Advice for new RQG GMs: best adventuring areas and pre-written adventures

[Beoferret]

So, with the starter set nearing release, we might see an uptick in new players and GMs coming around the forums and/or poking around online for helpful resources. And it seems to me that we can play an important role in welcoming new RQers and easing their path to Glorantha so that some of them stick around for the long haul. With that in mind, does the collective hive mind of RQ veterans have suggestions for new GM's? Specifically I mean in regards to the following: a) places to set a campaign or short series of adventures (keeping in mind different playstyles and gaming preferences); b) Chaosium published adventures that are immediately suitable for new RQers or could be with a few GM adjustments; c) Jonstown content adventures that are immediately suitable for new RQers (or could be with a few GM adjustments); and d) general useful resources (online or published). Are there particular links or reviews that can accompany any of the above? What are the pros and cons of your suggestions, in a sentence or two?

To give you all a better idea of what I mean, let me start:

a) Adventuring Areas:

       - for a small starting place (with room for PCs to experience several types of adventures, including dungeon crawls, and easily travel to different parts of the world, when they want to): Renekot's Hope in The Pegasus Plateau & Other Stories.

                     - Pro: easy to master home base with some interesting NPCs and room for multiple types of gaming, including heavy on the social interaction. Con: GM will have to flesh out adventuring areas, such as The Ruins or the Broo Catacombs, on their own.

      - for a large, open wilderness frontier zone: Balazar.

                     - published material: Griffin Mountain (Classic RQ content; will need some basic conversion and updating). Online resource: Back to Balazar website - non-canonical, but well thought out updates to material, resources to aid playing in Balazar, etc. 

b) Official Adventure:

      - The Broken Tower - (quickstart rules) - Pros: Introduces players to a number of key concepts in RQG play (spirits, ransom, clan/tribal rivalries, fightin', and a chance to start their own cult). Cons: Has been critiqued as being a little railroady (easily adjusted.) Easy to find live play examples or reviews online, incl Jajagappa's:

     - Defending Apple Lane - (GM Screen Pack) - Pros: Fighting enemies that act tactically and rationally, but who are bad news; possibility of creating social connections in area; use of social rewards as well as treasure; connections with other published scenarios. Cons: Possible TPK, if PCs follow tusk riders to their hideout and try to take on Redeye w/o significant preparation. Again, easy to find reviews and play accounts online.

C) Community Content/Jonstown Compendium Adventures - (I admit that I have only read through a couple of these.)

      - Stone and Bone - Fightin' in Prax, shamanism, Chaos. Pros: Action and social interaction. Easy to pair with other Praxian adventures (say on a trek to Pavis), including "The Pairing Stones," in Pegasus Plateau.

D) Resource -

      - Treasures of Glorantha: V1 - Dragon Pass - Jonstown Compendium. Pros: Some cool items and good essay on treasure among the Orlanthi (including expected tithing and the importance of gift exchange with local elites.) Cons: Players from some other games may be underwhelmed and put off by the social side of treasure seeking (should the GM use it.)

The point of this being, again, to recommend adventures and resources that new RQers can pick up and use with little modification and/or a lot of veteran guidance. Anything able to also introduce folks to more aspects of RQG and Glorantha without massive lore dumping is even better. Apologies for the long post and thanks to everyone who can contribute to the thread.

 

 

[Alex]

11 minutes ago, Beoferret said:

With that in mind, does the collective hive mind of RQ veterans have suggestions for new GM's? Specifically I mean in regards to the following: a) places to set a campaign or short series of adventures (keeping in mind different playstyles and gaming preferences);

I think these are each critical points.  The starting location is going to in large part drive the other choices -- or at least, preclude a number of options without significant additional work on the part of the GM.  And the playstyle thing could be a sharp delineator for a number of groups.  "New" and "veteran" aren't a sharp binary here:  there could be a significant number of "returners", whether past dabblers, or long-lapsed gnognards themselves.  And they too may benefit from gentle (ideally!) nudges in the right directions.  Whether it be by way of "bring back the good ol' days of <previous publication era>!" or "Wakboth no, anything but the stultifying nonsense of <edition>!"  Especially if they're in the mindset of, it was a cute little game when it was a couple of books, but now I'm overwhelmed.  And even the technically.new.com players might have absorbed some of these by osmosis, or be strongly predisposed to one of the legacy modes of play.

Most obviously people might tend to split into:

• The "Prax and Pavis" crowd;
• The Sartarite (or by extension, any of the other three 'on-map' Theyalan homelands) clan game;
• Embryonic lozenge-hopping game.  (Not necessarily exclusive with the others.)

A sketch route-map for each of those could be a public service, and any another premises for play that spring to mind...

[French Desperate WindChild]

Start with rqg material only, let the undead grognards secrets in the otherworld. But when you have accumulated enough experience and power, start the true "irl-lightbringer" heroquest, visit the past, negotiate information with the undeads, and bring back some treasure to improve your irl-table.

 

My advice to new gm / players is "use RQG material only" :

the setting is defined (dragon pass)

some publications will provide more and more info (sartar book, etc...)

 

I think the actual line, proposing a rich but "small" area to play, is very helpful for beginers.

 

And after... they will be welcomed in the grognard company, visiting the post-prehistoric balazar, trying to understand if Teshnos is just a jungle with few amazons  (what I understood with my french books) or a reference of India with a big society (what I discovered... here, but I have no source if it is imagination of a contributor, or the result of a long background published somewhere, for example

 

Note that (if I am not an exception) there is a very very big gap between what is known here in this forum, shared and discussed (geography, cult, culture, etc...) and what is known when you buy the books in your gameshop, in your own language.

, And that's a big mystery for me: I don't know from where come all this knowledge, if there are published sources, if it was proposed by the different editors (Issaries, chaosium, etc...), or by a community. But maybe I am the exception and the only one who lived this gap !

 

 

[soltakss]

Here are the Jonstown Compendium scenarios, with the location and number of scenarios.

 

Supplement	Series	Location	Scenarios
Blue Moon White Moon	Standalone	Anywhere	1
Rocks Fall	Standalone	Anywhere	1
The Pendulum & The Pit	Standalone	Anywhere	1
The Quacken	Standalone	Anywhere	1
The Ruins of Bonn Kanach	Beast Valley Campaign	Beast Valley	1
This Fertile Ground	Beast Valley Campaign	Beast Valley	1
Spider Woods	Holiday Dorastor	Dorastor	5
Temple of Heads	Holiday Dorastor	Dorastor	5
Spirit Hunt	Quatrini	Esrolia	1
Rivers of Blood	Quatrini	Grazelands	1
Humakt Raven and Wolf	Humakt Raven and Wolf	HeroQuest	1
How Humakt Learned to Grieve	Standalone	HeroQuest	4
Life of Moonson Book Two The Freeform	Life of Moonson	Lunar Empire	1
Rubble Redux	Rubble Redux	Pavis	4
Rubble Redux The Insula of the Rising Sun	Rubble Redux	Pavis	4
A Grim Pilgrimage	Quatrini	Prax	1
Stone and Bone	Standalone	Prax	1
The Gifts of Prax	Standalone	Prax	1
Bad Day at Duck Rock	Bad Day at Duck Rock	Sartar	1
Black Spear	Black Spear	Sartar	7
Cups of Clearwine	Clearwine	Sartar	1
Dregs of Clearwine	Clearwine	Sartar	1
Valley of Plenty	Jaldonkillers Saga	Sartar	4
Jorthans Rescue Redux	Jorthans Rescue Redux	Sartar	1
The Avengers of Earth Temple	Quatrini	Sartar	1
The Search for the Throne of Colymar	Quatrini	Sartar	1
Underwater Quest	Quatrini	Sartar	1
A Sword Turned Inward	Red Deer Saga	Sartar	15
Elgar's Sword	Red Deer Saga	Sartar	6
Whitestone Ruins	Red Deer Saga	Sartar	3
Six Seasons in Sartar	Six Seasons in Sartar	Sartar	8
The Company of the Dragon	Six Seasons in Sartar	Sartar	32
A Tale of Woodcraft	Standalone	Sartar	1
Applefest	Standalone	Sartar	1
Arrows of War	Standalone	Sartar	1
High Rock Hill	Standalone	Sartar	1
Kovid's Nineteen	Standalone	Sartar	3
Night in the Meadow	Standalone	Sartar	3
Remembering Caroman	Standalone	Sartar	1
Rostakori	Standalone	Sartar	1
The Duel at Dangerford	The Duel at Dangerford	Sartar	1
The Throat of Winter	The Throat of Winter	Sartar	1
Vinga's Ford	Vinga's Ford	Sartar	1
Yozarians Bandit Ducks	Yozarians Bandit Ducks	Sartar	1
Kingdom of the Flamesword	Standalone	Seshnela	3
Tales of the Sun County Militia	Sandheart	Sun County	1
The Corn Dolls	Sandheart	Sun County	1
A Trek in the Marsh	Standalone	Upland Marsh	1
The Howling Tower	Standalone	Upland Marsh	1

Edited October 9, 2021 by soltakss

[soltakss]

And JC Scenarios by Location

Location	Supplements	Scenarios	Average
Anywhere	4	4	1
Beast Valley	2	2	1
Dorastor	2	10	5
Esrolia	1	1	1
Grazelands	1	1	1
HeroQuest	2	5	3
Lunar Empire	1	1	1
Pavis	2	8	4
Prax	3	3	1
Sartar	26	98	4
Seshnela	1	3	3
Sun County	2	2	1
Upland Marsh	2	2	1
Total	49	140	3

 

[soltakss]

And JC Scenarios by Series:

Series	Supplements	Scenarios	Average
Bad Day at Duck Rock	1	1	1
Beast Valley Campaign	2	2	1
Black Spear	1	7	7
Clearwine	2	2	1
Holiday Dorastor	2	10	5
Humakt Raven and Wolf	1	1	1
Jaldonkillers Saga	1	4	4
Jorthans Rescue Redux	1	1	1
Life of Moonson	1	1	1
Quatrini	6	6	1
Red Deer Saga	3	24	8
Rubble Redux	2	8	4
Sandheart	2	2	1
Six Seasons in Sartar	2	40	20
Standalone	18	27	2
The Duel at Dangerford	1	1	1
The Throat of Winter	1	1	1
Vinga's Ford	1	1	1
Yozarians Bandit Ducks	1	1	1
Total	49	140	62

[Runeblogger]

I love the idea. I wrote this short guide to get started in Glorantha in general some time ago that may be useful. 😀

And here there are some of my reviews so far:

- The Broken Tower - GM Screen Pack - Yozarian's Bandit Ducks! - Jorthan's Rescue Redux - Treasures of Glorantha - 

Pookie and Andrew Montgomery have plenty of good reviews in their blogs as well.

 

[Nick Brooke]

• Tradition (Sandheart Volume 3) is part of the Sandheart series, set in Prax.
• Black Spear kicks off in Sartar, but most of the action takes place along the River of Cradles, in Prax.

In my headcanon, Black Spear is a sequel to The Duel at Dangerford, but they both stand alone nicely and are intended to dovetail with the GM Screen Pack adventures and other default Chaosium scenarios (Broken Tower, Smoking Ruin, Rattling Wind, etc.), which is how I ran them. (If you liked one of my books, you’ll definitely like the other; OTOH if you hated one, the other one will be much more up your street. Hope this helps!)

[Nick Brooke]

My own strong recommendation for a newcomer would be to do exactly what the RQG Core rules and Chaosium’s own scenarios suggest: your default RuneQuest party should be based in Sartar (not “all Sartarite”), should include at least one Orlanth cultist and ideally an Ernaldan as well (otherwise some cultural-default stuff will be harder to use, though by no means impossible), and should start the campaign by visiting Jonstown (RuneQuest Starter Set) or Clearwine (GM Screen Pack Adventure Book), hoping eventually to work for the famous Queen Leika of the Colymar Tribe. (You don’t want to work for the Malani Tribe, because they’re all assholes. RQG Core tells you that the Colymar are the default Sartarites, and Chaosium’s books support this)

Bin any legacy notions that every adventurer should be from the same clan, adventuring out of their home village: that stuff may have worked well in HeroQuestWorldWars times, but the actual Hero Wars are now kicking off in earnest, and you’ll have more fun if you’re a flexible, mobile, ambitious warband, able to pick up opportunities wherever they present themselves (becoming a Colymar Thane, frex). Just like Vasana & Co.

[Nick Brooke]

Hey, @Beoferret! If you want to find the best pre-written community content adventures, pick up my regularly-updated Jonstown Compendium Index, which includes best-seller and ratings charts plus a map showing scenario locations. Currently 52 pages for $2.00.