Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Runes And Strange Elves: Looking At Runequest Classic
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Banesfinger" data-source="post: 7696125" data-attributes="member: 9164"><p>I loved RuneQuest back in the day. So a few years ago, when we had a break from our regular d20/D&D game, I decided to DM RuneQuest for my players who had never tried it. Level-less, and class-less were aspects of the rpg I found really appealing.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, all the things that Christopher mentioned in his article (above), that he liked - were things my players disliked about the system; these are things that make it play 'worse' than it reads:</p><p></p><p>% skill system: as Christopher mentioned, it is a very easy concept to learn. However, my players didn't like how "incompetent" it made their PCs *seem*. Many of their beginning PCs only had skill scores of 25%-30%. They whined "my warrior only has 25% in his sword?! He can only hit one-quarter of the time?! He sucks!". I argued - "In d20, that is similar to +5 (a very good score for a beginning character)". So mathematically it was on-par with other games - but it was the *perception* of how those numbers are presented to the players.</p><p></p><p>Classless: while I thought my players would enjoy the "freedom" of creating any class they wanted, instead it made everyone flounder...wondering what skills they should take, which ones were important. Likewise, they never got that "look ahead" excitement you get in a class-based game (players look at the bonuses they get at next level).</p><p></p><p>Training: And while completely *realistic* - RuneQuest's skill system is a learn-by-doing, which frustrated players. For example, if an adventure doesn't have any traps or locks to disarm, the player who wants to be Thief-y, has no chance to improve himself (...sure there is 'training', but it is a poor choice compared to experience). </p><p></p><p>Etc.</p><p></p><p>So while I have fond memories of the game, my d20 players found the game "fell-short" of the nostalgia I once had for it.</p><p>To leave on a good note: they did LOVE two things about the game: Armor as damage-reduction (instead of d20's harder-to-hit mechanic). And that 'everyone' could have magic (which they thought brought a different 'flavor' compared to the D&D worlds).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Banesfinger, post: 7696125, member: 9164"] I loved RuneQuest back in the day. So a few years ago, when we had a break from our regular d20/D&D game, I decided to DM RuneQuest for my players who had never tried it. Level-less, and class-less were aspects of the rpg I found really appealing. Unfortunately, all the things that Christopher mentioned in his article (above), that he liked - were things my players disliked about the system; these are things that make it play 'worse' than it reads: % skill system: as Christopher mentioned, it is a very easy concept to learn. However, my players didn't like how "incompetent" it made their PCs *seem*. Many of their beginning PCs only had skill scores of 25%-30%. They whined "my warrior only has 25% in his sword?! He can only hit one-quarter of the time?! He sucks!". I argued - "In d20, that is similar to +5 (a very good score for a beginning character)". So mathematically it was on-par with other games - but it was the *perception* of how those numbers are presented to the players. Classless: while I thought my players would enjoy the "freedom" of creating any class they wanted, instead it made everyone flounder...wondering what skills they should take, which ones were important. Likewise, they never got that "look ahead" excitement you get in a class-based game (players look at the bonuses they get at next level). Training: And while completely *realistic* - RuneQuest's skill system is a learn-by-doing, which frustrated players. For example, if an adventure doesn't have any traps or locks to disarm, the player who wants to be Thief-y, has no chance to improve himself (...sure there is 'training', but it is a poor choice compared to experience). Etc. So while I have fond memories of the game, my d20 players found the game "fell-short" of the nostalgia I once had for it. To leave on a good note: they did LOVE two things about the game: Armor as damage-reduction (instead of d20's harder-to-hit mechanic). And that 'everyone' could have magic (which they thought brought a different 'flavor' compared to the D&D worlds). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Runes And Strange Elves: Looking At Runequest Classic
Top