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Glorantha - what would be a good starting campaign?


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If you prefer wilderness adventures, I think Griffin Mountain could be a good

start:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=83384&filters=0_0_40050_0

If you are more into city adventures, Pavis would probably be more interesting

for you:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=83383

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I'd recommend going Borderlands has a nice link to Griffin Mountain, so you could chain them onto each other. The gloranthan classics are really great! Buy them all!

Hmm, except Borderlands isn't quite meant for starting characters. It'd probably do, but... play somewhere I can join in and you can borrow my Pavis & Big Rubble to start us off - plus the others! :)

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Honestly, for a wilderness campaign, I'd go for the Moon Design Classic Glorantha PDFs - Borderlands and Pavis & Big Rubble.

Griffin Mountai is good, but there's not much to do in the area once the campaign in the book has been run through. Sure, you can make a lot up around it, but for nitty-gritty and heroic campaigns, Prax/Pavis is the best RQ Gloranthan setting.

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You could always start in Dorastor - Land of Doom. ;)

Joking aside, there is a campaign in the Dorastor book is aimed at fairly new characters (which I find ironic, yet very feasible). The campaign notes says "for low and mid-level characters". Beyond this, there is plenty of scope for character and story progression.

My view on the Balazar campaign material in Griffin Mountain is that there is enough material that you could run a an almost endless game in that area. There are many locations, an expansive wilderness (in fact two areas), plenty of plot hooks, many political and social interactions/complexities, and more in addition to the main adventure hooks (such as the "Wind Sword"). Even the small scenarios in the Points of Interest section could each grow into their own extended campaign by themselves, not to mention the three citadels, dwarfs, elves, tribes, trolls, lunars and so on. Almost endless possibilities. Remember that Griffin Mountain defined new high standards in the RPG industry at the time it was first published.

Regarding meta-plots, all campaigns from any Gloranthan source material (third-age) can merge into the Hero Wars ("King of Sartar" may be of interest if you like that kind of thing).

Edit: Apple Lane is the classic (if not cliche) beginners location in Startar.

Edited by dragonewt
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I would definitely get the Gloranthan Classic package deal (if you have the funds readily available). You really need the Cults Compendium to run a Gloranthan campaign. For a longer campaign with lots of ready made material you can't beat Pavis/Rubble. Check out the page count of the books. The Pavis/Rubble ( 316 ) is much bigger and is very easy to link to Borderlands (302) and Griffin Mountain (256). Borderlands includes the Runemasters and Plunder books so it has less campaign goodness than the page count would suggest. The package deal is the mother of all Gloranthan sources. Years of campaigning goodness.

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Quoted from a rq-rules mailing list post 2007:

The ultimate linkage would be to run:

Borderlands, followed by a trip to Griffin Mountain, after which they return to Pavis, run through most of the scenarios except the Cradle,

go through the Big Rubble, and then do the Cradle scenario.

Borderlands last scenario (7) has the PCs heading up to meet some people from Dykene, which provides the opportunity to go on into

Balazar and the Elder Wilds. The PCs could adventure there for a while, build up some skills and such, and then head back down to Prax

for loads of adventures in New Pavis and the Rubble before the Cradle arrives. - R.Meints

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  • 5 years later...
On 28/9/2010 06:31:29, wbcreighton said:

Quoted from a rq-rules mailing list post 2007:

 

The ultimate linkage would be to run:

Borderlands, followed by a trip to Griffin Mountain, after which they return to Pavis, run through most of the scenarios except the Cradle,

go through the Big Rubble, and then do the Cradle scenario.

 

Borderlands last scenario (7) has the PCs heading up to meet some people from Dykene, which provides the opportunity to go on into

Balazar and the Elder Wilds. The PCs could adventure there for a while, build up some skills and such, and then head back down to Prax

for loads of adventures in New Pavis and the Rubble before the Cradle arrives. - R.Meints

Sorry if this board does not encourage thread archaeology, but I was reading this and was wondering where the additional RQ2 material would fit, like the Trollpack or Snake Pipe Hollow? And what about the RQ3 material (if that even makes sense to add it to the mix)?

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45 minutes ago, kwll said:

Sorry if this board does not encourage thread archaeology, but I was reading this and was wondering where the additional RQ2 material would fit, like the Trollpack or Snake Pipe Hollow? And what about the RQ3 material (if that even makes sense to add it to the mix)?

Trollpak - tricky, though you could mesh it with a Pavis campaign where the PCs are friendly with trolls or have a patron who wants something that can only be sourced in the Troll lands. Snake Pipe Hollow - any trip for at least medium-powered PCs travelling through Dragon Pass and in need of funds/desire to look for treasure/kill Chaos.

The RQ3 River of Cradles, Sun County, Shadows on the Borderlands, Strangers in Prax could all merge with a Borderlands/Pavis campaign (and all are effectively sequels/continuations of RQ2 material) with a minimum of work. There's some duplication, but also new material as well. Dorastor either fits fairly low-powered PCs on the border setting up a stead who don't venture too far in, or very high-powered PCs with some chance of survival.

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Borderlands is absolutely designed for beginning characters!  The adventures are all low level.  The Duke provides free combat training and ups the characters starting Folk Magic.  You start that campaign a wet behind the ears rookie and leave it a solid character that can now face the dangers of Griffin Mountain or The Rubble.

Another great first adventure is The River of Cradles scenario Troubled Waters.  A nice lengthy campaign for beginners.

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On 11/18/2015, 6:18:09, Pentallion said:

Borderlands is absolutely designed for beginning characters!  The adventures are all low level.  The Duke provides free combat training and ups the characters starting Folk Magic.  You start that campaign a wet behind the ears rookie and leave it a solid character that can now face the dangers of Griffin Mountain or The Rubble.

Another great first adventure is The River of Cradles scenario Troubled Waters.  A nice lengthy campaign for beginners.

If it's RQ2 you're playing, I heartily endorse Borderlands for a beginning campaign! The sequential nature of the adventures also make it an easy experience for a GM new to RQ. From there, the less structured adventures on offer in Pavis & Big Rubble could follow on (though save the very high-powered Cradle for much later!)

"River of Cradles" is RQ3, but its not very hard to switch between the two editions. The Troubled Waters scenario is like Borderlands, actually a set of linked adventures, and also excellent for beginning characters. As noted above, River of Cradles, Sun County, Shadows on the Borderlands and Strangers in Prax all then flow very nicely.

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  • 3 months later...
On 24 November 2015 at 11:41 AM, MOB said:

If it's RQ2 you're playing, I heartily endorse Borderlands for a beginning campaign! The sequential nature of the adventures also make it an easy experience for a GM new to RQ. From there, the less structured adventures on offer in Pavis & Big Rubble could follow on (though save the very high-powered Cradle for much later!)

"River of Cradles" is RQ3, but its not very hard to switch between the two editions. The Troubled Waters scenario is like Borderlands, actually a set of linked adventures, and also excellent for beginning characters. As noted above, River of Cradles, Sun County, Shadows on the Borderlands and Strangers in Prax all then flow very nicely.

@MOB I remember River of Cradles and Troubled waters scenario fondly, and of course the excellent Sun County. I also remember River of Cradles missing an explanation for what "Mudsharks" were supposed to be.

In the spirit of the Runequest Glorantha revival, could we finally have an official description for the Mudshark? What exactly are they? I remember fudging it and playing it as a crocodile, but was always somewhat confused by the description of the sounds they made -  "whuffing" and then "barking".  Be great to finally have an official Chaosium errata for the Mudshark.

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3 hours ago, Paid a bod yn dwp said:

@MOB I remember River of Cradles and Troubled waters scenario fondly, and of course the excellent Sun County. I also remember River of Cradles missing an explanation for what "Mudsharks" were supposed to be.

In the spirit of the Runequest Glorantha revival, could we finally have an official description for the Mudshark? What exactly are they? I remember fudging it and playing it as a crocodile, but was always somewhat confused by the description of the sounds they made -  "whuffing" and then "barking".  Be great to finally have an official Chaosium errata for the Mudshark.

http://www.glorantha.com/forums/topic/mudsharks/

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On 28 September 2010 at 2:31 PM, wbcreighton said:

Quoted from a rq-rules mailing list post 2007:

The ultimate linkage would be to run:

Borderlands, followed by a trip to Griffin Mountain, after which they return to Pavis, run through most of the scenarios except the Cradle, go through the Big Rubble, and then do the Cradle scenario.

Borderlands last scenario (7) has the PCs heading up to meet some people from Dykene, which provides the opportunity to go on into Balazar and the Elder Wilds. The PCs could adventure there for a while, build up some skills and such, and then head back down to Prax for loads of adventures in New Pavis and the Rubble before the Cradle arrives. - R.Meints

Yes, most certainly purchase the Gloranthan Classics pdf collection and you're good to go. The outline above is a great guide on a good order to run a campaign, and should provide years worth of gaming. The settings are very sandboxy, so you can also easily port scenario ideas from other game systems and transpose it with Gloranthan trappings, which can also further extend your campaign. But how it stands, the Gloranthan Classics will provide several years of gaming material even for the most regular troupe.

If wanting more background info on the Orlanthi, then grab Sartar Kingdom Of Heroes and Sartar Companion. These titles are for HeroQuest, but over most of the books are devoted to pure content, not game stats, so this can easily port to RQ or BGB with minimal effort from the GM.

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 Looks like we all love the Gloranthan Classic here.

 Another thing you could do is start in Griffin Mountain and then send your players to Pavis /Borderlands as there a scenario that sends the players on a caravan to Pavis .

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7 hours ago, Paid a bod yn dwp said:

Thanks for this. That seems like a good fit for a Mudshark. Is that the original intended explanation, or just a sensible interpretation of what a Mudshark could be?

A sensible explanation. 

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You can't go wrong with Apple Lane. Within are two excellent starter scenarios - Gringles Panshop and the Rainbow mounds. If you want to go large straight away - I cut my teeth on Griffin mountain.

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