MonsterMash
First Post
Runequest is set in the world of Glorantha, which was created by Greg Stafford originally and used as the setting for the White Bear Red Moon boardgame. This has several features which were unusual at the time it was published and it is still a distinctive setting with a different approach to many of the usual fantasy tropes. For example the elves as begetable life, The actual rule book has little settng information other than a general overview of the world and map of Glorantha with a timeline. There is a more detailed map of the Dragon Pass region in the back of the book with encounter tables and the sections in the rules on magic and creatures do help to add to the setting information included. The section on cults with the details of the Orlanth and Kyger Litor cults bring in quite a large part of the background from this book.
Later RQ books such as Cults of Prax, Pavis and Trollpak all fleshed out the setting with details of their subjects included. Trollpak has a very highly regarded explantion of the life of Trolls is one of the ironic RQ sourcebooks.
Contents
Rules
Basics
RQII uses a percentile mechanism rolling under the target on two d10 or d20, critical successes are on low rolls and critical failures or fumbles on high rolls. For character generation 3d6 are used and the other standard polyhedral dice of d4, d8 and d12 will be used for damage rolls. Rolls of 01-05 are always successful and 96-00 always fail. The critical hit/success and fumble rolls are linked to the overall skill level of a character with the chances of a critical hit being 5% of the character's skill level so if Rurik has a 50% to hit with a cudgel then he will get a critical hit on a 01 or 02 as the fractions are rounded down. The chance of fumbling is 5% at base being reduced by 1% for every 20% skill in a weapon that a character has above 20%, so continuing the example Rurik with a 50% chance with a cudgel will only fumble on a 97-00 roll. Impaling with a weapon can only be done when using a thrusting or missile weapon and the attack roll is 20& or less of the to hit chance, so Rurik using a spear with 60% to hit will impale on a roll of 01-12. The effect of an impale is to add the maximum possible damage roll number to the actual damage roll and to stick the weapon in the victim unless the attacker can make a roll of twice his impale chance on 1d100.
Characteristics
RQII has 7 characteristics generated by rolling 3d6 in order, unlike later BRP games there are not any primary characteristics generated by using dice and adding a specified number to give a narrower range of options, e.g. RQIII and Call of Cthulhu having Size and Intelligence generated as 2d6 + 6. Some secondary characteristics such as the strike rank and various bonuses are derived from the rolled ones and other factors. The assumption is that all characters are human, but the details in the bestiary give the dice and modifiers to generate any creatures characterstics allowing really any intelligent race to be played. The background rules are only really set up for human races, but many of the supplements give details for other races, for example Trollpak.
Advancement
RQ advancement is by a mixture of experience and training. A character can increase a skill they possess by making a successful skill roll then rolling less than their current skill level deducted from 100 on percentile dice, e.g. Morgan has a 25% skill in broadsword, but is successful in hitting in combat, so after the combat she if she can roll less than 75% on percentage dice (100-25) then her skill will increase by 5%. Once a character reaches a 95% skill level then they can use their intelligence score as a % to earn an increase. A character can also purchase training in a skill from an appropriate guild, with this being the only way of learning a skill that they do not possess, e.g. read/write other language. Training can only be used to take a skill to 75% while experience can raise it to 100%.
Characteristics can be improved by training and experience, except none can exceed the racial maximum and Strength and Constitution cannot be increased past the highest one of the Strength, Size and Constitution characteristics' starting value. This training is pretty expensive and it will often be done purely on very weak characteristics. A major reason for characters to seek wealth is to help improve their characteristics as this gives a broad range of improvement on various tests for skills depending on the characteristic that is chosen. Intelligence cannot be increased by normal means meaning that it is the most important stat to get a high value in at character generation. The main characteristics improved by experience are Power and Charisma. For Power winning in an opposed power test, e.g. by casting a spell on another, gives the chance of making an improvement roll. Charisma increases where improved skills and renown of the character can raise the basic statistic.
Skills
The skills system is consistent across the different areas using a percentile value. In a skill check a player needs to be rolled the skill value or beneath to succeed with high rolls of 95-100% potentially being a critical faliure (fumble in combat). The skills in the core rules include alchemy, languages and mapping, thieve's skills, weaponsmiths skills and animal training. Skills are normally taught by the relevant guild, with Alchemists, Sages (languages and mapping), Thieves, Armourers, Sailors and Animal Trainers included in the core rules. Characters can obtain training by paying for it and the rules for this are the same for both melee and non-combat skills. Training costs are set out in the rules and a limit of 75% exists as the highest level that a skill can be trained up to. Any further skill advancement above this has to be by experience.
Melee
Combat uses the same percentage values for other skills with an attacker needing to make a succesful attack roll which the defender will then need to try and make a successful parry or defense roll against. Damage is dependent on the weapon type, the attacker's damage bonus and the armour that the defender is wearing. A simple, but effective, hit location mechanism is used with each part of the body assigned a number of hit points. The locations on a humanoid are head, chest, right arm, left arm, right leg and left leg. Armour is used to reduce the amount of damage taken with it being specific to each part of the body covered. The hit location requires a D20 roll after the successful attack roll.
The order in which actions are taken is controlled by the strike rank. There is no random element in the initiative order though an adjustment is applied to strike rank for surprise. Strike rank order is low to high with weapon length, size, encumbrance and dexterity all affecting strike rank. A pikeman with a high dexterity can be very dangerous in RQII as they will strike early in each combat round. With spells being cast the amount of power points used will tend to affect the casting time with more powerful spells taking longer.
Melee can be lethal due to the low numbers of hit points that most characters and creatures will have - a human with the maximum constitution of 18 will rarely have much more than 20 hit points meaning that a critical hit can still potentially kill in one hit. This means that even experienced characters will not rush straight into melee in most circumstances and there will often be extensive manouvering and use of magic. Compared to earlier editions of D&D melee can be a bit sluggish due to rolls to hit, parry, hit location and damage often being needed for each attack by a melee participant, but this is balanced out by the low hit points that tend to ensure that few hits are needed to kill or disable an opponent.
Magic
There are two types of magic in RQII: Battle Magic and Rune Magic. Battle magic is the everyday magic with the spells having a focus on what is used in combat, hence the name. Rune magic is far more powerful and is only accessible to characters that have had a substantial amount of development. A characters ability to cast spells is based on their Power attribute which gives the total number of points available to cast Battle Magic spells.
Battle Magic is commonly available with most characters and intelligent creatures having access to it. The spells include Bladesharp, Countermagic, Glue, Healing, Multimissile, Spirit Shield and various detection spells. Spells can have variable or fixed power levels. Every spell cast uses an amount of power, which is only regained at a rate of 1/4 of the character's total Power every six hours. To cast a spell on an opponent requires overcoming their power with the resistance table used to determine the chance of this. This mechanism is used for spirit combat when either a character is attacked by a spirit or attempts to bind a spirit to an animal or crystal to have the spirits Power and Intelligence to store and use spells without draining the character's own power. This can mean that experienced characters do have very large amounts of magic available to them and the start of combat consists of large numbers of spells being cast to defend or strengthen the combatants.
Battle magic spells have a financial cost to learn with this being greater for more powerful spells. A character can keep casting a known battle magic spell while they still have current power points, but an opposed spell can become less effective as it will have to overcome the current Power of the target. The limits on spells known is set by the Intelligence of the spellcaster with number of power points for the spells held in memory being equal to the Int score. So a character with an Int of 11 could have say Bladesharp 3, Healing 2, Strength, Detect Enemies, Speeddart, Detect Magic and Light in memory and any other spells they knew only as options.
Shamans can be created by binding to a fetch, this is done by allying to a spirit using the apprentice shaman's Power and Charisma against the spirit's Intelligence and Power. Once a fetch is bound a shaman can enter the spirit world and use the spirit world to store Power, cure disease, return from the dead and control spirits. The shaman also has the support of their tribe or cult, but has obligations to that tribe or cult that will dictate some of their actions. There are other disadvantages for shamans will limits on increase of skills and characteristics once they have gained their fetch.
Rune Magic is very powerful and requires characters to sacrifice permanent Power points to obtain it. Rune magic is mainly available to experienced characters who can achieve Rune Lord or Rune Priest status though a cult may allow an Initiate member to learn a limited amount of rune spells at a cost. Rune spells can be cast repeatedly by those that have learnt them and are powerful in allowing multiple casts of Battle magic spells or in allowing the caster to protect himself.To achieve Rule Lord or Rune Priest status the requirements include being a faithful follower of a god in good standing and for a Rune Lord 5 skills at 90% are required including at least two combat skills and for some cults it may be five combat skills. A Power of at least 15 is required by a Rune Lord. Rune Priests require a Power of at least 18 with the ability to read/write their own language at 50% and 90% in three skills specific to the cult's specialities.
The pervasiveness of magic in Glorantha is shown by the RQ magic system which helps integrate the setting and the system. The weakness of the RQII rules is in not really elaborating on how magic might be used within society by farmers, etc though healing spells would obviously aid in many lives. There is little in the way of mechanical detail about failed casting attempts unlike fumbles in melee, as all that happens really is that the spell fails. RQ's magic systems do capture the flavour of a world where there is pervasive magic use and the most powerful Rune magic comes at a cost for its users from the Gods. The magic system can be criticised as being very combat focused in the base rules, but this does reflect how most RPG have always been written.
Cults
The religions in RQ are based around cults of the various gods, such as Orlanth, Issaries and Kyger Litor. The cults are linked to various runes, which show their links to different types of powers. There are sample cults in the book with Orlanth for humans and Kyger Litor for trolls detailed. There is far more information in the later books which is a major part of the Gloranthan setting. The cults are a critical part of the game for characters as to learn Rune Magic the characters need to have links to a cult, particularly if they aspire to Rune Lord or Rune Priest status.
Creatures
RQ includes a wide range of intelligent races that are different to most other fantasy worlds, with elves as a species of sentient plant and the dwarves or Mostali being different form the usual tolkeineque dwarves. The unique races include dragonnewts, who go through multiple life stages with different statistics at each time. The trolls include several different races including the trollkin. The ducks have been a feature of the setting that has often been controversial with many feeling that they are silly, but personally I like how they are handled and they do have a place in the complex world of Glorantha.
Non-sentient creatures include the riding animals for the barbarians of Prax and monsters like the Dragonsnails and rubble runners. The dragons in RQ are not encountered widely as they are sleeping deep underground, but their dreams are capable of taking flesh and being encountered.
The rules on allocating treasure for adventures have a simple mechanism for estimating the strength of monsters to work out how much treasure is appropriate, the Treasure Factor. There are a number of tables for the different types of treasure with a master table that gives the amounts of treasure of each type for a particular treasure factor. Treasure Factors can also be used to estimate encounter difficulty by calculating the adventurers' TF and comparing it to the TF of what they will encounter.
Appendices
The appendices include optional rules for different character generation systems, prior experience, rules for environmental conditions and optional combat rules. The optional combat rules include rules for aimed blows, shield attacks crushing and knocking back opponents. There are rules for disease with these being particularly important when facing Broos, the chaos creatures riddled with disease that can infect the characters they fight.
Alternate chargen includes a points buy system where a player has 20 points to allocate amongst the 7 characteristics with a maximum of 18 for a human and a base value of 8. There are other dice based systems included as well as this, but in practice the standard 3d6 or the points buy mechanism seem to have been most widely used.
Prior experience can take a number of forms depending on what a character becomes, a player can join a guild to gain trade skill while simultaneously being a member of the militia, this would largely be peasant or townsman characters. For barbarians there is set of possible advances from their lifestyle and there is the option of being a member of a mercenary company for a more combat oriented set of advances. The guilds are the ones that the characters can use to train them in skills for advancement, so a member of the thieves guild will advance in those skills.
Natural damages and conditions and their effect on characters form an appendix including fire, drowning and falling. The information about running a game and Languages are other contents in the appendices.
The appendices include a bibliography and encounter tables for different types of location. The bibliography includes not only books, but also other roleplaying games and the boardgames set in Glorantha. It is brief, but still useful in comparing the origins of RQII to say AD&D where the Dungeon Master's Guide has its Appendix N on the inspirations for the game.
Presentation
There were hard cover and softcover editions produced inclduing ones printed in the UK by Games Workshop. The actual content is the same with the page layout being clear with the text reasonably spaced and enough white space round it to allow for easy reading or making comments in the margins. The art is not particularly great in RQII with the cover having a female warrior fighting a giant lizard that is sometimes called the pizza cover because of claims that her shield looks like a pizza that the lizard is biting into.
Support
There is a lot of support material for RQII originally mainly in print as it came out in the pre-internet era and this includes many classic modules and sourcebooks. These include scenarios like Griffon Mountain and sourcebooks like Cults of Prax and Trollpak, some of which have recently been reprinted. Online there is the Glorantha website and many fansites.
Positives
Negatives
Overall
On its original publication RuneQuest was recognised as a realy good RPG ruleset and I still think that RQII holds up well today. The fact that many mechanisms that were used in RQ are still in use supports this idea as does the fact that many other Basic RolePlaying system games are available. Indeed the consistent success of Call of Cthulhu with its minor changes to the rules over the years and the recent release of BRP by Chaosium help to reinforce this point. I recommend RuneQuestII or RuneQuest III highly, I've not yet looked in detail at Mongoose's recent edition.
I give it a 9.5 for substance and a 4 for style as the art is one thing that does reflect the relatively low standards of the early years of roleplaying games. I'll admit to a slight bias on the substance as this was the first RPG that I really thought that the mechanics on were really great, but I had already played OD&D, Traveller, Bunnies & Burrows and SuperHero'44 by that time. The fact that the BRP system is still available from Chaosium and is used in both Call of Cthulhu and Mongoose RuneQuest supports my idea that it was a really strong set of mechanics.
Later RQ books such as Cults of Prax, Pavis and Trollpak all fleshed out the setting with details of their subjects included. Trollpak has a very highly regarded explantion of the life of Trolls is one of the ironic RQ sourcebooks.
Contents
- Introduction
- How to Create an Adventurer
- Mechanics and Melee
- Combat Skills
- Basic Magic
- Other Skills
- Rune Magic
- Monsters
- Treasure Hordes
- Appendices
- Indexes
Rules
Basics
RQII uses a percentile mechanism rolling under the target on two d10 or d20, critical successes are on low rolls and critical failures or fumbles on high rolls. For character generation 3d6 are used and the other standard polyhedral dice of d4, d8 and d12 will be used for damage rolls. Rolls of 01-05 are always successful and 96-00 always fail. The critical hit/success and fumble rolls are linked to the overall skill level of a character with the chances of a critical hit being 5% of the character's skill level so if Rurik has a 50% to hit with a cudgel then he will get a critical hit on a 01 or 02 as the fractions are rounded down. The chance of fumbling is 5% at base being reduced by 1% for every 20% skill in a weapon that a character has above 20%, so continuing the example Rurik with a 50% chance with a cudgel will only fumble on a 97-00 roll. Impaling with a weapon can only be done when using a thrusting or missile weapon and the attack roll is 20& or less of the to hit chance, so Rurik using a spear with 60% to hit will impale on a roll of 01-12. The effect of an impale is to add the maximum possible damage roll number to the actual damage roll and to stick the weapon in the victim unless the attacker can make a roll of twice his impale chance on 1d100.
Characteristics
RQII has 7 characteristics generated by rolling 3d6 in order, unlike later BRP games there are not any primary characteristics generated by using dice and adding a specified number to give a narrower range of options, e.g. RQIII and Call of Cthulhu having Size and Intelligence generated as 2d6 + 6. Some secondary characteristics such as the strike rank and various bonuses are derived from the rolled ones and other factors. The assumption is that all characters are human, but the details in the bestiary give the dice and modifiers to generate any creatures characterstics allowing really any intelligent race to be played. The background rules are only really set up for human races, but many of the supplements give details for other races, for example Trollpak.
- Strength
- Constitution
- Size
- Intelligence
- Power
- Dexterity
- Charisma
Advancement
RQ advancement is by a mixture of experience and training. A character can increase a skill they possess by making a successful skill roll then rolling less than their current skill level deducted from 100 on percentile dice, e.g. Morgan has a 25% skill in broadsword, but is successful in hitting in combat, so after the combat she if she can roll less than 75% on percentage dice (100-25) then her skill will increase by 5%. Once a character reaches a 95% skill level then they can use their intelligence score as a % to earn an increase. A character can also purchase training in a skill from an appropriate guild, with this being the only way of learning a skill that they do not possess, e.g. read/write other language. Training can only be used to take a skill to 75% while experience can raise it to 100%.
Characteristics can be improved by training and experience, except none can exceed the racial maximum and Strength and Constitution cannot be increased past the highest one of the Strength, Size and Constitution characteristics' starting value. This training is pretty expensive and it will often be done purely on very weak characteristics. A major reason for characters to seek wealth is to help improve their characteristics as this gives a broad range of improvement on various tests for skills depending on the characteristic that is chosen. Intelligence cannot be increased by normal means meaning that it is the most important stat to get a high value in at character generation. The main characteristics improved by experience are Power and Charisma. For Power winning in an opposed power test, e.g. by casting a spell on another, gives the chance of making an improvement roll. Charisma increases where improved skills and renown of the character can raise the basic statistic.
Skills
The skills system is consistent across the different areas using a percentile value. In a skill check a player needs to be rolled the skill value or beneath to succeed with high rolls of 95-100% potentially being a critical faliure (fumble in combat). The skills in the core rules include alchemy, languages and mapping, thieve's skills, weaponsmiths skills and animal training. Skills are normally taught by the relevant guild, with Alchemists, Sages (languages and mapping), Thieves, Armourers, Sailors and Animal Trainers included in the core rules. Characters can obtain training by paying for it and the rules for this are the same for both melee and non-combat skills. Training costs are set out in the rules and a limit of 75% exists as the highest level that a skill can be trained up to. Any further skill advancement above this has to be by experience.
Melee
Combat uses the same percentage values for other skills with an attacker needing to make a succesful attack roll which the defender will then need to try and make a successful parry or defense roll against. Damage is dependent on the weapon type, the attacker's damage bonus and the armour that the defender is wearing. A simple, but effective, hit location mechanism is used with each part of the body assigned a number of hit points. The locations on a humanoid are head, chest, right arm, left arm, right leg and left leg. Armour is used to reduce the amount of damage taken with it being specific to each part of the body covered. The hit location requires a D20 roll after the successful attack roll.
The order in which actions are taken is controlled by the strike rank. There is no random element in the initiative order though an adjustment is applied to strike rank for surprise. Strike rank order is low to high with weapon length, size, encumbrance and dexterity all affecting strike rank. A pikeman with a high dexterity can be very dangerous in RQII as they will strike early in each combat round. With spells being cast the amount of power points used will tend to affect the casting time with more powerful spells taking longer.
Melee can be lethal due to the low numbers of hit points that most characters and creatures will have - a human with the maximum constitution of 18 will rarely have much more than 20 hit points meaning that a critical hit can still potentially kill in one hit. This means that even experienced characters will not rush straight into melee in most circumstances and there will often be extensive manouvering and use of magic. Compared to earlier editions of D&D melee can be a bit sluggish due to rolls to hit, parry, hit location and damage often being needed for each attack by a melee participant, but this is balanced out by the low hit points that tend to ensure that few hits are needed to kill or disable an opponent.
Magic
There are two types of magic in RQII: Battle Magic and Rune Magic. Battle magic is the everyday magic with the spells having a focus on what is used in combat, hence the name. Rune magic is far more powerful and is only accessible to characters that have had a substantial amount of development. A characters ability to cast spells is based on their Power attribute which gives the total number of points available to cast Battle Magic spells.
Battle Magic is commonly available with most characters and intelligent creatures having access to it. The spells include Bladesharp, Countermagic, Glue, Healing, Multimissile, Spirit Shield and various detection spells. Spells can have variable or fixed power levels. Every spell cast uses an amount of power, which is only regained at a rate of 1/4 of the character's total Power every six hours. To cast a spell on an opponent requires overcoming their power with the resistance table used to determine the chance of this. This mechanism is used for spirit combat when either a character is attacked by a spirit or attempts to bind a spirit to an animal or crystal to have the spirits Power and Intelligence to store and use spells without draining the character's own power. This can mean that experienced characters do have very large amounts of magic available to them and the start of combat consists of large numbers of spells being cast to defend or strengthen the combatants.
Battle magic spells have a financial cost to learn with this being greater for more powerful spells. A character can keep casting a known battle magic spell while they still have current power points, but an opposed spell can become less effective as it will have to overcome the current Power of the target. The limits on spells known is set by the Intelligence of the spellcaster with number of power points for the spells held in memory being equal to the Int score. So a character with an Int of 11 could have say Bladesharp 3, Healing 2, Strength, Detect Enemies, Speeddart, Detect Magic and Light in memory and any other spells they knew only as options.
Shamans can be created by binding to a fetch, this is done by allying to a spirit using the apprentice shaman's Power and Charisma against the spirit's Intelligence and Power. Once a fetch is bound a shaman can enter the spirit world and use the spirit world to store Power, cure disease, return from the dead and control spirits. The shaman also has the support of their tribe or cult, but has obligations to that tribe or cult that will dictate some of their actions. There are other disadvantages for shamans will limits on increase of skills and characteristics once they have gained their fetch.
Rune Magic is very powerful and requires characters to sacrifice permanent Power points to obtain it. Rune magic is mainly available to experienced characters who can achieve Rune Lord or Rune Priest status though a cult may allow an Initiate member to learn a limited amount of rune spells at a cost. Rune spells can be cast repeatedly by those that have learnt them and are powerful in allowing multiple casts of Battle magic spells or in allowing the caster to protect himself.To achieve Rule Lord or Rune Priest status the requirements include being a faithful follower of a god in good standing and for a Rune Lord 5 skills at 90% are required including at least two combat skills and for some cults it may be five combat skills. A Power of at least 15 is required by a Rune Lord. Rune Priests require a Power of at least 18 with the ability to read/write their own language at 50% and 90% in three skills specific to the cult's specialities.
The pervasiveness of magic in Glorantha is shown by the RQ magic system which helps integrate the setting and the system. The weakness of the RQII rules is in not really elaborating on how magic might be used within society by farmers, etc though healing spells would obviously aid in many lives. There is little in the way of mechanical detail about failed casting attempts unlike fumbles in melee, as all that happens really is that the spell fails. RQ's magic systems do capture the flavour of a world where there is pervasive magic use and the most powerful Rune magic comes at a cost for its users from the Gods. The magic system can be criticised as being very combat focused in the base rules, but this does reflect how most RPG have always been written.
Cults
The religions in RQ are based around cults of the various gods, such as Orlanth, Issaries and Kyger Litor. The cults are linked to various runes, which show their links to different types of powers. There are sample cults in the book with Orlanth for humans and Kyger Litor for trolls detailed. There is far more information in the later books which is a major part of the Gloranthan setting. The cults are a critical part of the game for characters as to learn Rune Magic the characters need to have links to a cult, particularly if they aspire to Rune Lord or Rune Priest status.
Creatures
RQ includes a wide range of intelligent races that are different to most other fantasy worlds, with elves as a species of sentient plant and the dwarves or Mostali being different form the usual tolkeineque dwarves. The unique races include dragonnewts, who go through multiple life stages with different statistics at each time. The trolls include several different races including the trollkin. The ducks have been a feature of the setting that has often been controversial with many feeling that they are silly, but personally I like how they are handled and they do have a place in the complex world of Glorantha.
Non-sentient creatures include the riding animals for the barbarians of Prax and monsters like the Dragonsnails and rubble runners. The dragons in RQ are not encountered widely as they are sleeping deep underground, but their dreams are capable of taking flesh and being encountered.
The rules on allocating treasure for adventures have a simple mechanism for estimating the strength of monsters to work out how much treasure is appropriate, the Treasure Factor. There are a number of tables for the different types of treasure with a master table that gives the amounts of treasure of each type for a particular treasure factor. Treasure Factors can also be used to estimate encounter difficulty by calculating the adventurers' TF and comparing it to the TF of what they will encounter.
Appendices
The appendices include optional rules for different character generation systems, prior experience, rules for environmental conditions and optional combat rules. The optional combat rules include rules for aimed blows, shield attacks crushing and knocking back opponents. There are rules for disease with these being particularly important when facing Broos, the chaos creatures riddled with disease that can infect the characters they fight.
Alternate chargen includes a points buy system where a player has 20 points to allocate amongst the 7 characteristics with a maximum of 18 for a human and a base value of 8. There are other dice based systems included as well as this, but in practice the standard 3d6 or the points buy mechanism seem to have been most widely used.
Prior experience can take a number of forms depending on what a character becomes, a player can join a guild to gain trade skill while simultaneously being a member of the militia, this would largely be peasant or townsman characters. For barbarians there is set of possible advances from their lifestyle and there is the option of being a member of a mercenary company for a more combat oriented set of advances. The guilds are the ones that the characters can use to train them in skills for advancement, so a member of the thieves guild will advance in those skills.
Natural damages and conditions and their effect on characters form an appendix including fire, drowning and falling. The information about running a game and Languages are other contents in the appendices.
The appendices include a bibliography and encounter tables for different types of location. The bibliography includes not only books, but also other roleplaying games and the boardgames set in Glorantha. It is brief, but still useful in comparing the origins of RQII to say AD&D where the Dungeon Master's Guide has its Appendix N on the inspirations for the game.
Presentation
There were hard cover and softcover editions produced inclduing ones printed in the UK by Games Workshop. The actual content is the same with the page layout being clear with the text reasonably spaced and enough white space round it to allow for easy reading or making comments in the margins. The art is not particularly great in RQII with the cover having a female warrior fighting a giant lizard that is sometimes called the pizza cover because of claims that her shield looks like a pizza that the lizard is biting into.
Support
There is a lot of support material for RQII originally mainly in print as it came out in the pre-internet era and this includes many classic modules and sourcebooks. These include scenarios like Griffon Mountain and sourcebooks like Cults of Prax and Trollpak, some of which have recently been reprinted. Online there is the Glorantha website and many fansites.
Positives
- Consistent and effective combat and skills system
- Magic systems tied into background
- Speed of character generation
- Wide range and quality of support material
- Interesting background
- Contents, Index and bibliography included
Negatives
- Rules can breakdown with values outside normal ranges, e.g. skills above 100%
- No random element in melee initative
- Limited amount of background information
- Limited number of combat and play examples
- Fairly extreme results from background roll on character wealth and equipment
- Art is variable in quality
Overall
On its original publication RuneQuest was recognised as a realy good RPG ruleset and I still think that RQII holds up well today. The fact that many mechanisms that were used in RQ are still in use supports this idea as does the fact that many other Basic RolePlaying system games are available. Indeed the consistent success of Call of Cthulhu with its minor changes to the rules over the years and the recent release of BRP by Chaosium help to reinforce this point. I recommend RuneQuestII or RuneQuest III highly, I've not yet looked in detail at Mongoose's recent edition.
I give it a 9.5 for substance and a 4 for style as the art is one thing that does reflect the relatively low standards of the early years of roleplaying games. I'll admit to a slight bias on the substance as this was the first RPG that I really thought that the mechanics on were really great, but I had already played OD&D, Traveller, Bunnies & Burrows and SuperHero'44 by that time. The fact that the BRP system is still available from Chaosium and is used in both Call of Cthulhu and Mongoose RuneQuest supports my idea that it was a really strong set of mechanics.
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