Friday Fantasy: The Hunt for the Storm Calf

In anticipation of the upcoming raiding season, the tribes of Prax have come together at the Paps, the sacred ground at the mouth of Deep Womb of the Goddess, home to Eritha herself, where their leaders perform the annual ceremonies that herald its start. Although the various tribes have their long histories between them, some of them have heated rivalries, which at times can break out into open war, all that is put aside for the time spent together at the Paps. This will provide some succor to the members of the Sable Riders tribe chosen to accompany their Tribal Queen Delenda Rock Speaker and her consort, Sable-Khan Boronwaha, as the reputation of the tribe was sullied in the eyes of many by its close links to the Lunar Empire. When the High Priestess of the Paps and the Khans of all the tribes emerge from the ceremonies, it is not only to announce the start of the raiding season, but to make a portentous proclamation. Whichever Khan returns to the priestess and presents her with the most cattle will be declared to be the ‘Khan of Khans’ and thus become the year husband of the Most Respected Elder. This is a position of great respect and the Khans of all of the tribes want to win this role, but for the Sable Riders it would be a chance to restore their reputation and their standing with the other tribes. In addition, there is another factor that might persuade the High Priestess of the Paps to acclaim Tribal Queen Delenda Rock Speaker Khan of Khans, and that is the appearance of one of the Storm Calves, the cattle holy to Storm Bull, the god dedicated to destroying Chaos. Whilst Tribal Queen Delenda Rock Speaker prepares to lead the tribe west to raid the rich and fertile lands of Sartar, she turns to the trusted tribe members of her entourage to capture the Storm Calf. In other words, the Player Characters!

This is the set-up for The Hunt for the Storm Calf, a scenario for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha published by Chaosium, Inc.. It is not all that there is to the scenario, but the scenario itself is very different to other official support from the publisher. Primarily, this is because it takes place on the plains of Prax, the dry, dusty lands between Sartar in the west and the city of Pavis in the east, and most of the supporting content for the setting has focused on Sartar. It is thus designed as an introductory scenario to the region and some of the culture of the Praxian nomadic tribes that wander the region, but thematically, it is actually inspired by the card game, Khan of Khans, which is also about cattle raiding. As an introductory scenario it includes six-pre-generated Player Characters, which together with the stats and sheets for their mounts and all of the NPCs, actually doubles the length of the scenario! as an introductory scenario, it can also be run using just the RuneQuest Starter Set.

This set-up though, is really for the second, all-action two thirds of the scenario. In the first part, the Player Characters have some time on their hands whilst their tribal leaders are at the ceremony. This gives them the opportunity to interact with the other tribes, perhaps make some friendships, help make some deals, and so on. No conflicts are allowed as the tribes are all together on sacred ground, though there is nothing to stop the Player Characters stepping outside of the area and the Player Characters are encouraged to play pranks on members of the other tribes. This allows for the players to be inventive in what pranks they can play, as slightly disappointingly, there are no suggestions given as to what pranks their characters might pull.

The middle part of the scenario is the race to capture the Storm Calf—and it is a race. The Player Characters do not start at the front, but must ride hard for many hours over hard ground. There are random encounters for what happens if the Player Characters do rest, but not on the race itself. There are two location encounters along the way, but it does seem unbalanced given that the Game Master will use both of those, but only one of the random encounters and only then if the Player Characters decide to rest.

Once the Player Characters reach the Day’s Rest oasis, they have a mystery on their hands—where is Storm Calf? It will be easier for them to find it the better the result they achieved in the race there, but a timeline nicely explains what each of the tribal rivals does, depending upon the position in which they finish in the race. With everyone looking for the Storm Calf, the Player Characters will need to conduct any investigation with some speed and follow it up before someone beats them to it. The scenario’s finale takes place somewhere unexpected and may be challenging for the Player Characters more used to wide open spaces of the Praxian wastes. Lastly, the scenario gives the players and their characters a moral dilemma to resolve.

The scenario includes six pre-generated Player Characters as well as their mounts. They are all members of the Sable Riders tribe and consist of a still ardent and proselyting Seven Mothers cultist; an older cavalry rider unhappy with the tribe’s former alliance with the Lunar Empire; a Seven Mothers cultist and healer at a loss with the breaking of the alliance with the Lunar Empire; a cavalry rider whose parent was a Lunar emissary and having suffered for it, loathes the empire; and a Storm Bull initiate; and an apprentice shaman of the Earth Witch. It is a good mix and there are some interesting tensions between the six over the tribe’s alliance with the Lunar Empire just as there is between the Sable Ride tribe and the other tribes of Prax.

Physically, The Hunt for the Storm Calf is nicely presented in the house style of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It is well written and laid out, and both the cover and the single illustration inside are excellent. The character sheets pack a lot of information onto a single page, but there are no illustrations of the characters themselves.

The Hunt for the Storm Calf works well as a one-shot scenario, playable in a long session or two. It also works well as an introductory scenario to RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the plains of Prax and some of its peoples. It highlights the importance of tribal status, recent Praxian politics, and inter-tribal tensions as well as the importance of traditional events, whilst also placing the players and their characters as the outsiders due the inter-tribal tensions, which can lead to some interesting roleplaying in the scenario. However, as an introductory scenario, it could have done with a background sheet for the players that explained the recent history of the Sable Rider tribe and its relationship with the other tribes so that they would have a better understanding of the situation and these tensions. In the long term, another issue is that there is not the support readily available to continue playing these characters in the Prax setting. This should not be an issue for an experienced RuneQuest Game Master though, who should also be adapt the scenario to a different tribe should she want to for the purposes of her campaign.

Although it will need a little effort to bring out some of the tensions in the scenario to their fullest, The Hunt for the Storm Calf is an exciting scenario that offers a good mix of roleplaying opportunities and plenty of action as the Sable Riders race to restore their reputation.

Friday Fantasy: Stealing the Eye

Stealing the Eye is a smash and grab scenario. The Player Characters have to break into a temple, steal a jewel, and get out again. It is as simple that. Or rather, it is not that simple, because Stealing the Eye is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, the roleplaying game of myth and legend published by Chaosium, Inc.. That means there is vengeance and honour thrown into the mix. In the north of Dragon Pass, the lands of Tarsh have for decades been divided between Lunar Tarsh and Old Tarsh, the former under the heavy-handed influence of the Lunar Empire to the north which has long sought to spread its influence and that of the Red Goddess south. Part of this involves repurposing local temples and one of these, once dedicated to a daughter of the Earth goddess, Ernalda, has been rededicated to the worship of Yara Aranis, Goddess of Six Arms, Goddess of the Reaching Moon, and Goddess of the Glowline, the literal line that marks the magical border of the Lunar Empire. Now a band of adventurers from a Orlanthi clan of exiled traditionalists have decided to strike at the Lunars when they and their magics are at their weakest, on Black Moon Day, by breaking into the Temple of Yara Aranis, prying the opal from the forehead of her statue, and striking a blow to Lunar pride, for Orlanthi honour, and the prestige of their clan.

Stealing the Eye is a short and direct scenario, intended to be played in a single session. It comes with a set of four pre-generated Player Characters and can be played as a one-shot, making it suitable for convention play, or it can be added to an ongoing campaign, with the players’ own characters replacing those of the ones provided. Should the players bring their own characters, the Climb, Jump, and Move Quietly skills will probably be the most useful along with their combat skills. One character type that will be useful and one not normally found in typical Player Character groups in RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, is the Thief, whether a worshipper of Eurmal or Lanbril. One of the four pre-generated Player Characters is a thief. There is also another reason why a thief is needed and that is because Stealing the Eye has a bit of history to it—thematic history, that is.

Long time fans of RuneQuest and Glorantha will recognise that the cover of Stealing the Eye is a homage to the cover painting by Tom Sullivan for Gods of Glorantha, a box set published by Chaosium, Inc. and Avalon Hill in 1985. That depicts a pair of adventurers about to do exactly what the Player Characters are doing on the cover of Stealing the Eye. In turn, Tom Sullivan’s cover was inspired a classic piece of roleplaying art—the cover by Dave Trampier of The Player’s Handbook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. Which of course, depicted another adventuring party attempting to prise the jewels as eyes out of the statue of a demon. That cover to The Player’s Handbook is perhaps one of the most emulated and copied pieces of artwork in roleplaying history, both as homage and parody, but mainly within the Old School Renaissance segment of the hobby, so it is a pleasure to see it given a nod here.

The scenario begins en media res. The Player Characters, consisting of a Dancing Woman of Maran Gor and the group’s leader, a thief and initiate of Eurmal the Trickster (and also a Duck), an Orlanthi warrior, and a Humkati warrior. Both warriors are brothers. Their task is to break in, get past the guards and temple staff, and make their way to the statue of Yara Aranis—and that is the easy part. How the Player Characters deal with the statue is another matter. The Player Characters have been told that the old Earth spirits, active before when the Lunar Empire arrived and took over the temple, may still be present, just suppressed by Lunar magic. If the Player Characters can appease them, then they may be of some whelp whilst they are in the temple. This would be difficult at the best of times, but again, it is Black Moon Day, so the Lunar magics are at their weakest in the temple—so there is a good chance.

The Player Characters can approach the mission however they want, but the objective is straightforward enough and the scenario covers numerous ways in which they can break into the temple and carry out their mission. The emphasis is on stealth and action as well as making the best use of their magic, rather than roleplaying, and it is designed to be used with the RuneQuest Starter Set or the full rules of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. That said, if the Game Master is running the scenario for players new to Glorantha, it might be worth creating a cheat sheet for each of the Player Characters, in particular, highlighting how Runes, Passions, and spells can be used, since they are pivotal to the play of the scenario.

Physically, Stealing the Eye is nicely presented in the house style of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. It is well written and laid out, and both the cover and the single illustration inside are excellent. The character sheets pack a lot of information onto a single page, but there are no illustrations of the characters themselves. The only thing that is missing that would have been useful, would have been a players’ map of the temple, since their characters are told about the temple in some detail.

Stealing the Eye is a highly serviceable and straightforward scenario that presents a Gloranthan treatment of a classic roleplaying situation. It is easy to set up and run and flexible enough to be run as a single session one-shot, or easily inserted into a campaign.

Jonstown Jottings #71: The Lottery

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 Lottery is a scenario for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a thirty-one page, full colour, 11.4 MB PDF.

The layout is clean and tidy, and the artwork and cartography excellent. It needs an edit in places.

Where is it set?
The Lottery is set in the river valley of The Deep Cut, just inside the Glowline in Lunar Tarsh.

Who do you play?

A set of six pre-generated Player Characters are provided, all members of the same trade party from Esrolia.

What do you need?
The Lottery requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and the Glorantha Bestiary.

What do you get?

The Lottery is a one-shot scenario based on Shirly Jackson’s short story, ‘The Lottery’. It begins with an Esrolian trade caravan arriving at a village just inside the Glowline in Lunar Tarsh. Here its members get caught up in a macabre ritual—the voluntary sacrifice to the dread Crimson Bat of villagers, decided by lottery, in order to keep the rest of the village safe. With two members of the caravan taken, it is up to the Player Characters to persuade the villagers to stop this ghastly ritual and rescue their family members being taken away to be eaten!

The Lottery does start with a problem. It has to start with the ritual and get to the point where the cultists of the Crimson Bat take those selected by the lottery before the Player Characters can act. Which involves a fair degree of exposition. However, once the scenario proper does start and they can act, the Player Characters will find themselves racing up and down the valley to reach the other villages and try and persuade their inhabitants that the covenant between them and the Lunar Empire is based on a lie. Fortunately, the Player Characters do have proof, although exactly how is handled in game is underwritten.

Once past the set-up, the players and their characters are free to approach the situation however they want. The scenario focuses on the primary routes across the valley, the Player Characters having the advantage in terms of speed over the Crimson Bat cultists’ wagon, and the NPCs they will have to deal with in the various villages. For the players, there is a pre-generated character each, complete with illustration, whilst for the Game Master, there are stats for the abducted NPCs, the villagers and the local wyter, and the Crimson Bat cultists. There are several handouts and maps. There is also advice on the possible outcomes depending upon the actions of the Player Characters.

The Lottery is a short scenario, intended to be played in a single session. It could easily be run as a convention scenario. It is more difficult to run as a campaign scenario, primarily because the Player Characters are likely to have the Passion of antipathy towards the Lunar Empire and this will influence their initial reactions. None of the provided pre-generated Player Characters have such a Passion.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—The Lottery is a clever adaptation of a classic short story to Glorantha, which although requires a degree of exposition, leads to an exciting player driven situation.

No—The Lottery is of little use if the Game Master’s campaign is not set in Lunar Tarsh, or near there, or involves Player Characters who right from the start hate the Lunar Empire.

Maybe—The Lottery is a difficult scenario to use in an ongoing campaign, primarily due to geography and likely antipathy towards the Lunar Empire, and would be easier to run as a convention scenario.

Jonstown Jottings #44: Wenkarleos

 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?
Wenkarleos presents an NPC, his entourage, and associated cult for use with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is a thirty-one page, full colour, 2.23 MB PDF.

The layout is clean and tidy, and its illustrations good.

Where is it set?
Wenkarleos is nominally set in Tarsh and Sartar, but the NPC and his entourage can be encountered almost anywhere the Game Master decides.

Who do you play?
No specific character types are required to encounter Wenkarleos. Lunar Tarshites, Old Tarshites, and adherents of the Seven Mothers can have interesting interactions with Wenkarleos.

What do you need?
Wenkarleos requires RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. In addition, A Rough Guide to Glamour may be useful as an introduction to Lunar culture and politics, The Glorantha Sourcebook for recent history, and potentially the sourcebooks on Lunar Tarsh and Old Tarsh available for previous versions of the roleplaying game.

What do you get?

The second volume of ‘Monster of the Month’ presents not monsters in the sense of creatures and spirits and gods that was the feature of the first volume. Instead, it focuses upon Rune Masters, those who have achieved affinity with their Runes and gained great magics, mastered skills, and accrued allies—corporeal and spiritual. They are powerful, influential, and potentially important in the Hero Wars to come that herald the end of the age and beginning of another. They can be allies, they can be enemies, and whether ally or enemy, some of them can still be monsters.

The fourth entry is Wenkarleos, which describes a Rune Lord of the Seven Mothers. The ‘Gold-Giving Son of Gartred’, Wenkarleos of Furtherest is the head of the Gartredi Clan in Lunar Tarsh, a fierce supporter of King Pharandros and stalwart opponent of the Fazzursons faction in the civil war in Tarsh. He dreams of building a ‘Greater Tarsh’, but has been tasked with finding allies to support his side in the civil war. A former hoplite file leader and captain serving under the famous General Fazzur Wideread, he is rarely without a small cohort of troops, whom he trains hard to fight together, and whilst a good swordsman himself—though it helps that one of his bound spirits is an ancient spirit of kopises, he a skilled tactician and magician. In addition, like all Rune Lords, he is accompanied by his own retinue who include a loyal soldier, his Orlanthi lover and spy, and a Lunar sorcerer, who serves as his war caster. All four are fully detailed, including their equipment, their spells, and any allied or bound spirits. Some of these will prove entertaining for the Game Master to roleplay, such as ‘Abeladrus’ Tankard’, occupied by the spirit of a former labourer who possesses defeated opponents and drives them to drink and the Mistress of Unconditional Desires drives her victims mad through visions and sensations as she reveals the unconditional love and acceptance of the Lunar Way.

As well as presenting Wenkarleos and his retinue, the supplement discusses his tactics—particularly the way in which he has drilled his soldiers with certain set manoeuvres, and his extensive use of magic, including the use of the Multispell Rune spell, spell matrix enchantments, and high storage of personal POW, often donated by his loyal followers, who are in turn handsomely rewarded. Both the use of the Multispell Rune spell and spell matrix enchantments are fairly complex, so will need careful study upon the part of the Game Master to use effectively in-game.

It also suggests how Wenkarleos can be used in-game, whether as an ally or an enemy, potentially serving as a source of conflict with Tarshites—Lunar or not, especially if like Vostor from The Broken Tower, has the Passion of Hate (King Pharandros). Thus he can be used to pull the Player Characters into the Tarshite Civil War, and thus later, events during the early years of the Hero Wars and the rise of Argrath Whitebull. There is potential here for a long-term campaign in which as allies or agents of Wenkarleos, the Player Characters will be facing agents of Argrath Whitebull’s allies in the Tarshite Civil War. Either way, Wenkarleos is best introduced early on in a campaign. Of course, an Orlanthi or Sartarite campaign would more likely to see Wenkarleos as the enemy, and that may preclude his use in some campaigns.

Lastly, two adventure seeds are included, though both use as an enemy rather than an ally. A new magical item, Philigos Medallions, is also described. These were made by King Phargentes of Tarsh and grant those attuned with them the Sense Assassin skill.

Is it worth your time?

Yes—Wenkarleos presents a potentially interesting ally or enemy who can be used to draw a campaign into the politics of Tarsh and the early years of the Hero Wars, and so provide some time in the spotlight for any Tarshite or Seven Mothers-worshipping Player Characters.

No—Wenkarleos presents connections to Tarsh which may draw a campaign set in Sartar too far north and as yet, the politics and situation in Tarsh in the period when RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha is set, remain relatively unexplored.

Maybe—Wenkarleos presents a potentially interesting ally or enemy, whose politics may radically differ from the Player Characters or the campaign, and who may just a little too complex in terms of his magic to use easily.