The Last Days of the Haraborn (Coming of Age | Revolutionary | Sandbox) (Learn to Play Runequest: Glorantha)
In a little more than a year, your life will change forever . . .
TYPE
SYSTEM
EXPERIENCE
AGE
$25.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Wednesday – 10:30 PM UTC
Aug 6 / Session 109
3–4 Hour Duration
5 / 6 Seats Filled
Schedule
Report Adventure
About the adventure
In an Isolated Mountain Pass in the southeast of the Kingdom of Sartar, your people, the Haraborn, live a quiet life, farming and herding cattle. Your people's claim to the Vale is ancient, and so too is your clan's commitment to honor the gods, keep to the old ways, fight Chaos, and stand with the Princes of Sartar in defiance of the Lunar Empire. But the Princes of Sartar are no more. Your grandfather fought beside them at Grizzly Peak, where the last King of Dragon Pass died by Lunar swords and the Kingdom of Tarsh was thrown down. Twenty years later, your father was captured at the siege of Boldhome, where the walls were torn down by Lunar Magic, the last Prince of Sartar was killed, and the Flame of Sartar was extinguished. Twelve years after that, your older brothers joined Kallyr Starbrow's Rebellion, and were outlawed for seven years each when it was crushed. Under the grip of the Lunar Governor-General Fazzur Wideread, the Lunar grasp on Sartar tightens like a vise, as their occupation sweeps away all remnants of the old ways. The Kingdom of Sartar is an occupied country. Lunar armies march the roads of the realm, making their presence felt everywhere. Lunar missionaries shutter temples to the Gods of the Storm Tribe, and open new temples to the Seven Mothers in every city and town, the chieftains of every clan and tribe now answer to Lunar overseers, and all their lands are heavily taxed to support a far-off despot and his conquering armies. Even an isolated clan like the Haraborn cannot evade the Lunar eye forever . . . Into this tumultuous era, you are about to come of age, and the Haraborn Clan prepares to initiate you and your friends as adults in the clan. You are the first generation born during the Lunar Occupation of Sartar, and all your lives you have known nothing else. The free land of your fathers' and grandfathers' days lives on only in stories . . . And yet, the fires of rebellion are hard to stamp out, and several sparks, guided by destiny, float towards the hidden valley of the Haraborn . . . Your destiny is at hand . . . (This game is a short campaign using Andrew Logan Montgomery's excellent Six Seasons in Sartar as its guide. The players will create Sartarite youths and be initiated into their clan, and get to participate in some of the most momentous events leading up to the dawn of the Hero Wars. Will they be the spark that ignites the flame of rebellion once more? Only time will tell. This is meant to be an introductory campaign to both the world of Glorantha and the Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha System. The GM is a longtime Glorantha Fan eager to learn the system alongside the players, and to immerse them in the idyllic, pastoral life of an Orlanthi Clan during the last year of peace that they would ever know. Experience with either the world of Glorantha or any of the various iterations of Runequest is not required - the GM and the Players will learn both as they explore Glorantha together.)
Game style
Theater of the Mind
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
4.9
(22)
4 years on StartPlaying
431 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Teacher, Storytelling
Average response time: 5 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
Hail and Well Met! I am Overlord Jim (It's an old internet handle I happen to like, just go with it) and I have been running and playing TTRPGs for over 20 years now. I have always wanted to try my hand at Professional Game Mastery, and the age of Covid-19 is as good a time as any to get into it. My nerd credentials start with climbing every castle tower within driving distance of our home in Great Britain when I lived there as a child. My love of that era has lead me to become a serious medievalist scholar with a particular emphasis on the Early Medieval Era (better known as the Viking Age), and I have more than a passing familiarity with the Crusading Era and the Hundred Years War as well. My bookshelves are packed with all the classics of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Genres, and most of them are well loved with many creases in the spines. I got into theater as a teenager and minored in it in college, but my B.A. is in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations, and I have most of a Master's in International Studies that I just couldn't afford to complete. Someday I will go back for a M.A. in Medieval History, but for now, I content myself with reading it constantly to write better roleplaying books in historical settings. I am a Veteran of the Sub/Dub Wars (Dub Forever!), I believe one can like both Star Wars and Star Trek (though the latter is clearly superior), and my definition of a good night out always involves character sheets, dice, and stacks of roleplaying books. I have been a Storyteller as long as I can remember in my real life, I've been an aspiring novelist since my teens, and when I discovered these games, I was instantly hooked. I'm forever enamored of the freedom this medium offers. You have complete freedom of direction - you could go anywhere you can imagine and do anything the system can support (and often, quite a bit it was never meant to do but the GM makes it work!), which is something no other medium of entertainment can deliver, and you join in this endeavor with your friends as collaborators, and the story you tell together is always bigger than the sum of its parts. Every table and every troupe offers a unique experience, and I want nothing more than to come craft an epic story together with you. And I do mean EPIC. I love putting my PCs in the middle of the most exciting chapters in the history of their world, and handing them the power to change events for the better - or worse, if they so choose - just to see what they do with it. My favorite system - Exalted - is perfectly suited to this style of play, where I cast players in the roles of reborn Demigods out to save the world - or destroy it. What legends will they tell of your deeds? Come join my table and find out. A few entries from my Roleplaying Resume: - 20+ Years Experience behind the Screen - Specialized in Non-D&D Options [Exalted, Scion, Classic World of Darkness, Star Wars RPG (FFG Version), and more!] - Always willing to try a new system or setting - 10+ Years Experience as a Presenter on the Art of Game Mastery (https://www.facebook.com/ArtofGameMastery) - Coming to a Convention near you! (When conventions come back, that is . . .) - 5+ Years experience running Convention Games - Published Freelance Writer (High Level Games' Snowhaven Setting, Storyteller's Vault, Storypath Nexus) I have decided that all future scenarios I write will be with an eye towards their eventual publication, so you won't just be participating in an awesome online experience - you'll be playtesting new gaming materials too! About my Pricing Structure: I am a Plotter GM, not a Pantser GM, to borrow an analogy from writing - while every GM gets good at Improvisational GMing by necessity, it isn't my first choice and I prefer to come to the table with most of the prep work done long in advance. Therefore, my pricing reflects not only the time at the table, but also the time building the scenario, statting out the NPCs, planning the combat encounters - if you have ever run a TTRPG, you know it is at the very least a demanding Part Time Job if not a Full Time Occupation in and of itself! So while I do understand everyone in our hobby is perpetually broke (Roleplaying Books are an expensive addiction and Kickstarter is a hell of a drug), I also need to price in my prep time too. Besides, I plan to use any revenue I make from my endeavors here to pay for the art to decorate the books I'm writing - so you aren't just paying for an incredible STing experience - you're also helping to develop new RPG material and funding its development costs. You are contributing to the future of your hobby, which now more than ever is driven by the independent creatives like me who are invested in expanding it. So know that my time factors into the cost of the seat, and that your ticket to the game is going to support the hobby we both love. I look forward to seeing you at my next event!
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Character Creation will be done during Session 0, and will involve all the steps in the base rules of Runequest: Glorantha, as modified by the starting character rules in Six Seasons in Sartar. Player characters will be assumed to be younger, between 16 - 18 years of age at the beginning of play, and not yet initiated as adults of the Clan. This initiation will occur within the first few sessions of play.
The established group is very roleplay-heavy and favors a slower pace of events. They do get into high adventures, but they also enjoy their Bronze Age Slice-of-Life. I am likewise inclined to slow down and enjoy the journey through Glorantha.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
This game will be run over Discord, and may use Roll20 to manage character sheets. Dice rolling may also be done through the Roll20 interface as well, to save time on doing all the calculations necessary for an admittedly crunchy system, but I will never deny my players the ability to roll their own dice if they choose. As it will be run over Discord and/or Roll20, a reliable internet connection and a microphone is the bare minimum technologically necessary, but I do like it when I can see my PCs' smiling faces, so if you have a webcam and are willing to be 'on camera' with me, I would appreciate it. If you happen to have a copy of Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, I would recommend reading through the Chapters on Adventurers (Character Creation), Skills (What Characters learn how to do), and Rune Cults (To know which Gods to pray to for what). After that, reading the Homelands Chapter would be good, and then the Spirit Magic Chapters. Your characters have not yet been initiated into any of the various cults yet, but you may have picked up a bit of Spirit Magic along the way. If you do not, do not worry about it - the GM will explain as we go along. DO NOT READ SIX SEASONS IN SARTAR. (Duh, Spoilers!)
What Overlord Jim brings to the table
I plan to have the game set up through Roll20 before I list the first Session to run, and will do my best to have the relevant maps from Six Seasons uploaded there before we begin. I am not an artist, so any maps I draw will be poorly hand-drawn scrawls at best. I do much better by Theater of the Mind.
Equipment needed to play
Computer
Internet
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Overlord Jim creates a safe table
A pregame survey will be sent out by the GM to Learn about the Player's specific Lines and Veils, which will all be discussed collectively as a group, along with the use of safety tools, at the beginning of Session 0. This is being run based on a pre-written scenario with some troubling content being possible elements involved. Life as a Bronze Age Herding Clan involves a lot of hard realities. Horrible things happening to innocents is not unknown and there is a strong possibility of encountering truly evil creatures willing to do terrible things in this story. That said, I will gladly tweak triggering content to avoid crossing Player Lines as much as possible.
Content warnings
Safety tools used