King of Sartar was, for me at least, the breakthrough book into understanding Glorantha and was (and still is) the foundational source for the Hero Wars. It also was a remarkable piece of experimental fiction – a collection of documents and sources written for the most part decades, even generations, after the events they describe and assembled many centuries later by scholars trying to make sense of the Hero Wars.
King of Sartar was the inspiration for the computer game King of Dragon Pass, for Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes and Sartar Companion, as well as for the new Hero Wars era material being written for HeroQuest Glorantha and 13th Age Glorantha. It is also the primary source for the web comic Prince of Sartar. It is essential reading for any Glorantha-phile.
Unfortunately, King of Sartar (the Purple Edition) went of print shortly after it went on sale in 1992.
But fortunately, now in 2015 we have put together a new, revised and fully annotated version of King of Sartar. In hardcover. If you don’t own King of Sartar, just go to the store and pre-order a copy. Do it. Now.
So you might ask: I bought King of Sartar back in the 90s. I love it, but why should I buy the annotated, revised version?
Glad you asked.
- First, the annotated, revised edition is hardback and won’t fall apart like the old Purple Edition. I’ve got three copies, and two are held together by rubber bands. But the New Edition will last.
- Second, there’s a lot of little additions Greg and I put into the New Edition. 23 years worth of red annotations, including the actual dates of the events described in Argrath’s Saga, the Sacred Kings’s List and more. The annotations of the Sacred Kings List are particularly useful. There’s also lots of little details that Greg and I added so that the book is more useful as a resource. And also to make things make more sense.
- Third, we added the Lost Chapter. That’s the chapter of the Comprehensive History of Dragon Pass that tells things from Fazzur’s perspective.
- Fourth, the maps and the charts have all been redone, as has the index. The book simply looks better and it contains more information.
Honestly, if you liked the original King of Sartar, you’ll simply NEED the New Edition! So now to our store and pre-order your copy (you get the PDF now if you do). Here’s that link again: King of Sartar