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Pavis & Big Rubble Companion: The Directors' Cut Relaunch


Ian A. Thomson

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Hi Folks

Thanks heaps for all the comments, encouragement, support, and practical assistance so far. All prompted by me finding some old unpublished Pavis material on a dusty XHD as I prepare to move house (and state) in a few weeks. Combined with (unknown to me) Fabian & Dario having been pondering the possibility of republishing for quite some time.

Problem was that much of the material was lost. So a huge thanks to those who have helped me recover text and images. I don't have it all back yet, but am well on the way. [Edit: I do have ALL the material back now as far as I can see.] :)

This project (the relaunch) is an insane idea. The amount of time and effort required requires madmen to be involved. Fortunately I am in a space where I am living alone for another few weeks, and have no huge commitments. A space I may not be in again ever. So I am donning my madman mask and putting in 10hr days to make this happen. Wish us luck!

Dario is sadly only able to be involved by providing his original art (for which we are awesomely grateful), but Fabian and I will continue with making this happen.

Anyway, I felt this discussion deserved it's own thread :)

Edited by Ian Thomson
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Former Issaries Inc. 'Pavis Expert'

Some of my creations and co-creations: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?keyword=Ian Thomson 

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Then let me offer you the sincere thanks of every single one of us Glorantha fans.

I'm looking forward to some updated material on Pavis after the Dragonrise, but a full republish-and-new-info effort is equally and enthusiastically appreciated!

I don't care how long you've been playing a given game, you're not an 'adventurer' till you've been to Gimpy's!

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5 hours ago, svensson said:

I don't care how long you've been playing a given game, you're not an 'adventurer' till you've been to Gimpy's!

You know what, that phrase could capture everything about what grabbed me about the original boxed sets, and what led to the campaign that led to the P&BR Companions! :)

One thing that the revamped series will need is a bit more original adventure material in New Pavis. I know Gimpys' featured in my campaign, and just hope I find that material in the text of the Companions or I will have to write it again :)

Edited by Ian Thomson
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Former Issaries Inc. 'Pavis Expert'

Some of my creations and co-creations: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?keyword=Ian Thomson 

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2 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

You know what, that phrase could capture everything about what grabbed me about the original boxed sets, and what led to the campaign that led to the P&BR Companions! 🙂

One thing that the revamped series will need is a bit more original adventure material in New Pavis. I know Gimpys' featured in my campaign, and just hope I find that material in the text of the Companions or I will have to write it again 🙂

There are several fictional bars that most of us Old Geeks have 'been' to... Atlantis in Night City, the Yawning Portal in Waterdeep, the Green Dragon Inn in Greyhawk, Eneri's [a chain of bars in Traveller]. And Gimpy's is DEFINITELY on that list.

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14 hours ago, soltakss said:

Many thanks for this. I have been waiting for this for a very long time.

Thanks for your support, both now and with the original series! :)

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Former Issaries Inc. 'Pavis Expert'

Some of my creations and co-creations: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?keyword=Ian Thomson 

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One thing that would be super useful - since I am immersed in literally days of editing and reformatting right now - is help with references to typical Praxian & Big Rubble creatures and denizens in current RQG publications

You know the kind of thing:

Typical Dark Troll - see pg XX in RQG Creatures Section (or in RQG Bestiary)

Rubble Runners - see pg XX in RQG Creatures Section (or in RQG Bestiary)

Typical Lunar Squaddie - - see pg XX in RQG Lunar Chapter

Obviously this is something I can do eventually, but it's another job that takes up time from the actual editing and writing new material, and so I was wondering if any people with current fluency in the new publications might be able to help?

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Former Issaries Inc. 'Pavis Expert'

Some of my creations and co-creations: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?keyword=Ian Thomson 

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45 minutes ago, Ian Thomson said:

Typical Dark Troll - see pg XX in RQG Creatures Section (or in RQG Bestiary)

Rubble Runners - see pg XX in RQG Creatures Section (or in RQG Bestiary)

 

Typical Lunar Squaddie - - see pg XX in RQG Lunar Chapter

The Core Rules don't have any creature rules but the Bestiary has pretty much everything you should need in terms of nonhumans (your specific examples are pages 73 and 158 respectively). Neither the Core Rules nor Bestiary provide statblocks for humans so you'll probably have to design ones, but there's a Colymar Militia statblock on page 16 of the GM Pack's adventure book which could probably be easily adapted to be a soldier or guard in Pavis. I don't own any of the adventure books so there might be statblocks in those that'd work too that I'm not aware of.

Edit: some advice based on how I make NPCs. 80% of the time for nameless generic dudes all you need to know are characteristics (I like to distribute scores of 10, 10, 10, 12, 12, 14, and 16), hit points, the armor they're wearing, 2-3 each passions and runes between 60-80%, 3-4 weapon skills between 40-70%, around 5 points of spirit magic, 1-3 rune points and spells.

Example: Lunar Soldier, Initiate of the Seven Mothers
STR 16, CON 14, SIZ 12, DEX 12, INT 10, POW 10, CHA 10
14 hit points, wears a light scale hauberk and open helm
Honor 60%, Loyalty (Unit) 60%, Loyalty (Red Emperor) 60%
Moon 70%, Death 60%
1H Sword 70%, Medium Shield 50%, Spear 50%, Bow 40%
Befuddle, Bladesharp 2, Protection 1
2 Rune Points
Madness, Reflection

Edited by Richard S.
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13 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

One thing that would be super useful - since I am immersed in literally days of editing and reformatting right now - is help with references to typical Praxian & Big Rubble creatures and denizens in current RQG publications

 

If you really want these typical references (and if you do, I can relate... P&BR is a big thing, one might want to get all block-buster about it) the folk you are now considering for stat block creation would be your best bet to create these. Before assigning them the task to create your personae and their stat blocks have them create the generic ones you wish to spotlight. Again, you will have to decide if the work required here is worth it (many will say no, but I believe you want at least a minimal stat block for NPCs so if you are doing it for one purpose anyway, why not two). Run an extra chapter with important Stat Blocks (I know Griffin Mountain did this, I can not recall if P&BR did)

It is not a total loss though, should you decide to not create your own. The averages for your “typical" stat block are still incorporated in the Bestiary as has long been the RQ tradition beside the characteristics, as an (average). 

@PhilHibbsHm, Phil, is your machine good for typical NPC Stat blocks?

Edited by Bill the barbarian
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... remember, with a TARDIS, one is never late for breakfast!

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8 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

@PhilHibbsHm, Phil, is your machine good for typical NPC Stat blocks?

Not really, it does full-featured character creation and not much else. I would need to cut down the workflow steps to make it quicker to use.

That has got me thinking though... Damn you Bill, you've given me work to do! But also, praise Bill, he's given me something new to do! Don't you just love and hate cognitive dissonance?

Edited by PhilHibbs
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11 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

You know the kind of thing:

Typical Dark Troll - see pg XX in RQG Creatures Section (or in RQG Bestiary)

Rubble Runners - see pg XX in RQG Creatures Section (or in RQG Bestiary)

Typical Lunar Squaddie - - see pg XX in RQG Lunar Chapter

Page numbers are a beast, unfortunately. I'd just stick with sections, that way you don't have to go through and recheck the page references every time you add a page.

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Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

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Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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11 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

One thing that would be super useful - since I am immersed in literally days of editing and reformatting right now - is help with references to typical Praxian & Big Rubble creatures and denizens in current RQG publications

There's this unfinished generator:
https://basicroleplaying.net/rqg/

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Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/

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11 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

One thing that would be super useful - since I am immersed in literally days of editing and reformatting right now - is help with references to typical Praxian & Big Rubble creatures and denizens in current RQG publications

Creatures have those, like Rubble Runners on Glorantha Bestiary p. 158.

"Standard NPCs" like this don't really exist, though (a lot of adventures include statblocks like "typical militiaman" and so on, but that's likely to be more of a help about being in line with publications rather than something that can be outright referred to). If the publication has the space for such stat-blocks (very useful for any gaming), this seems like something that could be farmed out?

Edited by Akhôrahil
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45 minutes ago, Runeblogger said:

There's this unfinished generator:
https://basicroleplaying.net/rqg/

Runeblogger,

Do you know who did these?  I'd not come across the adversaries one - it is very good.

I imagine that it is available for personal use.  Would it be usable by someone looking to then use the generated stats in say a Jonstown Compendium product?  Asking for a friend.  🙂

 

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3 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

That has got me thinking though... Damn you Bill, you've given me work to do! But also, praise Bill, he's given me something new to do! Don't you just love and hate cognitive dissonance?

Yep, many apologies, in the words of the immortal Lou Costello... I’m a baaaaad boy!

... remember, with a TARDIS, one is never late for breakfast!

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1 hour ago, Graeme P said:

Do you know who did these?  I'd not come across the adversaries one - it is very good.

I imagine that it is available for personal use.  Would it be usable by someone looking to then use the generated stats in say a Jonstown Compendium product?  Asking for a friend.  🙂

I do not know who did that, but I agree it is very useful. I guess you can contact the author through the "send feedback" link.  🙂

Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/

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On 2/12/2022 at 6:07 AM, Graeme P said:

Runeblogger,

Do you know who did these?  I'd not come across the adversaries one - it is very good.

I imagine that it is available for personal use.  Would it be usable by someone looking to then use the generated stats in say a Jonstown Compendium product?  Asking for a friend.  🙂

On 2/12/2022 at 7:40 AM, Runeblogger said:

I do not know who did that, but I agree it is very useful. I guess you can contact the author through the "send feedback" link.  🙂

I'm the creator of the Adversaries generator.  It's a work in progress but the generator is under the Chaosium Fan Material policy (noted at the bottom of the generator page) and anything generated that doesn't fall under that license falls under CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons license (also noted at the bottom of the generator page).  The generator code and website itself is copyrighted by me but the generated content is not. Whatever you generate is free to use for whatever purpose you want as far as I am concerned so long as you give attribution to where you use it. The Chaosium Fan Material Policy may restrict the use of generated content from being used in Jonstown Compendium publication (see Restriction 2.a.).

In other words, as far as my interests lie you can use generated content for whatever you want as long as you credit me as the creator of the generation tool, there are no other limitations or costs otherwise but it may be that you can't use the content for JC publications based on the Fan Material Policy.  I'm trying to get clarification about that though.

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1 hour ago, Dan Z said:

... it may be that you can't use the content for JC publications based on the Fan Material Policy.  I'm trying to get clarification about that though.

Did you ask one of the other ambassadors, or reach out to MOB directly? This feels like something we'd love to let people use, but I wasn't aware you were asking.

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1 hour ago, Nick Brooke said:

Did you ask one of the other ambassadors, or reach out to MOB directly? This feels like something we'd love to let people use, but I wasn't aware you were asking.

Rick suggested asking MOB, so I reached out via email earlier, but it's extra early in August. I hadn't been asking about it until now, but it's come up via email and here a few times recently, so I thought I'd see what the consensus was.  I'd love for folks to use it as a resource for JC, but I don't want to cross any legal boundaries if that's not possible.

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I did hear briefly from MOB in regards to another topic.

Since he is King of Sun County as far as I am concerned, there seems little point in me creating a Sun County volume for the new P&BR Companion

So I asked if I could add adaptation notes for his work. IE How to adapt his publications to use as extra adventures in the P&BR Companion series

No reinventing the wheel

These notes would be as short and simple as possible. Basically just describing how to somehow bring the P&BR PCs into those adventures in some kind of remotely realistic way (IE seconded in an official exchange from the Pavis Watch) and any other notes required to make sense of things

I havent had a chance to look at the SCounty publications on the Compendium yet, but I hope that is possible :)

(Might not be if they are focused on being only for SC Yelmalio worshippers)

Edited by Ian Thomson

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Former Issaries Inc. 'Pavis Expert'

Some of my creations and co-creations: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?keyword=Ian Thomson 

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Of course the best place for stats of typical Pavis and environs stats will be the Chaosium new Pavis and Big Rubble material, when it gets published hopefully this year (or at least the next). I know a lot of work has gone into the stats for this (I did a small part of it). But of course, we can but wait. 

 

5 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

I havent had a chance to look at the SCounty publications on the Compendium yet, but I hope that is possible 🙂

Do take a good look at the four Sandheart books especially. Of particular interest because they are set before Argraths capture of Pavis upsets the apple art in a major way, potentially making some of the fantastic Pavis and Big Rubble Companion material no longer as applicable to the new timeline. I think the Sandheart books are terrific books that would fit perfectly with MOB and others Sun County and Pavis material from the RQ3 Renaillance, and also the RQ2 classics (if only I hadn’t already run that material with my current players!), and so should go beautifully with the P&BR Companion material.
The Pavis ones from Beer With Teeth are also worth a look, but especially the Gifts of Prax. 
Two things that haven’t got a lot of attention on the JC, but might be very useful for  your specific needs, are Rubble Runners, Jon Hunter’s book of nicely developed and individualised Pavis NPCs, and Drew Bakers Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon, which details a single location in the Rubble along with four short scenarios set around it, but also has some general information about the Rubble and life in it. 
 

I will be wonderful to have a lot of the P&BR Companion available, and the JC will make it available to many more people than saw it back in the day. 
I’m very familiar with the new material, including creating stats for official publications etc, and I’ve read pretty much everything on the JC too. I’d be quite happy to help with this effort how I can. 

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