Well, now that all the end-of-year breaks and wrap-ups and whatnot are over, it’s time to return to our regularly scheduled content! Without further ado, let’s dive on in.
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.
What’s Inside?
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.
Looking for long adventure a bit closer to home? Check out To Hunt a God, a longform cult, temple description, and adventure which will send your players questing into a mythic forest! Picking up books is also a great way to help me keep making reviews, articles, and more each week. Thanks for your support!
Production
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.
Conclusion
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.
As of this writing, the Hero Wars in the East Isles series includes:
- Korolan Islands for $9.99
- Fires of Mingai for $14.99
- Islands of the Lost for $12.00
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.
Until next week, then!
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