A new cult of chaos

[Bill the barbarian]

@Rick Meints@MOBand @Trifletraxor

Do not know who to address this too so... anyway I have been a member here in the Cults of Chaos for three or so years and have only run one demo game (very well received but that was for free game day 2017 for y’all in that time and was wondering... Is this only here for Call of Cthulhu?

I and others have have asked questions about RQ that have sat here unanswered or partially answered for the entire time I have been here. Is RQ not going to get a "Cults" push of any kind? A couple of years ago one of the great old ones said that there would be advertising we could use for RQ demos just around the corner. Nada... I have a feeling this missive will sit here lonely and unanswered as well. but... I hope I am wrong. I have quit coming to this area as have others because it is a hassle to look up the password, then wait for the pages to load and never see anything RQ related.

Cheers

[g33k]

@Bill the barbarian -- I hear your pain.  I feel your pain.  That said... there's a non-trivial amount of RQ material available.  Admittedly, it isn't as easy to find as CoC material is.  Sort of a (bronze) needle in a haystack of eldritch distraction ...

But, yeah.  Stuff's missing that was long promised.  An "organized Play" program akin to ATtH, with sequential adventures or a "campaign" &c &c &c ...  Flyers/adverts we could hang at FLGS's and Con's ... quick "feedback" questionnaires we could collect & use to improve our event-GM'ing, and Chaosium could use to improve their event-materials, &c &c &c ...

(n.b.:  Trif ain't yer bitch, here; that was a mis-summoning (bad Barbarian).  Trif is a god among men, it's true, and no doubt he COULD solve the problem if it was his job to do so.  But he kindly permits lesser men to prove their worthiness.  Instead, I'd add @Todd@Chaosium to the summons.  He's behind (at least) one of the good Cult resources, and in a much better position than Trif to know what's what within Chaosium).

 

[g33k]

Also, I think @Jason Durall should get an @Summoning ... 

[Bill the barbarian]

On 1/10/2020 at 2:34 PM, g33k said:

(n.b.:  Trif ain't yer bitch, here; that was a mis-summoning (bad Barbarian).  Trif is a god among men, it's true, and no doubt he COULD solve the problem if it was his job to do so.  But he kindly permits lesser men to prove their worthiness.  Instead, I'd add @Todd@Chaosium to the summons.  He's behind (at least) one of the good Cult resources, and in a much better position than Trif to know what's what within Chaosium).

 

No actually, no mis-summoning at all. We will need Triff to be able to create Cult of Chaos for RQ in our hidden little area.... I think I am more than enough of a sorcerer to know which demon or deity I might need.

But thanks anyway/

Edited January 14, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[Todd-2]

Hi there!

Sorry to take so long getting to this.

It is unclear what sort of "push" you are expecting for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha that differs from what we do for our larger product line, Call of Cthulhu. We have a demo, you just need to ask the head of the Cult of Chaos (Todd@chaosium.com) for a copy when you want to run it. But sure, I can also upload it to the Cult Library. And we ran scenario writing contest and used the GMs from the Cult of Chaos to support conventions around the world with the first two scenarios from that contest ("Remembering Caroman" and "The Fainting Spirit"). Those had a great run over the year and will be replaced by two new convention scenarios--in editing now. As with CoC, convention scenarios are by-request-only for the first year, and then posted to the Cult Library by spring of the next year.

I wonder if those posting here are not reading the GM newsletter that goes out to the Cult of Chaos where we make announcements about new scenario availability and the "retirement" of scenarios from by-request-only to the Cult Library? I hope that this is not the case and rather it is the fact that the last notice on new scenarios was a year ago. Surely that span seems likely to have faded the memory.

I will be posting in the next one a complete reminder about what support the Cult of Chaos offers GMs: scenarios, demos, prize support, and recruitment through the newsletter for convention organizers or gaming clubs that want more GMs. Hopefully that clear up some of what you feel is "missing"--by explaining that it it there, you just have to ask for it.

As for the other things that were brought up:

• The problem with flyers and posters and such is getting these to you. We can (and have) sent posters to game stores, which is pretty much what other organized play groups do, but it is up to them to post these. Outside of sending things through our distributor as part of a store's shipment, there really isn't a reasonable way to send stacks of flyers or cards to individual GMs. Best we can do is send these when there is a group of GMs requesting prize support for a convention they are running games at. I will look at partnering with our marketing team to get those ready by the summer convention season. 
• The Organized Play short campaigns have been the products of the Line Editors for the various product lines. Mike Mason has been amazing in producing one every other year. And yes, we would love to create one for RuneQuest. But that has to fit into the existing production cycle. Of course, you want to hear in advance about when this might happen. But the tabletop industry is just not the same as other industries and announcing upcoming releases before they are ready for layout--and especially making promises about "when" something is going to come out--is a problem area for nearly all game manufacturers. So we don't make those announcements. If @Jason Durall has more to add, I invite him to do so.
• Player questionnaires? It is problematic to fill one of those out and then give that right back to the person who needs the feedback. Players don't like doing this, too much pressure.
• As for improving our events material, see above about flyers. But we had a choice: offer convention scenarios for free or produce them as adventure modules that GMs purchase from us. We elected to go a different path than Pathfinder Society and D&D Adventurer's League. If you want to purchase material, I would point you to Chaosium.com and the Jonstown Compendium on DriveThru RPG. If you want a free scenario for convention play, just ask. I'll ask which convention you intend to run these at and then send it over by email.

[Bill the barbarian]

8 hours ago, Todd@Chaosium said:

It is unclear what sort of "push" you are expecting for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha that differs from what we do for our larger product line, Call of Cthulhu.

I am not truly aware of what the cullt of chaos does for Call of Cthulhu as I do not run the game anymore. I did run it back in the 80’s but not since. I run RQ G for one persom here north of the 54 parallel in Canada in a city of over 1 million people and I would love to run it for a real group like I did up until 2003 ish but people that I speak to.have never heard of the game,  I have mentioned that on free RPG day back in '17 I ran a game for 5 people (free RQ quickstarts in hand) and I got a very enthusiastic response but over 2 years later with the better part of a whole game in hand and the contacts with those fine people I met long since lost, I can not get people interested. by just saying, “Hey, who wants to play RQ?”,  I  have never heard of any clubs or conventions other that Magic the Gathering or DnD here that I can take the game to.

8 hours ago, Todd@Chaosium said:

We have a demo, you just need to ask the head of the Cult of Chaos (Todd@chaosium.com) for a copy when you want to run it.

Hell, I have been asking for this since slightly after 2017’s free gaming day right here in this forum, can not recall the place but I think Scott-Martin partially answered the question 2 or 3 months later with the thought that the Cult of Chaos would be ramping up a bit of fan driven advertising soon and that was the last I heard on the topic, This is the first  I have heard (again I have asking a few times to very little response) about demoes to run to generate interest here. I would love to see a copy! Again though, I suffer from the problem of people having no idea what I am talking about when I say RQ G.

 

8 hours ago, Todd@Chaosium said:

Those had a great run over the year and will be replaced by two new convention scenarios--in editing now.

And after two years asking about being able to run demoes I have never even heard of these never mind being able to run them, That is a shame, are they good?

 

8 hours ago, Todd@Chaosium said:

Those had a great run over the year and will be replaced by two new convention scenarios--in editing now.

I hope I get to see these new ones before they get retired. At least I have heard of them now.

 

8 hours ago, Todd@Chaosium said:

wonder if those posting here are not reading the GM newsletter that goes out to the Cult of Chaos where we make announcements about new scenario availability and the "retirement" of scenarios from by-request-only to the Cult Library?

Excuse me, what? Never heard of this.

 

8 hours ago, Todd@Chaosium said:

I will be posting in the next one a complete reminder about what support the Cult of Chaos offers GMs: scenarios, demos, prize support, and recruitment through the newsletter for convention organizers or gaming clubs that want more GMs. Hopefully that clear up some of what you feel is "missing"--by explaining that it it there, you just have to ask for it.

 

How do I get a copy of this and after two years of asking why has no one said a thing to me about this?

You see, this is why I ask for a new Cult of Chaos for RQ, perhaps this is the abslolutely wrong place to be asking my questions. They get lost in the flood of CoC support and goodness.

8 hours ago, Todd@Chaosium said:

The problem with flyers and posters and such is getting these to you. We can (and have) sent posters to game stores, which is pretty much what other organized play groups do, but it is up to them to post thes

Yes, but imagine if I show up with these posters, ask if I can put them up and then ask where the roleplayig section is and go buy some product.. and then ask why they have not got any of these wonderful RQ G products.... I mean, I ain’t a kid, so. 'Hmm a real customer,' thinks the dude at the counter. To save you fellows problems, send me jpgs or pdfs. I could print them here.

8 hours ago, Todd@Chaosium said:

But the tabletop industry is just not the same as other industries and announcing upcoming releases before they are ready for layout--and especially making promises about "when" something is going to come out--is a problem area for nearly all game manufacturers. So we don't make those announcements. If @Jason Durall has more to add, I invite him to do so.

And I won’t ask, I am still awaiting the RQ version of the hero questing rules and have been since the ‘80s (very patiently, I like to think of myself as a nice customer). 

 

8 hours ago, Todd@Chaosium said:

• Player questionnaires? It is problematic to fill one of those out and then give that right back to the person who needs the feedback. Players don't like doing this, too much pressure.

Have not seen one of these since my last purchase in the '90s of a Chaosium product from a FLGS and I filled my out and sent them in. Got some Chaosium catalogues for my troubles

8 hours ago, Todd@Chaosium said:

• As for improving our events material, see above about flyers. But we had a choice: offer convention scenarios for free or produce them as adventure modules that GMs purchase from us. We elected to go a different path than Pathfinder Society and D&D Adventurer's League. If you want to purchase material, I would point you to Chaosium.com and the Jonstown Compendium on DriveThru RPG. If you want a free scenario for convention play, just ask. I'll ask which convention you intend to run these at and then send it over by email.

I now have bought everything that you guys sell for RQ G from Chaosiumdotcom and Drivethrurpgdotcom. I really would like to start buying the next gen of books and boxes here from my FLGS in Edmonton (Warp 1 Games). I mean they are willing to order ONE copy if I ask then to but I really would like to see them finally appear on the shelves like other games. It would increase the chance of having games here that I don’t have to try to organise up (and usually fail at,  “What quest, Rule Quest, never heard of it” when some old grognard at a table playing Magic the DnD Cthulhu Collectable Bottle Cap Game™ (13th edition) pipes up, “That’s the game with the ducks, right?".

I am not seeking freebies (I mean, I ain’t no fool, got any?) But some players would be nice. I know,  you don’t sell those, it would be a moral grey area, I get it. 

I hope i answered your questions well sir, thank you for your time. 

I also hope I have anwered your original question What kind of a ‘’push” do I expect. But to to summarize, here. Not much of one. Faster response time for questions with answers of substance such as yours (Thank you and thank you Scott-Martin, was it? Oh I hate being old, you think I would be able to remember for the response I got a while back) which came 2 and a bit years and a few more questions later, some advertising (I will drop my own dime for the printing), maybe a separate area for RQ related solutions to Cult of Chaos situations if it improves our experience but this is not necessary. I am just putting it out there as a possible solution. Again it might not do anything and if we stay here maybe I will start playing CoC again.

Thanks all for wonderful games, wonderfully produced. Hats off to you all and as a hobbyist If I can help don’t hesitate to let me know how! I have already helped a couple of folk with there JC products as an editor and hope to have a Gloranthan Pod Cast out this quarter.

Cheers

Edited January 16, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[soltakss]

On 1/16/2020 at 5:40 AM, Bill the barbarian said:

On 1/15/2020 at 9:57 PM, Todd@Chaosium said:

wonder if those posting here are not reading the GM newsletter that goes out to the Cult of Chaos where we make announcements about new scenario availability and the "retirement" of scenarios from by-request-only to the Cult Library?

Excuse me, what? Never heard of this.

I haven't heard of the Cult Library either.

Perhaps it is a poorly-advertised benefit of belonging to the Cult of Chaos.

To be honest, except for seeing these locked Forums, I haven't seen any benefit of belonging to the Cult of Chaos from a RQ point of view. 

[soltakss]

To be honest, I would like as much support for RQ in the Cult of Chaos as there is for Call of Cthulhu, or perhaps even half as much would be great.

[Bill the barbarian]

9 minutes ago, soltakss said:

To be honest, I would like as much support for RQ in the Cult of Chaos as there is for Call of Cthulhu, or perhaps even half as much would be great.

Yeah, I was not going there out of sympathy for my HQ playing buds, but I hear ya.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[soltakss]

There is one RQ Scenario in the Chaos Library Forum, Stealing the Eye, from 2018.

There are over 20 Call of Cthulhu Scenarios in the same Forum.

[Todd-2]

The convention scenarios from 2019 have all been released today to the Cult Library:

https://basicroleplaying.org/forum/58-the-chaos-library/

This includes two each of convention scenarios for: Call of Cthulhu, King Arthur Pendragon, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha

[Bill the barbarian]

@Todd@Chaosium

If you did not get the impression that I was very happy with the breath and depth of your post in my post I do apologize and thought it imperative that with this thank you for the uploads that I clarify that point. 

Cheers

[soltakss]

1 hour ago, Todd@Chaosium said:

The convention scenarios from 2019 have all been released today to the Cult Library:

https://basicroleplaying.org/forum/58-the-chaos-library/

This includes two each of convention scenarios for: Call of Cthulhu, King Arthur Pendragon, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha

Many thanks.

[Bill the barbarian]

A modest proposal (no not s swiftian one, no irish eating their babies thankyouverymuch), soltakss, and g33k. Perhaps I have been approaching this the wrong way. Ask not what the Chaosium can do for you, but what we can do for ourselves. Maybe, we just have to knuckle-down and make our own advertising. Not the way I want to go, but after asking for an assist for so long, maybe it is the way we have to go. We have free adventures to run, we just need venues to run them in,  players to play them and stores to sell the rules to run them. Does this all sound about right?  Now, this can all be done without good looking posters and handbills and whatnot, and was back in the 80s when I started playing RPGs but I will aver that these things sweeten the pot and make it easier to sell our little games (yes, fer crying out loud, they have ducks, now go away boy, yer botherin’ me).

I wrote copy for a computer zine for years, and as well as doing layout and editing. As a musician  who has promoted his own concerts I have learned to make my own posters (The first concert I held a fellow musician said he would design the poster and well, somehow or another It fell to me to learn Photoshop to finish it—damn musicians). I am not an artist but with graphics provided by artistic buds or PD I was able to put out some reasonable ones... What do you two have? Soltakks might have some problems, I realize, having read a post by him yesterday saying  his missus expects him to make money from his RPGing contributions. But still I gotta ask what do we have. And we might not be alone in here here here here here) although that is a might heavy echo. Psullie has been known to poke around in these dark corners of BRP Central, and surely some of our more popular fellow denizens down here (the CoC fans, you know, the cool kids) might stumble onto this thread by mistake and not realize the error and stigma of admitting to liking RQ until it’s too late. 

Not too mention templates for, and quite possibly, I'm crazy, cons... lords know, there has never been one within this city of a million that I live in or anywhere closer than a 1, 000 km, of here, for that matter. Of special note about 30 years ago there was a CoC con at the U of A, that seem to go well, small but well received and a bit of fun.  Well, what do you think. Shall we go back to waiting for some advertising for fan driven RQ demoes (or cons) to come from above or should we look at a more DIY solution?

Thanks for you attention!

Cheers

[soltakss]

50 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

A modest proposal (no not s swiftian one, no irish eating their babies thankyouverymuch), soltakss, and g33k. Perhaps I have been approaching this the wrong way. Ask not what the Chaosium can do for you, but what we can do for ourselves. Maybe, we just have to knuckle-down and make our own advertising.

Have you heard of the RuneMasters? A group of GMs who run Gloranthan materials at Conventions. Sure, it isn't always RuneQuest, but we have our own scenarios and T-Shirts. RuneMasters was supposed to be part of the Cult of Chaos, but opinions vary on that. Let's say that we are part of the Cult of Chaos, perhaps as a Sub Cult or a Hero Cult.

In any case, PM me your Facebook handle/name, if you have one, and I'll invite you to the RuneMasters Page.

Oh, and many apologies if we are still not allowed to talk about RuneMasters in connection with the Cult of Chaos, nothing to see here, just move along.

[Reaver]

@Bill the barbarian it sounds like you have quite a lot of people in your area (1 million was it?) and mention about mainly DnD and mtg groups at your local games stores? The whole idea of being part of the club is introducing people who play those sort of games to the chaosium ones aswell as people who have ayes neither.

Ive had great success in the past by going to the local games shops and clubs where these are played to introduce players to CoC. 

I just turn up on games night or talk to the owners or players before hand and arrange a table for the following week. 

Even if you can get 1 or 2 people interested, over the week when thy are playing mtg or whatever else, they talk to each other. By the time the following week arrives I've usually got a full table. 

It has led to some sales of the starter sets from the shops I'm in which has then led to many thanks from the owners and some free drink grub. 

Think not what the cult can do for you but what you can do for you, by doing for the cult..... Push for what you want and chaosium intend to have your back. There is loads of material available for free as @Todd@Chaosium has already pointed out. He will even provide you with money for the chaosium store online if you get in touch after running events for free stuff (I've never bothered,  wish I had though as I'd have quite a pretty penny by now).

For me the reward is the fun I have at the table, it's that simple. My area has a lot more people interested in what I like (Call of Cthulhu) because I went out and actually interacted with the diverse community and introduced them to what I like. 

Try it. Make some friends, make some memories and come back and tell us all about it. 

You got this brother. 

[Bill the barbarian]

 

On 1/24/2020 at 5:39 AM, Reaver said:

Try it. Make some friends, make some memories and come back and tell us all about it. 

 

Sorry Reaver, I am sure that you mean well and that I should be welcoming you to BRP Central, but....

Thanks but I am not looking for suggestions in how to get gamers, I am looking for the same advertising at the club level tor RQ that CoC has. I am of the feeling that you do not realize that I am a 60 year old and I have done this many more times then I bet you have. Yes, I can go at it with no backing from Chaosium, is this what you are suggesting? Now the only thing that I was not aware of in your post was that there might be freebies for the asking. Again, amazing. How is this known to you, when after 2 and half years of asking for this info I had not a clue until you said it, And you are a newbie, with only 9 posts to boot.Gads!

On 1/24/2020 at 5:39 AM, Reaver said:

Think not what the cult can do for you but what you can do for you, by doing for the cult.....

Think what I could do for Chaosium with a little backing...

Edited February 5, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[Bill the barbarian]

Well, I am putting in my 2 bolgs worth to pushing Glorantha forward, with a couple of friends to help fans. With luck and perseverance there might will be a new Gloranthan Podcast! I will release more info as time moves closer. Perhaps I will find away to push fan advertising forward here on Valind’s Glacier as well. If we succeed that is.