Loskalmi Canonicity

One of the questions I have seen more than once with regard to the Book of Glorious Joy (well, all right, the only question I've seen more than once) concerns its canonical status. As one questioner put it:

what is the relationship between the Book of Glorious Joy and mainstream Glorantha? Are they letting you define Malkionism in Loskalm?

The simple answer to this question is "no".

But it may deserve a slightly more detailed explanation than that.

Book of Glorious Joy

In case you haven't heard (and its hard to believe that many people reading this haven't), after nine long years, The Book of Glorious Joy has finally been published. Seeing it in print at last is, indeed, both glorious and joyful.

You can buy it, in paperback, hardback, or just as a PDF, here. I don't get royalties, but, obviously, I'd like to encourage you all to do so nonetheless!

This is the book that would have been Lords of the West 3, and the first three chapters of Lords of the West 1: Heroes of Malkion added at the beginning for good measure, and in order to set the scene. It primarily serves as an overview of the magical and idealistic Kingdom of Loskalm, one of whose valiant wizard-knights you can see riding through perilous lands in the superb cover by Jon Hodgson.

I'm not sure there's much more to say here about the book that I haven't said already, so I'll gloss over that. I will say that I actually don't know what has happened to Lords of the West 2: Kingdom of the Flamesword, which would have covered Seshnela and the Rokari in the same way as BoGJ covers Loskalm, and would have also included the full write-ups for the more widespread saints and wizardry schools from LotW1. The last I heard it was still due to be published - but not in a single standalone volume - but more recent attempts at communicating with the publishers have not been successful, so that may no longer be the case.

d101 Con

I've just returned from the d101 "convention" in Matlock, Derbyshire. It's not really a con in any meaningful sense, just a group of people renting out a cottage to do some gaming for a weekend. It was a pretty enjoyable weekend away, and it seems to have been popular enough with those who could attend that we may do it again next year, possibly renting out a second cottage to allow a larger group of players. My thanks go to Newt Newport for arranging it, but my main purpose for posting here is to ruminate on the games we played.

We started off with Action Castle, which, is basically a fun party game for those old enough to remember 1980s computer RPGs. This means we are all now "King of Action Castle"! Cool...

Being too tired from travelling to do anything more taxing on the Friday evening, we kicked off the RPing proper on Saturday morning with Savage Worlds. I've played this once before, but the game is a flexible one not tied to any particular genre, so it's not surprising that the experience was very different. That time, the setting was the old Captain Scarlet TV series, but this time it was a rather more serious sci-fi setting, with distinct Travelleresque overtones. I gather that d101 is planning to release this as a more formal setting at some point, possibly using the easy-to-obtain Savage Worlds license. The setting was a crumbling interstellar empire, with various different factions vying for control, including mad cyborgs and sinister telepaths.

Because the Captain Scarlet game obviously used characters from the TV series, those were all pre-gens, but this time we all made our own characters up on the day. Considering that few of us had any experience with character generation in this system, this seemed a remarkably quick and painless process, which suggests that Savage Worlds would be a good system for use at conventions where you don't want pre-gens. In general, its a pretty simple system, and plays quickly, and has fairly straightforward mechanics, perhaps with something of an emphasis on pulp style excitement. Here for example, is the character I came up with:

Lady Corinia

Agility: d6                    Guts d4                        Psionic Background d8

Strength: d4               Healing d6                  Psionic Resistance d4

Vigour: d4                    Investigation d8

Smarts: d8                   Notice d6

Spirit: d8                      Shooting d4

Psionic Powers: Obscure, Stun, Pyrokinesis

Edges: Mentalist, Rich, Alertness

Drawbacks: All Thumbs

Weapons: Engraved laser derringer (carried in handbag)

...which was enough to give me a reasonable overview of the character, without over-complicating things, or making it seem all overly generalised and simplistic.

In the afternoon, time for a game of HeroQuest, using the Call of Cthulhu setting. Obviously, I'm very familiar with both the system and the setting, although I've never seen the two used together before. In this instance, it seemed to work very well, with, for example, lingering penalties being used to reflect the inevitable loss of sanity that accrues as one continues investigating. The scenario, created by Newt, had the wonderfully appropriate title of "Normal for Norfolk" (unfortunately, if you're not British, the meaning of this reference may not be obvious). Since it was set in the 1970s, and the PCs were all members of the Flying Squad, the inspiration we ended up using was, perhaps, inevitable... Our characters were perhaps, not entirely serious, and we never really got to the end of the scenario, but I won't give out any more details, in case d101 should choose to publish it some day. At any rate, this was my character:

DC Bob Bawdsey

Drive Like a Lunatic  18       Boozing                 13

Shooters              13       Hate Scroats            13

Ignore Procedure      18       Plant Evidence          13

Streetwise            13       Blag Way Out of Trouble 15  

Boxing                13       Look Hard               4M

The actions of our DS (another PC) perhaps got a bit too extreme towards the end, but, being a con game, that was easy enough for me to ignore.

On the Sunday, there was only time for a single game of Burning Wheel, using the introductory scenario from the rulebook. Burning Wheel was once recommended to me (I won't say by who) as a flexible, rules lite, modern system with plenty of options for different ways of resolving things. Most of that seems true, but what would make anyone think it's "rules lite" is beyond me. Indeed, in an age where RPGs seem to be getting simpler, it has to be one of the more complex new systems on the market - although there are plenty of older ones of similar complexity. It's fun enough to play in, especially as a one-off, and it does seem to be very good at describing characters and fleshing them out, but its way too complex and detailed for me to want to ever GM it. I've run a version of GURPS in the past, but that was stripped down so far, that I consider it an entirely new system. Still, even that was more than I'd be happy with today, so while I have no doubt that Burning Wheel is very good at what it does, as a GM, it's not my cup of tea.

But, as a player, I had no problem with it, and it seemed to work fairly smoothly. I certainly had fun with the pre-gen character, who was a somewhat snooty and sinister sorceress. The scenario worked well, and it was an enjoyable game. I'm certainly glad to have tried it, and I wouldn't object to playing it again - so long as I don't have to run it!

The rest of the time was spent relaxing, chatting, watching old movies, etc. making it all a pretty enjoyable weekend, mostly with gamers that I haven't played with much before. Since this was a d101 event, I'll also add a brief update on Book of Glorious Joy: about two thirds of the interior artwork is in (and more came in over the weekend), all of which looks pretty cool. Things are stepping up, and I don't think its going to be too much longer now.

On similar lines, there should be further updates to my unofficial Jonatela material soon - the next one is quite large, which is why its taken longer than usual for it to appear. And, for my ponderings on mammalian biology, there's Synapsida, which has been updated fairly regularly of late. I'm not fully happy with all of the latest posts there, but its something I'm learning as I go along, and I think its getting better.

Just possibly, most likely if I can get something to run put together, I might attend Concrete Cow 11, but no promises there. As for cons later in the year... well, we'll see.

Lords of the West: Update 3

As many of you probably know, if you follow the Gloranthan mailing lists, my Facebook page, and so on, progress on Lords of the West has definitely been picking up recently.

Having said that, I should begin by saying that I have, as yet, no further news on LotW2: Kingdom of the Flamesword. It has a publisher, but no release date or further information. There is no reason to suppose this won't happen at some point, but for the moment, you'll just have to wait.

Progress on the Jonatela material that could potentially have formed LotW4 is slow but steady. The material currently available at my website deals with the more mundane aspects of Jonating life, the workings of the government, and what can laughingly be called the justice system. Obviously, Jonatela is not a very nice place, especially if you're a peasant, and this inevitably colours the material, but it's still enjoyable to write, so I'll keep on doing it. This background stuff will soon be finished, and I'll then move on to starting to compile a gazetteer of interesting places to visit across the kingdom, emphasising some of its magical power as well as its murky peril.

But what's really cool, of course, is the news about The Book of Glorious Joy, which incorporates bits of LotW1 with most of LotW3. As you can see, the cover has been completed - and a very fine piece of work it is, too, showing a valiant Loskalmi wizard-knight charging through a dark and chilly landscape so typical of many parts of Fronela. The interior artwork is well under way, and you can see a sample at the d101 Games product page. Proofing and editing are all completed, and the publisher is aiming at a release in January or February. As always, these dates can slip, but in this case, I doubt it will be by very much.

Lords of the West: Update 2

I thought I'd post an update to clarify exactly what is happening with the Lords of the West books. As most of you probably already know, the books will no longer be published by Moon Design, but have been taken up by other publishers. One of those publishers has not made a formal announcement yet (that I know of), although it's probably not desperately hard to work out who it is! So, to summarise what has been announced:

The Book of Glorious Joy
This will be published by d101 Games, and will be a bumper volume including most of the material from both LotW1: Heroes of Malkion and LotW3, the book that would have covered Loskalm. We're working to make it self-contained, although many of the cults from LotW1 will lack detailed descriptions or rules sections, since a "book of cults" wasn't considered very desirable. There is no definite release date for the book as yet, although we're hoping to have it out by the end of the year, and work is already underway on art and layout.

One chapter of LotW3 has, in fact, already been published. It is available in Hearts of Glorantha #4, available from d101 Games via lulu.com. This is the chapter covering Junora (which does, unfortunately, to some extent make reference to the as yet unpublished remaining chapters). It is graced by some wonderful artwork by Peter Town, and, of course, is accompanied by articles by many other great authors - it's well a worth a read. The magazine is available both as a hardcopy, and as a (cheaper) PDF file.

Lords of the West: Update 1

Well, things have been a lot more encouraging than I had feared. I am not going to give specific details here, since I would not want to seem to be making promises on behalf of other people. However, I can say that there has been a fair degree of interest from Gloranthan publishers in getting the material out there.

I should also stress that Moon Design have been helpful in this regard. While they no longer have any interest in publishing my work, they have been supportive in attempts to get it published by other means. For example, material that I did not originally write, but was supplied to me by Issaries has been cleared for publication along with those elements that I did write.

So, without going into specifics of proposed publication dates or issue numbers, here is what has already been agreed since the beginning of the week:

• The Junora chapter of LotW3, which is largely self-contained, has been definitively accepted for publication in one of the Glorantha magazines. It will almost certainly be the first release, and could be considered a "teaser" for the rest.
  
• The remainder of LotW3 (the Loskalm book) has also been accepted for publication, barring some specifically HQ1 rules sections. I would say that things are looking good for a time frame that I think most people will be pleased with.
  
• Most of the material in LotW2 (Kingdom of the Flamesword) has been accepted for publication in principle, and I am confident that this will also see the light of day before too long.
• LotW1 (Heroes of Malkion), ironically may be the last part to be released. An agreement has been made to publish around half of this, although another large section remains unclaimed at this time.
• I have received permission from Moon Design to publish, free of charge, at my own website, any outstanding material that is not picked up by any of the licensed magazine publishers.

Obviously, I would have preferred my writings to be published, as originally intended, in book form. And I would have liked them to become, at least in part "official" or "canonical", neither of which will now happen. However, I do think that we have a very positive outcome here, from a situation that looked quite bleak just one week ago. It is, in fact, highly likely that this material will now be published sooner than would otherwise have been the case - since MD would, naturally enough, have been working on the Pavis Book and other high priority projects.

I would like to say thank you to all of those involved in moving this forward, who hopefully know who they are! I will, of course, give more specific details once the publishers concerned have decided to release it. For everyone who has been giving me words of encouragement over the last week, I would also like to say a big thank you, and I hope you are all pleased with the final result when it appears.

---

Further Mini-Update:

I can now reveal, to those who haven't noticed, that the Junora article will be appearing in Hearts in Glorantha #4. Note the expected release date of "March/April 2010"!

Lords of the West cancelled

Or at least, the version(s) of it I produced have been; Moon Design may well decide to produce their own version with a different writer at some point in the future. Obviously, having worked for seven and a half years on this, this is pretty disappointing for me. In the end, Moon Design's vision of what they wanted shifted too far from the original agreement (which was not, of course, made by them) for continuing on the project to be worthwhile, and they chose to pull the plug.

Indeed, in general, I have a feeling that since the production of HeroQuest 2, the whole Gloranthan project has shifted from something I enjoy to something that's less so. This is not, of course, to blame any of those directly involved in that change. Change does happen, and whenever it does, people get left out in the cold. It happened before with RQ3 with respect to RQ2 fans, and again with HW with respect to RQ2/3 fans. It's inevitable to some extent, and more so when there is a major change in gaming philosophy involved.

It's hard at times like this, when one is on the losing end, not to feel abandoned or rejected by the Gloranthan 'tribe' that they keep talking about. But that's probably largely unfair. I certainly intend to go to Continuum this year, and hopefully have a good time, overcoming the doubtless unavoidable tinge of disappointment and regret. Heck, after seven and a half years of repeating cycles of hard work and frustration, I was hardly on my most diplomatic behaviour by the end. So, if anyone reading this feels that I have offended them over the course of the last year or so, I offer my sincere apologies.

So, enough moping; where do we go from here? Well, the good news is that I am currently negotiating for publication of at least some of the material through other channels. In fact, some of it may even appear earlier than might otherwise have been the case. I can't give further details yet, as nothing has been definitely agreed beyond an expression of interest from one respected source in the Gloranthan community. Stay tuned for updates as they become available.

Wizard-Knights update

This morning, I finished the first complete draft of Lords of the West 3: Wizard-Knights. As I write this, the draft has been submitted in full to Moon Design for editing. Obviously, this book will not be available for a long while yet, but it is out of my hands now!

Like the other books in the series, this will be 100,000 words, which is the same length as Blood Over Gold. It covers the Kingdom of Loskalm, describing its society, government, religion, and magic in unprecedented detail. It includes a large gazetteer of the Kingdom, and a chapter describing the fractured realm of Junora that lies immediately east of Loskalm. The sketch maps I used to create the gazetteer will be available on my website, and the Issaries website, as soon as enough details have been confirmed to render that a worthwhile exercise.

I have also submitted revised drafts of Heroes of Malkion and Kingdom of the Flamesword, complying with the new rules in HeroQuest 2. The last I heard, HoM is still the next book scheduled for publication by Moon Design, although, presumably, they will have to re-do the layout to fit the new text.

Wizard-Knights Saints list

A full list of contents will appear at the glorantha.com website in due course, but as an illustration of what I have been working on, here is the list of new cults described in the book so far:

• Saint Erivies - patron of servants
• Saint Gerid - patron of farmworkers
• Saint Menena - patron of housewives
• Saint Neuteboom - patron of generosity
• Saint Raigarn - patron of artisans
• Saint Sestercian - patron of merchants
• Saint Bertorl - patron of missionaries (brief write-up previously included in Masters of Luck and Death)
• Saint Carpattia - patron of guards and protection
• Saint Merwyn - patron of those who work with animals
• Saint Shalara - patron of peace
• Saint Taralda - patron of justice
• The Artificers' School - wizards of sacred architecture
• The Order of the Companions - common magic
• The Holy Office for the Protection of the Faith

In addition to these, the book will provide more information on the following Loskalmi saints already included in Heroes of Malkion, and in the current core rulebook (many of which are more directly adventure oriented than those above - it made sense to do them first):

• Siglat, Elleish, Falerine, Hasterax, Herigian, Jenerin, Josselyne, Kipperly, Kyria, Lenderyn, Ongaring, Palenna, Talor, Xemela, Zemuron
  

Finally, although I haven't written these sections yet, Saint Tomaris the Apostle will also be included, along with at least two other non-Idealist cults relevant to the region.

Gaming in a Utopia

I recall a couple of online discussions with Peter Metcalfe, co-author of Introduction to the Hero Wars, about Loskalm. In one, he suggested Nazi Germany as one of the models for Loskalm - at least, as the Nazis saw themselves, creating a brave new age of blond blue-eyed heroes, rather than a bunch of rabid thugs. In another, he suggested that Loskalm maintains itself, at least in part, through conducting blasphemous rituals of indescribable horror out of the view of its citizens. Given my last post, it probably won't come as a great shock to learn that neither of these options fit with my own view of the country.

I mention this, not to criticize Peter (since there's no doubt that these two options could provide interesting gaming situations and conflicts), but to illustrate the point that, if some of us have difficulty seeing monotheist churches as genuinely virtuous, it's perhaps even harder to accept the existence of a Utopia that actually works. There has to be something wrong, surely? And, if there isn't, what exactly are we supposed to do with the setting? Sitting around sipping imported Kralori tea and discussing how happy everyone is doesn't, as a rule, make for a very exciting game.

There's a long tradition of this, of course. This very word 'Utopia', coined by Sir Thomas More way back in the 16th century, means, roughly, 'No Such Place'. In many science fiction stories, an apparently idyllic and perfect society turns out to have something rotten at its core. Indeed, the biggest problem any Utopia would have is that it still has to be inhabited by human beings, who tend to be fallible.

But I'd suggest that the main driving force in Loskalmi games is likely to be the clash between their high ideals and the reality of the outside world. The Kingdom of War is the ultimate embodiment of that, of course, but other groups, such as the Jonatings, also provide for a similar (if less extreme) contrast. I'll say more about this, and how to game in Loskalm, in the book, since it's an important question. For the moment, I'll address the question as to what exactly I see the limitations on Loskalm's perfections as being.

By the standards of the West, Loskalm is a very enlightened society. They believe in equality of opportunity for all men, and have a very liberal attitude towards women's rights. Loskalm has female knights, and that's not just the Kyrians (the knights-healer who will debut in Heroes of Malkion). Similarly, there are female wizards, and some high-ranking nobles. Indeed, in the current draft of LotW3, one of the principle candidates for the throne, should Gundreken suddenly die, is a woman - although not, admittedly, the leading contender.

But equality of opportunity does not, in my view, mean that the great majority of knights have parents in the commoner class, nor that half the knights are women. As Greg has said "biology always wins", and the same thing goes for human psychology. The children of knights are likely to aspire to follow their parents, while the children of prosperous and happy farmers and artisans (and most of them are happy and prosperous in Loskalm) have less reason to want to risk their lives by taking the path of knighthood. Many of them will follow the ideals of their country, and aspire to the higher ranks, and many of them will succeed, but most simply won't bother. Nick Brooke has some good points on this topic on his website, so I won't repeat them here.

And there are some downsides to the Loskalmi obsession with justice and chivalry. For one, they can be terribly self-righteous, lecturing those who don't match up to their own high ideals. In D&D terms, its like a whole country full of paladins! For another, they have a strong belief in conformity. An example of this is the existence of recusancy laws, something that is very far from our modern idea of what a Utopia should be. Freedom of religion is something enshrined in the US constitution and the European Bill of Rights, but its something quite alien to the Loskalmi. After all, why wouldn't you want to attend Church every week? Those of you who have read my Voices of Loskalm piece from a few years back will recall that one of them is from the perspective of a non-comformist, whose experience is rather different from that of her fellow citizens.

Of course, the Loskalmi don't beat you up or do anything similarly gauche when they find that you don't meet their standards. They're terribly polite about it all, and the worst you can generally expect is for your community to ostracise you. But, in Glorantha, ostracism is a pretty nasty fate, and a self-imposed exile to some community that will accept you is generally a much better option.

In general though, it's important to note that Loskalm generally is a very peaceful and pleasant society. So long as you do turn up to church once a week, it's probably just about the best place to live on Glorantha. There are public libraries, opportunities for social advancement regardless of your status or gender, a very low crime rate, enlightened and just rulers, and a healthy economy. Earlier publications about Loskalm have tended to make it sound a little more militaristic than I think it should do, so, while the military is still the standard method for social advancement, I have created other options to add to that in LotW3.

All of which hopefully makes it worth the heroes protecting when they venture off to face the dangers that threaten its continued existence.

Heroes of Malkion Update
I received notification from Simon Bray yesterday that directions should be sent to the artists some time this week. So things are definitely moving on that front!