See above

Best edition of Runequest/BRP/d100 ever.

Quote from: CRKrueger;752320Best edition of Runequest/BRP/d100 ever.

Gonna need more than that.

I have a review in this very site. Check it out.

Do you mean as compared to previous versions? Have you played RQ or a BRP version of it before? Or do you mean pitch it cold?

I'm curious about the differences between it and Mongoose RQ/Legend.

Quote from: The Butcher;752335I have a review in this very site. Check it out.

All ready read it. Informative but need more info.

Quote from: Bilharzia;752368Do you mean as compared to previous versions? Have you played RQ or a BRP version of it before? Or do you mean pitch it cold?

Pitch it cold or against 3.5. I hate levels and really hate alignments.

Well, this is from another forum, by Biggerboat, and it does well describing how RQ sets the tone, it might not be clear but there are a lot of the RQ6 rules in this: (from a comparison with Savage Worlds)

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?716525-Sell-RuneQuest-6-for-Savage-Worlds-players/page2
 

QuoteBigger Boat
Re: Sell RuneQuest 6 for Savage Worlds players
Did you have a campaign in mind? I'd argue for selling the setting and the potential for cool characters before you sell the system. Runequest is a great fit for Sword & Sorcery, historical campaigns, or settings tinged with gritty history (Vikings, dark ages, Grecian antiquity, that sort of stuff). When I think of a Runequest campaign, I think of muddy villages at the edge of deep forests, the hammering of spear against shield, brotherhoods poised to fight the darkness (or sworn to usher it forth). A character in Runequest is shaped from his background and culture. He's part of a community. His skills are a product of his talents and his upbringing. He has relatives and mentors, allies and enemies.

Magic is evocative and flexible. Combat is a dance at the precipice of death, and not entered into hastily. Any decision to draw a sword or loose an arrow is a commitment that carries consequences, though the potential for death or maiming will often cause an overwhelmed opponent to flee or surrender.

Although combat need not be the focus of your game, let's talk a second about special effects. The concept of rolling for success which reflects your ability to create an opportunity via special effects is hyper-elegant. Have your players felt the frustration of trying to do some cool maneuver in Savage Worlds just to whiff their roll? Let's take a disarm as an example. In savage worlds, this is a called shot with a penalty. By trying to do something cool or to reduce an opponent's ability to engage, your chance of success is much less likely. In Runequest, these decisions come as part of that initial success. Want to pierce their armor? Shatter their shield? Knock that dagger from their grip? Roll big (or small, as it were), and choose the outcome.

Savage worlds has a reputation for moving fast, but in reality you end up with a lot of whiffs against Toughness, a lot of rounds spent shaken, and other frustrating factors. In Runequest, fights are often over (for better or ill) in two or three rounds. A single strike can be decisive. It is detailed, but once your players have a handle on things it'll move fast. And, these are muddy, desperate battles with grievous wounds and sundered shields and victories won through passion and skill that your players will remember and their characters will carry with them.

I really like Savage Worlds. It's great for pulpy, high action games. I LOVE Runequest. When I open the book I swear I can hear the chant of ancient warriors and the sigh of forgotten magic.

The mechanical detail is pretty easy to list but you don't really get the sense of what it's like until you play it. The Mongoose Legend rules are $1 and will give you a sense of the system although RQ6 is significantly bigger and better.

If you hate levels and alignments, well...there aren't any in RQ6 or any version of d100 for that matter.

Why you would want to go to d100?
There are a lot of flavors to choose from, from different designers.  Chaosium, Moongoose, Design Mechanism, Cakebread and Walton, D101 Games, Alephtar Games, etc...covering everything from Antiquity to Dark Ages to Middle Ages to Renaissance to Modern Times to Cthulhu on Jupiter.  All of the games are compatible and systems can be easily brought in from one to the other.  Not quite as seamlessly as say an OGL prestige class, but here you're you're bringing in whole systems, like adding Psionics to Ancient Greece if you want.

Why you would specifically want to go RuneQuest6?

• Combat - The Special Effects (called Combat Maneuvers in Mongoose Runequest II/Legend) system is unique to the RQ6 line and combines critical hits, tactical maneuvers, and combat stunts into one very fast yet surprisingly deep system.  I know people say this shit all the time, but this time it's true - this has to be played to understand how cool it is, it plays way faster and better then it reads.  If you're coming from 3.5e you have the option to do miniature square-based movement and ranges, or not.
  
• Magic - The systems here have been refined and perfected over many editions of RQ and include...
  a. Sorcery - Flexible and very powerful, sorcery can be based on grimoires, pacts with otherworldly beings, schools of magic, whatever the GM decides the source of knowledge is.  It's not quite the pseudo-scientific Vancian/hermetic magic of D&D, has a lot more Sword and Sorcery flavor to it.
  b. Theism - Priest magic.  It isn't just Sorcery without spellbooks, it's sufficiently different to have a priest feel different from a sorceror.
  c. Mysticism - Something you don't get in other forms of d100.  A Martial Artist/Monk/Jedi/Physical Adept type magic.
  d. Animism - If you're interested in a Shamanic/Animistic type Spirit Magic, this is not only the only one really available in d100, it's also the only one that allows you to do Shaman-type stuff (like heal someone by fighting the sickness spirit possessing them in spiritual combat), or calling a bear spirit to give you claws.  In this system you don't just cast a "Bear Claws" spell, you have to summon (or find) a Bear Spirit and then strike a deal with it or forcibly bind it into a fetish.  Add in the abilities of possession and spirit domination and you find out that the Animist spell list is really the Bestiary.
  
• Show not Tell - RQ6 has a lot of sidebars and information that gives concrete examples of how the systems work, and unlike a lot of other games that have toolkit-like systems, there is rationale behind why you would choose one over the other, not just a list of options to drown the first-time reader.
  
• Setting Agnostic - Most of the other versions of RQ are really tied to Glorantha or Europe.  RQ6 is designed to be used with a variety of different settings and includes a lot of examples on how you can fine-tune something to achieve a more S&S or High Fantasy feel.  People always talk about games having "dials", well RQ6 puts markings on the dials and tells you what they do.
  
• Not as Toolkitish as it sounds. - Not a big fan of toolkits myself, divorced of setting, rules often sound dry and lack any context for me.  However, the way the game is presented and written, it's not as much Toolkit as it is the Unofficial RuneQuest Hyboria, RuneQuest Lankhmar, RuneQuest Ancient Greece, etc... all at the same time.  That may not make sense, but once you read it, it will.
  
• The Supplement That Shall Not Be Named - A long time ago on an internet server far far away a secret document surfaced...
  
• Monster Island - One of the greatest adventure supplements for any d100 system, and considering that includes originals like Pavis/Big Rubble, Griffin Mountain and what Cakebread & Walton do, that's not easy.
  

Why RuneQuest6 instead of Legend?
Well the same guys wrote both.  RQ6 is the expanded, polished, fully documented and finished version of the Mongoose RuneQuest II system, which Legend is a distillation of.  Nothing wrong with Legend, it's probably the  second best flavor of d100 out there right now, and is perfectly compatible with RQ6, which is great, because Mongoose puts out some good supplements for it.  If you like Legend, you'll love RQ6.  If you love Legend, RQ6 will be a GMgasm of epic proportions.

You need more than that, going to have to pose more specific questions.

As the game's co-designer and co-owner of Design Mechanism, I'm obviously somewhat biased, but here's a few things I hope will help you make a (positive) decision. First is a quote from one of our customers...

QuoteWhen I open the book I swear I can hear the chant of ancient warriors and the sigh of forgotten magic...

Second, it's a complete game. You don't need additional books for players, GMs and monsters: we give you everything in one volume. We have lots of free resources available for download, including scenarios, and some very reasonably priced supplements too (our latest, 'Ships & Shield Walls' expands the rules to cover sea faring and mass battles).

Third, and as others have said, RQ - and all d100/BRP derived games - are class and level free. However, we will be releasing, next year, 'RQ; Classic Fantasy' which will be a full rulebook tackling traditional dungeon crawling but using the RQ6 mechanics.

We're a growing game, with some great reviews, some great supplements, some great customers, a long tradition, and a very bright future. We care about what we do as a company and care about the quality of our work.

We hope to welcome you to the RQ6 Tribe.

Quote from: Thanos;752374Pitch it cold or against 3.5. I hate levels and really hate alignments.

It doesn't have those. Or at least not in the game I am playing. It plays well, it is easy to understand.

From what I understand Legend isn't as complete due to a page count limit.

RQ6 is a full on game.

Currently engaged in this campaign. Fucking loving it.

Quote from: Loz;752414As the game's co-designer and co-owner of Design Mechanism, I'm obviously somewhat biased, but here's a few things I hope will help you make a (positive) decision. First is a quote from one of our customers...



Second, it's a complete game. You don't need additional books for players, GMs and monsters: we give you everything in one volume. We have lots of free resources available for download, including scenarios, and some very reasonably priced supplements too (our latest, 'Ships & Shield Walls' expands the rules to cover sea faring and mass battles).

Third, and as others have said, RQ - and all d100/BRP derived games - are class and level free. However, we will be releasing, next year, 'RQ; Classic Fantasy' which will be a full rulebook tackling traditional dungeon crawling but using the RQ6 mechanics.

We're a growing game, with some great reviews, some great supplements, some great customers, a long tradition, and a very bright future. We care about what we do as a company and care about the quality of our work.

We hope to welcome you to the RQ6 Tribe.

What the learning curve like? I'm going to have to drag my group kicking and screaming from 3.5 to try this.

Also let's say you have a six man party and they run into something that is equal to their skill set. How long real time would combat take, providing we have the rules down?

Quote from: Loz;752414... we will be releasing, next year, 'RQ; Classic Fantasy' which will be a full rulebook tackling traditional dungeon crawling but using the RQ6 mechanics.

I am very much looking forward to this!

QuoteWhat the learning curve like? I'm going to have to drag my group kicking and screaming from 3.5 to try this.

It's pretty intuitive. Roll under your skill on d100. Most actions are resolved in this way, although there are many nuances and facets for different situations and circumstances. It's skill-based, so improvement is based on increasing incrementally: if you're moving away from 3.5, it will feel very different.

Also, don't expect balance necessarily. In RuneQuest some things and people are simply more powerful and adept than others. Magic systems strive to reflect their natures, not balance against each other. Your players will have to learn that all the feats and optimisation they had in 3.5 doesn't exist in RQ.

QuoteAlso let's say you have a six man party and they run into something that is equal to their skill set. How long real time would combat take, providing we have the rules down?

Impossible to say. It depends on whether what they're facing is six in number, or a smaller number of more skilled or magical beings. In general, combat is resolved quickly: 2-3 rounds, but it very much depends on how the combatants approach the situation. Better levels of success generate combat effects which can rapidly shift the outcome of the battle. So, your first couple of combats may take less than 2-3 rounds or more, depending on how well the system is used. As I say, it is nuanced, and there can be a lot of finesse used to bring fights to a halt rapidly, or to draw them out.