Introduction

(Feel free to skip if you are already familiar with Glorantha or just want to get to the actual review!)

Life isn't easy when you are a Glorantha-addict. At least not if you actually want to use it as a FRPG-setting, and not only as a subject for esoteric studies.

When Glorantha was introduced as background world for the most influential RuneQuest role-playing game way back in the late seventies, nobody in the industry really cared for consistency and completeness of setting information.

Even more so, Glorantha was the one of the first real published settings, so people were more than glad to have information about the scene outside the tavern and the dungeons at all.

Glorantha was unique and still is, but this comes at a cost.

The learning curve is enormous and a lot of people never get around with this, especially not when you're only a spare-time gamer with limited time to spend for your gaming hobby.

Issaries' Hero Wars was meant to change this by providing the GM [AKA narrator] and the players with a loose and freewheeling rules system which easily could mirror the epic and narrative elements of Glorantha without tables and number-crunching.

Despite the lightness and beauty of the rules you still need lots and lots of background knowledge to do Glorantha justice.

But the reward for your efforts will be a gaming experienced unparalleled in any other role-playing game.

Your players are supposed to take their parts in the on-going and highly dramatic [and in parts more than fantastic and weird] events that as whole are called the Hero Wars, a global conflict of battles, skirmishes, intrigues, heroes, glory, fate and magic that will change the face of the world forever.

this will be the moment when some of you might cry out "EARTHDAWN!" or "EXALTED!" or even "GREYHAWK" or whatever you favorite fantasy setting may be. Today many or most settings have some kind of world-changing meta-plot.

Even if Glorantha was the first to introduce this, why should you give it a closer look?, what makes it different from the rest?

Deepness. Richness.

Wherever another setting dares to go, Glorantha was already there.

On the other hand, Glorantha still owed us the prove that the greatness and vision of the setting could be translated into an actual gaming-experience.

ORLANTH IS DEAD, Sartar Rising Volume 2, the latest offering from Issaries, now musters to prove that the literary Glorantha can be done justice gamewise.

At First Glance

The book is 72 pages, standard size, saddle-stitched with a full color cover that depicts a grim battle scene and sets the mood for the book's content very well.
The interior is laid out well and clear, with two columns, b/w-illustrations and rune-borders. There are pictures on most pages, so enough eye-candy for most people.
The illustrations capture the despair and grimness of the content quite well, my favorite being the artist on page 52, which reminded me of some early Dragonlance illustrations by Jeff Easley, IIRC.

While the interior illustrations are all well done, some of them were taken from the Glorantha PC/Mac-game King Of Dragon Pass [click here for a review] and they should've been worked on before because the transition from color to black & white makes them look washed-out.
Another nit-pick is the use of too many text fonts, I counted four different on page 53. While that does not detract from the good overall appearance of the book, it should be avoided in future books.
A table of content and an index top off the positive look. Issaries has finally overcome the problems of some of the earlier books from the Hero Wars line, and though in no way outstanding this is good and solid work.

A Closer Look

(SPOILERS GALORE - proceed at own risk!)

The enthusiasm is dampened by the very first paragraph:
It is assumed that you have access [which is an euphemism for "you own"] to the following books

. I might add that the yet-to-be-published Kerofinela Gazetteer will be essential for newcomers, too. Otherwise they will have access to adventures, religious and cultural information, but face sketchy details on the land itself.
This may be quite distracting for many people new to Glorantha and/or Hero Wars, but won't be a problem for veterans, who already own everything, or if you're used to White Wolf-splat-books.
Needless to say that I don't like this kind of publishing credo, but you decide.

After this the reader gets three pages of general campaign introduction. Very basic question are posed and answered, how to structure your campaign, how to choose and retain chanllenges in form of rivals and enemies, how to get the PCs together, etc.
This is done very good and while very general, you easily get a good grasp of how to organize things for your own campaign.

Since not all of you might know what the Hero Wars are all about, I should mention that the Sartar Rising-series details the uprising of a conquered barbarian kingdom [Sartar] against the oppressive Lunar Empire. The resulting action is best pictured as Asterix the Gaul meets Xena, lots of magic and Norse sagas.
The whole series assumes that the PCs have grown up as future rebels against the Empire. This limits the usefulness and scope of the book and its compagnion volumes, but the same could be said about Star Wars or Exalted.

A one-page text in a grey box that cries for rebellion sets the tone for the coming things and used as an introdutiong handout for the players I guess that many will end the lines deeply moved and no further motivation for their characters will need to be given ever again.
Thumbs up for the author of this short text, John Hughes, who did a lot of excellent and evocative work for Issaries' Thunder Rebels, too.

These grey boxed text come in various sizes, are dotted about here and there all over the book and contain additional and/or atmospheric information or useful tips for the GM on how to stage specific things.
I found them quite useful, especially since they are easy to look up.

The introducing chapter is followed by five pages of specific information on the Sartar Campaign, the first uproars of the Hero Wars which happen in the PCs country. It includes a rough time-line [which is quite detailed when compared to most other game worlds] and introduces the rebel-organization and its leader.
It's up the GM to decide which rebel leader is going to be used in his/her personal campaign, several are detailed later in the book, so there's someone for your group, too.

A nice twist is being made by giving the option to substitute one of the most important 'historical' person of Glorantha by a PC. It will take a very experienced GM to make full and reasonable use of this, but an intriguing thought nonetheless.

The next chapter is titled Your Clan and provides a questionnaire that let the players determine the history and past fate of their clan [AKA community] from the God's ages, the Dawn Of Time and to the present.
This is done via a simple multiple choice procedure and 32 questions. My players really loved to have influence on the shape of present things and although I had to distribute the questionnaire on two sessions, because it took too long, it gives players and GM alike plenty of motivations, history, ideas and scenario hooks and proved as a simple but great tool to make the players feel comfortable with the setting.
An older version of this questionnaire as online java-applet can be found here. The newer printed version concentrates more on the impact of the history on the individual PCs and skips most numeric detail on clan resources, etc.
This also indicates that Issaries decided to skip the idea of the clan as secondary PC, which brings Hero Wars more in line with conventional RPGs and away from the meta-games.
If that's for good or bad depends on your gaming style, personally I liked the very idea of it. Two short comments:
The questionnaire isn't sure if it's for players eyes or not. The explanatory text addresses players in places and then GMs in others.
The resolving of the questionnaire has been put in the back of the book, which makes you constantly leaf through the book, which is unfortunate.

Eight pages of GM information on warfare and battles follow.

Again this doesn't concentrate on numbers and strike ranges, but rather suggestions on how to successfully present, narrate and integrate war-scenes into your game.
Even if I repeat myself, I have to say that this is done very clearly, with good hints and tips for the GM. And almost bashful some sorely missed advice on how Hero Wars [the game] is supposed to work enters the text when tactical magics are discussed.
I guess some of the elephant-throwing people I met in the past are going to be disappointed by the now official power-level, which now approaches RuneQuest more than it does Princess Mononoke.

Twelve pages of Narrator Resources make up the next chapter. It contains articles on Villains of your PC-group, provides examples of enemy individuals and [army-] groups. As usual with Hero Wars stats, the entries are considerably short and concise, although I'd have preferred to see them seperated from the bulk of the text.
Ten rebel leaders follow, each with an one-page long entry, the format is the same as in Barbarian Adventures, Sartar Rising Volume 1, complete with stats and a picture. Most of the illustrations come from earlier publications, but are well done otherwise. I really appreciate the pre-calculated APs for situations that are in demand quite often, for example combat and magic.
As said before, the rebel leaders are interesting and different, thereby giving you quite a range to fit your needs and that of your group.

Orlanth Is Dead comes next, and these eight pages wil give each Glorantha-veteran the creeps at the latest. The dead of the main deity of the PCs homeland and the resulting events are described. Armageddon is nice when compared to the despair and doom that oozes out of the lines. Again, people may point to Monte Cook's Requiem For A God among others, but believe me - this here is different!
It's not 'just' the PCs' main deity who dies, it's their whole culture, their way of living, everything your PCs ever believed in, their roots and [possibly] their future. Frightening and embarassing! Epic and highly emotional!
Easy to guess by now that I really, really loved that chapter, it comes close to an atmospheric masterpiece.
Myself, I couldn't read while sitting from that chapter on, I had to stand.

But, since there are always two sides of the coin, you won't be able to share my enthusiasm if you haven't read at least some of the aforementioned books or experienced Glorantha and especially Sartar as a player for a long time.
But if you've joined the club, then you'll maybe find the [gaming] time of your life within these pages!

The next twelve pages feature The Battle Of Iceland, as is called the last effort of the rebels to resurrect their dead god.
I won't give away details, let's say that it's a battle with drama and epic proportions, which make the race to the Death Star's reactor faint and pale by comparism.

Strictly speaking this scenario is a mixture of random and scripted encounters in course of the huge battle in which the PCs get involved.
Even more, this is heavy rail-roading. Many people, including myself shun scenarios in which events are too pre-determined. Nonetheless I think this here is different. It's rail-roading with emotion and motivation. I'm not quite sure if I can get this through, but I believe that all players will play it the way it is presented, for rebellion's sake, no matter how evident the structures may be.
They gonna feel involved! [oh my god!, slowely but surely I get carried away with it :)]

All enthusiasm put aside, the problem of how to present PCs participating at 'historical' events isn't solved in this scenario at alland it will be an urging problem for the upcoming HEROQUEST [Hero Wars' successor TBP] to take care of.

The Clan Questionnaire Results [see above] follow along with some further suggestions and an comprehensive, maybe even too comprehensive index [four pages] conclude the book.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

I like this.
I really like this.
Actually, this is the first book on Glorantha since ages that really knocked me over.
Actually it's the first from Issaries that is really done right in all concerns, in my humble opinion.
But maybe it's just my poor taste and my receptivity for pathos and heroism, people who love realistic low-level campaigns and quiet tones will feel out of their element.
And it carries the burden of promise. Now that there's a new benchmark for Gloranthan gaming, the next books will be watched closely.

It hard to estimate the value of this book for newcomers or even people who aren't deep into Glorantha. But I'll try to do so:
Until you got a good grasp of Thunder Rebels, Storm Tribe and Barbarian Adventures, Sartar Rising Volume 1 and maybe even King Of Sartar [though the latter isn't crucial] you shouldn't consider buying this book. This may look daunting at first, but I'd advice you to at least consider digging through all this material. Otherwise you could easily miss a great role-playing opportunity.

For those out there who follow Glorantha for some time now, this is the book you've been longing for. And suddenly all minor disappointments of the past [i.e. the lack of actual scenarios and campaign material] begin to make sense - they [those 'esoteric' books] were needed to prepare you for this campaign.
The content is so dense and rich, it's GM's delight! The DIY-nature of the campaign's cornerstones [villains, leaders, etc...] guarantees for highly individual, yet canon-conform experiences.
A good GM should get ages of game-sessions out of these 72 pages. Therefore I'd consider it a 'real good bang for your buck'.
A major flaw is the disorganization of the Hero Wars' campaign material as whole, which is spread over 656 pages and four volumes by now, rules and creature books left aside. And even now, the gazetteer for the land in which all the action in ORLANTH IS DEAD, Sartar Rising Volume 2 takes place is still to be published....*SIGH!*
Given the circumstances under which previous volumes were published, this can't be undone easily.

But ORLANTH IS DEAD, Sartar Rising Volume 2 is a huge step into a better tomorrow. It provides well thought-of GM advice, some which I've been missing since the rules came out in 2000, a multitude of options, inspiring NPCs and best of all it sets the scene and the tone for the campaign in a way I admire. I would advise everybody who plans to start a campaign set in Sartar to buy this book, make yourself comfortable with some local area, establish the setting and the friends-allies-enemies and only get into the big action when the gazetteer is out.

But this book you will need regardless wether you're a beginner or a veteran.
It's essential.
It's what many of us have been waiting for since 1983!

Ratings

For observing outsiders: Style 3, Substance 3

For newcomers: Style 4, Substance 4

For Glorantha-veterans: Style 5, Substance 5

Orlanth Is Dead, Sartar Rising Vol.2
Orlanth Is Dead, Sartar Rising Vol.2 Capsule Review by Stefan Drawert on 09/10/02 Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) Dense. Epic. Essential. Put Wagner into your CD-player and unsheathe your sword! Glorantha's Hero Wars start with a capital 'H'! Product: Orlanth Is Dead, Sartar Rising Vol.2 Author: Greg Stafford and Friends Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Issaries Inc. Line: Hero Wars / Hero Quest Cost: $ 14.95 Page count: 72 Year published: 2002 ISBN: 1-929052-15-4 SKU: ISS 1402 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Stefan Drawert on 09/10/02 Genre tags: Fantasy	Introduction (Feel free to skip if you are already familiar with Glorantha or just want to get to the actual review!) Life isn't easy when you are a Glorantha-addict. At least not if you actually want to use it as a FRPG-setting, and not only as a subject for esoteric studies. When Glorantha was introduced as background world for the most influential RuneQuest role-playing game way back in the late seventies, nobody in the industry really cared for consistency and completeness of setting information. Even more so, Glorantha was the one of the first real published settings, so people were more than glad to have information about the scene outside the tavern and the dungeons at all. Glorantha was unique and still is, but this comes at a cost. The learning curve is enormous and a lot of people never get around with this, especially not when you're only a spare-time gamer with limited time to spend for your gaming hobby. Issaries' Hero Wars was meant to change this by providing the GM [AKA narrator] and the players with a loose and freewheeling rules system which easily could mirror the epic and narrative elements of Glorantha without tables and number-crunching. Despite the lightness and beauty of the rules you still need lots and lots of background knowledge to do Glorantha justice. But the reward for your efforts will be a gaming experienced unparalleled in any other role-playing game. Your players are supposed to take their parts in the on-going and highly dramatic [and in parts more than fantastic and weird] events that as whole are called the Hero Wars, a global conflict of battles, skirmishes, intrigues, heroes, glory, fate and magic that will change the face of the world forever. this will be the moment when some of you might cry out "EARTHDAWN!" or "EXALTED!" or even "GREYHAWK" or whatever you favorite fantasy setting may be. Today many or most settings have some kind of world-changing meta-plot. Even if Glorantha was the first to introduce this, why should you give it a closer look?, what makes it different from the rest? Deepness. Richness. Wherever another setting dares to go, Glorantha was already there. On the other hand, Glorantha still owed us the prove that the greatness and vision of the setting could be translated into an actual gaming-experience. ORLANTH IS DEAD, Sartar Rising Volume 2, the latest offering from Issaries, now musters to prove that the literary Glorantha can be done justice gamewise. At First Glance The book is 72 pages, standard size, saddle-stitched with a full color cover that depicts a grim battle scene and sets the mood for the book's content very well. The interior is laid out well and clear, with two columns, b/w-illustrations and rune-borders. There are pictures on most pages, so enough eye-candy for most people. The illustrations capture the despair and grimness of the content quite well, my favorite being the artist on page 52, which reminded me of some early Dragonlance illustrations by Jeff Easley, IIRC. While the interior illustrations are all well done, some of them were taken from the Glorantha PC/Mac-game King Of Dragon Pass [click here for a review] and they should've been worked on before because the transition from color to black & white makes them look washed-out. Another nit-pick is the use of too many text fonts, I counted four different on page 53. While that does not detract from the good overall appearance of the book, it should be avoided in future books. A table of content and an index top off the positive look. Issaries has finally overcome the problems of some of the earlier books from the Hero Wars line, and though in no way outstanding this is good and solid work. A Closer Look *(SPOILERS GALORE - proceed at own risk!)* The enthusiasm is dampened by the very first paragraph: It is assumed that you have access [which is an euphemism for "you own"] to the following books Thunder Rebels Storm Tribe Barbarian Adventures, Sartar Rising Volume 1 King Of Sartar . I might add that the yet-to-be-published Kerofinela Gazetteer will be essential for newcomers, too. Otherwise they will have access to adventures, religious and cultural information, but face sketchy details on the land itself. This may be quite distracting for many people new to Glorantha and/or Hero Wars, but won't be a problem for veterans, who already own everything, or if you're used to White Wolf-splat-books. Needless to say that I don't like this kind of publishing credo, but you decide. After this the reader gets three pages of general campaign introduction. Very basic question are posed and answered, how to structure your campaign, how to choose and retain chanllenges in form of rivals and enemies, how to get the PCs together, etc. This is done very good and while very general, you easily get a good grasp of how to organize things for your own campaign. Since not all of you might know what the Hero Wars are all about, I should mention that the Sartar Rising-series details the uprising of a conquered barbarian kingdom [Sartar] against the oppressive Lunar Empire. The resulting action is best pictured as Asterix the Gaul meets Xena, lots of magic and Norse sagas. The whole series assumes that the PCs have grown up as future rebels against the Empire. This limits the usefulness and scope of the book and its compagnion volumes, but the same could be said about Star Wars or Exalted. A one-page text in a grey box that cries for rebellion sets the tone for the coming things and used as an introdutiong handout for the players I guess that many will end the lines deeply moved and no further motivation for their characters will need to be given ever again. Thumbs up for the author of this short text, John Hughes, who did a lot of excellent and evocative work for Issaries' Thunder Rebels, too. These grey boxed text come in various sizes, are dotted about here and there all over the book and contain additional and/or atmospheric information or useful tips for the GM on how to stage specific things. I found them quite useful, especially since they are easy to look up. The introducing chapter is followed by five pages of specific information on the Sartar Campaign, the first uproars of the Hero Wars which happen in the PCs country. It includes a rough time-line [which is quite detailed when compared to most other game worlds] and introduces the rebel-organization and its leader. It's up the GM to decide which rebel leader is going to be used in his/her personal campaign, several are detailed later in the book, so there's someone for your group, too. A nice twist is being made by giving the option to substitute one of the most important 'historical' person of Glorantha by a PC. It will take a very experienced GM to make full and reasonable use of this, but an intriguing thought nonetheless. The next chapter is titled Your Clan and provides a questionnaire that let the players determine the history and past fate of their clan [AKA community] from the God's ages, the Dawn Of Time and to the present. This is done via a simple multiple choice procedure and 32 questions. My players really loved to have influence on the shape of present things and although I had to distribute the questionnaire on two sessions, because it took too long, it gives players and GM alike plenty of motivations, history, ideas and scenario hooks and proved as a simple but great tool to make the players feel comfortable with the setting. An older version of this questionnaire as online java-applet can be found here. The newer printed version concentrates more on the impact of the history on the individual PCs and skips most numeric detail on clan resources, etc. This also indicates that Issaries decided to skip the idea of the clan as secondary PC, which brings Hero Wars more in line with conventional RPGs and away from the meta-games. If that's for good or bad depends on your gaming style, personally I liked the very idea of it. Two short comments: The questionnaire isn't sure if it's for players eyes or not. The explanatory text addresses players in places and then GMs in others. The resolving of the questionnaire has been put in the back of the book, which makes you constantly leaf through the book, which is unfortunate. Eight pages of GM information on warfare and battles follow. Again this doesn't concentrate on numbers and strike ranges, but rather suggestions on how to successfully present, narrate and integrate war-scenes into your game. Even if I repeat myself, I have to say that this is done very clearly, with good hints and tips for the GM. And almost bashful some sorely missed advice on how Hero Wars [the game] is supposed to work enters the text when tactical magics are discussed. I guess some of the elephant-throwing people I met in the past are going to be disappointed by the now official power-level, which now approaches RuneQuest more than it does Princess Mononoke. Twelve pages of Narrator Resources make up the next chapter. It contains articles on Villains of your PC-group, provides examples of enemy individuals and [army-] groups. As usual with Hero Wars stats, the entries are considerably short and concise, although I'd have preferred to see them seperated from the bulk of the text. Ten rebel leaders follow, each with an one-page long entry, the format is the same as in Barbarian Adventures, Sartar Rising Volume 1, complete with stats and a picture. Most of the illustrations come from earlier publications, but are well done otherwise. I really appreciate the pre-calculated APs for situations that are in demand quite often, for example combat and magic. As said before, the rebel leaders are interesting and different, thereby giving you quite a range to fit your needs and that of your group. Orlanth Is Dead comes next, and these eight pages wil give each Glorantha-veteran the creeps at the latest. The dead of the main deity of the PCs homeland and the resulting events are described. Armageddon is nice when compared to the despair and doom that oozes out of the lines. Again, people may point to Monte Cook's Requiem For A God among others, but believe me - this here is different! It's not 'just' the PCs' main deity who dies, it's their whole culture, their way of living, everything your PCs ever believed in, their roots and [possibly] their future. Frightening and embarassing! Epic and highly emotional! Easy to guess by now that I really, really loved that chapter, it comes close to an atmospheric masterpiece. Myself, I couldn't read while sitting from that chapter on, I had to stand. But, since there are always two sides of the coin, you won't be able to share my enthusiasm if you haven't read at least some of the aforementioned books or experienced Glorantha and especially Sartar as a player for a long time. But if you've joined the club, then you'll maybe find the [gaming] time of your life within these pages! The next twelve pages feature The Battle Of Iceland, as is called the last effort of the rebels to resurrect their dead god. I won't give away details, let's say that it's a battle with drama and epic proportions, which make the race to the Death Star's reactor faint and pale by comparism. Strictly speaking this scenario is a mixture of random and scripted encounters in course of the huge battle in which the PCs get involved. Even more, this is heavy rail-roading. Many people, including myself shun scenarios in which events are too pre-determined. Nonetheless I think this here is different. It's rail-roading with emotion and motivation. I'm not quite sure if I can get this through, but I believe that all players will play it the way it is presented, for rebellion's sake, no matter how evident the structures may be. They gonna feel involved! [oh my god!, slowely but surely I get carried away with it :)] All enthusiasm put aside, the problem of how to present PCs participating at 'historical' events isn't solved in this scenario at alland it will be an urging problem for the upcoming HEROQUEST [Hero Wars' successor TBP] to take care of. The Clan Questionnaire Results [see above] follow along with some further suggestions and an comprehensive, maybe even too comprehensive index [four pages] conclude the book. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly I like this. I really like this. Actually, this is the first book on Glorantha since ages that really knocked me over. Actually it's the first from Issaries that is really done right in all concerns, in my humble opinion. But maybe it's just my poor taste and my receptivity for pathos and heroism, people who love realistic low-level campaigns and quiet tones will feel out of their element. And it carries the burden of promise. Now that there's a new benchmark for Gloranthan gaming, the next books will be watched closely. It hard to estimate the value of this book for newcomers or even people who aren't deep into Glorantha. But I'll try to do so: Until you got a good grasp of Thunder Rebels, Storm Tribe and Barbarian Adventures, Sartar Rising Volume 1 and maybe even King Of Sartar [though the latter isn't crucial] you shouldn't consider buying this book. This may look daunting at first, but I'd advice you to at least consider digging through all this material. Otherwise you could easily miss a great role-playing opportunity. For those out there who follow Glorantha for some time now, this is the book you've been longing for. And suddenly all minor disappointments of the past [i.e. the lack of actual scenarios and campaign material] begin to make sense - they [those 'esoteric' books] were needed to prepare you for this campaign. The content is so dense and rich, it's GM's delight! The DIY-nature of the campaign's cornerstones [villains, leaders, etc...] guarantees for highly individual, yet canon-conform experiences. A good GM should get ages of game-sessions out of these 72 pages. Therefore I'd consider it a 'real good bang for your buck'. A major flaw is the disorganization of the Hero Wars' campaign material as whole, which is spread over 656 pages and four volumes by now, rules and creature books left aside. And even now, the gazetteer for the land in which all the action in ORLANTH IS DEAD, Sartar Rising Volume 2 takes place is still to be published....SIGH! Given the circumstances under which previous volumes were published, this can't be undone easily. But ORLANTH IS DEAD, Sartar Rising Volume 2 is a huge step into a better tomorrow. It provides well thought-of GM advice, some which I've been missing since the rules came out in 2000, a multitude of options, inspiring NPCs and best of all it sets the scene and the tone for the campaign in a way I admire. I would advise everybody who plans to start a campaign set in Sartar to buy this book, make yourself comfortable with some local area, establish the setting and the friends-allies-enemies and only get into the big action when the gazetteer is out. But this book you will need regardless wether you're a beginner or a veteran. It's essential. It's what many of us have been waiting for since 1983! Ratings For observing outsiders: Style 3, Substance 3 For newcomers: Style 4, Substance 4 For Glorantha-veterans: Style 5, Substance 5

Orlanth Is Dead, Sartar Rising Vol.2

Introduction

At First Glance

A Closer Look

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Ratings