This month marks the seventh anniversary of Greg Stafford's passing, and we are pleased to announce William "Bud" Baird as the 2025 award winner.
Bud sadly passed away earlier this year, after a short illness.
On his popular Bud's RPG Review YouTube Channel, Bud enjoyed taking on esoteric, complex, or little-known topics, presenting the lore clearly and approachably. Bud particularly enjoyed doing deep dives into Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha: indeed, his final video, released in July, was a "Bud Explains" about the Gloranthan god Nysalor:
Other Gloranthan topics Bud comprehensively covered included The God Learners, The Lightbringers, The Uz, Illumination, The Red Goddess, the Seven Mothers, and the Lunar Empire, and The Lightbringers' Quest. These were in addition to his various reviews of RuneQuest and RunQuest-related titles.
Bud was in close contact with Chaosium with his ideas for more such videos on Gloranthan topics, and had plans to release various other presentations on his channel over the coming year.
"Bud's sudden passing leaves a big hole in the gaming community and he will be sorely missed. His videos will live on though, and their timeless quality means he will continue to inform, inspire, and entertain Gloranthan gamers for many years to come", said Chaosium vice president Michael O'Brien.
On being notified about the award Bud's wife Claire said:
"As a family the girls and I are honoured to receive the Greg Stafford Memorial Award for Glorantha Fandom on behalf of Bud. We are so proud of him for his successes. He put in a huge amount of time and effort to share his passion with others. In return the love, support and respect the gaming community has shown him over the years has enabled him to achieve many lifelong dreams and cultivate friendships all around the world. I know he would be incredibly happy and pleased to be recognised with this award."
Previous recipients of the Greg Stafford Memorial Award for Gloranthan Fandom are:
- Lev Lafayette (2018), the driving force behind successfully bringing back RQ Con Down Under after a hiatus of twenty years.
- Martin Helsdon (2019), author of the monumental fan work The Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass, based on Greg's writings.
- Nick Brooke (2020), for his passionate advocacy of the Jonstown Compendium, Chaosium's community content platform for Glorantha on DriveThruRPG.
- Katrin Dirim (2021), for her vibrant Gloranthan art, inspired by art styles from antiquity and the middle ages and capturing the essence of mythology.
- Andrew Logan Montgomery (2022), creator of the critically acclaimed and bestselling Six Seasons in Sartar trilogy in the Jonstown Compendium.
- Mark Smylie (2023), artist whose beautifully-detailed artwork has brought Jonstown Compendium authors’ imagined Gloranthan scenes vividly to life.
- David Hall, Kevin Jacklin, Dan Barker, and David Cheng (2024) for reviving the epic 50 player freeform game Home of the Bold at Chaosium Con in Ann Arbor in April after a hiatus of 24 years, opening the experience to a brand new audience of gamers.
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