As a general rule when designing new cults or new sub cults, take the great god of a Rune as a benchmark for what can be done. For example, Humakt is THE…
Tag: RQG
Fourth edition of RuneQuest published by Chaosium.
Common Rune Magic
So as I get very near with the new version of the rules, here’s another thing I am wrestling with – Common Rune Magic. Now my original intent of creating Common Rune…
CHA4051 RuneQuest: Adventure Tokens (2025)
Virtual Tabletop Tokens For Playing Runequest Details Editions & Related Editions SKU Name Year Publisher Notes CHA4051-PDF RuneQuest: Adventure Tokens 2025 Chaosium September 2025. Version 1.0PDF Only Contents
Cult vs. D&D classes
Thanks for all the comments on my post about character creation process! As always it is good to get your input and experiences, even if I end up taking a different approach….
RQ Character Creation
So when we look at RQ character creation, it seems to me that the most important decision is choosing a cult. That’s what defines your character more than homeland, background, or even…
Treasure!
RQG doesn’t really have Treasure Ratings, for most sentient creatures, social status goes hand in hand with gear which goes hand in hand with skill and power. Here’s five tiers: What about…
Adventurers in the Hero Wars
Now the big Hero Wars stuff operates at an orthogonal (Neil’s favorite word that I now insist on using) with adventuring around in Sartar and Pavis / Big Rubble. We explore ruins,…
Your Sartarite Adventurer and the Hero Wars
From the Sartarite perspective, the Hero Wars last some 30 years or even more. It is likely that a 21 year adventurer who survives the next thirty years has fought in a…
Hey that’s cool Jeff, but what the heck am I supposed to do with that in my Runequest game?
I posted two “deep” background articles on the nature of the Lunar Empire and Argrath’s role as a driver of change in Glorantha. Now a sensible question would be something like, “hey…
How Much Land is a Hide?
So in RQ, a “hide” is a unit of accounting and not really of area. It represents the amount of land sufficient to support a household or meet certain fiscal duties. The…
Casting Rune Magic
When you cast Rune spell like Lightning, several key things occur: Channeling Orlanth’s Power: The lightning bolt that streaks from your hands isn’t the result of your personal power or knowledge—it’s Orlanth’s….
New RuneQuest?
The cat is out of the bag! Mike Mearls, Jason Durall, and I have been secretly working on refining and streamlining the RuneQuest rules for the better part of a year! The…
Game Time in RuneQuest
One of the design goals in RQG has been to incentivize passage of campaign time. An adventure a season (or so), means that the gamemaster can let the setting develop, and have…
Home Economics in RuneQuest
In the rules, an ordinary free person needs about 80 L to maintain their status. This assumes a free household (person, one or two adult family members, a few children).80 L a…
Creating scenarios for RuneQuest
A few thoughts: Give the adventurers a reason why they are in the adventure. Maybe they are hired or sent on the adventure by a ruler or cult leader. Maybe their community…
Zero-to-Hero vs. Starting In Media Res
I’m a big fan of letting the players start with competent adventurers – and RQG (and indeed most games I work on) reflect that. This not only reflects the amount of sessions…
Making Sense of RuneQuest for Players
To really make sense of RuneQuest as a campaign setting, I think it is handy to give the players a short version of the monomyth and a little history. Not a lot,…
RuneQuest Campaign Styles
For the default setting of 1625, there are a couple of prevalent campaign styles I see a lot of: Exploration and dungeon crawls. Big Rubble, Upland Marsh, Snakepipe Hollow, Prax, and the Shadowlands….
Player Cults in RuneQuest
Someone recently asked me what my favorite cults are to actually play. You know for player characters in actual campaigns (rather than as NPCs or to speculate about in internet discussions). Here…
Not all magic systems in Glorantha are equal
Spirit magic is the easiest and most ubiquitous. In most games, the player just decides what spirit magic they want, and pays whoever it is that can provide it them up to…
Dual Cult Membership
Most adults in the main homelands initiate into the deeper mysteries of only one cult, but continue to worship the associated deities and are often lay members of other cults. The cult…
Outlawry and Exile
Outlawry and exile are good ways to get your adventurers out of their homeland. They might have killed someone in another community, angered their local leaders, or gotten too involved in politics…
Other Genertela Settings
Although the settings for the overwhelming majority of RuneQuest games are Sartar and New Pavis, don’t be afraid to send your adventurers further afield, especially if you are armed with the Cults…
Introducing New Players to a Big Rubble campaign
Thinking about what is necessary to introduce new players to a Big Rubble campaign, let’s start with New Pavis. Now most humans in New Pavis and Pavis County came from Sartar in…
Introducing RQ to new groups
When introducing RQ to new groups – folk totally unfamiliar with RQ or Glorantha such as at a convention or game store – I find Pavis and the Big Rubble is probably…