Postage
over 10 years ago
– Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 11:06:45 PM
To all members of the tribe,
This update covers Postage. Shipping the physical books has been researched by us with the following criteria:
- We will not make money on it
- We cannot afford to lose money on it
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All shipments are tracked to greatly decrease risk of loss and so you will know when it is coming
- We ship from several fulfillment centers so the costs are lower for as many backers as is reasonably possible.
I've added more countries to the shipping "estimates" list on the main page.
As always, thank you for backing this Kickstarter.
Getting back to where it all started. New Add-on.
over 10 years ago
– Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 11:10:56 PM
To all members of the tribe,
With only a few days left to go we continue pondering how to add another extra that would intrigue and delight our backers. A few days ago you helpfully suggested adding the SoloQuest book, and earlier today that became the latest stretch goal achieved. From the beginning we have tried to follow the maxim of "value for money". We want our backers to feel what they pledge for is worthwhile, and feel rewarded.
As we approach the end of the day we remember what made all this possible: The 1st edition of RuneQuest, raw and innovative, as released in 1978 at Origins. That happened only 4 miles down the road from where I sit as I write this update. Having that first printing in our archives, we know it should be a part of this Kickstarter. What better way to understand and appreciate how it all began than to have the first printed edition of the rulebook available to read, appreciate, and admire.
We've scanned it in. Cleaned it up. We don't want to reformat it to lessen its charm. The PDF you can now ADD-ON for $10 allows you to see the original as it was. For those scholars that have backed this Kickstarter at $250 or more, the RuneQuest 1 PDF is our free gift to you as part of what you already love and support. Compare it to the playtest manuscript! You have said you are very keen to know how much was added, deleted and changed along the way. What better way to do just that…
As always, thank you for supporting this Kickstarter.
SoloQuest and some info about ADD-ONs
over 10 years ago
– Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 09:56:26 PM
To all members of the tribe,
I awoke to find we had passed the $130K mark, which is always, along with a cup of coffee, a grand way to start the day! That unlocks the SoloQuest Collection, which is comprised of three books that have been out of print for over 30 years. Next up we are heading to Griffin Mountain!
A number of backers have been asking about purchasing add-ons, so I thought it best to say it here to all backers (many of whom I should thank for answering this question when it has been raised in the comments section):
ADD-ONs are a little tricky if you haven't done it before. You can always change the $ amount of your pledge as long as the $ amount is equal to or greater than the amount required for that backer level. For example, let's say I've backed at the $50 RUNE LORD level. I also want the Old School RuneQuest Source Pack PDFs, which are a $25 add-on. All I would need to do is adjust my $50 pledge amount to $75. I don't change my reward level. I'm still at the RUNE LORD level. The next most common question is:
HOW DO I TELL YOU WHAT ADD-ONS I AM PAYING FOR?
Kickstarter doesn't have any type of store or pick-list functions available to support this. It lets you add money to your pledge, but that's it. What will happen is you will receive a survey shortly after the Kickstarter ends. On that survey you will be able to tell us exactly what the extra money is for. The last survey I sent out basically had a question that read "If you purchased any add-ons, please tell us which add-ons you purchased."
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to message me.
And thank you for backing this Kickstarter.
Some of the intro to the Manuscript book
over 10 years ago
– Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 11:13:25 PM
To all members of the tribe,
The RuneQuest Playtest Manuscript book is a 250+ page hardcover book created from high resolution scans of the original playtest manuscript, which has been lovingly kept in a binder for the last 40 years. The book also features newly written introductory essays by Steve Perrin and Greg Stafford.
Here’s an edited excerpt of Steve Perrin’s piece. His full account runs to some 4,500 words.
Excerpt from Creating RuneQuest, Through Glorantha with Sword and Crystal
By Steve Perrin
I first met Greg Stafford through his board game, White Bear and Red Moon. Greg independently published it out of a small house near the Oakland Airport. It portrayed a fantastic world full of wonderful concepts like the Red Moon’s variable power, Cragspider, Sir Ethilrist’s Black Horse Troopers, Dragonewts, and many others. The game concerned the efforts of the Lunar Empire to conquer legendary Dragon Pass and the brave barbarian warriors of the Kingdom of Sartar…
…Greg moved in the same science fiction fan circles I did but our paths had not crossed. I was mostly involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism, which was really just starting to go national at the time. Greg was not part of that group. So despite mutual friends and acquaintances we had not met.
Yet.
Greg and I met physically at a D&D game a few months later. My friend and fellow wargamer Clint Bigglestone ran into him at a fan party and invited him to guest at one of our regular Monday night D&D games. Greg invited our group to come help playtest his Nomad Gods game, a sequel to White Bear & Red Moon set in the neighboring desolate Plains of Prax. I began to appreciate just how much creative energy he had put into these games, and the world of Glorantha they were set in.
Various members of our group, significantly Steve Henderson and Clint Bigglestone, and I helped with the playtesting of Nomad Gods. When Jeff Pimper and I conceived of All the Worlds Monsters, we went to Greg for advice on how to publish it, and he offered to take care of publishing it – taking some of the burden off of us and giving him more items to put in his catalog.
Meantime, Greg thought he needed a role-playing version of Glorantha and looked about for someone to write it for him. For a while Dave Hargrave of Arduin fame attempted to fit Glorantha into his style of game, but the result was still too D&D-ish for Greg’s liking. A trio of gamers in the area, Art and Ray Turney and their friend Henrik Pfeifer offered to come up with a game for him and he gave the go-ahead. After a couple of months, he thought maybe another viewpoint might be useful and he asked me and Clint Bigglestone to take a look at how things were going.
On July 4, 1976, as the United States of America celebrated its 200th anniversary, we were introduced to the first stage of “The Chaosium’s role playing game.” It looked a lot like D&D, with classes and experience points and saving throws, but it had one feature that I immediately picked up on.
Any character can do anything.
Fired up by this concept, I started working with this group…
Steve goes on to recount, in entertaining detail, such things as:
- How the initial game evolved away from something with many D&Dish elements (including the character classes ‘fighter’, ‘mage’, and ‘thief’)
- Why the game actually came to be called “RuneQuest”
- What was it Luise Perrine (Steve’s wife and RQ illustrator) referred to as the “Ha Ha in the Basement”?
- Early playtesting in Pavis, including the genesis of Rurik Runespear (and his sad and ignominious fate)
- Why RuneQuest really has ducks, and what Marvel comics had to do with this
- The story of Luise’s iconic cover – why the warrior woman is intentionally wearing bronze armor, and just what in Glorantha is that creature she’s fighting?
- The frantic rush to produce the first edition in time for Origins ’78 - leading to a couple of unfortunate spelling goofs on the back cover (see if you can pick them out):
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Finally, RuneQuest’s smash-hit debut at Origins ’78, turning the world of RPG design on its head.
In his conclusion Steve writes, “Since the debut of RuneQuest, and particularly the second edition, my life has been especially fulfilled. I established friendships that are still active forty years later and established a name in the game business that has held me in good stead for the whole 40 years. I am very pleased this new issuing of the RuneQuest 2nd edition makes available what many fans tell me is their favorite edition”.
This is a highly entertaining personal story of the genesis of RuneQuest by one of its principal authors, offering fascinating insights into the development of the game. The full account is available in the RuneQuest Playtest Manuscript, along with a similar piece by Greg Stafford.
Thank you for supporting our Kickstarter!
The team talk about backer rewards
over 10 years ago
– Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 04:34:38 PM
To all members of the tribe,
In the last update I mentioned Jeff, Mike and I recorded a podcast talking about many of the Kickstarter items, including the RuneQuest Playtest Manuscript, the unpublished scenarios and source material set, and Greg's lost scenario "The Sea Cave". We go into quite a bit of detail about what's in these treasured items, which may help you make up your mind if you're thinking about backing at these levels.
If you'd like to have a listen, it's 33 minutes long and available here:
http://www.glorantha.com/tales-of-mythic-adventure-episode-16-treasure-from-the-vaults
Thank you for supporting our Kickstarter!
