Prince of Sartar (webcomic) ?

[g33k]

Any chance of getting the links fixed, and making this usable again?

I have a player who wants some fiction to get better understanding of Glorantha, and  Prince of Sartar  leaps to mind as some of the most-accessible.
This is -- was -- a great community resource.  I understand that Jeff&Kalin don't have the time to progress it at the moment -- gotta do the work that pays the bills, after all !  But just the techie link-fixing should be (much) easier & less time-intensive (and won't actually take the creative's time, only the web-geeks').

Problems up front:

Trying to start at http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/introduction-chapter-1/
The English "Next" button links over to the German language, instead of advancing to the next panel:  http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic-de/kapitel-1-initiation/?lang=de

THAT "Next" button works correctly:  it advances to the first page of the comic itself (but, as it's "correct," it's the German-language panel):
http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic-de/1-die-flamme-von-sartar/?lang=de

BUT -- aha! -- the language can be chosen in a drop-down menu, so I select English, and voila! (although no French was tested) problem solved:
http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/1-the-flame-of-sartar/

<sigh>  But only for a few panels... at the 3rd:  http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/3-the-underworld/
the "Next" button from this panel takes me back to the first one, "Flame of Sartar" (and thus a 3-panel loop)

I can pull the same switcheroo (use the German-language panel to get a valid "Next" button, advance a panel, and switch back to English),  b-u-u-u-t  that's not really a user-friendly way to read this!  And I'm unclear how reliable the links will be, going forward...  But maybe it's just these first few that are broken?  The next dozen or so panels (as far as I went) all had working English-language Next-buttons, but some of the "Prior" buttons (I'd use "Back" but that might imply the browser's own Back) led me back to a German-language page!

Last but not least... is the webcomic to date going to go into print, or only if it gets "finished"?  And if the later... where in Argrath's story is "finished"?
 

[Westnovote]

Seconded.  I understand that this will be way down the list of things to do, but if the links could be fixed it would make this excellent Glorantha resource more accessible.  I have linked to new players as well, only to find that they are unable to read it (and whilst the workaround above works, new players are not likely to persist).

[Sir_Godspeed]

This was the source that made Glorantha understandable and inviting for me, so I'd second this as well!

[svensson]

@Jeff Richard commented to me about 4 months or so ago that the comic isn't 'dead', per se. He and Kalian want to get back to it at some point but right this minute they have too much paying work on their plate.

But, like you guys, I would also like to see the comic's return.

And @g33k, the Starter Set has a great 'World of Glorantha' booklet that does just what you're asking for... it's an 'Intro to Glorantha' for the neophyte. And from a straight fiction /adventurer point of view [that is, more adventuring and less history and myth] on it, 'The Compleat Griselda' at Chaosium is a pretty good place to start. Yeah, it's dated a bit, but for sheer 'adventurers on the rampage' fun....

[Alex]

11 hours ago, g33k said:

<sigh>  But only for a few panels... at the 3rd:  http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/3-the-underworld/
the "Next" button from this panel takes me back to the first one, "Flame of Sartar" (and thus a 3-panel loop)

I noticed the same thing, after jumping into chapter 3 (which seemed to work just fine), and then getting to notion to reread from the the start, and had the same problems you describe.  However, it's fairly easy to get to the next by typing the episode number into the URL -- you don't need the full address complete with the strip's exact tagline, it'll get autocompleted (or prefixed-matched, or whatever precisely's happening with the back end). 

• http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/1
• http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/2
• http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/3
• http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/4
• http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/5
• http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/6
• http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/7
• http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/8
• http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/9

... however, "10" doesn't work (instead it redirects to /100, just to confuse matters), so you need to switch back to using arrows for a few until it goes back to ep-number prefixes at /12.  But as /3 and 4/ are the only ones I've found that have broken links, hopefully that's fairly moot.

Edited November 20, 2021 by Alex

[g33k]

5 hours ago, Alex said:

 

... however, "10" doesn't work (instead it redirects to /100 ...

Because "10-" (one zero hyphen) sorts earlier, in the ASCII code, than "100" (one zero zero)... hyphen has a lower-numbered code, and thus comes earlier, than zero.

</geekmode>
 

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by g33k
ETA - entirely beside the point of whether it is or isn't user friendly, and/or a reasonable "ask" of J. Random Player

[g33k]

6 hours ago, svensson said:

...

And @g33k, the Starter Set has a great 'World of Glorantha' booklet that does just what you're asking for... it's an 'Intro to Glorantha' for the neophyte.

Nope, not what I wanted; or rather, not what that player wanted.
They specifically want fiction "set within" the world, not sourcebook material "about" the world.

 

 

6 hours ago, svensson said:

... And from a straight fiction /adventurer point of view [that is, more adventuring and less history and myth] on it, 'The Compleat Griselda' at Chaosium is a pretty good place to start ...

I just need to bloody *FIND* it... or face up to the notion I maybe loaned it out to a non-returning person, or lost it, or whatever, and buy another copy.

However, my memory is that most of the Griselda stories show more of the tough-as-nails cynic & survivor; this is less-appealing to my player, who likes a strong "we are the Good Guys" vibe.

 

[Alex]

23 minutes ago, g33k said:

Because "10-" (one zero hyphen) sorts earlier, in the ASCII code, than "100" (one zero zero)... hyphen has a lower-numbered code, and thus comes earlier, than zero.

</geekmode>

No, it doesn't work because no "10-" page exists, as the one after "9-" has the URL http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/end-of-chapter-1/, so there's no lexicographical tiebreak between "10-" and "100-" happening here.  Where there apparently is, for example between "1-" and "100-" for "/1", "2-" and "20-" for "/2", the URLs starting "end", "introduction", etc, it's resolved as the ordinally lower,  rather than the higher as you appear to suggest.

At any rate, the point of my comment was to try to help with the navigation problems you were reporting, rather than to speculate about the precise functioning of the WordPress resource-handler.

Bonus error:  http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/46-thief/  , the last in chapter 3, loops back around to...  the start of chapter 2.

[Alex]

Actually on reflection, the more useful and user-friendly "backup nav" tactic is to use the "chapter" pages.  They're not linked to directly from the drop-down menu, but they're accessible from any of the comics in each (which you can get to from said menu).  Specifically they're:-

• http://www.princeofsartar.com/chapter/chapter-1/

• http://www.princeofsartar.com/chapter/chapter-2/

• http://www.princeofsartar.com/chapter/chapter-3-the-white-bear/

• http://www.princeofsartar.com/chapter/chapter-4-visions/

• http://www.princeofsartar.com/chapter/chapter-5-pavis/

• http://www.princeofsartar.com/chapter/chapter-6-battle-for-the-cradle/

In another little oddity, these don't work if you just use "/chapter-3", etc, in the resource URL, which makes them a little less handy.

[svensson]

9 hours ago, g33k said:

 

I just need to bloody *FIND* it... or face up to the notion I maybe loaned it out to a non-returning person, or lost it, or whatever, and buy another copy.

However, my memory is that most of the Griselda stories show more of the tough-as-nails cynic & survivor; this is less-appealing to my player, who likes a strong "we are the Good Guys" vibe.

 

Here's the order-direct Chaosium link for The Complete Griselda for you at the bottom of this post.

As for being a cynic, EVERYBODY in New Pavis was cynic back in the days of Big Rubble! The entire population could be divided into three principal groups: Lunar stooges, outlawed Sartarites, and everybody else who were just trying to stay out of the way of the first two! 😆 'Lord of the Rings' this ain't. It's more 'Game of Thrones' with some 'Witcher' mixed in. The Prince of Sartar webcomic offers a more heroic perspective, but there was always a certain mercenary vibe to Pavis no matter the ulterior motives.

https://www.chaosium.com/the-complete-griselda-pdf/

 

[g33k]

11 hours ago, svensson said:

Here's the order-direct Chaosium link for The Complete Griselda for you at the bottom of this post.

Yes, I know.  I just dislike re-buying something I already own, just because I mislaid it!  But, such things happen (I've taken to calling this "the disorganizaton tax").

If I can't find it, I'll eventually grit my teeth & make myself buy it again (but right now, I'm checking the tracking-number daily to follow the progress of the Starter Set; it has crossed a couple of State lines, but needs to cross several more).

 

11 hours ago, svensson said:

...  As for being a cynic, EVERYBODY in New Pavis was cynic back in the days of Big Rubble!

Yes, I know.  Furthermore, I'd argue that mostly, they still ARE!  Argrath Whitebull's zealots have replaced the Red Moon zealots and the zealots often run less-cynical; but even amongst those groups there are a fair number of pragmatic "realpolitik" sorts... i.e. cynics.

And of course part of the Pavis story is the way they are old Poland, with outsiders rampaging back and forth across them & temporarily claiming overlordship; and the Gold Rush of the US West, with adventurous treasure-seekers arriving daily & weekly, venturing out for wealth and glory (and wealth), etc; and buying food, lodging, goods & services (and maps!) from the Pavisites.  And through it all, those lifetime residents endure, patient or grumbling as is their wont... but mostly, cynical.

Still, Griselda's got that "cynical" vibe which -- for the specific wants of this specific player -- isn't as good a match as I'd like.

[Scotty]

On 11/20/2021 at 3:41 AM, g33k said:

Any chance of getting the links fixed, and making this usable again?

As has been mentioned previously, no. The broken software is responsible for all the link issues. I'm porting it over to WoD so it can be read in a simple format. Once I've finished English, I'll do the other languages.

 

[g33k]

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

As has been mentioned previously, no. The broken software is responsible for all the link issues. I'm porting it over to WoD so it can be read in a simple format. Once I've finished English, I'll do the other languages.

Ahhhh!  TYVM!

For anyone else looking, the direct link to PoS -- what an unfortunate acronym -- is (currently) here:
https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/websites/pos/prince-of-sartar/

 

[Darius West]

I hope this renewed interest indicates that the Prince of Sartar webcomic will continue.

[Alex]

4 hours ago, Darius West said:

I hope this renewed interest indicates that the Prince of Sartar webcomic will continue.

I'd assume that's highly contingent on Jeff's and Kalin's availability, which apparently -- and understandably, given the slew of RQG product in the pipeline -- is currently low.