GW Runequest, Advanced Runequest, and Land of Ninja: what makes them awesome?
Also, did GW do a Vikings book?
I remember seeing those, but I did not have them. However, I do have the Games Workshop Stormbringer 3rd edition and that game is awesome.
Why? For me, GW's Stormbringer 3rd captures the spirit of Moorcock's writing while making a brutal, extremely playable RPG. Its been my favorite Sword & Sorcery RPG.
Weren't the GW versions pretty much the same text as the Chaosium ones... only with GW art and a crappy hardback binding that fell apart the first time you opened it?
Quote from: Simlasa;886470Weren't the GW versions pretty much the same text as the Chaosium ones... only with GW art and a crappy hardback binding that fell apart the first time you opened it?
That is the case for
Stormbringer. (Not sure about the RQ stuff.)
Quote from: Simlasa;886470Weren't the GW versions pretty much the same text as the Chaosium ones... only with GW art and a crappy hardback binding that fell apart the first time you opened it?
Classic GW. Glad to hear it's worldwide, not just Poland.
GW RQ2 was awesome. GW RQ3, not so much.
QuoteOriginally Posted by Vile
GW RQ2 was awesome. GW RQ3, not so much.
Why? What was the difference?
QuoteOriginally Posted by Spinachcat
For me, GW's Stormbringer 3rd captures the spirit of Moorcock's writing while making a brutal, extremely playable RPG. Its been my favorite Sword & Sorcery RPG.
Spinach, do you use Stormbringer primarily for Young Kingdoms/Million Spheres, or do you use it for other S&S settings Hyboria/Throngor/homebrew/ or what have you?
Quote from: Matt;886436GW Runequest, Advanced Runequest, and Land of Ninja: what makes them awesome?
What made them awesome
at the time was that they were hardbacks and included full colour illustrations. In comparison to the AH box-set of paper booklets they were infinitely superior.
As for the quality of the binding, well it wasn't great. But only one of my set after many, many years of use has a split binding, and none of the pages has fallen out yet!
Breaking the RQ system away from Glorantha was an additional plus for many.
QuoteAlso, did GW do a Vikings book?
Sadly no. I would have bought it in a flash if they had.
Quote from: Pete Nash;886625What made them awesome at the time was that they were hardbacks and included full colour illustrations. In comparison to the AH box-set of paper booklets they were infinitely superior.
As for the quality of the binding, well it wasn't great. But only one of my set after many, many years of use has a split binding, and none of the pages has fallen out yet!
Breaking the RQ system away from Glorantha was an additional plus for many.
Sadly no. I would have bought it in a flash if they had.
Thanks for the information. Guess I need to track down Vikings in a non-hardcover.
By the way, my bindings have held up fine for nearly 30 years.
My Stormbringer's binding fell apart within the first year, but the pages have stayed in the book far better than my original Rogue Trader.
Quote from: Madprofessor;886619Spinach, do you use Stormbringer primarily for Young Kingdoms/Million Spheres, or do you use it for other S&S settings Hyboria/Throngor/homebrew/ or what have you?
Primarily Young Kingdoms.
I ran a campaign for years where Elric was on the throne, revitalizing Melnibone while Yrrkoon was exiled and wandering around with Mourneblade being an idiot.
I like the dimensional travel aspect of Moorcock, so depending on the group, I've had players who really wanted to avoid canon and go wandering to weird places and most of the campaign took place in the elsewhere.
Most of my Stormbringer players have only read some Moorcock, at best, they've read the core novels so I never had to deal with rabid canon junkies, especially since I almost always do some Alt-History so the players don't feel their future is pre-determined by the books.
A dozen years ago, I got invited to guest GM for a friend's group for a Stormbringer mini-campaign and I was pre-warned there was a canon junkie in the group (he canon junkies everything for every campaign) so we began the game on a merchant ship bringing tribute to Elric's parents who sadly lost their teen son to a sorcerous death and even sacrificing Elric's cousins to Arioch did not revive the child. Yeah, I pre-murdered everybody.
Quote from: Spinachcat;886456I remember seeing those, but I did not have them. However, I do have the Games Workshop Stormbringer 3rd edition and that game is awesome.
Why? For me, GW's Stormbringer 3rd captures the spirit of Moorcock's writing while making a brutal, extremely playable RPG. Its been my favorite Sword & Sorcery RPG.
People can nitpick about how accurate the magic is to the setting, but
Stormbringer is unquestionably one of the most fun fantasy RPGs ever. The second RPG I ever played after D&D was the first edition of
Stormbringer. After one session of that, I went fifteen years without playing D&D again.
Quote from: Spinachcat;886693My Stormbringer's binding fell apart within the first year, but the pages have stayed in the book far better than my original Rogue Trader.
The crappy binding on GWs books was so infuriating as so many of them were works of art. I remember my copy of
Realms of Chaos began shedding pages the first time I read it.
At least most of the Mongoose books I bought that fell apart looked like Mongoose books, so it was easier to take.
QuoteA dozen years ago, I got invited to guest GM for a friend's group for a Stormbringer mini-campaign and I was pre-warned there was a canon junkie in the group (he canon junkies everything for every campaign) so we began the game on a merchant ship bringing tribute to Elric's parents who sadly lost their teen son to a sorcerous death and even sacrificing Elric's cousins to Arioch did not revive the child. Yeah, I pre-murdered everybody.
I love it.
I know that there are some big pivotal events that take place in the Elric Saga, like the sacking of Melnibone and that thing where the whole world ended, but the books are mostly Elric off having adventures, and Moorcock is a writer that works mainly by gonzo imagination than having a meticulously crafted setting.
It just seems a weird setting to get all hung up about canon with. It's as if there were people out there that got obsessed with the canon of
Doctor Who, which is equally flying by the seat of its pants.
Quote from: Baulderstone;886738I know that there are some big pivotal events that take place in the Elric Saga, like the sacking of Melnibone and that thing where the whole world ended, but the books are mostly Elric off having adventures, and Moorcock is a writer that works mainly by gonzo imagination than having a meticulously crafted setting.
I like Moorcock, and I agree on the gonzo, but I wouldn't say his settings are "meticulously crafted." They are often visually gripping, frequently on the edge of change or failure, and nearly always a bit baroque in depiction. But the designs always seemed a bit slapdash to me and not something that one should expect to stand up to detailed examination or scrutiny. Moorcock seems all about unique and visually compelling images like an aerial duel in a smoky sky between Guardians with Flame Lances mounted on giant pink flying flamingos vs. ornate metal beast-shaped ornithopters or a dark sailed ice ship gliding across a vast twilit world of frozen seas lit by a dying red sun. When I think of meticulously crafted settings I think of authors who consciously created detailed and consistent* settings e.g. Tolkien or C. J. Cherryh.
* Consistent within their area of interest and expertise. Tolkien was hell on wheels with languages, but I don't think plausible economics or demographics were really his forte.
Quote from: Bren;886751I like Moorcock, and I agree on the gonzo, but I wouldn't say his settings are "meticulously crafted." They are often visually gripping, frequently on the edge of change or failure, and nearly always a bit baroque in depiction. But the designs always seemed a bit slapdash to me and not something that one should expect to stand up to detailed examination or scrutiny. Moorcock seems all about unique and visually compelling images like an aerial duel in a smoky sky between Guardians with Flame Lances mounted on giant pink flying flamingos vs. ornate metal beast-shaped ornithopters or a dark sailed ice ship gliding across a vast twilit world of frozen seas lit by a dying red sun. When I think of meticulously crafted settings I think of authors who consciously created detailed and consistent* settings e.g. Tolkien or C. J. Cherryh.
* Consistent within their area of interest and expertise. Tolkien was hell on wheels with languages, but I don't think plausible economics or demographics were really his forte.
I worded my last sentence a bit poorly. I meant that they relied more on raw imagination than being meticulously crafted. I wasn't actually saying they were meticulously crafted.
Quote from: Baulderstone;886771I worded my last sentence a bit poorly. I meant that they relied more on raw imagination than being meticulously crafted. I wasn't actually saying they were meticulously crafted.
No. What your wrote was clear. I just totally misread what you wrote. I somehow read "than" as "and." My bad. :duh:
My Chaosium 1st ed. (perfect-bound) Stormbringer also fell apart very quickly, but I reckon that's less disappointing than a more costly hardback. (The hardbound Chaosium RQ2 was excellent, though. The name of the press/bindery was in it, so game publishers in search of quality could have looked it up.)
Quote from: Matt;886436Also, did GW do a Vikings book?
Nope. The other two hardcovers were Monsters and Griffin Island.
And Land of Ninja.