Quote from: Ocule on November 01, 2022, 02:03:21 PM
What does 1 and 2 have that RQG doesnt? Not saying either is better genuinely curious if it's worth playing over their latest

RQ1/RQ2 have an absence of all the rococo additions of RQG (detailed character histories, detailed rules for runes, detailed rules for passions, etc.). Whether or not those additions add up to more, or less, is subjective. I'd pick RQ1/RQ2 over RGQ for a Bronze Age game not set in Glorantha (and RQ3 over any of them). Fans of Glorantha (which I'm not) seem happy with RQG (and the art for it is really quite good).

Quote from: rhialto on November 01, 2022, 03:18:55 PM

Quote from: Ocule on November 01, 2022, 02:03:21 PM
What does 1 and 2 have that RQG doesnt? Not saying either is better genuinely curious if it's worth playing over their latest

RQ1/RQ2 have an absence of all the rococo additions of RQG (detailed character histories, detailed rules for runes, detailed rules for passions, etc.). Whether or not those additions add up to more, or less, is subjective. I'd pick RQ1/RQ2 over RGQ for a Bronze Age game not set in Glorantha (and RQ3 over any of them). Fans of Glorantha (which I'm not) seem happy with RQG (and the art for it is really quite good).

Yeah, I like RQG art too, it's good work, but there's also something charmingly rough about RQ2.

RQ2 also has that great tendency to spell out very clearly why the rules are the way they are, plus a bit humor. Of course, these things don't affect play much, but it makes rules a bit easier to learn.

I was also thinking about running a different Bronze Age setting, although right now I'm trying to get into Glorantha to see if there's something I like there. One alternative idea was to make up a pseudo-historical Aegean island, with a Minoan/Santorini-like culture, Hatti (Hittites) to the East, Achaeans (Mycenaean Greeks) to the north. And a larger island, Kaftor, to the south (Crete-like), as well as Egypt or an Egypt-like culture on the main land.

It would be a bit grittier than many people think of such cultures; most people just think of the athletic people prancing around Minoan in paintings, which is fine. But notice how many Mediterrenan islands have a lot of blood feuds and vendettas going on, even mentioned in some old Roman texts (and a theme I have been reading quite a bit about). Gods would be real and relatively present, more like Glorantha than some over-the-top fantasy though. There would also be various nature spirits, perhaps vengeful undead etc. 

Quote from: Trond on November 01, 2022, 09:11:30 PMI was also thinking about running a different Bronze Age setting...One alternative idea was to make up a pseudo-historical Aegean island, with a Minoan/Santorini-like culture, Hatti (Hittites) to the East, Achaeans (Mycenaean Greeks) to the north. And a larger island, Kaftor, to the south (Crete-like), as well as Egypt or an Egypt-like culture on the main land.

It would be a bit grittier than many people think of such cultures; most people just think of the athletic people prancing around Minoan in paintings, which is fine. But notice how many Mediterrenan islands have a lot of blood feuds and vendettas going on, even mentioned in some old Roman texts (and a theme I have been reading quite a bit about). Gods would be real and relatively present, more like Glorantha than some over-the-top fantasy though. There would also be various nature spirits, perhaps vengeful undead etc.

Given that premise (which sounds very appealing) I'd go RQ1/2/3 all the way. If you have the RQ2 Rune Masters that might be a good addition for truly heroic play. There's also Mythras, which is another rococo ruleset, based on RQ6.

You keep saying rococo. What do you mean in this context I'm just thinking of art

Quote from: Ocule on November 02, 2022, 08:17:33 AM
You keep saying rococo. What do you mean in this context I'm just thinking of art

I'm just being odd: if you consider baroque = "something going on every square inch" and rococo = "two things going on every square inch", and apply those terms to games, then I'm implying they have lots of rules for lots of things. To bring the analogy back to RuneQuest: the Resistance Table was an excellent pre-baroque generic implementation of "what are the chances of two opposing forces winning a contest?" Baroque would then take that idea and elaborate on "what are the rules around Strength vs. Strength contests?" "Strength vs Dexterity?", "Spirit Combat?", etc. Rococo would elaborate on those elaborations (e.g., Mythras' Combat Special Effects, or RQG's Gloranthan Family Trees).

As a side note, when I hear Rococo I think a more la-di-da effeminate version of Baroque.

 ...well, I chose the analogy for a reason: some like that type of thing, others not so much.

Quote from: rhialto on November 02, 2022, 09:44:49 AM

I'm just being odd: if you consider baroque = "something going on every square inch" and rococo = "two things going on every square inch", and apply those terms to games, then I'm implying they have lots of rules for lots of things. To bring the analogy back to RuneQuest: the Resistance Table was an excellent pre-baroque generic implementation of "what are the chances of two opposing forces winning a contest?" Baroque would then take that idea and elaborate on "what are the rules around Strength vs. Strength contests?" "Strength vs Dexterity?", "Spirit Combat?", etc. Rococo would elaborate on those elaborations (e.g., Mythras' Combat Special Effects, or RQG's Gloranthan Family Trees).

  Not that odd; I've been known to use the term 'Old School Baroque' (riffing off of Old School Renaissance) for things following in the tradition of Chivalry & Sorcery, Rolemaster, et al..

  (Then again, I may not be the best witness for the proposition that something's not odd ... )

So what all changed between 1-2-3-etc.
How does the AH version differ? Aside from the obvious change in setting?

Quote from: Omega on November 03, 2022, 07:43:11 AM
So what all changed between 1-2-3-etc.
How does the AH version differ? Aside from the obvious change in setting?

The first and second editions are almost identical. The 2e rulebook just has more setting information. The third edition, which was released by Avalon Hill but still written by Chaosium, had more major changes. Most notably:

-Switching skills away from 5% multiples
-Minor reahuffling of the skill list
-Converting the Impale chance into a more general "Special Success"
-The addition of a skill-based magic system called Sorcery (and imported from Chaosium's Magic World game)

Overall, the early versions were fairly compatible.

Quote from: hedgehobbit on November 03, 2022, 08:20:28 AM

Quote from: Omega on November 03, 2022, 07:43:11 AM
So what all changed between 1-2-3-etc.
How does the AH version differ? Aside from the obvious change in setting?

The first and second editions are almost identical. The 2e rulebook just has more setting information. The third edition, which was released by Avalon Hill but still written by Chaosium, had more major changes. Most notably:

-Switching skills away from 5% multiples
-Minor reahuffling of the skill list
-Converting the Impale chance into a more general "Special Success"
-The addition of a skill-based magic system called Sorcery (and imported from Chaosium's Magic World game)

Overall, the early versions were fairly compatible.

Thanks for that overview. I hadn't really thought about some of these, but it's been a while since I looked at RQ3.

Also, there's the extra bonuses in RQ2, e.g. Defensive Bonus which was removed in RQ3.

I have the AH version and if recall right it was set on what looks like ancient Earth rather than Glorantha. Though I think the UK was canted on its side?

Quote from: Omega on November 03, 2022, 12:56:09 PM
I have the AH version and if recall right it was set on what looks like ancient Earth rather than Glorantha. Though I think the UK was canted on its side?

It suggests fantasy Europe and Glorantha as options. There's far more info on Glorantha though.  I'm guessing the Vikings supplement was seen as part of fantasy Europe.

I played in Harn and found RQ2 worked nicely even though it wasn't a bronze age setting. I loved the ship info from RQ3 but found most of the other changes just overcomplicated what was a nice streamlined game. One thing I didn't like about RQ is that everyone has magic but that was easy enough to change.

Quote from: Ruprecht on November 03, 2022, 01:30:44 PM
I played in Harn and found RQ2 worked nicely even though it wasn't a bronze age setting. I loved the ship info from RQ3 but found most of the other changes just overcomplicated what was a nice streamlined game. One thing I didn't like about RQ is that everyone has magic but that was easy enough to change.

Yes, I consider RQ3 to be the baroque stage of RQ, with RQ6/Mythras and RQG rococo (and mercifully shunning MRQ1/2). There's a solid, fairly generic, core in RQ2.