Quick synopsis for Gloranthan Classics?

[Bill the barbarian]

12 minutes ago, g33k said:

Cold, white stuff?   THAT'S NOT "LAWN."

 

Ya takes what’s ya gets were I come from...

[Qizilbashwoman]

5 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

Are the Gloranthan Classics ever going to be printed again? Probably not, although I won't go so far to say that it's impossible. I still get asked by people about picking up Vol. 1 the most, especially in hardcover, of which we only did 300 in total. Alas, getting these reprinted is far far down our priorities list.   

Since y'all are offering the Stafford Library through LULU, is there some objection to just running reprints of the PDFs through them? At least then they'd be in print.

[g33k]

1 minute ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Ya takes what’s ya gets were I come from...

<bad accent>:  "In Rrrooooosha, vat ya gets, takes YOU!"

[Austin]

1 hour ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

Since y'all are offering the Stafford Library through LULU, is there some objection to just running reprints of the PDFs through them? At least then they'd be in print.

I'm not Rick so I can't be authoritative, but I recall this topic coming up moderately frequently, and that the answer is basically "we don't have print-quality PDFs to use" due to old formatting methods. So basically there is a reason, but I don't remember the exact technical thingie-ja-whummits involved.

[David Scott]

8 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

I'm ready to murder someone for a printable commentary-enabled codex of the entekosiad

http://www.lulu.com/shop/greg-stafford/the-entekosiad/paperback/product-22145425.html

[7Tigers]

1 hour ago, Crel said:

 "we don't have print-quality PDFs to use"

Hum, for B&W books, I'm not sure HQ pdf are really needed. Lulu printing is not HQ anyway: useful and enough to play, but definitively not HQ...

[Austin]

10 minutes ago, 7Tigers said:

Hum, for B&W books, I'm not sure HQ pdf are really needed. Lulu printing is not HQ anyway: useful and enough to play, but definitively not HQ...

*Shrug.*

Like I said, I'm not Rick; just trying to recount what I recall him sharing about the technical challenges.

[Chromatism]

Above and beyond! Thanks again everyone. A truly brilliant response.

One of the most amazing things about Glorantha is the wealth of material, but it does make it a bit of a facer to a new comer. So much information out there, but discerning what's useful now? Not so easy. This has answered my questions and more.

[Rick Meints]

Redoing the layout on 10 volumes of the Stafford Library in Microsoft Word is far from insurmountable, it's just a matter of time. Even if it is only 4 hours per book, that's a solid week of someone's time, though.

[Rick Meints]

Getting the first two volumes of the Gloranthan Classics onto Lulu isn't that simple if you want the art to print out well.

We don't have a print quality PDF of those two books because they were done when printers prepared film to print the books, and they did a lot of art prep for the film. The PDFs look ok on screen but many of the pictures don't print that nicely.

[Lordabdul]

2 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

The PDFs look ok on screen but many of the pictures don't print that nicely.

I got 3 of the books from Chaosium and eBay, but the 1st one (Pavis & Big Rubble) is impossible to find at non-outlandish prices, so I got the PDF printed into a similar perfect bound softcover as the other ones (hopefully that's OK with Chaosium for a single private copy). Anyway... I can attest that it's very usable. AFAICT, there's only 1 map that comes out badly, and another one that doesn't look great but is still usable (I think there's only 1 label that's hard to read on it). Then there's a handful of maps and illustrations that appear to lack some resolution (they look a bit blurry) but it's not really an issue compared to, you know, being able to hold a book. At that point, dropping the PDF in Lulu would still make some people happy, but the problem might be to figure out a price point for a product that not only Chaosium would not consider up to their quality standard, but also just doesn't come out 100% professional-looking (a few pages look more like scans than like a proper thing). I suppose our only hope is that, at some point, Rick will have some family reunion that is reaaaally boring and, by some incredible chance, the only thing on his laptop are the Gloranthan Classic files

 

Edited December 18, 2019 by lordabdul

[g33k]

9 minutes ago, lordabdul said:

... I suppose our only hope is that, at some point, Rick will have some family reunion that is reaaaally boring and, by some incredible chance, the only thing on his laptop are the Gloranthan Classic files

Sounds like a job for the crack squad of Ninja Trollkin Hackers.

 

[Lordabdul]

5 minutes ago, g33k said:

Sounds like a job for the crack squad of Ninja Trollkin Hackers.

If trollkin were clever and savvy enough to hack a laptop, I'd say we could put that squad of trollkin to work on the books themselves! Actually, maybe that's what the Chaosium offices look like -- a handful of people ordering trollkin around to make books.

Btw I gotta ask @Rick Meints -- those special RQ playtest notes and unfinished works that were scanned for the RQ2 Kickstarter, there wouldn't be any few spare ones lying around that I could throw my disposable wealth at? Or some PDF release in a far future where, indeed, there have been many boring family meetings?

Edited December 18, 2019 by lordabdul

[g33k]

1 minute ago, lordabdul said:

If trollkin were clever and savvy enough to hack a laptop, I'd say we could put that squad of trollkin to work on the books themselves!

You really, really don't want to see what that lot would do if you actually gave them editorial control that way.

<shudders>

No, REALLY. 

[Richard S.]

A hundred trollkin with typewriters, given infinite time, will eventually type the entire works of Chaosium...

Edited December 18, 2019 by Richard S.

[Qizilbashwoman]

9 minutes ago, Richard S. said:

A hundred trollkin with typewriters, given infinite time, will eventually type the entire works of Chaosium...

they'll even finish the unfinished works

[Austin]

43 minutes ago, Richard S. said:

A hundred trollkin with typewriters, given infinite time, will eventually type the entire works of Chaosium...

But—and here's the real question—would they ever finish heroquesting rules?

[Qizilbashwoman]

5 hours ago, Crel said:

But—and here's the real question—would they ever finish heroquesting rules?

I don't think even God Herself has finished drafting them. I say du'a every day

[Lloyd Dupont]

39 minutes ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

I don't think even God Herself has finished drafting them. I say du'a every day

I dunno about that, and excuse me if I came like an hair in the soup (French expression (IIRC, I left like 18 years ago now) that means out of the blue and out of context) but...

One a 3% related topic, I made some divine ascension / apotheosis rule suggestion in the Revolution D100 forum! 😜

 

[soltakss]

On 12/17/2019 at 7:17 PM, Chromatism said:

I'm a new devotee to the wonderful world of Runequest, Heroquest and Glorantha. Right now I'm diving head long into the world and slamming into the enormity of the prospect! So time to start smaller. I'm very interested in the Gloranthan Classics, however I can't seem to find a good synopsis about the flavour that the big three offer. Can anyone kindly oblige? I'm aware that Pavis and the Big Rubble is likely good old dungeon delving, but I'm guessing there's a city intrigue component? And I don't know what to make of Griffin Mountain and Borderlands just atm.

Pavis and the Big Rubble - a mix of Politics and Dungeon Delving, with the tiniest Wilderness imaginable.

Borderlands - A focused Campaign as Mercenaries for a Lunar Duke along the River of Cradles in Prax, but with so many opportunities for a further Sandbox Campaign. It also has excellent NPC writeups.

Griffin Mountain - An excellent Sandbox setting, set in Balazar and the Elder Wilds

Cults Compendium - A collection of all the RQ2 and RQ3 long writeup Cults, a very useful supplement, at least until Gods and Goddesses of Glorantha 1 and 2 come out.

There is a nice link between Borderlands and Griffin Mountain, which allows you to travel to the next campaign.

[g33k]

2 minutes ago, soltakss said:

...

There is a nice link between Borderlands and Griffin Mountain, which allows you to travel to the next campaign.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one!  Good call.

Also worth noting that the linking scenario is pretty easy to re-purpose if you had been running P&BR instead of B&B.

[Bill the barbarian]

5 minutes ago, soltakss said:

There is a nice link between Borderlands and Griffin Mountain, which allows you to travel to the next campaign.

and with Pavis and the Big Rubble right there, it can be played a palate cleanser twixt missions for the Duke, Perhaps a visit to find a specialist trainer or bit of exotica not found on the less civilized banks of the River to the south. The First scenario in the Pavis set is perfect for visitors. 

Ah hell get the holy trio... ya won’t be sorry.

Edited December 20, 2019 by Bill the barbarian