To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM
From: RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM
Subject: RuneQuest Digest Volume 8 issue 7
Comments: Revision @(#)v8n07 1.5 93/01/15
Reply-To: RuneQuest@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM
(RuneQuest Digest Submission Address)
Sender: Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM
Contents:
Tom Zunder Sun County campaign
Oliver Jovanovic Re: Using Kralorela as a campaign setting
David Cheng RQ-Con USA 1994
Editorial:
I've received 'King of Sartar' from Chaosium and will include
my own impressions in the next issue of the digest.
The latest issue of 'Tales of the Reaching Moon' has been published,
containing an interview with Sandy Petersen, and a preview of King
of Sartar...
Also out is River of Cradles. Alas, I haven't even seen Sun County
myself. All in all, 1993 promises to become a good year for RQ...
--
disclaimer: My words, not Sun's # # #
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My home is my ruin...
--------------------
From: Tom Zunder
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 20:49 GMT
Subject: Sun County Campaign 1992
I know campaign writeups can be dull but here goes..
Well I've played quite a bit of Sun County now and I thought
I's pass on the write-up/player's notes that I did for them.
They include errors, inaccuracies and spelling mistakes but I
thought that I'd let you all see it as is, and you can laugh
if you like :-}
My game has a bit of a problem in that I had wide power
differences between a Storm Kahn and almost Yelmalio Rune Lord
and two (three) new characters, one of whom was a scholar. The
player of the sage and the shaman died, the player of the
young Yelmalio, the difference was actually due to roleplaying
caution than aught else.
[Editor: As the report was quite large, I have taken the liberty to
split it in two parts, which will be sent out as supplements
directly after this issue.]
--------------------
From: JOVANOVIC@CUCCFA.CCC.COLUMBIA.EDU (Oliver Jovanovic)
Date: 30 Dec 92 09:01:29 GMT
Subject: Re: Using Kralorela as a campaign setting
[This is a reply to Steve Gilham's article in v8n06 --Editor]
Steve, I read your article on Kralorela in RQ Digest 8.6 with interest
- I'm one of the folks working on the revival of RuneQuest - my primary
focus is the upcoming fourth edition of RQ, but I thought you might
appreciate getting more information on Kralorela - this comes from a
number of sources, but is probably as close to 'official' as you're
likely to get.
With respect to trade routes, there actually is trade through the
Wastes. Both nomads and civilized merchants (primarily from Pavis)
travel through the Wastes to trade at the Iron Forts. As far as I can
tell, entry into the Kralori Empire is not allowed at that point to non
citizens. Kralori traders also travel to Pavis across the Wastes, so
there is a degree of cultural interchange at those points. A great deal
of trading is done with the East Isles as well, particularly exotic
items, spices, herbs, silk and gossamer.
With respect to the religion, worship of deities in general seems to be
more low key than elsewhere. Some deities, particularly solar ones, are
honored, but Yelm is often thought of as just one of the early emperors
of Kralorela. Dragons and dragon magic are inextricably tied into the
religion of Kralorela - stronger than solar worship or ancestor worship
as best as I can tell. The emperor is worshipped as a living god, and
is thought of as a dragon, as are earlier emperors. A three fold set of
paths along the dragon way exist - that of the Mystic, Warrior and
King. Mystics and Kings use dragon magic, Warriors occasionally use
dragon magic, and Warriors that have progressed far enough along their
way are reborn when they die, but as a human/dragonewt hybrid - the
soldiers of the Iron Forts are probably typical - they are linked to
their fort, and reborn there when they die - with each rebirth, they
may change and become more and more dragonlike. Thus, gaining of
draconic powers is not that uncommon. The Path of Immanent Mastery is
actually considered an aberration, not part of the true dragon way, but
is tolerated nonetheless, and their members manifest similar abilities,
but don't use true dragon magic. A number of former emperors are
worshipped as well - Daruda may be the most popular. As far as I'm
aware, Yelmalio and Uleria aren't worshipped in Kralorela (a bizarre
form of Uleria may be worshipped by the Vormain). Yelmalio in
particular is native to the Dragon Pass/Pelorian area - the Prax Sun
Dome is about as far east as the cult has travelled.
As for why dragon magic is used there - several legends seem to suggest
that the current day Kralori are the descendents of Hunschen,
specifically, Dragon Hunschen, and that their current dragon way is a
refinement of a long ago Hykim & Mikyh style tribe of Dragon
worshippers (i.e., much as the Telmori currently worship Telmor, the
wolf god).
As for Teshnos, it seems to be a mix of India and Indonesia, but
possibly closer to Hindu than Buddhist. Even that's probably not
a perfect match.
With respect to the Kingdom of Ignorance - you hit it on the nose (so
to speak) - it seems to be heavily influenced by Lear. As for what it's
actually like, it seems very weird - a bizzaro Aztec/Mayan culture best
describes the native culture and religions - but where the Aztecs
sacrificed people to keep the sun present, they do it for the opposite
reason - they've gotten a lot of things reversed - I think their arenas
are probably inverted pyramids, i.e.
______ __________
|_ _|
|_ _|
|__|
add to this that they've been conquered by the Kralori, but that the
Kralori overlords themselves have become twisted and bizarre, and you
have quite a mess .
I think the Hughart books in particular would make a wonderful model
for Kralorela - they're particular favorites of mine, and I'd highly
recommend them to anyone interested in Kralorela or even a fun view of
ancient China - they're particularly funny if you've read any of the
originals they mangle in passing, such as the Dream of the Red
Chamber.
(Barry Hughart - The Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone and
Eight Skilled Gentlemen)
Oliver Jovanovic
jovanovic@cuccfa.ccc.columbia.edu
From: drcheng@sales.stern.nyu.edu (David Cheng)
Subject: RQ-Con USA
Message-ID:
Date: 14 Jan 93 15:09:52 GMT
As some of you might have heard, we are in the very preliminary stages
of planning a (near) Total RuneQuest Convention here in the US, much
like Convulsion of a Trillion Tentacles (in England) was like.
"We" are a few names you'll recognize from RQ-related threads:
- David Cheng ( drcheng@sales.stern.nyu.edu )
- Mark Wallace ( mcwalla@cs.umbc.edu )
- Brandon Brylawski ( brandon@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov )
These things have been pretty-much decided:
* It will be held in or near Baltimore, Maryland
* It will be in Jan/Feb of 1994
* Several RQ Luminaries will be in attendance:
Greg Stafford
Ken Rolston
Sandy Petersen, in all likelihood
David Hall, editor of _Tales of the Reaching Moon_, the
RuneQuest magazine
Oliver Jovanovic, leader of the RQ-IV rewrite effort
... and many more
* Home of the Bold, an Interactive Literature adventure for ~75 players,
will be hosted by David Hall. It deals with intrigue and treachery in
Sartar, during the Lunar occupation of Boldhome. You can be a
Sartarite Loyalist, a Lunar of influence, or an Independent enjoying
both sides kissing up to you.
We need YOUR input on the following ideas, plus any others you'd like
to provide:
= We are kicking around several dates. Martin Luther King Jr Day will
be Mon, Jan 17, 1994. How about Jan 14-16? Is this too close to
the holidays for you? Washington-Lincoln Day will be Mon, Feb 21.
How about Feb 18-20?
Please give feedback! Please don't be offended if we end up going
with a date you didn't pick!
= We are trying to make this event _so_ attractive that you feel
you absolutely must attend, even if you have to travel all the way across
the country. In speaking to Stafford about what he will contribute,
he issued us this challenge:
"Brainstorm a wish-list of anything and everything you'd like me
to contribute to make the con a success. Send me that list, and
I'll tell you what I can commit to."
Not trusting our own limited creativity, we are appealing to you
all to help us compile this want list. Please send us suggestions!
Don't limit yourself to the ~standard~ "Stafford runs a tournament"
or "Stafford reads from the Gloranthan book he's currently working
on" (that's been promised already). Let your imagination run wild!
WHAT KIND OF EVENTS WOULD MAKE THIS CON SO APPEALING
THAT YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST ATTEND? Tell us!
= We are wrestling with the concept of "RuneQuest/Glorantha Only"
versus "Other good stuff allowed." Convulsion was very successful
with a little bit of Pendragon, Call of Cthulhu, Empire of the
Petal Throne, and GURPS. Which would you prefer?
= We need events from you too! What can you do? Do you have a
fabulous old adventure you could run? Could you be a GM for
someone else's multi-table event? Could you work registration
desk? Do you have your own material you'd like to share?
Staff will certainly get some kind of discount (to be decided).
Please think about what kind of contribution you
could make. You don't have to tell us now.
But, we would like to include as much as we can in our mailing,
which ought to go out in the next 1 or 2 months.
With your reply, please include your US Postal Service address.
When we get a more finalized version of what is being offered, we
will be doing a promotional mailing.
Please send your replies to me, David Cheng:
drcheng@sales.stern.nyu.edu
or D.CHENG on GEnie
Also, PLEASE TRY TO REPLY BY JANUARY 31, as we want to collect
material for the promotional mailing as-soon-as-possible.
Thanks for your feedback!
-DC
313 East 85th Street, Apt 2C
New York, NY 10028
212-472-7752