Quote from: consolcwby on November 23, 2020, 10:33:19 PM
There was even a computer game* back in the 90s that was quite... strategic and narrative-based, like Civilization's tech tree and city management crossed with a Choose Your Own Adventure. Forgot the name of it though*...
And the DUCKS!

You can dip your toe into Glorantha here, if YOU DARE! https://www.glorantha.com/


EDIT: Oops, never mind- I found it! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Dragon_Pass

There's also a sequel called Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind.

There's a decent chance I was that kid

Quote from: markmohrfield on November 23, 2020, 10:55:06 PMYou've gotten things mixed up here. RQ3 was the edition that tried to separate the rules from Glorantha.

I could be wrong, but I remember there were 2 versions of RQ 3e. The first box set for RQ 3e had Glorantha as the default setting packed with canon lore. That's what split our group into Glorantha fans vs. not-fans.

A couple years later I remember a RQ 3e that was a systems book that was setting neutral and I remember that existing because of some legal issue between Stafford & Chaosium.

But it was 3 decades ago, so I could be wrong.

Quote from: Spinachcat on November 23, 2020, 11:18:49 PM

Quote from: markmohrfield on November 23, 2020, 10:55:06 PMYou've gotten things mixed up here. RQ3 was the edition that tried to separate the rules from Glorantha.

I could be wrong, but I remember there were 2 versions of RQ 3e. The first box set for RQ 3e had Glorantha as the default setting packed with canon lore. That's what split our group into Glorantha fans vs. not-fans.

A couple years later I remember a RQ 3e that was a systems book that was setting neutral and I remember that existing because of some legal issue between Stafford & Chaosium.

But it was 3 decades ago, so I could be wrong.

While there were various boxed versions of RQ3 (Deluxe, Player's box, GM's box, Standard box) none used Glorantha as a default setting. The closest it came to doing so was including a short Glorantha booklet in the Deluxe and GM's edition. Eventually, AH released all the material in the Deluxe edition box in a single volume book.

Was there a later box set in the RQ2e cycle that was heavily Glorantha? I know there were lots of Glorantha supplements available, but we didn't use much of those in our RQ 2e play.

Here's what I remember.

For years we played RQ2e (greek warrior chick with crushed shield vs. troll lizard thing on the cover) and it had Apple Lane and a NPC monster pamphlet inside. That core book had a sprinkling of Glorantha lore - just enough to have lots of fun, nothing that caused canon wank.

Then, something that I assume was RQ3e came out and that had lots of Glorantha specific lore and soon thereafter, the group had Glorantha fans vs. non-fans and I wandered into the Stormbringer RPG and didn't look back.

There was only one version of the RQ2 rulebook, the one you mentioned and the boxed versions all had the same content you mentioned as well. Perhaps the thing you remember is the RQ3 supplement Glorantha, Genertela: Crucible of the Hero Wars which described the northern continent in detail, but contained very few game rules? It was published in 1988.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorantha:_Genertela,_Crucible_of_the_Hero_Wars

Quote from: markmohrfield on November 23, 2020, 10:55:06 PM

Quote from: Spinachcat on November 23, 2020, 09:58:17 PM
But then RQ3e hit and there was LOTS more Glorantha in the core book and that made Glorantha fans very happy...and lost everyone else.

You've gotten things mixed up here. RQ3 was the edition that tried to separate the rules from Glorantha.

True. Perhaps he was thinking of the many Gloranthan supplements for RQ3, e.g., Gods of Glorantha, Elder Secrets of Glorantha, Glorantha: Genertela, Crucible of the Hero Wars, Gloranthan Bestiary, etc.

Quote from: Spinachcat on November 23, 2020, 09:58:17 PM
Here's the deal with RQ. You could easily play RQ 2e with a light sprinkling of Glorantha based on the setting material of the core book, and back in the day, we played lots of RQ 2e with tremendous freedom in the setting.

AKA, imagine Star Wars campaigns between 1977 and whenever your table all saw Empire Strikes Back. You'd be doing all sorts of crazy non-canon stuff.

But then RQ3e hit and there was LOTS more Glorantha in the core book and that made Glorantha fans very happy...and lost everyone else.

D&D's success was that there was no core setting. As a thought experiment, imagine how D&D would have done if Empire of the Petal Throne was the default setting in the core book?

EPT is a wonderful setting...but it's not for everyone.

You've pretty much nailed it...and that's a Tekumel fanboy speaking!
And Tekumel would have a lot more players if the system of choice were still EPT ( Old D&D - that is) and not all the zillion alternatives proposed/suggested in all this years...I still remember how I forced my players to move their characters to Gurps (still one of saner options), because AD&D 2nd wasn't "up to the task" of running Tekumel...

I always hated the ducks, however. I thought it was one of the most preposterous gaming concepts.

The rest of RQ was decent.

Oddly, I always wanted to play RQ because I'd found a guide to building sorcerers in Dragon Magazine #132 and the descriptions were so different from BECMI (what I'd started with) that I was intensely curious as to how the game worked. This guide was for RQ3, for the record.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on November 23, 2020, 03:44:08 PM
In the intervening years, I have found the Runequest fans period to be just as obnoxious as that one system sob. So I don't see myself as losing out on anything by avoiding them.

Well, with that obnoxious broad brush stroke... I would say neither Runequest nor Hero fans (myself included in both those categories) lost anything when you avoided them either. If they only knew, they'd breathe a sigh of relief.

Glorantha was dropped as the "default" setting of RQ with RQ3 (Avalon Hill)

In RQ3, a small Glorantha book came in the GMs/Deluxe boxed set (later printed perfect bound). However the default was Fantasy Earth, and most of the original RQ3 supplements were designed around that. Only later did they finally get the message that the RQ2 fans wanted more Glorantha and this resulted in the "Glorantha Rebirth" with a number of very detailed re-writes of RQ2 materials, as well as new expansions. Late 80s 90s. Then it withered and died on the vine. While I like some of these materials, this is the point where I started to part ways with Greg, and Glorantha canon.

In MRQ- they supported many settings- and even delved into the second Age of Glorantha in order to not step on Greg's/Issarries' work on Hero Wars (later HeroQuest) . Again though this was all optional.

Design Mechanism took over and did their own thing with a Sandals & Sorcery look, but not Glorantha.

Only recently has Runequest and Glorantha been re-connected officially by NuChaosium.

The interesting thing is that RQ is so tied to Glorantha, that it has not been nearly as successful with the fanbase when it has been detached from Glorantha. It is unlike D&D. And Tekumel is very similar. When Swords & Glory came out we completely avoided the system/system book. And EPT is still the benchmark.

Back in the day we just made up our own Glorantha, just as we did our own D&D settings - pulling in elements from Fiction, Other games/settings (Arduin, Wilderlands, etc). 

Today, I really only utilize the RQ2 era Glorantha materials, and I'm very  picky and choosey outside the original 2 page "intro history" in the RQ2 book. I still don't think there have been better setting and adventure compilations than the RQ2 boxed sets (Borderlands, Griffin Mountain, Big Rubble, Pavis), and Cults of Prax/Terror.  I gave up on "canon" for any setting decades ago-I've got no use for "following the rules" of  a land of make believe.  Glorantha in particular has become so unwieldy as a GAMING setting, has changed immensely from it's roots, and the fanbase is largely made up of Glorantha Scholars who are focused on gaming in a very different way than those "good old days" . Fine and dandy, I'm not a believer in "badwrongfun", but I'll stick to the original game and setting materials.

WOTC and Paizo could learn a thing or two about how to produce "mega adventures" revisiting those old RQ2 products.

I have encountered D&D players who could not stop talking about D&D during sessions of other games. It didn't really make me ditch the game altogether, although I do prefer Runequest-derived games.

I have more of a grudge against Magic the Gathering

Quote from: tenbones on November 23, 2020, 03:59:19 PM
and in a reply to my own reply...

I will proclaim that I have weighed and measured the entirety of the Runequest Gaming Populace....

and the pronounce I have found  the levels of Dickery to be no greater or worse than any other RPG made before 2010.

You missed 4e D&D then. Get back to work!
You missed the storygamers. Get back to work!

I have one of the RQ boxed sets and was thoroughly unimpressed with it.

I liked certain aspects of it. But overall it was oddly... bland, compared to the hype.

At a guess it seems the game really shines in its setting rather than the rules.