Yet to run this but looks incredibly creepy. Well described and organised scenario, great advice to GM and fantastic handouts. I hope that Colin Richards, the author and artist, produces more in this vein.

This review was originally published on my website at https://akhelas.com/2024/01/19/review-islands-of-the-lost/.

Disclaimer 1: I received a free PDF copy of Islands of the Lost from the creators in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

Disclaimer 2: This review contains minor plot and content spoilers for the book’s adventures.

This week’s release takes us far from the central RuneQuest area of Dragon Pass, into the deceptively balmy East Isles. Islands of the Lost is the third release in the “Hero Wars in the East Isles” series on the Jonstown Compendium. It introduces ship rules for the East Isles (based upon the RuneQuest 3 ship rules which are scheduled for republication by Chaosium), six shortform cult descriptions, two new islands, and two adventures: “Pirates on the Horizon” and “Islands of the Lost.” However, the “title track” is a massive 70-page tale, so saying the book has “just” two adventures would be deceptive.

Islands of the Lost also provides additional support for gamemasters planning to run the entire Hero Wars in the East Isles campaign. This includes summaries of past and future content which place adventures into RuneQuest‘s seasonal campaign structure. The section also highlights geographical and chronological points which will be left undeveloped. This provides flexibility so the gamemaster can invent their own isles and adventures in the Korolan region of the larger archipelago. Considering the pace at which the creators produced this book—about a year after the first two-book installment—I feel they’ve likely matched the campaign’s structure well to the pace of their releases.

Each of the shortform cults is described with a similar structure to the RuneQuest core rulebook. The cult summary is followed by one or two myths told about its deity, then the usual sections on initiation and membership in the cult. The cults are grounded within the Korolan Islands with additional notes on local temples and holy persons. In combination with starting skills for new adventurers, each cult in Islands of the Lost feels like an engaging play option for adventurers. I especially appreciated that some cults which seem like Lightbringer analogues—well, speaking from a God Learner perspective—have custom Rune magic or different associates. This supports Glorantha’s polytheistic theme of localized religious diversity.

With the inclusion of Tamoro and Luvata islands in this book, the total number of islands detailed by the series comes to four. These isles include the seat of the Korolan queen, taverns, wyters, local customs, and a Martial Arts school. Altogether the new locations are described succinctly and supported by attractive maps.

The bulk of Islands of the Lost, however, is devoted to the publication’s adventures.

“Pirates on the Horizon” provides a standalone adventure about a pirate raid while the adventurers are visiting Tamoro island. It sets up a straightforward conflict entangled in some fun political twists. Like adventures in Chaosium’s Gamemaster Screen Pack or RuneQuest Starter Set, “Pirates on the Horizon” does a good job framing the adventurers as trustworthy heroes for the local non-player characters to rely upon.

There’s also a trickster—so as a current trickster player myself, I may be a wee bit biased in favor of plots about trickster shenanigans.

“Islands of the Lost” is split into three sections. The first, “Thief of Hearts,” in my estimation should play well on its own. This gives the adventurers a chance to rest, worship, and prepare for the rest of the adventure. Parts two and three take place after the adventurers shipwreck on a pair of uninhabited islands. Connected by a sandbar which emerges only during an extreme low tide, part two’s survival adventure flows quite naturally into part three’s rescue mission on the other isle.

The tale is about star-crossed lovers, the queen’s daughter and the son of a political rival. When the good-for-nothing son betrays the princess, she absconds into the ocean and gets swept away in a storm. Part one focuses on discovering why the princess has vanished, and ends with storms and sea monsters.

Part two can begin either after the adventurers were shipwrecked in the storm, or after they’ve been shipwrecked in another storm after resuming pursuit in a new vessel. This part is half endurance test, half kaiju encounter as the players discover they are not alone on their isle.

Finally part three reveals the low tide road to the adventurers, allowing them to reach the other isle. There they discover clues that the princess is held prisoner by Andins—nonhumans who worship the fiendish antigods—and must steal an Andin war canoe to escape.

Throughout, Islands of the Lost presents its adventures in a scene-based format with a fairly linear structure. In the more social sections, I believe it would be easy for a gamemaster to jump between scenes based upon the players’ choices. Two dungeon sections are presented in the style of Snake Pipe Hollow (though not nearly so large) for RuneQuest Classic. An “Enemies & NPCs” section after “Pirates on the Horizon” and each section of “Islands of the Lost” provides a one-page combination of character statistics, personality summary, and often an illustration. My favorite antagonists were the three kaiju: a sea monster, a giant crab, and a giant turtle. Each is capable of speech, and each ought to be a difficult fight—if the adventurers choose to fight them!

Overall, the adventure content contains diverse conflicts and straightforward gamemaster directions. I was impressed that, despite using a fairly linear structure, I felt while reading that the adventurers were at the center of the story. Player choices are definitely central to the outcome of each story.

Islands of the Lost is well laid out and illustrated. In particular, I enjoyed the illustration of Xabtha the Water Wyrm—the sea monster in part two—because the art blends a crocodilian look with aspects of more traditional Asian dragons.

I also found the cartography in Islands of the Lost quite attractive. Several of the maps don’t have a compass or a scale. As a gamemaster who likes using minis, I find scales for places like Wapato Stead useful when setting up combats or conflicts (like sneaking around a town). Another cool aspect of Hero Wars in the East Isles cartography is that each island’s profile is illustrated. I like this a lot because it helps provide perspective for what someone in a boat sees—a common occurrence in the Korolan Islands!

The text is well proofread and has few typos, but there are a number of typographical errors. Textual polish is, admittedly, something of a fixation for me, though I try not to overfocus on it when reviewing the work of independent creators. A few tips:

• Consistency goes a long way—ex. capitalization (“adventurers” or “Adventurers”) and hyphenation (“Scan roll” or “Scan-roll”).
• In the Jonstown Compendium template, using a colon (:) in the List Bullets style triggers a GREP script which automatically puts all prior characters in boldface. (That’s why the abbreviation “RQ:G” keeps triggering boldface.)
• Keep an eye on commas. Admittedly, this is more editing than proofreading. Building a habit of using periods over commas reduces the frequency of odd sentences. (This is a challenge for me, too.)

That said, the prose is very effective. It’s not flashy like Six Seasons in Sartar or Black Spear, and I believe it avoids flash on purpose. Islands of the Lost is structured and written well for direct use by the gamemaster from the book. The only time I felt a bit lost was in an explanation of the wilderness survival mechanic, and this was made more clear later in the adventure.

Overall, I’d describe the textual polish as meeting my expectations for indie work, and the graphic presentation as excellent.

After reading the prior volumes, I must admit I was intrigued by Hero Wars in the East Isles but not enthralled. Fires of Mingai has solid adventures, but subjectively they didn’t grab my imagination in the way of Chaosium’s “The Pairing Stones” or Gauthier & Dyer’s The White Upon the Hills.

In contrast, Islands of the Lost provides a grand narrative which demands to be played. It’s a classic “save the princess” narrative like an old-fashioned adventure flick. There’s a great mix of compelling villains with true, remorseless monsters, strange environments—like the boiling-hot Bezarngay current or a giant crab’s lair—and desperate heroics. It could be played as a frightening deathtrap for newer adventurers, or a daring expedition for veterans.

On my “armchair or kitchen table” spectrum, Islands of the Lost is 100% a kitchen table book. I love that. As the Jonstown Compendium continues to output more adventures than most groups can realistically can play each year, we creators trend more and more toward works which blend armchair and table value. It was refreshing to read a RuneQuest adventure which seemed to say “here’s the story—now go play it yourself!”

If you’re looking for adventure outside the core game area, the whole Hero Wars in the East Isles series is worth checking out. Honestly, I think these would be a great choice for a Print on Demand option too. They help highlight the breadth and diversity of human Glorantha in the way that Duckpac or The Voralans brings depth to the Elder Races. Islands of the Lost expands upon the core Korolan Islands release provides a non-Dragon Pass region with immediately playable material in a way I don’t think I’ve seen for other areas of Glorantha.

For groups interested in using their Dragon Pass characters to play this material, you’ll probably also want Martin Helsdon’s second magnum opus, Ships & Shores of Southern Genertela (can a creator have two magnum opuses? is that allowed?). Helsdon’s book provides everything you’ll need to know for the journey there and back again.

A great little dungeon-crawl of a scenario, good for introducing DnD players to CoC. We had a blast playing it!

A stunning release, this book contains some breath taking art work which, for me, beautifully complements the world of Glorantha with their bright colours and very stylistic approach. The layout of the book really works, mainly with a full page piece of artwork and on the opposing page some text, often with additional art work, explaining what is depicted in the full page illustration. While the illustrations stand on their own this additional information is very welcome for while I have a working knowledge of Glorantha I don't know many of the places, deities nor traditions associated with them, that shown in the illustrations. I have the hardback release and the 50 pages of content have been printed clearly. I'd recommend this supplement to anyone who has any interest in Glorantha but also it is an excellent book of art in its own right.

OMFGGG THIS WAS TOO GOOD, this story was so heat, I love this author guys. I dream about Simon Alexander, he's my idol, his work is so well crafted. This had me busting and creaming all over my kindle fire, I short-circuited it... I climaxed at the climax >w<

Consolidating the previously released scenarios, this is a foundational work for a Praxian clan that engages beautifully with the setting and would be a great starting point for anyone wishing to run a campaign in Prax. The artwork is great, the scenarios clear and engaging, and it definitely immerses you in this Glorantha setting. Highly recommend!

Excellent ouvrage merci beaucoup! C'est une belle source d'inspiration

come sempre fatte bene, ma questa volta sono molto deluso. Le ho comprate a occhi chiusi perchè avevo preso quelle di New York , che erano fantastiche, ma queste non rappresentano altrettanto bene l'avventura: mancano delle mappe ( alcuni piani di alcuni luoghi) e altre non rispecchiano x niente quelle originali, rendendone difficile l'utilizzo.

This book is two things: a playable solo campaign with a ton of depth and atmosphere, and a GM resource, full of lore and great ideas to steal for your own games. Read the full review here: https://stygian-muse.com/heinrichs-guide-to-carcosa-love-and-death-in-the-hyades/

Although I was part of the editing and proofing and contributed a small part, I was focused on individual words, sentence structure and being consistent and coherent in the text and it is only now when I see the whole document that I recognise the entirety and magnitude of the project. It's massive.. just like trying to traverse the Rubble.. it's a bit bigger than you thought and just as dangerous. If you are interested in running a campaign in Pavis, in my opinion, this is essential. It may not be canonical, or maybe it is, because YGMV. For those worrying about the mythology, consider it as the path of the initiate.. as things progress, more of the truth will be revealed and become clear in later volumes. AS the Gray Sage said, 'be patient little one, good things come to those that wait'. There is so much information in this volume and it brings the New and Old Cities together. It is how the Rubble locations augment and join these population centres to create interesting stories for Adventurers to explore, make a narrative and perhaps die in, maybe on the end of that pointy diseased broo spear or beginning a new existence as part of an expanding and imperialistically-minded gorp.This is the kind of history you want to make, either as a GM or a player. The scenarios are interesting and thoughtful and will challenge and possibly confuse Adventurers as they travel along the road of the true path for Pavis City. The GMCs are well thought out and brought to life, ready to aid or thwart the Adventurers and all have Stat Blocks to aid harassed GMs. Some of the GMCs are quirky, some are useful and a few are deadly. Who wouldn't want to be killed by Hargran the Dirty? It's not everyday that the 'King of Pavis' can be bothered to get out of bed to kill some upstart Adventurers. Perhaps you want to mint your own coins to fulfil that childhood ambition of seeing your face on some money. It's in this volume and it's a possibility, if you can manage to take control of the Pavis Mint for a few hours. Or perhaps you self-identify as an Aldryami? Well you're in luck, it's in this volume too, as well as lots more. A bit like Chhotomai's Spice Kitchen.. it's hot and spicy.. unless you're an Uz, in which case it could do with more seasoning and some of those self-identifying Aldryami. Don't hesitate. Buy it.

Une superbe production digne des professionnels, bravo aux rédacteurs de ce compendium. On attend le tome 2 avec impatience ! ^^

Who should buy this book, and why? Well first, if you have Martin Helsdon's "Ships and Shores of Southern Genertela" in PDF form, you get the content of this book as a free supplementary download, so check that out if you haven't already. In principle, "Visions of Myth" collects the key pieces of art that Katrin Dirim contributed to "Ships and Shores", and combines them with Martin's text, derived from his art direction notes. If that sounds a bit prosaic, the result is anything but. The art depicts the coastal geography of southern Genertela in a fantastically "mythic" manner. These are mostly full-page pieces, full of detail, showing a mythic landscape comprised of gods and mortals. Martin's accompanying text is a "who's who" of oceanic and coastal myth, the fruits of some very diligent Gloranthan research. As well as the geographical images, there are others that bring to life the voyages of Dormal the Sailor, which are presented in detail in "Ships and Shores". Together, the result is both spectacular and hugely imaginative. Don't think for a moment that this is "fan art" - it is all up there with anything you'll find in Chaosium's own books. Almost every piece would make a great piece of wall art. And if you are interested in places such as Nochet, Rhigos, coastal Heortland, Handra, Skullport, Kylerela and many more, the whole book is actually a really good resource to provide colour and background to any game set there. This book should be the first port of call if you are interested in coastal Genertela; or just want to understand how Glorantha can be approached as a fascinating, technicolour, mythic landscape.

Must buy for anyone who wants to run much more lively Arkham, especially useful with Lovecraft Country campaigns.

The details on these locations are frankly usually much better than in the official Chaosiums Arkham guidebook* in which the details provided are quite light. In here it give just right amount details and more importantly, personality and life.

One minus is that many business in original guide feels now quite hollow and redundant. I usually either replace original from this, or improvise, like combining two.

*(I'm curious to see how if the new version will improve on this matter.)

Una aventura con un misterio muy interesante donde aparece la paranoia de no saber quién es el malo, un antagonista de los mitos no muy conocido. Ambientada en la costa Balear y que se lee muy a gusto.

Sacred Earth, Sacred Water sees the creators at Beer with Teeth continue to develop their work in Prax for everyone's benefit. From the layout to the artwork, readers get a real foundation of what players will encounter and what makes Prax special. The flexibilty of the scnearios presented is key for me, as they are easily adjusted for any style or level of play. Add this to your RuneQuest collection for hours of enjoyment.