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Author Topic: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha  (Read 2608 times)

Trond

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Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« on: May 14, 2021, 02:44:45 PM »
I have Runequest 3 but never played in Glorantha. How do you like the latest edition? Overly complicated? Is it fun or a woke mess?

soltakss

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2021, 05:10:13 PM »
It is a pretty good version.

I have been a fan of RQ3 for many years, but I think that this version is better than RQ3.

The Passion Rules, Augments, Rune Pools and Rune Magic being reusable for Initiates are good changes.

It could have done with an edit from a rules point of view and has some RQ2/RQ3=style rules that clash, which is unfortunate, but nothing that old RuneQuestors can't make a decision on.
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Trond

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2021, 05:39:23 PM »
It is a pretty good version.

I have been a fan of RQ3 for many years, but I think that this version is better than RQ3.

The Passion Rules, Augments, Rune Pools and Rune Magic being reusable for Initiates are good changes.

It could have done with an edit from a rules point of view and has some RQ2/RQ3=style rules that clash, which is unfortunate, but nothing that old RuneQuestors can't make a decision on.

Thanks! I also like RQ3, though we never played in Glorantha.

 I just flipped through it, and I think it looks great at least :) A lot of material here and I like the inclusion of sample starting characters.

jorganos

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2021, 06:02:16 PM »
RuneQuest - Roleplaying in Glorantha is similar enough to RuneQuest 3rd edition that a veteran RQ3 GM can pick it up without much problem and run a game. It isn't a direct descendant, though, as it branches off the second edition of the game but inherits some of the concepts that went into the third edition.
Unlike the third and really also the second edition, the setting Glorantha is baked into the rules system, and especially into the character creation.

The world description in the rules book comes as character background, character family background, Gloranthan runes, Gloranthan cults with their special and common magic, and a sorcery system based on the Gloranthan runes.

Did I mention the runes? They define a character's magical orientation and also a character's personality. The opposed power runes work like the opposed virtues/vices in Pendragon, only without absolute judgement like the Christian background of Pendragon forces onto the player knights.

Gloranthan mythology is known to avoid absolutes like Good or Evil. The destructive forces of Chaos combined with the malign intent of the Unholy Trio and their offspring Wakboth the Devil are the closest to objective evil. Even most other Chaos entities are mainly objectively bad and destructive, but not intrinsical evil.

Is it woke? Not really. There is no sexual dimorphism for human characters, although occupational/cultic choice of elemental runes might result in one or two characteristic points confirming some bias. There are few cults with hard gender restriction (although for instance an earth priestess must have given birth to a healthy child to become eligible for the position, something most males have a hard time to achieve).

Can it be fun? Definitely yes.

Is it well supported? While rules support still is under progress, there is enough material out to start playing. The setting is very well defined, and while it is theoretically possible for a game to follow official publications to the last iota, that is not required of a game.

Also, there is a lot of well-written material in the community content on Drivethru rpg.

Glorantha is an acquired taste, at least for myself. I started RuneQuest 3rd edition for the rules concepts (absence of character classes, absence of levels, purely characteristic- and skill-driven characters, with various options to acquire or even master various forms of magic. The magic path chosen (usually as a cult) is something akin to character classes or World of Darkness houses/tribes.

It is a world defined by myth. You might wish to absorb all the lore at once, but that is quite a lot of material to read, and then to parse, and reread, or you might simply dive into the middle of it with the limited knowledge your player characters have, and guidance from the scenarios.


There is strong backwards compatibility - you can use RQ3 or RQ2 publications (the latter available as pdfs from Chaosium) with the rules with at best minor changes.

You can also use RQG supplements with older editions of RuneQuest. The passions and runes are already outlined in the free Quickstart pdf and can be added to your previous edition rules, or ignored altogether (but at least you have an idea what you ignore).

The RQG books are very pretty. The illustrations help in bringing an understanding of the setting.

The rules texts may be a bit less clear than intended in a couple of cases, or the rules may appear in a different place than you might expect. Searchable pdfs with full text search make finding stuff easy on digital devices, and you can annotate those pdfs as you wish, too. There are official errata, and then sometimes explanations of those errata - mainly for obscure special cases, though.


Official scenario support by Chaosium is fairly good, and very few direct reprints, although old favourite scenario locations are revisited.

What do you need to play RQG? If you are content to use pregenerated characters, the quickstart pdf has enough rules to start playing, although some of those rules may be still the beta-version. A similar deal is to be had from the upcoming Starter set - a stripped down rules set, a dozen human pre-generated characters in the box (and a few non-human characters in electronic format for free), but still no character generation.

That and short (RQ3 Gods of Glorantha-style) cult write-ups for the most typical deities of the Dragon Pass setting are part of the rules book. Character generation is already an introduction to the world and the local history. The magic section of the book makes up another big portion, and gives rules for spirit magic (available to everybody), rune magic aka divine magic and cults for initiates and rune levels, rules for shamans and spirit cults, and rules for sorcerers from the local groups (and some cults) practicing (some) sorcery. Also the experience system, which assumes one adventure per season in between the normal activities of a socialized inhabitant of the world, providing the basic necessities for life in that society.

There are no "monster" stats in the rules book. Those are completely in the Bestiary, which also has more short cult descriptions for some of the sapient species.

Each of the three scenario sets so far has complete scenarios, scenario hooks, and sandbox parts. One of these adventure sets is the other main attraction of the GM Screen set, a 96 page booklet detailing the Colymar tribe, providing three scenarios ready to run, a gallery of pre-statted opponents (both sapient and beasts), numerous important NPCs, and some more detailed background for that tribe.

The Red Book of Magic is the compilation of all the spirit and divine magic spells from the upcoming two volume Gods book. Available as pdf at the moment, with the books about to be delivered to the distribution centers around the world.


The imminent Starter Box for under 30 bucks is designed to be the best entryway to playing in Glorantha, and more specifically in the Kingdom of Sartar, one of the main future players in the big conflict ahead.


There is some free material available from Chaosium, including the Quickstart pdf, two scenarios, and quite a bit of (sometimes too deep) background information on the Well of Daliath site.

Then there is the community content program, the Jonstown Compendium, with a lot of excellent material which while neither official nor 100% canonical is generally of high quality, true to the spirit of the setting, and full of stuff useful for gaming. The products get reviewed not only on Drivethrurpg.com, but also by renowned reviewers on other sites. Google will lead you to those reviews.

Including the community content, there is more new RuneQuest material available than you can play with even a fast-paced gaming group, which allows you to pick and choose.


There are other games that are set in Glorantha - including two roleplaying games using rather different rules. Thirteenth Age Glorantha is a D20-ish version of Glorantha. Then there is the game that used to be called HeroQuest Glorantha but which is currently re-branded as Questworlds, a narrative system. The pdf backlog for that system is still available from Chaosium.

Then there are board games set in Glorantha, and two narrative computer games for mobile devices by ASharp.  Plus an active fan base always willing to share ideas, lore, suggestions, or places to look for ideas and inspiration. Not to mention a backlog of more than a quarter century of online discussions and speculations.

The pool is quite big, but you don't need to explore all of that at once.

Trond

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2021, 10:05:22 PM »
RuneQuest - Roleplaying in Glorantha is similar enough to RuneQuest 3rd edition .......

Many thanks for all the info! And welcome to these forums!

BTW I just noticed something interesting: looking at some supplements I immediately recognized Mark Smylie's artistic style (of Artesia fame). I have a lot of his stuff, and I also noticed that he was inspired by Runequest (I think he said so). And now he has actually provided some really nice illustrations. Such as this one:


SJW

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2021, 01:42:50 PM »
I have Runequest 3 but never played in Glorantha. How do you like the latest edition? Overly complicated? Is it fun or a woke mess?
Definitely a woke mess. You should stay away from it.

Bren

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2021, 05:18:58 PM »
Definitely a woke mess. You should stay away from it.
Do you have examples with page references?
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Trond

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2021, 10:48:23 PM »
I wonder why this short thread is attracting 1st time posters. One a helpful one and the other a troll 🤪

Bren

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2021, 10:54:05 PM »
I'm reasonably certain the helpful poster is someone who actually likes and understands the setting and plays the game. I assume he created an account to answer the question because he cares about the game and the topic.

Overall I like the RQG rules. They integrate even better with the Gloranthan setting than did the original RQ1/RQ2 rules. As one example, characters now have affinities to the runes. So player characters now are, in fact, rune questing.

And the artwork is amazing.

On the down side, I find the rules require more errata than I'd like and are more awkward to reference in play than RQ1, RQ2, and RQ3.

« Last Edit: May 17, 2021, 10:57:59 PM by Bren »
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JeffB

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #9 on: May 18, 2021, 08:10:02 AM »
Big RQ fan here. 1/2  in particular -3, not quite so much. I didn't mind MRQII, and I love the Openquest systems. Owned all the original Glorantha  materials (and we played it all)  until I had to sell off my collection during a  $ crunch.

I have given RQ:RIG a hard pass. I was pretty psyched , but after going through it, i don't like the mechanical changes - "Here, make this roll to see if you get a bonus to this roll" I find mechanics like this usually a  big letdown as well as taking extra time/cumbersome. It's similar to threats/crits in 3.X/PF1.  There is nothing wrong with the original RQ/BRP mechanics, I guess the designers @ NuChaosium had to put their stamp on it , somehow.

I think RIG is  mainly style over substance (lots pretty art to fill out the page count), Glorantha has become a cumbersome nightmare to run *(designed for the Gloranthan Scholars to pour over instead of at the table on game night)  and NuChaosium is  a company that I wanted to support but lost me during the debacle of the RQII KickStarter and seeing how they've handled CoC.

I've stuck with the original materials for Glorantha (CoP,COT, Borderlands, Pavis.BR, etc) and Openquest. I think the only positive I can see is the opening up to 3rd parties, but my understanding from people who have gone through their policy is that it's pretty restrictive in the manner that the GSL was for 4E- IDK for sure. Don't care, since I have no intention of supporting them further.


* Edited to add- This has been an issue since long before NuChaosium got the rights. It started up in the 1990s, and by the time Issaries released the original HeroWars game circa 2K, it was already a complete mess. They've just gone further off the deep end.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2021, 09:43:56 AM by JeffB »

Trond

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2021, 09:48:04 AM »
Big RQ fan here. 1/2  in particular -3, not quite so much. I didn't mind MRQII, and I love the Openquest systems. Owned all the original Glorantha  materials (and we played it all)  until I had to sell off my collection during a  $ crunch.

I have given RQ:RIG a hard pass. I was pretty psyched , but after going through it, i don't like the mechanical changes - "Here, make this roll to see if you get a bonus to this roll" I find mechanics like this usually a  big letdown as well as taking extra time/cumbersome. It's similar to threats/crits in 3.X/PF1.  There is nothing wrong with the original RQ/BRP mechanics, I guess the designers @ NuChaosium had to put their stamp on it , somehow.

I think RIG is  mainly style over substance (lots pretty art to fill out the page count), Glorantha has become a cumbersome nightmare to run *(designed for the Gloranthan Scholars to pour over instead of at the table on game night)  and NuChaosium is  a company that I wanted to support but lost me during the debacle of the RQII KickStarter and seeing how they've handled CoC.

I've stuck with the original materials for Glorantha (CoP,COT, Borderlands, Pavis.BR, etc) and Openquest. I think the only positive I can see is the opening up to 3rd parties, but my understanding from people who have gone through their policy is that it's pretty restrictive in the manner that the GSL was for 4E- IDK for sure. Don't care, since I have no intention of supporting them further.


* Edited to add- This has been an issue since long before NuChaosium got the rights. It started up in the 1990s, and by the time Issaries released the original HeroWars game circa 2K, it was already a complete mess. They've just gone further off the deep end.

Thanks for your thoughts.
I have been wondering about RQ2; do you actually start the PCs with only the base chance of success plus stat bonus? Or do you have a way to start up more powerful characters? (I have only flipped through it a couple of times)

JeffB

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2021, 09:59:10 AM »
Big RQ fan here. 1/2  in particular -3, not quite so much. I didn't mind MRQII, and I love the Openquest systems. Owned all the original Glorantha  materials (and we played it all)  until I had to sell off my collection during a  $ crunch.

I have given RQ:RIG a hard pass. I was pretty psyched , but after going through it, i don't like the mechanical changes - "Here, make this roll to see if you get a bonus to this roll" I find mechanics like this usually a  big letdown as well as taking extra time/cumbersome. It's similar to threats/crits in 3.X/PF1.  There is nothing wrong with the original RQ/BRP mechanics, I guess the designers @ NuChaosium had to put their stamp on it , somehow.

I think RIG is  mainly style over substance (lots pretty art to fill out the page count), Glorantha has become a cumbersome nightmare to run *(designed for the Gloranthan Scholars to pour over instead of at the table on game night)  and NuChaosium is  a company that I wanted to support but lost me during the debacle of the RQII KickStarter and seeing how they've handled CoC.

I've stuck with the original materials for Glorantha (CoP,COT, Borderlands, Pavis.BR, etc) and Openquest. I think the only positive I can see is the opening up to 3rd parties, but my understanding from people who have gone through their policy is that it's pretty restrictive in the manner that the GSL was for 4E- IDK for sure. Don't care, since I have no intention of supporting them further.


* Edited to add- This has been an issue since long before NuChaosium got the rights. It started up in the 1990s, and by the time Issaries released the original HeroWars game circa 2K, it was already a complete mess. They've just gone further off the deep end.

Thanks for your thoughts.
I have been wondering about RQ2; do you actually start the PCs with only the base chance of success plus stat bonus? Or do you have a way to start up more powerful characters? (I have only flipped through it a couple of times)

There is an option for previous experience in the back of both Runequest 1st and 2nd editions-. IIRC, 3rd as well. I have not looked at my copy of 3rd in many moons, let alone played it.

Trond

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #12 on: May 18, 2021, 12:22:54 PM »

There is an option for previous experience in the back of both Runequest 1st and 2nd editions-. IIRC, 3rd as well. I have not looked at my copy of 3rd in many moons, let alone played it.

Ah thanks. I was thinking of going through the appendices more carefully.
It’s baked into the basic character generation in RQ3, with two different options on how to handle it.

BTW I know there was some anger about how Avalon Hill handled Runequest, but I think that RQ3 is extremely underrated. My (cough *mint* cough) RQ3 rules book is one of my prized rpg possessions 😊

ffilz

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #13 on: May 18, 2021, 12:24:26 PM »
Big RQ fan here. 1/2  in particular -3, not quite so much. I didn't mind MRQII, and I love the Openquest systems. Owned all the original Glorantha  materials (and we played it all)  until I had to sell off my collection during a  $ crunch.

I have given RQ:RIG a hard pass. I was pretty psyched , but after going through it, i don't like the mechanical changes - "Here, make this roll to see if you get a bonus to this roll" I find mechanics like this usually a  big letdown as well as taking extra time/cumbersome. It's similar to threats/crits in 3.X/PF1.  There is nothing wrong with the original RQ/BRP mechanics, I guess the designers @ NuChaosium had to put their stamp on it , somehow.

I think RIG is  mainly style over substance (lots pretty art to fill out the page count), Glorantha has become a cumbersome nightmare to run *(designed for the Gloranthan Scholars to pour over instead of at the table on game night)  and NuChaosium is  a company that I wanted to support but lost me during the debacle of the RQII KickStarter and seeing how they've handled CoC.

I've stuck with the original materials for Glorantha (CoP,COT, Borderlands, Pavis.BR, etc) and Openquest. I think the only positive I can see is the opening up to 3rd parties, but my understanding from people who have gone through their policy is that it's pretty restrictive in the manner that the GSL was for 4E- IDK for sure. Don't care, since I have no intention of supporting them further.


* Edited to add- This has been an issue since long before NuChaosium got the rights. It started up in the 1990s, and by the time Issaries released the original HeroWars game circa 2K, it was already a complete mess. They've just gone further off the deep end.

Thanks for your thoughts.
I have been wondering about RQ2; do you actually start the PCs with only the base chance of success plus stat bonus? Or do you have a way to start up more powerful characters? (I have only flipped through it a couple of times)

There is an option for previous experience in the back of both Runequest 1st and 2nd editions-. IIRC, 3rd as well. I have not looked at my copy of 3rd in many moons, let alone played it.
Right, RQ1 and RQ2 have previous experience systems that provide some improvement. I am mostly only familiar with RQ1's. There is a significant chance that a PC is only in the militia which doesn't give much improvement, but it's easy to house rule to allow everyone to be a mercenary or barbarian.

Count me as another person who doesn't like the new RQG. It's not just the rule changes I don't like, it's also how Glorantha has changed since I started playing in 1978. But I'm quite a curmudgeon too. I refused to move to RQ2 in 1979. Now that I have a copy I do take some stuff from it, but at a minimum, I prefer the weapons and armor from RQ1.

Bren

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Re: Tell me about RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
« Reply #14 on: May 18, 2021, 02:00:37 PM »
I have been wondering about RQ2; do you actually start the PCs with only the base chance of success plus stat bonus? Or do you have a way to start up more powerful characters? (I have only flipped through it a couple of times)
We used the previous experience section in the appendix of RQ2 (pp. 104-106). It worked just fine and was less fiddly than the system in RQ3. The designers for RQ3 seemed inordinately fond of doing arithmetic while gaming.
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