The Stafford House Campaign - PDF

Chaosium Archival Collection Vol. 1: The Stafford House Campaign, is a collection of essays penned by legendary game designer and Chaosium founder Greg Stafford, between 1978 and 1981.

“...we are fortunate that Greg kept notes of what went on, and often recorded player and player character information [...] We hope to uncover more such documents over time.”

— Rick Meints, President of Chaosium

Greg Stafford’s RuneQuest house campaign has a kind of legendary status among fans of the game. Many of the original RuneQuest playtesters took part in it, which was hosted either at the Stafford home on Evelyn Avenue in Berkeley, or the first Chaosium office nearby.

The extensive notes compiled across this volume give unparalleled insight into the birth of RuneQuest, as seen through the eyes of the architect of Glorantha himself.

“I certainly do not expect most people to set a RuneQuest campaign in my fantasy, but I figure if someone does want to then this ought to be the starting place.”

— Dragon's Past #1

The earliest editions of RuneQuest, the tabletop roleplaying game set in the world of Greg Stafford’s Glorantha, contained very little information on the setting itself—especially considering the depth of the setting we know today!

It was across the 10 essays that comprise Dragon’s Past that Greg Stafford first set out to expound on the world of Glorantha for RuneQuest, compiled in this archival volume for the very first time.

“There have been occasions when I dropped all the clues I thought necessary for the players to have gotten the message. Sometimes they don't, and I am aware that it is a situation which the characters would recognize, but the players don't. What to do short of telling them? I have them roll their SPOT OBVIOUS ROLL.”

— Son of Sartar #1

The collection of four essays entitled Son of Sartar explores early iterations of rules and setting information of the now fabled Kingdom of Sartar. Alongside are conversations, rebuttals, and thoughtful debate from a range of Amateur Press Association (APA) publication contributors, giving further insight into Greg Stafford’s creative mind.

“Temertain, Grey Sage of the Lhankor Mhy, lately of Seapolis, has been brutally murdered in the sanctity of his own quarters. The attack occurred on Water Day, Death Week: the Humakti holy day. The murderers were a band of fanatical Sartar Humakti loyalists intent upon preserving the potential independence of their land.”

— Pharaoh’s Gazette #3

The first volume of this archival collection concludes with the never-before published Pharaoh’s Gazette’s 1-3, which are in-world documents from the Holy Country. Excellent artifacts for RuneQuest and Glorantha historians, these documents can also serve as story seeds and player handouts for your tabletop games—some 40 years after they were first penned!