Borderlands achieved, 4 hours to go...
over 10 years ago
– Mon, Dec 21, 2015 at 09:10:49 PM
To all members of the tribe,
The clock keeps ticking closer and closer to the end, creating a wonderful mix of excitement and suspense along the way. First we had the excitement of passing 190K and achieving the Borderlands stretch goal, and now we have to endure the suspense of getting closer and closer to the 205K needed to achieve the TrollPak stretch goal.
Borderlands is a wonderful Praxian campaign. It even has a convenient tie-in to Griffin Mountain to continue on further adventures. TrollPak is a product that ate new ground when it debuted in 1982. For the first time we had a wealth of material to play trolls as distinctly different player characters. It's hard to chew more scenery than by playing a troll. I always wished both supplements had stayed in print beyond their first and only printings. I still remember taking the shrink-wrap off of those boxes after buying them at a game store on campus in Ann Arbor.
I'm trying to keep on top of the questions raised in the comments section. It's a pleasure answering them, especially when the comments bubble over with enthusiasm. If you are unsure of anything, please ask. We want informed and delighted backers.
We will be setting up how backers can add-on items after the Kickstarter ends. The most important thing is to be a backer so you can enjoy the deals exclusive to this Kickstarter.
As always, thank you for supporting this Kickstarter.
The Big Rubble - built from the shoulders of Giants
over 10 years ago
– Sun, Dec 20, 2015 at 11:11:56 PM
To all members of the tribe,
I wish to mention a few places in Glorantha that make the setting so evocative and sacred. Griffin Mountain entranced me with Gonn Orta the Giant. He had not yet sat down and fallen asleep to become the twelfth mountain amongst the Eleven Giant Mountains. A single sentence about him caught my eye, "Save him for the Hero Wars." The next captivating subject was the Upland Marsh; a vast swamp of ancient secrets that were only touched upon in White Bear & Red Moon. An ancient necromancer from a morally bankrupt civilization had made the swamp his last refuge, and dragons had somehow miraculously not devoured his kingdom. Lastly there is the the Big Rubble.
The Big Rubble is unique in gaming. It touches upon so many aspects of Glorantha we have learned to love. An ancient city, built on the sacrifice of others; a collapsed giant statue provided the stone for its walls, and the great nomadic tribes declared it profane while they assaulted it many times, ultimately to its destruction. The cyclopean Rubble's secrets are many. Even its name, Robcradle, is blood-soaked in the epic stuff of mystery.
Such is Greg Stafford's Glorantha. It evokes strong emotions, and today the passion of our backers unlocked the stretch goal that made the republication of Big Rubble possible. I thank you.
I would be remiss to point out that the Big Rubble was Steve Perrin's first campaign setting. You can read about Rurik's adventures in it in the pages of the RuneQuest rulebook, and Steve's early playtesting in the Rubble in his introduction to the RQ Playtest Manuscript. Rurik and the Rubble are part of where it all began.
Thank you supporting this Kickstarter. Thank you for reminding us that there is still some magic to share, and rediscover. The hours left may be few, yet they celebrate decades of wonderment. Next up we have the chance to explore the Borderlands of Prax. How much farther can we go...
Pavis unlocked! - and some more from Steve Perrin
over 10 years ago
– Sat, Dec 19, 2015 at 09:50:21 PM
To all members of the tribe,
A few hours ago we reached 160K and so passed the stretch goal for PAVIS, the classic city adventure scenario pack! With about 42 hours to go, there are still exciting stretch goals ahead, including BIG RUBBLE, BORDERLANDS, TROLL PAK and finally QUESTWORLD. Let's see how far we can go on this classic RuneQuest journey!
A few updates back I posted an excerpt from Steve Perrin's introduction to the RuneQuest Playtest Manuscript. A lot of people said they thought it was interesting, so I thought I would tantalize you with a bit more! Steve's full 4,500 word essay (along with a similar introductory piece by Greg Stafford) is part of the 250+ page hardcover book we're creating from high resolution scans of the original playtest manuscript, which has been lovingly kept in a binder for the last 40 years.
Here Steve talks about the genesis of the game:
…one important aspect of RuneQuest and Glorantha was implied in Greg’s board games, but we decided to emphasize it. Dragon Pass is essentially an Ancient World fantasy, not a medieval fantasy as generally portrayed in most D&D games and their ilk. There are many gods and they have a more personal influence on the people and events of Glorantha, just as the early myths say they do… …It gives a different feel to a fantasy game, and we exploited it mercilessly.
Initially, [“The Chaosium Game”] had three character classes: Fighter, Mage, and Thief. The innovation was that any member of these classes could get training in the other professions at a premium compared to what they had to pay in their own profession. Percentile skills were already involved with the idea that when a fighter got to 100% in his skills he became a Rune Lord, a mage who got to 100% became a Rune Priest and gained access to Rune Magic, and a thief who got to 100% became – er- what would they become? Rune Merchant was suggested.
This quandary was one of the incitements to conceiving that the classes were too restrictive. I was soon pushing to eliminate classes entirely. Perhaps too much of a modern American democratic model, but there you are...
...I disliked the D&D concept of gaining competency by reaching some metagame “level” that has no actual reality in the game. I conceived the idea of all abilities essentially being skills, and attaining greater skill through experience. I also conceived the idea of having to roll over one’s current skill to attain increase. This was actually something of an afterthought, as the original concept was simply to pay for training with treasure…
…Experience Points were equal to gold pieces, which you had to pay out for training. Dropping XP and just spending gold for advancement was actually a concept Jerry Jacks (another of the Monday gamers) and I had pioneered with a proposed D&D class we called Sages, published in the Alarums and Excursions APA. It seemed to fit Glorantha, so we adopted it.
Excerpted from Steve Perrin’s “Creating RuneQuest, Through Glorantha with Sword and Crystal”, his 4,500 word introduction to the RuneQuest Playtest Manuscript.
Thank you for supporting our Kickstarter!
New backer level for the BIG PDF bundle
over 10 years ago
– Sat, Dec 19, 2015 at 09:19:01 PM
To all members of the tribe,
We've had a number of requests for a backer level that makes it super easy for those who only want PDFs, and want to get them all. Thus we are creating a new backer level for "just all the PDFs":
$99 SHAMAN: You cast aside the material world and seek only digital rewards. You will receive PDFs of the RuneQuest Classic Edition Rulebook, the RuneQuest 1 Rulebook, the player handouts, the GM screen, the Old School RuneQuest Source Pack, and ALL the Stretch Goals (as achieved). No discounts on printed books.
Is that value for money?
Currently, if you pledge $15 you get the base PDFs. Bump that up to $50 and you also get the OSR PDFs ($25) and the RQ1 PDF ($10). If you want all of the currently achieved stretch goal PDFs you would have to pledge another $65, for a total of $115. The unachieved stretch goal PDFs will add up to another $65 if they are all achieved.
As always, thank you for backing our Kickstarter.
Heading into the last few days, more info on some of the rewards.
over 10 years ago
– Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 05:47:19 PM
To all members of the tribe,
To help explain the RQ1 "Origins Edition" book Jeff and MOB have recently done a podcast. Click here if you would like to listen in.
We've also been answering a number of questions about the unpublished stuff, and as I was about to write this update we just filled the last RUNE PRIEST-LORD slot. Fortunately, the RQ2 rulebook has one other final option for those motivated enough to go for it. Page 59 in the original rulebook outlines how you can found your own temple to become a High Priest, so we have created one last and final chance to get the unpublished material via the TEMPLE FOUNDER backer level. It has all the same rewards as the HIGH PRIEST and RUNE PRIEST-LORD levels.
We confirmed in a recent podcast that we have enough material on hand to fill more than two volumes, thus it is officially 3 hardcover volumes of material. Here are a few photos of some of what we are scanning in from the Ann Arbor and Berlin archives (some is off being scanned as I write this):
Yes, that's the demo copy of the RuneQuest Classic Edition rulebook Jeff showed off at Dragonmeet in London. He has it in the picture so you get a sense of scale.
As always, thank you for backing our Kickstarter.
