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Author Topic: Games Workshop Runequest  (Read 2163 times)

Matt

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« on: March 21, 2016, 08:27:54 PM »
GW Runequest, Advanced Runequest, and Land of Ninja: what makes them awesome?

Also, did GW do a Vikings  book?

Spinachcat

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« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2016, 10:39:49 PM »
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.

Simlasa

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« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2016, 11:17:06 PM »
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?

Akrasia

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« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2016, 11:32:03 PM »
Quote from: Simlasa;886470
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?


That is the case for Stormbringer.  (Not sure about the RQ stuff.)
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Rincewind1

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« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2016, 10:27:34 AM »
Quote from: Simlasa;886470
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?


Classic GW. Glad to hear it's worldwide, not just Poland.
Furthermore, I consider that  This is Why We Don't Like You thread should be closed

Vile Traveller

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« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2016, 11:59:35 AM »
GW RQ2 was awesome. GW RQ3, not so much.

Madprofessor

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« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2016, 12:11:40 PM »
Quote
Originally Posted by Vile

GW RQ2 was awesome. GW RQ3, not so much.


Why? What was the difference?

Quote
Originally 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?

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« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2016, 12:33:35 PM »
Quote from: Matt;886436
GW 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.

Quote
Also, did GW do a Vikings  book?

Sadly no. I would have bought it in a flash if they had.
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Matt

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« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2016, 03:00:20 PM »
Quote from: Pete Nash;886625
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.


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.

Spinachcat

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« Reply #9 on: March 22, 2016, 04:31:44 PM »
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;886619
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?


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.

Baulderstone

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« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2016, 08:15:56 PM »
Quote from: Spinachcat;886456
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.


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;886693
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.


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.

Quote
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.


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.

Bren

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« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2016, 09:05:34 PM »
Quote from: Baulderstone;886738
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.
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.
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Baulderstone

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« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2016, 10:30:25 PM »
Quote from: Bren;886751
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.


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.

Bren

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« Reply #13 on: March 23, 2016, 03:03:56 PM »
Quote from: Baulderstone;886771
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.
No. What your wrote was clear. I just totally misread what you wrote. I somehow read "than" as "and." My bad. :duh:
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Phillip
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« Reply #14 on: March 23, 2016, 03:32:33 PM »
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.)
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