Hello and welcome to Wind Whispers #7. If you’re reading this in a web browser, you can subscribe to Wind Whispers by email here.
Chaosium News
RuneQuest Classic Reprints
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.
Elsewhere on Solara’s Web
Hearts in Glorantha
Back in Episode 4 we mentioned that we might see issue 8 of the excellent “Hearts in Glorantha” magazine this summer… Sadly, this has been delayed, as announced in a recent blog post by Newt Newport, its editor in chief and main author.
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 Durall on the Grognard Files podcast
Jason Durall, line editor for RuneQuest, is the guest of honour for the excellent Grognard Files podcast’s 5th year anniversary episode. This is fitting since the very first episode was about RuneQuest.
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!
Six Ages art for Sale
Simon Roy, artist for the Gloranthan video game “Six Ages” (the sequel to “King of Dragon Pass”), is selling some of the video game’s art online.
Online Reviews
Seth Skorkowski reviews The Broken Tower
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.
Pookie reviews Valley of Plenty
Reviews from R’lyeh is taking a look at Troupe Games’ “Valley of Plenty”, a Jonstown Compendium clan saga that starts you off as a kid in the Dundealos tribe.
Meanwhile, on Earth
Paint your cows!
Apparently, painting eyes on your cows’ behinds is helpful to keep those pesky trollkins away.
The Fall of the First Cities: The Sumerians
Do you want to see a documentary on Sumerian cities? Of course you do!
The Street Foods of Ancient Rome
In a past Wind Words episode, we mentioned rather unsavoury types of food that could be found at the Pavis market… if you want inspiration for more appetizing treats, we have an article for you!