Its a great piece of work. It could be a very easily be a campaig finale, to conclude a story arc in grand style, and it would be a finale to remember. It feels epic and heroic, much like a duel in the Iliad.

I loved the way the scenario progresses, and I'd hazard to say, that it would easily be imported into any other part of Glorantha, because what it presents would have a universal appeal, the struggles of the heroes against overwhelming odds.

Well done and keep them coming!

Jon Webb’s Sandheart is a sandbox campaign framework for police procedural investigations on the fringes of Sun County, the xenophobic Uptight Spartans in the Wild West setting with which Ken Rolston and Michael O’Brien launched the RuneQuest Renaissance of the early 1990s.

Volume 1, Tales of the Sun County Militia, is divided into three parts: the setting, a short scenario, and character generation advice and examples.

The setting provides local colour for the remote Sandheart District, highlighting elements that make it different to other parts of Sun County. It sets out the role of the militia, and details a handful of prominent personalities and spirit cults. Sandheart fits in well with MOB’s Sun County, with plenty of quirks to make it distinctive – a gamemaster with none of the earlier books that detail Sun County and the Yelmalio cult might struggle to fill in gaps, though, as the author makes clear in his introduction.

The scenario sees the militia investigating a vicious gang of smugglers on a mission that may take them outside their jurisdiction and present interesting political complications. This is straightforward, and shouldn’t take long; the opponents have well-presented stat blocks and their personalities and tactics are succinctly outlined. Future scenarios set in Sandheart District will supply other challenges: Volume 2, The Corn Dolls, is a lengthy non-linear investigation, while the forthcoming Volume 3 includes heroquesting, dungeon-bashing, siege situations and other delights.

The author provides suggestions for generating distinctive adventurers rather than identical rank-and-file militiamen, while the nature of the Sandheart militia (with its tradition of recruiting mavericks and outsiders) makes it easy to justify unusual new recruits, whose diverse, dare I say “liberal” backgrounds and reputations for questioning authority readily explain why they’ve been banished to the arse-end of Sun County. Half a dozen pregenerated adventurers display a range of different types who might be recruited into the militia – including native scouts, wandering sell-swords and quirky locals – and are also ideal to flesh out NPC members of the militia, if the adventurers ever need to call for backup.

Diana Probst's new scenario is set at a ford which the locals know to be haunted. It's based around two combat encounters - an unpleasant surprise on the road, an investigative interlude where the adventurers try to work out what's going on, and a big finale. Interesting NPC motivations, discussions of tactics, well-staged and scripted encounters and even some tribal and racial politics in the mix. She describes leaders of the Varmandi clan (potential informants in the second act), weaves Apple Lane inhabitants into the story in a naturalistic way, and introduces a vengeful duck. The scenario is written for newly created characters, with advice on scaling up the opposition for a higher-powered game. While it's set in a definite location (where the Swan River separates the Hiording and Varmandi clans, just north of Apple Lane), it would be straightforward to transplant anywhere else – the scenario doesn’t depend on established landmarks or lore, and is highly portable. That said, the inhabitants of Apple Lane and Oakton have been woven into this short scenario charmingly and give it a lovely localised feeling – it’d be a shame to lose this. Strongly recommended, especially at this price.

Disclosure - I am one of the regular players in Nick’s gaming group, though I was not present when The Duel at Dangerford was played. Having now bought and read the scenario, I thought it only fair that I should share my thoughts and comments.

The scenario is a compact piece, probably playable in one session, though it is undeniably an enjoyable, heady, adrenaline rush of a game. The players are placed centre stage, immersed in Gloranthan myth, encountering legendary heroes and facing off against powerful enemy generals, armies and magic. All the stuff that makes playing RuneQuest in Glorantha great!

The scenario is written in a relaxed, chatty style, which may be perceived as not taking itself too seriously, and for some, they may not like; and throughout which, Nick provides various footnotes, hints and tips, allowing the GM to make informed decisions on how to change or expand certain sections of the game.

Finally, the anecdotal descriptions of the other gaming sessions, were I feel a brilliant inclusion. What an excellent way to promote the concept of ‘your game will vary’, by sharing your personal experiences of playing some of the published scenarios with the wider community, and allowing players and GMs to compare and contrast them with theirs – nice touch!

I totally recommend purchasing The Duel at Dangerford; if you don’t, you’ll be missing out on an innovative, cleverly written scenario.

Lovingly crafted and containing enough extra resources to let you really play with the scenario and make it fit your gaming group.

Just playing this for the first time. I figured this was a good start we will see. Looks awesome.

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This product is so much more than just a campaign, and I think it is a useful product for almost any Gloranthan GM.

It is a great campaign - I think the structure of starting with the characters at initiation, and running them through the first few years of adulthood, is a great way to structure the start of a campaign, especially for players new to Glorantha. It has a lot of background information on its clan that makes it rich and interesting as a setting. The initiation is very well done, dives straight into the deep mythic themes in a very well thought out way. And the rest of the campaign develops very strongly - the only issue is it has a very strong storyline that rather upends things at the end, so the main storyline may not suit every game.

But perhaps the most important thing to know is that there is so much in here that IS useful for every game. It is a really great example of how to do a Sartarite clan based game - and with lots of material that can be easily put it into almost any game similar to that setup, and will enrich it. You can drop the initiation scenario into any game, there are rules for romance and family sub-plots, there are really useful guidelines on how to simply manage NPCs without having to worry about full stats. There is an excellent collection of 'episodes', short outlines of how to run a generic sort of minor subplot/mini-scenario (a battle, a marriage, a raid, a feast, etc). It is a big collection of easily reusable parts that you can take and use in almost any game, or if not directly reusable serve as a great example of how to structure and present your own ideas within a game. So I think anyone running a Gloranthan game of almost any kind will find something useful.

Its also very nicely written in a way that really thoughtfully contributes to Gloranthan fandom - being very clear its a vision of Glorantha trying hard to be as broadly useful and inspiring as it can be - and very professionally produced.

This is absolutely brilliant, one of the best rpg books I've read, period. It is really helping me to 'get' the whole Glorantha vibe and understand how to realise the potential of the setting. Inspirational.

This is quite brilliant. Whether you are experienced with this system and setting or new to it, this is a fabulous. The author has put an endless amount of effort into this, and it shows.

BUY IT.

This book is far more than its scenarios. These are excellent, with plenty of player discretion influencing the inevitable story outcomes. That sounds oxymoronic but is actually epic, however you choose to use that word.

Additionally there are mechanics for both constructing and running heroquests AND fast NPCs. This includes a useful recap of The Hero's Journey.

Finally there is thinking. Thinking about Glorantha, naturally, but also thinking about how we think about this thing we do. What's more it's presented in a very accessible and often invisible way within and around the main text.

Even if you never play a game in Sartar, your players never hear the names of Ernalda and Orlanth, this book will improve your game. Buy it, loot it, use it.

Jonstown Compendium RuneQuest Scenarios does what it says on the tin, and more. A useful and succinct guide to all the RQ scenarios that have been published on the JC, with appendices for sourcebooks, monsters of the month as well as the excellent virtual tabletop tokens from Dario Corollo. As more and more material is published, this index will really come into its own. It's generous of Nick Brooke to spend his time on creating and updating this service to the community for which just a token price is asked.

So. Much. Information.

I'm in awe of how much is in here. It's got all of the information I need to make a solid military background, including the religious elements.

It won't stay $0.50 forever...get it now, it's the Bitcoin of the Jonstown Compendium.

I really wish there were more things like this available on DriveThru. Once a game gets a lot of products to support it, especially those generated by the playing community, it really is difficult to know which ones to get, to fit your playing style and interests. This is a constantly updated digest of the Runequest scenarious available - so now I know there are some old school, practically vintage RQ2 style, some deeply imbedded in the RQG 'adventurer as part of a bronze age community' , some police procedurals and an epic refight of a White Bear and Red Moon battle from a player's perspective. All described factually and informatively. Extremely good value for less than a dollar!