Wyrms Footnotes 1-14 available again

[soltakss]

Purchased!

[Stephen L]

On 1/26/2020 at 6:59 PM, Rick Meints said:

Something MAY happen with back issues of Tales of the Reaching Moon, but there have been some delays.

Any Update on making Tales of the Reaching Moon available again? (Apologies, I know such e-mails aren't helpful, but I really can't restrain myself any longer!)

Tales is easily my most "goto" resource for RQ (outside Chaosium).  But my collection is sadly not complete, missing the earliest issues, and the odd one here and there later on. Presumably lent out. (Grrr, if you're reading give em back!  Please.  I miss them!)

Stephen.

[David Scott]

3 hours ago, Stephen L said:

Any Update on making Tales of the Reaching Moon available again?

As Tales isn't a Chaosium product this is outside their purview (except for the licensing and obviously Rick did the layout of later issues). Tales was one of those fanzines where the contents and art are copyright someone else. Permission would need to be sought from each artist and author (and likely some kind of legal doc as well). Likewise all the issues were done using physical cut & paste or long gone DTP software that ran on long gone computers (Archimedes, Pagemaker, etc). I passed a backup tape of I think issue 14 to Rick last year. Not even sure what format it was or if it could even be read. Speaking as a member of the Megacorp, there are currently no plans to print Tales or any form of the content.

[Nick Brooke]

17 minutes ago, David Scott said:

As Tales isn't a Chaosium product this is outside their purview (except for the licensing and obviously Rick did the layout of later issues). Tales was one of those fanzines where the contents and art are copyright someone else. Permission would need to be sought from each artist and author (and likely some kind of legal doc as well). Likewise all the issues were done using physical cut & paste or long gone DTP software that ran on long gone computers (Archimedes, Pagemaker, etc). I passed a backup tape of I think issue 14 to Rick last year. Not even sure what format it was or if it could even be read. Speaking as a member of the Megacorp, there are currently no plans to print Tales or any form of the content.

I've always thought a thematic approach could work better than straight reprints: imagine books with titles like Tales of Prax, Tales of Dragon Pass or Tales of the Lunar Empire. Grab the best existing articles (that fit the theme, and that you can get permission to reuse), rework their presentation to modern standards, upgrade them with "Director's Cut" style bonus features where available/appropriate, and reissue. That avoids all the problems of a straight reprint (which would require all contributors to each issue to be brought on board)

But nobody bit my hand off when I suggested this... so now we're pillaging our old Lunar articles for the Jonstown Compendium instead.

The Cult of the Red Emperor and Letter from a Monopolist were originally printed in Tales #16, and A Visit to Glamour was in Tales #12. You can get them all in A Rough Guide to Glamour (link: https://bit.ly/2BW0a8g). Other old stuff by Chris Gidlow, Mike Hagen and myself is likely to re-emerge in some form at some point. And we had no problem contacting the original artists whose work was reprinted alongside those articles and getting their permission to reuse it. It's a friendly Tribe!

[jajagappa]

5 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

But nobody bit my hand off when I suggested this... so now we're pillaging our old Lunar articles for the Jonstown Compendium instead.

Which is what I plan to do too for my Imther/Vanch/Sylila content from Tales #16 (as well as Codex and Enclosure) once I get past my current project.

[Stephen L]

On 7/2/2020 at 10:39 AM, Nick Brooke said:

nobody bit my hand off when I suggested this

Well, I'd bite your hand off.  It would be messy, because I'm salivating at the thought...

[Lordabdul]

On 7/2/2020 at 2:39 AM, Nick Brooke said:

I've always thought a thematic approach could work better than straight reprints

I have to say I'd rather have straight reprints. But I do understand the problems so whatever comes out will be better than nothing anyway.

[CharloixBrooKiller]

I have just 're-discovered' Chaosium, 35 years after all my RQ disappeared after several moves following college.

It was such a pleasure to buy, download and see the beloved Wyrm's Footnotes that I recall so well.   RQ brought a LOT of joy to me, and while I have not played RPGs in many a long year, they have such fond memories.   I knew many of the Glorantha "early settlers" and sadly heard that Greg has passed.

I'm laughing at my 'newbie' label up above.  Yes and no. 

I wonder how Tadashi doing, and how many of the newer players even know that High Tumulas is named after him?

I also wonder how many realize the rich, detailed aspects of Dragon Pass/Pavis/Prax are rooted in diverse places? 

I was the original victim of Tarnak's betrayal, now memoralized in Borderlands.  Ironically it was actually in an earlier D&D campaign and the event woven into the later RQ events of our beloved newtlings.  How I remember sitting around the author's kitchen table, making up rhyming names for the Newtlings….."soy"..."roy"..."koi'...."foy"...LOL

Just great wonderful memories. Thanks for keeping them alive and bringing the footnotes back to life.  Even reading product reviews and announcements, information on adverts that may have no value to younger folks, are like looking a snapshots from my youth.

To this day, my hatred of broos lives on.

- Charloix BrooKiller

Edited July 5, 2020 by CharloixBrooKiller

[Austin]

1 hour ago, CharloixBrooKiller said:

I wonder how Tadashi doing, and how many of the newer players even know that High Tumulas is named after him?

Is there a longer story to tell? I've felt curious about Tada and his people and the Tumulus, but I haven't found much information about it in my reading.

[Bill the barbarian]

2 hours ago, Crel said:

Is there a longer story to tell? I've felt curious about Tada and his people and the Tumulus, but I haven't found much information about it in my reading.

Joerg and I trolled (dug around) in the remains of those missing tales for a possible Podcast theme and we are sad to report they are mostly still missing. There is material about Tada and his tales in the verdant past of Prax (I loved hearing Joerg act out exactly why the folks that named names in the early days named this hero/god thus... Tahdah!). There are tales about his wonderful city underground and his grisly parts, so there is substantially more than I recall from decades ago. Still the larder of knowledge found in the entrails (according to the trolls, and they should  know) is a wee bit empty.

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, Crel said:

I've felt curious about Tada and his people and the Tumulus, but I haven't found much information about it in my reading.

Nomad Gods is the best starting place, although Greg explicitly notes that he does not explain Tada's High Tumulus there.

[soltakss]

15 hours ago, Crel said:

Is there a longer story to tell? I've felt curious about Tada and his people and the Tumulus, but I haven't found much information about it in my reading.

I should be writing about Tada and his folk in Secrets of the Oasis Folk, but that might be a while coming.

[David Scott]

Here's a few references:

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/gloranthan-documents/glorantha-2/tadas-high-tumulus/

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/gloranthan-documents/glorantha-2/cultures/praxian-spirit-tradition/

or try a search:

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/?s=tada

I've a letter from Greg (somewhere) where Tada's tent appears differently depending on the age you visit it, something like

Green Age, sides richly decorated with a queue of goddesses at the tent flap

Storm Age, empty (away fighting)

Great Darkness, tent flap flaps in the wind as he's gone (dead), spirits howl around it.

Chaos age, broken down, collapsing, the painted sides are faded and gone in places.

Grey age, his burial cairn.

[Cragspider]

On 7/5/2020 at 7:41 AM, CharloixBrooKiller said:

I was the original victim of Tarnak's betrayal, now memoralized in Borderlands.  Ironically it was actually in an earlier D&D campaign and the event woven into the later RQ events of our beloved newtlings.  How I remember sitting around the author's kitchen table, making up rhyming names for the Newtlings….."soy"..."roy"..."koi'...."foy"...LOL

Wow -- you were a player in Steve's original Prax campaign?  And am I understanding you right that it predated RQ in some form?  I've always wondered about it since seeing the note in the rulebook Appendix about the upcoming "Pavis Campaign, drawn from the campaign of Steve Perrin."  It must have been very different from what eventually saw print.

[CharloixBrooKiller]

This is pretty funny.  I think several of you mis-interpreted my post.

First, no, I did NOT play in Steve Perrin's Pavis Campaign.  He, and most of the core original folks, were all in California.  We were in the Philly area.

But borderlands per se did NOT grow out of his campaign.  Borderlands' source were several different stand alone scenarios that were submitted to Chaosium.

Who liked several of them, and then in house wove it together into a single module.   The Five Eyes Temple was played in our campaign.  But several of the characters and 'events' were lifted from earlier D&D campaigns.  My main D&D character was Daine the Deathdealer which sourced Daine , Duke Raus' commander of mercs.  Tarnak, the mayor in borderlands, knifed Daine in the back in our D&D setting.

But we had regular contact with the CALF group, having a number of contacts in the wargaming and RPG community.  I've played D&D with the Gary and Ernie Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Regarding TADA....I'm laughing...I was not asking about the Gloranthan development of stuff related to Tada's High Tumulas...I was joking that did anyone realize that "Tada" is a real person?  Tadashi Erhari (sp ?).  He was part of Greg's group, later edited Tales of the Reaching Moon (maybe I have the name a bit off).  I believe he's alive but not sure if he's part of the GLoranthan world anymore.

The references someone above quoted in their post about the meaning of "ta da shi" and 'arranger of the lands".....also makes me laugh.

He WAS the arranger of the lands, helping Greg lay out the map for the original Nomad Gods game.  Which I remember playing quite regularly back then.

I stop playing any RPG in the mid to late 80s, playing just wargames.  I did some stuff with GDW in the Traveller world giving that up around '84 or so I think.

All of my 5 kids (now grown) ended up playing RPG and regularly laugh at Dad's 'old stories".

 

Just glad that even with Greg's passing Glorantha lives on.  Runequest was always my favorite of all the RPGs.

Edited July 8, 2020 by CharloixBrooKiller

[Rick Meints]

Welcome to the forums CBK.

Thank you for the wonderful information.

Tadashi Ehara is an acquaintance of mine. He has largely retired from gaming, but he is still very active on FaceBook. He was the editor of Different Worlds magazine, but he was not involved with Tales of the Reaching Moon magazine, which was done in the UK. I'd love to hear more gaming stories from back in the day. I didn't really get connected into the Gloranthan/RuneQuest fan network until the early 90s, although I first played RQ back in 1979.

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, CharloixBrooKiller said:

I was joking that did anyone realize that "Tada" is a real person?  Tadashi Erhari (sp ?).

Yes, I think a fair number of us who've been around for awhile know the name origin as well as many of the other sites in Prax.  

Interesting to hear about the origins of the Borderlands scenarios including Daine and Tarnak.  Borderlands was the first set of scenarios I ran through using RQ (unfortunately solo as I had no gaming group at the time).  

[CharloixBrooKiller]

Glad to hear Tad is still doing well.  It's hard for me to realize how many have passed off the scene.  I graduated HS in  1979.  Was pure luck that through HS and for a few years in college (VIllanova) I worked part time at a store called Fantasy & Strategy World (later folded into Compleat Strategist).  Through that, I had met a LOT of folks in the RPG and Wargaming World. 

One reason we drifted to RQ was the whole Glorantha Mythos but we participated in both Markland and SCA.   The more 'realistic' combat of RQ where numbers/skill mattered as opposed to D&D (where 1 guy can kill 100 orcs no sweat) appealed to us.  My memory is fuzzy but I think we had known Steve Perrin through at least one of those groups as well.

The CON world was really active too in those days.  Non-RPG,  but I remember two guys walking into Origins (I think it was) with their Siege of Jerusalem game.  Just blew us away.  It was eventually published with some mods by Avalon Hill and myself and some local ftf wargamers still pay it regularly.

I"ve got tons of Gygax stories but don't dare put them in print!  How he essentially "lost" a lot his monetary value in D&D is story of Shakespearean/Biblical proportions.  Greg was very nice to us but quite a bit older (well, when you are 18 and he's 29 that's a big gulf!) and we never really got to know him super well.  Ironically, my one son who got really into certain computer gaming ending up getting to know Sandy somewhat  I remember Tad as extremely kind.  The era of say, 78-83, was sort of IMHO the glory years in that both wargame and RPG stuff was just exploding.  A lot of stuff got printed, published and played.  One of my great memories was running a traveller tournament (later published called the Chamax Plague or something close) at cons.  It threw a lot of curveballs at the players (not 'crushing' them, just confusing to them) and really went well.  It was interesting too to 'live through' the storyline developments of RQ and Traveller.   When you enter those worlds today and get it all delivered on a plate its a different experience.  Watching the war come in Traveller, or  waiting another month to see how Fineous Fingers in the Dragon Magazine gets out of a problem, or NOT knowing a cradle is coming down the river was pretty cool.

When I look back at all those games though, it really stands out that it's not the rules/game but the abilities of the GM (or Creator in terms of Stafford & Glorantha).  I played in a number of 'home grown' systems that took the best elements of D&D, Trav, RQ and rearranged them.  Sorry, didn't mean to drone on.  Thanks for letting me get it out! 

[Cragspider]

No apology necessary!  Thanks for telling your stories!  I lived through that period too, but it's great to hear the perspectives of those who knew the creators or were more directly involved in the gaming scene.

[Lordabdul]

59 minutes ago, CharloixBrooKiller said:

Sorry, didn't mean to drone on. 

Feel free to continue  

[CharloixBrooKiller]

One story still makes me laugh out loud when I tell it.  A regular wargamer comes into the story one friday night and says "what's new?"

Before I open my mouth, he interrupts and says......

"When I say 'What's new?'  I don't mean anything where I have to dress up and pretend to be a prancing elf and dance all around.  I only want to hear about things that have tanks and diesel fuel and you get to kill Germans."

I pretty much figured out he didn't want to hear about the Monster Manual.

Which btw, do folks know what when D&D moved from the 3 book set (i..e the white box....which I probably shouldn't have sold for what I thought were big bucks at the time) was actually the first thing published?  The monster manual was $15, came out first and we literally could not rip open boxes fast enough to sell them.