Planning a long term RQG Campaign

[Soccercalle]

I am thinking about starting a new RQG campaign. I love the adventures in the starter set and the GMs screen pack but is worried about time. Time in the sense of playing the adventures more quick than the content. And worried about getting to 1630 (Glorantha time) without any good source material.

So I am thinking about starting in 1619 with the "Six Seasons in Sartar" and having the adventurers growing up in a Colymar Clan that perishes in the end of the campaign. They will after that play "The Company of the Dragon" for 5 years (Glorantha time) with maybe two to three adventures every year. I am also think about using some materials from the "Coming Storm" and "Eleven Lights" that may fit into the structure. Mostly to get the players to learn about what is happening in Sartar during the Lunar Occupation. I want the players and characters to be invested in the Hero Wars.

With that as a start I think that I will start playing the "modern" campaign based on the new official source material in 1625 mixed with some of Nick Brookes material ("Duel at Dangerford" and "Black Spear"). This will probably happen in early or mid 2023 (our time).

Play order could be:

Broken Tower (Quickstart)

Defending Apple Lane (GMs screen)

Duel at Dangerford

All scenarios from the Starter Set (Jonstown after math for the battle at Dangerford)

The rest of the scenarios from the GMs screen

 

I am seeing a possible future where the adventurers realize that Argrath is becoming the "Mad King" (like Dany in GoT) with the adventurers trying to do a hero quest to try to resurrect Kallyr Starbrow. The goal should be to get a less crazy leader for the Orlanthi.

An alternative would be to have the adventurers do more stuff in Prax or other non-Sartar areas close to Dragon Pass. 

Any takings? Pros and cons?

[Joerg]

Why Kallyr? If you are going on a heroquest anyway, why not try for Tarkalor or Sarotar?

In Prince of Sartar, the Argan Argar character Lionfish diagnosed Argrath as early as in 1621, on the eve of his adventure on the Cradle.

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/71-the-master-of-this-house/

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/72-both/

[Soccercalle]

6 minutes ago, Joerg said:

Why Kallyr? If you are going on a heroquest anyway, why not try for Tarkalor or Sarotar?

In Prince of Sartar, the Argan Argar character Lionfish diagnosed Argrath as early as in 1621, on the eve of his adventure on the Cradle.

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/71-the-master-of-this-house/

http://www.princeofsartar.com/comic/72-both/

Good point. My thought was that the adventurers had learnt to admire Kallyr during their early adventuring years. And maybe that I could give them some hints that Kallyr - before she was killed - started to see the dark sides of Argrath (even if her hate of the Lunars were greater). But this is not a decision that I need to do now - it will be up to the players. Other options are Chief Colymar or Sartar.

[soltakss]

7 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

I am thinking about starting a new RQG campaign. I love the adventures in the starter set and the GMs screen pack but is worried about time. Time in the sense of playing the adventures more quick than the content. And worried about getting to 1630 (Glorantha time) without any good source material.

There are 99 scenarios set in Sartar in the Jonstown Compendium, although that might have increased since my last count. Official Chaosium Scenarios increase that to over 100.

As I am banned from looking at most of them, I can't stitch them together into an inter-linked campaign, but it should be fairly easy to do.

At one scenario per session, that gives you about 2 years of gameplay. Use my "33% Published Scenarios, 33% My own Scenarios and 33% Player-led scenarios" and that takes you to 6 years gameplay. If they get bored, take them to Dorastor.

7 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

Any takings?

Have some scenarios as fillers that you can just throw in when required.

Don't have an overall plan at the start.

Just mix and match scenarios as you see fit, so you might use some one-off scenarios at certain points in the Six Seasons in Sartar or Company of the Dragon, to add more flavour.

7 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

Pros and cons?

Pros:

• It sounds like an awesome campaign.
• Using the scenarios together should be fairly straightforward.
• You can add new Jonstown Companion and Chaosium scenarios as they come out.

Cons:

• It might be expensive to buy everything you need.
• It might take a bit of work to fit the scenarios into your campaign.
• Not everyone likes 6 year campaigns (I don't understand why they wouldn't, but some people like short campaigns)

 

[Squaredeal Sten]

18 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

... "Six Season. in Sartar" and having the adventurers growing up in a Colymar Clan that perishes in the end of the campaign. They will after that play "The Company of the Dragon" for 5 years (Glorantha time) with maybe two to three adventures every year. I am also think about using some materials from the "Coming Storm" and "Eleven Lights" that may fit into the structure. Mostly to get the players to learn about what is happening in Sartar during the Lunar Occupation. I want the players and characters to be invested in the Hero Wars.

With that as a start I think that I will start playing the "modern" campaign based on the new official source material in 1625 .....

Any takings? Pros and cons?

Those first parts of your plan are pretty much what I am doing now, except that I am doing an adventure for every season, not 2-3 per year, and after Six Seasons I did a detour to Balazar for a game year.

(Having been identified when they almost killed a Lunar priestess - she DI'd -  the fugitives made themselves scarce at Kallyr's suggestion!  Balazar was safe, nothing to worry about but ogres and dinosaurs.) 

I have had games weekly since Session Zero at the end of March.   It is working for me and I expect it will work for you.  Be confident and do it. 

By the time we get to 1625 ST there will be an even larger mass of material available.  Andrew L. Montgomery just announced a third book.  We can pick and choose, we can write our own as the inspiration finds us but we don't have to write much.

 

 

[Gary Norton]

I’ve been running a Glorantha campaign starting in 1617 and planning to run through 1626. It’s been working for me so far and I’m sharing my ideas hoping that they are useful for you.

Caveat #1: Some the adventures I am using may not be available to you. I’ve been using a number of adventures from the 1990s fanzines that, to the best of my knowledge, are not available outside of finding and purchasing them. The good news is those adventures are all one-shots and you should be able to remove them entirely or replace them with something else. 

Caveat #2: I’m using Gloranthan adventures from RuneQuest, Hero Wars, HeroQuest, and 13^th Age Glorantha. You’ll need to make some effort to convert them into RuneQuest Glorantha, but since you mentioned using Coming Storm and Eleven Lights, I’m guessing that you are up to the challenge. My campaign is using Pathfinder 2^nd Edition, so I have to convert everything.

I chose to exclude content from Eleven Lights for possible use in a second campaign. Thematically, I don’t feel like it fits. The campaign below is about bringing the PCs into the rebellion and becoming heroes. Eleven Lights is more character driven and about survival during the rebellion. Eleven Lights also seems nicer for flowing into the post-Dragonrise scenarios and timeline.

The grand campaign is in two major parts. Part 1 is clan-based and laying the groundwork for the PCs to actively join the rebellion in part 2. The spine of the story comes from Six Seasons in Sartar and The Colymar Campaign (from Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes). Part 2 is the rebellion; the spine of the story comes from The Company of the Dragon and The Coming Storm (Orlanth is Dead and Gathering Thunder). My current thinking is to use The Duel at Dangerford Jonstown Compendium) as the grand finale. 

Below, I’ll give you the sequence of adventures I’m using for Part 1. We’ve played up through the middle of 1618 and I have the scenarios converted and prepared up through the middle of 1619. Part 1 ends in early 1620 with the last chapter of Six Seasons in Sartar.

The Colymar Campaign specifies that the PCs belong to the Orlmarth Clan while Six Seasons in Sartar uses the Haraborn Clan. I’m using the Orlmarth Clan; I like the location next to the Starfire Ridges and close to Clearwine. I’ve also chosen to have two adventures per season in 1617 & 1618 to emphasize how reusable rune magic is used and restored.

1617: The purpose of these scenarios is primarily to introduce new players to Glorantha. About two-thirds of my players are new to Glorantha. The metaplot for 1617 is light. The goddess Hara Orane is taken in the prologue to Rocks Fall; the PCs are sent to learn about HeroQuesting (the Upland Marsh HeroQuest in Duck Point Venture); and then they perform the Hara Orane HeroQuest at Sacred Time. The Greydogs are established as a rival clan in multiple adventures.

The Riddle / Rites of Passage (Six Seasons in Sartar)

Note: These are the Initiation adventures and are really a prologue to the campaign. The initiation scenarios are really set in 1616.

High Pressure Front (HeroQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha) (Sea Season)

Mistflower Meadow (Tales of the Reaching Moon #18) (Sea Season)

The Broken Tower (RQ Quickstart) (Fire Season)

Cattle Raiding (ideas from Barbarian Adventures and Eleven Lights) (Fire Season)

Rocks Fall (Jonstown Compendium) (Earth Season)

Note: I use the first part of the Hara Orane adventure to have trolls attack the Earth festival. Someone else seizes Hara Orane during the troll raid, but the raid provides the impetus for the PCs to chase after these trolls.

The Peace Process (Hearts in Glorantha Volume 1 Collected) (Earth Season)

Duck Point Venture (13th Age Glorantha) (Dark Season)

Note: My major focus with this scenario is the Upland Marsh HeroQuest. I treated this as HeroQuesting 101 to teach the players about how HeroQuesting works.

Return to Apple Lane (Sartar Companion) (Dark Season)

The Beast of Gren Dahl Moor (Tradetalk) (Storm Season)

Chasing Kites (HeroQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha) (Storm Season)

Hara Orane HeroQuest (HeroQuest: Glorantha) (Sacred Time)

Note: I also interleaved events from A Year of Chaos (Barbarian Adventures) throughout the 1617 adventures. A Year of Chaos doesn’t actually have a conclusion, so I made something up that seemed to satisfy the players.

 

1618: The metaplot begins to heat up here using the events in The Colymar Campaign (Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes).

The Feast of Beasts (Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes) (Sea Season)

The Grove of Green Rock (The Smoking Ruin)

Note: When I added this in, I intended to run the subsequent yearly events, but I changed my mind.

Remembering Caroman (Jonstown Compendium) (Sea Season)

Skyfall (13th Age Escalation) (Fire Season)

The Red Hands of Hofstaring (Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes) (Fire Season)

Heavy Earth (HeroQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha) (Earth Season)

The Wolfrunners (Heroes #4) (Earth Season)

Trail of the Quackodemon (RQ Adventures #2) (Dark Season)

Note: Occurs on the way to Duckpoint to gain the help of the ducks for The Howling Tower

The Howling Tower (Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes) (Dark Season)

Vinga’s Ford (Jonstown Compendium) (Dark Season)

Note: Occurs on return from The Howling Tower

The Greydog Feud (Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes) (Dark Season)

Throat of Winter (Jonstown Compendium) (Storm Season)

Crimson Shadows over Prax (Tradetalk #8) (Storm Season)

Note: This adventure was originally set in Prax, but I found it easy to move to Sartar

 

1619: This is the year that Six Seasons in Sartar really comes into play. The final part of The Colymar Campaign takes place at Sacred Time, but there are some intermediate events that need to be interleaved into the events of Six Seasons in Sartar.

If you go down to the Woods… (Tales of the Reaching Moon #18) (Sea Season)

In Sheep’s Clothing (Six Seasons in Sartar) (Fire Season)

The Deer Folk (Six Seasons in Sartar) (Earth Season)

These Women Need Help (Barbarian Adventures) (Earth Season)

The Taking (Six Seasons in Sartar) (Dark Season)

The Starbrow (Six Seasons in Sartar) (Storm Season)

Descent into the Underworld (Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes) (Sacred Time)

 

1620: This year is the transition between Part 1 and Part 2 of the grand campaign.

The Turning (Six Seasons in Sartar) (Sea Season)

 

Part 2 of the grand campaign is still pretty rough. Perhaps some new useful adventures will come up before I get there. So I’m not ready to share those thoughts.