Who were the players in Gregs original campaign?

[AndreJarosch]

I originally posted this on the RuneQuest Facebook group, but thought that i might get some answers here from people that are not into facebook: 

 

Question to the reaaaally longtime RuneQuesters:

In Gregs house campaign about the Temple of the Wooden Sword who were the real world players of the main characters?

Londra of Londros = Ken Kaufer
Naimless = Sherman Kahn
Alebard = Charlie Krank
Eril Silksword (aka Errol Silksword, aka Errol Flynn) = Charlie Krank
Urrrggh the Ugly = Ken Kaufer
Bagtrap = ?
Genevieve Leclerque = Ray Turney
Ashborn Demonslayer (aka Twiceborn, Thriceborn) = Hal Moe
Alexander Yellowbelly = Charlie Krank
Redbird = ?
Jean-louis Levesque = Ray Turney
Alwine Hrale = ?
Maldon = ?
Urgrurl The Iron Baboon = Sherman Kahn
Jonathon Trollsbane = Bill Keyes
Jondar Blackmane = Bill Keyes

Only to name the most important (according to the summaries of their adventures that i have read).

Edit: I add names to the list if i find out something, while we go.
Updated 26.01.2020

Edited January 26, 2020 by Rick Meints
Turney has no O in his last name.

[David Scott]

Greg limited the number of players in his house campaign to 12. They were listed in Dragon's Pass #6 in 1980.

1. Sherman Kahn
2. Rory Root
3. Hal Moe
4. Charlie Krank
5. Al Dewey
6. Ken Kaufer
7. Bill Voorhees
8. Ray Turney
9. Bruce Dresselhaus
10. Dave
11. Bill Keyes
12. Tom Holsinger

Edited January 31, 2020 by Rick Meints

[AndreJarosch]

On 1/21/2020 at 4:03 PM, David Scott said:

Greg limited the number of players in his house campaign to 12. They were listed in Dragon's Pass #6 in 1980.

1. Sherman Kahn
2. Rory Root
3. Hal Moe
4. Charlie Krank
5. Al Dewey
6. Ken Kaufer
7. Bill Voorhees
8. Ray Turney
9. Bruce Dresselhaus
10. Dave
11. Bill Keyes
12. Tom Holsinger

Thanks (i only have Dragons Past # 3, 7, 8 + 9). 

But who played whom?

Edited February 4, 2020 by Rick Meints

[Rick Meints]

I would try contacting Bill Keyes, Ray Turney, Steve Perrin, and/or Charlie Krank. They would remember the most and can be contacted via email. Some of the others may be as well, but I have not had contact with them.  

[Lordabdul]

19 hours ago, David Scott said:

They were listed in Dragon's Pass #6 in 1980.

Is that a magazine specifically named "Dragon's Pass"? Or a segment in "Dragon" magazine? I can't find any mention of it in MIG2 or on the web.

[AndreJarosch]

12 minutes ago, lordabdul said:

Is that a magazine specifically named "Dragon's Pass"? Or a segment in "Dragon" magazine? I can't find any mention of it in MIG2 or on the web.

"Dragon´s Past" was Gregs campaign log, with a little bit of background pieces and write ups of his latest adventures (wich he called Expeditions) for his players. 
Dragons Past # 1 to # 10 was "published" 1978 to 1980. 

After that 5 more Dragons Past appeared in Wyrms Footnotes (as far as i know some of this was just a reprint of stuff from the previous incarnation of the same title, and other parts were new/continued stuff) # 9, and 11-14 from June 1980 to April 1982. 

And then we have the article "Dragons Past I: Gloranthan Military Experience" in Different Worlds # 28. 

Some of this was reprinted in Tales of the Reaching Moon # 5 and again in Wyrms Footprint. 

[Rick Meints]

Greg contributed a series of campaign write-ups in the Wild Hunt APA. For those of you unfamiliar with the nature of an Amateur Press Association publication, basically you could be a contributing member or just a subscriber. They were published monthly, and would contain 100-150 pages of material submitted by the contributing members. Being before the internet, and even email, each contributor would type up their own pages on a stencil, and then mail them to the main editor. In the case of the Wild Hunt, that was Glen Blacow and Mark Swanson. They would use all of the stencils submitted to use a mimeograph machine to make copies, and compile an issue. They also added a table of contents and front cover to each issue. Each contributor wrote on average between 2-12 pages. Not only would each contributor write up some new material for whatever game(s) they were interested in, they would also devote a lot of their page space, sometimes almost all of it, to commenting on what other people had published in recent previous issues.

Because they precede home computers, at least prior to some point in the 1980s, and the fact that maybe 50-200 copies of each issue were made, they are rather rare. They also don't particularly stand up well to the ravages of time either, plus of course many copies have been lost to people throwing them away at some point over the last 40 years. 

Most of the authors got into the habit of giving a title to their regular contributions, and Greg called his "Dragons Past" and "Son of Sartar". I am still researching the exact number off issues Greg contributed to the Wild Hunt, but it is probably at least 6-12 times, mainly between 1978 and 1980.  As has been said, some of these WH articles were later published in Wyrms Footnotes and Different Worlds. I believe his 4 Son of Sartar write-ups appeared in issues #42, 45, 46, and 47 of the Wild Hunt. I am only certain that Dragons Past #3 was published in WH #38. 

Fortunately, I believe we have all of the Dragons Past and Son of Sartar articles in the archives. Stay tuned for more on what we may do with them. 

[AndreJarosch]

Updated right now!

Most of the characters have been identified. 

[Rick Meints]

I just happened to find a player/character list while I was looking for something totally unrelated.

Astrid  = Rory, Jhorkel = Rory, Genevieve Bujold Priestess of Three Feathered Rivals = Ray, Genevieve Laurin Initiate of Orlanth and Polestar = Ray, Hannibal Lee Initiate of Babeester Gor  = Chris, Aciling Initiate of Humakt = Charlie, Mudd Initiate of Orlanth = Lynn, Worg (Mudd's wardog) = Lynn.

second log found:

Naimless, Priest of Humakt = Sherman, Naimless Initiate of Chalana Arroy = Sherman, Mikhail initiate of Orlanth = Rory, Sevil... initiate of Orlanth = Rory, Wyvark initiate of Orlanth = Dan Pierson, Varac initiate of Humakt = Dan Pierson, Widow Flynn initiate of Humakt = Charlie, Alered initiate of Humakt = Charlie, Asborn initiate of Orlanth = Hal Moe, Valaray priestess of Chalana Arrory = Hal Moe.

Errol Flynn was played by Mark Chilenskas on occasion.

Dobrag was played by Sean Summers

NOTE: It seems to have been quite common for each player to run two characters. 
 

Edited January 31, 2020 by Rick Meints

[jajagappa]

3 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

NOTE: It seems to have been quite common for each player to run two characters. 

Given the deadliness of many RQ battles, that's not too surprising. It was certainly typical of my RQ3 games.

[g33k]

In some ways it's unimportant and irrelevant... but I still get the "warm fuzzies" from this.

TYVM Rick, and other contributors (and to the OP for asking!)

 

[Rick Meints]

As I was searching for something else in the "Archives" I came across another RuneQuest GM sheet summary of player information:

Charlie played: Alebard (Sartar, Priest Humakt); Errol Flynn (Sartar, Lord Humakt); Kragg (Sazdorf, Priest Kyger Litor)
Ken Kaufer played Londra (Colymar, Humakt)
Mark Chilenskas played: Elysia (Tarsh, Humakt Priestess); Valaray (Holy Country, Chalana Arroy)
Sherman Kahn played: Naimless (Colymar, Humakt Priest); Urgrurl (Prax, Baboon, Daka Fal initiate)
Hal Moe played: Asborn (Colymar, Orlanth initiate)
Al Dewey played: Fred (Sartar, Humakt); Apatiar (Sartar, Orlanth)
Greg Stafford played: Bokaz (Troll, Humakt initiate)

[AndreJarosch]

12 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

As I was searching for something else in the "Archives" I came across another RuneQuest GM sheet summary of player information:

Charlie played: Alebard (Sartar, Priest Humakt); Errol Flynn (Sartar, Lord Humakt); Kragg (Sazdorf, Priest Kyger Litor)
Ken Kaufer played Londra (Colymar, Humakt)
Mark Chilenskas played: Elysia (Tarsh, Humakt Priestess); Valaray (Holy Country, Chalana Arroy)
Sherman Kahn played: Naimless (Colymar, Humakt Priest); Urgrurl (Prax, Baboon, Daka Fal initiate)
Hal Moe played: Asborn (Colymar, Orlanth initiate)
Al Dewey played: Fred (Sartar, Humakt); Apatiar (Sartar, Orlanth)
Greg Stafford played: Bokaz (Troll, Humakt initiate)

Errol Flynn is according to my understanding the groups nickname for Eril Silksword (Eril Silksword, Errol Silksword, Errol Flynn). 

Valaray was played, according to an earlier found in the "Archives" by Hal Moe... so it seems that a character might have been played by different players. 

Apatiar seems to be the same person as Apatar. 

Bokaz: So the GM listed himself as a player? Interesting... (By the way: Bokaz died at "The Great Raid on the Temple of the Wooden Sword" event)

[Rick Meints]

Greg didn't always GM the Chaosium in-house campaign usually played at Chaosium HQ. I really doubt he played AND GM'd in the same session. The game logs don't represent a single session of play, necessarily. They might easily have spanned 5-10 play sessions. I don't know, as there is no indication on the papers.

The PC Errol Flynn's name morphed over time from Errol Flynn to Errol Silksword and then Eril Silksword. I have no idea why. I am just going by what is written on the pieces of paper.

Greg tried to hold onto the Character Sheets between sessions. If somebody showed up to play they probably just grabbed one of the character sheets available and played it, as opposed to slowing things down by rolling up a new character. I get a strong sense people were sometimes not that precious about somebody else playing their character while they weren't there, at least in some cases. 

These sheets are all hand-written, and by the looks of them they were done quickly. Greg wasn't big on extensive note taking. He probably had somebody else at the table fill things in. Mis-spellings are fairly rife. Also, drugs and/or alcohol were often involved. We have a memo from Greg to the players in the campaign about cleaning up after themselves, especially their beer cans. In the end, we can't ask Greg, so it's mainly down to what the players remember. Fortunately, most of them are still alive.

[ffilz]

On 1/22/2020 at 3:28 PM, Rick Meints said:

Greg contributed a series of campaign write-ups in the Wild Hunt APA. For those of you unfamiliar with the nature of an Amateur Press Association publication, basically you could be a contributing member or just a subscriber. They were published monthly, and would contain 100-150 pages of material submitted by the contributing members. Being before the internet, and even email, each contributor would type up their own pages on a stencil, and then mail them to the main editor. In the case of the Wild Hunt, that was Glen Blacow and Mark Swanson. They would use all of the stencils submitted to use a mimeograph machine to make copies, and compile an issue. They also added a table of contents and front cover to each issue. Each contributor wrote on average between 2-12 pages. Not only would each contributor write up some new material for whatever game(s) they were interested in, they would also devote a lot of their page space, sometimes almost all of it, to commenting on what other people had published in recent previous issues.

Because they precede home computers, at least prior to some point in the 1980s, and the fact that maybe 50-200 copies of each issue were made, they are rather rare. They also don't particularly stand up well to the ravages of time either, plus of course many copies have been lost to people throwing them away at some point over the last 40 years. 

Most of the authors got into the habit of giving a title to their regular contributions, and Greg called his "Dragons Past" and "Son of Sartar". I am still researching the exact number off issues Greg contributed to the Wild Hunt, but it is probably at least 6-12 times, mainly between 1978 and 1980.  As has been said, some of these WH articles were later published in Wyrms Footnotes and Different Worlds. I believe his 4 Son of Sartar write-ups appeared in issues #42, 45, 46, and 47 of the Wild Hunt. I am only certain that Dragons Past #3 was published in WH #38. 

Fortunately, I believe we have all of the Dragons Past and Son of Sartar articles in the archives. Stay tuned for more on what we may do with them. 

I really need to finish my inventory of RQ material from The Wild Hunt. I know I never got some of the earliest issues, but I did get a bunch of back issues from Glen Blacow at one time. Due to the size of the collection and the difficulty in referencing it, sometime in college I unstapled mine and collected similar material together, and I pitched stuff I had zero interest in (that's too bad, I probably pitched stuff I'd like to be able to go back and read). I did keep pretty much all the RQ stuff, so I should have MOST of Greg Stafford's zines.

Did he also contribute them to A&E? If so Lee Gold might be a resource to collect any missing ones since she has a complete archive of A&E.

[Rick Meints]

I have issues 1-150 of A&E, and have been going through them for RQ/Gloranthan related material. That is going to go into my updated MiG 2020 edition.

We have all of Greg's 10 Dragons Past in the archives and all 4 Son of Sartar. I have OCR'd all of those, plus the Pharaoh's Gazette issues we have and put them all into a single MS Word document. Ultimately that will be available soon in PDF and probably as POD.

[ffilz]

6 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

I have issues 1-150 of A&E, and have been going through them for RQ/Gloranthan related material. That is going to go into my updated MiG 2020 edition.

We have all of Greg's 10 Dragons Past in the archives and all 4 Son of Sartar. I have OCR'd all of those, plus the Pharaoh's Gazette issues we have and put them all into a single MS Word document. Ultimately that will be available soon in PDF and probably as POD.

Cool. Good work. People will surely be interested in Greg’s early Sorcery rules. 

[Richard S.]

19 hours ago, ffilz said:

Cool. Good work. People will surely be interested in Greg’s early Sorcery rules. 

How much were those fleshed out? There was a thread on them a while back that produced some interesting stuff, and based on that I've homebrewed up some rules. It'll be interesting to see what exactly Greg wrote about them in those old articles.

[ffilz]

6 hours ago, Richard S. said:

How much were those fleshed out? There was a thread on them a while back that produced some interesting stuff, and based on that I've homebrewed up some rules. It'll be interesting to see what exactly Greg wrote about them in those old articles.

They were pretty thin, you can see they are an ancestor of the RQ3 Sorcery rules, but interesting to see and compare.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the zines because I'm sure I don't have them all.

I hope Sandy Petersen's and Steve Perrin's zines can be collected also.

I'd also love to see collections of the significant RQ zines from non-Chaosium folks also, yes, even John T. Sapienza's, but also Chuck Huber (who first published Caladra and Aurelion in his zine) and Mark Chilenksas.

[ffilz]

On 1/22/2020 at 3:28 PM, Rick Meints said:

Greg contributed a series of campaign write-ups in the Wild Hunt APA. For those of you unfamiliar with the nature of an Amateur Press Association publication, basically you could be a contributing member or just a subscriber. They were published monthly, and would contain 100-150 pages of material submitted by the contributing members. Being before the internet, and even email, each contributor would type up their own pages on a stencil, and then mail them to the main editor. In the case of the Wild Hunt, that was Glen Blacow and Mark Swanson. They would use all of the stencils submitted to use a mimeograph machine to make copies, and compile an issue. They also added a table of contents and front cover to each issue. Each contributor wrote on average between 2-12 pages. Not only would each contributor write up some new material for whatever game(s) they were interested in, they would also devote a lot of their page space, sometimes almost all of it, to commenting on what other people had published in recent previous issues.

Because they precede home computers, at least prior to some point in the 1980s, and the fact that maybe 50-200 copies of each issue were made, they are rather rare. They also don't particularly stand up well to the ravages of time either, plus of course many copies have been lost to people throwing them away at some point over the last 40 years. 

Most of the authors got into the habit of giving a title to their regular contributions, and Greg called his "Dragons Past" and "Son of Sartar". I am still researching the exact number off issues Greg contributed to the Wild Hunt, but it is probably at least 6-12 times, mainly between 1978 and 1980.  As has been said, some of these WH articles were later published in Wyrms Footnotes and Different Worlds. I believe his 4 Son of Sartar write-ups appeared in issues #42, 45, 46, and 47 of the Wild Hunt. I am only certain that Dragons Past #3 was published in WH #38. 

Fortunately, I believe we have all of the Dragons Past and Son of Sartar articles in the archives. Stay tuned for more on what we may do with them. 

BTW, I finished going through my RQ zines from A&E and The Wild Hunt. Since they have all been unstapled, I can't tell you which issues they appeared in, though I might be able to use the comments sections to narrow it down.

[af Granskär]

On 2/17/2020 at 3:38 PM, Rick Meints said:

We have a memo from Greg to the players in the campaign about cleaning up after themselves, especially their beer cans.

Oh please make a copy of this available as a Redbubble poster or something!