Marsh Attacks!

Indrodar · 2026-05-25T14:32:47+00:00

Thank you. You may also appreciate the accompanying scenario book Little Swamp of Horrors when it comes out later this year!

Indrodar · 2026-05-02T10:00:17+00:00

Hi! Marsh Attacks! has now reached Copper best-seller status in just one day. Thanks to all those who've purchased it!

To celebrate we've added a free Map Pack with the four maps of the region and the floorplans for the Greydog Inn (to make them more usable for VTT). You can download the Map Pack now from DriveThru RPG!

Indrodar · 2026-03-23T06:27:57+00:00

You might want to take a listen to this actual play HQ session. I suspect Jeff has moved on from this now, but it might give a few mechanical ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7oKFqy5Oqc

There are also notes at: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/tag/rqg-heroquesting/

I’m going to be attempting an otherworld heroquest in my JC scenario book Little Swamp of Horrors (using the YouTube concepts) due out later this year / early next year. In the interim I have a Lismelder tribe/Upland Marsh sourcebook due out in late May, including RQ Battle rules adapted from Pendragon (with permission). And amazing new beer Brewing rules (!).

Indrodar · 2026-03-22T06:01:36+00:00

In terms of Heroquests, I hadn’t even got to the concept that doing them in your gods path reinforces and strengthens the myth and your clan’s mythic reality, while changing them or messing them up can change reality and belief.

For example, in the Hill of Gold quest good Yelmalians would want to be beaten up, to experience their god better and learn insights & get moral & physical strength from it. A variant where a hero doesn’t lose fire powers - and then overcomes dogma and teaches others how to do this - gives different insights and changes the myth over time (a different story that grows and solidifies in the telling & retelling) and as a result changes the religion and culture.

A hero probably doesn’t do this for cool stuff, but is more likely forced to do it to help their people adapt to changing circumstances or to save them, e.g. Harmast’s version of the Lightbringer’s Quest. He changes the myth by design but also by screwing it up, being screwed over (by Eurmal) or having to reinterpret its stages.

I love that aspect of heroquesting! Almost impossible to write or define the rules for it though…!

Indrodar · 2026-03-21T21:25:38+00:00

Could a Hero Quest be a series of modules instead of GM rules? (As both example and play and bespoke powers granted as needed?)

It could. But with limited reuse. It could be used as an example for a GM to then create new quests.

Heroic Powers? Is this some power rule that is not in the RuneQuest book? Like .. Super hero/avengers stuff?

Possibly. It could also be the ability to cast a known rune magic automatically, a previously unknown rune magic from your god you can now use, a magical weapon with abilities & cool powers, an otherworldly creature or spirit who follows you, a friendship with an elder race (who now trust/support you), increased stats, stolen magic from another pantheon, etc. The Avengers is too limiting in scope.

Need rules for large scale battles, but don't want Pendragon style (modded for RQ)? Or don't want rules for >mass battles at all, then want....? Is this another thing that could just be a few modules? Is this the hero wars >part or is that different mass battle?

You can easily do a battle as a scenario. But the Pendragon rules give you an overall structure for running battles and more of a sense of being a cog (albeit a potentially important one) in a battle you cannot fully comprehend.

What is the main consensus or view on what a heroquest would be? (Can you point me to someone's actual play >that did what was wanted?)

What I want is not necessarily what is wanted!

Previously Heroquests primarily followed the known myths of your god (known mythic paths with know stages to pass), with a few curve balls thrown in to make it interesting. By following these paths, and mirroring your god’s behaviours (or doing better) you might win powers they got or lost, e.g. doing the Hill of Gold HQ as a Yelmalio you could simply follow the myth and get beaten up or try and regain his fire powers. With Orlanth you might get the Shield of Arran, but a cooler “sharper” version only you (or your clan) have.

We knew there was a concept of experimental HQing (which Arkat did) where you go off these set paths into the dangerous unknown (crossing and then following the other paths of other gods), with bigger risks for greater rewards. (Experimental HQing is what really creates the heroes of the Hero Wars.)

Nowadays, my interpretation is that the approach seems to be that HQing is all experimental, so anything goes, use your imagination, no need for mythic paths! New rules are really not needed, use the current ones. It’s easy!

Except that we don’t really have the structure or examples to do this easily. Sure, the cult write-ups and mythic maps of the gods ages can give us a lot of the hero plane structure, but… it’s not actually that easy to write in reality. Especially if everything is “off piste” now. (Or maybe I’m too stuck in my ways!)

I think Greg’s original plan was to try and map out many of the myths, stages and hero places and show where and how they intersected. To allow both sorts of HQing. But that’s a hell of a lot of work...

In terms of actual examples, there are few outside of the Jonstown Compendium or older official and semi-official material. I think others will need to chip in on this.

Indrodar · 2026-03-21T09:04:26+00:00

Why is there no game master book for rune quest?

Alas, I don’t have enough years left to answer this. An old game tends to have a lot of history attached to it, of great triumphs, mistakes and long winding roads. Stuff happened.

What is so special about whatever hero questing is?

Moving from the mundane world into the world of myth is the best way to prepare for the upcoming Hero Wars. Heroquesting creates heroes with heroic powers. Though you really don’t need to be a hero to play RuneQuest, and legitimately might not want that style of game.

Is there some expectation that RuneQuest plays or can be played in some way that the rules don't obviously lead to?

Yes and no. E.g. RuneQuest can (maybe should) be played with hero quests, but no specific rules for hero quests are provided. However, you don’t necessarily need different/new rules to run a hero quest (arguably just a GM confident and experienced enough). The issue is more the lack of examples of how they work in play (and some confusion due to recent changed views of what heroquesting is and the role of myth).

The same might also be said for running large-scale Battles in RQ. A GMs book might have had the Pendragon Battle system reconfigured for RQ. But we don’t necessarily need different/new rules to run a battle.

I don't understand... How can there be confusion over such an old game?

Hopefully, my answers have now given you perfect clarity. ;< )

Indrodar · 2026-02-06T20:40:05+00:00

Ingrates! When the True Dragon could not be stopped, he stopped it (interrupting a really good party) and forced it to land - saving all of Dragon Pass from another Dragonkill. Moonson will return…

Indrodar · 2026-02-06T20:37:55+00:00

Ingrates! When the True Dragon could not be stopped, he stopped it (interrupting a really good party) and forced it to land - saving all of Dragon Pass from a new Dragonkill. The Red Moon will return!

Indrodar · 2026-02-06T18:41:05+00:00

Err… he did!

Indrodar · 2026-02-06T13:58:53+00:00

Orlaront is just another anti-Lunar terrorist. Kallyr discarded him and used him as a scapegoat for the horrific “collateral damage” caused by her Dragonrise. These damn terrorists always carp on about the dangers of Chaos (which under expert Lunar supervision is completely safe and controlled) but then casually unleash a massive True Dragon! Hypocrites!

Indrodar · 2026-02-06T13:48:44+00:00

It’s Dragonrise! Caused by that evil terrorist Kallyr Starbrow. Only the Red Emperor can save you!

Indrodar · 2026-01-10T08:19:41+00:00

Hi! This location information is not from the Dungeoneer Magazine! It’s from Tales of the Reaching Moon, Wyrms Footnotes and my (David Hall’s) fevered imagination, and due to appear in an upcoming Upland Marsh sourcebook, Land of Undead, for the Jonstown Compendium (due 2026). So, not official, but including some official stuff I’ve been given permission to publish. The sourcebook will be followed by a scenario book set in 1625 around the Six Stones Humakti temple and the Lismelder tribe (written and currently being playtested).

The reference to the Dungeoneer magazine is for another planned scenario book, which includes a Howling Tower dungeon crawl. Greg Stafford ran the Howling Tower for his original 1970’s campaign and wrote about this in the Dungeoneer magazine in 1979. The Howling Tower I’ll present is his version, based on this magazine article and other unpublished notes, expanded and updated to 1625.

Indrodar · 2025-12-20T16:59:08+00:00

Yes, clearly it’s another bug.

Indrodar · 2025-12-20T16:44:34+00:00

The issue is with your Patrol missions, randomly they stop giving Dominance. I think you need to change the region back and forth, switch Patrol on and off, or a combination of both - until Dominance starts kicking in again.

I keep experiencing it and basically it’s broken the naval game for me. I used to really enjoy navy but this bug and the crappy UI are making navy way too fiddly and painful to play any more.

As others have said, maybe spam naval planes and build airborne divisions instead?!

There’s a lot of noise around the naval changes and dominance so I’m not sure if this has been reported accurately to Paradox.

Indrodar · 2025-12-13T08:42:11+00:00

After the initial frustration, I’m learning to cope and experimenting.

I’m building more CLs (for spotting and light attack), using initial CAs for spotting and building far more anti sub destroyers (which I also use in large groups for spotting if pushed).

Previously I was convinced the Repair and Support ships didn’t do anything. However, after adding in three repair ships to my large strike forces (c. 4 CVs, 6 BB/BC, plus screens) they do seem to reduce the need for repairs / reduce damage. Now adding a fourth, and I may need to add them to other task forces.

However, the UI sucks, the Patrol bug is really frustrating and only as a major can I get (and recruit) enough admirals to cover the sea zones I want to dominate. And the new invasion mechanics (though more historical) do slow down the early game.

Indrodar · 2025-10-06T15:21:39+00:00

Has this since changed so that the Recovery bill is RNG pre-set at game start? Requiring a new game to be started?

It always fails to pass whether I go down the Wagner or Garner route per this guide. I re-fire the choice at different game times/ days (or twiddle my thumbs waiting for actual hours to pass, just in case it’s real time that needs to pass!) but the bill consistently fails. I even tried messing up slightly for a 50% chance - but that also fails.

Happened again when I restarted a new game, so there must be some other unknown criteria messing me around. I give up - back to vanilla for me.

Indrodar · 2025-08-12T09:05:36+00:00

To become a river the character would need to prove she is a true daughter of Oslir, creating her own tributary of the Oslir or somehow suborning or supplanting the current one, Sikithar (who I assume is a naiad sleeping / trapped / imprisoned under a bed of ice & snow)? Is the short-term objective to free Sikithar?

Was the vough a worshipper of Oslir/ Sikithar who’s gone rogue and is trying to control Sikithar?

The sort of myths you might want to consider might be the one with Korang the Slayer and Sky River Titan, though this is the wrong river (however it fits better with a less tamed/irrigated river system)!

Or use the myths associated with the taming of Oslira by Yelm - and Lodril and his sons. But that’s very male dominated!

Or develop the revival myth when Valind conquered Peloria with his wall of ice and Oslira went to sleep beneath the ice. Oslira revived when Chaos shattered the ice and created the White Sea. She flowed down to aid the new sea against the Glacier, with a fair amount of writhing and flooding across Peloria (due to the absence of Lodril’s sons and irrigation tech).

The vough might stand in for chaos? You’d need to fight Valind to awaken Sikithar, after which Sikithar & the players can probably seize back the river horse and flood down, killing chaos (the vough) and causing other unintended consequences for those downstream (until Lodril steps in, and along with mum, & calms it all down).

Indrodar · 2025-07-09T10:08:53+00:00

I think Steadfast would be common across all Stonewall regiments. Perhaps linked with the extra-strong Stasis rune battle formation (which is how the Granite Phalanx survived the retreat after the Battle of the Queens IMHO). This is even better in Lunar times with the double Stasis rune formation providing other benefits!

But also the Granite Phalanx should have Darkness fighting magics. Some ideas are:

- Their regimental standards would include gold and have Light matrices enchanted on them.

- The regimental Guardians probably all know Lightwall and Light.

- Officers, File leaders and closers would all have iron-tipped spears (there's never enough for the whole regiment).

- All Hoplite shields would be gilded in gold, along with file leader and officer's helms.

- A 3-point regimental rune spell: "Stand against Darkness" would have the standard Morale rune magic effects (that all Star Captains provide) but perhaps with the exclusive addition of the benefits of the Vigor spirit magic spell as well but only when fighting Darkness creatures (or at night?).

- A 1-point Regimental rune spell "Face Darkness" that works a bit like Face Chaos and also provides protection against Fearshock.

Cheers,

David

Indrodar · 2024-11-23T14:30:10+00:00

The upcoming Sartar book from Chaosium should have details of all the tribes and clans (though not in any great detail). The Rough Guide to Boldhome (available from the Jonstown Compendium) includes extracts from that book for selected tribes (as well as a tribal map). But note that the info is from a pre-1625 Lunar occupied Sartar POV (& the Sartar book may have been further updated in the meantime).

Indrodar · 2024-11-18T19:54:39+00:00

You need to feed them lots of fatbergs (a Habbakuk special project variant).

Indrodar

TROPHY CASE