Obviously, this is a far from an impartial review. It's more of an appreciation, a celebration. As one of the contributors to 'Dragon Pass: Land Of Thunder', I have eagerly awaited this publication to see what Greg, Ian Cooper (the project coordinator), Wesley Quadros (master of maps) and the other clansfolk have contributed.
Its been well worth the wait: 'Dragon Pass' is informative, well-rounded, inspirational, occasionally outrageous and by turns serious, enlightening, whimsical and humorous - reflecting its wide variety of Gloranthan 'sources' and real-world contributors. Dragon Pass is a delight to browse, and offers a multitude of campaign and story ideas and possibilities on every page.
Just pick it up and read a paragraph at random. Works every time. :)
The book itself is the now standard 72 pages softcover, and includes an 11 by 17 (inches) colour map, a bookmark, and a Dragonrise postcard. The layout breathes well for the most part, though, as with some other recent releases, some graphics are a little crowded. There are very few spelling or layout errors. The overall result is professional and clean.
First the map. It would be easy to simply say that this is to Wesley's usual high standard, but that gives insufficient acknowledgement to the incredible work that has gone into it. Based on Greg's original campaign map, it covers Dragon Pass from the Reaching Moon Temple in Tarsh to the Stormwalk Mountains, from the Vale of Flowers to the Shadow Plateau. It names settlements and geographic locales, and marks centres for Uz, Mostali, Chaos and 'Newt, as well as battlefields, holy places and other points of interest. There is much that is familiar and much that is new - the dragonewt cities now have names, for instance, and the Youfish ruins give a sense of the land's depth and history. It gives Sartar an additional dimension of solidity and depth that we have not seen before. It makes it complete, even if there's much much more to come. :)
RuneQuest belonged to Prax. Most of our adventures took place there. Sartar was an ill-defined and somewhat abstract entity. I was lucky enough to have a copy of Greg's glorious, enormous campaign map of Sartar, but I was one of the few. (By the way, most of my Far Place mythology and description came from poring over that map. I love maps! They invite you to visualise, to render the abstract concrete). King of Sartar gave us Sartar's history and myth, but its geography and tribes came later, piece by piece.
One of the real joys of RQ adventuring was the common geography we all shared. At conventions in the eighties and early nineties (and Australia had a pretty full-on convention circuit) I would meet friends from Sydney, Melbourne and parts further afield that were running their own RQ campaigns. I could ask, 'what's happening in Pavis, in the Rubble, in Garhound', and the answers and anecdotes could often be incorporated into my own campaigns. We shared a common imagined world. Prax had a sense of concreteness, of mythic and geographic complexity and uniqueness that was unparalleled in other games or worlds.
Well, now, with HeroQuest, and with Wesley's map, Sartar has truly arrived.
[I know that some locales had to be omitted due to size restrictions both of the book and map, so I have a lingering hope that perhaps there will be, one day in the not too distant future, an even larger version of the Sartar map for sale. Which is not in any way to detract from the richness and utility of the present offering.]
Interior illustrations and maps come from a variety of sources. There are a number of well-drawn but rather small interior maps, a problem that comes from having a wealth of source material and a strictly limited book length. Most maps can be enlarged fairly readily with a photocopier, while some, such as Wesley's Tarsh map, are already available in larger sizes. The relative small size doesn't greatly affect the maps utility, there's just something much more satisfying in 'catching an eyeful'. (And scrawling runes and campaign comments all about the margins. 'Never drink the yellow grog.' 'Lunar baboons'. 'Bladger, my axe'.)
The illustrations are similarly varied. Some are original, some are repeated from previous publications. Of particular note are some new 'woodcuts' from Simon Bray, Mark Galeotti's view of Alda Chur, and a rather intriguing illustration of a dragon and a very large bat over Boldhome.
And of course, extensive line drawings by William Church, familiar to
collectors of Early Storm Age papyri such as Wyrm's Footprints magazine, and
from guest spots in more recent publications like HeroQuest. I admit to
feeling ambivalent when I first heard of their inclusion: because of their
age, some of the drawings have a distinctly 'generic fantasy' feel. However,
seeing them laid out, I'm a convert - in their whimsy and gentle humour both
the illustrations and their captions perfectly reflect the tone of much of
the text. William's illustrations provide a sense of familiarity and
history, linking Heroquest to the earliest Chaosium boardgames. Some are
just *perfect*, and if others, like the giant-spiked village near Alone
(village? near Alone?) and the Baron von Moosehsunchen-ish Old Wind Temple
seem a little, well, non-literal, then let us rejoice that the artistic
monks of Wilms Church are renowned both for the strength of their humour and
the potency of their mushrooms. Long may they prosper.
So to the text itself. There are a number of introductory essays detailing the Pass, its climate, history and major cultures. Much of this is repeated from earlier books or from 'King Of Sartar', but there is a wealth of new information as well, including some detailed climate notes that go a way to explaining why the Orlanthi survived Fimbulwinter. As introductory material, its fine for new players and seasoned campaigners alike. The endpapers include a list of Gloranthan sources (perhaps a little too long, even if they do mention Silverquill, the wild sage of the duckwoods), a four page Glossary (useful), and a Sacred King list reproduced from 'King Of Sartar'. This makes for a very-much self contained work, so that players and GMs can gain maximum use from the work without reference to external sources.
There is also an indispensable three page Index (really just a map index), with very useful geographic groupings. I can appreciate why a more comprehensive index wasn't attempted (in a work like this, it would take up quite a few pages). Such a project hopefully will be a future labour of love for a dedicated clansperson. For now, if you're searching for that allusive reference to the fabulous farting flurries of Farjowl (which aren't under Farjowl), you'll just have to browse. You may not find it, but you will find at least three other things to further intrigue and distract you. Keep a note pad handy. Its that sort of book.
(Sit Here doesn't feature in the Index, though I suspect the entire entry
may be a Trickster jest. Just what does 'Judiz anquer nopasi' mean, anyway?)
Also scattered throughout the text and endpapers are boxed breakouts with a wealth of *tres useful* information - everything from basic material on metals and mining, known dragons, lunar garrisons, brochs, storage pits, hill forts, barrow mounds, roads, through to new tidbits like the composition of the Household of Death, gors and gallt (what dat?), Tarsh ballads, and a whole clanload of mythic persons, places and events.
The heart of the book is of course the entries - from Alda Chur to the Zoo, from the border garrisons of Tarsh to the river docks of Karse, with many a sacred spot, settlement and mountain in between. The familiar, the previously elusive and the entirely new all jumbled together. The entire landscape of 'Dragon Pass' is sacred, a potent mix of mythic potential and memory. And winds of course - this is an Orlanthi book. Lots of winds. And mountains. And dragon sign. Its rich, gorgeous, and just a bit chaotic all at once. Most entries are a few paragraphs long, but major locales may take up half a page or more. While not as distracting as say, the Jonstown Compendium, the sheer amount of detail can be a little overwhelming. There's *years* of joyful exploration for us all here: just charting and synthesising the trade information, the sacred and cultic geography, the tribal areas, the myriad tidbits on custom and ritual and food - hours and hours of joyful diversion.
Just like they scrawl on the gatehouse walls of the Jonstown market - Sartar LIVES. 'Dragon Pass' captures the richness and vitality of the Heortling Barbarity in gorgeous detail. There's a gentle undercurrent of whimsy and humour that makes for enjoyable reading throughout. The entries clearly remind you of the historic strata of the land, with sites and ruins from the Greater Darkness, Dawning, Gbaji Wars, Youf and the recent Resettlement. There's a definite scent on those aforementioned winds - a smell of empires rising and falling, a rich tang comprising the ambition of chieftains and the anguish of heroes, all mixed with the elusive but everpresent *pong* of dragonspore and stale ale. As the Orlanthi say, 'breath deep and give forth the thunder shout.'
And all this didn't just happen. The project's editors were faced with an
overabundance of raw material from contributors with differing perspectives
and interests. There's an incredible amount of synthesis and balancing
behind the printed pages, a tribute to the editors' patience and skills.
(But heck, they're gamesmasters after all - balancing and rationalising the
impossible becomes second nature after a while). By way of example, my own
Far Place contributions were mostly cut to around one third their original
length, and full form myths were reduced to a summary sentence or two.***
And quite rightly so. I have no doubts that other contributors faced similar
cuts (Well maybe not - I can be a wordy bastard :). But who of us *couldn't*
generate two or three thousand words on Alda Chur, or Jonstown, or any of
the major towns? Not only have the editors ironed out most of the
contradictions and differing stresses, they've retained much of the
individual contributors' voices and styles.
In one sense, Dragon Pass is the outcome of twenty years of campaign play and discussion, agreeing, disagreeing, and chewing the bull gristle on the Digest and mailing lists. There's a real depth to these descriptions, and a richness to the underlying themes. The broad strokes of Greg's vision have been reimagined and expanded by the clan. As a roleplayer, its wonderful to see some of the outcomes of my own campaigns - Taros and the Far Walkers, the gors and gallt, even Silverquill, the wild sage of the duckwoods, who featured in the first Ironspike convention modules in the mid eighties - taken up as part of the official corpus. I see similar inspiration from other clansfolk in many of the entries. While this is very much still Greg's Sartar (and his individual contribution to Dragon Pass is considerable), it is also our own, communal, shared creation. And that's its greatest strength.
In the same way, Dragon Pass is not an ending but rather a beginning. The trilogy of King of Sartar, Thunder Rebels/Storm Tribe and Dragon Pass has given us an incredibly rich mythological/cultural/geographical foundation on which to create and share further stories. I believe that the entries in Dragon Pass, substantial though they are, are in the main catalysts for further imagineering and storytelling. Sartar will continue to grow, and I suspect that in ten years time, the harvest from Dragon Pass will be as rich and varied as that from King of Sartar ten years ago.
We have sown the wind. Let's harvest the hurricane.
'Dragon Pass' is pure delight.
Best wishes to everyone for Sacred Time and the New Year.
John
nysalor_at_... John HughesQuestlines: http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/
"Freedom is just chaos with better lighting."
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