Maybe a little more crunch, and a little more bookkeeping compared with Elric!. (Elric also had the Major Wound table, which an abstraction of hit locations).

Quote from: K Peterson;634830Maybe a little more crunch, and a little more bookkeeping compared with Elric!. (Elric also had the Major Wound table, which an abstraction of hit locations).

The Stormbringer i played had the major wound chart too. I have no idea what edition it was other than i won it in a White Dwarf competition back in about '86 or '87.

Quote from: smiorgan;634789...
Mongoose EoM is a different beast entirely. TBH I've hardly read the books as they are so badly laid out. Hawkmoon is better with (I think) a more coherent magic system. I think I'll have another look this evening.
...
For magic - I prefer Elric!/SB5e with the Bronze Grimoire supplement.
For combat - the same, though it won't have the fancy manouvers of MRQ2/Legend/RQ6.

Note that Hawkmoon and 1e EoM are MRQ 1st edition, which wasn't highly thought of.

MRQII is a different -- vastly superior -- beast than MRQI.  (And, as already noted, it's pretty much identical to Legend.)  RQ6 even more superior.

The Elric books for MRQII are excellent.  They nail the setting better than any other version IMO.

The magic system consists of (a) dream magic, (b) rune magic, (c) sorcery (summoning demons and elementals), and (d) spirit magic.  Characters also can gains special powers via pacts and as members of cults.

I think that the magic system for the MRQII version of EoM is as evocative as that found in the Bronze Grimoire (if not more so).

Quote from: danbuter;634776Of those listed, "Elric!" is easily the best.

A few years ago I would've agreed with you.

However, I've since played in an campaign using the Elric of Melnibone books for MRQII (some playtesting of RQ6 towards the end).

It was, hands down, the best fantasy campaign in which I've played in recent years.

And MRQII + EoM nailed the setting even better than Elric!.

(Campaign notes + partial log in my sig.)

Quote from: One Horse Town;634779I played Chaosium Stormbringer - which basically amounted to 'be a sorcerer and win.'

Summoned demons were outrageous.

Does the new Elric tackle this?

There are a wider variety of forms of magical power in the 'new' Elric (by which I assume you are referring to the MRQII/Legend version, not Elric!).

Sorcerers can cast 'spells' by using rune magic.  My sorcerer PC relied on runes exclusively.

Less cautious sorcerers can summon demons or elementals.  They are powerful, but risky.

Dream magic is an entirely different form of magic, available only to dream thieves.  It's not 'powerful' in any traditional sense (e.g., it has no 'combat' applications), but allows for all kinds of great campaign and role-playing opportunities.

Any PC can enter a cult or swear a pact and gain special powers that way (assuming that the opportunity to do so arises during the campaign).  Another character in my 'Young Kingdoms' campaign (my PC's half-brother, actually) entered into a pact with Arioch.  He was a pure warrior (no sorcery, etc.), but gained benefits that way (which never were revealed to the other players, alas).

In short, I think that the MRQII/Legend version of Elric not only opens up the range of kinds of magic-users available as PCs (not just sorcerers, but dream thieves, shamans, etc., as well), it does a better job than the Chaosium versions in making non-sorcerers effective PCs.

Quote from: One Horse Town;634850The Stormbringer i played had the major wound chart too. I have no idea what edition it was other than i won it in a White Dwarf competition back in about '86 or '87.

It probably was 3e, the version published by Games Workshop.

The differences between 1e, 2e, and 3e are negligible.

Quote from: Akrasia;634857There are a wider variety of forms of magical power in the 'new' Elric (by which I assume you are referring to the MRQII/Legend version, not Elric!).

Sorcerers can cast 'spells' by using rune magic.  My sorcerer PC relied on runes exclusively.

Less cautious sorcerers can summon demons or elementals.  They are powerful, but risky.

Dream magic is an entirely different form of magic, available only to dream thieves.  It's not 'powerful' in any traditional sense (e.g., it has no 'combat' applications), but allows for all kinds of great campaign and role-playing opportunities.

Any PC can enter a cult or swear a pact and gain special powers that way (assuming that the opportunity to do so arises during the campaign).  Another character in my 'Young Kingdoms' campaign (my PC's half-brother, actually) entered into a pact with Arioch.  He was a pure warrior (no sorcery, etc.), but gained benefits that way (which never were revealed to the other players, alas).

In short, I think that the MRQII/Legend version of Elric not only opens up the range of kinds of magic-users available as PCs (not just sorcerers, but dream thieves, shamans, etc., as well), it does a better job than the Chaosium versions in making non-sorcerers effective PCs.

Cool. I might pick up Legend & Elric of Melnibone then.

Looking at the Mongoose site, they also have Cults of the Young Kingdoms listed for the newest edition. Any idea whether that's worth the extra coinage?

Quote from: One Horse Town;634861Cool. I might pick up Legend & Elric of Melnibone then.

Looking at the Mongoose site, they also have Cults of the Young Kingdoms listed for the newest edition. Any idea whether that's worth the extra coinage?

I think that it's very good.  But you may want to check out EoM first, as it includes a few cults.  If you would like to see more, then CoYK is worth it.

Quote from: danbuter;634776Of those listed, "Elric!" is easily the best.

Elric! rocks, yeah.

Quote from: The Ent;634873Elric! rocks, yeah.

I was very fortunate to have a friend who was a huge fan of the books, and happens to be a great gm. So I got to play some long running Elric games, and it was awesome.

One player loved to yell out "Blood and souls for my lord Arioch!" as he went into battle.


I have always considered the CoC/Elric game mechanics to be excellent.
Sure, might be a few hiccups, but overall they work for me.

Quote from: Akrasia;634851MRQII is a different -- vastly superior -- beast than MRQI.  (And, as already noted, it's pretty much identical to Legend.)  RQ6 even more superior.

The Elric books for MRQII are excellent.  They nail the setting better than any other version IMO.

The magic system consists of (a) dream magic, (b) rune magic, (c) sorcery (summoning demons and elementals), and (d) spirit magic.  Characters also can gains special powers via pacts and as members of cults.

I think that the magic system for the MRQII version of EoM is as evocative as that found in the Bronze Grimoire (if not more so).

Good to know. I only have a MRQ1e books as you can guess. I do think they're great for content, but the layout has been a big barrier. I do own the MRQ2 HB and it's like it's been produced by a different company. If the 2e Elric is that quality, then I expect I'd respond positively.

Also I think what the Bronze Grimoire manages is to present several distinct kinds of magic clearly, which is why it succeeds. But I don't really like the point-and-click spells of the latter-era Stormbringer. Runes + Demons sounds like a good system, even harking back to the spirit of the early SB editions.

Quote from: One Horse Town;634477What's compatible with what?

It all depends on what you mean by compatible.

At their core, you roll 1D100 and try to roll below a skill. In that sense they are all compatible.

Some of these games use Hit Locations, some do not. To me, this is a different measure of compatibility, as it means you have to introduce hit locations or scrap them to suit your game.

Chaosium's Elric and Hawkmoon games do not use Hit Locations, so are compatible with each other but not so compatible with the other games.

Mongoose's Elric and Hawkmoon, however, use hit locations and are therefore more compatible with the other games.

Mongoose's Elric and Hawkmoon are based on MRQ1, or maybe they were reskinned for MRQ2 I can't remember. Both Legend and RuneQuest 6 are based on MRQ2. So, Mongoose's Elric, Hawkmoon and MRQ2 should be very compatible. Legend is very compatible with MRQ2 and RuneQuest 6 is fairly compatible with MRQ2.

You can certainly use NPCs from each of these in any of the others without any real problems. Magic might be a bit trickier, as each setting has its own magic rules. RuneQuest 6 is probably the least compatible magic-wise as it has changed magic quite a bit.

Wow. Picked up the Legend pdf for 75 cents!

Liking what i'm seeing and will probably get the print version in the near future.

Quote from: One Horse Town;635234Wow. Picked up the Legend pdf for 75 cents!

This... this is an outrage. I paid a dollar.

But seriously, if you want a hard copy you have 3 options:

• Legend is in digest format (my preference)
• MRQII should be exactly the same, and can be had cheaply (think I got mine via Amazon.co.uk, where the price was less than postage). From what I can see the rules are identical.
• RQ6 is an evolved version of MRQ2, AFAIK.

Quote from: One Horse Town;635234Wow. Picked up the Legend pdf for 75 cents!

Liking what i'm seeing and will probably get the print version in the near future.

If you like what you see in Legend, RQ6 will totally blow you away.