The Glorantha Has Talent? has come to a close and we can officially say that, indeed, Glorantha Has Talent! You can listen to Episode 8 of our podcast to hear the judges discuss and comment on the submissions we’ve received.
If, however, you’re the kind of person who reads a Lhankor Mhy grimoire starting from the last page, then here are the winners and honourable mentions, with links to listen to each individually! This is also where you can listen to some of them in stereo, as the podcast is produced in mono.
Before we get to it, we want to thank all our contestants for their hard work, all our sponsors for generously offering prizes, and all our judges for their wisdom and their immense patience as they realized that we have no idea how to record a podcast…. but now, without further ado…
Prince of Entertainment: Now That’s What I Call Illumination!
Our winner is “Now That’s What I Call Illumination!”, by Chris Killey, Leah Owen, Liesl Rowe, and Tim Hunt (full credits below).
Greetings Initiate, Welcome to your first guided illumination session. Our priestesses are here to walk with you every step of the way towards Her blessing and secrets. We would advise listening to these sessions with headphones on and in a darkened room, with only Her, and You and Us. May your illumination in Her light bring you wonders initiate. All Hail the Reaching Moon.
You can play this relaxing performance in its glorious original stereo… headphones recommended!
The full credits are as follow:
Produced and Directed by Chris Killey
Written by Leah Owen and Chris Killey
Performed by Leah Owen and Liesl Rowe
Original Music by Tim Hunt
Fire sound effect courtesy of the BBC Sound Studio Library
Cover Art by Leah Owen
Chieftain of Entertainment: Crestfallen Carl
The second place goes to “Crestfallen Carl”, by Tony Davis.
No other documents were submitted, except for some “apologies to but without copyright violations towards Tom Waits”!
Thane of Entertainment: The Eye of Yinkin
And the third place goes to “The Eye of Yinkin”, by Stephen Lucek.
The lyrics, for those who want to sing along, are provided:
Through Thunderous Hills, Yinkin prowls, he hunts by the light of a diamond strewn sky. In the Starfire Peaks, by chasm and fall, and the pool of regret, stand trees proud and tall. ‘Neath their roots a lost kingdom, haunted by glories past, where the eye of Yinkin burns bright and cold.
Dragon stir, heroes arise, and a queen grimly sits on a throne seized by blood. A star on her brow, she broods on her loss; a kingdom hard won, by the death of her kin. Her foes now march, revenge in their hearts, so arise and take sword, to die for your queen.
Honourable Mentions
These other submissions didn’t win, but they’re well worth listening to!
Andrin the Brave
Andrin the Brave, by Alex Jones.
I was just a boy When the red moon rose in the sky Prayed all day Chalana Arroy Heal that scar in the heavens on high
I’m fighting to free my homeland From Lunar conquest that destroyed my tribe I’m fighting to avenge the fallen Against chaos magics that wreak destruction
My father taught me well To serve Orlanth the King of the Gods Live wild and free, your own path you must seek Travel Glorantha to Kero Fins peak
I raise my sword shouting triumphantly As I stand over a defeated foe The battle rages around me, bronze clashing against bronze Lances breaking on shield walls
I remember my first pilgrimage Climbing that steep spike to the sky Birthplace of Orlanth, Wintertop Fearing the storm that I might die
Then I see fear in my comrades eyes He’s seen his death and I wonder why Then a terrible roar born of ten thousand dead or more As a great dark shadow is cast from above
My father said do not be afeared Because death is just part of life in this world Now pick up your sword, there’s adventures ahead This great mythic world must be explored
The colossal Crimson Bats wings block the stars Its terrible eyes staring hungrily through my soul I scream my last war cry, praying to Orlanth for strength As I charge sword first into its great bloody maw
Andrin the brave they called me And I fought to see Sartar free My part in the struggle is over But yours has just begun
A Joke
Jeremy Wong graced us with a simple but effective joke that got the judges talking for long time on the podcast!
A Glorantha’s Bard Tale
A Glorantha’s Bard Tale, by Michael Hammons.
Leika’s Eulogy for Kallyr
Leika’s Eulogy for Kally, by Morgan Conrad.
“Six score and eleven years ago, our father Sartar brought forth, in Dragon Pass,a new kingdom, conceived in unity, and dedicated to the worship of Orlanth and Ernalda.
Now we are engaged in a great war, testing whether our kingdom, or any kingdom so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure.We have come to commemorate a great hero, to honor and remember she who gave her life, that our kingdom might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this hero.Kallyr Starbrow, while living and dead, who struggled for us, consecrated herself far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what The Starbrow has done.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which Kallyr Starbrow has thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from her honored death we take increased devotion to that cause for which she gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that the Queen of Sartar shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under Orlanth, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that a kingdom of the Father, of the Mother, for their people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Hello and welcome to another issue of Wind Whispers. As always, if you’re reading this in a web browser, you can register by email to receive your Gloranthan fix directly in your inbox.
Last week-end we saw the Glorantha Games 2020 and AlbaCon 2020 online conventions, with lots of opportunities to play on our favourite Bronze Age fantasy lozenge. Do you have anecdotes to share? Summaries and play reports posted on your blog or social media? Share them with us!
James Chambers, a.k.a. JamesCORP from the Chambers of Roleplay YouTube channel (which features a couple of Gloranthan actual plays), is organizing the appropriately named “Convention of Roleplay” on December 19th and 20th. As is tradition these days, this is a fully online convention, so you can attend from wherever and whenever you are in the mundane spacetime.
There is no schedule available yet as the convention was only just announced, and they’re just calling on GMs to register games. If you have ever wanted to run a convention game, now is a good opportunity to do so! All the information you need is on the convention’s Warhorn page.
Chaosium
Casting a wide net on The Pegasus Plateau writers
On the Chaosium blog, MOB writes about how Jason Durall, line editor for RuneQuest, has “cast a wide net” when it came to putting together the adventures and settings of The Pegasus Plateau. You may also be interested in this older interview of Kalin Kadiev, art director on The Pegasus Plateau.
Which RuneQuest logo do you like?
Speaking of the Pegasus Plateau, some eagle-eyed (griffin-eyed?) community members pointed out that the RuneQuest logo typography had changed between The Smoking Ruin and The Pegasus Plateau. Here are the two covers:
The French artist is still hard at work on the many, many illustrations of the Cults of Glorantha book (or whatever it’s called these days), but he took some time to share his take on the Trolls’ War God with us! What do you think?
Chaosium shared this cartographic work-in-progress by Matt Ryan (who worked on some of the cartography in The Pegasus Plateau)… this is looking really nice and very readable:
Wait, did we say this was the map? No! This is only about 20% of the map!
Jonstown Compendium
Children of Melikaphkaz
Austin Conrad’s “Monster of the Month” series continues with “Children of Melikaphkaz“, which doubles as a preview of some other upcoming Jonstown Compendium entry called “Melikaphkaz: the O-God of Traps”.
Melikaphkaz is a Darkness god worshiped by those who build traps and defenses to create shelter in a hostile world.
This includes a new short-form cult, two new Rune spells, and, of course, some baddies to throw at your players: the titular children of Melikaphkaz and his immortal troll wife.
Elsewhere on Solara’s Web
Printed Glorantha Minis on HeroForge
The good people of the (unofficial) Chaosium Discord have been playing with HeroForge, a miniatures 3d printing service, trying to make designs for Gloranthan characters… check out what user Mirza was able to come up with: Jar-Eel, Harrek, and Gbaji!
Do you have HeroForge designs you’d like to share?
Tales from the Black Alynx
Neil Gibson, from The RuneQuest Project actual play podcast, is starting a new series called “Tales from the Black Alynx” in which he will talk to a variety of Jonstown Compendium authors. In the first episode he’s talking to Andrew Logan Montgomery, author of the very popular “Six Seasons in Sartar”. We’re glad to hear more Gloranthan authors interviews out there!
Both setting and system deliver on everything they promised. The backstories go deep into the core of the adventures, the challenges are unique, the flavour is one-of-a-kind, the colours are vibrant, and the smells are breathtaking. It has a few warts (it could have helped the GM much more than it currently does), yet this doesn’t change anything. Buy, prepare, and play immediately; do not let it linger on your bookshelf.
Eric Vanel’s sculptures
Have you seen Eric Vanel’s sculpture of Jar-Eel before? Even if you have you can take a new look at it on Eric’s new website, which shows a few pictures of his creation process!
Meanwhile, on Earth
Heler isn’t happy about you
Check out this “wet micro burst” timelapse…. where in Glorantha is that?
A ‘tsunami from heaven' over Lake Millstatt in Austria.
Welcome to the 10th issue of Wind Whispers! If you’re reading this in a web browser, you can subscribe via email and get your Gloranthan fix directly in your inbox.
You might remember that we previously advertised Pookie‘s “Glorantha Games 2020“, a one-day, online convention dedicated to… well, exactly what you’d expect given the name. Sign-up for games is now open but be warned that spots are filling in quickly! There are slightly more attendees than available spots so the organizers have limited everybody to only one game for now… choose wisely!
Organizers are also making another call for Gamemasters to add more sessions, so now is the time to finally run that all-Eurmal adventure or mischief and mayhem you always wanted to!
Chaosium
Moon Design Publications transfers ownership of the HeroQuest trademark to Hasbro
The decades-old confusion between “HeroQuest” (the classic boardgame), “HeroQuest” (the roleplaying-game), and “heroquest” (the Gloranthan activity of mythic re-enactment) is about to get a lot simpler! As you may remember from the last Wind Whispers, Hasbro was recently teasing a revival of the beloved 80’s boardgame. The countdown has finished and the game has been announced: without much surprise, this is a reboot of the original game, but with modern production values and a somewhat “Wizards of Coast”-esque art direction.
Note that the game is being crowdfunded on Habro’s own Kickstarter-esque platform “Hasbro Pulse”. You may be put off by the estimated shipping fees if you live out of the USA, however.
The latest adventure book for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, “The Pegasus Plateau & Other Stories“, is out in hardback. The awesome adventures within feature festivals, griffins, haunted woods, troll caravans, and much more! Plus: a Greg Stafford cameo!
While some of us in the Great North or the Upside-Down are waiting for this book to show up in our local Chaosium warehouse, those of you in the USA and Europe can grab it right away!
As always with Chaosium’s generous PDF policy, if you bought this in PDF, you should have received a coupon for the physical book. Just remember to ask Chaosium for a combined coupon if you are doing a bulk purchase, as their online shop doesn’t support multiple coupons.
The Whispering Ruins
The Whispering Ruins is a short adventure seed originally published in the convention booklet (there used to be such things) for Dragonmeet 2019. Chaosium has made it available as a free PDF on their itch.io storefront.
Joerg’s eagle eye spotted something interesting in the marketing material at the end of the PDF, however: an announcement for “Gods of Glorantha”, mentioning about (only) 50 cults, rather than the 100 that Jeff originally announced. We’re not sure yet what this means, although we have a few ideas… do you want to speculate with us? Send us your theories!
Jonstown Compendium
Kingdom of the Flamesword
Did you like the medieval take on the Genertelan West featured in the HeroQuest sourcebook “The Book of Glorious Joy“? If so, Jamie Revell is back with the “Kingdom of the Flamesword“, which presents Seshnela as a “land of knights and wizards, humble peasants and demure damsels”. By the admission of the author, this is a non-canonical take on Glorantha, but that’s what the Jonstown Compendium is here for!
In a Merry Green Vale
Viven Prigent has been working on French material for the Lysang clan for a long while, so we’re delighted to see all this work translated to English and available for the masses in this system-less sourcebook! “In A Merry Green Vale” presents the original settlers of the Arfritha Vale, and closes the gap between the Colymar tribe (presented in Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes and the RuneQuest Gamemaster Adventures) and the Cinsina tribe (presented in The Coming Storm). Everything you need to run a Lysang clan game is provided: the history and deities of the clan, the wyter and other clan secrets, the clan ring and political situation, a gazeteer of the vale, etc.
The book uses a clever premise to resolve the difference between character knowledge and player knowledge, which is a common problem with Gloranthan campaigns. As Nick Brooke puts it in his capsule review:
The adventurers are the children of exiles, returning under an amnesty to a homeland they’ve never known, so the players can discover details of the setting alongside their characters.
The author promises an upcoming scenario pack for the Lysang clan. We can’t wait!
Around Solara’s Web
Thomas Rey’s portfolio
Thomas is the cartographer for the French version of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha (which we mentioned in the past as it was being successfully crowdfunded). His online portfolio includes Greebrass and Swenstown, so here’s your chance for a sneak peek at them!
Timeline of Gloranthan fanzines
The ever busy Nick Brooke has been making a Timeline of Gloranthan Fanzines, which he posted on the RuneQuest Facebook group. Here’s what it looks like:
It really helps puts in perspective how these different fanzine runs built upon each other! The 90s and early 2000s were really a busy time for the Gloranthan community… big thanks to all those grognards who participated in it!
This may not quite be an appropriate weapon for Glorantha, unless you apply an alchemical switch between Quicksilver and Aluminum, or some sorcery to an aluminum blade (the incorrect spelling of aluminium is intentional, here…), but under MGF (“Maximum Game Fun”), anything is possible, really!
Why not steel or bronze? Steel is a dwarven concept, and we don’t see any mostali using this. In addition, the eastern Babadi are Octamonists typically refuse to deal with the Death Metal. Bronze simply doesn’t behave like this. Water on the other hand has the whip as one of its elemental weapons, so something could be done there…
Do you have any ideas to incorporate flexible weapons to Glorantha? Let’s hear them!
Blue People, for Real
Whether you are a fan of the smurfs, or a fan of the various Gloranthan people with equally blue skin, you might be interested in this article on “blue people” in Kentucky (even though the photograph is evidently a colorized monochrome image).
Legion is the silver best-selling Broo NPC supplement for GMs running RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha games.
Broo are a prolific and varied adversary. This supplement provides 94 pre-rolled Chaos enemies from the aspirant lay members to deadly Rune Lord / Priests as well as new deadly diseases that will challenge even the most dedicated Chalana Arroy priestess. Includes 4 beautiful, full colour, full page Broo portraits.
After checking with our existing participants, we have decided to extend the submission deadline for Glorantha Has Talent?. We would like to see a few more folks sign up for a chance at our great prizes written and lovingly illustrated by ever so many wonderful people! The fine and grand titles we bestow and of course, the accolades love and adoration of glorantha-philes everywhere are just those little extras, special treats. So, to our great contestants, we hope you will all be okay with this delay and in the spirit of sportsmanship allow us to ramp up the competition a bit more. We talked among ourselves and unanimously (Podcast crew, Judges and our wonderful Sponsors) have decided we would extend Glorantha Has Talent?’s deadline by two weeks to get a bit more interest and beyond interest… ENTRIES!
Glorantha Has Talent?’s new and final deadline will be October the 5th at 12:00 AM or 2400 hours PDT (Pacific Daylight Savings Time) or about 2 weeks from now.
I am taking a bit of a chance here putting this forward without my partners—but I would be willing to say we can have the Prince of Entertainment (our first place winner) appear on the Wind Words podcast to tell us about their fantastic winning work. Woohoo. Heck, maybe even ask Joerg about lore…
Welcome to another issue of Wind Whispers. If you’re reading this in a web browser, you can subscribe via email and receive every new issue directly in your inbox.
For the past 30 years or so, one would have had to find them on the second-hand markets, often featuring damaged box corners and margin annotations. These new POD versions won’t have the boxes and loose papers, but they will be much more affordable and annotation-free!
Most of the RQ2 books never had any handouts. Large poster maps are already available on redbubble.com.
What few handouts there are for Borderlands and such can all be easily printed from the PDF. None of those were ever in color, nor did they go to the edges of the page.
All of the red bubble maps for RQ2 are EXACTLY like the original map. We didn’t remove ANYTHING from them. We specifically set them up to go with these books, not as some “piece of art” devoid of game useful details. If you take a look at any of them you will see they have a legend on them.
We don’t need a license to do the Avalon Hill era RQ3 supplements. Chaosium retained the copyright, especially on all the Gloranthan supplements. Greg got all that as his part of the split of Chaosium’s assets when he left the company in 1998, and Moon Design bought it all from him in 2013. Many of the RQ3 supplements that were RQ2 updates, like Apple Lane, Snake Pipe Hollow, the Gloranthan Bestiary, and TrollPak aren’t worth reprinting (at least beyond the TrollPak map). They aren’t different enough. The Monster Coliseum and Griffin Island boxed sets, RQ Cities are too generic. Daughters of Darkness and Eldarad are a hard pass. Not much point in reprinting Gods of Glorantha, Troll Gods, Elder Secrets, or the Genertela boxed sets as that range of info is already in print in a more comprehensive fashion, or soon will be. Reprinting Vikings and Land of Ninja are tempting, but they are not a priority. That just leaves Sun County, Strangers in Prax, Shadows on the Borderland, Dorastor, and Lords of Terror. We might reprint the first three, and maybe do the last two as a combo reprint, but I haven’t spent any time thinking about that. I would like to get the Troubled Waters scenario from River of Cradles reprinted, but I wouldn’t reprint the rest of the book since Pavis and Big Rubble are both available again.
Rick Meints
Let’s look at Rick’s shelves, featuring the new POD books (above), while we wait for a potential POD version of Wyrms Footnotes or, even, maybe, Tales of the Reaching Moon…
Chaosium at PAX Online
PAX 2020 Online is now finished and Chaosium has posted a summary of their events from last week. Following are a few highlights, but, most importantly, remember that Chaosium is running a 10% off sale at their website until the end of the month, using the “PAXONLINE2020” coupon code! It was supposed to only run during the duration of the convention, but it looks like they extended it by a week!
RuneQuest Live
Chaosium’s Todd Gardiner led a group of well-tattooed players through their first RuneQuest adventure…. finally, a game that features an Eurmali trickster!
Myth and Fantasy Gaming Panel
Glorantha’s Jeff Richard and Pendragon’s David Larkins are joined by video-game narrative designer Merry Borys-Piątkowska to talk about bringing mythic themes in gaming experiences.
Tips for writing in the RPG industry
Are you a Jonstown Compendium author, or are you thinking of becoming one? Community programs like these (including the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu and Explorer’s Society for 7th Sea) are great ways of getting started. Chaosium’s Michal O’Brien (MOB) talks about it as part of a PAX Online panel on getting started on the RPG industry.
Jeff Richard interview on Niezwykłe Przygody
Polish RPG YouTube channel “Niezwykłe Przygody” (Google Translate tells me it means “Unusual Adventures”) has an English interview of Jeff Richard. It doesn’t contain much new information but, as always, there might be new details and anecdotes you haven’t heard before. In any case, I’m sure giving a thumbs up to a RuneQuest video is never a bad idea!
Gloranthan Maps at RedBubble
This will become more relevant as the aforementioned classic RQ2 print-on-demand books become available: many Gloranthan maps are available on Chaosium’s RedBubble store as posters, canvas, pouches, and even blankets! Among the most recently added items we have a remastered Sun County map, featured in the picture above.
Jonstown Compendium news
Since the Jonstown Compendium is hosted on DriveThruRPG, you might be interested to know that an optical and organizational change is upcoming. You can test the new look and feel on their “preview” website. There doesn’t seem to be any broad “community content” link on the front page anymore, but you can still get to the Jonstown Compendium via Chaosium’s publisher page. Our own Joerg likes the useful filter options on top, and Ludo appreciates the prettier and less cluttered layout that features bigger covers. What do you think?
Legion
Neil Gibson gives us a huge collection of Broo NPCs to stink up your games with danger and disease! The book has beautiful illustrations, various levels of detail between various NPCs, and new deadly diseases to challenge even the most dedicated Chalana Arroy healer. And, in case Broos make you go “ewww”, there is no mention of their breeding practices, so you can use this book to bring pure heavy metal goat-headed monsters to your table, without any of the problematic stuff!
War Elephants of Fonrit
After producing the impressive Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass and Men of the West, Martin Helsdon doesn’t seem to be able to stop: apparently, his idea of “taking a break” is “producing a smaller book”. We’re not going to complain! His latest work is a small booklet titled War Elephants of Fonrit, which should pretty much tell you what it’s about.
Across Solara’s web
Rollenspiel in Glorantha
Our German correspondent reports that the German translation of “RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha” managed the basic funding in less than 90 minutes, which means that there will be German language rules. Now we are looking at how big it can become. Half of the stretch-goals are waiting: mainly digital excerpts from the GM Screen package, and the Colymar tribal and clan lands maps also in printed form, translated where necessary.
Sandy Petersen, of Glorantha and Call of Cthulhu fame (among many others), has a video channel mainly focused on Mythos related topics. However, his recent dive into the lifespans of various lifeforms, including alien ones, is full of ideas also appropriate for fantasy roleplaying (including a small jab at D&D!). What do you think the lifespans of various Gloranthan species is? Does the Man Rune dictate the life-spans of Gloranthan humanoids?
HeroQuest (the other one) is coming back?
The Avalon Hill website is featuring a countdown for something related to the old and legendary HeroQuest board game. The trademark had been abandoned some time in 2001 and Greg Stafford acquired it, making it possible to rename the then recent “HeroWars” into the “HeroQuest” we know and love. Last year, the trademark saw a bit of paperwork movement, seemingly letting Hasbro own it for board games, while Moon Design (and therefore Chaosium) retains it for roleplaying games. GeekNative has a bit more context… what do you think it is? Well, we won’t have much longer to find out.
Nick Brooke in Black Gate magazine
The previously mentioned Black Gate online magazine recently featured an article by Nick Brooke. As you might expect, Nick writes about A Rough Guide to Glamour, the Jonstown Compendium, Tales of the Reaching Moon, and other Brookian topics.
RuneQuest combat example
If you have a bit of trouble wrapping your head around the crunchy combat system of RuneQuest (we’re not going to blame you on that), playing an example combat might help. BRP forum member Trotsky took it a step further and wrote down his experience, along with nice screenshots of his Roll20 setup. Later, Runeblogger got the permission to post the whole thing on his blog for posterity. Check it out! Can you spot any mistakes? Did you learn something?
Meanwhile, on Earth
Longhouses aren’t just for Vikings
This short video shows us that some inspiration for Orlanthi culture doesn’t necessarily come from the Vikings. Linear Band Ceramic (LBK) culture brought agriculture, long houses, and a social segregation into carls and cottars during the neolithic period. The video is full of story seeds, even if some of the presented material is speculation. Our hobby is a speculative one, so who cares?
LBK is one of the first “Hill Barbarian”-like cultures in Europe, even though they spread along river valleys, whereas Gloranthan rivers invaded pre-existing agricultural lands. But that is a potential topic for a podcast episode.
Some suggested reading comes in the video description, so if you have access to a university library or another academic outlet, hunt these up!
Exploring Roman cities
The always fascinating Digital Maps of the Ancient World has a compilation of Roman cities you can explore as a superimposition of points of interests on Google Maps. You might get some good scenario or NPC ideas after clicking on a few buildings!
And now, for something completely different
We know that many Gloranthan gamemasters play an incredibly diverse and, sometimes, ahem, “original” musical selection during their games. So what about, say, a cover of a Nirvana song in classical Latin? (Joerg is guessing that it might be titled “Olet de anima decennialorum”)
There are quite a few other “anachronistic” covers around on the tube, which some people call “bardcore” with a tongue firmly planted in the cheek. Check out some medieval ACDC or Metallica, for instance, or maybe even some Deep Purple!
How to find out how the winners are chosen & then how they (the winners) will choose their prizes…
We all know how a Prince, Chieftain, or Thane of Entertainment will be chosen, right? No? Well, head right on over to the our contest’s site in the “Cloud” and check out the Rules as pertains to Judges.
The Prince, as chosen by our wonderful judges, gets the first and the fourth choices of the prizes. The Chieftain gets the second choice and The Thane (number one in our hearts, but number three in the selection process) chooses … well, 3rd!
The Booty!
Head to godlearners.com/blog to see more about the contest and read about the fantastic prizes Psst, c’mere kid, we can sneak you one more peek at the covers right here…
Every one’s favourite “animated war chariot bent on carnage” returns. This time in Japanese. But beware, my Japanese friends, this adventure is reputed to have a bit if a kick. Adjudicate accordingly
Rune Quest Germany!
RQ G begins translation & Crowd funding news
Joerg delves deep into the German news and comes up hoping for gold!
The German edition of RuneQuest. Roleplaying in Glorantha is finally moving onward!
Patric Göetz, the proprietor of Uhrwerk Verlag, the German licensee for RQG, did have to shoulder an insolvency through 2019, which really threw a spanner into his plans on having this game out already.
Uhrwerk Verlag publishes one original German RPG and setting, Splittermond (“splintered moon”, and no, this is not a Gloranthan 4th Age utopia), and various German translations of well-established English RPGs like Fate,Numenera, Coriolis. (“Uhrwerk” means clockwork.)
Uhrwerk Verlag has successfully overcome that insolvency, and work on the translation has gone on even when the fate of the publisher wasn‘t absolutely clear, but in January Patric was back in control of his business, and now he has named a date for the crowdfunding of the German edition of the rules.
Crowdfunding a translation of an RPG into another language is a common approach, as it gives the publisher a solid number of sold copies and hence a much lower risk. This is true for translations into English from other languages, too.
Anyway, Patric announced on tanelorn.net, a venerable German language forum for all things about RPGs, that – barring major unforeseen calamities – the crowdfunding will run from September 18th to October 12th.
The object of this crowd-funding will be just the RQG rules book, not the entire slipcase edition. The Bestiary will be the next item down the line, but its realization will depend on the success of the crowdfunding for the rules book. Any hopes for getting the slipcase edition translated and published from this crowdfunding was a tad too optimistic.
Production options are said to include standard (cardboard cover, colourfully printed), leatherette, or genuine leather, plus pdf.
Danke Schön, Jörg! Nice digging! Go to Rune Quest Germany in Discord for more info!
Jonstown Compendium News
Secrets of Dorastor
Short note on a very quiet week for the Jonstown Compendium.
Simon Phipp had informed BRP Central, just before we went to press, of a major update to his Secrets of Dorastor, by Master Gollum to make it like the classic mode of yesteryear’s classic Dorastor: Land of Doom! If you have already bought this work head to the Jonstown Compendium for your free update. Still here is what we do know.
Oh, and here is a peek at the Secrets to Dorastor’s innards thanks to Simon! Yum!
So, of course, there will be much more to come in future Wind Whispers issues! One quiet week in how many busy ones? Not so bad, eh?
From the Spider’s Web
News of Glorantha caught in our webs from elsewheres in the cyber realms.
Roleplaying and GM notes mostly in Gloranthan context
Hannu Kokko has been a friend of Glorantha for forever. Interestingly he does not play in your more traditional gaming systems for the world but uses Mythras (formerly RQ6).
There is a wealth of Gloranthan Gold here and great tools for his favourite version of d100 games!
Hats off to Hannu Kokko! Give his site a look!
From BRP Central
Walrus Ivory and Orlanthi Naval Culture?
Today’s treats from BRP Central are two fine treatises. The first is on Ivory and trade in a topic created by Garrik, and then we take a look at the can of worms opened by Joerg in his topic on why naval cultures and the Orlnathi do not jive in his Glorantha!
Joerg gets us all started and then like a true Eurmali devotee sits back and watches the action unfold!
“As always, in case you’re in need of rumors to fill column inches…
“September’s Monster of the Month will be titled Children of Melikaphkaz. Who’s Melikaphkaz? Why, he’s the O-God of Traps! What’s an O-God? I’m not telling you yet. You’ll get to meet his children this month—those which serve as cult spirits, anyway—along with a short-form version of his cult, but it will still be some time before Melikaphkaz is ready to publish.”
Austin
“Nice! So many mysteries! So many secrets! Wait… was that email a trap itself? Anyway, thanks for the rumour as always ;)”
Ludo.
I suspect a plant in Ye Olde Rumour Tables this week… a ringer, if you will. I mean (and trust me, I will get to the truth of this), that would give this rumour an A… too Awful to contemplate. So in the end I will have to rate this rumour a T… for Too good to be true…
Take it away Pookie (quoted from his post on BRP Central).
“Glorantha Games 2020: Glorantha at Home takes place on Saturday, October 3rd.”
“We are looking for Game Masters to run scenarios set in Glorantha using RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, QuestWorlds (HeroQuest), 13th Age Glorantha, and RuneQuest Classic.
“Plenty of slots open and we definitely need more GMs and more games.
“Let us know if you want to be a GM and send us your scenario.”
From BRP Central
A Noob’s Rough Guide to PAX ONLINE
Does that wonderful green bring to mind retro 80s video games?
So, events for 9 days and for the full 24 hours of the day! 24/9! So, how could I choose, how could I decide that I want to catch: this panel or should I try to look in on that event? It’s not science folks, I have no idea what I am doing. Limited convention experience, doncha know. So, I chose by luck and daring. I guessed.
There are four broad categories, here I find that I have chosen, again with no forethought having passed my fevered brow other than that of the looming deadline. The long past looming deadline…
In no particular order the categories I went with were: 1) Glorantha-ness, 2) the Ability to inspire creativity in Gloranthan games (sometimes a stretch or hell, perhaps I even make an error, did I say I knew what was doing?), 3) Music (all the podcast crew are musicians) and finally, with what is happening in our world—4) Inclusivity. A word on the final category; I am of a certain gender and of a certain age, I mean really—again I have no idea what I am talking about—so, I am going to do myself a favour and catch the Black In Game panel, and a few of the LGBQT panels, the indigenous panels… well you get my drift. I am going to look around at the con, have a game or two and some fun, and learn a bit as well.
The final category, I have not yet mentioned. It was important that the item I listed had caught my eye. Nothing fancy or grand, just that it made me want to see what it was about. Oh. and I guess the first entry has no category at all except, “So, are ya new in town, sailor?”
Lastly a few housekeeping notes.
So. I have ordered the chosen events below by date from Saturday the 12th until Sunday the 20th. The events by the hours in each properly sorted day may be sorted in chronological order or they might not. All times given are in Mountain Daylight Time. Set your clocks accordingly.
Not to be lazy, but the text is the original text from the PAX schedules. I would not be able to do better not having seen the events. This podcast is not making anything by doing this, no financial gain and time and resources this year are limited but most importantly we simply want to give an assist to worthy endeavours in our fave world for our favourite games. This was the easiest and best way to achieve that! The individuals involved in the events will know the best way to present their event and there is no way I can top that.
Next, some items are prerecorded and a look at Pax’s schedule will reveal which ones these are. In fact, the following picks are not a replacement for their schedule by any stretch of the imagination They are simply… well as I said above, guesses made by a near noob at cons on which items might be cool to participate in or that I might learn from. Lastly, check it out, they have all the overlapping events items listed in each entry so you can make an educated choice on where you should be or maybe it could have you flipping back and forth between two or three events. (the number of events and festivals I attend that could use this but do not, well I could just spit) I suspect there is at least one error in the times below, there may be more. so to be safe, always refer to the schedule at Pax Online for the (more?) correct info.
What little italicized found text below is mine. All other is the event’s organizer or their representative.
This first article is kind of like the city that is so great everyone says its name twice. NY, NY! I thought this was so great for the noob that I list the time and place above… twice! And you though I goofed.
New to PAX? New to doing virtual cons? The Orientation panel returns to unleash a barrage of tips, tricks, and hints that’ll help you maximize your PAX XP. Hear from members of the industry during this fun, inclusive panel designed to help you make the most of the first-ever virtual PAX.
PANELISTS
Miellyn Fitzwater Barrows [Writer, Gorgeous Robot], Carmen Askerneese [Game Writer, Self], Ash Sevilla [Community Manager, Parallel Space Inc], Cissy Jones [Voice Actor, Three in a Row, Inc.], Erin Fusco [America’s Best Friend, Private Citizen]
Collaborative Homebrew 101: A Cure for the Common Murderhobo
We’ve all been there: After hours of meticulously planning an epic campaign, our players kill the quest NPC and run off after the first shiny thing they see. The cure for this problem may be easier than you think. With your help we’ll create a world from scratch, and then we’ll crowdsource some story hooks with the audience to create a whole campaign of our own. You can steal this adventure and use it in your own game, or steal the techniques and keep your players chomping at the bit.
PANELISTS
Adam Johns [Executive Director / Therapeutic Game Master, Game to Grow], Adam Davis [Executive Director / Therapeutic Game Master, Game to Grow], Lauren Urban [Community Manager, DnD Beyond], Lauren Bond [Content Creator, RandomTuesday], Cicero Holmes [“Perrin”, Rivals of Waterdeep]
Sunday
Inclusion and Sensitivities of Indigenous Culture in Games
During this talk Phoebe Watson, a proud Yarrer Gunditj woman, will speak about her experience in the processes she takes to include Aboriginal Culture into the game InnChanted. Highlighting the benefits of including Aboriginal culture in games and the importance of it along the way. She will also discuss how to approach this for developers who are uncertain about how to begin the process and what to keep in mind.
PANELISTS
Phoebe Watson
Fantasy and Indigenous Culture: Collaborating with First Nations Musicians on the Innchanted Soundtrack
How does a non-Indigenous composer try to create an Indigenous Australian game score? By connecting with some of the most talented Indigenous Australian musicians around.
Composer Meena Shamaly details his process of collaborating with First Nations musicians to create a culturally respectful, celebratory, and entertaining score to InnChanted, a game set in a fantasy Australian world. It is a process of complete openness and extensive cultural dialogue, as well as collaborative experimentation and free-spirited improvisation from the musicians. Meena draws on his knowledge as a game composer, his own cultural experience as a session musician, and his extensive research involved in presenting the music of video games on ABC Classic (not to mention his lifelong obsession with video game music).
This talk will break down Meena’s sessions and conversations with some of Australia’s most talented First Nations musicians, including Allara Briggs-Pattison (NIMA 2020 finalist for New Talent of the Year), Kiernan Ironfield (of DRMNGNOW), and Eric Avery (renowned violinist, dancer, and creator of Dancing with Strangers). It will showcase how a game score can be composed not just in response to the game itself, but also to the musicians’ innate connection to culture and language, no matter the instruments on which they express themselves.
The Black In Gaming Awards is an annual event that recognizes the achievement of black gaming professionals. We build an inclusive community by championing diversity in video game development and we are committed to creating a pipeline of opportunity for the cultivation and advancement of diverse talent. Black In Gaming (BIG) is dedicated to cultivating, supporting, and promoting Black professionals in the game industry.
A live concert from amazing Brisbane-based musician, Karl Smith, playing a dynamic set of music inspired by a lifelong love of games. See more at https://thelyrical.com/
Join Chaosium’s Jeff Richard (RuneQuest, The Guide to Glorantha) and David Larkins (Berlin The Wicked City, King Arthur Pendragon) as we talk about the mythology behind Fantasy RPG and how to bring mythic themes into your gaming experiences. We’ll draw on real world historical mythology (King Arthur Pendragon) and fictional (RuneQuest) as well as mixtures of the two (Nephilim and Call of Cthulhu).
PANELISTS
Michael Douglas O’Brien [Vice President, Chaosium Inc.], Jeff Richard [Creative Director, Chaosium Inc.], David Larkins [Line Editor, Pendragon, Chaosium Inc.]
88bit is the alter ego of Cleveland-based composer/pianist, Rob Kovacs, where he performs virtuosic note-for-note piano arrangements of classic video game soundtracks from the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Kovacs’ repertoire consists of music from Mega Man 2, Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest as well as lesser-known games such as Marble Madness, Adventures of Lolo, Arkista’s Ring and others. By acoustically recreating early electronic music (music never intended to be performed by humans), Kovacs is stretching the limits of traditional classical piano playing and bringing video game music to audiences that might never have otherwise heard the music.
When discussing racial inequality in America, it’s often said that minority groups have to work twice as hard to get half as far. In spite of a public commitment to diversity, black talent continues to be severely underrepresented in a largely homogeneous game industry and the game audio community is no exception. Join a panel of black game audio professionals as they discuss their experiences, problems, and the way their lives have changed in the wake of the events of 2020.
PANELISTS
John Smith [Composer & Sound Designer, Slide20XX], Mega Ran [Musician, RandomBeats, LLC], Calbert Warner [Composer, JumpButton Studio], Dorrell Ettienne [Composer, Dorrell Ettienne], Chase Bethea [Composer, Chase Bethea], Devlon Samuels [Composers, Devlon Samuel]
Tuesday
We’re Here, We’re Queer, Now What? LGBTQ in the industry
We’re here, we’re queer, what’s next? Being queer in the games industry means navigating a lot of things—and sometimes even publicly! How do you learn to build healthy boundaries around what you do and don’t want to share online? What are some of the risks you face when you’re openly queer in games? How do you create, market, or discuss a game that’s inclusive of queer identities that are both your own, and not your own? From game developers to journalists and entertainers, we’re here to explore the world of queerness in games in (and out) of the workplace.
PANELISTS
Ana Valens [Reporter, The Daily Dot], Francesca Carletto-Leon [Game Designer, Contigo Games], Dani Lalonders [Head Developer & Game Designer, ValiDate Game], Nikatine [Ambassador, Twitch], Dreadful Damsel [Animator, Team Nimbus]
Looking for a night of games, trivia, laughs, and fun? Look no further than the PAX Community Discord Game Night! Test your knowledge about PAX and the gaming community at large! Earn prizes, impress your friends, or even make some new friends all night long! Make sure to drop by for a night you won’t soon forget!
Join a cast of brand new players as they explore RuneQuest for the first time! The perfect actual play to learn more about the mythic setting of RuneQuest, and the unique (and brutal!) game mechanics.
PANELISTS
Todd Gardiner [Chaosium], Becca Scott [Good Time Society], Noura Ibrahim [L.A. By Night], Panda [PandaTV], Brian Holland [Chaosium]
YAY!!!!
Digital Dragons – TableTop Roleplaying in the Online Age
The internet has brought us closer together than ever before, letting us connect and play games with friends around the world. So how is the power of connectivity helped to evolve TableTop Roleplaying Games, a traditionally face-to-face gaming medium? What tools are being made to facilitate play and to help fledgling content creators, and how is the internet leading to a “roleplaying renaissance”?
A panel of content creators, streamers, podcasters, and all ‘round RPG fanatics will answer all your burning questions and share their experiences in the expansive world of online TTRPGs.
PANELISTS
Scarlet Moth [Freelance Artist, Cosplayer, D&D Streamer, n/a], Matt/Briefcase [DM, Producer, Editor, Split the Party], BurrowsRed [Content Creator, Wisdom Saves], Shauntelle B [Writer, actor, streamer and psychologist, Words with Colour], Elyssa Grant [Senior Producer and Partnerships Manager, Penny Arcade], Makenzie De Armas [Ennie Winning TTRPG Creator, Lead Writer for The Islands of Sina Una]
Have you long dreamed about joining the games industry, but you don’t know how to code? Perhaps you’ve gotten into a balance argument on Twitter with a game developer who you didn’t actually realise worked in publishing? Maybe you’ve just straight up wondered how the heck a modern video game not only gets made, but continues to run? If this sounds like you, then DON’T PANIC! Because you just discovered the perfect panel to answer all your questions.
Despite the common misconception, not everyone who works on making a video game is a programmer or engineer. Our panellists today come to you from AAA studio Wargaming Sydney, with a wealth of experience across Product Management, Community, Marketing, Art, Design, and User Experience. Eager to share their journeys and highlights about producing games before, during, and after launch.
You’ll walk away from this engaging discussion thinking “so long, and thanks for all the facts!” Just don’t forget to bring a towel…
PANELISTS
JayRated [Product Manager, World of Tanks ANZ, Wargaming], Vondle [Community Manager, World of Tanks ANZ, Wargaming], Dean Finnigan [Lead Artist, Wargaming], Jemima Gulliver [Junior Technical Artist, Wargaming], Holly Hawkins [Junior Game Designer, Wargaming], Veronica Tjakrawisada [User Interface Designer, Wargaming]
Up Your Game: The Building Blocks for Better Online Gaming
Can’t seem to climb out of bronze? Connectivity issues getting you down? Can’t help but take the bait and get 3v1ed? From securing low latency, to getting the right peripherals, to honing your in-game skills, to avoiding the dreaded tilt, hear from a panel of experts on how anyone can start the climb out of the gulag or ELO hell.
Get a foot in the RPG industry door with community content!
Want to write for roleplaying games? Now is the perfect time to get your foot in the industry door with community content programs on DriveThruRPG. The DM’s Guild (Dungeons & Dragons), Miskatonic Repository (Call of Cthulhu), Jonstown Compendium (RuneQuest), Explorers’ Society (7th Sea), and other community content programs are an ideal proving ground for you to hone your writing and creating skills, publish your work, and build an audience. And come to the attention of major publishers like Wizards of the Coast and Chaosium!
In this workshop, bestselling DM’s Guild writer M.T. Black, DM’s Guild brand manager Lysa Penrose, and Chaosium vice president Michael O’Brien take you through the process of creating and publishing community content on DriveThruRPG, and how this led to M.T. Black writing for WotC itself (Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus).
PANELISTS
Michael O’Brien [Vice President, Chaosium Inc.], M.T. Black [Writer, DM’s Guild], Lysa Penrose [Brand Manager, DM’s Guild, OneBookShelf]
The last few years have given corvids, canaries, and pigeons plenty to celebrate. A new batch of indie games feature birds in leading roles. From anthropomorphic beings to avian companions, birds in games are riding an upward thermal, with little signs of slowing down.
This panel features developers and journalists discussing what it is about birds that make them apt leading characters, the process of designing an avian hero, and where the genre-spanning-niche-community goes from here.
PANELISTS
Megan Fox [Founder, Glass Bottom Games LLC], Rebekah Valentine [Senior Staff Writer, GamesIndustry.biz], Nicholas McDonnell [Director, Samurai Punk], Tan Kang Soon [Animator & Technical Artist, Joysteak Studios], Joel Davis [Animator, Stonewheat & Sons]
Retrogaming is more popular than ever, and it’s never been easier to play history’s greatest videogames. But while vintage consoles and arcade games are increasingly accessible, classic computer games remain a bit arcane, and it’s easy to miss out on some amazing games buried in the floppy disks of yore.
So join us for a guided tour to an age of forgotten home computers, when PCs didn’t have the best computer games and they didn’t even make games for Windows yet. There’s no DOSBox where we’re going!
What’s worth playing? How do the emulators work? What’s BASIC? If you’ve never heard of a Commodore 64 or an Apple ][ and want to explore a new frontier of undiscovered retro goodness, join some game design professors to learn about getting into games on everything from the Amiga to ZX Spectrum.
PANELISTS
Alexander King [Adjunct Professor, NYU Game Center], Naomi Clark [Assistant Arts Professor, NYU Game Center], Clara Fernández-Vara [Associate Arts Professor, NYU Game Center], Bennett Foddy [Associate Arts Professor, NYU Game Center], Jesse Fuchs [Adjunct Professor, NYU Game Center]
Oooh I think I will be seeing this!
Thursday
Improv in Roleplaying: How To Run A Game In The Now
Are you a Game Master that dreads when your players go off script? Does the thought of the adventurers wandering back into town instead of into your intricately planned dungeon make you throw your intricately drawn maps out a window? Well, then, Improvisation in Roleplaying is the panel for you. Join an expert team of authors, comedians and expert tabletop maestros and learn the secrets of how to improvise and adapt so that you can handle anything your players can throw at you… either in person or online! All while having more fun!
PANELISTS
John Serpico [Director/Instructor, ImprovBoston], Melissa Carubia [Director/Instructor, The Company Theater], Auston Habershaw [Author, Harper Voyager], Samantha LeVangie [Performer, ImprovBoston], Bobby Smithney [Performer/Instructor, ImprovBoston]
Sound Design Live: Watch Us Recreate Video Game Sounds
Have you ever wondered what goes into creating a professional video game sound effect? Watch us recreate sound effects from popular video games like Overwatch, Super Smash Bros, and League of Legends with regular items like dining silverware, balloons… or maybe even a prop or item from the audience. During this panel, we will record sound effects with a microphone, edit and process them together on a computer, and show the full process for creating a polished video game sound effect.
What does sci-fi look like when you consciously step outside the bounds of western ideals of fiction? Afrofuturism imagines a future through an unapologetically Black lense, and its influence is expanding into the world of games. Game developers and writers who explore this bold new vision will converge to speak on what Afrofuturism is, where it’s going, how it interacts with the world of games, and where the art will go from here.
PANELISTS
Xalavier Nelson Jr. [Narrative Director, Heart Shaped Games], Anthony Jones [Art Director, Heart Shaped Games], Jordan Minor [Analyst, PC Mag], Ural Garrett [Project Manager, iamMedia]
Diversity is Not a Gimmick —Prioritizing Inclusion in Tabletop
Come join Skybound Tabletop and friends as they discuss the need for diversity in the industry. Diversity and inclusion are necessities that are vital to our community and require thoughtful consideration. It is not right to watch the community grow and not let the content and makers of our games grow as well. Our industry has been treating diversity like a gimmick, and that just makes it ten times harder for others to take this seriously. Let’s talk about what we’ve been doing already and what more we can do in the future to expand our games, people, and community in general.
PANELISTS
Maya Coleman [Kickstarter Manager, Skybound], James Hudson [Senior Director of Tabletop, Skybound], Anya Combs [Director of Games, Kickstarter], Jeremy Howard [Contributor, Man vs Meeple], Marcus Ross [Operations Manager/Lead Game Designer, Water Bear Games], Cara Michele Ryan [Art Director/Game Designer, Water Bear Games]
Drink This: How to Create Game Themed Cocktails You’ll Love
Hello adventurer! You fought through the dungeon, sailed the open sea, rescued the princess, and somehow managed not to get eaten by a grue. Take this cocktail, you’ve earned it!
Our geek cocktail expert, Lynn, will guide you in shaking up cocktails that will invoke the enchanting worlds and unforgettable characters of games you know and love. Learn with our panel of games industry experts as we explore how to incorporate innovative ingredients to create thoughtful, well-balanced game-themed cocktails and mocktails together. Follow along with the ingredient list, get creative, and explore how to use your newly leveled-up skills to design your own recipes!
PANELISTS
Lynn Richter [Owner, AwkwardNerd Events], Nika Nour [Executive Director, IGDA Foundation], Anya Combs [Director of Games, Kickstarter], Jerry Belich [Game Designer, Alt Ctrl Wizard]
Do you have a favourite gaming scene from a movie? Do you even watch movies without gaming in them? Join the Clocked team plus special guests as they dive into the decorated history of video games on the silver screen.
Dicebreaker Presents: How to Run an Amazing Tabletop RPG Session (with special guests)
Wanting to get to grips with the ABCs of RPGs? The Dicebreaker team run through 13 top tips on how to run a fantastic roleplaying session, from giving your story twists and turns without flying off the rails to making the world come alive. Plus, star GMs, RPG designers and fans tell us about their most memorable moments roleplaying!
No matter your role in the game industry – developer, writer, publicist, streamer – you create entertainment people love. From this shared passion and excitement springs forth… COMMUNITY! Heck. Now what? Bringing together talented community builders from many facets of the industry, this panel teaches you skills to foster and grow game communities with intention. Learn how to harness the power of community as your greatest advocates via a simple three-pronged approach. It’s as easy as A-B-C!
PANELISTS
Lysa Penrose [Owner, Behold Her Studio], Tanya Depass [Director & Founder, I Need Diverse Games], LaTia Bryant [Community Manager, D&D Adventurers League], Brenna Noonan [Co-Founder, Quillsilver Studio], Rachel Billings [Community Manager, Resonym]
Second Saturday
Rest and…
Not sure if this is a wise idea but I will plan nothing for this day but will simply drift with the wind! Orlanth be kind!
Second Sunday
Tea with Grandma Gamers: Old Ladies Talk #$%@ about Games
It’s a virtual tea party, complete with flowered hats, lace gloves and lots of grandmas! We plan to let it all out when it comes to gaming and what we love (and hate) about our favorite games. From Skyrim, to The Sims to Resident Evil 3, we touch on all kinds of gaming experiences. So if you ever wanted to watch a gaggle of Grandmas giggle and gossip about gaming, here is your chance!
Tell me this does not sound d@mn interesting!This Ol’ F@rt will be there!
Striking Distance Studios, Survios, and Schell Games invite you to join a discussion on environmental storytelling in video games! Featuring panelists from a variety of game design disciplines across AAA development and virtual reality, panelists will discuss the importance of designing worlds with a narrative eye.
Join Glen Schofield, Tate Mosesian, and Dave Bennett as they highlight their favorite examples of environmental storytelling, which will provide attendees with a new appreciation for the worlds they play in.
PANELISTS
Glen Schofield [CEO, Striking Distance Studios], Tate Mosesian [Art Director, Survios], Dave [Senior Game Designer, Schell Games]
Let me know how this noob did, What did I miss, what did not hit the spot!
Well, this is something Ludo has been looking forward to since the release of The Valley of Plenty, To be honest, so have we all, and the Carpenters were as wonderful as we thought they would be, They invited us into their lovely southern home replete with kids dogs and a just a wee touch of chaos—in a very genteel way. And in the course of our conversation we find everything one expects from the creators of the very cool “Wildlings”! But first, let’s meet our judges for Glorantha Has Talent? and then see what M has for us…
The good stuff straight from M, with a flurry of items of less than ideal repute. Rumour has it this used to be our “News and Rumour Tables” but that thought gets an A for too awful to contemplate.
15:19
Money Money Money
We like these play aids, we really do! Buy these @. Campaign Coins!
18.52
RuneQuest For Free?
An affordable option for evaluation or even short play, It’s great for those of us that are facing economic hardships in these strange times.
20:44
Dragons Eye and Other Examples of “YGMV”
Screen Capture from BRP Central
This is a long awaited examination of Glorantha locales that us old folk have been waiting for forever! This supplement explores the strange and odd places in Dragon Pass that show that Kansas is far, far away!
25:05
M. Heldson’s “Men of the West”
Mr Helsdon has been tantalizing BRP Central in the TopicSwords pf Central Genertela for years with early peeks at his works!
Martin returns with another of his explorations of the fighting men and women of Glorantha. This time he goes West!
According to M, the french will be getting this double translation with the publication of RQ G or soon thereafter: Double translation; once into French and then once more into RQ G!
Quelle Chance!
37:36
Our Main Topic
An interview with the Carpenters’ of Troupe Games Fame!
Introducing our guests, then a sneak peek at our Lightning Round
Their history in War-Games and RPGs
Griffin Mountain changes everything
Years pass and then cue a late visit to Sandy Petersen’s epic TrollPak!
Gloranthan Miniature game?
The Dundealos, The Poljoni, the Jaldonkillers Saga and how YGWV Joerg asks the tough questions!
The Wildlings and The Valley of Plenty
Novel use of PCs and NPCs, Bill says “Bravo! Well Done!”
A discourse on BRP OGL and the QuestWorld SRD (Bill gets a headache from all the TLAs).
Troupe Games on Inclusivity, X cards and Trigger Warnings
What’s up and coming for Troupe Games?”
1:31:39
What do fat Elvis and fat Hemingway have in common? And here, we get our comeuppance!
1:33:04
The Lightning Round
1:37:57
Bye For Now!
See y’all next month for Glorantha Has Talent? and so much more!
They’re coming soon! It sounds like Chaosium is currently reviewing the print proofs, and testing the online infrastructure for placing orders through the Chaosium website…
Also, note that these reprints do include some of the extra material that was compiled for the Glorantha Classics, such as extra items in Plunder or designer notes in Griffin Mountain.
More Cults of Glorantha work-in-progress
Loic Muzy, which we mentioned already a few times here, has shared more work-in-progress art for the upcoming Cults of Glorantha book! Look at this marvelous Storm Bull, for instance:
Loic Muzy isn’t the only artist working on this giant tome, however. Agathe Pitie shared the piece below which will probably send our own Joerg into over-analysis mode!
Jonstown Compendium News
Storm Rams
The “Monster of the Month” series from Austin Conrad continues with volume 8, “Storm Rams”! It focuses on a new spirit which is the “embodiment of rain-giving clouds”.
Secrets of Heroquesting
Simon Phipp is sharing his Gloranthan secrets once again, after “Secrets of Dorastor“, which we mentioned in past issues of Wind Whispers. This time, he’s writing about the “Secrets of Heroquesting“, sharing tips for game masters and players alike, detailing rules for heroes and heroquesters, and much more.
It’s not clear how these rules will survive the upcoming release of the “RuneQuest Gamemaster Guide”, which will supposedly contain Chaosium’s own heroquesting rules… but having two sets of rules for heroquesting will definitely be better than 40 years with none! Also, “Secrets of Heroquesting” contains a large amount of descriptive advice that most likely has timeless value anyway.
Sandheart remastered and in print
The collaboration between Jonathan Webb and Nick Brooke is paying off, with the latest volume in the Sandheart series being available in hardback! And in addition to that, the first volume has been completely remastered, with new illustrations, maps, and additional text. This remaster is available as a free update if you had already purchased the first volume (that is: you just need to re-download the PDFs). The second volume is of course going to be remastered next, and we can imagine that both volumes one and two will also be available in print-on-demand in the future.
(disclaimer: Wind Words host Ludovic is one of the illustrators)
A Peek at “The Company of the Dragon”
Andrew Logan Montgomery, author of “Six Seasons in Sartar”, shared some information on his blog about “The Company of the Dragon”, the sequel-but-not-quite-sequel to his first campaign. He goes over what we’ll find in this upcoming book, and how it differs from “Six Seasons in Sartar”.
Convention News
Glorantha Games
Glorantha Games 2020 is a virtual convention focused around… well, you can guess what it’s focused around pretty easily. It will happen on October 3rd 2020, and the organizers are still looking for a few more gamemasters… so if you can run some RuneQuest, HeroQuest, QuestWorlds, 13th Age: Glorantha, or even RuneQuest Classic adventure, now’s your time! Register here.
AlbaCon
AlbaCon is an “online, charity focused” roleplaying game convention, running for two days on October 3rd and 4th, 2020. The RPG schedule has already been posted and features a couple of Gloranthan games. Grab a seat while you can!
PAX Online
Likewise, the game schedule for PAX Online is now available. The convention is running from September 12th to 20th, and features a good number of Gloranthan games. Chaosium has the link for their own games on their blog.
The good news however is that the back issues might see a print-on-demand re-run. You can sign up right now for which issues you’re interested in: if there are enough customers, the printing could be done with a higher quality provider.
Jason shares some very fun stories about his career, and most notably his move to Germany, meeting with Jeff Richard for the first time, and some awkward beginnings. He also gives some information on the upcoming RuneQuest Starter Set, which is “hopefully” coming before the end of the year, and includes a return to the Rainbow Mounds as one of its three adventures!
Griffin Mountain: Remastered in French
Philippe Auribeau, the person in charge of the French edition of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha produced by Studio Deadcrows, was interviewed by French RPG channel “Roliste TV” recently. In it, he talks about the various projects he’s working on, but most importantly (at least for Wind Whispers) reveals that Studio Deadcrows is planning to translate the classic Griffin Mountain campaign into French. Not only that, but the campaign will be updated for the latest edition of RuneQuest. And not only that, but they plan on vastly expanding it, complementing the sandbox hexcrawl of the original with an optional campaign made of several semi-original scenarios! Given the history of close collaboration between Chaosium and its foreign licensees, there is a chance that if such a project is successful, it could be translated back to English for the international market!
The always excellent Seth Skorkowski posted a review of the RuneQuest Quickstart rules and adventure a few months ago after having played it on James Chambers’ channel (we had discussed these live games on the podcast at the time). As always, Seth makes several good points about the book, and provides helpful suggestions for future gamemasters.
And it is Jörg’s time again to write about the news and related stuff about the world of Glorantha, the publishers creating stuff for that, and a selection of fan-written stuff dealing with the world and the games for it.
Yes, Bill told you everything about this contest in last week’s Wind Whispers. Or did he?
Work behind the scenes continues while we are talking to our judges and listening to the first contributions. Watch the threads on BRP Central for tidbits on the contest. So send in your material! Surely you can do better than Bill and Jörg with their examples in the last two podcasts!
Chaosium News
Illustrator Loic Muzy has been showing off some work-in-progress on Twitter – an illustration of a bare-chested Ernalda lounging with a snake on one arm and a bushel of grain in the other.
GenCon Online RQG Sessions on YouTube
Watch these videos to learn how the folk at Chaosium run a convention adventure, especially if you are a GM who might wish to run the scenarios for other players.
In Jason Durall’s session “The Forest on the Waves” from GenCon Online the pregen characters Vasana, Sorala, Harmast, Nathem and Vastor are sent on a mission from Clearwine to Nochet by Argrath, carrying gifts for Queen Samastina.
Michael O’Brien ran “The Getting of Wisdom“, an initiatory scenario for Lhankor Mhy apprentices, with his usual MGF approach showing through.
Bill says he his sorry that his plans to attend as our on-site reporter suffered from too much work to do for our podcast and connection problems.
Remembering Caroman by Michael Paul O’Sullivan is an adventure building on the last field battle of the Lunar conquest of Sartar. In a situation not unlike the Spartan defense at the Thermopylae, the Lunar invaders bypassed Prince Salinarg’s defensive position in the Sambari Pass, and this story starts with the funeral of a widow of one of the glorious but defeated guardians of the pass. Meet their restless spirits, and lay them to rest?
This is the expanded version of a scenario from one of the scenarios provided by the Cult of Chaos to volunteer GMs at conventions.
Other News from the Community
Roleplaying History presented by Shannon Appelcline
Shannon is the author of the definitive work on the history of roleplaying, Designers and Dragons, and he keeps putting out the results of his research on rpg.net.
As a former employee of Chaosium, Shannon has a good idea on what went on with our favourite publisher of Glorantha material, and his recent article on The Chaosium Connections comes with a chart showing the interactions of Chaosium with other companies.
There is hardly anything on the history of licensees in other languages, though. I appreciate that it is hard to do research in a language that you don’t read yourself, but maybe there are people from those countries who could contribute and share their experiences.
In similar news, Shannon published an interview with the people behind Pavic Tales, the first known fanzine for RuneQuest. This British fanzine was the predecessor to the well-known Tales of the Reaching Moon, and it amounted to nine issues in the years 1987-1989. Originals are hard to find, and probably collectors’ items these days.
Both Pavic Tales and Reaching Moon Megacorp are going to get more detailed attention in Shannon’s next project in the series, named “The Lost Histories”.
Glorantha fans keep surprising us with the topics they discuss. One of the most recent explorations goes almost skin deep, as people are discussing Gloranthan underwear.
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