Jonstown Jottings #90: Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?

Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon is a supplement for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha which details an insula or city block with the ruins of the Big Rubble in Prax. It includes a complete description of an atypical city block in the Old City and an example city block, the eponymous ‘Insula of the Waning Moon’, plus four scenarios.

It is a ninety-four page, full colour hardback.

The layout is tidy and it is decently illustrated and comes with extensive floorplans. The Greek style illustrations are nice touch.

The PDF includes floorplans which can be used with miniatures.

It needs an edit.

Where is it set?

Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon is set in the ruins of Big Rubble in Prax. It is set after the liberation of Pavis by Argrath.

Who do you play?
Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon does not require any specific character type.

What do you need?
Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the RuneQuest: Glorantha Bestiary.

The Big Rubble: The Deadly City will also be useful.

It is a suitable addition to New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever and the rest of The Pavis & Big Rubble Companion series with some adjustment.

What do you get?

Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon draws upon archaeological plans to present a type of building block found across the old city of Pavis and the Big Rubble, which can be found in various states of repair across the ruin. This is a large, square city block complete with businesses and residences. In the case of the Insula of the Waning Moon, these consist of food sellers, an oil seller, stables and a carter, and an inn, plus residences and a sunken garden. These are mapped out in some detail with a series of large, easy-to-read floor plans measured in one Mostal (or metre) squares.

The insulae were standard designs across the whole of Lord Pavis’ city and details the history and general features of the design, the history of their ownership and how that changed from being municipal to hereditary, and how the design changed as the city’s fortunes declined. Thus, they can be in various states of repair, from simple walls to fortified strongholds in various locations throughout the Big Rubble. This is a possible subject for expansion and a table of ideas as to what might be found in insulae across the various building phases their design would have been useful.

The supplement also address the change in attitudes to adventuring in the Big Rubble with the liberation of Pavis. Where the Lunar administration encouraged adventuring, now it is seen as looting the city’s cultural identity. There is also the push to clear and resettle parts of the Big Rubble. This presents other opportunities for work, though, and building materials from the insulae are still worth salvaging. In addition, a group of Player Characters could actually settle in the Big Rubble, finding an insula that they can occupy and fortify. This is not without its risks as their presence will attract the attention of predators—both human and non-human—from the surrounding area.

There are four adventures in Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon. The first two short, one-session affairs and both involve vermin and both involve the Player Characters simply walking past the insula. In ‘Thirsty Work, the Player Characters come to the aid of a family living the ruins which is using the well in the Insula of the Waning Moon as its source of water, but it has dried up. There is not much to reward the Player Characters if they help, except the gratitude of the family and the knowledge that they have rid the Big Rubble of one more Chaos beast. The second scenario, ‘Lucky Snake Ball’, begins when the Player Characters see snakes slithering across their path and into the insula. Inside they discover a ball of writhing, fighting snakes. Dealing with the odd phenomenon reveals a second problem, one very common to the Big Rubble. It should also expose the cause of the ‘snake ball’, which a rather neat little magical item.

The third scenario, ‘No Good Deed’, is the longest and most heavily plotted of the four, as well as the most traditional. The head of one of the Pavis Survivors clans employs the Player Characters to find his daughter who he thinks has run off to become a Lunar convert after she saw the good work that their missionaries were doing in the Big Rubble. Which is made all the more difficult because the Lunars have fled Pavis. The Player Characters will need to deal with some of the poorer inhabitants of Pavis that live in the ruins and who are very wary of strangers. Eventually, they can track her down to the Insula of the Waning Moon, where she is not living with Lunar missionaries, but has been captured by a gang looking to hold her to ransom. The gang is on the make, so seasoned adventurers will not find its members to be two much of threat, although they could get lucky, plus they have the benefit of being holed up in the insula. How the Player Characters deal with the problem is left up to them, obvious solutions such as paying the ransom or mounting a rescue are described in detail.

The fourth scenario is more of a set-up than an adventure. In ‘First Rule of Fight Club’, the Player Characters are hired to escort a party overnight out into the Big Rubble to a ruined insula. As the title suggests, a fight club is being run. Not though, with the Player Characters, but with slaves. How the Player Characters deal with this is left up to them, although a rescue attempt would be very dangerous. They could take the money or they could devise a solution, it all depends on how they feel about the moral dilemma presented to them.

All four scenarios take place in then Insula of the Waning Moon. This, though, is not all at the same time and the only factor linking the four scenarios is the city block itself. So, they do not form a campaign. Instead, the insula is somewhere that the Player Characters might pass again and again and nothing happen, but very occasionally it does or they have reason to go there. This makes Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon easy to drop into an ongoing campaign set in Pavis and the Big Rubble.

Where the scenarios could have been improved is in the presentation of the set-up and possible consequences. The set-up for each is written for the player’s benefit rather than the Game Master’s, so it does take a while for the Game Master to actually find out what is going on, and the consequences of the scenarios are also always fully explored, especially, in some cases, the consequences of the Player Characters doing nothing.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon is a solid addition to any campaign set in Pavis and the Big Rubble, with a building type that can be easily customised and four scenarios to slot in between the major plots of the campaign.

No—Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon is ideally suitable for campaigns with extensive urban and ruined areas, such as Pavis and the Big Rubble, and that is not where my campaign is set.

Maybe—Rubble Redux: Insula of the Waning Moon because the Lunars and the war against inflicted a lot of damage, so the insula could be relocated to any formerly Lunar-occupied town or city that has city blocks and its scenarios adapted to the new locations.

Jonstown Jottings #89: Eyes’ Rise

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?

Eyes’ Rise is a supplement for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha which details the sandbox setting of the village of Five Eyes and its surrounds and its factions, as well as the River Folk of the River of Cradles.

It is a thirty-one page, full colour 2.80 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy and it is lightly illustrated. It needs a slight edit.

There are notes on how to use it with QuestWorlds.

Where is it set?

Eyes’ Rise is set in the Grantlands along the banks of the River of Cradles after the Lunar Empire has been driven out of Pavis and fled the area.

Who do you play?
Eyes’ Rise does not require any specific character type. The main hook for the supplement has the Player Characters hired to protect the village, so combatants will be useful.

What do you need?
Eyes’ Rise requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the RuneQuest: Glorantha Bestiary.

What do you get?

Eyes’ Rise presents a settlement facing an uncertain future. This is the village of Five Eyes, a former River Folk settlement renowned for the nearby ancient carvings on the cliffs which look like eyes and from which the village takes its name. Following the Lunar invasion, the village was selected as town and administrative for the surrounding grantlands. Circumstances that begin the Dragon Wise forced the Lunar Empire to flee the area, leaving the would be town partially completed, but without protection or direction as to its future and in danger of imminent collapse and abandonment by the remaining population. The villagers need to find a way to finish building the fortifications which will protect them from raids by bandits, grow the population, train the militia, and establish it as a viable stopping point along the river. In the immediate future, the villagers need to find a way to protect the village and train the militia. This is where the Player Characters, hired for their services. (Other reasons are given for visiting Five Eyes, but this is the primary one.)

Both the village and its inhabitants are described in some detailed, including detailed backgrounds, with eight of the Grantlanders or newcomers and three Riverfolk given full stats as well as a number of outsiders. The former includes five teenagers that the Player Characters will have to train into a serviceable militia. The latter includes a scholar, a bandit, and more. Each NPC is given one or more aims or motivations and several have reasons why they might hire the Player Characters.

A last part of Eyes’ Rise is devoted to the River Folk, their society, culture, governance, and religion. There is the means too to create Riverfolk characters. This is useful to create characters local to Five Eyes and up and down the River of Cradles.

Eyes’ Rise is essentially the set-up for a mini-campaign. This can be one of simply providing protection to the village, but there is scope too for the Player Characters to settle here and use Five Eyes as a base of operations or a home. How either will play out is outside the scope of the supplement, as it does not provide details of the threats facing the village and its inhabitants. The Game Master will need to create these and build in events and happenings to keep the campaign moving and the Player Characters involved. There is thus potential here for a campaign in the style of Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven, or given the upheaval of recent events in the region for a bunch of vagabonds, deserters, mercenaries, and the like to redeem themselves and hopefully keep the village safe.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—Eyes’ Rise can form the basis of a solid mini-campaign though one that the Game Master will need to further develop to make her own.

No—Eyes’ Rise is not developed enough for the Game Master to use easily and it is set well out of the way.

Maybe—Eyes’ Rise has potential as a campaign, but not without a high degree of effort.

Jonstown Jottings #81: Caravan Alley

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?
Caravan Alley is a supplement for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha which describes the next two stops along the Caravan Alley, a trade route running from Sartar to the Eiritha Hills in eastern Prax, its inhabitants, and their daily lives.

It is the sequel to Day’s Rest.

It is a thirty-seven page, full colour 3.98 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy and the artwork excellent.

Notes are provided to enable the content to be used with QuestWorlds (HeroQuest).

Where is it set?

Caravan Alley is set at at two oases on a southern trade route in Prax. One is ‘Tourney Altar’, which has a temple and dueling ground sacred to Humakt, the other is ‘Biggle Stone’, renowned for its unusual fungi.

Who do you play?
Caravan Alley details two locations that almost any Player Character can visit. A Humkati might want pray or duel at Tourney Altar, an Issaries merchant would want to trade at Biggle Stone for its fungal products, and a Lhankor Mhy might to study the fungi for its properties.

What do you need?
Caravan Alley requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Book of Red Magic. Both Cults of RuneQuest: The Lightbringers and Cults of RuneQuest: The Earth Goddesses may be useful. Day’s Rest has details of how to create Oasis Folk Player Characters and NPCs if necessary.

What do you get?

Caravan Alley follows the format of Day’s Rest in detailing its two settlements. Both are populated by tribes of Oasis Folk and both are controlled by the different Praxian nomad tribes. The Bison Tribe in the case of Day’s Rest and Tourney Altar and the High Llama Tribe in the case of Biggle Stone. All three have markets where visitors can trade and stop under the supervision of the controlling tribes, whilst the area where the Oasis Folk dwell and have their fields is separate. Contact between the Oasis Folk and visitors kept limited and the controlling tribe for each oasis benefits from the goods and crops that the Oasis Folk grow and make.

Of the two, Tourney Altar is the more important as it is the site of the only permanent temple to Humakt in Prax or the Wastes, outside of the River of Cradles. Consequently, it has more visitors and thus all five of the NPCs given are Humakti, including a zombie-hunting Duck who turned to Humakt because he was squeamish about bringing death to the living, but not the undead, and an Impala Rider wanting to prove himself on the duelling field. Current permanent residents include the current high priest of the temple, Emund Dwarfbane, who is the most senior priest of the cult in Prax and a respected Humakti philosophers. A Pol Joni, he is better suited to the sedentary role of priest at the temple than any Praxian nomad. The temple also has a permanent swordsmith in residence, and that is currently the Bison Rider, Takeer Redson. The description of Tourney Altar includes some details of the worship of Humakt in Prax.

Where Tourney Altar consists of cliffs upon stand the temple to Humakt and the dueling ground with the oasis and the fields and village of the Oasis Folk below, Biggle Stone sits around a swamp that sit in a cleft in the Eiritha Hills. Here the Oasis Folk, different to those of Day’s Rest and Tourney Altar, work their fields and tend to the rich fungal growths that pervade the swamp itself. The description details the secret worship of the Oasis Folk, connected to a Darkness spirit, mostly ignored by their High Llama Tribe masters. The High Llama Tribe residents of the oasis are more transient than those at either Day’s Rest or Tourney Altar, but this does not mean that its current inhabitants are no less interesting, like Bodrak Drosh, the Storm Bull Chaos Fighter, who wandered into the oasis from the caves below, has no idea quite where is, refuses to ask for help, and is still convinced that Chaos can be found in the caves, and Ogzad, a Troll merchant actually come to oasis to find fungi!

The descriptions of both Tourney Altar and Biggle Stone includes a map of each oasis and extra information. In the case of Tourney Altar, this is details of Humakti worship in Prax and in the case of Biggle Stone, it includes foodstuffs, poisons, and medicines derived from fungi as well as several exotic fungi. The numerous NPCs—ten for Tourney Altar and eleven for Biggle Stone—are all accorded detailed descriptions and full stats, but do not include their ages, oddly. However, they do include hooks and motivations that the Game Master can develop into plots for her campaign and Player Characters.

As solid a pair of descriptions as Caravan Alley gives, there are two or three issues which do make it as easy to use as it could have been. A minor issue is that the map of each oasis could have more closely placed to its key or the keys included upon both maps. A few story hooks would have been useful to more readily get the Player Characters to either location, beyond the hooks already included for each NPC. The main problem with the supplement is that it does involve slavery. Now this is part of Glorantha as a setting and whilst the treatment of the Oasis Folk as slaves is not necessarily a poor one—in game or out, this does not mean that everyone is going to be comfortable with either its portrayal or even its inclusion in their game.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—Caravan Alley is a useful addition for any campaign set in or passing through Prax, or involves Praxians or worshippers of Humakt.

No—Caravan Alley is specific to Prax and a Game Master’s may not be set there or may not want to enter an area of Glorantha where slavery is obvious.

Maybe—Caravan Alley is a useful addition for a campaign involving Prax or Humakt worshippers, but it involves themes which not every player will be comfortable with.

Jonstown Jottings #75: The Temple of Twins

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?
The Temple of Twins is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a fifty-two page, full colour, 32.56 MB PDF.

The layout is clean and tidy. The artwork is excellent.

Where is it set?
The Temple of Twins is set in Prax. It is a sequel, but not a direct sequel, to The Gifts of Prax and Stone and Bone. 

Who do you play?

Any type of Player Character can play The Temple of Twins, but Eiritha and Ernalda worshippers will be useful. Members of the Straw Weaver clan or Player Characters with connections to or experience with the Straw Weaver clan will have interesting experience playing the scenario. Player Characters with Survival and Herd skills will have an advantage.

What do you need?
The Temple of Twins requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha only, but the Glorantha Bestiary may also be useful.

What do you get?

The Temple of Twins is a standalone scenario set in Prax. It takes place both outside and inside a temple to Eiritha. The Player Characters may have been sent there by a powerful priestess, by a Khan demanding or offering tribute, or simply because they have heard that water can be found there and it is a convenient place to stop. Whatever the reason for their visit, the guards protecting the temple ask the Player Characters for their help. They take them to an assistant priestess who explains that the Herd Mother, the head priestess of the temple, has gone missing in the temple. None of the guards can enter as it is taboo for them to enter the temple and she herself must remain outside, so she wants the Player Characters to enter the temple and find the Herd Mother. She assures them that the goddess has given her blessing for strangers to enter the temple. The Player Characters are free to conduct a little investigation around the temple, but are otherwise quickly ushered to its entrance. 

The main events of the scenario play out in the temple to Eiritha. The assistant priestess forearms them with the story of how Eiritha survived the early days of the Great Darkness. This is important because what the Player Characters will essentially be doing is re-enacting this in their quest to locate the Herd Mother. In effect, what The Temple of Twins is a HeroQuest, but one in which enforcing its myth, the Player Characters are actually carrying out a rescue mission. Thus, they are moving from one station of the HeroQuest to the next, enabling them to move deeper into the myth and towards its conclusion and so find the Herd Mother. However, the presence of the Player Characters sets up an interesting tension within the quest itself. They are not told that they will be going on a HeroQuest, but that they will face trials, though the likelihood is that the players and their characters will quickly realise that this is what they are on. Consequently, the Player Characters are free to adhere to the myth as told, or alternatively stray from it, and this can affect the final outcome. The balance here is between the female and male paths, between the paths of Eiritha and Waha, but fundamentally, both the guards and the assistant priestess are asking the Player Characters to be women when undertaking this task.

The Temple of Twins is not just a straightforward re-enactment of Eiritha’s legend, although this central section could easily be removed from the scenario and with slight adjustment run as a HeroQuest or even an initiation for an Eiritha worshipper. As written though, once the Player Characters do find the Herd Mother, they will also discover that something else is going on, something that ties back to the scenario, The Gifts of Prax. There is no easy solution to either the discovery of the Herd Mother or the problem that she reveals and the Player Characters will need to work hard to bring the latter to a conclusion that satisfies the various NPCs involved.

In addition to the scenario itself, the Game Master is provided with a detailed location to add to her Prax campaign, an enjoyable breakdown of the myth, various cultural notes, numerous detailed NPCs, and a dozen fully detailed and interesting encounters. Technically only the first is specifically designed to be run as part of the scenario, whilst the rest can very easily be used in any scenario set in Prax. The nature of the scenario means that it does focus on particular skills—notably Herd and Survival—although interaction skills will also be very useful. There are opportunities for combat, but they are not necessarily the focus of the scenario. The scenario also involves birth and sacrificial death as part of myth, which some players might find uncomfortable and so lines and veils may need to be drawn over some scenes.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—The Temple of Twins is an engaging scenario which presents a highly detailed myth that the Player Characters can enact as part of another mission and so discover the bigger plot. An absolute must if a Player Character worships Eiritha. 

No—The Temple of Twins is too location specific and the Game Master’s campaign may not have yet reached Prax, plus a gaming group may not want to confront the bloody nature of survival, even in myth.

Maybe—The Temple of Twins can be adjusted to anywhere in Prax or its central myth extracted and used for an Eiritha worshipping Player Character.

Jonstown Jottings #70: The Indagos Bull

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?

The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a twenty-six page, full colour, 7.43 MB PDF.

The layout is clean if uneven. The illustrations are decent, but the maps vary in quality. The scenario requires an edit.

Where is it set?
The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is set in Pavis County, north-east of Garhound, just before before the Big Earth Season Fair.

Who do you play?

Player Characters of all types could play this scenario, but Eiritha and Yelm worshippers might be useful as would Orlanth and Ernalda worshippers.

What do you need?
The Indagos Bull requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the Glorantha Bestiary. Supplements such as Pavis: Threshold to Danger and Pavis: Gateway to Adventure may be useful for background material, but neither is required. 

What do you get?

The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is a mystery and investigative scenario which takes place in Pavis County, north-east of Garhound, just before before the Big Earth Season Fair. It is two days before the Eiritha High Holy Day and the two events that everyone is looking forward to—the Indagos Bull contest and the Indagos Cow contest. Attendees at the Big Earth Season Fair are allowed to bet on the outcome and the winner of each contest will win cash prizes, whilst the winning animals play the central role in the Eiritha Fertility Ritual conducted at the culmination of fair to grant a community blessing that will ensure healthy and numerous offspring from the area’s cattle. For the last twelve years, farmer Bilijo Jyles has won this contest with several prize bulls and ensured a fine blessing for the region in each of those years. Unfortunately, Farmer Jyles’ prize bull for this year has gone missing!

Whether by Farmer Jyles, the Eiritha priestess, or some other authority, the Player Characters are hired to locate the bull, or alternatively, they are merely passing through and see the notices posted about and volunteer to find the missing bull. The scenario itself is presented as a series of clues, locations, and NPCs with an explanation as to what has happened to the bull. The Player Characters are free to follow these in whatever order they like, whether that is visiting the local farmers on their steads, interviewing locals at the tavern, looking for rumours, and so on. The scenario and its solution to its mystery are quite straightforward, but there are one or two wrinkles along the way.

The scenario is supported with notes on Praxian construction and farming, Eiritha and her cult and temples, and more. Farms for two of the major NPCs in the scenario are nicely and appropriately mapped, and whilst there is a regional map, there are no maps of either the town of Indagos or the end scene for the scenario. Also missing is anything about the Indagos Cow contest, which might be something that the Player Characters could make enquiries about. Sadly, the missing bull is not named. The scenario can easily be adjusted to fit elsewhere. For example, perhaps the missing bull could be a case for the Player Characters from Tales of the Sun County Militia: Sandheart Volume 1?

Written and published as part of the ‘Storytelling Collective’, The Indagos Bull is rough around the edges, and can be best described as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Adventure of Silver Blaze’ meets Radio 4’s The Archers, but in Prax’. However, its plot is solid and relatively simple, and above all, engaging. The scenario is also short and could be run in a single session.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is a solidly plotted and clearly presented missing bull mystery, that although rough around the edges, can easily be added to a campaign set in Prax.

No—The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is of little use if the Game Master’s campaign is not set in Prax or Eiritha is not an important figure.

Maybe—The Indagos Bull: A Praxian adventure for RuneQuest is useful if the Game Master wants to take her campaign into Prax, but adapting it outside of Prax might take extra effort.

Jonstown Jottings #70: Spirit Hunt

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?

GLORANTHA: Spirit Hunt is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a five page, full colour, 1.13 GB PDF.

The layout is clean and tidy. It is art free, but the cartography is excellent.

The map can be found here.

Where is it set?
GLORANTHA: Spirit Hunt is set in or near Esrolia. It is suggested that it be set in the hills between Helerdon and the Doktados mountains.

Who do you play?

Player Characters of all types could play this scenario, but as written they are expected to be connected to Esrolia. A Player Character with either Hate (Lunars) or Hate (Lunar Empire) can be driven to undertake this scenario.

What do you need?
GLORANTHA: Spirit Hunt requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the Glorantha Bestiary.

What do you get?

GLORANTHA: Spirit Hunt details the hiding place of the Nyctalope sent by the Red Emperor in 1610 ST which successfully assassinated Queen Valinalda of Esrolia. The Player Characters are either sent by one of the Esrolian Queens or Ernalda’s priestess to destroy the spirit, have to do so as part of a heroquest, or simply stumbled across the lair. The scenario provides the basic background, a set of random encounters, and the floorplans of the ruined shrine where the Nyctalope is hiding.

Although the map is excellent, GLORANTHA: Spirit Hunt is uninteresting. There is perhaps an engaging and intriguing scenario which explores the hunt for the spirit which assassinated Queen Valinalda, GLORANTHA: Spirit Hunt is not that. The Game Master could develop it further, especially if one of more of the Player Characters is from Esrolia, is related or has links to one of the Queens, or actively hates the Lunars. However, there is no roleplaying or interaction involved here, no mystery, no anything except combat. So why bother starting with this when there so little to work from?

Again, the Game Master should download the map by Dyson Logos and use that to create her own scenario. It would be unlikely to be any worse or more uninspiring than GLORANTHA: Spirit Hunt is and it is definitely less expensive.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—GLORANTHA: Spirit Hunt is straightforward and easy to run, and requires relatively little effort to prepare.

No—GLORANTHA: Spirit Hunt is another self-contained mini-dungeon which the author kindly leaves much of the interesting detail, stats, and flavour to be found in the back story—as is his standard practice—for the Game Master to develop herself. Cheap, cheerless, characterless, and charmless. Not mostly, but completely.

Maybe—GLORANTHA: Spirit Hunt is straightforward and easy to run, and requires relatively little effort to prepare, but the Game Master could easily come up with an alternative which was interesting and involving.

Jonstown Jottings #69: A Grim Pilgrimage

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, the Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?
GLORANTHA: A Grim Pilgrimage is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a five page, full colour, 959.82 MB PDF.

The layout is clean and tidy. It is art free, but the cartography is excellent.

Where is it set?
GLORANTHA: A Grim Pilgrimage is set in Prax in the Eiritha Hills.

Who do you play?

Player Characters of all types could play this scenario, but as written are expected to be members of one of the tribes of Prax. A Humakti will be useful, and a worshipper or shaman of Daka Fal would be approriate. magic and enchanted weaponry will be very useful.

What do you need?
GLORANTHA: A Grim Pilgrimage requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the Glorantha Bestiary.

What do you get?

GLORANTHA: A Grim Pilgrimage details a Daka Fal shrine in the Eiritha Hills of Prax. It consists of a simple complex of just five rooms, its description in the main, focusing upon the undead threats currently inhabiting its handful of rooms. Three reasons are suggested as to why the Player Characters might be journeying there, the easiest being that a recent party of pilgrims failed to return from its annual visit, and their queen or khan commands them to investigate.

The Game Master has the option to throw in a random encounter or two, but once there, the Player Characters quickly discover it to be infested with the undead. One add fact is that the most recently dead, and the first ones they will encounter, are skeletons rather than zombies. This is an extended combat encounter, with no roleplaying or investigation required. However, there is scope for the Game Master to expand the scenario a little. One way would be to expand on the restoration of the shrine after it has been cleansed of the undead, whilst the Game Master add details about Daka Fal and his worship to the shrine, and possibly add physical details and possessions to the undead, suggesting who they might have been in their former lives and what they were carrying, which could lead to further adventures. The descriptions of both the shrine and its undead are perfunctory at bests, uninspiring at worst.

GLORANTHA: A Grim Pilgrimage is not badly written for what it is, but very much like the earlier GLORANTHA: The search for the Throne of Colymar, GLORANTHA: A Trek in the Marsh, GLORANTHA: The Avengers of Earth Temple, and GLORANTHA: Underwater Quest, it is underwritten and leaves a fair amount of development work for the Game Master to do before she brings GLORANTHA: A Grim Pilgrimage to the gaming table. Probably not as much as the other scenarios from this author, but to really bring it alive, the effort is required. Of course, since if the Game Master is going to have to do that development work, she might as well grab the map and start from scratch.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—GLORANTHA: A Grim Pilgrimage is surprisingly not awful. That does not mean that it is actually adequate, but it contains the germ of an interesting encounter if the Game Master is willing to develop the set-up, add the flavour, and the detail, which of course the author failed to do. Then of course, the Game Master can do something about making the dungeon, or rather shrine, interesting.

No—GLORANTHA: A Grim Pilgrimage is a self-contained mini-dungeon bash which the author kindly leaves much of the interesting detail, stats, and flavour to be found in the back story—as is his standard practice—for the Game Master to develop herself. Cheap, cheerless, characterless, and charmless. Mostly.

Maybe—GLORANTHA: A Grim Pilgrimage is surprisingly not without potential. The location, the backstory, and possible hooks could all be developed into something more interesting and playable than the mini-dungeon it currently is. Of course, the author could have done that for the potential purchaser too, but why break the habit of the rest of his scenarios for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha?

Jonstown Jottings #63: The Lifethief

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, th Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?
The Lifethief is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha in which the adventurers come to the aid of a shaman of the Impala tribe in a highly testing location.

It is a possible sequel to the earlier Stone and Bone and The Gifts of Prax scenarios.

It is a forty-seven page, full colour 112.04 MB PDF.

It is cleanly and tidily presented and some of the artwork is excellent.

Where is it set?

The Lifethief: An Adventure for RuneQuest Glorantha is set in the Dead Place in Prax, northeast of Pimper’s Block.

Who do you play?
There are no specific roles necessary to play The Lifethief, but martial characters will be needed as combat is involved. In addition, a Shaman should prove useful, though will be greatly challenged.

What do you need?
The Lifethief: An Adventure for RuneQuest Glorantha requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the RuneQuest: Glorantha Bestiary will be useful for details of some of the encounters.

What do you get?

The Lifethief: An Adventure for RuneQuest Glorantha is a short, simple adventure which takes place in the barren, Chaos wastelands of the Dead Place where the dust itself forms angry spirits and is injurious to the health of anyone who breaths it in. Here, Maserelt, a shaman of the Impala tribe, has set up camp and been monitoring a thing of horror coming out of the Dead Place—something that lived and actually had a spirit, but twisted and warped by Chaos. She cannot face it alone and has reached out for help. In answer, Erhehta, her rival from the Bison Riders, the shaman previously met by the Player Characters in the scenarios, Stone and Bone and The Gifts of Prax, sends them out to render her the assistance she needs. (If the Player Characters have not met with Erhehta or played through either of the earlier scenarios, The Lifethief includes advice and plot hooks to involve them in this scenario.)

The most obvious challenge that the Player Characters will face in the Dead Place beyond the extremely barren nature of its environment is the fact that magic does not work. There is simply not the connection to the spirit world for it to work and the likelihood is that there is no connection to the gods either, so Rune magic may or may not work. Chaos features are another matter. The combination means that The Lifethief is a physically grueling affair which will force the Player Characters to rely upon their innate skills.

Fortunately, the Player Characters have a chance to learn about they are going and gain some skill bonuses in the process in a pleasing little social scene which contrasts with the desolation they will later face. The Lifethief is not the only encounter that the Player Characters will encounter in the Dead Place, being tested by a band of Broo—inventively and vilely designed as you would want with a band of Broo, but it is the main one. Its actions and abilities are decently described, but the illustration of it is bland and uninteresting, especially given the fantastic pieces of the Broo a few pages earlier.

Notes are included as what happens if the Player Characters fail or need to retreat and come back again, along with several plot hooks which can be run after it. Full stats are given for both Maserelt and Erhehta as well as of the latter’s Straw Weaver clan of the Bison riders, which is useful if the Game Master has not run either of the previous scenarios. Beyond the details of the adventure, The Lifethief includes two sets of encounters—Praxian and Dead Place encounters. These take up almost a third of the scenario and range from the mundane to the weird, but are all nicely done and never less than interesting. They include a trapped and angry rhino, an ancient ghost with a hatred of beast riders, Morokanth traders, lost spirits, and more. The Dead Place encounters can of course be used to supplement the scenario and the Praxian encounters used to supplement other adventures on the plains of Prax. Overall, they are a nice edition with the Praxian encounters otherwise could have formed the basis of a supplement of their own.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—The Lifethief: An Adventure for RuneQuest Glorantha is a useful and easy addition for any campaign set on the plains of Prax, especially if the Game Master has run Stone and Bone and The Gifts of Prax, and wants an extra set of encounters.

No—The Lifethief: An Adventure for RuneQuest Glorantha is setting specific to the plains of Prax and even if the Game Master is running a campaign there, it may be too challenging a scenario for some players as it takes away their characters’ magic.

Maybe—The Lifethief: An Adventure for RuneQuest Glorantha is a short but useful filler combat focused adventure, but not much more than that. The extra encounters are inventive and easy to add to a Prax set campaign.

Jonstown Jottings #61: Day’s Rest

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition, th Jonstown Compendium is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s mythic universe of Glorantha. It enables creators to sell their own original content for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, 13th Age Glorantha, and HeroQuest Glorantha (Questworlds). This can include original scenarios, background material, cults, mythology, details of NPCs and monsters, and so on, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Glorantha Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Glorantha-set campaigns.

—oOo—

What is it?
Day’s Rest is a supplement for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha which describes the first stop along the Caravan Alley, a trade route running from Sartar to the Eiritha Hills in eastern Prax, its inhabitants, and their daily lives.

It is a twenty-seven page, full colour 2.82 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy and the artwork excellent.

Notes are provided to enable the content to be used with QuestWorlds (HeroQuest).

Where is it set?

Day’s Rest is set at an oasis in Prax whose lake is sacred to Waha.

Who do you play?
As an oasis and trade stop, Day’s Rest is a location designed to be visited. So any character may do so, whether travelling from Sartar or from the nomadic Praxian tribes. The waters of the oasis are sacrosanct, so any tribe can visit, including the reviled Morokanths, to water their beasts. Waha worshippers will also visit the lake as its waters have received the blessing of Waha.

What do you need?
Day’s Rest requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha  and The Book of Red Magic.

What do you get?

Day’s Rest presents what is in effect a mini-sandbox (literally!) location, one of the many oasis along the trade route between from Sartar into Prax. It sits amidst the harsh chaparral of the plains, providing a respite where travellers can stop and rest, water their animals, and even trade. It was the first place that Waha stopped after he rescued the Protectresses of the Herds from the Devil and is one of the founding locations of Praxian culture, a small and pitiful remnant of the Garden that once covered the lands.

Notably it is also a possession, being under the control of one of the tribes of Prax, currently the Bison tribe since 1624. This extends to the oasis’ inhabitants, part the Oasis Folk of Prax, who farm the fields that the oasis irrigates and thus support their masters with the goods and foods that they cannot source elsewhere. No matter who holds Day’s Rest, the nomads look down on the Oasis Folk, considering them pitiful and insignificant, worthy only for exploitation by their betters—those that ride. The Oasis Folk have their culture which they practice quietly and in a subdued manner, including worship of Daka Fal. Where the nomad tribes do not accept outsiders amongst their numbers, the Oasis Folk do, accepting them and their children as slaves alongside themselves. This occurred in numbers during the recent uprisings against the Lunars in Sartar and Tarsh.

In addition to providing a decent description of the oasis, Day’s Rest details fourteen NPCs, including members of the Bison Tribe, loyally, but unhappily assigned to protect the oasis against raids from other tribes and to keep the peace, slaves of the Oasis Folk, and visitors, most of the latter being merchants. These are each given a full page of details and stats, and there is a sold cast of personalities given.

Rounding out Day’s Rest is a description of Oasis Folk and the means to create them as characters, whether Player Characters or NPCs. It notes that they do not make good Player Characters as they are limited in what they can and the lives they lead. The guidelines here are better as a means to create NPCs as occupants of oasis and trade stops in Prax.

As solid a description as Day’s Rest gives, there are two or three issues attached to. A minor issue is that the map of the oasis could have also been placed at the front of the supplement for ease of reference. A few story hooks would have not gone amiss either. There are a few written into the descriptions of the NPCs, but a few more to get the Player Characters more readily involved in the doings there would have been useful. The main problem with the supplement is that it does involve slavery. Now this is part of Glorantha as a setting and whilst the treatment of the Oasis Folk as slaves is not necessarily a poor one—in game or out, this does not mean that everyone is going to be comfortable with either its portrayal or even its inclusion in their game.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—Day’s Rest is a useful addition for any campaign set in or passing through Prax, or involves Praxians or worshippers of Waha. 

No—Day’s Rest is specific to Prax and a Game Master’s may not be set there or may not want to enter an area of Glorantha where slavery is obvious.

Maybe—Day’s Rest is a useful addition for a campaign involving Prax or Waha worshippers, but it involves themes which not every player will be comfortable with.