Rune Quest <3

Well, it's been half a decade since I last put thoughts into this blog. Quite a strange realization, truth be told.

These past couple of years, my focus has shifted to role-playing games (RPGs), a different yet complementary interest. The game that we’ve mostly played is definitely RuneQuest: Glorantha. My relationship with Glorantha was on pause for almost two decades, following the release of the Hero Quest rules in the early 2000s. It just didn't resonate with me. However, a couple of years ago, the new RQruleset rekindled my interest. It felt like the RQ of olden times - I was hooked again and have been ever since.

The art of the Rune Quest Glorantha line is amazing. This one is by a Finnish artist Ossi Hiekkala. The critter in the image is a Krashtkid, a chaos monster unique to Glorantha.

I mostly GMed using published material from Chaosium and Jonstown Compendium, a program which allows fans to contribute to RuneQuest. Our campaign, like many others, I imagine, unfolds in the Apple Lane area during the RQG official time from 1625 onwards. It’s been a 1-2/month game and we’re currently in the fire season of 1626.

A particular highlight of the campaign was the Battle of Dangerford, for which I crafted a scenario drawing inspiration from The Eleven Lights, Pendragon Battle Rules, and a great post by Jeff Richards on the BRP forums. Oh and almost forgot the invaluable aid of The wonderful Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass book, by Martin Helsdon, which I heartily recommend. It was invaluable in creating the 'character' of the various formations the PCs had to fight against.

The Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass cover by Mark Smylie is one of my favourites in the Jonstown Compendium catalogue. I think that's Jar Eel and if you think about it she has quite a lot of common with Artesia!

I framed the scene with my AD43 Roman and Ancient Britons armies, but the scenario itself was from the point of view of the rank and file and PCs did not make choices on troop movements, for instance.

The scenario revolved around the Wilmskirk militia holding the Isle Dangerous against sequential charges by The Antelope Lancers, The Bell Temple, and The Char Un and it ended in a dramatic rout. My planning and notes for this scenario have joined a growing pile of files in my campaign folders.

That's the setup for the Battle of Dangerford. The few skirmisher units in the river already are the Duckpoint elite Company of the Quacken.

I imagine all GMs have these ‘note files’ and I imagine many more have toyed with the idea of getting them out to the world. This spring I finally pushed one of the stories up to a finished manuscript and with the help of the amazing Ludovic Chabant, who did most of the art for the book, we published ’Veins of Discord’ in Jonstown Compendium.

The cover for Veins of Discord by Ludovic Chabant. It captures a pivotal moment with a dwarf unearthing a discovery that will invariably set the stage for a cascade of tumultuous events. I felt like a lottery winner when he first showed it to me.

‘Veins of Discord’ deals with Elves and Dwarves and drags the PCs into their conflict. The hardest part for me was trying to make the manuscript comprehensive and ready to run but in a non-constrictive way. I aimed at an adventure with genuine player choice and consequence. If you get it and play through it, I’d love to hear how it went for your party!

Until next time!

P.S. Chaosium has a very nice 'choose your own path' version for the battle of dangerford on their website, which is a pretty ok substitute of having experienced the real deal at my table ;)