Opinions sought by an RQ player

[Agentorange]

Dear All,

After years of playing my home brewed version of RQ. I bought myself a copy of RQG, and it's got me interested in Glorantha again. I have rapidly become aware that there's a lot of Gloranthan knowledge I've missed by not  getting into HQ/HW:  cultural background, setting information, clans, cults,  maps,interesting  locations, regional info etc etc.

So i intend whilst HQ is still around to try and acquire  some of that knowledge. So in your opinion what supplements should be my priorities ? I'm not worried about HQ rules, I'm an RQ man, but the sort of things I've mentioned above. What's your advice here.....over to you

[Leingod]

Your best bets in terms of more recent HQ2/HQG stuff are definitely Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes and the Sartar Companion. Those have plenty of the info you're looking for, only some of which (the depiction of Elmal being the big one) is no longer viewed as canonical. Very Sartar-heavy, obviously, so if you want a campaign set mostly in Prax or anywhere that isn't Dragon Pass it'll probably be less helpful (though any place that has Orlanthi at all will still see these having some use).

Much of what you'll find in Pavis: Gateway to Adventure is actually taken from several of the older supplements on the region (Borderlands, River of Cradles, Sun County), though some stuff - like the depiction of the cults of Pavis and Flintnail as actually being primarily sorcerous cults that offer little to no theistic magic of their own - is new.

The HeroQuest: Glorantha book itself is of limited use if you aren't interested in playing HeroQuest and just want lore.

If you're at all interested in a campaign taking place in the Jonstown Confederation (especially the Cinsina Tribe), you actually might want to get the first book of the Red Cow Saga, The Coming Storm. Actually, even if you aren't doing that, it's a great book to mine for ideas about how to run a clan-centered campaign, there's a bunch of useful and interesting NPCs you can easily transplant elsewhere with minimal fuss, and it's overall a great read.

HeroQuest Voices is great if you loved all those "What My Father Told Me" snippets older RQ books had, because it's almost 70 pages of literally just that on a wide range of different potential homelands. Makes for great introductory handouts you can give your players if they're playing in a new part of the world they might not be familiar with, or have decided to play as a non-human race like an Aldryami.

I'm not really as familiar with the old HW/HQ1 material, though I've occasionally seen people say they still mine Anaxial's Roster for information on Gloranthan creatures (sentient and otherwise) and in-universe myths and lore about them, so that might be a good place to start.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Leingod

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, Agentorange said:

So i intend whilst HQ is still around to try and acquire  some of that knowledge. So in your opinion what supplements should be my priorities ? I'm not worried about HQ rules, I'm an RQ man, but the sort of things I've mentioned above. What's your advice here.....over to you

Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes - great campaign ideas, background stuff to mine for your clan, some cults [last will be superseded by upcoming RQG Cults book].

Sartar Companion - scenarios, encounters, some locations, some cults [Note: some of this may be superseded by the RQG Sartar Set due later this year; and the cults will definitely be superseded by upcoming RQG Cults books.]

Pavis: Gateway to Adventure - as @Leingod noted there is a fair amount of overlap with older RQ River of Cradles/Pavis content.  But scenarios are good and some extend on ideas from earlier Pavis/RoC scenarios.

Coming Storm - complete background on the Red Cow clan/Cinsina tribe plus neighboring tribes/clans.  If you want a clan-based game in north-central Sartar, get it.

Eleven Lights - the campaign/scenarios that go with Coming Storm.  Covers 1618-1624.  Great for any clan-based game in the pre-Dragonrise era.

Anaxial's Roster has bestiary ideas not found elsewhere that can certainly be utilized.

And I'd pretty much skip anything else (though I have it all and mine bits and pieces for campaign ideas).

[Agentorange]

Thanks guys, looks like Sartar Kingdom of heroes is a good bet, so ordered a copy. also gone for Anaxials roster. Over at DTRPG there some older stuff down just under $5 on PDF so have splashed for some of that as well. Thanks for the comments !

[jean]

I really like Blood over Gold. It's outside of Sartar or Prax, but it is near enough to be somewhat familiar.

 

[Leingod]

2 hours ago, jean said:

I really like Blood over Gold. It's outside of Sartar or Prax, but it is near enough to be somewhat familiar.

 

It definitely is a very good book, but a lot of the major regional lore is included in the region's section of the Guide to Glorantha, which is why I didn't list it. Most of what's in there that didn't make it into the Guide is mostly so specific to Maniria that you don't need to get it unless you're already planning to campaign there, or is based on the now-outdated portrayals of Western cultures as largely medieval Europe with the serial numbers filed off (which I understand some people are fine with or even prefer, but I honestly like what we have now a lot better).

[Westnovote]

I don't know where you're based OP, but the Heroquest Glorantha book is actually a really good overview source IMO - underrated in fact.  It's also one of the best looking books, again IMO.  It's also on sale if you're in the UK, EU or Aus.

HeroQuest Glorantha - Hardcover - Chaosium Inc.

[Agentorange]

2 hours ago, Westnovote said:

I don't know where you're based OP, but the Heroquest Glorantha book is actually a really good overview source IMO - underrated in fact.  It's also one of the best looking books, again IMO.  It's also on sale if you're in the UK, EU or Aus.

HeroQuest Glorantha - Hardcover - Chaosium Inc.

In the UK, I'm not to worried about the HQ rules, I'm an RQ player. it's background information eg: geography, magical places, what monsters live where, maps all that kind of stuff that I'm after. bits and pieces I can convert and port across if that makes sense. With that in mind is it worth splashing out for the  HQ rules. I mean it's a good price but would it give me what I'm after ?

[Westnovote]

That's the beauty of the Heroquest rules - there really aren't that many of them!  The book is 250 pages of mainly background.  There isn't really any exclusive content in here, but personally I found the presentation of the information both useful and enlightening and the information is presented in a different way from other books.  For example, there are some sample play sessions featuring Samastina and Cragspider, and I loved these more for flavour than for giving an example of the rules.

The Heroquest Glorantha book is actually one of my favourite Gloranthan books, from a purely physical perspective (it just feels great, and the binding is top quality - I realise how nerdy this sounds!) and aesthetic perspective (the layout is top draw and the art is subtle yet high quality).

Is it worth getting for what you want?  I really can't answer that, but I love it.