Our Guests
For this episode we welcome Malin and CJ, which Ludo met in person at ChaosiumCon UK 2025.
The book we’re talking about is “Life and Traditions under the Sun Dome”
Ludo also took so long to edit this episode that Malin and CJ’s next books are already out: “Three Doors to Your Heart” and “Uleria Loves You”
Malin is on Bluesky and has a Patreon
CJ is also on Bluesky
Show Notes
Things we discussed in this episode:
Malin and CJ published a book about Life and Traditions of the Sun Dome because they’ve been playing there for a while.
Malin got into Glorantha via CJ, and became fascinated by stuff in Cults of Terror.
CJ got into Glorantha via some people talking about RuneQuest and its cultures, religions, weird spells, and “walking tapirs”.
After playing in Pavis and the Big Rubble, CJ bought RQ3 and some RQ2.
The Dragon Pass board game
Playing near Sun County in HeroQuest, with the Cradle scenario.
CJ bought the RQ3 Sun County book, reading it directly in the post office.
It was hard to get a group going.
The “Life and Traditions” book is a “more detailed” Sun County, compatible with previous official material (Sun County) and JC material (Black Spear, Sandheart).
Many people have written stuff in that area, it’s important to honour that.
Back in the day, it felt like Sun County was more “bronze age” and exotic than Sartar, which felt more “celtic” and common.
Research for the book included a lot of Bronze Age history.
Big spears, shield walls, and hoplites!
Back in the day, there wasn’t much material on Sartar. A lot of books were out of print, and in piracy was the only way to access them.
Very trusting people who mail their copy of Griffin Mountain to strangers to read and send back!
Sun County was a “standalone” book and setting, easier to grasp than other places in Glorantha.
To secular Sweden, religious fanaticism is exotic!
The reason for the “Life and Traditions” book is that many players have questions… sometimes weird questions…
Malin wanted to emulate the “Daily Life in <place>” children books about ancient Egypt or Greece: what is it to live in these places and times? Also, a desire to answer questions to the players who didn’t know Glorantha.
Malin loves making house rules and handouts!
A character wants to get married? Write a handout about property rights! “It escalates so fast!”
Between different regions of Genertela there are different rules and cultures. Sun County should feel different from Sartar.
“RuneQuest is a game for over-thinkers”
CJ is a sociologist, so how does the class system work!?
“Life and Traditions” has a bibliography! It’s serious work!
It’s a xenophobic and misogynistic place but they have nice beaches.
CJ looks at other countries with the same problems for reference, in addition to historical Bronze Age and Iron Age, and previous Gloranthan material.
People are still people, and it’s interesting to see how people would react and behave in a place like Sun County.
How to use this book? As an academic description of Sun County, or as a collection of articles to be skimmed and picked from as needed?
“It should be read but not memorized”.
“It’s a confidence builder”.
Instead of adding more history and names and places, the book tries to just add more context to one already established place.
Joerg likes the tables to “look around the house”.
Ludo likes the random event table.
Players can read the book, there is not much “secret information”.
The bad stuff in Sun County: patriarchy, xenophobia, etc. How is that fun to play? Depends on the group… it can be treated as background vibe, or as the main theme.
The book also shows how to play other types of characters.
CJ tried to lean into the set parameters of the place, as established by prior material: Yelmalio is patriarchal, Ernalda is made into a subservient wife, and Zola Fel provides a good part of the fertility magic that Ernalda usually provides elsewhere, etc.
Still had to “address the elephant in the room and make everyone feel welcome at the table”.
CJ and Malin had several women characters in their campaign. What does that mean for them? How do they live in this society?
CJ makes the good point that it’s like playing Call of Cthulhu in the default era of the 1920s, which is a “horribly racist” time in America.
“The gamemaster has to address this with the group”, deciding how much to lean into it or address it.
Ludo mentions Harlem Unbound as an example of leaning into the racism of the 1920s for Call of Cthulhu.
Cool stuff in Sun County: as a foreigner, you interact with a very weird and insular society!
An excuse for sending your PCs to Sun County is that the River of Cradles is strategically important!
Do your players enjoy being “administratively frustrated”?
The absurdity of Glorantha.
The cool thing about Yelmalio is that he is NOT cool!
“He’s a poser guy wearing shitloads of bling for compensating about all the things he cannot do!”
Orlanthi cultists are like Tom Cruise. Yelmalions are played by William H. Macey.
Another cool thing is that Sun County is very, very ancient. There are many very old archives and items to be found here.
Ludo talks about how he would send his players there.
CJ says it’s a good entry point into a new campaign: the place is semi-isolated, with a limited number of cults to choose from, etc. Great for newcomers.
“If you want to play a trickster in Sun County, go ahead and try!”
No need to go into complex clan/tribe relations here.
You can play it like Star Wars/Andor, living in some oppressive society, or like NYPD Blues with Sandheart, or as some Iliad thing with lone people defending their outpost against the nomads.
You don’t need to lean into “colonizers vs natives”.
Custom rules for faction play: “It’s easier to reward your players when you have numbers on a paper”.
Build a shrine to your god so you don’t have to commute!
Characters built for intrigue and politics should have as much fun and input into the game as those built for combat.
It’s still useful and interesting to track favours and standings even for non-political characters.
Tracking even small-scale relationships in some situations like long-term travelling.
Switching from RuneQuest to QuestWorlds.
RQG starts breaking down the more you play, especially the experience system, which slows down to a crawl.
Malin says QuestWorlds is better than HeroQuest. CJ says it used to break down with the bidding system.
Malin gives advice for how to convert RQG characters to QW.
QW is easier to make little subsystems for since it’s a lot less crunchy.
Players had trouble phrasing their keywords, and coming up with flaws.
RQG helped establish the “reality” of the fictional world before moving on to QW, which is very valuable.
Nick Brooke’s “song book” for conventions and the “HeroWars Gaga” song.
Gloranthan cookbooks!
Do players behave differently when you change the system?
Malin says she had to change her GMing style a lot.
QW requires more narrative responsibility from the players, which can overwhelm some of them.
Joerg mentions the Swedish RuneQuest Talastar project.
Dragonbane mention!
Joerg asks about the Teshnans… Malin has plans!
Ludo took so long to edit this episode that the Ulerian books that CJ and Malin announce here are already out!
Credits
The intro music is “The Warbird” by Try-Tachion. Other music includes “Cinder and Smoke” and “Skyspeak“, along with audio from the FreeSound library.
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