology and ancient history. The great thing about this resource is you know every item in it has no restrictions on its use!

Celebrate Joining the Repository

It's work to create a product, which is why you should celebrate finishing yours! If you're on social media, tag us to let us know about your content.

Edited October 21, 2019 by MOB

[MOB]

Cover of one of the inaugural releases:

 

[Psullie]

here is my contribution, @MOB I hope you don't mind me posting this...

 

 

[M Helsdon]

Previews sold out.

[Bill the barbarian]

2 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

Previews sold out.

 

Sold out, I can believe, but hell, I just heard about it.

[Austin]

I'm gonna take y'all's example as an excuse to spoiler my own work's cover.

Blurb:

Winter Descends on Dragon Pass!

When the child Rolf goes missing after a blizzard, his parents Rastolf and Serla grow frantic. They come to the village of Apple Lane begging for help from any who will listen. They come seeking any who will brave the wind and snow of winter to find a little boy. They come seeking adventurers.

The search will lead adventurers to a mysterious cave, known to locals as the Throat of Winter for the howling winds which blow forth. Inside, they face a terror from before the Dawn—Krampus. In this Gloranthan take on Scandinavian myth, the adventurers will find their bravery and Loyalty tested as they decide how best to protect Apple Lane from the demon’s predation.

This site-based adventure is intended to provide one to three sessions of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha play for four to six beginning to intermediate adventurers. While it is integrated into the Colymar campaign provided in Chaosium’s Gamemaster Screen Pack, this adventure is designed for use in any Dragon Pass campaign.

[Bill the barbarian]

24 minutes ago, Crel said:

I'm gonna take y'all's example as an excuse to spoiler my own work's cover.

 

and there I was asking about winter scenarios in dragon pass. Love the cover art and title.

Cheers and well done!

[M Helsdon]

13 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Sold out, I can believe, but hell, I just heard about it.

I may bring a very few spare copies to Dragonmeet, but they will be sold by Chaosium on a first come, first served basis.

The PDF may be available in a few weeks, so making special trips to Dragonmeet for a book that may be sold out is not advised.

I assumed, naively, that there wouldn't be much demand for what is a big expensive book.

[soltakss]

18 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Sold out, I can believe, but hell, I just heard about it.

Limited Edition, unfortunately. There are only so many virgins that Chaosium will allow to be sacrificed for the skins to make the cover, or some such problem.

12 hours ago, Crel said:

I'm gonna take y'all's example as an excuse to spoiler my own work's cover.

That is what the thread is for.

Oh, and for MOB to post updates.

 

[soltakss]

5 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

I assumed, naively, that there wouldn't be much demand for what is a big expensive book.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

I saw it at Dragonmeet and would have bought it there and then, even if it incurred the wrath of Mrs Soltakss, dragonfire and all.

[M Helsdon]

2 minutes ago, soltakss said:

I saw it at Dragonmeet and would have bought it there and then, even if it incurred the wrath of Mrs Soltakss, dragonfire and all.

You saw an earlier iteration.... It's grown and has more illustrations, though not as many as I would like...

A few appendices were taken out, but the page size has grown.

[M Helsdon]

Just had a test printout made. Now checking for typos.

[Austin]

2 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

Just had a test printout made. Now checking for typos.

1) How did you get it printed? Looks good, from what I can see from the photo.

2) What're the rules regarding printed works from the JC? IIRC DriveThruRPG's EULA forbids works in a community content program being sold in other venues & media; do you have another way of offering a print product, or is that just a personal physical copy?

[M Helsdon]

8 hours ago, Crel said:

1) How did you get it printed? Looks good, from what I can see from the photo.

It's my document; had it printed to permit a more detailed typo hunt and formatting check.

8 hours ago, Crel said:

2) What're the rules regarding printed works from the JC? IIRC DriveThruRPG's EULA forbids works in a community content program being sold in other venues & media; do you have another way of offering a print product, or is that just a personal physical copy?

You would have to ask Chaosium regarding author's printing and selling their work.

[Austin]

4 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

12 hours ago, Crel said:

1) How did you get it printed? Looks good, from what I can see from the photo.

It's my document; had it printed to permit a more detailed typo hunt and formatting check.

Gotcha. Was wondering because in the image, it looks bound rather than my usual stack o' sheets.

[M Helsdon]

5 hours ago, Crel said:

Gotcha. Was wondering because in the image, it looks bound rather than my usual stack o' sheets.

My printer is old and doesn't give a good resolution - which was particularly of concern, because it printed illustration surrounded by a faint grey haze, which isn't there in the professionally printed copy.

[MOB]

11 hours ago, M Helsdon said:

It's my document; had it printed to permit a more detailed typo hunt and formatting check.

You would have to ask Chaosium regarding author's printing and selling their work.

This is a special case.

POD options will be available to creators on the Jonstown Compendum. 

[Austin]

On 11/15/2019 at 3:03 PM, MOB said:

POD options will be available to creators on the Jonstown Compendum. 

That's exciting to hear. There's something special about physical copies IMO. I was wondering when everything I could find publicly indicated no POD for DTRPG community content.

[MOB]

11 hours ago, Crel said:

I was wondering when everything I could find publicly indicated no POD for DTRPG community content.

The default is digital but there are several POD titles now available on the Miskatonic Repository.

[DerKrieger]

On 11/14/2019 at 4:02 PM, M Helsdon said:

Just had a test printout made. Now checking for typos.

I didn't know I was missing this in my life until just now.

[af Granskär]

Hardcover POD option for that Army book, please, for the love of Goddess!

[Bill the barbarian]

4 hours ago, af Granskär said:

Hardcover POD option for that Army book, please, for the love of Goddess!

Nice!

[M Helsdon]

19 hours ago, af Granskär said:

Hardcover POD option for that Army book, please, for the love of Goddess!

Until the file is loaded and I have access to the necessary information, I won't be able to determine whether to permit a POD option. Whilst I have purchased PDFs on DriveThru in the past, I know nothing about the options for sellers.

I have been using a softcover I had printed to do 'final' proofreading and format checking (and am still finding typos, which isn't surprising in a 380 page book). The twenty printed this week are all hardcovers (and vanity printing costs an arm and a leg, so this is not an avenue I will be repeating - a Dragonmeet special). Given the size of the book, it would have to be a POD hardcover - the softcover is not faring too well, but is serving its purpose.

Update: Have found the DriveThruRPG POD page: if it is permitted, a hardcover POD would be necessary, and cost roughly the same as the ones I have had printed, according to their calculator.

Edited November 28, 2019 by M Helsdon

[M Helsdon]

Will be bringing a couple of copies to Dragonmeet.

[Sir_Godspeed]

It's so cool to see all these publications made available. Cheers to their creators, and kudos to Chaosium for opening up revenue-sharing in this way. I know it's based on existing models, but always glad to see that model expanded as it's a very fan-friendly one.