Life and Traditions under the Sun Dome

RuneQuest Sourcebook by Jonstown Compendium

Life and Traditions under the Sun Dome.

Come foreigners, visit Sun County, the only nation in Glorantha that passed The Solitude of Testing. See the living light of Sun Dome, travel the easily accessible road network, enjoy our surplus of food, our stoic unity, and our fully adequate culture. Come for the holy days, witness our drill parades, leave when we tell you to! Sun County – the safest, hardest working and most envied nation in Glorantha. You wish you were us!

 -The Sun County Travel Bureau.

Life and Traditions under the Sun Dome explores the history, culture, and customs of the citizens of Sun County, a small Yelmalian enclave in the Zola Fel valley, south of Pavis, across the plains of Prax. Designed for both gamemasters and players, this book is a must-have for anybody who wants an in-depth look at what daily life in Glorantha might be like. Written in the style of “Daily Life in the [insert Ancient Empire here],” this book is an in-depth exploration of the minutiae of existence coupled with a generous dose of humor.

Life and Traditions under the Sun Dome was written as an attempt to answer any questions a player or gamemaster might have about Sun County, from the mundane to the theological. Whether the question is what happened in your initiation rites, to how rude the songs are the soldiers sing while marching, to what festival is coming up next, it’s in here. Need descriptions of the popular theater plays complete with different interpretations? What about the banned ones? Just look in the Popular Culture chapter. Need five different kinds of bread and what you can put on them? We’ve got you covered. What happens if my character decides to get married? What is a “Pavis Wedding?” Who gets the custody of the kids in a divorce? How do you relate to other citizens compared to foreigners? How do you insult someone and when are you insulted? Don’t worry. You’ll know by the end of this book.

It’s the book you never knew you needed!

Life and Traditions Under the Sun Dome is fully compatible with past published content in the area, as well as most current Jonstown Compendium material situated in and around the Zola Fel valley.

While written for RuneQuest: Glorantha, this book can be used with any iteration of Gloranthan games.

In this 300-page book you will find:

• No GM-exclusive information that will ruin campaigns if read by the players. This is a sourcebook for everybody, gamemasters, players, and the culturally curious alike.
• A brief history of Sun County, summing up the major events since its founding, as well as an optional, officially sanctioned timeline of the events leading from the classical age of 1613-1620 up to the current year of 1625. In other words, it focuses on what you need to know and why you need to know it.
• A Geographical Overview of the local Zola Fel valley, including a new map detailing the major roads and trails, descriptions of the various towns and villages, as well as the types of terrain commonly encountered. Tables for pre-calculated travel times on land and on the river, as well as random travel events are included.
• A detailed look at the local customs of this insular, some say xenophobic nation, including a discussion on patriarchy and how to use (or not use) it in your games. This is presented from both the view of the Sun County citizen, and how it might be experienced by a stranger passing through.
• Insights into Yelmalian culture, rituals, festivities, and traditions that can be used to flesh out Yelmalian characters from Dragon Pass and elsewhere.
• A thorough examination of how class and lineage work in a civilized nation that claims to have moved beyond clan and tribe. Complete descriptions of the customs, views, and popular sayings of the four classes (Unfortunates, Commoners, Townies, and Patricians) are included to help players ground their characters in their background or decide what makes them different from their peers.
• A plethora of examples of slang, idioms, songs, insults, proverbs, and greetings used by Sun County citizens. Now you too can sound like a local!
• An examination of the role of the various gods, goddesses, and cults of Sun County, and the different ways they are seen compared to the Dragon pass norm. This includes a section on forbidden or suspect cults, including that boisterous blowhard Orlanth!
• A chapter on Law and Order, complete with rules for dueling, brawls, Babeester Gor vengeance taking, disturbances of the peace, and the various ways an enterprising GM can keep their players in check or complicate the life of a foreigner simply passing through.
• An examination of the life of a Sun County citizen from birth and its customs to death and the treatment of corpses. This chapter includes detailed youth initiation descriptions for the three major cults (Yelmalio, Ernalda, Zola Fel) as well as discussions on adulthood, marriage, health, and sickness.
• A chronicle of the year in Sun County and the various seasons, what dangers can be expected, what jobs need to be done, and the various holidays celebrated. The Sacred Time ceremonies are described in detail for both Yelmalio and Ernalda. Random weather tables for each season are also included.
• Chapters on architecture, fashion, and food are filled with facts to deepen player immersion. The dwellings of the four classes are described in detail, including random tables for what can be found in each of them. The manner and style of dress are discussed, including the recent changes in fashion from Lunar experimentation to austere conservatism. Finally, the chapter on food will describe everything from what the poor eat in times of hunger to what meats might be on the tables in the Sun Dome and the cultural significance of certain dishes.
• Popular culture and its role in society, including discussions about the function of culture, how it is viewed by the four classes, as well as a plethora of examples and vivid descriptions of plays, songs, and trends. This, of course, includes the banned and controversial ones!
• Popular sports and the games that people play, with guidelines on what skills or rolls are needed to win gracefully or lose stoically.
• The political climate as seen both through a 1613-1620 lens and a 1625 one, complete with descriptions of the important power players and what roles they might play in the player characters’ lives.
• A meaty chapter on Character Creation, including random tables for family history and what tales your parents and grandparents told you of their and Sun County’s past.
• A table of one hundred random NPC characters with brief descriptions and skills.
• Common, uncommon, and rare random event tables for adventure or encounter inspiration.
• New rules for Influence, Factions, and Politics. This enables the GM to easily track the player character’s social standing with various factions, both positive and negative.
• Guidelines for how to run a campaign set in both the classical age of 1613-20, as well as the current timeline of 1625.
• As if this isn’t enough, we have included optional customs and permit forms typical of the Sun County administration, with bureaucratic frustration guaranteed.

Welcome to the Land of the Sun, and may your stay be as entertaining as it is illuminating!

Life and Traditions under the Sun Dome  is available through DriveThruRPG in PDF.

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