Great RQ talk in this thread so far. Getting much inspiration.

Quote from: TristramEvans;721011Duhhhhh, who else? I dont come on forums to post other people's opinions.

Well, you should.  From now on you should ask me my opinion and then repeat it.

Quote from: Bill;721323How does RQ6 compare to Elric and COC (the two I played quite a lot years ago)

Is it a refinement or a drastic alteration?

it refines the basic system then adds elements to chargen and combat system, so its more robust of a medieval combat game than  Basic system. It ises fighting styles which provide familiarity with a number of weapons and techniques, and it expands on a characters backgrou d during chargen, among other things, but everything added os very simple and streamlined while providing a very specific connection to the gameworld and allowing a lot of tactical options in combat, but still freeform enough that they encourage rather than getting in the way of creativity.

Like Tristram said, the combat system adds a lot of (optional) crunch, but it doesn't get in the way. In my experience, it tends to make combat more tactical but less lethal, with a lot of options to disarm, knock prone, force surrender etc. Combats are often swift and decisive, but actually less lethal than they were in previous RQ. Big difference with CoC and Elric, as far as I can tell, is the classic RuneQuest use of the hit location table. Again, one good crippling hit can have a combatant out of action without necessarily killing him.

The other really big difference is the magic system. Elric/Stormbringer systems tended to concentrate on summoning demons and elementals, very much in keeping with the source literature. Though the Bronze Grimoire also includes rules for sorcery and rune magic, which were not bad. RQ6 has five magic disciplines: Folk Magic, which covers the minor cantrips of hedge wizards and, if desired, the little magical short-cuts ordinary people use in daily life, Animism to cover shamanic spirit-summoning (or demonology, capturing djinns, making deals with fae .... whatever you want!), Sorcery for academic world-altering highly-adaptible spell-work, Theism for dealing with deities, and Mysticism for meditation-garnered inner powers of augmentation and superhuman feats.

The classy thing is that all of these can be adapted, limited, used or not used, combined together in a magical ecology of your own design to make innumerable magical cults, fellowships, colleges, etc. Most of these tend to be quite narrowly focussed (each grimoire or school of sorcery for example only giving access to a thematic set of spells learned in order). But a magician, through quests and discovery, can eventually learn different schools of magic, and casters often have Folk Magic as apprentice spells before going on to a higher discipline.

The options for the way that magic points can be regained scream plot-hooks: sacrifice of animals or sentient beings, tapping magical locations -standing stones, leylines etc - consuming certain narcotics, worship (of a god, or of yourself!), consuming quested after minerals or metals, meditation, singing and dancing, capturing spirits ... And all can apply to different types of casters in different proportions. Seriously, just putting together your magic economy/ecology in RQ6 is a very exciting piece of world-building ...

Quote from: markfitz;721505Like Tristram said, the combat system adds a lot of (optional) crunch, but it doesn't get in the way. In my experience, it tends to make combat more tactical but less lethal, with a lot of options to disarm, knock prone, force surrender etc. Combats are often swift and decisive, but actually less lethal than they were in previous RQ. Big difference with CoC and Elric, as far as I can tell, is the classic RuneQuest use of the hit location table. Again, one good crippling hit can have a combatant out of action without necessarily killing him.

The other really big difference is the magic system. Elric/Stormbringer systems tended to concentrate on summoning demons and elementals, very much in keeping with the source literature. Though the Bronze Grimoire also includes rules for sorcery and rune magic, which were not bad. RQ6 has five magic disciplines: Folk Magic, which covers the minor cantrips of hedge wizards and, if desired, the little magical short-cuts ordinary people use in daily life, Animism to cover shamanic spirit-summoning (or demonology, capturing djinns, making deals with fae .... whatever you want!), Sorcery for academic world-altering highly-adaptible spell-work, Theism for dealing with deities, and Mysticism for meditation-garnered inner powers of augmentation and superhuman feats.

The classy thing is that all of these can be adapted, limited, used or not used, combined together in a magical ecology of your own design to make innumerable magical cults, fellowships, colleges, etc. Most of these tend to be quite narrowly focussed (each grimoire or school of sorcery for example only giving access to a thematic set of spells learned in order). But a magician, through quests and discovery, can eventually learn different schools of magic, and casters often have Folk Magic as apprentice spells before going on to a higher discipline.

The options for the way that magic points can be regained scream plot-hooks: sacrifice of animals or sentient beings, tapping magical locations -standing stones, leylines etc - consuming certain narcotics, worship (of a god, or of yourself!), consuming quested after minerals or metals, meditation, singing and dancing, capturing spirits ... And all can apply to different types of casters in different proportions. Seriously, just putting together your magic economy/ecology in RQ6 is a very exciting piece of world-building ...

This is what makes RQ6 stand above so many other games out there.  The potential variation in flavour really quite thrilling.  I really do encourage anyone who has previously written RQ off (not looking at anyone in particular. ) to look at it all over again with fresh eyes.  Go on, you know you want to...

Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;721370You could think of both Stormbringer/Elric and CoC as branches of the RQ system that were simplified to better suit the genre they focused on.  RQ6 isn't really a refinement or alteration of either one of those, but more like a development of the main RQ system.  And it's quite a bit crunchier than either Elric! or CoC.

One could say it's crunchier than RQIII, too, but I think that's a bit misleading, because while there are a lot of options and things to do in RQ6 combat, the game play is pretty straightforward.  And the system feels cohesive, probably because of things like consolidating dodge into parry, and re-doing the skills (and elements like combat styles), and excising the resistance table, et cetera.

Sounds good; the dodge and parry mechanics and 'missing' skills were two of the minor issues I had with Elric and CoC. I should take a look at RQ6.

Thanks to everyone for all the info about RQ6; much appreciated!

Quote from: Bill;721889Thanks to everyone for all the info about RQ6; much appreciated!

Any game more complicated than Basic D&D has fans who say "It plays simpler then it reads.", even Phoenix Command.

With RQ6 it is really true.

The only caveat is that the magic system is more of a magic system toolkit in that it *might* be too generic for a specific world and need some tuning up.  Also using characters with all the magic types at once might be a bit much.  Other then that though, the thing's a well-oiled machine.

Totally agree, but for me the "tuning up of the magic system" is actually one of the most fun parts of the whole thing. In the campaign I'm planning, I'm considering having users of each kind of magic sort of be the point of the whole thing, with different (and contradictory) ways of interacting with the world's magic be a fundamental part of what's going on .... It's true though that it's the one thing about the system where you really need to get your head around a few complex mechanics. Particularly Animism, for some reason. That one's not quite simple. But a campaign with a spirit-summoning druid, a chosen champion of one of the old gods, a mystical warrior with mighty battle feats, a student of forbidden sorcerous tomes, and a hedge-witch for good measure? Hell yeah. The great thing about RQ is that those characters can also be, respectively, a wandering bard, a village blacksmith, a backwoods hunter, a roving scholar, and a brigand outlaw at the same time!