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Final Update: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021


Nick Brooke

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The Jonstown Compendium Index 2021 is Nick Brooke's index to the RuneQuest & QuestWorlds scenarios and sourcebooks available from Chaosium's Jonstown Compendium community content web store on DriveThruRPG. The index includes full details for 2021 releases and all older Electrum & Gold best-sellers, plus summary listings for everything else in the store (for full details of all 2020 releases, see the new Jonstown Compendium Catalogue or last year's Jonstown Compendium Scenarios & Sourcebooks index).

Detailed listings analyse content (pages split between scenario, stats, maps, etc.), characters, settings and complexity of each scenario. Includes best-seller and ratings charts, RuneQuest Scenarios, HeroQuest Titles, Gloranthan Sourcebooks, Monsters of the Month, Virtual Tabletop Tokens, Everything Else, two Where in the World? maps showing every scenario's location, and notes on when scenarios and campaigns are set (by year and season, inc. Chaosium RQG scenarios).

The index was regularly updated throughout 2021. All updates in 2021 are free; the price of the index increases quarterly as new content grows, so don't wait too long to get on board! The final version is 57 pages for $2.00.

If you bought it earlier, get the latest version of the Index from your Library on DriveThruRPG, or from the product page while you're logged in. The index comes bundled with a spreadsheet listing all the JC titles inc. price, page-count, medals, etc. for your convenience (updated through 31-Dec-2021) and with two charts showing the sales history of all major Jonstown Compendium titles.

NOTE: Material indexed in this book may deal with mature themes. GMs are advised to adjust their presentation of this subject matter in accordance with their own and their group’s comfort levels.

Edited by Nick Brooke
Final version (seventy-four updates in 2021)
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  • 2 weeks later...

Updated with three new titles: Chris Gidlow's Citizens of the Lunar Empire, and two more of Dario Corallo's Virtual Tabletop resources: Adventurers & The Troll Tomb.

It's a bit of a Dariogasm today, because Citizens is also lavishly illustrated throughout by the Maestro, with a front cover painting by Mark Smylie. Have a look and see for yourself: YouTube video preview.

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Updated with the latest Beer With Teeth extravaganza, The Gifts of Prax by Kristi Herbert and Diana Probst. Evocative descriptions of Prax make it easy to visualise, and the scenario has a lovely sense of place, a harsh environment teeming with ever-present spirits. There's great artwork throughout, mixing high-quality finished work with primitive pictoglyphs. And the encounters appendix will be handy for any group venturing into the badlands. Very nice work.

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 29 January: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021
  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 30 January: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Just a small update today: The Company of the Dragon free preview booklet, and the first Monster of the Month for 2021, Shaivalla Well-Loved.

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 31 January: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated again with Chris Bell & Simon Phipp's How Humakt Learned to Grieve, three myths turned into systemless heroquests, inc. authors' notes on how to make your own. An excellent practical demonstration of how to use Secrets of HeroQuesting. $10 for 35 pages of content.

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 07 February: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated yet again to:

  • add Michael Paul O'Sullivan's Ruins of Bonn Kanach, a classic ruined-city sandbox to explore, near Beast Valley;
  • mention the French edition of the Guide Pratique de Glamour, translated by Vivien Prigent and Franck Nicodème;
  • and remove the listing for the print-on-demand version of The Duel at Dangerford (it'll be back, I don't know when).
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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 22 February: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated again with Leon Kirshtein's Denarius the Minter and other minor cults for RuneQuest. $2.40 buys you 14 pages of content: seven short cults (mostly one page) and a miscellany of Rune spells. The grab-bag contains niche cults for NPCs (Lunar mint officials; Fronelan mahouts; sorcerous draconism; an anti-Mostali Chaos cult), munchkin fantasies (Pavic Chaos-fighters!; the God of Lawgivers!) and rules exploits (a purple glow used by God Learner shamans). The spell selection is much like that in the Book of Doom: mostly clever utilities, and some game-breakers.  It's probably best to treat this as a pick-and-mix buffet to inspire your own additions to Glorantha: everyone enjoys learning strange new magics and encountering weird cultists.

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 28 February: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated again with the latest Monster of the Month from Austin Conrad: a terrifying Sword of Humakt called Renharth Blackveins.

I've also brought the accompanying spreadsheet up to date, and it now details all JC titles through to 28 February 2021.

Several BWT titles are on the brink of Electrum: why don't you go and tip one over? (We can even make this a popularity contest: pick up Vinga's Ford if you love Ducks, Rocks Fall for Trolls, or Dregs of Clearwine for Orlanthi)

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 5 March: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated again: it's the GM's Day Sale for another ten days or so, and several Jonstown Compendium titles are 10% off, including the Index. Also, three more titles that came out last year just became Electrum Best-Sellers -- Temples & TowersRocks Fall and Rubble Runners -- so they're now fully detailed in this year's index.

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 9 March: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated again: Dario Corallo has another Artpack up for sale, containing 52 high-resolution Gloranthan illustrations for €10. You can use them in your own games (as handouts, on character sheets, etc.), and purchasers are also permitted to use them in Jonstown Compendium publications (only), if they credit the artist. I've used Dario's clipart in a couple of my books, it's really good and I can recommend this deal. (He is also quick, cheap and creative if you want to commission original work / tokens / maps: you can usually find him hanging out on Facebook)

Also, two of my books just came out in print: Life of Moonson, Book One (a monstrous 244 page tome for $59.95) and Guide pratique de Glamour (a more dainty 136 pages for just €25: the price matches that of the English edition, even though the French text needs a couple of dozen more pages!).

Meanwhile, the GM's Day Sale rumbles on: many Jonstown Compendium digital titles will be 10% off until the Ides of March.

2021-03-09 11.11.39@0.33x.jpg

2021-03-09 11.23.41-1@0.33x.jpg

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 12 March: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated again: Dario Corallo's Upland Marsh battle pack is available for virtual tabletops, containing eight modular terrain maps and 39 tokens (including five Duck adventurers, six zombie dinosaurs and a whole host of undead) for €4.00. Fear the dreaded Z-Rex!

The GM's Day 10%-off sale ends on 15 March: don't forget to pick up some bargains from the Jonstown Compendium while it lasts!

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 15 March: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Small update: Dario's at it again, with a "Pay What You Want" sampler of seven magnificent Humakti from the Twocrows Mercenary Company.

The GM's Day Sale ends in three hours, if you've been keeping your powder dry. See what's going cheap at the Jonstown Compendium!

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 17 March: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

The one you've been waiting for: The Company of the Dragon is out.

Andrew Logan Montgomery’s RuneQuest coming-of-age campaign Six Seasons in Sartar is the best book on the Jonstown Compendium. So what does he do for an encore? He only goes and surpasses it. The Company of the Dragon is a RuneQuest campaign about outlaws and freedom fighters, war and heroism, history and legend. Where Six Seasons was inspired by the feel of first encountering RuneQuest, The Company of the Dragon takes its lead from White Bear & Red Moon, the board wargame of the Hero Wars in Dragon Pass. Its heroes appear in these pages – Argrath and Delecti, Ethilrist and Cragspider.

The book begins with an introduction, an overview of Sartar in the years before the Dragonrise, and a writeup of the players’ warband (the eponymous Company) using the classic cult format, of course, together with its community statistics – fleshing out the system previewed in an appendix to Six Seasons. Those stats become the currency of the campaign, to be tracked, bolstered and replenished between episodes. A chapter on draconic consciousness sketches out how the wyter-wyrm that inspires the company thinks, and what that means.

The meat of the book is 160 pages of episodes, with ample guidance to the gamemaster on how to string these together into a satisfying campaign. Some are major historical events or key turning points in the history of the Company, others are more generic and even repeatable (though always with fleshed-out examples or suggestions for how to add twisty complications to the mix).

While the campaign is perfectly designed for survivors of Six Seasons, there is advice on how to bring new recruits into the Company. And as always, Drew is not afraid to engage with deep Gloranthan lore and put it centre-stage in an entertaining and satisfying way. Highly recommended. A snip at just $29.95 for 270 pages (PDF).  

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 20 March: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated today with The Howling Tower, an Upland Marsh scenario for RuneQuest by Devin Cutler, updated by Gianni Vacca and revised by Nick Brooke, with layout, maps, artwork and tokens by Dario Corallo. Extensive details of the Upland Marsh inc. full-page map, natural hazards and encounter tables; five pregen adventurers and a nearby village are also detailed. €10.00 ($11.95) for 34 pages, inc. map pack and 8 VTT tokens.

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 25 March: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

A minor update today, mostly housekeeping after The Duel at Dangerford got its Gold best-seller medal.

I'll include Dario's Giant Arthropods in the next update: it just missed my cut-off.

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 31 March: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

New index - a bit of housekeeping (ratings, rankings, medals), plus the new print-on-demand edition of Legion and March's Rune Master of the Month: Vajra of the Skies

The Jonstown Compendium spreadsheet has had its monthly refresh (31-Mar-2021).

Edited by Nick Brooke
Monster of the Month just dropped
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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 4 April: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Minor update (medals, ratings, rankings), prompted by Tales of the Sun County Militia (Sandheart, Volume One) getting its Gold best-seller medal. Jonathan Webb wrote on the RuneQuest Facebook group:

Quote
I am super-proud to announce that Sandheart Volume One has earned its Gold Best Seller badge on DriveThruRPG. When I sat down to draft the original, I was worried that I would not be able to sell 50, let alone 500.
 
This achievement was only made possible due to huge support from everyone involved. Sandheart has been drafted by multiple authors: Michael O’Brien (MOB), Nick Brooke, Brian Hebert, Darren Page-Mitchell, Shaun Rimmer and myself, and inked by multiple artists/cartographers: Mark Baldwin, Jacob Webb, Kris Herbert, Dario Corallo, Katrin Dirim, Diana Probst, Madaleine Girvan, Ollie Larwood, Ludovic Chabant, Nick Brooke and Beverley Webb.
 
I want to send a big shout out to the writers, artists, layout specialists and cartographers in the Jonstown Compendium: thanks for all your support and enthusiasm and don’t stop producing great stuff!
 
And thanks to Chaosium for being brave and letting us all play in their sandpit!
 
I have played Runequest for a very long time, and the original Sun County (penned by MOB) and other ‘Runequest Renaissance’ titles in 1990s made a deep impression on me. When I learned that there was to be Runequest Community Content (under the banner of the Jonstown Compendium) I was keen to draft something. I pondered about setting something in Maniria… or revisiting Balazar… maybe even the Lunar Empire…but, in the end, I decided to focus on Sun County as I felt like I knew it. Being a parochial setting, insular and self-contained, it was comparatively simple to consider and thus easier for players to grapple with.
 
As luck would have it, I found myself on holiday in Australia and met up with MOB to discuss further. He was very supportive, which gave me the confidence to proceed. Most of Sandheart Volumes One and Two were drafted in Australia - the intense heat and open vistas of the outback helped me imagine Prax and beyond. Sandheart Volume One was published as one of the launch titles back late 2019, but that wasn’t the end of the story. I joined the Facebook Jonstown Compendium Creators Circle (thanks Pookie) and there met up with like-minded souls. I somehow managed to rope Nick Brooke and Mark Baldwin into helping me firstly publish Volume Three and then go back and re-master Volumes One and Two (with assistance from all the names mentioned above). Looking back at Sandheart’s humble beginnings, I am astounded at what we all created.
 
So….a big warm thanks to everyone who helped out, be you a purchaser, or one of those mentioned above.
 
PS about five years ago I remember thinking that it was odd that my son had ‘online‘ friends that he had never met in person. Roll forward to the present and I now have more online friends than he does.

We are, of course, working to bring you Sandheart Volume Four.

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 5 April: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated again, as Life of Moonson, Book Two: The Freeform is now out.

Details at this link: 

240 pages, $19.95, digital download (PDF).

Edited by Nick Brooke
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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 7 April: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated again:

  • Dario Corallo has released his Trollball Teams Virtual Tabletop Token set, including two seven-troll teams, plus the giant referees, the "ball," and a hex map of the pitch. €4.00 for 17 tokens and a map.
     
  • Drew Baker (author of Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon) has released six sets of Quick And Dirty Family Histories, covering the six RQG Homelands. 101 randomly generated character histories for $4.50 each, or you can pick up all six (with over 600 pages of random output) for $18.00 in a bundle.
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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 24 April: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated again, with Drew Baker's Rubble Redux: Insula of the Rising Sun: detailed archaeological descriptions and floorplans of a second ruined city-block in the Big Rubble, supported by essays on travel and excavation times, agriculture, and four short scenarios. The 131-page book comes in colour and low-ink versions, with 14 separate 25mm grey-scale battle-maps and an overview map.

I like Drew's detailed descriptions, his gritty and realistic take on the decline and fall of Old Pavis, and the colourful dialogue and vignettes in his scenarios; the scribal debates about naming the insula are particularly fine. Because each of the 14 buildings is presented separately (as with Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon), the floor plans are highly portable and could be reused for any Type C or better structure, alone or in groups.

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 29 April: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated again:

  • Paul Baker's The Houses of Teshnos is out, with setting information, character creation and short-form cults for RuneQuest games set in Teshnos, Glorantha's own "Tiger-Headed Opium Nightmare" kingdom of oriental decadence. Includes notes on castes, military and martial techniques, and a detailed town setting with its own local myths. If you've seen his Kralori Primer, you know what to expect. 112 pages for $17.00 (PDF).
     
  • Reaching Moon Megacorp's Life of Moonson, Book Two: The Freeform is now available in print. 240 pages for $49.95 (hardcover) or $19.95 (PDF). 

As always, if you've previously purchased the 2021 Index, all updates are free: just check your DriveThruRPG Library or visit the product page when you're logged in.

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  • Nick Brooke changed the title to Updated 1 May: Jonstown Compendium Index - 2021

Updated again for April's Monster of the Month from Austin Conrad: Wenkarleos - a Lunar Tarshite Rune Lord of the Seven Mothers cult, plus a few more ratings that landed recently. (Customers! If you liked something you bought, please consider leaving a rating on DriveThruRPG. It's really appreciated!) 

Also, Shannon Appelcline (noted RPG historian, author of Designers & Dragons and a long-standing friend of the Chaosium) has written a feature review of Andrew Logan Montgomery's Six Seasons in Sartar, which I thought worth sharing:

Quote

This is not a classic RuneQuest adventure, full of delves and fights (though there is a mini-delve! and more than one fight!). Instead it's a deeply moving story about a community that does a magnificent job of blending together many of the elements that make RuneQuest and its world of Glorantha unique.

One moment it's a story of young initiation, another it's about mythic quests. One moment it's a political story of oppression and rebellion, another it's about historical treasures unearthed. Somehow, Montgomery makes it all blend together seamlessly, creating a whole that's much greater than its parts.

The result? One of the best RuneQuest adventures ever.

There are also some great nuances here. The adventure's "supporting cast" stat boxes break away from the number-heavy stats required by RuneQuest and provide just what you need for supporting characters, including a really nice interrelation between runes and characteristics. (I wish Chaosium would adopt them.) The section of "Episodes" at the end is a nice way to integrate a lot of story seeds (and shows how the adventure is pretty thoroughly not a railroad despite its narrative foundation; in fact, Montgomery goes out of his way to give GMs and players meaningful choices and the ability to meaningfully change the narrative). Meanwhile, the HeroQuests come across as an entirely organic expansion of RuneQuest play.

Finally, the book is physically attractive. The art is nice, the boxes are good additions to the book, and the layout is neat and attractive. (I've a slight qualm with double-spacing after periods which tends to open up big spaces in the justified text, but we each have our hobgoblins.)

Unfortunately, Six Seasons in Sartar sets an almost impossibly high standard for other RuneQuest community content — and for Chaosium's own RuneQuest content for that matter. It's a superb release.

(Customers! If you liked something you bought, please consider leaving a review on DriveThruRPG. It's really appreciated, and it doesn't have to be this long!)

As always, if you bought the 2021 index previously, all updates are free: just check your Library on DriveThruRPG, or visit the product page when you're logged in.

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The Compendium is very useful - thank you. I'm getting back into RQ and being time-poor will rely on published material. I've made quite a few purchases now and the Compendium has really helped me figure out which ones will be of greatest utility.  I bought Legion today - the artwork is extraordinary.

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