The enemy of my enemy is my friend—but do you really believe that? Can an alliance of convenience last? Skull Ruins: Tusk Riders Need Blood!—Ricardo Shankland's debut RuneQuest (RQG) adventure for the Jonstown Compendium—explores that theme.

Queen Leika tasks the adventurers with escorting the tusk rider defector Penjurlhi to the Skull Ruins so that he can perform a ritual to reinforce the bond with his tusker, the giant boars which give tusk riders their name. The work explores the relationship between tusk riders and their boars, a new adventure site, and aspects of tusk rider culture in Dragon Pass.

Let's dive on in!

Disclaimers: This review contains some plot spoilers for the adventure. I have a working relationship with the author's relatives on an unpublished project. The author is not involved in that project, and I did not work on Skull Ruins.

WHAT'S INSIDE?

Skull Ruin is basically divided into two sections: the 50-page adventure “Tusk Riders Need Blood!” and a 20-page collection of appendices presenting variants on tusk rider culture. While the sections share common themes, overall my experience was that they're largely separate from one another. For example, I wouldn't feel obligated to reference the appendices while running the adventure.

“Tusk Riders Need Blood!” begins with an escort mission combined with an intriguing character conflict: how do the adventurers feel about working with a tusk rider? For those who don't know, this non-human species is pretty much the only non-Chaotic species described in the Glorantha Bestiary as wholly and unrepentingly evil.

I certainly enjoy providing evil antagonists for heroic adventurers to clobber. Yet it's not particularly on-theme with Glorantha as a setting considering the vibrant imagination put into trolls, ducks, and so on. Broos are excellently repugnant for dungeon fodder. We can seek more complex evils from the non-Chaotics.

Yet “Tusk Riders Need Blood!” does not assume Penjurlhi is the “one good tusk rider.” He's not an especially nice person, but he's not a caricature like Drizzt Do'Urden. Penjurlhi is loyal, generally honest, and generally selfish. His love for his mount is sincere, yet he's also quite callous. For example, he's perfectly willing to let the adventurers kill other tusk riders (or to murder captive riders in their sleep himself) to reach the Skull Ruins and complete the Appease Earth ritual.

The journey's description is simple and effective. A declining rating for the tusker's mood provides urgency and structure, while the players are given meaningful ways to help Penjurlhi handle the beast. The reward for all this trouble is Penjurlhi's continued cooperation with the Colymar Tribe to reveal raid patterns, hidden paths, and other secrets of the tusk riders. The journey provides roleplay opportunities for the adventurers to decide if they trust their ward before serious conflict hits.

The Skull Ruins are the skeleton of a True Dragon which lays in the heart of the Dragonewt Wilds. An Orlanthi bandit lord named Gornorix uses the ruins as his hideout. From there he has raided Lunars, Sartarites, and traveling caravans indiscriminately. Although he began during the Lunar Occupation, Gornorix is an outlaw, not a patriot. His pet Earth Witch has learned to cast Appease Earth through her own methods, allowing Gornorix to build relationships with tusk riders and their associates. According to their instructions, the adventurers are to bring Penjurlhi here so the Earth Witch can perform the ritual and they can all go home.

Of course, adventures rarely go according to plan.

During the journey, the adventurers may have encountered a Mistress Race troll lordling whose cousin was captured by Gornorix (depends on their route). This cousin will be sacrificed in the Appease Earth ritual. The trolls want to attack the Skull Ruins and free the cousin. They may ask the adventurers for aid.

This sets up a complex and fascinating set of possibilities in which the adventurers might be attacking the dungeon, defending it, neutral, or switching sides. There are strong motives and reasons provided for why the adventurers might make each choice, and contingencies for surprises in almost all of the plausible avenues. Despite the compelling stories told by the various non-player characters, the adventurers remain at the story's center. Their choices determine the outcome.

The appendices describe a bit of tusk rider lore—introducing the human Boarsbeard Clan descended from Bloody Tusk converts—but largely focus on the new Cult of Sawtooth. This intriguing cult worships a carnivore Aldryami's ghost on the verge of Herodom. Sawtooth is a great example of the description that Heroes are “endowed with exceptional powers and uses those gifts to battle against enemies that endanger the peace and well-being of the community. And yet, the Hero is not bound by the rules and restrictions of the civilization they defend …” (RQG page 10). Sawtooth sought new ways of living for the good of the forest, and consequently is an outcast and heretic.

The cult's primary worshipers are tusk riders, outcast Aldryami, and the occasional outcast troll. Sawtooth provides rare magics useful for tusk rider scouts, and offers a special form of Resurrect which certainly could tempt adventurers to risk visiting his temple in the Stinking Forest. His cult is fully described with the Hero-ghost himself, a dryad priestess, and a mysterious hermit statted out for the gamemaster's use.

As you may have concluded from describing these two sections, the halves of Skull Ruins are connected thematically but not directly. The adventure includes a few initiates of Sawtooth in a journey encounter, but otherwise the adventure doesn't really explore tusk rider culture as much as I had anticipated. My expectations were something along the lines of “Skyfall Lake” in Trollpak (albeit with lots more violence), an adventure which focused on the players encountering tusk riders and deciding how to handle the situation. The adventurers do get to know Penjurlhi in “Tusk Riders Need Blood!” but overall I felt the adventure focuses on their role in the conflict between the Orlanthi bandits and the troll raiders.

Speaking of, I do truly love Gornorix. He's super Orlanthi, and also just such a jerk. Throughout, Shankland's characterization is quite strong. The troll lordling and the Earth Witch are both memorable. I felt not just that I understood how the non-player characters think, but also how to present them at the table. This is supported by good “high-level” organization of the adventure material into coherent sections with clear directions. Shankland's execution of this complex situation is well done.

In addition to the odd lack of tusk riders in the adventure, it also struck me as odd that the adventure lacked dragonewts. After all, the Skull Ruins are a dragon's skull in the Dragonewt Wilds. It felt strange that Gornorix had managed to lurk there for years without reprisal. I kept seeking an explanation, but one was never forthcoming. Despite liking the troll non-player characters and plot elements, it makes more sense to me that dragonewts would be trying to drive the Orlanthi out.

PRODUCTION

Skull Ruins is a collaboration between Ricardo Shankland and long-time Glorantha creator and artist Dario Corallo. Shankland did the words, while Corallo did the art and graphic design.

Overall, I'd describe the text's polish as pretty much right on my subjective “indie average.” It's clear to me that the author put in legwork hunting typos and other infelicities, but they do still appear on occasion. I do also feel that Skull Ruins would benefit from a line edit. In particular, I advise the author to keep an eye out for overuse of commas to create extended phrases. The text doesn't quite hit “run-on sentences” to my eye, but a line edit focusing on sentence construction could improve the “ground-level” clarity.

There's also a few odd word usages which I'm not used to seeing, such as “the Colymars.” However, these are consistent throughout the work and thus are a stylistic choice, not an error.

For visual design, the graphic design works well and the illustrations are excellent. There were a few unusual choices in the layout of the text which I feel are opportunities for improvement. In particular, the indentation of the first line of paragraphs is too consistent. For example, there are instances where a paragraph continues from the left column to the right, and the first line of the same paragraph is indented in the right column. Another odd example is the lack of indentation in statblocks. The hanging indent which is standard in the Jonstown Compendium template improves readability, especially when an ability's description requires multiple paragraphs and there's no boldface header to break up the text.

The art, though. This book might be my favorite Corallo has worked on. (At least of those I'm familiar with—I don't know all of his Gloranthan work.)

What really captures this art's success is its strong use of Gloranthan themes in combination with frequent portrayals of RQG's pre-generated adventurers, Vasana & Co. Being able to see the pre-gens engaging throughout the adventure helped bring the story to life.

Further, all of the major non-player characters are illustrated throughout Skull Ruins. This wealth of illustration strengthens the adventure's appeal and keeps the book firmly grounded in what the players are experiencing. I can see myself using almost all of the art as examples to players.

CONCLUSION

Skull Ruins contains an excellent adventure and intriguing appendices about tusk rider-adjacent lifeways. Even if these sections could be more strongly connected, I like both quite a lot. By way of advice to the creators, my instinct is that releasing the adventure alone at a lower price point would be more successful. The Cult of Sawtooth definitely deserves to be out in public! But it might have fit better into a different product. That said, overall I do recommend Skull Ruins: Tusk Riders Need Blood! and I do think it's worth the price point ($17.95). The book's stuffed to the brim with interesting ideas and Gloranthan goodness. There are some oversights and flaws, as I've pointed out, but the good vastly outweighs the bad on my scales.

I'm giving this a full five because this is the author's debut release. This is not merely “playing nice” or “overlooking errors.” (I'm well-aware I'm fussy about textual polish and it's significant in my overall opinions.) Shankland's work deserves a five because of the excellent creativity and organization of the adventure. That's damn hard to pull off. Having a fun and creative adventure concept is one thing, but executing it well is another. The adventure's combination of player-centric narrative choices and comprehensible semi-linear structure leaves a lot to admire. This is something I'm actively interested in shoehorning into my current campaign.

As a last thought, a quick note on non-player character statistics—this adventure's antagonists are tough. Even the routine antagonists have a good bit of magic and are provided with nasty tactics and clever leadership. This tactical support is also a reason I like the adventure, but I do encourage prospective gamemasters to read the statblocks carefully. I can see this adventure killing an entire group of newer adventurers unintentionally. (I can also see it killing experience adventurers or Rune Masters, but that would probably be on purpose. The climax is delicious.) Reducing the number of available Rune points for the non-player character antagonists or playing out a short skirmish followed by a Battle roll are some easy ways the gamemaster could adapt this for adventurers who've just completed the Gamemaster Screen Pack and RuneQuest Starter Set.

This review was originally posted on my site: https://akhelas.com/2024/05/17/review-dragonbane-bestiary/

Last year’s boxed Core Set for Dragonbane was one of the best launch products I’ve ever bought. Its combination of clear rules and dozens of hours of playable content left me eager to see what’s next! The latest book in Free League’s game line is the Dragonbane Bestiary. This collection of new beasties excited me for several reasons. First, one of my few criticisms of the Core Set was that its bestiary felt a little light (although considering how much is packed into the box I was hardly “disappointed”). The second—and more substantial—is that I really like Free League’s Book of Beasts for their Year Zero Engine survival fantasy game, Forbidden Lands.

With all that in my mind, there was just one question remaining: would the new Bestiary live up to the hype? Let’s dive in and find out.

Disclaimer: I received a free hardcover copy of the Dragonbane Bestiary in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Free League!

WHAT’S INSIDE? The Dragonbane Bestiary is a 148-page book which contains 63 entries describing creatures ranging across a variety of fantasy adventure antagonists. These are organized into thematic chapters loosely following the fiction that the book is a work penned by the in-world halfling Theodora Sneezewort. Each entry begins with a quotation from someone else in-world which usually provides an “uneducated” opinion on the creature. This is followed by Theodora’s description, which is typically about one paragraph. A random encounter and an adventure seed follow, along with the creature’s statblock and a monster attacks sidebar (if required).

In addition to providing a bevy of antagonists for the gamemaster, nine of the Bestiary‘s entries are also available as new Kin for player characters. This includes both traditionally hostile “nightkin” species like orcs and goblins, as well as reclusive “rare kin” such as lizard people and satyrs. Those creatures which are intended as a player option are provided with suggested names and a unique innate ability. Unlike other fantasy games, Dragonbane‘s rules for Kin focus on one or two traits rather than more detailed differences, so this is in line with the Kin options in the Core Set.

For a game with a focus upon classic dungeon-crawling goodness, I was pleasantly surprised with how much humanity is written into many entries. I was also pleasantly surprised that this humanity is not presented in a “preachy” way. Theodora’s notes and the encounter/adventure seeds hint at nonviolent resolutions to conflicts. I feel they also acknowledge that people in the world may well have good reasons for being wary when dealing with these creatures! The emphasis on options and choices works well.

Each entry is laid out as a two-page spread, with no overlap onto prior or following pages. This provides the Bestiary with a fair bit of utility, since a gamemaster doesn’t need to flip around to find the relevant information. In a similar vein there are some entries reproduced here which are also present in the Core Set. For example, the ghost is described in both (with the same stats), but the Core Set’s descriptive paragraph is replaced with Theodora’s notes and the encounter/adventure seeds are added. Some of the “overlap,” in fact, is illusory. The Core Set has a single entry for dragons and for demons, while the Bestiary has sections dedicated to each of the game’s marquee monsters. Providing options such as guardian demons and shadow demons provides the gamemaster with additional tools and story ideas.

Overall I found the Bestiary‘s entries to be flavorful and interesting, but they didn’t quite live up to my expectations. A comparison with the Book of Beasts might help explain why.

Several of the Dragonbane Bestiary entries struck me as, frankly, short. The two-page spread is often about a page of text and a page of art. Much of that text, too, is the creature’s game mechanics. I found Theodora’s notes and the encounter/adventure seeds had good flavor, but that flavor worked as a “hook.” It left me wanting a deeper explanation of the topic. For example, the giant spider’s adventure seed mentions the ancient, telepathic spider Krikelbik and her family. Telepathy isn’t mentioned elsewhere in the entry (including the monster attacks table). Don’t get me wrong—talking gigantic spiders are kind of hilarious to inflict on players—but situations like this are a missed opportunity to provide more of the “living” context which the humanizing element seems interested in exploring.

Curious about gigantic spiders in my own work? To Hunt a God includes the philosophic vegetarian Yama-kisintha, who only eats Aldryami because logically, only entities which have blood are people. She horrifies and amuses me, and I bet she’ll make your players feel squeamish too.

More plainly, the book does feel somewhat … barren. It feels like there was both conceptual and physical space on the page to add more content. Even when I compare the Bestiary to the Monster Manual for Dungeons & Dragons 5E I feel the latter has provided more contextual information on its creatures’ habits, desires, and lives.

In contrast, one reason I love the Book of Beasts is its abundance of useful content and interesting ideas. For example, each entry has a “Resources” section which describes what adventurers might harvest from the monster. The inclusion of Lore rolls increases the detail about each entry, and it feels that there’s just plain more text on each page.

That said, it is worth noting that the Book of Beasts is digest-sized, so filling four pages per entry isn’t the same as filling four pages of US Letter. Nonetheless, I hope that comparison still demonstrates what I was hoping would be included in the new Dragonbane release.

PRODUCTION The production quality of the Dragonbane Bestiary is excellent. In particular, I want to note the high-quality polish given to the book’s text. This is something I think doesn’t get mentioned often in reviews when done well. (If you’re familiar with any of my other critical work, you’ve probably noticed I’m a teensy bit finicky about text.) Throughout the whole work, I think I noticed a single typo. That’s really, really impressive.

On a related note, I also compared a few page references to the rulebook in my Core Set, and they all seem accurate. I don’t have the separate Dragonbane Rulebook which is available as a hardcover from Free League, but from the product information I have reason to believe that the pagination between the two versions is identical. The Bestiary ought to be user-friendly regardless of which rulebook you’re using.

As Free League notes on the Bestiary‘s product page, much of the art is reused from a prior edition of Dragonbane. Since I’m unfamiliar with any prior edition this doesn’t bug me much—and I’m fairly sure this is the first English edition, anyway?—but it’s worth noting for consumers who do care. I do want to note that, to my knowledge, none of this art overlaps with the Core Set. If you’re new to the game like me, all of the art is essentially brand-new.

That said, the art is very good. My disappointment in the “barrenness” certainly is not due to the quality of the art! I do think that in layout some pieces I would have selected as “half-page” or “quarter-page” illustrations have been used to fill even a whole page. This hasn’t led to reduced resolution or visual quality.

CONCLUSION The Dragonbane Bestiary is a pretty good product, but didn’t live up to my expectations based on Free League’s prior works. If you already have and like Dragonbane, I do think buying the Bestiary is a no-brainer. You’ll get plenty of use out of its helpful combination of mechanics and story ideas.

If you haven’t already bought in, I don’t think the Bestiary is providing a must-follow example of how to create this type of collection. I also don’t really think I can recommend the Bestiary if, like me, Dragonbane is mostly on your Kink Shelf. This strikes me as a book which will be very helpful during games at the table, but struggles to be engaging for the armchair enthusiast.

(Not that I wouldn’t love to take Dragonbane for a drive but, y’know, scheduling…)

For DriveThruRPG scoring I’ve decided to give the Dragonbane Bestiary a four out of five because I do feel the book fell short of my expectations, and because I feel past products validate those hopes. This Bestiary certainly is not a “bad” book. I do, however, feel that it fell short of Free League’s (admittedly high) average book. Dragonbane is still an intriguing system, and I’m certainly still looking forward to Free League’s next release for the game line.

The Dragonbane Bestiary is available in PDF on DriveThruRPG for $19.99, and in hardcover on the publisher’s website for 438.00 kr. That’s currently $41.80, but I believe the listed price could change between the time of writing and publication. (No, I’ve never had to pay exchange rates or out-of-country shipping costs when purchasing a book from Free League; they don’t have any “hidden costs.”)

When there’s smoke in the air and Ennio Morricone’s warbling Western sting fills your ears, you know someone is destined to have a bad day. Hopefully, that won’t be you!

This week we’re taking a look at A Bad Day at Duck Rock, Peter Hart’s first foray onto the Jonstown Compendium. Bad Day is an 88-page adventure set in the heart of Sartar which draws on themes from classical tabletop adventures and Western films alike. Providing illustrative support is Gloranthan veteran Dario Corallo (who, by the by, has produced several RuneQuest art packs—an insta-buy for prospective Jonstown Compendium creators).

So without further ado, let’s saddle up!

Disclaimer: I’ve received a free review copy of the PDF in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, Peter! This review contains minor spoilers.

WHAT’S INSIDE? Bad Day is divided into two major sections: the adventure (37 pages) and the Dramatis Personae (42 pages). The adventure adopts, in general, a sandbox approach to telling Bad Day’s story through the description of major locations. These are primarily the eponymous village of Duck Rock, and the nearby Cave Complex within which lurk a band of Chaotic baddies.

And what baddies they are! The band menacing the area worships the dreadful Thanatar. This cult is one of my favorites due to its signature spell: Create Head. The Thanatar worshiper cuts off a victim’s head, binds their spirit inside, and can wield all their magic. It’s a nasty, nasty ability, and a great deal of fun if you’re the gamemaster. While Thanatar’s full write-up will be published in the forthcoming Chaos volume of Chaosium’s Cults of RuneQuest series, all spells needed for this adventure can be found in the Red Book of Magic. Hart does suggest that gamemasters pick up the RuneQuest Classic reprint Cults of Terror if they seek additional information about the cult. Ultimately, a version does at least remain in print.

In general, I’d describe the plot as occurring in two phases:

What the Hell happened? What are we going to do about it? The story begins with the adventurers entering Duck Rock to seek rooms at the inn and sell bronze on behalf of their employer. Meanwhile, said employer has gone to visit some friends at a local farmstead. Since he never shows up in town, it’s left to the adventurers to figure out what happened. Snooping around is quite likely to result in a skirmish with some of the baddies. This leads to discovering the cave complex and the revelation that something really is going on.

I’m simplifying this somewhat; there’s quite a bit more at play than my linear outline suggests. The possibilities range among meeting local magical entities (such as a naiad or an only-slightly-evil vampire), an assassination attempt, stopping (or helping) a Humakti get revenge, and visiting the site of a dead durulz deity.

This is pinned together by an in-depth gamemaster background at the start of the adventure, and a timeline of past, present, and future events. Naturally, the players’ choices may well change these events. Once all the details are woven together, the basic takeaway is that the adventurers have one week to save their employer. Otherwise, he’ll get sacrificed to Thanatar with Create Head!

The Dramatis Personae are for the most part a long collection of statblocks. Some gems worth mentioning include the description of a vampiric Dancer in Darkness’s tactics when casting sorcery, a lovely little myth about vampire bats, and the inclusion of a giant in search of his missing hand. As the page count suggests, this section provides exhaustive statistics for each non-player character mentioned in the adventure (and many which are unnamed in the main text as well).

PRODUCTION Bad Day is polished substantially above what I would expect for a creator’s first RuneQuest adventure in text, illustration, and layout.

The text reads very well, largely using an admirably concise style without becoming dull. Bad Day is a credit to both the author and the editor! Information is presented logically and thoroughly throughout the adventure. In particular, Hart does a good job juggling the openness of sandbox adventures with the need to avoid endless “if… then…” sequences to cover player choices. This is tricky, but Bad Day pulls it off with grace. I think the use of a timeline worked very well, here.

There are occasional typos or inconsistencies (such as “Spot” instead of “Scan” to see an assassin). These are infrequent, and never threw off the meaning of a sentence. Throughout, Bad Day exceeds my expectations for textual polish among indie publishers, and honestly is quite close to the standard I strive for in my own work.

(Insert the obligatory noise that Austin is over-picky about textual polish—I’m well aware.)

With a handful of exceptions, the illustrations are all by Corallo, and are in his well-known “cartoon-like” style. (At least, I think that’s an accurate adjective?)

The use of a single artist for the art worked very well. Corallo’s illustrations provide additional unity to the adventure. While I often favor visual diversity, the persistent style in Bad Day set a consistent tone to positive effect. Due to the adventure’s moving parts the visual consistency manages to depict the non-player characters, but avoids distracting the reader.

The cartography—I believe also by Corallo—is simple and effective. Perfect for an adventure. The isometric map of Duck Rock in particular is quite charming. I appreciate that the creators used maps without much visual fuss. They’re accompanied by both scales and cardinal directions, making the maps easy to understand and use.

The layout is not complex—largely following the template provided by Chaosium—and functions well. Simple graphic design which presents the adventure’s text clearly is superior to pretty graphic design which obscures information. I pretty much never actually noticed the graphic design while reading. To me, this says it was a full success. In particular, I want to call out Hart’s effective use of headers and boldface to organize information, locations, and so on.

My only substantial recommendation on the layout is to break up the Skills section of the statblocks. I like to do so with bullet lists, but a boldface style for each skill category would work too. This would improve the ease with which the eye scans the skills to find the needed rating.

CONCLUSION A Bad Day at Duck Rock is an intriguing and compelling adventure. It is not morally grey; you’re here to kill the bad guys. Yet, those bad guys are nonetheless drawn in very realistic terms. Evil doesn’t mean stupid, and Hart shows that he’s quite aware of that fact throughout the sandbox. The character description, tactics, and ambitions is likely the strongest narrative element in the adventure.

I do have some reservations about this adventure’s complexity. It is, quite clearly, flexible and robust. The players would have to do something really wild to throw it entirely off the rails. Yet these properties arise because, I feel, the adventure leaves the gamemaster to do a fair bit of legwork. For example, shifting between different sections to determine how the non-player characters respond or making ability rolls against non-player character abilities to determine how not-quite-off-screen events play out (a scuffle in the next building, for example).

I’d recommend a bit more “stage direction” for the gamemaster. The adventure says the players went into town, and then begins describing the town. There are many useful story elements in the town’s description. However, it wasn’t always clear to me how I’d answer the question “OK, what happens next?” during the first half of the adventure. In reflection, I suspect the answer is to put the map in front of the players, and ask them where they go around the town. A little guidance in this vein can go a long way.

The adventure’s definitely worth running. I just might recommend it for more experienced gamemasters rather than newbies.

I do also question the quantity of statblocks in the Dramatis Personae. In particular, there’s a number of named characters who are companions to a more important non-player character, each with their own section. Randomization and personalization can add enjoyable color, but I don’t think it was effective in Bad Day. I found myself skimming through the statblocks, rather than intrigued by the varied abilities. Like I said above, there’s some gems in this section, but overall I suspect most gamemasters will pick a “typical such-and-such” then rely on the focal characters.

A Bad Day at Duck Rock exemplifies why I’m lukewarm about giving “scored” reviews. Oscillating back and forth between a 4 and a 5 (mostly due to half the book being statblocks), I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to weigh this based on price. And the price is good.

In my mind, $10 for 40 pages of engaging, well-illustrated story which has been polished for ease of use is absolutely worth buying. When I run this I’ll use the Dramatis Personae, sure, but that’s not the focus of this product. I suspect most groups will get at least two to three sessions out of this adventure. That’s a ton of entertainment for ten bucks. It’s ripe for replaying, too, with how the sandbox sets up varied threads through the plot.

A Bad Day at Duck Rock deftly presents a story older than RPGs: a group of strangers ride into town looking for a drink and a bed, and discover someone’s been killed or gone missing. What happens next is up to them.

This review was originally published on my website, https://akhelas.com/2024/01/26/review-sacred-earth-sacred-water/ Disclaimers: I received a free PDF copy of Sacred Earth, Sacred Water from the publisher. Thank you! I feel it’s worth noting that I’m a prior purchaser of all the collected adventures. This review may contain spoilers. I contributed to playtesting and proofreading “Stone and Bone,” and I am included in the additional thanks for this volume.

Sacred Earth, Sacred Water collects together the following adventures:

In Stone and Bone the adventurers meet the shaman Erhehta and confront a scorpion man nest while helping retrieve sacred mud to cleanse him of the Bone Curse. The Gifts of Prax sees the adventurers wander across the Plains of Prax to prepare for a ritual taking revenge on the Impala Tribe shaman Maserelt. Finally, the mini-campaign of Erhehta and Maserelt’s feud concludes with the adventurers confronting The Lifethief in the magic-less Dead Place. Meanwhile in The Temple of Twins the adventurers heroquest into a wounded temple to discover the fate of its Rune Priestess. The volume also contains a new, comprehensive description of the Straw Weaver Clan of the Bison Tribe. This 20-page chapter is densely packed with useful information about Praxian myths, culture, family structure, cults, and politics. By providing additional context about life in the Bison Tribe this chapter helps the gamemaster play Praxian non-player characters within their own worldview. There’s no implication that the gamemaster must get something “right.” Rather, I see this content as designed to help the table roleplay engaging with an imaginary culture distant in time and space from our own.

It’s also worth emphasizing this chapter’s value for inspiring new adventures. Clan and tribal rivalries offer excuses for raids (and why raids might go wrong), while myths like “The Stone that Spoke” provide an intriguing starting point for a heroquest. Many of the non-player characters in this chapter are not tied into the adventures. I see this as a strength, because it offers the gamemaster freedom to use them without accidentally mucking up a later plot.

The “Notable Personalities” section, in my mind, has an interesting parallel to Chaosium’s Lightbringers book. Lightbringers provides a great deal of context and setting through its description of the included religions. In compliment with that, the characters in Sacred Earth, Sacred Water demonstrate how those cults are lived by actual people. By providing concrete examples of Khans of Waha and Storm Bull, Praxian Humakti, Herd Mothers, and shamans, this book highlights the emotional experience of worshiping these religions. Few—if any—characters struck me as molded wholly by their cult. For example, Erhehta is a Daka Fal shaman, but his Water Rune defines his mercurial personality. The secret sauce for the personalities is that they’re provided within their own context. Their hopes and fears are tangible.

The stories in Sacred Earth, Sacred Water focus on the adventurers as outsiders assisting the Straw Weavers with various problems. These mostly revolve around the shaman Erhehta and his feud with the Impala Tribe shaman Maserelt. Together, those three adventures form a mini-campaign with ample hooks by which the gamemaster can hang additional adventures. “The Temple of Twins” also involves the Straw Weavers, but does not have the same focus on Erhehta.

As BWT’s promotional material states, Sacred Earth, Sacred Water contains “four acclaimed scenarios.” This acclamation, in my opinion, is best explained the adventures’ diversity of conflict. It’s easy to boil Praxian activities down to “raid someone” or “fight Chaos.” Throughout the whole book, BWT resists that urge with aplomb. There’s a great deal of horror in Sacred Earth, Sacred Water—but there’s also strangeness, and compassion, and magic. Some of my favorite examples include the gleeful way scorpionmen babies “bite with cute, tiny toddler teeth,” the possibility that one’s sacred duty is not saving the Rune Priestess, and the various problems of feeding a condor chick while in the chaparral.

Adventurers of both martial and spiritual archetypes (or perhaps Waha and Eiritha?) have a meaningful impact on each adventure. Despite playing out around a feud between two powerful shamans, these adventures place a strong focus on the players’ choices. The players absolutely have a say in the plot’s resolution. Heroic adventurers are needed, not mere assistants. For example, “The Gifts of Prax” culminates in Erhehta’s ritual to stampede Maserelt with a herd of ghostly bison. However, Maserelt’s apprentice has informed the adventurers of why she cursed Erhehta in the first place. The adventurers influence the story’s outcome by choosing the extent to which they assist Erhehta—or indeed, if they persuade him that looming Chaos is more important than the irascible shaman’s vengeance.

Each adventure’s outcome is not fixed in stone (or bone). They revolve around the players’ choices and their adventurers’ deeds.

Finally, Sacred Earth, Sacred Water is supported by a whopping 40-page appendix of Praxian encounters. These encounters can be used to extend any of the adventures—especially “The Gifts of Prax,” which involves the most travel—to offer problems while adventurers are traveling from A to B, or to inspire longer adventures. What if that hill claimed by a squadron of peccaries has the only spring in the area?

These encounters are largely drawn from the original publications of Gifts of Prax, The Lifethief, and The Temple of Twins. Working from memory of when I read the originals, I believe that a handful of new encounters have been added, more have been illustrated, and that many have been revised. This appendix really is a goldmine for anyone venturing into Prax. Much like the conflicts in the adventures “proper,” the encounters are creative and diverse. Some of my favorites include a tumbleweed Aldryami, a honey badger with “Give a Damn 0%,” and a stodgy Pure Horse People ghost.

Sacred Earth, Sacred Water is produced to a high standard of prose quality, textual polish, and graphic presentation. BWT’s accomplishment shares the same space as books like Ships & Shores or The Voralans whose production quality blurs the line between “independent” and “full-scale” publisher. Speaking from experience, getting a book this tidy with a small team is hard work.

BWT’s prose in particular deserves a shout-out. I can tell their work is very well edited because it is generally—but not always!—concise and straightforward. That last 10% of flash is not a mistake. It’s the little bit of flash which really helps a book of adventures shine. There’s lovely little gems throughout Sacred Earth, Sacred Water which improve its “armchair” quality without getting in the way of the gamemaster. That’s a difficult target to hit, and the team has done it admirably.

The text’s polish is strong as well, though perhaps a dash less than the editing. I’m compulsive about proofreading, I know. The main typo ninjas I noticed were the occasional missed capital on spell or season names.

On a related note, I do think the book would have benefited from a bit more uniformity in presentation. For example, spell names seem to be italicized in “Temple of Twins” and “The Straw Weavers,” but are roman in the other adventures. As another example, I suggest that the “Aftermath” and plot hooks could share unified presentation at the end of each adventure (whether it’s a chapter or a heading, whether or not to use bullet points, etc.).

The art in Sacred Earth, Sacred Water is excellent. My favorite piece is probably the cover (shown above). Throughout, there is a focus on single-figure illustrations—especially portraits—with each adventure’s cover art used as a full-page plate on the adventure’s first spread. Most of the new art is in the “Straw Weavers” chapter. I believe there’s a few pieces in the encounters appendix which are new as well.

A young morokanth playing with the family’s herd man. Sacred Earth, Sacred Water‘s illustrations work well with the book’s focus on usable and informative content for the table. The art features details of Praxian culture within portraits and scenes which the players encounter. As a gamemaster, I’d feel encouraged to show players images from the book without fearing spoilers about the story. Line illustrations throughout the volume add an additional charm to the publication. These typically feature animals, Runes, or objects as they might be drawn by the Praxians themselves.

The only critique which comes to mind concerning graphics is that the primarily black and white art of “Stone and Bone” contrasts with the color art in the rest of the book. Naturally re-illustrating an entire adventure is a waste of time, but I think an extra bit of color in that chapter could have gone a long way.

(Yes, I am saying that I want color art of the scorpion man toddlers.)

Sacred Earth, Sacred Water collects and expands upon some of the best RuneQuest adventures produced for the current edition. It deftly blends a narrow focus on the Prax Homeland with easy accessibility to groups throughout the core Dragon Pass region. BWT’s work lands firmly on the “table” side of my “armchair or kitchen table” spectrum, yet retains a great deal of armchair entertainment value.

Apart from a bit more unity of presentation, just one other critique comes to mind. I feel the “Straw Weavers” chapter could use more explicit support for creating Praxian adventurers from the clan. For example, saying something like “Players who wish to play Straw Weaver adventurers should use the RuneQuest core rules for creating Praxians.” I also think there’s some space to expand on Straw Weaver adventurers (such as a Praxian trinkets table, or a unique Straw Weaver event during the Family History). Sacred Earth, Sacred Water doesn’t need a comprehensive adventurer creation section (as in the excellent Duckpac), but additional player options would have been a fun bonus.

Overall, I esteem this book among works like The Pegasus Plateau & Other Stories or Six Seasons in Sartar which are not, strictly speaking, mandatory. Nonetheless, all of these works offer enormous fun and utility to RuneQuest gamemasters, players, and readers alike.

If you haven’t explored BWT’s Prax before, Sacred Earth, Sacred Water is the perfect entry point. It is available in the following editions:

PDF: $19.95 Hardcover, Standard Color: $35.95 Hardcover, Premium Color: $49.95 At around 170 pages, any edition is an absolute bargain.

That said, this is an omnibus of prior content. I do think it’s valid, as a consumer who has previously purchased the PDFs, to consider if the PDF price is worth the new content. For me… probably not, actually. A lot of invisible work goes into revising, collating, producing, and print-prepping a book like this, and I don’t want to trivialize that. But the “Straw Weavers” chapter is the most overt new material, and I honestly don’t think I’d pay $20 for it.

With that in mind, I do believe $20 is the correct price for this book! The Jonstown Compendium just doesn’t really have the backend support to provide a more nuanced approach. That’s not the fault of BWT, or Chaosium, or anyone else involved in the program. (Hey, maybe DriveThruRPG’s ongoing rework will change that!) $20 is expensive for “Straw Weavers,” but as I said before, it’s an absolute bargain for new customers.

Further, I love that this work is finally in Print on Demand. It’s a product I’ve wanted to put on my shelf for a while, and now that opportunity’s available.

The real question: when does Sacred Air, Sacred Fire come out?

This review was originally published on my website at https://akhelas.com/2024/01/19/review-islands-of-the-lost/.

Disclaimer 1: I received a free PDF copy of Islands of the Lost from the creators in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

Disclaimer 2: This review contains minor plot and content spoilers for the book’s adventures.

This week’s release takes us far from the central RuneQuest area of Dragon Pass, into the deceptively balmy East Isles. Islands of the Lost is the third release in the “Hero Wars in the East Isles” series on the Jonstown Compendium. It introduces ship rules for the East Isles (based upon the RuneQuest 3 ship rules which are scheduled for republication by Chaosium), six shortform cult descriptions, two new islands, and two adventures: “Pirates on the Horizon” and “Islands of the Lost.” However, the “title track” is a massive 70-page tale, so saying the book has “just” two adventures would be deceptive.

Islands of the Lost also provides additional support for gamemasters planning to run the entire Hero Wars in the East Isles campaign. This includes summaries of past and future content which place adventures into RuneQuest‘s seasonal campaign structure. The section also highlights geographical and chronological points which will be left undeveloped. This provides flexibility so the gamemaster can invent their own isles and adventures in the Korolan region of the larger archipelago. Considering the pace at which the creators produced this book—about a year after the first two-book installment—I feel they’ve likely matched the campaign’s structure well to the pace of their releases.

Each of the shortform cults is described with a similar structure to the RuneQuest core rulebook. The cult summary is followed by one or two myths told about its deity, then the usual sections on initiation and membership in the cult. The cults are grounded within the Korolan Islands with additional notes on local temples and holy persons. In combination with starting skills for new adventurers, each cult in Islands of the Lost feels like an engaging play option for adventurers. I especially appreciated that some cults which seem like Lightbringer analogues—well, speaking from a God Learner perspective—have custom Rune magic or different associates. This supports Glorantha’s polytheistic theme of localized religious diversity.

With the inclusion of Tamoro and Luvata islands in this book, the total number of islands detailed by the series comes to four. These isles include the seat of the Korolan queen, taverns, wyters, local customs, and a Martial Arts school. Altogether the new locations are described succinctly and supported by attractive maps.

The bulk of Islands of the Lost, however, is devoted to the publication’s adventures.

“Pirates on the Horizon” provides a standalone adventure about a pirate raid while the adventurers are visiting Tamoro island. It sets up a straightforward conflict entangled in some fun political twists. Like adventures in Chaosium’s Gamemaster Screen Pack or RuneQuest Starter Set, “Pirates on the Horizon” does a good job framing the adventurers as trustworthy heroes for the local non-player characters to rely upon.

There’s also a trickster—so as a current trickster player myself, I may be a wee bit biased in favor of plots about trickster shenanigans.

“Islands of the Lost” is split into three sections. The first, “Thief of Hearts,” in my estimation should play well on its own. This gives the adventurers a chance to rest, worship, and prepare for the rest of the adventure. Parts two and three take place after the adventurers shipwreck on a pair of uninhabited islands. Connected by a sandbar which emerges only during an extreme low tide, part two’s survival adventure flows quite naturally into part three’s rescue mission on the other isle.

The tale is about star-crossed lovers, the queen’s daughter and the son of a political rival. When the good-for-nothing son betrays the princess, she absconds into the ocean and gets swept away in a storm. Part one focuses on discovering why the princess has vanished, and ends with storms and sea monsters.

Part two can begin either after the adventurers were shipwrecked in the storm, or after they’ve been shipwrecked in another storm after resuming pursuit in a new vessel. This part is half endurance test, half kaiju encounter as the players discover they are not alone on their isle.

Finally part three reveals the low tide road to the adventurers, allowing them to reach the other isle. There they discover clues that the princess is held prisoner by Andins—nonhumans who worship the fiendish antigods—and must steal an Andin war canoe to escape.

Throughout, Islands of the Lost presents its adventures in a scene-based format with a fairly linear structure. In the more social sections, I believe it would be easy for a gamemaster to jump between scenes based upon the players’ choices. Two dungeon sections are presented in the style of Snake Pipe Hollow (though not nearly so large) for RuneQuest Classic. An “Enemies & NPCs” section after “Pirates on the Horizon” and each section of “Islands of the Lost” provides a one-page combination of character statistics, personality summary, and often an illustration. My favorite antagonists were the three kaiju: a sea monster, a giant crab, and a giant turtle. Each is capable of speech, and each ought to be a difficult fight—if the adventurers choose to fight them!

Overall, the adventure content contains diverse conflicts and straightforward gamemaster directions. I was impressed that, despite using a fairly linear structure, I felt while reading that the adventurers were at the center of the story. Player choices are definitely central to the outcome of each story.

Islands of the Lost is well laid out and illustrated. In particular, I enjoyed the illustration of Xabtha the Water Wyrm—the sea monster in part two—because the art blends a crocodilian look with aspects of more traditional Asian dragons.

I also found the cartography in Islands of the Lost quite attractive. Several of the maps don’t have a compass or a scale. As a gamemaster who likes using minis, I find scales for places like Wapato Stead useful when setting up combats or conflicts (like sneaking around a town). Another cool aspect of Hero Wars in the East Isles cartography is that each island’s profile is illustrated. I like this a lot because it helps provide perspective for what someone in a boat sees—a common occurrence in the Korolan Islands!

The text is well proofread and has few typos, but there are a number of typographical errors. Textual polish is, admittedly, something of a fixation for me, though I try not to overfocus on it when reviewing the work of independent creators. A few tips:

• Consistency goes a long way—ex. capitalization (“adventurers” or “Adventurers”) and hyphenation (“Scan roll” or “Scan-roll”).
• In the Jonstown Compendium template, using a colon (:) in the List Bullets style triggers a GREP script which automatically puts all prior characters in boldface. (That’s why the abbreviation “RQ:G” keeps triggering boldface.)
• Keep an eye on commas. Admittedly, this is more editing than proofreading. Building a habit of using periods over commas reduces the frequency of odd sentences. (This is a challenge for me, too.)

That said, the prose is very effective. It’s not flashy like Six Seasons in Sartar or Black Spear, and I believe it avoids flash on purpose. Islands of the Lost is structured and written well for direct use by the gamemaster from the book. The only time I felt a bit lost was in an explanation of the wilderness survival mechanic, and this was made more clear later in the adventure.

Overall, I’d describe the textual polish as meeting my expectations for indie work, and the graphic presentation as excellent.

After reading the prior volumes, I must admit I was intrigued by Hero Wars in the East Isles but not enthralled. Fires of Mingai has solid adventures, but subjectively they didn’t grab my imagination in the way of Chaosium’s “The Pairing Stones” or Gauthier & Dyer’s The White Upon the Hills.

In contrast, Islands of the Lost provides a grand narrative which demands to be played. It’s a classic “save the princess” narrative like an old-fashioned adventure flick. There’s a great mix of compelling villains with true, remorseless monsters, strange environments—like the boiling-hot Bezarngay current or a giant crab’s lair—and desperate heroics. It could be played as a frightening deathtrap for newer adventurers, or a daring expedition for veterans.

On my “armchair or kitchen table” spectrum, Islands of the Lost is 100% a kitchen table book. I love that. As the Jonstown Compendium continues to output more adventures than most groups can realistically can play each year, we creators trend more and more toward works which blend armchair and table value. It was refreshing to read a RuneQuest adventure which seemed to say “here’s the story—now go play it yourself!”

If you’re looking for adventure outside the core game area, the whole Hero Wars in the East Isles series is worth checking out. Honestly, I think these would be a great choice for a Print on Demand option too. They help highlight the breadth and diversity of human Glorantha in the way that Duckpac or The Voralans brings depth to the Elder Races. Islands of the Lost expands upon the core Korolan Islands release provides a non-Dragon Pass region with immediately playable material in a way I don’t think I’ve seen for other areas of Glorantha.

For groups interested in using their Dragon Pass characters to play this material, you’ll probably also want Martin Helsdon’s second magnum opus, Ships & Shores of Southern Genertela (can a creator have two magnum opuses? is that allowed?). Helsdon’s book provides everything you’ll need to know for the journey there and back again.

This review contains spoilers. It was originally posted on my website, akhelas.com.

Following in the footsteps of last year’s Ruins of the Lost Realm, this year Swedish publisher Free League has released another adventure compendium for The One Ring 2E (TOR). Drawing deeply from Tolkien’s works, TOR is a game which I’ve fallen in love for its evocative mechanics, varied story opportunities, and high-quality production. TOR is a great example of why I admire Free League’s work.

A note—I read these adventures, but have lacked the opportunity to play them.

That said, how does their latest adventure into Middle-Earth fare? Let’s find out.

Tales from the Lone-Lands is a collection of six connected adventures. Each adventure’s core is a landmark (in the style of Ruins of the Lost Realm) which could be run independent of the adventure’s other material. This book also provides support for playing the entire adventures independently, but they’re at their strongest as a cohesive story.

And really, the story told in Tales from the Lone-Lands is exactly the type of campaign I wanted. It’s a somber tale, filled with minions of the Enemy, heroic quests, and a wonderfully on-theme finale.

The focus of each adventure is split between the journey, and the destination. Across the six adventures of Tales the Player-heroes will find themselves traveling widely across Eriador, the land west of the Misty Mountains. Even for Tolkien enthusiasts this campaign will likely enter unfamiliar territory while sailing onto the Great Sea or traveling into the frozen wastelands beyond Angmar. The focus on both journeys and landmarks suits TOR well given the game’s “There and Back Again” adventure structure. Most adventures have character drama or custom events which take place while traveling. Advice to the Loremaster on lacing the adventures together can be found throughout each adventure’s elements. In particular, I can see journey events being lifted easily and used during travels associated with other adventures.

At the heart of this campaign is Amon Guruthos, the Hill of Fear. This antagonist thrusts a deeply “Tolkien” feel into the whole campaign. The return of the Enemy haunts each adventure, and forebodes the growing power of the Hill of Fear. Unlike trolls and orcs, the Hill of Fear is not a monster (although there are several options for cool boss fights). The Hill of Fear is an ancient remnant of Morgoth’s evil, like the famous Balrog of Moria. It is not a creature to slay, but a force to confront.

This confrontation is interlaced with TOR’s mechanics. In TOR, exposure to the Shadow or committing Misdeeds can accrue Shadow points to a character. This often reflects forces beyond the scope of a Player-hero. The Eye of Sauron might be resisted, but its gaze isn’t a spell to counter or a sword to parry. Shadow is a moral force, a force of horror and corruption and despair. The Hill’s malevolence is present throughout Tales‘s adventures. This weaves the players’ journeys into a quest of resistance against the dark.

This tale seems, to me, bleak in the same ways as The Lord of the Rings. Indeed, the possibility of eucatastrophe is suggested twice in the final adventure, through the light of Eärendil. Resistance unto breaking, and beyond breaking, resistance to the last against Shadow and Evil. This book’s adherence to Tolkien’s themes presents a way to meaningfully play out a “Tolkien-like” story at the game table.

In terms of general polish, the text is well-written, with very few errors. These are mostly textual oversights (such as the text’s “Vale of Gold” being labeled the “Hill of Gold” on the map). Such errors never caused me confusion. I found each adventure’s presentation hit a sweet spot between linearity and openness. Tales provides enough options for player agency, but few enough that the Loremaster can follow the adventures easily. I feel confident to run any of these adventures after a single read-through the night prior to the session.

Always hunting for adventure? Then check out my RuneQuest work! The Queen’s Star sends players into the fiery Cinder Pits to save a fallen star. Thanks for reading, and thanks for the support!

As with Free League’s other TOR products, the quality of Tales from the Lone-Lands is excellent. The volume is a 112-page hardcover with, I believe, a cloth-bound cover on which the cover illustration is printed. The interior is the same high-quality paper as the prior releases, with a focus on presenting a “tome-like” feel. Tales illustration is more satisfying to me than Ruins due to the increased focus on illustrating characters and creatures encountered during the adventures (such as the delightfully nasty Worm-wight). Most interior illustrations are grayscale sketches, punctuated with full-color spreads to start each adventure, and color cartography.

Overall the illustration is strong. In particular I like how Free League’s design choices have remained consistent. The heavy use of grayscale (sketch?) artwork adds a continuous feel to the game line. Likewise, it seems from the credits that the same collection of artists have worked on each hardcover. This consistency in style and quality is a strength I hope to see continue.

The only production critique I have is that at times the cartography feels a little unclear. This is more due to the mesh of cartography and game design, rather than the illustrations themselves. For example, some adventures note a large ruin at a landmark as a single location, with a few notes for portions of the ruin. Although TOR isn’t designed for “hallway by hallway” dungeon-crawling in the style of Pathfinder or Dragonbane, I do think a little more detail (or less massive ruins) would clean up the descriptive presentation.

I heartily recommend Tales from the Lone-Lands to anyone interested in more adventures for TOR. It’s a splendid book which weaves Tolkien’s themes into a meaningful story which allows the players to impact the future of the Free Folk.

This book meshes well with Ruins of the Lost Realm, without excessively overlapping in scope. I feel the books work best together. Ruins provides a geographic setting, and Tales an interconnected story. Laced throughout with landmark adventures from Ruins—and of the Loremaster’s own design—I feel excited to take these books out on a campaign into Eriador.

As a total geek about Earth’s historical Bronze Age, when I heard about Mythic Babylon‘s launch back in 2021 I knew I’d want to pick it up. The book’s languished on my kink shelf, but it finally reached the top of my reading stack.

Published by Design Mechanism for their D100 system Mythras, Mythic Babylon provides a comprehensive point of entry for those interested in playing Mesopotamian campaigns during the reign of Hammurabi. Although you’ll need a copy of their core rules to play Mythic Babylon, the book should be pretty usable with your choice of system.

My own experience of Mythic Babylon was firmly as an armchair read; I haven’t had an opportunity to take it for a test drive.

The immediate sense I got when I started reading is that Mythic Babylon is focused on setting. Opening with a hundred pages on life in the cities of Sumer & Akkad, agriculture, economics, religion, and culture, and littered with sidebars quoting ancient texts—such as the famous Code of Hammurabi—it’s crystal clear that Mythic Babylon‘s objective is to evoke its setting for the reader. While it is a game, and does have “gaming” content, it feels clear to me that the authors’ passion was for describing the ancient world.

And they do so phenomenally well. I read a lot of history, and honestly this is one of the better survey texts I’ve read on the period. In particular I love how—because Mythic Babylon is a game—the book really puts into context all the different places and cultural customs and historical figures, and how they’re interacting. Most histories divide up the material to focus in greater detail on particular aspects. For example, my Routledge survey text on the Sumerians is deliciously detailed, but is so precise (or alternately unwilling to commit, a reasonable rhetorical stance in academia) that it’s hard to get a holistic picture. In contrast Mythic Babylon provides immediate details about a number of places and people because, well, you need to know what the hell’s going on if you’re gonna play a game!

As an aside, the Routledge text on the Babylonians is also really good, if you want a deeper historical dive.

Overall the prose is a little dry, when compared to the gaming field, but it’s downright poetic compared to most modern histories. It might have been appropriate to add a bit more “pizazz” when discussing the magic in the setting, because the fantastical does get overshadowed by the historical.

In a similar vein, at times I felt like the gameplay elements seemed to play second fiddle to the setting. This might also come down to a Mythras stylistic choice, as I’ve found other campaign settings for Mythras (such as Shores of Korantia) a bit dry. There’s also a personal element, because I am someone who likes big splashy overt magic, and Mythic Babylon feels more “low” fantasy. There is overt magic wielded by priests and sorcerers, but the general feel is more subdued, more subtle. It does so to focus on a historical experience with a dash of magic, and I can’t help but wonder how the game would feel playing “the myths of the Babylonians” in comparison to “the world as the Babylonians believed it.” A bit more organization or structure to the magic—specialization based on deity, or city—could have been interesting, too.

I do really like the setting’s emphasis on divination, and on the Purity skill. This is a D100 rating which describes a character’s relation to the divine order, and impacts your ability to wield magic, be socially accepted, and so on. For example, if you’re under 40%, you need to roll Willpower if you want to enter a temple. Hit 0%, and you turn into a demon—effectively, an alternate method of character death. Because of how vivid the setting is, Purity is one of the more effective “morality” mechanics I’ve seen in a game. It looks to impact player behavior quite strongly, providing firm reasons to make choices in-character as an ancient Akkadian.

The last third of the book is more gamemaster-facing, with the geography of Mesopotamia, a bestiary, and tools for running campaigns in Mythic Babylon.

Like the setting, the geography’s a little dry, but generally well-written. Here, the dryness came from repetition, consuming the foreign names of several temples and local divinities with each city described in the gazetteer. Maps are also provided of many cities, although these are often only partially useful. The mapping style is archaeological. It highlights a few specific places which have been excavated, with detail a bit too small to see well.

In contrast the gazetteer entries are often quite good, with both overt plot seeds, and noted conflicts between cities or individuals which could bedevil players. And again, this is a place where the authors’ breadth of knowledge shines. They could have just written up Sumer & Akkad, but instead we have Elam and the Levant, and mentions of further afield both up north and south into the Persian Gulf. It really brings a picture together of the whole Mesopotamian region, and its neighbors, for adventure.

I like the bestiary’s diversity of monsters, but I couldn’t help but feel that some seemed a little too easily killable. Of course, I don’t know Mythras well, and I’m comparing them to RuneQuest’s gonzo fantasy monsters with 10-20 points of armor, so there’s every chance I just don’t have the tools to evaluate this part of the book.

The gamemaster’s chapters are solid, and provide real advice and interesting ideas for both campaigns and scenarios. The authors make sure to remind the gamemaster to “start small” (important with any unusual setting), and the plethora of scenario ideas provides good support for introducing cultural elements piecemeal. For example, having an adventure during ilkum duty, and then another introducing the city’s assembly needing help negotiating with the king.

Mythic Babylon is modestly illustrated with black & white drawings of varying quality. I wouldn’t say any are atrocious, but there’s not many which felt spectacular, either. I do quite like that most are captioned, to help with reader clarity. The illustrations successfully bring the setting to life, and help give an idea of what the world looks and feels like. They didn’t “wow” me, but they did their job.

The cover, though, is awesome. In hindsight, I think the cover did impact my expectation for “big, over-the-top mythic action” in the text.

Can you blame me?

That said… there’s no color interior illustrations, but the book’s interiors and graphic design are still in color. With the cost of illustration in a book this size black and white absolutely makes sense—I ain’t knocking the choice of art—but surely it would have been better to create the book in black & white instead? Looking at DriveThruRPG’s storefront, it kind of baffles me that there’s a premium color edition. Like… why? There’s no illustrations in the book that call for it, that I saw. Just a bit of graphic design.

For me, Mythic Babylon was solidly an armchair book. It’s not likely I’ll ever get to play it directly with a group, and that’s OK. I certainly feel there’s lots of ideas I can mine from this, plus I do just love the period. I definitely feel I got my money’s worth, as a customer.

That said, I think it’s worth asking myself if I feel confident about my ability to bring Mythic Babylon to the table, as a gamemaster.

While I don’t feel “confident,” I also don’t feel “apprehensive.” I think it would be a bit tricky to bring as a new setting, but there are pretty good tools in the book. A starter adventure—not in this book, it’s already super long—somewhere would be helpful, probably. Getting an idea of how the authors “expect” a game to go. Alternatively, maybe focusing on one corner of the setting as “home” would have helped. The authors recommend starting small, but many of the central powers and places have similar levels of detail.

Overall, it’s a pretty good book. I do think that if you’re interested in games set in ancient Babylon with any system, you should pick this up. It’s a great book for history geeks, and a really solid introduction to the topic. The setting material is pretty system-agnostic, giving gamemasters interested in non-Mythras (or even non-D100) games still plenty of reason to use Mythic Babylon.

This review was originally published on my website, akhelas.com.

What is life like as a mushroom?

That’s the basic question posed by Brian Duguid’s most recent Jonstown Compendium release, The Voralans. Considering how much I loved his previous release—Children of Hykim—naturally I was much anticipating this new work. And, I’m delighted to say that I loved it.

WHAT’S INSIDE? The ground covered is similar to that of other non-human species “splatbooks” for RuneQuest. Duguid begins with the physical fundamentals, exploring what it means to be fungus, rather than plant or animal. Throughout, his account feels cleverly enlightened by real-world mycology, without being stodgily fixated on scientific fact. This approach allows us to play with “fungi that feel broadly familiar” while retaining the mythic verve of Glorantha.

Black elves—voralans—are a non-human species of sentient and ambulatory fungus. They get the name “elves” through their association with the Aldryami, who are living trees. As is the case in many pre-modern societies, most people in Glorantha don’t draw a biological distinction between plants and fungus. They’re wrong, but that’s because their creation comes from different myths, rather than evolutionary circumstances.

My favorite way this medley of science and fantasy plays out is through enmeshing the voralans into the “group mind” of their fungal community. This entity is more spiritual than physical, known sometimes by the title “Mee Vorala, Goddess of Fungi.” The whole process explains what the Glorantha Bestiary describes as black elf telepathy, and also places the voralans into an interesting space in between the Spirit World and the Middle World. This further leads to consequences on cognition. The typical voralan only sort of has an individual consciousness and existence. They’re neither wholly subsumed into the “hive mind,” but they’re also not likely to come into conflict with it. It’s basically a very strong subconscious, or conscience, as I read it.

Like the anatomical descriptions in DuckPac or Trollpak, Duguid’s physical detailing helps make these moving mushrooms feel real in a way that I think a lot of fantasy worldbuilding struggles with. It’s one thing for a setting to say “our elves are plant-people, not humans with pointy ears!” but providing a compelling explanation of such a species’ biology, culture, and place within the world is another task entirely.

This section also includes useful descriptions of voralan occupations, including rules for playing a voralan adventurer. Duguid notes that it’s not recommended for most campaigns due to the strange nature of the species, but wisely recognizes that players enjoy diversity of species selection. These options add to the supplement’s usefulness at the table.

After culture comes religion. Duguid provides a general overview of the voralan perspective on Glorantha’s mythology. This is probably my personal favorite section of the book due to how it deviates from Chaosium’s “standard” depiction, while remaining recognizable. After all, it’s perfectly natural that the children of Mee Vorala would perceive her as the most important entity in the universe. In addition to just enjoying the mythology as fiction, I think most gamemasters could generate interesting adventures using some of the concepts and stories presented.

I also enjoy the extensive relationships laid out in the Mee Vorala cult. Subservient cults and associated cults are an awesome way to stretch out a Rune cult’s list of magic, skills, and other benefits, while remaining connected to the setting. While The Voralans is mostly aimed at gamemasters, I do think the cult of Mee Vorala is detailed enough to provide players with an interesting game option.

The final major section is a bestiary filled with fungal fun to inflict on players. This ranges from variations on the generic black elf, to giant fighting fungi, to fungal diseases and alchemical products. As a gamemaster, this section’s filled with delightful ways to torment your players. I’m pretty sure we fought against one or two of these new monsters recently in a RuneQuest campaign I play in, and it was a tough encounter!

Another nice touch throughout the text is a series of sidebar perspectives on what various individuals believe about the voralans. This ranges from a Lunar coder, to a dwarf, to a Praxian khan, and an Earth priestess. It’s a great snapshot outside the book’s main point of view, and most of these sidebars include useful anecdotes for brainstorming adventures.

Overall, Duguid’s done an excellent job packing The Voralans with interesting material. As an added bonus, the text is really polished, with well-wrought prose and clear descriptions of potentially confusing material. If you’re someone like me who may be hyper-aware of errors, you’re in the clear, here. In my opinion the textual quality of The Voralans holds up to any of Chaosium’s official releases.

The only real criticism I can find for The Voralans is that I want more—and as frequent readers will know, that’s my internal cue that a book was great. It’s only kind of a critique. I do think the book’s very usable for a gamemaster, but some explicit adventure seeds could also help bring the material to the table. Or, a full adventure! That’s obviously way outside the work’s scope, but I would love to read and play an adventure full of mushroom mayhem based on Duguid’s creation.

ILLUSTRATIONS The Voralans is heavily illustrated with bespoke art by a number of frequent RuneQuest community members, such as Dario Corallo, Lee O’Connor, and Ludovic Chabant (of God Learner infamy). The art is routinely fascinating, weird as hell and I love it. Zombie mushrooms controlling corpses, the Queen of the Underworld on her fungal throne, and a shimmering shaman are some of the highlights. My favorite piece is probably the full-page illustration of the sisters Mee Vorala, Kyger Litor, and Sokazub (an insect goddess) in the mythology section.

It’s trippy and gross and superbly on-theme with the subject matter. Throughout, the art really brings The Voralans to life.

The book is also well laid-out, with good modifications to the Jonstown Compendium template to give The Voralans a unique feel (like a mushroom-filled font for chapter titles).

CONCLUSION Overall, The Voralans is absolutely phenomenal. A wonderful blend of researched detail and Glorantha crazy, supported by good art and polished production quality. I read this as an “armchair” book, and I do think The Voralans leans that way on my personal “armchair to kitchen table” scale due to its somewhat precise topic. However, it certainly provides the gamemaster with the means and tools to introduce voralans into their RuneQuest campaign.

Honestly, if you’re on the fence—just buy it.

If you can’t imagine ever wanting to use black elves in your game, or if you don’t want more oddball species in RuneQuest, you might not get much use out of this book. For everyone else, it’s worth your time and money.

This review was originally published on my website, akhelas.com.

In 1982 Chaosium published the innovative species-specific “splatbook” Trollpak. This boxed set detailed the culture, religion, history, and society of the Uz—called trolls by humans—thereby fleshing this species out as a player option, rather than a statblock. It seems rather fitting that a nice, round forty years later indie publisher Legion Games began to release their homage: Duckpac.

Duckpac is being released as a series of short PDFs on the Jonstown Compendium. Each release echoes one volume of the original Trollpak boxed set: Lore, Adventurers, and then playable Adventures. This review focuses on the first two volumes, which have been collected in a single Print On Demand hardcover. Legion Games has also produced a solo adventure, titled Redfeather Dreaming. Their adventures for Duckpac are forthcoming.

WHAT’S INSIDE? This book provides a detailed description of the Durulz Tribe of Sartar, better known as the ducks. They are small anthropomorphic ducks, similar in shape to cartoon characters like Donald or Daffy Duck. While the ducks are a naturally comic idea, Duckpac has a generally serious presentation of their culture.

The first section of the hardcover explores this culture in detail both extrapolated from prior publications, and independently developed by the authors. I’m not familiar enough with prior perspectives to pick these threads apart, but the overall presentation here seemed to me both thorough and coherent. There was no clear sign to me where old development ended, and new ideas began. Topics covered include duck anatomy, mythology, history, culture, and their relationship with humans, much like the presentation of Trollpak.

Of particular note is the focus on recent Durulz history, due to the “Duck Hunt” ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Lunar Empire—the setting’s conventional baddies. Duckpac takes an unflinching look at these horrors, and describes a traumatized culture. While this topic is gruesome, I felt that the authors handled it well. The Lunar objectives for the Duck Hunt are described, but never justified. The whole section puts the ducks into sharp perspective in the gaming milieu, going beyond “the Durulz are cursed” to “here’s a recent trauma, and how it impacted your adventurer’s experience.”

It really fits quite well into RuneQuest, in my opinion. I’d not want to play adventurers hunting ducks, but the detail with which the Hunt is presented demonstrates that the people of this fictional setting can be unsettlingly human. Quite on tone for a game infamous for a combat system in which you’re likely to lose as many limbs as Monty Python’s Black Knight.

Overall the first half of Duckpac is quite comprehensive in its description of the species. I would have enjoyed further mythological speculation, and exploring the history of the ducks in more depth prior to the Resettlement of Dragon Pass. But, as I often remind myself, 90% of the time wanting more means that a book was just right.

The second half of Duckpac is a full adventurer creation system for creating Durulz adventurers. You’ll need both Duckpac and the RuneQuest core rules. This includes amendments to the original Family History, custom occupations based upon Durulz culture, thoughts on the ducks’ “Cowardly” presentation (and Passion), and additional heirloom items to further customize your character. This system is significantly more satisfying than the minimal nonhuman adventurer creation rules in the Glorantha Bestiary, and certainly a highlight of the book.

When compared to Trollpak, the only element not present is additional cults. Yet I’d not call cults “missing,” because the Durulz worship roughly the same religion as the Sartarites of Chaosium’s default setting and culture. Would I have enjoyed a custom duck-headed variation on Engizi the River God, or Orlanth himself? Yes. Would that have been a good inclusion? Eh, probably not.

Instead of cults, we have two “Voices” articles, “The Redfeather Shaman Speaks” and “What the Safe Leader Told Me.” Seven pages of question-and-answer text describe Durulz perspectives on religion, culture, their neighbors, and ways of living. They’re good additional reading, and the non-player characters’ tone adds pleasant variety to the book’s prose.

Finally, this section is rounded out with a short default setting, Redfeather Safe, from which I presume the forthcoming adventures will be set. A “safe” is a type of Durulz marsh settlement raised on stilts, and requiring river traffic for access. The physical description meshes nicely with a demonstration of the social dynamics presented earlier in the book, and is well diagrammed for the reader to explore.

The book closes with a collection of illustrated pre-generated adventurers, for immediate use by players. These are similar to Vasana & Co. from the RuneQuest core rules. Each two-page spread includes an illustration, adventurer history, their statblock, and relevant equipment.

My only criticism of the content is that it could have used another proofread. The prose is enjoyably readable, but there are occasional grammar or spelling typos throughout. They aren’t egregious; I’d say roughly “indie average” for textual polish. And really, if my only real comment is “this has too many typos,” that means Duckpac is damn well written.

ILLUSTRATIONS Duckpac is nicely illustrated with a blend of black & white and color art. It does include images generated by AI, and was released prior to Chaosium’s ban on that resource in the Jonstown Compendium. My hardcover is a “Standard Color” version, but after reading the book I do think I should have shelled out the additional $10 for a “Premium Color” version instead. Some of the art in my copy is a bit dark but, in my experience this is likely a result of the bargain color rather than poor quality.

Overall, Legion Games has done a great job curating and utilizing their artwork in this book. Some of my favorite pieces include a Durulz version of DaVinci’s “Vitruvian Man,” and the incredibly worried, earnest expression on the face of Ankka Littlebill, one of the pre-generated adventurers. There’s also a great depiction of Redfeather Safe at sunset, which helps evoke the settlement’s remote location.

I should also note that I like the cartography throughout quite a bit. There’s a fair bit, and it’s all fairly high quality.

CONCLUSION Duckpac attempts to bring ducks to your RuneQuest table as a fully detailed species for players, and it succeeds admirably. The book is enjoyably written, and the material is well presented with evocative art and clean graphic design. In my mind, this is yet another book which is absolutely not “just” a fan publication. Rather, I would call Duckpac another indicator that the Jonstown Compendium is maturing into a full “indie” or “third-party” publishing platform for RuneQuest.

That’s awesome.

On my “armchair to table” spectrum, I’d place this book pretty much in the middle. It’s not the type of book I see being held open and referenced for a full game session, but Duckpac is absolutely intended to create more ways to play on the table. And it succeeds! I think playing a duck (or gamemastering for a duck adventurer) with this book’s support sounds like a lot of fun. My own experience of the book was an armchair one, though, and I think it holds up on that end too. I enjoyed reading through this quite a bit, and I do think it’s worth picking up on those merits.

Duckpac is indisputably a master class on ducks in RuneQuest. Is it a “must have” for every single RuneQuest fan? Mm, hard to say. If you have even a tangential interest in new species as player options, you should pick it up. It does everything it says on the tin.

Until next time, then.

This review was originally posted on my website, akhelas.com.

2022 was a phenomenal year for RuneQuest releases. With several books in the DuckPac and East Isles series from Legion Games, the finale of Andrew Logan Montgomery’s acclaimed Six Seasons in Sartar series, Harald Smith’s Edge of Empire exploring a Lunar Province, and all the other goodness which came out last year, I honestly think 2022 may have been the best year yet to be a RuneQuest fan. Hundreds of pages of good content were published, more than I’ve been able to read (though I’m working on it).

I recently finished Brian Duguid’s Children of Hykim and let me tell you, it can be compared favorably with any of those great books. I’m not willing to say I have a “favorite” release from 2022 yet, but this one is vying for that title.

Children of Hykim is a reference work about the Hsunchen cultures of Glorantha. (Or more precisely, central and western Genertela, where the most people tend to play RuneQuest.) While I read through it cover-to-cover—and enjoyed the process—I feel like the intended experience is flicking through seeking details or advice on using a particular Hsunchen tribe in your game. The nearest comparison to this work I’ve read would be Martin Helsdon’s comprehensive survey of ancient warfare, Armies & Enemies of Dragon Pass. Both works are informative reference volumes which contain good writing and illustrations, and are well-polished (minimal typos, contradictions, decent layout, etc.).

On the “armchair v. tabletop” spectrum of RPG books, I’d place Children of Hykim closer to the armchair side. It feels focused on a reader experience and on providing inspiration, rather than playing content directly from the book. However, one element I really like about Children of Hykim is that the work explicitly points prospective gamemasters in the right direction for devising their own adventures or campaigns in the latter third of the book. Providing rules for Hsunchen adventurers, and story seeds for why one of the Hsunchen might join a group like Vasana & Co. really makes it easy to imagine using this book during a game.

Also, if you’re a giant nerd like me, this book’s great just because of all the information about “Stone Age” life it collects in one place. I love reading stuff I can learn from (in part so I can nick ideas for my own writing), and Children of Hykim provides plenty of details. The art supplements this well, too, with details on types of tools, and depictions of various Hsunchen. I wish there were even more illustrations of Hsunchen daily life—especially while partially-transformed!—but the book definitely does not lack art. I just want more of a good thing!

Which of course includes the cover. What a gorgeous piece! I’ve worked with Kristi Herbert a few times, and I love the work she’s done with me, but this is absolutely my favorite piece by her. It might be my favorite Jonstown Compendium cover; the only covers which, in my opinion, share the same weight class are Jacob Webb’s landscapes for the Sandheart books.

A majority of the book consists of short descriptions of over twenty different Hsunchen tribes, each with their own details about lifestyle, religion, and adventurer creation which make them distinct from the “standard” overview presented at the start of the book. My favorite part of each entry was almost always the opening myth. Duguid does a really good job in most of these telling a complete story, a story which doesn’t merely repeat other myths, and keeping the story’s length pretty short. That’s not an easy ask, and the fact that I enjoyed reading most myths is a tribute to the author’s skill. I also appreciated how Duguid uses the varied tribes to highlight cultural differences, and how their lifeways intersect, but the description never felt repetitive.

Finally, the book includes a long appendix describing how Duguid came to his conclusions about each Hsunchen tribe. I admire his willingness to use Chaosium’s Glorantha, to stay close to it, but to refuse to be restricted by it. Strictly speaking, I’m not sure this appendix was “necessary”—it’s the type of designer commentary I would anticipate on a forum or website, not in the book—but as a fellow creator I loved it. Duguid’s creative process was very interesting to read, and stands as a clear testament to the depth of his research in Chaosium’s publications, out-of-print publications, and historical publications about Earth’s prehistoric peoples.

I have very few complaints about Children of Hykim. I read the Print on Demand edition, and I suggest a slightly larger “gutter” margin in the center, because in the beginning and end of the book the text often got very close to the spine, and difficult to read. There’s some topics on which I’d love to know more, but I don’t feel sating my curiosity would have actually made a better book. More about the Spirit World, for example. A map of it, collection of short spirit cults for the myriad spirits mentioned? An example adventure? But that’s all asking for dozens of pages of additional content, and just doesn’t seem realistic.

Although, it does mean there’s ground still to cover in potential follow-ups…

Overall, Children of Hykim is a very, very good release. It’s an enjoyable read, which provides lots of actionable advice to the gamemaster who wishes to play adventures (or a campaign) focused on this culture. While many of the tribes exist outside the central Dragon Pass area, Duguid makes sure to provide ideas for how you could pull his content into Chaosium’s primary Homelands.

Children of Hykim shouldn’t be seen as a niche book about a niche culture. It’s a beautiful resource work which any gamemaster could utilize with ease in their own Glorantha.

A high-quality single-figure piece at a fair price for the art. I'd love to see more art like this on the JC. Stock art specifically for Glorantha makes creating books so much easier.

This review was originally published on my website, Akhelas.com. It's been abridged by DriveThruRPG's limit.

Harald Smith’s debut Jonstown Compendium release contains over 200 pages detailing life in the rustic kingdom of Imther in the Lunar Provinces. Like 2020’s A Rough Guide to Glamour or Secrets of Dorastor, Edge compiles decades of personal fascination and exploration into a comprehensive survey on a single area of Glorantha. Some material was previously published in 90’s fanzines—including Smith’s own New Lolon Gospel, named after an in-world text analogous to the Jonstown Compendium—but the vast majority has never before been available. (Plus, 1990’s RPG fanzines tend to be obnoxiously expensive on the secondary market, and aren’t a “real” solution for getting access to out-of-print material.)

So without further ado, let’s dive on in!

Disclaimer: I don’t think this review contains any spoilers of notable secrets or plot threads in Imther, but I’m not 100% certain. The book is more like a setting supplement than a book of adventures, but I suppose there’s a chance some elements discussed constitute a spoiler.

WHAT’S INSIDE? Edge of Empire is an all-inclusive guide to the setting of Imther and the Orlanthi clans of the Imtherian mountains. It contains roughly three multi-chapter topics: an overview, stuff for players, and a gamemaster’s guide plus regional gazetteer. The overview is well-written but pretty straightforward, so let’s focus on the “player stuff” and “gamemaster stuff.”

The player-facing section of the book, to my mind, strongly distinguishes it from similar “campaign setting” books I’ve read for RuneQuest. The core of this strength is that Edge includes not just adventurer creation options, but also guidance for placing the adventurers into a tribe and clan (or inventing your own Imtherian community). Digging deeper than surface-level background summaries and skill bonuses, Smith also includes a questionnaire of “Mythic Events” and “Historic Epics” which allow the players to develop and customize their society. This is in addition to a complete Family History section for creating adventurers set in the standard 1625 st timeline. We have information about wyters, slang, cheeses, and other cultural elements which compliment the rules-mechanical character options to provide an accessible and engaging treasure trove of information which can be used by players at the table. I’m genuinely stunned at how well Smith avoids navel-gazing in this work’s worldbuilding—I often struggle with that myself while putting together background information. By structuring much of the background “flavor” as player-facing advice in the vein of “how to be Imtherian,” Smith makes it feel directly useful to roleplay in a way I feel other RPG supplements could study.

In the same way, the material for gamemasters features a robust combination of useful information and entertaining details. In particular I’d like to highlight the approach to Imtherian spirits throughout the book. This faces the players as each clan’s “seasonal” protective spirit, but to my mind is more prominently part of the gamemaster’s suite of tools. Spirits are detailed for gameplay use through an encounters section with additional detail on specific spirits, as well as frequent mention in the histories, secrets, myths, and ecology of Imther. Edge really gives me the feeling that Glorantha is a magical world in a way that the down-to-earth details of other works (such as the description of Jonstown in the RuneQuest Starter Set) don’t quite hit.

That said, I wouldn’t really say that Edge is targeted at brand-new players. I think it will be accessible for “fairly new” players, but some elements could confuse or frustrate newbies. For example, the shorter myths or background sections are often written in an “allusive” style common to RuneQuest materials. “Dwarfs formally trade the Crystal of Milky Glory … for the Wheel of Stasis” tells the reader little about those artifacts, and I can’t recall their mention elsewhere (Edge p. 95). This style is common in the RuneQuest canon, including in the core rulebook: “The presence of the six- and eight-limbed Atharax creatures and of the humanoid beliyem and kendist people, or the experiences of the playful and destructive uluyum …” alludes to the existence of these entities without really providing playable information (RQG 372).

In Edge—and elsewhere—I have indeed grown to find this style “intriguing” rather than “irritating.” However that is very much a situation in which I’ve grown accustomed to this mode of presenting Glorantha Lore (or non-Lore; in this case I’ve asked and as far as I’m aware the beliyem and kendist have never been mentioned outside this passage?). Thus my opinion that Edge might be puzzling in a way which causes frustration for players unfamiliar with this mode of RuneQuest writing. Fortunately this allusive quality is largely restricted to sidebars or to main text sections describing God Time myths, heroquests, and so on. The bulk of the text is quite detailed without relying on allusion.

And by Khelmal, is that detail glorious!

Yes, you read that right—this book introduces yet another Many Sun. However, Edge doesn’t get into the whole “Elmal or Yelmalio?” debates in the slightest. I applaud Smith’s decision. We’re presented here with a distinct vision of Orlanthi culture which coheres with Cults of RuneQuest while remaining separate. Myths such as the War of the Wall, the role of Khelmal as culture-hero and primary masculine deity, the romantic triangle between the Earth, Sun, and Storm, and the trickster Orlantio develop a vibrant alternative to the canonical portrayal of the Orlanthi. This version of the Lightbringer religion isn’t “opposed to” Chaosium’s vision; the mythology’s basic shape remains the same. Yet so much is reworked in the details that while reading I certainly fell a bit in love with the setting. Khelmal certainly is Yelmalio, but he feels a bit more heroic, more romantic than the “Little Sun” I know. Likewise the Orlanth is definitely the Storm King, but his place among the mountain clans makes him just a bit more rugged, a bit more violent and impolite (certainly appropriate for the owner of the Air Rune!).

I do, however, have one fairly substantial frustration with this work: its chronology. The book’s target period is post-Dragonrise like most modern RuneQuest publications. One of the recent major events in the Imtherian timeline is the death of King Margor in 1623 st. The last of his line, King Margor’s death triggers a local succession crisis which threatens to swell into a larger conflict. As new adventurers in 1625 st, the setting seems tentatively set up so that the players can join one of the squabbling factions (or start their own) and navigate the coming troubles.

Yet a lot of the material in this work is written from a more “RuneQuest Classic” chronological perspective. In particular, the political dramas and factions often reference King Margor as an active player in Imther. As presented, it feels like Edge is designed to make characters in one period, but describes the setting as it was in another period. For example, the regional gazetteer is framed as part of the “Lunar Provincial Survey” sent back to the imperial capital. However, this is set in 1621 st. While I understand the choice to provide easier use through emphasizing the modern chronology, blending the two time periods together has left me lacking confidence that I could put together my own Imtherian campaign without additional work collating the sections’ chronology. I feel a similar hesitation about the Earthwielder plot which is seeded throughout the book. On the one hand I understand the deep desire to canonize the campaign which developed the setting. On the other, there’s a dissonance between stating “these are the past feats of the Earthwielder” and “the adventurers can play as the Earthwielder Hero” which I don’t really know how to resolve.

PRODUCTION Let me be frank: Edge of Empire is not a beautiful book. However, it’s clear that Smith has devoted time and energy to polishing this work. That energy is simply not “visually pretty” in the way that we often associate with “well-produced” or “high production value” books.

Most illustrations in this work appear to be older scans of line art, often from public domain sources. The art is well-selected, and often includes a sidebar or a caption which helps integrate it into Edge. I’m a big fan of creatively using low-cost or public domain resources (as I think most people who read my stuff probably know). The art is picked and placed well, but the eye tends to overlook this if the image’s resolution is low.

There are, however, a number of delightful color portraits (mostly, I believe, by Rebecca Smith) depicting the various persons of importance in Imther.

CONCLUSION Edge of Empire is a compelling campaign setting for RuneQuest. It has nearly everything a gamemaster needs to run a campaign in a single package. Really, the only stuff in particular which seems missing is, y’know, the actual RuneQuest rules slipcase. (Edge does have a solid mix of new antagonist statblocks, but you’d want the Bestiary for variety; the included stats are supplementary, not all-inclusive.) Honestly, when Chaosium releases their Sartar campaign setting book (Homeland book?) I think Edge will be my point of comparison. Smith’s shown he’s capable of both conceiving of and executing RuneQuest projects of remarkable ambition. Scoring for these type of reviews is, honestly, a real pain. I’d much rather just post the article and move on. However, as a creator myself I understand how helpful it is to have actual reviews on DriveThruRPG, so I keep putting these up there as well. Mulling it over, I’ve decided to give Edge of Empire a 4 out of 5 because I feel the inconsistent chronology does impact how useful the book is as an all-in-one campaign setting.

The thick red leatherbound second edition of The One Ring (TOR) roleplaying game enchanted me the moment I opened the Kickstarter reward. Reminiscent of the "Red Book of Westmarch" described in Tolkien's prologue to The Fellowship of the Ring, that volume's illustration, graphic design, and rules design together presented a game which said to me, "here's how to play stories which feel like Tolkien's stories, but need not be derivative." I love it, and anticipated follow-up releases from TOR's Swedish publisher, Free League.

We now have one. Free League's Ruins of the Lost Realm is a "sandbox" description of Eriador. This land was once the kingdom of Arnor, west of the Misty Mountains. The Shire of the Hobbits lies at its heart, with the Grey Havens along the western shore, and Elrond's hidden home, Rivendell, in the foothills of the eastern mountains. Ruins describes the people of Eriador, plots which threaten them, and a collection of twelve "landmarks" for exploration during the game's Adventuring Phase. It's intended to be used in combination with the "World" chapter of TOR, which also focuses upon history, characters, and conflicts within Eriador. Together, the core rules and Ruins provide a Loremaster—TOR's term for a gamemaster—with a large LEGO set from which to build their own campaign.

I had very high hopes for Ruins, considering the core rules' superlative quality. The release fell a bit short. The front half of the book—describing Eriador, and the antagonists which threaten it—is very good, but the second half's landmarks felt a bit underwritten. This disappointed me because I feel this type of site-based adventure design is usually a strength for Free League. I quite like their Forbidden Lands, which emphasizes exploration in the same way.

The landmarks chapter has two basic weaknesses: too many similar themes, and lack of detail in the "Schemes and Trouble" section of most landmarks. Several landmarks feel set up to be a treasure hunt, but without establishing broader consequences as in The Hobbit. A rumor, a monster, and a treasure is a time-honored formula for adventure. In this collection that formula is somewhat overused. Supplementary information in "Schemes and Trouble" to help integrate a landmark's problems and antagonists into the themes, characters, and the Tale of Years presented in the book's first half would give Ruins more structure. Skimming back through Raven's Purge, for Forbidden Lands, the "Events" section of each adventure site provided fuel to my imagination in the way "Schemes and Trouble" has not.

While discussing the landmarks chapter, it's also noteworthy that I was a little disappointed that section's illustrations were nearly all location maps. The cartography is beautiful, and mostly easy to understand. Considering the number of monsters featured in the book—such as the Beast of Angmar, and the Doom of Nenuiel—I wish there were a couple extra illustrations. As a gamemaster I enjoy being able to turn the book around, point, and say "That! You walk around the corner, and see that!"

That said, the artwork really is excellent in the first two chapters of the book. My favorite piece is a Player-hero bargaining with a talking otter using shiny baubles. The sort of line art or sketch style chosen for this game's interior illustrations meshes well with the page's "paper" texture. This adds to TOR's sensation of being an in-world artifact, and definitely increases my pleasure reading through these books.

And overall, this is a good book. It didn't live up to my expectations, but my expectations were also very high. Ruins of the Lost Realm straddles my line between "armchair book" and "table book" with excellence. I definitely feel I got my purchase price's enjoyment reading through the supplement. It's also easy for me to imagine how I might create my own campaign with the material here, and the tools in TOR's core rules. The landmarks are clearly presented, and I have no doubts about my ability to play them right out of the book. The antagonists and plots in the first half feel well fleshed-out, interesting, and engaging. In particular, I like how Saruman and the Dunlendings are handled; potential antagonists, but not (yet) followers of Sauron. Despite Tolkien's reputation for Black and White, there's plenty of Grey in Middle-Earth. TOR has shown it can handle that full spectrum from "evils to resist," to "antagonists to interact with."

Ruins is a solid sandbox for creating games providing meaningful interaction with Middle-Earth, without diluting or disregarding Tolkien's original stories. And I do love it for that.

Well-written and beautifully presented. Six Paths discusses gender, sex, and sexuality with nuance and care. What drew me most in this supplement is the integration of gender with the Orlanthi religion. Six Paths goes above-and-beyond other LGBT-advocacy publications by entwining its material with established lore of the setting. This is well-developed through a collection of short myths throughout the supplement. My favorite is the titular myth about the Six Paths, and how the Heortlings came to embrace gender identities in the model of their deities.

This work could use a slight proofread, but in general the text's polish is several steps above my imagination's "community content baseline," and I've read several "professional" publications which were less refined. Katrin Dirim's artwork - quickly becoming iconic in the Glorantha community - generously illustrates the work, and supplements this piece admirably.

If you aren't interested in using the topics of gender or sexuality in your game of RuneQuest, this book honestly doesn't have a lot to offer. That's not a complaint! Merely an observation for other customers. Even in that case, I do encourage you to consider picking up Six Paths anyway. At the creator's suggested price point, it's hard to lose out. I don't really anticipate bringing material from Six Paths to my game tables. Nonetheless it was a fascinating read. As a fellow creator on the Jonstown Compendium, I expect that Six Paths will earn its place dozens of times over in the "RuneQuest Reference" section of my bookshelves.

Among the initial releases for the Jonstown Compendium, The Armies & Enemies of Dragon Pass (A&E) has been a landmark publication both for the Glorantha community and, I believe, for community content at large. "Magisterial" has become the standard adjective. Having just finished reading my copy of the Print on Demand edition, I wholly agree.

A&E is a detailed reference book exploring warfare in central Genertela—the primary setting of RuneQuest. This is not restricted merely to "who stabs who," but rather explores social, religious, and economic aspects of ancient warfare. Covering topics from how hoplites get cuirasses, to how the gods express themselves on the battlefield, A&E isn't just a book about war. It's a journey into the details of Gloranthan life.

My favorite part of the book is how much new detail (well, new to me, anyway) it provides about Peloria and Dara Happa. I don't know these spaces well, and A&E has lots of information about both the Lunar Empire, and the microcultures which live within in. Another surprise bonus for me was the appendix biography of Tarshite general Fazzur Wideread. It answered a few questions I had about this major character (though no, I'm not going to reveal either questions or answers—spoilers!). I think the book could have been most improved by exploring the Hero Wars armies beyond about 1630. While written from a hypothetical "looking back" perspective, I would have enjoyed learning how what's presented in this book mutated and changed over the following decades (especially the Sartar Free Army, and the magical secrets which helped Argrath found his warlock regiments).

On my "tabletop/armchair" spectrum, A&E fits firmly in the "armchair" category. The gamemaster will get a lot of use from A&E—inspiring story hooks, antagonists, etc.—but I don't feel the book is meant to be on hand for use at the table (with a possible exception for bookmarked illustrations). One pleasant surprise, as I read through A&E, was the high quality of its prose. I knew A&E would be useful; I didn't realize it would also be readable. This book's editing and proofreading is also remarkable, exceeding my expectations for professional work.

Would I recommend reading it cover-to-cover, like I did? ... I'm not sure. I enjoyed doing so, and I think some Glorantha fans will, but I don't think this is a "must-read" for everyone. I do think that it's a great resource for RQ gamemasters, and deserves a place on your shelf.

To be honest, if you're going to buy only one "reference" book to support your RuneQuest collection, don't buy the Guide to Glorantha—buy A&E. I feel A&E is more relevant to the action of an RQ campaign than the Guide, providing useful, story-generating details.

Overall, I feel this book has loads to offer for any fan of gaming in Glorantha, whether RQ, HeroQuest/Questworlds, or 13th Age. It's well-written, informative, and entertaining.