They say that when a true synergy occurs, the results can be greater than the sum of its parts.
Certainly, the idea of creating this kind of synergy was behind a gathering of writers and game designers by The Design Mechanism to create The Book of Quests for the 6th Edition of RuneQuest.
In many respects, I’m reminded of how the Thieves’ World series was brought about by using such a premise. You bring a group of writers together, and give them a world to play in and let them run loose. With the right ground rules laid down at the project’s outset, a cohesive storyline can emerge from the imaginations of the writers, but with each one having a unique point of view.
And so, The Book of Quests is the work of nine authors, each penning a different scenario - or in one case, a world setting. But what sort of campaign arc can you create with such a collaboration of writing talent, each contributing just one part to the greater whole?
Book of Quests (for Runequest)
The Book of Quests is a supplement for the 6th Edition of the RuneQuest RPG by The Design Mechanism, which contains an anthology of seven adventure scenarios. The seven scenarios in The Book of Quests are all linked together by an over-arching plotline, and can be played as part of a mini campaign or separately as stand-alone modules. In addition, The Book of Quests contains a fantasy world setting called The Realm, as well as a compact gazetteer of the history and geography.
Product Quality
The production quality of The Book of Quests is good overall, with a reader-friendly layout and some excellent writing by all the authors involved. Special table and stat blocks for monsters and NPCs have every other line gray-shaded for easier reading, and extra information about a topic appears in gray boxes, or along the side of the page in italicized font. In some sections of The Book of Quests, important facts appear with helpful bullet-points - or in this case, rune-marks.
There is both a table of contents and an index in The Book of Quests, and the ToC is linked in the PDF to jump to each particular chapter. Sadly, there were no PDF bookmarks in my review copy, and those would have been quite welcome to navigate the more than 200 pages of the supplement.
The illustrations in The Book of Quests are quite good, from the bold and exciting cover art, to the black-and-white line art and gray-scale sketches within its pages. Regretfully, there are a disappointingly low number of illustrations in The Book of Quests. Many of the creatures, locations, and NPCs in the book have fantastic descriptions, but there are few illustrations depicting them to fire a GM’s imagination. In particular, I would have liked to see more art of the unique monsters, most of which are quite horrific indeed.
Being that this supplement is a series of adventure modules, there is also quite a bit of cartography in The Book of Quests. The quality of the maps is varied, however, ranging from excellent to average in appearance. The map of The Realm itself is very good, as are the maps that look as though they were designed in a graphic arts program. The maps that appear to have been hand-drawn are of lower quality, looking almost like low resolution images blown up to size where there crispness of line fails. They are still legible, but the line-work looks smudged and wavery at best.
Sorcery rules the world!
The Book of Quests is roughly divided into nine sections, starting with an introduction, a setting summary, and then a series of seven quests all tied together by a central theme. Each section and quest is penned by a different author, but the central theme appears runs through all of the scenarios. In some respects, The Book of Quests might be considered a mini-campaign or an adventure arc, although the scenarios could be run separately as stand-alone quests.
The Introduction section goes over some of the basics of how The Book of Quests can be utilized, and any modifications necessary to create new heroes to fit into The Realm setting. The authors note that other settings can be used instead of The Realm, and even include special information for adopting The Book of Quests to be used in the Glorantha setting.
The next section describes The Realm, a setting which exists in the same world as Meeros from the RuneQuest 6th Edition Core Rules. The Realm is roughly analogous of northern Europe, and The Book of Quests includes a well-rendered map of the lands and geography of the setting. The author of this section provides a decent, if short, overview of The Realm, including climate, locales, history, peoples, religions, and more. While comprising only a dozen pages or so, there is still enough information here to enjoy the setting, and has plenty of room for enterprising GMs to add their own design flair to The Realm.
The rest of The Book of Quests is comprised of the seven scenarios which are tied together into a saga of dark sorcery, chaos, and world conquest. There is a certain flavor to some of the adventures reminiscent of the Elric of Melniboné Saga and the Cthulhu Mythos – not really all that surprising, I suppose, given the origins and history of the RuneQuest RPG system.
The over-arching theme of this adventure series is to stop a mad sorcerer, Jedakiah, from taking over The Realm. His schemes are insane, of course, but he’s backed by powerful forces which the heroes must face to thwart his nefarious plans. It’s interesting to note that the seven scenarios don’t necessarily have to be played out in any particular order, although one is clearly the beginning and another the end. This does offer a certain flexibility to the GM that you don’t often see in other campaign/adventure arcs.
To avoid spoilers and giving any details of the scenarios away, it’s best to discuss the types of adventures found in The Book of Quests only in general terms. Each scenario is written in the same template, and includes some very solid features to aid GMs in understanding and running the adventure.
As with most “modules”, the authors include an overview and introduction before getting into the meat of the adventure itself, but there are additional sections as well. There is a sort of dramatis personae listing all the major NPCs involved in the story, and includes a short description of each. A list of locations which are important to the plot appear as well in its own bullet-pointed section, as well as a timeline of events and the order in which they will occur in the storyline. And at the end of each scenario in The Book of Quests there appears a conclusion/aftermath discussion, which helps the GM keep in mind the context of the adventure in relation to the overall story. The stat blocks for NPCs and monsters also appear at the end of each adventure, presumably to reduce the clutter within the text of the scenario.
The adventures in The Book of Quests range considerably in style, including outdoor adventures, palace intrigues, dungeon delves, and everything in between. I really liked how eclectic the adventures were overall, and yet the theme of thwarting the mad sorcerer wends its way through every one of them. There are some great story elements in the series, and a hefty dose of supernatural horror as well. Literally, the fate of The Realm – or some other RQRPG world – hangs in the balance, and only the heroes can change the approaching doom.
Overall Score: 3.8 out of 5.0
Conclusions
I have to say that I really enjoyed reading and reviewing The Book of Quests supplement for the RuneQuest RPG (6th Edition). The quests were diverse and had some great plotlines, and the main theme of the adventure arc was skillfully worked into each scenario. The inclusion of a bare-bones fantasy campaign setting was a nice addition to the supplement, and including the necessary character conversion section for running the adventures in Glorantha will undoubtedly make many GMs pleased.
Overall, The Book of Quests is a splendid adventure supplement, and based upon the length and complexity of the scenarios, is guaranteed to provide a RuneQuest RPG group with many hours of game time. And even for gamers out there who play other role-playing games, The Book of Quests still offers some amazing plotlines in seven scenarios. While the stat blocks may differ, the storylines, NPCs, and other features of the adventures are system neutral, and could readily be adapted to almost any fantasy RPG system.
The price is a total steal for the huge amount of content bursting from the virtual seams of this supplement! The Book of Quests is well worth taking a look at by any FRPG GM looking for an exciting and epic story for their heroes to experience!
Editor’s Note: This Reviewer received a complimentary copy of the product in PDF format from which the review was written.
Grade Card (Ratings 1 to 5)
Certainly, the idea of creating this kind of synergy was behind a gathering of writers and game designers by The Design Mechanism to create The Book of Quests for the 6th Edition of RuneQuest.
In many respects, I’m reminded of how the Thieves’ World series was brought about by using such a premise. You bring a group of writers together, and give them a world to play in and let them run loose. With the right ground rules laid down at the project’s outset, a cohesive storyline can emerge from the imaginations of the writers, but with each one having a unique point of view.
And so, The Book of Quests is the work of nine authors, each penning a different scenario - or in one case, a world setting. But what sort of campaign arc can you create with such a collaboration of writing talent, each contributing just one part to the greater whole?Book of Quests (for Runequest)
- Designers/Writers: Darren Driver, Tom Griffith, Russell Hoyle, Bruce Mason, Keane Peterson, Marko Vojnovic, Jonathan Webb, John White, and Lawrence Whitaker
- Illustrations: Pascal Quidault (cover); Dan MacKinnon, Pascal Quidault (interior); Colin Driver, Carl Pates, Richard Lawrence (cartography)
- Publisher: The Design Mechanism
- Year: 2013
- Media: PDF (226 pages)
- Price: $8.00 (PDF available from the RPGNow)
The Book of Quests is a supplement for the 6th Edition of the RuneQuest RPG by The Design Mechanism, which contains an anthology of seven adventure scenarios. The seven scenarios in The Book of Quests are all linked together by an over-arching plotline, and can be played as part of a mini campaign or separately as stand-alone modules. In addition, The Book of Quests contains a fantasy world setting called The Realm, as well as a compact gazetteer of the history and geography.
Product Quality
The production quality of The Book of Quests is good overall, with a reader-friendly layout and some excellent writing by all the authors involved. Special table and stat blocks for monsters and NPCs have every other line gray-shaded for easier reading, and extra information about a topic appears in gray boxes, or along the side of the page in italicized font. In some sections of The Book of Quests, important facts appear with helpful bullet-points - or in this case, rune-marks.
There is both a table of contents and an index in The Book of Quests, and the ToC is linked in the PDF to jump to each particular chapter. Sadly, there were no PDF bookmarks in my review copy, and those would have been quite welcome to navigate the more than 200 pages of the supplement.
The illustrations in The Book of Quests are quite good, from the bold and exciting cover art, to the black-and-white line art and gray-scale sketches within its pages. Regretfully, there are a disappointingly low number of illustrations in The Book of Quests. Many of the creatures, locations, and NPCs in the book have fantastic descriptions, but there are few illustrations depicting them to fire a GM’s imagination. In particular, I would have liked to see more art of the unique monsters, most of which are quite horrific indeed.
Being that this supplement is a series of adventure modules, there is also quite a bit of cartography in The Book of Quests. The quality of the maps is varied, however, ranging from excellent to average in appearance. The map of The Realm itself is very good, as are the maps that look as though they were designed in a graphic arts program. The maps that appear to have been hand-drawn are of lower quality, looking almost like low resolution images blown up to size where there crispness of line fails. They are still legible, but the line-work looks smudged and wavery at best.
Sorcery rules the world!
The Book of Quests is roughly divided into nine sections, starting with an introduction, a setting summary, and then a series of seven quests all tied together by a central theme. Each section and quest is penned by a different author, but the central theme appears runs through all of the scenarios. In some respects, The Book of Quests might be considered a mini-campaign or an adventure arc, although the scenarios could be run separately as stand-alone quests.
The Introduction section goes over some of the basics of how The Book of Quests can be utilized, and any modifications necessary to create new heroes to fit into The Realm setting. The authors note that other settings can be used instead of The Realm, and even include special information for adopting The Book of Quests to be used in the Glorantha setting.
The next section describes The Realm, a setting which exists in the same world as Meeros from the RuneQuest 6th Edition Core Rules. The Realm is roughly analogous of northern Europe, and The Book of Quests includes a well-rendered map of the lands and geography of the setting. The author of this section provides a decent, if short, overview of The Realm, including climate, locales, history, peoples, religions, and more. While comprising only a dozen pages or so, there is still enough information here to enjoy the setting, and has plenty of room for enterprising GMs to add their own design flair to The Realm.
The rest of The Book of Quests is comprised of the seven scenarios which are tied together into a saga of dark sorcery, chaos, and world conquest. There is a certain flavor to some of the adventures reminiscent of the Elric of Melniboné Saga and the Cthulhu Mythos – not really all that surprising, I suppose, given the origins and history of the RuneQuest RPG system.
The over-arching theme of this adventure series is to stop a mad sorcerer, Jedakiah, from taking over The Realm. His schemes are insane, of course, but he’s backed by powerful forces which the heroes must face to thwart his nefarious plans. It’s interesting to note that the seven scenarios don’t necessarily have to be played out in any particular order, although one is clearly the beginning and another the end. This does offer a certain flexibility to the GM that you don’t often see in other campaign/adventure arcs.
To avoid spoilers and giving any details of the scenarios away, it’s best to discuss the types of adventures found in The Book of Quests only in general terms. Each scenario is written in the same template, and includes some very solid features to aid GMs in understanding and running the adventure.
As with most “modules”, the authors include an overview and introduction before getting into the meat of the adventure itself, but there are additional sections as well. There is a sort of dramatis personae listing all the major NPCs involved in the story, and includes a short description of each. A list of locations which are important to the plot appear as well in its own bullet-pointed section, as well as a timeline of events and the order in which they will occur in the storyline. And at the end of each scenario in The Book of Quests there appears a conclusion/aftermath discussion, which helps the GM keep in mind the context of the adventure in relation to the overall story. The stat blocks for NPCs and monsters also appear at the end of each adventure, presumably to reduce the clutter within the text of the scenario.
The adventures in The Book of Quests range considerably in style, including outdoor adventures, palace intrigues, dungeon delves, and everything in between. I really liked how eclectic the adventures were overall, and yet the theme of thwarting the mad sorcerer wends its way through every one of them. There are some great story elements in the series, and a hefty dose of supernatural horror as well. Literally, the fate of The Realm – or some other RQRPG world – hangs in the balance, and only the heroes can change the approaching doom.
Overall Score: 3.8 out of 5.0
Conclusions
I have to say that I really enjoyed reading and reviewing The Book of Quests supplement for the RuneQuest RPG (6th Edition). The quests were diverse and had some great plotlines, and the main theme of the adventure arc was skillfully worked into each scenario. The inclusion of a bare-bones fantasy campaign setting was a nice addition to the supplement, and including the necessary character conversion section for running the adventures in Glorantha will undoubtedly make many GMs pleased.
Overall, The Book of Quests is a splendid adventure supplement, and based upon the length and complexity of the scenarios, is guaranteed to provide a RuneQuest RPG group with many hours of game time. And even for gamers out there who play other role-playing games, The Book of Quests still offers some amazing plotlines in seven scenarios. While the stat blocks may differ, the storylines, NPCs, and other features of the adventures are system neutral, and could readily be adapted to almost any fantasy RPG system.
The price is a total steal for the huge amount of content bursting from the virtual seams of this supplement! The Book of Quests is well worth taking a look at by any FRPG GM looking for an exciting and epic story for their heroes to experience!
Editor’s Note: This Reviewer received a complimentary copy of the product in PDF format from which the review was written.
Grade Card (Ratings 1 to 5)
- Presentation: 3.5
- - Design: 4.0 (Good layout; Excellent writing; lack of PDF bookmarks troublesome)
- - Illustrations: 3.0 (Awesome cover art; good illustrations but few; some maps have bad resolution)
- Content: 4.0
- - Crunch: 4.0 (Exciting locales and scenarios; cool unique monsters and NPCs)
- - Fluff: 4.0 (Nice overview of The Realm; amazing scenarios and over-arching plotline!)
- Value: 4.0 (A ton of great adventure for a great price!)
