Mongoose's Runequest, Anyone have it?

Dragonbait said:
And how would the converting process go to take monsters/races/spells from the existing system to d20? Not that I don't like the existing system, but, y'know, there are people out there that would want it done...

I don't know what the new system is like (yet), but the old system was not very much like D&D of the time, or d20 now. The original core RuneQuest system was what eventually became the BRP system at Chaosium, and which was used for Call of Cthulhu. So check out CoC for a glimpse of what some of that system is like. Ot would take some effort to convert. I'm really interested in how different from or similar to the BRP (Basic Role Playing) system this new edition of RQ is - I imagine it can't be too similar, since Chaosium is still using the BRP system.
 

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That'd be pretty cool.

I just picked up the Runequest book. This is my first real taste of the game, aside from the advertisements in old Dragons back in the day.

I'm impressed by how slim the book is. Yet it appears to be pretty darn complete and self-contained. I didn't realize that the original system was what Chaosium based their rules on; though it makes sense after seeing the POW stat.

GAAAHHH said:
They are also talking about releasing a Conan setting book for Runequest.
 

ColonelHardisson said:
I don't know what the new system is like (yet), but the old system was not very much like D&D of the time...
Which is really funny, because the Runequest system developed from Steve Perrin's homebrew D&D rules.

I'm wondering how close the systems are in practice, since the previews of the Mongoose versions don't credit Mr. Perrin with the system. Either the systems are very different, or else Mongoose is not giving credit where it is due.
 

Faraer said:
Anthropomorphic ducks (durulz) are a (very minor!) aspect of Glorantha, not of RuneQuest in particular.

That will be a problem that needs to be fixed. Spread the wealth! :D And, if the system is somewhat close to CoC, it will be even more fun.

Anyways, I heard that Japan's Sword World RPG (the setting that contains the continent of Lodoss) is based off of the old RuneQuest rules too. They changed the % rolls to 2d6 rolls, and have three kinds of magic.

Dang, I'm looking forward to this new rules set. Man, now I have to decide if I want to do Warhammer, Ptolus d20, or RuneQuest next. Ooooh decisions decisions decisions.
 

I'll be interested to hear what others have to say about the new version of RQ. RQ was my first intro to RPGs, playing a sort of homebrew mishmash of 2E, 3E, and even a bit of the unpublished 4E.

I like my d20 games plenty, but there are things I miss about RQ. No classes, no levels, any character being able to use magic, hit locations, armor points by hit location... Not to mention the realistic and intricate cosmology and theology and the well-defined history and cultures of Glorantha.
 


I picked it up day before yesterday, and am really impressed with it.
In my opinion, the layout and art are great for a black and white book, and the rules were easy to understand on the first read through.

Some people have some issues with the statistics involved in the Opposed Roll mechanic, and there is some confusion about how the combat system works between what is stated in the rulebook, and some 'clarifications' Matt from Mongoose posted over on the forums.

Overall, I am very happy with it, and I'm looking forward to starting a campaign.
 

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
All game worlds need heavily armed, pissed-off waterfowl.
Can I put this in my sig?

Melkor said:
Some people have some issues with the statistics involved in the Opposed Roll mechanic, and there is some confusion about how the combat system works between what is stated in the rulebook, and some 'clarifications' Matt from Mongoose posted over on the forums.

This concerns me. I know I'll need to get the book and see for myself, but if the RAW is too difficult to understand..
 

I was intrigued by it, and had high hopes. I thought the previews on the Mongoose site looked interesting, but the discussions on their forums suggested that there may be a few problems with the way that some of the rules have been implemented (there is one especially silly rule about handling contests between people when skill scores for one party are over 100% - a rule which essentially reduces your chance of success for having a higher score!).

I went into my FLGS today to have a detailed look, expecting to buy it - but I didn't in the end. Looking through it reminded me just how good the 2e RQ was when I used to play it, and didn't actually thrill me with new possibilities - it just reminded me how good the old one was.

I'm sorry that the basic book doesn't come with more Gloranthan specific stuff in it - I understand that will be a separate book.

It seems to me that the best way of handling skill contests when one or more people have scores of > 100% would be to borrow from the Heroquest rule idea of mastery, and the person who gets the best result wins.

e.g. trollkin with 30% gamble against lucky fateman, with 140% gamble.

Trollkin attempts his 30% and will either crit, succeed, fail or fumble.
Lucky Fateman takes off 100 as a level of mastery, and attempts a 40% check, but his level of mastery automatically bumps his result up one, so he will get either a crit, a succeed or a fail, but can't fumble. (if he rolls 40 or less, his success is bumped up to a crit, etc).

If Lucky Fateman finds he is rolling dice against the god of luck and death, who has 370% gamble, then to start with we knock masteries off both sides until someone is out of masteries; after the first go Lucky is down to 40% and GoLaD is still 270%. This means that GoLaD has two masteries in hand, and he makes a check to get 70% or better, but his result is automatically bumped by two levels (so if he rolls a fail, it is bumped up to a crit, if he rolls a fumble, it is bumped up to a success). Lucky might roll 01 and GoLaD might roll 00, but Fatemans chances don't look good!

(Lucky vs GoLaD is just an exercise - you wouldn't really expect such a mismatched opposed check to actually appear in the game. using the Mongoose RQ rules you would halve both scores to 70 and 185, then halve them again to 35 and 93 - which gives a relatively huge chance of success to Lucky. But then again the trollkin would still be on 7% :confused: )

Cheers
 

Somewhere I'd got the idea that the new version was going to be d20. But from your description it sounds similar to the old rules.

That's another thing I miss about RQ - being able to use all my polyhedral dice. :)
 

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