RuneQuest Classics: Sun County

Although Avalon Hill published RuneQuest III in 1984 and would work with Chaosium, Inc. for another four, the publisher, best known for its wargames rather than its roleplaying games, would not release any new material for the setting of Glorantha for seven years. The combination of a new company head and a new line editor would change this. Under the aegis of roleplaying game designer Ken Rolston, Avalon Hill published Sun County: RuneQuest Adventures in the Land of the Sun in 1992. It was well received by the fans of the setting and in the next three years, Sun County would be followed by River of Cradles, Shadows on the Borderlands, Strangers in Prax, Dorastor: Land of Doom, and Lords of Terror. All together, these six supplements for RuneQuest III set in Glorantha explored new areas of Dragon Pass and became known as the ‘RuneQuest Renaissance’, rekindling interest in Glorantha that continues to this day. Notably, some of the titles that formed the ‘RuneQuest Renaissance’ have inspired community-created content on the Jonstown Compendium. For example, Sun County is the setting for the ‘Tales of the Sun County Militia’ series and Dorastor: Land of Doom is the setting for Secrets of Dorastor.

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Originally published in 1992, Sun County: RuneQuest Adventures in the Land of the Sun is once again available in print. It is a remastered edition, rather than an updated edition. What this means is that it is still written for use with RuneQuest III, rather than RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, the most recent edition of the roleplaying game. It also means that it has been tidied up and is now available in colour rather than just being in black and white. Plus, it includes a foreword by Shannon Appelcline, author of the Dungeons & Designers series of books about the history of the roleplaying hobby, which explores the origins and consequences of the ‘RuneQuest Renaissance’. This is nicely detailed, but it does not extend that foreword to 2024 and the publication of this new edition of Sun County. This is a missed opportunity. One issue with Sun County is that it is not fully compatible with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, so some adjustments are necessary and the various NPC and monster stats will need adapting. Fortunately, there is a conversion guide in the appendix of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, which also includes the details necessary to play a member of the Cult of Yelmalio, which dominates religious and cultural life and outlook in Sun County. Further information is available in the forthcoming Cults of RuneQuest: The Gods of Fire and Sky.

Sun County: RuneQuest Adventures in the Land of the Sun can be divided into two halves. The first half describes the small, isolated province on the Zola Fel River in the River of Cradles valley, between Prax and Vulture Country, and just south of the city of Pavis. Since 877 S.T., the province has been settled by light-worshipping farmer-soldiers, known for their devout worship of Yelmalio, their extreme conservatism and prudishness, their sometimes-extreme distrust of outsiders, and their skill with the pike and the spear, with many of the county’s young men serving in militias and troops work as mercenary phalanxes far beyond the borders of Sun County. Since 1610 S.T., with the capture of Pavis, the biggest city in the region, by the Lunar Empire, Solanthos Ironpike, Honoured Count of Sun County, has owed begrudging fealty to Sor-eel the Short, Lunar Count of Prax and Governor of Pavis, effectively ensuring a relatively easy peace between the city and the county. Sun County: RuneQuest Adventures in the Land of the Sun is not a gazetteer of the province, but it does give a geographical overview, as well as describing how it is governed, how its deals with and trades with outsiders, and its problem with hazia, the addictive euphoric herb, whose cultivation is profitable, but technically, banned.

Full stats are provided for Solanthos Ironpike, as well as his leading captains, Invictus, Light Captain of Sun County, commander of the Templars and the county’s military and Vega Goldbreath, Guardian of Sun County, an exception to the rule in being a Light lady of Yelmalio. Another exception is Belvani, Lieutenant of the Light Captain Light Son and Light Servant of Yelmalio, whose duties actually require him to deal with outsiders and who is accompanied by The Gamon, a crested dragonewt who never speaks, but who Belvani treats as his dogbody! Although the leading members of the priesthood of the Cult of Yelmalio are described, they are not given stats. The cult itself is fully detailed, including its mythos, history, place in the world, and more. How to become an initiate and then a Light Son or Light Priest, as well as a Light Servant who acts as their special servant. Along with the subcults of Monrogh, the cult’s spirit of reprisal, Kuschile the horse archer, and Togtuvei, the cartographer and geographer, plus a list of Yelmalio’s Gifts and Geases, this is an excellent write-up of the Cult of Yelmalio.

One pleasing addition to the write-up of the cult is the map of the Sun County Temple, renowned of course, like all temples to Yelmalio, for its gold dome that catches the light, which is taken from the Pavis: Threshold to Danger boxed set. Besides detailing the temple and its powerful defences—both magical and mundane, the temple description also details terms by which it offers sanctuary, now strictly enforced lest Solanthos Ironpike, irk Sor-eel the Short in Pavis. Which effectively means that if the Player Characters annoy the Lunars in Pavis, they may not have as much luck hiding out in Sun County as they might hope! There is also terrific write-up of an annual ceremony and heroquest, ‘The River Ritual of the Sun People’, which the current count performs to reforge Sun County’s alliance with a daughter of Zola Fel, god of the River of Cradles. (It is a pity that none of the adventures in Sun County deal with this, but that does mean that the Game Master has scope to develop something herself.) Lastly, the Sun County militia is detailed as is ‘Shield Push’, a Sun Domer game that can be best be described as Rugby or Australian Rules Football scrum or ruck played with shields!

Another notable inclusion in Sun County is that of ‘Jaxarte’s Journal’. This is the account of Jaxarte Whyded, a minor relative of Sor-eel the Short given the make-work role of ‘Commissioner of the Imperial Census for Prax’ recounts of his visit to Sun County. It gives a very enjoyable counter to the description of Sun County and a more immediate outsider’s point of view. It also comes with footnotes from a Lhankor Mhy sage which add further commentary, and all together, his account echoes that of the travelogue of Biturian Varosh, the merchant prince of the Issaries cult in Cults of Prax.

In addition to a set of encounter tables with some potentially entertaining entries for Sun County, the other half of Sun County: RuneQuest Adventures in the Land of the Sun is dedicated to four scenarios. Two of these, ‘Melisande’s Hand’ and ‘Rabbit Hat Farm’, are designed for relatively inexperienced Player Characters, whilst the other two, ‘Solinthor’s Tower’ and ‘Old Sun Dome’ require more experienced Player Characters. Most of the scenarios are flexible in who they are run, whether that is with Sun Domer Player Characters or outsiders. The eight provided Player Characters include a good mix of both, though they do come with notes for use with ‘Rabbit Hat Farm’.

The first scenario, ‘Melisande’s Hand’ is a classic festival adventure whose events and intrigues the Player Characters can embroil themselves. It details a harvest festival dedicated to Ernalda—and gives the winner the right to wed a local Ernalda initiate for a year as well as a fair bit of renown—which takes place each year in Garhound, a town on the other side of the river from Sun County. It is a busy affair with lots going on between the various contestants and plenty of opportunities for the Player Characters to shine, whether in the individual events or in between. There are prizes too for each of the individual events, there is the opportunity for everyone to win something. Whilst the scenario is designed for beginning Player Characters, its busyness does mean it is better run by a more experienced Game Master.

‘Rabbit Hat Farm’ is the RuneQuest equivalent of a ‘village-in-peril-that-nobody has heard from lately’-style scenario. Its location, Rabbit Hat Farm has been abandoned following an attack by Praxian nomads and then Broo, and so far, the militia already sent to investigate have not been heard from. The farm is fully detailed, as is what the Player Characters will find below—the remnants of a nasty Chaos nest! This is the scenario that the pre-generated Player Characters are written to play and there are really good hooks to get them involved in the investigation and exploration of the farm. Thankfully, the caves have been partially abandoned as otherwise it would be a very tough adventure. As it is, this is a challenging adventure against some tough opponents for inexperienced players and their characters, as it is effectively, a mini ‘Snake Pipe Hollow’! Nevertheless, clearing the remains out of the caves will be a major achievement.

The Sun County Ruins are site of the Old Sun Dome Temple—abandoned after an earthquake—and the location for the third scenario, ‘The Old Sun Dome’. Lots of hooks are given as to why the Player Characters might want to explore it, including looking for certain artefacts and even mapping it out for architecture-obsessed Jaxarte Whyded, and it makes use of the map of the current Sun Dome Temple (because why would a religiously orthodox society build anything different?) to create what is effectively a haunted house. There are guards outside to prevent anyone from going in, but the real threat lies inside in form of undead who have occupied the otherwise empty complex. There are some interesting secrets to be discovered, no matter whether you are a Sun Domer or an outsiders. The latter especially, as they are unlikely ever to get that far into a functioning Sun Dome Temple!

Lastly, in ‘Solinthor’s Tower’ is more of an encounter than a full scenario. A Lhankor Mhy sage is writing a thesis which collects all five hundred hymns and poems written by Solinthor, a priest of Yelmalio who ‘died’ in 1375 S.T. except that she cannot find the last seven. She thinks they might have been interred with him in his ‘retirement tower’ (which is where all priests of Yelmalio spend their last days) and so wants help in locating the right tower and getting inside. This is challenging since the penalties for looting—and this applies to ‘The Old Sun Dome’ scenario too—are death by ritual combat if they are caught! This sets up a bit of a dilemma because Solinthor is possession of treasures that the count will be pleased to have in his possession, but then where did the Player Characters find them? Getting hold of them though means getting past some tough magical defences which will challenge most Player Characters, especially given the tight space of Solinthor’s Tower. One thing it does share with ‘The Old Sun Dome’ is potential access to Yelm’s realm on the Hero plane, neither of which is actually designed to lead to any Heroquesting, given that at the time of publication for Sun County there were no rules for such activity! (Oh, how times change.) The outcome though of that access is actually better and better handled than it is in ‘The Old Sun Dome’. ‘Solinthor’s Tower’ is by no means a bad scenario, but it feels all too short.

One issue with Sun County is what you play. The core characters are the Sun Domers of Sun County and they are to man, xenophobic, misogynistic, repressive, and strict. This represents a roleplaying challenge because although not necessarily nasty, they are not nice people and they have a dislike of anyone who is different to them. In particular, female Player Characters will struggle in a society that would ideally restrict women to certain roles. Sun County does acknowledge this by suggesting that the Player Characters be outsiders for many of its scenarios, though of course, that has its own challenges. Alternatively, they could be misfits, as per Tales of the Sun County Militia: Sandheart Volume 1. This does not mean that players cannot roleplay Sun Domers, but both the Game Master and her players need to be aware of their cultural attitudes and present them with care.

Physically, the Sun County: RuneQuest Adventures in the Land of the Sun is decently presented. Behind the excellent front cover, the layout has been tidied up whilst still retaining the look and style of a RuneQuest III book, the internal artwork is good, and colour has been judiciously applied to make various elements stand out. This includes a new map of Sun County that now includes the settlement of Sandheart and the various documents done as scrolls, such as ‘The Light List: The Honoured Counts of Sun County’ and ‘Jaxarte’s Journal’.

In terms of a setting, Sun County: RuneQuest Adventures in the Land of the Sun does could have done with a gazetteer and more on the ordinary lives of the Sun Domers, as both would have been useful, especially if running the book’s four scenarios for Sun Domers. That said, the scenarios are easier to run for outsiders than they are for Sun Domers, as the Sun County parochial attitudes do set up tensions that a Game Master and her players might not want to deal with. However, Sun County: RuneQuest Adventures in the Land of the Sun is still a great book with a balanced mix of background and overall decent scenarios, ultimately providing what was a great introduction to the Yemalio-worshipping Sun County in 1992 and still is a good introduction over thirty years later.

Gods & Sods

One of the innovations of RuneQuest is that it introduced a world in which religion plays an intrinsic role. Glorantha has numerous mythologies, pantheons, deities, cults, heroes, and villains, and they are important to all of the peoples of Glorantha such that everyone belongs to a cult, worships one or more gods, whilst also acknowledging many others. Originally introduced in the ground-breaking Cults of Prax and its companion, Cults of Terror, the cults of Orlanth, Humakt, Ernalda, Yelmalio, Kygor Litor, Zorak Zoran, and many others have even entered the roleplaying lexicon. Each provided beliefs, outlook, and spells, and in play even roleplaying hooks. However, having access to all of these cults has historically been something of an issue, the last complete treatment of Glorantha’s gods and cults being GloranthanClassics Volume III – Cult Compendium, which collates material from Cults of Prax, Cults of Terror, and Trollpak, and more. One of the plans for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha was to produce its own similar tome, Cults of Glorantha, initially in a two-volume set—now only to be seen in a limited ashcan edition released at Gen Con. Instead, the Cults of RuneQuest is to be a ten-volume series, each entry dealing with particular pantheons and aspects of Glorantha’s mythologies.

Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia is the first volume in the series from Chaosium, Inc.. It is essentially an encyclopaedia to the gods and other mythological figures and groups of the fantasy world of Glorantha and contains hundreds of entries. Entries are arranged alphabetically as you would expect. Some entries only receive a single paragraph, for example, Delaeo, Goddess of Fortune, Good Luck, and Wealth, Lanbril, King of Thieves, and Zistor, The God Machine of the Dwarfs. Others, however, are accorded two more paragraphs, such as Babeestor Gor, Avenging daughter and Sacred Guardian, Kyger Litor, Mother of Trolls, and the Seven Mothers, the Recreators of the Red Goddess, the New Gods. Perhaps some of the longest entries are devoted to some of the more well-known figures in Gloranthan mythology—of which Ernalda, Goddess Creation, Goddess of Love, and Orlanth, King of the Gods, Storm God, Chieftain, Warrior, Leader of the Lightbringers, are the best examples. The Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia is also cross-referenced, so the entry for Orlanth includes references to both Ernalda and the Lightbringers, and when you turn to the Lightbringers entry, there are references to Chalana Arroy, Eurmal, Flesh Man, Ginna Jar, Issaries, Lhankor Mhy, and Orlanth. Not every entry is a god. For example, Gerak Kag is a Dark Troll hero who defeated Praxian nomads and invaded Pavis in the 1230s, Jaldon Goldentooth is the immortal hero of the Praxian tribes who returns again and again to lead them all into battle, and Zzabur is the First Wizard.

Every entry includes a pronunciation guide, its place and role in particular pantheon, and cross-references as needed. Also included is the Rune symbols associated with that particular god, a practice continued from The Red Book of Magic, and particularly useful it is too.

What is not included in Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia are any game stats or rules mechanics. This it shares with The Glorantha Sourcebook, which framed the conflicts between the differing mythologies in the forthcoming Hero Wars. The lack of stats or mechanics is intentional. Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia is intended as an overview of the mythologies and gods and other figures of Glorantha, drawing on diverse sources and collating everything for ease of reference. For the player new to RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the setting of Glorantha this is an easy starting point to look up such details, with the core rules providing the mechanics necessary. For the Gloranthaphile, it still provides a good overview, but they will, of course, be left wanting more, but that will come as further entries in the Cults of RuneQuest series are published. Further, it should be pointed out that Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia is not designed as a standalone product. In being an overview of the gods and mythologies, it is a companion volume to the rest of the titles in the series.

There is one other aspect of Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia which stands out and that is Katrim Dirim’s artwork. It is gloriously rich and vivid in its colours, capturing the majesty, power, glory, and might of the many deities depicted. It gives them all a naturalistic feel as if painted by their worshippers, yet still unworldly.

As comprehensive as the Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia is, there is one feature which would have increased its utility, and that is perhaps an index by pantheon and thus refer to particular entries in the Cults of RuneQuest series. It is likely that at the end of the series that an index for all ten books will be necessary.

Physically, Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia is a slim volume. It professionally written and presented, and as already mentioned, is superbly illustrated. That said, in places, the writing will send the reader to a dictionary to look up the definitions of unfamiliar words.

Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia is beautiful introduction to the pantheons and mythological figures of Glorantha. Superbly comprehensive, it sets up and serves as a companion to the Cults of RuneQuest series and if the rest of the titles are going to look as good and delve deeper into their subjects, then the RuneQuest fan and the Gloranthaphile are going to very pleased with each new volume.

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An unboxing video of Cults of RuneQuest: The Prosopaedia is available to watch on Unboxing in the Nook.

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Chaosium, Inc. will be at UK Games Expo

from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th, 2023.

1982: SoloQuest

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

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SoloQuest was published in 1982. It is an anthology of solo adventures published by Chaosium, Inc. for use with RuneQuest II, a roleplaying game not really known for its solo adventures, unlike, for example, Tunnels & Trolls. However, 1982 marked the beginning of a solo adventure trend with the publication of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the first Fighting Fantasy adventure which would introduce roleplaying and solo adventures to a wider audience outside of the hobby.

SoloQuest presents three mini quests of varying complexity and storylines, but all playable in a single session or so. They are best suited to a Player Character who can fight, knows a degree of magic, and who also has a few decent non-combat skills. A Player Character with a weapon skill of 60% or more and the Healing and Protection spells, plus some Detect spells—which for RuneQuest II would have been Battle magic—will be challenged by these scenarios, but not overly challenged.

SoloQuest—now part of the SoloQuest Classic Collection—is written by Alan LaVergne, who also designed its sequels, SoloQuest 2: Scorpion Hall and SoloQuest 3: The Snow King’s Bride, and who also had been a member of Steve Perrin’s Pavis campaign. It contains three scenarios, ‘DreamQuest’, ‘Phony Stones’, and ‘Maguffin Hunt’. The first of these is ‘DreamQuest’ in which the Player Character’s god sends him off on a mini-heroquest to face four random opponents before an encounter with a foe that is definitely his equal. This is not an adventure for Rune Masters, but someone aspiring to that position, and success means that the Player Character is well rewarded. There is greater chance of skill improvement and raising the Player Character’s POW, and if successful on the first attempt, gaining favour with both god and cult such that an extra bonus is granted to becoming a Rune Master and learning a cult Rune spell. The fights themselves are to the death, but the Player Character is not physically harmed when he awakens since the combats take place in his dreams. For the same reason, any Chalana Arroy initiate on this ‘DreamQuest’ is not only allowed to participate, but also attack his opponents—although putting to sleep counts as a victory! The rules for adjusting to each fight are quite detailed, but essentially, the Player Character begins each fight alone, weapon in hand, and ready to assess the opponent. The set-up also suggests that the player keep a detailed record of the fights to track spell effects and the like, and avoid any confusion.

Where ‘DreamQuest’ shines is in its range of NPCs and combatants—all twenty of them! Infamously, they include Errol, a swashbuckling Manticore; Lucky the Human athlete against whom the Player Character must run an assault course; ‘Huey & Looie’, a pair of Death Ducks; and Elvis, a Centaur armed with bow and lance. All come with not just the full stats, but also their reaction to the Player Character and a detailed breakdown of their actions over the course of the melee. ‘DreamQuest’ is primarily an exercise in mechanics and working out how the combat rules of RuneQuest II work, one that can be both replayed by a Player Characters and played by different Player Characters. Yet it also serves as a showcase for the occasional weirdness of RuneQuest and Glorantha, as well as a source of NPCs for the Game Master.

The second solo adventure is ‘Phony Stones’. This begins with a lot more story. Someone is selling fake statues of Issaries in the city of Whitewall and the cult has brought in Zero, a Lhankor Mhy scholar who claims to be the world’s greatest living detective, but in a nice nod to Rex Stout’s Nero Wolf, never leaves the city. Fortunately, he has deduced that the culprit is hiding in one of ten houses on the same row in nearby Slime Haven. The Issaries cult hires the Player Character to do the physical investigation and the scenario begins with him outside the first house in the row. The Player Character can approach the houses in any order, each one mini-adventure in itself. Approaching each house follows the same procedure. First, casting spells such as Detect Life, Detect Enemies, Detect Magic, and Detect Gold, then entering the house and encountering the occupants. Most will be hostile towards the interloper, at least initially, and the Player Character will need to work hard to gain their trust. Once gained, the Player Character can begin to learn more about each of the inhabitants along the row as he moves from house to house, putting clues and facts together to determine who the culprit is.

Yet despite its story potential, ‘Phony Stones’ does not quite work as an investigative, mystery style scenario. To begin with, the Player Character has no real means of interacting with the NPCs other than fighting them or threatening them. Nor is he given any real means of actively hunting for clues. Effectively, this means that the Player Character cannot use the Spot Hidden skill or ask the inhabitants questions, so it feels more like the player is reading the plot of mystery which has been deconstructed on purpose and it is his job to put it back together. Neither does it help that the clues are not particularly easy to spot. Of course, building those elements into the scenario would have made each mini-adventure at each house all the more complex and difficult to design and present. Ultimately, it highlights the difficulty of designing a scenario of this type for solo play and just how close the designer got to creating an effective scenario. ‘Phony Stones’ is not without its merits. There is flavour and detail here if the player and his character can get to it, plus there is actually much more going on in Slime Haven than at first seems. If the Game Master was to extract this plot and then both develop and run it as a non-solo scenario for a single Player Character or a few, it would work very well.

The third and final solo adventure is ‘Maguffin Hunt’. The Player Character is hired by the Duke of Jawain to recover a ‘maguffin’, which has been stolen by some Dwarves. As the scenario opens, the Player Character stands outside their hideout, a small cave complex. Stealth is important as the player will track his character’s Noise level throughout the adventure. Amounting to just over one hundred entries, this cave complex consists of mostly tunnels plus a few rooms and barely a handful of encounters. The player will need to map his character’s exploration as it does involve a lot of going back and forth and trying one tunnel after another. The majority of the encounters are combat based and actually consist of multiple paragraphs that the player will need to work through as each fight progresses. The adventure itself is not that interesting nor is it that easy to keep track of the Player Character’s movement without drawing a map. Ultimately, what lets the scenario down is that the Player Character cannot succeed in locating the ‘maguffin’. This is because it simply is not in the cave and the dwarves do not have it. If there was some hint as to where it was or even a sequel scenario in which the Player Character could find, it would be another matter. As it is, ‘Maguffin Hunt’ is a disappointing end to the trilogy.

Physically, SoloQuest is cleanly written and presented. All of the paragraphs are organised into their own boxes which makes them self-contained and easy to find. Similarly, the various NPCs and monsters and enemies are neatly and clearly organised and presented. Bar the occasional silhouette, SoloQuest is unillustrated.

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SoloQuest was reviewed several times in 1982 and 1983.

Forrest Johnson reviewed the anthology in The Space Gamer Number 55 (September 1982) in the ‘Capsule Reviews’ department. He described ‘DreamQuest’ as “[T]he first and best of the three.”; was critical of ‘Phony Stones’ and “[T]he frustration and futility of this scenario.”; and due to the fact that it was impossible to complete and suffered from difficult to identify paragraphs, described ‘Maguffin Hunt’ as a “[F]orgettable scenario.” He concluded with, “SOLOQUEST is not the best solo adventure booklet around, but if you play RuneQuest, there is not much competition. I hope Chaosium takes more care with future adventures.”

Writing in White Dwarf Issue 37 (January 1983) for ‘Open Box’, Clive Bailey was more positive, stating that, “Overall, I found this adventure pack easy and enjoyable to play.” He summed up the anthology, saying that, “The adventures are full of non-player characters ready for use in your own adventures and the ‘unusual’ encounter at the end of DreamQuest is an especially good idea. You can also run all three adventures as referee and player mini-scenarios (Phony Stones is even better played that way). Finally my rating combines playability and value for money.” He awarded SoloQuest a total of nine out of ten. (It should be noted, just as the review does, that at the time of the review’s publication, Games Workshop was printing RuneQuest and its various supplements, including SoloQuest, under licence from Chaosium, Inc.)

In the ‘Reviews’ department of Different Worlds Issue 27 (March 1983), Anders Swenson was also more positive. After initially explaining the nature of solo adventure books, he described ‘Phony Stones’ as being “[T]oo subtle”, whilst praising the other two scenarios. He finished with, “For a first book of solo adventures, SoloQuest is a great success. Alan Lavergne has demonstrated a good grasp of solo adventure design, and the layout and typography provide an excellent setting for the well-written text. This book is highly recommended for all RuneQuest players.”

Trevor Graver reviewed SoloQuest in the ‘Game Reviews’ section of Imagine No. 6 (September 1983). He was critical of the fact that “…RQ cults are referred to frequently, but the book carries no warning of this. If you haven’t got the Cults of Prax, it will lessen the entertainment value of this book.” However, he concluded that, “This apart, SoloQuest is a nice addition to the RuneQuest family. I look forward to the sequels.”

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The adventures in SoloQuest can all be played using RuneQuest II, or if the player has access to it, a copy of RuneQuest Classic. The player will also need access to a copy of Cults of Prax. Armed with both, the player can happily play through SoloQuest without any issue. However, it is entirely possible to play through SoloQuest using the modern iteration of the roleplaying game, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. The mechanics are similar and there is a conversion guide, plus the player will not need access to a copy of Cults of Prax. If this is done, the player will need to adjust the opposition his character will face, at least for martial characters. Such characters are like to have double the skill of any opposition they face in the three scenarios, if not triple the skill in some situations, so will need to adjust accordingly. Less martial characters will be on more of an equal footing with the NPCs and monsters they will face in the trilogy of solo adventures.

In terms of the three adventures in SoloQuest, ‘DreamQuest’ is the most accessible and easiest to play, and it is replayable. ‘Phony Stones’ is the most interesting and has both the best story and plot, as well as the most potential for roleplaying. Consequently, it has the most potential for development into a proper scenario run by a Game Master. ‘Maguffin Hunt’ is the scenario most like a traditional solo adventure, but unfortunately not a very interesting one.

SoloQuest feels like an experiment in solo adventures for RuneQuest, one that almost works, but not quite. Even the ones that do not quite work have potential. After all, there is nothing to stop the Game Master from playing and then developing them, or the player just simply playing them. Plus, as part of the SoloQuest Classic Collection, both Game Master and player will more and bigger and better adventures to play than presented here.

[Fanzine Focus XXVII] RQ Adventures Fanzine Issue 1

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. As popular in the Old School Renaissance as the format is, not all fanzines are devoted to Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games—and in the nineties, many fanzines appeared dedicated to roleplaying games other than Dungeons & Dragons.

The world of Glorantha has had any number of fanzines dedicated to it over its forty year or so history, most notably, Wyrm’s Footnotes and Tales of the Reaching Moon. Published by John Castellucci, RQ Adventures Fanzine ran for six issues between 1993 and 1998, each issue containing scenarios written around a particular theme or location. Published in 1993, the inaugural issue of RQ Adventures Fanzine contains just the one scenario, ‘Escape from Duckland’, which the author and publisher had previously released as a standalone title. The scenario is set in 1621 ST in the kingdom of Sartar and sees a band of adventurers tasked with locating a small band of outlaw Ducks which has been struck down with the Red-Feather plague, a disease which fortunately only seems to affect Ducks and seems to be directly related to the intensity of the Red Moon in the sky. The only healer known to be capable of curing this disease resides by the mouth of the Marzeel River where it flows into the Mirrorsea Bay, many days travel away in the Holy Country. The adventurers must make their way to Apple Lane where they can find a guide, the famed Quackjohn, and then travel south and west into the Delecti Marsh to locate the stricken ducks, and from there escort them south to the border between Sartar and Esrolia. They will need to take some care, as not only are the Ducks outlaws and have a price on their heads (or beaks), but the infamous proclamation issued by General Fazzur Wideread, blaming the Ducks for the 1613 ST rebellion led by Kallyr Starbrow and placing a bounty of one year’s Imperial taxes for every Duck head/bill turned over to the provincial Lunar government is still in effect.

The scenario proper begins in Apple Lane. After they have dealt with a would-be Lunar tax collector and his bully boys on the make, the adventurers can sneak their guide out of the village and west to Runegate, but to avoid Dragonewt entanglements they are diverted south along Starfire Ridge and then over into Greydog territory. There are a couple of nasty encounters along the way—a band of Broo and horde of the undead which comes swarming up out of Upland Marsh. After both locating and placating the refugee ducks, the adventurers can begin their long journey south. There are some more nasty encounters along the way, a band of mercenary Tusk Riders which has decided to go Duck hunting—and have some horrid plans for any they catch, and there is one last attack by a threat encountered earlier. Not all of the encounters are quite so confrontational, an old man on Starfire Ridge proves to be good company and potentially helpful in speeding their journey, and there are dinosaurs to be found along the way, who might prove to be nuisances, or they might actually be helpful.

Consisting of ten encounters, ‘Escape from Duckland’ is a linear scenario, but then it is designed to be a journey. In terms of framing, being set in 1621 ST and thus written around elements of the Lunar occupation, it would be challenging for the Game Master to set the scenario elsewhere—or else when. That said, it could be adjusted to a few years earlier, but only few as they have to be after the Lunar proclamation on Ducks. This does not mean that the scenario could not be run today despite its strict time period. Since it takes place following the destruction of Gringle’s Pawn Shop in Apple Lane, it could be run as a flashback for Player Characters being run in the current timeline of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, especially if they have played through the events of Apple Lane at the very start of their careers. If so, then the old man they encounter on the Starfire Ridge early in the scenario could easily be the shaman they would have run into at the beginning of ‘The Broken Tower’ from the RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – QuickStart Rules and Adventure. Alternatively, it could be run as part of The Company of the Dragon campaign which takes place during this period.

Mechanically, ‘Escape from Duckland’ is written for use with Avalon Hill’s RuneQuest III—as would all six issues of RQ Adventures Fanzine would be. The differences between those rules and the previous and subsequent rules for RuneQuest are relatively minor, such that ‘Escape from Duckland’ can be run with relatively few changes. In terms of support it is suggested that the Game Master be familiar with Apple Lane, Snakepipe Hollow, King of Sartar, and Gods of Glorantha. Were ‘Escape from Duckland’ be run today, The RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack would be useful for information about Apple Lane, and the RuneQuest: Glorantha Bestiary and The Red Book of Magic will be useful for details on the various creatures and magics encountered as part of the scenario, but otherwise it is easy to set up and run. An experienced Game Master would have no problem running the scenario.

‘Escape from Duckland’ is supported with a total of eight pre-generated adventurers. Ranging from a young and headstrong Orlanthi and a cold, hard Tarsh Exile to a peaceful centaur from Beast Valley to a bachelor of the Newtling race, they run the gamut of the standard Gloranthan types to the slightly odd, even weird. The scenario suggests the type of player each is suitable for and each is given a full page, including stats and nicely done background briefing. It also includes a copy of the Lunar proclamation on Ducks, some reasonable maps, and an enjoyable write-up of both Hueymakt Deathdrake, Druulz God of Death & War and the Indroduck Greydog subcult. Plus there are full stats for all of the creatures and monsters encountered in the scenario.

Physically, RQ Adventures Fanzine Issue 1 is scrappily presented. It is very far from unreadable, but it does need another edit and the art is rough. The maps are decent though. Another issue is the tone, that taken with the Ducks, which involves more than a few puns. Of course, ‘Escape from Duckland’ is very much a case of ‘Your Glorantha May Vary’ and another Game Master will have a different approach. The scenario includes a lot of flavour and detail about the various locations it visits over the course of its journey and each of the NPCs is decently done as well.

RQ Adventures Fanzine Issue 1 is rough around the edges, but ‘Escape from Duckland’ is decently serviceable and playable, taking the Player Characters on a challenging and nicely described tour of southern Sartar. For a modern campaign and a scenario of its vintage, ‘Escape from Duckland’ is a far more flexible scenario than at first seems.

[Fanzine Focus XX] Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another Dungeon Master and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. As popular in the Old School Renaissance as the genre is, not all fanzines are devoted to Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games.

The world of Glorantha has had any number of fanzines dedicated to it over its forty year or so history, most notably, Wyrm’s Footnotes and Tales of the Reaching Moon. Published by D101 Games, Hearts in Glorantha is a more recent fanzine, having been published on an irregular basis since 2008. A total of seven issues have been published to date, with the first five collated as Hearts in Glorantha Vol 1 Collected. The inaugural issue, Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 Summer 2008 was subtitled ‘Mythology & Glorantha’ and its focus is very much on the mythology and bringing it to your game. As well as the ‘Mythology & Glorantha’, it comes with two region guides, duck tales, an interview, and more.

The issue opens with John Ossoway’s ‘God Fall’. This details a location in north-eastern Prax, at least a week’s waterless journey from anywhere, a location where a century ago, a new star blazed across the sky and fell to earth. Hailed as a fallen god, its worshippers are known to receive prophetic visions and healing from him whilst they wait until the time he awakens, reveals his identity, and rewards them for their devotion. Both location and cult are described, and there are also notes for shifting God Fall to the Second Age. What is missing here is a scenario seed or two, something to give the description some application to help the Game Master include it in her game.

Publisher and editor of Hearts in Glorantha, Newt Newport, contributes several pieces to this first issue of the fanzine. The first is ‘Prologue Method For Character Generation’, which breaks the character creation process in HeroQuest into three steps—Childhood, Rites of Passage, and Early Experience, and has player and Game Master together explore what happened at each stage. This rewards both with enhanced character creation and background and experience of how the character works in play. He also details a frontier country in the Eastern Wilds of Ralios in two articles—‘Karia’ and ‘Karia Mythology and History’. The first is a gazetteer for Karia, a rough land and only separated from Dorastor Land of Doom by the Kartolin Pass, barely populated by settlers from the Kingdom of Delela, exiles from the Dukedom of Naskorion, and Trolls from the Queendom of Halikiv. The second provides context and background, not just from one point of view, but multiple points. This includes the Orlanthis, the Trolls, and more, before bringing the region up to date at the dawn of the Hero Wars.

‘Homeland: Kralori’ by Mark Galeotti explores Kralorela, the Kingdom of Splendor in Eastern Genertela. It details this very traditional, caste-bound culture, their common faiths, and the Kralori pantheon. This is supported with particular Keywords for use with HeroQuest and nicely captures the conservative nature of the society. Elsewhere Stuart Mousir-Harrison describes Aweke, a low-growing ground herb found across Pralorela and elsewhere for ‘Flora of Glorantha’. It details how although difficult to cultivate, it has stimulating and endurance-enhancing properties.

The ‘Mythology & Glorantha’ focus gets underway with David Dunham’s ‘The Tale Theft’. This is a ‘do-it-yourself’ means of creating heroquests, using words and ideas on cards as elements which players can tribute towards both creation and play of a heroquest. By implication, it is written for use with HeroQuest and supported by a full example or two. This emphasises the storytelling aspects of HeroQuest and would actually work with the next article, ‘Location Mythlets’. Here Jane Williams looks at how to take the two-line myths from the Dragon Pass Gazetteer and by answering a few questions—what the Game Masters wants, how to build the myth, how it might differ from the myth’s norm, and how it might all go together. Again, it comes several examples. How a heroquest might differ from the norm is entertainingly illustrated in the first of three pieces of fiction in the issue. This is in Jane Williams’ second contribution to the issue, ‘Lookout Hill’, telling how a heroquest to ensure that the Thunder Brothers burned off the darkness at the foot of the Quivini Mountains became something more. The second piece of fiction, Jeff Richards’ ‘The Seduction of Tarahelera’ tells of what is perhaps a more straightforward heroquest, but is no less entertaining. The third is ‘Using a Charm’, an instructive piece on the nature of dealing with spirits by Greg Stafford.

Perhaps the most fun piece in Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 is ‘Rymes & Ribbolds Royall – The Kings and Queens of the Durulz’. Written by Stewart Stansfield with Keith Nellist, this presents idea that a chronicle of the kings and queens of the wereducks of Dragon Pass was written as a series of comedic poems, most notably by the skald known as Waddlewit. This is supported by three sample excerpts and histories for a particular monarch, as well as the full stats in HeroQuest for the artefacts associated with them. So for example, Holgreema the Rotbane, Queen Starbolt, wanton despot who wooed the river god, performed the Cutting of the Zombie Chain, and cast her left eye into the swamp to watch its borders is accompanied by a write-up of the Chariot of the Gods, Spirits, and Essences of the Creek-Stream River, a water-chariot made from a giant Dragonsnail shell. Typical spirits associated with the chariot are also described. All together a highly entertaining piece of lore.

The interview in Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 is with Jeff Richard. ‘Newt Talks to Jeff Richard’ is a fairly lengthy piece covering a number of subjects, including the then development of HeroQuest 2, as well as Pavis: Gateway to Glorantha, Cults of Sartar, and more. It highlights in the main the intended ease of play of HeroQuest 2 in comparison to the first edition of HeroQuest. As interesting as the interview is in capturing the then state of roleplaying Glorantha—after all, 2008 was a very different time with different publishers—it is not particularly interesting in itself.

The single scenario in Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 is Newt Newport’s ‘Fixing the Wrong’. Set in Dragon Pass, it casts the player characters as either Lunars or Heortlings. Since published in Gloranthan Adventures 1: New Beginnings, it takes place in the former lands of the Hazel Owl clan, which was all but obliterated by the Lunar Empire following an uprising. The Lunar Empire was not without compassion and established a mission house to attend to the refugees who survived, including the then beautiful daughter of Hazel Owl chieftain, Jalhena the Gentle. Driven mad by the experience, in the years since, Jalhena the Gentle has become Jalhena the Hag and a Lunar convert, so when she approaches the neighbouring Birch Shaper clan in order to claim the hand of the chief’s son in marriage, mediators are required. Which is where the Player Characters become involved. The scenario comes with a full cast list, location descriptions, and scenes, including a heroquest. Of course, timewise, this is now a slightly difficult scenario to run, but it could certainly be run as a flashback.

Physically, Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 Summer 2008 is decently presented. It needs a slight edit in places, but is in the main, very readable. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is good—or even excellent in the case of the ducks! Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 Summer 2008 is twelve years old and it shows very much in the choice of gaming systems referenced—though this is generally down with a little touch—and of course, the time frame. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the contents are invalid or useless, the discussion on the nature and construction of heroquests is thoughtful, the fiction entertaining, and the background interesting if not immediately useful. Overall, Hearts in Glorantha Issue 1 Summer 2008 is a solidly thoughtful first issue.

Retrospective: Plunder

By 1980, RuneQuest had begun to mark itself as a roleplaying game and setting in the form of Glorantha, which was very different in comparison to other fantasy roleplaying games. It was skill-focused and emphasised every player characters’ faith and belief system and world view in the context of the world of Glorantha, especially in the form of the superlative Cults of Prax. Then came along Plunder, a supplement detailing some six-hundred-and-forty pre-generated treasure hoards and forty-three magical treasures of Glorantha. Plunder does not add as much to the world of Glorantha, but it does support it, both in terms of the mechanics and the background.

The first half of Plunder consists of ten tables, each an eight-by-eight grid, thus providing sixty-four results in each table. In each space is the listing for a treasure hoard that the player characters might be found in their intrepid adventures in Glorantha. This might be nothing; 38 Clacks; 406 Clacks, 364 Lunars, 30 Wheels, and a single gem or piece of jewellery; or 1068 Clacks, 1383 Lunars, 332 Wheels, four gems or pieces of jewellery, and a special item. When the Game Master needs to determine the contents of a hoard, he turns to a table and rolls two eight-sided dice to get a result. Two further tables enable the Game Master to determine what the gems and jewellery are if there are any and what the special items are if there are any. So the gems and jewellery might be an excellent gemstone worth 900 Lunars or costume jewellery worth 45 Lunars, and special items might be a scroll written in Stormspeech which grants a +5% bonus to the Dagger skill if studied, an eleven-point Power storage crystal, or a wand with the Glamour matrix on it.

Mechanically, this all ties into the use of Treasure Factors from the second edition of RuneQuest, recently republished as RuneQuest Classic. Treasure Factors are are means of determining how much loot a monster or an NPC might. The Treasure Factor for any one creature derived from its Hit Points, combat skills, how many extra dice are rolled when it inflicts damage, armour, combat spells, special powers, any poison used, and any extra attacks. If there is more than one monster or NPC, their individual Treasure Factors are added together, and the final value broken down into groups of a hundred. When it comes to using Plunder, the Treasure Factor is used to determine which table the Game Master will roll on when it comes to generating the hoard for a monster or an NPC. So for a single Trollkin with a Treasure factor of six, the Game Master would roll on the very first table in Plunder, but add a whole lot more Trollkin and mix in a Dark Troll or two, and the Treasure Factor rises rapidly so that the Game Master will be rolling on a table later in the book. In general, if the Game Master knows the Treasure Factor, she can generate a treasure hoard with just a handful of rolls.

The second half is dedicated to just some of the magical devices to be found on Glorantha. These range from the marvelously mundane, such as the Golden Torches which never go out, even underwater or in great darkness or Soup Bones which can always be boiled to provide soup, to amazingly magical, like Tora’s Hammer, a stone Warhammer wielded by a hero during the Dawn Ages who slaughtered untold numbers of Mostali with it and which returns to the hand if thrown, and Glass Butterflies, tireless magical messengers which will deliver a spoken phrase anywhere in the universe! Many are very particular in terms of who can use them, such as Morokanth Thumbs, black lumps of thumb-like flesh which when Power is sacrificed, the thumbs can attach to a Morokanth’s hands and enable him to be as dextrous as any human, whilst others are tied to a particular cult. For example, the Lightning Bands once worn by the bodyguards of a high priest of Orlanth Thunderous, which when imbued with Power, enables the wearer to blast out a bolt of lightning via a spear. There are treasures from the Aldryami and the Mostali, Chalana Arroy, Chaos, Kyger Litor, Dragonewts (and from Dragonewts), Waha, Stormbull, and more. Some have more generic links such as Fire or Sky cults.

Every item follows the format. A description, followed by a listing of the cults associated with the item as well as those friendly, hostile, or enemy to it; a discussion of how common knowledge of the item is, ranging from common to one of a kind or owner only; its history and the procedure required to use it (and sometimes make it); and lastly powers and value. The latter should one come up for sale. For example, Bajora’s Shield is a large iron shield with a glowing Death rune on it. It is associated in friendly fashion with Humakt and knowledge of it is automatically known to Humakt’s cult, though it is a cult secret, it is famous and one of a kind. Its history is that it was originally carried by Bajora, a friend of Humakt who sacrificed his life to save Humakt from a thing of Chaos. All that was left of Bajora was his shield, which Humakt carried for the rest of Godtime in his honour. Humakt refused to use it though and so since time began, none of his followers can either. They do know of the shield’s powers, so anyone wielding it and wanting to use if to its fullest powers needs to be on good terms with Humakt’s cult.

The procedure to use it requires the wielder to be a Rune Lord of a cult not an enemy of Humakt. He must then sacrifice a point of Power. Once attuned it grants a +20% bonus to the wielder’s Shield skill, the same effect as the Shield 4 spell when in melee, Light spells on command with no expenditure of Power, and immunity to Sever Spirits when cast anyone other than a Humakti. The value 120,000 Lunars and selling it would offend any Humakti (although buying it to donate to the temple is fine).

One issue perhaps is that a few of the items are unlikely to come into play, for example, the Aluminium Tridents of various sea cults, and of course there are some treasures which are unlikely to fall into the hands of the player characters—mostly Chaos related. Plenty of the others though will be desired by the player characters and some will certainly be subject of great hero quests. If there is an issue with the selection it is that there are few treasures related to the Air and Earth cults, but that is likely due to the contents of Plunder, like Cults of Prax before it, being set in Prax rather Sartar and its surrounds.

Physically, Plunder is again a book of two halves. The first is tables—large, open, and easy to read tables, but tables nonetheless. The second is more open, with one or two entries per page. Some are illustrated, some not, but the artwork is decent, if a little ‘Swords & Sorcery’ in style in places. If any of the artwork is disappointing, it is the cover, which comes from the ‘chainmail bikini’ school of female depiction in fantasy. The skull panties are a notable feature.

At the time of its release, critics could not agree about Plunder. In Space Gamer Number 33 (November 1980), Forest Johnson said that, “About half this book is not very useful. It consists of a shorthand method for generating treasure. (This does nothing to lighten the real work – adding up all those cursed treasure factors.)”, but ended on a positive note, concluding that, “The lack of exotic magic items has heretofore been a weak point in RuneQuest. These items have authentic Gloranthan flavour, complete with history and cult affinities. The discreet use of these items will add spice to a campaign without reducing it to Monty Haul.” Conversely, writing in The Dungeoneer’s Journal Issue: 25 (February/ March 1981), Clayton Miner said, “The variety of the items, and the detailed information included with the great treasures is sure to make this book very useful to Judges. Of more use to a Runequest Judge is the first section of Plunder, which presents easy to use tables for determining that value of a lesser treasure…” and that, “…[T]his book would make a welcome addition to a Judge’s stock of Runequest items. Plunder is definitely a useful piece of work and shows a great deal of imagination, and the only question I had with the book as a whole is, why so none of the items listed under Treasures of Glorantha have a negative side effect on the user.”

Other reviews were more balanced. Oliver Macdonald, reviewing Plunder in White Dwarf No. 25 (June/July 1981) awarded the supplement just five out of ten, adding that, “All points considered Plunder is an interesting but by no means essential RuneQuest play aid, certainly not worth buying if you have a limited budget.” Plunder was reviewed by John Sapienza, Jr. in Different Worlds Issue 12 (July 1981). Of the first half, he wrote that, “I think that a bit of reflection will let the GM realize just how dull it is putting treasure descriptions together, particularly those that get improvised during gaming. Once you realize this, the usefulness of this play aid makes it attractive.” He was more positive about the second half, saying that, “…[T]he treasures are, by and large, not out of balance, and most of them come complete with cult associations that provide effective limits on their use. Other limits are the tendency of certain races to take offense and kill the wearer, such as a suit of dragonewt skin armor. Use this at your own risk, in other words. Neat.” before concluding that, “Plunder is a useful idea, and well done. I recommend it to all RQ GMs.”

Plunder is a curio from a bygone age and another style of play. That style of play is one in which plunder is important. In Dungeons & Dragons, it was treasure and it would directly count towards the number of Experience Points a character gained in addition to that gained from killing monsters. In RuneQuest and Glorantha, the plunder paid first for any dues you owed to your cult and temple, second any monies owed to a cult, temple, or guild for prior training, and third for any skill or spell training undertaken with your cult, temple, or guild. Certainly in RuneQuest II, all of this would cost a character thousands of Lunars. Not so in the latest iteration, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, which presumes that a character’s training has already been paid for, though a character still owes his tithes to his cult and is encouraged to purchase further training. So there is less of an emphasis today on plunder when roleplaying and exploring Glorantha, as evidenced by advice given in the back of the core rulebook to cut the value of the treasure found when playing classic scenarios. 

So, forty years ago in Glorantha, the need for treasure was greater. Player characters had debts. Thus, the Game Master had to seed his scenarios with plunder aplenty—well not too aplenty because the characters had to have a reason to be coming back for plunder and the peril which went with it—and that took time and effort. Forty years ago then, the tables in the first half of Plunder were useful as they helped speed the process. Not so now when they feel redundant. Similarly, the second half of Plunder with its listing of forty-three magical treasures was useful forty years ago because so few of them had been then detailed in the early days of RuneQuest. So the forty three were useful, many of them tying into the cults described in Cults of Prax and so helping to build the world of Glorantha just a little further. 

Conversely, at this point in the history of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, the current iteration of the roleplaying game has the same problem—few if any treasures of note have been detailed. There is background and detail to many of these forty-three items that the Game Master could bring them to her Glorantha today and they would still work. Doubtless, new supplements will appear detailing new treasures of Dragon Pass, but the conversion process is anything other than challenging. Until such a supplement is published, Plunder is actually more than a curio.

There can be no doubt that Plunder is no Cults of Prax, for it is very much a curate’s egg. Its dual focus and character—divided equally between the mundane and magical—mean that one half is at best utilitarian, at worst bland, whilst the other by comparison rich in detail and flavour. Conversely, the Game Master is likely to have got more use out of the Treasure Tables than the individual items, even if they are mundane, but nevertheless, the actual treasures in Plunder further showcase the more fantastical nature of Glorantha.

Retrospective: Cults of Prax

One of the issues with RuneQuest—recently and beautifully republished as RuneQuest Classic by Chaosim, Inc.—was what it hinted at and did not provide. It hinted at a setting, that of Glorantha, which we know of today in all of its richness and detail through numerous roleplaying games and supplements. Notable among those hints were three cults, of which Orlanth and Kyger Litor were more important than the Black Fang Brotherhood, which suggested the power and place of faith and magic in the world of Glorantha. Had there been descriptions of more cults in RuneQuest, then perhaps the first step into Dragon Pass and Glorantha would have been easier. Of course, it should be made clear that this is not an issue with the most recent iteration of the roleplaying game, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, in that the cults, gods, and runes are more strongly integrated into the rules as well as the setting. Not so in 1978, but then came Cults of Prax.

Cults of Prax was published in 1979. It presented fifteen cults—old and new—plus their subcults, dedicated to fifteen very different deities. Fifteen cults which presented different world views. Fifteen cults which would support their members and even help train them in terms of magic and skills in return for their worship and donations to their gods of magical power and money. Fifteen cults which helped maintain a link between their gods and the real world, particularly through the rune magic the cults taught their initiates. Fifteen cults that the player characters could join and aspire to become Rune Lords and Rune Priests and so bring the power of their gods into the world. Fifteen cults which would provide motivations for NPCs and player characters alike.

The fifteen cults are broken into four categories—the Barbarian gods, the Invader deities, the Lightbringers, and non-human gods. The four Barbarian gods and their cults are Daka Fal, Storm Bull, Waha, and Eritha, the latter the primary Earth goddess in the region covered by Cults of Prax. The Invader deities are Humakt, the Seven Mothers, Pavis, and Yelmalio, with Pavis being an example of a local city cult and the Seven Mothers, a cult which most hold in antipathy, here presented as with the rest of the other cults as an organisation which a player character could join, benefit from and donate to, espouse, and more. The Lightbringers details only four of those that journeyed into Hell and returned Yelm to the world and include Issaries, Chalana Arroy, Lhankor Mhy, and Orlanth, whilst the non-human gods are Kyger Litor and Zorak Zoran—two Troll deities, and Aldrya, the goddess of the woods and mother of the Elves, Dryads, and Pixies. There is an interesting and diverse range of cults detailed here, most of them for the first time—the inclusion of Orlanth and Kyger Litor being the exception—but all pleasingly natural as if they have a place in the world, their members believe so, and they believe in the myths of their gods, which of course, varies from god to god. Sometimes conflicting, sometimes not. 

What is interesting about this selection and thus Cults of Prax is the geographical setting. In more recent treatments of Glorantha—RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and HeroQuest in Glorantha—the focus has been on Dragon Pass, on Sartar, and its surrounds, but here in the second book for RuneQuest, the region explored is Prax, the god-blasted desert region home to the great beast-riding barbarian tribes, infested by Trolls at night, and the site of the civilised town of New Pavis, abutting the ruins of the old city, now known as the Big Rubble. This means that many of the deities more familiar to Sartar are not detailed here—Ernalda, the primary Earth goddess, being the primary example. This focus upon Prax and its nearby regions would continue in then future supplements for RuneQuest, such as the Pavis: Threshold to Danger and Big Rubble: The Deadly City boxed sets.

Each of the fifteen is described more or less in the same level of detail, giving information on the mythos and history of the cult, the nature of the cult, its organisation, membership, and associated and subservient cults, along with some miscellaneous notes. The supplement actually begins not by detailing a cult to be found in Prax, but a sample cult, a generic cult which is used to explain what each of the entries are in the cult write-ups. Along with guidelines for creating Rune spells, what this chapter also does is explain cults in a manner that a Game Master could go away and create his own rather than use those given in Cults of Prax.

Of the entries in each cult write-up, the mythos and history of the cult presents the life and purpose of each god in four stages—‘Before Time’, ‘Since Time Began’, ‘Life After Death’, and ‘Runic Associations’. So, for Yelmalio, ‘Before Time’ describes how as a warrior and leader he fought for his father, Yelm, the Sun, and despite being disarmed by Orlanth, and being wounded and having his fire powers stolen by Zorak Zoran, fought alongside Lord Elf to fight chaos; how ‘Since Time Began’, the cult has remained relatively small having few Sun Dome temples, but spread wherever the Sun and sky are worshipped, fielding professional soldiers in many conflicts; and for ‘Life After Death’, how his worshippers will descend to the mansions of Yelm where the sun god stayed after Orlanth killed him. There they will find final contentment after many lifetimes of work, being willing to return again and again to achieve this—even resurrection. The cult’s ‘Runic Associations’ are Truth and Light.

The cult entry for Yelmalio goes on to detail how it survives in areas where there are Storm worshippers; how it has little political power, but is renowned for its mercenaries; and why it hates Zorak Zoran and Kyger Litor, but maintains a professional rivalry with Humakt. Thus cult temples are organised like military companies and Trolls may never join the cult and cult members may never befriend Trolls. Cult members are taught battle magic spells Coordination, Detect Gold, Light, and Repair at half the cost, but cannot learn Bludgeon, Darkwall, Fireblade, and Fire Arrow—the latter two because Zorak Zoran stole Yelmalio’s heat powers, which is a neat way of mechanically reflecting the cult’s mythology. The entry goes on to describe the requirements for lay and initiate membership, then Rune Lord and Rune Priest, details the Rune spells the cult teaches, as well as Rune spells that Yelmalio’s associated cults also grants, so for example, the Sunripen Rune spell from Aldrya and Sunspear from Yelm. Lastly, miscellaneous notes detail the uniform nature of the cult’s temples—square, with slightly tapering walls and a gold sheathed dome, how the cult hates to be paid in silver Lunars rather than gold Wheels to the point that it pounds Lunars into lumps of metal, and how many of the cult’s members tend to be blonde and brown-eyed.

There is a wealth of detail in each of the fifteen entries. Whether it is the notes on Troll culture and Human prejudices in the entry under Kyger Litor; how Storm Bull worshippers are contemptuous of anything that does not meet their cult’s crude and simple demands, even as they partake of the contemptible lifestyle; and how the swords of Humakti initiates always shine. There is a certain dryness to this detail, but this does not get in the way of it and it is counterpointed by the travelogue of Biturian Varosh, a merchant prince of the Issaries cult. His journey takes him across Prax to Pavis, down to Corflu and back again, all the while encountering different cults and attempting to trade with them (or not in the case of Lunar Seven Mothers cultists), adding colour and flavour, though of course from a Lightbringer worshipper’s point of view.

In addition, Cults of Prax gives an explanation of the Gloranthan calendar, whilst an extensive set of appendices lists such things as cult compatibles, cult membership for the various barbarian tribes of Prax, the new skills and Battle Magic spells to be found in the supplement, a chronology, and new weapons of the Lunar scimitar and the use of shield and two-handed spear favoured by Yemalio mercenaries and soldiers, since adopted by regiments of the Lunar Empire.

Physically, Cults of Prax is organised in a simple, readable fashion. There is no index per se, but the lists of new skills, Battle Magic spells, and Rune spells do indicate the sections where they can be found, and since the book is so well organised, finding such entries is actually not as difficult as it could be. The book is lightly illustrated with just a few decent pieces of art, though some of it does little to actually illustrate the contents of the book.

The critics at the time of its publication were positive in their response to Cults of Prax. Reviewing Cults of Prax in White Dwarf No. 23 (Feb/Mar 1981), O. C. Macdonald wrote, “Cults of Prax, which is essentially an expansion of the rather scanty rules given in the RuneQuest rulebook on runemagic is described as the second book of RuneQuest.” continuing with, “For those who are interested in RuneQuest, I cannot rate this book too highly, it makes an already excellent, imaginative, and highly playable FRP system into a masterpiece that richly deserves a place at the forefront of the hobby.” before awarding it a score of ten out of ten. It was also given a detailed review by Richard L. Snider in Different Worlds, Issue 7 (Apr/May 1980), who described Cults of Prax as, “...[T]he best extant cosmology designed for use with any FRP that has been published. The format is presented in a professional, enjoyable and highly organized manner. I heartily recommend it both to those persons who own a copy of RQ and others who are interested in adding this dimension to their individual campaigns.”, finishing with, “I view the addition of social interaction mechanisms and a delineated cosmology to be integral to a complete fantasy campaign. Cult of Prax [sic] is the only published sourcebook of this type that gives these factors anywhere near their proper weight. I applaud both authors and the editors for their fine product.”

Steve Jackson—of Steve Jackson Games—gave Cults of Prax a capsule review in Space Gamer Number 27 (March/April 1980), commenting that, “This book could perhaps have been improved by a slightly less scholarly writing style, The "textbook" nature of the cult descriptions make them somewhat confusing at first (even to an experienced RuneQuest fan; I checked!) On the other hand, this same textbook attitude gets a lot of data into a small space, and lends great verisimilitude to the game-world of Glorantha.” He finished the review, saying, “If you play RuneQuest, you want this book. If you are a serious Game Master in any fantasy system, you would do well to look it over. The CULTS OF PRAX philosophy is totally god-orientated. Similarly god-orientated GMs may find it used; others will find it interesting. And remember: Gods don't have to be effective to be important. Belief is the thing, and the interactions of social groups and differing beliefs in CULTS OF PRAX is good fantasy reading if you don't game at all.”

Cults of Prax was published in 1979 and so is forty years old. If RuneQuest provided the framework through which we could enter Glorantha, Cults of Prax, described as the second book of RuneQuest, opened up the world of Glorantha, not necessarily physically—though there is a geographical aspect to the supplement in Biturian Varosh’s travels—but mystically and motivationally. In focusing upon the cults, it placed an emphasis on how and why each cult’s members viewed the world, and how and why they interacted with each other, with other cults, and with the world around them. Cults of Prax brought both function and form to faith, and in doing so, it made faith both playable and something that you wanted to play. This is what made Cults of Prax arguably the most important supplement ever for both Glorantha and RuneQuest.