Pavis & Big Rubble Companion: The Directors' Cut Relaunch

[Agentorange]

7 hours ago, g33k said:

+Zebra's:  They are the "Praxian herdbeast" of Pavis!

I expect there are occasional "exotics," as well... even horses!

Horses ? You go and wash out your mouth with soap young man ! we'll have none of that language here.

[Ian A. Thomson]

11 hours ago, StephenMcG said:

I like the idea of Ostrich carriages - birds pulling carriages would be more exotic, even for Pavis.

Love it. It's in!!!

"A streamlined version of the cooper, known as the ‘buggy’ is usually pulled by a large, muscular and specially-trained ostrich. The rider of these is also the driver, as it is a single-person transport, although one can squeeze in a passenger in an emergency."

Edited March 5, 2022 by Ian Thomson

[Ian A. Thomson]

Someone sent me a link to a Youtube video where someone (at a gaming conference I think) was giving a talk about the upcoming official new Pavis material. Finally I reach the point of sitting down to watch that video, and can I find that link??

I cannot. Half an hour of searching emails and nothing. Does anyone have that link please?

[AndrewTBP]

Is it Robin D Laws and Jeff at The Kraken?

https://youtu.be/-291rNtiha0

[Bill the barbarian]

 

5 minutes ago, AndrewTBP said:

Is it Robin D Laws and Jeff at The Kraken?

 

That has to be it, you are strong in the force!

 

[Ian A. Thomson]

16 minutes ago, AndrewTBP said:

Is it Robin D Laws and Jeff at The Kraken?

https://youtu.be/-291rNtiha0

Cup of tea at the ready. Here we go! :)

[Ian A. Thomson]

GREENS ARE BACK ON THE MENU

So useful to watch this video. Gives me clearer direction

I was disappointed when they casually dissed the 'fan theory' that Pavis was all about Green Age experiments, and then excitedly moved on to other things they are planning

Greg Stafford spent a lot of time talking to me when I was Pavis Expert, about the fact that Pavis was ALL about Green Age stuff. He said that's why Mani's Clan was there, that's one reason why the God Learners chose this place to set up the cradle-snatching place, and that's why Pavis came there.

Even if Greg totally changed his mind (which would surprise me, but he certainly could have) it was still what he was envisaging, and was not just some 'fan theory' as Robin and Jeff so casually dismissed it as. Even if it was originally a fan theory, it was one that Greg himself embraced and ran with at that time

So, this video does make one thing clear however! I am staying with those ideas that Greg and I discussed, and will be developing them across the new Companion release, as an alternative to the new material

Once the new material is released I will go back and do my level best to make everything I write match all the new material when it comes to the practical and the adventure stuff. (IE if they redefine a named Rubble area, I might go back and slightly redesign my Rubble area of the same name and make it be somewhere else instead. If they create new Rubble families I'll alter mine to include them etc etc)

But otherwise, Green Age secrets theme is back on the menu. I will be developing that throughout the material, heading up towards the grand finale of the campaign, and providing an alternate Pavis & Big Rubble

Which I will later retrofit to the published material when it comes to practical details, but not when it comes to the deeper secrets of Pavis. It looks like those have been officially abandoned, so carte blanche to me and to everything I recollect about my discussions with Greg

Eye of Wakboth was also in my plan (and I think is even mentioned in one of the scenarios) but it looks like the new official stuff will deal with that. So I may leave it out of my campaign arc, and then later add notes of how to incorporate the official Eye of WB adventure into my series. Because it's such a huge thing I am reluctant to create my own version that will be different from the soon-to-be-released official one, but we shall see.

It is also possible, because they are setting their material at a later date that I might add a brief note in the middle of the final volume of the new series, along the lines of "Here's How to Include the new material and extend/expand the R&BRC campaign, by moving it into the new official stuff"

So I'd better get cracking so people can run the P&BRC campaign before the new stuff is released (since it chronologically begins pretty much at the point my campaign ends!)

Edited March 6, 2022 by Ian Thomson

[soltakss]

5 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

I was disappointed when they casually dissed the 'fan theory' that Pavis was all about Green Age experiments, and then excitedly moved on to other things they are planning

They do this kind of thing all the while.

In my opinion, they have to big up official Chaosium products and downgrade supplements that have a different view.

You should hear Chaosium folk diss "Super HeroQuest" ...

5 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

So, this video does make one thing clear however! I am staying with those ideas that Greg and I discussed, and will be developing them across the new Companion release, as an alternative to the new material

Good.

5 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

Eye of Wakboth was also in my plan (and I think is even mentioned in one of the scenarios) but it looks like the new official stuff will deal with that. So I may leave it out of my campaign arc, and then later add notes of how to incorporate the official Eye of WB adventure into my series. It is also possible, because they are setting their material at a later date that I might add a brief note in the middle of the final volume of the new series, along the lines of "Here's How to Include the new material and extend/expand the R&BRC campaign, by moving it into the new official stuff"

I would still include it, as it is an important place.

Having multiple versions of it just gives GMs more material to work with.

5 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

So I'd better get cracking so people can run the P&BRC campaign before the new stuff is released (since it chronologically begins pretty much at the point my campaign ends!)

That's the spirit!

Get your stuff in first, then you don't have to worry about what Chaosium are going to publish.

Personally, if I wrote Jonstown Compendium material for Pavis, I would base it more on your material than Chaosium's.

[Ian A. Thomson]

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

That's the spirit!

Thanks Simon

I make no claim that my version will match Greg's ideas even 50%, but maybe they will come close to that. We had some huge discussions and I made a lot of notes and also have a good memory for this because 'Hey I was chatting with Greg Stafford'.

It was kind of like the time I met Larry Mullen at a native american store and restaurant in Arizona. Stands out in the mind quite vividly meeting and engaging in a grounded way with one's idols.

However, I am letting off the stops, and am already writing the beginnings of how this will unfold into Vol. 02 of the re-release. (Vol 02 is also very advanced and will probably be ready for proofing to begin in a week or so.)

Edited March 6, 2022 by Ian Thomson

[Akhôrahil]

9 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

But otherwise, Green Age secrets theme is back on the menu.

I love the Green Age stuff. It makes so much sense with the "elemental" mix-up of the place.

[Ian A. Thomson]

## PERMISSIONS EXTREMELY GRATEFULLY RECEIVED SO FAR - YAY! :)

* Pavis County was a joint creation between myself Jeff Richard, John Hughes and Dave Bell (not heard back from Jeff, and no trace of Dave, but their contribution while very helpful was not critical, so we are good to go with Pavis County! yay! And thanks to John for permission)

* Wesley Quadros - Orlanth Dragonfriend piece, and some great assistance (I found him in BC, although his Glorantha website shut down a few years ago) [Tracked him down via internet sleuthery.] :)

* Michael O'Brien for the original version of Jalmar Ironsword

* James Frusetta for key assistance with the 'Pavic Variations on Troll Religions' piece and very helpful input into the Kaggroka Contests

* Andrew Graham - The Fivewinds Gang

* Martin Crim - Seven Masks of Pavis

* Peter Johannson  - main-author of Zebra Fort piece, assisting with design of Opili subcult, and the bulk of the Real Inn article

* Peter Johannson & Sten Ahrman for co-writing 'Trolls of the Rubble' with me, and also co-writing Opili's Fort scenario

* Peter Maranci - The original Grey Company online piece

* Sarah Evans - illustrations and cover for Rough Guide to Pavis City

* Bo Rosen - piece on Old Pavic architecture and one of the Pavis County herobands

* Alban Schmid and Christoph Kohring for the original Crimson Shadows over Prax scenario that I adapted for TT8 (sad to learn that Alban is no longer with us)

* Eric Vanel - map of Prax

* Mark Galeotti - Red Moon Over Pavis section in 'Masks Of Pavis', and a small piece on Lunar spies called 'Dustbowl Circus'

* John R Hutchinson - significant assistance with the Dwarf Drinks article

* Julian Lord - helped out significantly with the Uleria Cult piece

* Simon Phipp - the Unicorn Quest & Joraz Kyrem Gains An Ally (TT9)

* Mark Galeotti - Red Moon Over Pavis section in 'Masks Of Pavis', and a small piece on Lunar spies called 'Dustbowl Circus'

* Darren Happens & Ingo Tschinke - co-authors with me of the New Pavis Knowledge Temple piece

* Erik Nolander - co-writing Zebra Folk Of Pavis & Zebra Tribe of Pavis County & Prax

Edited March 9, 2022 by Ian Thomson

[Ian A. Thomson]

Can watermarked pdfs be printed?

Normally when I am working on pdf books I lay them out, format them, and organise margins so that people can take them to a cheap print place (Officeworks in Oz) and double-sided print them and get them bound if they want

(What can I say; I love a real book!)

However, not being familiar with Jonstown selling, before I go back through Vol 01 and reposition the margins and do all the reformatting required...

... will that be possible, or do watermarked pdfs somehow stuff-up printing?

A quick online search seems to indicate it will be fine, but since it will be a lot of work to reformat the Word doc when I change the margins I wanted to check here first :)

[Brian Duguid]

Some JC authors do two versions of their PDFs, one with a background watermark and one without. But both can be printed. 

[Ian A. Thomson]

I feel like going old school with the cover

Bucking the trend of really fancy covers and staying with something more basic like a rough guide in different times might have

Future volumes can have more elaborate covers of course

What do people think?

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Ian Thomson

[Nick Brooke]

Covers sell books.

[Nick Brooke]

On the PDF question, I think you’re asking about page background images. Most PDF viewers let you deactivate Layers for printing/viewing, so just make sure you set up your digital edition to use a background Layer for its parchment (or whatever), and anyone who wants to print it out without wasting ink can do exactly that.

Or, as Brian suggests, make two versions (ink-lite & full-fat).

[7Tigers]

Cover also needs some space for the mandatory Jonstown Compendium logo.

 

[Akhôrahil]

Also, and this is something of asking you to do a lot of work just for me (and I will get the book either way, so...), but if it's possible and reasonable, I always massively appreciate it when a game book comes in ePub as well as PDF (Pelgrane Press are amazing at this).

[Ian A. Thomson]

6 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

Covers sell books.

Yes. I'm seeking opinions cos I personally like this cover :) But if people generally think that it's just too out of style for what draws the attention to a product, I've no issue in letting this basic idea go. Took me less than 10mins to throw together

Two versions is totally possible, and if there is likely to be a significant number of people who would like a different version (like epub) I've no issues in spending an extra few hours to make different versions either. Anyone got opinions/knowledge on what styles of document are commonly preferred on Jonstown?

Basically just taking a poll here of what people reckon, so thanks for feedback so far :)

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, Ian Thomson said:

Basically just taking a poll here of what people reckon, so thanks for feedback so far 🙂

As Nick noted "covers sell".  It's a very old school style - the design itself is nice, and would fit well with my Stafford Library pdfs, but it doesn't jump out.

[Baron]

It's old school. Why shouldn't an old school cover sell old school material, to both actual old-schoolers and newer fans of old school? Although I didn't think the point of this was sales. And maybe, just maybe, an old school cover will stand out to the as-yet-unexposed newer gamers, and they'll download this specifically because they've never seen anything like it before.

[Ian A. Thomson]

14 minutes ago, Baron said:

It's old school. Why shouldn't an old school cover sell old school material, to both actual old-schoolers and newer fans of old school? Although I didn't think the point of this was sales. And maybe, just maybe, an old school cover will stand out to the as-yet-unexposed newer gamers, and they'll download this specifically because they've never seen anything like it before.

Thanks for that. Kind of reflects my thinking :) Yes main point is not sales, most definitely. BUT I consider creative writing an art, and as an artist I absolutely want to get my creation noticed by the maximum amount of people. :) So just pondering exactly that question: Will an Old School cover be intriguing and accepted by a wide audience, or do we need at least a slightly more modern version in order for it to be taken seriously? There may be no way of knowing of course, but I welcome opinions.

[g33k]

5 minutes ago, Ian Thomson said:

... There may be no way of knowing of course, but I welcome opinions.

I would point to the opinion of @Nick Brooke(above).

I seldom agree with filthy Lunar propaganda... but the man IS the subject-matter expert on Jonstown Compendium titles.

😉

[Fedman Kassad]

Personally, while the old skool look is okay, I dont get the feel of RuneQuest from the drawing, and I especially dont get the feel of "Pavis".  The dragon, the spindly wizards tower dont mesh well with the drawings and illustrtations I know of Pavis.

I think the cover has to scream PAVIS.  Pavis, the crossroads of Prax - the city on the edge of the Rubble - the home of the Grey Company - home of Ostrich Carriages - the home of Gimpy's.

[Ian A. Thomson]

This is the classic period when Pavis City was a booming metropolis, so I deliberately wanted an incongruent image with the idea of the Rubble, and at this time wyrmish influence is big in the city too :)

[Edit: The cover won't end up looking like this. I'll be going for some type of picture as per advice. But it's nice isn't it :) ]

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by Ian Thomson