Description: Snakepipe Hollow Runequest sourcebook. “A High Level Scenario Pack by Greg Stafford and Rudy Kraft”. Catalog no. 4007. 1981 2nd edition. Pristine condition. Cover tight, staples fully attached, pages clean, no marks or writing on pages. See below for a full description of contents. I was in Greg Stafford’s play-testing group from the early days of Chaosium in Berkeley/Albany CA. I have attempted to price this at fair value, considering the condition, rarity and provenance (belonging to an early member of Greg’s gaming group). I will entertain ALL reasonable offers! Any FULL ASKING PRICE offers (not accepted Best Offers below original asking price) will include a complete Chaosium Print Catalog from 1982. See pictures for actual condition. I use high-quality close-up photos so you can see exactly what you are getting. You will receive the items(s) pictured. I do not use stock photos. The lion’s share of the books I list are from my personal collection amassed over the past 45+ years. All are bagged and boarded. All have been stored in a climate-controlled, smoke-free environment. Please check my other listings. I have many more books, graded/slabbed and raw, with more being added weekly. I run auctions starting/ending on (some) Saturdays. See my 100% Positive feedback and bid with confidence. I will combine shipping! Item(s) will be securely packaged and shipped with tracking. I will combine shipping! I will send your items out within 48 hours if not sooner. I Love my International buyers! eBay program used to ship across borders. Shipping prices have gone up I know. I price items at about what it costs me to send. Any small overage goes towards supplies. Coming up, I have a large selection of collectibles, games, RGP supplies, electronics, etc. I am also offering a number of early and recent comics, DC and Marvel mostly; Spider-Man, X-Men and many other comics and related items, with more being added regularly. Please check my other listings; I will absolutely combine shipping and/or discount overages if multiple lots are purchased at same time. Local pickup also available in Metro Richmond area. I have been a comic and book collector since the 1970’s. I use my years of experience to assist in grading. I reference the grading scale based on Overstreet and Heritage standards. Any questions please ask. Check out my 100% Positive Feedback and bid with confidence! Thanks for looking! -- Wiki Description; Snakepipe Hollow is an adventure published by Chaosium in 1979 for the fantasy role-playing game RuneQuest, then revised and republished in various editions. Plot summary Snakepipe Hollow is set in a section of unclaimed land in the northern part of Dragon Pass beset by many monsters. The adventure is divided into four parts: A description of the region Possible story hooks to bring the player characters to this region The first part of the scenario The climax of the scenario in the Chaos Caves. Publication history Chaosium published the fantasy role-playing game RuneQuest in 1978, and quickly followed up with a number of supplements and adventures. One of these was Snakepipe Hollow, a 48-page softcover book with a yellow cover written by Greg Stafford and Rudy Kraft, with interior art by Luise Perenne and cover art by William Church.[2] It was published by Chaosium in 1979. That same year, Judges Guild published their first licensed RuneQuest adventure, Broken Tree Inn by Rudy Kraft, which used material from Snakepipe Hollow, although all references to Chaosium's setting of Glorantha were removed. As Chaosium updated and revised RuneQuest, Snakepipe Hollow was likewise updated for the new set of rules and re-released a number of times, including a second edition in 1981 with a green cover, and a third edition in 1983 with a four-color cover. In order to increase distribution and marketing of RuneQuest, Chaosium made a deal with Avalon Hill in 1984 to publish a third edition of the role-playing game. Avalon Hill subsequently published a fourth edition of Snakepipe Hollow in 1988, a 60-page book re-titled Snake Pipe Hollow (three separate words) with a brown cover by Steve Purcell, cartography by Caroline Schultz-Savoy, and illustrations by Taylor Overbey. Reception In the inaugural issue of Games International, Philip A. Murphy reviewed the fourth edition of Snake Pipe Hollow published by Avalon Hill, and complimented the production values, calling the book "attractively produced." He called the adventure "something of a throwback to the late 70's, being a true dungeon hack-and-slay job" but liked its "completeness, thought provoking problems and the sheer fun of it all." However, Murphy took issue with the excessive challenge of some of the encounters, pointing out that while some of the combats were relatively easy, others would challenge even the highest level characters. Murphy pointed out that the only way to survive was for characters to intensively role-play with the local non-player characters first to garner as much information about potential encounters so that they would know when to "Run away! RUN AWAY!" For this reason, Murphy gave the adventure a poor rating of only 2 stars out of 5, reasoning that "Unfortunately, players who go in for hack-and-slay in a big way are the least likely to 'fritter away hard-earned coin on old men with grey beards using big words'..." In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted that this adventure introduces new players to the mythology and history of Glorantha, saying, "Once the scenario is finished, players come away with a significant understanding of how Glorantha works and how they fit into a world where myth is real and ever-present. Snakepipe Hollow is an adventure, but it is also a teaching tool for future RuneQuest games. Few modern adventures can claim to transmit this much world lore to players while still providing a ripping fun time." — Snake Pipe Hollow was one of the earliest adventures of RuneQuest which is both extremely dangerous and evocative. Four printings were made; the first has a "just awful" piece of cover art featuring a giant snake, the second an excellent two-tone walktapus, the third a gloomy cartoon broo, and in the final incarnation, published by Avalon Hill, a more realist broo. The text in the four printings does not change substantially. The most significant difference is in the final edition where the stats are updated to RQ 3rd edition, a digest and full-map of the caverns is included. The AH version also includes more (and better) interior art, a more readable serif font, better layout and, several pages of notes for owners of the "Standard" RuneQuest rules, rather than the Deluxe rules. The setting is Glorantha, and the background to the formation of the Hollow is inspiring; in a great battle against a chaotic army, mortal mages caused a plain to collapse upon itself, sinking into the ground and trapping much of the horde. Somewhere within the hollow is the "Snake Pipe", a magical artifact from an earth temple that was on the location before the sinking. Within the area are Dragonnewt plinths, an ogre temple, a giant's table, and a waterfall where elves, trolls and ogres often fight each other. Multiple reasons for entering the Hollow are provided; a smithy needs some magical sea metal, some young healers need their priestess rescued, a knowledge cult wasnt fossils, an alchemist is wants the eggs of a scorpian man. Others simply venture to destory chaotic monsters and steal their stuff. These adventures are all based around entering caverns which pock the cliffs of the Hollow; only one of many is described in detail, but that alone takes up the bulk of the book. Each location in the cavern is described in a common format; initial die rolls (for random events, or the location of particular denizens), first glance (including rock strata type, which adds to "this place is a sunk plain" feel), closer looks, exits, search (random chance of "found objects"), traps, denizens, treasure and miscellaneous notes. It's not a bad way of doing things, although sometimes the die rolls give the impression of being on a randomly generated dungeon crawl. There are fifty-four cavern locations so described. The caverns themsleves are an appropriate chaotic melange; irregular shapes, pools and underground streams, the sunken and broken remains of the temple, and a very unnatural winding snake-like passage. Sentient denizens include a potentially helpful giant turtle, a narcisstic giant, broos, ogres and scorpian men. On the less-than-sentient column are a variety of dragonsnails, worms, gorps, and other lumps of dangerous goo. In a parallel reality are a number of spirits from the old temple, their blind and deaf veralzi assistants, and two very malignant and very dangerous giant disembodied hands. One of the great strengths of the module is that it manages to include these denizens within proximity to each other in a manner that makes some sense and is written as such into the scenario. If a party is so inclined they can even start playing one chaotic faction off against another in their attempts to completing one or more of the several scenario leads. There are multiple potential stories here, and the situation as presented is quite dynamic. This said, Snake Pipe Hollow is very dangerous. Many of the denizens and even some of the traps are quite capable of slaying a character without even thinking of breaking a sweat, such is their strength, magic, or both. Indeed, there are a couple of opponents which are, quite deliberately, impossible to defeat. Great caution, a small mountain of protective magics, and enormous levels of diplomacy when confronted by anything that might even tend towards a neutral reaction is highly recommended. It does however suffer a common problem in RQ; for some parties this will prove to be impossibly difficult - for a few very powerful others, they'll clear the place without trouble. Sample characters would have been very helpful to guide a GM in making the choice on when to apply this setting. Snake Pipe Hollow is more than a very tough dungeon-crawl, as it comes with the added bonus of multiple scenario objectives, a dynamic setting and many delightfully weird characters and locations. When it was first published, in 1979, it could have been considered quite possibly the best adventure available on the market. However, over the multiplicity of printings very little was done to improve or expand the scenario and setting; the RQ3 edition is virtually identitical to the three RQ2 printings. It would have been very nice to see expansion to the wilderness setting and perhaps even some of the minor caverns. Overall however, this is an above average product, both in terms of the writing, the setting, the story and presentation.
Price: 59 USD
Location: Midlothian, Virginia
End Time: 2024-08-24T00:20:14.000Z
Shipping Cost: 4.5 USD
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All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Year: 1981
