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…
Tag: RQG
Fourth edition of RuneQuest published by Chaosium.
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…
What I Love About Glorantha
Among the little things I so love about Glorantha as a gaming setting: This is the kind of stuff that makes the setting unlike any other fantasy RPG and as far as…
Storyboarding Game Sessions
I generally go in pretty light into game sessions. I do a ton of background work first on the “world the characters might interact with” – so that I have a feel…
New to RuneQuest?
For those coming new to RuneQuest or coming back to RQ after a long absence, here’s a few suggestions: 1. Start somewhere! My recommendation is either start in Sartar with the GM…
Underground Adventures
Underground adventures – ancient ruins, caves, tunnels, etc. – are particularly exciting in RuneQuest. First – combat in Darkness is filled with perils. Missile weapons are often close to useless. Melee weapons…
RuneQuest Combat is Not Balanced
RuneQuest combat is extremely dangerous and yet RuneQuest adventurers often find themselves in situations where combat is going to be necessary to go deeper into a situation. Given that RuneQuest is deliberately…
MGF in Your Game
Although this should go without saying, MGF (Maximum Game Fun) is completely subjective for your individual gaming group. You should always default to whatever is MGF for your gaming group; however, that…
Overwhelmed by all the Gloranthan Lore?
It’s like dealing with any deep background. Start with what the players and the GM actually need. So for example, I am currently running a Big Rubble campaign with a group of…
Sources of Shield Rune Magic
Shield is perhaps one of the most useful combat Rune spells out there. For each 1 Rune point stacked with Shield, you get 2 points of AP AND 2 points of Countermagic….