Differences between Mongoose RQ I and II

[Odhanan]

Hi there. I am the owner of the Mongoose RuneQuest I rules books, and would like to get some feedback from the people who have own(ed) both MRQI and MRQII here: what are the differences between Mongoose RuneQuest and Mongoose RuneQuest II?

I am an old fan of the game system (going all the way back to the 1980s, actually).
Do you think it is worthwhile for me to invest in the MRQII?

Thank you.

 

[mach1.9pants]

I have both, but played neither (addicting to RPG reading). The differences seem similar in scale, maybe less, to 3.0 to 3.5 DnD. Not many, but some big ones. Best way to find out is to download the conversion guide from Mongoose, spells it out really well

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/pdf/rqconverr.pdf

 

[MarkChevallier]

Hi there

I own both Mongoose editions of Runequest (and a few of the older ones), and I was quite disappointed by the first edition and very pleased by the second.

In my opinion, a number of serious improvements have been made, substantially more than that between 3.0 and 3.5 D&D. The attack resolution mechanic is entirely different, for one thing! Combat is fluid and easy to resolve, and beating an enemy's defense gives you options to perform manoeuvres which make combat much more cinematic.

The spells and magic have also received a number of strong differences as well, generally, made more powerful than in first edition. Character creation is also quite different; characters will be able to be more realised than in the first edition.

In every part of the game, I saw particular bug bears of mine from the first edition (having to possess physical runes, the lack of depth to starting characters, the clunky combat mechanics) removed, and replaced with smoother mechanics. In a number of places (notable the combat manoeuvre system), innovative and fun mechanics also shine through.

I would highly recommend the new edition of the game; the proviso is that some of the early supplemental releases are not showing the same polish and care that went into the main book. Mongoose seem to be aware of this and even (I may be reading this into some of their responses) a little ashamed of it, so I hope that they improve going forward.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I agree with Mark, MRQ2 is far, far better than MRQ1 for all those reasons

 

[Aus_Snow]

I would highly recommend the new edition of the game; the proviso is that some of the early supplemental releases are not showing the same polish and care that went into the main book. Mongoose seem to be aware of this and even (I may be reading this into some of their responses) a little ashamed of it, so I hope that they improve going forward.

In particular, the GM's Screen is apparently quite awful. And, since we're talking impressions, it seemed as though they might be doing something to remedy this as some stage. (?)

 

[JeffB]

Hi there

I own both Mongoose editions of Runequest (and a few of the older ones), and I was quite disappointed by the first edition and very pleased by the second.

In my opinion, a number of serious improvements have been made, substantially more than that between 3.0 and 3.5 D&D. The attack resolution mechanic is entirely different, for one thing! Combat is fluid and easy to resolve, and beating an enemy's defense gives you options to perform manoeuvres which make combat much more cinematic.

The spells and magic have also received a number of strong differences as well, generally, made more powerful than in first edition. Character creation is also quite different; characters will be able to be more realised than in the first edition.

In every part of the game, I saw particular bug bears of mine from the first edition (having to possess physical runes, the lack of depth to starting characters, the clunky combat mechanics) removed, and replaced with smoother mechanics. In a number of places (notable the combat manoeuvre system), innovative and fun mechanics also shine through.

I would highly recommend the new edition of the game; the proviso is that some of the early supplemental releases are not showing the same polish and care that went into the main book. Mongoose seem to be aware of this and even (I may be reading this into some of their responses) a little ashamed of it, so I hope that they improve going forward.

Thanks for the comments. As a HUGE fan of Glorantha/RQ1/2 (and some of 3) I avoided MRQ-mostly because of Mongoose's reputation for pumping out books riddled with errors and poorly thought out rules, as well as Mongoose puts out so many high priced small page count books that are generally crucial to running a game.

At any rate- MRQ2 seems to be getting good marks for cleaning up alot of issues with the first edition, and I'm currently pretty bored with D&D (OSR and 4E) so after reading your comments and some reviews, I decided to pick this up as a change of pace along with some of the Glorantha 2nd age material (anything Glorantha is always a good read, as usually is Robin Laws). I have not run a RQ campaign in 25 years, but who knows... I may force..err..ask, my group to play a session or three


I would like to ask, just how compatible are the MRQ1 and MRQ2 products? in particular the Monster, Gloranthan and Lhankmar sourcebooks.

 

[MarkChevallier]

I would like to ask, just how compatible are the MRQ1 and MRQ2 products? in particular the Monster, Gloranthan and Lhankmar sourcebooks.

The geographical sourcebooks are generally compatible - the Gloranthan location supplements for MRQ1 were generally very stat-light. For supplements about magic (Spellbook and the various cult books), I'd say they would basically be near-useless; the magic in the game has been quite heavily rebalanced and rewritten. I can't really comment on the race books as I don't have them; I'd imagine they would be somewhat useful but you'd have to rework the character creation and magic sections. Monsters should translate very easily - ultimately, you're looking at a list of skills and combat stats, and they all translate effectively.

I can't comment on the Lhankmar stuff as I don't have it.

Basically, anything to do with magic or to a slightly lesser extent character creation would need reworked, probably from the ground up. Anything with an especially mechanical bent would need some work, but as the system is essentially the same percentile system it's always been, it should be straight forward (except, as mentioned, for magic).

 

[JeffB]

The geographical sourcebooks are generally compatible - the Gloranthan location supplements for MRQ1 were generally very stat-light. For supplements about magic (Spellbook and the various cult books), I'd say they would basically be near-useless; the magic in the game has been quite heavily rebalanced and rewritten. I can't really comment on the race books as I don't have them; I'd imagine they would be somewhat useful but you'd have to rework the character creation and magic sections. Monsters should translate very easily - ultimately, you're looking at a list of skills and combat stats, and they all translate effectively.

I can't comment on the Lhankmar stuff as I don't have it.

Basically, anything to do with magic or to a slightly lesser extent character creation would need reworked, probably from the ground up. Anything with an especially mechanical bent would need some work, but as the system is essentially the same percentile system it's always been, it should be straight forward (except, as mentioned, for magic).

Much thanks for the details I ordered MRQII, along with Glorantha 2nd Age and Ruins of Glorantha for MRQ1- looks like I won't have much issue there- I'll pick up the monster book for MRQ1 if necc, otherwise I'll wait it out for the MRQII version.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

There doesn't seem to be an SRD for Runequest II, I don't think many people jumped on the license anyway.

 

[JeffB]

Just wanted to bump- MRQ2 seems to be a big improvement on MR1. I'm quite impressed- and I've been a longtime non-fan of Mongoose in general.

Both of the Glorantha books are top notch as well, but not having delved deeply (again) into Glorantha since HEROWARS first surfaced- I'd forgotten just how overwhelming it can be to get your head around it.

The Ruins of Glorantha book is frankly a great buy regardless of system- it's low on RQ crunch, there are some very good fleshed out ruins/adventure sites, alot of bare bones sketches and for the true old school "chart & table-er" the first 30 or so pages are fantastic for rolling up some very interesting adventure locales. Very useful book.

It's certainly given me reason to be more open to buying Mongoose products: likely some Traveller stuff. If they've done Traveller as well as they have MRQ2, it should be a worthy successor.