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Jonstown Compendium: A Vale Ablaze


Minlister

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Fellow Gloranthans,

Following the tradition of a long delay, I have finally made available the scenario book designed to be played in the setting described in In a Merry Green Vale.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/425742/A-Vale-Ablaze?term=a+vale+ablaze

I also created a bundle (let's hope I did it correctly!) for people who would like to buy both titles together with a discount.

Later on, it will be complemeted by three (not-so) short scenarios leading the characters out of the Vale, in the Donal Flats, the Indigo Mountains and the Valley of Craddles. 

Hope you will enjoy!

Thanks to Nick and 7Tigers who helped me cross the editorial Rubicon!

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi, 

A Vale Ablaze reached Best Copper, it took longer than with the sourcebook, In a Merry Green Vale, which is a little bit of a surprise since I thought that scenarios would be more sought after. But so much good stuff on offer now!! And the sales of the sourcebook have been clearly boosted by the new offer of the companion scenario book.

Since some of the buyers must be members of this forum, I would like to ask a question, which is also related to another thread recently discussed here about the preparation for staging big fights.

In A Vale Ablaze, I provided "Combat Templates" devised to help the GM to deal with combat situations. Do you find this kind of things useful*? And in this case, how could it be improved (without increasing the template too much)? 

(*I ask because it is very time consuming to produce and takes quite a lot of space)

Another unrelated question, useful for the next JC product I am writing; if PC met someone who died in the Godtime during a HeroQuest and wanted to bring him back, I imagine that they would have to "bind" his spirit to some object in order to do so, but technicaly what would be the solution? I am sure that theyr are so rule expert here who have a ready answer!

Thanks for any opinion and information!

Best,

Edited by Minlister
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1 hour ago, Minlister said:

if PC met someone who died in the Godtime during a HeroQuest and wanted to bring him back, I imagine that they would have to "bind" his spirit to some object in order to do so, but technicaly what would be the solution? I am sure that theyr are so rule expert here who have a ready answer!

I am not a rules expert (although possibly a rules lawyer). That disclaimer out of the way:

This seems to be a typical course for a wyter quest - contact an ancestor of the (ancestrallly tied) group you want to make a wyter for, or contact a hero whose goals coincide with that of your hero band, and invite them into the wyter object. Not exactly a spirit binding operation, but somewhat parallel to that.

Traveling the Godtime is both similar to and different from discorporating to travel the Spirit World, which is what shamans do to pick up spirits in order to manifest them somehow in the Mundane World. Discorporation doesn't usually allow you to bring spirit containers or other non-spirit items. Heroquesting on the other hand used to have a meta-rule that you cannot bring physical objects from the Hero Planes (targets of the Lightbringers' Quest aka Kaeliths being an exception, as forming their new body might be an acquired or innate ability of theirs).

Many heroquest items are a kind of "contact relics" - physical objects created in the Mundane World to resemble the holy artifact, carried over into the heroquest to function as the original, and somehow retaining some of that ability upon the return. Under HQ1 and HQG rules, you would spend a hero point to cement such an item as an ability. I haven't watched Jeff's actual play videos to the extent that I could comment on whether or how much his playtest Heroquesting rules reflect that approach.

Bringing back someone's ghost by associating the Godtime encounter with an actual possession of his carried into Godtime should be a viable binding method sidestepping enchantments. Of course, this will mean to face that person's opponents, ideally at the moment of his death.

Otherwise, 

Spoiler

Snake Pipe Hollow has the encounter with Baroshi, a godling who may count as a person who died in Godtime, and it may offer other ways to bring Baroshi back.

 

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Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

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@Soccercalle Excellent! Thanks! Part of the third scenario, Saving Fyrdman Royan is located on Antorling territory and you should be able to establish quite easily a connection between the Riddle from 6SiS and the Entruli temple in Pig Hollow. You will also find information on Antorling women and their peculiar urges in the description of Fairjowl. 

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Thanks @Joerg ! All this will be very useful, I had not thought about the parallel with a wyter HQ. In this case, the "spirit" is a godlearner so not exacly a clan ancestor, but still a useful parallel. And he is not the main goal of the quest, mainly a side encounter. The main topic of the scenario is what happens when you enter the Godtime for a HQ, well armed with "classical" lore, but stumble in a myth the Godlearners actually strove to distort.

Truth be told, I am struggling less with the "concepts" and internal "gloranthan logic" than with the "technical aspect" of the matter, should the PC use something like Spirit bing and Binding Enchantment?

I confess I am far from being familiar with all the spells!

 

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6 hours ago, Minlister said:

@Soccercalle Excellent! Thanks! Part of the third scenario, Saving Fyrdman Royan is located on Antorling territory and you should be able to establish quite easily a connection between the Riddle from 6SiS and the Entruli temple in Pig Hollow. You will also find information on Antorling women and their peculiar urges in the description of Fairjowl. 

I will try to run the Salaseh scenario with my Haraborn PCs in Fire Season 1621. They are indebted to Entarios in the Green Stone Temple (one of the PCs are married to,her daughter Ernalsulva). Entarios is forced by the Lunars to help but will at the same time ask the PCs to work against the Empire. I hope that it will work. Entarios is close enough geographically to the Estate and the PCs have business at her temple.

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Great! I would be very happy to have some feedback since this scenario, I think, is quite demanding for both players and GM. Entarios is a good patron, although she is at odds locally with Envale Blossom-Eyes; she usually meddles in Lysang business through her apprentice Eryneth Green-Womb.

If you play it in fire 1621, the Hendriki slaves can play an especially important role to establish a connexion with Broyan, since this is the year Whitewall falls to the Lunars. It is also a perfect time to introduce the Ynddaiawn: they are trying to hijack the Lunar ritual intended to kill Orlanth in order to have it affect Ernalda (and suceed: that's how I explain the Great Winter, the unexpected effect of the Lunar ritual, in my Glorantha); the best place to do this would be Green Stone temple, since it is built where Ernalda fell asleep during the Great Darkness. And Entarios is the Great Priestess there. Maybe they could build on Elganesh's ritual and have the hellhounds drag Ernalda underground like they did with Yelm after his death? And your PC could use the mystical connexion between the Riddle and Green Stone to bypass their defences and free the goddess? Lots of possibilities here.

Since you introduced Ernalsulva, do you intend to play the S:KoH campaign?

 

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For a god learner, you could have them tell the party a long string of runic coordinates that they have to memorise. They will say that any minimally competent sorcerer will be able to bring them back, given those numbers.

Their idea of what a 'minimally competent sorceror' actually is will likely be a little off for 3rd age dragon pass. if a friendly visit to Delecti is off the table, a few months in a  good knowledge temple library may lead to something that can guide a shaman to their ghost.

From there, the same options as for any other spirit apply. Sanctify[1] a shrine to them,  create some kind of golem body, or have them take dominant possession of some street orphan. Simply binding them into an object or animal is likely not what they would think of as being 'brought back', more 'recycled into raw runic energy'.

1. The duration of a sanctify rune spell is 'as long ass the ritual lasts'.  So a  shrine tended daily could be interpreted as not actually requiring any other magic.

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@Soccercalle So you mixed 6SiS and the S:KoH? Quite the ordeal, the PC must be quite powerful now? And have a beautiful suite of enemies! SInce they played the Broken Towers, Derengavor Brass-Wave will be a perfect nemesis for them!  

@radmonger I love the "Runic DNA/Runic GPS coordinates"! And yes, I think most of the players will rather use the GL has "recycled raw runic energy". I thing it would play off as something "mephistophelian" with the GL trying to lure them to give him ever more freedom in exchange for tuition. However, the scenario proper is not dealing with this long-term aspect of things. I just want to add the option to offer the GM the opportunity to integrate this element to their campaign.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Minlister said:

@Soccercalle So you mixed 6SiS and the S:KoH? Quite the ordeal, the PC must be quite powerful now? And have a beautiful suite of enemies! SInce they played the Broken Towers, Derengavor Brass-Wave will be a perfect nemesis for them!  

 

Quite powerful. I wanted to start the campaign in Sea Season 1619 with The Broken Tower from the Quickstart. The Haraborn PCs was looking for the missing boy and were sent west to see if he had left the village. During their hunt they visited the Antorling family of one of the PCs mothers. But the family had been attacked by the Greydogs (I moved to start for the Broken Tower from Ernaldori to Antorling land). On the way back from the Tower they visited Clearwine during the Feast of Beasts and one of the PCs fell in love with Ernalsulva. So I ran both 6SiS and the Colymar Campaign simultaneously. The PCs made the short LBQ in Sacred Time 1619 and the fall of the Haraborn in Sea Season 1620.

The PCs fled to Prax (they were hated by both Kangharl, Prince Temertain and the witch Ashangara. In Prax I played the Borderlands Campaign and some scenarios from Shadows on the Borderlands and Sun County, and some "own" scenarios. I ended the Prax part with the Cradle scenario. The PCs are now returning to Sartar (I plan to run Company of the Dragon with a delayed start) but will first have to pass the GreenStone Temple with a pregnant Ernalsulva. 

Entarios will help them finding Haraborn refugees but first she needs some help (the Salaseh scenario).

 

 

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1 hour ago, Minlister said:

God... this is more than I could ever dream of playing... Very impressive, Congratulations!! You did not try to adapt the Sandheart scenarios? They are amongst my all time favourite!

Thanks,

I would love to. But I couldn't really find a good way of making the Sartarite Yelmalio police officers. I have skipped a lot of good scenarios that didn't fit in into the overall narrative. I plan ahead but let the PCs/players act in ways that are logical to their passions and loyalties. 

That is the reason why some of your Lysang stuff is hard to adapt as it is. But I will try to run your Engizi heroquest and Saving Private Royan scenario further ahead. Kallyr will use the PCs as agents for the resistance and that means helping other clans. The Royan scenario fits very well as it geographically is close to the Haraborns.

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On 3/5/2023 at 8:04 PM, Soccercalle said:

I would love to. But I couldn't really find a good way of making the Sartarite Yelmalio police officers.

We know from the Secret History of Sun County that Lady Vega Goldbreath, Guardian of Sun County and head of the Sun County Militia, was best buddies with Kallyr Starbrow, a plucky Orlanthi rebel type (now sadly deceased after royally screwing the pooch in a calamitous Lightbringers Quest). In the Secret History, it was suggested that Vega might therefore encourage the use of other Orlanthi rebel types to do non-traditional police work around Sun County (i.e. give jobs to traditional player character types), possibly getting suitable candidates recommended by Krogar Wolfhelm and other dodgy types from the nearby wretched hive of scum and villainy. Now we know that the Goldbreath Dynasty has its own experimental militia programme in Sandheart District, though... well, you can join the dots as easily as I can.

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On 3/5/2023 at 8:04 PM, Soccercalle said:

I would love to. But I couldn't really find a good way of making the Sartarite Yelmalio police officers.

In our recent River Voices/Arganauts Campaign, the Adventurers were framed for a crime and were sentenced to serve in Sun County as part of the Militia. So, they were basically Sun County police, even though they were not Yelmalians. They were put into a squad with a bunch of losers and misfits, the squad was split into two, one with all sort of misfits and the other with the Adventurers and Mello Yello. They became quite effective detectives, solving a few puzzles and crimes, then they were almost drowned and became the River Voices.

So, that seemed to work really well.

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Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have now played the Salaseh scenario and it was very good. But, as you write, it was a very complicated scenario both to run and to play. I had to write down a "timeline" for my own memory and gave summaries to my players between the sessions (it took us three). They needed it to keep track of the NPCs.

SPOILERS AFTER THIS:

Spoiler

They befriended Derdovar and helped him with his plot. I also made the Lysang girl a cousin of one of my PCs which gave her (a Humakti) some extra investment. I also used the failed ceremony a catastrophe where the BG killed the cousin (Ernalda). Something that will help explain why Ernalda "goes to sleep" two seasons later. 

My group also included Griselda (yes, THAT Griselda) that had escaped Pavis after helping the PCs and Argrath with the Cradle. I wanted the Griselda player to realize that she was wanted for revenge by the Eel-aariash clan (for hurting Sor-Eels career). When FaEsra visited Jonstown she got information from her Eel-ariash friends that Griselda was wanted so she later (during the ceremony) tried to assassinate her. That failed and FaEsra was killed.

In conclusion - a great but complicated scenario that could easily be incorporated in a non-Lysang campaign.

 

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@Soccercalle

That's great, thank you for the feedback!

Spoiler

Using the death of the cousin impersonating Ernalda in the ritual to explain the why Ernalda fades away during the Great Winter is really a fantastic idea. I will shamelessly steal it! 

Poor FaEsra, seems that she never survives this scenario!!

May I ask how they solved the "bear problem"? 

 

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8 minutes ago, Minlister said:

@Soccercalle

That's great, thank you for the feedback!

  Hide contents

 

 

Answers below

Spoiler

They forced some information from Delectis minion and soon realized that the bear had nothing to do with Odayla (the group recently had an Odayla initiate) and the it got immune to things that had hurt them. They also fought the bear when it attacked the water mill. The failed ceremony, the assassination attempt and the faked attack led to a slave revolt. The slaves burned the estate down. The adventurers met the bear after the battle and the bear thanked them for bringing the estate down. The PCS understood that the bear had something to do with the river and Engizi, but not much more.

 

 

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Thanks! aonther ending I had not thought about! So they killed, Delecti's minion? Did they manage to get his spear? Do you intend to have Delecti try to retrieve it or to use the "Skyfall event" HQ I mentioned as a possibility? 

EDIT : sorry, one more question to go back to the OP: did you find the combat templates useful to track the various HP, MP, RP, of  the NPC? Or is it something that could be discarded in future publications? They take quite a long time to do and the lay-out is not  easy to work out (at last for me).

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1 hour ago, Minlister said:

Thanks! aonther ending I had not thought about! So they killed, Delecti's minion? Did they manage to get his spear? Do you intend to have Delecti try to retrieve it or to use the "Skyfall event" HQ I mentioned as a possibility? 

EDIT : sorry, one more question to go back to the OP: did you find the combat templates useful to track the various HP, MP, RP, of  the NPC? Or is it something that could be discarded in future publications? They take quite a long time to do and the lay-out is not  easy to work out (at last for me).

They didn't killed him but killed is minions and outnumbered him. He challenged the groups Humakti to a duel and lost. The Humakti "pardoned" him if he told them his goals and promised to leave Lysang territory. The spear was broken during the duel (the PCs never understood its value). He picked up the bits and will probably return in a future scenario. I am now starting Company of the Dragon and they will probably meet him when they meet Delicti.

I didn't use the templates that much. I usually only keep strict book keeping for major NPCs. For minions it's like:  1 major hit destroys a hit location , 2 minor hits at the same hit locations destroys it. 2 major or 4 minor hits means unconscious or dead. I have it in my head as I GM. A destroyed head means but but a destroyed leg dont.

 

 

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