The Winter King - a heroquest scenario for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha

[Brian Duguid]

A snow storm rises upon the hills. A fire demon is freed from its prison. The Winter King comes, seeking those who will travel on the Other Side to drive back the enemies of Winter.

This short adventure takes the adventurers on a Heroquest into the heart of Winter itself - to the very northernmost edge of the world, Valind's kingdom. The default starting point is the Starfire Ridges, in Colymar lands in the kingdom of Sartar, but the adventure can be adapted and located anywhere a winter storm might occur.

The adventure is suited for most types of character, although it is best for characters with strong combat capabilities who are also foes of the Lunar Empire.

The book includes new illustrations from @Simon_Bray and @Lordabdul portraying the Winter King, and the beings and antagonists that will be encountered in Valind's Wastes.

It is 37 pages for $6.99.

Discount available: $1.49 off the price for purchasers / owners of my Unofficial Buyer's Guide to RuneQuest and Glorantha - just check the latest downloads for that book for the discount code!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/496936/the-winter-king-runequest?affiliate_id=1107865

Edited Sunday at 01:37 PM by Brian Duguid
Link added

[soltakss]

Wah! You beat me! I now need to think of a new title for my own Winter King supplement.

[Nozbat]

34 minutes ago, soltakss said:

Wah! You beat me! I now need to think of a new title for my own Winter King supplement.

Depends on the meaning of the title?

was it to be used as:

• a derisive sobriquet such as that applied to Frederick V of the Palatinate for a short reign?
• a king born in Winter as supposedly Arthur was?
• a reflection on a mean and austere personality as in Henry VII?
• or a type of plant such as the Green Hawthorn?

Or perhaps you just need to call it .. "The Other Winter King"?

Edited Sunday at 02:21 PM by Nozbat

[soltakss]

52 minutes ago, Nozbat said:

Depends on the meaning of the title?

The King of Winter.

Titles are like names, always tricky to think of.

53 minutes ago, Nozbat said:

Or perhaps you just need to call it .. "The Other Winter King"?

Winter King 2?

[Nozbat]

Apologies @Brian Duguid.. didn't mean to hijack your thread

The scenario sounds very interesting.. and I may even get it next month, depending on how many teeth I need fixed .. although I'm not playing anything in Glorantha at present but I can see a possible adaption of some Hansa Merchants lost on their way to Petershof in Novgorod. A Russian Winter King? Sounds entirely plausible!!

Indeed, maybe @soltakss could use General Winter.. or Winter General?

[Geoff R Evil]

My campaign has been running over a year, although none have made rune level yet, they have done a couple of heroquests, and I like them to be added to the campaign, I can see this one being added to my Praxian story line in the future. So thanks for another HQ….it will be interesting to see how you have constructed the hq elements

[Brian Duguid]

I suspect my ideas for heroquesting are different to the "official" ones. This one is constructed so that participants need no prior knowledge of the myth(s) involved, and don't need to be particularly high-level characters. Starter-level RQG characters should be fine.

[soltakss]

3 hours ago, Brian Duguid said:

suspect my ideas for heroquesting are different to the "official" ones. This one is constructed so that participants need no prior knowledge of the myth(s) involved, and don't need to be particularly high-level characters. Starter-level RQG characters should be fine.

That sounds good to me. You don't need to be experts about HeroQuesting to HeroQuest. 

[Akhôrahil]

9 hours ago, Nozbat said:

Depends on the meaning of the title?

was it to be used as:

• a derisive sobriquet such as that applied to Frederick V of the Palatinate for a short reign?
• a king born in Winter as supposedly Arthur was?
• a reflection on a mean and austere personality as in Henry VII?
• or a type of plant such as the Green Hawthorn?

Or perhaps you just need to call it .. "The Other Winter King"?

I already had someone called ”The Winter King” in my campaign, a priest of Valind who claimed the kingship of Skanthiland during the long winter of the Windstop and ruled ruthlessly but fairly, with skiborne raids on the lowlanders in Lakrene and a ritual mammoth hunt. People there say of his brief rule that ”everyone hungered and no-one starved”.

Also, his Allied Spirit is a woolly rhino, which is pretty badass.

Edited Sunday at 11:45 PM by Akhôrahil

[SDLeary]

10 hours ago, soltakss said:

The King of Winter.

Titles are like names, always tricky to think of.

Winter King 2?

I vote for "The Winter King: No not that one!" 🙃

SDLeary

[Nick Brooke]

Nicely done, Brian! I appreciate the advice on running epic, out-of-this-world encounters for ordinary adventurers (the

Spoiler

Voltron hollri kaiju fight

option is particularly tasty!). And the art is gorgeous: top marks to @Lordabdul and @Simon_Bray, they've done you proud.

Edited Monday at 01:00 PM by Nick Brooke

[radmonger]

Any sequel to the Winter King should of course be called Enemy of [God].

[davecake]

I really liked the Winter King. Shows how to turn a bit of well known Glorantha mythic lore into a playable scenario, does not try to get too prescriptive (and as a result is something that will be useful no matter what hero questing rules/framework we settle on, and its role in your game), but introduces cool new ideas, and is good playable fun. 

[Brian Duguid]

Thanks @davecake. If you and any others care to leave a rating or a review, that would be greatly appreciated!

[Brian Duguid]

Many thanks to everyone who has bought a copy of this book so far!

I will have a look at some of the material that I cut from the final edit, and look at adding some of it as bonus content if I think it would be useful, probably for when the book reaches Silver best-seller status.