Runequest.
One of the oldest TTRPG’s, the progenitor of the D100 game system, which has remained quite consistent for over forty plus years, the first and possibly best anti-DnD game ever made, has finally made it’s way into my collection.
The inevitability of adding this ancient tome to my otherwise comprehensive D100 RPG collection has never weighed as heavily as you would expect, but I guess when all else has been addressed, it was always going to happen.
On holidays in Hobart, looking for something to buy and finding absolutely nothing left in Attack Wing, Armada or X Wing :(, I grabbed the Savage Worlds World Builder cheap and another Osprey “blue book” a TTRPG/war game cross-over “When Nightmares Come”.
The second one was typical of some Osprey games, mixed reviews, steep price, no real relevance other than some itch scratching* all with an unknown system, so after lunch and a little googling, I decided to return it and went for the RQ:G core book, only a little over twice the price and a much bigger and better known product.
I had already purchased the Bestiary the year before on a trip to Melbourne to flesh out my D100 monster options, so the “B” came before the “A”, but they were done.
I was aware of the risk, which I quietly accepted.
I guess it was always there, lurking in the background. Ironically I bought the 13G book for more 13th Age goodness to draw from and RQ started with the Bestiary for the needed D100 monster stats. Pattern forming.
I have plenty of RQ rooted games, like RQII/Legend by Mongoose, RQ6/Mythras from The Design Mechanism, Open Quest and even 13th Age Glorantha, but I have not played a pure Glorantha based D100 game since some time in the 1980’s when a friend had the original RQ. Even then we decided to circle the Glorantha stuff as “a bit weird and not really for us”, because of course, we thought we knew it all back then. Our game and later iterations of RQ predictably drifted towards what we now know as fantasy stereotypes, but the were fresh ideas back then.
I have Jackals from Osprey (a much better effort from them), which was meant to be my salve for RQ style games, like that ever works. I was also hoping for the seminal and long promised Mythic Greece source book for Mythras, but that seems to have gone quiet. I really thought Jackals or Mythras would be enough here, but all credit to it, it got under my skin.
Always room for more good.
I started reading RQ:G and it is a little like discovering a long lost half-cousin. I am also warming to the craziness and originality of the setting. Parties full of Ducks, smart Trolls that might eat you as you sleep, Rune wielding cultists worshipping gods they may well meet and a licence “to make it your Glorantha”. Who could want for more fertile story telling soil?
The art is as always, top notch.
The reasoning behind it’s creation, the long journey to now are a little like my own journey through TTRPG gaming.
With solid early thoughts, rejecting the already established norm, through periods of sporadic output to even absent patches, then a rampant re-emergence, but with consistent thought processes through out, RQ has survived because it works.
One criticism of RQ:G is the “old” system it uses, but apart from nostalgia and familiarity, both worthy ideals, it has consistency and it works. Better this than an equally old system, without the logical base that it started with and one that has not stayed consistent for decades, while also failing to evolve into something better.
Some may prefer Mythras, others a simpler BRP or Open Quest path and it is not impossible to use those mechanics if you wish. Seriously, just paste on the RQ bits you want. All good, all possible, very d100.
Never one to ride the horse others choose (in anything really), I glanced off DnD several times, I owned something of most editions (even a lot of some), but I rarely played it, preferring something different to the thematic and mechanical stereotypes it pushed**.
Traveller was my first TTRPG of any type, Call of Cthulhu 3-5e my first great love, Champions 3-4e was my supers game and most things D100 have been played and kept.
It is hard to resist the call of the “big one”, but every time I tried it, I hit a wall of disengagement and predictable disappointment in the system, it’s style and it did not fix my need for something that actually excited me.
Core book bought, mated with the Bestiary and that could probably have been enough with 13AG as more support reading, but some googling and it seems the GM Pack and Starter Set are both “best in show”, providing plenty of adventures and resources (over 300 tightly presented pages), a dozen fully formed characters and maps, lots of maps. Plenty to flesh out the game enough for my needs.
This and the GM screen pack are actually plenty to play RQ for many sessions and if you do go further, nothing is wasted.
I found the Starter on the Chaosium site, pdf included, always handy to have with printable elements, then the GM pack and the Weapons and Equipment Guide which I remember reading a good review of on another site. Basically a 2 for 1, so they were added.
Control needed now, I need to set some boundaries.
I then got the Red Book of Magic. Never one to go too deeply into Magic tomes, there are 150+ spells in the core book already and like all things in RQ, a little goes a long way, but the book gets rave reviews, holds 500 odd spells and is by most accounts a clearer and tighter, more coherent read.
Beasts, spells and gear, the solid trio
The three core support books, but what I really noticed was a growing thirst for more world lore.
Even though 13A:G is possibly better for higher power RQ games (i.e. Hero Quests), just the depth of information and the variety of subject matter (like Pregnancy and Bless Pregnancy spells!) are all germs of scenario ideas in keeping with the granular and grounded feel of RQ.
The GM and Starter pack adventures are high quality and really do help you get a handle on this strange and deeply developed world. After some research along the lines of “best adventures for…”, the Pegasus Plateau looked like the next step. Along with that, to support sand-box play and add background, I went for the Dragon Pass guide, which I know may lead to more books like it, but that is ok.
Ducks! Worth the Dragon Pass guide just for these guys.
So, while travelling on Adelaide, I found several games shops, again no X-Wing etc, but the The Lunar Way was front and centre and I must admit to a soft spot for that enigmatic empire. Bought, as nothing else appealed after several shops were visited. I then researched what this new door opened and bought the Light Bringers and Earth Goddesses as they are all gold mines of info and flavour.
The big three. There are more of these now and possibly in the future, but these will support character gen and story background. At the end of the day, they are just a good read. Glorantha is all about Gods and Runes, so reading these gets you in the right head space.
Done?
Think so, possibly more world guides, but maybe not.
The Glorantha sourcebook and guides just look like too much background info that for me will add little on the table. Everything bought so far will empower actual game play, I do not need more tomes of complicated cosmic family trees etc.
As for the rest, well I am going to take the advice of the designers and community and make my own way. From the foundations of what is in the Core book and the above supports, I will carve my own path as many have in the past and will in the future.
*Tales From The Loop, kids on bikes adventure itch that is. This will probably be done using M-Space or The Comae Engine and the actual books as inspiration.
**4e was the worst offender, dozens of books, all bought with my “collectors” hat on, then dropped cheaply and easily one day. 13th Age is the only exception, mainly because it is more DnD than DnD and a paragon of it’s system family, while also being that “other” horse (mule/zebra etc).
***a colony of exiled Human and Dwarf folk, fleeing from an unassailable enemy who have invaded their home to the fabled “New World”, a land of lost civilisations, primitive powers and new perils as they try to force their jaded and corrosive “civilised” ways on a land of ancient power.