Can somebody tell me about Runequest setting?

[Tonguez]

So can somebody tell me about Runequest setting?

As I understand it Runequest is a skillbased system okay - whats the setting and is it lower tech than DnD (ie Bronze/Iron age)?

 

[Wycen]

I can't really say much about the setting, I've played it maybe half a dozen times, but something about the setting or perhaps the particular DM running it did not grab me.

Basically, it is low tech. LOW tech, with Iron weapons and equipment being rare and valueable. You have skills which are percentile and stats which are similar to DnD; STR, DEX, CON, though some extras like Size and Power.

The world is young with many gods, cults, and it seems everyone is either in league with CHAOS or fighting against it, with chaos monsters being evil always.

 

[Maldur]

There is no such thing as the runequest setting, but There is the first runequest setting: Glorantha.

Glorantha is a world on the brink of the times of heroes, where empires and cultures collide. Many gods shape thye world and the stories and myths of these gods grant power and magic if envoked correctly.

The tech level varies from area to area, from stone age to middle ages. But magic changed some things: bronze is the standard weapon to make weapons from, as it can be enchanted by the red smith to work like an "earth"-iron
sword.

The new Glorantha roleplaying game herowars/heroquest is a very roleplaying/storytelling inducing system. and its website has much information on the world.

There is a very solid ( although) small fanbase for glorantha, google will give you many a link to information.

 

[trancejeremy]

Ducks! It's got anthromorphic ducks, like Donald, Scrooge, Webigail, Hewey, Dewey, Lewey, Launchpad, etc.

Seriously (while that is true, it does have ducks), it's one of those games that you ever love or 'eeeh'. I thought it was sorta ancient celtic-ish in feel. Didn't do much for me, because it's sort of an artsy sort of setting.

 

[Henrix]

I'd recommend looking at Issaries´ website, in particular the old Library of Londros.

Issaries now publishes all things Gloranthan, as the game HeroQuest. Many of the sourcebooks are very useful regardless of what system you run them with, as the system needs very little space in the books.
The main world sourcebook Glorantha, Introduction to the Hero Wars is very nice.

 

[Plane Sailing]

So can somebody tell me about Runequest setting?

As I understand it Runequest is a skillbased system okay - whats the setting and is it lower tech than DnD (ie Bronze/Iron age)?

We played it extensively during the 1980's almost completely abandoning D&D in favour of it. (2nd edition RQ is the one I have in mind. 2rd edition was completely blah, and lost much of the appeal of the original)

As someone said, it is skill-based, with mostly static hit points. Pretty much everybody can learn and use battlemagic to enhance themselves in combat, Rune priests can obtain rune spells which are typically an order of magnitude more powerful.

The combat system was a pure delight, with attacks, parries, defense, armour absorbing damage, hit points per hit location; severed limbs aplenty, it was FULL of atmosphere and melee was actually quicker to run that 3e D&D.

The basic Gloranthan setting is bronze age, with bronze armour and weapons. Iron is available but interferes with all magic casting (and is expensive) so ordinary joes don't use it. The main setting was "Dragon Pass", the kingdom of Sartar with the empire of the red moon to the north, the grasslands of Prax to the east, other places less defined to the west.

Cults were utterly central to character advancement, and effectively replaced alignment too. You would first attempt to join a cult as a lay member, which gave you cheap access to certain skills and spells. Once you reached a certain standard you could attempt to become an initiate, which gave you additional benefits and restrictions. The initiate could then aspire to becoming either a Rune Priest (and start to gain powerful rune magics) or a Rune Lord (who can increase skills beyond 100%, can "seal" iron so that it can be worn without affecting his magic casting and has easy access to divine intervention). Cult affiliation told you who were your allies, who were your friends, who you were nuetral too and who were your enemies.

Spirits are integrated into the setting and are important in many ways as friends and foes.

One of the things that this had going for it at the time (1978?) was that it was a richly detailed setting full of plot hooks and adventure ideas, it was a brilliant world to run campaigns in and at that time D&D had nothing similar at all, nothing with as much as a map, let alone a history!

Some of the variant rules I created for Runequest/Glorantha can be found here
http://www.starguild.freeserve.co.uk/frp/Runequest.htm

I also started doing a conversion for using RQ rules with the Dark Sun setting which you can find here http://www.starguild.freeserve.co.uk/frp/DarkSunRunequest.htm

Cheers!

 

[Steverooo]

As I understand it Runequest is a skillbased system okay - whats the setting and is it lower tech than DnD (ie Bronze/Iron age)?

Glorantha is a highly magical world, centered (more or less) on the Dragon Pass area. It is lousy with godlets and demonlings, and every orphan child is a member of some cult or another, and knows several "battlemagic" spells. Each spell temporarily reduces your POW (Will Power), and since a Human will have 18 points, maximum, to start... Magic is both more common, and less powerful, and you will quickly run out of POW (which, incidentally, is what you use to resist magic, as well).

Glorantha is a Bronze-Age world, although "Bronze" isn't really bronze, "Iron" isn't really iron, "Aluminum" isn't really... etc. "Bronze" is mined directly from the bones of dead godlets, as "power crystals" are their blood. Various metals have certain cult allegiances, and can be used by Priests and "Rune Lords" of associated cults, enchanted with certain powers.

"Iron", for instance, is tougher, and suppresses magic ability, except in Priests/Lords of certain cults who have permanently sacrificed POW to be bonded to their gear...

RuneQuest revolves around gaining the prerequisites to join some deity or another's cult, and gain access to their "runes". Becoming a Lay Member is generally pretty easy. Then you can receive training in certain skills, weapons, learn some battlemagic, etc. As you advance, you can gain skills and become a Rune Lord (when you have POW 15+ and five or more skills from the cult list at 90%+), or you can increase your POW to 18+ and become a Rune Priest, and begin permanently sacrificing points of POW for reusable "Rune Magic", which is stronger than battlemagic.

There are many different cults, basically one for EVERYTHING! Sailor-godlets, cults of terror, cults for nomadic wanderers, cults for bards, etc. By becoming a Rune Lord or Priest, you gain a rune, and have basically finished the "quest" for the "rune". Of course, each cult also has "spirits of retribution" to harass those who leave the cult...

Glorantha, being a magical world, has many different forms of magic. Pretty much all cults have access to battlemagic and Rune Magic. There is also sorcery, which works differently, and has its own rules. The wizards from the isle of Brithini use this.

Most "gods" have likes and dislikes. Chalanna Arroy, for instance, is the goddess of healing. Lay membership gives you the ability to get free food and a place to sleep, whenever you need it, but not a lot else. Her temples will teach you skills like first aid at half price, unusual stuff like find healing plants, and generally won't do weapons training. They would teach you non-lethal spells like Befuddle or Sleep, but not ones like Sharpen (a weapon-enhancer), and even if you knew it, you'd forget it, after joining the cult!

Orlanth, the storm god, has his cult divided up into three parts, even! Orlanth Rex is the godling of Kings, Orlanth Adventurous the one favored by adventurers, and... (I forget the third... Thunderous?) is the storm aspect. Rune Magics relate to each branch.

While some Rune Magics are available to all, each cult has its own special versions. Only Chalanna Arroy's cultists can use the healing Rune Magics, and only Orlanth Thunderous' Rune Priests can use his storm Rune Magics. Some even have their own battlemagics, such as Chalanna Arroy's Sleep.

Every cult has its myths. Chalanna Arroy, for instance, invented the Befuddle spell (similar to confusion) in order to end combats without anyone getting hurt. She taught it to others, who then used it to "soften up" the enemy before entering into combat! Because of that, the Sleep battlemagic isn't taught to anyone but cult members!

Each cult restricts some skills, etc. (You can learn them, but at twice the price), teaches ones associated with their godling at half cost, and might even ban others. Joining a cult will pretty much decide what you become.

Glorantha is not your standard fantasy world. This world was created by its gods, and they more directly affect it than a typical D&D world. Also, the dragons and their kin (the dragon newts) have played a major hand in history, such as the "Dragonkill War").

One of the strongest races on Glorantha are the "men of darkness", AKA Trolls. They have better stats than Humans. They would rule the world, if not for Nysallor/Gbaji having cursed their race for failing to aid him in an ancient battle. "The Trollkin Curse" makes most trolls born today be small, stunted, and weak.

Another ancient race is the Dwarves, men of the stone. There are also the elven races, men of the plants. They, dryads, pixies, etc., are vegetables, in this world.

There are also the ducks... While pixies were invented by the godling of Elves, in order to make his Lady smile, the origin of Ducks has never been explained, so far as I know... (I think it was stolen from a certaincomic book, myself!)

There are also certain chaos monsters, such as Jack'o'bears (look like bears with the heads of Jack'o'lanterns), Walktapi (looks like a man with an octopus in place of his head, and regenerates worse than a troll!)

All of these races are woven together into stories of the "Godtime", where ancient fueds were started, and still held against each other by worshippers of the various godlings to the present day...

Orlanth and the Sun god (whose name I forget) started a fued when they were born. Eventually, Orlanth invented the "New Power"; death, and used it on the sun god... So the sun god died, and went to the underworld, leaving the world in darkness...

Now the underworld was where the Trolls (Men of Darkness) lived, and the sun coming there was MOST unwelcome. So they left, travelling to Glorantha, which was experiencing The Great Darkness... Meanwhile, a group of Humans known as the "Lightbringers" were on a quest to rescue the dead sun god from the underworld. After too many trials to write about, they convinced all the godlings to join in "The Great Compromise", and hence the world where the sun is in the sky half the day, and in the underworld all night...

Lots of stuff like that, in Glorantha. Mythology IS History, and grudges are held to the current day. Much of the trouble between Elves and Dwarves, for instance, was really caused by Varanarra the Hurler (a Troll). The three races always seem at war with one another.

Genertela is the continent upon which sits Dragon Pass. The Pass is one of a very few ways to get through the Rockwood or Rockwall mountains (Joe Myth, the famous Trader, knows another!) To the north are the lands of the stoneage Balazarings, and to the south the Plains of Prax, where nomads live and the great cities of Pavis (and the "Big Rubble" of an older version) sit. South of that, the River of Cradles (named for the Giants' cradles that sometimes appeared there) flows into the sea (past another great city, whose name I forget).

South of Dragon Pass, but west of Prax is Sartar, which has been invaded by the Lunar (think Roman) Empire. One of the heroes of the Hero Wars is the prince of Sartar, leading the revolt. Another is Cragspider, a witch who worships the spider godling.

Far to the east of Prax is the great desert, where the bones of the godling Genertela (for which the continent is named) lie. The great "Desert Trackers" of Issaries try to recover every scrap of skin, bringing them back here, in the hopes of reviving him... assuming they can survive the storms of copper dust, the desert, and whatever lives there...

Even further to the east, beyond the desert, are the mysterious eastern (oriental) lands. They have their own beliefs, and legends. "Dragon Magic" is very popular, there.

Glorantha is shaped a bit like a lozenge, and the farther north and south you go, the closer you come to an elemental "pole". Goin north through Balazar, the Elder Wilds, and the lands of the Horse Barbarians, you eventually come to a world of snow and ice, where ice demons roam the land. Going further north increases the cold.

Northwest of Dragon Pass is the Lunar Empire. It has many different parts, some of which are heavily choked by chaos. Since the Red Goddess of the Lunar Empire embraces chaos, things like the Crimson Bat are allowed here. This sets Sartar (and most of the rest of Genertela) on end, as they hate all aspects of chaos.

Far to the west of there, off the shores of the continent, lie the lands of Brithinni, where gods hold no sway. Their Magocracy drains the POW of the peasants to feed the sorcery of the rulers.

The oceans of Glorantha were closed for a very long time. Some godling learned a spell of opening, and swam to Genertela, where he taught it to the god of sailors. It is now a guarded secret of their cult, and no one can pass the seas without making use of it.

Across the seas, to the south, lies the continent of Kralorela (if I spelted it right), which is a jungle continent. As one goes further south, ones reaches the burning desert, which would eventually lead to the Burning Pole (if you could survive to get there). This is the antipodes to the "Cold Pole" of Genertela's far north.

There are many other tales, cults, places of interest, saga, and tales in the making. I have never seen the HeroQuest game, but I have seen ads for it since the 1980s... Supposedly, it is supposed to allow "Rune Level" characters to enter "The Godtime" and participate in the various myhtic stories of the god they worship.

Perhaps someone who has seen the game can pick it up, from there...

 

[WayneLigon]

I don't think HeroQuest (that version) was ever published, though I think a fan-publication version might have been. I think there was probably an 'unofficial' version floating around as well.

The History of RuneQuest. Tells the basics of the system, and the publication history. It also has links near the bottom for Reaching Moon publications, which does the amazingly good magazine Tales of the Reaching Moon.

Now, one thing that also makes the setting distinctive is that everything boils down to Law vs. Chaos. Or, more technically, Everything Else vs. Chaos. Most of the lands in Dragon Pass, Prax and elsewhere see Chaos as the ultimate abomination. Many gods, such as the Storm Bull, dedicate their very being to destroying Chaos wherever it's found. The main beef people have with the expanding Lunar Empire (think Rome) is that the Goddess allows and even uses Chaos.

However, when you read the Lunar Empire stuff, it quickly becomes apparent that Chaos isn't all bad. It's the concept of breaking stereotypes and shattering 'the way things have always been'. Yeah, there are terrible monsters that it spawns; the Lunars aren't too happy with those things either but philosophically they have to allow for their existance.

 

[tetsujin28]

I am a Glorantha junky, and am pretty proud to have worked both for Chaosium and Issaries. Rune Quest was the defining game of the best gaming years I ever had, and Glorantha had a lot to do with that. What game system people prefer to for 'their' Glorantha is hotly contested (there's still a lot of bitterness in some quarters that RQ4 was never released). Personally, I'd probably use BESM.

 

[tetsujin28]

I don't think HeroQuest (that version) was ever published, though I think a fan-publication version might have been. I think there was probably an 'unofficial' version floating around as well.

It only really existed as in-house documents, and was run at cons by Greg Stafford and Bill Dunn, amongst others. It was basically 'super-Rune Quest', using a modification of the Pendragon system in its later incarnations. Greg wasn't very happy with it. People did try to cludge stuff together based on character sheets and whatnot, but trying to read Greg's mind is a tricky business ;-)