Old RuneQuest Anybody still play?

[Evilroddy]

Steve:
Your profile picture looks like me in a funny helmet! Welcome aboard.Valind and Himle are certainly having a party at our expense. It was -28 C when I left for work yesterday and it warmed up nicely to -19 C by the afternoon. Not a day for kilts or skirts! I’ll go check out your Roll20 site now. Best wishes and seasons greetings.
Rory.

[Steve Quinn]

I thought you might recognize Yeerma Bearwearer when you saw him until I remembered it was Dave’s campaign in Garsting that Yeerma was most active. Besides this photo of Yeerma was taken after he retired from adventuring.
And you and I might ponder the possibility of using the Roll20 site to get some games going in future, being as our group is scattered across the land. Take a look and tell me what you think.

[Lawrence]

We’ve just released ‘Hessaret’s Treasure’ for RQ6. Its very much in the classic, self-contained, borderlands expedition vein of some of the classic era RQ2 scenarios. Its not specifically Gloranthan, but you can make it such very, very easily (and we even give some sample Glorantha locations in there to act as inspiration.).

http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/products.php#!/~/product/category=5186110&id=32088844

[Lawrence]

Quote:

Quote from Steve Quinn on December 18, 2013, 01:05
I’d invite you to play in my campaign Ralph, but I live across the pond in the land of ice and snow, Canada. And I might add it is awfully icy and snowy today, a mere -25 or so centigrade.
I have seen now a site for online gaming which includes mapping, rolling, speech communication and other tools to allow you to play RPG’s online with others. It might be an option if you are lacking local players.
Roll20.net is the site, if you are interested. Nicest thing is it’s system neutral, although I haven’t really used much of it myself yet, not having the need.

Whereabouts in Canada, Steve?

[Lawrence]

Quote:

And I have to say (again) that Loz’ attitude towards other rules systems is amazingly open-minded, and I really appreciate that.

Well, thank you for that :-). But I’ve always been of the opinion that every game system (well, 99% of them) have their merits and you should never be dismissive of something just because its no longer the newest or shiniest. RQ6 simply couldn’t have happened without all the previous editions: I’m enormously grateful for that heritage and feel truly privileged to be part of its continuation.

[Evilroddy]

Lawrence:
Steve is located about halfway between Ottawa and Montreal. He was the guy who introduced me to role playing in the mid seventies.
Rod Robertson

[Steve Quinn]

I suppose I did Rod, but I don’t remember much resistance. Did you ever wonder how many hours we lost of our youth NOT hanging about on street corners and getting into trouble, unless of course it was from my parents for making too much noise rolling dice after they had gone to sleep?
Lawrence,
I have looked briefly at the Runequest 6 rules, but I guess my approach is very much “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Opening up my RQ books from the early eighties after a 18 year layoff was just like jumping back on a bicycle after a similar time. Besides, all my NPC’s, prepared hooks, scenarios and hand made maps (thanks to Rod) need no conversion, and the system still works marvelously. I have always been a fan of the early phases of character development, when everything is a challenge. RQ2 does that so well in my opinion, and my group chose to start as 16 year-olds to boot. Perhaps in future we will upgrade, but in the meanwhile I am still an Antique.

[Simon Hibbs]

I recently started re-reading RQ2 and Cults of Prax. The game mechanics really show their age, but the composition of basic mechanics, magic system and cult structure blew me away all over again. No Gloranthan RPGs since has the same tight, immediate, coherence. That’s because all subsequent Gloranthan RPGs were intended to be generic systems with Glorantha as an optional setting. I think this is a mistake. It introduces an impedance mismatch between system and setting. You have to learn one, then the other, then you also have to learn how they mesh together. RQ2 has none of that, it’s one coherent whole like Call of Cthulhu, Traveller, any of the GUMSHOE Games, etc.

Frankly the BRP games are just too crunchy for me nowadays, but HeroQuest is too abstract. OpenQuest is almost what I’m after. I’m experimenting with adapting the GUMSHOE system and quite excited about how RQ style magic can be adapted to the GUMSHOE ability pool mechanics. I think it could be a great fit, but the model I’m working from is RQ2. It may be a bit clunky and unbalanced in places, but as a template for how to bring the mechanics and setting together it’s fantastic.

Simon Hibbs

[Pentallion]

I love RQ3 and play it exclusively. Been playing it since the 80’s. One of my friends just got the boxed deluxe set for this Christmas and was totally stoked.

[Ian Newman]

I started playing RQ 2nd Edition in 1979 (lord that makes me feel old)- still have the original rules bought in a tiny gaming shop in Gosport UK and can just make out the pencilled price of £7.95 on the inside cover. Played through school and Loughborough Uni and after Uni up to 1996 when I went abroad and lost track of gaming. Then got married and family stuff took priorities, Started up again 3+years ago using Skype with two old friends who are now in the States whilst I’m back in UK.

Managed to dust off several old characters who’d been left in Apple lane, Boldhome etc. and we are now busy trying to get a few of them into decent levels of Rune-mastery. which in RQ2 is very slow progress – best skill I think is our Sword with 120% large shield parry.

The rules were clearly written for episodic gaming (blocks of weeks for training, learning spells, contemplating skills gains etc.) and as a RPGer with a “simulationist” bent the combat rules have huge gaps but the setting is so rich, the combat sufficiently fun and with nigh on 60 years of RPG-ing behind us we are happy to mod rules up the kazoo, that it works really well. We’ve started to experiment with Roll20 which is working well for our Skype gaming

I never played RQ3 so with RQ2 as my preferred frame of reference some of the characters and power levels around on the web and indeed in the Dorastor pack seem ludicrous – PCs with 300+% main attack! just don’t happen in RQ2 when you need to roll less than INT to get a 5% rise once the skill is above 100% especially when week long breaks are rare as hens teeth if you are involved in continuous border skirmishing and internal politics and making sure someone is looking after the flocks/herds/fishing pools.

So Rod like you we are still playing RQ enthusiastically after 30+ years, we have created many house rules but it’s still recognisably RQ2. YGWV – The Lunar empire in 1714ST looks nothing like canon (it still exists for a start!), no one likes vegetable elves (no change there), and our Sartarite Humakti Durulz have evolved into an interlinked network of death-drake clans that are all of pure black and white eider stock and have very dubious views on lesser durulz who have flighty and frivolous coloured feathers…

[Simon Phipp]

Quote:

I never played RQ3 so with RQ2 as my preferred frame of reference some of the characters and power levels around on the web and indeed in the Dorastor pack seem ludicrous – PCs with 300+% main attack! just don’t happen in RQ2 when you need to roll less than INT to get a 5% rise once the skill is above 100% especially when week long breaks are rare as hens teeth if you are involved in continuous border skirmishing and internal politics and making sure someone is looking after the flocks/herds/fishing pools.

Oh, it was possible in RQ2 as well.

Our RQ2 high level campaign had people with skills above 200%, some getting on for 300%. We would have got 300% skills in RQ2, but we converted to RQ3 and hit the 300% mark then.

[Innes Smith]

This is the British Legion for Roleplayers…
I started on RQII, then moved onto RQIII and despite having bought RQ6 have yet to migrate our characters to the new system.
Why? Well, There’s lots I like about RQ6, and despite simplifying some areas, other areas have been made more complicated, e.g. combat. These are minor quibbles, because overall RQ6 feels a lot more like Stormbringer, which always had the superior scenarios and game supplements. Yes, Snakepipe Hollow and The Haunted Ruins were great, but they didn’t match the Stormbringer scenarios for atmosphere, ingenuity and drama.
The fact that RQ6 springs from the loins of Stormbringer as much as RQ is its attraction.
So, why have I still yet to make the move? Well, time really. I can’t be arsed having to think too much when converting The Gods of Glorantha supplement into RQ6, and would really rather prefer someone else did it and sold it to me.
😉
What is encouraging is that there are already game supplements being produced – scenarios, adventures, etc. A game system will only thrive based on what it offers the players/customers. D&D AD&D were pretty awful but the players were spoiled for choice when it came to scenarios. TBH Glorantha is already an extremely rich game world with an extraordinary mythology. We don’t need anymore info on Glorantha. Not one word. What we do need is the ability for our characters to go there and interact there.

There endeth the sermon. But pssssst. Gods of Glorantha RQ6. That would be great.

[Pentallion]

I love the RQ adventures, but I have to agree, Stormbringer had some incredible adventures. Swallowed whole by Arioch only to end up on another plane? Hunt a Dharzi sorceror across multiple plains? Crew a pirate ship that flies and travels the dimensions? Get caught in a time loop? yeah, I could go on and on. It’s exciting to thing Glorantha may be getting the kind of scenarios that Stormbringer used to bring.

[Frank Filz]

I haven’t played in a while, but RQ is still on my playlist.

I started playing in late 1978/early 1979 when I got my copy of RQI which is one of my most treasured possessions. When RQII came out, I wasn’t interested in “upgrading” for such a small change (and higher price tag). Over the years however, I did adopt bits from RQII and even RQIII, and in a sense, adopting Cults of Prax turns one’s game into RQII even if one still prefers RQI armor and weapons (and a few other RQIisms).

Frank

[Stuart]

I started playing RQII sometime around 84 and I remember when my group all clubbed together to buy the RQIII deluxe box set. I’ve played lots of systems since then, but whenever I return to Gloratha it is always with RQIII. My present gang of players are currently making their way back home from Balazar after spending a year in captivity of the Lunars, part of my multi-year campaign. The idea is that most of them will be rune level by the time they get back to their Sartarite stomping grounds.

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