Upcoming Glorantha publications

[Steve]

This started off as a totally unofficial list that I originally put together over on the now-defunct Glorantha G+ group. Over time it has evolved and these days we're lucky to have Chaosium staff updating it with dates and details as those become apparent, so it does have some official input. Even so, some details may be wrong (e.g. my old info that Chaosium staff haven't changed) but a lot of this has been officially confirmed as you will see below. I try and keep abreast of things and keep it updated with new products (and delete items when they're released), but this is made a lot easier these days with that Chaosium help. Input on this is of course very welcome, because I may well miss things (since I'm not actually Lhankor Mhy).

Please note - each section is not in expected release order, unless otherwise specified.

RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha (RQG) (updated 7 Nov 2023)

-- note: all working titles listed here; final published versions may have different titles, which will be publicized when the official release date is announced. -- 

Upcoming releases:

• Cults of RuneQuest (eleven volumes, below) - (YouTube 28 Feb 2023, Facebook 30 Aug 2023)
  • Cults of RuneQuest: The Lunar Way - MRCH 2024 (Chaosium News 13th Nov 2023)
  • Cults ot RuneQuest: Solar book next after Lunar book (Facebook, 6 Nov 2023)
  • Cults of RuneQuest: Next five books - 2024 and Beyond. (YouTube 28 Feb 2023). Remaining books (not in release order) - Darkness, Water, Horned God (Spirit), Lords of Terror (Chaos), Invisible God - Facebook 30 Aug 2023).
• RuneQuest spirit magic and Rune magic spell decks - almost through layout  (Facebook 30 Nov 2022)
• Starter Set 14 additional non-human NPCs -  in layout (BRP Central 7 Apr 2023)
• The Guide to Dragon Pass - in layout (Facebook 6 Nov 2023)
• Sartar - soon in layout (Facebook 6 Nov 2023)
• The Gamemaster Sourcebook (title not final) (including heroquesting rules) - pretty far along, although not in layout (below, 9 October 2023)
• Prax - back from editing. (Facebook 30 Nov 2022)
• Pavis and the Big Rubble - by Robin Laws - both done with editing (Facebook 30 Nov 2022)

Other RQ releases coming later on:

• The Dragon Pass Campaign - sort of like Pendragon Boy King 
• Heroquesting Sourcebook
• Upland Marsh (manuscript complete, art commissioning and editing underway)
• Trollpak
• Snakepipe Hollow
• Holy Country (which might just be called Masters of Luck and Death)
• Invisible God
• Lunar Provinces
• Grazelands sourcebook
• Heortland & Hendrikland sourcebook by Harald Smith. Manuscript was accepted in 2022 (@jajagappa 25 April 2023)
• The Dragons Eye - (Chaosium 2 Aug 2020)
• Temple of the Sun (sourcebook for Sun Dome County in Dragon Pass)
• Elf Pack - by Shannon Appelcline (Mastodon 9 Nov 2022)
• Elder Races book - 12 races 
• Culbrea book - by some of the Beer With Teeth crew
• Esrolia (expanded version of Nochet) book
• Kralorela sourcebook
• Lunar Tarsh
• Whitewall-based adventure pack. The manuscript by Harald Smith and Ed Bolme has been complete/accepted for some time. (@jajagappa 25 April 2023)
• Jonstown Adventures (a follow-up to the Starter Set)
• Adventurer's Journal
• The Dreaming Ruin (adventure anthology)
• The Hunt for the Storm Calf (a one-off adventure based off Khan of Khans)
• The Great Wagon Train Campaign (title TBD)
• Glorantha Cookbook (recipes and travel guide accompanying Yanioth and Sorala, from Boldhome via New Pavis to Wintertop.)(95% complete, see God Learner podcast episode 16). Manuscript is done and edited but likely needs additional art (below, 12 October 2023)

Other items mentioned in the past but not recently (so these might still be coming, or plans might have changed, and even if they're coming they could be way off):

• Barbarian Town campaign pack - by Sarah Newton
• Seapolis pack

QuestWorlds (HeroQuest) publications

• QuestWorlds Core Rulebook - Ian Cooper 
• QuestWorlds Worlds & Quests book - how to create genre packs and adventures, with three sample genre packs and adventures, by Ian Cooper
• QuestWorlds genre packs - various authors
• The Dragonrise, the “offstage” material from The Eleven Lights, for HQG/QuestWorlds - Ian Cooper
• Fonrit setting book for HQG/QuestWorlds - Ian Cooper

Non-Gloranthan RuneQuest publications

Mythic Iceland - using RQ rules but not set in Glorantha 

Other Glorantha publications

• Glorantha Skirmish Wars - miniatures skirmish game (Chaosium 4 Jul 2016)
• White Bear & Red Moon new edition - (Facebook 17 Nov 2023)
• Nomad Gods new edition - on hold

• Trollball game with minis - Chaosium not working on this.
• Wyrms Footnotes #16 - some articles submitted. slow progress. Would be PDF and POD when done.
• Prince of Sartar (printed version of the online comic) - no new strips scheduled. POD version coming on chaosium.com

 

Upcoming reprints for existing products, officially confirmed

• Glorantha Sourcebook (updated) MARCH 2024, with corrections and new cover art (BRP Central 21 Oct 2023)

 

Apparently coming but no recent details, so probably some way off

 

-----

Please note that once updates are added or questions answered, this thread is pruned down for clarity.

Edited November 24 by Scotty
Updated Lunar Way 24 NOV 2023

[Scotty]

Please note that is a new thread, the old one is here: https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/4064-upcoming-glorantha-publications-old-thread-2015-2022/

[Rick Meints]

Items listed individually will be sold individually. Some items listed collectively as a single bullet point may be sold individually. Examples: Prax is a single bullet point but it may turn out to be two books that will be sold individually. Same might be true for the bullet point about Pavis and Big Rubble. They might turn out to be two books, and those 2 books would be sold individually.

NOTE: Slipcase sets are problematic right now, no matter how cool they may be. They add cost, increase likelihood of damage, and there is currently an ongoing cardboard shortage which means long wait times in many countries if you want something in a box or slipcase. For the RuneQuest line, I suggest just buying an extra empty RQ slipcase if slipcases are that big a deal for you..

[MOB]

On 8/17/2022 at 10:34 AM, Oracle said:

Having the attention of @Rick Meintscurrently I would like to satisfy my curiosity a bit more. Is this (the Glorantha Quickstart) still something, that may happen, or has this superseded by the RQ Starter Set Book 2 Glorantha?

Yes, what was originally conceived as a 'Glorantha Quick-Start' essentially became the second book that is included in the RQ Starter Set. 

 

[Rick Meints]

PDF and Print Releases

We intend to release the print and PDF versions at the same time.

I kindly ask that you not use the phrase "pre-order". Buying a PDF first means you get a discount on the printed book if you later decide to buy the printed book, but that is not the same as pre-ordering a printed book. Buying a PDF does not obligate you to buy the printed book later, nor does it obligate us to eventually produce a printed book for you to buy. Chaosium hasn't done pre-order for at least 7 years, not including kickstarter related things, of course.

Chaosium did a fairly detailed analysis on releasing the PDF first, followed by selling the printed version later (with PDF discount coupon). Please note, if your primary or main desire is to get the material (albeit in PDF) as quickly as possible, then there really is no debate about preferring PDF first. We get that, and respect that desire. Before I get into some of the results of our research, please be assured that we will still offer free PDFs with printed books purchased directly from Chaosium (plus Bits & Mortar). That also goes for purchasing a PDF first and then wanting to buy the printed book later. You will still get a discount coupon.

Here are some things we concluded or discovered during our look into "PDF first" or "PDF and Print at the same time":

• PDF first currently relies on crowdsourced editing. While that sounds nifty to some, it actually pointed out that we shouldn't be relying on such volunteer efforts to get us a fully edited/correct final book. That's not what professional publishers do. Our development process must produce books that are edited completely. It showed we need more professional editing. In no way should this be seen as a derogatory comment about all of the people who volunteer to help with crowdsourced edits, or the quality of what they do. We really appreciate all the volunteers.
• PDF first forces us to announce and market the book twice (PDF release and then printed book release), which makes each announcement have less impact as opposed to having a larger single campaign. The printed book needs to make the biggest splash when announced.
• PDF first means creating and processing a lot of PDF discount coupons, including combo coupons, when the printed book is sold. This is more time consuming than you think.
• PDF first means two versions of the "final" PDF are out in circulation, plus the inevitable desire to know specifically what the differences are, which is time consuming to explain and detail. Some even worry that all of the changes made might not make it into the printed version.
• PDF first also raised questions about its effect on total sales. Does getting the PDF early make someone more OR less likely to buy the printed book later?

So what does all that mean? It means we are seeing how things go with doing the next new releases as "PDF and Printed book at the same time". We've done plenty of "PDF first" releases to know what those are like. Once we have enough of both approaches to more fully compare, we'll see what we do going forward. 

[Rick Meints]

Upcoming Cults of Glorantha publications

A few answers:

• When I say "10 volumes" I mean 10 individual hardcover books. Volume = Book.
• The first 4 books are Mythology, Prosopaedia, Lightbringers, and Earth.
• Each book is 144-168 pages in length.
• Those books are off to the printers soon.
• We have different teams doing each product line so CoC releases don't slow down RQ releases, or Rivers of London releases, or Pendragon releases.
• While the art and layout team is working on Book X, the writing and editing teams are working on Book Y.
• All the cults books are written and edited.
• Each book goes through a final proofread after layout is done.
• We are still waiting on some of the art for the remaining 6 cults books
• The GM book and the Card Set are also top priorities.

Edited February 6 by Rick Meints
page counts

[Scotty]

19 hours ago, svensson said:

Give all the info you published about MSRP, content and whatnot all in one place.

It's all here: https://www.chaosium.com/blog/ then basically the same out onto our other social media. If you subscribe to this as an RSS feed, or our twitter or FB feed, you'll get it all in the one place. 

here's the atom/RSS feed for our news: https://www.chaosium.com/rss.php?action=newblogs&type=atom

[Rick Meints]

On 3/30/2023 at 1:42 PM, Khaghan said:

Apologies if this has been clarified elsewhere, but a quick check hasn't turned anything up - is the plan to do all 10 Cults books before moving on to any of the other releases, or will some of the other books that are on the Upcoming list be interspersed throughout the Cults titles?

Chaosium's individual Hardcover books range in price from $35.99 to $59.99. Sets of books would be more, of course, like the RQG Slipcase set or the Masks of Nyarlathotep set.

[Rick Meints]

On 4/6/2023 at 2:08 PM, Soccercalle said:

When a book is written and the art is done. How much time does editing, layout and printing take for a "normal" book? It would at least give is a hint of the "time to market" for a book that is "ready for layout". Chaosium has written that it is different time so it shouldn't be much of "tight pipeline issues" now when the scripts for the cults books are finished.

Most of the editing, especially content and copy editing, is best done before the layout starts, often while the art is being created. Typically, the main type of editing done after layout is final proof reading, and layout corrections. The main factor for how long layout takes, provided ALL the art is ready when you start, is the number of pages of layout. The printing is probably the smallest time factor. Shipping is a much larger factor, as we have to get the books to all 5 of our warehouses, and there is always the possibility of a delay from factors beyond our control, like customs deals, ship unloading backlogs, the weather, the Suez canal being closed, etc. 

On 4/6/2023 at 5:32 PM, Soccercalle said:

How long is the average "time to market" after the text had had its main editing and the art is back from the artist/artists. I am aware that the time may vary a bit from product to product and from time to time.

• Layout usually takes 1-2 months for 128+ page books, provided all text, art and other assets are ready when layout starts.
• Final review takes one week.
• Printing takes 1 month, maybe a little longer for a boxed set of items.
• Shipping to all 5 warehouses takes 2-3 months.

Thus, it's about 6+ months for all that to happen, unless some unexpected problem(s) happen.

[Scotty]

The only thing I would like done to the list now is for references to the info to be add (citation needed). If you can point to references of where the mentions/ announcements were made, I will add them to the list. The idea being that those reading this list can read where it came from. I’ve already done this with the newer products. 

[Rick Meints]

Anyone is free to share whatever thoughts they have on any book in the works.

If someone asks Chaosium for an official update on project status, the general answer will be that we will say more when we want to announce it more formally. Too many "you promised" emotions get involved when we mention speculative dates on when something will be completed and for sale. 

[Rick Meints]

19 hours ago, Cassius said:

Will The Stafford House Compaign be the only volume of the Chaosium Archival Collection ?

While we won't be doing many more volumes, more volumes might very well happen. I wouldn't have called it "volume I" if I didn't want or expect to do more volumes. I squeeze in these sorts of projects when I have the materials and the time to do something with them. That combination is pretty rare. I have not started on Volume II.

[Rick Meints]

The Sartar, Dragon Pass, and GM Guide books are all pretty far along, although none are in layout yet.

[Jason D]

19 hours ago, Auburnt_Amaranth said:

After a year of radio silence can we get some kind of update about books like Sartar, Dragon Pass Guide etc?
The very least I hope for a life sign of the dearly missed GM Guide.

The Guide to Dragon Pass and Sartar go into layout once the Lunar Cults book is complete (within two weeks). 

The Gamemaster Sourcebook (title not final) will be 4th or 5th in that line. 

[Rick Meints]

1 hour ago, glarkhag said:

ahh, thanks.

...and did the questworlds project die and get replaced by RQG, in which case as that picks up after Eleven LIghts (if I understand the timeline correctly) no need for a rebrand?

Questworlds hasn't died. There have been a number of delays though. 

[Scotty]

This thread has been trimmed down so that it is easier to find the relevant information (note that 11 pages of comments have been previously removed).

Edited October 11 by Scotty
page 12

[Jason D]

On 10/10/2023 at 12:54 PM, glarkhag said:

There was some talk in the past I believe about Coming Storm and Eleven Lights being rebranded for RQG. Is this still an intention and/or will material from these be in the Sartar and Dragon Pass books ?

There is no plan to convert them to RuneQuest.

[Jason D]

The manuscript is done, edited, and we have many, many photos. It will likely require some additional art, but that'll be determined by the book's design. 

The only question is priority. It's a niche product and thus is hard to make a case for putting it in line in front of actual game material. 

When it moves into the production queue, it will come together relatively fast. 

 

[Jason D]

21 hours ago, Wheel Shield said:

I have been loving the Cults books but have been concerned about waiting for all 10 of them before we get to some other material. Again, my thanks.

Once Cults was broken up, we realized it would be necessary to intersperse releases with other sourcebooks and adventure collections. 

1 hour ago, DreadDomain said:

I believe there were an updated RQG and an updated Starter Set in the planning. It's it still the case?

We're working on something along the lines of an "updated RQG" but have no plans to revise the Starter Set, other than making any necessary corrections for future reprints. 

[Steve]

It seems there's a reprint of the Glorantha Sourcebook coming, ostensibly in February 2024. Now this could just be a new cover, but interestingly it has a different CHA number (4046), as opposed to 4033 for the existing book Which makes me wonder if there's new internal art or any other changes.

 

Edited October 19 by Steve

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, g33k said:

There is "new art" but it wasn't clear from context if that was just the cover, or if there will be new interior art (which would imply new captions and thus technically new text).

Jason's response elsewhere indicated new interior art as well. 

It would not surprise me to see the genealogies of the gods updated, for instance.

[Scotty]

This thread has been trimmed down so that it is easier to find the relevant information (note that 11 pages of comments have been previously removed).

[jajagappa]

5 hours ago, Auburnt_Amaranth said:

So, no official comment on the cover above? Super curious and confused.

See this thread with all the official comments: 

 

[Rick Meints]

9 hours ago, Auburnt_Amaranth said:

So, no official comment on the cover above? Super curious and confused.
Is it indeed a reprint (and than why)? Or something else, working title for unrelated, a total new book or scrapped project etc??

The Glorantha Sourcebook (1st printing) is almost sold out. We had the choice to let it go out of print, tweak it a little, or revise it a lot. We chose to tweak it a little, which includes a new cover that has a similar look and feel to the rest of the RQ line. Why reprint it? Short answer: It is popular and we feel it will keep selling.

[jajagappa]

A couple updates included in a FB post reply related to info on the Telmori, Jeff noted: 

Quote

Given that the Dragon Pass book is in layout, and Sartar is shortly after (with the Solar book in between), you don't have much time to wait until there is a full RQ treatment of the Telmori.