Runequest: The Battle For Trueford

The Battle For Trueford

No, dear reader, you are not mistaken. Previously I did write about the battle of Trueford when I posted the overview for the adventure, "Urvantan's Tower" in the Smoking Ruins and other Adventures book for Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. However, while discussing the post with a few people online, I realized that was more detail I wanted to give about the big battle at the end of the adventure I wanted elaborate on. I had initially expected to post this a few weeks after the first, but I've been busy with work, and it took some time to get my thoughts together.

You can find the previous post about the Urvantan's Tower by following this link here.

The Battle of Trueford - How to Run a Large-Scale Battle (Easy Mode)

In the Battle of Trueford section, it reads, "If desired, rather than delve into a round-by-round battle where every single combatant is tracked. The gamemaster is encouraged to make this fray more visceral than specific, using narrative description where possible to keep the pressure and intensity driving, and breaking combat into short, brief, and brutal encounters." 

I'm sure, like me, many GMs have never run large battle set pieces, or if they have come close to it - it was done like normal combat but with waves of combatants. Each combatant was tracked individually or in groups, and every attack and parry rolled so that the players slowly but surely played through the whole thing. We all have been there, slogging through combat round after round, and how unfun that can be. So the advice the adventure gives the GM is above and beyond the best advice an adventure can provide. As much as anyone can decide not to run the whole battle in rounds, it is one thing to decide for yourself and another to be permitted to do it. As much as Roleplaying games are a unique form of entertainment, they are a game nonetheless, and we often feel that we need to use the rules that come with the game to play the game. But if that game tells you to ignore the standard procedure and to do this other thing instead to make it easier and less stressful for the GM, all the better.

Unfortunately, the adventure doesn't give much advice on "make this fray more visceral than specific, using narrative description where possible." So that's what I hope to do with this post. Give some guidance on how to set up the battle for your game to make it easy to run and enjoyable from a gameplay perspective while still being more thematic than a slog full of moving pieces. 

I suggest that a GM breaks the battle into several manageable chunks. Some are marked as Narrative Scenes. These scenes reflect the passage of time and inform the players about significant shifts in the battle overall. The adventure gives you a few of these, so the GM won't need to create all of them out of whole cloth. 

The First narrative scene and how combat starts has a fantastic narrative description within the adventure's text. There are also two more similar scenes described in the adventure that shift the story and the battle's direction and momentum. Both of these are near the end, but the GM will need maybe one of two more similar scenes placed between the start of the battle and the end of the battle. Below I'll give you an idea of the narrative scenes I came up with for this battle.

The other chunks are actionable scenes placed between narrative scenes. These scenes use Combat Rounds but don't have to be specifically about combat actions, and I'll give examples for these scenes that I wrote up for my game down below as well. Urvantan's Tower does provide the GM with two of these actionable scenes in the adventure. In one of the actionable scenes, the heroes must get to the Town Hall and free some important NPC hostages. The second actionable scene that the adventure gives is the one that will end the battle one way or another.

Playing my RuneQuest game online had a few advantages. First and foremost, I could set up all my combat scenes beforehand. I could also have lighting effects and even animated fire, which I took full advantage of. 

Breaking Combat Down Into Chunks

When I sat down and broke the battle into groups, I listed simple phrases for each scene using bullet points to create an easy-to-follow order. The other goal I had when designing each scene was that I wanted them to be more than just combat by adding elements to the scene that gave the heroes more non-combat actions they could take. A lot more happens in a battle than just individuals fighting, especially when all the fighting is happening throughout a town. Logically, you would have non-combatants trying to escape, people who are injured and in need of help, wagons being overturned and used as cover and barriers, etc. The GM's goal is to have a broad vision of what shape the battle takes and how to reflect the passage of time. But also paring that with keeping the game from feeling like a slog.

For ease of tracking which is a narrative Scene and which is an Actionable Scene, I use Letters for Narrative Scenes and Numbers for Actionable Scenes below.

A: Urvantan appears. The battle starts.

1: Players, Save the Hostages in the Town Hall.

B: The hostages spread out to help free other villagers or pick up weapons and fight. The Local Ernalda Priestess requires the players to defend her so she can get to the earth temple. The Temple is locked.

2: Defend the Ernalda Prirestess. Find a way to unlock the earth Temple so the Priestess can get inside.

C: The Ernalda Priestess unleashes the Temple Guardian once the Temple is unlocked, and she has access to it again. the Overall battle continues.

3: a section of the town is on fire. The Heroes need to either help put out the fire, help heal the injured, or defend the firefighters, healers, and injured townsfolk. 

D: Fighting continues. Three Centaurs appear and run through the town, attacking any hero or townfolk they can reach.

4: Fight or defend against the Centaurs' attacks while villagers flee to safety.

E: The Leader of the Company of the Manticore challenges one hero to a duel; the winner takes all.

5:One Hero duels the Leader of the Company of the Manticore for control of the region.

F: Describe the end of the duel and what happens after whoever wins.  

About half my players are none combat-focused heroes, so when determining what actionable scenes I wanted to make, I wanted to ensure these heroes had moments to shine. I choose to have the next actionable scene happen outside the Earth Temple instead of during the move from the Town Hall to the Earth Temple to avoid the scene's focus being just combat-based. I felt that one gave the heroes more actions that they could take than the other. Same as why I have the heroes choose whether they help put out the fires, heal the injured or defend. 

From the image above, you can see how I set each actionable scene in Roll20 as its own battle map/stage. The images don't show the effects I added to these scenes either. For instance, Each battle map uses Dynamic Lighting so that the players can only see what is in line of sight of their Pc's token on the map. On the map with the fire, the fire was also animated, which added to the scene's tension. 

My Scenes

I'll give you a breakdown for each scene I have listed above; this way, you can either steal them or use these as a springboard to develop your own.

A) Urvantan has appeared in Trueford and starts attacking the soldiers of the Company of the Manticore. The adventure gives the GM an excellent visual description of the Sorceror's sudden appearance in the village and the hell that breaks loose from there. The only element I added to this scene that wasn't in the adventure was to narrate how the heroes and their allies rush forward to take advantage of the confusion sweeping through the soldiers. During this confusion, the heroes make their way to the Town Hall to free the hostages. This scene ends with describing what the heroes see outside the Town Hall, setting up the next scene.

1) This scene is our first round of combat once the battle has begun. You can see from the battle map above the number of enemies the heroes were to face at this stage. I used the map of Trueford from the adventure as the battle map for the Actionable Scenes. The adventure tells the GM the number of enemies stationed in the village and their deployment. The Mercenaries are a well-trained and battle-tested group who have seen better days. Their equipment needs repairs, and some of them have old wounds that are still healing. The enemy is running on fumes, making them easier to fight against than if they were fresh. I took this also to mean that none of the common - unnamed NPCs have any Rune points left, which gives the heroes an advantage over them. 

However, they are well trained, so when the players encounter the group outside the Town Hall, they are in a formation that makes them difficult to overcome. We have the classic Wall of Shields with ranged attackers from behind. The biggest and strongest target is the Minotaur, who will enter melee if the heroes can break past the shield wall. 

There is a Satyr inside the Town Hall whose job is to keep the Ernaldian High Priestess asleep. The GM can also have the Satyr come out and fight if they think the combat is too easy for the heroes. The GM can also have Urvantan appear behind the enemy if the heroes are doing poorly.

The mercenaries have controlled this town long enough to create choke points for defense throughout the village. Not shown on the map, I also have simple alarm systems strung up in crucial areas. String with bells placed low to the ground that a character might trip while sneaking if they don't notice them. Based on the size of the village and the number of villagers captured compared to the number of mercenaries in the village, I figured that the mercenaries would have ways to minimize the gaps in their watches to prevent hostages from escaping and rescuers from sneaking in at night. I love the Tenchu Stealth Assassin games; these simple devices come straight from there.

B) This scene describes the freed hostages in the town hall. If the Satyr is still around, they would probably be fine with becoming a hostage. I told how the heroes undid the bidding on the hostages that were tied up and had to find some way to wake the sleeping Ernalda High Priestess. Once awake, so she can use her power to assist in the battle, she tells the heroes to accompany her to the Temple. Along with the High Priestess is the Babeester Gor Cultist, who is the Priestess' main bodyguard. But when Heroes get to the Temple, it appears the Company of the Manticore has used magical binding to lock the temple doors. 

2) In this scene, the heroes need to defend the High Priestess while she or another hero finds a way to break the magic that keeps the Temple locked. Here we have more overturned wagons acting as defensive points for the enemy. The heroes and the Priestess at the Temple are fully exposed on three sides, making this a difficult position to defend. Most of the mercenaries have both ranged and melee options. Once the High Priestess can get inside the Temple, she can use what Rune points she has left to summon the Temple Guardian, which ends this scene and moves the battle into the next narrative scene.

C) The GM should describe the Temple Guard rushing the enemy forces, freeing the heroes from the need to defend and allowing them freedom of movement. The GM should describe the battle's progress before switching to the next actionable scene. Between Urvantan and the enemy, there are several spots throughout the town where fire has spread. One such area is also near where many of the wounded from the battle have gathered. 

3) In this scene, the heroes can help the village battle the fire, heal the wounded, and defend both groups from the onslaught of the enemy. 

When playing through this battle, I ended up skipping scene three. My players had been running low on MP and Rune Points by the time the Ernalda Priestess was able to enter the Temple. I skipped this scene and moved on to the next, blending the description of Scenes C and D. However, it's always possible the situation could be different for your group. It comes down to what kind of party of characters you have in your group. 

D) Here, we have the Centaur Leader and his honor guard rush into the battle. I figure they all have Mobility cast on themselves to get to the village as fast as possible. A hostage is carried on the Leader's hindquarters unless the heroes' previous actions have removed this possibility from the adventure.

4) Here we have the Heroes who need to defend against this sudden attack while trying to get villagers to safety. 

E) The Leader of the Company of the Manticore changes a single Heroes to duel them for the fate of the Lost Valley. Even though he is an enemy, he has honor, and this is just a job for him. Though he knows that if he loses here, this is the company's end. 

5) One Hero and the Leader of the enemy forces duel each other. The duel ended pretty quickly in our game between a Humakti and the Leader. 

Anyway, I hope you found this helpful and insightful in running the Battle of Trueford during the Urvantan's Tower adventure. Until the next time: I Fought, We Won, and May Your Glorantha Vary.

Runequest Adventure Review: Urvantan's Tower

It's been a few months since I ran Urvantan's Tower for my game group, the second adventure in the Smoking Ruins and Other Stories. The adventure takes place near the Smoking Ruins site and in the Beastlands in Lost Valley, which can be challenging to find. Most travelers are likely to trip over it when lost or never find it because they get killed or run off by wandering Chaos beasts.
The adventure overview is that the people of Long Home, in Lost Valley, have sent a messenger to Queen Lieka for help with foreign invaders. There are no alliances or ties between Long Home and the Colymar tribe, but the Queen is no fool and thinks of sending a handful of loyal Colymar tribespeople to act as her observers during the trip. 
The Queen's observers, the heroes, travel from Clearwine to the Beastlands as quickly as possible, with the messenger now acting as a guide. Though they were expecting to get there before the invading force, the party is not so fortunate and gets there many hours too late. The invading mercenary Company, made of humans and Bestmen, has successfully taken Long Home under their control and is now trying to put down the final embers of resistance.
Once the heroes reach the Lost Valley, they quickly see that they have arrived too late and that the army has already entered the valley and taken the village of True Ford. The only person who can help the lost valley and the Village of True Ford now is the Sorceror Urvantan, whose tower appears to have vanished. The heroes need to discover what happened to Urvantan while dodging the patrols of the invading mercenary Company. The heroes need to find Urvantan, a local sorcerer, and help him so that he can help save the valley. 

From here, the adventure gets into the meat of the story and has a lot of options available for the Gamemaster and players to decide how they want to proceed. The whole adventure can turn into a prolonged campaign of freedom fighters if need be or only take place over a few days. It all hangs on what choices the players make. Do they help or don't help the folk of Long Home is entirely up to the group. 
Once the adventurers have either failed and are captured or helped defeat the invading force, the adventure ends with the group's return to Clearwire. Possibly leaving further trips to Long Home open for the future if the citizens of Long Home become allied with the Colymar Tribe. 
I find running this adventure and the other adventures in the Smoking Ruins Adventure Book quite different from how GM's Adventure book is laid out and written. The main Smoking Ruins adventure and Urvantan's Tower require more work on the GM's part to run the adventure successfully compared to the GM's Adventure book's adventures. Urvantan's Tower suffers from the same layout issues that Smoking Ruins has. Information that is a bit scattered shoot throughout; Player info, GM info and advice, and other details are all mixed unhelpfully. I had difficulty keeping track of the various threads of this adventure due to layout issues in the book. I reread the adventure five times and still got parts confused and had difficulty finding information during the game. 
Around the middle of the adventure, I presented an NPC's plan to the players and completely misunderstood a sentence in the adventure, which led the players to make the wrong decisions. There is a part of Urvantan's plan where he needs the heroes to spread the enemy out in the open. The current deployment of the Company of the Manticore would make his task more difficult. Some of this is on me; I found the whole section somewhat oddly written, so I know it wasn't just me misreading the information. After reading this several times, I got it into my head that the heroes needed to get the army out of the village and spread thinly out in the open. I'm pretty sure it was that whole spread the enemy forces out into the open part that led me to portray the plan in this way. It wasn't for a few weeks until I realized my mistake when I was thinking about how all the action, in the end, happens inside the village. I kept thinking to myself. How do the heroes and villagers fight the enemy in the village if the enemy is no longer there? The enemy was drawn out of the village by the heroes. I reread the adventure for the 5th time and finally noticed what I messed up.
 It became clear that I needed to change how I made notes for these game sessions because my usual note-taking method wasn't cutting it. This one big mistake caused issues for the players and changed how the game would have played out in the end. I had to course-corrected, and everything worked out in the end. 
Yes, GMs can make mistakes. It happens. I was honest about this mistake with my players. They were having a hard time trying to find a way to make this all happen, and when I let them know that I messed up, it helped relieve some of the tension they were feeling. Also, as a bonus for my mistake, I gave them each a card from the Whimsy Deck that they could use at any time they wanted. This situation was the first time we have used the Whimsey Deck, so we'll see how it works out. But Generally, a player can play this card in a situation where it makes sense to use it to change the current story. These cards give the players more input and agency in the game. It doesn't always happen immediately either; sometimes, it sets into motion some event or person for a future situation.
As much as I had problems running this adventure, overall, it was a lot of fun, and my players had a great time with it. It did what every great Runequest adventure I have run so far does: expose your group to something new they may not know about or how it works. Until then, we hadn't done anything with sorcery, so this was a first for me to run Characters who used sorcery and the first time for my players to encounter it in combat. This adventure was also the first time my players came across anything to do with Arkat and discovered more in-game lore about the world. Most of my players haven't read the lore of the Glorantha, so being exposed to these small bite-size chunks of lore opens the world up for them.

Some notes and things to remember when running Urvantan's Tower:

• The Gamemaster should figure out how many square miles the Lost Valley covers. In Roll20, I set the Lost valley map up with a hex grid, where each hex was 1 mile, with 16 Hex crossing the map from east to west. Looking back, though, I should have made it smaller since, at one point, the enemy has to travel from the fort to the village in a short time. On my map, that was 5 miles, and I think it probably would have been better, so those two locations were more like 2 miles from each other.
• To get the best impact out of this adventure, I suggest having the heroes travel to this valley at least once before, if not more. The Gamemaster can have the Heroes defend the valley against a Talmori Wolf brothers raid. This way, the players can meet all the main NPCs beforehand, develop ties to the community, and establish relationships and history with the local NPCs. This way, when the call arrives for help, the players have those emotional stakes that Robin Law often talks about as crucial motivators for adventure. There is a lot of information about the Lost Valley and the important NPCs that the players will not get into or meet if the Urvantan's Tower adventure is the first time they have visited Long Home. I wish I had done this just so the heroes/players would understand and feel the loss of life involved with this invasion. Before the heroes arrive in the valley, about half the Village Elders die in the Company of the Manticore opening attack. The knowledge of these deaths has zero impact on the players since they don't have any pre-established history or connection with these NPCs. Hell, my players killed one of the Elders because they didn't know she was an elder in the village. They only saw a Seven Mother's Priestess with the enemy at the time. The best way is to have them visit Long Home for supplies while at the Smoking Ruins or after they finish going to the Smoking Ruins for the first time. Maybe a Merchant meets them on the road, the number of guards he has hired have been killed off or wounded by some wild beast(s), and he engages them to help get his wares the rest of the way to Long Home.

• Captain Danbar, the Warden, sent to seek the help of the Colymar, doesn't travel alone. When I ran the adventure, I had Captain Danbar travel to the lands of Colymar alone. It wasn't until later after the captain and the Heroes had entered the Lost Valley, that I noticed that the Captian was traveling with two other Wardens. Having Captain Danbar travel alone was a mistake at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense that he might travel independently. The Valley only has so many defenders and only so many Wardens. The number of people the village would send on this mission meant fewer defenders to protect the valley. 

• Work out the numbers before you start the adventure. I should have tracked the numbers a little better than I did at the start of running this adventure. The adventure gives you specific numbers for the number of locals to the valley and village and the mercenary Company. Keep track of them so you can readjust those numbers as characters die or are held captive. 

• The players might feel they won't be able to do much against an army. But it's essential to describe how worn-out and ill-equipped the Company of the Manticore is. Letting the players know that the Mercenaries appear to be a fighting force that is not at their best or in the best condition - that they most likely have used up their Rune Spells and may be easier to fight than a well-prepared and well-rested army would be.

• I had a lot of leftover questions about the Black Arkat. The main one that still bothers me is how the Black Arkat got into the tower. The Black Arkat didn't come through the tower's front door since the spirits on the first or second floor did not know that the Black Arkats were inside the tower. As far as they know, Urvantan is in the Tower alone, but the Black Arkat entered at least the 3rd floor because they destroyed the Guardian Spirit on that floor.

• It confused my players that the Black Arkat and the Company of the Manticore weren't linked together; it was just a coincidence that both events were happening around the same time. Though I did point out to them that they don't know how long the Black Arkat has been in the tower. According to the spirits, they hadn't seen Urvantan for weeks; the Black Arkat may have been in the tower that whole time. I think I figured that the Black Arkat had been in the tower for five days. One way that has been suggested for the Arkat to enter the tower is through the magic gateway on the fifth floor. I question this since the leader of these Black Arkat is trying to figure out how to use the chamber on the other side of the gateway. His action suggests that they didn't enter through the hero World by the gateway since they don't know how to use the room beyond it. One thought I did have about how the Black Arkat gets inside is that they know of other secret ways into the tower that Uravantan has not yet discovered in over a hundred years. After my group killed most of the Black Arkat, the leader bargained with them for his life with treasure and a promise to leave. He gave them a Serpent Staff from the old Runequest Plunder book, one he pulls from a hidden storage space in the towers. Sorcery was the only way to open the secret hidey-hole, only if you knew it was there.

• The rewards for this adventure. I used this adventure as a teaching moment in order game to remind the players that this wasn't Dungeons and Dragons. When rewarded with treasure and trade goods, the heroes should give these to their leaders (in this case, the Queen) when the heroes return home. Their leaders will reward them, though they won't receive all the treasure and trade goods. As much as the heroes should receive a reward, their actions help and benefit the community as a whole. It's the leader's duty to the community to use the wealth these heroes have brought back for the betterment of the whole group. It's an excellent way to help shift their thinking from being individualistic and more about the community.

Runequest Adventure Review: The Smoking Ruins

 The Smoking Ruins

Artist Jon Hodgson

Overview:

In Hiia's Valley, in the lands of the Pure Horse People and Beastmen, there is a plateau where smoke has blackened the skies and blocking Yelm's light for the last 400 years. Atop the plateau is ancient ruins of a citadel where troll corpses have been burning, unendingly, for hundreds of years. There are whispers about these ruins. Rumors that pass between travelers, stories told to warn those that can hear. They speak of angry, dark spirits haunt the smoke and flames—stories of would-be heroes who venture too close and never return.

The Smoking Ruins is the first of three adventures in the Smoking Ruins and Other Stories Runequest book by Chaosium. Along with these three adventures is information and story hooks for Beast Valley and the South Wilds, lands that lay west of the Colymar tribal lands and outside the Kingdom of Sartar.

The Smoking Ruins is more than a single adventure but a location for exploration and adventure. The information about the ruins is presented so that the GM can use it multiple times. With numerous trips, the heroes can discover more and more about the ruins and the magic that has left a permanent mark in this region. The adventure explores a few different themes such as Companionship, Love, Hate, Devotion, and Loyalty. At times the heroes might find their loyalties in conflict depending on what loyalties they have. Like my own group, some may not even realize a conflict between two or more loyalties exists until the heroes return from their adventure.

That being said, the adventure itself is pretty straightforward and will take several sessions to complete. I like this adventure and all the story elements that it contains. My players and I are looking forward to exploring further the mysteries of the ruins while putting an end to the evil that stains the ancient citadel's. When I ran this adventure, I changed very little from what was present in the book.

As much as I like this adventure, I found this one particularly difficult to run. I read the adventure more than I normally read through any adventure. At the most, I normally read through an adventure twice. I read through The Smoking Ruinsadventure four times and did some additional skimming before each game session to remind myself of key info for that week's session. I'm a minimalistic GM when it comes to prep, so it was very much outside my comfort zone to reread this adventure this many times. The truth be told, normally, I create content for the games I run, but when I started up the Runequest, I wanted to take a break from creating content and wanted to run official content only. I also thought this was a good way to learn how to design adventures for Runequest since the game is very different from what I am used to.

How the book organized the information for the adventure was why I found it difficult to run The Smoking Ruins. There are two sections where the organization and structure make running the adventure a challenge. Out of all of the Acts, these two acts make it difficult to find and match up bits of information - especially during the game itself. But I'll explain this in more detail as we walk through each Act of the adventure.

Trying to Not Spoil this Adventure will be difficult and as such, if you are a player, please stop reading from this point forward. The Surprises in this adventure are well worth discovering during play. If you are planning to run this adventure, please continue reading.

I break down each Act or arch of the adventure below and highlight a few items for a GM to think about while not giving too much away. Afterwhich, I'll list what I added or changed in the adventure that I think improved the adventure overall and helped me run it better. Also, this adventure says it has 5 acts, but I think it's worth breaking one of those acts into two. So below, you'll see 6 Acts; The Festival, The Secret Mission, The Journey, The Ruins, Dancing With Ghosts, and The Return.

Before Act 1, there is a section that gives the GM an overview of the adventure. This section is a barebones look at the various elements of the story. It sets the goals for the heroes. Notes on the pacing of the adventure slowly reveal the various story elements to the players in small chunks. This section gives the GM the history of the Smoking Ruins and some rumors that the heroes might hear about. Some of these rumors and stories are true. At the same time, others are tall tales designed to add confusion. It also covers the NPCs the players will or might interact with during play, some potentially important to the story overall. I only say potentially important because you may not encounter all of them when you run through the adventure. It all comes down to what decisions the players make. For instance, Sara Goodseller is one of the NPCs in the adventures, but her presence is minimal, and my players never encountered her. However, she might be someone who will approach them before their return to the ruins next time.

Artist Jon Hodgson

Act 1, The Festival, sets up the start of the adventure and, hopefully, an emotional hook that may or may not bear fruit for your group of Heroes. The story begins with the heroes at a celebration in Clearwire Fort put on by Queen Leika Black Spear. Here they will make a new friend who will give them their first hints to the adventure that awaits them. I have several things to say about this NPC below, mostly things that I added or handled differently regarding running the NPC. Once they befriend Treya, the Heroes will spend a good portion of the day enjoying her company at one of the local establishments drinking and telling stories. A lot of fun can be had in this first Act - especially once the group starts hitting the wine cups.

GMs should note that this is the first of two sections where the layout makes it a little difficult to run the adventure. Information is presented in an odd, disjointed fashion. For starters, GM only information, description of events, directions on NPC actions and dialogue, and other information are all presented together. One bleeding into the other. One moment you'll be reading the description of an NPC's performance when suddenly GM only information you shouldn't read out loud follows, without any clear break or distinction between the two. It is further complicated when it comes time to find some of those GM notes because you now have to comb through descriptive text and NPC responses to find what you need.

I wish they had broken these down into two sections. The first section tells the GM what the heroes see and hear; NPC dialogue, descriptions of events, etc. While the second section presents the GM notes on various NPC thoughts and feelings and other information that helps run the scene.


Act 2, The Secret Mission, through the NPC, Treya, the Heroes are lead to the Earth Temple and meet Daravala, a Rune Priestess of Ernalda. Daravala has heard from a few contacts about the Smoking Ruins and how there might be a lost shrine to Ernald there. If this is true, she wants to make this year's holy day for Ernalda, which is in two weeks, a special occasion, and wants to surprise the High Priestess with something potentially exciting. However, before she can send an expedition, she needs more info. So first, she hires the heroes to research whether there is any truth to the stories she has heard. Once Daravala has this evidence, she hires the lead an expedition out to the Smoking Ruins to find proof of this lost shrine to Ernalda and return in time for the Holy Day with this evidence. She also requires that the heroes keep this all secret, especially from the High Priestess and Queen Lieka.

Several side stories can be encountered and exposed during this part, which can change and expand the adventure in interesting ways. The heroes can encounter several NPCs as they both gather information and gear. And the GM may even want the heroes to test their loyalties against the secret that Daravala is asking them to keep.




Act 3, The Journey, starts with the heroes taking a slow, rainy boat trip down the river towards Duck Point. If the players are new to Glorantha, Duck Point will be their first experience with Ducks (as in walking talking Donald Duck-like ducks) outside of gooseberry Sprig in Apple Lane. At Duck Point, they discover three potential routes the heroes can take to get to the Smoking Ruins. It's up to the heroes to decide which route they want to take. If they are smart, they will ask around to discover how long each route will take because each route takes a different amount of time and can mean success or failure if the players want to return to Clearwine in time for Ernalda's holy day.

If the GM wishes, the heroes can journey to the ruins narratively with several encounters that the adventure includes or one the GM designed. Or the GM can handwave the whole journey and have them just arrive at the ruins. The adventure gives a few possible encountered to make the journey more interesting. They add interest to the story and the world that the heroes are in. It is better to have these encounters since the heroes can gain awards from their actions after the adventure.





Act 4, The Ruins. The heroes see the Smoking Ruins for the first time and ascend the plateau. At the top of the plateau, they can make several discoveries about the ruins and ancient history before entering the walled citadel.

Here is the second section where the book's layout makes the adventure a little difficult to run. Each area that the heroes can explore has its own section, which is great. However, info for each of those areas can not always be found in those sections. Other sections get into some of the mystery of the ruins, adding layers of info to the various areas as they are encountered. So it is very easy to miss important information or mix up information depending on what the heroes are doing.

An example of this is one of the ways that the heroes can enter the citadel. The first entrance listed is one of the furthest entrances from where the heroes climbed up to the top of the plateau. The other issue is how these are listed on the map. The map uses Numbers, whereas the subheader for these sections uses Letters. It took me a bit of time to work out that Location A was #8 on the map because it's only referenced in the map keys as location A, but while reading the adventure, I wasn't looking at the key but the numbers on the map instead. In any case, don't have two ways to list a location. Either use one or the other - not both. Some descriptive elements for that area are covered under another section and not the "Location A" (or whatever) section.

A good example of this is with "Location A." The first bit of info about Location A is on pg 76. This information includes possible encounters and such. The next set of info about Location A is on Page 83 - this is after several other sections which cover separate areas within the ruins. These descriptive bits can be important to running the game and should have been combined. And this isn't the only point where I had this issue.

Much like in the first Act, how descriptions and GM information flowed together adds difficulties to this section. I had many issues trying to track down info when I needed to answer questions the players had.




Act 5, Dancing with Ghost, sets up the meat of the story and the first big mystery for the adventure, such as why the Smoking Ruins has been burning for 400 years. This Act is broken down into three Parts. The first part is when the heroes first encounter One Eye, the Trollkin Ghost. The second part is when they discover the Mirror Fragment. And the third part is when they potentially get into a fight with some undead.

Part one; here, the heroes meet a Trollkin Ghost by the name of One Eye who needs their help in freeing her family from this curse. She will even lead the players to a place where they can discover what they are looking for if they help her. She is a source of information about the truth behind the ruins, and the adventure gives the GM a lot of information on what kind of questions she can and cannot answer. This ghost only really cares about her family, but to that end, she will help the heroes to the best of her ability if they help her.

Helping One Eye leads to a very contested element of this adventure that many GMs dislike - from what I have seen in the BRP Forums. The heroes learn from the Trollkin what is required to help her - which is performed as a ritual dance. One Eye has developed a ritual that combines Troll magic with what little she knows about the magic placed on the burning trolls in the citadel(Dragon Magic). With it and the heroes' help, One Eye will be able to release the 15 members of her family from the spell - sending them to their place in the underworld. The NPC, the heroes, met at the beginning of the adventure, Treya, discovers something about this ritual that she wants to make use of to make contact with her deceased Grandmother, potentially bringing her Grandmother back to life. The heroes, during the adventure, know how much Treya loves her Grandmother since she speaks of her often. So Treya's motivation should be clear as she tries to twist the Trollkin's blended magic to her own purpose against the One Eye's dire warnings. The Trollkin warns against Treya twisting the spell the way she plans because the ritual that Treya will perform doesn't do what she thinks it does. It is left up to the heroes to decide what they want to do in this situation, which brings us to the crux of the issue I saw online.

Many people online refer to this part of the adventure as being a possible Total Party Kill. They might be correct, but I disagree with them for two reasons.

The Trollkin warns the heroes that they shouldn't let Treya perform the ritual the way she is doing it. So as long as they understand the language the Trollkin is speaking, they are forewarned. Even if they don't understand her words, her body language should be clear IMHO.

The adventure leaves it open for the players to take one of three actions as Treya begins her version of the ritual. They can help Treya and join the ritual dance she is doing - it's similar to the one they were just taught by one eye and can follow her changes pretty readily. They can do nothing and just watch as Treya goes through the motions of the whole ritual. Or they can stop Treya. The adventure leaves it open to the GM if they want both Treya and One Eye's rituals to happen at the same time, as well.

The second reason is something I think some critics have overlooked. If they choose to help Treya and join her in the ritual, there will come to a moment in the ritual where the GM reads the following: "Treya reaches out again, and this time Thinala reaches out as well. They grasp hands. The adventurer should be allowed at this moment to take back their hand. If they choose not to, their ancestor reaches out to grasp the adventurer’s hand".

This moment during the spell is when the GM says, Are you sure you want to continue. If you are a player, you have encountered this often enough by now. GMs have said this type of thing before when the players are pursuing actions with unforeseen negative results. Sometimes they take the warning and change their minds, and other times they decide to continue along the path they have chosen for themselves. The adventure gives the heroes a clear way out in this situation if they want to take it. I will also say that in my games, player's actions can and will have consequences. So I like stuff like this.

Here, Treya will either be lost or kept safe, and it's all down to what the heroes' decide to do in the end. I feel that this is the true heart of this adventure. Treya's love has driven her all her life, and with love, she takes a daring risk to win back her Grandmother's life. Much like the Trollkin's love for her family has kept her ghost sane over the last hundreds of years as she worked to find a way to save them. Much like the artifact of love that the heroes might discover and return to Clearwine with.

Part two happens once the player has either helped One Eye or refused to help her and searched on their own. One area of the ruined citadel appears mostly untouched by the death and darkness that hangs over the whole ruins. Here, they discover, as if waiting for them to bring it forth, a fragment from the God Times, an artifact that was a gift to Ernalda. Up until this moment, the heroes were unsure what they would find in the ruined citadel, and they were unsure if they would return with any good news at all. The artifact they discover turns out to be of far greater importance than they could have hoped for. But now have to survive the ruins of the evil things that lay in wait within its walls.





Part three is the possible fight. The moment the heroes enter the citadel, they can feel a presence within the ruins, something evil and filled with hate that poisons the stone and air of the ruins. Each time the heroes enter a new area, the GM checks to see if Vagargic or its minions have noticed them by making a simple roll. Each time the heroes enter a new section of the ruins, they help the ghost, find the artifact, etc. The chance of discovery rises higher and higher. If they have already helped One Eye and Treya performed their ritual magic and obtain the relic, there is a 100% chance of discovery. At this point, the evil that resides in the ruined citadel knows they are here, and it has plans that it's been waiting to complete for the last 400 years. If it can get just one of the humans, then it has completed its evil plans. But if the heroes are smart, they'll flee the ruins the moment they get a chance.




Act 6, The Return. Once the Heroes have found the artifact that proves that the Smoking Ruins is a sacred site to Ernalda and worth exploring further, it's a race against time to get back to Clearwine. If the heroes are lucky, they will give the artifact to Daravala, who can surprise the High Priestess with their discovery. The adventure results have various effects on what happens when they return to Clearwine and the following holy day celebration. The journey back should be glossed over for the most part except one encounter, but only if the Centaurs were encountered on the way out, to begin with.
This section of the adventure is great because it walks the Players and GM through a holy day celebration. The description paints a beautiful and detailed image of the rituals of a hoy day for the Ernalda cults. Be warned - reading through this out loud is completely worth it and takes roughly about an hour to get through. Each hero will hopefully gain a place within the celebration so that they can feel involved. And if they come back with the artifact, it will make a spectacular showing in the climax of the ritual celebration.

What I would add or change to the Smoking Ruins adventure.

• Treya of Ezel is a great NPC and she should be introduced to the players as soon as possible. Seasons before this adventure, if you are at all able to do so. I introduced her to my group after the events of The Dragon of the Thunder Hills. She came to them and wanted to write the song/saga of their adventures and their fight with the dragon. She is a huge nerd for all things the Storm Age and so her hearing about the reawakening of a Storm Age Goddess at the end of that adventure will make her want to know more about the heroes and the Queen's Tomb. 
• Another thing I did with Treya leading into this adventure was to ask a friend to play her in the game, with full knowledge about what was going to happen to the character during the adventure. I know from a wealth of experience from both sides of the GM screen that players are more often saddened by the dramatic loss of a PC than they are by the loss of an NPC, no matter how much they like the NPC, it will never hit them as hard as losing a PC. So I really wanted this experience to be heartbreaking for them and had a friend play the NPC as a player character under the guise of "Trying out the game with an interest in joining" and me lending them an NPC known to the group whose skills could be useful.
  This 100% worked for my group, by the by. They never suspected a thing and were super depressed by the loss of Treya. They were also completely shocked when I revealed what my friend and I had done. It's going to be a while before I can trick again, but so satisfying. On the bonus side though, that friend will be joining us for real since she really enjoyed Runequest and playing with the group.
• Make Scratches' Map is pretty annoying since the adventures make it sound as if there are many things on that map that the Handout in the adventure does actually have on them. There isn't a great workaround for this and I hope someday We'll get a better version.
• The boat trip downriver to Duck Point can take between one to two days and since the adventure is all about the heroes being under the pressure for time, I had one of my players make a Luck check by rolling their POW. If it failed then the boat trip took two days, if they succeeded, then the boat trip only took one day. If they had fumbled, then it would have taken three days. maybe some accident happened along the way, like getting stuck on a sandbar, angered a river god, or were attacked by a rogue Broo. 
• In Duck Point, my players were smart and hired a guide to lead them to The Smoking Ruins. This cost them some money but since they planned for this beforehand, the cost for the guide was included in the funds for the expedition that Daravala gave them.
• There is a lot of advice to be found online about how to run this adventure. A few posts on the Runequest section of the official Chaosium BRP Forums for instance. One particularly good source I the Jonstown Compendium adventure on Drivethrurpg, "The Duel at Dangerford" by Nick Brooke, has some notes and suggestions that are worth giving a look through.
• It was only while running Vamargic that I ran into some issues with how the character is presented in the adventure. There are a few facts that are explained about how to run Vamargic. 1) Vamargic is a Spirit that is trapped inside his Burning corpse. 2) Vamargic has the Eye Necklace which imprisons several spirits who can cast Spirit Magic spells for Vamargic. Vamargic can also cast his own Spirit Magic spells by using the MP of the spirits in the necklace. 3)Vamagic has no POW stat. 
  Now here is a question for you. How does Vamargic cast his own Spirit Magic Spells if he has no POW stat? Normally, you would roll your POW stat to cast spirit magic, but without it you don't have anything to base this off of. Also, how does he resist magic as well? Does every spell cast at Vamargic auto succeed? 
  I asked these questions online in a few places and got back some very similar responses. Vamargic is run like a Vamipre, or Undead creatures don't have POW and can't cast Spirit Magic, and several other responses that are of a similar vein. For me, none of these answers work for me and that mainly has to do with the fact that they all ignore many of the aspects that the adventure tells you about how to run the Vamargic NPC. Mainly that he is a ghost trapped in a burning corpse - so not a normal Undead creature, and that he can Cast his "Own" spirit magic spells by using the MP of the spirits in the necklace. The simple answer to the issue isn't to gut parts of the NPC but to assume that the NPC has a typo that left him without a POW stat. Adding a POW stat is the easy fix. Breaking the threat of the NPC by removing half of his power isn't a fix IMHO. Spirits have POW - Ghosts have POW. 
  My solution is to just give Vamargic a POW equal to what is expected of a Rune Lord of his reputation. So at a minimum, he should have a POW of 18. (amendment: See below)
• Can the heroes defeat Vamargic and end his continued existence in the ruins? There are people of two minds on this subject and it's really up to the GM how they want to handle this. One group thinks that One Eye's ritual has left a hole in the Dragon magic that keeps the troll spirits from moving on. They suggest that this causes Vamargic to pass on to the underworld once he is defeated in battle. So for these people fighting and defeating Vamargic is how you end the curse. This doesn't work for me though since, in my opinion, the magic One-Eye used was only targeted at her family and not Vamargic's forces. Also, once the spell is completed, I believe the way that she opened is now closed again and not just left open forever. So if and when the heroes encounter Vamargic, if they defeat him - he'll just respawn at some point since he and his forces are still bound by the dragon magic. What I plan to do is have the heroes find another way to end the curse. This will give them a lot more to do in the long run. (amendment: See below)
• Another thing that a GM will have to prepare beforehand is the stats for each of the Spirits bound to the Eye Necklace. The adventure gives you what Spirit Magic Spells they know but not what their stats are. If you have the Bestiary, then just follow the rules for creating spirits on pg 164.
• There are a few points where the GM has to make up some of the stories that Treya tells about her grandmother and herself. There is not much information given about these stories other than that they involve Tusk Riders. So I wrote up a few for myself. I'll include these below. They are told in the first person as if Treya was speaking. These stories are rough but you can use them if you want in your game.
  
• Here are some of Thinala Tindal's history that I patched together from the little information presented about her as well as some that I just made up. Thinala was born in Esrolia in 1562. She fought in the battle of Grizzly Peak and Alda- Chur in 1582. in 1579 she won her right to have a child by undergoing a deadly Ba Beester Gor ritual. In 1600, she was a bodyguard for the Feather Horse Queen's brother, The Sartar Prince Teasarin, and died when a moonbeam caused a stampede of Dinosaurs. Rumors that Queen Lieka has heard suggest that Thinala was somehow responsible for the prince's death. 

Stories of Thinala Tindal of Ezel, The Queen's Defender

• How an Axe Medien of Babeester Gor won the right to bear a child.

Thinala was with child, this is taboo among the Axe Maidens of the Babeester Gor cult and normally they are put through rites that cleanse their bodies of the child sooner after its discovery. However, Thinala Tindal of Ezel refused the rite, not wanting to lose the last gift from the one she had loved – now gone to the halls of the palace of the dead. She entered the Ax Hall seeking to pass through trails only rumored over and impossible to survive to win her right to bear this child and become a mother. Here she passed the first trial and gained the Blunted Ax. From here she was to follow the hallow halls of death and dark caverns, to find her way in the dark to Babston, a holy place for all Babeester Gor cultists, especially the Ax Maidens. When she emerged from the earth like Babeester Gor did from Ernalda's corpse, she fought her sisters to gain their acknowledgment of her prowess and right to live. Then proved herself again when she sated her thirst with the blood split during the battle – each drop tasting of the sweetest beer to her lips. Her third test was secreted, kept even from me but when she passed through the final test, Babeester Gor appeared before Thinala giving her the Mother's Ax, a mark of the goddess' blessing for my Grandmother to give birth to my mother, Pala of the Orlmarth Clan.

• Thinala battle's the Tusk Riders.

There she was, Thinala, The Feathered Horse Queen's strongest Defender, separated from her companions and trapped. To her back was a steep drop off down to the Broken River, in front of her was a pack of truth-less Tuskers seeking her blood. They had been raiding the homesteads and towns of Vendref and so Thinala and her companions were sent out from Muse Roost to run these filthy beasts down and place the heads on spikes as a warning to their honorless kin. However, during a night raid, Thinala became separated from her group and lost. The next day, however, the Tuskers from the night before, those who survived, picked up her trail and were running down. Thinalal, wasn't a hot-headed fool and sought out a battleground that gave her the advantage. Unfortunately, the sheep of luck was not with her this day and she found herself in a parlous position. With not but her Goddess blessed ax in hand, she waited to the best possible moment before using the tusker's deadly steeds against them. The foul-smelling beasts didn't know what was happening until the first giant bore dropped, toppled by my grandmother's quick ax strokes to the beasts' legs as she darted under the Tusker's javelins and taunts. When the first Tusker's beast fell, rolling as its legs could no longer hold itself up, confusion rushed through its companions. Once a few of the beasts fell to her attacks, Thinala was able to make bloody work of the Tuskers that fell from their beasts, catching those witless dung eaters flatfooted – removing their heads from shoulders before they knew what danger they had fooled with. If they had known the morning that they were to encounter the Queen's Defender, the Babeester Gor Ax maiden, Thinala Tindal of Ezel, they would have turned a run like the cowards they were. Instead, My grandmother fertilized the soil and feed the river them the gore that she left of their corpses during the short fight. When her companions found Thinala, she sleep among the bodies of the raiders, with a smile on her face from the pleasure of the slaughter. It was said of those who found her that they hesitated to approach because the glow of Babeester Gor was still upon her – the God of Vengeance was surely pleased with the deeds of her beloved Ax Maiden.

Final thoughts

Well, that is everything I have for this one. It was a large adventure and took a lot of time to try and gather up all my thoughts on it in one place. I think it took y group about 6 or 7 sessions to get through the whole, playing about 3 - 4 hours per session. I'm really looking forward to when they return to the ruins and have a few ideas about what they will be doing while there. The group lost one hero to the ritual that Treya performed. They all helped Treya but all but one of them took the hint to stop themselves. For a moment it looked very much like everyone was going to have to make the grandmothers of each of their characters so that they can continue to play. Instead, we had to introduce a grazer to the party while they were still in the ruins. Now the party is planning their first heroquest, seeking to reclaim their lost companions from the underworld.

Amendment

While rereading some of the Smoking Ruins adventure I came upon this following text near the beginning of the book, pg 40, that helps illuminate the issue with whether or not the Atonement magic weakened the Dragonewts magic - making it easier to defeat Vamargic. 

The powerful magic in Vamargic’s necklace did not prevent his physical death but allowed him to escape the full impact of the Dragonewts’ ritual. Vamargic is not trapped as his lesser minions are, and he has created a community of slave troll spirits and skeletons that inhabit the ruins and hunt for intruders, killing them as they are apprehended. Vamargic continues his existence as a ghost, killing any interlopers on what he now considers his domain.

This, for me, hammers home that Vamargic is not undead like a ghoul, vampire, or revenant. He is a ghost. It also shows that he is not fully under the Dragonwets spells - so its fully possible that either 1) even in the unlikely case that he was to atone, it would free him from the ruins, or 2) or that the Dragonewt's spell doesn't bind him solely to the ruins. The necklace seems to be key to his defeat and why he remains, in my mind. But I'll leave you with whatever conclusions you come up with you for your game. 

Runequest Adventure Review: The Dragon of The Thunder Hills

The Dragon of the Thunder Hills

Overview:

The Dragon of the Thunder Hills is the last of the three main adventures in the GM's Adventure Book that comes with the GM Screen set for Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. This adventure picks up during Fertility Week of Storm Season, which is a season after the adventure; Cattle Raid. Each adventure in the GM's Adventure Book raises the stakes set by the previous adventure and expands upon what game elements and game mechanics are introduced to new players and GMs. This time, one of the players' family members (distant or close) is directly affected by the event that leads into the adventure. It's the inciting incident, as it were, to give the adventure a bit of an emotional connection for the players. 

This gets into one of the themes for Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha; the Hero's connections within the world and the people around them. As is said in the Core book, "Gloranthain myth and history are full of intense emotion, which can lead to heights of heroism and depths of tragedy. Love, Hate, Fear, Devotion, and Loyalty are often placed in terrible conflict with one another, as well as challenging personal codes of honor." Every character has a set of passions that shape who they are, what actions they will take, and what challenges they might face. Heroes can push against these or use them to further their own causes throughout the game. The GM can use them to help craft adventures to further those impassioned connections or create conflict and drama; giving players the stakes that make them feel more involved and help drive their character's decisions for good or ill. 

I really love how Passions work and think that even if you don't play Runequest, you should try to bring them into your game. I plan to go more in-depth at a later time about how Passions work and why they make for a better Alignment system for any game. But for now back to the adventure.

There are several tie-ins to this adventure with a few of the rumors and side quests that are in the GM's Adventure Book. A few of these can be introduced prior to the start of the adventure; for instance, the introduction of one hero's family members.

This adventure consists of 5 Acts; the Inciting Incident, Know thy Enemy, the Big Fight, and the Wrap-up. I break down each act below while trying to not give too much away as I highlight a few items for a GM to think about. Afterwhich, I'll list what I added or changed about this adventure that I think improved the adventure overall and helped me run it better.

Act 1 sets up the inciting incident and consists of three key scenes. Scene one starts with the Heroes traveling to Clearwine Fort for an Enarlda Holy Day. it is suggested that each player come up with a reason for why they are going to Clearwine, but the holy days can give reason enough. The scene starts with the Heroes traveling through the Nymie Vale from Apple Lane on their way to Clearwine Fort - which takes a day to travel from one to the other. While in route, the party suddenly spots or hears a Dream Dragon flying overhead, traveling from west to east. There is a series of listening and scan rolls for this and it is possible for some or all of the heroes to fail these rolls. They don't completely miss out on the existence of the dragon if they fail these rolls but are instead taken by surprise as it flies past them overhead. Its at this point the GM informs one of the players that a family member of their hero lives not far from here from the direction that the dragon came from. Fearing the worst, either through anxiety or the hands of fate, the Heroes need to check on the family member's safety, which leads into scene two. In scene two, the heroes come upon a quiet homestead where the family member of the one hero lives in the Nymie Vale. At first, there is no indication that anything has taken place until they investigate the building. Here the heroes encounter survivors of the recent dragon attack and hear their fearful story. Searching will also reveal the bodies of those who were not as fortunate. This is the moment that sets the mood and motivation for the Heroes that will help see them through to the end. The survivors help the GM set the theme of a "familiar environment that has been invaded by an outsider and the safety and peace that environments represent has been shattered". The theme of family, protection, and revenge is a strong emotional stake. A number of characters have been killed in the attack and the reason behind the attack is unclear. The survivors ask that the Heroes to send word to the Queen of what has happened and to take the children to Clearwine Fort, so that they can be kept safe. Scene three has the Heroes continue to Clearwine and inform Queen Lieka of the Colymar tribe and her council of the Dragon's attack in the Nymie Vale. the Queen's council openly speaks in front of the heroes as Queen Leika seeks their guidance. Here they'll ask the Heroes questions to help get a clear picture of the events, all while giving bits of information on what they each know about Dream Dragons to the queen. Though none of them are experts on dragons, they especially don't know much about this one in particular. It is during this that one of the Side Quests is brought up which gives the players some possible direction to go after they gather more information. This side quest involves arms and armor that could be a boon to them in the coming fight.

After speaking for a time with the Heroes and Her Council, Queen Leika sends the Heroes to Tarndisi's Grove to speak with the Dryad - to see if the dryad has any information on this dream dragon and its motives for attacking the Colymar Tribe. She believes being better informed will help them track down the dream dragon and put an end to its attacks. She also asks them to search for signs of this dragon in the Thunder Hills east of the grove, since they will be in that region anyway.

Act 2 is composed of four to five key scenes, the first scene has the heroes gather information about the Dream Dragon at the behest of Queen Lieka by seeking out Tarndisi the Dryad. Tarndisi's grove is in the forest north of Clearwine and is the home of the local elves; the Adryami. This will be the first time for new players to encounter Gloranthain Elves - which are very different from the typical Tolkien-styled elves they are used to seeing in other games/settings. The Heroes will be found and watched by the elves before being approached. Once the elves have followed and watched the heroes for a time they approach and ask them directly why they enter the elven forest. The Elves will lead the heroes to the grove to see the dryad, however, due to her history with humans, she wishes them to perform a task for her first. If they are able to hunt down Redeye the boar and bring back one of his tusks, then she will answer their questions to the best of her ability.

Scene two has a set of named elves lead the Heroes to where Redeye the boar's lair can be found. They will wait a safe distance away, leaving the rest to the Heroes. they will not offer any help or guidance but will wait to either lead them back to the grove or inform Tarndisi of their failure. From here the heroes can approach the challenge in whatever possible way they want.

Scene three has the Heroes, if they are successful, return to the grove where Tarndisi will answer whatever questions they have pertaining to the Dream Dragon in question. If the Heroes ask the right questions they will learn the name of this Dream Dragon and a possible location that they can search. From here the Heroes are lead out of the forest again, in whatever direction they wish to leave. They can search the Thunder Hills, they can return to Clearwine, or they could follow other clues and paths.

Scene four has the Heroes traveling through the Thunder Hills scanning the mountain range for signs of the Dream Dragon just like Queen Leika has asked them to do. Maybe they might even be heading to the place told to them by Tarndisi the Dryad. It's during their hunt in the Thunder Hills that another possible Sidequest found in the GM's Adventure Book is encountered. If the Heroes have not already encountered the band of Dragonewts before now, the heroes do now. The Dragonewts are seeking Heroes to perform a sacred task for them that involves the Dream Dragon in question. It's left up to the players to take the Dragonewts up on their offer. How they answer the Dragonewts can give the heroes an advantage in the coming fight.

They can also use the time between scene 3 and scene five to seek out the arms and armor that the Queen's council spoke of, which lays further north of Tarndisi's Grove.

Scene five is when the players sight the familiar shape of a dream dragon in flight in the distance. The dragon flies around for a moment before landing and the heroes can head in that direction hoping to find the Dream Dragon's Lair at or near this location. This will lead them to The Queen's Tomb and Act 3.

Act 3 is the climax of the adventure. The Heroes Encounter the Dream Dragon, Yerezum Storn. She will first try and charm the Heroes, and ask for offerings. She is very much regal in mind and body and expects to be treated like the Goddess she believes she is. Yes, this Dragon is delusional. Here is where we get into the motivation in the attacks. Yerezum Storn was awakened by the Dragonrise after being asleep for a long time (several hundred years). She found herself in the Queen's Tomb, where in the past the locals worshipped her and come to find that none have come to worship her in centuries. If the players agree to worship her and spread the news of her return, then the attacks will stop. More attacks will happen if she is not worshipped by the tribe and nearby clans in particular.

The players are offered two options here. They can either take up the worship of Yerezum Storn, reviving her ancient EWF (Empire of Wyrm Friends) cult, or they can attack her. Each has its own set of consequences that have long-running ramifications in-game.

However, if they do decide to fight Yerezum Storn and win, they break an ancient magic seal that has imprisoned the original Goddess that Yerezum Storn had believed herself to be. Which again, allows the Heroes to possibly start or reestablish a cult of their own. When the Goddess was released and appeared before the heroes, it was probably one of my group's favorite moments and really hit home the Mythic Age themes of the game. Most adventures don't give you the opportunity to start a religion.

Act 4 is the adventure wrap-up. The players return to Clearwine, if they survived, as Heroes. How the Heroes are received depends on the results, however. Obviously, it will all hinge on how they deal with Yerezu Storn. And much like the previous adventure the type of rewards they gain at the end of the adventure greatly depend on what action the players took and how they resolved the issue of the Dragon.

What I would add or change to The Dragon of The Thunder Hills adventure.

• Pre-establish the family member beforehand so that the player can establish some connection to this named NPC prior to their death. A good roleplayer can roll with a family member being dropped into play like how the adventure has it happen, but I think it will make it even more impactful for the player if they got to know this NPC before they die.
• I didn't do this with my adventure but to make it even more evident that the Heroes should check in on the homestead of the one family member, you could have them either Just left the headstead after a short visit only an hour beforehand. Or have the heroes planning to stop at the homestead on the way for a noon-day meal. 
• I had my players encounter both the Dragonewts and the Tomb of King Berevenenos a season before this adventure. Both are a great way to foreshadow the event of the Dragon of the thunder Hills, especially the Dragonewts. 
• Keep in mind when running the Dragonewts; They don't follow the same kind of logic that any of the other races follow. The way they both perceive the world and how they think are completely alien. When my players were speaking to Tarndisi, they had asked her about the Dragonewts and their reasons for seeking out human Heroes to perform the task of Liberating a Dream. She told them she didn't know because the only ones who understand why Dragonewts do anything are Dragonewts and Dragons. Even though she has been around since the Dawn she still does not understand their reasoning or actions.
• The adventure assumes that the heroes are traveling from Apple Lane. However, if this is not the case then it would be fairly;y easy to change the direction they travel and some of the elements around to fi your location. All in all the events do change much if the location of the Dragon's attack changes. 
• Remember what season it is and describe it appropriately. Storm season is snow and rain in a highland valley. I noted that none of the descriptions in the adventure really described how wet, frozen, or snow-covered anything was. As such when the heroes go to the Homestead in Act one, once they were looking around the exterior of the farm, I had them notice that the patches of snow on the ground were disturbed by a large creature of some sort. They didn't notice this from the front of the building, however, only behind the homestead and the farmland behind it. 
  Doing it this way allowed the opening scene to feel disquiet at first, with no direct sign of trouble as they approached the homestead. It was only when they began searching around the other side of the building that revealed the danger that they just missed.
• Be sure to not forget about the two children that accompany the Heroes to Clearwine Fort. The end of Act one doesn't include any directions for this, but I assumed the Queen would find a place for the children for the night in the palace until they can be placed with Kin in the city the following day. 
• There is not any clear direction on what to do while the Heroes are traveling in the forest. It's left up to the GM to decided what to do here with a few somewhat helpful hints. Personally, I had the players encounter a wild animal native to the area and the elves used this to test to see what kind of people had entered their forest. Respectful humans would know better than to hunt a creature under the canopy of the elven forest.
• When Tardisis sends the heroes to hunt Redeye, I changed up the wording a little bit for my game and had her just ask them to bring her one of Redeye's tusks. She, in no way, directly asked them to fight Redeye. I did this for a few reasons; this left the task open to interpretation but also it allowed one of the Heroes in my game who had almost beaten the giant boar and lost an arm in the fight another chance in the future to try and kill the boar themselves once their arm has fully regrown. This also makes it an interesting test of personality and cleverness if the heroes can find a way to fulfill the task while not directly getting into a fight with the semi divine Beast.
• When the heroes were taken to Redey's lair, I rolled a die to see if the Boar was awake or asleep. I also randomly rolled to determine if the players were downwind or upwind from the boar as well, giving Redeye the appropriate bonus or penalties to smell their scent.
• While the Heroes are traveling through the forest and surrounding areas, I try to make them a little more interesting to help foster role-played moments between the players, as well as add more interest to the game. So when the players had left Tarndisi's Grove and were heading out of the forest into the hills, I had a few random noncombat-specific encounters prepared for them. Noncombat-specific encounters are just encounters where the players didn't need to enter combat if they didn't want to. I also used these to help keep the tension on since they didn't know where the dragon was. So every time I had the players make listen check, they almost always were unsure if they were checking to see if it was the dragon or something else. When I use encounters like this I always stick to three or less so that it doesn't become too boring, but also to help keep the players guessing. The adventure calls for a Listen/Scan check to spot the dragon flying nearby, but I think it helps play up the tension if you make the players go through a few False alarms first before they get to this point.
• When the Heroes are searching the Thunder Hills, as they get closer to the Queen's Tomb, I had my players encounter the burned corpse of a shepherd. The goats or sheep they were herding are gone with little sign of where they went other than scorch marks, a little blood, and the vanishing cloven footprints in the snow and mud. Again, keeping the tension up, but also brought the themes of family and community back to bare. What do you do with the body of someone's kinsmen? Do you leave them or do you try to return them home. My players came back for the corpse after their battle with Yerezum Storn and sought to return the poor herdsmen back to their kin. We got some good RP out of it and it helped establish more of the setting. I also gave extra Rep for this and the person's kin did reward them with a percentage of the Herdsmen's ransom for bringing the corpse back.
• If you are new to Glorantha, reading up on the Empire of the Wyrm Friends is a great help during this adventure. Even if it's just snippets of information. The EWF comes up often and Yerezum Storn and the Queen's Tomb have ancient connections to them. The more you know the more likely you can give the players answers to some of the questions they might ask.
• The map of the Queen's Tomb has one mistake that I notice during the game. There is a set of Orlanth and Ernalda Pillars described for room five that are actually supposed to be in room 6. The Map has them depicted in room 6 (so in the correct room). Just keep an eye out for that and adjust appropriately.
• When I ran this for my players they easily took Yerezum Storn down. She never had a chance. If I was to run this again, I would give her Dispell 2 or even use Dragon Magic to dispel magical effects. My Players locked Yerezum Storn down within two rounds of combat. Starting off by hitting her with both a Demoralize and a Slow spells all while using an illusion to keep her preoccupied with the inability to use her breath weapon. 

We finished up with the main adventures in the GM's Adventure book and have just started the Smoking Ruins, so its going to be a bit of time before the next Adventure review. Already I have a long list of items I want to talk about when it comes to the Smoking Ruins adventure, so I'm looking forward to getting into that one.