Tales of the Sun County Militia SANDHEART VOLUME ONE A SCENARIO FOR RUNEQUEST: ROLEPLAYING IN

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II Tales of the Sun County Militia SANDHEART VOLUME ONE

Author: Jonathan Webb with Nick Brooke, Darren Page-Mitchell & Shaun Rimmer Cover Artist: Jacob Webb Interior Artists: Mark Baldwin, Ludovic Chabant & Kris Herbert Cartographers: Jonathan Webb, Madaleine Girvan, Ollie Larwood, Ludovic Chabant & Nick Brooke Design & Layout: Nick Brooke Playtesters: Graham Brown, Joshua Hill, Shaun Rimmer, James Stanley, Jacob Webb & Harrison Webb

RuneQuest is a Trademark of Moon Design Publications and is used with their permission via the OBS Community Content program. For more information please visit ’s website: www.chaosium.com

SampleThe Chaosium and RuneQuest Logos are used under license. file Sun County Militia v2.00 24 August 2020

III CREDITS, COPYRIGHTS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AUTHORS Sandheart Volume 1: Tales of the Sun County Militia is copyright © 2020 by Jonathan Webb. • The Pole Star & Ronance Spirit Cult writeups on page 12 are adapted from Tales of the Reaching Moon #14 & #15 (1996) and are copyright © 2020 by Moon Design Publications, used with permission. • New Sandheart Militia Stats on pages 36-43 are copyright © 2020 by Darren Page-Mitchell. • Tedious Tasks on page 44-47 are copyright © 2020 by Jonathan Webb and Shaun Rimmer. • Sun County Backgrounds on page 78-96 are copyright © 2020 by Nick Brooke.

ARTISTS Cover artwork (Sun County Militia, Sandheart) is copyright © 2020 by Jacob Webb. Interior artwork is copyright © 2020 by Mark Baldwin, other than the following pieces: • The Five Plinths (page 9) and the four Praxian Stand-off illustrations (pages page 60-page 63) are copyright © 2020 by Ludovic Chabant. • View of Sandheart (page 11) and View of Farborough (page 67) are copyright © 2020 by Kris Herbert of the Beer With Teeth collective.

CARTOGRAPHERS Cartography is copyright © 2020 by Jonathan Webb, other than the following maps: • Sun County (pages 3 & 49) is copyright © 2020 by Moon Design Publications, used with permission. • Sandheart Hamlet (page 10) is copyright © 2020 by Madaleine Girvan. • Farborough (page 66) is copyright © 2020 by Ollie Larwood. • The River Settlements & Fishlaunch (pages 72-74) are copyright © 2020 by Ludovic Chabant. • Sandheart District (page 75) was reworked in Wonderdraft by Nick Brooke and is copyright © 2020 by Jonathan Webb. Buildings are from the “Arabia” pack drawn by Chan (/u/quachyourback) and included in Wonderdraft.

SPECIAL THANKS TO • Nick Brooke and Mark Baldwin, my ‘virtual shield-brothers’ in this endeavour. • Michael O’Brien for support and enthusiasm. • The Jonstown Compendium Creators Circle for all the support, hints and tips. • Diana Probst, Austin Conrad and Shaun Rimmer for their valuable comments. • Steven Watson and Beverley Webb for proof-reading. • Chaosium for kind permission to reproduce a map from Sun County and the Pole Star & Ronance Spirit Cult write-ups. • Alyson Shorthouse and Haydn Pearson for their contributions to the first edition of Sandheart Volume SampleOne: Tales of the Sun County Militia. file

IV TABLE OF CONTENTS

Welcome to Sandheart...... 1 Your Glorantha Will Vary...... 1 History of Sandheart...... 2 Settlements and Farming in Sandheart District...... 4 The Hamlet of Sandheart...... 8 The Magic of the Plinths...... 9 Map and View of Sandheart...... 10 People of Interest in Sandheart...... 14 The Sandheart Militia...... 20 Sandheart Militia Stats...... 24 Tedious Tasks...... 44

No Country for Cold Men...... 48 The Dolphins’ Drug Racket in Sun County...... 48 Militia Introduction: Praxian Stand-off...... 50 Farborough...... 53 Stablefort...... 54 The River Settlements...... 55 Conclusion: A Small Victory in a Greater War...... 58 No Country for Cold Men Stats...... 60 Map and View of Farborough...... 70 Maps of the River Settlements & Fishlaunch...... 72

Map of Sandheart District...... 75 Handout: The Sandheart Gazetteer...... 76

Sun County Backgrounds...... 78 Your Grandparent’s History...... 79 Your Parent’s History...... 91 Initiation...... 92 Red Moon in Prax...... 94 Solanthos’Sample Coup...... file95

V FOREWORD

Back in 1990 when I sent my unsolicited Sun County Now, 30 years on (with much water under the manuscript to , it was out of a sense of bridge) we’re in an all-new RuneQuest Renaissance. frustration. After the truly brilliant releases for Chaosium is back with a brilliant new edition, RuneQuest’s second edition – Pavis, Big Rubble, RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, and an Borderlands, TrollPak, Griffin Mountain et al. equally brilliant line of new adventures, starting – the third edition had proven to be something with The Smoking Ruin and The Pegasus Plateau. of a disappointment for Glorantha fans. Sure, Even better, RQG is ably supported by a flourishing there had been lots of reprints, but precious little community of officially sanctioned creators. all-new material specific to Glorantha. In particular DriveThruRPG’s Jonstown Compendium gives there had been literally no new Glorantha-based independent Gloranthan creators access to a scenarios in the first eight years of the RQ3 line. worldwide audience in ways we didn’t even dream Sun County, and Avalon Hill’s new line editor, about back those early days. And I am delighted to Ken “the Rune Czar” Rolston, changed all that see that Sun County is once again at the forefront in a brief but brilliant period that became fondly of this new RuneQuest Renaissance, with Jon remembered as the “RuneQuest Renaissance.” Sun Webb’s wonderful Sandheart series of scenarios. County was followed by such notable releases as Jon contacted me out of the blue at the beginning River of Cradles, Shadows on the Borderlands, of last year. With the Jonstown Compendium Strangers in Prax, and Dorastor: Land of Doom. coming soon, he told me he was working on a set of But independent creation of Gloranthan material adventures set in Sun County. And he just happened back then had its challenges. Remember, this was to be visiting my home town of Melbourne, Australia. before the Internet. What Glorantha fans had then, So we took the opportunity to meet, and I was blown in the early 1990s, was fanzines, and I was fortunate away by what he was putting together. Jon sought enough to be involved with the best of them all: my blessing for what he was doing. Not that this David Hall’s Tales of the Reaching Moon. Back then, is needed – YGWV is a deeply enshrined principle before email took off, me and my fellow Reaching of the Jonstown Compendium – but I cheerfully Moon Megacorp collaborators – including Nick and readily gave it nonetheless. I was pleased to see Brooke and Mark Baldwin, whose names you Sandheart Volume One become one of the inaugural see on the cover of this and other excellent releases for the Jonstown Compendium. Jonstown Compendium titles, and Rick Meints, Like the original Sun County, the Sandheart now President of Chaosium – communicated series contains adventures that beginners to using old-fashioned letters. You know, the ones Glorantha can take their first steps into, yet you actually had to stick a stamp on and put in nevertheless explore the richness and depth of the a post box. Plus the odd rare and very expensive setting. It’s a great pleasure for me to see that almost international phone call. We loved the fan products thirty years since Sun County was published, there we produced, and were very proud of them, but is still much to be written about, discovered, argued we then had the challenge of getting our finished over, and gamed in, in this small and distant, yet product out into distribution. special, part of Glorantha.

Michael O’Brien SampleVice-President of Chaosium, Inc. file

VI WELCOME TO SANDHEART

Welcome to Tales of the Sun County Militia: characters. The secret is to make these conflicts fun Sandheart Volume One. This volume includes a and part and parcel of your game. description of Sandheart and its surrounds, important The player characters play the role of the Sandheart characters and an introductory scenario (No Country Militia and, for the most, will be referred to as the for Cold Men). Two further volumes detail other ‘militia’ within the text. Their main duty is to police scenarios and uncover more about the area: The the district and the adventures focus on this aspect. Corn Dolls: Sandheart Volume Two and Tradition: They are the law. This will, from time to time, put them Sandheart Volume Three are available from the in conflict with Sun County citizens who are flouting Chaosium’s Jonstown Compendium web store on these laws. Difficult decisions will need to be made DriveThruRPG, and further scenarios by the same and the militia should be made to feel responsible and team are in preparation. accountable for their actions. Sandheart is a hamlet within Sun County in Prax. Sun County is briefly described on page 126 of the Your Glorantha Will Vary RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha core rule book. It is inevitable that people perceive Glorantha in It is further described in a number of earlier RuneQuest different ways. To me, it is a gaming world first. I have publications, notably Sun County, River of Cradles, endeavoured to keep the scenarios and settings in and Pavis & The Big Rubble. It is recommended that keeping with many of the ideas set out in the original the gamemaster has access to at least one of these Sun County publication, but have made a conscious publications before initiating play in Sandheart. effort to describe a location that caters for a diverse set Sun County states that it is ‘a small, isolated province of options for player characters based within a more of light-worshipping farmer-soldiers, situated in the liberal sub-society of the county. fertile River of Cradles valley of Eastern Prax, south of Sandheart does not feature in earlier material and the city of Pavis, and surrounded on most sides by hostile it is my own invention. If you feel the need to move nomads and arid upland wastes.’ it to another location within the county or supplant And furthermore, it is ‘an attempt by a devout, cohesive it with another settlement then feel free to do so. In theocratic Yelmalion culture to achieve some portion of fact, feel free to make any changes you see fit – Your grace and glory of the Exalted Mansions of Yelm and its Glorantha Will Vary. Halls of Eternal Light.’ I have not stressed any time period for these It could also be argued that it is a xenophobic, adventures, partly because the details of other timelines misogynistic, repressive and strict culture. Although are currently unavailable and partly because the this goes against many of the values and virtues of a 21st adventures, being parochial in nature and not associated Century culture, it also presents the player characters with any world-changing events, can fit in almost any plenty of opportunity to both uphold the more noble timeline you like. However, I strongly recommend the values of Sun County whilst, at the same time, reeling RuneQuest Classic period of 1615 so you can use Nick’s against such a system. There is plenty of opportunity marvellous Sun County Backgrounds (see page 78). for role-playing the conflict between the nature of the Samplecounty and the nonconformist nature of player file

1 HISTORY OF SANDHEART

Sandheart is located in the northeast of Sun County. welcome by the local nymph, Parayinthe. The land It nominally lies in the district of Goldbreath along was also a prime area for growing barley and raising the Copper Run Brook. The hamlet lies on the very sheep and the settlers promptly built a settlement periphery of the territory. Farming is difficult and around the old wall and plinths, incorporating them interaction with the local Praxians are more common- into their pantheon. place. Although the Sandheart inhabitants would never When nomads next arrived to pray there was admit it, there has been some blending of cultures. The conflict. After years of trouble, including the hamlet last official census classes Sandheart as a hamlet, but if being breached on numerous occasions, the local rulers it were not for the lack of a Yelmalio temple, it would concluded that it was far easier to allow the nomads have village status. access to worship at the plinths. This interaction has The hamlet’s militia has jurisdiction over twenty-one continued over the centuries. Although still staunchly hamlets and clusters of fortified farmsteads up to the Sun County in outlook, the people around Sandheart edge of cliffs that separate the county from Vulture are not so hard-nosed about nomads and foreigners as Country (see the Map of Sandheart District and the many of their brethren. The Goldbreath dynasty turns Sandheart Gazetteer on pages 75-77). Sandheart’s a blind eye to the comings and goings of the nomads Ernalda temple services all of these steads and is the at Sandheart. The benefits they gain from trade and main focal point for festivals, marriages, important information far outweighs the disadvantages of trying meetings etc and holds the records of births, deaths and to keep them out of the county altogether. agricultural output. The Goldbreath dynasty recognises The Goldbreath dynasty has actively discouraged Sandheart’s importance and appoints its own headman the building of a Yelmalio temple at Sandheart. This is to oversee the collection of cult tithes, preside over partially to keep some control, ensuring that locals have matters of law and generally look out for Goldbreath’s to return to Goldbreath to worship, and partially to not best interests. draw too much attention to either the nomad visitors Sandheart has a history of nomadic interaction. or the worship of the local cult hero at Sandheart – this Many centuries before Sun County was formed, might not sit well with the Sun Dome Temple. nomads discovered an old wall and associated plinths. Despite the lack of a full temple, the hamlet is the Realising their significance as some remnant structure focus for a Yelmalio hero cult. Over a hundred years from Genert’s Garden many nomads have worshipped ago, under the rein of Dadelin the Shaggy in 1514, a here ever since, camping nearby and praying to the cult hero moved to Sandheart. Her name was Kerani obscure god-spirits local to the area. They called it Aethershield and she was somewhat of a maverick, Sandheart as they said that, in Sacred Time, if you put unliked and unwelcomed by the Sun Dome Temple at your ear to the ground, you could hear the land’s heart the time. Sandheart suited her nature and the magic still beating. she brought back from heroquesting was quickly When early Sun County settlers arrived, they sensed taken up by the Sandheart militia. One of her great the latent power in the plinths that lined the old wall. grandsons still inhabits the hamlet and leads worship It is said that the sulphur-crested river fowl, that nest to the hero cult. along the banks of the Copper Run Brook, laid golden It is not surprising that the local Sandheart Militia are eggsSample in that year. The settlers took this as a sign of of a different character than manyfile of the other militias,

2 being more tolerant of strangers and alien customs. In historical times of crisis the Sandheart Militia were quick to enrol ‘specials’ – foreigners and non-Yemalions – into their ranks. These were a notable success, so much so that the Goldbreath dynasty decided that Sandheart was the perfect place to instigate the practice of using specials as a norm. Notable successes by the Sandheart Militia has attracted maverick Yelmalio worshippers and other solar cultists into its ranks. Despite only being a local unit, the Goldbreath authorities have come to rely upon it for complex and/or dangerous tasks. They are also rented out as mercenaries from time to time. The Sandheart Militia has jurisdiction over Sandheart District – the steads and hamlets that exist along the water courses in the north east are theirs to police. About half of the Sandheart Militia is made up of ‘specials’ and is protected, to some extent, by the patronage of the Goldbreath dynasty. Other militias also employ ‘specials,’ but it is not common practice in Sun County.

THE LOCATION OF SANDHEART

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3 SETTLEMENTS & FARMING IN SANDHEART DISTRICT

Settlements can be broadly split into two types within buildings to have a central hearth, square in fashion, the Sandheart District – groups of walled farmsteads where the family collects and eats. and fortified hamlets (see the Map of Sandheart Of note is the occasional round house stead. These District on page 75 and the Sandheart Gazetteer on were left by earlier settlers, most likely descendants of pages 76-77). Each walled farmstead normally consists the Oasis People, and often formed the foundations of of an extended family, between eight and twelve adults new steads, although some remain standing, having is common. They are built in clusters so that they can been modified for use by Sun County residents. call upon each other in times of need. Fortified hamlets Common to most settlements are a well, granaries, are more isolated from their neighbors and tend to date and olive trees for both shade and their food crop, comprise of different family groups. lookout posts, animal pens, shrines to Ernalda and Both are characterised by square-shaped buildings, Yelmalio (although often inactive for large parts of the surrounded by a wall of varying quality. Most dwellings year), beacons, prepared with dry wood to alert others are single story, but the headman’s house of some in case of emergency, and cemeteries for Ernaldan richer families may have a second storey. It is usual for women that often lie just outside the walled stead (note that Yelmalio worshippers are cremated).

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4 Barley is the staple diet of the people of Sun County, An average walled farmstead (i.e. an extended used to make stews, soups and to bake barley bread, and family) will cultivate two hides of land, roughly one the majority of the land around the steads is cultivated square kilometre. The fortified hamlets are 2-3 times for its production. Fields tend to be square in shape and larger than this. This land does not include rough interspaced with irrigation ditches with blessed white pastureland, where sheep flocks graze, often found stones at the corners. around the edges of the barley fields. Flax, tomatoes, grapes, skullbush and herbs are also In the Sandheart District each hide produces an grown. It is common for the farmstead to grow dates annual surplus roughly worth 70 L. 10% of this is tithed and olives both inside as well as outside the walls, as to the local Ernalda Temple at Goldbreath, and 10% is they provide shade. taken to the Sun Dome Temple. This includes all goods, Sheep are the most common livestock but farmers not just barley. The tithe is collected by tax collectors also keep ox for ploughing the fields as well as sable, utilising the Lokarnos cult to take spare produce back impala and flocks of geese and chickens. to the temples. In an average year, a typical cult wagon can port the tithe of 2-3 farmsteads in a day.

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5 Sandheart Male Farmers Initiate of Yelmalio. Male, age variable. STR 11 CON 12 SIZ 13 INT 13 DEX 10 CHA 11 POW 11 Magic Points 11 Hit Points: 12 Move: 8 DEX SR: 3 SIZ SR: 2 Runes: Earth 60%, Fire/Sky 70%, Truth 70% Rune Points: 1 (Yelmalio) Rune Spells: all common spells, plus Catseye Spirit Magic: Heal 2, Coordination or Vigor (2), Light or Lantern, Repair. Passions: Loyalty (Family) 80% plus a choice of Loyalty (Sun Dome Temple, Sandheart District or Goldbreath Dynasty) 60% Spirit Combat Damage: 1D6 Armour: none; if given time to equip, light leather (1) on all locations Skills: Customs (Sun County) 40%, Dodge 30%, Farm 60%, Jump 35%, Listen 35%, Scan 40%, Languages: Speak New Pavic 60%

Hit Locations Location D20 Armour/HP Right Leg 01–04 1/4 Left Leg 05–08 1/4 Abdomen 09–11 1/4 Chest 12 1/5 Right Arm 13–15 1/3 Left Arm 16–18 1/3 Head 19–20 1/4

Weapon % Damage SR Pts Self Bow 40 1D6+1 3 7 2H Short Spear 40 1D8+1 6 10 Small Axe 35 1D6+1 8 6 2HSample Long Spear 40 1D10+1 5 10 file

6 Sandheart Female Farmers Hit Locations Initiate of Ernalda. Female, age variable. Location D20 Armour/HP STR 10 CON 12 SIZ 11 INT 13 Right Leg 01–04 0/4 DEX 11 CHA 11 POW 11 Magic Points 11 Left Leg 05–08 0/4 Hit Points: 12 Move: 8 Abdomen 09–11 0/4 DEX SR: 3 SIZ SR: 2 Chest 12 0/5 Runes: Earth 75%, Life 75%, Harmony 75%, Rune Points: 1 (Ernalda) Right Arm 13–15 0/4 Rune Spells: all common spells, plus Bless Crops or Left Arm 16–18 0/3 Bless Animals or Bless Pregnancy or Restore Health Head 19–20 0/4 Spirit Magic: Heal 2, Ignite, Strength or Vigor (2). Passions: Loyalty (Family) 80% plus a choice of Loyalty (Sandheart Ernalda Temple or Sandheart Weapon % Damage SR Pts District) 60% Dagger 40 1D4+2 9 6 Spirit Combat Damage: 1D6 Small Axe 35 1D6+1 8 6 Armour: none Skills: Customs (Sun County) 40%, Dodge 30%, Farm 60%, Insight 35%, Listen 35%, Scan 40%, Languages: Speak New Pavic 60%

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