Chaosium Press Release: March 4, 1997
Chaosium Inc. and Avalon Hill have officially ended their fourteen year business relationship. The trademark “Runequest” and the rules to the Runequest role-playing game are now the sole property of Avalon Hill. Chaosium Inc. will not ever produce Runequest again. All of the rights to Glorantha remain the sole property of Chaosium Inc.
Avalon Hill will continue to sell the Gloranthan products it has in stock, but no future Avalon Hill publications shall be Gloranthan.
When asked for a comment, Chaosium company president Greg Stafford stated, “This is another step in our own development of a full line of Gloranthan games and books. Avalon Hill can now pursue their own development and creative freedom with the Runequest line, and we wish them good luck with it.”
Where does this leave RuneQuest?
Well, according to Mark R. Hall at Avalon Hill a new set of rules will be brought out under the RuneQuest trademark but it will not use the same rules basis (i.e. Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying system). Avalon Hill regards the 3rd Edition rules as “too dated for today’s market”. So the future is bleak for those who like the 3rd (and 2nd) editions…
Where does this leave Glorantha?
At the beginning of this year the big news was a proposed deal between Chaosium and Stratelibri srl of Italy to produce a line of Gloranthan books and miniatures. Unfortunately, this deal has now fallen through.
Therefore Chaosium are now looking to raise finance from the fans of Glorantha to form a new corporation to develop the game world. If sufficient money can be raised then a series of sourcebooks is planned, and… wait for it… a new Role-Playing game and accompanying adventures and supplements! Hoorah! In the future computer games, fiction, miniatures, and even a kids cartoon series are mooted!
As described at GloranthaCon V in July, investors will be asked to put in a minimum of about $100 for which they will get one free product per year. After three years the corporation is projected to make a profit and investors should see some monetary returns. However, the real thrust is to get the fans involved in saving Glorantha – because no one else can afford to take the risk! And $100 each seems to me a small price to pay to save Glorantha!
The last I heard Chaosium were consulting their lawyers and finalising the arrangements. A Prospectus should be available soon. Check out the Chaosium Glorantha page for the latest news.