Pavis & Big Rubble Companion: The Directors' Cut Relaunch

[JonL]

On 3/23/2022 at 1:00 PM, Rick Meints said:

JonL: Please read my response in the kind and calm manner I am writing it with. You seem to be raising problems when there really aren't any. The spirit of the terms is very clear to the vast majority of people. We could possibly come up with 50-100 pages of excruciatingly exact terms and conditions, but that just isn't worth it, and would probably only lead to complaints that it is all too complex and time consuming to comply with. Being compliant with the Questworlds ruleset or the HeroQuest Glorantha ruleset isn't that tough at all. They are, after all, rules light storytelling systems. Updating any HW or HQ1 material to QW/HQG should be quick and easy.

As Nick has also pointed out, the HQG/QW offerings in the Jonstown Compendium don't sell very well at all compared to the RQC/RQG offerings. Alas, but there are very very few people actively playing Hero Wars or HQ1 any more, regardless of how much you may or may not love those rulesets. Mental contortions relating to the QW SRD just aren't worth it.

Lastly, as always, please remember that we are not out to screw over Community Content authors or fan authors in general. We have CC ambassadors, plus other Chaosium staff, who will happily help creatives comply with our content requirements. If you doubt how easy it is to worth with us, or how successful the process is, please ask some of the existing CC creatives. They are quite active in a number of places, especially on Facebook, where there are groups dedicated to both the Miskatonic Repository and the Jonstown Compendium. 

Thanks, Rick. I maybe overreacted a bit reading the above "Oh, I guess I'll have to delete all this HQ stuff I wrote so that I can publish it." (paraphrased). I know y'all are trying your best with this stuff, and I'm by no means trying to encourage some sort of malicious compliance behaviour.

I'll leave you with this to consider on those terms though, intended entirely as constructive criticism for whenever you next update them: If the intent is for JC to be solely for Glorantha works, the QWSRD is prohibited from use for such, and the "no other terms" language in the license might conflict there even if you were to open up to other settings (To y'all's credit, the "I want to..." chart on the licensing page does reflect this correctly). I get that you're kindly aiming to leave the door open for anyone to use the updated QW mechanics until such time as you have an actual QWG or core book to sell them, and as you point out, you aren't in the business of playing "gotcha" with your licensees, but it is something to think about.

[Ian A. Thomson]

On 4/2/2022 at 11:45 PM, Darius West said:

I am looking forwards to finding out what Whitebull New Pavis is like. 🙂

For extra credit, include info about Iffinbix. 😁

Whitebull New Pavis is probably more the realm of the new official material I imagine

Though my campaign goes up to that time it also goes into an alternate destiny for Pavis (one which is in many ways not incompatible with the official history, but also brings in the Grand Project of Pavis that I discussed with Greg when it was still an idea he was running with.) This fruition of the project adds extra elements to people's ideas of what Pavis will be like from the late 1620s onwards

I have had ideas about Iffinbix for 20 years (unsurprisingly connected to the Grand Plan), but again I think the new official stuff will cover him. I seem to see a hint that it will. Still, no harm I guess in me writing up the old ideas and including them (at last) in the series as a fun alternate option

Edited April 12, 2022 by Ian Thomson

[Ian A. Thomson]

Covers underway!! :)

I am delighted in a flash of inspiration to have worked out a way to get some great covers that are just about affordable

So I am now in collaboration with one of the wonderful artists in this genre and have created mock-ups for the first four covers (and aided by the generous support of one of the other epic illustrators)

But I don't want to say too much. Let's keep it a surprise. Sadly the epic unfolding historical scene idea is simply too prohibitively expensive, but what we now have in mind, while somewhat old-school, will be awesome old-school and really fit the origins and inspirations of the series! :)

The publication plan (and I feel it is reasonable) is to release the first volume in July, then the second in October. Though I am open to advice on how often the ongoing segments of the series could be released

Edited April 12, 2022 by Ian Thomson

[Stephen L]

Congratulations, and super excited on this!

[hkokko]

Congrats Ian - looking forwards to get these remastered treasures

[Ian A. Thomson]

Hi again Folks

I have some great volunteers working on RQG stats, and would dearly love more

Of course I can wade through stats and conversions, but it takes me ages. Ages when I could be continuing with writing the new scenarios and editing the layout of the series

So I am super keen to hear from people who are pretty comfortable with RQG stats, and might even have an hour or two to spare to do some conversions from the material I have in the old rules. (Some RQ3, some HW & HQ). Many of these are not even full details required. (EG ignore hit location tables.) Just basics a GM can work with for simple encounters

Reward will be a credit in the book. Or for people who can spare more than just a couple of hours to do a bundle of these, obviously a copy of one of the books (Probably the Rough Guide to Pavis City is the best stand-alone one to offer as a thanks to people who put in significant time.)

Cheers

Ian

[Nick Brooke]

Kinda related, from my Gloranthan Manifesto, Volume One: there is similar advice in Drew's campaign books. You are probably best off quickly describing the equipment, weapons and magic of a generic soldier / gang member etc. rather than breaking down their skill percentages and hit location charts.

Quote

Generic Statblocks

Don’t obsess over detailed statblocks: learn not to need them. Your players don’t get to audit your bad guys’ stats!

• A weak or non-combatant opponent has 10-12 hit points, 4 hit points per location (+1 chest / -1 arms), weak armour (1-2 points of light or tough leather?) and no damage bonus. Lower skills than your adventurers, one Strike Rank slower.
• An average opponent has 13-15 hit points, 5 per location (+1 chest / -1 arms), better armour (3 point linen or 4 point light scale?) and a +1D4 bonus. Similar skills and Strike Rank to your adventurers.
• A tough opponent has 16-18 hit points, 6 per location (+1 chest / -1 arms), best available armour (5 point heavy scale or 6 point plate?), and a +1D6 bonus. Higher skills than your adventurers, one Strike Rank quicker.

Job done. Those are all the generic bandit, guard, soldier, warrior statblocks you will ever need. Season with a mix of functional and distinctive magic and they are good to go

[Ian A. Thomson]

2 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

Kinda related, from my Gloranthan Manifesto, Volume One: there is similar advice in Drew's campaign books. You are probably best off quickly describing the equipment, weapons and magic of a generic soldier / gang member etc. rather than breaking down their skill percentages and hit location charts.

Totally agree

Some volunteers have done detailed stats, and I will absolutely use these

But in most cases basic summary stats is all that is fundamental

Enough info so the GM can improvise easily if needed

But because I need quite a lot of those (and because I was never good at stats and I don't know the RQG system) this is still incredibly time-consuming for me

Maybe people are imagining I'm calling it time-consuming because I am laboring over (or insisting upon) lengthy stat blocks, but I can assure you that I am not! :)

Edited April 22, 2022 by Ian Thomson

[g33k]

10 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

... rather than breaking down their skill percentages and hit location charts.

Mostly, I agree.  But on this point I part with you:  the hit-location chart.  It's quite central to how I run my RQ combats, so all but the weakest mooks have one (I have a "weak mook" houserule:  those very weakest ones will fold (flee or surrender) on anything more than 1 point of damage).

I use the "hit-location homunculus" diagram as the core of my "minor NPC for combat" character-sheet.  To that figure, I add only a few elements... a relevant skill or three, POW, a couple of spells, and a name/lable/etc such as "Barnhart the Boring" or "Bandit #3" (for player/GM purposes, usually "I swing/cast/etc at Bandit #3.").

[Nick Brooke]

I scribble them out on scratch paper or index cards, as and when I need them. Usually I’m just noting which limb has taken how much damage.

[g33k]

14 minutes ago, Nick Brooke said:

... Usually I’m just noting which limb has taken how much damage.

I've done that, too!  But I find that when I'm juggling more than 2-3 NPCs in a combat, my side of things runs (much!) more smoothly if I have "homunculi" to help me keep track.

4+ NPC's, each with multiple injuries "scribbled on a card" quickly bogs me down, whereas I find 8-10 homunculi to be easily managed.

Edited April 22, 2022 by g33k

[Lordabdul]

11 hours ago, g33k said:

I've done that, too!  But I find that when I'm juggling more than 2-3 NPCs in a combat, my side of things runs (much!) more smoothly if I have "homunculi" to help me keep track.

I've been thinking of doing that if only because quickly writing down "Bandit #3  left arm 1 HP, right leg 3 HP" would go much faster if I only had to write "1" and "3" in the humanoid diagram boxes.

I know it shouldn't take me more than 5 minutes to make a template, but you wouldn't happen to have one ready to share, would you? 😄  (I'm mostly asking because I might find you have a couple of extra interesting things, or have arranged things differently after a couple tries, etc... this might bring some insights)

[g33k]

31 minutes ago, lordabdul said:

... I know it shouldn't take me more than 5 minutes to make a template, but you wouldn't happen to have one ready to share, would you? 😄  ...

It keeps going onto my to-do list.
It keeps not-being the "very-next" thing for me to do.   🙄

Edited April 23, 2022 by g33k

[Ian A. Thomson]

On 4/23/2022 at 4:08 PM, g33k said:

It keeps going onto my to-do list.
It keeps not-being the "very-next" thing for me to do.   🙄

Happy to include such a template in the series if one's kickin around :)

Any of the vigorous debaters here in this section keen to be immortalised with a credit mention, in return for spending an hour creating some basic stats for me?? (i.e. 'Help!') :)

Right in the middle of that epic house move over 2,200km round trip (set off tomorrow), so can't do much writing/editing at the moment. Got to finish packing down my apartment today; and before 6.00pm when I am attending a class! Wah! :)

I think if I was a 'stat block' / 'complex rules' person I would want to use the homunculi to track everything. That feels like it would be a lot smoother for me

However (secret revealed) as soon as I started to play RQ (around the same time as the first automobiles were hitting the streets) I said 'Jaysus, this is way too maths heavy; where's the story and character time?'

And immediately adapted the Stormbringer system instead. (IIRC you roll hits in a similar way, but then just roll on a hit table once, and the usual result is 'You will have an impressive scar'). Basically takes about a third of the time for combat, but is still gritty and involving.

Then when HW/HQ came out I adapted a simpler D20 version of that

EDIT: So (philistine alert) I have _never_ GM'd any version of RQ with the Hit Location stat boxes. I am too much into story and character, and so just maximise that to the Nth degree. (I have gamed in two campaigns that used the regular RQ3 system)

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by Ian Thomson

[g33k]

18 hours ago, lordabdul said:

... (I'm mostly asking because I might find you have a couple of extra interesting things, or have arranged things differently after a couple tries, etc... this might bring some insights)

My main lesson is to use "fat" homunculi, michelin-man ovals with horizontal long-axis, where there's room to scratch out one HP score and write in another... several times.

The HP's per limb drop, often repeatedly, then someone slaps on 3 pts of Heal & it goes up again, the person returns to combat and ...  How does the saying go?  "Lather. Rinse. Repeat."

[Darius West]

On 4/13/2022 at 8:58 AM, Ian Thomson said:

Whitebull New Pavis is probably more the realm of the new official material I imagine

I have already written up my own notes on the evolution of the city under the new administration if anyone wants to compare.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Darius West

[Ian A. Thomson]

9 hours ago, Darius West said:

I have already written up my own notes on the evolution of the city under the new administration if anyone wants to compare.

Which new administration?

[Ian A. Thomson]

Huge thanks to Dario Corallo, Kris Herbert & Diane Probst for a very super collaboration that means that as of right this moment, the cover of Vol. 01 of the directors' cut is now done. Apart from the sub-level header text, which I will be adding. Despite my epic house move finally in process, things are still on track for a July release of this first offering. :)

Edited April 30, 2022 by Ian Thomson

[Darius West]

20 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

Which new administration?

The new administration being the White Bulls.  I have taken the info on New Pavis under Lunar occupation and reworked it to turn it into a city under a Gloranthan bronze age war economy under Argrath and his various regional allies.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Darius West

[Ian A. Thomson]

Hi Folks. House move finally almost complete! Back into the series again.

Can someone please tell me, who is the Lunar General most likely to lead an army to try to retake Pavis just before the Dragonrise in Sartar?

[metcalph]

1 hour ago, Ian Thomson said:

Can someone please tell me, who is the Lunar General most likely to lead an army to try to retake Pavis just before the Dragonrise in Sartar?

Probably Sitzmag Redmoon as he was killed at Moonbroth afterwards (RQG p235)

He may not have been a General tho.  Halcyon var Enkorth is the type to play silly buggers with officer appointments.

[JRE]

Tatius was hoarding his resources in the temple, using magic rather than troops to destroy any resistance, and being quite succesful, beating Argrath and killing Broyan. I am sure the Lunars will send a force to see how badly beaten were Argrath and the Praxians, and if possible retake Pavis, but I would expect a small contingent of auxiliary troops, adapted to Prax. I do not know enough to propose a different leader, though I took the mention of Sitzmag's death in RQG to mean he had been killed at the battle of Moonbroth before Argrath took Pavis. I believe the force composition may well be mainly Sables and Antelope Lancers, and be more scouts than a besieging force. 

That is a force that would stop at Moonbroth, so it fits with Sitzmag death if you like the idea, and Vasana could have joined the forces sent by Argrath to block the Lunars. 

[jajagappa]

7 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

Can someone please tell me, who is the Lunar General most likely to lead an army to try to retake Pavis just before the Dragonrise in Sartar?

We don't necessarily know the names of Tatius' companions.  We do know it was not Fazzur or his allies (i.e. the folks who end up at Dangerford or lated holed up in Alda-Chur).

Sitzmag Redmoon is probably a good choice.  

Whoever it is has to deal with having Cwim on "their" side.

[Nick Brooke]

7 hours ago, metcalph said:

Probably Sitzmag Redmoon as he was killed at Moonbroth afterwards (RQG p235)

The Second Battle of Moonbroth took place before the Lunars lost Pavis, though. The White Bull's victorious army marched from there to "liberate" Pavis. And there was much rejoicing.

[Ian A. Thomson]

Hmm, so is it potentially the case that Sizmag Redmoon (cool name) could lead the MGDV Lunar military attempt to retake Pavis just before the Dragonrise, or is he definitely canonically dead by then? If so, any other official contenders?