Ever wonder what life is like for the Orlanthi who live under the Lunar Empire's oft-oppressive rule? Edge of Empire is the supplement your RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha (RQG) campaign is seeking. Harald Smith's debut Jonstown Compendium release contains over 200 pages detailing life in the rustic kingdom of Imther in the Lunar Provinces. Like … Continue reading REVIEW: Edge of Empire
Behind the Scenes #16
April's in the rear-view mirror, which means it's time for another Behind the Scenes … over on my Patreon page! These monthly articles are my small way of showing gratitude to the people who're willing and able to give above-and-beyond support to my creative work. They basically fund me doing the articles here each week, … Continue reading Behind the Scenes #16
Vignettes in RuneQuest
The emphasis on communal obligations and day-to-day life is one strength of RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha (RQG). This is built into the game's religious expectations like tithing adventuring loot to one's temple, and in how the game's cults describe reciprocal relationships and social hierarchies. Despite these strengths actual RQG adventures tend to focus more on … Continue reading Vignettes in RuneQuest
The Esvulari & the Aeolians
The first RuneQuest character I ever played was a knight-sorcerer in RuneQuest 3. Coming from Pathfinder 1E and Dungeons & Dragons 3.5E I loved the idea that you could play anything you wanted due to the skills-based Basic Roleplaying (BRP) engine. Our game added in a bunch of insane spells from Sandy Petersen's RuneQuest sorcery … Continue reading The Esvulari & the Aeolians
REVIEW: Dune: Part Two
This review contains substantial spoilers for the 2021 film, the 2024 film, and Frank Herbert's original 1965 novel. Alteration is almost always necessary when adapting a book into a film. It's natural, really. Just compare the length of even a short audiobook to that of a typical short comedy or action movie. Even with film's … Continue reading REVIEW: Dune: Part Two
Behind the Scenes #15
This week's article is another peek behind the scenes into what I've been working on in the last month … over on my Patreon page! These peeks into my creative process are a small way for me to say "thanks!!" to those people who're giving above-and-beyond support. Patreon support really adds up. At $5 a … Continue reading Behind the Scenes #15
Art, AI, and Google Translate
After the explosion in machine-generated text and illustration over the last year or two, online controversy about these programs has been, well … constant. Yet there's something off about the discomfort expressed both by artists and by art fans about machine-generated content. A hole in a pattern, which I'm not quite clever enough to identify. … Continue reading Art, AI, and Google Translate
Unwritten Rules: Bonus Stacking
My trickster Illostan finally gets caught by Prince Temertain's guards—he thinks he's friends with “Temmy” and wants to give him more “presents”—and needs to Fast Talk to escape the situation. To improve his chances, he both casts the spell Clever Tongue and rolls an augment with his Harmony Rune (“No, I really am his friend!”). … Continue reading Unwritten Rules: Bonus Stacking
Trickster Animism in RuneQuest
The Trickster is a character found in mythologies all around the world, from Loki of the Scandinavians and Coyote of the Native Americans, to Sun Wukong in China and (I'd be tempted to argue) Judas in Christianity. This transgressive figure is nonetheless necessary for his culture's worldview to make sense. Judas's betrayal of Jesus is … Continue reading Trickster Animism in RuneQuest
REVIEW: Nemesis
An ancestral curse, political subterfuge, religious blasphemy, military invasion, a cuckolded king, and a heroic last stand—it's truly astonishing that HBO hasn't yet made a series about Alcibiades. I first met him, bellowing and drunk, while reading Symposium in undergrad. There, Plato ascribes to him a tongue-in-cheek biography of their shared mentor, Socrates. Indeed, Socrates' … Continue reading REVIEW: Nemesis
Akhelas 