The first thing I noticed about the 6th Edition RuneQuest (6E) rulebook is that this is one epic tome! It weighs in at 456 pages with a color cover and black and white interior. It thankfully has both a Table of Contents and an Index. The PDF version that I was given for review is fully bookmarked. The book is attractively if simply laid out with appropriate runes decorating the pages. The art is not terrible and many pages include one of my favorite RPG book design elements; sidebars that add further explanation or detail to the text.

This 6E rulebook is structured very traditionally. It starts off with character creation, followed by sections on skills, game mechanics, combat, magic, religion/cults and finally with creatures and gamemaster information. There are a total of sixteen chapters with six pages of appendices, character and combat tracking sheets. This edition is setting agnostic. It does include information about Glorantha or any other setting.

If you are familiar at all with previous editions of this venerable system, you will know that RuneQuest character creation is a detailed process. There are no classes or templates to choose from. In 6ht Edition RuneQuest, the process begins by determining attribute scores. The player then chooses from one of four basic backgrounds. The background provides access to certain skills. This section also adds further details to the character, including background events, social status and passions.  The player picks a career next, which allows him to access and improve additional skills. The player wraps up character creation by purchasing equipment and determining any religious or cult affiliations. The player also determines any spells or magical abilities if the character has access to them based on background and/or career. The character creation process assumes human characters, but the creatures chapter does include information for playing a variety of non-human characters.

The RuneQuest skill system has always seemed intuitive to me. You roll percentile dice and if you roll equal to or lower than the value of your skill you succeed. If you roll higher you fail – dead simple. Of course there are some wrinkles. If you roll 01-05 you automatically succeed and if you roll 96-00 you automatically fail. In 6E there are two different systems that can be used for adding a difficulty value to the skill checks. One system adds a flat bonus or minus to the check based on difficulty i.e. a Hard check subtracts 20% from the skill (a sill value of 90% becomes 70%), while the other system is scalar i.e. a Hard check reduces the skill value by one third (a skill value of 90% becomes 60%).

The game mechanics chapter includes rules for a variety of hazards and dangers that might befall player characters; everything from acid to asphyxiation. There are also rules for all the standard RPG tropes like encumbrance and traps. Rules are also included for how players can use luck points to aid their characters by forcing a re-roll of any roll that affects them, mitigating damage rolls, etc.

Combat in RuneQuest is very (and I do mean very) detailed. There are a plethora of combat styles and action types. There is an action point system. There are various special effects that can occur based on the success differential between the attack and parry roll and the weapon used. For instance, if the attack roll succeeds and the parry roll fails, the attacker can choose to disarm the defender or have his weapon impale the defender, which can have various effects. There is also a detailed hit location system, wound levels and a lot more that I have not mentioned.  If you are looking for a rich and intricate system for RPG combat, you will not be disappointed.

The ultimate source of magic in RuneQuest comes from the runes (as you might expect) and 6E describes five separate magical traditions to choose from. They are folk magic, animism, mysticism, sorcery and theism. Each discipline has a chapter devoted to it. Folk Magic is the lowest, basic form of magic. Animism is concerned with summoning and binding spirits. Mysticism provides monk-like abilities like arrow cutting, as well as the ability to enhance skills and attributes. Sorcery is the most traditional 'magic-user' type discipline. It includes a variety of spells like Fly and Haste, and powerful sorcerers can combine multiple spells into a single casting. Theism, as you might expect, involves the worship of one or more gods. The religions surrounding the worship of these gods are organized into groups that RuneQuest calls cults. Theists learn spells called miracles. These miracles include many traditional 'cleric' abilities like Cure Malady and Heal Body.

A chapter is devoted to rules for creating cults and other organizations that player characters can join. Detailed examples are provided for several, including a theist cult of a war god and an animist cult of ancestor worshippers. A table is also included with several dozen less detailed examples of various cults that the gamemaster can use as a reference or template for creating his own organizations.

The creatures chapter provides detailed listings for more than fifty creatures. Most are standard fantasy types with a few oddballs thrown in like the Acephali, a humanoid that lacks a head and has its facial features on its chest and the Panthotaur, a sort of big cat version of a Minotaur. Information is also included for playing some of the creatures, like the Panthotaur, as player characters. There are no Glorantha specific creatures like ducks or broo.

The chapter for gamemasters includes a hodgepodge of information, including suggestions for balancing combat encounters, creating investigative style scenarios, helping players determine which skills are most important, etc. The chapter is only a little more than twenty pages but it has a lot of useful information for running a campaign.

The 6th edition of RuneQuest looks like it could be the best edition of the game that has been published to date. It is jam packed with information and appears remarkably complete. My only reservations about 6th Edition Runequest are based purely on my own current gaming prejudices. This looks like an excellent RPG but it is just overwhelmingly detailed. I have gotten lazy in my old age and my tastes run more toward something like Labyrinth Lord or Swords & Wizardry. However, if you are up to the challenge and are looking for an RPG with intricate combat and magic systems then this may very well be what you are looking for.

Many thanks for the review Anthony!