Pitch me the current RuneQuest

[Yora]

I am feeling the Mediterranean Sword & Sorcery pull again. And RuneQuest is one of the names that always appears in my mind first.

But I don't really know much about it, other than it being a very old game that had a lot of different edition with various side branches by different publishers.
But when I did hear about it in recent months, people seem to have been talking quite fondly of it.

I started reading a Quickstart download from 2017, which I think is the current one (not sure about that), but it's a pretty big file and I often feel I'm not getting a good impression of a game with these.

So, people who love whatever the current edition of RuneQuest is, please gush to me about why more people should check it out.

 

[aramis erak]

I am not overly familiar with the current edition... and yes, the 2017 QS is the one Chaosium has up, and is the current edition's QS. Note that there are more than 4 editions, but that's the 4th Greg-Stafford-Directly-Involved edition. (And will be the last, due to Greg's passing.)

Glorantha has HUGE amounts of lore.
The mechanics are very close to BRP. Note that Original BRP is Greg Stafford and Lynn Willis simplifying the Ray Tourney and Steve Perrin written RuneQuest 1e mechanics for Greg's world of Glorantha.
All characters have access to magic, but much magic is low-potency.
All characters cultic status matters in play when run as intended; this can be minimized by the GM if desired.

I've only Run 3E; I didn't have a grasp on the setting, and despite the deluxe set, it didn't do Glorantha justice.
I fell in love with the setting not from the RuneQuest line, but the Hero Wars line.
I've got Mongoose's RuneQuest edition, as well - and it gave me a taste of Glorantha...
I have not run 4th ed, but am skimming it and noting sources

Glorantha has scope, history, room for epic quests, both in the lands, and in places beyond the world...

Going through it

While the character gen is random, it starts with the family's life path... One has the option of picking culture and profession; there are multiple options for more heroic att gen.
Skills are by starting universal base, homeland/tribe, career, Cult.

Passions are added; they do much what they do in Pendragon: provide guidance on when/how to express your crazy, and provide bonuses by letting them be used to inspire. The ones you get at start are 60% or higher... But failure to inspire can hurt in multiple ways. Some from family history, some from profession, some from cult

Runes are used for magic, and for inspiration, and for guidance on how to proceed when the player needs it.

Combat is skill driven; the strike rank system's still there, and works much the same as always. If you know BRP, you already know most of it.
Parries/dodges: 1 free defense per round. Further at penalties. Not an action. Can break the parrying weapon, or, in certain cases, the attacking one. Success reduces damage... a lot.

Note that HP are both full body total and by location, and weapon damages can often exceed location+good armor...

Unlike prior editions, the mechanics of character gen are very much tied to Glorantha as presented. This isn't a generic fantasy; for generic fantasy use BRP, or be prepared to rewrite parts of 50+ pages...

Prior editions were more "Glorantha-friendly" than "Glorantha in mechanics"; this is very much the latter, much as Pendragon is Greg's "Aurthurian Setting in Mechanics"... and the changes to Runes and adding Passions is very much a Greg-ism.

If you want a more general feel, RQ 4 isn't the right game, but the closely related Mythras may be. (Mythras is derived from MRQ in the same way Cepheus Engine is derived from MgT 1e... except that the Mongoose license for RQ is thankfully long over.)

Another good eastern med game is Jackals, from Osprey. It's another d100 variant, simpler, and very much themed for bronze age Eastern Mediterranean cultures - but masked behind mild fantasy renames. They didn the research tho', and very much match up to what is known of the cultures' religious praxis - enough to be readily id'd.

 

[Retreater]

I hope you'll accept a negative review. (If not, please skip past this.)
I bought the most recent slipcase core rules box. I don't like it, will never run it, and will probably sell it to a used book store.
1) the writing is obtuse and does a bad job of teaching the rules
2) mountains of lore clutter what should be a reference guide to playing a game
3) weird symbols (runes, right?) to describe the spell system (like instead of "illusion" you have to memorize symbols to understand the rules)
4) a bizarre life path system of character creation that requires you to create a genealogy and family history going back centuries that has no real bearing on your character
5) oddly forgoes the development of Call of Cthulhu's new edition by reverting back to the primitive resistance table from BRP games of 20 years ago

Seriously, I think the core book is presented terribly. (Even if the art is good.) The starter set is probably better - so maybe start with that? It's at least a decent teaching tool. Or alternatively, I'd recommend Dragonbane as a streamlined version of RuneQuest.

 

[aramis erak]

Or alternatively, I'd recommend Dragonbane as a streamlined version of RuneQuest.

Dragonbane is derived from BRP1 and is not very much like RuneQuest. Just look at the character sheets to see just how much lighter it is. DoD 1E isn't much more complex than Dragonbane, and is minimally changed from Magic World.
The only real Gloranthaism in the core for Dragonbane is the Mallards...
While DoD is said to have a good bit of lore, very little is in the Dragonbane core.
The lack of automatic parries, strike ranks, a skill list well under 1/2 the length of the 1st ed BRP, and about a third of RQ 3 or 4, no location HP... Not to mention a total lack of the bronze age and the Mediterranean feel the OP was feeling... and the move to 1d20...

 

[numtini]

I played the heck out of RQ2 back in the 80s, but I'll be a negative as well and agree with @Retreater. My version of the elevator pitch would be "In college, you missed sessions with your D&D group because your anthropology homework was just really so much more interesting. Now you can play RQ: Glorantha, which combines roleplaying with levels of cultural minutiae rarely seen outside of Anthropology PhD theses!"

 

[Retreater]

Dragonbane is derived from BRP1 and is not very much like RuneQuest. Just look at the character sheets to see just how much lighter it is. DoD 1E isn't much more complex than Dragonbane, and is minimally changed from Magic World.
The only real Gloranthaism in the core for Dragonbane is the Mallards...
While DoD is said to have a good bit of lore, very little is in the Dragonbane core.
The lack of automatic parries, strike ranks, a skill list well under 1/2 the length of the 1st ed BRP, and about a third of RQ 3 or 4, no location HP... Not to mention a total lack of the bronze age and the Mediterranean feel the OP was feeling... and the move to 1d20...

I can't get too much into the argument here, because the rules of RuneQuest were over what I could understand - even as a 35 year veteran of TTRPGs.
But d20 roll under is basically the same resolution mechanic as percentile roll under (only with each digit worth 5%). The fewer skills and no location HP are - for me - a valued simplification.
I don't buy game systems for settings. If you love a setting, you can take it and run it in another system.
Or, if you really love the setting, maybe try the 13th Age version of Glorantha? Or adjust some Bronze Age mechanics in 5e, OSR, or something else? Heck, I'd rather run Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu with Glorantha as a setting than to try to parse out whatever RuneQuest is about. It is so bad about explaining how to play the game. It's probably the worst designed rulebook I've seen in the modern era. As an art book, something to read about history of the world, it's not bad. To try to learn and reference a complex game system, it's terrible.

 

[SJB]

Runequest 6/Mythras was built around a pseudo-Bronze Age setting called Meeros. The rules are free as Mythras Imperative. The Meeros supplements are very cheap (or free). Unless one specifically wants Glorantha I’d say they are a much better bet than RQ:G.

However, if the latter is the choice I’d recommend Ian Thomson’s Pavis supplements. They contain properly laid out NPCs of all kinds that provide good design examples. RQ:G + Pavis is an expensive option.

 

[eyeheartawk]

5) oddly forgoes the development of Call of Cthulhu's new edition by reverting back to the primitive resistance table from BRP games of 20 years ago

Yeah, my main complaint with the rules too.

 

[Bluenose]

If you don't have any particular attachment to Glorantha and are intending either to use your own setting or a different "sword and sandal" setting, then I'd probably avoid current Runequest which is overwhelmingly writted to play Glorantha games (and a small region of Glorantha at that, though fans have produced quite a lot of alternative material). I would suggest looking at Mythras or Mythras Imperative - (Runequest 6 at one time) instead, which is quite a lot more adaptable.

 

[Wolfpack48]

So writing to counter some of the 'dump on RuneQuest Glorantha' posts here. We've played a full year and a half Pavis campaign using the new rules and have found them perfectly usable, and actually not all that different from RQ2 or RQ3. The setting itself is brilliant. I think you are running into a lot of "I'm used to X edition of RQ and change sucks" opinions.

1) The rules walk through creating a character and have supplemental information alongside incorporating the setting.
2) Yes, lore is baked throughout, but it's in service to the content. It might have been parsed out separately, but then I think you are basically doing what RQ3 did which is mythic earth instead of Glorantha. If that's what you want to do, just use RQ3 or Mythras, but this latest edition is about Glorantha. Glorantha actually does "mediterranean" really well with Pavis and environs. There are a ton of published adventures and content in the Pavis and Borderlands regions so you won't be hard pressed to find material.
3) The game details how runes are manifested in the world and how they are employed by characters. If you're going to complain about runes in a game called RuneQuest, well... The game book does fine with giving a single translation for each symbol, and once you start using them, they become second nature
4) I'll agree the lifepath is a bit much for a player new to Glorantha, but I think this section can be easily ignored or just used as bit of flavor if you don't want to go through it. It is clearly listed as optional.
5) The Resistance table has always proved useful, but the opposed level of success rolls can be used easily if you are familiar with the CoC 7th system. BRP rules are infinitely flexible, and many players games mix and match the BRP engine as desired.

As to the game itself, this edition is the most complete edition ever published for Glorantha. There are mountains of great adventures old and new to draw on, and content is coming out continuously at the Jonstown Compendium on DriveThru RPG. Pick up Pavis and the Big Rubble and Borderlands, and you have enough for multiple years of adventuring. Glorantha is a weird world, but it captured nicely in the new edition. Some of the great new things, which are not radically different than RQ2/3:

• Rune Magic now uses Rune Points which can be sacrificed and replenished in a game friendly manner that is clearer than the old RQ2/3 sacrifice POW system.
• Runes are incorporated into the game now in a way that actually affects gameplay and is similar to the way Pendragon Personal Traits work.
• Passions are captured, which allow for more roleplaying opportunities.
• Sorcery has been rewritten to more closely tie the system to Glorantha
• MUCH more Glorantha lore out of the box.

If the OP is actually interested in Glorantha, RQG is the best supported version available. There's plenty of old and new material available at Chaosium's site and on Drivethru.