Journey to Jonstown #44: Ducks, Ducks, and More Ducks - and our 250th title!

[MOB]

DuckPac - Book 1: Myths, Legends & Lore
Drew Baker, Neil Gibson ($5.99, 48 page PDF)

“The Antelope Lancers are gone sir and the Bell Temple cavalry is in tatters. It was the ducks sir! Feathery little bastards hiding in the water and reeds, slitting the mounts bellies as they rode past. I thought General Fazzur had done away with ‘em all but looks like Starbrow managed to get some of the cowardly freaks to fight. The Char-un heavy cavalry will finish the job though sir and the island will be ours!”

Love or hate ducks as you will, but never underestimate them. That would be a costly mistake (just ask the surviving members of the Imperial cavalry that took part in the Battle of Dangerford!)

This volume serves as an introduction to the Durulz Tribe of Duck Vale in the southwestern corner of the Kingdom of Sartar and provides a view of the tribe and race including:

• The origins of the Ducks (according to the Durulz).
• Information on Durulz culture, society, family life and traditions.
• Notes on the infamous Duck Hunts of the Lunar Occupation of Sartar.
• A gazetteer of Duck Vale and its surrounds

Illustrated throughout with new artworks specifically commissioned for the DuckPac series, Book 1: Lore, Legends & Myths provides a primer for both the gamemaster and player interested in interacting with the tribe or playing a duck adventurer. 

DuckPac - Book 2: Duck Adventurers
Drew Baker, Neil Gibson ($10.99, 90 page PDF)

"Yellowbelly Dampmarsh had heard it all before. The jokes, the slanders, the racism. That was all just harmless banter. I mean ducks, no sense of humor! Am I right or am I right? Whether the two braggarts at the bar had seen him squatting in the corner with his bowl of soup or were just bigots, Yellowbelly didn't care. Just one more “Why did the duck cross the road?” joke and the answer would be discovered by the two loudmouths about ten minutes after they left this particular drinking establishment. He was certain it would involve a punchline neither of those monkey-boys would forget in a hurry."

Amongst all the tribes of Sartar, the Durulz are unique, being the only tribe that can be said to be truly non-human. You may mistake a Telmori for just another backwoods hunter but a duck is difficult to miss. However, being different has its drawbacks. But it also has its advantages…

This volume provides an in-depth guide to creating your duck adventurer with a family origin in the homeland of Duck Vale located in the southwestern corner of Sartar.

DuckPac - Book 3: Redfeather Dreaming nb this is the 250th title released in the Jonstown Compendium
Drew Baker, Neil Gibson ($15.99, 133 page PDF)

Spending Sacred Time at Redfeather Safe is part of your obligation to kith and kin, but when a distinguished guest arrives unexpectedly things take a strange turn. Rudely woken, interrogated, and then… Well, that is up to Luck, Fate, and the decisions you make.

Explore the dangers of the Upland Marsh, one of the most notorious regions in Dragon Pass. With over 50 locations to discover, denizens to encounter, and puzzles to solve, the choices you make may change the direction of the Durulz Tribe forever.

This volume is a SoloQuest designed for starting duck adventurers inspired by the classic SoloQuest series by Alan LaVergne and Book 3: SoloQuest from the RuneQuest Starter Set.

Forthcoming title in this series:

DuckPac - Book 4: Gamemaster’s Scenarios – A set of standalone and linked scenarios, encounters and plot seeds for the gamemaster to run for duck adventurers and their closest of companions.

What the Critics Say about the Duck Pac series

"Worthy of the classic TrollPak. DuckPac is brilliant, a cohesive, sensitive, and sometimes tongue-in-cheek examination of what arguably is Glorantha's most iconic species. It's a 'must have'." — Andrew Logan Montgomery, author of the Six Seasons in Sartar trilogy.

Some of the art by Drew Baker, Neil Gibson, Tania Rodriguez, Rick Hershey, Lee O'Connor, Dominic Reardon, John Spelling and Forge Studios, which Andrew Logan Montgomery says "are the best looking Ducks I have seen in 40 years of playing RuneQuest."

More about the Ducks

In his Out of the Suitcase collector series, Chaosium president Rick Meints discusses the origins of the ducks in 1975's White Bear & Red Moon, RuneQuest 1st Edition (1979), and Foes (1980). RuneQuest co-creator Steve Perrin also gives a personal account of their genesis - "We were also lacking some kind of Hobbit equivalent for those players who really insist on a challenge. Came the Ducks..."

Ducks in RuneQuest have remained perennially popular ever since, and feature in the RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary for the current edition of the game (see circled on the cover!). The ducks are one of the non-human species detailed for use as RuneQuest player character adventurers, complete with their unique professions, cults, and magic. 

Edited August 29, 2022 by MOB

[Lurking Grue]

These are most excellent and well written books. Two thumbs up! And this coming from someone who isn't that fond of them ducks (boo hiss!). Also the illustrations are (for the most part) very good, avoiding the Donald Duck syndrome (RQ3 Apple Lane cover), which is a big plus for me. I'm eagerly waiting for the last book and hoping we get POD versions of the whole lot.

P.S. For extra bonus points, couple of the pre-made PCs in Book 2 have Finnish names. Ollako ankka vai eikö olla, kas siinäpä pulma. Kääk!

[g33k]

I'm hoping these will go POD sooner rather than later!
I like me books, see?

Maybe even roll 'em all up under one cover?  256+16 pages would do v1-v3 very nicely, very nicely indeed!
(Some editing might even drop the +16 ... maybe? ... )

I guess I'd best go do my part to push them along...  No more ducking the issue!

Edited August 31, 2022 by g33k

[Lurking Grue]

Any news on DuckPac - Book 4? It was supposed to be released shortly (I think) after Book 3, which was released in last August.

[Greville]

I hated the idea of the Ducks until my players choose them for their PCs and I had to run a campaign for a party of Durulz. Now I'm a full on convert, it's the most fun I've had running RuneQuest.

These will be on my post-Christmas shopping list for sure.

[Bill the barbarian]

25 minutes ago, Greville said:

I hated the idea of the Ducks until my players choose them for their PCs and I had to run a campaign for a party of Durulz. Now I'm a full on convert, it's the most fun I've had running RuneQuest.

These will be on my post-Christmas shopping list for sure.

Have to agree! If I might be self-serving have a look at...

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/296285/Yozarians-Bandit-Ducks...

It's great!

And it is one of the first of the 250 Jonstown Compendium offerings. Could make a great set of bookends*, no?
*and then all ya have to do is collect the other 246 in the middle!

Edited December 21, 2022 by Bill the barbarian

[Andrew M]

I still don't like Ducks. But these are excellent quality supplements and helped mitigate my all Ducks must die viewpoint

[g33k]

1 hour ago, Andrew M said:

I still don't like Ducks. But these are excellent quality supplements and helped mitigate my all Ducks must die viewpoint

Think of these books as enhancing Your Glorantha with a more "target-rich environment."  😉

Personally, I love the durulz for their deep but ambiguous lore & essentially-tragic elements, and the ducks for their absurdity.

That tragicomic tension is IMHO wonderful at the gaming table!

 

Their flaw, I think, comes primarily from how they are played (whether by GM or player):  if they're pure comic-relief, they are passably awful and I dislike them; if they are purely dramatic, they can end up being funny-in-a-bad-way.  The portrayal needs to capture both sides, the tragic and the comic.

But it's very "YGWV," I think:  there is ample scope for different people to experience the same scene (as roleplayed at the table) in one of these "bad" ways, while another person might think the player nailed the scene.

Edited December 21, 2022 by g33k

[Ali the Helering]

So many people say that they don't like Durulz.  How many ask whether they like you?  Even more important than asking about asparagus, broccoli, cucumber etc etc.

Few of those wield swords.

[JRE]

According to our Durulz player, that is why they gravitate to Humakt and the Death rune. Because they hate everybody else, and the cult teaches them how to find inner peace and release from that hate and personal satisfaction at the same time when you disembowel the bloody idiots.

[Shiningbrow]

1 hour ago, JRE said:

According to our Durulz player, that is why they gravitate to Humakt and the Death rune. Because they hate everybody else, and the cult teaches them how to find inner peace and release from that hate and personal satisfaction at the same time when you disembowel the bloody idiots.

It surprises me that more don't gravitate towards Stormbull! (although, it could be because there's a mammal that really shouldn't be allowed to fly, and yet does - and that really pisses them off!)

[soltakss]

On 12/21/2022 at 5:28 PM, Ali the Helering said:

So many people say that they don't like Durulz.  How many ask whether they like you? 

Many Durulz don't like humans and the rest barely tolerate them.

[Ali the Helering]

4 hours ago, soltakss said:

Many Durulz don't like humans and the rest barely tolerate them.

It was a joke.

[Joerg]

Humans need a lot of tenderizing to become palatable to duck tastes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Which goes for humans used as duck food as well, but that only happens in extreme cases.)

[soltakss]

On 12/23/2022 at 1:00 AM, Ali the Helering said:

It was a joke.

I'm laughing on the inside

[Ali the Helering]

4 hours ago, soltakss said:

I'm laughing on the inside

Quite so, ducky

[Squaredeal Sten]

I got my Durulz books 1&2 hard copy today, Apr. 8th..  It's great!  Good cover, nice and readable.  Great content!

I am a hard copy type of guy.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Squaredeal Sten
punctuation