In the Shadows of Darklight scenario by Michael O'Brien and Trevor Ackerly

[Brootse]

A Finnish RQ book 'Kauhun ja pimeyden kultit' from 1993 had some RQ 2nd and 3rd edition stuff about Chaos and Troll gods. And one of the most interesting RQ scenarios I've ever seen called 'Yövalon varjossa' (no idea about the original name, but it translates to "In the Shadows of Darklight") by Michael O'Brien and Trevor Ackerly. Would anyone happen to know where the original could be found in English?

[Lordabdul]

Hard to say... MOB and Trevor Ackerly wrote a few articles in Tales of the Reaching Moon, and wrote a bunch of stuff in the RQ3 Sun County book (including two scenarios, "Rabbit Hat Farm", and "The Old Sun Dome").

Edited April 23, 2020 by lordabdul

[Brootse]

41 minutes ago, lordabdul said:

Hard to say... MOB and Trevor Ackerly wrote a few articles in Tales of the Reaching Moon, and wrote a bunch of stuff in the RQ3 Sun County book (including two scenarios, "Rabbit Hat Farm", and "The Old Sun Dome").

My guess is that it's meant to be played at cons. The players get ready-made characters, and it's not supposed to start a campaign. It's basically set in Pavis, but it's not said aloud.

[Nick Brooke]

Is it related to MOB's MGF scenario The Getting of Wisdom? Possibly not, as that one's set in Nochet.

http://rpgreview.net/mob/thegettingofwisdom.htm

[7Tigers]

Back in the days, "In Darklight´s Shadow" HeroQuest episode, based upon a RuneQuest adventure by Michael O´Brien & Trevor Ackerly was supposed to happen in Tradetalk # 20, a "Thanatar Special!" issue (so a hint).

[Brootse]

22 minutes ago, Nick Brooke said:

Is it related to MOB's MGF scenario The Getting of Wisdom? Possibly not, as that one's set in Nochet.

http://rpgreview.net/mob/thegettingofwisdom.htm

Kiva and Vixen were in the scenario.

[10baseT]

6 hours ago, 7Tigers said:

a "Thanatar Special!" issue

Oh man, that sounds brilliant! Would love to see that hit print some time.

[David Scott]

21 hours ago, Brootse said:

Would anyone happen to know where the original could be found in English?

The first stop is to ask the author: @MOB

[Brootse]

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

The first stop is to ask the author: @MOB

Hah, I thought to ask other people first before starting pestering him.

[MOB]

On 4/24/2020 at 10:12 PM, Brootse said:

Hah, I thought to ask other people first before starting pestering him.

Other than the dozen or so copies that were run off for the Australian convention it ran at for the first (and only) time, In Darklight's Shadow is not available in English. 

[Brootse]

On 5/28/2021 at 4:57 AM, MOB said:

Other than the dozen or so copies that were run off for the Australian convention it ran at for the first (and only) time, In Darklight's Shadow is not available in English. 

Thanks for finding and answering my question. I had completely forgotten about this 😄

[AndreJarosch]

On 4/23/2020 at 10:03 PM, 7Tigers said:

Back in the days, "In Darklight´s Shadow" HeroQuest episode, based upon a RuneQuest adventure by Michael O´Brien & Trevor Ackerly was supposed to happen in Tradetalk # 20, a "Thanatar Special!" issue (so a hint).

Back in the day, we tried to get more Glorantha (HeroQuest RPG) material into print. New written for HQ or converted from never available in huge numbers RQ stuff. 
A lot of stuff for Tradetalk 18 to 20 were done, but no issue was ready for publication. 
Tradetalk 18 and 19 would have been two issues of Catch-Up stuff. Two issues with all the articles, herobands, and episodes have had piled up. about 50% of the stuff would have been converted RQ material, and translations of german language stuff. 
Tradetalk 20 would have been a big Thanatar special, with two scenarios by MOB and Trevor + all the informations of a complete Thanatar dungeon and a few dozen NPCs from the Free Form Game "Three Heads are better than one" by the Chapins. 

With Tradetalk being a fanzine/magazine it is not suitable for the Jonstown Compendium. 
With most of the articles are adventures converted from RQ stuff to HQ, nowadays we would publish them for the RQG set of rules instead. 
All the authors can publish their stuff via JC as they wish, the function of Tradetalk as publisher for fan stuff is obsolete. 

 

[zanshin]

I have a copy that I won at auction at one of the Convulsion Cons in the 90's. One of the best such purchases I ever made. It's effectively a one shot with pre-gen characters who are seeking Thanatar initiation. 

I used it as a dream induced Heroquest for Storm Khan initiation - the characters got to learn the true horror of Chaos from personal experience. They did follow the plot line, and died horribly, but enjoyed it and it informed their 'meta' understanding of chaos in Glorantha.

I absolutely think it's of publication quality, and gives you a bit of Cthulhu/Glorantha crossover in terms of feel. 

 

[Runeblogger]

On 4/24/2020 at 4:34 AM, 10baseT said:

Oh man, that sounds brilliant! Would love to see that hit print some time.

You can find some scenarios dealing with Thanatar in this issue. 😈

[g33k]

On 5/29/2021 at 2:56 PM, AndreJarosch said:

...
All the authors can publish their stuff via JC as they wish, the function of Tradetalk as publisher for fan stuff is obsolete. 

I disagree; maybe eventually, JC will be a decent replacement; but it isn't yet (IMHO).

JC, IMHO, lacks the accessibility-to-creators that a 'zine has.  For someone who just wants to get their stuff into print & into fans' hands, JC has a barrier of layout, art, etc.  Editors at a 'zine would do the layout, would find artists, would manage the process.

In JC, each creator has to either be their own project-manager / layout / art director / etc, or find (and presumably pay) someone to do that for them.
Yes, I know there *ARE* people who can and do actually do those things for the writers; but just *finding* them is inobvious.
Yes, I know there is a JC-Content-Creators FBGroup, but again -- how obvious is this to the average wannabe-published fan, REALLY?
Yes, I know the JC "content guideline" pages have extensive tutorials on Scribus, InDesign, export to MOBI/EPUB, etc -- and that is exactly my point:  needing those tutorials is a barrier.

It's the visibility; not of "Tradetalk" vs "Jonstown Compendium" but of the associated creators' services.

Tradetalk (like other 'zines) formed a relatively-visible & obvious "single point of contact" for writers to get artists, artists to get writers, etc.

JC?  Well, I don't  think  a letter-of-inquiry (or a ms. draft) sent to DTRPG (or to Chaosium) marked "attn: Jonstown Compendium") is likely to be an effective entre' 


(n.b. I'm not asking for anyone to tell me, here in this thread, how to do this stuff.  I'm expressing that I -- and therefore I presume others (who may be ready and eager to publish) -- don't see the ease-of-access that was represented by Tradetalk. )

 

[Nick Brooke]

I know you're knocking the idea, for some ironic reason that doubtless makes sense to you, but why not join the Jonstown Compendium Creators' Circle on Facebook and check out the Creators Helping Creators directory? It lists more than three dozen community members, all keen to help their fellow creators with editing, proofreading, layout, art, maps, handouts, playtesting, and print prep (among other services). Your assumption that everybody wants to be paid is incorrect: some creators will work for a share of royalties, some will barter services ("I'll draw you a map if you'll check my text"), and some will work for free. (I like being able to pay artists, myself: the great thing about my first scenario -- the one with the public domain clip-art -- doing so well is that I've been able to afford original Gloranthan art for everything since). And you don't have to do this on your own: we've seen successful creative teams coalescing around the Jonstown Compendium. Just check out the work done by the Beer With Teeth collective, or Austin Conrad's merry band of helpers, or the Phipp/Kirshtein mutant extravaganza, or our own Sandheart shield wall.

I agree that that group is the first and most obvious place to look: I mention the group in my forum .sig for a reason, and I direct people there all the time. If you haven't yet joined because you didn't think there'd be anything useful, you made a mistake, but it's one that can easily be fixed. If you're steering clear of the Zuckerberg Panopticon on principle, email me and I'll help you out without violating your personal honour code. If you're obstinately ignoring everything Chaosium tells you about how to get the most out of the Jonstown Compendium, you'll be ignoring this post as well. Psych!

Some of the Jonstown Compendium's best-sellers were laid out in MS Word, nothing fancier. And none of them, to the best of my knowledge, has ever been exported to MOBI/EPUB, so I'm not sure why you mention that? It's actually much less confusing than you are trying to make it sound. If your word processor can export as PDF, you have all you need to publish on the Jonstown Compendium. If it can't, find a friend who can help you out. Please don't put potential contributors off by making it sound harder than it is. There are plenty of people who want to help you. There are communities set up to support people in your position.

Finally, I am Chaosium's ambassador for the Jonstown Compendium community content programme. I can guarantee you that an email to nick.brooke@chaosium.com will get a sympathetic and constructive response: so why not try it some time? I've reviewed manuscript submissions, provided feedback on potential projects, cleared up confusion about what is and isn't allowed in our community content programmes. I enjoy encouraging prospective authors: it's part of my job. (And if for some twisty reason of your own, which you certainly don't need to explain to me, you'd prefer not to deal with me, reach out to my colleagues: Allan Carey or Bridgett Jeffries. We are all here to help)

EDITED TO ADD: for a sense of perspective: in its prime (1999-2009), Tradetalk magazine published on average maybe 60 pages per year. All Jonstown Compendium publications together added up to 3,900 pages from its launch to year-end 2020, plus 3,200 pages more in 2021 YTD. We think the JC is pretty accessible to creators; we doubt the zine model would scale up as well. But if a former zine crew wants to start producing stuff for the JC, go for it! Check the FAQ, ask me if you have any concerns about what's allowable, and show us your stuff! (That's how we created Glamour, after all)

Edited July 19, 2021 by Nick Brooke

[MOB]

On 7/17/2021 at 7:45 PM, zanshin said:

I absolutely think it's of publication quality, and gives you a bit of Cthulhu/Glorantha crossover in terms of feel. 

Thank you for the compliment!

On 7/17/2021 at 7:45 PM, zanshin said:

I have a copy that I won at auction at one of the Convulsion Cons in the 90's. One of the best such purchases I ever made. It's effectively a one shot with pre-gen characters who are seeking Thanatar initiation. 

I don't know if your copy included the final single player session ('Against the Skull of Atyar' I think it was called), but thankfully one of the characters - the protagonist, a wingless Wind Child - does actually have a chance to be redeemed in the end.

But as I said above, other than the dozen or so copies that were run off for the Australian convention it ran at for the first (and only) time, In Darklight's Shadow is not available in English, and I'm happy for it to stay that way. 

[AndreJarosch]

19 minutes ago, MOB said:

But as I said above, other than the dozen or so copies that were run off for the Australian convention it ran at for the first (and only) time, In Darklight's Shadow is not available in English, and I'm happy for it to stay that way. 

To bad we have not managed to publish that Tradetalk issue with your content. 😞

[jajagappa]

21 hours ago, g33k said:

In JC, each creator has to either be their own project-manager / layout / art director / etc, or find (and presumably pay) someone to do that for them.

Many of us who did put together zines in the 90's had to be all of those things then, and more (printer, distributor, shipper, etc.). 

21 hours ago, g33k said:

I'm expressing that I -- and therefore I presume others (who may be ready and eager to publish) -- don't see the ease-of-access that was represented by Tradetalk.

It is actually much easier than putting your own zine together was.  You don't have to deal with finding a printing service, handling distribution and shipping, contacting people to see if they are interested in selling copies, etc.  As @Nick Brooke notes, you need Word and the ability to convert to pdf, and there are a lot of resources available online now to contact.

[Godlearner]

On 7/17/2021 at 7:29 AM, Runeblogger said:

You can find some scenarios dealing with Thanatar in this issue. 😈

And of course there are Thanatar related scenarios here Holiday Dorastor: The Temple of Heads - Chaosium | Jonstown Compendium | DriveThruRPG.com 

[soltakss]

13 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

EDITED TO ADD: for a sense of perspective: in its prime (1999-2009), Tradetalk magazine published on average maybe 60 pages per year. All Jonstown Compendium publications together added up to 3,900 pages from its launch to year-end 2020, plus 3,200 pages more in 2021 YTD. We think the JC is pretty accessible to creators; we doubt the zine model would scale up as well. But if a former zine crew wants to start producing stuff for the JC, go for it! Check the FAQ, ask me if you have any concerns about what's allowable, and show us your stuff! (That's how we created Glamour, after all)

It is ridiculously easy to use the Jonstown Compendium template to create reasonable-looking supplements.

There is no reason why an author couldn't get other people to write articles or short sections and put them together to form a supplement. I had work from Tal Meta, Nikk Effingham and Leon Kirshtein for the temple of heads, for example. Austin Conrad asked me to write something for Treasures of Glorantha. So an ensemble of authors works.

 

[g33k]

18 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

I know you're knocking the idea, for some ironic reason that doubtless makes sense to you...

I started to write a big ol' reply, but honestly this tangent is already a major threadjacking of the OP.
Apologies to @Brootse!

I'll think about starting a new thread, where I'll try to make my point a bit more clearly.

I just want to state, however, that I wasn't criticizing either the JC on DTRPG or the JCCC on FB!  Apologies also to anyone who felt like either or both were being criticized.