Stafford Library - Arcane Lore

[Tywyll]

Anyone have this? If so, how are it's Heroquesting rules?

[Jeff]

8 minutes ago, Tywyll said:

Anyone have this? If so, how are it's Heroquesting rules?

Greg always had misgivings about publishing Arcane Lore - which I shared with him. It is a collection of notes and first drafts, many presented out of context and without other writings that would greater understanding.

[Tywyll]

11 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Greg always had misgivings about publishing Arcane Lore - which I shared with him. It is a collection of notes and first drafts, many presented out of context and without other writings that would greater understanding.

So is that a 'not very good' then? Is it usable? Is it salvageable? If it's so rubbish why has it always cost so much?

[Austin]

Chaosium offers the whole Stafford Library in PDF and PoD. https://www.chaosium.com/stafford-library/

[Tywyll]

17 minutes ago, Crel said:

Chaosium offers the whole Stafford Library in PDF and PoD. https://www.chaosium.com/stafford-library/

So does Drivethru. But I'm looking to hear from someone who's actually read it and has an opinion on it before i sink $10 on a pdf. Especially if its not really usable.

 

[jeffjerwin]

It's really a sketch of different hero quests. More useful for writing an adventure based on them than anything else. It doesn't provide a functional system for running them, but does give a sparse sense of what components a hero quest ought to have.

[The God Learner]

I found Arcane Lore to be interesting but from what I  recall (it was a few years ago) it's basically a jumble of ideas and working notes that are not always consistent, complete or finished. It reads a bit like a failed project to really define heroquesting in Glorantha. While the material seems somewhat familiar from other older presentations and discussions, and extends those, I would expect nothing in it to be canon. 

 

[Tywyll]

So there are no mechanics or ideas for Heroquesting rewards?

[Jeff]

8 minutes ago, Tywyll said:

So there are no mechanics or ideas for Heroquesting rewards?

I am writing them now. 

[The God Learner]

Sketches mainly, as Jeff wrote above. Here is an example reward (The Quest to Maintain Spirit, p. 85):

"... If the Humakti defeats his foe, as his prize he must take his victim's Sever Spirit connection with his deity. This is in lieu of any other prize. If the Humakti is beaten, he fails his quest and loses his Maintain Spirit gift. He may attempt the quest again, from the beginning.

The hero gains no benefit from this quest until he has conquered all the representatives. At that time, he becomes immune to Sever Spirit."

It walks through the Hill of Gold and Lightbringer Quests, though I'm not sure those are the canonical versions (if any exist). I would put Arcane Lore more in the category of 'inspiration' than hard rules and systems. 

[Tywyll]

Just now, The God Learner said:

Sketches mainly, as Jeff wrote above. Here is an example reward (The Quest to Maintain Spirit, p. 85):

"... If the Humakti defeats his foe, as his prize he must take his victim's Sever Spirit connection with his deity. This is in lieu of any other prize. If the Humakti is beaten, he fails his quest and loses his Maintain Spirit gift. He may attempt the quest again, from the beginning.

The hero gains no benefit from this quest until he has conquered all the representatives. At that time, he becomes immune to Sever Spirit."

It walks through the Hill of Gold and Lightbringer Quests, though I'm not sure those are the canonical versions (if any exist). I would put Arcane Lore more in the category of 'inspiration' than hard rules and systems. 

Thanks, okay I'll skip it then. I was hoping it would have something mechanical to help represent characters who become heroes instead of merely mortal. 

[Tywyll]

2 minutes ago, Jeff said:

I am writing them now. 

That's cool. Any rough idea when they'll see publication?

[David Scott]

1 hour ago, Tywyll said:

So is that a 'not very good' then? Is it usable? Is it salvageable? If it's so rubbish why has it always cost so much?

It's an interesting read, it's subtitle "A Collection of Speculative and Exploratory Texts about Glorantha" pretty much sums it up. It's not rules, but esoterica - if you are interested in the development of HeroQuesting in the world of Glorantha. Lots of parts of it are collect from other older works that are no easily found anymore, and it's not all Greg - I've always like Steve Marsh's Heroquest game Shattered Norns (https://adrr.com/hero/norns/index.htm) some of which is in here:

Quote

Portions of this book have appeared previously in different form:

"The HeroQuest Quiz," "Revisiting the Hill of Gold," and "The Berserkergang Path" appeared in Tales of the Reaching Moon #7.

"The Chaos Wars" originally appeared in Lords of Terror.

"Another Early Set of Definitions" originally appeared in The Wild hunt #41.

Portions of "The Other Worlds" and "The Invisible Measure" appeared in Narrator's Book.

Portions of "The Hill of Gold" appeared in different format in Enclosure #2, and originally appeared in The Wild Hunt #53 and #61.

"Elovare's Blue Moon Heroquest" originally appeared in The Wild hunt (issue unknown).

"The Quest of the Seven Sky Gates" originally appeared in The Wild Hunt #38.

Alebard's Quest originally appeared in Alarums & Excursions (issue unknown) and later in Tales of the Reaching Moon #5.

"Hellmouth" originally appeared in The Wild Hunt #38.

"The Quest of Renallien, Breaker of Bricks" originally appeared in The Wild Hunt #42.

"The Seven Sky Games" originally appeared in The Wild Hunt #40.

 

$10 for 130 pages is pretty good value in my mind if you like Glorantha esoterica ( I've also got the previous version when it was just called Heroquests & Heroquesting). But if you only want Heroquesting for RQG, it won't help. Wait for Jeff's cool system.

Edited December 6, 2018 by David Scott

[Austin]

1 hour ago, Tywyll said:

So does Drivethru. But I'm looking to hear from someone who's actually read it and has an opinion on it before i sink $10 on a pdf. Especially if its not really usable.

Oh, my bad. I thought you were looking to find a copy.

[Pentallion]

I own it.  I'm happy I bought it.  We've had lots of good heroquests from the information I found within it's pages.  You want a rule book on how to heroquest, this isn't it.  But you want actual heroquests, then it's a must have.

So I'd say whether you wait for Jeff's cool rulebook coming out in - when did you say that was Jeff? - or dive right in, I'd say Arcane Lore is something you should get either way.  And for $10 it's a great deal.

[davecake]

It’s more inspirational and esoteric than useful. There are some interesting and fascinating fragments, but also a lot of out of date theorizing.

[soltakss]

Arcane Lore is a mixture of very different rules sets, so is of limited use.

However, it also has a large number of HeroQuests and describes cults in HeroQuest (The act not the rules) format, which is useful.

Although it is of varied usefulness, I definitely think it is worth buying if you are interested in the theories behind HeroQuesting.

[jajagappa]

On ‎12‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 11:24 AM, Tywyll said:

But I'm looking to hear from someone who's actually read it and has an opinion on it before i sink $10 on a pdf. Especially if its not really usable.

If you want Heroquesting rules, no, not overly useful.  If you want a ton of ideas to use in your campaign, yes, definitely useful and usable.