So now that we’ve dived down deep into heroquesting, lets pan the camera out and look at what actually is going on at the table in RuneQuest, or for that matter most major TTRPGs.
The RuneQuest Playloop
The core playloop in any RuneQuest game is something like:
- The Gamemaster Describes the Situation. Where are the characters? What is going on?
- The Players React to What the Gamemaster Described. The players might:
- Ask the gamemaster for more information from their character’s perspective.
- Talk to the other players about what the gamemaster described and how they ought to respond.
- Tell the gamemaster what their character says or does.
- The Gamemaster Describes What Happens Next. After a player says what their character does, the gamemaster can:
- Describe how the situation changes in response to the character’s action; and
- Ask the player to try to use an ability (a Rune, a skill, a passion, a characteristic, cast a spell, etc.).
And that’s. That playloop repeats again and again throughout the game. Everything else is just gloss and nuance to refine that playloop and give the players and gamemasters more tools.
I’ve posted this as a useful reminder to remember what we are actually doing in a game.
So why remind everyone of this? Because at the end of the day, that is the playloop in a TTRPG. If we are creating mechanics to model abstract stuff outside of this – well throw it away. And it is a useful thing that if you want to GM RuneQuest, OR ANY OTHER GAME, these are your responsibilities:
- Describe what is going on,
- Determine What Happens in Reaction to the Players’ Actions and Describe It.
And ultimately that’s it. Knowing the rules helps with 1 and 2, but ultimately that’s your job. You don’t need to read deep background to do that. You rarely need a lot of special mechanics – sometimes you don’t even need the core mechanics.
and just to show this loop in that previously described heroquest:
The Scene
- Jeff (as the GM): After you finally find your way through the Deep Darkness it’s just Jarang the Humakti, Jareena the Adventurous, and Tenderloin the Liar, and the shade that led you this far. The rest of your party are gone, lost in the palpable darkness. Before you is a huge obsidian round slab that seals off the end of this passageway. It is balanced on pivots, and with a groove leading to its bottom.
- Claudia (as Jarang): I look carefully at it. Do I have any idea how to open this?
- Neil (as Jareena): I stand guard behind you in case the Deep Darkness returns.
- Sven (as Tenderloin): I speak Darktongue and I ask the shade if it knows how to open the vault.
- Jeff: OK, lets do this one at a time. Claudia make a Devise roll. Neil do you have anything readied?
- Claudia: Shoot, I failed. And I already made that Honor passion roll to get past that Mistress Race Troll.
- Jeff: You have no idea how to open this vault. But Sven the shade nods that it knows how to open the vault, but says it is forbidden from doing so.
- Sven: Screw this, I’m going to Fast Talk the shade into opening it up for us. Better yet, I am going to cast Lie to make this really convincing. And I succeed against my Illusion Rune and spend the points.
- Jeff: OK, the shade shows you how to open the vault….